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IMHO, I think most people associate 'culture' with dressing up in uncomfortable clothes and attending some activity they would really not care to attend but 'really should'. 'It's the thing to do.' Just because I don't attend operas, ballets and spend my time wandering through art museums doesn't mean I don't appreciate them or the talent involved. To me, the talent required to produce an opera, art, dance, plays, orchestral arrangements, etc. is what I admire. My hat is off to the hard working people who spend so much of their life to produce those works for us to enjoy. I believe there is a goodly percentage of people at these events for the sole purpose of 'see and be seen'. I really don't care for 'pretentious'. To those who truly enjoy those things, I am sorry you have to put up with those types. Being 'cultured' doesn't mean attending all the right plays, operas, museums, making the right comments on them or the wine or which fork to use first. Culture is first and foremost courtesy, good manners and common sense. I appreciate talent wherever I see it. Popularity is not the same as talent which is why most of what we watch on the tube is generally around 50 years old or more. What currently passes for entertainment isn't very. Too many stand-ups think the sure way to get a laugh is to embarrass someone or use crude humor. Not really a prude but can't help thinking of people like Bob Hope, Will Rogers, George Goebel, Red Skelton, Bill Cosby, Etc. I can appreciate the talents required to prepare the food for a fine dining experience and the talent required for the presentation of same but, sometimes you just want to dive into a really good cheeseburger and fries. Broadway stage shows are great but I can watch 'Arsenic & Old Lace w/Jimmy Stewart over and over. A really good performance of the works of Mozart, Brahms, etc. is enjoyable and stirring but 4th of July with Arthur Feidlerand the Boston Pops can really stir you too. To paraphrase another quote, 'Life is too short to do what you don't enjoy.' Sometimes you feel like Charley Daniels in the Geico commercial. 'That's how you do it, son'. ............But I digress....