how to be cultured without being snobby or pretentious

>>16956345
Watch Eberts top 100 movies
Watch the history of cinema

Watch some tourism guide shows about cities around the world.

Personally I despise the classics because I think novels are by far the most condecending way of getting your point across.
>let me babby you into my point by using a terrible allegory and treat you like a child
Fuck that. John Locke > Voltaire. Locke actually respects the people reading.

>>16956345
Pick a good big city newspaper. Read it, cover to cover every day for a month - even the stuff you're not interested in, be it sports or theater reviews. You'll pick up a sense of what's in the air, politically, culturally, pop culture, etc. and be able to hold your own in any conversation.