I almost went with that but then thought it would be funnier if you get to pull the cowl off and it’s just one of those rando Scoopy-Doo groundskeepers underneath.

It’s pretty clear he’s not talking about life, but career-wise.
He’s been a globally-known musician for 12 years, beginning with a talent show that put him in a boy band. 12 years is a long time for that kind of career, and more than late enough to transition from chasing the chart-topping, “hip young thing” label to…

Shaggy’s (and Velma’s) finishing move should be unmasking.

That’s good!

Also, Maverick’s father was a Navy aviator, so he’d have grown up in and around naval bases, gone to school with other Navy kids, etc...

Seconded.

I think it’s just easier to assume less time has passed in the Top Gun  universe than has passed in ours.

Dissenting opinion that Superbad is not some comedy masterpiece and giving it a sequel would have done very little to damage our cultural landscape.

Also:

Dennis Lee: “about as descriptive as calling a product “American Zest.” Does that mean anything to you?”

The argument here that the sauce “doesn’t define an entire continent’s cuisine” gets the intention backward. Typically when “defining” something, the adjectives get more specific (i.e regional flavors, like you’ve said: Hunan, Cantonese, etc...) when they get broader (Asia) the intention is also usually more generic.
“…

Also in France (and Franco-Canada, apparently), the standard frozen vegetable mix (corn, green beans, peas, carrots) is called Mexican Blend:

Yeah, Asia has lots of places that turn this around exactly.
One of the standard genres of hawker stall in Singapore is the ‘Western Food’ stall. Typically offering Chicken Chop, ‘Sirloin Steak’, Spaghetti, Fish & Chips, and a Burger or Hot Dog.

The Kia is a great hauler as well, which is something I’d assume is one of the three top criteria for a college student.

Especially state and local.

More like C.C. Dowd, amiri—wait, what are we supposed to do with this guy?

“as an assassin who accidentally blinds a nightclub singer (Sally Yeh) during a job, and agrees to kill a triad boss to pay for the operation [to restore her sight].”

I started my undergrad at an in-state public (R2) university in 2001. Tuition was around $3000/ year. It was over $5k four years later.
Eight years after that it was at $9600. It’s stopped there only because the governor instituted a system-wide tuition freeze. (That’s just tuition though, looking at what they project…

“Give me five bees for a college degree,” we’d say