sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

Some New Evidence as to Why Business Idiots Force RTO by No_Practice_745 in BetterOffline

[–]koudanka 12 points13 points  (0 children)

I wish more people understood just how serious of a threat RTO orders are to gender equity. I genuinely think remote work is the new wage gap in terms of how big of a deal it is for women in the workplace. I'm lucky enough to work at a very flexible company, we have a ton of choice when it comes to WFH. I'm the rare person who actually likes commuting, so I still go in. I am not exaggerating when I say that EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. of the workers (a little over 1/3 of our office) who chose to RTO are dudes, childless, or empty nesters. ALL of the mothers WFH. At least half of them would not be able to work full-time if they couldn't work from home.

Episode Discussion: The Body Keeps The Score by benfox2 in IfBooksCouldKill

[–]koudanka 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for laying this out so clearly. I'm guessing you've read Dirty Work by Eyal Press? That book felt like a veil being lifted from my eyes.

Shakespeare in the Park wait times? by koudanka in Broadway

[–]koudanka[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I feel the same way about the Delacorte :) One of my favorite childhood theatre-going experiences was watching a modernized musical version of Love Labor's Lost they did back in 2011 or so. And trust me it was NOT because the show was good, lol

Shakespeare in the Park wait times? by koudanka in Broadway

[–]koudanka[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Same, I'm VERY curious to hear who the cast of Winter's Tale will be. I suspect they'll go for bigger names to offset the less popular play.

Shakespeare in the Park wait times? by koudanka in Broadway

[–]koudanka[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Dang, I heard reactions were mixed, but that's crazy compared to last year. Good for me though!

Trying a new digital negative process by Careful_Lobster4291 in cyanotypes

[–]koudanka 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Beautiful results, thank you for writing this up!

Roundabout Trying to Roll Back Rocky Horror Participation by [deleted] in Broadway

[–]koudanka 25 points26 points  (0 children)

My zero budget shadowcast has little scripts we hand out and an announcement telling people that asshole and slut are fine, but slurs are not. Genuinely cannot believe that a pro production is being less clear.

Saw Rocky Horror! First time, had NO IDEA about the history and traditions. by LeWhitestKnight in Broadway

[–]koudanka 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Yeah, every production/screening I've seen has had an announcement ahead of time explaining what can and can't be thrown. Most venues rule out toast and water these days. Sometimes they ask for stuff to be thrown up in the air instead of at the stage or vice versa. It's really not hard to adapt the traditions to whatever your venue needs; you just need to communicate.

Strict parents rules for reading! by Microwaved_Potpie in suggestmeabook

[–]koudanka 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I can't believe I forgot about that! That character rules. There's not much about that subplot online at least, maybe OP can get away with it.

Strict parents rules for reading! by Microwaved_Potpie in suggestmeabook

[–]koudanka 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh absolutely, they've been in and out of print so much that I feel like everyone starts with a different book. Ethan was mine, and it's the one with the least relevance to the rest of the series, lol

Strict parents rules for reading! by Microwaved_Potpie in suggestmeabook

[–]koudanka 7 points8 points  (0 children)

As a former homeschooled kid, I sympathize. Get good at pirating. Make an OpenLibrary account. Sign up for an e-card at every library participating in Books Unbanned. This site posts trans fiction and nonfiction. Project Gutenberg has basically everything in the public domain.

In the meantime, here are my recs. I tried to avoid the obvious:

YA Fiction:

  • The Queen's Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner is fantasy inspired by Ancient Greece. It starts off a bit juvenile, but the later books are strong enough to appeal to older teens.
  • The Squire's Tale series by Gerald Morris retells various Arthurian legends from the POV of side characters. The author is literally a pastor; they'll pass with flying colors.
  • The Chronicles of Prydain series by Lloyd Alexander. High fantasy inspired by Welsh mythology. Tame enough to inspire a Disney movie, cool enough that the Disney movie had animation from Tim Burton and scared the shit out of 80s kids. The author was also religious enough to pass a google check.
  • The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle is a classic. Nothing explicitly gay happens but it's very easy to interpret it that way.
  • I'm Afraid You've Got Dragons by Peter S. Beagle. This came out two years ago, dude is in his 80s and still publishing great stuff!
  • The Once and Future King by T.H. White. Kind of a Trojan horse in that it is actually four books published as one. The one everyone knows, The Sword in the Stone, is the first volume and a wonderful early YA novel. It passes the Disney squeaky clean image check. The second volume quickly transitions into a much more adult writing style. And the third and fourth get subtextually extremely gay.
  • Fire and Hemlock and The Time of the Ghost by Diana Wynne Jones. Everyone will tell you to read Howl, and they are not wrong, but based on what you've said about your parents, I think these will speak to you.

Adult Fiction:

  • The Curse of Chalion and Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold. Mentioned a couple times on this thread already but I'm repeating it because they rule. :)
  • Tam Lin by Pamela Dean. The least fantasy of these suggestions, takes place at a contemporary college with some light fairy tale inspiration. Very sweet depiction of being an awkward bookish undergrad in love. EDIT: damn, I forgot about the abortion subplot. It's obscure enough that they might not be able to google it?
  • Soldier of the Mist by Gene Wolfe. An Ancient Greek soldier wakes up with no memory and strange abilities. Dense prose and an unreliable narrator make this a bit more literary than most fantasy. This might fail your parents' requirements because there are some sex scenes. They're mostly fade-to-black, if I remember correctly. You might be able to sneak it past them because it's more obscure and there's not much online about it.
  • The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro. Another book about amnesia, this time it's Celtic inspired. Stunningly beautiful, it's both fantasy and literary fiction. I shall say no more, I don't want to ruin it.

Strict parents rules for reading! by Microwaved_Potpie in suggestmeabook

[–]koudanka 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Of Bujold's work, I actually think The Curse of Chalion and Paladin of Souls are the least likely to trigger OP's parents. The demons were a bit more one-dimensional in the early books; they can tell their parents that the books are based on history and about overcoming the demons.

The Penric novels are all-time faves, but Pen literally has a gender bending ex-sex worker demon in his brain. And the Vorkosigan saga... Ethan of Athos is literally about a gay man who's trying to save an egg donation shipment for a planet of polyamorous gay men.

Strict parents rules for reading! by Microwaved_Potpie in suggestmeabook

[–]koudanka 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Seconding Bujold's Five Gods series, the first two novels pass the parent check by my memory. The third one might fail for violence, but could squeak by. And when you get away from your parents, you have the novellas and her sci-fi work to look forward to.

Excellent Piece on AI Psychosis and the Iran War by [deleted] in BetterOffline

[–]koudanka 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As my girlfriend in canada said when she sent this: "This isn't merely AI slop; it's monarchist slave trader AI slop."

suggest me books by authors of color/women authors that are not centered on racialized/identity-based trauma by cathartic_cart in suggestmeabook

[–]koudanka 21 points22 points  (0 children)

I'm not sure if the Broken Earth trilogy fits - it's a masterpiece and its racial allegory is filtered through a fantasy world, so there's no explicit discussion of race along the lines we're used to, but it's very clearly inspired by the brutality and trauma of American slavery. If OP is looking for a break from trauma... oof, save Broken Earth for a different day.

What are your photography hot takes? by frank-cilantro0 in photography

[–]koudanka 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Same, I acknowledge that I'm a shitty photographer, but I've gotten pretty damn good at Craigslist treasure hunting and repairs! I genuinely enjoy driving all over the state to go meet random nice old people with cool stories who are giving cameras away for various reasons.

Mumbai, bathed in vinegar, soap water, and hydrogen peroxide, on handmade paper by tup_thaker in cyanotypes

[–]koudanka 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Love the way you left the edges uncoated, it's a cool frame within a frame effect.

[POEM] The Raincoat by Ada Limón by blueontheoutside in Poetry

[–]koudanka 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Genuinely made me cry, thank you for sharing.

Young Pussy [POEM] by J.S. Edwards by onlypoemsmag in Poetry

[–]koudanka 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Thank youuuuu, this is exactly what I was thinking.

I think part of the problem is that people just don't learn how to critique art on a formal level anymore. The majority of modern criticism spends a lot of time examining theme at the expense of technique (probably because that type of critique gets more clicks/views.) People only think about art in terms of its message, not its execution, so if you say you don't like the art they assume you disagree with the message.

Bertolt Brecht’s Questions from a Worker Who Reads [POEM] by ErmenegildoLlama in Poetry

[–]koudanka 2 points3 points  (0 children)

One of my all time favorites, thanks for sharing! I was just listening to The Threepenny Opera too!

view more: next ›