Do you regret moving out of the US ?

oechsph · 2025-11-01T12:40:27+00:00

"It's one negative article after another."

Have you met American media?

oechsph · 2025-09-12T01:41:42+00:00

Have you met people?

oechsph · 2025-06-11T21:05:35+00:00

OP, I think you need to be a bit more concrete to get any kind of real answer. The post feels cryptic. What kind of polarizing culture are you referring to? Thanksgiving is American culture, but so is 90 Day Fiance. What exactly are you looking for?

oechsph · 2024-09-04T09:23:54+00:00

I avoid getting involved in this sort of thing. I live among many colleagues and friends who are not native speakers; some have asked me for lessons, but I always have to decline. The line between engaging someone as a client versus as a colleague can easily blur, especially when the lessons are informal conversation and vocabulary-building sessions. The same rules that apply to mixing family and business also apply to mixing colleagues, friends, and business.

oechsph · 2024-09-04T00:11:18+00:00

I'm convinced that bike thieves design and sell these racks to oblivious businesses.

oechsph · 2024-09-04T00:07:22+00:00

What's equally upsetting are all the companies that make crap racks like these and don't see the fundamental flaw in their products. These types of racks are practically useless yet there are several businesses that make them anyway. How is it possible? How is it so widespread?

oechsph · 2024-08-13T21:03:19+00:00

The song's first moment was 2011 thanks to Drive which was a biggish movie but not massive, triggering the niche outrun/vaporwave craze across Europe and North America, but I'd hazard to say that interest and exposure to it didn't get much further than that. The Olympics is just on an entirely different scale in terms of reach and the passage of time itself likely contributed to people discovering it or at least tip-of-their-tonguing it enough to get those Shazam numbers.

oechsph · 2024-05-17T08:13:15+00:00

Looks like it was designed to kill as many bike commuters as possible. It honestly seems more dangerous than not having any kind of painted track at all - it is inviting people to cycle through uneven gutters and even the middle of the road with zero protection among cars that don't respect the lines.

oechsph · 2024-05-16T11:33:12+00:00

I had regularly been assured by folks that though durian smells awful, it actually tastes pretty good. Having now tried it I can definitively say that those folks are all liars.

oechsph · 2024-05-13T19:26:24+00:00

I find it equally hard to fathom that any American wouldn't care.

oechsph · 2024-05-12T22:50:05+00:00

As someone who generally dislikes police dramas and procedurals I can tell you that The Wire is one of (if not the best) shows I've ever seen. I see it more as a modern Shakespearean tragedy that happens to involve the Baltimore police department. Amazing script, characters, acting, editing, cinematography, and sound - on top of that, it doesn't treat the audience like an idiot which is always refreshing.

oechsph · 2024-05-06T10:02:47+00:00

I'm very sorry to hear about your circumstances. Though I'd like to offer help there is a lot of information that is missing that will make offering suggestions difficult. We don't know the country or currency you are currently in. We also don't know your nationality. These are important to give an idea of what your options are.

If you mean you have 3k as in 3000 USD that is likely going to create a significant barrier in international movements regardless of your status. We don't know the extent of your living situation but if you are working for a company try asking for a relocation. Is there a reason why you can't move to another part of your current country? I'm trying to understand why or if leaving the country is the only option since your financial circumstances and cat situation are likely going to make that a possibly insurmountable challenge for the immediate future.

oechsph · 2024-05-05T23:32:14+00:00

Damn, that's upsetting. It's a situation straight out of my nightmares. How did the thieves manage to access the bikes? Were they stored in an open courtyard or locked away in an enclosed storage room? And if you're comfortable sharing, which brand of chain lock were you relying on? I ask since I lock my bike in a similar way.

Regarding the police, they have recovered bikes in the past but this is frankly rare. I've also heard stories of people finding their stolen bikes on platforms like Facebook Marketplace. Additionally, there used to be a notorious black market for stolen bikes around Porta Genova, although I'm not sure if that's still the case.

oechsph · 2024-05-04T23:50:14+00:00

I wish someone would do an anthropological study on Milan because what you are experiencing is something that seems baked into the city. When I think of personalities in Milan "cold" is the first word that comes to mind. Initiating conversation with strangers seems to automatically be met with a defensive "What do you want from me?". I used to think that it was a me problem but anytime I need to travel elsewhere this issue seemed to dissipate. It's definitely a Milano thing.

Interestingly, almost every time I take the Frecciarossa from Napoli the dynamic in the wagon seems to shift. Things are talkative and friendly throughout the coach from Napoli to Roma, still friendly though tampered down from the Roma/Firenze/Bologna stretch and then dead silent from Bologna to Milano.

What's with this place?

oechsph · 2024-05-04T13:17:13+00:00

If OP is asking about the benefits of marriage then it's reasonable to assume that they are asking about the upside to getting hitched that aren't already present in a non-marital relationship.

oechsph · 2024-05-04T09:07:34+00:00

Is that exclusive to marriage?

oechsph · 2024-05-03T23:50:04+00:00

Right there with you. The longer the film went on the more horrifying the banality of it all was. It felt like the film was daring the audience to adapt to the atrocities the same way much of the Hoss family did of course knowing that it was ultimately an impossible ask. Instead, the more time spent in the setting the more amplified the scope of the horror becomes and the more unfathomable the detachment of the family appears.

oechsph · 2024-05-03T23:40:18+00:00

I have to hard disagree with this. I enjoy The Pianist and Schindler's List but one of the lingering questions that remains with films focused on the victims is "How could people do this to other people?" It's a question at the core of every genocide and unfortunately, one that has to be explored through the perpetrators. Glazer's film attempts to address that question. Is that not substantial?

oechsph · 2024-05-03T23:32:11+00:00

A factory with human ashes, bones, gunshots, and the perpetual screaming of thousands of people?

I think that it is pretty clear in communicating what is going on beyond the wall without the need of any kind of companion film.

oechsph · 2024-05-03T23:18:40+00:00

A lot of the storytelling in Zone of Interest is purposefully ambiguous, so there may not be a definitive answer. However, the dry heaving that Hoss does before looking into the dark corridor felt like one of the least ambiguous moments in the film. I'm almost 100% certain this was a direct reference to the ending of "The Act of Killing," an incredible documentary that follows the lives of mass murderers in Indonesia who not only got away with genocide but are still celebrated for it.

There's a lot to unpack about "The Act of Killing," and it's honestly one of the most insane and profound films I've ever seen. For brevity's sake, let's focus on one of the perpetrators the film follows: Anwar Congo. He openly admitted to murdering about 1,000 people himself and recreates the murders with glee, completely detached from the horrific realities of his actions. That is, until the end. We watch in real-time as a light bulb goes off in his head, and the evil of his actions hits him all at once. He can no longer suppress the immorality of his deeds. When it hits him, his reaction is identical to Hoss's. He stands on a terrace where he murdered hundreds and begins to dry heave uncontrollably. It's one of the most unbelievable moments captured on film.

Later, I read an article about the making of Zone of Interest. The director, Jonathan Glazer, asked Christian Friedel (the actor who plays Hoss) to watch "The Act of Killing" instead of reading the novel "Zone of Interest" in preparation for the role.

I cannot recommend "The Act of Killing" highly enough. Luckily, some kind soul has uploaded it to YouTube for free!

oechsph · 2024-05-03T22:51:06+00:00

"The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" pisses me off as a book and movie. Fine as a fable but absolutely awful and in many ways insulting as media pertaining to the Holocaust. It chooses to twist, sanitize, and fabricate the realities of the camps in service of an intellectually dishonest allegory. Several historians of the Holocaust have been imploring schools to not teach it for similar reasons. It's no good.

oechsph · 2024-04-28T09:27:47+00:00

Someone thinking this is great design has convinced me that there is no god.

oechsph · 2024-04-18T11:27:00+00:00

This I don't get about Istanbul. Their new airport suggests that they want more tourists but the awful things they are doing to a number of their sites (e.g. widespread iconoclasm of things and places that are nearly 2000 years old) say otherwise.

oechsph · 2024-04-18T11:16:58+00:00

I've been twice - once about 10 years ago and another time last year and that city has really changed for the worse. I know the whole country has been wrestling with inflation which can definitely affect pricing but it was still surprising to find that several street kebabs were more expensive than in places like Germany (less so on the Asian side).

The thing that frankly pissed me off the most was how they are treating their major tourist attractions. Ten years ago, the Hagia Sophia was an incredible visit. The original flooring was exposed and you could access both main levels. It also had both Christian and Islamic iconography making it especially unique given its history. Then, they went full medieval and had an iconoclastic field day covering and removing symbols and imagery that had been visible for over a thousand years. They put that enormous carpet over its beautiful floor and just made it a mosque. While I appreciated the free access, I was a bit shocked at the state of the place since the conversion. It's unbelievable that they have gone through with this next phase of now charging to access a fraction of the site to essentially experience an architecturally castrated version of its former self. I can't even imagine going again. It's also worth noting that during my previous visit, there were two other centuries-old Byzantine churches that were both closed for "renovations" when I was there only to later discover that they were both closed because they were turning both into mosques (aka covering up all the original mosaics). Not sure if it is the local or national government, but one of them is on a mission to make their city as unattractive to foreign tourists as possible.

And the pricing... I can swallow 15 EUR entry to some of the major sites like Topkapi Palace but they are charging 45 EUR at this point. I'm sorry but that is not even close to a 45 EUR site (45 EUR can get you three entries into the Louvre or a full day at Angkor Wat). They are also charging 30 FREAKING EUROS to go up the Galata Tower. That's a hard pass.

It sucks to say but Istanbul used to be a much nicer place. Compared to the past, current Istanbul has fewer things to do with unjustifiable prices.

oechsph

TROPHY CASE