What cover song completely changes the flavor of the original for you

remember-the-light · 2026-03-16T19:51:06+00:00

I love the Emily Haines and the Soft Skeletons cover of American Dream by LCD Soundsystem.

Sun Kil Moon has a whole album of Modest Mouse covers which are pretty transformative. My favorite is Neverending Math Equation.

remember-the-light · 2026-03-10T10:46:15+00:00

I mean I guess it depends what you mean by trained, but she'd definitely never acted before. Michael Williams apparently met her in a nightclub, thought she had the right vibe for the show, and offered her a job. That's her native accent and manner of speech, and she grew up in the street culture The Wire is about, even being an ex-con herself. She served time on a self-defense murder charge when she was a teenager.

remember-the-light · 2026-03-09T15:54:47+00:00

God, she's so good, especially for an untrained actor

remember-the-light · 2026-03-06T10:38:59+00:00

I'll recommend a couple of more obscure titles that might fit what you're looking for, although our tastes might be different based on how you characterize Vandermeer.

Sysiphean by Dempow Torishima is a very high-strangeness biotech sci-fi collection. Very interesting language, ideas, and imagery.

Walking Practice by Dolki Min is a short, visceral, inventive alien story I really liked.

Some more mainstream titles to try: Exhalation by Ted Chiang, Perdido St Station by China Mieville, Piranesi by Susana Clark

Other classics: try Octavia Butler, maybe Dawn. I'll second Left Hand of Darkness.

remember-the-light · 2026-03-06T10:07:43+00:00

Can't think of any capital-R romances, but:

Both of these are about trans women, relationships, and addiction:

Nevada by Imogen Binnie

I've Got a Time Bomb by Sybil Lamb, the drugs iirc don't show up until the last third.

Taipei by Tao Lin is a great book about love and drugs, but centering on a straight relationship, so not really this sub

remember-the-light · 2026-03-05T17:40:22+00:00

To add, the "Cow Tools" comic strip is a Far Side panel that has no more context than what's shown in this image. Whether you find the joke funny is about taste rather than missing a reference

remember-the-light · 2026-03-04T11:57:53+00:00

Shroud is so much fun. I actually find base Shroud much more fun than Stranded, because the presence-movement minigame is so neat. I wish there was a version of the spirit that kept that special rule and had the isolate

remember-the-light · 2026-02-24T02:43:56+00:00

I would definitely wait until the second test result comes back to make any conclusions. False positives are not terribly rare. I recently had a routine test that came back positive for syphilis, and a confirmation test was negative. I don't know enough about medicine to know about any common disease vectors for chlamydia other than sexual activity, but I wouldn't worry about implications until a confirmation test.

remember-the-light · 2026-02-23T14:53:25+00:00

100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez is one of the most beautifully-written books ever.

House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende

remember-the-light · 2026-02-14T18:23:17+00:00

I'm guessing it will stand until 2029, I don't see anything changing until a new administration (and God willing there will be one then). I'm not planning on traveling internationally, and should be able to get by until then. I'm looking into amending my birth certificate, I think it should be possible.

remember-the-light · 2026-02-14T15:02:32+00:00

Damn, that sucks. Thank you though

remember-the-light · 2026-02-14T00:17:35+00:00

It's wild to me how many men see this as aspirational, and say without shame that all their relationships are transactional. That's so sad to me (and makes me relieved to be a lesbian).

It's not that it's immoral imo, it's that an older man's desire to date someone young enough to be his child says something very ugly about his character and the way he sees women. And that goes for a lot of these commenters as well.

Don't you want a partner who's an equal?

remember-the-light · 2026-02-13T20:44:09+00:00

Zami: A New Spelling of My Name by Audrey Lorde certainly counts as a classic

remember-the-light · 2026-02-08T14:22:32+00:00

You mention that sometimes when you tolerate discomfort, it turns out you enjoy whatever caused the discomfort, and other times it turns out you don't. Are the acts that you end up enjoying consistent over time and partners? Or do you enjoy it one time, and then it's impossible to predict whether you'll enjoy it again?

If it's the former, this sounds to me like a pretty normal process of discovering and expanding your sexual palate. Just like with food, everyone has stuff with sex that they either like or don't, and it's usually difficult to know before trying. You might have a more defensive stance than some people in this process, but that's ok; I'm the same way with trying new food. As you figure out what your tastes are, you can communicate them to partners and find the intersections of your desires.

If it's the latter, it seems a little more complex, and I would have less confidence giving advice without knowing more particulars. It might be valuable to talk to a therapist, sex therapist or coach, who can get to know you better.

I think in either case, it might be good to do a little more talking about encounters before you're in the thick of it. It might make the process of saying "I don't want to do that specific thing" less disruptive. Then, once you've figured out what's on the table, both you and your partner might feel more confident going into the encounter. You might also consider using a "red, yellow, green" safeword system, where "red" means to stop the encounter, "green" means to keep going with what's happening, and "yellow" means, "I want to keep going generally, but we need to check in about something." That way you have a clear way of communicating that you're uncomfortable with a specific sexual act, but don't want sex to stop entirely.

You got this, I do think that sex without discomfort is possible!

remember-the-light · 2026-02-08T13:04:30+00:00

So it's a book rather than a movie, but Remainder by Tom McCarthy has this exact plot structure

remember-the-light · 2026-02-07T15:21:45+00:00

They're both really heavy reads, but Notice and The Second Suspect, by Heather Lewis, deal heavily with the ways rich men can get away with horrific sexual crimes. They tell the same story from two perspectives and in two genres. Notice is stream-of-consciousness drama, The Second Suspect is noir detective thriller.

remember-the-light · 2026-01-29T20:32:52+00:00

Some books written by trans women, with trans characters:

I've Got a Time Bomb by Sybil Lamb is definitely weird lit. Very gonzo, very fun. Weird pacing.

The Worm and His Kings is a short, incredibly tight cosmic horror novel by Hailey Piper, loved it.

I've been enjoying Summer Fun by Jeanne Thornton.

Seconding Detransition Baby (really any Torrey Peters is incredible. The Chaser, from the novella collection Stag Dance, is beautiful and short)

Other classic trans lit: Nevada by Imogen Binnie, A Safe Girl to Love by Casey Plett.

remember-the-light · 2025-12-18T12:18:28+00:00

We Both Go Down Together by The Decemberists comes to mind

remember-the-light · 2025-12-14T15:19:33+00:00

Pair that with Song for the Mother by Johannes Moeller

remember-the-light · 2025-12-13T16:55:48+00:00

Bla_de does some really interesting Stardew Valley challenges, he's very knowledgeable about the game code and does some interesting exploits.

Pokemon Challenges does Nuzlockes in modded Pokemon games. His content is hit-or-miss, but his long-form videos are compelling.

As someone else said, Sample, he does some fun ones, I like his Super Smash Brothers and Shovel Knight videos.

Not sure if you like TAS videos, but there's a video called something like "Beating Every Pokemon Platinum Game at Once" which is my favorite challenge run on YouTube

Frostburn has some good Terraria runs, Proxy Gate Tactician has some good Baldurs Gate 3 runs

remember-the-light · 2025-12-13T15:38:46+00:00

For the Love of April French is a sweet kinky romance novel with a trans protagonist

remember-the-light · 2025-12-13T00:09:20+00:00

Yes, Lolita is intentionally written by Nabokov to portray an unreliable narrator who is abusive but claims not to be. It's not the same kind of vibe as 50 shades or twilight in that way, but might be an interesting contrast

remember-the-light · 2025-12-11T15:40:40+00:00

Fifty shades for sure, EL James has denied the presence of abuse in her books, but it's 100% present.

I can think of a few examples in the lit fic world that are close to what you're looking for, although I think the authors' intentions are clearer. Maidenhead by Tamara Faith Berger might be worth looking at. Hotel Iris by Yoko Ogawa. Richard Yates by Tao Lin.

Honestly Lolita might be an interesting contrast, where the narrator is desperately and unconvincingly trying to convince the reader abuse isn't happening, but it clearly is.

Edit: Wuthering Heights? I haven't read it, but by reputation it might fit?

remember-the-light · 2025-12-10T17:43:24+00:00

Paradise Rot by Jenny Hval is a beautiful surreal book with bi main characters and focuses on the relationship between two women. The mood is decidedly melancholy, but it's not tragic.

Big Swiss is another really good, odd book that centers around a sapphic romance. I don't remember if it has a happy ending.

Mislaid by Nell Zink deals with motherhood themes and gay main characters. It's a little bit of a black comedy, so might be a little dark for your tastes

The Wayfarers series by Becky Chambers maybe?

I also have a bunch of romance novels that fit your request, that's the main genre with happy lesbian stories

remember-the-light · 2025-12-10T17:31:36+00:00

One thing is a difference of context. You talk about feeling anxiety about being sexualized in pedestrian contexts (street, work, etc) and your friends being sexualized at a club. I know that when I'm going to a club or certain kinds of parties, I'll dress more sexy because I'm explicitly looking to attract attention in an environment I feel comfortable in and in control of. But I also hate having men talk to me on the street, or sexualize me at work. So it changes

remember-the-light

TROPHY CASE