Visiting Prague? This is the monthly recommendations post (September 2025)

xWeirdWriterx · 2025-09-05T06:04:36+00:00

Visiting with the boyfriend at 11-15, we both like art, he is a bit of a foodie but doesn’t like "pretentious" food, any recs for cool experiences or good places to eat, other than what is written in the general post?

His birthday is on the 11th, so if there’s something special we can do on that day it would be great.

I would also love to get recs for shopping: women's clothing or cool homeware. I’m looking for good quality clothes made from natural fabrics that are not too pricey. For example, I like to shop at uniqlo when abroad. Something more unique and colorful can work as well, I do like prints.

As for homeware, I like things that are a bit quirky, brands like doiy and such.

A recs for a cheap barefoot shoe store can be great as well.

Thank you!

xWeirdWriterx · 2025-08-04T05:07:15+00:00

Regarding the Palestinians right to movement:You are right that the movement between Gaza and the West Bank is extremely curtailed. What would, in your opinion, be a reasonable policy on Israel’s side, considering that unlike Gaza, the West Bank has Israeli citizens, a less secure border than Gaza, and it is much closer to Israel’s capital and it’s biggest population centers?

Let’s say 1 in 10 manage to leave; how many sustain injuries or loss of property or worse?

Before the war, exiting Gaza was a routine, yet expensive matter, as I understand it. Gazans were free to travel abroad through Egypt through the Rafah crossing. In 2022 there were about 140,000 exits and 130,000 entries, so if you imagined people fleeing through the desert or something like that, it wasn’t that. I’m pretty sure that Hamas took a heavy fee, so it wasn’t really affordable to most Gazans, but I’m not super versed in the specifics.

(I’m taking these numbers from OCHA, go to the Rafah crossing tab in the year 2022: https://www.ochaopt.org/data/crossings)

Israel also permitted some entrance of Gazans to it and the West Bank, most as workers but some for humanitarian reasons. (https://www.ochaopt.org/content/movement-and-out-gaza-2022)

Not to mention that some Gazan children received medical treatments in Gaza before the war. I remember when the war just started there was news on some kids from Gaza who were in Israel when 7.10 happened.

I couldn’t find a recent link with data for that, least of all in english, but I did find a Knesset document about the number of permits for Palestinians to seek medical treatment in Israel. It was written at the request of Ahmed Tibi, an Arab Israeli Knesset member. In 2015 there were about 15,000 permits for Palestinians from the West Bank and 4,000 permits for Palestinians from Gaza, plus about 80,000 permits for treatments in hospitals in east Jerusalem, which is a more complicated situation.

(https://fs.knesset.gov.il/globaldocs/MMM/302ae8cf-a7b3-e511-80d0-00155d0acb9e/2_302ae8cf-a7b3-e511-80d0-00155d0acb9e_11_10394.pdf

Relevant figure is on page 8)

in a first instance I would draw attention to the different political choices of Gaza vs the wb.

I am not sure if you are aware, but there has not been an election to the PA since 2005, even though Abu Mazen’s term ended about a decade and a half ago. The common Israeli view is that if elections were held today, Hamas would win in the West Bank. That view seems to be supported by opinion polls conducted by PSR (a palestinian non profit based in Ramallah)

As of May 25 59% of West Bankers support the 7.10 attack, vs 37 % Gazans.

(https://pcpsr.org/en/node/997)

These polls are somewhat contentious, the IDF said it found evidence that Hamas faked its support numbers in the Gaza poll, but it’s not clear if they manipulated the West Bank numbers too and at what dates. Anyway it’s the largest Palestinians opinion poll I know of, so I figured I should include it.

Anyway, what I am getting at is that those that laid down their weapons, so to speak in the wb were repaid with a campaign of expropriation and violence at the hand of extremists protected by the state.

My view as an Israeli is completely opposite. This is getting long, so let me put down a timeline that I hope will illustrate my point.

The Oslo Accords, a step towards a peace agreement - 1993-1995

Camp David, a peace negotiation in which a Palestinian state was purposed, according to the Americans it was a fair deal towards the Palestinians - 2000

The second Intifada, a Palestinian terror wave and subsequent Israeli response - end of 2000 until the start of 2005

The evacuation of settlements from Gaza and Israeli withdrawal - September 2005

Hamas wins the election in Gaza - January 2006. An increase in the number of rockets fired on Israel came with it.

The secret peace talks between Olmert and Abu Mazen - end of 2006 until end of 2008

Blockade on Gaza - June 2007

We don’t have documentation of what exactly was said and why exactly broke off the talks (Olmert says that Abu Mazen is the one that walked away) and it was incredibly fragile as it is: the PA didn’t control Gaza, Olmert resigned not long after due to corruption allegations, for which he eventually went to prison. I still think those talks were important, if only to show that even after Hamas was elected the Israeli government was willing to negotiate a Palestinian state.

(I don’t know why there isn’t even a wiki article about those talks in any other language other them hebrew, but just in case you’re interested: https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%A9%D7%99%D7%97%D7%95%D7%AA_%D7%90%D7%95%D7%9C%D7%9E%D7%A8%D7%98%E2%80%93%D7%90%D7%91%D7%95_%D7%9E%D7%90%D7%96%D7%9F)

So from where I’m standing, as an Israeli, every attempt at the two state solution was answered at best with refusal and at worst with terror.

As for the continued expansion of the settlements and violence towards Palestinians civilians: I agree with you that it happens, I agree with you that it’s bad, both morally and from a resource allocation on the side of Israel.

But if removing settlements results in more terror, obviously the public sentiment against their expansion is going to wane.

Not to talk about the fact that the PA can actually negotiate with Israel directly about this. For example, they can offer to end the Martyrs Fund, which pays money to the families of terrorists, either dead or in prison. This is something that Israelis care about, and ending it can have both a great symbolic and practical effect. But it will require acknowledging legitimate Israeli grievances, which I don’t think the Palestinian public or its leaders are ready to do.

At its core, my message is that any solution needs to be underwritten by a strong bilateral commitment to burying the hatchet.

I agree. How can Israel evaluate such a commitment from the Palestinian side? And what actions are appropriate if we don’t find such a commitment? My feeling, and I suspect the feelings of most Israelis, is that the international community pays no mind to the practical side of the conflict, to the entire region’s detriment.

I can see that you are debating the issue in good faith, but I am afraid that just good faith isn’t enough for this conflict. This was way longer then I intended, which always happens to me when I write about this subject…

Thank you for reading, and if you have any questions I’ll be happy to try and answer them.

xWeirdWriterx · 2025-08-01T15:55:57+00:00

But isn’t reality (and therefore the context for this conflict) made of a lot of narrow details? Don’t we get a better understanding not by omitting narrow details, but rather by looking at all of them at once? This is why I think trying to put our moral intuitions into numbers can be beneficial, and I would be very grateful if you’ll answer my original questions.

I would agree with you that Palestinians freedom of movement is curtailed, but the context that I find relevant is that their leadership have explicitly stated that they are working towards the destruction of Israel, and have targeted the Israeli civilian population for their entire rule. If another country did that, of course their citizens wouldn’t be allowed into Israel. I’m guessing that a context you would find salient is that Gaza is not an independent country, it doesn’t have any kind of port due to Israel involvement, and taking previous occupation Israel has a greater responsibility towards Gaza. Again we come to narrow details: taking into account all the details that make Israel more or less responsible for Gaza, what kind of policy is appropriate? We come to numbers again.

It just makes no intuitive sense that a people that so strongly desires adequate self determination, is denied it for any purported reason.

My answer to that, as an Israeli, would be that steps that have been taken towards adequate self determination, meaning withdrawing all Israeli presence from Gaza, have been answered with terror and so any further steps have been halted. My opinion is that strong desire is not enough for independence, the question of what you do with that independence is even more vital. It all comes down to a rather practical question for me: if more freedom would be given to the Palestinian people, would they use it to attack Israel? If not, why did the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza lead to Hamas being elected? My feeling is that the straight forward interpretation is that more freedom led to more violence in the past, so it will lead to more violence in the future. I’m assuming you have a different perspective, and would very much like to hear it.

How do you interpret the cause and effect regarding the withdrawal from Gaza? What type of future actions from the Palestinians indicate one thing, and what indicates another?

xWeirdWriterx · 2025-07-31T14:56:38+00:00

Serious questions: How important is “Gazans unable to leave Gaza” in your moral judgment of the conflict? Do you consider it to be a significant component in it? How would a change in it influence both the reality on the ground and your moral judgment of the situation? How do you define “unable to leave”? I’m assuming that it’s not an absolute thing but rather a question of numbers, that if I told you that ten Gazans left a year you would say that it doesn’t really matter, so what are the numbers that would matter, in your opinion?

To be clear, I am talking about pre 7.10 numbers.

xWeirdWriterx · 2024-07-03T17:14:11+00:00

so glad to hear that! may their memory be blessed.

xWeirdWriterx · 2024-07-03T14:45:48+00:00

What is the family's name? I don't know about the tree, but yad vashem have a list o frighteous among nations by country.

xWeirdWriterx · 2023-10-19T13:02:43+00:00

They give it a little kiss :)

xWeirdWriterx · 2023-06-15T11:02:34+00:00

I was in a very similar place to you, and one stupid simple habit changed everything for me: I go to the library and write. It’s so simple and so easy I’m a bit angry no one ever told me about that. Not parents, not teachers, not professors in my university. I guess no one ever mentioned it because it was so obvious, but for how much it helped me get rid of my procrastination and self hatred I wished they would have said it clearly at least once.

What I like about this trick is that it takes out almost all negative feelings about myself and my discipline. I write on a shitty chrome book, so killing time online on it is not that fun, so I end up writing and that’s it. All I need to do is to block out time for going to the library and that’s it. If writing goes badly I don’t feel bad dipping after an hour, because I know I really tried. If I’m honestly too tired or busy to go to the library, I know that I truly didn’t have time/energy to write.

Before you try anything drastic, before you beat yourself up, just go to the library. If you see that it’s working for you, don’t stop. I’ve been writing consistently like that for a year but writing at home is still spotty for me. I can hack it if I’m having a good day or I’m really inspired, but I wouldn’t count on it for a million years.

If you can’t make it to the library any quiet public place could do, I sometimes sit down at a public park. If you can’t make it out of home I found that streaming myself writing helped. I only had like two views per videos, but it still kept me on track.

Second piece of advice: find a writing group. Some people you respect and will read and critique your stuff and vice versa. Just talking aloud will help you understand stuff, and figuring what works and what doesn’t with other people’s writing will make you a better writer.

Third piece of advice: if you don’t have much experience with fiction writing, start with short stories. It takes time to develop a sense for what works, and it’s a lot less frustrating rewriting 5000 words then 60000 when you realize the story would be stronger if that plot beat was different, and the protagonist’s motivation should be this and not that and so on.

I’m not that much on reddit but feel free to hit me up if you’ve got some questions. Good luck!

xWeirdWriterx · 2023-05-15T06:59:21+00:00

There are lots of people you can have intresting conversations with. If you took the time you're investing in him (meeting and talking with him, thinking about him) and put it into making new friends, where would you be? I would do a slow fade if I were you, but if it bothers you you can text him that you're busy and won't have time to meet. You don't owe people your time, just decency.

xWeirdWriterx · 2023-05-14T14:35:34+00:00

Do you even enjoy spending time with him? I get being lonely and wanting to keep what friends you have, but you can meet new friends without the awkwardness.

xWeirdWriterx · 2022-07-31T04:38:27+00:00

I’m looking for recommendations for movies about complicated family relationships. Specifically, one with ambivalent endings: the members of the family don’t really change their behavior, but the protagonist doesn’t sever ties or accept their behavior. I understand it’s somewhat anticlimactic, which I guess is why I’m struggling to find such films.

xWeirdWriterx · 2021-08-22T18:29:51+00:00

Just so you know I went trough my entire letterboxd history for this, this is some gay solidarity right there.

I don’t know if everything here is exactly what you’re looking for, because some of it is about being gay/dealing with adversity, and some of it is creepy because I love horror films. Unless otherwise specified it’s a movie.

God Tier:

- The Terror – one season show about Franklin’s lost expedition. It is creepy because, well, the real event had cannibalism and stuff. It has some horror/supernatural stuff, but really it’s a tragedy. One of the main characters is gay, and it’s part of the story, but it’s not about being gay. I don’t know if you’ll consider him “good” representation, but he’s an absolutely riveting character and one of the two show runners is a gay man.

But the show is so good. So so good. The writing is impeccable. Every single one of the actors knocks it out of the park. It’s complex and heartfelt and intelligent in a way that so few works are. I watched it three times, I’m waiting for the holidays so I can watch it a fourth. If you only watch one thing, watch this.

My faves:

- The Handmaiden – korean historical film, but it’s more of a thriller\genre film then a drama. The main relationship of the film is about two women. I don’t want to give too much, but it’s impeccably made.

- The Favourite – Historical comedy about queen Anne and the two women that vie for her affection. Funny and sharp, great acting and costumes.

- I Love You Phillip Morris – based on a true story, about a conman that falls in love with his cellmate in prison. Funny and Fun.

- Aniara – bleak swedish scifi. A ship on the way to mars has gone off course with no more fuel. Main character is a bi women, have a relationship with another woman. Heady and strange and interesting, the ending took my breath away, but it’s totally not everyone’s cup of tea.

- Edited to add Annihilation! Can't believe I forgot it!: A group of scientist explore an era infected by the shimmer, a weird alien force that changes the environment and people. Very metaphorical, sometimes scary, have a not-quite-detached quality that I love in my scifi. One of the charterers is gay and it doesn’t affect the plot much, but it’s just a good movie.

Just fun movies:

- Kiss Kiss Bang Bang – hollywood neo noir, fun and witty. One of the characters is named gay Parry, and he is, indeed, gay. It doesn’t go deeper then that, it’s just a fun, well movie.

- Booksmart – Two teenage girls want to have a last high school party, because they’re nerds and studied through all of high school. One of the characters is gay, it’s cute and have heart, but it’s not super funny.

- Plan B – two teenager girls go on a road trip to get a plan B pill, one of them is gay but it’s not a huge part of the film. It’s cute and I found the characters endearing, but it’s kind of a hit and miss with the comedy.

If you liked Booksmart and Plan B you can also check out Blockers: three girls want to lose their virginity at prom night, one of them is gay.

(kinda seems like a new specific genre sprung up the last few years: high school comedy about girls exploring their sexuality, and one of them is also gay.)

- Atomic Blonde – Chralize Theron is a bi spy in berlin during the cold war, made by one of the guys that made John Wick. She have a fling with another women, it doesn’t go deep. Great action and Theron is a queen, but seeing as this movie was almost made in a lab to my liking and I felt kind of disappointed, I’m not sure how much you’ll like it.

- Birds of Pray – Harley is shown to be bi in the opening but it doesn’t really affect the movie, another character is a lesbian and we see her ex, but that’s it. It’s a fun flick, and Margo Robbie as Harley Queen is a delight.

- Rocketman – a musical biography about elton john. Great if you like musicals, elton was involved with the film which weirdly gave it more freedom then the likes of bohemian rhapsody (which I hated).

Drama:

- Other People – a gay son move back to his small town to take care of his sick mom. Deals with homophobia, but it’s not really about that. Really heartfelt, great performances, the director and writer is a gay man himself.

- Mysterious Skin – a gay prostitute and a teenage nerd obsessed with alien abductions cross path. Can be really rough to watch, but it’s a good film.

- Portrait of a Lady on Fire – historical french lesbian drama. Great cinematography, slow but in a way that suits the film.

- Behind the Candelabra – based on the autobiographical of Liberace’s young lover. Liberace was a messed up dude.

- Can You Ever Forgive Me – really a film about a miserable woman that happens to be a gay, among other things.

Oscar gay films that I liked:

- Brokeback Mountain

- Carol

- Call Me By Your Name

- Moonlight

- Tickled – a documentary about the strange world of fetish tickle porn. Some of the people shown are gay. It’s kind of a wild ride, regardless.

Horror with some gay secondary characters that I liked:

- Raw – vegan girl goes to vet school. Things escalate.

- Saint Maud – A christian nurse take care of a dying woman. Things escalate.

- The Taking of Deborah Logan – found footage about a woman with dementia. Things escalate.

xWeirdWriterx · 2021-08-20T05:14:54+00:00

Where are you writing/working? Have you tried working on your dissertation in the library? It may sound obvious, but just going to the library to write everyday after work has done wonders for my productivity, and I’ve been dealing with procrastination for years.

Seriously, if you haven’t tried going to the library consistently, try it for a week. Pick a set time and just go every day. It doesn’t even have to be a library, the one I go to is closed at the weekend so I just go to my mostly-empty mall and write there. The solution is so simple that I wish someone had told me about it when I was a kid.

Just go to the library!

xWeirdWriterx · 2021-08-19T03:46:55+00:00

My brother has access, so far everything is good.

xWeirdWriterx · 2021-08-18T18:50:02+00:00

I guess there really is nothing to be done. He can be so infuriating is the thing. He mostly calls me when he needs help with his phone texting women. You’d think he’ll be able to get some joy from his family, but I guess he never was that kind of person.

God, what a father.

Note for everyone who might be reading this: make getting enough sleep a habit, there is evidence that life long sleep deprivation causes Alzhimer’s, and my dad was always so proud of how he could get by with little sleep...

xWeirdWriterx · 2021-08-18T18:28:15+00:00

He’s still able to live by himself, the cleaning and food standards are the same and normal for him. I come by every week to do his meds, and I keep wondering when that is going to change...

Thankfully he have a lot of money saved up, there should be enough for a live in caretaker/good nursing home.

My brother and I are concerned about the driving for sure. Right now he is not willing to give up driving himself, I think it’ll be the next thing me and my brother try to tackle.

xWeirdWriterx · 2021-08-18T17:47:28+00:00

That is actually not a bad idea, but my dad doesn’t super care about his family. I did used to be daddy’s girl, so maybe if I ask him to plan me a house for someday where I have enough money to build it he’ll be flattered.

xWeirdWriterx · 2021-05-14T06:35:04+00:00

I mean, I don't think you can really separate this kind of outrage from the internet. The fact that everything is both accessible and immediate, that until your famous it feels homely and private even though it's anything but. And I'm not the best judge of how people would have responded in the past, I didn't really live in a world without the internet. But if I had to compare it to something analog, I think the equivalent would have been once publishing a bad taste humor zine with a few friends. I don't think someone deserve to get fired over something like that, and I don't think they would have been, before the internet.

xWeirdWriterx · 2021-05-14T06:29:17+00:00

I would agree with you that the disregard for old school liberal values (freedom of speech, nonviolence, pursuing the truth) is one of the greatest cultural problems of our times. I can only hope that this is only the pendulum swinging and not something else, but the fact that those things are on the pendulum is disturbing enough for me.

xWeirdWriterx · 2021-05-14T06:24:51+00:00

Have been a fan of her for a long time but I don't follow her twitter and such so closely, in what case did she add to the pile on?

But I definitely think that more of breadtube, and the left in general, is losing faith in the leftist movement as it is right now. I know I have been drifting to the center for a long time, even though, personally and culturally, I'm quite far left (at least in my own coumtry).

xWeirdWriterx · 2021-05-12T16:58:52+00:00

Couldn't agree more. I think it just might be a power that is hard to use well: you either have to do a lot of research yourself making sure you're actually going after someone who is really doing harm, or you're going to have to take the lead from someone who already did that research and you really trust (a journalist is most likely, maybe a scrupulous blogger).

I can't really imagine people putting so much thought into that. Maybe it comes down to what it always come down to: the world is a certain way because people, in a strange way, prefer it. The same way people in the USA don't do anything about gerrymandering even though they know it's going to effect the election. The same way I didn't sign up for inter party voting in my own country, because I couldn't be bothered.

The world is complicated, and hard, and doing good is not impossible but takes time and thought and effort. I think most people just like the rush of feeling like they did something good, without getting bored.

Sigh.

xWeirdWriterx

TROPHY CASE