u/Main_Masterpiece8414

...no worries darlings, this is not a dominant top writing about his love for his favourite sub.

I just wanted to express sincere love for this sub and for its mods. I don't consider myself that blasé as a gay, and actually I've always despised the phony intellectual-wannabie gays that will secretly listen to Britney and Madonna while publicly expressing admiration for nobody but Sufjan and Tori.

Otoh I've rarely met other gays I could share a brotherly, intellectual kinship with, and that at the same time were able to indulge in banter and tomfoolery.

Even though there are not that many of us here I love the vibe, it's really the closest thing to hanging out with Gore Vidal himself that a working class underpaid scholar like me could get.

Thank you for being you.

Hi everyone, have you listened to Madonna's Confessions II? If yes, what do you think of The Test? It's the song that Arca co-produced and that features Lola Leon's vocals as well.

TIA.

Just finished listening to Confessions II. I'm gonna be sincere: this is the first album of hers I really liked since Confession I.

I am surprised by the effort and love she has put to create an album so intense and energetic but at also utterly moving and sincere-feeling.

Tracks 1-5 in particular represent an excellently executed streak that is going to stay rent-free in my mind all summer, but then every other track on the album is very good, imo "Love Sensation", "Bizarre", "Fragile" and "Betrayal" in particular.

I also loved that as much as I Feel so Free works as a powerful introduction, L.E.S. Girl feels like a lullaby fit to be a closing track after a night at the club: really she couldn't have picked anything better as an opening and a closing track respectively, for they really helped to give the album a sense of progression typical of a tracklist from a dj set at a club.

All in all a wonderful result, especially considering M. has such a long career and has experimented so much over the years. Yet somehow she still manages to come up with something fresh and to always be up to date. Thank you, Madge.

Very wild take, I know.

From season 2 in particular, I have learnt to suspend disbelief while watching this series.

But when it comes to Serena Joy, I just adore how authors went full unhinged with her storyline during season 5 in particular: first she should be supposed to be under surveillance, and possibly go to Gilead only to briefly attend Fred's funeral celebrations.

Otoh, she's allowed to prepare a grand funeral à la Erika Kirk for her Freddie Boy (or should we say that Erika did something à la Serena Joy, given it occurred later?) and to stay in Gilead at her pleasure, even though she should be taken back into strict surveillance.

And while she goes back, it's not according to what would be done following legal systems in most Western countries, but with a daytime soap opera-worthy twist leading to her get imprisoned as a handmaid.

And don't get me started on the very moment she gives birth into a barn to a child whom she aptly calls Noah, followed by a further twist leading her to be separated from her newborn child, a practice that is de facto illegal in most countries in the world.

Luckily, like in every camp story, at the end Serena manages to board on a train that will get her and little Noah out of Toronto, and I am very curious to see what happens next, needless to say.

Did you enjoy her storyline too? Also shout out to Yvonne Strahovski, she really is a very talented actress.

Domanda ai fan della remigrazione e in generale a quelli che "la misura è colma"/"gli italiani hanno perso la pazienza" (frasi che vedo avvicendarsi di continuo su tutti i social media nelle ultime settimane).

Era tipo dal 2018 che non vedevo un simile verificarsi di cori e slogan facili. Posso capire che allora si veniva dai governi Letta, Renzi e Gentiloni e c'era voglia di provare qualcosa di diverso, con annessi attacchi ad hominem nei confronti di chi ci aveva governato. Ma negli ultimi anni al governo c'è stata la Meloni. La Meloni. Non una figlia dei fiori, non un'utopista fautrice del multiculturalismo, ma la Meloni.

Come mai in questo caso le critiche non vengono rivolti né a lei né al governo, come se non avesse promesso blocchi navali e rimpatri vari? Me lo sapete spiegare come se fossi un bimbo delle elementari? Naturalmente so che molti a sinistra criticano la Meloni anche per le questioni legate all'immigrazione (vedasi la questione dei centri in Albania), ma la mia domanda è rivolta a quelli che da Meloni si aspettavano il pugno di ferro.

Grazie in anticipo.

I mean, this was very needed, especially given the very vapid discourse we recently got about hipsteria-related nostalgia and its revival, at least aesthetics-wise. I had even forgotten some of the acts mentioned here existed, thinking of Late of the Pier, which were super popular back in the day.

Also very happy because they mentioned La Blogothèque (which I still keep following indeed). I am just suprised they didn't mention the 30th anniversary since the original release of Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures, which was a definitely a major event and it contributed to make 2009 particularly cool.

What do you think of this? Does make you feel particularly nostalgic? Also did you watch Skins too? :) Feeling so nostalgic now.

Hi everyone, I'm watching the series for the first time, and sadly I haven't read the book (yet).

I love the acting, first and foremost: loved Elisabeth Moss in Mad Men, and decided to watch this series partly because I recently did a MM rewatch and was curious to see THT, especially since it's now available on Netflix. All in all I am pleasantly surprised by all the performances, especially Yvonne Strahovski as Serena Joy (I would love to see her in some Erika Kirk biopic).

Anyways, I found the first season a masterpiece in terms of directing and screenwriting too, but now that I watching the second season I am already noticing some flaws when it comes to writing. In particular, when Emily and Janine are sent back from the colonies to Gilead.

How could these families desire women who had been working amid nuclear waste with bare hands to become surrogate mothers for their children? I know that Gilead is more about control and punishment rather than actually caring for the children, but still would these families go through all of this to have children developing diseases of sorts since early childhood? I find this very confusing.

Is this mentioned in the book too? Did you manage to suspend disbelief anyways?

Thank you in advance.

Specifically talking about the online platform that was active between late '00s and mid-'10s and not their parties irl.

I remember it as being very fun, for it was a peculiar way to get to know interesting lads from different parts of the world. I never met anyone irl but had nice interactions with guys living in Amsterdam, Barcelona, NY and San Francisco alike.

I also got to know a hot lad living near me there, but he was only into cyber-sex and at some point I wanted something more.

Did any of you use it? Were your experiences positive, and perhaps more solid than mine? TIA.

"Restaurants add World Cup service charges, fearing tourists won’t tip

Visitors to U.S. host cities may not know about tipping customs, so operators want to ensure that their workers share in the tournament’s financial benefits."