#this os bringing back SO many memories from middle school

[fitzfunnymoments]

Currently watching the new dhmis series and I'm loving it so far :]

[electric-english]

Critical Racial Literacy: concepts and practices

Hello there, electric teacher!

We've gotten to the last post where I talk about BNCC! It was such a pleasure to share my experiences and learn so much by writing these blogs.

In this last post, I'll talk about critical racial literacy in the English classroom. I would like to start by bringing back memories from my middle and high school years. I had an amazing history teacher who taught us so much about African countries and cultures and enlightened us on what Eurocentrism and racism were.

She would address topics like antiracism and the need to bring African culture into EVERY school subject, in a very serious manner. Even though she was a very fun person, and her classes were super engaging, she still made sure that every one of her students understood the necessity of being an antiracist in all circumstances.

In one of my classes at university, we were presented with a great text and received an amazing speech from a person who knows a lot about teaching the African culture, and this quote really stood out to me:

"É importante tomar conhecimento da complexidade que envolve o processo de construção da identidade negra em nosso país. Processo esse, marcado por uma sociedade que, para discriminar os negros, utiliza-se tanto da desvalorização da cultura de matriz africana como dos aspectos físicos herdados pelos descendentes de africanos."

Unfortunately, I don't think this is being practiced in most schools in Brazil and in the world. People are still very unaware when it comes to African culture. Many students are still making racist jokes and thinking they will not have any consequences for that.

As English teachers, there are many ways we could use language to help students learn about antiracism and African culture. Using extracts of African literature in the classroom, such as Chinua Achebe's "Things Fall Apart", where Nigerian culture and colonialism are truthfully portrayed by a Nigerian author.

Thank you all for reading my posts! It was a pleasure to learn and share my experience with you!

Don't forget: stay electric, teacher ⚡

[butter3drainbows]

La squadra brainrot and my endless love for children and romantic comedies got me thinking. So imagine this, single dad squadra falling in love with their child's kindergarten teacher 🥺

🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺❤️✨ My fav F/Os as D-D-daddies??

Get ready for some UwU scenarios with La Squadra Dream Daddies asdgf

====================================================

Oooh ♥️♥️♥️ Melone would be the dad that tries to be around the school whenever his work schedule allows it and is known as the parent who announces his presence loudly from the entrance 😂 Melone's attraction for his kid's teacher is poorly hidden with him visibly perking up whenever they bring his child to him. Every day he would take their hands, look them in the eye and earnestly thank them for taking such good care of his child when he is away. His child is really talkative and will have nothing but good things to say about their teacher when Melone asks them about their day. In the middle of his kid's excited recounting of their day, the child will share how they wish that their teacher would always be around the house and that they should marry their papa right away because he really reaaaally likes them. Melone would be thrown off the loop at being outed so suddenly but will be given hope when his child's teacher laugh and say, "Well it's a good thing we're both single then aren't we?"

I always like to imagine Risotto having a daughter that easily cries 😂. Idk, just the thought of an intimidating tank of a man crouching in front of his tiny daughter while rubbing her tears away with his thumbs or letting her hiccup over his shoulders makes my heart howl like there's no tomorrow 😭💖💖 Her teacher will follow Risotto's example and let them sob into their shoulders one rainy afternoon, swaying her from side to side and reassuring them that her daddy is on his way to pick her up soon and was just probably late because of the rain. Seeing his daughter quickly be soothed by their nurturing personality has Risotto's attraction for them increase two-fold. He knew then and there that he wanted them to be a part of his and his daughter's lives.

Illuso will be the dad who finds himself confiding his troubles as a single dad to his kid's teacher and while he sometimes feels like he's being such a burden by sharing his problems, the teacher always reassures him that it is absolutely ok and even encourages him to talk about it with them if he's comfortable enough to share more. The fact that his kid absolutely loves them was just a bonus. They were perfect. They made it so easy for Illuso to fall head over heels with their patience, empathy and kind smile. He's never felt such warmth from his former lover before and for them to provide it to him so selflessly makes him yearn for something more after being alone for so long.

Pesci's child is a born trouble-maker and stories of their antics are something that both he and the teacher would have in common to talk and laugh about during PTAs or in afternoons when Pesci would allow his kid to play longer in the playground after kindergarten hours. They will be quick to give him reassurance, even scold him when he feels like he's not doing enough for his kid to be a well-rounded person. Every kind word that leaves their lips is a strike to the heart for Pesci. They're so incredibly nice to him, who wouldn't fall in love with someone like them?

In Formaggio's case, he would fall in love with them the moment he lays their eyes on them. They look so much like his late lover it almost makes him believe that they were still alive. It was hard for him to keep himself away with the memory of his late beloved flashing with their every move when he observes them from afar. Their personalities can not be any more different though, and that alone snaps Formaggio out from his delusions that his late lover wil everl come back to him. He was glad he met them though. He can finally let go of the pain eating away inside him from losing the love of his life.

For Ghiaccio it all begins with his grandmother's recipe for her special almond cookies. He had his son take some as snacks to school and had apparently shared some to his teacher. His teacher loved the cookies and asked Ghiacco's son if his dad was open to sharing his recipe with them. Ghiacco was hesitant at first saying, "I'm not sharing your nonna's amaretti recipe just like that" but had a change of heart when his kid handed him a handwritten authentic recipe for Mustazzoli with a note at the bottom that says, "Perhaps a trade then?". And so began their quiet correspondence of shared recipes and personalized notes behind detailed instructions and drawn directions for where to get the best produce.Like Melone's kid, Ghiacco's feelings for the teacher will also be unceromoniously revealed by his son, but this time in the form of a drawing depicting him and his son's teacher sending love letters, as the child would call it, with little Ghiacco as the messenger of love. "Would you like to have dinner sometime?" read Ghiaccio on the latest shared note given to him by his son. He quickly looked at the wide-eyed child suspiciously, knowing how he may have had a hand in this sudden turn of events being how smart he is for his age. He shuffled through his Olaf bagpack and pulled out a piece of paper that had a number written on it before saying, "I got her telly number so you guys can call each other. Y'know like normal people."

Prosciutto probably didn't realize it but he fell in love with his daughter's teacher the moment he saw them give her a pep talk on her first day of school and actually manage to convince her to have him leave her. His daughter had always been fussy and it takes a lot of patience and time to actually get her settled for her to listen to him. They, however had managed to do this is seconds with their cheerful smile and soft words. The moment he realized he was falling was when this same teacher came up to his car window urgently tapping his window and asking him politely (but with barely concealed fury) to step outside when they caught him "smoking"(but really it was just mint candy that resembled cigarettes lol) in the car with his daughter in it. Prosciutto couldn't even put a word in at the flurry of words that left their pretty mouth. He didn't mind being told off by them though, it was obvious how much they cared for their students with how many times their concern for his daughter's well-being was brought up in their tirade. When he was finally able to explain that the cigarette was in fact candy, he couldn't help but chuckle at their mortified expression and the embarassment that came after. This person was interesting, he decided, he wonders if they were still single.

Gelato fell in love with his daughter's teacher the moment they mistook him as her kidnapper. He appreciates someone who knows how to fight and boy were they good at keeping him immobilized. Only when his daughter started crying to "let his papa go" did they release him from their chokehold. He was sure he was going to bruise from that. The redness on their cheeks and the hurried apologies only added to his attraction for them. How cute.

Sorbet also experiences the same situation as Gelato and will fall in love with the feisty teacher at first sight. He will commend anyone who has the ability to pin him face down on the ground being a professional in MMA himself and will be highly amused that the one person who was able to do so was his kid's innocent-looking kindergarten teacher. Looks to him like his kid is gonna have another person to call mama.

[echoes-lighthouse]

What’s your ideal vacation with your F/Os? Any of em, go wild

- did you know budgies have contagious yawns like humans?? Like they can see another budgie yawn and it makes them need to yawn??

I did not know that!! That's adorable. Can they catch yawns from humans??

Vacations with my F/Os

Death and I go to the beach. There's sunlight, and we splash each other in the waves. I make a sandcastle too close to the water and the tide drowns it only a few minutes later, but I don't mind. She helps me with my sunscreen, and our big fashion sunglasses clack against each other when we kiss. I go out for a swim and she's gone when I get back to the shore. I pack up my things (hers are already gone), and smile at the sky. I know I'll see her again soon.

--

My favourite summers with Val are the ones when we go to space. There's so much to be said for spending time among the atoms, or on Victorian streets, but my favourite thing is to sit on the steps of the school bus, Val behind the wheel. I watch the stars rush by outside the windows, when I'm not busy reading her my favourite books as she drives. There are planets to explore, and red giants to admire, and old friends to visit. But that time between, where it's just us and the bright lights of distant galaxies... that's when some of my best memories are.

--

Toshinori and I rent a cabin, in a warm forest near a lake. We sleep half the afternoon away, and drive into town to get groceries. There's no internet: we play card games and go through the stack of DVDs that I brought along. At night, we light a fire in the fireplace and roast marshmallows. He always catches his marshmallows on fire, and has to blow it out in a rush. The bed in the master bedroom is huge, but we sleep tangled in the middle of it, the sound of his breathing machine blending with the frogs and crickets outside.

--

Grell and I travel North, to Russia. The cold doesn't bother her much, but I have to bundle in a thousand layers and I look ridiculous. She tugs on the ends of my red knitted scarf and kisses my cold nose. Having just missed Bakunin, I'm determined to visit the other Nihilists while the movement is still alive in Russia: the Revolutionary fervor is spreading, but I still believe that peaceful Nihilism is a possible answer to the aristocracy, both in Russia and England. Grell smiles and humors me: Russia is beautiful and we walk the streets of Moscow hand in hand. 

--

Mary brings me to Hogwarts, knowing I’ve always wanted to visit. Stepping between the pages of the book, we emerge by Hagrid’s cabin. If you look closely, you can see the words that make up everything around us, down to the smallest blade of grass. We have tea with Hagrid, in chipped china too large for my hands, and he shows us around the grounds. We sneak inside the school, too old to pass for students, but we walk like we belong and manage to get to Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom. We find her glad for the company, and spend a good afternoon sharing stories about children and their shenanigans. We end the day with a trip to Hogsmeade, and Mary orders a butter beer and gets foam on her upper lip. 

--

Jester and I return to Hupperdook. We spend the day wandering the shops with Kiri and her adopted siblings, spoiling them with treats and ribbons. In the evening, we are invited for family dinner. The children are too worked up to sit still, and we both end up with a child on our lap, doing our best to dodge their excited arm waving. When night falls, and the children are in bed, we rush out into the street. There are fireworks and street vendors: we enter a ribbon-dancing competition and come third place. She carries me up on her shoulders, so that I can spot the best street food, and we stumble back to our hotel at dawn, giddy and exhausted. 

--

I bring Zero to Venice, and convince him to go by plane. He spends the flight telling me everything that could go wrong in vivid detail, and I remind him how many times his ship has broken down in the last month. Once we’re there, it’s perfect. We spend long mornings in our hotel room, and spend the afternoons getting lost in the winding canals and pathways. Zero sits on a bridge and writes lyrics for his new album, and I sit beside him and reread The Passion, by Winterson. We read quotes out loud to each other, and enjoy the sunlight on the wayer. 

[courage-a-word-of-justice]

Planet With 6 - 8 | Cells at Work! 6 - 8 | Phantom in the Twilight 6 - 8 | BnHA 57 - 58 | Angolmois 6 - 7

Planet With 6

“Are you a monster?” - Who’s the real monster in this show, though?

A Clog Punch is even more hilarious than a standard Giga Cat Hammer, haha.

The bad guy died! What the heck’s going to happen from here???

Cells at Work! 6

Smol RBC-senpai is so cute! Not as much as smol RBC herself, but…yeah. I wonder if smol WBC is around as well…?

This story’s a lil’ hackneyed, but nothing that doesn’t twang the heartstrings a little…

I love how the sensei WBC still has blood on his arm as he walks away.

The banter between the NK and the Killer T cells really gets to me. It’s so good!

Angolmois 6

Dang, I liked Yajirou. Now he’s dead…

Where did Teruhi get the cloth for Yajirou’s (I presume) head…?

I find it interesting how he (Onitakemaru) dragged the old man merchant with him and yet went to the extent of plundering the treasure without the intent of keeping it. It’s like he did the plundering as a show of strength…

I’ve realised that even though Planet With’s been getting better and better, this show’s starting to sink. Sure, the staff on this show are giving me everything I asked for, but the shine of a new anime is starting to wear off…That montage just proved why it sunk – it’s more willing to go for a quality drop in the middle of the plot.

It was way too dark in the scene that revealed Teruhi’s face being up against Kuchii’s. It took me a bit to realise that was happening…

The water in that river looks a bit odd.

“Akimado firefly” gets me zero relevant Google results.

Now that I think of it, Nagamine’s kinda hot, LOL.

Come to think of it, I still haven’t got a bead on whether Teruhi has the hots for Kuchii or not. If it’s the former, then this show would be quite disappointing. Plus, are these invaders all Mongols from China, Mongols from Mongolia (duh) or Mongols from Europe? They did have gunpowder, which is from China, but they also said the Mongolians had invaded Europe at this point…

Phantom in the Twilight 6

*sees ep 7 title* - “Awakening of the Century”? Not on my watch, no. Probably not.

Why are they only progressing the plot now? Not that I didn’t like the Roland story, but…c’mon, if your friend is in danger, you shouldn’t derail from that. Right?

Notably, the group is called “midnight sun” (katakana), but the episode is called mayonaka no taiyou (kanji/hiragana).

Karandi mentioned how she loved how faithful this show was to the past folklore of supernatural creatures and now they’re using that to the show’s advantage…huh.

Oh, hey. Next episode preview gave spoilers…that’s just like a next-ep preview, actually.

BnHA 57

Noticeably, Yoarashi is pretty obvious with his giant whirlwind…

Haha, Deku is quoting All Might verbatim from the video!

Welp, there wasn’t much to say this episode…

Cells at Work! 7

This cancer cell looks like Ken Kaneki (Tokyo Ghoul)…interesting choice.

They decided to deviate from the serious plot for the platelets. I give it 10 out of 10!...Nah, just kidding.

*Killer T helps NK get up* - I can see why Negative Primes ships NK and Killer T Cells together now…

I forgot what the cryptic-speaking green-covered cell (not a dendrite, but the other guy) was called…I think he might’ve been a B cell, but that’s all I remember. Sorry.

I can’t believe I’m feeling sympathetic for a cancer cell…

Planet With 7

I like how even Ginko still has secrets up her sleeve right now.

Hmm…it seems the hypnosis didn’t work because Nozo-san is wearing glasses.

Benika and Yousuke seem to have been hypnotised, this isn’t like them!!!

Phantom in the Twilight 7

I find it interesting Vlad chose to use Chinse martial arts. Either Toryu taught him, he learnt how to do them from Rijan or he learnt from Chinese people over many, many years. I think the second option is the most probable.

Why can’t the underlings see Kabocha-kun (Kabocha-kun = the jack o’ lantern)?

Toryu does the Naruto run. He’s not even a ninja!

The OS kind of looks like Windows, but with the taskbar being a colour of a Mac…plus the top bar of a Mac.

The green lines of text that appear on the screen are just gibberish, by the way. They’re not code…

*Chris punches Luke to get him out of the way of the falling debris* - I laughed a lot harder than I should have at that…because that shows they’re concerned for each other…in a very roundabout sort of way.

Oh no, Kabocha-kun!

What?! Van Helsing’s hair wiggles of its own accord! It’s basically alive!

Eyy! Extra info! That’s what I watch these after-episode segments for!

“You’re giving away the second half of the season!” – Hmm…

*after the next-ep segment is completely over* - Hmm…so Ton has her hair change colour and lose her memories. The Price of Power = The Price of Loss. Hmm indeed.

Angolmois 7

Ho-Holy mackerel! My knowledge of Touken Ranbu swords is coming in handy! Imanotsurugi is the lil’ grey-haired shota (tantou) who dresses like a tengu. That means this Kurou man is more simply known as Minamoto no Yoshitsune!

Seriously, this emperor looks like an alien! An alien, I tell you!

At first I didn’t recognise the guys with the facial marking were Toibarai, but then I saw Nagamine and I was like, “Oh. Okay then.” Come to think of it, these Mongolians look like the Earth guys from Avatar…

I find it interesting the Toibarai – or at the very least, Nagamine – are literate. You’d think in a time like 1274 there’d be a lot more illiteracy…or maybe I’m just thinking about Western civilisation…

“The abalones are a tougher opponent.” – I like these ladies already. Not only because that’s such a funny line, but because tough lady fisherwomen with tans is probably more representation than an entire genre of ecchi anime can do for women.

Apparently a porgy is a type of fish…hmm. It sounds silly.

Come to think of it, Jinzaburou was right once bfore when everyone else stood against him and that was when he got thrown out of Sou Sukekuni’s meeting…which doesn’t spell good things for Kanatanoki, y’know.

Cells at Work! 8

Man, I had to memorise the circulation path years ago! Too bad I don’t remember how it goes anymore…

I like how the blood cell mascot is actually shaped like an RBC.

I only just noticed, but female RBCs in this show have booty shorts and male ones have pants. Why can’t it ever be the other way around…?

Hmm…the tricuspid valve is shown as a torii gate. Interesting choice.

*platelets try to put up posters while talking to WBC* - Excellent usage of platelets. 10/10!

I was wondering what the cell’s seal said…close inspection reveals it just says “cell” on it. I guess I should’ve figured that out without having to zoom in on the image, eh?

“…you spineless candy-ass!” – That’s a hilarious insult! Who the heck thought of it and what’s the Japanese equivalent of it???

BnHA 58

A special…? This is almost as bad as a recap episode if it’s all recycled…

…uh, wow. That All Might was more meta than I was expecting.

Oh, I get it now. Movie promo episode. So that’s what this is.  

For some reason, I find Toshinori going “Dave” hilarious. I don’t know how to explain it. Maybe it’s because he looks American.

“Save the World With Love!” brings to mind Boueibu, y’know? Good times…

*All Might comes in through the back door, flexing* - Muscle muscle, hustle hustle!

Oh my gosh, they went Detective Conan on us!

Suicide out of grief for what he’d (All Might had) done, maybe?

Oh yeah. Midoriya overlooked why the three potential culprits were separated and left  in different parts of the store. Update: Nope, right thinking, wrong lead.

Planet With 8

Notably, 10 = to in some cases, hence Torai being 10.

Souya’s gone all Shinji Ikari on us! Not that I mind, but…Shinji is a polarising character for a reason, y’know!

Why does this story, with a potential final confrontation on the moon, remind me of Busou Renkin so much?

Phantom in the Twilight 8

“Why Shinyao specifically?” is the question I’m asking here. Why did Shinyao need to be kidnapped?

Has Ton even gone to school yet? Or rather, is it summer break in London and we were never told that?

“She entered forbidden territory.” – Says a worker at Café Forbidden!

I’ve never heard “stole a march on me” before…apparently it means “to gain an advantage over someone else”.

He uses a cat pickup line! He’s a werewolf! That’s…hilarious!

I’m still wondering if Shinyao has Stockholm syndrome to any degree…

The line about the abyss is Niestche (sp???). I’ve seen it quoted enough times to know.

Did they ever mention the fact Ton’s hair went back to normal? Or was all that hair-tossing meant to imply it was back to normal without saying anything? You’re trying so hard, show, but you’re not quite hitting the mark…

[addieplots]

Depois de literalmente três anos longe do 1x1 e até mesmo do tumblr por ‘n’ motivos, eu decidi voltar porque no fim das contas era e ainda é a melhor terapia, lully linda tá de prova disso sim. ENTÃO BORA LÁ? Eu sou a Addie e pra quem me conhecia de anos atrás, a própria addie do @addiewrites e pra quem vai conhecer agora a addie desse aqui mesmo FDSUISDF

Por estar de volta e sedenta eu quero vários plotzinhos lindos e maravilhosos, eu tenho uma lista de wishes e por hora apenas dois plots bunny reblogados, mas nada impede que vocês me mandem o que queiram jogar, real. Vou deixar embaixo do read more alguns aqui meus. E se quiserem jogar é só chamar no chat ou então deixar um likezineo aqui que vou atrás de vocês, sem problema. ♥

Um au! do Estranho Mundo de Jack, mas com a diferença de que as seria com pessoas reais. Se alguém já assistiu o filme sabe que a Sally é filha do Dr. Finklestein e ela é toda costurada por ser uma espécie de versão feminina do Frankestein. No au! todas essas costuras dela seriam cicatrizes de abusos sofridos pelo pai, todas seriam de maneiras severas e existiriam nos mesmos locais que as costuras que ela possui na animação. Aqui a Sally não gostaria muito de sair na rua por acreditar que as pessoas temeriam olhar para ela por conta de sua face e seu corpo e mesmo ela trabalhando na farmácia que pertence ao pai ela tem vergonha de se apresentar as pessoas, mesmo que todos estejam acostumados com a face dela. Então um dia ela conhece um forasteiro que surge na farmácia para comprar alguns remédios necessários para sua próxima viagem, que seria ele então o Jack. Diferente de todo mundo, ele veria uma beleza única na Sally e daria um jeito de mostrar a ela que é bela do jeito que é. O plot seria nisso de Jack mostrar uma nova visão do mundo e dela mesma pra Sally. Ela finalmente conhecendo o que era/é amor de verdade.

Algum au! ou até mesmo plot que seja do Capitão América (Steve Rogers) com o Soldado Invernal (Bucky Barnes), ou até mesmo algum com o Bucky e um personagem oc, no problem.

Algum plot com uma dessas quatro gay versions aqui: (x, x, x e x)

Onde Muse A é uma princesa refugiada de seu país, o qual ela iria se tornar a futura rainha já que seus pais haviam sido assassinados e ninguém sequer teve conhecimento acerca do assassino. No dia da coroação ela sofreu um atentado que a fizera fugir sem nem olhar para trás. Acabou então por ser encontrada por um fazendeiro próximo a fronteira e passara a morar com ele e lá ela conhece Muse B que odeia totalmente os trejeitos da princesa e sequer acredita em qualquer palavra dela, pois acha que é só uma desculpa por ser uma garota ridiculamente mimada, mas conforme vai passando o tempo eles vão se aproximando cada vez mais e Muse B começa a ver que a garota tem um coração bom.

Muse A e Muse B são espiões, foram designados a descobrirem um desfalque em uma empresa e o roubo de diversas pinturas mais do que valiosas em seus respectivos países. Porém, para que tudo desse certo e eles tivessem de conseguir uma maior eficiência em suas missões, eles teriam de fingir serem noivos. Mas o que ninguém esperava era que isso os tornaria mais próximos do que deveria.

Depois de hoje ver um filme de uma das várias versões da cinderella, um em que Muse A teria perdido o pai e passado a morar com a madrasta e as duas irmãs horrorosas e ela conhece Muse B que vê nela uma garota doce e gentil e até mesmo um tanto quanto louca dependendo da situação, mas não sabe que por trás de tanta loucura ou até mesmo suposta felicidade existe uma garota que sofre dos mais diversos abusos e que sofre a cada vez que sua madrasta ousa abrir a boca para falar com ela.

NÃO SÃO DE MINHA AUTORIA MAS QUE ADORARIA JOGAR:

give me a m/m or f/f plot where both of them aren’t out to their parents yet and spend nights at each other’s houses. their parents think they’re just being teenagers and doing whatever best friends do when they’re actually making out and having sex and all that throughout the night and it’s just a lot of “stop moaning so loud, you’re going to wake everyone” and teasing them behind their family’s back when they’re not looking

//au where the head cheerleader of one team has a secret fling with the quarterback of her rival school and if someone finds out they could get kicked off of both of their teams that’s how fierce the competition is gIVE ME

a plot where MUSE A and MUSE  B have been best friends since.. forever, they are basically joined at the hip and would do anything for the other, but the only problem is that they always get jealous when the other hangs out with a potential love interest. one day, MUSE A and MUSE B go to a friend’s party together and get drunk and kiss - but only MUSE A remembers after that night, and MUSE B has no idea whatsoever what happened. MUSE A realizes that he has developing feelings for his friend and it all goes from there…

soulmate au where hermione felt the exact moment draco got his dark mark and she withered to her bedroom floor in pain and she could see all the disgusting things he would have to endure bc he can’t hold it back and there’s so many tears and hoarse screams that they can’t tell what’s coming from who and even though they know they’re soulmates they’ve barely interacted outside of insults but hermione in unbearable pain pushes some of her softest memories towards him like buying her favorite sugar quills, twirling in her favorite white sundress, the quiet of the library, going apple picking, the moment where she touched him for the first time when they stuck on a moving staircase and tbh that was enough for draco to get by.

“i’m a vampire and we met when you were still human and we fell in love and planned out our whole eternal life together but on the night i turned you i freaked out over the commitment and abandoned you in the middle of the night & now it’s over a century later and we’re only just seeing each other again for the first time since and there’s so much hatred in your eyes when you look at me but fuck you still look just as hot and make my heart race as much as you did back then and i think i made the biggest mistake of my life in leaving” au (☉‿☉✿)

plot where muse a’s girlfriend/boyfriend/family member/best friend dies and muse b see’s him break down after the funeral by his/her car, offering to drive muse a home. muse b spends the next couple of years being muse a’s best friend, taking care of them when no one else knew how. they help them apply to schools, make sure they go out and socialize, and basically nurture through grief attentively. flash forward three years, they are both now in college either nearby or at the same school and muse a brings their new significant other home for christmas. little did they know, muse b has held a deep crush and love for muse a for years now, waiting patiently for them to be ready for a real relationship. muse b become furious with muse a, jealousy taking over them. the plot starts with muse be screaming ‘i gave you three years of my life. i gave you everything i had and this is how you repay me?’ before christmas dinner I WOW please someone give this to me now.

plot about muse a and muse b who were two high school sweethearts who had a really bad break-up but are always kind of on each other’s minds even as the years pass and then one day muse a moves into an apartment complex miles away from their hometown because of a job and their neighbor is constantly having sex and it’s just getting really annoying so one night they they go knock on the door to say ‘HEY CAN YOU STOP BANGING ALL THE TIME I’M TRYING TO SLEE–’ and then whoops it’s muse b. surprise!!

[tfdtrdtr]

I took my hat

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[legault]

Finding Home in the Strangest Places (Legault/Heath)

Ok, so I finally finished my @nagamas gift, for the prompt “ "heath/legault domestic au where they buy their first house." My giftee is anonymous, but whoever you are, I hope that you like this, and I apologize for the wait!

I have more thoughts about this AU, but in the interest of not wasting space, they’re in the end notes on AO3.

Ok, I think that’s all, so here’s the actual fic (which you can also read on AO3 if that makes your life easier!)

“If I could go back in time and tell the past me that someday I’d be house-hunting in the frozen wasteland of North Dakota,” Legault remarks as they drive into Minot. “I would have laughed in my own face.”

“Well, if I had told my past self that I’d be buying a house with a wanted criminal, I’d have laughed in my own face.” Heath shoots back, eyes not leaving the road. “Actually,” He adds, “I probably wouldn’t have even laughed. I would have just gotten very confused, and a little concerned.”

“Touche.” Legault says, peering out the window at the lines of fast food restaurants and outlet stores.

“This isn’t the nice part of town, by the way.” Heath says.

“I wasn’t saying anything.” Legault says defensively. “But since you mentioned it, thank God for that. North Dakota is a big enough change from city life without moving into outlet mall hell.”

The line of shops begins to thin and give way to the edges of neighborhoods as they pass by a sign saying “Why not Minot?”

“That’s always a good sign.” Legault says, pointing out the sign. “When the town can’t come up with any reason to go to Minot, so they just ask ‘Why not?’ and hope that nobody thinks too hard about it.”

“I think it’s more because it rhymes.” Heath replies. “Most people who don’t know better try to pronounce it the French way, like it rhymes with pinot. But North Dakotans love taking words from other languages and butchering the pronunciation, so Minot actually rhymes with ‘why not.’ To be fair, I don’t think that Minot has a flourishing tourism industry though.”

"I can imagine.” Legault says, looking out the window as they pass the university, which appears to be the centerpiece of the town.

“Legault.” Heath says after a few moments. “Are you sure you want to do this? Move here, I mean?”

“Yes.” Legault answers immediately, voice sure. “I mean, yes, I’m absolutely terrified that I’m going to freeze when winter comes and it’s -10 for weeks. And I’ll find it a little strange that there are no tall buildings, and I do find it disorienting to see so much sky and land with no people between towns.”

“You’re not really proving your point that you’re excited to be doing this.”

“I’m not. I’m terrified, to be honest.” Legault sounds flippant, but by now Heath can pick out what flavor of flippant means that Legault is nervous and trying to hide that it is, in fact, a big deal. “I’m already freaking out and we’re not even moving here yet, just house-hunting. But I’ve done a lot of things that terrify me, and at the very least I’m excited to be doing terrifying things with you.”

“Ok.” Heath says, satisfied. “I just wanted to make sure. Nothing’s done yet, we could still go back to New York. Or try somewhere else, like Colorado.”

“Nino would be thrilled. Ever since she’s started college in Boulder, she’s been lobbying for us to move there.” Legault’s voice fills with fondness at the thought of his...adoptive niece. “I told her that Colorado is much too hip for old men like us.”

Heath laughs at that, and it’s a sound that Legault never gets tired of. Heath laughs more and more now, but when they first met he was very serious, and so guarded that it took months before he’d do more than just crack a smile, no matter how Legault flirted and joked.

“Right, 27 and 29. We’re ancient.” Heath deadpans.

“At this point I’m practically 30, and everyone knows that’s the beginning of the end. I found two gray hairs last week.”

“Colorado is nice, I’ll admit.” Legault continues. “That was one of my favorite places from our road trip way back when. But I think it’s good for Nino to have her own space.”

“She can always come visit.” Heath adds. “Flights from North Dakota are usually painfully expensive, but there are decent flights between Denver and Bismarck.”

“She can come in the dead of winter so she can suffer alongside her beloved uncles.”

“You mean one beloved uncle and one melodramatic uncle.” Heath says.

“Semantics.” Legault replies, waving his hand dismissively.

They stop for lunch at a diner on Main Street, which is charming in a quaint sort of way. Heath orders some sort of overcomplicated sandwich and Legault orders coffee and eggs, enjoying the way that Heath’s face lights up when he sees that they serve kuchen.

“What even is kuchen?” Legault asks, most likely butchering the pronunciation terribly.

“It’s kind of like a pie filled with custard? I’m not sure exactly how to describe it.” Heath says. “I do know that it’s German and delicious, which is what’s really important anyway. My grandmother used to make it whenever we went to visit her.”

“I didn’t think you liked sweets all that much.”

“I don’t.” Heath admits. “But kuchen brings back good memories.”

“Do you know how to cook it?” Legault asks.

“You know, I have a family recipe.” Heath says. “But it makes about 40 kuchens, and I don’t know what we’d do with 40 kuchens, so I’ve never tried it.”

When the waitress comes back, Legault asks her all about kuchen, listening raptly as she gushes about how kuchen is something he has to try since he’s not from around here. Legault asks about her favorite flavors of kuchen and then ignores her answer, ordering a piece of all four different flavors. Heath rolls his eyes, but he can’t hide his excitement when they all come out to the table.

Legault takes a bite of the strawberry-rhubarb slice, not sure what to expect.

“It’s good.” He declares. “I’m not a big dessert person, but I like it.”

“Here,” Heath says, pushing another plate towards him. “Try this one. It’s peach and cheese.”

The kuchen is good, even if it’s not something Legault would seek out to eat. He’s not a huge fan of sweets either, but he and Heath taste all four flavors, and ultimately declare strawberry-rhubarb to be the best.

“You know.” Legault says, wiping crumbs off his mouth. “I think a little bit of your accent is coming out since we’ve left New York.”

“Really? People here don’t think I have that much of an accent of any kind.”

“Well, maybe not a strong one. But I can hear it when you say words with Os, like Dakota.” Legault explains. “It’s cute. I like seeing you here, on your home turf.”

“Technically I’m from Bismarck, which we passed about two hours ago.” Heath corrects him. “Minot and Bismarck have a similar feeling, but I wouldn’t want to live in Bismarck again. It would feel too much like going back in time, but it’d be strange without my parents. Plus, I’m sure I would run into people from my high school, and that’s awkward enough without tacking on the fact that I’m a deserter moving back to a place where people revere the military.”

“Then we’ll just have to stay away from introducing ourselves as a deserter and a criminal when we’re trying to make new friends.” Legault says, glancing around to make sure the waitress isn’t in earshot.

Heath smiles. “You make it sound so simple.”

“I like to pretend things are simple.” Legault says. “Then when they are, I can pat myself on the back for my life philosophy. And when they’re not, I don’t waste energy worrying about them beforehand.”

“I’m not sure if that’s incredibly wise or incredibly stupid.”

“Probably both.” Legault admits. “But it got me here, so I must have done something right.”

They finally go to see the house, which is in a neighborhood a few blocks across the street from the university. None of the houses look particularly posh; in fact, a lot of them look a little bit run down. But they have kids toys in the yards, and twee decorations on the windows, and to a born-and-bred city slicker like Legault, seeing so many houses in one place is always a bit of a treat.

Heath has made a list of about five houses having showings on the weekend that they’re in the area, but they only made a specific appointment to see one of the houses. It’s nothing special, but it’s in their price range and has all of the things they wanted, and besides, Heath had taken an instant and irrational fondness to it. Considering Legault was the one in their relationship that tends towards irrational fondness towards random things, be it houses, shiny things, or people, the fact that the house “spoke to” Heath was not something they planned to ignore.

The real estate agent is a middle aged white lady named Deborah, who looks like a very typical North Dakotan. She has a slight accent and ends all of their phone calls with “Mmm, bye,” something that Heath hadn’t even noticed but Legault found charming. She isn’t rude about it, but obviously is a bit confused about the fact that the prospective buyers are two adult men.

“How did you two meet?” She asks them as they walk into the house. It’s a question that straight people love to ask, because it’s a fantastic way to pry without being too direct.

They’ve had many conversations about how to answer questions like this. Besides the fact that they’re a queer couple about to move to a fairly conservative area, neither of their pasts is something that it would be a good idea to share with strangers.

Heath, born and raised in this community, is much warier than Legault about these things. Legault is happy to lie about almost anything, but has never particularly felt the need to hide himself and his partners, regardless of their gender. It had taken several serious conversations before he was able to begin to empathize with the fact that some people did not have the luxury of a more blase attitude, and Heath’s reticence to be open did not stem from shame, but fear and caution. Even in this day and age, living as a couple would draw scrutiny and microaggressions, at the very least.

So they compromised. When talking to strangers, they agreed to be vague about their relationship, saying only that they had met as college roommates (a lie that Legault enjoyed, since neither had ever gone to college) and lived together ever since. And if they began to make friends, they would feel out the situation, with the intention of eventually letting down their guard about the nature of their relationship around a group of trusted friends.

It wasn’t a perfect situation, but knowing how to handle it made things a lot easier. And this way, they would never have a repeat of the situation where a friend of Nino’s asked who Heath was to Legault and Heath responded, “cousin” just as Legault said “lover.”

“We met in college.” Legault tells Deborah. “At NYU.”

“You’re from New York City?” She exclaims. “Well, what brings you all the way out here?”

“I grew up in Bismarck.” Heath says, accent thickening slightly. “I wanted to move back to be near my family.”

“Oh, my sister lives in Bismarck! I was there just last week for my niece’s third birthday party.” She continues to chat about her family, distracted enough that blessedly, she forgets to ask why Legault, who is obviously not from around here, came along.

“Anyway, I’ll let you two have a look around.” She says, finally realizing she’s strayed off topic. “Let me know if you have any questions.”

They walk around the house, somewhat unsure of just what they should be looking for. In New York, apartment hunting was never a problem. Legault lived in a comfortable but discreet apartment, and Heath had lived in a tiny but cheap apartment in Jersey city with two roommates and a dog. Eventually, Heath moved in with Legault and that was that.

The house is not huge, but it’s a decent size, with a nice kitchen and a connected living room. There’s no formal dining room, but there’s room for a dining table in the kitchen. Down the hallway, there are two bedrooms and one bathroom. Downstairs is a basement that consists of a single room with a door that opens out onto the small backyard. The front door opens onto a small porch with a rocking chair that the previous owner presumably left behind. Next to the house is a small garage that would fit only a smaller car, but that’s fine Hyperion’s not that large anyway.

They do one full walkthrough of the house without saying anything, until Heath asks, “Well, what do you think?”

“Honestly,” Legault replies. “I have no idea.”

“We’re not very good at this, are we?” Heath says, with a wry smile.

“Maybe we should try the whole ‘walking through the house’ thing again.” Legault says.

They start in the kitchen this time, and try to actually think about what it would be like to live there. Neither are all that into cooking, but they look at the oven and, more importantly, the microwave, and declare it to be more than adequate.

As for the living room, it’s fine. Or at least Legault thinks it’s fine. He has a hard time picturing his furniture in this house because his furniture has always been apartment furniture. Finally, he stops trying to mentally force his couch into the empty space below the largest window and his mind jumps instead to an image of Heath lying on the couch, reading a book. Suddenly, the entire image, couch and Heath and all, seems to appear inside the house, and it works.

If he makes sure to include Heath in all his mental pictures of how this house might look with their stuff in it, he can start to see how this house could really become theirs.

“What do you think?” Legault asks Heath.

“Let’s go look at the bedroom.” Heath says, face hard to read.

They look at the largest bedroom first, because it’s the only one that would fit their almost unreasonably large bed. Back when Legault’s life of crime was at its peak, he had impulse bought a ridiculously expensive bed, and even though his situation, financial and otherwise, had radically shifted since then, the bed remained one of the best purchases he’d ever made.

“We could put the bed here.” Heath says, gesturing to the wall furthest from the door. “And then we’d still have room for a dresser, which we’ll need because of all your clothes.”

“What about your clothes?”

“My clothes would all fit in this very reasonably sized closet.” Heath says. “Yours would not.”

“Fair point.” Legault concedes. Another holdover from the days when he was much wealthier due to his illegal activities with the Black Fang is the rather large wardrobe he’s amassed.

“And then this bedroom can be your office.” Heath says, already moving into the smaller bedroom next door. “We could put a daybed in here too.”

When they’d first started talking about potentially buying a house together, they’d each made a list of things that they wanted in a house. One of the things that Legault had realized that he wanted was an office, partially because he mostly worked online from home, and partially because the idea of having an office felt very official and fun.

Heath had no problem with the idea of Legault having an office space, but suggested that if they had an extra room anyway, that they put a daybed in it. They slept together most night, but every so often Heath (and on the rare occasion, Legault) just wanted to sleep alone, entirely in his own space. Eventually, Legault had stopped viewing it as a sign that Heath was upset with him, and they’d agreed that it was fine for either one to want to sleep alone, but the person who wanted to sleep alone had to take the couch rather than kick the other person out of the bed. Having a daybed had been Heath’s idea, probably because he slept on the couch more often, and the couch, while comfortable for sitting, was just too short for him to fit on completely comfortably.

“I like it.” Legault agrees. “I see a desk here.” He gestures to the area with the most light from the window. “A daybed here.” Another gesture. “And maybe a lifesize bison statue here.”

Heath looks at him, torn between bemused and concerned. Ever since their original road trip around America, which was also when they began their relationship in earnest, Legault had become fascinated with the bison they’d seen while driving through Wyoming and North and South Dakota.

Legault gives Heath a look that usually means he’s about to poke at Heath until he gets a reaction. “You’re not laughing at that.”

“That’s because I know you’re not joking.”

“Of course I’m not. We’re moving to North Dakota, I fully intend to decorate this house using bison as the unifying theme.”

“Legault,” Heath starts, then pauses, giving up on whatever it was he was planing to say. “You know how big bison are, right? Maybe we can at least go for a scale model.”

“Hmmm, that’s a fair point. Do you even think that they make life-size bison statues?” Legault muses.

“Probably.” Heath says. “But I don’t think any of them are for normal homes. Besides, I think we would confuse the neighbors.”

“Right, and we agreed that we would try to avoid scandalizing the neighbors if possible, at least for a little while.” Legault sighs in mock defeat. “Fine. I guess I’ll think about alternatives. Like a bison mural. Or a large decorative tapestry.”

Heath’s face looks caught between a laugh and a grimace. “We’ll see.”

After that, everything in the house seems to fall into place. There’s room in the living room for Legault’s favorite chair, and the basement is the perfect space for Heath to set up his woodworking materials. The garage seems practically made for Hyperion, Heath’s beloved vintage car, with enough room left over to store the various gadgets he uses to work on her. The visions of their furniture in the house, their life in the house, grow clearer and clearer in Legault’s mind.

“How do you feel about it?” Legault asks again, after they’ve done their second walk-through.

“It feels...” Heath pauses, searching for words. “It’s not all that pretty, or particularly special. But it feels right.”

Legault looks at him, surprised at such a strong endorsement, especially one based entirely on vibes.

“What I mean is,” Heath continues, confusing Legault’s look for confusion. “Some things seems like they might not be a great idea on paper, but when you do them, you feel like you’re in the right place in the universe. Do you ever feel that way?”

“Sometimes.” Legault says, memories of watching a meteor shower with Heath in the absolute middle of nowhere, Idaho, popping into his head.

“Well, I feel that way when I’m out on Hyperion. Or when I was up in the air, even though everything else about the air force felt wrong.” Heath says, caught up in memories too. “Or when I’m with you.”

Heath is rarely forthright about his feelings, at least vocally, but when he is, he says it in such a matter of fact way, like it’s just a simple fact of the universe. It’s happened several times, but each time Legault feels like he’s been sucker punched in the heart. But in a good way.

Deborah, or Real Estate Lady, as Legault has been calling her in his head, is probably hovering somewhere, maybe in her car outside, so Legault keeps his emotions in check, but he can’t help moving over to stand behind Heath, take his hand, lace their fingers together, and squeeze.

“It feels right to me to.” Legault says. “To be here in this house. And to be here in this house with you.”

“Even if this is a frozen wasteland for half of the year.” Legault adds, unable to help himself.

Heath squeezes his hand back. “Nothing a few bison tapestries can’t fix.”

They tell Real Estate Lady that they want the house. She’s absolutely thrilled, and says that she’ll bring the paperwork over the next day.

Even though they haven’t really done all that much, they’re both quite tired, so they grab takeout Thai food and head to a hotel. At the hotel, they immediately go to bed, Heath turning on some home improvement show or another, his version of mindless tv.

As soon as he’s laying down beside Heath, Legault realizes that he’s finally releasing a breath that he’s been holding all day. He knows that he’s spoiled in this aspect, but back in New York he’s not used to having to watch himself, to hold himself back from touching Heath for fear of attracting attention. Minot though, is not his home turf, and all day he’s been watching himself, to make sure he doesn’t do anything that would bring back Heath’s anxieties that stemmed from growing up bisexual in North Dakota. But it’s worn him down. Legault and Heath aren’t even all that physically affectionate in public in general, but the fact that it’s forbidden now makes Legault’s fingers itch.

But here, in the hotel, there are no such rules, and once they have a house here, there will be no such rules either, and thank God. Legault’s younger self might have thought him boring, but Legault cannot think of feeling more content than at this moment, pressed up against Heath’s side, fingers lazily running up and down Heath’s arms, playing with his fingers to make up for the fact that they’ve been neglected all day, occasionally pressing a lazy kiss to Heath’s palm or shoulder or cheek.

“Legault,” Heath says, sounding significantly more worried and less blissful than Legault feels.

“Mmm.”

“What are we doing?” Legault can feel Heath’s worry by the tension in the arm that’s around his shoulder. “I mean, are we crazy to move out here? Buy a house?”

“Probably,” Legault says. “But not in a bad way, necessarily. It’s an adventure.”

“Not most people’s idea of adventure.” Heath says. “What if North Dakota really is as bad as people say it is, worse than I remember as a kid? What are we going to do with our free time? You’ve had such an eventful life, how are you going to be happy here?”

Legault waits as Heath trails off before turning and kissing him deeply. It’s not that he’s trying to prevent having a conversation, but he learned early on in their relationship that Heath likes kissing. A lot. And more than that, the combination of endorphins and the intense physical proof that someone is there and cares about him relaxes him, helps him acknowledge his worries without letting them control him. 

Back when they had just gotten together, they could spend hours just kissing, without it having to lead anywhere, because it made Heath happy and soothed his unspoken anxieties that he was just a fling. And Legault certainly wasn’t complaining, especially given that Heath kissed with his whole being and tended to hold on tightly to Legault’s hands, or neck, or hips, or anywhere else within reach, grasping on like he was afraid to let him go even an inch away. Legault always has had a bit of a thing for Heath’s hands anyway, so feeling all the emotion expressed through those hands on his skin...it’s not something he’s going to get tired of anytime soon.

So sometimes when Heath is worried or stressed, or they’re talking about serious things, they kiss. For most couples, it would be a diversion tactic, a way to avoid the issue at hand, but for them it’s a way to have better conversations afterwards. It brings Heath back to earth, grounds him in his own body so he can face whatever challenges or feelings there are to be faced.

So Legault kisses him until he feels the tension start to seep out of Heath’s body, and Heath’s grasp on his shoulders begins to feel firm rather than desperate.

Legault pulls back, looking Heath in the eye. “Here’s what we’re going to do.” And then kisses him once more, for good measure, before continuing.

“You’re going to find a job here, probably as a mechanic because according to you, people here love their cars but forget how to drive in the snow every winter. I’ll keep working online, and if I get bored, I’ll volunteer at the library or drive an Uber.” Heath laughs at that, and Legault can feel the laugh in his body. “When it’s not too cold, you’ll ride your motorcycle on the open roads outside of town, where there’s nothing between you and the sky, and maybe if the weather’s nice I’ll join you on mine. And in the winter when we have to hole up inside, you can set up a wood shop in the basement and I’ll paint and learn how to bake kuchen. If I get really bored, I’ll take up knitting and make you and Nino scarves in the ugliest colors I can find.”

“I’ll become a North Dakota State University fan because their mascot is the bison, and on the weekends we can watch the hockey games. I saw on a sign that Minot’s hockey team’s mascot is the Minotauros, which is either the greatest or stupidest mascot name I’ve ever heard of. I mean, it’s clever that it has Minot in the name, but they could be called the Minotaurs and it would still work.”

“Somehow we’ll find the five other queer people in this part of North Dakota and maybe we’ll actually make some friends, albeit friends who we don’t tell about our pasts. In the spring we can take road trips around the state, because the first time we came here I was so freaked out by so much sky that I think I missed all the sights. Maybe we can go down to Bismarck and visit the relatives that you don’t hate. And we’ll take some space to breathe, because I love New York, but it’s hard to breathe there, and we can spend some time working on our hobbies and dreams. Maybe we can get you a pilot’s license so you can fly again, and I...well, maybe I’ll figure out what my dreams actually are.”

“The point is we’ll just live, the way we’ve been living in New York. It won’t be perfect, but we’ll work it out, and if we don’t like it, we can always move to Colorado to scare anybody Nino dates in college. Or if you really are having second thoughts, we can tell the realtor that we need more time and go back to New York and regroup. I’ll admit, as much as I complain about North Dakota being a wintry wasteland, I’m actually kind of excited about coming here. But what’s more important than being here is being with you, so if you want to go back to New York, that’s ok too.”

Legault runs out of steam here, feeling suddenly winded at the realization that he actually is excited to come here, to buy a house and build a life with Heath, in a place with less noise to hide behind.

“Heh,” Heath smiles at him, looking a little hesitant, but much more relaxed than before. “Life sure has a way of turning out in the way you least expected, doesn’t it?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I mean,” Heath says, taking Legault’s hand and squeezing it. “I’m still nervous, but I’m even more excited to close on this house and start living that life you just described, even though it’s not a life I ever imagined having.”

They go to sign the papers tomorrow, and Deborah is incredibly helpful at guiding them through the mounds of forms that never seem to end.

“I could be signing away my soul and I’d never know it.” Legault jokes.

“Don’t worry,” Deborah tells him, winking. “I only give those forms to buyers I don’t like.”

Finally, they’re done, and even though they still have the challenge of moving all their stuff halfway across the country, having the forms signed and the keys in their hand makes it all feel much more real.

“Congratulations, you just bought a home!” Deborah tells them. “I’ll stay in touch, so if you have any problems or questions, or if you just need a friend in town, give me a call.”

“Thank you, we will.” Heath tells her, already thinking about how he’s going to set up the garage.

Deborah looks like she’s about to leave, but before she turns away, she adds, “And if you ever make it down to Bismarck, let me know. I’ll make sure my sister and her girlfriend give you a warm welcome.”

“Thank you, we-” Heath starts, words sputtering off as he processes what she just said.

Legault takes his hand and Deborah doesn’t bat an eye. “Thank you Deborah, we certainly will.” He says, and she smiles and waves.

“Look at that.” Heath says. “Maybe there are more than five queer people in the state of North Dakota after all.”

“I should hope so.” Legault says. “But more importantly, we just bought a house.”

“So we did.”

“And in case you ever doubted that I love you, I want you to know that I am moving to North Dakota for you.” Legault tells him. “And that’s something that I bet a lot of people wouldn’t do.”

“I don’t doubt that you love me,” Heath says. “You tell me that all the time.”

“Hey,” Legault pouts. “You’re not reading the script here. Now you’re supposed to thank me for being such a wonderful partner and tell me what you’d do for me to prove your love.”

“I didn’t think we were still in the ‘prove your love’ state of our relationship.” Heath says, smiling. “But if it makes you happy, I love you enough that I’m going to let you decorate our lovely new house with as many tacky bison decoration as you want.”

“I’m going to hold you to that.” Legault tells Heath as they walk through the doorway of their house.couch

[writer-and-artist27]

all the prime numbers >:)

Welp! Let’s do this! Thanks Os! :D

And Tomoko has seen quite a few asks. So…hm. Half will go to Tomoya, and then the other half Hikari. Mainly since these two haven’t gotten a lot of spotlight in asks. 

Put under the cut.

Hoshino Tomoya (Tomoko’s trans girl counterpart)

01. What does your character’s name mean? Did you pick it for the symbolism, or did you just like the way it sounded?

Now this has an interesting story, since some of the origins don’t fully come from me. When initially coming up with Tomoko, Tomoya’s original self, she was initially conceived to be a ninja that was to be in a team under Kushina with ninja versions of Leo and Josh. The story was scrapped, but I still kept the notes. Josh was the one who came up with her name, being a representation of her character and how he saw me as a bright friend, I guess. Hoshino being “in the star field” and Tomoko being “friendly child.”

I was the one who ended up coming up with Tomoya’s name, consulting with Josh, and ultimately sticking with it. Tomoya in some translations means “wise one,” and I thought it would be a nice contrast to Tomoko, since she unfortunately can’t be as open as Tomoko can be. 

02. What is one of your character’s biggest insecurities? Are they able to hide it easily or can others easily exploit this weakness?

Her loved ones and friends abandoning her for finding out about her reincarnation status and want to be a girl. I tried to convey that as much as I could in the initial oneshot where Tomoya met Tomoko, but the fear is more than even Tomoko’s own personal fear of being forgotten, because Tomoya has so much on her chest. Being a reincarnation with these memories of the Naruto world, knowing that in a previous life that she was happy, and the simple fact that she’s now a girl in a boy’s body, and it’s not the life she really wanted to begin with. And on hiding it, I’d like to think Tomoya does a much better job at hiding things in general than Tomoko, because there’s more than just memories on the line now.

03. What would be their favorite physical trait about themselves?

Unlike Tomoko, something that Tomoya adores is her hair. Despite inheriting most of Judai’s physical characteristics, such as angular face and eye shape, Tomoya still has Hikari’s silky hair, which she grows out to have in a ponytail, just to have that feminine flare and connection to her real self. Inwardly, Hisako is all the more proud.

05. Are they sexually confident or more of the shy type?

Shy. No question about that. Vy was sexually repulsed and awkward, Tomoko’s still awkward, and Tomoya? No doubt - she’s awkward too. 

07. Is there a catchphrase or sound that they tend to make a lot (likely without being aware of it)?

Tomoya never really caught on until Judai pointed it out, but she does have a habit of whistling softly, her tongue touching the roof of her mouth while doing so, when unsure or merely bored. Hikari was quite amused at the various noises Tomoya could make in times of silence, since it could range from high pitched solos to simple wind-blowing.

11. What is something that would make your character fly into a rage?

If someone misgendered her as a guy and kept doing so, even after she went on to correct them. Forget Kakashi being mad, Tomoya would be the one to sock the offender in the face first. 

Hell, if the offender tried to force her into a male-dominated role or wear male clothing, she’ll be pretty mad. Only Hikari or Judai could really calm her down at that point.

13. What are your character’s sleeping habits? Heavy or light sleeper? Blanket stealer? One that always rolls onto the floor? Pushes their lover onto the floor? Sleep talker or walker?

Tomoya, unlike Tomoko, wouldn’t be much of a Cuddle Bug, but rather a blanket stealer, taking up all the blankets in her sleep while shifting every now and then to make a burrito, snoring deeply all the while. While Tomoko inherited Judai’s penchant for drooling sometimes, Tomoya inherited the snores. 

The blanket thing though? It’s to make up for the lack of hugs that Vy got to do constantly back in her days.

17. Does your character have dreams of getting married and/or having children?

Tomoya never really thought about having children. If anything, like Tomoko, she kinda yearns for a simple life where her loved ones don’t have to deal with war or handle ridiculous alien-bullshit on the level Boruto goes on. So it’s an iffy subject.

Hoshino Hikari

19. Would your character be the kind to get into fights? (physical or verbal) Would they be a good fighter or cave in rather easily?

I’d like to think she could. If not for common sense and her own physical strength as a civilian wearing her down, I could easily imagine Hikari going on to deck people like the Third Hokage just because she can. Hiruzen kinda put Judai through the wringer, and with how he’s handling Team Minato and Tomoko, Hikari’s fists are raised. Nonetheless, she’s a civvie. So it probably won’t end well, and she knows it. So, she uses her words and voice instead. It’s had a much better effect.

23. What is your character like when it comes to school? What subjects are they good/bad at? Do they get in trouble a lot or are well behaved?

Hikari would be that one girl who gets everything done on time, but never really shows off on it. The best subjects for her are Dance and Art Design, because she’s able to improvise on moves while creating outfits that are practical to wear. I’d like to think she’s well behaved, but she would get on the bad side of someone without question if it means defending something or someone she cares about.

29. What is one of the most courageous things your character has ever done for a loved one?

Essentially do what a civilian might see as near suicide in marching up to the Hokage Tower, slamming open the door while in the middle of a debriefing, and verbally chewing Hiruzen out for his sending Judai on so many missions. It’s something that solidified the Hoshino name in many ninjas’ minds as something to be respected, because Judai was completely shocked speechless at the whole thing while the Hokage took it in without even threatening to take her out of the room or kill her. It takes guts to stand up to a military leader, and Hikari did it without a scratch. 

Judai couldn’t help but ask her out after his retirement right then and there. 

31. Would your character be the kind capable of killing? Would they enjoy killing or only use it when necessary or, perhaps, refuse to kill no matter what?

Hikari, despite her tough-as-nails personality when it comes to things she’s passionate about, would never be able to enjoy killing. Hell, I wouldn’t see her capable of killing. She may think of it, especially if she ever encountered Orochimaru, but The Sea and Stars showed how she couldn’t follow through with that sentiment. If anything, she’d rather let someone else do the killing if it’s really necessary, but she’s not going to like it no matter what. 

37. What are some of your character’s pet peeves? What are some things that annoy them or disgust them?

Blood getting everywhere. That’s it. It’s not hemophobia though - if anything, the pet peeve was born from the many times Judai, back when he was single and getting to know her, used her apartment as a getaway from the hospital when he was bored, and she still shrieks bloody murder when he does that these days. Tomoko usually has to duck away or cover her eyes first, because that’s one of the few times Judai has to deal with Hikari’s anger directly. 

41. Does your character’s family affect your character in any way?

I’ve mentioned this in an ask before, but Hikari’s parents are still alive, if not distant. Unlike Hikari, who chose to rebel from the usual unspoken civilian thought and befriend ninja, her parents were somewhat clean-cut in raising her, expecting her to at least marry a good husband and continue in the usual life. 

Hence when they heard of her friendship with Judai, they weren’t all that approving, and disapproved even more when she moved out of the house to go to her own apartment and raise money for her cafe dream. “You’re too naive and reckless,” they said. Once news got out about the whole Hikari-chewing-out-the-Third-Hokage situation, though, they cut ties so that they wouldn’t be caught up in what they saw as Hikari’s mess. 

Needless to say, Tomoko hasn’t exactly seen her maternal grandparents aside from the occasional picture, and with the situation with Sakumo and Kakashi, Hikari’s still debating. Judai does encourage her to reconcile with them, since they did care enough for her to leave on somewhat amicable terms, but it’s still up in the air.

43. Does your character have a switch that changes aspects of their personality whether they are around friends, family, etc. Is there someone who gets to see their true self?

Hm, it’s not exactly a “switch”, per say, but more of a small button that Hikari almost always has on the “ON” setting since getting to know Judai. He helped her open up first. 

A lot of her free, creative self has then been around more since marrying him and having Tomoko. Heck, this “true” self has gone on to be how Sakumo, Kakashi, Obito, RIn, and, bringing in The Sea and Stars, how Miyako, Wataru, Hayate, and Kei see her as. The fashion-designer, violinist, and overall awesome “Aunt Hikari.” And to Tomoko, she’s “Mama”, and since “Mama” was Tomoko’s first word, Hikari takes it all in stride. 

46. What is some random affectionate thing that your character always does to their lover?

Peck Judai on the lips whenever he’s caught thinking. Needless to say, it helps bring the innate ninja paranoia in him down when it’s her, and he’s left blushing and laughing because of it. 

[pctestbench]

As much fun as flagship CPU’s are each generation, many gamers can save some serious cash with a lower-tier CPU like the new Intel Core i5-10600K and still have a great time. Since most games are still lightly threaded, a few fast cores offer a better gaming experience than several slower ones anyway. The Core i5-10600K packs 6 cores and 12 threads of high-speed gaming prowess into a modest $262 price point. With a base clock speed of 4.1Ghz and the ability to boost to 4.8Ghz out of the box, the 10600K can easily handle all of your games as well as streaming them to your fans. A 125W TDP and full unlocked overclocking support means you can dial it up a little more if needed. Is this the sweet spot for gaming? Let’s find out!

We want to thank Intel for sending us over the new Core i5-10600K to try out!

Intel’s take on the Core i5-10600K:

Built for serious gamers, 10th Gen Intel® Core™ desktop processors bring the right balance of frequency, cores, and threads, plus support for the latest technologies and advanced tuning flexibility to help put users in control of the real-world gaming experiences that matter most to them.

Obligatory Die Shot:

  Important features:

Intel Hyperthreading Technology: Do more simultaneously across 10th Gen Intel Core i9, i7, i5, and i3 processors.

Intel Quick Sync Video: Uses integrated processor graphics to optimize gameplay while gamers stream and record and provides creators with the hardware acceleration they need for the latest video codecs.

Memory Support up to DDR4-2933 Memory Speeds: For smooth gameplay, immersive realism, faster multitasking, and productivity when creating.

Intel Graphics Command Center: Optimizes your Intel® graphics experience.6

Enhanced Core & Memory Overclocking: Gain ultimate control when overclocking your processor and key system components with features enabled by new unlocked and overclockable 10th Gen Intel® Core™ processors.7

Per-Core Hyperthreading Control for Overclocking: allows experienced overclockers to decide which hyper threads to turn on or off on a per-core basis.

Intel Ethernet Connection I225: Now available on the 10th Gen platform, 2.5G Intel Ethernet Connector I225 delivers greater than 2X the network speeds of 1GB Ethernet on existing cabling.

Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201: Now integrated into 10th Gen Intel Core desktop processors, Intel Wi-Fi 6 (Gig+) delivers responsive gameplay, nearly 3X faster downloads and more reliable connections. Delivers best-in-class wireless experiences with the freedom and flexibility to game or create anywhere throughout the home or office.

Intel Performance Maximizer: Offers an active core group tuning feature that overclocks each core group tuning feature that overclocks each core group, increasing their performance potential, for maximum gaming performance.

Intel Extreme Tuning Utility: Push performance desktops in new and innovative ways with a new Intel® Extreme Tuning Utility benchmark targeted for experienced overclockers. Now with the Intel Speed Optimizer that is a one-click overclocking feature within Intel Extreme Tuning Utility (XTU). Intel Speed Optimizer will be new for 10th Gen processors and takes advantage of power delivery and thermal headroom within a given chassis or design. Intel Speed Optimizer helps more an unlocked processor’s cores reach nearer to the single-core turbo boost frequency.

Intel Smart Cache: Up to 20M of shared lowest level cache allowing faster access to your data by enabling dynamic and efficient allocation of the cache to match the needs of each core, significantly reducing latency to frequently used data and improving performance.

Thunderbolt 3 support: Thunderbolt 3 ports are the fastest USB-C available, so you can take Thunderbolt 3 SSDs to LAN parties and play games with lightning-fast data transfers.

Intel Optane Memory H10 with SSD Support: Launch apps, games, and project files faster, and stay productive while multitasking.

  Quick Specs:

# of Cores – 6

# of Threads – 12

Processor Base Frequency – 4.10 GHz

Max Turbo Boost 2.0 Frequency – 4.80 GHz

Cache – 12 MB Intel Smart Cache

TDP – 125 W

Max Memory Size – 128 GB

Memory Speed – DDR4-2933

Max # of Memory Channels – 2

Processor Graphics – Intel UHD Graphics 630

Scalability – 1S Only

PCI Express Revision – 3.0

Max # of PCI Express Lanes – 16

Sockets Supported – FCLGA1200

TJUNCTION – 100°C

  For full features and specs, click here: 

  A Closer Look

Our review samples showed up in a special box that retail chips won’t be in.

  It opens up to reveal a blue acrylic sheet with the Intel logo. You can see two smaller boxes under it.

  A finger hole lets you pop the clear cover off.

  Inside are two smaller boxes, one contains a Core i5-10600K and the other, the new flagship Core i9-10900K.

Today we’ll be focusing on the i5-10600K.

The new LGA1200 based CPU’s look very similar to the former LGA1151 chips at first glance.

They are the same size, the only difference is the key notches are now about a quarter way up from the bottom instead of very near the top.

The bottom itself is also very similar, with a ton of micro-sized SMT components in the middle, and a grid of gold contacts around it. Let’s strap it in the test bench and move on to testing!

  Synthetic Testing

Test Platform:

CPU – Intel Core i5-10600K Mobo – Aorus Z490 Master RAM – 32GB (4x8GB) HyperX Fury RGB 3200MHz C16 GPU – Nvidia RTX 2080 Founders Edition SSD – Kingston KC1000 1TB PSU – Thermaltake Toughpower Grand RGB Gold 750W Chassis – Open BenchTable Cooling – Custom Liquid Loop (EKWB Velocity CPU Block, EKWB PE240 Rad, 1x DDC Pump)

  All testing is performed at stock settings except for enabling XMP (Profile 1: 3200MHz 16-18-18-38 1.35V) and Aorus’s Multicore Enhancement disabled in the BIOS.

  Super PI Modded 1.5

“In August 1995, the calculation of pi up to 4,294,960,000 decimal digits was succeeded by using a supercomputer at the University of Tokyo. The program was written by D.Takahashi in collaboration with Dr.Y.Kanada at the computer center. This record should be the current world record. (Details are shown in the windows help.) This record-breaking program was ported to personal computer environments such as Windows NT and Windows 95. In order to calculate 33.55 million digits, it takes within 3 days with a Pentium 90 MHz, 40 MB main memory, and 340 MB available storage.”

With clock speeds hitting 4.8Ghz, it’s not a surprise to see the Core i5-10600K land in the middle of previous-gen flagship territory in this single-threaded test.

  CINEBENCH R15

“CINEBENCH is a real-world cross-platform test suite that evaluates your computer’s performance capabilities. CINEBENCH is based on MAXON’s award-winning animation software CINEMA 4D, which is used extensively by studios and production houses worldwide for 3D content creation. MAXON software has been used in blockbuster movies such as Iron Man 3, Oblivion, Life of Pi or Prometheus, and much more.

CINEBENCH is the perfect tool to compare CPU and graphics performance across various systems and platforms (Windows and OS X). And best of all: It’s completely free.”

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Multi-threaded performance, as expected, leads previous-gen 6-core chips thanks to the increased clock speeds 10th gen offers. Single-Threaded performance shows it landing closer to previous i9 chips than i5 chips.

  CINEBENCH R20

Cinebench is a real-world cross-platform test suite that evaluates your computer’s hardware capabilities. Improvements to Cinebench Release 20 reflect the overall advancements to CPU and rendering technology in recent years, providing a more accurate measurement of Cinema 4D’s ability to take advantage of multiple CPU cores and modern processor features available to the average user. Best of all: It’s free.

In the newer Cinebench R20, we see a similar pattern with the 6-core i5-10600K leading the previous 6-core champion, the Core i7-8700K.

  Passmark Performance Test – CPU Mark

“Fast, easy to use, PC speed testing, and benchmarking. PassMark Performance Test ™ allows you to objectively benchmark a PC using a variety of different speed tests and compare the results to other computers.”

Passmark’s Performance Test 10 enjoys the clock speed increase with the i5-10600K and it holds a commanding lead over the previous 6-core chip.

  SiSoft Sandra – Cryptographic Bandwidth

“SiSoftware Sandra provides a robust package of diagnostic tools for testing your system and teasing out its problems–or potential headaches.”

SiSoft’s CPU Cryptographic Bandwidth really favors team red’s architecture here but some of Intel’s HEDT chips hold the top spot. We do see a pretty significant increase over the last-gen parts.

  Y-Cruncher

Written by Alexander J. Lee “From a high-school project that went a little too far…” y-cruncher, (y for gamma) is a number-crunching program that can compute various mathematical constants.

It was originally a small program specialized for computing the Euler-Mascheroni Constant. (Which uses gamma as its symbol, hence the name). It has since gained the ability to compute other constants.

It is the first of its kind that is multi-threaded and scalable to multi-core systems. Ever since its launch in 2009, it has become a common benchmarking and stress-testing application for overclockers and hardware enthusiasts.

We tested using the built-in benchmarks to compute Pi to 1 Billion Digits in both single and multi-threaded mode and recorded the Total Computation time at the end of the run. Y-Cruncher is also able to take advantage of AVX512 instructions in compatible CPU’s. Due to the thermal load of running Intense AVX workloads, Intel has implemented and AVX offset clock that may scale the CPU’s clock speed back, even below stock speeds when running intense AVX loads. For this reason, we note the CPU’s clock speed in both single and multi-threaded test modes.

It’s interesting to see the 6-core 10600K hang with the 9th gen i9’s on single-threaded and then turn around and stomp the 9900K in multi-threaded testing.

  Black Hole 4.2

Let the beast run and benchmark your system in three different tests (Multithreaded, Single-threaded & 4-Threaded) that will test your CPU to the very limit, and score you among hundreds of other systems that have tested.

Multithreaded will test your CPU’s efficiency of running more than one thread without major system lag. The higher you score on this one, the more threads your CPU can handle with a comfortable speed. High multithreaded scores generally mean you can render things faster.

4-Threaded tests your CPU’s performance in games since most games currently run on 4 threads.

Single-threaded evaluates how fast the CPU can handle a single, dedicated thread for processing.

We see AMD’s architecture holding a pretty noticeable advantage but the Core i5-10600K lands where we expect it to here.

  Workstation & Productivity Testing

Blender Benchmark 2.82 – BMW27

A new platform to collect and display the results of hardware and software performance tests. Aimed at an optimal comparison between system hardware and installations using open source software and testing content in the public domain.

For real-world productivity, there is zero substitute for raw core count, and this is no exception. We still see the faster clock speeds help the i5-10600K edge out the 8700K though.

  POV-Ray 3.7 Standard Benchmark – CPU

The POV-Ray standard benchmark shows similar results with the i5-10600K obliterate it’s older but higher-tier  counterpart.

  x265 HD Benchmark A benchmark that measures how fast your computer can encode HD (1080p) video in the new H.265 / HEVC format.

Encoding video to HEVC is not that uncommon these days, and the i5-10600K handles it well.

  7-Zip

The benchmark shows a rating in MIPS (million instructions per second). The rating value is calculated from the measured speed, and it is normalized with the results of the Intel Core 2 CPU with a multi-threading option switched off. So if you have modern CPU from Intel or AMD, rating values in single-thread mode must be close to real CPU frequency. There are two tests, compression with the LZMA method and decompression with the LZMA method. Once the total passes reach 50, the score is taken

Zipping and unzipping files to send is another frequent task that is even more common in this ‘work-from-home’ world this year. The 10600K handles this readily and edges out previous 6-core parts by around 50%.

    Memory & Cache Testing

AIDA64 Engineer Edition

“FinalWire Ltd. today announced the immediate availability of AIDA64 Extreme Edition 1.50 software, a streamlined diagnostic and benchmarking tool for home users; and the immediate availability of AIDA64 Business Edition 1.50 software, an essential network management solution for small and medium scale enterprises. The new AIDA64 update implements AVX-optimized benchmarks for the upcoming Intel Sandy Bridge processors, adds a brand-new video encoding benchmark, and supports the latest AMD and NVIDIA graphics processors.”

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Internal cache performance is pretty well on par with the previous 6 core parts, so no surprises here since they are all the same family after all.

Actual memory bandwidth to the system ram is actually a hair better than it’s i9-10900K sibling here. Interesting.

The new Core -5-10600K has a little bit lower latency overall to system memory than it’s i9 sibling.

  Passmark Performance Test – Memory Mark – Threaded

“Fast, easy to use, PC speed testing, and benchmarking. PassMark Performance Test ™ allows you to objectively benchmark a PC using a variety of different speed tests and compare the results to other computers.”

Passmark again shows us with the i5-holding a slight performance advantage over the new i9.

  SiSoft Sandra – Memory Bandwidth – Aggregate.

“SiSoftware Sandra provides a robust package of diagnostic tools for testing your system and teasing out its problems–or potential headaches.”

While we expect quad-channel enabled HEDT chips to score higher as we see, most of the Dual-channel parts here all stack up within margin of error.

    Synthetic Game Testing

  3DMark – Fire Strike

“Fire Strike is a showcase DirectX 11 benchmark designed for today’s high-performance gaming PCs. It is our most ambitious and technical benchmark ever, featuring real-time graphics rendered with detail and complexity far beyond what is found in other benchmarks and games today”

In this synthetic physics test, the increased clock speed on the 10th gen i5-10600K do well here, even against team red’s 8-core parts.

  3DMark – Time Spy

“3Dmark Time Spy is a new DirectX 12 benchmark test for Windows 10 gaming PCs. Time Spay is one of the first DirectX 12 apps to be built “the right way” from the ground up to fully realize the performance gains that the new API offers. With DirectX 12 engine, which supports new API features like asynchronous compute, explicit multi-adapter, and multi-threading, Time Spy is the ideal test for benchmarking the latest graphics cards.”

The more modern Time Spy test shows the same trend with an even wider lead on the 8700K and even Ryzen 7 2700X.

    Game Testing

Sid Meier’s Civilization VI

Originally created by legendary game designer Sid Meier, Civilization is a turn-based strategy game in which you attempt to build an empire to stand the test of time. Become Ruler of the World by establishing and leading a civilization from the Stone Age to the Information Age. Wage war, conduct diplomacy, advance your culture, and go head-to-head with history’s greatest leaders as you attempt to build the greatest civilization the world has ever known.

Civilization VI offers new ways to engage with your world: cities now physically expand across the map, active research in technology and culture unlocks new potential, and competing leaders will pursue their own agendas based on their historical traits as you race for one of five ways to achieve victory in the game.

Intel bills the new Core i9-10900K as the world’s fastest gaming processor and its smaller i5-10600K sibling isn’t far behind. Only the previous special edition 9900KS can fight it’s way into the 10th gen range here.

  Far Cry 5

Anything can happen. Everything will.

Welcome to Hope County, Montana, land of the free and the brave, but also home to a fanatical doomsday cult—known as The Project at Eden’s Gate—that is threatening the community’s freedom. Stand up to the cult’s leaders, Joseph Seed, and the Heralds, as you spark the fires of resistance that will liberate the besieged community.

Far Cry 5 hits modern multi-core CPU’s pretty hard, and can take advantage of more than a couple of cores. Here we see the i5-10600K match up to last gen’s flagship i9-9900K almost perfectly.

  Shadow of the Tomb Raider Experience Lara Croft’s defining moment as she becomes the Tomb Raider. In Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Lara must master a deadly jungle, overcome terrifying tombs, and persevere through her darkest hour. As she races to save the world from a Maya apocalypse, Lara will ultimately be forged into the Tomb Raider she is destined to be.

The latest Tomb Raider also sees a benefit from more CPU power and the i5-10600K delivers a great experience out of the box.

  Ashes of the Singularity

Planet by planet, a war is raging across the galaxy. The technological singularity has given humanity the power to expand further than they ever have before. Now, they compete with each other and their sentient artificial intelligence adversaries for control of newfound worlds.

The Core i9-10600K again fights its way into the middle of the 9th gen’s flagship pile and leaves previous 6-core parts well behind.

  Overclocking, Power & Thermals

For Power usage, we will be using a FLIR CM78 DC Amp clamp directly monitoring the 12V EPS connections to the motherboard. This gives us a real-world accuracy of +/- 2 Watts across our entire measuring range from 0W to more than enough to melt both 8-pin EPS plugs.

At stock, we peg out at 4.8Ghz on a couple of cores. Thermals are great in the low 70C range, with power draws around 150W.

We’ll enable Aorus’s Multi-Core Enhancement which pegs all cores at maximum Turbo, which is 4.8Ghz. We see a decent jump in score, and power only climbs to around 181W under full load. Temps hover in the upper 70C range with the hottest core hitting 78C.

From here we’ll take over manually and go up to 4.9GHz on all cores. Something weird happens here as the voltage jumps, scores drop slightly and power usage is pretty much the same.

We went ahead and tried for 5GHz and whatever weirdness happened at 4.9Ghz is gone. Temps are back in the mid 70C range with core voltage at 1.356V. Power usage climbs slightly to around 190W.

5.1Ghz is pretty easy to get stable on the i5-10600K but requires a bit more voltage. We ended up going up about 0.05V to just over 1.4V, which kicked temps into the low 80C range. Power usage jumped to around 214W.

We tried for 5.2Ghz on all cores, but out particular CPU just wasn’t having it. We pushed voltage up to 1.45V and still couldn’t get it fully stable and temps were crashing into the 100C range pretty much instantly at that voltage. Sometimes you win the silicon lottery, sometimes you don’t. Your mileage may vary but our particular slice of silicon hit a wall above 5.1Ghz all core.

  Conclusion

Intel’s Core i5 tier of chips are often a favorite of gamers. They provide solid performance at a price that still lets you invest in a good GPU to go with it. 6 cores at these clock speeds is plenty of power for high frame rate gaming, or a bit less competitive gaming while streaming. The street price of around $275 is pretty much on par with previous offerings in this tier but lands a decent chunk of change above a similarly positioned red offering. In most of our gaming tests, it did fight toe to toe with previous-gen 8-core chips that bring $500+ still, so it’s a decent leap forward.

This is the lowest tiered offering this generation that is still unlocked, but given the modest overclocking headroom we found, a more competitive selection might be the locked i5-10600 for around $225 for those on a budget. If you score well in the silicon lottery, 6 cores at 5.2Ghz are certainly a force to be reckoned with though if our testing is any indication. All in all, this is a great choice for many gamers and the platform as a whole makes it pretty easy to recommend.

Good job Intel!

[sc name=”award-editors-choice” ]

        Intel Core i5-10600K 10th Gen LGA1200 CPU Review As much fun as flagship CPU’s are each generation, many gamers can save some serious cash with a lower-tier CPU like the new Intel Core i5-10600K and still have a great time.

[tebbyclinic11]

Trader Joe’s Newest Products in 2018, Reviewed

New Post has been published on http://kitchengadgetsreviews.com/trader-joes-newest-products-in-2018-reviewed/

Trader Joe’s Newest Products in 2018, Reviewed

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Trader Joe’s has it all figured out. The new products, they just keep coming. We’re on a hare-brained mission to try every new product at TJ’s in 2018. Trying. A noble pursuit, a “good use of time,” “what is this, an ad?”, call it what you will. New this week—Valentines gummies, coconut clusters of fun, pretty good chicken sausage, and more.

Organic Oven Roasted Turkey Breast, $4.99These floppy shingles of roasted turkey are a lunch meat staple, though I’ve never tried to bind two pieces of paper with them. Instead, I roll them with sliced Swiss cheese and dip them in mustard like the grown adult person with an expired license I am. A subtle, roasted flavor elevates the turkey from its natural state of taste (soggy meat Kleenex) to a whisper of Thanksgiving leftovers. Good product. Reliable sandwich material. Real meat. Gluten-free. Protein. Precisely circular. Not salami.

Gummy Xs & Os, $2.99In time for Valentine’s Day, we have a big bag of gummies. The ”natural flavors” flavor reminds me of rosé–supposedly grapefruit, strawberry, and mixed berry—but they all blend together to me in the way you’re pretty sure gummy bears are different flavors for different colors but are they, really?? All I know is that the Xs taste better than Os. The big downside–sorry, gummy enthusiasts—is that the texture is too soft. Like that moment you’re making out with your Valentine and finally come to terms with the fact that he’s a body pillow named Ted. Gummies need a little bit of chew, some struggle, a reminder that it’s not gonna be easy all the time. A nice metaphor for love if you ask me.

Electric Buzz Coffee Cups, $5.49I drink coffee the old-fashioned way—by pouring off-boiling water into a filter directly in my mouth—so I enlisted a guest reviewer for these TJ branded K-cups that are supposedly EXTRA CAFFEINATED! “It’s no special cup of mud,” texted my friend Keith, a man who puts plastic cups in a machine expecting roasted bean juice to come out. BA’s Alex Delany described these coffee pods like he does beer, ridiculously: “It tastes like someone walked across your tongue with brand new dad sneakers on. Rubber soles.” Did he really need to offend all of dadkind like that? Probably yes.

Organic Sweet Italian Chicken Sausage, $5.99Like many chicken sausages, it tastes like chicken sausage. Throw in some garlic powder and basil particles and poof, Italian. Out of the package, they have a slimy smooth, bouncy hot dog texture because the casing has been removed. I don’t get how this works, but I‘ll try anything once. A sweet, kind cashier with a striking resemblance to my Uncle Manny (RIP) said he loves to make sausage and peppers with them, so that’s what I did. I mean, we’re practically family. The sausages are smaller side, more the size of Ball Park Franks, and crisp up in the pan as intended. Two people in my household ate the entire package of five links, dipping each bite in mustard and trying to find something more meaningful to say about something as mundane as chicken sausage. Notes of peppercorn tingle the tastebuds. Solidly Not Bad.

Coconut Sesame Seed Clusters, $1.99These are little shards that aren’t quite granola and yet aren’t anything else. Purgatory snacks! They’re crunchy pieces of toasted coconut covered in sesame seeds, sealed together with coconut sugar and tapioca syrup. Okay so they’re candy. Serving suggestions include: casually eating out of a hollowed coconut shell, on ice cream, but more likely, by the handful until you read the nutrition facts and realize the bag is empty but hey, at least they’re gluten-free? If this isn’t impulse purchase material, I don’t know what is.

Previously

The Week of January 22

Churro Bites, $2.49The only thing these churro bites share in common with hot-off-the-oil churros is a coating of cinnamon sugar. Other than that, these crunchy nuggets are their own category of cookie-chip. They have a near-velvet outer texture, the combination of shiny hardened butter and sandy sugar, like when you dropped a doughnut hole at the beach but ate it anyway, because seagulls. (Because you’re a monster). Sort of like giant Corn Pops, rolled cinnamon sugar. I won’t even begin to describe what they visually resemble (😺 💩). The cashier at TJ’s looked at the nutritional details and then slowly raised her eyes to mine. Me: “These are not good for you.” Her: “Then why are you buying two?”

Gluten Free Oat Cranberry Flaxseed Cookies, $2.99As a general life principle, you should never trust a cookie with more than three names. These gluten-free-oat-cranberry-flaxseed-cookies seem to think that they can trick us into believing they’re some kind of health food but we know, ohhhh we KNOW. These are cookies. With plenty of butter and sugar. Because of that, I have some great news: They taste like cookies! Like a very good grocery store oatmeal raisin cookie, with a surprisingly soft and chewy texture (I see you, molasses and rice flour.) They crumble a little, but then again who doesn’t in this current political climate? Still not sure what a flaxseed is, but I’m already starting to see definition in my abs.

Thai Green Curry Simmer Sauce, $1.99This so-called simmer sauce is the pale minty green of my grandmother’s bathroom walls, with much more flavor (and a lot less lead!). Even though a simple green curry is easy to make, at this price, it costs the same as just the can of coconut milk, and there’s Kaffir lime peel in here. It’s fragrant with lemongrass and ginger, and super creamy, a little sweet—overall, delicious. You cook some protein or veg, add the sauce, serve over noodles/rice. What does this sauce have in common with a certain presidential marriage? There’s absolutely no heat. BYO-chile if you need to spice it up.

Tahini, Pepita & Apricot Slaw Kit, $3.99Inside one plastic bag you get four more little plastic bags! It’s like a Russian nesting salad of environmental doom. Or something. The slaw is a combination of veggies from the aisle-land of misfit produce. Spiky broccoli stems. Faded carrots the color of construction cones abandoned by the highway. The curly split ends from a kale haircut. Cabbage. Unfortunately the dressing, a sweet honey tahini (try this one!), which is pretty good, can’t mask the musty taste of the veg. The pepita and apricot sprinkles are a nice idea, but like hoping the 14 throw pillows on your couch hide all of the cat hair, they can only do so much.

Previously

The Week of January 8

Photo by Chelsie Craig

Frosted Sugar Cookies, $2.99Trader Joe’s imitation of Lofthouse’s iconic packaged cookies is the best thing they’ve brought to the new year. The freakishly smooth, delightfully underbaked sugar cookie is topped with frosting and randomly distributed purple-pink sprinkles. Whoever was in charge of sprinkles appears to have sneezed them out, some gather along the edges, holding on for dear frosting life.

But they really did it. It’s mythic, and it dissolves into dust the second it touches your saliva. The minute you bite into it, you forget it was ever there. And it’s everything you’ve missed since the last time you had one, stoned at 10 p.m. in Kroger with your middle school friends who’ve all had babies on Facebook by now. It’s a cookie that will send you back in time, in memory, in a sugar-induced nostalgia nap.

Photo by Chelsie Craig

Cocoa Almond Cashew Beverage, $2.29Who doesn’t love a beverage? AKA the FDA-approved term for milks that aren’t milk. Remember milk? Pause to pour out some beverage in the memory of milk. Those days are over.

This incredibly silky not-milk is chocolaty and sweet, with a vaguely nutty aftertaste, like a burp after too many bar peanuts. The creamy texture, thanks to the beautiful food science that is locust bean gum and other emulsifiers, ends on a near slimy note, reminiscent of the inside of the cardboard chocolate milk carton. It would be nice in a banana smoothie, heated as faux cocoa, mixed into iced coffee, or given as a bribe to children who have never known the cult of cow.

Photo by Chelsie Craig

Italian Marinara Sauce with Barolo Wine, $3.49Have you ever spooned straight marinara sauce into your mouth? It’s acidic and sweet, smooth save for the little toenails of tomato skin here and there. The saltiness left my chapped lips burning and tingling, like I’d exfoliated them with French fries. The addition of Barolo seems to say, “I know wines other than red,” while the black-and-gold Deco packaging suggests a Gatsby-themed party at the Olive Garden. It tasted like pretty good pizza sauce. Sign me up.

Organic Fruit and Seed Granola, $3.69These little clusters of organic seeds, held together by plasticky tasting tapioca syrup, are nuggets of health. I think. No pesky oats here, just seed bombs that I imagine are only slightly larger than what well-fed pigeons expel. The sharp and crunchy texture is appealing to parents who bring healthy snacks to the movies. They’re also the perfect snack for mindful eaters, as you will mindfully spend every bite doing tongue yoga to get chia seeds out of your molar fillings from the 90s. There are surprise bites of sweetened dried cranberries that will make you exclaim, “SUGAR, for MEEEE?” Somehow you will eat the whole bag.

Stay tuned for more, next week.

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[wweismann-blog]

autumn

“Autumn is the season of the year that succeeds Summer and predates Winter. It is characterized by a drop in temperature, and by the yellowing of the leaves of the trees, which indicates the passage of seasons”

She was born in a cold morning of October. If she was able to have memories from that day, she would have seen her parents’ smile when they welcomed her to this world, the curiosity of her sister radiant as the summer - a four year old back then - and the Northern Lights painting the sky of Anchorage. She would have known that that night the termometers were setted in minus four celsius, that the snow was falling and that her first outfit was orange, just like the season she shared her name with.

She would also know that her youngest child days would last only for two years, but a baby’s memory is not exactly precise and this is another story.

She could definitely remember, though, of days and days in Anchorage with average temperatures between six and minus one that would allow her to enjoy the days spent out of the house and develope her passion for ice skating while everything was going on how it should be. School passed by with no memorable event and she would focus on training and everything else related to skating. She would dedicate herself to the sport with her body and soul, spending nights and more nights (re)watching and studying jumps and international competitions, trying to put everything in practice as soon as possible - and often being successfull in it. She had a bright future, everyone knew it - just like the medals of local competitions that would slowly fill her room could prove.

She was fourteen when that happened - and of it she remembers clearly. Her room had the walls full of posters of Oksana Kazakova, Artur Dmitrev and so many other russians and soviets that made history in the sport. The collant she was weating was red with orange bolts, her make-up in a variety of shades os orange and the automatic smile shaping her lips - and there was a good reason for it. Coach Carlton had told her that she got two proposals of training in Toronto or Moscow and keep what was supposed to be a promising career out of Alaska.

It was such a pity that when she got home ready to tell everything to her parents she was told that they were dead.

”Les sanglots longs des violons de l’automne Blessent mon cœur d’une langueur monotone.¹”

Autumn stopped practicing. She had lost her parents so abruptly and violently that the mere sight of the red suit made her think of the explosion that had taken their lifes. The house in Anchorage seemed cold and the nights where she could get some sleep - only possible after she stole her parents’ pillows to have with her in her bed - always turned out to be full of nightmares in violent colors: red, yellow and orange in a profusion of fall that had once made her so happy and now would leave her miserable.

She was forced to abandon her dreams because of grief, abandon the capital because of her sister searching for a new start in a place in the middle of nowhere that even if one day she was able to get back in the rink she would never be able to do so - and she made sure to remind Summer at every single opportunity how much she hated Homer, how much she hated the house they lived in, how much she hated how Summer was trying to pretend to be their mother when she clearly was not and would never be. Autumn was fifteen when she ran away for the first time and got her first tattoo, getting back home a few days later. When she was sixteen she was threatened to be expelled from her new school.

At seventeen she dropped out three months before graduating.

She remembers clearly of that October night, her eighteenth birthday’s eve. She had spent the summer cleaning tables, moving chairs and saving enough not to ask for a dime to her older sister, having that exact moment in mind in order to get over innapropriated comments, rude words and stupidity of costumers in the dine. She remembers that she knocked on her sister’s door twice before opening it carefully without even waiting for an invitation to get in. She anounced that she was leaving that goddamned city that has never brought a single good thing to her, that freezing state that could not bring her any remnant of happiness - which, she made sure to say, has been gone when she was forced to leave behing everything she knew and had in Anchorage just because Summer decided so.

She left her e-mail. For emergencies only.

With a luggage with no more than fifteen kilos and a backpack she went south without looking back not even once. She was not needed there and she was fully aware of this fact.

”Associated with the transition from heat to cold and with the seasonal status of the crop, Autumn has dominated the popular imaginary. In Western cultures, the personification of the season occurs through beautiful, curvaceous women - associating them with the season's abundance - with adornments of fruits, vegetables and grains harvested in the Autumn.”

Colin told her that the Big Apple was the solution to her problems.

The city was big, shining, full of new beginnings and people reinventing themselves. It allowed Autumn to get back in touch with that part of her that she still liked and made her able to recover all the time she had been wasting. When she was eighteen she was walking out of the bus in New Jersey, where she could afford rent. She would take the night shifts in a random diner and would go back to ice skating during the day. Life would slowly return to her body, the amount of possibilities increasing every moment. It was hard to become a professional after not practing for so long, it was true, but it was not impossible.

‘Nothing is impossible’, Colin would say.

Colin was her biggest fan. Her gay flatmate that introduced her to a Thomas Richardson that guaranteed that with hard work she could get what she wanted. At nineteen she got back to amateur competitions, amazing all the judges. At the age of twenty, she got a sponsorship of a team, making her able to leave her job and dedicate herself entirely to the sport.

She was twenty-three when she got her invitation to join the American National Team for the World Championship. Only a few weeks before getting in the plane to Turim, she got out the team. While training, she jumped as the coreography requested but landed poorly. The result? Two injuried ligaments, one ruptured, a broken knee. She went under surgery but alter re-running all the tests, the doctors were able to provide a simgle answer: she would not be able to compete again.

“Tout suffocant et blême,

quand sonne l’heure.²”

Frustration. Celebrating her twenty fourth birthday in a hospital bed, she had spent the year in a useless physiotherapy. She knew that she was able to walk without showing any physical damage but the cold brought her pain only controlled with medicine. She saw the national coach turn his back to her as soon as he could. She saw Mao Asada got the first place in the competition. She saw Colin finding herselv HIV positive and die slowly.

Then she saw nothing.

No, not nothing - fate would be too nice if it hidden everything from her. She saw death take Colin in less than an year, pneumonia. She saw herself being evicted due to lack of payment. She saw her skin being pierced so the paint could fill the void of her soul - and it would not, not for a long time. She moved to Brooklyn where she would share an apartment with four models from somewhere in Eastern Europe that introduced her to their agency and the possibility of making some money. She was tall enough, thin enough and young enough to get jobs that would pay enough.

Too bad that she was also desperate enough to submit herself to certain things.

”In poetry, Autumn is recurrently associated with melancholy: the possibility of Summer is gone and the coldness of Winter begins to appear. The heavens turn gray and people turn inward, both physically and psychologically”

Jerry Allen was his name. He was a good photographer that would repeat several times how Autumn was beautiful and how she would become his muse. She was twenty five, he was thirty eight. They fell in love. She saw herself leaving the apartment she shared with the slavic girls and heading to a beautiful place in East Village. She left behind photos, memories and the recently found profession that were now nothing but papers in a box. She was happy, she was loved. She would stay at home, cleaning it, preparing dinners, pouring smiles.

And after all she had nothing to complain about - it was her fault if there was dust above the table or dish on the sink. All Jerry did was only to disciplin her and he would not have to do so if she did not make mistakes. If she did not talk too much. If she did not looked too much for one of his guests. If she did not dressed like a fucking whore. If she did not keep in touch with those models that would sleep her way to a job.

It was not Jerry’s fault if she really needed slaps, punches and kicks to learn what was really right. The fault would be hers only, of not being able to meet the expectations, to keep the house clean, to please the one she loved. The fault was and would always be Autumn’s, with her skin tainted with permanent marks made in her youth, her skin showing trying to seduce other man and cheat on the only one that loved her and gave her a home.

This happened for two years.

”Je me souviens des jours anciens et je pleure³”

The upstairs neighbour was the one who took her away.

The old lady found her in the hallway in a November afternoon. She asked her where Autumn came from, she saw the purple bruises on her skin. She paid for a one way ticket to Anchorage, leaving from JFK in five hours with a connection in Seattle.

She tried to made Autumn go to a safe place, far from there, far from everything. She insisted that she would go to the police and report her boyfriend and heard from the girl that she had no reason to do so - at least not just because he was not guilty and only did that to her own good. The lady got a luggage with things necessary for a few days, gave her three hundred dollars in cash and took her to the airport herself.

She left her mobile back, a goodbye on a paper above the kitchen table and sent an email to her sister before heading back to Alaska. She hasn’t been happy there - she hate Homer with all her strenght - but now at twenty seven she believed that if her sister has gone there after the death of their parents, there should be a reason. There should be some wisdom on doing so, she would hold into the possibility of, onde againm have a new beginning.

In the night she got to the city, the snow was falling. You could also see the Northern Lights.

“Et je m’en vais au vent mauvais

qui m’emporte deçà, delà,

pareil à la feuille morte*”

__________________________________________________

¹ – The long sobs of autumn violins hurt my heart in a faint monotony.

² – All suffocating and pale when the time has come

³ – I remember the old days and I cry

*- And I leave in the mean wind that takes me back and forth like a dead leaf

(another original character for a RPG. Autumn is the second of four kids all named after the season they were born, Summer being the first and Winter, the only boy, being the third - their personalities are related to the seasons they were named after, one thing that we really enjoyed playing with. the quotations regarding the fall were taking from wikipedia, the ones in french are from a poem called Chanson d’Automne by Paul Verlaine. the temperatures are in celsius because it is just easier to work with for me and US has to get over farenheit and join the rest of the world soon. the idea is to see Autumn’s life as a circle; it starts and ends in the same state, with the same weather. that was the start point of when I started to roleplay with her - unfortunately not for too long)

[auntiegilli]

This is one of my favourite blogs – mostly because I haven’t written it!  Let me start by saying how fellow Bristol artists Shab and JeeSee describe Mr Sleven’s work:

” Sleven’s work explores the relationship between Bauhausian sensibilities and recycling culture, shimmering phenomena frozen through emergent and practice, the viewer is left with an insight into the darkness of our future. Fascinating theoretical limits of the zeitgeist. What starts out as triumph soon becomes manipulated into a manifesto of temptation, leaving only a sense of chaos and the chance of order. Reminding me of influences as diverse as Camus and Miles Davis, new variations are created from both constructed and discovered narratives. As shifting phenomena become reconfigured through emergent and repetitive practice, the viewer is left with a testament to the outposts of our culture.” Shab

“Sleven depicts letters and characters with his own distinctive take on graffiti and street art. His style is unique, bold lines you can tell are his. His work demonstrates he has a thorough understanding of how colours relate to each other and how nature, both of the human and the urban, speaks to our eyes. An organic artist, with a hint of the struggles of the underdog, his art stands tall and is vital for the jilted generation. A life lived, taking in the rich sub cultures of Bristol, predominantly Hip Hop, is right there on the wall or canvas. And is difficult to deny the truths told by this experienced and honest artist.” JeeSee

And then onto an interview where Sleven answered in the third person. I cannot take credit for this delicious eloquence.

Bit of background and how you got into art

Slevens doesn’t know an exact point when he got into art but his earliest memory of being creative is drawing on the walls of his bedroom as a wee sprog. And just knowing that every time he had a pencil, pen, crayon or brush in his hand, it felt right, it felt natural, it felt like escapism from what was going on around him, it felt like freedom. Since that feeling he discovered from such a young age he carried on with his new found obsession for scribbling his world on any form of canvas possible. He learnt that his innate love  and ability to create art would help him escape the confusing, strange, cold world he’d been birthed into and it was also an excellent tool to amuse, bewilder, astonish and befriend people. Which helped him deal with being imprisoned in the archaic regime of school throughout his younger years.

Influences on your work

Slevens influences are vast and varied. His art is heavily influence from subcultures and countercultures (specifically hip-hop),  books on the workings of the inner minds eye,  graffiti culture, pop culture,  different historical and present cultures, all forms of art, nature, music, politics, his cat, random people he meets, his family and tight knit misfits he also calls family, and just the general day to day madness of life it’s self. But to put a specific point on the visual artists that have influenced him and his work, it would have to be H.R. Giger, Dali, M.C. Escher, Jackson Pollock, Van Gogh, Francis Bacon, Zdzisław Beksiński, Picasso, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Kieth Hearing, David Choe, Mear One, Seen, Futura, Seak, OS Gemeos, Replete, Vaughn Bode and Mark Bode, Ralph Bakshi and Hayao Miyazaki, Todd McFarlane. To many more to list but these are the ones that have been most influential within finding his own style and technique.

What have you been doing since we last touched base on 3 is a magic number?

 Mr.Sleven’s been part of numerous exhibitions, events and festivals over the past 3/4 years. This is down to an event he set up in 2013 with a fellow limey from his hometown. The event was dubbed “Scribble’N’Scratch”. A monthly illustration battle league and hip-hop event. Which he took the title for in the first year. S’n’S opened up the doors to many opportunities for Sleven. Such as exhibiting work alongside numerous up and coming artists as well as established ones, in such cities as Bristol, Bath, Frome, Birmingham and Cardiff. As well as exhibiting at numerous exhibitions, he’s also started to curate them back in 2014. This came about when he was given the chance to turn a rundown loading bay at the P.R.S.C into a gallery and hold it’s first exhibit. A year later he became a partner at the Matchbox gallery on Stokes Croft. Which he’s exhibit and curated at since 2015. He’s also been in charge of the site art and decor for Wonder Fields fetival for the past three years as well as painting at Baltewr festival for the past two and Upfest back in 2012.

What do other artists say about your work:

The only thing he usually remembers on what other artists say about his work is “That’s a bit fucking dark innit or that’s sick” So here’s some quotes from some artists he asked specifically for this question : Annika Wilkinson “Dark but beautiful and reflective of your emotions and mind. Uplifting and unique in a distinctive style. Very Street art graff formulation unlike no other combined with a deep expressive and evocative touch”. Pekoe “Massively varied style that you’ve worked hard to develop. I’m impressed how all your work is definitely “yours” even when the actual style differs”.  

What have you got coming up?

Sleven doesn’t currently have any exhibitions lined up for the rest of the year as of yet but this is sure to change as soon as summer starts to move out of the way. He’s lined p to paint at Upfest this year as a solo artist but also with his Matchbox Gallery collective as well as taking on the Upfest Scribble N Scratch battle. He’ll also be doing decor for Boomtown festivals Wild west area, a graffiti jam in Glastonbury called Styles of Somerset which is in August, as well a couple of music events he has lined up with his collective B.A.M.P and he’s also booked in to paint the P.R.S.C outdoor gallery wall later in the year.

What is most important to you about your art?

What Sleven feels most important to him about his art, is being able to escape the day to day drag of this culturally enslaved western side of the world he lives in, through his art. It also gives him a sense of balance and purpose to the madness in his melon and life as it is. And if he’s able to effect at least one person with some form deep emotion through that art he’s created then that’s just as important to him as his escapism through art.

And about Upfest?

He’ll be painting at The Rising Sun as a solo artist, the South Street Park with the Matchbox collective and battling for Scribble N Scratch at The Tobacco Factory on the Saturday and again on the Sunday if he wins his battle. Sleven’s not completely sure what he’ll be painting as a solo artist as of yet, he just has a colour scheme of red, white, black, gold and grey. With his crew, they’ll be envisioning a quote from Sun Tzu’s: The art of War, in the theme of Afro Samurai. He’s looking forward to being slap bang in the middle of a smoldering paint pot of creativity, colour, cider and mischief. Which every year,  upfest undoubtedly bring, whether he’s painting or not.  

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See NASKOOLs work at Ashton Gate

Upfest Saturday 29, Sunday 30 Monday 31 July 2017

Upfest Festival Map

Upfest 2017 – Delicious eloquence from Mr Sleven. This is one of my favourite blogs - mostly because I haven't written it!  Let me start by saying how fellow Bristol artists Shab and JeeSee describe Mr Sleven's work: