This Would Really Help Right Now...

Oh how completely adorable this is 🤩

💙🩵🛒💨

God. This is gorgeous. The symbolism is crazy

Cavallino Rampante 🩸 prints available here

Fuck. Look at the curve on that thigh. This is what Carlos’ dreams are made of

Charles plays in the Fight Aids Cup charity football match at Monaco's Stade Louis II stadium | Jan 2024

Apparently Gabi never had enough of hugging Nico yesterday

So You Need To Buy A Computer But You Don't Know What Specs Are Good These Days

Hi.

This is literally my job.

Lots of people are buying computers for school right now or are replacing computers as their five-year-old college laptop craps out so here's the standard specs you should be looking for in a (windows) computer purchase in August 2023.

PROCESSOR

Intel i5 (no older than 10th Gen)

Ryzen 7

You can get away with a Ryzen 5 but an intel i3 should be an absolute last resort. You want at least an intel i5 or a Ryzen 7 processor. The current generation of intel processors is 13, but anything 10 or newer is perfectly fine. DO NOT get a higher performance line with an older generation; a 13th gen i5 is better than an 8th gen i7. (Unfortunately I don't know enough about ryzens to tell you which generation is the earliest you should get, but staying within 3 generations is a good rule of thumb)

RAM

8GB absolute minimum

If you don't have at least 8GB RAM on a modern computer it's going to be very, very slow. Ideally you want a computer with at least 16GB, and it's a good idea to get a computer that will let you add or swap RAM down the line (nearly all desktops will let you do this, for laptops you need to check the specs for Memory and see how many slots there are and how many slots are available; laptops with soldered RAM cannot have the memory upgraded - this is common in very slim laptops)

STORAGE

256GB SSD

Computers mostly come with SSDs these days; SSDs are faster than HDDs but typically have lower storage for the same price. That being said: SSDs are coming down in price and if you're installing your own drive you can easily upgrade the size for a low cost. Unfortunately that doesn't do anything for you for the initial purchase.

A lot of cheaper laptops will have a 128GB SSD and, because a lot of stuff is stored in the cloud these days, that can be functional. I still recommend getting a bit more storage than that because it's nice if you can store your music and documents and photos on your device instead of on the cloud. You want to be able to access your files even if you don't have internet access.

But don't get a computer with a big HDD instead of getting a computer with a small SSD. The difference in speed is noticeable.

SCREEN (laptop specific)

Personally I find that touchscreens have a negative impact on battery life and are easier to fuck up than standard screens. They are also harder to replace if they get broken. I do not recommend getting a touch screen unless you absolutely have to.

A lot of college students especially tend to look for the biggest laptop screen possible; don't do that. It's a pain in the ass to carry a 17" laptop around campus and with the way that everything is so thin these days it's easier to damage a 17" screen than a 14" screen.

On the other end of that: laptops with 13" screens tend to be very slim devices that are glued shut and impossible to work on or upgrade.

Your best bet (for both functionality and price) is either a 14" or a 15.6" screen. If you absolutely positively need to have a 10-key keyboard on your laptop, get the 15.6". If you need something portable more than you need 10-key, get a 14"

FORM FACTOR (desktop specific)

If you purchase an all-in-one desktop computer I will begin manifesting in your house physically. All-in-ones take away every advantage desktops have in terms of upgradeability and maintenance; they are expensive and difficult to repair and usually not worth the cost of disassembling to upgrade.

There are about four standard sizes of desktop PC: All-in-One (the size of a monitor with no other footprint), Tower (Big! probably at least two feet long in two directions), Small Form Factor Tower (Very moderate - about the size of a large shoebox), and Mini/Micro/Tiny (Small! about the size of a small hardcover book).

If you are concerned about space you are much better off getting a MicroPC and a bracket to put it on your monitor than you are getting an all-in-one. This will be about a million percent easier to work on than an all-in-one and this way if your monitor dies your computer is still functional.

Small form factor towers and towers are the easiest to work on and upgrade; if you need a burly graphics card you need to get a full size tower, but for everything else a small form factor tower will be fine. Most of our business sales are SFF towers and MicroPCs, the only time we get something larger is if we have to put a $700 graphics card in it. SFF towers will accept small graphics cards and can handle upgrades to the power supply; MicroPCs can only have the RAM and SSD upgraded and don't have room for any other components or their own internal power supply.

WARRANTY

Most desktops come with either a 1 or 3 year warranty; either of these is fine and if you want to upgrade a 1 year to a 3 year that is also fine. I've generally found that if something is going to do a warranty failure on desktop it's going to do it the first year, so you don't get a hell of a lot of added mileage out of an extended warranty but it doesn't hurt and sometimes pays off to do a 3-year.

Laptops are a different story. Laptops mostly come with a 1-year warranty and what I recommend everyone does for every laptop that will allow it is to upgrade that to the longest warranty you can get with added drop/damage protection. The most common question our customers have about laptops is if we can replace a screen and the answer is usually "yes, but it's going to be expensive." If you're purchasing a low-end laptop, the parts and labor for replacing a screen can easily cost more than half the price of a new laptop. HOWEVER, the way that most screens get broken is by getting dropped. So if you have a warranty with drop protection, you just send that sucker back to the factory and they fix it for you.

So, if it is at all possible, check if the manufacturer of a laptop you're looking at has a warranty option with drop protection. Then, within 30 days (though ideally on the first day you get it) of owning your laptop, go to the manufacturer site, register your serial number, and upgrade the warranty. If you can't afford a 3-year upgrade at once set a reminder for yourself to annually renew. But get that drop protection, especially if you are a college student or if you've got kids.

And never, ever put pens or pencils on your laptop keyboard. I've seen people ruin thousand dollar, brand-new laptops that they can't afford to fix because they closed the screen on a ten cent pencil. Keep liquids away from them too.

LIFESPAN

There's a reasonable chance that any computer you buy today will still be able to turn on and run a program or two in ten years. That does not mean that it is "functional."

At my office we estimate that the functional lifespan of desktops is 5-7 years and the functional lifespan of laptops is 3-5 years. Laptops get more wear and tear than desktops and desktops are easier to upgrade to keep them running. At 5 years for desktops and 3 years for laptops you should look at upgrading the RAM in the device and possibly consider replacing the SSD with a new (possibly larger) model, because SSDs and HDDs don't last forever.

COST

This means that you should think of your computers as an annual investment rather than as a one-time purchase. It is more worthwhile to pay $700 for a laptop that will work well for five years than it is to pay $300 for a laptop that will be outdated and slow in one year (which is what will happen if you get an 8th gen i3 with 8GB RAM). If you are going to get a $300 laptop try to get specs as close as possible to the minimums I've laid out here.

If you have to compromise on these specs, the one that is least fixable is the processor. If you get a laptop with an i3 processor you aren't going to be able to upgrade it even if you can add more RAM or a bigger SSD. If you have to get lower specs in order to afford the device put your money into the processor and make sure that the computer has available slots for upgrade and that neither the RAM nor the SSD is soldered to the motherboard. (one easy way to check this is to search "[computer model] RAM upgrade" on youtube and see if anyone has made a video showing what the inside of the laptop looks like and how much effort it takes to replace parts)

Computers are expensive right now. This is frustrating, because historically consumer computer prices have been on a downward trend but since 2020 that trend has been all over the place. Desktop computers are quite expensive at the moment (August 2023) and decent laptops are extremely variably priced.

If you are looking for a decent, upgradeable laptop that will last you a few years, here are a couple of options that you can purchase in August 2023 that have good prices for their specs:

14" Lenovo - $670 - 11th-gen i5, 16GB RAM, and 512GB SSD

15.6" HP - $540 - 11th-gen i5, 16GB RAM, and 256GB SSD

14" Dell - $710 - 12th-gen i5, 16GB RAM, and 256GB SSD

If you are looking for a decent, affordable desktop that will last you a few years, here are a couple of options that you can purchase in August 2023 that have good prices for their specs:

SFF HP - $620 - 10th-gen i5, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD

SFF Lenovo - $560 - Ryzen 7 5000 series, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD

Dell Tower - $800 - 10th-gen i7, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD

If I were going to buy any of these I'd probably get the HP laptop or the Dell Tower. The HP Laptop is actually a really good price for what it is.

Anyway happy computering.

I’m going to add because I see it so often…

QUIET - adj. making little or no noise

QUITE - adv. to a certain or fairly significant extent or degree; fairly

IT’S NOT ‘PEEKED’ MY INTEREST

OR ‘PEAKED’

BUT PIQUED

‘PIQUED MY INTEREST’

THIS HAS BEEN A CAPSLOCK PSA

This 😭

I’m gonna miss the Swiss team

„congratulations on your first podium! your mercedes team“

mercedes employee is carrying a bag filled with champagne bottles over to the sauber garage because sauber doesn‘t have enough

@evilpixiea

No, no, no! Don’t stop now! This was going so well! See, I completely see the “relationship” the same way as you do. I ship the mental assault, the sexually one-sided relationship. The way, yes, the culmination of Joker’s erotic obsession would definitely be to be killed by Batman. And while Batman wouldn’t have a sexual drive toward Joker, yes I believe the equivalent of it is how Joker gets under his skin in a way no other villain does. And so it creates a sort of unhealthy relationship.

And in shipping them, I like seeing how deep and dangerous that relationship (because it’s more than simple interactions) can go.

So my ask was really: in a world where maybe the Joker, just like in maybe Snyder’s Death of the Family, takes things dangerously far, and Batman is dangerously strained by it yet will let himself be affected by the dynamics, how would Superman react, in a world where there is a Superbat relationship. How would he react seeing how consumed Batman is by the very destructive dynamics, yet does not pull himself away from it.

I may be rambling and incoherently incapable of putting coherent words to my thoughts, I admit...

(Side note, I’m actually a fan of Troy Baker’s Joker in Origins.. I thought he did a perfect rendition of a younger Joker. Perfectly in tune with Mark’s)

(Can I also add how much I dig Supes’ face when he’s under the Joker’s toxin’s effect in Endgame??)

I don’t think I’ve ever seen much of BatJokes in your work, but I’m going to bring this up.. hope it’s alright.. I consider the relationship between The Joker and The Batman to be heavily sexually charged. There may not be anything physical, but there is sexual tension that creeps on the “mentally sexually charged”... If this would be the case in your worlds, what would Superman’s reaction, and to it via-a-vis Bruce? Extra points for angst..?

Personally, the BatJokes ship has never been one that gels very well with me. That’s not because I don’t think there is sexual energy between them (I very much do) but because I think that energy is very one sided. From my readings of the comics and other media Joker has for a long time has had a very explicit and obvious sexual interest in Batman. Not Bruce. Batman. However, instead of trying to have sex with him he tries to hurt him. For the Joker, intimacy is achieved when he successfully gets under Batman’s skin or (better yet) makes him lose control.

A part of the Joker wants Batman to kill him. That I think would be the climax of his erotic obsession with Batman. He wants to be that person that breaks Batman and unleashes the beast.

Bruce, for his part, I think really truly does hate the Joker. There is no softness, no caveats, or round edges in that feeling. He hates him as much as a person can hate another.

He wishes Joker was dead… which is what makes the dynamic interesting from a hero/villain point of view. Bruce, to uphold his code, needs to not kill. Joker wants Batman to kill him and will continue trying to hurt him until he does.

That is the dramatic tension. That is the push pull. That is what makes the pair so interesting.

However, personally, that also means I don’t really enjoy shipping them. I can’t see Joker ever giving a shit about the parts of Bruce which aren’t Batman and I can’t see Bruce ever not hating Joker with every single fibre of his being.

However, as anyone who has spoken to me on this subject knows, I am fine with people interpreting and building on canon however they see fit. This is what fandom is all about and fandom is a beautiful thing. So, if people see their relationship differently than I do and like to imagine them together or, at the very least, a two way erotic energy, then that’s cool. I am fine with people shipping whatever they want. That’s what makes fandom interesting.

And even if I don’t ship them I still think they have a really interesting hero/villain relationship. One of the best in comics, if not the best.

Some of my favourite Batman vs Joker moments which really (I think) highlight Joker’s fetishisation of the Batman persona and Bruce’s utter hatred mixed with his constant near loss of control are…

The Joker’s POV scenes in Arkham Origins. God, if only they had Mark Hammil it would have been perfect.

The Joker in Scot Snyder’s Death Of The Family.

The Joker in The Dark Knight Returns.

Side note. It’s really interesting that the queer coding of Joker hasn’t gone away yet, don’t you think? Traditionally comic book villains (like Disney villains) were given gender non conformist traits to emphasis how evil and different they were… we’re a little more enlightened in regard to queer folk now and tend not to do that with our villains anymore. Joker’s the exception. He is still very queer in his coding. Everything from the way he moves, the way he puts on his makeup, the way he often wears women’s clothing like high heels, and the language he uses.

I think Joker gets a pass on the whole ‘evil character being queer coded’ because DC has decided to play into the idea of Joker’s fetishisation of Batman. It’s interesting, no?

Anyway, I’m rambling. Sorry. I’ll back out of this post now.

F1 Contract Negotiations: The Ultimate Guide to the 2024 Williams Contract Negotiations Saga

If you've ever asked yourself "what really happened during Carlos' contract negotiations?" and "how much do we really know about it?" - this is for you!

I compiled all the relevant quotes and bites from the assorted podcasts, interviews and press conferences, made a handy timeline, and presented it oh-so nicely. Now, all the information about the "secret meetings" in "various hotel locations" can be found in one place! Enjoy💙

Chosen sources: Full list in the last slide!

How Sainz Will Turbocharge Williams - with James Vowles | F1 Nation Podcast (5 August 2024), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zodLL9POfeE.

EXCLUSIVE: Late nights, secret meetings and colossal contracts – James Vowles on how he signed Sainz (29 July 2024),  https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/exclusive-late-nights-secret-meetings-and-colossal-contracts-james-vowles-on.2KTdZFiYOsMCIRT6GdRlLA.

‘He's an incredible driver’ – Vowles says Sainz is top of Williams shortlist for 2025 (7 June 2024), https://www.formula1.com/en/video/hes-an-incredible-driver-vowles-says-sainz-is-top-of-williams-shortlist-for-2025.1801235335357520279.

Sainz poised to announce F1 deal with Williams in Barcelona (June 2024), https://www.motorsportweek.com/2024/06/20/sainz-poised-to-announce-f1-deal-with-williams-in-barcelona/.

Vowles has his ‘heart set’ on signing Sainz as he says ‘odds are in my favour’ for Williams to secure him (29 July 2024),  https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/vowles-has-his-heart-set-on-signing-sainz-as-he-says-odds-are-in-my-favour.6tOC9hN3OfIO24JLvY8JMm.

Vowles describes 'emotional reaction' from Williams team to Sainz signing as 'largest I've ever seen' (8 August 2024),  https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/vowles-describes-emotional-reaction-from-williams-team-to-sainz-signing-as.3THrWsaiypWlASRFJhkztP.

Sainz believes Williams can make an F1 performance leap akin to McLaren with their “very strong project” (August 2024), https://www.pitdebrief.com/post/sainz-believes-williams-can-make-an-f1-performance-leap-akin-to-mclaren-with-their-very-strong-project/.

James Vowles: On The Right Track With Albon + Sainz | F1 Beyond The Grid Podcast (2 October 2024), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMyUNzNETuk.

Carlos Sainz: Pain, Pride + Potential | F1 Beyond The Grid Podcast (4 December 2024), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26PsKeH_ytA.

Carlos Sainz’s First Day at HQ! | No Place Like Grove (4 February 2025), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzJjy24Ix1M.

If anything is true, it’s that Charles will always care for Carlos (and vice versa)

“I feel sorry for Carlos... I’m sorry for him… I feel sorry that for Carlos that means he dropped out of the points.”