Carlos Is Pissed, But Not At Charles

New Saezuru Illustration poster from PASH anime magazine September issue!

@evilpixiea

I read this yesterday just before heading to the gym, and I wasn’t going to write anything and leave the ideas to my head, but then it stuck the whole time at the gym and still this morning... so here it very humbly is:

All I thought when I read this ask is: “Mana-sama.” Now few will know who Mana-sama is, but he is an important influencer in the early visual kei Japanese rock movement.

Not that The Trinity should dwell into androgynous visual Kei, but Mana-sama was the co-leader of his group, Malize Mizer, despite never speaking in public. In interviews, he would occasionally whisper to the ear of his lead vocalist who would then speak out his words, or more often than not, simply blink or tilt his head. Actually, he was awarded for many years the “best nails of Japan” award and his acceptance speech essentially consisted of him looking cold and giving looks to his interpreter, who would then speak his words.

So that’s how imagine The Batman in The Trinity band: the cold leader who never speaks in public. Occasionally smirks.

But physically, The Batman would obviously not be the originator of the Gothic Lolita. There, I imagine more the like of Toshiya, the bassist of the Jrock band Dir en Grey.

Cold, beautiful, angular and dark bassist of The Trinity. Dressed perfectly (see below) and dark makeup around the eyes. Astonishingly beautiful, but darkly so.

Clark would rather be the lead vocalist, perhaps occasionally dwelling in electric, or even more rarely, acoustic guitar. Bright, energetic, and oh so loved by the limelight. He is not the leader, not even the co-leader. But he speaks all the time to the press and he’s really who you have to ask if you actually want an answer.

(To be honest, maaaaybe a part of Gackt’s new, current persona matches Clark... but for the purpose of this post, since I am apparently on a visual kei reference mood, Gackt would fit the more masculine good looking lead vocalist type for sure)

And Diana? She’s at the drums of course! Beautiful, strong, powerful behind that elaborate piece of instrument. Her dark hair is all loose, curls flying around her face, held back by her golden tiara (what is it called, anyway?) while she executes that solo to perfection. She occasionally lends her voice to the lead vocalist, but mostly it’s all about how her arms move around creating those strong percussion sounds, muscle taunt, golden bands on them and at her wrists catching in the light. She’s also the co-leader. And in interview? Sometimes you’ll get a word out of her, and it’ll be strong and phylosophical, and probably too deep for most fans, who will love to analyze all she says post priori.

(I don’t know whose gif to add for this one.. sorry. EDIT: added a visual.. it’s probably a guy but.. heh. It’s visual kei. Meaning it is probably meant to look like a girl anyway)

If the trinity were a band, who would be the drummer, lead singer, and guitar/bass player? (Also, side thing that Bruce and Clark come off as players but are really hiding a secret relationship) (side-side thing that Diana's the only one who knows about it)

Haha! This ask made me so happy because… can you imagine the Trinity as a band? Seriously. They’re the most un-band-y people you will ever meet. The broody silent type that doesn’t like to be in the spotlight, the ultimate ‘dad’, and a warrior woman who (while a lover of music) is more of a wild dancer than anything else.

If they did somehow organise and take to the stage it would be a thing of… well… not quite beauty.

Especially as they enjoy very different music. Diana we know from the comics likes rock and roll. So she’s up there attacking her electric guitar like it’s strings are the strings of her bow.

Beside her Clark is trying for something slow and country on his normal guitar.

And there, pushed to the front with a I-don’t-want-to-be-here look on his face is Bruce… who can sing. He can sing well and will if he really has to. But, by god, he never thought he would be on stage let alone between these two manics.

Meanwhile the charities that convinced the Justice League to put forward and act look on in horror…

Still, no matter how bad the trio are they book out the venue every time they get on stage and donate all the money to charity. So no one can really complain that much.

OMG!!! Crusty shepherd's pie?!?! Where have you been all my life!??!?

I have only ever known Shepherd's pie as "Pâté chinois", our lovely Quebecer dish, which I LOVE. But now I am sitting here, reading your explanation @scriptfoodie, wondering what are those versions of which I have never heard a word?!?? Must look into the history of Shepherd's pie!

Hey foodie! Can you talk a little bit about different approaches to shepherd's pie? I've heard there are differences but I don't really know what they are. Thankeeee!! xoxoScripty

Hey scripty, great question! Oooooh Shepherds pie, Shepherds pie!!! This is my bf’s absolute fave so you can imagine how many times and different ways I’ve made it! For starters you can go with or without a crust AND there are different kinds of crusts to choose from. Some will go with puff pastry which I don’t personally recommend because they tend to go soggy so quickly. A pate brisee (savory tart crust) would be up to the task but I prefer the buttery flakiness found in regular old pie crust. I make mine with ice cold vodka for extra crispness but that’s another topic for another day. Once I’ve decided whether or not I feel like making a crust I move on to my meat. Chicken, beef and turkey always work well in Shepherds pies and don’t break the bank. The meat can be ground or cubed but I prefer medium to small sized cubes, steak trimmings if I can find them. I toss the meat with a little flour before browning and it ends up making a nice gravy at the bottom. It IS meant to be a “poor man’s dish” but there’s no rule that says you can’t use fish or seafood or whatever as long as the proper alterations are made. Change up the seasoning, lower the cooking temp and maybe try something like pureed cauliflower in place of potatoes? The limit does not exist! Traditional mix-ins include peas, carrots, corn and onion but WHY settle for those when you have the cornucopia of vegetables to choose from? Turnips, parsnips, pumpkin, beans, greens, potatoes, tomatoes- YOU NAAAAME IT!!!!! (I’m so sry I can’t let that die, yet) I like to top my Shepherds pie with pureed potatoes instead of mashed because they’re so smooth and silky and it’s easier to mix in the cheese, that way. Some prefer to sprinkle their cheese on top if they decide to use any at all but every time I see a thick, heavy layer of congealed cheddar on top of perfectly made potatoes I… just… I just die a little inside. Once the pie is finished I let the whole thing brown under my broiler so the potatoes can develop those sexy little crispy bits we all know and love. So there you have it, my $.02 on the phenomenal dish that is Shepherds pie!

Reblogging because I’m having a bit of that

How fucking annoying is it when you feel so restless with creative energy but you can’t decide what to do with it and when you finally try to create something it comes out shit so you just give up and sit there being all creatively annoyed and jittery.

Interview Translation

I finally had some time to translate the Yoneda Kou interview in the March issue of the magazine “Da Vinci” that came out last month. The issue focuses on introducing BL manga to male readers, and includes interviews with some other BL mangaka like Harada, Takarai Rihito, and Kumota Haruko as well.

Yoneda Kou – Her realistic portrayals of men receive attention even outside the genre of BL

“Saezuru tori wa habatakanai” is a BL manga about the lives of men on the dark side of society. Despite its genre and graphic sex scenes the series has an exceptional number of male supporters as well. Why is that? We’ve asked the author Yoneda Kou who recently started serializing another series called “OP – The Colorless Days of Yoake Itaru” in the seinen magazine “Evening”.

The setting is a well-known criminal organization, the Japanese Yakuza. In Saezuru tori wa habatakanai which tells the story of the shrewd wakagashira Yashiro and the ex-cop Doumeki who becomes his personal assistant / bodyguard, Yoneda Kou creates a dense picture of a male-dominated world wavering between chivalry and jealousy, conspiracies and sexual desire. Not only is the series immensely popular among BL readers, it also receives favorable ratings from outside the genre, having won prizes like the FRaU Manga Award and the SUGOI JAPAN Award. Even the author herself never expected such a response from Non-BL readers when she first started serializing her work. »It feels very odd to me, since I’m drawing with the intention of creating a straightforward BL story. Given Yashiro’s characterization as lewd and masochistic, I first thought that my manga wouldn’t even appeal to many BL readers. That’s why I simply feel happy that someone would go so far as recommend it to others.«

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Nico was so clueless. I swear I can hear him wondering if this is the real deal or just the one he keeps. F1, please explain to clueless Nico

BRITISH GP 2025 | NICODIUM

Writing Resources: Advice and Motivation

Writing Resources Masterlist

Things Neil Gaiman Said

A reason to write what you love

Bad Writing Day

Don’t focus on the big things; just keep writing

“Fix it fanfic” Writing to your own work

How to be a writer (the easy way)

How to reconnect with an unfinished work

how to stay motivated as a writer

How to trick your brain into writing

No motivation to keep going on

Scared for others to read your work?

Sound like yourself writing advice

What to do when you’re discouraged by feedback

Wills for Writers

Write it badly

Writing and mental health

Writing in the fog

General Tips

Cliché but true writing advice

Fail better

Femme Fatale Guide: How To Gain Motivation & Get Out of A Rut

Harsh writing advice

How do I write when I just can’t write?

How to measure success as a writer

How to (not) start a book

Idea vs Execution (writing advice)

Reasons not to quit writing

Some writing advice

Things Writers Need to Hear

Value

What are you writing?

What to do when you’ve written yourself in a corner

What to write

Write that fanfiction

Writing advice

Writing on auto pilot

Writing Tips from a Beta Reader

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.

x

100 Questions & Answers - Part 4

This is the last batch of the 100 fan questions Yoneda-sensei answered in the fanbook. Sorry, it took so long. This year has been crazy busy so far.

You can find the other parts here, in case you missed them:

Part 1 (About Sensei’s works in general / Doushitemo furetakunai / NightS )

Part 2 (About Soredemo / Saezuru)

Part 3 (About Yoneda-sensei herself)

Additional questions she answered on Twitter

And now on to the final questions. They’re also about Sensei.

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