#best gaming monitors 2023

[hyperxcomputersqtr]

Best Gaming Monitors 2023: Top Picks for Immersive Gameplay

Gaming monitors have come a long way over the years, with new models offering a range of features and capabilities that make them ideal for gaming enthusiasts. In 2023, there are a number of top gaming monitors on the market that offer excellent performance, high resolution, and fast refresh rates. These monitors are designed to provide gamers with an immersive experience that enhances gameplay and makes it more enjoyable.

One of the best gaming monitors of 2023 is the Acer Predator X27. This monitor features a 27-inch display with a 4K resolution and a fast refresh rate of 144Hz. It also supports G-Sync technology, which helps to eliminate screen tearing and stuttering. The Predator X27 is an excellent choice for gamers who want a high-quality monitor that can handle demanding games with ease.

Shopping Tips for Gaming Monitors :

Resolution: Find a monitor with a minimum resolution of 1920×1080. Higher resolutions like 2560×1440 or 3840×2160 will give you sharper images, but you may need a more powerful GPU to power them.

Refresh Rate: Choose a monitor with a good refresh rate, ideally 144Hz or above. A high refresh rate means smoother movement and less blur, which gives you an edge in high-speed games.

Response Time: Select a gaming monitor that has a minimum response time of 1ms or 2ms. This give you clear images during intensive gaming sessions.

Panel Type: There are three main types of panels: TN panels, IPS panels, and VA panels. While TN panels offer quicker response times, IPS panels and VA panels offer better color accuracy as well as wider viewing angles, depending on your preference for gaming or media

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[hamicart]

Best Deal.

[forlix]

𝘀𝘂𝗯𝘁𝗲𝘅𝘁・l.f.

— in which you forget that your hot housemate follows you on twitter.

𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱𝘀・1.1k 𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴・roommate!felix x gn!streamer!reader 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗿𝗲𝘀・fluff, flirting, kind of an smau, implied friends to lovers, humor if u count jeongin being a piece of shit

𝗮/𝗻・saw this tweet the other day and it was so painfully lix coded that i knew i had to write something asap. contains a tiny bit of gaming jargon but is hopefully comprehensible. ENJOY ♡

y/n ꒰ᐢ. .ᐢ꒱₊˚⊹ @ y/nxx

if someone brings you fresh cut fruit to your table when you're gaming, they either like LIKE you or it's your mom

11:23 A.M.・Oct. 2023・220.2K Views

bokkie 🐣 liked your post.

“My tweet?”

You read aloud the newest text in your chatroom, and your face brightens when you remember the one in question.

“Oh, about the fruit—no, it’s so true though. And I love my mom, don't get me wrong, but I have an inkling she did it to guilt trip me." You change your posture and adopt your best motherly tone of voice. "‘This is your tenth consecutive hour wasting your young adulthood in front of that damn screen. I am now going to hand deliver apple slices straight to your mouth.’ That kind of vibe, y'know?"

A slew of messages follows your anecdote, but it is a comment from one of your moderators that catches your eye first:

je0ng1n: what about the other option tho 👀

You groan at the sight of his username. “Man, why are you always here? Don't you have a job?"

je0ng1n: i’m on break je0ng1n: taking a dump je0ng1n: ungrateful bitch

You brandish a middle finger to the camera. “Hope the dump sucks."

je0ng1n: HEY je0ng1n: don’t even joke about that :(

An involuntary cackle precedes your next words. “If you’re actually wondering, though, the only person who’s brought me fruit while I’m playing video games is indeed my mother. Heartbreaking, I know.”

At this, the steady flow of messages morphs into a gallery of depressed cat emoticons; your audience never fails to impress you with their way with words.

“But if someone other than your disappointed parent is bringing you fruit,” you go on, “they might as well get on one knee in the process, honestly. That's such an adorable, loving thing to do.”

Suddenly, the words MATCH FOUND splash across your monitor, and you move your cursor to accept the game invite—only to be met with a pop-up window and a familiar error sound that grates on your ears like screeching tires.

You know how this story ends: the lights in your mouse go dark, and you look on in dejected silence.

je0ng1n: LMFAOOOOO je0ng1n: bro’s mouse definitely just exploded again

“You guessed it," you sigh. “Hang tight for a sec, guys."

Half an hour ago, you could’ve sworn you heard sneakers being kicked off, a set of keys falling against plastic. Now, you pull one side of your headphones off and roll your chair a few feet backward, calling through your half-open door: “Lix, are you home?”

You pick up on a soft clunk that sounds like metal hitting wood—the cutting board, maybe?—and then your housemate's low, accented answer bounces off the walls of your shared hallway.

“Yeah, you alright?”

“The mouse,” you say helplessly.

“Ah.” It’s not the first time you’ve summoned him for this. “Be right there.”

A few seconds later, you remember to tack on a hurried disclaimer: “I’m live, by the way!”

“I know.”

This brings a bashful smile to your face, though the expression quickly turns to one of pure dismay when you return to your desk and witness the disastrous state of your chat.

Felix has become a regular guest on your stream by now, always popping in to show you a TikTok or ask for your opinion on a new pair of jeans or simply give your camera an awkward wave—but he may as well own your channel with how completely and unequivocally he has captured the hearts of your viewers. They’re convinced he’s the sexiest person to ever grace the earth, with his chiseled features and coffee-colored eyes; with a grin that could set entire estates on fire and a voice that could scrape the nadir of the Grand Canyon.

Do you agree? Absolutely.

Do you have any intention of voicing this sentiment, so long as you’re splitting rent with him? Absolutely the hell not.

Another of Jeongin’s messages—GET ME HIS NUMBER OR I GET VIOLENT—inspires you to minimize the stream window before Felix gets here. It’s for the best.

A few moments later, the door opens, and the air shifts inside your room. A hand comes to rest on the top of your head; a familiar silhouette appears in your periphery. There is a fond grin plastered across your face and a bright greeting sitting readily on the tip of your tongue.

But then, Felix places a plate of freshly cut fruit in the empty space to the left of your keyboard—here, he hums, the sound falling against the shell of your ear like a drop of melted chocolate. And the gears of your brain grind to a complete stop.

There is no further acknowledgment; no supplementary explanation for what he's just done. He simply picks up your mouse and gets to work.

The words of your tweet swim dizzyingly before your eyes, not unlike those halos of stars and birds that revolve around disoriented cartoon characters. And you’re suddenly, achingly aware of your roommate's arm nudging against yours as he tinkers away; of the aromas of vanilla and laundry detergent that always come with his proximity; of the heat that’s risen to your face, and the plethora of questions that have surfaced to your mind.

A soft huff of laughter follows a gentle utterance of your name, and you snap out of your trance. Felix’s eyes are glinting with amusement when you meet them.

“It’s been recalibrated,” he says, handing back your mouse. “Just give it a few minutes.”

Your fingertips brush over his palm when you accept the object, and even this blink of contact has your heart performing an elaborate hopscotch routine across the plane of your chest.

It’s either your mom, or…

“Thank you,” you mumble, finally retrieving your larynx from the bottom of the Atlantic.

“Anytime,” Felix returns, and you know he means it. “You need a duo, by the way?"

“Yes, please.”

He gives you a warm smile at this, and there’s a hint of something else—something new—in the curve of his lips. “Give me two.” And he’s gone as quickly as he'd come.

You will never know how Felix slips his phone out of his pocket the second he emerges from your room, his pulse hounding his ears as he turns a nervous gaze upon his screen.

There is now a supersonic blur of messages saturating your chatroom, a colorful cacophony of moving emotes and capital letters, but he is focused wholly on the person in front of the camera and how you slowly lift a hand to your mouth, deathly silent despite your every viewer demanding your comment on the matter, your sanguine cheeks visible even through the gaps of your fingers.

That is all he needs to know.

Felix sinks into the leather of his gaming chair and bends to power on his computer. Only after a deep breath blows past his lips does his smile start to stretch into a grin, every bit as embarrassed as it is relieved.

je0ng1n: no way je0ng1n: no fucking way je0ng1n: my heart fluttered je0ng1n: wtf je0ng1n: how’d you pull HIM??

y/nxx has removed je0ng1n as a moderator of this channel.

𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸? please consider reblogging, commenting, or sending me an ask to let me know; or, read my other works here. thanks so much for the support ♡

© 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗶𝘅 (est. 090323) · all works are pieces of original writing and all characters and relationships are purely fictional. please do not repost or reuse for any reason.

[reviewskim]

Top 5 Best Budget OLED TVs [Review-2023]

[meazalykov]

the critic

lena oberdorf x commentator!reader

summary: when lena gets tagged in a video clip, she approaches you

before the cameras, before the viral clips, before the edits, before your voice became synonymous with women’s soccer commentary, there was your games itself.

you used to play, back in the day. soccer was your life—practices in the morning, matches on weekends, hours spent refining your craft, the feel of the ball at your feet something almost sacred. 

you had dreams, big ones, of playing at the highest level, maybe even for the national team. but that all came crashing down when a spinal injury took you out of the game. 

one bad fall, a rough tackle by three players at once in a crucial match, and suddenly, everything you had worked for was gone. 

the doctors said you were lucky to be walking and running again, but for a long time, it didn’t feel like luck. 

it felt like a curse, like soccer was ripped away from you when you were just starting to get your footing in the world of professional sports. 

lyon was close to signing you from your childhood club. however, that changed. the deal had to fail and so did your dream.

so you had to shift gears. you couldn’t play anymore, but you could talk about the game, share your insights, your passion, your love for it with the world. 

and, as it turned out, people loved listening to you. your analysis was sharp, your delivery honest, your humor was sweet, and soon enough, you became a well-known voice in women’s soccer commentary. 

you poured everything you couldn’t put on the pitch into your work, and it paid off.

now, here you are—2023, world cup, germany vs colombia. the stadium is electric, fans buzzing with anticipation. 

it’s your job to capture all of it, to bring the game to life for those watching at home. 

alongside you in the commentator’s booth is tyrell, your close friend and co-host for one of the biggest sports streaming sites in the world. 

you adjust your headset, eyes scanning the field as the camera pans over the players. 

"alright, tyrell, we’ve got quite the matchup today," you say, your voice carrying across the broadcast. 

"germany is looking to bounce back after their last game, and colombia has been on fire in their latest matches with caicedo. it’s anyone’s game today."

"no doubt," tyrell agrees. 

“but you know i’ve got my eye on germany’s midfield. lena oberdorf, she’s got a lot of weight on her shoulders in this one. one of the best defensive midfielders in the world is on the pitch tonight." he finishes. 

you nod, your gaze locking onto oberdorf as she moves across the pitch. 

she’s been a standout for years—strong, composed, a true force in the midfield. 

you’ve always admired the way she plays, the way she commands respect on the field as she will roughly stop any opponent attack. 

but today, something feels off. you’ve been watching her closely during the first half, and you can’t help but feel like she’s holding back.

"honestly," you start, pausing to gather your thoughts, "i expected more from oberdorf during that first half."

there’s a brief silence as tyrell turns to look at you, his eyebrows raised in surprise. 

it’s not often that you call out a player like that, especially someone as highly regarded as oberdorf. 

"really?" he asks, curious. "what do you think’s going on with her?"

you lean forward slightly, watching as the replay of germany’s midfield play rolls across your monitor. 

"she’s not playing with her usual aggression. oberdorf is known for her ability to dominate the midfield, to break up play and transition quickly. but today, she’s been hesitant. this can’t continue if they don’t want someone like caicedo to get in their box. oberdorf needs to press harder, get more involved in the attack. if she steps it up in the second half, she can make the difference that germany needs."

your words hang in the air for a moment before tyrell responds, and the conversation shifts back to the overall match. 

but you can’t shake the feeling that your comment will stir something up. 

sure enough, by the time the game is over—colombia managing to scrape by with a fantastic win—your phone is buzzing nonstop. 

social media is ablaze with the clip of you critiquing oberdorf, the internet having latched onto the rare moment where you offered up something negative about a player you so clearly admired.

fans of both you and lena are eating it up, dissecting your analysis, making memes, and some even suggesting you had ulterior motives. 

it doesn’t help that you’ve been vocal in the past about your respect for oberdorf’s game. 

and maybe, if you’re being totally honest, there’s more to it than just respect. 

you’ve followed her career closely, always a little more interested in her games than others. not that you’d ever admit to having a bit of a crush on her—not publicly, anyway.

across the city, at the team hotel, lena oberdorf is stretched out on her bed, headphones in, trying to decompress after the match. 

her body is exhausted, germany didn’t get the result they needed. her phone buzzes with notifications, but she ignores it for now, lost in her thoughts.

that is, until laura freigang walks in, a mischievous grin on her face and her phone in hand. 

"lena," she says, her voice sings, "it looks like someone’s got their eye on you."

lena sits up, raising an eyebrow. "what are you talking about?"

laura tosses her phone onto the bed, and lena catches it, her eyes narrowing as she watches the video that’s already queued up. 

it’s you, sitting in the commentator’s booth, talking about her. her. 

"honestly, i expected more from oberdorf during that first half."

lena blinks, her mind processing the words. she’s used to hearing praise, especially from someone like you, who’s usually more positive in your analysis. 

but this? it feels different. not harsh, but… honest. like you know she could do better, and that, in a weird way, feels almost flattering.

"see?" laura says, flopping onto the bed next to her. 

"she noticed you. she expects more from you, lena."

lena rolls her eyes, but she can’t hide the faint smile tugging at her lips. 

it’s no secret, at least among her teammates, that she’s always found you attractive. she’s mentioned it once or twice—half-joking, half-serious—how she watches your broadcasts not just for the analysis but because, well, you’re easy on the eyes. 

but she never thought it would go beyond that. you were based in new york city, worlds away from her, and probably didn’t even know she existed outside of your job.

but now? maybe things have changed.

"i don’t want to get your hopes up because it could’ve been a simple analysis but maybe this is your shot," laura adds, nudging lena with her elbow. 

"go for it. what’s the worst that could happen?"

lena hesitates, the idea forming in her mind. it’s bold, sure, but she’s never been one to shy away from taking risks. "yeah… maybe i will."

later that night, you’re sitting in the hotel bar, winding down after a long day of commentary in australia. 

the buzz from the viral clip still lingers in the back of your mind, and you’re half-expecting to get some flak for it. but instead, it seems like people are more entertained by the whole thing than anything else. 

you take a sip of your drink, eyes scanning the room, when you hear a voice behind you.

"hey y/n-- I'm sorry, uh I hope i’m not interrupting."

you turn, and your breath catches in your throat for just a second. it’s lena oberdorf, standing right in front of you, looking a little nervous but still carrying that air of confidence she always has on the pitch.

how did she find you? maybe the german national team stayed nearby? i mean, you were told this was a popular bar in sydney.

however, why would lena go to a bar if she has to prepare for the important match against south korea?

"not at all," you manage, trying to keep your cool despite the sudden rush of nerves.

"what’s up?"

"i, uh, saw the clip," she says, rubbing the back of her neck. "the one where you talked about me."

you chuckle softly, feeling a slight flush in your cheeks. "yeah… i didn’t mean to come off too harsh. just being honest, you know?"

you didn’t know how to react, so you smile. no player has confronted you about your comments before. this is a first.

"no, i get it," she smiles, her eyes locking onto yours. 

"honesty’s good. i just… wanted to ask if you’d like to grab dinner sometime. maybe when you’re in germany next? i’d love to take you out." lena speaks in perfect english. 

you blink, surprised by the offer. of all the things you expected tonight, this wasn’t one of them. but looking at her now, her smile genuine and her eyes soft with hope, you can’t help but smile back.

"yeah," you say, heart racing just a little. "i’d like that."

you were a little older than her, older by two years, but she carried herself in a way that pulled you to her.

the world feels a little smaller, the distance between you and lena shrinking with a single conversation. 

you think that maybe you should critic her more often, kidding— of course.

my masterlist is here if you want to read more fics <3

[bartxnhood]

right here waiting | f.o

finnic odair x fem!reader

summary: after the quarter quell you vanish, no sign, no trace. you left behind your boyfriend, finnick, who could just not wrap his head around your disappearance. what happened?

warnings: typical hunger games violence, blood, torture, strong language, descriptions of wounds.

a/n: this fic is a long time coming. i love finnick and is one of my favorite characters but i can never find the right storyline for his character. it’s also been a hot minute since i’ve watched the movies so if there are any inaccuracies just look away lmao. hopefully, i can continue to write for him. i hope you guys enjoy this one !! feedback is appreciated ! also since i haven’t written in a very long time this came out shorter than i wanted it too. sorry about that.

requests open

not proofread

Copyright © 2023 bartxnhood. All rights reserved. This original work is not allowed to be reposted on any platform in any format.

✵ ✵ ✵ ✵ ✵ ✵ ✵ ✵ ✵ ✵ ✵ ✵ ✵ ✵ ✵ ✵ ✵ ✵ ✵ ✵ ✵ ✵

“run!!” your voice echoed, the dome was collapsing. “finnick, run!” you turned around, grabbing his wrist to pull you along. the arena was exploding as you tried your best to dodge the debris. katniss had used one of her arrows and shot the border of the arena causing it to collapse. now, all the victors began to spread out to take cover from the panels.

“holy shit, y/n, look out!!” finnick was ripped from your grasp as the ground below you rumbled and sent you falling.

"y/n!? “y/n!" you could hear someone calling your name in the distance, it was a panicked finnick searching the forest floor for your body. you opened your eyes trying to search for him but your vision was too blurry. everything was spinning. "finnick."

in seconds you were back on the ground and eyes falling back, slipping into unconsciousness.

it had been weeks since your disappearance, at first most people just assumed you had died that day in the arena. either by debris or the capital, but finnick knew that you were still out there somewhere.

for finnick, it was a nightmare. he barely left his room. every day that you stayed missing he slowly began to lose hope that he’d find you again. so, he began to mourn.

he was almost unrecognizable. finnick was letting himself go. he began to neglect his health, he refused to eat, he couldn’t sleep, and he was killing himself.

guilt heavy on his shoulders after losing you, even though the people around him had assured him that your disappearance wasn’t his fault. but finnick thought that had he held on to your hand just a little tighter you would’ve made it out.

katniss came to him one day, finding him lying on his bed staring at the ceiling like any other day. “this isn’t like you.” she stated. finnicks eyes found her, standing at the edge of his bed. the girl sighed, crossing her arms. “you’re killing yourself.” he shrugged. “what else am i supposed to do?” “fight for her?” “how?” katniss fell silent, she wasn’t sure how to proceed with the news she had just received. slowly, she moved to his side and sat down. “she’s alive.”

everything froze, he was sure he even stopped breathing. finnick sat up slowly so he could face katniss. “what?” “she’s in the capitol. with peeta.”

the bright fluorescent light of the hospital room burned your eyes, you brought your hand over your eyes to adjust to the light. once your eyes adjusted to the light you scanned your surroundings. you looked at your hand, you had an iv in, and you heard the faint beeping of the monitor next to you.

what happened? how did you get out? where were you? you barely remembered what happened in the capitol, it was all a blur. you began to panic, searching around the room wondering if you could get out.

the door opened, and you looked to your left and saw someone entering. “kat?” your voice was scratchy and hoarse. she now stood at your bedside holding your hand. she hummed, “hi, y/n/n”. “thank god” you breathed, tears welling in your eyes. “i thought id never see you again” katniss hushed your cries, wiping away the tears falling from your eyes. “shh, it’s okay. you’re okay” she smiled. caressing your cheek.

you had lost a lot of weight at this point, your face was sunken in. your body thinner than it had ever been, and you were beyond exhausted both physically and mentally. “oh, honey” she coaxed. you held onto her hand tightly, “there’s someone here who wants to see you.” she gently escaped from your grasp, walking to the exit.

"fin. you breathed, watching him enter the room. it felt like a dream you had wanted to see him for so long. it felt like an eternity. the one you loved so dearly, the one who has saved your life multiple times. "y/n" he walked over to your bedside. he was hesitant at first, but when you held your hand out for him he gained confidence.

"you're here." you weakly smiled, reaching for his hand. he found himself on the edge of your bed, holding you

“of course i am, sweets. where else would i be?" he chuckled softly, and you hummed. you brought your hand to his cheek. you examined his face and he placed his hands on yours. finnick studied you, making sure to soak in every detail.

"you'll never have to go through that again, y/n. i promise i'll do anything to keep you safe." he kissed the top of your head.

you smiled as he pulled back, and tears fell from your eyes again. "i know, fin" you said softly. "you look tired, love" he sighed. it had been such a long time since you'd been in his embrace, you missed everything about him. his jokes, snarky comments, his grin. he was your everything. "i am." you hummed, while he sat holding your hand. “rest, i’ll be right here when you wake up.”

[ohmyeyesmyeyes]

take 2

nico hischier x actress!f!reader

fc: sophie turner

warnings: swearing

liked by treaclychild, landonorris and 840,971 others

ynofficial: i heart nj

view all comments

claudiasulewski: first

maya_henry: mother is mothering

user1: WHO IS COWBOY

ynofficial: you mean you haven't heard 'cowboy like me'?

user2: what of nico?????

user3: DID HE SLIDE INTO UR DMS

taylorswift: i heart u

liked by ynofficial

user4: POV you came from deuxmoi's blind item 👀

user5: oui

ayoedebiri: ur pretty

jackhughes: yo

user6: no

user7: this is the wrong nj player commenting, i forbit it

user8: jack baby snap out of it

user9: only y/n could get the captain to wink at her and the social media heartthrob to comment on her ig

user10: ✨✨✨ BEST BELIEVE I'M STILL BEJEWELED ✨✨✨

liked by ynoffocial

liked by user11 and 78,186 others

deuxmoi: there were a few blind items submitted relating to the same A lister and athlete, and others also hinted at said sports star's respected status in the city, and his private nature, thus the lack of photos from the night

view all comments

user11: LOVING HIM WAS REDDDDD

user12: no bc i ship it so hard

user13: there's absolutely zero way that they're not talking about y/n and nico 😭

user14: in y/n's recent post she was wearing a sparkly star dress too

user15: me bc nico won't be protected from all the y/n girlies anymore: 😢😢

user16: THEY MOVE FAST IF THIS IS TRUE

user17: okay but my thinking is that they knew each other prior to the hockey game???

user18: RIGHT???

user19: THERE WAS SOMETHING ABOUT THE WAY HE KNEW WHERE SHE WAS SITTING THERE'S NO WAY A HOCKEY PLAYER CAN PINPOINT SOMEONE'S SEAT THAT QUICK UNLESS THEY ALREADY KNEW WHERE THEY WERE SITTING

nicohischier posted to their story...

liked by 138,017 others

hockeygossip: LATE ARRIVAL FOR Y/N L/N TO NASHVILLE HOCKEY AWARDS 2023. PICTURED WITH DEVILS HOCKEY CAPTAIN NICO HISCHIER MOMENTS AFTER HER LATE ARRIVAL.

comments for this post are turned off

liked by nicohischier, joejonas and 1,004,013 others

ynofficial: because the first launch failed ☺️

📸: nicohischier ❤️

view all comments

user21: IT'S HAPPENING IT'S HAPPENING EVERYBODY STAY CALM

user22: [tyres screech] [distant crash] [sirens] [crying] [heartbeat monitor]

user23: AHHHAH AHHAA HAHA *faints*

user24: he's taking a photo of her 😭

user25: the way she's looking at him and his concentration 😭

user26: your honour they're in love

user27: YOU MEAN TO TELL ME THE GAME THING WAS THE INITIAL HARD LAUNCH BUT WE ALL MISINTERPRETED IT???

ynofficial: ...yes

user28: WE'RE DUMB WE APOLOGISE

jackhughes: this is cute

nicohischier: can i get your number?

ynofficial: sure, it's #13

nicohischier: 😲😲

user29: you know it's SERIOUS bc she's never been ig official before

user30: fr she didn't even post callum mf turner, if i was her i'd have been yelling from the rooftops

user31: SHE SAID ALL THAT ABOUT HIM IN AN INTERVIEW OH MY GOD I'M DYING

user33: 'he's patient, kind, intelligent, calm, and just a really beautiful soul' I BELIEVED IN YOU NICO ALL THIS TIME

user34: nico fans are really winning here

user35: SHE MADE IT FOR THE END OF THE AWARDS

user36: but that pap photo from instagram? the way they were looking at each other has me in my own puddle of tears in a nest of already used tissues bc they're adorable

user37: that photo single-handedly instilled in me the belief that love does exist

user38: they're my 'don't take risks on dangerous roads' couple now

liked by ynofficial, jesperbratt and 519,195 others

nicohischier: it's come to my attention that there's been a lot of talk about my relationship lately, and i just wanted to come on here and confirm that i am batshit crazy for this woman, and pathetically in love with her. so, yes, the rumours are true 😊

ps i have the dad seal of approval

view all comments

jackhughes: first

john.marino97: whipped

nicohischier: yep 💪

jackhughes: why are you ignoring me

nicohischier: because you haven't said anything worth commenting on

ynofficial: i'm a sports watcher for you

nicohischier: appreciate it, thanks

ynofficial: you're welcome

user39: i think i love this awkward conversing

user40: it's my aspiration in life to have that

lhughes_06: happy for you, cap 😁

jackhughes: *cough* suck up *cough*

tmeier96: ABOUT DAMN TIME 👏👏

ynofficial: you can rip that NDA up now

tmeier96: i might frame it for sentimental purposes

ynofficial: really?

nicohischier: that's suspicious

siegenthaler34: in my defence i did try my best with the jumbotron incident

nicohischier: and we're very thankful for that

ynofficial: if anything it helped thicken the plot 😂

siegenthaler34: it was pretty funny

user41: THE y/n l/n being the captain's wag wasn't on my bingo card for this year

nicohischier: you and me both

ynofficial: please, i was a goner from the very SECOND you smiled

nicohischier: the very second? 😏

ynofficial: stfu and bring the coffee

nicohischier: as you wish

+ BONUS: Spittin Chiclets Podcast

[amyysfics]

skz - "bet."

pairing: felix x bff!gn!reader warnings: fluff, pining, reader eats popcorn summary: you make felix watch your favourite movie word count: 850

©amyysfics (2023) All Rights Reserved - Reposting/Modification of any kind is not tolerated.

Giggles, snorting and all kinds of laughter filled the room. You were barely able to catch your breath, when a voice broke through the sound of heavy breaths and occasional giggling. "What the fuck kind of movie are you watching, that is making you laugh this hard?", your best friend asked.

The both of you sat in a video-call on Discord. He had been playing a game, which you assumed must have been League of Legends, judging by his continuous screaming, "Noooo!" and "What are you doing? We had it!". You had turned on your favorite movie eventually. None of this was a rare occurrence. You hung out with Felix this way whenever possible - both of you doing your own thing while being in each others company.

"I'm watching what is possibly the funniest movie ever, thank you very much for asking.", you looked straight at the camera, poking out your tongue. How dare he judge this amazing piece of media? Out fo the corner of your eye you could see your blue-haired friend roll his eyes. Though, before he had the chance to tease you back, you thought of a deal. "Why don't you watch it with me? I can restart it. And if you end up liking it and enjoying your time, I will treat you to a smoothie!"

The idea made Felix' eyes light up. He loved having movie nights, especially with you. And he was was being honest with himself, he couldn't give less of a shit what you guys were doing, as long as he got to spend time with you - his best friend, that he just so happened to have a not so tiny crush on. She he did what every sane idiot in love with his best friend would do; He responded with as little words as he could as to not let you hear the shakiness of his voice, "Bet."

You left your seat for a minute to grab a fresh bottle of water and Felix used the time to finish (and lose) the round of League he was still in. It took you a few moments to come back, so he made sure to to set his screen up properly. He could click on one of the images to have them fill up almost the entire screen, the rest of it being smaller at the bottom. After making everything look the way he wanted to, he noticed you walking back - a bottle of water in one hand and a bowl of fresh popcorn in the other.

The Australian silently cursed himself for agreeing to this. It wasn't the first time you watched a movie together, but he would usually be the one streaming it - the movie taking up his entire monitor. Today, for the first time, he had the chance to observe your reactions. He noticed the way your eyebrows scrunched together mere moments before you laughed. He saw the way you attempted to hide your shy smile as the two main characters kissed. He could even tell that one strand of your hair seemed to be bothering you - constantly tickling your neck. Felix knew he wouldn't be able to stop himself from brushing it away if he actually sat next to you.

"Yongbok!", your less than quiet voice ripped him out of his thoughts. You glared at the boy, or at least it looked that way to him. "Were you even watching?", you clicked with your tongue, fishing through the last few pieces of popcorn for the best one. "I was! I loved it!, he lied. Your best friend put barely any of his attention towards the movie. You smiled a little, popping the chosen popcorn-piece in your mouth, "Right? The part where the cat rolls in the snow is so good!" Felix nodded immediately, "It's probably the best part."

"You couldn't stop feeling your heartbeat get faster, almost pounding out of your chest, knowing you caught him in a lie. "Lix, first of all, there wasn't a single cat in the movie and it's set in summer. And second-", you leaned closer to the camera, "I can see the reflection of your screen on your computer-case a little bit. You had my camera on full-screen-mode the entire time.

His body reacted faster than his brain allowed him to come up with a witty response. A blush crept up to the tip of his ears in an instant. And even his neck turned about three shades darker. He tried to think of a response - any explanation, but he couldn't get a single word to come out.

"You know what?", you broke through the silence, smiling, "I'll still treat you to that smoothie. I mean it looks like you had a good time, no? Pick you up tomorrow at five?", you winked. When did you get so smooth?

Felix' blushed even harder at this chance of a date with you, even that was even possible. But what he didn't know, was that you were just as excited about it, as he was. So he gathered all the courage he could.

"Bet."

@bokkiesplace @notastraykid @hee0soo @moon0fthenight @bbyquokka @strawberry31 @weird-bookworm

[sssammich]

day 13: spice, day 15: game

supercorptober 2023

if you prefer to read on ao3

crepe AU: part 1 | part 2 | part 3 day 19: hazy, day 22: art, day 24: enchanted, day 30: magic

this is the final part of crepe AU! thanks for reading 💖

---

“Okay, I want this done by the end of business day, but if not, just push the meeting with R&D to tomorrow. I need to make sure that I leave by—” 

“ —that you leave by 5.”

Lena looks up from staring at her monitor and turns her attention towards her assistant. Jess is standing in front of Lena’s desk with her little memo pad in one hand and her pen in the other, already poised to take notes. She stares at Lena expectantly, though Lena can see the sparkle of amusement in her eyes. 

She narrows her eyes slightly before sighing, leaning back in her chair. “How many times have I mentioned that?” 

“In the past hour?”

“Has it been that many?”

“Thrice, Ms. Luthor.” 

She shakes her head, a rueful smile on her face. “You must think I’m being silly.” 

Jess stands as prim and proper as always, though she does lower her memo pad and pen, holding them in front of her stomach. “I think it’s rather…endearing, Ms. Luthor, that you’re nervous about meeting this crepe maker tonight.” 

“I’m not nervous. I’m…well, I’m just afraid that something will happen and I will disappoint her again, considering I’d essentially ghosted her last night.” 

“But you didn’t, and she appreciated the potstickers you brought her.”

“I must sound like a schoolgirl with a silly crush.” 

Jess tilts her head. “With all due respect, Ms. Luthor, but if that’s what you are, then I’d say it’s a good look on you. Besides, I certainly would not be opposed to seeing you leave the office at a regular time if you pursue this supposed crush.” 

Lena scoffs amusedly, rolling her eyes all the while shooing her assistant away with a hand. “That’ll be all, Jess.” 

“Yes, Ms. Luthor,” Jess intones with a teasing grin on her face just as she turns on her heel and walks out of the office. Lena watches her assistant walk out and shut her office door, leaving her alone. She swivels her chair to look out of the window where she can just see part of the park from where she’s sitting, knowing that Kara is somewhere out there waiting for her. 

When 5 o’clock rolls around, Lena is already standing by the elevators with Jess right behind her—the top floor uncharacteristically quiet and empty at this hour. 

“Have a good night, Jess,” she says when they make their way to the sidewalk outside of her building. 

“And have a good date, Ms. Luthor.” 

“It’s not—” she starts to say, but when Jess only stares at her knowingly, Lena stops and smiles. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” 

Lena reaches her penthouse and changes out of her business clothes into something more comfortable. She settles for a pair of simple black jeans and a green long sleeve shirt to stave off the cool evening air. She takes her hair down from the bun she’d been sporting all day, her scalp feeling relief. She gives her reflection a onceover in the mirror, briefly wonders if Kara would feel different at how she looks, a departure from her more professional and put together attire. But she decides that Kara doesn’t seem the type to judge her for those sorts of things, so she pockets her keys and her phone, sending Kara a quick message before heading towards her building’s garage. 

On my way now

Can’t wait! See you soon! 

Lena parallel parks on a nearby street before crossing to reach the bank of food trucks that lines the curb to the park, her keys a welcome weight in her hand as her nervous energy spikes with every step closer. 

It is not a date regardless of Jess’s insistence. But even Lena can't deny the mixture of excited and nervous butterflies that flutter in her stomach at the thought of seeing Kara once again. 

The series of events of the last seventy-two hours, when laid out logically in front of her, is actually a dozen shades of insanity. She has known Kara all of three days, at best, yet a sense of familiarity washes over her, a sense of security and safety. She can't explain it, can't connect it to anything she's ever known before, but a calmness washes over her when Kara appears in her line of sight. 

She can only imagine what her family would think. But she doesn't give that train of thought any more time when Kara spots her and calls for her, rushing out of her own truck to jog closer. 

On the exhale, Kara stops just a few feet away, and beams at Lena. “Hi! You made it.”

She shrugs. “I promised, didn't I?” 

“You did. Come on, you hungry?”

Lena nods before wordlessly following Kara into the truck. She dutifully takes her jacket off and places it on the driver’s seat as Kara instructs. 

Her jaw drops, marveling at the various ingredients laid out in front of them on the counter. 

“Oh, wow,” she breathes out, impressed at all of what’s in front of her: an assortment of sliced fruits, sliced meats, and various shreds of cheeses, with a line of both sweet and savory spreads. 

“It’s more impressive when there’s actually food here,” Kara states with a small push of her glasses back up on her face. She then takes a little pitcher of batter from the refrigerator behind her and places it on the side of the griddles. 

“You didn’t have to do all of this.” 

“I didn’t.” 

Widening her eyes in embarrassment, Lena stiffens in her place. “Oh.” 

Kara can’t help her giggling, shaking her head and waving her arms. “Sorry, that was just super tempting. I have to set up the rest of the supplies for tonight. But what you and I are eating is already prepared. They’re at the other end of the counter.” She throws her thumb over her shoulder where Lena’s eyes follow, finding a separate tray with a set of ingredients with smaller containers. “I got carried away with our food that I slacked off on prepping for my customers tonight.” 

“Oh! I didn’t mean to take you away from your work, Kara.” 

Kara shakes her head, about to place a hand on Lena’s forearm but thinks better of it. Lena does her best not to frown at the incomplete touch. “You’re not! I promise. We’re gonna make our food and then my friend Nia is gonna take over for the night.” 

“Oh?” she suddenly asks, quirking a brow. “You’re not working tonight?” 

“Nope!” Kara says, emphasizing the P with a pop. “I got Nia to cover for me. After all, it’s not every day the Lena Luthor comes into your food truck and demands to be wowed and impressed by your culinary expertise.” 

Lena chuckles, tilting her head slightly as she crosses her arms over her chest and leans her hips against the counter. She can’t say that she remains unaffected at the thought of Kara going through all this trouble of entertaining her, the gesture making Lena fall for her all the more. 

“Careful there, wouldn’t want to reach your quota so early in the evening,” she comments instead. 

Kara winks at her before resuming her tasks. Lena doesn’t shy away from watching the other woman, how deftly and expertly she moves around in her truck as she sets everything up. The crepe maker definitely had a flow to her movements, almost like dancing around in the small galley of the truck. She doesn’t want to get ahead of herself, but Lena finds it all too easy to imagine Kara doing the same thing in the galley of her kitchen, serving the two of them breakfast. 

For now, she shakes her fantasies out of her mind and contents herself watching Kara. 

“So,” Kara starts. “Tell me about your day.” 

“Oh, it was just work,” she says with a dismissive shrug.  

“Can’t tell me more than that? Is it super secret?” 

Lena hesitates, not wanting to drag the tedium of her work into something fun and exciting. But the look on Kara’s face, an earnestness to listen, tells her that Kara probably wouldn’t think of it like that. 

“It’s not super secret—well, not all of it, anyway. It’s just boring.” 

“Try me.” Then Kara nods off with her head to something behind Lena. “Pass me the box of spices behind you, please?”  

“Okay,” she sing-songs, pushing up from her spot and carrying the small box of spices towards Kara, now the two of them with barely a foot of distance between them. “But don’t say I didn’t warn you.” 

Kara snorts, throwing her head back, her glasses sliding slightly down her nose. Lena, without realizing what she’s doing, brings her hand up and gently pushes Kara’s glasses up. The two of them standing still in their place, their gazes locked with one another. 

“So, work?” Kara says finally after a few precious moments of the two of them staring, anticipating. There’s a crooked grin on her face that Lena would love to see there everyday of her life, if possible. 

Though the moment’s been broken, it doesn’t disappoint Lena. Instead, she leans back slightly just to give herself a bit of breathing room. “Right, well…” 

For the next little while, Lena divulges about her day, talking about the good work that her research and development departments are working on, about the meetings she had with investors, about  the members of the board that test her finite well of patience. What she doesn’t share is how nervous she had been about tonight, about Jess’ brand of teasing. 

Kara listens with a nod here and there and stops with clarifying questions, attentive even as she works on wrapping up the work that’s right in front of her. When she finishes, almost as if having reported her entire day, she waits for Kara to respond. 

“Wow,” Kara comments, sighing heavily just as she throws the hand towel she’s been using over her shoulder. She puts a hand on the edge of the counter and rests her weight on it, tilting her head. Lena thinks she looks too attractive for such simple movements, fighting herself not to jump across the small space between them and close it entirely. Thankfully, she has more sense than that and doesn’t do that, but only just. “You’re right, Lena. That was boring.” 

Feeling surprisingly affronted, Lena’s jaw drops in shock, and she’s about to defend herself when Kara looks over to her with a wide grin. 

“I’m just kidding! You lead a very interesting life and your work sounds fascinating! I promise!” 

“You don’t have to lie.” 

“Cross my heart, Lena. Maybe next time you can let me know about the meeting with your R&D about those nanobot things you mentioned.” 

Lena narrows her eyes in suspicion, which only seems to crack Kara up. “Maybe. But you’ve betrayed me once already, so you’re on thin ice.”  

Kara then straightens up, eyes wide and becoming frantic. “What if instead of thin ice, we think of thin pancakes. Ready?” 

She nods and steps back slightly to let Kara work. 

“Great. I’ve got Cash, Money, and Millionaire warming up.” Kara draws back and gets the tray of ingredients from the far corner of the truck and lifts it over the warming griddles until she places it right by Lena’s side. It’s not lost on Lena to watch Kara’s arms flexing as she does so. 

Lena watches with rapt attention as Kara goes on to explain every single step of her process with practiced ease. Suffice it to say, Lena is both impressed and a little turned on at how well Kara handles herself in the kitchen, spreading the batter perfectly in quick movements using the spreader. She then goes under it with the spatula to reveal a perfectly golden brown bottom before flipping it and filling it with ingredients. 

How lucky, Lena can’t help but think, to see something like this all to herself. 

As soon as Kara pulls a complete crepe off the griddle, she wipes the surface quickly and starts over until she has the same three crepes going. 

“What made you want to start a crepe food truck?” Lena asks just as Kara starts to put the finishing touches on the three crepes and shutting the griddles off. 

“It started out as a joke actually,” Kara says, expertly carrying two plates on each hand just as Lena follows her with the remaining two and walking out to the solitary table a few yards away from the truck. “I was making them for all my single dorm-mates on Valentine’s Day. That’s also where I got the name. Tried to show solidarity with all the unhappy ones.” 

When Lena spots it, she finds a red and white checkered tablecloth and a vase with a single rose in it and a tall candle beside it. All the plates cover just about every surface of the table. Yet instead of listening to Kara’s explanation of her business venture, her gaze alternates between the table and the now-nervous Kara standing in front of her. 

“Is this a date?” 

Kara bites her bottom lip and scratches the side of her face. “Uh…what’s the best answer I can give you?” 

“The one that you mean.” 

The blonde woman sighs and offers an unsure smile. “I hoped it would be. So, if you want it to be, then it is. But if not, that’s okay too! I–uh, you know, would totally understand. A-and if I’ve ruined the night or misread everything, then you can super totally just take the crepes to go or something, and—” 

Without thinking about it, Lena stops Kara’s rambling with a press of her hand over Kara’s mouth, the feel of her fingers against Kara’s lips something that she didn’t think she needed to know but now that it’s here, she never wants to forget. 

“Sorry, that was incredibly rude,” she shakes her head even as she pulls her hand away, closing her fingers in a small fist. 

“No problem, feel free to do that anytime.” 

She arches a brow just as Kara’s eyes expand in surprise. “Nothing’s ruined. I don’t wanna take the crepes to go.” 

Kara visibly sighs in relief. “Uh! I mean, um, that’s good to know.” 

“But I’ll only accept it as a date if you ask.” 

“Deal!” The uncertainty on Kara’s face disappears and she smiles. “Lena, would you like to be on a date with me right now? And if it sways you at all, there are really delicious crepes right in front of you that smell and taste delicious that are going cold by the second, so please answer quickly.” 

Fondly, she rolls her eyes. “With a question like that, how can I say no?” 

They get settled at their table, Kara even walking to where Lena is and pulling the seat for her. Much like the last two nights, Lena finds herself completely enamored and captivated with the woman in front of her. 

She takes a bite of each of her crepe as Kara watches on silently, her eyes curious and eager. Lena chews, does her best to keep her face neutral much to her delight and Kara’s chagrin, and tries each of the three crepes that Kara made for her before laying any judgment. 

“Well?” 

“They’re alright, darling,” she announces slowly, the pet name tumbling out of her mouth so easily. 

Kara shakes her head and points a finger directly at her. “Stop with these mind games, Lena Luthor! I won’t have you declare my crepes to just be alright! I didn’t win the National City Crepe Culinary Award three times in a row just for alright!” 

Kara exaggerates turning her chin up with a visible pout on her face that has Lena tipping her head back in laughter. She’s unable to maintain the charade as Kara rants and rants about the injustice of Lena’s mediocre scoring of Kara’s food, of her supposed ploy to undermine Kara’s hard efforts, until the two of them fall into heaps of laughter.

She’s just finished wiping the tear from the corner of her eye when Kara looks up and back to the truck, excusing herself as she greets a young brunette woman standing by the front passenger door. She offers a wave when the woman waves towards their direction. 

While Kara speaks to her friend, Lena takes the time to herself with a text to her best friend. 

Serious question: how soon is too soon to ask her to marry me?

She laughs when she finds Sam responding quickly with ‘I’m honestly so surprised you haven’t sent me a wedding invite in the mail yet’ before pocketing her phone just as Kara returns. 

They quickly clean up their table, Kara mostly doing the work of throwing out their mess before offering her hand towards Lena who doesn’t hesitate to take it. 

“Wanna go for a walk?” Kara asks. 

“Lead the way.” 

Hand in hand, they slowly meander past the other food trucks, and Lena can easily imagine the future looking a lot like this: after work, she and Kara walking together, their joined hands swinging loosely between them. 

They grab a seat on a bench that overlooks a carefully tended garden midway through the park with a small water fountain nearby, the sound of flowing water acting as a soundtrack to their time together. 

“Can I ask you something?” 

Lena turns to glance at Kara who’s already turned her way. “Go ahead.” 

“Did you have fun?” 

Lena smiles at that, pulling their joined hands together and placing them on her lap. “I had a really good time.” 

Kara nods, as if to herself, and stares down at their intertwined fingers. “Do you think we’re moving too fast? I mean, we just met and I feel like I already know you.” 

She shakes her head. “I know the timeline isn’t typical, but maybe that’s not so bad. Especially because I feel the same way.” 

“Yeah?” 

“Mm.” 

“So, like, if I wanted to ask you on another date to go eat something that someone else makes, you’re cool with it?” 

Lena tilts her head, her heart bursting at the possibilities of what’s to come in the future. “I’d say I’m cool with it, yes.” 

“Cool. Totally cool.” 

She bites her bottom lip, definitely the feeling of being a school girl with a massive crush in full force now. “It’s my turn to ask a question now.” 

“Go for it.” 

Lena turns her body fully and takes a deep breath. Her nerves have suddenly returned, and she tightens her grip slightly on Kara’s hand who uses her thumb to soothe her knuckles. “If I ask you to kiss me, would you do it?” 

For years to come, Lena will always remember the next three moments with fondness and warmth. She’ll mention them in her wedding vows, making Kara cry ugly tears so beautifully, she’ll log that memory as an extension to these ones. 

The first: the moment she witnesses Kara’s curious expression transform to realization then joy then, maybe, possibly, even love when Kara smiles a toothy grin at her. “I would do it every time. Whenever and wherever. You can just let me know.” 

“How about now?” 

The second: the moment she gets to taste Kara’s smile for the first time, their heads coming together until their lips barely press together because neither can restrain their joy. 

The third: the moment her lips memorize the feel of Kara’s lips on her, properly this time, as they slot perfectly in place against each other. 

“Wow,” Kara whispers eventually, barely breaking apart from each other. 

“Yeah.” 

“Who knew Lena Luthor was a good kisser?” 

Lena stills, then groans, then shakes her head, her forehead dropping onto Kara’s shoulder. “I can’t believe I like you so much,” she mumbles into Kara’s neck. She feels the vibration of Kara’s laugh more than she hears it. 

Contentment and excitement and anticipation washes over Lena like a tidal wave, overcome and overwhelmed. All at the hands of a beautiful, handsome, stammering, bumbling crepe maker whose griddles she named Cash, Money, and Millionaire. 

Then she senses Kara wrap her free arm around Lena, her hand gently rubbing Lena’s back. 

Lena thinks she’d probably like to live here for the rest of her life. And if she’s lucky, she just might be able to. 

[demifiendrsa]

Valve has released a 25th anniversary update for Half-Life.

Half-Life is free to own on Steam until November 20, 2023 10AM PT / 1PM ET.

Overview

BRAND NEW INTERVIEWS WITH THE HL1 DEV TEAM!

We got the band back together to celebrate this anniversary, and we invited the fine people at Secret Tape to film it all happening. Getting together after all this time was the perfect opportunity to revisit the game as it existed in its earliest forms, and to talk about how and why it eventually took shape the way it did. Check out the film to see what it was like to be a part of the team, way back then.

THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY UPDATE FOR HALF-LIFE INCLUDES:

HALF-LIFE UPLINK

Originally released as a CD exclusive for magazines and hardware manufacturers, this mini-campaign was built by the Half-Life team right after the game went gold. As this was many people's first experience with Half-Life, we thought it was finally time to bundle it with the main game—no sound card purchase necessary.

4 NEW MULTIPLAYER MAPS

Built by Valve level designers, these new maps push the limits of what's possible in the Half-Life engine.

CONTAMINATION

Two-foot-thick steel doors block off access to this contaminated waste facility, which has questionable scientific goals at best. Strap on a gluon gun and roast all intruders.

POOL PARTY

Enjoy a relaxing stay at this abandoned Xen outpost built around a cluster of soothing healing pools free-floating in space. How do you breathe here? It doesn't matter!

DISPOSAL

Processing Area 3, a massive radioactive waste plant gone quiet. Tons of room for you and your colleagues to do experiments with a Tau Cannon or some hand grenades.

ROCKET FRENZY

The creaking weight of this decaying orbital satellite launch facility somehow feels familiar… If we could switch on the oxygen lines, power, and fuel, we might just be able to light this candle.

UPDATED GRAPHICS SETTINGS

Play the game the way it looked in 1998, but on a modern monitor.

Widescreen field of view!

Option to disable texture smoothing on the GL renderer!

Lighting fixes including the long-lost GL Overbright support!

Software rendering on Linux! Crisp colors, animated water, and unfiltered textures!

CONTROLLER AND STEAM NETWORKING SUPPORT

A proper gamepad config out of the box!

Added support for Steam Networking! Invite your friends or join games instantly with no fuss.

STEAM DECK SUPPORT!

We finally put our game through our own “Verified” tests, and... we failed super hard. So we fixed it! After re-testing the game, Half-Life gets to officially wear the green checkmark.

Now you can play Half-Life on the best handheld gaming computer in the world in glorious 800p with improved controls and UI.

UI SCALING SUPPORT FOR HIGHER RESOLUTIONS

The entire UI has been reworked to scale at larger screen sizes. We built most of this stuff for 640x480 CRTs and apparently some of you have upgraded since then.

RESTORED CONTENT

We brought back the classic Valve logo video with its iconic music and reskinned the menu to match the 1998 build.

IVAN THE SPACE BIKER AND PROTO-BARNEY

After all this time we finally shipped the original heroes from the alpha builds of Half-Life, available as multiplayer skins!

AS WELL AS THESE RARELY-SEEN EXTRAS!

In 1999, Valve released a CD called Half-Life: Further Data at retail stores, and we're finally including much of that content.

THREE MULTIPLAYER MAPS

Double Cross

Rust Mill

Xen DM

TWO MP PLAYER MODELS

The Half-Life: Further Data CD also included some multiplayer skins made by the original team; we've brought back this incredible skeleton (now with tintable eyes!) and fan-favorite Too Much Coffee Man.

DOZENS OF SPRAYS

While playing a bunch of multiplayer matches we kept wanting more sprays... So we grabbed several megabytes of them from the Further Data release!

BUG FIXES AND CHANGE NOTES

New Content

Now Verified on the Steam Deck (and our native Linux runtime has been set as the default).

Half-Life: Uplink — the original standalone Half-Life demo — has been added to the game, and is accessible through the "New Game" menu.

Added four all-new Half-Life Deathmatch maps: contamination, pool_party, disposal, and rocket_frenzy

Added three old Half-Life Deathmatch maps formerly available only on the "Half-Life: Further Data" CD: doublecross, rust_mill, xen_dm.

Added Ivan the Space Biker, Prototype Barney, Skeleton, and Too Much Coffee Man as player models to Half-Life Deathmatch.

Added dozens of new sprays formerly available only on the "Half-Life: Further Data" CD.

Added support for Steam Networking, allowing easy multiplayer via Steam's Join Game and Invite features.

Added support for Steam Friends Rich Presence, allowing your friends to follow your journey through Black Mesa.

Nostalgia

Brought back the original Valve Intro video. Can be skipped with the "-novid" launch command.

Updated main menu to a design inspired by the game's original 1998 main menu.

Changed the default models to the original (non "HD") models.

Gameplay Changes

Improved physics for throwing grenades.

Improved randomness for initial spawn points in multiplayer.

Improved satchel charge controls: primary fire now always throws a new satchel, and secondary fire always detonates.

Fixed push-able entity movement being based on framerate.

Fixed players with high framerates freezing in place on death in multiplayer.

Fixed some cases where the player could get stuck in place on level transitions.

Fixed some cases where characters would interrupt important dialogue with their "greetings" dialogue.

Fixed weapon view-bob angles.

Fixed red barrels at the start of Surface Tension not launching as intended.

Fixed Snarks attacking FL_WORLDBRUSH entities (such as func_walls).

Fixed players sometimes failing to deploy a snark while crouching and looking down.

Fixed certain convars ("pausable" and "sv_maxspeed") being set to incorrect values when entering a singleplayer game after a multiplayer game.

Fixed singleplayer auto-aim setting being changed when entering a multiplayer game that disallows auto-aim.

Fixed the flashlight HUD showing empty after loading a savegame.

Fixed rockets in CONTENTS_SKY not always detonating.

Fixed incorrect bullet impact sounds for NPCs.

Fixed gauss gun making a loud static noise if it was charged across level transitions.

Fixed a crash in mods that display keybinds in their UI.

Fixed singleplayer weapons not auto-switching away when exhausted (grenades / snarks / satchels / etc)

Fixed interpolation artifacts when animated models are moved by other entities.

Fixed some buffer overflow exploits.

UI Changes

Main-menu background and buttons have been reskinned, and now scale based upon screen resolution without stretching, supporting background image layouts up to 3840x1600.

In-Game HUD now uses double or triple sized sprites when playing at higher resolutions.

UI dialogs and in-game fonts now scale to improve readability at high screen resolutions.

In-Game HUD HEV suit display has been shifted to the left of the screen, and no longer changes position at larger screen resolutions.

Added an "Enable texture filtering" setting.

Added an "Allow widescreen Field of View" setting to correct non-anamorphic FOVs, for widescreen and ultrawide displays.

Re-organized all the Settings screens to improve legibility, and support controller navigation.

Updated the Pause menu to be aware of the current gameplay mode.

The default server name and multiplayer player name are now based on the player's Steam Persona.

The Steam platform menu has been removed, now that all its features are in Steam itself.

Fixed application icon rendering incorrectly when using the software renderer.

Fixed player and spray images not updating their coloring on the settings screen.

Removed the now very unnecessary "Low video quality. Helps with slower video cards." setting.

Input Changes

Improved support for keyboard and controller navigation everywhere.

Added "Lower Input Latency" option: Synchronizes the CPU and GPU to reduce the time between input and display output.

Fixed issues that caused jerky mouse / joystick input.

(We basically rewrote it all - if you've got a custom Steam Input controller configuration, you should rebuild it from our newly published Official Configuration).

Multiplayer Balancing

Increased the 357 damage from 40 → 50.

Hive Hand reload time has been reduced from 0.5s → 0.3s per shot, and it will be selected at higher priority than the pistol on pickup.

MP5 now always starts it with full ammo when picked up.

Players no longer drop empty weapons, and any that are dropped are reloaded by what's in the dying player's backpack.

Improved client-side prediction to reduce "ghost shots". Like Counter-Strike, consider hitboxes and not just bounding boxes for hits on the client.

Fixed network predicted crowbar swing damage being incorrect.

Rendering

Added supported for UI Sprites and Texture files larger than 256x256.

Added support for UI Font special render modes: "blur" and "additive".

Added setting to turn off texture filtering when using the OpenGL renderer.

Default resolution is now based on the resolution of the desktop, instead of a 640x480 window.

Default gamma has been decreased from 2.5 → 2.2, now that we aren't all playing on CRTs.

Software renderer will now correctly filter out incompatible resolutions, unless there is only 1 resolution available on the display.

Restored OpenGL overbright support.

Fixed fullscreen software renderer crashing on systems that don't support 16-bit color.

Fixed software renderer being stretched when using widescreen resolutions.

Fixed skyboxes and sky color incorrectly carrying over when transitioning maps in multiplayer.

Fixed the game appearing too dark after modifying video settings.

Fixed MSAA in windowed mode.

Fixed mipmap rendering on studio models.

Fixed gluon gun sprite rendering in multiplayer.

Fixed gluon gun sinusoidal noise being incorrect.

Various optimizations to support the newly increased engine limits.

OpenGL optimizations for the Steam Deck.

Engine Improvements for Mod Makers

Increased maximum limit of dynamic sound channels from 8 → 32.

Increased maximum limit of sentences in the sentences.txt file from 1536 → 2048.

Increased maximum number of entities (MAX_EDICTS) from 900 → 1200.

Increased MAX_PACKET_ENTITIES increased from 256 → 1024.

Increased MAX_GLTEXTURES from 4800 → 10000.

Increased software renderer geometry limits: max spans 3000 → 6000, max surfaces 2000 → 4000, and max edges 7200 → 14400.

Cycler and func_button entities can now be the entity target for scripted_sentence entities, and are allowed to speak in multiplayer.

Incorporated func_vehicle entity support from Counter-Strike, for mod-makers to use. Full SDK update will come later, but level designers can use it now.

Native Linux Build

Added support for the software renderer.

Improved font rendering.

Many stability and behavior fixes.

Other

Localization files updated.

Miscellaneous security fixes.

Notes

The previous version of the game has been archived to a publicly visible Beta branch named "steam_legacy", with the description "Pre-25th Anniversary Build." If a mod or feature is behaving in an unexpected way, you may need to run this archived build until the issue is resolved in the default build.

We now consider this anniversary version of Half Life to be the definitive version, and the one we'll continue to support going forward. Therefore, we'll be reducing the visibility of Half Life: Source on the Steam Store. We know Half-Life: Source's assets are still being used by the Source engine community, so it'll remain available, but we'll be encouraging new Half-Life players to play this version instead.

WALLPAPERS

Celebrate 25 years of Half-life by decorating your desktop and mobile phone.

[aprocessionofthoughts]

To stay awake

ai-less whumptober 2023 day 2- exhaustion fandom-batman TW: non fatal injury summary- Tim is not exhausted

ao3 masterlist

Tim was not exhausted. Nope. Not one bit. Was he on his fifteenth cup of coffee, sure. Had Alfred switched it to decaf five cups ago, sure. But that didn’t mean he was exhausted. No sirree. He could stay awake for another ten hours. No, thirteen hours! Which was why it was perfectly fine that he was on this mission. Nothing could possibly go wrong. 

And as soon as the goons stopped resisting arrest. He would go home  to Wayne Manor and maybe, just maybe rest for a bit. 

“Red Robin!”

Tim turns, but it’s too late. He feels a bullet hit his shoulder and then he’s falling over.

Okay, maybe he is a bit tired. Usually he could keep fighting with a measly bullet wound. He was starting to feel a bit faint and blackness was eating away at his vision. Which, rude. Why would it want to eat his vision? He needed that. How could he read case notes and watch Death Note without it?

And, hey, would you look at that. That was his brother Nightwing hovering above him. He looked worried. Tim hoped the mission had gone well. Batman would be a real pain, albeit a brooding one, if this drug ring wasn’t taken down.

“Tim!”

“Names,” he muttered.

The face above him twitched and said something else Tim didn’t quite catch. 

And then his shoulder was on fire.

What the stinker-stacker-bubblegum-wrappers was Nightwing doing! Was he trying to murder Tim with pain? Who cared about staunching the bleeding if it caused him this much pain? 

And now they were moving him. Great. More pain. What fun. 

Maybe now he’d listen to Alfred and actually get some sleep. 

Yup, sleep sounded nice.

****

Tim woke up to the beeping of his alarm. 

Wait? Hadn’t he broken his alarm clock when he’d accidentally thrown it across his room when it woke him up last Tuesday? Had someone already replaced it, because he sure hadn’t.

He lifted his arm prepared to accidentally send this one to the same fate as its predecessor, when his arm twinged painfully.

Oh, right.

He was shot.

He opened his eyes and looked around. His alarm was in fact a heart monitor. 

The door of the medical room opened and his dad Bruce came through carrying a tray with tea and what Tim assumed was breakfast. 

“Oh, Tim, you're awake.”

“Hey, Bruce.”

“How are you feeling, bud?”

“Fine.”

Bruce gave him a look and Tim barely resisted fidgeting. Bruce remained silent. That’s alright, Tim could play the silent game too. 

Finally, Bruce sighed. “When was the last time you slept, Tim?”

Tim furrowed his brows, “just now.”

“Actually slept, not just fell unconscious.”

“Umm…”

“You need to take better care of yourself, Tim. You could get seriously hurt if you go out without enough rest. You already did.” Bruce said, gesturing towards him.

Wow. What a hypocrite. Bruce could do whatever he wanted and put himself in whatever danger he wanted and the rest of them just had to deal with it. But Tim goes and skips a little sleep to finish a few cases and suddenly he was in the wrong. It wasn’t fair. Tim tried really hard to get everything done right. He had to prove himself. But Bruce was never satisfied. Tim was always doing something wrong.

“I’ll do better.” Tim muttered.

“This isn’t about doing better, Tim, it’s about taking care of yourself. And… I know that I’m not always the best example, but I don’t want you to get injured because you were following my example.”

Tim stared at him. “Alred!”

“Is something the matter, Master Tim?” Alfred said coming in quickly.

“I think something’s wrong with Bruce.”

Bruce sighed. Alfred turned to look at him, an eyebrow raised.

“Dick’s been coaching me.”

Ah, that made sense.

“Tim!” Dick said, running in. “I heard you’re awake.  How are you feeling? Are you in any pain? Can I get you anything? A book? No wait, that’s what Jason would want. A computer? Wait no, we need you to rest, not do more casework.”

“Leave the poor kid along, Dickiebird.” Jason said, shoving past him. “How are you feeling, Timberlina?”

“I’m–”

“And don’t you dare say fine.”

Tim huffed in exasperation. Time for redirection. “Where’s Damian?”

“He’s at school right now, but he said to tell you that you better not end up dead.”

That was probably as much concern as Damian would share.

And as they started discussing upcoming events, bat and Wayne related, and asking him if he wanted to join their trip to the zoo later that week (it was originally going to be just Dick and Damian but they had already roped Jason into going), and Bruce looked at him fondly, Alfred standing over by the door with a slight smile, at the fact that Jason and Dick were still here instead of back at their apartments, Tim thought that maybe, just maybe, these people his family might actually care about him beyond just Red Robin.

Or maybe that was just the exhaustion talking.

Yeah. That made more sense.

It was just the exhaustion.

[emptyanddark]

what's actually wrong with 'AI'

it's become impossible to ignore the discourse around so-called 'AI'. but while the bulk of the discourse is saturated with nonsense such as, i wanted to pool some resources to get a good sense of what this technology actually is, its limitations and its broad consequences. 

what is 'AI'

the best essay to learn about what i mentioned above is On the Dangers of Stochastic Parrots: Can Language Models Be Too Big? this essay cost two of its collaborators to be fired from Google. it frames what large-language models are, what they can and cannot do and the actual risks they entail: not some 'super-intelligence' that we keep hearing about but concrete dangers: from climate, the quality of the training data and biases - both from the training data and from us, the users. 

The problem with artificial intelligence? It’s neither artificial nor intelligent

How the machine ‘thinks’: Understanding opacity in machine learning algorithms

The Values Encoded in Machine Learning Research

Troubling Trends in Machine Learning Scholarship: Some ML papers suffer from flaws that could mislead the public and stymie future research

AI Now Institute 2023 Landscape report (discussions of the power imbalance in Big Tech)

ChatGPT Is a Blurry JPEG of the Web

Can we truly benefit from AI?

Inside the secret list of websites that make AI like ChatGPT sound smart

The Steep Cost of Capture

labor

'AI' champions the facade of non-human involvement. but the truth is that this is a myth that serves employers by underpaying the hidden workers, denying them labor rights and social benefits - as well as hyping-up their product. the effects on workers are not only economic but detrimental to their health - both mental and physical.

OpenAI Used Kenyan Workers on Less Than $2 Per Hour to Make ChatGPT Less Toxic

also from the Times: Inside Facebook's African Sweatshop

The platform as factory: Crowdwork and the hidden labour behind artificial intelligence

The humans behind Mechanical Turk’s artificial intelligence

The rise of 'pseudo-AI': how tech firms quietly use humans to do bots' work

The real aim of big tech's layoffs: bringing workers to heel

The Exploited Labor Behind Artificial Intelligence

workers surveillance

5 ways Amazon monitors its employees, from AI cameras to hiring a spy agency

Computer monitoring software is helping companies spy on their employees to measure their productivity – often without their consent

theft of art and content

Artists say AI image generators are copying their style to make thousands of new images — and it's completely out of their control  (what gives me most hope about regulators dealing with theft is Getty images' lawsuit - unfortunately individuals simply don't have the same power as the corporation)

Copyright won't solve creators' Generative AI problem

The real aim of big tech's layoffs: bringing workers to heel

The Exploited Labor Behind Artificial Intelligence

AI is already taking video game illustrators’ jobs in China

Microsoft lays off team that taught employees how to make AI tools responsibly/As the company accelerates its push into AI products, the ethics and society team is gone

150 African Workers for ChatGPT, TikTok and Facebook Vote to Unionize at Landmark Nairobi Meeting

Inside the AI Factory: the Humans that Make Tech Seem Human

Refugees help power machine learning advances at Microsoft, Facebook, and Amazon

Amazon’s AI Cameras Are Punishing Drivers for Mistakes They Didn’t Make

China’s AI boom depends on an army of exploited student interns

political, social, ethical consequences

Afraid of AI? The startups selling it want you to be

An Indigenous Perspective on Generative AI

“Computers enable fantasies” – On the continued relevance of Weizenbaum’s warnings

‘Utopia for Whom?’: Timnit Gebru on the dangers of Artificial General Intelligence

Machine Bias

HUMAN_FALLBACK

AI Ethics Are in Danger. Funding Independent Research Could Help

AI Is Tearing Wikipedia Apart  

AI machines aren’t ‘hallucinating’. But their makers are

The Great A.I. Hallucination (podcast)

“Sorry in Advance!” Rapid Rush to Deploy Generative A.I. Risks a Wide Array of Automated Harms

The promise and peril of generative AI

ChatGPT Users Report Being Able to See Random People's Chat Histories

Benedetta Brevini on the AI sublime bubble – and how to pop it   

Eating Disorder Helpline Disables Chatbot for 'Harmful' Responses After Firing Human Staff

AI moderation is no match for hate speech in Ethiopian languages

Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and other tech companies are in a 'frenzy' to help ICE build its own data-mining tool for targeting unauthorized workers

Crime Prediction Software Promised to Be Free of Biases. New Data Shows It Perpetuates Them

The EU AI Act is full of Significance for Insurers

Proxy Discrimination in the Age of Artificial Intelligence and Big Data

Welfare surveillance system violates human rights, Dutch court rules

Federal use of A.I. in visa applications could breach human rights, report says

Open (For Business): Big Tech, Concentrated Power, and the Political Economy of Open AI

Generative AI Is Making Companies Even More Thirsty for Your Data

environment

The Generative AI Race Has a Dirty Secret

Black boxes, not green: Mythologizing artificial intelligence and omitting the environment

Energy and Policy Considerations for Deep Learning in NLP

AINOW: Climate Justice & Labor Rights

militarism

The Growing Global Spyware Industry Must Be Reined In

AI: the key battleground for Cold War 2.0?

‘Machines set loose to slaughter’: the dangerous rise of military AI

AI: The New Frontier of the EU's Border Extranalisation Strategy

The A.I. Surveillance Tool DHS Uses to Detect ‘Sentiment and Emotion’

organizations

AI now

DAIR

podcast episodes

Pretty Heady Stuff: Dru Oja Jay & James Steinhoff guide us through the hype & hysteria around AI

Tech Won't Save Us: Why We Must Resist AI w/ Dan McQuillan, Why AI is a Threat to Artists w/ Molly Crabapple, ChatGPT is Not Intelligent w/ Emily M. Bender

SRSLY WRONG: Artificial Intelligence part 1, part 2

The Dig: AI Hype Machine w/ Meredith Whittaker, Ed Ongweso, and Sarah West

This Machine Kills: The Triforce of Corporate Power in AI w/ ft. Sarah Myers West

[littlemisssquiggles]

LittleMissSquiggles’ Summary of Art 2023

Honestly folks, I don't got much to say about this year. This might just be my shortest art summary to date since I don't have much to comment on this year's events.

2023 was a general mix of highs and lows but overall, not a bad year. You could say that this was the year I was more work-oriented.

I focused more on work especially during the early half of this year, between January and July and therefore didn't spend much time on personal projects; specifically 3D. That being said, I did end up getting back up to my art. Since I've been more focused on 3D for the past two years, I chose this year to get back into my 2D art doing illustrative work since I missed it.

More than that, I took this year to spend some well needed time improving my drawing skills, using tools and techniques from my 3D workflow in an attempt to improve my illustrative work and needless to say, I think it worked out great, even if the end results wasn't much.

---

Some squiggly good accomplishments I achieved in 2023:

Started the year employed and while I had to juggle two job opportunities which had its fair share of ups and downs in more ways than one, at least it allowed me the chance to earn the funds I needed to obtain my new workstation: a Lenovo Ideacentre 5 Gaming PC.

Learned about the almighty power of networking and remote desktops thanks to my contract job which allowed to me to transform my current setup into one that fully connects and maximizes the full use of all the devises in my arsenal. Basically I figured out how to connect my previous laptop to my new PC so now I work with a setup where my laptop acts as a third monitor for my PC while I'm able to access all my files from my laptop from my PC. Ontop of that, I also learnt how to connect my PC to my Ipad Mini, not just for transferring files for art but for also using it as a proxy computer device to remote into my main PC workstation. This may not seem like a big deal to most but for someone who didn't know a thing about most of this stuff up until this year, it makes a huge difference to this squiggle meister.

Gained a new four-legged member to the squiggle meister family household. A playfully mischievous yet adorable Husky-mix pup fittingly named Alaska or the "Wee Las" as I like to call her.

Experimented a lot with my art this year and while I may not have shared all of the fruits of my labour to social media, I have been making quite a few strides. ---- I spent the last couple of years pushing my social media presence and while I have benefitted from it from time to time, I missed out on just taking some time to myself; getting back to indulging in other activities that brought me joy; particularly the ones that involve truly honing my craft.

I hope to maintain this type of vibe moving forward towards the new year.

Even if my social media activity won't be as frequent as previous years, I do hope that those who have been following and supporting me and my work over years still continue to do so, even if it's to simply just check in from time to time.

To conclude my post, as always, I'm wishing everyone all the very, very best in their respective lives and daily endevours for the upcoming new year.

Let see what we got in store for 2024! Happy New Year folks!

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

♦  PREVIOUS ART SUMMARIES  ♦

2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

LittleMissSquiggles (2023)

[theao3blackmarket]

A Server Introduction

We are our own community, volunteer ran by people with their own lives

This is a fanfiction/AO3 based server. We are separate from AO3. We are a community where you can share fanfiction, make friends, get writing help, and be part of a amazing community.

This server was created July 12, 2023. This means we are 5 months and 11 days(164 days) old! As of this post we have 8,536 members.

What do we have?

1. A large amount of fandoms

We have categories for:

Anime & Manga

Books & Literature

Cartoons & Comics

Celebrities & Real people

Movies

Music & Bands

TV shows

Theatre

Video games

Other medias

2. Interactive posts

This includes:

Questions of the day

Word of the day

Writing & art events

Our very own podcast

Social media accounts

3. An inclusive space

We do not support discrimination towards anyone. We accept everyone as long as they are respectful and obey our rules. We have areas for artists to share their work, we have an area for people to show selfies and boost their confidence, we have areas to share writing and request constructive criticism and beta readers! We have a very wonderful community, with many regulars being accepting to new members.

4. A wonderful staff team

This server was created by 508Looping, the head of the market. Our owner does his best to cater to everyone’s wants and needs. He is a very kind person and he interacts well with our members.

Our co-owner Baphomet is a very kind person. He does a great job at handling behind-the-scenes issues and keeps things afloat and running well. He is pleasant to talk to and has a wonderful sense of humor.

Our very own PR Team Leader, and an Admin, Joker/Jester, oftenly plans events to keep things fun for the people. He effectively organizes the server and plans most, if not all, events and coordinates everything. He is very kind and a great person.

Our other admins, Void, Ari, Cyril, Yo-Yo, Bunny_boi, Nerd, Dorian and Azul, all contribute and help out. While some are more active than others, all of them are very pleasant to talk to, and are enjoyable and interactive. They all do their part in some way, and they’re hard workers. They are very great people and help make the server whole.

Our watchers, Sammy and Averie, are two of the sweetest people in the staff team. They help out whenever they can, and they monitor chats well. They are very well liked members of the server and they are treasured members of the staff.

Our supervisors, River, Emz, Alex, and Space, all help our so much. They are wonderful people, and they’re very treasured to the server. They’re all very accepting and kind people, and they get their jobs done effectively.

Our patrol, Roro, Jaxy, Caeze, Eclipsis, Vixen, Breezy, Cupid, Rain, and Noirs, are very great people. They monitor chats and resolve problems with ease. They’re kind people and very accepting. They will try to help those who ask and succeed often.

Our PR team, Roro, Jaxy, Caeze, Vixen, Void, theresartinlife, Ari, River, Alex, Six(our Co-head of PR), Space, Rose(our very own Discord worker), Regulus, Bear, K4y, all work hard to make the server entertaining and engaging. They work hard on events, interacting with the people, managing social medias, running a podcast, and doing a lot of behind the scenes work. They are great people and a valued group of our staff.

Our council, Panda, Pomegranate(Emrys), Chaoticat, Tina, Krayon eater, Chenford, Shou, Lunar, Krizz/Wright, Ivmi, all work hard to keep their eyes on the server and help out the higher ranks with things. They are all kind people and treat everyone with respect. They are treasured people to the staff.

5. A overall wonderful environment

The people in the server, especially the members, make the server worth joining even if you aren’t looking for fanfiction. They’re such kind and accepting people it feels like a home and safe space to joke and be yourself.

[bathoarchives]

Fikile Malikongwa Discusses Her Debut Short Film And Becoming A Creative

Fikile Malikongwa is a filmmaker, model and creative based in London, She recently released her first short film 'Convictions Of An Empath' which debuted at the Raindance Film Festival. In this conversation, we talk to her about the process of producing her film, being in the creative collective 'WISE', her favourite movies and music and much more.

fikile for WISE, photographed by septemberline

Would you say you knew early on in your childhood that you wanted to be an artist or is it something that you learned later on?

It was definitely an early inclination as a child. I’ve always been naturally curious & constructive and imaginative. That is the heart of who I am as a person . Contrary to what people immediately see, I’m a very guarded and quiet individual and I do tend to get shy. I have never been the best at saying what’s on my mind when one first meets me. When I’m creating, when I write or communicate a visual or even a sonic idea, is when I start to feel my most confident. I just soar.

When and how did you move to London?

I first got to London in 2022 for about 3 months to complete a short directing course. After a very painful waiting period at home,I got the chance to relocate here at the end of September 2023, to complete my BA in film practices.

fikile photographed by frank gorski

How is being a creative in London compared to Botswana?

I would say it is different but the tasks and craft of the game remain the same. The audiences can be wider and it is exciting but you still have to fight to get your foot in the door and be taken seriously. The privilege of Gaborone having a smaller community is the immediate reach of your art. But this is a chapter I’m very grateful for. It really means a lot to me, to be confident enough to share what I’m working on now. I'd just like to relate to people more.

How did you learn filmmaking and writing, did you go to school or are you self-taught?

With the script work, I’ve been writing since I was young. Creative writing was a strength of mine in primary school. Editing clips and making use of overlays or effects for personal projects is also something I’ve always been fond of. I was actually interested in theatre and acting before I realised how much I would really love to produce/direct my own work. Drama is just my first love. After graduating high school is when I familiarised myself with editing softwares, the primary ideas of continuity in scenes and different cuts, insert shots, how tedious grading and sound engineering can be. What writing a script for the camera looks like and how actors need to be spoken to. I learnt that sort of work when I enrolled in a film institution in New York after high school. I’ve enjoyed being a sponge to this kind of world. I’m very new it and I'm just getting started really.

fikile for WISE, photography by septemberline

Around 2021/2022, we were introduced to ‘’WISE STUDIOS’’ a collective you are a part of, what is the story behind it?

“WISE” primarily stands for “With Intelligence, Souls Exceed”. The first shoot that we ever brought to life, with the computer monitors was actually the first time that all of us met and spoken in person. The idea of the collective was really thought of by my homies, whom I love dearly. WISE is essentially a creative agency with the expanse for creative freedom. We wanted to start something cool together and we share the same love for multimedia.

Who or what would say has influenced the way you approach your creative process?

I think a lot of my youthful interests and surroundings have influenced me. All of the non-intellectual artsy stuff. I was a very emotional child and I’m a very emotional young woman. I like nostalgic and romantic and painful palettes of life, wherever they lie. Being a young African female creative, yearning for this idea of a fleeting career in film, it is very scary but these kinds of challenges excite me. I’ve always been ambitious and I’ve never been one to take a break from creating, even when I'm at my lowest. My friends at home inspire me. The music I listen to and the conversations I have with them about our experiences inspire me.

a still from convictions of an empath

You recently released a very captivating short film "Convictions of An Empath", how closely do you relate to such an emotionally grabbing story?

I relate very closely to this first short release. I actually first got to know the word “conviction(s)” in a therapy session about two years ago. I learnt that I often lacked “self-conviction” when I spoke about my own experiences or how I've felt about something that I’ve seen or something that has happened to me. And the word empath has always stuck with me because I’m known to be that very understanding person in other people’s lives. The script was hard to flush out because it is a personal piece, but I wanted to focus on the concepts of forgiveness and how non-linear that can be in intimate relationships. Forgiveness does not look the same to everyone. Sometimes it means nothing, sometimes it means everything. I figured that if I want to debut a first film, it had to mean something to me first.

What was the thinking like behind the whole conceptualization of the film? especially considering that it is a short film, what helped you make a storyline that's not lackluster for a short movie?

This is a great question! I think just the time frame that I was given to tell the story. I needed the script to have a sense of a beginning, some sort of an arc where one character doesn’t remain the same, a sense of conflict and a solid ending that kept people entertained. I wrote the script based on conversations I’ve had in my own past, but also things I’ve never gotten to really say. And I figured if I can combine that with the idea of a flashback then maybe it will be good enough for a short piece. I’ve also learnt to start simple. There are so many things I want to accomplish when filming but keeping it simple and cohesive is what works. There is still so much I want to say and put out! And I had to get some sort of cool shots and editing in there without jarring an audience.

How did you find the actors?

Esmeralda and Gelson are two actors in the acting department at a film school in London. I didn’t really have to source them out, even though one of them works under an acting agency. I spoke to both of them over coffee dates and at parties and so, through conversation I just knew that I had to get them in my first film prior to seeing any of their work. I was lucky enough to do this with no needed budget. We all became really good friends, and they were able to approach the script as realistically as possible, and I was happy about that.

fikile photographed by kwami lee

You’re also a model, how did you get into that?

I started freelance modeling in around 2015/2016. My approaches to modelling really come from photographers and very particular shoots and poses that have inspired me. For reference images on set I always go to Cameron Reed, Conor Cunningham, Renell Medrano and Edwig Henson’s work. I had worked with some really talented photographers in Gabs and fashion brands and then there was this really wonderful shoot that I had with Glotto, and Mboko is just brilliant at whatever she touches, it was when I still had my blonde wig phase and after that I started contacting other photographers that I’d longed to work with on instagram and built a portfolio. To this day I think Septemberline has captured my best work. He’s always been far ahead of his time. Current photographers that I’ve come across in London or even New York would be astounded by his catalogue.

What were some of the challenges you faced when creating the film?

Shooting on location. That park scene was shot in February and it was very cold when we filmed it. It was shot at the top of Primrose Hill park, and my sound designer, Elia Cordaro, had an issue with his lavelier mics; so we had to ADR the whole conversation which is essentially when one re-records the entire dialogue in the studio.

How do you handle creative blocks?

I put the creative project away for a while, and try ground myself in reality. I've learnt to release the guilt that comes with taking my time, if I have enough time. Yoga and meditation help to just destress a lot of the tension I hold in. Immersing myself in what’s actually happening around me, going outside. Watching trash tv. When I feel like I’m getting overly intellectual with something I’m creating it helps to stay away from it. Then the inspiration comes back.

What kind of music do you like listening to and what is your favorite album right now?

I listen to a lot of alternative music, indie, bossa nova, baile funk, jazz and hip hop. I don’t have a favourite album at the moment but my playlists heavily consist of Kaytranada, Ojerime, King Krule, Babyxsosa, Naomi Sharon and Clairo.

What are your favorite movies?

Leon the Professional (1994), Before Sunrise (1995), Love Jones (1997), Passing (2021), C’mon C’mon (2021), and Ladybird (2017)

fikile at the raindance film festival screening

How did you get to debut your film at the Raindance film festival?

I submitted it for the student showcase which is during the very last day of film festival programme, where they screened BA films, MA films and a whole bunch of student films. I received an email one day before the screening that mine was chosen to be in the selected titles category. It was a dream, it still is.

Describe the feeling you had when people were watching your first ever film at the theatre?

You know the feeling you get when you’ve finally grasped that one thing that you know you’re really good at? And it feels like you’re flying and like you could do that for the rest of your life? When you’d discovered a part of your purpose. That’s what it felt like. My younger self is astounded.

What's next for you?

Many things, I can only hope. I have a long way to go but I'm happy to be here. I’m drafting a new script, I’m connecting with more black female filmmakers. Another print shoot is lined up. I’m leaving the rest up to life.

[katmaibearfan]

Blog FAQ

Have a question about something related to this blog and can't find an answer somewhere else? Check here before you send me an ask!

This is a constant work-in-progress, and is subject to change and grow as the scope of this blog changes and grows as well.

Who are the bears in your pfp/header image?

Questions About Me:

Whats your main blog?

@caseyscraftycorner -- i mostly reblog stuff but also post about fiber arts, board games, ttrpgs (note: not d&d 5e), and various musings.

Right now, the bear in my profile picture is 806jr and the bear in my header image is 151 Walker. The photos are screenshots from the Explore.org cams and were taken by me in fall 2023.

How do you know so much about the bears?

See the media links in my new pinned post. It's all just those and the powers of autism and adhd.

When did you start watching the bear cams?

I started watching them (or highlights re-posted to youtube) occasionally back in 2019, after 435 Holly won Fat Bear Week, but it wasn't until this past year that i really got into them.

How do you find so much time to watch the live cams and post about them?

I'm unable to work due to a combination of physical, developmental, and mental illness disabilities, and I need to fill my time somehow. Also, it's good background noise to have on when I'm crocheting/knitting/making pixel art.

How many bears can you identify?

It depends on some specific circumstances, but i'd say i can generally identify about a dozen of the bears at Brook's River. This might sounds like a lot, but keep in mind that nearly 80 non-cub bears have been seen on the cams so far this season.

Can you identify this bear for me?

Nope! Your best bet is to check the comments on the live cams for an ID. That's where I get about 90% of the IDs in my posts from.

You blocked me/my friend, what gives?

if I have blocked someone it's probably because I saw something transphobic on their blog. I'm a nonbinary man, so transphobes will be blocked on sight. I also block blogs that are blank, to reduce bots. The only other situation in which I block people is when they post about hunting bears specifically, but this is really uncommon for me to run in to and as such is not likely to be the answer.

Questions About Blog Language & Topics

Why do you list most bears' ages as X.5 years?

Brown Bears are born in mid-winter, and we see them between late June and late October, so it's more accurate. it's also the terminology used by Katmai, particularly for cubs.

Why do only some bears have names, and are those official or unofficial names?

All bears that frequent Brooks Falls have numbers, but only some have names. The older bears with names (Holly, Otis, Chunk, Grazer) were largely named by rangers at Katmai. However, the NPS has moved away from naming monitored animals, due to the issue of subconscious pet-ification or humanization of wild animals by humans. You can read more about their position here. Young bears with names, like 4.5 year olds 428 Studious and 429 Social, are named by the bear cam viewers and not staff at Katmai, so their names are unofficial.

Which bears are related to who/are there any family trees/is 856 503's father/etc

Bear pregnancy is complicated. Two bears from the same litter can be from two different fathers, and both sows and boars mate with multiple partners during mating season. Therefore, any ideas about any boar being any specific bear's father is purely speculation unless we have DNA evidence.

In addition, unless we see a cub with their mother in early summer and then they separate shortly afterwards, saying that any specific subadult was any specific cub is also generally speculation (unless there is DNA evidence) due to the fact that by the time we see them, it has been 6 months, and young bears do a lot of growing and changing in that time. The guesswork we do here is more reliable than guessing fathers, but it is still fundamentally guesswork. There are DNA collection efforts every few years at Katmai, to monitor the genetic diversity of the bears in the area, but not enough bears have had their DNA collected at this point to accurately map most families at this time.