#but ‘and 99 knives etc’ is super on point

[niceness-before-knives]

I gotta figure out when the whole team figures out Knives’ name isn’t actually Rook. Because he’s so easy-going and chill, he’d just introduce himself as ‘people call me Rook’. Because it’s true. People do~~~ A lot~~~ It’s not like his name tho.

I’m imagining like sometime in late Act 2, Harding (the only one in the know) exasperatedly calls Knives Knives. And then, chaos just ensues.

Especially when Knives corrects himself like, ‘Actually. Mhm. No. That’s inaccurate. It’s ’And Ninety-Nine Knives Gleamed In the Firelight’. No one ever says the whole thing though. Except my ex.’

Beat.

‘It’s just to drag out the conversation. u__u;’

[everydayesterday]

(My favourite films by decade are below the cut)

Tonight, I watched 'Safety Last!'—the slapstick silent comedy from 1923 with the indelible 20-minute clocktower scene—which means that I've now seen at least one film from every year since 1891, shortly after the invention of motion pictures (I've also seen the few recordings that came before that, such as the 12-slide ‘Horse in Motion,’ but there are gaps in the years, and we're talking about film segments that were roughly 2 seconds in length—films didn't even get to 3 minutes in length until 1898; the first hour-long movie was in 1906).  

I've got 916 movies on my list (it's probably more than that; my mind has no idea if it's ever seen a sequel).  I posted a while ago about only having 600 movies logged; to fill out the list I went through box office charts to identify what I'd likely seen in the 80s, 90s, 00s, etc. but had forgotten about.  

I was missing so many from the 90s, when we had our family movie nights.  On average, from 1989 to 2000, I saw 28 films per release year.  That dropped to 15 once I finished undergrad, and has remained pretty constant.  Going by the box office charts, I don't feel I've missed much of what I've wanted to see; there have been far too many sequels and metaverses, which simply don't interest me.  Over these COVID years, I've been watching more than just the newest releases, catching up on earlier decades; I've seen 173 that were released before I was born (most pre-1970 releases are from COVID onward).  

My favourite films by decade (because I like lists):  

1890-99: The Astronomer's Dream (1898).  Directed by Georges Méliès; the first film as real artistic production; multiple scenes and stages, special effects, 3 minutes.  

1900-09: The Great Train Robbery (1903).  The first epic action movie, at 13 minutes.  Fantastic production value; it's got better cinematography and editing than a lot of current movies.  

1910-19: I'm unsure.  ...perhaps The Conquest of the Pole (1912), another by Georges Méliès.  I need to see more films from this decade.  

1920-29: Wings (1928) and Metropolis (1927), take your pick.  One, the Oscars' first Best Picture winner and the benchmark for romantic drama (and with Clara Bow!), the other the most impressive film ever made.  

1930-39: My Man Godfrey (1936), my favourite Carole Lombard role (she's a fuckin' hoot!).  

1940-49: Citizen Kane (1941), Casablanca (1943) are both fine choices, but my choice would be His Girl Friday, because snappy dialogue is like a hit of cocaine.  

1950-59: Roman Holiday (1953).  Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck are both so charismatic; the chemistry here is palpable.  

1960-69: The Great Escape (1963) is an excellent pick, as is Ingmar Bergman's Persona (1966).  I'd take The Graduate (1967); it felt so unique, not your typical love story, and Anne Bancroft's vulnerable seductiveness turn felt so dangerous.  

1970-79: This was such a great decade (Harold and Maude, Chinatown, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Up in Smoke) ...but Apocalypse Now (1979) is my all-time top pick.  

1980-89: The Gods Must Be Crazy (1984).  Timeless.  Wholesome.  Simple and effective.  

1990-99: I'm trying to pick one film out of the 300 that I've seen from this timeframe, so maybe one [Ed. note: or more] per year?  Edward Scissorhands (1990), Point Break (1991), Wayne's World (1992), Jurassic Park/Schindler's List (1993), The Madness of King George/The Hudsucker Proxy/Quiz Show/Malcolm X (1994), Babe (1995; yes, the pig movie), The Young Poisoner's Handbook (1996), Life is Beautiful (1997; La vita è bella), ...not sure on 1998...maybe Waking Ned Devine/Pleasantville..., Office Space/Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels (1999).  

2000-09: Gladiator/Girl, Interrupted/American Psycho (2000), Amélie/Ali (2001), Super Troopers/Secretary (2002), Dogville (2004), No Country for Old Men (2007), There Will Be Blood (2008), Dead Snow (2009).  

2010-19: The Artist (2011), Argo (2012), Beasts of No Nation (2015), Rogue One (2016), Coco (2017), The Nightingale/Parasite/Knives Out (2019).  

2020-23: One Night in Miami... (2020), Nitram (2021).  

If you’ve made it this far, thanks for watching.  🎞️

[threemothsinsweaters]

A list of unusual quirk ideas!

Alright, so I have been collecting unusual quirk ideas for around half a year now - maybe a few months more Now, I’m ready to share the list with the world in case anyone ever needs any inspiration for their fanfics, be it for background characters of fics or maybe used for actual ocs 

All of those ideas are free to use without any credit or anything, but I would appreciate reblogs! ^-^

(If any of them repeat or are written wrongly then I’m sorry, I will try to fix that and edit the post every time I come up with new ideas)

1.Density control

2.Liquid multiplier

3.Heat-level vision

4.Creating objects out of light

5.Radiation

6.Super hearing

7.Entering/moving through electronics

8.Cursing objects

9.Transporting through mirrors

10.Speaking any language

11.Super strength, speed and healing but lost of self-control

12.Wild magic - giving random effects

13.Being able to determine worth of any object by touching it

14.Being able to irritate and annoy someone just by existing

15.Memory manipulation

16.Giving people a disease 

17.Being immune to any sickness

18.Compass - always knows where they are

19.Silence - make someone deaf momentarily

20.Medical intuition - knows what's wrong with the person hurt immediately

21.Never leaves a trail behind, untraceable

22.Reflection - can reflect powers of others at them

23.Survival instincts

24.Changing flesh into plants

25.Perfect imitation of animal noises

26.Killer instincts 

27.Ultimate stamina - can keep going for many hours without the need to take a break

28.Entering people’s dreams

29.Best liar - all lies sound like truth and the person is immune to lie detectors and truth serums

30.Crazy but smart - can come up with a solution to any problem, but the solution is always extremely dangerous and straight-up crazy

31. Making people itchy

32.Doesn’t need oxygen/doesn’t need to breathe to survive

33.Instant artist - able to draw anything with perfect photo-like accuracy extremely fast

34.Emotionless - can turn off feeling emotions 

35.Making all weapons they use stronger

36.Selective hearing - can hear things they want to and completely tune out anything else, even if it's louder than what they want to hear

37.Use senses of animals that are near (see through their eyes, hear what they hear)

38.Turn liquids solid by touch

39.Slow motion vision

40.Voice changer - can change their voice completely

41.Producing huge amounts of energy constantly

42.Draining energy from surrounding them people

43.Improved ability to track down anyone if there’s any scent/hints to follow

44.Perfect aim

45.Hyper-aware of their surroundings

46.Able to operate any vehicle 

47.Able to use any weapon

48.Can confuse people using words

49.Insomnia - they don’t need to sleep and suffer no bad effects from it

50.Ability to feel emotions of others

51.Can see true intentions of anyone they look at

52.Learning a history of an object by touching it

53.Emotion manipulation

54.Ability to eat anything without any bad effects

55.Astral projection - ability to leave the body as a “spirit”

56.Echolocation

57.Ability to overload someone’s mind causing pain, headaches, memory loss

58.Ability to locate any thing they touched in past 24 hours

59.Temporary merging two beings together

60. Pheromone manipulation

61. Skin expansion - creating more skin

62. Bubbles - turning all liquid touched into foam

63. Double jaw like an eel

64. Becoming someone’s shadow and following them around

65. Blood can work like drugs

66. No photos - being blurry on all photographs and in people’s memories

67. Fusion - can fuse with certain objects for short amounts of time

68. Crocodile tears - ability to cry many different choosen liquids and cry whenever they want to (could work well to make people believe their story and stuff)

69. Writing just by touching the paper and thinking about what they want to be written

70. Multi-eyes - let’s the person open “eyes” on any part of their body and see through them

71. Silence - can make everyone around them unable to talk or make any sounds at all

72. Detachable limbs

73. Control of the temperature of air around them

74. Elastic bones

75. Turning into a swarm of insects

76. Ability to sound really convincing

77. Ability to create huge amounts of glitter and sparkling lights out of their hands

78. Fast learner - very fast learner, being able to do a lot of things on the first or second try

79. Ability to shrink things

80. Ability to control all of their body functions fully consciously (hunger, heart-beat, blood flow etc)

81. Ability to change someone’s eyesight/eye structure 

82. Waking up with a completely different temporary ability every time after they go to sleep

83. Control of the growing of nails 84. Control over hair fibers

85. Boiling any liquid with touch

86. Copying any handwriting 

87. Superpower making them unable to die from falling off heights

88. Undestroyable bones

89. Changing the humidity of things/air

90. Skin has the properties of a nettle

91. Ability to lay eggs

92. Ability to make things expire instantly

93. Extended lungs

94. Changing the taste of things  

95. Changing the smell of things

96. Changing colors of things

97. Hibernation - the ability to sleep for really long amounts of time without the need to eat, drink, go to the bathroom or anything in between. 

98. Ability to know people’s worst fears/phobias

99. Ability to copy objects and multiply them

100. Spine extension - having more discs in the spine so the spine is more flexible

101. Ability to know when someone is thinking about them

102. Ability to know if a living being or a human is near them at the moment

103. Ability to know someone’s age instantly 

104. Ability to swap the probability of things happening if the probability is higher than 1% (if something has the 20% chance of happening, swapping it would make 80% - if something has 0.1% of happening the power cannot be used on it. The power, however, does not let the person using it know what the probability of certain things is

105. Ability to make your parents proud

106. Ability to make people sing instead of talking

107. Knowing the phone number of literally everyone they want

108. Real life filters - ability to make things look much nicer than they actually are

109. Ability to predict the exact probability of something happening

110. Immortal soul but mortal body - soul can enter the body even if it’s not actually functioning anymore, body can be “repaired” so it doesn’t fully fall apart

111. Ability to make images/holograms out of smoke (controlling its shape and turning it into images)

112. Ability to make people misspell words and stutter uncontrollably

113. Ability to make all insects around them drop dead instantly

114. Ability to change the direction in which things are moving

115. Eliminating or absorbing light

116.Turning off body functions without actually dying (or at least permanently - mind also still works)

117. Hearing every word someone said in past 24 hours

118. Shift person’s attention at will

119. Activate/deactivate adrenaline at will

120. Blur person’s logical thinking, making them less reasonable

121. Infinite patience

122. Loosen the tension in the air

123. Ability to bite through everything

124. Friction control 

125. Evolution mutation - body changes to adapt to certain situations

126. Ability to generate darkness/make shadows even if there’s strong light

127. Ability to make people see the mistakes they made

128. Ability to change into objects

129. Ability to create spiders that crawl out of the mouth of the person with the power

130. Ability to find the weak points of things

131. Extremely good sense of balance

132. Extra fast reading

133. Ability to make anything they touch glow

134. Becoming indestructible for a few minutes after receiving a fatal injury which could kill them

135. Ability to temporarily turn animals into monsters

136. Ability to sing any song no matter the language nor the difficulty as long as they heard it at least once

137. Fungus - 5 finger contact makes area around the hand grow with many different kinds of fungus, mostly mold but over extended contact bigger mushrooms grow as well

138. Marble statue - ability to turn into a statue without the need to eat/drink/sleep for long amounts of time, but the body structure is pretty weak

139. Ability to make someone allergic to certain things for short amount of time

140. Ability to make things poisonous with touch

141. Everything is cake - ability to make things they touch cake

142. Sharp air - ability to turn air into invisible knives that dissolve the moment they let go of them

143. Cockroach - ability to turn smaller by compressing the mass and turning it into strength, making the user indestructible while in small form

144. Ability to make people trip

145. Ability to make their hands have magnetic effect 

146. Ability to make things spin (even air or water)

147. Ability to know what material something is made out of

148. Ability to make most surfaces reflective

149. Ability to make things half-transparent 

150. Ability to stick things together

151. Ability to make things grow fur

[scone-lover]

@findingniamho​

HAHAHAHA thank you so much for this ask!!! ❤️ This is exciting. Honestly the Egghead fight was one of the most entertaining scenes to write. (Coming up with all the puns was an egg-celent time.) Rereading it just now was like an out of body experience 😂 

Link to the original chapter here - passage & commentary below the cut!

So I have to start with how this scene was born. This is a Simon scene. He’s had a couple fight scenes with Vampire, but I wanted to show him off as the superhero of the city. What was he doing before Vampire appeared on the scene? What are his strengths and weaknesses? Despite the scene’s silliness, it’s also one of the first where we start to get a sense of what Mayor Mage is up to. 

So I knew I wanted him to do the typical defending-the-city thing, and showcase him and Penny as the dread companions power duo.

Besides the plot stuff, my main goal was to make this scene as ridiculously, stereotypically comic book-ish as possible. 😂Hence, Egghead the Villain.

Most of the credit for Egghead goes to my friend -- they’re really into DC and helped me with a lot of the plot stuff in this fic and making things semi-realistic. (Every time you read a clever plot point, it was probably them. 😂) For this non-Vampire fight, my friend suggested a gangster who was doing crimes and bribing the police. Hence this exchange--

“Okay, okay, um-- fuck. Did you call the police?” She huffs. “Yes, and I think they’ve been fucking bribed, because they pretended they didn’t even know who Egghead was! Can you believe that?”

I made him a repeat villain because honestly, I just thought it was more compelling that way. They know who he is already, Simon can grumble about him, they have egg-themed quips at the ready, etc. 😂 

As for the name, Egghead. I love how it came together because Simon is a baker, and I was able to work a couple baking jokes in there eventually. But in reality, it was me begging my superhero expert friend (named t below) to help me out with crafting this villain and coming up with some witty exchanges. A transcript of our conversation with the brainstorming and some of the rejects--

t: the gangster has a nickname right? he has to if he’s a supervillain t: make it a gimmick t: like if he has a red outfit call him mr. red or something t: he has a flamethrower and call him dragon (this made it in, later) me: Vampire already has a flamethrower t: they can be forced to fight him together me: Vampire is at home studying bc he’s a NERD t: ok he can be bald and simon can call him egghead me: THANKS I HATE IT t: simon throws him on the ground at the end of the fight - that was over-easy me: I hate you where do you get this shit t: I mean it’s typical superhero stuff t: he wears yellow and white and deals crack me: This fic is so food themed I love it t: that’s your villain. that’s it. t: listen, if the Flash can have an ice skating villain, YOU CAN HAVE EGGHEAD. And he was born.

(And yes, The Flash does have an ice skating villain. AND SHE DOESN’T EVEN HAVE ICE POWERS.)

Okay, let’s do this! Warning that this is definitely going to go through more than 500 words of the chapter. 😂 

Men dressed in black suits with bright yellow pocket squares. And larger men around the perimeter, wearing grey and holding flashlights. It looks more like a business transaction than anything; there are briefcases and money being passed back and forth, hands being shaken. “Hey!” I call. There are six men, and they all turn to stare at me, and then make a run for it. The flashlight beams dart wildly and I hear a few of them clatter to the floor. Everyone starts yelling at once and looking for an escape.

I basically watched an episode of Brooklyn-99 and crafted the warehouse drug deal based on that. 

“Don’t move. There’s only one exit,” Penny says in my ear. “And you’re standing in front of it.” I stand my ground, but no one comes near me. The suited guys stay slightly behind the muscular ones. Finally, one of them steps forward. “Mage’s Head Boy. Come to tell us off?”

This scene was also an opportunity to have Penny in Simon’s ear! I wanted them to work together more closely than just talking about superhero stuff - I wanted Penny to be invaluable to Simon’s superhero success and in on the action, too. She’s kind of modeled after Oracle from Batman throughout this fic. 

Mage’s Head Boy is a pretty transparent CO reference. 

There are times when I’m grateful for my ability to just have muscles and growl at people and make them disappear, and there are times when I wish I was witty like Vampire. This is definitely the second. I can’t think of a response to that. Luckily, I have a best friend with a head full of wit. “Tell them to fuck off,” Penny says. Then again, maybe not. What would Vampire say? I get hot and frustrated in the face of danger. He seems to get cooler the higher the stakes get. I fall into a fighting stance. “You wish.” The guy takes a step backwards. “But since I can’t bring you to the police, I suppose I’ll just have to teach you a lesson.” “That was good,” Penny says in my ear.

I obviously had to work a bit of Baz jealousy / crushing into this. I like the idea of Penny being super blunt. She’s smart and sometimes witty, but more often she just says it like it is. “Cooler the higher the stakes get” was a direct reference to the similar line in Carry On. With Simon’s last line - this scene was all about showcasing him as a “typical” superhero that you’d find in a comic, fighting a classic comic book villain. So I gave him one of those cheesy lines.

I’m surrounded. There must be fifteen or twenty of them. Eight huge muscular guys, and the rest in suits. They form a loose circle around me. Almost all of them wield knives, but I don’t see any guns so far.

I knew from the outset I wanted this to be a one-against-many fight. At this point in the story I’d set up a good dynamic for Blade vs Vampire, but not so much Blade vs. other city threats. What makes him a trustworthy hero? Simon’s origin story is that he got news attention by fighting off a group - so putting him in this group fight setting was a chance for him to shine.

A man steps out from the shadows. He’s bald, with a straight, dark mustache, and he’s wearing a pristine white suit and a shirt the colour of an egg yolk. “Egghead,” I say in what I hope is a threatening tone. The name sounds absurd. I’m glad the mask covers my mouth, because I don’t think I can keep a straight face. Penny coughs. Benedict Eggerton, better known as Egghead, is a drug lord who wears yellow and deals… crack. (I know.) (He got into crime early; his parents were poachers.) (Okay, I made that one up. I can’t help it.) I put him in jail earlier this year, but he escaped and fled north.

I was laughing so hard while writing this. You can see in the text exchange above where the suit and nickname came from. I was trying to come up with what his first name might be (my first idea was Sunny). I was so amused when I finally thought of Benedict. 😂 The poachers line is also from my friend T, and the “north” is a reference to Scotland, which comes back later as the Scotch Egg joke.

I draw my weapon, trying to look as menacing as possible. “I remember your blade being bigger,” he says, eyeing my kitchen knife. “Is it too cold for you in here?”

PFFFFFT I LOVE THIS JOKE okay so. I originally made Simon forget his sword because I thought the fight would be too easy - and going back to what I said above, he’s kind of returning to his “roots” with this fight - that spark he has that makes him a hero. And then I wrote the line “I remember your blade being bigger.” TO BE CLEAR, this was not originally intended as an innuendo. 

And then my friend said something like ‘he should turn up the heating in this warehouse then’, and I was like OH DING DING DING PENIS JOKE! 😂I’m oblivious sometimes. I’m glad I realized in time because this is honestly one of my favorite villain lines I’ve ever written.

I really, really wanted to give the “too cold” line to Vampire. It would be perfect for him. But Simon always has his normal sword with Vamp, so Egghead it was. And he instantly became an icon. 😂 

I twirl the knife between my fingers. “I can crack you anyway.” “Good effort,” Penny whispers. “But a bit rough on the delivery. 'Take a crack at you' might have been better...” “Sword or no sword,” I continue, “you’ll be an egg wash by the end of this.” “What?” Penny says. “Is that a baking reference?” Egghead cracks his knuckles, and his men rush me.

Much like Penny does later in the scene, I had a tab open of egg-related words up while writing this. I had to work in the baking reference. But a terrible one. There’s a French term for whisking eggs that basically translates to “beating eggs into snow” - and I wish it was a thing in English, because, you know, Simon Snow. Oh well. 😂 

I Google a list of ways to make eggs. Simon needs to win this fight, but more importantly, he needs to get some egg-themed one-liners in there to show them who’s boss. Chances like this don’t come around very often. 

Listen, Penny is very dedicated. I love the idea of heroes just being quick-witted and coming up with these ridiculous quips on demand. But ultimately, I thought it was funnier - and more in character for Penny - to do this. (Even though her Superhero name is Quickwit, oops.) She has the world of Google at her disposal. Egg puns may not seem important, but superhero image and reputation is half the battle.

Simon is being attacked from all angles, but he fights like a whirlwind. The bulky guys attack first, mostly with their fists. Simon kicks their legs out from under them. He throws them across the floor like they weigh nothing. “Behind you!” I say. Simon spins around and disarms the man behind him, twisting his arm, and I hear a shout through my earbuds. He grabs the guy’s knife and kicks him in the stomach, sending him sprawling. Simon Snow faces fifteen men with nothing but two knives, looking like he’s ready to explode.

I loved writing this from Penny’s POV. I am used to writing fight scenes from the POV of the person fighting, so this was definitely a cool challenge. It’s part of why I brought Penny into the scene in the first place - so I could show Simon in third person. Almost like we’re watching a movie and getting some overhead shots. From his POV, you don’t realize quite how awesome he is. So getting to showcase him like this was really fun.

I still have to wonder how Shepard knew… well, everything. 

Don’t tell anyone but I didn’t know yet either

“He’s Scottish,” I tell Simon. “Scotch Egg.”

I know. This one’s bad.

He’s a blur of gold and white in motion. He throws his knife—I have no idea where he learned to do that—and it embeds itself in one of the men’s legs. He rolls across the floor, picking up two more discarded knives.

I don’t do a ton of plotting/outlining with fight scenes, but one thing I decide in advance is where and how everyone gets hurt. I didn’t want Simon to win the fight too easily, but I did need to injure him somehow. So it wouldn’t be too easy, but also to serve as a counterpoint to the socks thing later.

I watched a lot of action sequences to write this fic, especially with the trickier one vs. many scenes. 

Simon tosses him like a sack of flour.

Couldn’t resist the baker!Simon reference.

“Hard or soft boiled,” I whisper. “Which way is it gonna be, Egghead? Hard or soft boiled?” Simon shouts. He whispers to me, “That was stupid.” Egghead raises an eyebrow. “Last chance to leave us alone, Blade.” I consult my list of egg dishes. “Give up before you get scrambled.” Simon twirls his blades. I love it when he does that; he looks like Deadpool. “It’s your last chance to surrender before you get scrambled.”

I loved the hard or soft boiled line at first. And then I wrote it down and said it out loud, just to check, and it sounded SO DUMB. 😂I almost took it out, but then figured—Simon is probably not going to think this through, either.

Maybe the Deadpool line was a bit on the nose here, but I wanted to give readers some really vivid imagery of what Simon looks like right now with these dual wicked blades kitchen knives.

“I prefer my eggs… poached,” he says. 

Even though Egghead has turned out to be quite a serious villain—there are guns, drugs, and a backstory—he is, after all, original master of the egg puns. He would never turn down this opportunity.

Egghead scrambles (ha) to his feet

I think Penny is just me in this.

“Over-easy,” I whisper.

“That was over-easy,” he says.

Not my best. But it had to be in there.

I’ll skip the serious bits, since the plot there is pretty self-explanatory, to this:

I wish he’d asked what we serve, because I have so many egg puns at the ready. Eggs-ecution. Hash-ing out justice. Karma served hard.  

My beta ashspren gave me this line, and I could not be more grateful. Imagine the chapter without this. It would be a shame.

Here are a few egg puns that didn’t make the cut, SADLY:

You're washed out, egghead

*Egghead gets angry* hey, it was just a yolk

I had to go "beat" some eggs

*uppercut* Sunny side UP!

I'll bash in your Eggnoggin’

Some people are just bad eggs

Sorry this is so long—this has been a purely self-indulgent experience. Thanks so much for this ask, I really enjoyed writing this and I hope you like it! ❤️ 

[dcmhnallach]

demiboy — ever hear people say APOLLO AMORETTO looks a lot like NICK ROBINSON? I think THEY/HE is about 22, so it doesn’t really work. The GRAPHIC DESIGN major is a JUNIOR that is from LIVINGSTONE, VT. They can be ADROIT, but they can also be INDELICATE. I think APOLLO might be A TIER 2 SHEPHERD. They are living in KIERAN. ( snot goblin. 20. EST. she/they. )

ok so i lied and this is after midnight. sue me. his background is a lil inspired by logan from veronica mars so like, sue me 2x. dnjkfmgh but !! give this a LIKE so i can come MESSAGE U FOR PLOTS !!!

TRIGGER WARNING - DEATH, MURDER, MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, GRIEF

a e s t h e t i c s

fingers across keyboards and piano keys, m&m’s scattered, vintage gaming consoles and tangled wires, worn vans and broken skateboards, banging of drums and splintering drumsticks, deep rhythms beating with your heart, the hum of a hefty computer and the buzz of a monitor, green text against black screens, unruly hair unkempt, flannels filling closets, bloody baseball bats, posters lining up and down walls, loud punk music shaking the walls, glares and whispers, the suffocation that comes with loneliness, pills rattling in their bottles, unmade beds.

general info !!

full name: apollo casimir amoretto

nickname(s): cas, polly, lover boy, 2000 (b/c of his screen names lmaoo)

b.o.d. - january 31st, aquarius boi

label(s): the escapist, the hellion, the insurgent, the netizen, etc. etc.

height: hitting 6′0″

hometown: livingstone, vt !

sexuality: bi bi bi bi bisexual

stats

pinterest

biography !!

cristian amoretto and camilla silvestri had a romance that could be described turbulent at best, and downright explosive at worst

cristian, a native italian actor whose career began before he could walk, and camilla, the daughter of two italian immigrants with big dreams in a small town, met on the set of a coffee shop. their love story began quickly, dating within only a few months of knowing each other and engaged before the year was up

camilla walked down the aisle 6 months pregnant with lil’ baby apollo, who was then born in livingstone, vermont, aka the town that camilla’s family had settled in

was raised primarily by his mother and grandparents! his father was often off shooting movies, leaving camilla to take on the role of stay-at-home mom despite her own dreams of making it big as an actress

apollo grew up as a huge momma’s boy – i mean, god, he just really loved this mother, y’know? his relationship with his father was much rockier because of his … lack of being around.

when his grandparents died around the age of eight, that’s when things got…worse. it felt as if camilla’s parents were the only barrier between camilla and cristian’s budding wrath.

it became more apparent that cristian was not meant for the family life, his anger quick and his fists quicker, stinging words and venomous glares. a control freak who couldn’t handle camilla being independent.

this wasn’t apparent to the neighbors, or much of the town in general, because the amorettos were such a prominent family up in their beach-side mini mansion – it was hard to imagine that their life was anything but exquisite and dreamlike.

this was, of course, up until camilla filed for divorce and a restraining order in the same day, face bruised and nearly unrecognizable. she, obviously, got custody of apollo.

at this point in time, apollo was fourteen and…pretty stoked for them to get away from his father. they holed up southside and life continued as normal. for the time being. gossip swarmed apollo at school surrounding the circumstance which was annoying, to say the least. it led to him becoming withdrawn from the other students, not getting the whole … gossip appeal.

in hindsight, they should’ve moved out of livingstone. death threats in the form of letters and the eerie feeling of eyes constantly being on them came to a halt on apollo’s graduation day: the day that his father also, coincidentally, murdered his mother.

for making me miss out on years of my son’s life, was cristian’s excuse as he was escorted from the bloody crime scene at their apartment and into the police car.

cristian was convicted and sent to prison almost a whole year after it occurred. apollo still has dreams about testifying in court against his father as a witness.

and then apollo became known not as the son of two celebrities, but the son of a murderer. total bummer !

could not tell you why he stayed in livingstone, but he did. almost dropped out of college a good few times ( he isn’t passionate about graphic design, it’s more of him wasting time than anything else ) and spends most of his time raiding on WoW or competitively playing overwatch :/

speaking of college ! apollo was kieran’s roommate and like ... a close friend of his. the death hit him pretty hard b/c of his past.

lives in kieran but lately has been switching between his dorm and his childhood home - it’s technically his dad’s but he hasn’t been to his mom’s apartment in years. the mansion has become run-down and pretty grody, a sore sight that pisses off the neighbors.

he does identify as demiboy but he cares abt his identity like ... so little ... 

personality !!

his main focuses are computers / video games, drums / his band, and like … skating … vaping … gamer things, y’know.

from a young age he’d always been very fascinated by video games, and being the Rich Boi ™ that he was, ended up with a whole lot of them to play, on a whole bunch of consoles.

but like … he’s a PC guy :/ he may have a super rare nintendo 64 or two but nothing can beat his dual-monitor set up with his hand-built computer !

he also got real into hacking, y’know, just small things like watching security cameras in different cities and occasionally changing his grades b/c like … who wouldn’t ? also … cheated in dark souls. fucking loser.

his favorite games to play are multiplayer games so !!

he joined a band in high school because he was angsty and young, and like, turned out to be really good on drums ?? they had like … some real big jimmy eat world / green day / say anything / old school fall out boy vibes. just a whole bunch of ‘fuck the government, fuck the authority, anarchy, rebellion, revolt revolt revolt’ angry rock music that got a buuunch of noise complaints during practice.

his role in the band is essentially the ~nerdy~ one, because he’s a gamer, but like he was also Edgy and Angry and wore all black like Constantly ( he still does who are we kidding )

probably paints his nails black and has a nose ring b/c gamers can be edgy too !!

huuuuuge junk food junkie. like … he will consume Everything and Anything unhealthy. has a huge sweet tooth, he can’t remember the last time he’s drank straight up water.

he’s pretty much a loner, minus his bandmates -- having a reputation like his really ... puts off others. wasn’t the friendliest person in high school either, which doesn’t help. kieran and him were kindred souls.

to be honest, he’s really selfish. thinks about himself first and foremost, considers it to be a method of surviving in a fuck-shit town with fuck-shit people. wouldn’t hesitate to toss people to the side if it were to ever come down to it. he’s not a faithful pal.

he’s ruthless, impulsive, does whatever he pleases because he assumes that everybody’s already got their opinion of him due to his father. hard to stop him when he’s on a rampage.

seething with rage on the inside. :/

uuhhh so he’s got this fucking…pomsky, right? her name is tulip. she was camilla’s before she passed away and like, what was apollo gonna do, huh ? put the dog in a shelter ? hell fucking nah. that’s his dog now. give that dog an emotional support animal certification and boom.

this isn’t like a Personality Trait but idk where to put it so ! apollo’s on antidepressants ( and other medications, but y’know. that’s just how it is ) b/c like … y’know … the whole dad-murdering-mom thing sort of fucked him up a lot ! they make him feel pretty blah and diminished his sex drive so like … hook ups aren’t really an option for him 99% of the time.

besides that he smokes a lot of weed b/c self medication.

he’s … sort of an asshole. like … he can be rude and he doesn’t have much of a filter and i don’t know if there’s any softness left to him ! he just really misses his mom and has a lot of wishes involving changing the past and he reacts badly to things because he’s so defensive and on edge constantly.

no but he’s just like. .. sad gamer boi … a man and his dog … who also carries like five knives on him.

like he’s not socially awkward or necessarily Bad with people .. he’s just bad with people :/ doesn’t try hard enough ! is a little too apathetic ! chaotic to true neutral

wanted connections !!

bandmates !! i’d envision that there’s four or five members including him. two electric guitar, one bass, one drums / keyboard ( that me -_- ) , anybody singing ... maybe a triangle player ! or a cowbell ! i dunno ! endless possibilities.

fans of the band mayb ?? try to seduce him so they can party w/ them after a show n apollo’s just like :/ nah ( or yah ! )

people he clashes with hardcore !! people who are one n the same.

uuhh ... big slut for enemies ! ppl he refuses to get along with or they’ve been on bad terms previously for whatever reason. :-)

alternately, people he’s trying really hard to get along with but it’s not working b/c he’s a shithead.

maybe an actual good, close friend or two !! y’know. so he’s not completely alone. 

people he’s fucked over previously by ditching them / being unreliable / messy / etc.

besides close friends, someone who’s soft towards him or vice versa. because as much as i love angst, i love the uwu too.

ex-flings, ex-fwbs, ex-hookups, etc. etc. ex-gfs/bfs. especially from high school.

people he’s known all his life ! childhood friends, childhood enemies, old rivals, etc.

people who like ... stayed away from him / distanced themselves after his dad’s arrest. :/

okay but like ... imagine, okay , some sort of high school romance where he used to sneak into their room / sneak them out, n then they’d like. go wild out. y’know like, parents Hate him.

ppl who end up on one of his benders / night time adventures / whatever chaotic shit w/ him.

a hook-up gone bad could b fun !

gaming pals. gaming enemies.

skater buds ! vaping buds ! stoner buds ! apollo owns like three juuls.

someone he’s good friends with ( maybe ?? potentially developing Feelings at the same time ) but apollo fucks up their friendship / possible Something because that’s just what he Does.

somebody who thought tht like ... his childhood home was just Abandoned and Empty so they started breaking in to like. get high or fuck or whatever and apollo just walks in one day like ... what are u doing.

someone who caught him dealing juul pods to middle schoolers and was like ... what are u doing. idiot.

idiot reckless buddy pals !! wreck shit together !! burn couches !! chaos !

literally i’ll take anything sdjnfkmgh

[delcanprobably]

Assassin’s Creed II Review

i finished assassin’s creed ii (2) and now i will write a thing about it

visuals and gameplay (which i normally wouldn’t group together but for this game it makes sense)

It’s from the era where everything is a desaturated shade of murky brown or sewerage green but once you get past that, it’s really a beautiful game. I think some areas get less desaturated as you play, but that might’ve just been time of day or me getting used to it. Having finished the game, I’ve reached the point where I’m not taken out of it by the visuals, and I actually appreciate the views a lot. I certainly liked it early on, but it took a while before I took it in that much. I feel that everything fits together really well, hard to explain exactly, but it’s just very solid and quite immersive. I didn’t learn the map very well, there are landmarks, but most of the cities are so samey that they don’t have many memorable areas. They’re distinct from each other, but internally, they feel pretty much the same wherever you are. It’s probably historically accurate, but it sometimes feels like you’re just running through what might as well be a procedurally generated series of tiled rooves. Overall though, the world looks good and serves the parkour system pretty well, and that’s what’s important. The parkour system gives the whole freedom thing but is also a bit unpredictable at times. It doesn’t magnet you into things as perfectly as newer games do, so I pretty regularly missed jumps (though I do kinda suck on a controller). It’s especially frustrating when you’re trying to do a leap of faith (super high jump into a hay bale indicated by a flock of birds and birdseed) and you somehow miss, like 99% of the time you go in, but if you don’t you make a complete fool of yourself. I started checking some of the less obvious ones, which kind of defeats the point of the whole system. NPCs are fairly primitive (maybe good for the time considering the crowd density?) but for whatever reason, I found that in tandem with the world, it was enough to be pretty immersive. In typical Ubisoft fashion, the world tries to be immersive while also being very gamey, as in there are all these consistent, familiar setups that you learn and can use as tools. Of course, this does mean in missions you sometimes find many conveniently placed solutions nearby, but rarely was it annoyingly blatant, and it kind of fueled the whole badass thing. The main thing that took me out is that there are a bunch of bugs. Visible spawn-ins (a couple of times I sprinted full pelt into a squad that spawned like a metre in front of me), parkour bugs, odd NPC behaviour etc., are pretty prevalent. It’s not Cyberpunk 1468, but it’s pretty meh. Money is fucking dumb. For the first hourish you’re barely able to afford anything. Then you get access to a town that generates shit-tonnes of money for you, and then you start getting thousands of florins when you so much as cough impressively and money becomes an entirely empty system. It’s honestly kind of comical. It’s good because you don’t have to worry about a stupid economy system, but it’s also obviously a bit dumb. I see what they went for, like you’re meant to build up this place to have a higher value and generate more money that you can then spend upgrading it and stuff, but I was more than comfortable with the amount of money I was getting in when I’d done like 10% of the upgrades. Oh, and then there’s this retarded system where you can buy artworks to add value to your base, but you never see them, they don’t add much value, and they’re really cheap. So honestly they’re just kind of there for the sake of being there, and near the end I started just going to the town’s art shops and bought all their artworks with the billions of florins I’d saved up. Also, to max out your base’s value, you have to buy every armour piece, even if it’s weaker than the one you’re up to (and the best armour is unlocked in the story anyway). And you can’t change which armour/weapons you have equipped without going back to your base. Not that it matters because it’s so easy that it doesn’t matter what you have equipped, more on that later. The classic issue that’s plagued AC forever is the repetitive fetch-questy bullshit missions, and yes they are there, but they honestly didn’t annoy me much at all. There are probably less than one for every story mission, so it honestly becomes a nice way to break it up. The exception is the assassinations, but they’re basically just cool bonus missions. You can do them whenever you want, and they have the gameplay of the main assassination missions. So they’re almost like missions distilled to their best bits without much backstory or polish. Oh yeah, and then there are the towers, but they’re kind of fun. You have to figure out how to get to the top (usually relatively straight-forward), the parkour to get up can be pretty fun, and then you get a nice view at the end. Honestly enjoyed them a lot for what it’s worth.

A major problem I had is that the game is just too damn easy. Yes, it’s meant to be a badass simulator to some extent but even if you don’t touch the controller for a whole fight, by the end of the game it’d take several minutes for enemies to knock your health down close to zero and then you have a gazillion health potions that start you all over again. More and more I felt very little risk in anything, and if I failed to do a cool plan for an assassination, then it usually wouldn’t matter and I’d be better off just going with it than I would waiting to die to try again. Fights with a small group are fun and break things up but it becomes a chore quickly and you start running away just out from fear of boredom. The best moments for difficulty were the forced stealth sections where you can’t get caught, but the problem with those were that if a guard becomes alerted then you instantly lose, even if they went from zero to alerted as you fall into an air assassination. The most fun with stealth outside those missions was the slim margin moments where you kill a guy just barely before they alert everyone, but you can’t even do that in stealth only missions. The ‘hidden in plain sight’ approach to stealth is pretty neat though so I’ll give it that.

It’s action-stealth but very action-oriented. It isn’t like a stealth game that you can jankily do some action stuff in, it’s easy to do things guns-blazing and a bit awkward but possible to be stealthy. I usually took the route of staying relatively hidden until I was in a good spot to assassinate my target and then got them and ran off, and I’m pretty sure this is how they want you to play based on the trailers and such. Coming with the easiness thing is that there are so many ways to kill people. You have a radial menu with around eight different weapons, and I can tell you that I used only three - two of which have quick access on the d-pad - outside of some very specific cases. I could’ve finished the game with just the hidden blade, sword, and throwing knives. It’s honestly absurd, for instance, there’s a knife that does less damage than your sword and is maybe slightly faster(?) Not only do you rarely need something between the sword and hidden blade, but there’s also no quick button for it on the d-pad, so it just never gets used. The excessive number of weapons include a couple that are meant to be tools for stealth, but it’s such a faf to go into the menu and select them that I rarely could be bothered.

story and stuff idk The story was pretty great, but I think some people exaggerate it a bit. Yes, the writing is pretty good, and Ezio is a great protagonist as far as video games go. What compelled me the most in the story was uncovering the conspiracy, not the characters’ story arcs. Even then, I got a bit lost halfway through. That’s not to say the characters are bad, they’re A-tier as far as video games go, but there’s no interesting development or real emotional thing behind anyone other than Ezio, and even then, it’s a kind of. He has some character development, but it’s pretty much done in the first third of the game. I will say I definitely cared a lot and was never annoyed by the story, and that’s rare for me. There are some dumb plot points when you think about them for a bit though, and there’s a retarded twist near the end. There’s the standard moral ambiguity thing you get in video games though. You learn about how you need to respect who you kill and only kill people for the common good and blah blah, but then you regularly kill half a dozen guards to go pick up a few hundred florins out of a box. And then there’s the fact guards instantly get sus if you’re on the rooftops (fair enough), which gives you an incentive just to kill them so that you can keep using the more fun method of travel. Whatever though, video games be video games. (story spoiler for people who have never played assassin’s creed, skip the italic bit if you wanna avoid) Oh yeah, the modern-day bits. Almost felt like there weren’t enough, to be honest. Like, I’m more interested in Ezio’s story, but there is so little closure in the modern-day stuff. Felt a tad underdone. The conclusion of the game gives a pretty intriguing ending for the like the lore of the modern-day story, but it leaves a lot of questions unanswered for both Desmond and Ezio’s story, and honestly, overall, it kind of feels like a massive cock tease for the rest of the Ezio trilogy. The last level is here and there. Very out of place and comes out of nowhere, but also pretty epic I guess. The final boss is pretty meh though; they’ve built a system where it’s impossible to make it actually difficult, so it’s basically just another fight.

Small note: the DLC is basically two extra chapters before the final chapter. So you end up hitting that, and you get voice lines that are kinda confusing (cause they’re written like you’ve finished the game and come back), and then you have that thing where you can tell that it’s DLC and not the main game. Kinda takes steam out of the tension built up to the second-last chapter of the main game, but whatever. The DLC itself is pretty great, but I’d maybe not be saying that if I’d explicitly paid for them and it wasn’t just included with the PC version. Oh yeah, there’s one mission that I loved the premise of but hated in practice, and it’s pretty much the peak mission in the whole game (it’s even the one depicted in the trailer). Basically (major game spoilers, minor story spoilers, skip the whole paragraph), you have to win a series of games at a carnival to get a ticket into a party hosted by your target. Once you’re in, the guards start to catch on, and you have to blend in while they swarm the party. Then your target shows up on a boat for a speech, and you have to kill him, preferably without having the entire city guards notice you. So conceptually, that’s pretty sick really. But there are so many issues with it that completely took me out of it. First, the carnival games. Instead of being bothered to program a whole new system to make this make any sense, you just have to “win” all of the games, two of which are basically just standard side-quests where you’re just competing against a clock or not dying. It completely took me out how the whole concept doesn’t make any sense, like you only get the ticket if you *win* all the games? What if you came second in one? I’m competing against no one though, so there is no second. It just makes zero logical sense. Then there’s the party. It’s pretty good up until the bit where you actually have to assassinate the guy. A character you’re with suggests that you don’t swim across, and instead you shoot him with the gun you just unlocked and do it in time with the fireworks that are going off, so that no one notices, and it’s given in that typical video game character giving gameplay directions kinda way. Great, except the fireworks are just a background sound, and there’s no difference whether you time it right or not. Also, guards get alerted the second you start charging up your shot if you’re not entirely hidden, so it doesn’t even matter. You still get the guards chasing you if you do the suggested method. However, I realised that there was a convenient tower nearby and thought maybe I was meant to sneak to the side of the party and climb the tower and “snipe” him! But no, because the game doesn’t let you target him from that high up. As far as I could figure out, there’s no particularly elegant way of taking him out, especially not without getting the guards on you. It was just so unsatisfying to have this great setup, probably the best in the game, but have it feel rushed and broken. Other than that I rarely had a problem with the story missions, other than the standard few “oh great a tailing mission” moments, but come on man, that’s such wasted potential. [spoilers over]

conclusion What I loved about this game was the atmosphere and jumping around exploring 15th century Italy. That’s followed by the aforementioned badass simulatorage and some aspects of the story. There was very little about this game that I proper disliked other than what I’ve mentioned. It’s an easy game to get lost in, and it’s not as stupid long as most open-world games, so if you’re a little interested, it can’t hurt to give it a shot, I guess. You have to appreciate exploring worlds a lot though, which I do. Zero challenge, so avoid like the plague if that’s an issue. If you want an actual stealth game in a similar setting with far more choice and challenge, you want Dishonored (which imo is the better game, but it’s a different type of game). This game is more jumping around buildings and taking in the world, and oh yeah also you’re meant to be a sneaky assassin. Also would highly recommend using a controller. Avoid playing the Xbox 360 version on backwards compatibility though, because I did that, and apparently, it’s a common problem for your entire save to get wiped at one specific bit. How d’you reckon I found that out? Thankfully, my old PC save was at the right point. Also, Ubisoft protected sexual predators for years :). Thanks for listening to my TEDx Seatle talk.

[dsmadmin]

#AmarasReign

Written by @SWinchesterDSM & @DeanisDoomed

SAM - The cities still held many people but resources were running out. Those who would make no deals with the demons were left to starve to death or were taken by force to be sold to the highest bidder. Sam has been to hell and while it was horrific atleast it wasn’t filled with innocent children etc. To him this reality was worse. He got board the old bus that he and several others had reinforced best they could to make the journey into the nearest city and try to find survivors and be on the lockout for anything useful they could find.

Everything was needed and so were people to help attend the corps that were underground grown using hydroponics. Because of the constant darkness vegetation and animals were dying out. It wasn’t even about fighting the demons as much as it was just trying to survive. The temptation to harness power by drinking demon blood made Sam consider it but so far he’d abstained. He knew he’d be a lot more useful juiced up but he was afraid what would come if he couldn’t come back from it. Plus, Dean was wearing the mark of Cain.

He knew he needed to keep himself together if for no other reason but Dean. The bus rolled to a stop the driver reported a few cars needed to be moved. Sam got up and went out with a few more to push the cars clear. Cars moved the bus went on. As they got closer he caught sight of a few people or demons. They had to be careful because demons would reel you in and then jump you. Humans were being traded and sold to the highest bidder. It pissed Sam off to his core. Getting out more people emerged from the shadows begging for food and water. One of the other hunters went through the process of making sure they weren’t demons and convinced them to get onto the bus with a promise of more safety in numbers.

Two male hunters joined Sam as they scavenged for things that could be useful. The grocery store was empty of food but Sam found some paper and pens. He stuffed them into his backpack. The most basic of things were needed. Moving on to a clothing store he grabbed a shopping cart and they carried what clothes they could find. With new arrivals everyday you never knew what all could be needed. No food to be found at all and as Sam looked through what was left of a gun shop all he found was a couple knives.

They hauled their goods back to the bus and waited as more survivors were loaded on. He’d liked to have checked out more but the most important part of this was rescuing /humans/ and they had about ten, the precious cargo needed to get to safety. Taking up his position he watched for any possible problems as they began the trip back out into the country where the old missile cool no housing around one hundred people.-

Dean - Living in the old missile silo wasn't the best living quarters for the few people Sam managed to get in the last adventure into the city looking for suppliers, both sam and I would let the few survivors have the food we had gathered up, to the point, we need to ration out the food to the new people staying with us. The last thing we need is our new guests running out of food. Even Sam hadn't been on a demon blood diet for the last few weeks to keep him strong as there were no demons around to kill to keep Sam alive and to help myself with the curse in my arm. After nightfall, Sam and I would secure the silo so nothing would get inside other than us when we would return the next morning. To the guys staying with us, they would understand we were going to work, which wasn't a lie with us going out for hunts to see who would be roaming the streets.

The streets were becoming quieter each night fewer humans around with their bodies laying down in the streets due to starvation in this world of ours or whatever the few vampires were around and the rats had left of the corpses. Everything was starving now, my concern for Sammy was growing that he hadn't had drank from any demons in such a long time. He had gone to being on Cold turkey over the blood. Sam being him never wanted to drink the blood. I could see him becoming weaker I needed to keep Sammy strong with the lack of food around, “Sammy I know you have to do everything you can to stay you. As I know you would never do anything without thinking ever Theory out with us and you haven't drunk any blood in a while, Will you drank if we hunt for demons tonight? “ Dean wanted to make sure we caught a demon for Sam to allow him to drink a demon if he wanted to. Dean needed Sammy to help with this world he never wanted to ever lose Sammy and he would protect him at any cost. Dean wearing the mark of cain having the urge to kill anything in sight other than his brother. His shakes were coming to tremble he need to kill something soon to stop the urge to kill the humans back home. The events of nightfall would give us some cover if needed. We were never hiding when it was just us, we had a timetable to stick to. Trying to find any demons to set some traps for any demons to come to us. Sometimes with the traps set, we would need to urge them out from their hidden places as we need to take our time with the killing.

Our bullets were running low, to the point we were almost out of bullets and we have limited ourselves to using the guns but only in emergencies cases for Sam. My knife skills were getting better with the target practice with the fights. The fights each night were getting more bloody ripping the demon to shreds, not for sport but to survive. Sam and I knew we needed to find some gunpowder soon to make our bullets back home. patrolling the streets searching for any suppliers we can find like clothing, toiletries or just based food was becoming harder each night as there were no deliveries. Sam wanted to adventure out to the next city to see if they would have any supplies but that would need to be kept for another night with the sun rising on the horizon. Sam and I just looked at each other knowing it was time to travel back out of the city and back home with the few supplies we managed to get with the tin food and packets of dried noodles from the store.

Sam: -To his brother's question there was silence, he didn't want to go that route because one of them had to be clear-headed even if it meant being hungry to do it.- I don't think it's a good idea Dean, these people need us. I've got an idea, I know more a long-term plan but there's a couple of farmers and a journeyman that worked on electricity. We need to hit the country's see vault and rig up enough power to run grow lights. There's enough room in the bunker to get it started. Then we need to find a way into military bases and see what we can salvage for security and transportation. There are at least two guys with military experience in there and have been on a couple of the bases close to us. With your abilities, I think you could just transport us right in now keys needed. The humans didn't really know about demons and things till it was too late so the odds they had defenses against them are very low. And with you being a knight, I don't think we need to worry much.

Dean - I know they need us but this guy right beside you, he needs you too. I'm all ears to try anything out to keep you safe and the others too Sammy. Promise me Sammy you will eat when the next meal is prepared. Right now you are all skin and bones. I will do pretty anything to keep you with me but I can't do it all on my own as you need to eat something even if it's just rice and beans Sammy? That sounds definitely a making of a new plan to give everyone hope, safety and warmth here. Have you been getting to know our guests Sammy and their backgrounds for this idea? you can count on me helping any way I can. When we were last out Sammy I thought I saw the old power plan that could be used too if there is anything left in there too. We might be able to bring it back too. Something needs to be done Sammy I don't think we are going to find anyone else out there to save. Right now it's just us and everyone we have here now.

Sam listened to his brother and he got where he was coming from but he wouldn't give up hope of more survivors.- I'll eat something I promise. Yeah, not much else to do but talk, good to know what kind of skill sets people have could really help come up with the garden. It

won't be super easy but with the power guy, I think we have a real shot. I mean we have to think long term not just right now. We get a system worked out we could become self-sustaining with some effort. The power plant is a good idea. I'm holding out hope there are more people out there. Would be nice if we could find a way to purge the demons large scale back to hell... -As he spoke the words he got a thought.- What if we could get something rigged up for broadcasting like it might only reach a block or so but dude this might work. We use the cities own emergency speakers and broadcast an exorcism. We wouldn't even need anyone truly there, just set up a tape recording. We need to figure out where a radio station is located in the city and how many others there are. And so you'll transport me to seed bank right so we can start getting seeds back here?

Dean - *Dean looked around in the small room that was storing the canned and dried food. He knew something desperately needed to done to keep his brother alive and the others too. Their food supplies were becoming limited with each passing day as he listened to where Sammy was coming from. He has always had the best of ideas. Right now his brain was needed for the long run of this fight of such survival and with the hungry setting in with the few people He had been talking to. “Anything is possible. With the broadcasting, the only thing with that is not just survivors coming after us but demons and that might come down on us. I'm willing to give it go Sammy as I will defend you and the 99 odd souls we have here until my dying breath. Do you think the power guy is ready to work his magic? Maybe it is best if we go for a trial run to see what exactly the power plan has as we don't need to put anyone else in danger. “ *Dean ran his hand over his hairs on his ace knowing right now timing would be everything. Knowing he could transfer his brother to the seed plant safety. * Another option to have more choices of food for everyone here. How long do you think you will need in the plant Sam?

Sam - I don't know depends. I'd say a couple of hours to get a look at things see what's needed to make things run. I agree we should do a trial run on the broadcasting but focus on the food first. The seed vault shouldn't take a long time. I'll only bring back what could be started u p for now. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault vault is located about halfway between the North Pole and the coast of Norway, near the town of Longyearbyen (population 1900), in the remote arctic island archipelago of Svalbard.

[24hs]

heating up hearts

pairing: nicomaki

genre: pure, sweet, disgusting fluff

words: 2,1 k

also readable on ao3 | please listen to red velvets rookie as well!

dedicated to: @nefot, because she is that bitch and gave me the prompt on twitter ! have great holidays and the bestestest new year ! ilu

Maki likes living in her own flat, but sometimes she wonders if it’s really worth it.

Don’t get her wrong - not having to ask her parents first when she wants to go out? Amazing. Being able to eat anything without them nagging? Great. (Sure, the nausea after eating not one, not two, but three raw tomatoes in a row was, in fact, not great. Maki now kind of understands why her parents had told her not to.)

It’s 99% advantages, and the one percent of disadvantages is called Nico Yazawa.

To say this is kind of mean - probably straight up impolite, bratty and overall terrible -, but it’s true nevertheless.

It’s not even like they’re close enough for Maki to have an actual reason to, well, mildly dislike her. In fact, they have talked two times in total since Maki moved in (which was exactly one week and three days ago).

Number one, the day she moved in. She was barely inside the flat, her dozens of packages still standing around her, and her mother didn’t want to let her go. “I can’t believe you’re a real adult now!”, she had cried, hugging Maki, who struggled against her tight squeeze.

“Mom, please”, Maki mumbled, slowly turning red as her new roommate stood in their kitchen, smirking to herself while cupping a mug of coffee.

When her mother finally went home - not without telling Maki to call twice a day, not to stay up too late, be nice to her peers in college, etc. etc. -, Maki cleared her throat, avoiding to look at her officially now permanent roommate. (How embarrassing. After all, Nico had more college experience than Maki that came in three semesters she hadn’t has yet.)

“You’ve got time right now?”, Nico suddenly said, snapping Maki out of her thoughts, and same nodded quickly, curious about what the older one had to say.

“First of all”, Nico started, gesturing Maki to sit down in front of her, “I don’t have a thing for schedules. Clear?”

Maki only stared at her, unable to process this conversation. Nico sighed, clearly impatient, and pouts.

“Listen, we clean when there’s something to clean, and cook when we’re hungry. I’m a generous person so I won’t mind if I do a little bit more work than you do. Understood?”

“Alright”, Maki answered, trying hard not to frown, because who did this girl think she is? More like, what kind of kid did she think Maki is?

She was even more indignant when it turned out that Nico’s so-called generosity comes in ordering takeout every day - without paying for it, leaving Maki with the bill - and cleaning the flat by putting a plant on their mess to distract from it.

(“I’m a generous person”, Maki mumbled in rage when scrubbing the floor on her knees, “Generous, my ass.”)

But Maki had learned that sometimes, confronting people is better than being angry in silence - her friends would have been proud -, so she walked into Nico’s room and ripped out Nico’s ear buds when she didn’t notice her instantly. (Number two.)

“Hey!”, Nico complained, looking up to Maki in a grimace. “What is it? I’m doing homework right now.” Maki glanced at the laptop’s monitor laying on Nico’s lap.

“While listening to the pussycat dolls?”

Nico threw her hands in the air. “What can I say? I’m a woman of culture.”

Maki scoffed at her before saying, “Didn’t you say you would clean from time to time?” When Nico only raised her eyebrow as an answer, Maki added, “because you totally don’t.”

Nico gasped. “That’s not true!” Maki pointed at the huge pile of clothes on the floor and the two dozens of empty water bottles on Nico’s desks, smiling triumphantly when Nico looked taken aback.

“Whatever”, Nico mumbled, putting her earbuds back in, “I promise I’ll clean soon, okay?”

Maki realized that it’s for this conversation when Nico started to hack into her keyboard again, so she grunted in frustration and turned on her heels to leave.

“And that was two days ago?”, Kotori makes sure and when Maki nods, she hums in agreement.

They’re in their favorite café, celebrating because Kotori has had her last exam today. “Yeah”, Maki sighs, leaning back. “But I don’t think she’s going to hold that promise.”

“Oh, I do”, Kotori replies, smiling when Maki starts frowning as she’s putting one and one together.

“Why? Wait, do you know her?”

“Nico? Yeah. We met in High school. She was always that dedicated student, super ambitious as well. Of course, her grades were terrible”, she quickly adds when Maki looks like she doesn’t believe her, “especially in maths, but she seems to have worked that one out, huh?”

Maki thinks about how all Nico does is study, and maybe Kotori’s right and Nico’s not as bad as she seems.

Kotori appears to be most definitely right when Maki comes home and notices that the mess from almost two weeks has been cleared.

She looks around in unbelief - the dust on the shelves is gone, no books are laying around, there isn’t even dirty dishes in the sink. (This is the one that seems the most impossible - Nico tends to hoard bottles in her room, but also uses a new glass for every sip of any beverage she drinks. Additionally, she keeps leaving knives in the sink which just drives Maki crazy.)

“Nico?”, she raises her voice, shuffling through the flat. When no one answers, she sighs and eventually knocks on Nico’s door, going in without bothering to wait for a reply.

Nico’s fallen asleep, not on purpose, as it seems, for she lays on her chair, multiple open books on her lap. Maki comes closer - tiptoes to not awaken her - and glances at the titles, whom she doesn’t even understand properly. (They’re about ten lines long and filled with words she hasn’t even heard of before.)

She looks around - as if someone were there to catch her being nice for once - and then carefully picks up the books, neatly placing them next to each other after she made place on Nico’s desk (she seemed to have cleaned up everywhere but her room - Maki wonders if Nico solely prefers the mess over anything else or if her time was so little and she prioritized Maki’s satisfaction over her own comfort).

She sneaks to her own room, grabs a blanket and returns to the snoozing Nico, wrapping the blanket carefully around her shoulder.

“Good night”, she mumbles after a second, awkwardly shifting her weight from one leg to the other one, “and, uh, get some rest.”

Maki quickly rushes out of the room, not seeing that Nico snuggles closer to the blanket in her sleep, smiling satisfied with closed eyes.

Maki figures that since it’s turned out Nico Yazawa actually isn’t all bad, she should at least get her a Christmas present. (The realization that she slowly starts to warm up for her tells her that, but so does the fact that politeness and a big love for Christmas basically force her to.)

The question is - what could she possibly buy for someone she has been knowing for a good two weeks?

She thinks about clothes, but that’s boring, and besides, she really does not want to guess Nico’s size of clothing (no way that this one will not not turn into a mess). Maybe something cliche, something Christmas themed, and Nico would totally be the type for that, but Maki wants something that fits perfectly.

After hours of visiting shops and brainstorming Maki decides that perfection is overrated, anyway.

She prepares a small bag with lots of things in it - sweets she knows Nico loves because Kotori has told her so, a pair of pink gloves, transparent hand warmers with reindeer on them, and, lastly, a snow globe with a ballerina in it (Kotori also has said that Nico once had the dream to become a singer, and this was the closest thing Maki could find). In the end, Maki’s overall satisfied with what she has made out of an awkward desire to make a gift for someone she barely knows.

“Um, Nico?”, she says on Christmas Eve, holding her gift behind her back. Nico’s in the kitchen, making breakfast (for once) in an apron, looking up when Maki’s coming in.

“Good morning!”, she chirps, “and merry Christmas.”

Maki swallows a “Officially, Christmas is tomorrow, not today” and sits down. “I didn’t know you could cook”, she says instead, eyeing the substance in the pan Nico’s holding casually.

“Oh, you can bet I can”, Nico snorts, flipping the food - pancakes, Maki now sees. “I’m actually rather great at it.”

Maki rolls her eyes and stands up again to set the table, slyly hiding her present in the cupboard when Nico doesn’t look.

“By the way”, Nico suddenly says, looking awkward from one second to the other, “thanks. For, uh, earlier. When you put that blanket on me.”

“It’s nothing”, Maki quickly answers, “really.” There’s a tensed pause, and she adds, “also thank you for cleaning and stuff. Appreciate it.”

“It’s nothing”, Nico repeats after her, smiling. “Here.”

She drops a pancake on Maki’s plate and shoves it closer to her. “Eat while it’s still warm.” So Maki does.

They enjoy their breakfast in peace, and maybe Maki’s only imagining it, but any silence between them is now shared and not awkward anymore.

“Hey, Nico”, Maki mumbles between two bites, “I’ve got something for you. For, you know, Christmas.”

Nico raises an eyebrow. “You do? I thought I was the only one who prepared something. I was already so ready to be the superior one…. having you run the household because you can’t take the guilt….”

Maki deadpans and Nico pouts, putting her hands up to show she’s given up at teasing her. “Fine, fine. Just let me grab my present real quick.”

She heads to her own room, while Maki searches for her own one, her heart beating hardly in her chest.

She didn’t think about the possibility of Nico buying something for her. (Exciting.)

They’re sitting on the dining table, facing each other, and Maki can feel her face heat up. Maybe Nico doesn’t even like all the cliche stuff, she chose the wrong sweets and all of this was a horrible idea.

“Lady’s first”, Nico beams and Maki puts her present on the table. Nico grabs it and carefully opens the bag, her eyes shining when she see its content.

“Maki Nishikino, I love sweets to death!”, she examines, clearly excited and gasps when she sees the snow globe. “Thank you so much! I’ll put it on my nightstand so I can always look at it before I go to sleep.”

Somehow, Maki is flustered ; the fact that Nico is so genuinely happy about the small gifts makes her happy, too.

“Here”, Nico clears her throat, giving a blank envelope to Maki, “it’s not much, but…”

Maki rips it open and a card falls out. Her mouth forms an “o” and she opens it with careful fingertips.

It’s self-made, that’s surely why Maki adores it. Nico must have put lots of time into it, there’s paper hearts and stars cut out and glued onto the card and glitter spread all over it. The inside only consists of a handful of words:

“Merry Christmas. Let’s stay together for a long time. Lots of love, Nico.”

Maki stares at the words, flushing. Lots of love, Nico.

“It’s kind of”, Nico mutters, scratching the back of her head, “uh, intimidate, I guess-“

“No, it’s alright”, Maki interrupts her, and then, more gently, “I like it. A lot.”

Nico’s cheeks turn red. “Oh, g-good. It’s not the actual gift, though.” She’s right - a single piece of paper has fallen out of the card when Maki opened it, so when she spots it on the floor, she bends over to grab it. When she can see the words, she gasps. “Nico…”

It’s a coupon for a observatory.

“I love star-seeking”, Maki says, kind of out of breath, “how did you know that?”

Nico blinks her blush away. “I just guessed, really. I’m really glad you like it, though.”

Maki thinks about it for a second and then shyly asks, “would you like to go with me? To the observatory, I mean.”

There’s a big, big smile on Nico’s lips when she answers, “I’d love to. Want some of my sweets?”

“Sure”, Maki grins back, and they chew on the candies in peace.

“Merry Christmas, Nico.”

It’s not the end, but the very beginning. They’re not perfectly working together – yet, maybe-, but Maki feels in her guts that the very one percent of disadvantages could turn into a one hundred percent of reasons to stay in this flat very, very rapidly.

[iraqairbus35-blog]

Wüsthof 2-Piece Mini Asian Knife Set Review & Giveaway

posted by Jaden

This review for the Wüsthof 2-Piece Mini Asian Knife Set includes both PROs and CONs of the product. We tested the knife set for 2 months prior to this review.

We’ve been using the Wüsthof 5″ Hollow Edge Santoku and the 3″ Flat Cut Paring Knife (both from the Wüsthof 2-Piece Mini Asian Knife Set), putting it through the rigors of prepping everyday family meals and constant recipe testing at Steamy Kitchen.

Two Versions of the Mini Asian Knife Set

There are 2 versions of this knife: Classic and Classic IKON.

Same blade, same durable, non-porous polyoxymethylene material handle. Here are the differences:

Classic

Traditional, best-selling Wüsthof collection

Square-ish finish on handle

PRO: This set sells for around $99 at both Williams Sonoma and Sur La Table, about $40 cheaper than the Classic IKON

Classic IKON

*Note, the Classic IKON is different from the plain IKON, which is made from real African Blackwood.

PRO: Ergonomic, curvy handle. Feels good in hand.

CON: This set sells for around $139 at Williams Sonoma and Sur La Table. Is the handle design worth nearly half the price of the Classic? My answer is “no,” and I’ll tell you why in just a bit. First, let’s talk about the blade.

The Blade Specs

The Wüsthof 2-Piece Mini Asian Knife Set is made from with X50CrMoV15 stainless steel, with Precision Edge Technology. Yes, technology is the spot-on word to describe this German knife company that began in 1814.

Wüsthof’s computer-controlled robotic machines sharpens each knife for a smoother, sharper edge than any other method. The result is an edge that stays sharp, 2x longer, according to Wüsthof.

Rockwell Hardness of 58.

PRO: A finer, sharper edge angle, which is traditional of most Asian knives. The blade stays sharp, twice as long as their competitors.

Let’s go into each knife:

5″ Santoku Hollow Edge Knife

The scalloped or hollow edge is great for cutting thin slices of vegetables, to reduce friction and stick. Vegetables fall off the blade, and onto the cutting board for faster and more efficient cutting.

Much of Asian cooking, especially stir-fries require even, thin slices of ingredients, so that everything cooks evenly. That’s why Santoku knives are so designed with the hollow edge and flat blade (vs. curved blade made for “rocking” motion of mincing). The flat blade helps you slice in one even motion.

The angle of edge is 10º on each side.

PRO: Wüsthof’s Santoku is light. About 4 ounces, which is a great weight for cutting small vegetables and fruit. The lightness makes the knife makes you more nimble and your hands less tired when cutting for everyday cooking. In contrast, traditional European style knives have a thicker blade, and are heavier. Heavier knives are great for mincing using the rocking motion, and for cutting through thin, small bones.

The blade of this knife is 5″ long. It’s perfect for smaller vegetables and fruit: skinny carrots, apples, broccoli, garlic slices, shallot, green onion, Asian leafy greens etc. The knife is not made for cutting larger vegetables and fruit, like fat potatoes, daikon, melons, squash. Choose a longer, larger santoku knife for those ingredients.

PRO: The thin, super sharp blade at 10º on each side lets you cut paper-thin slices with amazing precision.

CON: All of Wüsthof’s Santoku knives’ hollow edge comes very close to the blade’s edge. In my opinion, too close. When you sharpen a blade, you are actually creating a new edge – which means removing steel. As you sharpen over time, the hollow indents will come even closer to the edge, and may even become the edge.

Wüsthof 3″ Asian Paring Knife

This paring knife has a flat edge that comes to a beak-like point. Actually, both the santoku and this paring knife have the “sheepsfoot” point. The blade is 3″ long.

This knife is sharpened to 14º on each side.

PRO: The shape of the blade is perfect for peeling in-hand. The blade’s edge cuts evenly and maximizes the amount of blade cutting your ingredient. In contrast, if you use a European style paring knife with a “belly” curve to peel an apple, your blade’s belly is the only part that’s cutting. Great for peeling garlic, shallots, onion skin. Perfect for slicing strawberries.

PRO: The handle is a generous 4″ long. Some paring knife handles are just too short and end up digging into my palm.

PRO: Light! The knife weighs 2.4 ounces. This makes it easier for hand-work and delicate cutting.

Why I recommend the Classic instead of Classic IKON

Wüsthof’s Classic line is aptly named, it’s a classic design that professional chefs and cooks worldwide have been enjoying since 1814.

The Classic IKON shape is just a little more comfortable, ergonomic. It fits my hand a little better. Both handles are made of same material. Is it worth an additional $40 for the handle shape?

In my opinion, no. Not for the 5″ santoku, which is meant for smaller vegetables and fruit, prepping for everyday meals.

The handle shape of the Classic is just fine for me. I am not slicing 10 pounds of carrots everyday, and I am not peeling a bushel of apples. Hey, if professional chefs have been using Wüsthof Classic for 200 years without complaint, so can I! 🙂

If I happen to be tasked with 10 pounds of carrots to slice, I’d use a food processor or a mandolin (this one is my favorite). If I had to choose a knife to slice 10 pounds of carrots, I’d use a larger, longer santoku knife that weighs a bit more, maybe a 9″ knife and allow the weight of the knife to help me get through all the carrots.

Save your $40 and get a another knife! Here’s another great Wüsthof knife that we reviewed recently and that I also use everyday.

Wüsthof will send the winner 2-piece Mini Asian Classic Knife set.

** Please add hello@steamykitchen.com to your contacts to help prevent email notifications from going into spam folders.

Never miss another Steamy Kitchen Giveaway!

Subscribe to our Giveaway Notifications to keep up to date on all of our giveaways! We will even throw in a special gift when you confirm your subscription!

List of Past Winners.

DISCLAIMER & OFFICIAL RULES: The giveaway product is provided by the sponsor of the giveaway and will be shipped from the sponsor directly. No purchase necessary to enter or win. Giveaway is open to people who are 18 years of age at time of entry and open to people worldwide. Steamy Kitchen and its sponsors only ship physical prizes to United States addresses. However, Steamy Kitchen reserves the right to provide an Amazon.com or Amazon.ca gift card for the value of the prize (at time of publishing) in lieu of shipping physical product due to shipping costs and logistics, especially for our international winners. Steamy Kitchen assumes no responsibility for late or misdirected entries due to SPAM, technological, or e-mail filtering issues or for prizes lost in transit. Winner will be notified by email, and must respond within 5 business days, otherwise winner will forfeit the prize and another winner may be drawn. For this giveaway, entrants can enter the designated number of times per e-mail address per day. The use of any system, robot, agent, or software to automatically submit entries in connection with this Giveaway is prohibited. Winners of giveaways are published on Steamy Kitchen, and winner's name and city/state/country are announced in Steamy Kitchen email newsletters.  See rest of the Official Giveaway Rules.

Comments Off on Wüsthof 2-Piece Mini Asian Knife Set Review & Giveaway

Source: https://steamykitchen.com/47439-wusthof-2-piece-mini-asian-knife-set-review-giveaway-2.html

[risevessel4-blog]

Wüsthof 2-Piece Mini Asian Knife Set Review & Giveaway

posted by Jaden

This review for the Wüsthof 2-Piece Mini Asian Knife Set includes both PROs and CONs of the product. We tested the knife set for 2 months prior to this review.

We’ve been using the Wüsthof 5″ Hollow Edge Santoku and the 3″ Flat Cut Paring Knife (both from the Wüsthof 2-Piece Mini Asian Knife Set), putting it through the rigors of prepping everyday family meals and constant recipe testing at Steamy Kitchen.

Two Versions of the Mini Asian Knife Set

There are 2 versions of this knife: Classic and Classic IKON.

Same blade, same durable, non-porous polyoxymethylene material handle. Here are the differences:

Classic

Traditional, best-selling Wüsthof collection

Square-ish finish on handle

PRO: This set sells for around $99 at both Williams Sonoma and Sur La Table, about $40 cheaper than the Classic IKON

Classic IKON

*Note, the Classic IKON is different from the plain IKON, which is made from real African Blackwood.

PRO: Ergonomic, curvy handle. Feels good in hand.

CON: This set sells for around $139 at Williams Sonoma and Sur La Table. Is the handle design worth nearly half the price of the Classic? My answer is “no,” and I’ll tell you why in just a bit. First, let’s talk about the blade.

The Blade Specs

The Wüsthof 2-Piece Mini Asian Knife Set is made from with X50CrMoV15 stainless steel, with Precision Edge Technology. Yes, technology is the spot-on word to describe this German knife company that began in 1814.

Wüsthof’s computer-controlled robotic machines sharpens each knife for a smoother, sharper edge than any other method. The result is an edge that stays sharp, 2x longer, according to Wüsthof.

Rockwell Hardness of 58.

PRO: A finer, sharper edge angle, which is traditional of most Asian knives. The blade stays sharp, twice as long as their competitors.

Let’s go into each knife:

5″ Santoku Hollow Edge Knife

The scalloped or hollow edge is great for cutting thin slices of vegetables, to reduce friction and stick. Vegetables fall off the blade, and onto the cutting board for faster and more efficient cutting.

Much of Asian cooking, especially stir-fries require even, thin slices of ingredients, so that everything cooks evenly. That’s why Santoku knives are so designed with the hollow edge and flat blade (vs. curved blade made for “rocking” motion of mincing). The flat blade helps you slice in one even motion.

The angle of edge is 10º on each side.

PRO: Wüsthof’s Santoku is light. About 4 ounces, which is a great weight for cutting small vegetables and fruit. The lightness makes the knife makes you more nimble and your hands less tired when cutting for everyday cooking. In contrast, traditional European style knives have a thicker blade, and are heavier. Heavier knives are great for mincing using the rocking motion, and for cutting through thin, small bones.

The blade of this knife is 5″ long. It’s perfect for smaller vegetables and fruit: skinny carrots, apples, broccoli, garlic slices, shallot, green onion, Asian leafy greens etc. The knife is not made for cutting larger vegetables and fruit, like fat potatoes, daikon, melons, squash. Choose a longer, larger santoku knife for those ingredients.

PRO: The thin, super sharp blade at 10º on each side lets you cut paper-thin slices with amazing precision.

CON: All of Wüsthof’s Santoku knives’ hollow edge comes very close to the blade’s edge. In my opinion, too close. When you sharpen a blade, you are actually creating a new edge – which means removing steel. As you sharpen over time, the hollow indents will come even closer to the edge, and may even become the edge.

Wüsthof 3″ Asian Paring Knife

This paring knife has a flat edge that comes to a beak-like point. Actually, both the santoku and this paring knife have the “sheepsfoot” point. The blade is 3″ long.

This knife is sharpened to 14º on each side.

PRO: The shape of the blade is perfect for peeling in-hand. The blade’s edge cuts evenly and maximizes the amount of blade cutting your ingredient. In contrast, if you use a European style paring knife with a “belly” curve to peel an apple, your blade’s belly is the only part that’s cutting. Great for peeling garlic, shallots, onion skin. Perfect for slicing strawberries.

PRO: The handle is a generous 4″ long. Some paring knife handles are just too short and end up digging into my palm.

PRO: Light! The knife weighs 2.4 ounces. This makes it easier for hand-work and delicate cutting.

Why I recommend the Classic instead of Classic IKON

Wüsthof’s Classic line is aptly named, it’s a classic design that professional chefs and cooks worldwide have been enjoying since 1814.

The Classic IKON shape is just a little more comfortable, ergonomic. It fits my hand a little better. Both handles are made of same material. Is it worth an additional $40 for the handle shape?

In my opinion, no. Not for the 5″ santoku, which is meant for smaller vegetables and fruit, prepping for everyday meals.

The handle shape of the Classic is just fine for me. I am not slicing 10 pounds of carrots everyday, and I am not peeling a bushel of apples. Hey, if professional chefs have been using Wüsthof Classic for 200 years without complaint, so can I! 🙂

If I happen to be tasked with 10 pounds of carrots to slice, I’d use a food processor or a mandolin (this one is my favorite). If I had to choose a knife to slice 10 pounds of carrots, I’d use a larger, longer santoku knife that weighs a bit more, maybe a 9″ knife and allow the weight of the knife to help me get through all the carrots.

Save your $40 and get a another knife! Here’s another great Wüsthof knife that we reviewed recently and that I also use everyday.

Wüsthof will send the winner 2-piece Mini Asian Classic Knife set.

** Please add hello@steamykitchen.com to your contacts to help prevent email notifications from going into spam folders.

Never miss another Steamy Kitchen Giveaway!

Subscribe to our Giveaway Notifications to keep up to date on all of our giveaways! We will even throw in a special gift when you confirm your subscription!

List of Past Winners.

DISCLAIMER & OFFICIAL RULES: The giveaway product is provided by the sponsor of the giveaway and will be shipped from the sponsor directly. No purchase necessary to enter or win. Giveaway is open to people who are 18 years of age at time of entry and open to people worldwide. Steamy Kitchen and its sponsors only ship physical prizes to United States addresses. However, Steamy Kitchen reserves the right to provide an Amazon.com or Amazon.ca gift card for the value of the prize (at time of publishing) in lieu of shipping physical product due to shipping costs and logistics, especially for our international winners. Steamy Kitchen assumes no responsibility for late or misdirected entries due to SPAM, technological, or e-mail filtering issues or for prizes lost in transit. Winner will be notified by email, and must respond within 5 business days, otherwise winner will forfeit the prize and another winner may be drawn. For this giveaway, entrants can enter the designated number of times per e-mail address per day. The use of any system, robot, agent, or software to automatically submit entries in connection with this Giveaway is prohibited. Winners of giveaways are published on Steamy Kitchen, and winner's name and city/state/country are announced in Steamy Kitchen email newsletters.  See rest of the Official Giveaway Rules.

Comments Off on Wüsthof 2-Piece Mini Asian Knife Set Review & Giveaway

Source: https://steamykitchen.com/47439-wusthof-2-piece-mini-asian-knife-set-review-giveaway-2.html

[canbrake8-blog]

Wüsthof 2-Piece Mini Asian Knife Set Review & Giveaway

posted by Jaden

This review for the Wüsthof 2-Piece Mini Asian Knife Set includes both PROs and CONs of the product. We tested the knife set for 2 months prior to this review.

We’ve been using the Wüsthof 5″ Hollow Edge Santoku and the 3″ Flat Cut Paring Knife (both from the Wüsthof 2-Piece Mini Asian Knife Set), putting it through the rigors of prepping everyday family meals and constant recipe testing at Steamy Kitchen.

Two Versions of the Mini Asian Knife Set

There are 2 versions of this knife: Classic and Classic IKON.

Same blade, same durable, non-porous polyoxymethylene material handle. Here are the differences:

Classic

Traditional, best-selling Wüsthof collection

Square-ish finish on handle

PRO: This set sells for around $99 at both Williams Sonoma and Sur La Table, about $40 cheaper than the Classic IKON

Classic IKON

*Note, the Classic IKON is different from the plain IKON, which is made from real African Blackwood.

PRO: Ergonomic, curvy handle. Feels good in hand.

CON: This set sells for around $139 at Williams Sonoma and Sur La Table. Is the handle design worth nearly half the price of the Classic? My answer is “no,” and I’ll tell you why in just a bit. First, let’s talk about the blade.

The Blade Specs

The Wüsthof 2-Piece Mini Asian Knife Set is made from with X50CrMoV15 stainless steel, with Precision Edge Technology. Yes, technology is the spot-on word to describe this German knife company that began in 1814.

Wüsthof’s computer-controlled robotic machines sharpens each knife for a smoother, sharper edge than any other method. The result is an edge that stays sharp, 2x longer, according to Wüsthof.

Rockwell Hardness of 58.

PRO: A finer, sharper edge angle, which is traditional of most Asian knives. The blade stays sharp, twice as long as their competitors.

Let’s go into each knife:

5″ Santoku Hollow Edge Knife

The scalloped or hollow edge is great for cutting thin slices of vegetables, to reduce friction and stick. Vegetables fall off the blade, and onto the cutting board for faster and more efficient cutting.

Much of Asian cooking, especially stir-fries require even, thin slices of ingredients, so that everything cooks evenly. That’s why Santoku knives are so designed with the hollow edge and flat blade (vs. curved blade made for “rocking” motion of mincing). The flat blade helps you slice in one even motion.

The angle of edge is 10º on each side.

PRO: Wüsthof’s Santoku is light. About 4 ounces, which is a great weight for cutting small vegetables and fruit. The lightness makes the knife makes you more nimble and your hands less tired when cutting for everyday cooking. In contrast, traditional European style knives have a thicker blade, and are heavier. Heavier knives are great for mincing using the rocking motion, and for cutting through thin, small bones.

The blade of this knife is 5″ long. It’s perfect for smaller vegetables and fruit: skinny carrots, apples, broccoli, garlic slices, shallot, green onion, Asian leafy greens etc. The knife is not made for cutting larger vegetables and fruit, like fat potatoes, daikon, melons, squash. Choose a longer, larger santoku knife for those ingredients.

PRO: The thin, super sharp blade at 10º on each side lets you cut paper-thin slices with amazing precision.

CON: All of Wüsthof’s Santoku knives’ hollow edge comes very close to the blade’s edge. In my opinion, too close. When you sharpen a blade, you are actually creating a new edge – which means removing steel. As you sharpen over time, the hollow indents will come even closer to the edge, and may even become the edge.

Wüsthof 3″ Asian Paring Knife

This paring knife has a flat edge that comes to a beak-like point. Actually, both the santoku and this paring knife have the “sheepsfoot” point. The blade is 3″ long.

This knife is sharpened to 14º on each side.

PRO: The shape of the blade is perfect for peeling in-hand. The blade’s edge cuts evenly and maximizes the amount of blade cutting your ingredient. In contrast, if you use a European style paring knife with a “belly” curve to peel an apple, your blade’s belly is the only part that’s cutting. Great for peeling garlic, shallots, onion skin. Perfect for slicing strawberries.

PRO: The handle is a generous 4″ long. Some paring knife handles are just too short and end up digging into my palm.

PRO: Light! The knife weighs 2.4 ounces. This makes it easier for hand-work and delicate cutting.

Why I recommend the Classic instead of Classic IKON

Wüsthof’s Classic line is aptly named, it’s a classic design that professional chefs and cooks worldwide have been enjoying since 1814.

The Classic IKON shape is just a little more comfortable, ergonomic. It fits my hand a little better. Both handles are made of same material. Is it worth an additional $40 for the handle shape?

In my opinion, no. Not for the 5″ santoku, which is meant for smaller vegetables and fruit, prepping for everyday meals.

The handle shape of the Classic is just fine for me. I am not slicing 10 pounds of carrots everyday, and I am not peeling a bushel of apples. Hey, if professional chefs have been using Wüsthof Classic for 200 years without complaint, so can I! 🙂

If I happen to be tasked with 10 pounds of carrots to slice, I’d use a food processor or a mandolin (this one is my favorite). If I had to choose a knife to slice 10 pounds of carrots, I’d use a larger, longer santoku knife that weighs a bit more, maybe a 9″ knife and allow the weight of the knife to help me get through all the carrots.

Save your $40 and get a another knife! Here’s another great Wüsthof knife that we reviewed recently and that I also use everyday.

Wüsthof will send the winner 2-piece Mini Asian Classic Knife set.

** Please add hello@steamykitchen.com to your contacts to help prevent email notifications from going into spam folders.

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Subscribe to our Giveaway Notifications to keep up to date on all of our giveaways! We will even throw in a special gift when you confirm your subscription!

List of Past Winners.

DISCLAIMER & OFFICIAL RULES: The giveaway product is provided by the sponsor of the giveaway and will be shipped from the sponsor directly. No purchase necessary to enter or win. Giveaway is open to people who are 18 years of age at time of entry and open to people worldwide. Steamy Kitchen and its sponsors only ship physical prizes to United States addresses. However, Steamy Kitchen reserves the right to provide an Amazon.com or Amazon.ca gift card for the value of the prize (at time of publishing) in lieu of shipping physical product due to shipping costs and logistics, especially for our international winners. Steamy Kitchen assumes no responsibility for late or misdirected entries due to SPAM, technological, or e-mail filtering issues or for prizes lost in transit. Winner will be notified by email, and must respond within 5 business days, otherwise winner will forfeit the prize and another winner may be drawn. For this giveaway, entrants can enter the designated number of times per e-mail address per day. The use of any system, robot, agent, or software to automatically submit entries in connection with this Giveaway is prohibited. Winners of giveaways are published on Steamy Kitchen, and winner's name and city/state/country are announced in Steamy Kitchen email newsletters.  See rest of the Official Giveaway Rules.

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Wüsthof 2-Piece Mini Asian Knife Set Review & Giveaway

posted by Jaden

This review for the Wüsthof 2-Piece Mini Asian Knife Set includes both PROs and CONs of the product. We tested the knife set for 2 months prior to this review.

We’ve been using the Wüsthof 5″ Hollow Edge Santoku and the 3″ Flat Cut Paring Knife (both from the Wüsthof 2-Piece Mini Asian Knife Set), putting it through the rigors of prepping everyday family meals and constant recipe testing at Steamy Kitchen.

Two Versions of the Mini Asian Knife Set

There are 2 versions of this knife: Classic and Classic IKON.

Same blade, same durable, non-porous polyoxymethylene material handle. Here are the differences:

Classic

Traditional, best-selling Wüsthof collection

Square-ish finish on handle

PRO: This set sells for around $99 at both Williams Sonoma and Sur La Table, about $40 cheaper than the Classic IKON

Classic IKON

*Note, the Classic IKON is different from the plain IKON, which is made from real African Blackwood.

PRO: Ergonomic, curvy handle. Feels good in hand.

CON: This set sells for around $139 at Williams Sonoma and Sur La Table. Is the handle design worth nearly half the price of the Classic? My answer is “no,” and I’ll tell you why in just a bit. First, let’s talk about the blade.

The Blade Specs

The Wüsthof 2-Piece Mini Asian Knife Set is made from with X50CrMoV15 stainless steel, with Precision Edge Technology. Yes, technology is the spot-on word to describe this German knife company that began in 1814.

Wüsthof’s computer-controlled robotic machines sharpens each knife for a smoother, sharper edge than any other method. The result is an edge that stays sharp, 2x longer, according to Wüsthof.

Rockwell Hardness of 58.

PRO: A finer, sharper edge angle, which is traditional of most Asian knives. The blade stays sharp, twice as long as their competitors.

Let’s go into each knife:

5″ Santoku Hollow Edge Knife

The scalloped or hollow edge is great for cutting thin slices of vegetables, to reduce friction and stick. Vegetables fall off the blade, and onto the cutting board for faster and more efficient cutting.

Much of Asian cooking, especially stir-fries require even, thin slices of ingredients, so that everything cooks evenly. That’s why Santoku knives are so designed with the hollow edge and flat blade (vs. curved blade made for “rocking” motion of mincing). The flat blade helps you slice in one even motion.

The angle of edge is 10º on each side.

PRO: Wüsthof’s Santoku is light. About 4 ounces, which is a great weight for cutting small vegetables and fruit. The lightness makes the knife makes you more nimble and your hands less tired when cutting for everyday cooking. In contrast, traditional European style knives have a thicker blade, and are heavier. Heavier knives are great for mincing using the rocking motion, and for cutting through thin, small bones.

The blade of this knife is 5″ long. It’s perfect for smaller vegetables and fruit: skinny carrots, apples, broccoli, garlic slices, shallot, green onion, Asian leafy greens etc. The knife is not made for cutting larger vegetables and fruit, like fat potatoes, daikon, melons, squash. Choose a longer, larger santoku knife for those ingredients.

PRO: The thin, super sharp blade at 10º on each side lets you cut paper-thin slices with amazing precision.

CON: All of Wüsthof’s Santoku knives’ hollow edge comes very close to the blade’s edge. In my opinion, too close. When you sharpen a blade, you are actually creating a new edge – which means removing steel. As you sharpen over time, the hollow indents will come even closer to the edge, and may even become the edge.

Wüsthof 3″ Asian Paring Knife

This paring knife has a flat edge that comes to a beak-like point. Actually, both the santoku and this paring knife have the “sheepsfoot” point. The blade is 3″ long.

This knife is sharpened to 14º on each side.

PRO: The shape of the blade is perfect for peeling in-hand. The blade’s edge cuts evenly and maximizes the amount of blade cutting your ingredient. In contrast, if you use a European style paring knife with a “belly” curve to peel an apple, your blade’s belly is the only part that’s cutting. Great for peeling garlic, shallots, onion skin. Perfect for slicing strawberries.

PRO: The handle is a generous 4″ long. Some paring knife handles are just too short and end up digging into my palm.

PRO: Light! The knife weighs 2.4 ounces. This makes it easier for hand-work and delicate cutting.

Why I recommend the Classic instead of Classic IKON

Wüsthof’s Classic line is aptly named, it’s a classic design that professional chefs and cooks worldwide have been enjoying since 1814.

The Classic IKON shape is just a little more comfortable, ergonomic. It fits my hand a little better. Both handles are made of same material. Is it worth an additional $40 for the handle shape?

In my opinion, no. Not for the 5″ santoku, which is meant for smaller vegetables and fruit, prepping for everyday meals.

The handle shape of the Classic is just fine for me. I am not slicing 10 pounds of carrots everyday, and I am not peeling a bushel of apples. Hey, if professional chefs have been using Wüsthof Classic for 200 years without complaint, so can I! 🙂

If I happen to be tasked with 10 pounds of carrots to slice, I’d use a food processor or a mandolin (this one is my favorite). If I had to choose a knife to slice 10 pounds of carrots, I’d use a larger, longer santoku knife that weighs a bit more, maybe a 9″ knife and allow the weight of the knife to help me get through all the carrots.

Save your $40 and get a another knife! Here’s another great Wüsthof knife that we reviewed recently and that I also use everyday.

Wüsthof will send the winner 2-piece Mini Asian Classic Knife set.

** Please add hello@steamykitchen.com to your contacts to help prevent email notifications from going into spam folders.

Never miss another Steamy Kitchen Giveaway!

Subscribe to our Giveaway Notifications to keep up to date on all of our giveaways! We will even throw in a special gift when you confirm your subscription!

List of Past Winners.

DISCLAIMER & OFFICIAL RULES: The giveaway product is provided by the sponsor of the giveaway and will be shipped from the sponsor directly. No purchase necessary to enter or win. Giveaway is open to people who are 18 years of age at time of entry and open to people worldwide. Steamy Kitchen and its sponsors only ship physical prizes to United States addresses. However, Steamy Kitchen reserves the right to provide an Amazon.com or Amazon.ca gift card for the value of the prize (at time of publishing) in lieu of shipping physical product due to shipping costs and logistics, especially for our international winners. Steamy Kitchen assumes no responsibility for late or misdirected entries due to SPAM, technological, or e-mail filtering issues or for prizes lost in transit. Winner will be notified by email, and must respond within 5 business days, otherwise winner will forfeit the prize and another winner may be drawn. For this giveaway, entrants can enter the designated number of times per e-mail address per day. The use of any system, robot, agent, or software to automatically submit entries in connection with this Giveaway is prohibited. Winners of giveaways are published on Steamy Kitchen, and winner's name and city/state/country are announced in Steamy Kitchen email newsletters.  See rest of the Official Giveaway Rules.

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Source: https://steamykitchen.com/47439-wusthof-2-piece-mini-asian-knife-set-review-giveaway-2.html