From the Chronicle FB page:
PRIMARY ELECTION NOT NEEDED IN 2023 ELECTION CYCLE; GENERAL ELECTION WILL BE NOV. 7; LIST OF CANDIDATES FOR LOCAL OFFICES RELEASED
No primary election will be required in Montgomery County for the 2023 election cycle, due to the number of candidate filings not exceeding the threshold for a runoff race.
Noon Thursday, June 1 was the deadline to file for city council, city commission, community college trustees, school board, and Wildcat extension district board.
A general election will be held for all races on Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023.
Those people seeking election to various local positions include (an * indicates an incumbent):
Caney City Council:
Mayor: Joshua D. Elliott*.
Ward 1 Council: Zachary K. Ellison*, Ross Franklin.
Ward 3 Council: Lori Patterson*.
No candidates filed for the ward 2 and ward 4 council seats held by Nathan Rains and Aaron Elliott, respectively. Therefore, write-in votes will determine those positions.
_____________________
Cherryvale City Council:
Mayor: Gary D. Minnich*, Bonnie J. Davis.
Ward 1 Council: Devin Conner*.
Ward 2 Council: Curtis Whittley*.
_____________________
Coffeyville City Commission:
Candidates include Justin Martin, Don Edwards, Jason Swindell*, Marilyn Goodson, Robert York*, Jim Falkner and Alec Hendryx.
Top two vote recipients will receive four-year terms; third-high vote recipient will serve a two-year term.
_____________________
Dearing City Council:
Mayor: Philip K. Helt
Council: Lawrence J. Mersberg, Travis Rosson*, Ray B. Beard*, Michael Clark*.
_____________________
Elk City Council:
Candidates are Nick Morse, Sydney Hawley and Missy Britain Brammell.
_____________________
Independence City Commission:
Candidates are William Scott Smith, Dean A. Hayse*, Bobby Jay Hise.
_____________________
Liberty City Council:
Mayor: A. Paul Hawley*
Council: Jim Tallman*, Leanna Herriman*, Suzanne R. Lasco*.
_____________________
Tyro City Council:
Mayor: Rick D. Wilson*.
Council: Jeffrey Finney*, Wayne Blakemore*, Scott Westbrook*, Wayne Graham*, Madison Hockett*.
_____________________
USD 436-Caney Valley Board of Education:
At-Large position: Bill Scimeca*.
District B, Position 5: Daniel Owen*.
District B, Position 6: Jason A. McVey.
District A, Position 4: Natalie M. Rees*, Valerie Hurd.
_____________________
USD 447-Cherryvale-Thayer Board of Education:
Candidates for the four at-large positions include Casey Smith, Phil Reilly*, Jonathan Booe, Gina L. Booe*.
No one applied for the unexpired two-year term now held by board member Sarah Jones. Therefore, the position will be decided by write-in votes.
_____________________
USD 445-Coffeyville Board of Education:
Candidates for the four at-large positions include Jason D. Barnett*, Cindy Price, Matt Jordan, LaKisha Johnson*, Marcus Kastler and Jessica Herring.
_____________________
USD 446-Independence Board of Education:
Candidates for the four at-large positions include Scott Hines*, Joseph L. Housel, Melissa Small*, Jennifer Rutledge*, Charles E. Barker Sr.*, Marty Reichenberger, Andy O’Brien, and Amanda Fredericksen.
_____________________
Independence Community College Board of Trustees:
Candidates for the three at-large positions include Mark Lasater, Susan Tucker Porter, J. Spencer Weaver*, Patti Snyder*, Jason Williams, Jennifer Williams.
_____________________
Coffeyville Community College Board of Trustees:
Candidates for the three at-large positions include Doug Misch*, Lora Stalford*, James Littleford*.
_____________________
Wildcat Extension District Board:
Candidates include Chuck Voelker, Kristopher Mueller.
_____________________
Persons with any questions about the local election process should contact the Montgomery County Clerk's Office at (620) 330-1200.

Prompt Engineering. This prompt book will help you learn essential building blocks and
all the techniques to master Stable Diffusion.
The secret for generating good images
A well-written prompt consisting of modifiers and a good
sentence structure. We will also show you all types of modifiers and some magic words.
Well-adjusted Stable Diffusion weights. You can
always use the default, but sometimes fine-tuned weights can generate better results.
This will strengthen your ability to
bring your creative dream images to life.
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Prompt keyword weighting is supported. You can increase the attention of a keyword but not higher than 1.5.
Use the format (example:weight). By default, words have a coefficient of 1 (example: 0.4), they will have a lower priority.
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Attention for words Technique:
Adding "()" in the prompt increases attention to enclosed words, while "[]" decreases it. You can combine multiple modifiers:
- a (word) - increase attention to word by a factor of 1.1
- a ((word)) - increase attention to word by a factor of 1.21 (= 1.1 * 1.1)
- a [word] - decrease attention to word by a factor of 1.1
- a (word:1.5) - increase attention to word by a factor of 1.5
- a (word:0.25) - decrease attention to word by a factor of 4 (= 1 / 0.25)
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You can also use a few words in "()" and "[]". You can also use a few words in "()" and "[]".
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Also you can still use this structure: (example, example :weight), so the weight will increase for several words at once.
Examples: (grayscale, woodcut:1.2); (((blue hair, floating hair, liquid hair, chromatic aberration))); (rutkowski, artstation:0.8); (masterpiece, best quality:1.4); [cute, volumetric fog]
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Please note that to increase or decrease the weight of several words, you need to put a comma between them.
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Start by asking a list of questions

1. Do you want a photo or a painting?
   
2. What’s the subject of the photo? Person? An animal or perhaps a landscape?
   
3. What details do you want to add?
   

a) Special Lighting. Soft, ambient, ring light, neon
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b) Environment. Indoor, outdoor, underwater, in space
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c) Color Scheme. Vibrant, dark, pastel
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e) Point of view. Front, Overhead, Side
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f) Background. Solid color, nebula, forest
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1. In a specific art style? 3D render, studio ghibli, movie poster
   
2. A specific photo type? Macro, telephoto
   

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This is not an all-inclusive list, but will help you get great results when you start.
your prompt crafting journey.
Answer the following questions:

1. Do you want a photo or a painting? => painting
   
2. What’s the subject of the photo? Person. animal, landscape. => a goldendoodle
   
3. In a certain camera position? side view, from bottom, from above, from behind => from behind
   
4. What details do you want to be added? => suit
   

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a. Special Lighting. Soft, ambient, ring light, neon => natural light
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b. Environment. Indoor, outdoor, underwater, in space => in the sky
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c. Color Scheme. Vibrant, dark, pastel => with bright colors
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1. In specific art style? 3D render, studio ghibli, movie poster => by Studio Ghibli

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The order of words is important
The order and presentation of our desired output is almost as an important aspect as the vocabulary itself. It is recommended to list your concepts explicitly and separately than trying to cramp it into one simple sentence.
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The keyword categories are:
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1. Subject: what you want to see in the image, such as a person, an object, a scene, etc.
   
2. Medium: the material used to make the artwork, such as illustration, oil painting, realistic, anime, 3D rendering, etc.
   
3. Style: the artistic style of the image, such as impressionist, surrealist, pop art, etc.
   
4. Artist: the name of a specific artist or multiple artists whose style you want to emulate or blend.
   
5. Website: the name of a niche graphic website that aggregates images of a certain genre, such as Artstation or Deviant Art.
   
6. Additional details: any other modifiers that can enhance the image, such as sci-fi, stunningly beautiful, dystopian, etc.
   
7. Color: the overall color or tone of the image, such as iridescent gold, pastel pink, etc.
   
8. Lighting: the effect of light and shadow on the image, such as cinematic lighting, soft lighting, dark, dark shot, bright, etc.
   

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You don’t have to include keywords from all categories. You can use them as a checklist to remind you what could be used.
A negative prompt is a way to tell the neural network what should not be in the image. You can use words or phrases that describe what you want to avoid or exclude from the image. You can also use weights in negative prompt to increase or decrease the effect of certain words.
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Generally accepted negative prompt is considered: (deformed, distorted, disfigured:1.3), poorly drawn, bad anatomy, wrong anatomy, extra limb, missing limb, floating limbs, (mutated hands and fingers:1.4), disconnected limbs, mutation, mutated, ugly, disgusting, blurry, amputation.
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Realistic negative prompt: overexposed, (deformed iris, deformed pupils, semi-realistic, cgi, 3d, render, sketch, cartoon, drawing, anime:1.3), text, close up, cropped, out of frame, worst quality, low quality, jpeg artifacts, ugly, duplicate, morbid, mutilated, extra fingers, mutated hands, poorly drawn hands, poorly drawn face, mutation, deformed, blurry, dehydrated, bad anatomy, bad proportions, extra limbs, cloned face, disfigured, gross proportions, malformed limbs, missing arms, missing legs, extra arms, extra legs, fused fingers, too many fingers, long neck.
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For positive prompt and negative prompt, I have thought of universal keywords - styles. You may not find them in the examples because they are new. Almost every style has a Negative prompt. It is advisable to write it together with positive prompt.
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An example of how to use styles if you want to create a cat image in a Professional photo style:

1. Positive prompt: (dark shot:1.4), 80mm, cat, soft light, sharp, exposure blend, medium shot, bokeh, (hdr:1.4), high contrast, (cinematic, teal and orange:0.85), (muted colors, dim colors, soothing tones:1.3), low saturation, (hyperdetailed:1.2), (noir:0.4)

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1. Negative prompt: neon, (deformed, distorted, disfigured:1.3), poorly drawn, bad anatomy, wrong anatomy, extra limb, missing limb, floating limbs, (mutated hands and fingers:1.4), disconnected limbs, mutation, mutated, ugly, disgusting, blurry, amputation, over saturated

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For example, if you want to generate an image of a girl with Natural skin:
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1. Positive prompt: girl, (natural skin texture, hyperrealism, soft light, sharp)

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1. Negative prompt: (cgi:0.9), (deformed, distorted, disfigured:1.3), poorly drawn, bad anatomy, wrong anatomy, extra limb, missing limb, floating limbs, (mutated hands and fingers:1.4), disconnected limbs, mutation, mutated, ugly, disgusting, blurry, amputation, 3d, illustration, cartoon, (doll:0.9)

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Here are completely universal styles that you can combine and use in your prompt(I highly recommend using them!):
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Professional photo:

1. Positive prompt for Professional photo: (dark shot:1.4), 80mm, {POprompt}, soft light, sharp, exposure blend, medium shot, bokeh, (hdr:1.4), high contrast, (cinematic, teal and orange:0.85), (muted colors, dim colors, soothing tones:1.3), low saturation, (hyperdetailed:1.2), (noir:0.4)

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1. Negative prompt for Professional photo: neon, {NEprompt}, over saturated

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Natural skin:

1. Positive prompt for natural skin: (natural skin texture, hyperrealism, soft light, sharp)

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1. Negative prompt for natural skin: (cgi:0.9), 3d, illustration, cartoon, (doll:0.9)

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Details:

1. Positive prompt Details: (intricate details:0.9), (hdr, hyperdetailed:1.2)

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Gloomy style:

1. Positive prompt for gloomy style: complex background, stuff in the background, highly detailed, (gloomy:1.3), dark, dimmed, hdr, vignette, grimy, (slate atmosphere:0.8)

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1. Negative prompt for gloomy style: (depth of field:1.3), (bokeh:1.2), (blur), blurred, pink

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Cinematic style:

1. Positive prompt for Cinematic style: (cinematic look:1.4), soothing tones, insane details, intricate details, hyperdetailed, low contrast, soft cinematic light, dim colors, exposure blend, hdr, faded, slate gray atmosphere

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1. Negative prompt for Cinematic style: grayscale, black and white, bw, monochrome

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Horror cinematic style:

1. Positive prompt for horror cinematic style: slate atmosphere, cinematic, dimmed colors, dark shot, muted colors, film grainy, lut, spooky

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Cinematic art style:

1. Positive prompt for Cinematic art style: art by greg rutkowski and artgerm, soft cinematic light, adobe lightroom, photolab, hdr, intricate, highly detailed, (depth of field:1.4)

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Engraving style:

1. Positive prompt for Engraving style: (grayscale, woodcut:1.2), (etching:1.1), (engraving:0.2), {prompt}, detailed

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1. Negative prompt for Engraving style: colored

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Epic painting:

1. Positive prompt for Painting: rutkowski, intricate digital art, soothing tones, (cartoon:0.3), (art:1.4), epic realistic, faded, neutral colors, (hdr:1.4), (muted colors:1.4), (intricate), (artstation:1.5), dramatic, intricate details, (technicolor:0.9), detailed, intricate, cinematic, detailed

examples of works:
good prompt: (dark shot:1.1), epic realistic, portrait of halo, sunglasses, blue eyes, tartan scarf, white hair by atey ghailan, by greg rutkowski, by greg tocchini, by james gilleard, by joe fenton, by kaethe butcher, gradient yellow, black, brown and magenta color scheme, grunge aesthetic!!! graffiti tag wall background, art by greg rutkowski and artgerm, soft cinematic light, adobe lightroom, photolab, hdr, intricate, highly detailed, (depth of field:1.4), faded, (neutral colors:1.2), (hdr:1.4), (muted colors:1.2), hyperdetailed, (artstation:1.4), cinematic, warm lights, dramatic light, (intricate details:1.1), complex background, (rutkowski:0.66), (teal and orange:0.4)
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good prompt: (dark theme:0.9), medieval portrait of a man sharp features, grim, cold stare, dark colors, Volumetric lighting, baroque oil painting by Greg Rutkowski, Artgerm, WLOP, Alphonse Mucha dynamic lighting hyperdetailed intricately detailed, (hdr:1.22), muted colors, complex background, hyperrealism, hyperdetailed, amandine van ray
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good prompt: a demon made with black stone, Giovanni Strazza sculpt style , bokesharp focus depth, shadows, mist, fog, very High detailed, cinematic lighting, Cinematic, high detailed, ultra detailed, Accent Lighting, very god colors, realistic, 8k, HDR
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good prompt: woman, samurai armor, helmet oni evil mask intricate, ornaments detailed, cold colors, metal, egypician detail, highly intricate details, realistic light, trending on cgsociety, glowing eyes, facing camera, neon details, ultra realistic details, portrait full body, japanese atmosphere, global illumination, shadows, octane render, 8 k, ultra sharp
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good prompt: (dark shot:1.1), epic realistic, RAW, analog, A full portrait of stunning woman wearing swimsuit, alluring expression, swimming pool, clear water, wet hair, natural look, no make up, pureerosface_v1, masterpiece that captures the essence and beauty of the woman and water, ((highly detailed skin, skin details, water details)), sharp focus, volumetric fog, 8k UHD, DSLR, high quality, film grain, Fujifilm XT3, art by greg rutkowski and artgerm, soft cinematic light, adobe lightroom, photolab, hdr, intricate, highly detailed, (depth of field:1.4), faded, (neutral colors:1.2), (hdr:1.4), (muted colors:1.2), hyperdetailed, (artstation:1.4), cinematic, warm lights, dramatic light, (intricate details:1.1), complex background, (rutkowski:0.66), (teal and orange:0.4), (natural skin texture, hyperrealism, soft light, sharp)
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good prompt: A flower by Casey Weldon, Olga Kvasha, Miho Hirano, hyperdetailed intricately detailed gothic art trending on Artstation triadic colors Unreal Engine 5 detailed matte painting, deep color, fantastical, intricate detail, splash screen, complementary colors, fantasy concept art, 8k resolution, gothic deviantart masterpiece, (dark shot:1.4), art by greg rutkowski and artgerm, soft cinematic light, adobe lightroom, photolab, hdr, intricate, highly detailed, (depth of field:1.4)
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good prompt: almaty girl, kazakh, Portrait of haute couture beautiful kazakh fashion model , ethereal dreamy foggy, photoshoot by alessio albi, editorial fashion magazine photoshoot, fashion poses, in front of mountain. kinfolk magazine. film grain, (dark shot:1.3), (natural skin texture, hyperrealism, soft light, sharp)
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good prompt: Delicious glowing galaxy cake on a dining table in the kitchen, comfortable light, romantic light, ultra details, photorealistic, realistic, gel lighting, Cinematic, Filmic, medium shot, 4k, Front-light, Cinematic Lighting, volumetric Light, Ray Tracing Reflections, Chromatic Aberration, photography, hyper realistic, 4k, 8k,closeup
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just an example: drunk, creepy santa, muddy, crowded bottles bar, intricate details, hdr, intricate details, hyperdetailed, cinematic, dark shot, muted colors, film grainy, soothing tones, muted colors, technicolor
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just an example: (masterpiece, best quality), (best illumination, an extremely delicate and beautiful), (best illumination, an extremely delicate and beautiful), (beautiful detailed face), (finely detailed eyes and detailed face:1.4), dark fantasy, (young girl, small beasts, 1girl, solo, crazy smile, pale skin, white hair, red glowing eyes, dynamic angle, vampire), (gaint vampire castle in background), (red moon, red sky), pointy ears, fangs, demon wings, demon horns, blood on face, blood rain, blood fog, (depth of field), high contrast, (blood splatter:1.4), full body
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just an example: masterpiece, chinese dragon, long dragon, Loong,fangs,fantasy, mythical, art by( greg rutkowski:0.8), epic lighting, (photo realism:1.2), high quality, highly detailed, masterpiece, epic
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just an example: epic video game key visual, giant armored creature, horde, skeletal army, many approaching in an ancient desert windy dust debris storm landscape midnight moonlight foreground debris (zrpgstyle) (masterpiece:1.2) (illustration:1.1) (best quality:1.2) (detailed) (intricate) (8k) (HDR) (wallpaper) (cinematic lighting) (sharp focus)
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just an example: 1girl, beautiful vintage color, instagram (photorealistic, high resolution:1.4), ((puffy eyes)), looking at viewer, full body (8k, RAW photo, best quality, masterpiece:1.2), (realistic, photo-realistic:1.37),(sharp focus:1.2), professional lighting, photon mapping, radiosity, physically-based rendering, (pale skin:1.2),nsfw, small breasts,nipples, looking at viewer, middle hair, portrait, purple eyes, wet clothes(sliver hair:1.1),bangs, (simple background:1.4), solo, upper body, white background,realistic, (masterpiece:1.4), (best quality:1.4),(shiny skin), makeup, red lips, smile, (skinny,closed mouth,shy:1.3), blackshirt short sleeve, black pencil short skirt,black tight skirt, school unifrom
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just an example: complex 3d render, ultra detailed, beautiful death angel, biomechanical cyborg, analog 150 mm lens, beautiful natural soft rim light, crystal feathers, roots, fine foliage lace, colorful details, Boris Bidjan Saberi outfit, pearl earrings, piercing, art nouveau fashion embroidered, intricate details, mesh wire, mandelbrot fractal, facial muscles, cable wires, microchip, badass, hyper realistic, ultra detailed, octane render, volumetric lighting, 8k post-production, red and white with a bit of black, detailled metalic bones, semi human, iridescent colors, Glenn Brown style, futuristic room, power of the god, high-angle shot, complex body poses
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just an example: the anatomy of a head of lettuce, an ultrafine detailed painting by james jean, behance contest winner, vanitas, angular, altermodern
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just an example: (RAW photo, best quality), (realistic, photo-realistic:1.3), masterpiece, an extremely delicate and beautiful, extremely detailed, CG, unity , 2k wallpaper, Amazing, finely detail, light smile, extremely detailed CG unity 8k wallpaper, huge filesize, ultra-detailed, highres, absurdres, soft light, (((medium hair:1.3), short bang, pink hair, floating hair novafrogstyle)), beautiful detailed girl, detailed fingers, extremely detailed eyes and face, beautiful detailed nose, beautiful detailed eyes, long eyelashes, light on face, looking at viewer, (closed mouth:1.2), 1girl, cute, young, mature face, (full body:1.3), ((small breasts)), realistic face, realistic body, beautiful detailed thigh, business suit, cross-laced clothes, collared shirt, open clothes, in office, detailed office, open cardigan, black thighhighs, miniskirt, black underwear, unbuttoned shirt
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just an example: end of the world, epic realistic, (hdr:1.4), (muted colors:1.4), apocalypse, freezing, abandoned, neutral colors, night, screen space refractions, (intricate details), (intricate details, hyperdetailed:1.2), artstation, cinematic shot, vignette, complex background, buildings, snowy
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anime prompt: (flat color:1.1),(colorful:1.3),(masterpiece:1.2), best quality, masterpiece, original, extremely detailed wallpaper, looking at viewer,1girl,solo,floating colorful water
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anime prompt: (masterpiece, best quality, ultra-detailed, best shadow), (detailed background,dark fantasy), (beautiful detailed face), high contrast, (best illumination, an extremely delicate and beautiful), ((cinematic light)), colorful, hyper detail, dramatic light, intricate details, (1girl, solo,black hair, sharp face,low twintails, red eyes, hair between eyes,dynamic angle), blood splatter, swirling black light around the character, depth of field, black light particles, (broken glass), magic circle
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anime prompt: (masterpiece, top quality, best quality, official art, beautiful and aesthetic:1.2), (1girl), extreme detailed, (fractal art:1.5),(cherry flowers in fractal art:1.3), colorful, highest detailed, upper body, purple hair, purple eyes, large breasts, kimono, bangs, sash, mole, obi, tassel, blush, hair ornament
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anime prompt: (Girlish Painting:1.3), (Ultra detailed:1.3), (Cosy:1.3), best quality, masterpiece, highly detailed, ultra-detailed, 1girl, Emma Watson, unreal engin 5, octane render, (2D:1.2), limited palette flat color, digital painting, artstation, concept art, smooth, sharp focus, art by ross tran, art by greg rutkowski, art by alphonse Mucha, art by Bak Karol, (oil painting:1.16), (acrylic paint:1.16), (colorful:1.5), (watercolor:1.16), by nvinkpunk, kuvshinov, dreamlikeart, samdoesart, modelshoot style, (by Artist Koho Shoda:1.3), (by Artist Mike Mignola:1.3), (by Artist Joop Polder:1.3), (Classicism Art:1.3), (Industrial Art:1.3), (Solarpunk Art:1.3)
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anime prompt: ((masterpiece, best quality)), 1girl, solo, flat chest, chain, cuffs, shackles, broken chain, collar, chained, handcuffs, barefoot, black and white hair, long hair, metal collar, solo, ankle cuffs, broken, purple eyes, very long hair, ball and chain restraint, bound, bdsm
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anime prompt: (Highest picture quality), (Master's work), (ultra-detailed), (Detailed eye description:1.2), masterpiece, best quality, absurdres, original, extremely delicate and beautiful, beautiful detailed eyes and face, 1girl, black hair, cherry blossom, white clothes, looking at viewer, mole, pink flower, solo, (masterpiece:1.4), (best quality:1.4)
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anime prompt: masterpiece, best quality, best detail, 5girls, swimsuit, focus on character detail, character on the front camera, high detail background, bloom, blue sky, high lighting detail, widescreen, 16:9, sea, beach, sunny day, medium hair, red face, megane, smile, sexy pose, realistic finger detail, close-up, portrait, getting wet, random hair colors, standing, erotic, yuri, hentai, nipple, leg strap, sexy hip, see-through, Draw realistic hand, random eye color, erotic face, sexy eye contact, half-naked, random hairstyle, random face, hold breast pussy, megane, pussy cum, small breast, yuri sex, kissing, open mouth, tongue, breasts grab
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anime prompt: masterpiece, high quality, highres, absurdres, ultra-detailed, detailed eyes, 8k, 1girl, colorful eyes, fangs, open mouth, blue eyes, bangs, colorful background, (graffiti mural walls background), looking at viewer, vibrant, contrast, blue hair, white hair, gradient hair, happy, high five, heart symbols
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anime prompt: (extremely delicate and beautiful:1.2),1girl,fashi-girl, bangs, blue eyes, blurry, blurry background, bow, brown hair, closed mouth, from side, hair between eyes, hair bow, lantern, light particles, long sleeves, looking at viewer, medium hair, night, red bow, solo, star symbol, upper body,smile,red lips
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anime prompt: masterpiece, best quality, ultra-detailed, illustration, 1girl, solo, outdoors, camping, night, mountains, nature, stars, moon, tent, twin ponytails, green eyes, cheerful, happy, backpack, sleeping bag, camping stove, water bottle, mountain boots, gloves, sweater, hat, flashlight, forest, rocks, river, wood, smoke, shadows, contrast, clear sky, constellations, Milky Way, peaceful, serene, quiet, tranquil, remote, secluded, adventurous, exploration, escape, independence, survival, resourcefulness, challenge, perseverance, stamina, endurance, observation, intuition, adaptability, creativity, imagination, artistry, inspiration, beauty, awe, wonder, gratitude, appreciation, relaxation, enjoyment, rejuvenation, mindfulness, awareness, connection, harmony, balance, texture, detail, realism, depth, perspective, composition, color, light, shadow, reflection, refraction, tone, contrast, foreground, middle ground, background, naturalistic, figurative, representational, impressionistic, expressionistic, abstract, innovative, experimental, unique
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anime prompt: best quality, masterpiece, high definition, high quality, high resolution, sharp focus, trending on Artstation, 4k, beautiful fantasy spring sunny scenery landscape, celestial japanese temple alone at the peak of a mountain overlooking the landscape below, high point of view
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anime prompt: (flat color:1.1), (colorful:1.3), (masterpiece:1.2), best quality, masterpiece, original, extremely detailed wallpaper, looking at viewer,1girl,solo,floating colorful water
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anime prompt: (masterpiece:1.2), (best quality:1.1), 1girl, transparent, perfect face, black silk stockings, high quality, cute, black hair, highest quality, ultra-detailed, extremely detailed, hyper detail, (intricate detail:1.2), (panties over black pantyhose:1.2), (Japanese sailor suit:1.2), (cameltoe:1.2), (lift feet:1.4), soles, lie down, park, looking at viewer, sun shine
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anime prompt: (masterpiece, best quality:1.1), bird's eye view, asymmetrical, blue ocean, low tide, sea waves, coastal road, sandy beach, piers, sailboats, yachts, ship wake, contrail, cars, tourists, lighthouse, seagulls, horizon, breeze, summer, morning, sunny, cloud, calm, fresh air, depth of field
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anime prompt: masterpiece, best quality, ultra-detailed, illustration, 1girl, solo, fantasy, flying, broom, night sky, outdoors, magic, spells, moon, stars, clouds, wind, hair, cape, hat, boots, broomstick, glowing, mysterious, enchanting, whimsical, playful, adventurous, freedom, wonder, imagination, determination, skill, speed, movement, energy, realism, naturalistic, figurative, representational, beauty, fantasy culture, mythology, fairy tales, folklore, legends, witches, wizards, magical creatures, fantasy worlds, composition, scale, foreground, middle ground, background, perspective, light, color, texture, detail, beauty, wonder
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anime prompt: masterpiece, best quality, 1girl, (colorful),(finely detailed beautiful eyes and detailed face),cinematic lighting,bust shot,extremely detailed CG unity 8k wallpaper, white hair, solo, smile, intricate skirt, ((flying petal)), (Flowery meadow) sky, cloudy sky, building, moonlight, moon, night, (dark theme:1.3), light, fantasy
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anime prompt: masterpiece, best quality, ultra-detailed, illustration,2girls,fantasy, RPG, heroine, devil, final battle, outdoors, epic, dramatic, intense, powerful, dynamic, magic, spells, sword, shield, armor, wings, horns, tail, fire, smoke, light, shadow, impact, movement, energy, determination, bravery, courage, heroism, villainy, evil, darkness, destruction, victory, defeat, redemption, justice, sacrifice, friendship, companionship, teamwork, perseverance, challenge, obstacle, success, achievement, goal-oriented, progress, improvement, realism, naturalistic, figurative, representational, video game culture, anime, manga, Japanese, RPG tropes, character design, animation, special effects, composition, scale, foreground, middle ground, background, perspective, light, color, texture, detail, beauty, wonder
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anime prompt: masterpiece, best quality, ultra-detailed, city, street, gothic, steampunk, illustration, 1girl, (solo), platinum long hair, boots, from behind, vintage, antique, brass, metal, gears, machinery, ornate, elegant, classic, sophisticated, refined, poised, contemplative, thoughtful, curious, mysterious, enigmatic, magical, watchful, intelligent, bookish, contrast, perspective, depth, texture, detail, realism, impressionistic, expressionistic, abstract, surrealistic, innovative, experimental, unique, atmosphere, ambiance, mood, nostalgia, historical, cultural, technological, industrial, fantasy, imagination, creativity, artistry, craftsmanship, skill, precision, detail, composition, balance, harmony, rhythm, colorful, darker, reflection, refraction, foreground, middle ground, background, vanishing point, horizon line, focal point, naturalistic, figurative, representational
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anime prompt: (masterpiece, best quality:1.2), cinematic anime, anime clip of a 3 girls floating in space, universe, milky way, cosmos, planet, stars, astronaut, full body, ultra detailed, beautiful face, finely detailed eyes, extremely detailed, correct anatomy, incredibly_absurdres
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anime prompt: ((masterpiece)), (((gray eyes))), (((blue hair, floating hair, liquid hair, chromatic aberration))), (focus on eyes, shaded, photo, insanely detailed, bloom:1.5), short hair, photorealistic, masterpiece, dynamic angle, highest quality, photorealistic, masterpiece, dynamic angle, highest quality, intricate, Alessandro Casagrande, Greg Rutkowski, Sally Mann, athletic wet punk body, (blue panties), nipples, concept art, 4k, far-off, (medium breasts, portrait, choker, soft), (sadness), (((blue flowers))), (((Night))), high sharpness, extreme saturation and contrast
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anime prompt: ((4k,masterpiece, best quality)), shuimobysim, traditional chinese ink painting, lotus, hanfu, maxiskit, 1girl, solo, white hair, long hair, fox ears, white, bikini, fish, many fish near girl, look at viewer, tease
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anime prompt: 1girl, ((cinematic light)), colorful, hyper detail, dramatic light, intricate details, best quality, (extremely detailed CG unity 8k wallpaper, masterpiece, best quality, ultra-detailed, best shadow), (detailed background:1.4), (beautiful detailed face, beautiful detailed eyes), High contrast, (best illumination, an extremely delicate and beautiful), (girl:1.5), solo, black skirt, blue eyes, electric guitar, guitar, headphones, holding, holding plectrum, instrument, long hair, music, one side up, pink hair, playing guiter, pleated skirt, black shirt, indoors ((caustic)), dynamic angle, beautiful detailed glow, full body, cowboy shot
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Here is a list in my opinion of the most important artists:
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- Agnes Martin - an artist who paints geometric abstract paintings. In stable diffusion, she helps to get the texture of canvas or an object with this texture.
- Jacob Hashimoto - an artist who creates complex worlds from paper, bamboo and other materials. In stable diffusion, he helps to get an interesting background with modular components or bright colors.
- Stanley Donwood - a designer who invents covers for albums, posters and other things. In stable diffusion, he helps to get arts with stable stripes and lines, which is useful for fingerprints or other graphic effects.
- Julie Mehretu - an artist who works with markers, pencils, acrylic and ink. In stable diffusion, she helps to get intersecting lines and layers, if you add the word "eclectic" to the prompt.
- Quentin Blake - an artist and illustrator of children's books. In stable diffusion, he helps to get a cartoon style with simple shapes and expressive emotions. If you add the word "punk" to the prompt, you can get a more daring and unusual style.
- David Palumbo - an artist who creates illustrations in the genres of fantasy and science fiction. In stable diffusion, he helps to get visible strokes and smudges from paint, which gives the art more realism and dynamics.
- Phil Jimenez - a comic book artist, known for his work on Wonder Woman. In stable diffusion, he helps to get increased detail and realism of characters and scenes.
- Geof Darrow - a comic book artist, known for his extremely detailed work. In stable diffusion, he helps to get highly detailed backgrounds with lots of small elements and textures.
- Nicola Samori - an artist who creates dark and gloomy baroque. In stable diffusion, he helps to get splashes, blotches, stains and dirt on the art, which gives it more expressiveness and contrast.
- Ben Templesmith - an artist whose work was adapted into the film "30 Days of Night". He creates covers for books, cards and concepts for films. In stable diffusion, he helps to get a dark and dirty style with bloody accents and fuzzy contours.
- Brandon Woelfel - a photographer with neon photos. In stable diffusion, he helps to get a photographic neon light with bright colors and contour effect at low-res.
- Viviane Sassen - a photographer from the world of fashion. In stable diffusion, she helps to get stylish and aesthetic photos with models in different poses and moods. As we know, almost identical faces are generated in many neural networks. Viviane Sassen also helps to mask the neural network and get unique faces by adding the word "detailed" to the prompt.
- Brian Oldham - a photographer who creates creatively or creatively. In stable diffusion, he helps to get professional, cinematic, creative photos or arts without additional tokens. Just write his name after the prompt.
- Lisa Frank - an artist who makes mega colorful school supplies. In stable diffusion, she helps to get a bright and rainbow style with different animals, stars, hearts and other elements.
- Simon Stalenhag - an artist who specializes in retro-futurism. In stable diffusion, he helps to get a cozy and major style with elements of old technologies, robots, rockets and other things from the past future.
- Iryna Yermolova - an artist from Russia who creates magnificent works in oil. In stable diffusion, she helps to get a classic style of painting with realistic characters and landscapes. If you write her name with I (Irina), you can get a 3D effect on the art.
- Todd Schorr - an American artist who works in the style of pop-surrealism. In stable diffusion, he helps to get Slavic motifs with khokhloma, ear-zagogulinki, molding and other elements of national color.
- Alayna Lemmer - a star of art-station who creates magnificent landscapes, castles and magical creatures. In stable diffusion, she helps to get a fantasy style with detailed and colorful images. She is mandatory for any prompt in the genre of fantasy.
- Andre Charles Boulle - a French artist who makes wood carvings and draws ornaments. In stable diffusion, he helps to get intrigue gold or golden effect on the art by adding low-res.
- Conor Harrington - an Irish street graffiti artist. In stable diffusion, he helps to get an epic staging of a scene or a hero with realistic details and contrasting colors.
- Wangechi Mutu - an artist from Kenya who makes anthropological art with African motifs. In stable diffusion, she helps to get coffee-chocolate arts with different patterns and symbols.
- Patrick Dougherty - an eco-artist who makes sculptures and installations from sticks and seedlings. In stable diffusion, he helps to get a hay-like or wooden effect on the art, if you need to make something out of shit and sticks. It creates anything from branches
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About Modifiers
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Modifiers are words that can change the style, format, or perspective of the image. There are certain magic words or phrases that are proven to boost the quality of the image. In this section, we will talk different types of modifiers you can use in your prompt.
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Photography
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Photography Prompt - Mix and Match!
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Shot type- Close-up; Extreme Close-up; POV; Medium shot; Long shot; At a distance;
Style- polaroid; Tilt-shift; Color splash; Monochrome; white and black;
Subject- Woman; Old man; Grey cat; Bunny; Ferrari;
Lighting- Cinematic light; Sun light; Ambient light; Soft light; moonlight; dramatic light;
Context- Indoor; Outdoor; At night; In the park; Studio;
Lens- Wide-angle; Telephoto; 24mm; EF 70mm; Bokeh; F/1.4; 50mm;
Device-iPhone X; CCTV; Nikon Z FX; Canon; Gopro; Fujifilm XT3 ;
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3D illustrations
Stable diffusion can be used to create any 3D scene or object you can imagine!
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Isometric assets- isometric kitchen in a cutaway box, isometric, tiny, cute, soft smooth lighting, soft colors, 100mm lens, 3d blender render;
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Low Poly- kawaii, low poly, squirrel character, 3d isometric render, white background, ambient occlusion, unity engine;
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Pixar Renders- 3d fluffy Lion, close-up, cute, adorable, cute big circular reflective eyes, long fuzzy fur, Pixar render, unreal engine, cinematic, intricate detail, cinematic;
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3D Item Render- isometric Alarm Clock, isometric, tiny, soft smooth lighting, soft colors, 3d blender render, trending on polycount, modular constructivism, physically based rendering;
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More illustrations
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Vector- living room, vector illustration, Flat Style, pastel color palette;
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Comic- Retro comic style artwork, benedict cumberbatch, highly detailed, comic book cover, symmetrical, vibrant;
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Caricature- Caricature art, spiderman, sitting , chair, drinking beer, on Charlie Hebdo;
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Propaganda- Poster, USSR propaganda poster, Eat Oreo!;
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Psychedelic Art- dear face, Hypnotic illustration, hypnotic psychedelic art, by Dan Mumford, pop surrealism, dark glow neon mystical, Behance;
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Splash Art- mage, channeling arcane magicks, armored, Splash art, mana shooting from his hands, mystical energy in the air, action shot, heroic fantasy art, special effects, hd octane render;
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Stickers- Die-cut sticker, Cute, kawaii, Goldendoodle character, sticker, white background, illustration minimalism, vector, pastel colors;
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Simple feelings modifiers can set the atmosphere of the scene!
Positive emotions
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Cosy- Cosy vintage bedroom, octane render, by weta digital, exotic colorful pastel, ray traced lighting, reflections;
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Romantic- couple shopping, romantic lighting;
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Joyful- Joyful, husky puppy, splashing water, canon eos r3;
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Energetic- Energetic painting, pool with flamingos;
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Hope- Woman, filled with hope, beautiful dress, running, beach;
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Lust- couple, Painting, filled with lust, by mike mignola;
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Peaceful- Japanese city street, peaceful, dreamy, soft colors, studio ghibli style;
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Satisfaction- Old man, looking at viewer, filled with satisfaction, Canon EOS 5D Mark IV;
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Negative emotions
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Depressing- Depressing photo, futuristic park;
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Loneliness- Girl, sitting in window, reading a book, loneliness;
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Grim- lake with ducks, grim painting;
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Regret- man, looking at viewer, painting, filled with regret;
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Suffering- woman, suffering, sitting on a bench, forest, Digital painting, by goro fujita;
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Hopelessness- Man, hopelessness, black and white, looking at viewer, sketch, intricate details;
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Fear- Child running towards the camera, in fear, by atey ghailan, by mike mignola;
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Vibrant keywords: Weirdcore, Acidwave, Dreamcore, Vaporwave;
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Gloomy:
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Liminal Space- Flooded, liminal space,underground city carpark, lighting with lensflares, photorealistic 8k, eerie;
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After Hours- After hours, stairs to the park, complex background, stuff in the background, highly detailed, (gloomy:1.3), dark, dimmed, hdr, vignette, grimy, (slate atmosphere:0.8);
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Brutalism- Building, architecture, brutalism;
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Post-Apocalyptic- Post-Apocalyptic town, houses, cars;
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Magic words:
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HDR, UHD, 64K- Quality words like HDR, UHD, 4K, 8k, and 64K can make a dramatic difference.
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Greg rutkowski- Adds epicness to the photo, often suitable for fantasy art
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Highly detailed- Quality words like highly detailed can make a dramatic difference.
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Studio lighting- Studio lighting could really add some nice texture to the image
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Professional- Adding professional, can greatly improve the color contrast and details in the image
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Trending on artstation- without description
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Unreal engine- a magic word that adds very realistic 3D renderings
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Vivid Colors- Adding Vivid Colors, adds life to your images
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Bokeh- Bokeh blurs the background and highlights the subject. It’s like iPhone portrait mode.
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High resolution scan- Want a historic looking photo? Add "High resolution scan"

Credit to u/bluefishcake for writing the original SSB story and building the sandbox for us to play in.
And a big thanks to the authors and their stories that inspired to get off my ass and put my fingers to keyboard. RandomTinkerer (City Slickers and Hayseeds), Punnynfunny (Denied Operations), CompassWithHat (Top Lasgun), Rhion-618 (Just One Drop), UncleCieling(Going Native), RobotStatic (Far Away), Kazevenikov (The Cryptid Chronicle), Also to the editor # Fan Beta Readers and KLiCkonthat .
As always comments, complaints, and suggestions are welcome.
This is a fair use notice. Any and all aspects of this may be used on and within this subreddit only, with attribution. All other uses are exclusive to the author.
/*******************************/
Nanorix took the news from the advocates in stride, better than Linda. They had spent the night mutually venting at the injustice of the situation while putting away bottles of gin. Max sounded almost broken by the news while Nora the optimist in the family, firmly held to the belief that things would work out. Rufus was, well, Rufus. Intuitively compassionate, which is why he was laying in the front seat of the truck with his head on Linda's lap as they drove up to Flagstaff.
Linda was trying to sleep off her hangover, her eyes closed but not asleep. Alila had been honest that the only reason Garquile was not tied up in this was that he had her direct protection as a territorial governess. Tommy did not have that level of security and without it, he was in more danger than Robert. From what Alila had said, elements in the Interior wanted Robert dead, other interested parties wanted him alive because of his potential. The situation was so bad the Planetary Governess had stepped in and ordered the house arrest of six high-ranking members of the Interior and let it be known that if anything happened to young Mr. Pierce they would die publicly.
Neither Alila nor the planetary governess knew why the Interior wanted Robert dead, she did. After she heard that the pod found the children and what was being done to them. Her lieutenant had completely lost it, she rounded everyone operating the orphanage and lined them against the wall, and had them shot. The Interior had come in and had done what they always did, cleaned up the mess, and protected those who were important and connected. Before the interior got there one of the girls found a large data server and they made copies. There were four full copies still on Earth and one that she knew was off-world, and she had one of them. It had been too dangerous to keep at home so she had setup a remote server that would once a week send out a heartbeat signal. There were major safety measures in place to prevent access.
She had managed to go to Flagstaff for brunch about once a month to establish a pattern of behavior. Those trips with Robert and sometimes Tommy had always been good, nothing special just good days. She and Linda would have brunch and she would trigger a download to her server buried under the barn. When they had spoken with Alila, Max, and Nora, Max had commented that if anybody could stack the deck and pull inside straight now was the time to do it. She did not tell Linda why they had to come, just that she needed to come up and check on something.
She and Linda had a quiet brunch on the patio of the restaurant to allow Rufus to join them. As they ate she triggered the data transfer. The data transfer would take at least thirty minutes to complete, so they would have a nice long brunch and talk about anything but the boys, she even took a couple of selfies of the two of them to cover what she was doing. Rufus camped out under the table but never relaxed, she was not sure if he sensed her unease or something else was going on that she could not see.
They stayed and chit-chatted until Linda finished her third cup of coffee. She did not want the third cup but they needed the extra time to let the data transfer complete, and by that time Linda's hangover had started to subside. The drive home was uneventful, but traffic was horrible due to the festival of colors going on, it was the 4th of July after all.
/*******************************/
Ishani was tired and hungry but had little interest in eating. She and Ensign Tha'xur had been up half the night working to translate the new equations that Robert had created yesterday, with a new understanding of how the translation needed to work. Thoughts of Robert consumed her mind, and she had to fight the urge to look over and watch him, the singular human male. His name seemed to roll off her tongue, lingering from her dreams the previous night as she drifted off to sleep. Those dreams had been far from innocent, filled with exotic and seductive images of him, even in his baggy exercise clothing.
Returning her attention to her food, Ishani shifted uncomfortably. She would need to change her underclothes if she continued dwelling on him like this. Taking another bite of the fruit, nut, and sauce mixture, she tried to enjoy it, but it did little to distract her from watching him. He moved slowly, almost as if dancing, though she couldn't grasp the purpose behind his movements. Ensign Tha'xur's timely arrival saved her from making an obvious fool of herself by staring at a boy nearly two years her junior. It always felt like she was the only one looking.
Ensign Tha'xur sat down with a tray of food and jokingly said, "Ground control to Crewwoman Vevreix, are you awake?" Ishani returned her gaze to her food and responded, "Yes, ma'am, I am awake, just..." Before she could finish her sentence, Ensign Tha'xur interrupted, "Distracted?"
Signing without looking up and absentmindedly playing with her food, Ishani replied, "Yes, ma'am, horribly. It's just... he's just one boy. I have enough common sense to know that there is no way I should even consider... why couldn't he be old, wrinkled, and fat..."
Ensign Tha'xur completed Ishani's thought, saying, "Instead, he's young, fit, and I would even go as far as to say he's attractive in a very unmasculine way, with that wounded, sad boy aura."
Looking up, Ishani was taken aback and asked, "What do you mean 'you could call him attractive'? Are you blind? I mean, he may be a little short, but other than that, he is..." She trailed off, unable to find the right words.
Smiling and taking a bite of her burrito, Ensign Tha'xur replied, "He is desirable, and deep down, I believe you could take away all his pain and sadness... but please don't go there." Shifting into a serious tone, she continued, "I overheard Cmdr Norroe and Lt Cmdr Ashix talking about him the day we arrived. What caught my attention was Cmdr Norroe mentioning his thousand-yard stare that is measured in miles. There are significant parts of his life that we don't have access to because they've been redacted by the interior."
Ishani looked over at Robert, who appeared to have finished his morning workout and was heading towards the mobile kitchen. She murmured, "No one is ever so lost in the deepest of caves that they cannot be found by the beating of their heart. There is always hope and always a way out."
Ensign Tha'xur wiped her face clean of the red sauce that had dripped from her burrito and commented, "You, Crewwoman, are an optimist."
"With all due respect, ma'am, have you looked?" Ishani responded quizzically.
With a wry smile En. Tha'xur replied smoothly "I am technically a married woman and my husband and kho wives are going to be here in three days. I am hoping that my leave request will be honored, we were supposed to go to Tel Aviv for 14 days." Frowning slightly with the last statement.
Ishani gave an understanding smile "Well, that explains why you are not interested. You know, if you want to get the time off then ask for help. What is the worst he can do to say no?"
En. Tha'xur almost laughed at that, "So what should I do ask him over here for you to ogle him and for me to get a chance to go on leave, I do not think he would like that, being that he is here under guard."
Ishani took another bite of her food, ‘alright girl put up or shut up’ she thought to herself, before standing. "Ma'am if you never ask for help you will never get any." This is not a good idea, turning to find Robert who was looking for an open table to eat at. "Robert, can you join us over here, please?" Blessed Nest mother, that sounded so bad she inwardly cringed.
/************************/
Robert had gotten his food-laden tray and was looking for an empty place to sit. It felt a little weird not having a personal shadow always with him. The petty officers had told him last night that he would be given some space and an opportunity to interact with the people here. "Go out, mingle, talk to people, that's a winning idea," he thought sarcastically. Yup, everything was normal again. Alone in a room full of people and completely clueless about how to do the most basic of things, like talking to anybody.
Now, the people he could talk to were a problem. Being the only male and the only human, he received looks. The looks could be categorized into three groups: lust, curiosity, and pity. Dealing with lust was easy; he just chose not to care, and thankfully, they were discreet about it for now. Pity, on the other hand, infuriated him because most of the time, it was fake. Whenever someone expressed their sympathy for all the things he had been through, he wanted to scream. At best, it was a polite social convention, and at worst, it was a selfish and internalized burden of guilt that had nothing to do with him.
Just as he spotted an empty table at the far end, somebody called out his name. "Can you join us over here, please?" Shit, it was Ishani, the one person in the whole damned place who had a very unsettling effect on him. She was the only one here who scared the shit out of him. Taking a breath to collect himself, he acknowledged her with a nod and proceeded to join her and the Ensign at their table.
He noticed that when he acknowledged her, she just beamed and got all bubbly. That was the best word for it. Her glowing tattoos seemed to brighten for just a moment before she sat down, leaving him to wonder what those tattoos looked like on the rest of her body. He made it to the table and sat down on autopilot while his mind indulged in a little fantastical daydream, leaving him noticeably flushed and uncomfortable in ways that only men could be.
Setting his tray and bottle of maple syrup down on the table and taking a seat, Robert tried to say thank you, but neither Ishani nor the Ensign had their translators running.
En. Tha'xur noticed him stop trying to use hand speak and realized that they had just messed up a little. "I am sorry, that was rude of us," she said as she tried to get her translation app up and running. Meanwhile, Ishani was no help; she was head down in her food, blushing and trying very hard not to be noticed. "There, we're set."
Robert was relieved when En. Tha'xur got her translation app running, so he wouldn't have to stare at Ishani across the round table from him. He returned his attention to En. Tha'xur. "I was trying to say thank you for asking me to join you, and it's okay. You at least figured it out."
Ishani looked up from her half-eaten food when En. Tha'xur's translator started speaking. Fuck, she thought, this is so embarrassing. Inviting a boy to come over and eat with you only to ignore him when he gets here. Idiot. Turning to face him, her brain failed as she smiled stupidly and took another bite. "Hungry?"
En. Tha'xur couldn't help but cringe. The situation unfolding before she seemed straight out of a cliché "coming of age" story, where a girl meets a boy and the universe seems to pause just for them. It reminded her of the sentimental videos her older brother and his friends would tear up over. Poor Ishani, the other girls around her would roast her mercilessly, yet she remained oblivious to the fact that she was being watched. En. Tha'xur couldn't decide if it was cute or tragic. Determined to intervene and save Ishani from herself, she spoke up, "Robert, the reason Crewwoman Vevreix invited you over is that I need your help."
"Hungry?" Robert was caught off guard by Ishani's question. Did she even understand what she was doing? He found her confusing, and he just wanted to finish his meal quickly and GTFO. En. Tha'xur was speaking, but he had missed what she said. He decided to play dumb and replied, "OK."
En. Tha'xur thought to herself, "This is good." She then explained, "Well, my husband and my three kho wives are going to be arriving on Earth in three days. I had scheduled a 14-day leave, but then I received an emergency assignment here, and I don't know if they will honor my leave request."
Robert had managed to pay enough attention to understand that she needed a favor. He had two basic choices: give a hard no and explain that the advocates wouldn't allow him to help until they gave the go-ahead, or try to answer her questions. His best option was to listen and see if he could offer some hints. "I am quite restricted by what my advocates have told me to do, but I will try to point you in the right direction."
Finally, Ishani managed to gather her thoughts and interjected, "See, I told you, all you need to do is ask."
En. Tha'xur rolled her eyes, silently expressing her frustration towards Ishani. She replied, "Thank you, can you help?"
Talking with his mouth full wasn't polite and attempting to gesture while eating proved to be a challenge. Robert sighed as he reluctantly set down his fork, his stomach growling in protest. "Yes, I will genuinely help you. And if you're wondering why," Robert paused, trying to understand his willingness to assist, "it's because you asked. Now, the big question is, do you even know what you want to ask?"
Ishani eagerly jumped in, unknowingly giving En. Tha'xur some time to formulate a proper question to ask. "Okay, if I can ask one too, please?"
Robert held up one finger as he obeyed the demands of his stomach and shoved a load of runny fried eggs and hash browns in his mouth. "Sure, since you saved me from eating alone." Robert swallowed hard after he finished speaking, realizing he had just unintentionally flirted with her. Thinking inwardly, "Shut up, dumb ass. You are going to get yourself in trouble."
Ishani sputtered like Joe Pesci for just a couple of seconds before getting to her real question. "Ok, ok, ok, ok." Pointing to the work area where the Charger was, she asked, "Why is the car so important? Why did you build it?"
Robert shoveled another load of eggs and hash browns into his mouth. "Why would a human boy on Earth, living in North America, want to build a fast car and one that could fly?" Pausing to inhale the bite of his eggs and hash browns, he continued, "Because it was fun, and it would have been cool to have a hotrod and be the only one to fly. Well, that would be a show-off, a little, and to have a shitload of fun flying around in it."
En. Tha'xur cluelessly responded, "What is a 'hotrod,' and why would a flying car be 'cool'? I guess that means good?"
Robert had to roll his head back before responding, to the idea of attempting to explain custom car and motorcycle cultures. "Humans like to personalize cars and other things as expressions of their personalities and rolling pieces of art in some cases. For a human boy to be able to build a car and go fast is a dream. Hotrods are the result of those builds."
Taking another break to move the French toast in front of him and pour on the maple syrup, he continued, "Back to the first part of your question, 'Why is it important?' Other than a personal attachment to the memories connected to it... it is not, in the grand scheme of things, it was a mistake. A very valuable mistake, it disproved one of my approaches to a bigger challenge."
En. Tha'xur and Crewwoman Vevreix just looked at each other and mouthed the same words, "It was a fucking mistake!!"
Robert tried to hide his smug satisfaction. Nobody ever considered just how much of his work was critical and applied to his big challenge. Ishani looked at Robert as he dug into his French toast. "If that was a mistake, what is the prize?" Robert just smiled and shrugged in response to the question. En. Tha'xur sat dejected, "Well, that did answer one of the big questions. The car is a stepping stone to the bigger thing."
Watching the Ensign sit dejected and look a little lost made Robert feel like a little shit. Flipping the bird to the bureaucratic machine that was the Imperium always felt like a "fuck yes," but trolling a person was different. She had asked him for help, and he had used it to be petty and spiteful. "You don't need to ask right now, and if you loan me your data slate, I will give you a couple of hints," he said, reaching out for the device.
En. Tha'xur handed over the data slate wordlessly. Robert opened a new document and wrote:
"If you have 'The Right Stuff,' you can connect the dots."
"Space-Time Gravity is not the same as Gravity Space-Time."
When he finished, he handed the data slate back to the ensign and returned to his food. En. Tha'xur picked up the data slate, read the hints, and found the first line to be of no use other than some devotional wisdom that would be preached in a temple. However, the second line held interesting possibilities. Grabbing the data slate, Ishani quickly scanned the text and handed it back to En. Tha'xur. "Thank you, I think we can work with this," she said. Turning to En. Tha'xur, she added, "Ma'am, I think we need to work in conference room 2 today. It has the other digital whiteboard, and I think we need the space."
En. Tha'xur picked up the data slate and looked right at Robert. "I don't get the first one. The second one could be applied in a dozen or more places."
Finishing his first piece of French toast, Robert tried to remember the order of the equations to point her in the right direction. "Show me my work from last night, and I will show you the one to work against. Don't try to finish it, just try to understand it."
En. Tha'xur handed the translated copy of Robert's work back to him, and he looked at it with a mixture of fascination and difficulty. It was strange to see his work presented so neatly, but it was also challenging to read. He had to mentally retranslate it to the original version he had written. Working through the problem brought his headache back in full force, making the surroundings too bright and diminishing his appetite. Robert tried to hide his discomfort, squinting his eyes and taking deep breaths.
Concerned, Ishani noticed his strained expression and asked, "Are you alright? You don't look well."
With a weak smile, Robert replied, "I shouldn't have done that. I usually take a couple of days off after my little flying trips. It's like working out too hard and feeling extremely sore the next day, then trying to work out again. Not fun."
En. Tha'xur felt uneasy knowing that Robert was enduring pain to help her. She thought of her father and how he would be disappointed in her. "Are you sure you don't need a doctor?" she asked, genuinely concerned.
"I'll be fine, I just need some sleep," Robert reassured them, pushing his plate of food away. "If either of you wants to finish this, go for it. At the very least, don't waste the bacon."
Ishani reached for the plate and admitted, "I've heard about bacon, but I'm a little afraid to try new foods. I don't want to be disappointed."
En. Tha'xur reached for a piece of bacon, saying, "I love bacon. I'll even taste-test it to make sure it's okay." She smiled at Ishani and took a bite.
Robert observed as En. Tha'xur's eyes widened in shock. Oops, he remembered that he had coated the bacon in maple syrup. However, she didn't spit it out, which was a good sign. His mom loved crispy bacon dipped in maple syrup. Sometimes, she would devour an entire package of bacon if there was maple syrup in the house, and then she would try to conceal the fact that a pound of bacon had disappeared. She would even do her dishes, a chore that was usually Robert's.
En. Tha'xur bit into the bacon, expecting a salty taste but experiencing the combination of sweet and salty. The flavor was incredible. She paused to savor the taste before chewing again. "You have to try this!" she exclaimed.
Ishani, with anticipation in her eyes, sniffed the remaining piece of bacon. "Here goes nothing." She cherished this moment, as it was the closest she had come to tasting her nest mother's nectar. Grabbing the plate, she declared, "I'm finishing this!" and devoured the last piece of French toast without bothering with utensils.
Despite his throbbing headache, Robert couldn't help but smile as he rose from the table. "Enjoy. I need some sleep."
/*******************************/
Tommy had to roll his eyes at Valenlina's latest attempt to "improve" his wardrobe with a purple satin shirt with a matching sea green scarf. No matter how many times Valenlina tried to have Tommy dress like a proper male, Tommy always simply said no. Early on in the dating, Valenlina had gotten so frustrated that she also broke up with him, not that she ever told him. Her father and kho mother Tearhart had stepped in and explained that she could not make a human be like a Shil. The Imperium still tried, and the Humans resisted more. There were several semi-celebrities on the data-net that advised Shil’vai women on dating human males and females. The most common rule for dating a human male is not to try and change them to be acceptable in your circle because they will resent you for it. You have attracted a human male for a reason, embrace it.
Their walk through downtown Prescott was a moment the Tommy did not have to think about the meeting tomorrow. Early this morning he and his mother had gotten almost an hour of one on one time with Advocate Roskin and she was able to explain in greater detail what was expected of him tomorrow and how things could go right or wrong. Withholding information was one of the worse things he could do. After the meeting, Valenlina noticed the additional stress in Tommy. It was so bad that physical affection had no effect. There was only one thing other than sex that could distraction, window shopping.
Their window shopping trip started as a serious attempt to make him presentable in Shil’vati society, ow her attempts to help him look more presentable were just something they did to have fun. In many ways, it was closer to foreplay now, as Tommy now attempts to have Valenlina dress like a human girl. Tommy did have one big win, a pair of 4-inch-high heels, he had said they improved the view coming and going. Her big win last year was a shirt and tie set for his tailored charcoal suit, he was finally willing to wear formal attire with a splash color.
Valenlina could see her best effort to pull Tommy out of what his mother called a 'funk' were not working. He was still not willing to talk to her about it, she could understand that he was pissed but his silence bothered her. While he had not pushed her away, he still felt distant. Last year's fireworks had been the warmup act for what had followed. She could never look at Mr. Scott's old Ford pickup without blushing just a little bit.
Tommy smiled with a wicked little smile, "Thinking dirty thoughts again I see." he said holding up a pair of women's cowboy boots in hot pink.
Playfully Valenlina put on her pouty face, "What would you wear with them?"
Taking his turn to think dirty thoughts and hoping to see her turn dark blue Tommy put on his most innocent face, "First this is a girl's color, and they would be for you, but what would I wear if you wanted me to try them on? Nothing?" Emphasizing the last word.
With a facade of indignation, "Why Mr. Sandoval, are you implying that the Governess's daughter would be involved in anything so uncouth as to make a respectable male present himself for inspection with only what the Goddess endowed him with?"
Tommy returned the boots to the display and stepped forward to steal a kiss."My Dear Miss Seskie, you know dammed well that you would take full advantage of that situation."
Returning the kiss, Valenlina smiled. "Yes, Mr. Sandoval I would." She bent down to whisper into his ear. "I think we both need to cool off or we will never make it to the fireworks show."
Tommy took her by the hand." Looks like I'll have to settle for mint chocolate chip ice cream."
Valenlina put on a hurt expression. "You are so cruel."
They left the window shopping and continued walking back to the courthouse square. The roads around the court were closed for three days for Frontier Days and the Festive of Colors. This opened the court square up for a giant art show and sales venue. This was the change for local artisans to show off their wares in the hopes of making one or selling to a noble patron and then getting follow-up commission work. The north side of the courthouse was dedicated to custom motorcycles and the east side was for classic custom cars. The west side, known as "Whiskey Row" is where the food vendors and their destination Jacksons Ice Cream was set up right in front of the Palace Restaurant and Saloon.
Turning the corner to walk up Whiskey Row Tommy could not help but feel he was being watched. Tommy had to keep Valenlina from heading off to go look at this or that. He had to remind her, that ice cream was first or he would have to give her a spanking. Valenlina would always retort with, "Promises, promises".
When they were getting their ice cream Valenlina nudged Tommy and told him to look across the street. Standing in front of a face painting booth was a short portly balding human male with a puggy round face. He wearing a well-made black suit, the only thing missing from the 1930s gangster getup was a fedora hat.
Taking their ice cream and heading off to a wood sculptor's booth Tommy kicked himself mentally for not seeing him earlier, he was the only person wearing a business suit. He should have stood out like a sore thumb, but he just seemed to blend in. The booth was impressive, boasting several pieces commissioned by various members of the nobility. Tommy ate his ice cream and kept an eye on the gangster while Valenlina inspected the various pieces and got sticker shock.
Tommy tried to get Valenlina's attention when the gangster entered the booth and proceeded to the cane rack. By the time Valenlina noticed, the gangster was already paying for the cane he had selected.
When the gangster finished his transaction, he turned to Tommy and Valenlina." Well if it isn't the young man of the hour, Thomas Sandoval. It's a pleasure to meet you. As well as you, Miss Seskie."
Flustered, Tommy stuttered out, "Who the fuck are you? Have you been watching me?"
The man smiled, but it felt unnerving, maybe a little malicious, too., "My name is Mr. Rojo and I watch everybody. It's my calling, but I will admit that you and your brother have piqued my interest. I go through life watching the world go by, I enjoy the shifting mosaic of peoples' lives, and how they interconnect. For example, the car that you and your brother build was a 69 or 70 I could not tell with what is out on the news media.”
Tommy waited to tell this to go pound sand, but he need to talk and tell Mr. Rojo what even he needed, Tommy forgot Valenlina was listening as he spoke.” It is a 69, why is that important?”
The gangster slowly dropped part of his smile as he replied, ”It is not important, it is merely a curiosity just like why not use the Confederate battle flag and why the name Valkirey?”
Eagerly Tommy responded, “The Betsy Ross over the Stars and Bars, because it is more appropriate at this time and the Shil’vati Imperium has no idea what it means, instead of erasing human history maybe the Shil’vati could try learning from it.” almost quoting Sean Connery about goose stopping morons and burning books. “ Now for Valkire over General Lee, that is easy, Valkire’s are sexy and cool. and General Lee would get us in trouble, just like the Stars and Bars.”
The gangster's smile was completely gone, and his expression and tone had changed to serious but neutral almost professorial, “But I have a simple question for you, and I'd greatly appreciate it if you would give me an honest answer, Thomas what is gravity?"
Thomas could not stop himself and replied without hesitation. "Gravity is a higher dimensional construct. When projected from a higher dimension it appears to be a force, but to use it as a dimensional construct the space-time gravity interpretation must be inverted to be the first-dimensional construct so that space-time gravity becomes gravitational space-time with an indeterminate number of dimensional constructs between gravity and space."
The gangster looked surprised, while Valenlina looked utterly confused. "Is that your brother Robert's words or yours?"
Thomas hesitated only slightly before he replied. "Mostly Robert's, I can't dream up the shit he does but once he explains it, I can see it. He uses me as a sounding board." Tommy suddenly realized what he was saying. "Who the fuck are you?"
The gangster took Tommy's hand to shake it. "Mr. Sandoval, I told you I am a watcher and now I get to watch you. Have a glorious life Mr. Sandoval" nodding to Valenlina, "and you too, Miss Seskie."
Tommy watched as the gangster walked out of the booth noting that nobody noticed his passing.
Valenlina had been too engrossed in Mr. Rojo and Tommy's conversation to say or do anything, but now that Mr. Rojo was no longer there she angrily turned to face Tommy."Thomas, you have some explaining to do!"
Tommy would not realize until much later, that the gangster had placed the cane in his has as he left.
/*******************************/
First:
Janissary: The Joy Ride Ch1 : Sexyspacebabes (reddit.com)
Previous:
Janissary: The Joy Ride Ch7 : Sexyspacebabes (reddit.com)
Next:
Chapter 8
Extra:
Janissary: The Son Of War : Sexyspacebabes (reddit.com)
Janissary: Vision from Zy'Verila : Sexyspacebabes (reddit.com)

So, I've been going in circles trying to find my best option. I have 13th gen i9 and a 4090, but I want to utilize gen5 m.2 capabilities. With the 4090, this seems to rule out the Asus z790 Hero, since the m.2 expansion will throttle pcie.
I'm looking at the MSI MPG z790 Carbon, since it looks like it has a dedicated gen5 m.2 slot, but I'm not 100% I'm reading the specs right.
Does anyone have any recommendations that I'm missing?
Side note: Thunderbolt would be a big plus for me as well.

Books that were not for me

Carmilla (le Fanu) I enjoyed the first half of this tale, which is one of the earliest vampire works and an inspiration for Dracula (as well as being pretty lesbian, and in 1872!). But by the midway point, when it's completely obvious what's going on to everyone but the protagonist, the book started dragging and I skimmed much of the latter half just to get it over with. Read this if: You're interested in the origins of the vampire phenomemon
Even Though I Knew the End (Polk) This is a historical detective story with angels and demons. If you took the combined vibes of 1930s Chicago, a Catholic cathedral, a blood-daubed summoning circle, and an underground lesbian bar, you'd have this book. It's quite short, and—perhaps due in part to the lack of space for character development—it wasn't really my thing, but I did think the ending was great, and gutsy. Read this if: You love an old-timey detective story
The Bone Ships (Barker) I spent the first half of this book declaiming to my mother's cat that the author had chosen the wrong main character, since our protagonist does nothing but what his far-more-interesting captain tells him to do. (Thankfully, it gets better in the second half.) Other than that, there's almost nothing to dislike... it's the book equivalent of Mr. Rogers... except that I didn't find much to get excited about, either, and struggled to finish. Read this if: You want an alright nautical adventure with an alright protagonist

Books that were fine

Mordew (Pheby) This book is problematic. Not in the contents, which are merely disgusting and horrifying, but in the way it's written. It's agonizingly slow. Character motivations don't always make sense, and the guidelines for magic seem to be "whatever's plot-convenient." However, if you're looking for something that reads like Charles Dickens took too many mushrooms then had a lie-down in a malarial swamp, this book is your man. Read this if: You have a thing for urchins with terrible morals
The Prey of Gods (Drayden) As I once said about The Poppy War, it's difficult to figure out who's supposed to be the audience for this book. A science fantasy set in South Africa, it has coming-of-age child protagonists alongside adult POVs that include spontaneous orgasms. I will say that the book often surprised me, which I love. But similar to Mordew, the characters' changing motivations on a whim to service the plot kept it from being a winner. Read this if: You like books that don't fit neatly into categories
Senlin Ascends (Bancroft) Dude, where's my wife? Our hero Senlin loses his wife and... spends the rest of the book trying to find her? No, surprisingly. He makes a good start, but soon loses his internal compass and ends up in a series of quagmires that he doesn't seem to have much urgency to get out of. This killed both the book's tension and any interest in going on to book two, especially since I didn't particularly connect with Senlin as a character. However, I will say the prose is great, and contains the most creative-yet-accurate metaphors of any book I have ever read. Read this if: You hate a lackluster metaphor

Books I enjoyed

Under Heaven (Kay) The story didn't move me as much as the other Kay books I've read, and I think it has issues in terms of structure and other choices. Still, lackluster Kay is better than many (most?) other writers' best efforts. Also, it has less romance/sex than the other books of his I've read. This was unfortunate for me, but if that aspect has kept you away from Kay's work, you might actually enjoy this one. Read this if: You're hungering to spend some time in a Tang-Dynasty-inspired world
Some by Virtue Fall (Rowland) Echoes of Shakespeare haunt this comedic book, which is about a theater troupe trying to survive despite empty coffers and a rival troupe with zero scruples. I enjoyed it mainly for the main character, who behaved badly in all the ways I would never have the guts to. If you get vicarious enjoyment from transgressions—or if you were a theater kid, and want to cringe in remembrance—this is the book for you. Honestly, I hope the author writes another starring this character. Read this if: You love theater, Shakespeare, and teh gays
Piranesi (Clarke) This is a perfectly nice book and I certainly enjoyed reading it, but it didn't wow me or anything, and I haven't thought about it once since I read it. So I don't understand why it's as popular as it is. But there's also nothing wrong with the book. You could do a lot worse? Read this if: You enjoy mysteries, or truly good-hearted protagonists

Favorites

Siren Queen (Vo) I tore through this book, which follows the strivings of a Chinese-American starlet in an alternative golden age Hollywood that's suffused with dark magic and danger. Like Vo's The Chosen and The Beautiful, it's a very sensual work, and if it wasn't a bit over the top I'd say I can still taste the cigarette smoke and champagne. I can't wait for her next effort. Read this if: You're a fan of golden age Hollywood, creepy atmosphere, or outsider protagonists

DNFs

The Forever Sea (Johnson) - I won this book in a raffle. It has a gorgeous cover. Unfortunately the writing is quite straightforward, and I lost interest pretty quickly when my brain had nothing to chew on.
The Worm Ouroboros (Eddison) - I was gifted this and wanted to like it, but found it just as distant and dull as I find most old books. Sorry dad.
The Bruising of Qilwa (Jamnia) - This was a book club book that was not my speed.
The Coward (Aryan) - Another book club read. Did not like the writing.
The Iron Dragon's Daughter (Swanwick) - Unique but way too meandering.

Galatians   Chapter Five (https://esv.literalword.com/?q=Galatians+5)
 
-1. The Anointed frees [שחרר, SheeHRayR] us unto freedom [חרות, HayROoTh], therefore stand, and do not submit [תכנעו, TheeKhahN`Oo] again [שוב, ShOoB] to yoke [לעל, Le'oL] the slavery.  

“The expression for freedom [επ ελευθερια - ep eleutheria] (in slightly different Greek form) appears in the certificates of sacral manumission which were given to slaves who purchased their freedom. The slave would deposit the money in the temple of his god for the priest to transfer to his master “for freedom.” He then became the slave of his god, free from his human master.” (Stamm, 1953, TIB vol. X pp. 545-546)  
“Among the Jews, the Messiah’s reign was to be a reign of liberty, and hence the Targum [ancient Jewish commentary] on Lamen. [Lamentations] ii. 22. says, “Liberty shall be publicly proclaimed to the people of the house of Israel, על יד משיחא âl yad Mashicha, by the hand of the Messiah, such as was granted to them by Moses and Aaron, at the time of the Passover.” (Clarke, 1831, vol. II p. 393)  

...
-5. And we, in spirit upon foundation [of] belief, waiting [מיחלים, MeYahHahLeeYM] to hope [for] fruit, the our righteousness [δικαιοσυνης - dikaiosunes, justification, righteousness].  

“The language is so compact that Paul’s meaning has to be inferred from 3:14; 5:22-23; and Rom. [Romans] 8:23-26.” (Stamm, 1953, TIB vol. X pp. 548-549)  
“The full measure of human righteousness is still a thing of the eschatological future (cf. [compare with] Rom 5:19).” (Joseph A. Fitzmyer, 1990, TNJBC p. 789)
“That they could not have the Holy Spirit, without faith, was a doctrine also of the Jews; hence it is said, Mechilta, fol. [folio] 52. ‘That faith was of great consequence, with which the Israelites believed in Him, who, with one word, created the universe; and because the Israelites believed in God, the Holy Spirit dwelt in them; so that being filled with God, they sung praises to him.’” (Clarke, 1831, vol. II pp. 393-394)  

-6. That yes, in Anointed YayShOo'ah ["Savior", Jesus] there is no thought [חשיבות, HahSheeYBOoTh], not to circumcision [למילה, LahMeeYLaH] and not to foreskin [לערלה, Lah`ahRLaH], rather to belief, the laborer in way [of] love.  

“No passage in Paul’s letters is of greater importance for integral understanding of his religion and the relation of his faith to his ethics. The mutuality of faith, hope, and love – a theme repeated with many variations – runs through everything he has written and forms the substance of his theology. … Paul’s religion is distorted whenever his ethics and his ‘good works’ are made to appear as an incidental by-product of his faith rather than as one of its essential ingredients.” (Stamm, 1953, TIB vol. X pp. 550-551)  
“This humble, holy, operative, obedient LOVE, is the grand touchstone of all human creeds, and confessions of faith. Faith, without this, has neither soul nor operation: in the language of the apostle James, it is dead, and can perform no function of the spiritual life, no more than a dead man can perform the duties of animal or civil life.” (Clarke, 1831, vol. II p. 394)  

...
-12. Would that [מי יתן, MeeY YeeThayN] and be cut [ויכרתו, VeYeeKahRThOo] the misleaders [המתעים, HahMahTh`eeYM] [of] you!  

“‘I wish that those who are upsetting you would even emasculate themselves!’ This is what Paul said and meant. … for a similar outburst see Phil. [Philippians] 3:2-3, where the advocates of circumcision are ‘dogs,’ and by a play on words – περιτομη [peritome’], κατατομην [katatmen] - ‘circumcision’ becomes ‘mutilation.’ Paul may have been thinking of the mad spectacle of the Cybele-Attis cult, whose priests in frenzied devotion used to emasculate themselves as a sacrifice to their deity. … The shock of Paul’s statement to the Judaizers can be measured in the light of the prohibition in Deut. [Deuteronomy] 23:1. To a devout Jew his blunt language would be as sacrilegious as a Christian would find the wish of a disbeliever in sacraments that all advocates of baptism would drown themselves. Never happy after making such denunciations (II Cor. [Corinthians]1:23-2:11; Phil. 3:18-19), Paul quickly changes his tone…” (Stamm, 1953, TIB vol. X pp. 554-555)  

-13. My brethren, to freedom you have been called,
only that not be, the freedom, means [אמצעי, ’ehMTsah`eeY] in hands of the flesh,
rather that minister, [each] man [את, ’ehTh (indicator of direct object; no English equivalent)] his neighbor in love.  

“To be freed from the ceremonial law, is the Gospel liberty; to pretend freedom from the moral law, is antinomianism.” (Clarke, 1831, vol. II p. 395)  

-14. See, all the Instruction included [כלולה, KLOoLaH] in saying [במאמר, BeMah’ahMahR] one – “and love to your neighbor like you.”  

“The quotation is from Lev. [Leviticus] 19:18; cf. Rom. 13:8-10 [and Matt. [Matthew] 7:11 (Joseph A. Fitzmyer, 1990, TNJBC p. 789)]. The tense of the verb ‘fulfilled’ is perfect; thus Paul says that the whole law is fulfilled, in the sense of ‘has been fulfilled’ whenever one man loves another as himself…. Paul the Christian loved his neighbor not because a commandment disobeyed would bring punishment, or fulfilled would merit reward, but because it was his new nature to do to.  
But who was Paul’s neighbor? He was, first of all, ‘the one who was near,’ the fellow member of the society of Christ who needed help to bear life’s burdens (6:2). Then, with continuously lengthening radius, Paul drew a series of concentric circles to embrace all men (6:10; I Thess. [Thessalonians] 5:15; I Cor. 9:22). Even his enemies were included, for Christ received sinners, and personal vengeance was no fruit of the Spirit (6:1; Rom. 12:20; 15:1-3). … He bore the burden of his neighbor’s sins, and although he sometimes had to threaten them, he was never without hope for their repentance (I Cor. 4; II Cor. 12:19-13:10; II Thess. 3:14-15). He could hurl anathemas, and his friends did not always find him easy to get on with … but the love of Christ would never permit him to contract the circle of his neighbors (Rom. 9:1-3; 10:1; II Cor. 7:5-16; 1:23-2:11). (Stamm, 1953, TIB vol. X p. 557)  

...  

…………………………………………  
Fruit of the Spirit and usurpations of [ומעללי, OoMah`ahLahLaY] the flesh
[verses 16 to end of chapter]  

-16. Say I to you, walk in way the spirit and do not fill [את, ’ehTh] desires [תאוות, Thah`ahVOTh] [of] the flesh,
-17. for the flesh desires [מתאוה, MeeTh’ahVeH] to what that is in opposition [שבנגוד, ShehBeNeeGOoD] to spirit, and the spirit is opposed [מתנגדת, MeeThNeGehDehTh] to the flesh. [The] two [of] them oppose to this to this, and to that [ולכן, OoLeKhayN] you are not able to do [את, ’ehTh] what that is in your want.  

“This is Paul’s way of stating the Jewish doctrine of the ‘two impulses’ which are at war within the heart of man. The rabbis declared that God created Adam with two inclinations, one good, the other evil, and required him to choose which to obey. He was free to follow his good impulse, but he chose the evil, and so did all his descendants. Consequently every man became the Adam of his own soul. Some maintained that the evil impulse awakened at the age of nine, others at twelve. Study with practice of the Torah was the sovereign remedy to wear it away …” (Stamm, 1953, TIB vol. X pp. 561)  

…
-19. Deeds of the flesh are revealed [גלויים, GLOoYeeYM], and these are they:
adultery [נאוף, Nee’OoPh] and fornication, impurity [טמאה, TooM’aH], licentiousness [זמה, ZeeMaH], 20. slavery of idols, magic [כשוף KeeShOoPh in my Hebrew New Testamentⁱ ; the Greek here is “φαρμακεια pharmakeia - the use of drugs of any kind, whether wholesome or poisonous...” (Stamm, 1953, TIB vol. X p. 562] hatred, contention [מדון, MahDON], stinginess [צרות עין, TsahROoTh 'ahYeeN, “squint eyed”, Ζηλος Zelos jealousy], anger [כעס, Kah'ahÇ], strife [מריבה, MeReeYBaH], divisions [מחלקות, MahHLahQOTh], factions [כתות, KeeThOTh], 21. envy, drunkenness, profligacy [הוללות,HOLeLOoTh], and as similar.  
Say I to what that I already said: doers of deeds like these will not inherit [את, ’ehTh] kingdom of the Gods.  

“Πορνεια [Porneia] ... fornication ... means ‘prostitution’, but includes sexual vice and unfaithfulness to the marriage vow. The task of the church in creating a conscience on this matter was made doubly difficult by the practice of prostitution in the name of religion. Long before Paul, the prophets had denounced the fertility cults and made prostitution a synonym for idolatry.  
Φαρμακεια [pharmakeia] ... Since witches and sorcerers used drugs, the word came to designate witchcraft, enchantment, sorcery, and magic. The law of Moses prescribed the death penalty for it, and the prophets denounced the Egyptians, Babylonians and Canaanites for practicing it; but this did not prevent the Jews from producing some famous practitioners (Acts 13:6-12; 19:1-20). Next to state-worship, magic was the most dangerous competitor of true religion... claiming to specialize in the impossible, it prostituted faith to superstition, and divorced religion from ethics. ... In Paul’s spiritual arithmetic, faith plus miracles minus love amounted exactly to zero....  
Ερις [Eris] is ... strife ... The spirit of Eris is perfectly described in the words of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland – ‘ambition, distraction, uglification, and derision.’  
The fact that he expected the near return of Christ to end this present age must not be permitted to obscure the equally important fact that he regarded his own life and witness for Christ as an essential element in hastening that event.” (Stamm, 1953, TIB vol. X pp. 561-565)  

-22. In opposition to [לעמת, Le`ooMahTh] this, fruit of spirit:
he is love, happiness, peace, patience, [ארך רוח, ’oRehKh Roo-ahH, “length [of] spirit”] generosity, good heart, faithfulness, 23. modesty [עננה, `ahNahNaH], restraint [רסון, ReeÇOoN] [of] self– upon such [מדות, MeeDOTh] as these there is no instruction further [חלה, HahLaH, sic ["so in cite"] for חלאה, HahL’aH!].  

“Since love is a personal relation it is not a matter of law, and cannot be commanded; and since it is God’s own love growing as his ‘fruit’ in the hearts of men, no one can claim it as a merit for self-salvation. ...  
... in every age ... men have found it hard to see how God could have anything in common with humanity, and Christians have been tempted to make a distinction in kind between God’s love and man’s love. Paul’s authority has been claimed for this dualistic view. Αγαπη [agape’] is set against ερος [eros]. God’s love is said to be αγαπη reaching down to save man by his grace, and ερος man’s self-love aspiring upward to save himself. Paul’s αγαπη is associated with justification by faith, the Greek ερος with salvation by works.... Jerusalem and the Christian faith are made to oppose Athens and human reason, and the conclusion is drawn from the history of Christianity that ερος, man’s self love, has always been a source of corruption of αγαπη, love inspired by God’s grace.  
This interpretation of Christian love is intended as a defense of the doctrine of justification by faith and as a means of securing scriptural support for a dualistic philosophy which aims to protect the transcendence of God against humanism. But to draw such sweeping conclusions from a word study of two Greek nouns, without adequate consideration of other related Greek words and ideas, is to oversimplify. The LXX [The Septuagint, the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible] is full of evidence that this distinction between αγαπη and ερος cannot be maintained on the basis of lexicography. The Greek O.T. [Old Testament] uses both the noun αγαπη and the verb αγαπαω [agapao] to express not only God’s love for men, but man’s love for God and for his fellow man. Although there is no certain evidence that the noun αγαπη was used by nonbiblical writers prior to Christianity, the argument from silence may be invalidated by future discoveries, and it would be precarious to conclude that αγαπη was a specifically Christian word.  
One-sided emphasis on God’s love as ‘unmotivated’ by anything in his creatures tempts men to regard him in the light of an egotistical philanthropist who expects gratitude and praise but neither needs nor desires the mutuality that is inherent in the very nature of love... Without a faith that dares humbly to believe that God needs man’s love ... the Christian’s conception of his high calling to be a kingdom builder is liable to reduce itself to blind obedience to commands given arbitrarily for man’s good while awaiting God’s eschatological fiat. Such a misconception is bound to give aid and comfort to the inclination of human nature – ‘the flesh’ – to divorce religion from ethics.  
Grave moral consequences result from such a view of Christian love. It is associated with a doctrine of predestination that makes God’s choice of the objects of his salvation utterly arbitrary.” (Stamm, 1953, TIB vol. X pp. 565-566)  
“The peace which was the fruit of the Spirit ... could be trusted to keep men's hearts and minds (Phil. 4:7), so that they need have not anxiety about anything. This explains the sublime recklessness of the Christian peacemakers. Being colaborers with God (Rom. 8:28), they were aggressors for peace. They aimed to live at peace with all men (Rom. 12:18), but fear of making enemies did not turn them from their task of producing soundness, wholeness, and harmony in a world of chaos. Their reasonable service was to ... substitute the righteousness and peace and joy of his [God's] kingdom (Rom. 14:17) for the low aims of 'the flesh,' thereby creating the conditions for peace. Their ideal was to live so that quarrels could never get started.  
Christian peace was therefore neither the calm of inactivity nor the mere passive enjoyment of freedom from strife. It was not the imperturbability of the Epicurean, or the apathy of the Stoic, or the contemplation of the mystic. The man who possessed it was not exempt from storm and shipwreck, but by faith he knew that he would arrive in port (Acts 27:21-25), and that all was well for him and his fellow men of faith ... And so, where all else was panic, he played the man.” (Stamm, 1953, TIB vol. X pp. 567)  
“... just as God’s patience was not to be presumed upon, so the Christian’s patience was not a spiritless good nature that would put up with things which it could not escape, or would not prevent. It was patience with a purpose, as in Paul’s pleas to Philemon, which contrasts so sharply with the Stoic motive for self control... Those who bore this fruit ‘turned the world upside down’ (Acts 17:6), and the enemy did not know how to deal with such unheard of patience and persistence.” (Stamm, 1953, TIB vol. X pp. 568)  
“Negatively defined, gentleness is everything that the ‘insolent, haughty, boastful’ men of Rom. 1:30 are not. It is the opposite of υβρις [hubris], the worst of sins in the eyes of the Greeks – deliberate, arrogant defiance of the gods by overstepping the limits set for human beings. In the O.T. such men are called ‘sons of Belial,’ the turbulent, highhanded wicked, who rage against God, kill, rob and enslave the righteous ‘meek’ and take possession of the earth for themselves. The psalms are full of moans and complaints against this rich and powerful majority, who used religion as a means of gain and kept their consciences in flexible subservience to the exigencies of power.” (Stamm, 1953, TIB vol. X pp. 569)  
“’Εγκρατεια [Egkrateia] is temperance (KJV [King James Version]), self-control (RSV [Revised Standard Version]) ....  
The Stoics had helped to prepare the soil out of which this fruit of the Spirit was to grow. They insisted that the sovereign reason could and should control the passions. They believed in a law of nature to which they must conform, and they endeavored to maintain their inner freedom under all circumstances. But their motive was very different from Paul’s, the one being devoted to the glory of the God of grace, the other to the preservation of the sovereign self-will. When the Stoic collided with things beyond his control, his inner independence turned into apathy, practicing the motto ‘When we can’t do what we want, we want to do what we can.’ He took orders from his commander in chief, an impersonal God who had the power of life or death; but he did it in such a way as to make it clear to God and men that he, the Stoic, was after all the captain of his soul. He controlled his anger because he found it a nuisance to be under the power of any passion and in his sight meekness was contemptible weakness...  
Paul exalted humility: ‘It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me’ (2:20). ... His self-discipline was the result of his spiritual experiences, rather than an undertaking to induce them; and his self-control was sane compared with the ascetic excesses of later Christian groups such as the ‘Encratites,’ who forbade marriage and followed fantastic dietary rules.” (Stamm, 1953, TIB vol. X pp. 569-570)  
“Unrepentant sinners have no appetite for the fruit of the Spirit, and when its production and distribution require changes in the political and economic status quo, men ... pass laws against it ... Especially in time of war these traits of Christian character have been forbidden fruit, though given for the healing of the nations. Occasionally the world, exhausted with fighting, and sick of its cynical Epicureanism, has professed a desire for the fruits of the Spirit, but on its own terms without the cross required to produce them.” (Stamm, 1953, TIB X p. 570)  

... 26. Do not, please [נא, Nah’] be panters of [שואפי, ShO’ahPhaY] honor vain [שוא, ShahVe’], the provokers [המתגרים, HahMeeThGahReeYM] and enviers [ומקנאים, OoMQahN’eeYM] a man in his neighbor.  

“The right stood in terror of the iconoclasm of the left, and the radicals labeled all other men reactionaries ... Both sides professed to love liberty and defend it, but neither was willing to grant it to the other.” (Stamm, 1953, TIB vol. X p. 572)   END NOTE  
ⁱ ספר הבריתות, תורה נביאים כתובים והברית החדשה [ÇehPheR HahBReeYThOTh, ThORaH, NeBeeY’eeYM, KeThOoBeeYM, VeHahBReeYTh HehHahDahShaH, The Book of the Covenants: Instruction, Prophets, Writings; and The New Covenant] The Bible Society in Israel, Jerusalem, Israel, 1991.  

  An Amateur's Journey Through the Bible

Galatians   Chapter Five  
-1. The Anointed frees [שחרר, SheeHRayR] us unto freedom [חרות, HayROoTh], therefore stand, and do not submit [תכנעו, TheeKhahN`Oo] again [שוב, ShOoB] to yoke [לעל, Le'oL] the slavery.  

“The expression for freedom [επ ελευθερια - ep eleutheria] (in slightly different Greek form) appears in the certificates of sacral manumission which were given to slaves who purchased their freedom. The slave would deposit the money in the temple of his god for the priest to transfer to his master “for freedom.” He then became the slave of his god, free from his human master.” (Stamm, 1953, TIB vol. X pp. 545-546)  
“Among the Jews, the Messiah’s reign was to be a reign of liberty, and hence the Targum [ancient Jewish commentary] on Lamen. [Lamentations] ii. 22. says, “Liberty shall be publicly proclaimed to the people of the house of Israel, על יד משיחא âl yad Mashicha, by the hand of the Messiah, such as was granted to them by Moses and Aaron, at the time of the Passover.” (Clarke, 1831, vol. II p. 393)  

...
-5. And we, in spirit upon foundation [of] belief, waiting [מיחלים, MeYahHahLeeYM] to hope [for] fruit, the our righteousness [δικαιοσυνης - dikaiosunes, justification, righteousness].  

“The language is so compact that Paul’s meaning has to be inferred from 3:14; 5:22-23; and Rom. [Romans] 8:23-26.” (Stamm, 1953, TIB vol. X pp. 548-549)  
“The full measure of human righteousness is still a thing of the eschatological future (cf. [compare with] Rom 5:19).” (Joseph A. Fitzmyer, 1990, TNJBC p. 789)  
“That they could not have the Holy Spirit, without faith, was a doctrine also of the Jews; hence it is said, Mechilta, fol. [folio] 52. ‘That faith was of great consequence, with which the Israelites believed in Him, who, with one word, created the universe; and because the Israelites believed in God, the Holy Spirit dwelt in them; so that being filled with God, they sung praises to him.’” (Clarke, 1831, vol. II pp. 393-394)  

-6. That yes, in Anointed YayShOo'ah ["Savior", Jesus] there is no thought [חשיבות, HahSheeYBOoTh], not to circumcision [למילה, LahMeeYLaH] and not to foreskin [לערלה, Lah`ahRLaH], rather to belief, the laborer in way [of] love.  

“No passage in Paul’s letters is of greater importance for integral understanding of his religion and the relation of his faith to his ethics. The mutuality of faith, hope, and love – a theme repeated with many variations – runs through everything he has written and forms the substance of his theology. … Paul’s religion is distorted whenever his ethics and his ‘good works’ are made to appear as an incidental by-product of his faith rather than as one of its essential ingredients.” (Stamm, 1953, TIB vol. X pp. 550-551)  
“This humble, holy, operative, obedient LOVE, is the grand touchstone of all human creeds, and confessions of faith. Faith, without this, has neither soul nor operation: in the language of the apostle James, it is dead, and can perform no function of the spiritual life, no more than a dead man can perform the duties of animal or civil life.” (Clarke, 1831, vol. II p. 394)  

...
-12. Would that [מי יתן, MeeY YeeThayN] and be cut [ויכרתו, VeYeeKahRThOo] the misleaders [המתעים, HahMahTh`eeYM] [of] you!  

“‘I wish that those who are upsetting you would even emasculate themselves!’ This is what Paul said and meant. … for a similar outburst see Phil. [Philippians] 3:2-3, where the advocates of circumcision are ‘dogs,’ and by a play on words – περιτομη [peritome’], κατατομην [katatmen] - ‘circumcision’ becomes ‘mutilation.’ Paul may have been thinking of the mad spectacle of the Cybele-Attis cult, whose priests in frenzied devotion used to emasculate themselves as a sacrifice to their deity. … The shock of Paul’s statement to the Judaizers can be measured in the light of the prohibition in Deut. [Deuteronomy] 23:1. To a devout Jew his blunt language would be as sacrilegious as a Christian would find the wish of a disbeliever in sacraments that all advocates of baptism would drown themselves. Never happy after making such denunciations (II Cor. [Corinthians]1:23-2:11; Phil. 3:18-19), Paul quickly changes his tone…” (Stamm, 1953, TIB vol. X pp. 554-555)  

-13. My brethren, to freedom you have been called,
only that not be, the freedom, means [אמצעי, ’ehMTsah`eeY] in hands of the flesh,
rather that minister, [each] man [את, ’ehTh (indicator of direct object; no English equivalent)] his neighbor in love.  

“To be freed from the ceremonial law, is the Gospel liberty; to pretend freedom from the moral law, is antinomianism.” (Clarke, 1831, vol. II p. 395)  

-14. See, all the Instruction included [כלולה, KLOoLaH] in saying [במאמר, BeMah’ahMahR] one – “and love to your neighbor like you.”  

“The quotation is from Lev. [Leviticus] 19:18; cf. Rom. 13:8-10 [and Matt. [Matthew] 7:11 (Joseph A. Fitzmyer, 1990, TNJBC p. 789)]. The tense of the verb ‘fulfilled’ is perfect; thus Paul says that the whole law is fulfilled, in the sense of ‘has been fulfilled’ whenever one man loves another as himself…. Paul the Christian loved his neighbor not because a commandment disobeyed would bring punishment, or fulfilled would merit reward, but because it was his new nature to do to.  
But who was Paul’s neighbor? He was, first of all, ‘the one who was near,’ the fellow member of the society of Christ who needed help to bear life’s burdens (6:2). Then, with continuously lengthening radius, Paul drew a series of concentric circles to embrace all men (6:10; I Thess. [Thessalonians] 5:15; I Cor. 9:22). Even his enemies were included, for Christ received sinners, and personal vengeance was no fruit of the Spirit (6:1; Rom. 12:20; 15:1-3). … He bore the burden of his neighbor’s sins, and although he sometimes had to threaten them, he was never without hope for their repentance (I Cor. 4; II Cor. 12:19-13:10; II Thess. 3:14-15). He could hurl anathemas, and his friends did not always find him easy to get on with … but the love of Christ would never permit him to contract the circle of his neighbors (Rom. 9:1-3; 10:1; II Cor. 7:5-16; 1:23-2:11). (Stamm, 1953, TIB vol. X p. 557)  

...  

…………………………………………  
Fruit of the Spirit and usurpations of [ומעללי, OoMah`ahLahLaY] the flesh
[verses 16 to end of chapter]  

-16. Say I to you, walk in way the spirit and do not fill [את, ’ehTh] desires [תאוות, Thah`ahVOTh] [of] the flesh,
-17. for the flesh desires [מתאוה, MeeTh’ahVeH] to what that is in opposition [שבנגוד, ShehBeNeeGOoD] to spirit, and the spirit is opposed [מתנגדת, MeeThNeGehDehTh] to the flesh. [The] two [of] them oppose to this to this, and to that [ולכן, OoLeKhayN] you are not able to do [את, ’ehTh] what that is in your want.  

“This is Paul’s way of stating the Jewish doctrine of the ‘two impulses’ which are at war within the heart of man. The rabbis declared that God created Adam with two inclinations, one good, the other evil, and required him to choose which to obey. He was free to follow his good impulse, but he chose the evil, and so did all his descendants. Consequently every man became the Adam of his own soul. Some maintained that the evil impulse awakened at the age of nine, others at twelve. Study with practice of the Torah was the sovereign remedy to wear it away …” (Stamm, 1953, TIB vol. X pp. 561)  

…
-19. Deeds of the flesh are revealed [גלויים, GLOoYeeYM], and these are they:
adultery [נאוף, Nee’OoPh] and fornication, impurity [טמאה, TooM’aH], licentiousness [זמה, ZeeMaH], 20. slavery of idols, magic [כשוף KeeShOoPh in my Hebrew New Testamentⁱ ; the Greek here is “φαρμακεια pharmakeia - the use of drugs of any kind, whether wholesome or poisonous...” (Stamm, 1953, TIB vol. X p. 562] hatred, contention [מדון, MahDON], stinginess [צרות עין, TsahROoTh 'ahYeeN, “squint eyed”, Ζηλος Zelos jealousy], anger [כעס, Kah'ahÇ], strife [מריבה, MeReeYBaH], divisions [מחלקות, MahHLahQOTh], factions [כתות, KeeThOTh], 21. envy, drunkenness, profligacy [הוללות,HOLeLOoTh], and as similar.  
Say I to what that I already said: doers of deeds like these will not inherit [את, ’ehTh] kingdom of the Gods.  

“Πορνεια [Porneia] ... fornication ... means ‘prostitution’, but includes sexual vice and unfaithfulness to the marriage vow. The task of the church in creating a conscience on this matter was made doubly difficult by the practice of prostitution in the name of religion. Long before Paul, the prophets had denounced the fertility cults and made prostitution a synonym for idolatry.  
Φαρμακεια [pharmakeia] ... Since witches and sorcerers used drugs, the word came to designate witchcraft, enchantment, sorcery, and magic. The law of Moses prescribed the death penalty for it, and the prophets denounced the Egyptians, Babylonians and Canaanites for practicing it; but this did not prevent the Jews from producing some famous practitioners (Acts 13:6-12; 19:1-20). Next to state-worship, magic was the most dangerous competitor of true religion... claiming to specialize in the impossible, it prostituted faith to superstition, and divorced religion from ethics. ... In Paul’s spiritual arithmetic, faith plus miracles minus love amounted exactly to zero....  
Ερις [Eris] is ... strife ... The spirit of Eris is perfectly described in the words of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland – ‘ambition, distraction, uglification, and derision.’  
The fact that he expected the near return of Christ to end this present age must not be permitted to obscure the equally important fact that he regarded his own life and witness for Christ as an essential element in hastening that event.” (Stamm, 1953, TIB vol. X pp. 561-565)  

-22. In opposition to [לעמת, Le`ooMahTh] this, fruit of spirit:
he is love, happiness, peace, patience, [ארך רוח, ’oRehKh Roo-ahH, “length [of] spirit”] generosity, good heart, faithfulness, 23. modesty [עננה, `ahNahNaH], restraint [רסון, ReeÇOoN] [of] self– upon such [מדות, MeeDOTh] as these there is no instruction further [חלה, HahLaH, sic ["so in cite"] for חלאה, HahL’aH!].  

“Since love is a personal relation it is not a matter of law, and cannot be commanded; and since it is God’s own love growing as his ‘fruit’ in the hearts of men, no one can claim it as a merit for self-salvation. ...  
... in every age ... men have found it hard to see how God could have anything in common with humanity, and Christians have been tempted to make a distinction in kind between God’s love and man’s love. Paul’s authority has been claimed for this dualistic view. Αγαπη [agape’] is set against ερος [eros]. God’s love is said to be αγαπη reaching down to save man by his grace, and ερος man’s self-love aspiring upward to save himself. Paul’s αγαπη is associated with justification by faith, the Greek ερος with salvation by works.... Jerusalem and the Christian faith are made to oppose Athens and human reason, and the conclusion is drawn from the history of Christianity that ερος, man’s self love, has always been a source of corruption of αγαπη, love inspired by God’s grace.  
This interpretation of Christian love is intended as a defense of the doctrine of justification by faith and as a means of securing scriptural support for a dualistic philosophy which aims to protect the transcendence of God against humanism. But to draw such sweeping conclusions from a word study of two Greek nouns, without adequate consideration of other related Greek words and ideas, is to oversimplify. The LXX [The Septuagint, the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible] is full of evidence that this distinction between αγαπη and ερος cannot be maintained on the basis of lexicography. The Greek O.T. [Old Testament] uses both the noun αγαπη and the verb αγαπαω [agapao] to express not only God’s love for men, but man’s love for God and for his fellow man. Although there is no certain evidence that the noun αγαπη was used by nonbiblical writers prior to Christianity, the argument from silence may be invalidated by future discoveries, and it would be precarious to conclude that αγαπη was a specifically Christian word.  
One-sided emphasis on God’s love as ‘unmotivated’ by anything in his creatures tempts men to regard him in the light of an egotistical philanthropist who expects gratitude and praise but neither needs nor desires the mutuality that is inherent in the very nature of love... Without a faith that dares humbly to believe that God needs man’s love ... the Christian’s conception of his high calling to be a kingdom builder is liable to reduce itself to blind obedience to commands given arbitrarily for man’s good while awaiting God’s eschatological fiat. Such a misconception is bound to give aid and comfort to the inclination of human nature – ‘the flesh’ – to divorce religion from ethics.  
Grave moral consequences result from such a view of Christian love. It is associated with a doctrine of predestination that makes God’s choice of the objects of his salvation utterly arbitrary.” (Stamm, 1953, TIB vol. X pp. 565-566)  
“The peace which was the fruit of the Spirit ... could be trusted to keep men's hearts and minds (Phil. 4:7), so that they need have not anxiety about anything. This explains the sublime recklessness of the Christian peacemakers. Being colaborers with God (Rom. 8:28), they were aggressors for peace. They aimed to live at peace with all men (Rom. 12:18), but fear of making enemies did not turn them from their task of producing soundness, wholeness, and harmony in a world of chaos. Their reasonable service was to ... substitute the righteousness and peace and joy of his [God's] kingdom (Rom. 14:17) for the low aims of 'the flesh,' thereby creating the conditions for peace. Their ideal was to live so that quarrels could never get started.  
Christian peace was therefore neither the calm of inactivity nor the mere passive enjoyment of freedom from strife. It was not the imperturbability of the Epicurean, or the apathy of the Stoic, or the contemplation of the mystic. The man who possessed it was not exempt from storm and shipwreck, but by faith he knew that he would arrive in port (Acts 27:21-25), and that all was well for him and his fellow men of faith ... And so, where all else was panic, he played the man.” (Stamm, 1953, TIB vol. X pp. 567)  
“... just as God’s patience was not to be presumed upon, so the Christian’s patience was not a spiritless good nature that would put up with things which it could not escape, or would not prevent. It was patience with a purpose, as in Paul’s pleas to Philemon, which contrasts so sharply with the Stoic motive for self control... Those who bore this fruit ‘turned the world upside down’ (Acts 17:6), and the enemy did not know how to deal with such unheard of patience and persistence.” (Stamm, 1953, TIB vol. X pp. 568)  
“Negatively defined, gentleness is everything that the ‘insolent, haughty, boastful’ men of Rom. 1:30 are not. It is the opposite of υβρις [hubris], the worst of sins in the eyes of the Greeks – deliberate, arrogant defiance of the gods by overstepping the limits set for human beings. In the O.T. such men are called ‘sons of Belial,’ the turbulent, highhanded wicked, who rage against God, kill, rob and enslave the righteous ‘meek’ and take possession of the earth for themselves. The psalms are full of moans and complaints against this rich and powerful majority, who used religion as a means of gain and kept their consciences in flexible subservience to the exigencies of power.” (Stamm, 1953, TIB vol. X pp. 569)  
“’Εγκρατεια [Egkrateia] is temperance (KJV [King James Version]), self-control (RSV [Revised Standard Version]) ....  
The Stoics had helped to prepare the soil out of which this fruit of the Spirit was to grow. They insisted that the sovereign reason could and should control the passions. They believed in a law of nature to which they must conform, and they endeavored to maintain their inner freedom under all circumstances. But their motive was very different from Paul’s, the one being devoted to the glory of the God of grace, the other to the preservation of the sovereign self-will. When the Stoic collided with things beyond his control, his inner independence turned into apathy, practicing the motto ‘When we can’t do what we want, we want to do what we can.’ He took orders from his commander in chief, an impersonal God who had the power of life or death; but he did it in such a way as to make it clear to God and men that he, the Stoic, was after all the captain of his soul. He controlled his anger because he found it a nuisance to be under the power of any passion and in his sight meekness was contemptible weakness...  
Paul exalted humility: ‘It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me’ (2:20). ... His self-discipline was the result of his spiritual experiences, rather than an undertaking to induce them; and his self-control was sane compared with the ascetic excesses of later Christian groups such as the ‘Encratites,’ who forbade marriage and followed fantastic dietary rules.” (Stamm, 1953, TIB vol. X pp. 569-570)  
“Unrepentant sinners have no appetite for the fruit of the Spirit, and when its production and distribution require changes in the political and economic status quo, men ... pass laws against it ... Especially in time of war these traits of Christian character have been forbidden fruit, though given for the healing of the nations. Occasionally the world, exhausted with fighting, and sick of its cynical Epicureanism, has professed a desire for the fruits of the Spirit, but on its own terms without the cross required to produce them.” (Stamm, 1953, TIB X p. 570)  

...
-26. Do not, please [נא, Nah’] be panters of [שואפי, ShO’ahPhaY] honor vain [שוא, ShahVe’], the provokers [המתגרים, HahMeeThGahReeYM] and enviers [ומקנאים, OoMQahN’eeYM] a man in his neighbor.  

“The right stood in terror of the iconoclasm of the left, and the radicals labeled all other men reactionaries ... Both sides professed to love liberty and defend it, but neither was willing to grant it to the other.” (Stamm, 1953, TIB vol. X p. 572)   END NOTE  
ⁱ ספר הבריתות, תורה נביאים כתובים והברית החדשה [ÇehPheR HahBReeYThOTh, ThORaH, NeBeeY’eeYM, KeThOoBeeYM, VeHahBReeYTh HehHahDahShaH, The Book of the Covenants: Instruction, Prophets, Writings; and The New Covenant] The Bible Society in Israel, Jerusalem, Israel, 1991.  

  An Amateur's Journey Through the Bible

Purtle's Internet Lineup for June 8th, 2023 3:59pm
Pics:

• NY yesterday https://twitter.com/KPBRage/status/1666519088439369763
  
• remember https://twitter.com/profmusgrave/status/1666553330103902211
  
• oh elon https://twitter.com/halomancer1/status/1666596261255053314
  
• This how Micheal Jordan see the world https://twitter.com/lyemcfly/status/1666596603791024128
  
• what the hell https://twitter.com/DaveOshry/status/1666727566567432193
  
• Street Fighter 6 Stuff
  
  • HOW TO DISABLE SPEED-UP:- Multi-Menu > Options, - [Game] Tab > Other Settings > Spectator Fast-Forward Settings, - Select "Don't Fast-Forward" https://twitter.com/jaytsu_/status/1666443472927072262
  • One of the reasons I adore this outfit for Marisa is because it reminds me so much of her VA, Allegra Clark crushed the role so hard. https://twitter.com/UltimaShadowX/status/1666605729409638402
  • the sf6 groups are great https://i.redd.it/enj0ij6tdq4b1.jpg
  • ehonda in the skies https://twitter.com/rottytoops/status/1666644602491658240
  • mike ross (dota player) on zangief's Theme https://clips.twitch.tv/SlipperyImpartialSkunkTooSpicy-P4l4GCqztDyIPT5o
  • Combos/setups/tech

Clips:

• This new AI stream is insane LOL https://clips.twitch.tv/RealOutstandingPidgeonFloof-JjMJnOqpkmGLCtkB
  
• reverse boop https://old.reddit.com/AnimalsBeingDerps/comments/143qi4a/reverse_boop/
  
• Average Frog Enthusiast https://old.reddit.com/shitposting/comments/143lqv0/average_frog_enthusiast/
  
• Albania’s Permanent Representative to the UN absolutely wrecks Russia in front of a full room. https://old.reddit.com/ukraine/comments/143ovza/albanias_permanent_representative_to_the_un/
  
• mike ross (dota player) on zangief's Theme https://clips.twitch.tv/SlipperyImpartialSkunkTooSpicy-P4l4GCqztDyIPT5o
  
• Frame Perfect Combos - JP Desk [2:17] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01lahPhZpsQ
  

Videos

• Sonic Superstars trailer [1:43] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3g-62NNoUs

Articles/News/Other

• Lionel Messi to Inter Miami, here we go! The decision has been made and it will be announced by Leo in the next hours InterMiami 🇺🇸 Messi will play in MLS. No more chances for Barcelona/Al Hilal despite trying to make it happen. https://twitter.com/FabrizioRomano/status/1666481587834220546
  
• Twitch tweet - we released new Branded Content Guidelines that impacted your ability to work with sponsors to increase your income from streaming. These guidelines are bad for you and bad for Twitch, and we are removing them immediately. https://twitter.com/twitch/status/1666559226184093696
  
  • HOWEVER - Twitch hasn't walked back forced platform exclusivity for all creators and their terms of service still stipulate that they are EXCLUSIVELY able to control all advertising on your live stream. This apology is smooth words hiding sharp intentions. https://twitter.com/DevinNash/status/1666563595897847810
• I'm realizing a lot of people don't know this. PM2.5 pollution from smoke is the same size pollution you get from auto exhaust and power plants. It's literally deadly. You should close your windows and run an air purifier if you have one, and make sure your family does too. https://twitter.com/KendraWrites/status/1666240912366661632
  
• Pat Robertson died this morning and I just wanted to take the time to say to everyone that this piece of inhuman shit was evil. I hope hell is real because that’s where he fucking belongs. Here’s a thread https://twitter.com/MaceAhWindu/status/1666800932443549696
  
• The Supreme Court's final decision of the day is a 5–4 ruling that AFFIRMS the Voting Rights Act's protection against racial vote dilution! Roberts and Kavanaugh join the liberals. This is a HUGE surprise and a major voting rights victory. https:// https://twitter.com/mjs_DC/status/1666811655609810945
  
• reddit apollo is shutting down, and exposing reddit's lie via a recorded conversation https://old.reddit.com/apolloapp/comments/144f6xm/apollo_will_close_down_on_june_30th_reddits/
  

June 10 Update: 12-14 June reddit boycott. Bonus 24-jun-only listing will be hosted off-reddit soon.

9-Jun Fri

• Shallow Levée 淺堤 (TW indie pop-rock band), lion studios 115b commonwealth drive, $89
• Esplanade: The Nature of Strings - pipa & harp by gildon choo & charmaine teo - day 1, free
• Esplanade Contemporary Dance: Dance at Dusk - The Human Expression (T.H.E) Dance Company - Day 1, outdoor, free
• SSO: Singapore Symphony Orchestra Magic Hour at Raffles Hotel, raffles hotel lawn, free
• Jazz Loft; UNDERGROUND feat. Tim O'Dwyer & Vuk Krakovic (Gypsy-Klezmer-Balkan-Celtic-Jazz), blu jaz L3 at bali ln, $22
• Maduro: BLUES + SOUL = JAZZ ft. Rick Smith, Richard Jackson & Joshua Wan, jazz bar harding rd (dempsey) $65 drink credits
• Cool Cats: Havana Nights with Dairon - Day 2, jw mariott beach rd, jazz-ish bar $30
• Piano Fest: Tengku Irfan - Recital, victoria concert hall, $20
• Piano Fest: Jonathan Biss - Masterclass, $20
• Piano Talk: Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Victoria Concert Hall, $10
• Klassique Musik: CORINNA Somewhere In Time Meets Winter Sonata, esplanade, $50
• Dance: NUNO by Decandance - day 1, esplanade, $25-$33
• Gastrobeats: Tabula (rock), marina bay open space, free
• Drag Event: Baby Queen Movie Screening - SG first drag movie & drag aftershow, projector golden mile, $39

 

• DJ, MODAL 1st Anniversary - Tommy Four Seven (techno) & aya, ems, jehm, haw par villa, $45 door available see IG stories
• DJ, CULTURE & Fuego Night 🔥 - Flyness X MOOD (hiphop rnb pop), luxe club marina square, $36
• DJ, JST BCZ - the Drum n Bass Den with Natty Lou, JAC, Suffix Sans, Davros SWTLKR, project x picturehouse (the cathay dhoby), $22
• DJ, Strange Weather - Kelab Malam ft. Dekadenz (JKT) w/ Aditya Permana, Ridwan, Jonathan Kusuma, club iki at ikigai riverwalk, $27
• DJ, COLDPLAY TRIBUTE Flashback Friday by UnfilteredPresents, hard rock cafe orchard, $28
• DJ, Throwback Night @ Edition Rooftop Bar - dj andrew chow, 182 clemenceau ave (dhoby), free reg
• DJ, The Gentle's Bar & Records Soft Opening - DJ Aloy (80s), 47a neil road
• DJ, Club Hell, Reincarnation in Hell ft mistress kiramoon, 113 telok ayer (mrt), gay club $35 soldout
• DJ, Neil Conversion: Beyonce Night, 43 Neil Road, gay bar-club
• DJ, Offtrack: HOLDTight (FRA), beside hong lim park, music gastro bar
• DJ, Potato Head: Seng Wei (disco funk nite), 36 Keong Saik Rd, bar bistro
• DJ, Cherry: Haili, Mindaniel (vn), ayekay, som j, 133 cecil st, ~$30
• DJ, Club Rich: From Taiwan Night - DJ Ashley Baby x MC KTwo, 114 middle road (bugis)
• DJ, MILK: NO Regrets Hardstyle - ft. 3than, rick savage, 530 North Bridge Rd Bugis Point L3, $30
• DJ, Black Horse: 525 Friday ft Joeru with Highness, Gerlexis (hardstyle, oriental edm, open), ming arcade orchard L7, asian style club
• DJ, Drip: GAWLI Sessions ft Y3llo, Jerry Jay, Fakecake, Past 12, Wuu Kee (hiphop, baile funk, pop), 100 Orchard Rd Concorde Hotel, $32
• DJ, Yang Club: The Scene ft Sherpa, reiko, miggy t, mr boo, clarke quay
• DJ, Prism: POSH - Pop Night ft. DJ Limmy, Tajima, Cherish (10s edm), prism club marina square, $27
• DJ, CE LA VI: ANGELOS (GRE, afro house, deep), marina bay sands hotel tower 3, $38
• DJ, Zouk: MAMBO JAMBO Night with ALDRIN & Hong(synthpop, disco, 80s boogie), zouk clarke quay, ~$45
• DJ, Marquee: SHOWTEK (hardstyle, electro house), marina bay sands, ~$55

 

10-Jun Sat

• SLAM 30th Anniversary Concert, star theatre buona vista, $137
• 魏妙如 Ruth Kueo - Safe Haven: Homecoming concert, lion studios 115B Commonwealth Drive, $74
• Zheng Yi (郑怡) & Zhou Zhi Ping (周治平) - Everlasting Love Ballads 那一年， 那首歌 2, esplanade, $88
• Liyana Fizi (MY singer-songwriter folk bossa) ft Subsonic Eye's Wahidah, projector golden mile tower, $38
• Mathcore to Pop-punk Gig: Brainwashed Vol 3 - Circle Line Kid, Heaven Brought Me Hell, Glassmouth, Aggressive Raisin Cat, Flush, phil's studio parklane shopping ctr L5, $20 doors left
• A Capella: NUS Resonance: Vocal Obsession X: the night we met - Day 1, NUS UCC, preview $20
• Esplanade: Pipa & harp by gildon choo & charmaine teo - last, free
• Esplanade Dance: Dance at Dusk by T.H.E - Day 2, outdoor, free
• Jazz Loft: IRESON Latin Jazz Quartet, blu jaz L3 at bali ln, $22
• Simply Jazz: Mario Serio, Louis Soliano Night, B1 Chijmes, jazz bar
• Frenchie Wine Bar: Jazz Music with Rick Smith & Richard Jackson, 81 tras st (tanjong pagar)
• Maduro: KENCHANA JAZZ with Rachma Quartet ft. Soukma, jazz bar harding rd (dempsey), $65 drink credits
• Cool Cats: Havana Nights with Dairon - Last, jw mariott beach rd, jazz-ish bar $30
• SCO: For Our Dreams: Wang Chenwei’s Composition Showcase (cond. Tsung Yeh), SCO concert hall, $40
• Chinese Orchestra: SCO - For Our Dreams: Wang Chenwei's Composition Showcase 逐梦: 王辰威作品专场音乐会, 7 shenton way, left $40
• Chinese Orchestra: Ding Yi Music Company - 绣艺•留香 Intimate Intricacies (cond. Quek Ling Kiong), SCCC 1 Straits Boulevard, $28
• Piano Fest: Jonathan Biss Recital, victoria concert hall, $20
• Piano Fest: Masterclass by Tengku Irfan, victoria concert hall, $20
• Ballet x Orchestra: Symphony of Dance - SNYO x Singapore Ballet, esplanade, $20
• Ballet: Cheng Youth Ballet Academy - Révérence 2023 - Day 1, NUS UCC, $50
• Talk: Our Voices: Dialogue on Intercultural Music (classical), National Library, free
• Blackbird: Johnny Come Lately (eagles tribute night + surath&rene), gillman barracks music bar
• Hero's Bar: Embers (rock, funk), 69 circular rd boat quay
• Timbre One-North: Strait Up Blues Open Jam, jtc launchpad one-north, $20 per jammer with drink
• Gastrobeats: A-List & Onelove, marina bay open space, free
• Drag: RIOT!, hard rock cafe orchard, $15
• Roller Skate: HiRoller Skate Rink's Disco Night!, Pasir Ris E!Hub

 

• DJ, Weeby EventCAWFEE MIX!! 4th Anniversary - J-Core, Anime-song x Bass ft 3R2 (TW), rainry, rinairi/VITICZ/yungbentai/Vanille Altzy/10SAI/WINDY, Wild Pearl Studio Micro-club 195 Pearl's Hill Terrace (chinatown), $28
• DJ, Goth Event: The Batcave Project: Batastrophe ft. Kabuki Kaiser, Katronyk, Grave, Jono (darkwave post-punk, industrial, ebm), Hexenskye Studios at York Hill (near furama riverfront), $25
• DJ, TRANCE4M International ft Paul Denton (IRE), rob z, club iki @ ikigai riverwalk clarke quay, $45
• DJ, 🏖 FUEGO NIGHT BEACH FIESTA DJs Kfaith & Skilla (Reggaeton, Afrobeats, Hip Hop, pop), sand bar 53 siloso beach walk Sentosa, $30
• DJ & Live Music: Transcend Ego Dissolving Dance Party by Mantravine ft yetpet, tom shellsuit et al., kult kafe the grandstand 200 turf club road (sixth avenue), $20
• DJ Queer Brunch: SUNNY SIDE UP: thugshop x fomohomo pink pride edition - Your queer boozy brunch party , 66 boat quay, $55
• DJ, 🏖 AQUA AFFAIR (kollywood x bollywood ft DJ Prasen, Melwin, Helsing), one farrer hotel, $30
• DJ, Element Hip-hop Edition 2 - ft. DJ Marie, Badgaldidi, suffix_sams, mr gray, misfits bar 18 ciruclar rd (boat quay), $21
• DJ, Afterlife - Pop Queens Crush (y2k era) ft. 3than, Ling, scruple & dahlia rose), prism club marina square, $35
• DJ, Melodic Beats house/techno rooftop party - ft VIOLESC, Kid Barna & PMIGALIC, Club Di Lusso 2 Hastings Rd (rocholittle india), $20
• DJ, Mukke: berlin meets ibiza in singapore - ft. toasty, ultra vibrance (AU), frau meyer, Koppa (DE) - tech house/baeleric?, projector x picturehouse (the cathay dhoby), $22
• DJ, Parliament Bar's Disco Dream nite, 18 teck lim road (outram)
• DJ, The Gentle's Bar & Records Soft Opening - DJ Itch (Asian Boogie, funk, city pop), 47a neil road
• DJ, JinJu Korean Bar's DJ Night Inaugural - DJ Ilhammi Tan (edm), clarke quay
• DJ, LAST SATURDAYS - the late saturday mystery show ft HBN, Jiang, Haili, dm this IG, $10
• DJ, GrooveTop Garage (UKG, UK Funky, hiphop) ft. Head of Vibes, Kenneth Francis & Joshua P, Neon Pigeon 36 Carpenter St clarke quay, $30
• DJ, Manifest - Dirty Techno Series ft DOBé (DE), MINDANIEL (VN), NINO BLINK + JAMIE REACT (UK), yang club clarke quay, $30
• DJ, Kpop Arcade #14 - SVT (SEVENTEEN) NIGHT ft. kafekcj , Majesty Chen Oxley Tower L20, 138 robinson rd, left $50 doors
• DJ, Vertigo 26: Unker 4 - 80s SynthPop / Hair Rock nite, at MINT Museum City Hall, listening bar
• DJ, Moonstone: Ya5th (hiphop rnb), 103 amoy st
• DJ, Potato Head: Shaun Nocturnals + Mutiah Ashnim, 36 Keong Saik Rd, bar bistro
• DJ, Drip: After The Noon (PH) - also top 40s, edm, hard, hiphop rnb, 100 Orchard Rd Concorde Hotel, $32
• DJ, Club Hell, F*!@ Me in Hell, 113 telok ayer (mrt), gay club $35 soldout
• DJ, HQ: Halal Sol, The Weatherman, TMDDJ (house, techno), hq club 66A boat quay, $30
• DJ, CE LA VI: Glam Bash, marina bay sands hotel
• DJ, Black Horse: Miggy T, Highness, Gerlexis (hardstyle, oriental edm, open), ming arcade orchard L7, asian style club
• * DJ, Magic carpet: Bollywood Saturday, 7500 beach rd, $30-$50
• DJ, MILK: Viva La Vida (reggaeton, latin hits, guaracha) ft. relibre, snickaz, dj naddz, 530 North Bridge Rd Bugis Point L3, $30
• DJ, Capital Zouk: Poparazzi presents Caden & Ghetto feat. MC T-Fresh (pop), capital zouk clarke quay (22+ yo), ~$50
• DJ, Tuff: CHRISTIAN SMITH (tech house), tuff club 138 robinson rd cbd, $35
• DJ, Luxe: Inquisitive & Farah Farz, luxe club marina square, $50
• DJ, Zouk: MAKJ (big room edm), zouk clarke quay, ~$45 with 2 drinks

 

11-Jun Sun

• SPECTACLE! - Estelle Fly, Alfred Sun, BINI, BGYO, XOXO, YES MY LOVE - AOR Global showcase Best of S-Pop & P-Pop, esplanade, $35
• Christy Smith - Tribute to FESTAC'77 & Fela Kuti (jazzy afrobeat) - Mosiac Music Series, esplanade, $38
• Tong Yao 桐瑶 - Best of Teresa Teng 邓丽君 Tribute Concert, esplanade, $48
• William Youn Piano Recital - Echoes of Silence (schubert, ravel), SCO 7 shenton way sco conference hall, $25
• Esplanade: Flamenco Meets Jazz Music - amanda lee x dancer Tania Goh, free
• Esplanade: Beautiful Sundays: Sparkswind Ensemble Relaxed Concert, free reg limited
• Esplanade Contemporary Dance: T.H.E Dance Company - Last, outdoor, free
• Piano Fest: Pierre-Laurent Aimard Recital, victoria concert hall, $20
• A Capella: NUS Resonance: Vocal Obsession X: the night we met - Day 1, NUS UCC, preview $20
• Blu Jaz: New Stream Brass Band (new orleans style), blu jaz at bali ln, $22 soldout
• Talk: SCCC's TV Festival 生命传承 - 华彩电视节 ft Bryan Wong, Chen Liping, Marcus Chin, Low Wee Liang, Cheong Yan Peng, Gao Mei Gui, Ayden Sng, 1 Straits Boulevard, free reg
• Standup Comedy: Aravind SA's We Need to Talk, Alliance Française Theatre (newton), $65
• Ballet: Cheng Youth Ballet Academy - Révérence 2023 - Last, NUS UCC, $50
• Dance: Authentic Flamenco - Paula Rodríguez (last), Kewalram Chanrai Arts Centre (Robertson Quay), $65
• Blackbird: Cat Mountain Kings - blues and rock, also jack and rai, raw earth , gillman barracks music bar
• DJ, Foxtail at The Back Room - ft DJ Mari, Haili, Tasha, 36 club street, cocktail bar free reg
• * DJ, 🏖️ Pool Party Drip V8: ft. DJ shai, k faith, Knrck, 1 altitude coast outpost hotel sentosa, $15

 

12-Jun Mon

• Cui Xia 萃霞 aka Felinda Wong - 40 Years of Golden Hits, esplanade, ~$15
• Esplanade: After Tea Date with Ywenna Quinn (shanghai vocal jazz), free
• Esplanade Live Visual Art x Classical: Birds of Fantasy - Artist Jacky Mak x David Loke, Charmaine Teo, Dingchao Huang - Day 1, free
• Scary Psychedelic Night at The Fluxus House - Sakiko Performance Art x Cruise Chen, 23 teo hong road (outram/keong saik), also an exhibition till june 30, free

 

13-Jun Tue

• Esplanade Live Visual Art x Classical: Birds of Fantasy - Artist Jacky Mak x David Loke, Charmaine Teo, Dingchao Huang - Last, free
• SIMPLY JAZZ: Ireson (Latin Jazz sextet), chijmes b1 Jazz Bar
• The Purple Symphony Annual Concert 2023 Day 1, 7 shenton way sco conference hall, $20
• Improv Storytelling: What's Your Story SLAM: Summer, projector golden mile tower, $40

 

14-Jun Wed

• Lee Seung Gi, resorts world sentosa, $168
• Nobuyuki Tsujii Returns to Singapore (pianist), Esplanade, $48
• Chinese Theatre: Cao Yu's Sunrise by Jin Xing Theatre Shanghai & Mars Drama - Day 1, esplanade, $88
• Esplanade Theatre/Visual/Ambient: Transit 步: The Performance, free
• Cool Cats Jazz: The Blues: with Skunk Jive, jw mariott beach rd (esplanade), jazz-ish bar $30
• Candlelight: Best of Hans Zimmer by vocalise string quartet, the arts house (city hall), left $52
• Blackbird: Rockweller (hard rock), gillman barracks live music bar
• Standup comedy: Jinx Yeo at Mo's Grill & Bar West Coast, opposite haw par villa MRT, $22
• Punk History TouDialogue: POST PUNK with Shaiful Risan, 345 geyland rd Pavilion Square, $15-$25 with drink
• DJ, Prism: Ladies First with tarot Cards and Kandi Beads, prism pan pacific, femme free with timing - men $30
• DJ, Offtrack: Nightcap with DJ ITCH (asian boogie, funk, citypop), beside hong lim park, music gastro bar
• DJ, Potato Head: DJ Yenn (hiphop rnb nite), 36 Keong Saik Rd, bar bistro

 

15-Jun Thu

• The Purple Symphony Annual Concert 2023- Last, 7 shenton way sco conference hall, $20
• Esplanade Rap x Chinese Classical x Text?: Axel Brizzy, Calista Liaw, Jeremy Wong, Wovensound, Khalif Rawi - The Art of War 2.0 - Day 1, free
• Chinese Theatre: Sunrise - Day 2, esplanade, $88
• Cool Cats Jazz: Alina Ramirez plays Latin Jazz, jw mariott beach rd (esplanade), jazz-ish bar $30
• Candlelight: Vivaldi's Four Seasons - by Vocalise string quartet, the arts house city hall, $35
• DJ, CLUB RICH: DJ Dash, Lionnexus & a mystery DJ - EURO RETURN 2, 114 middle road (bugis)
• DJ, Offtrack: Daryl Knows, beside hong lim park, music gastro bar

 

16-Jun Fri

• SUGA of BTS Agust D - Day 1, indoor stadium, $168 soldout
• 伍佰 WU BAI AND CHINA BLUE ROCK STAR 2023 巡迴演唱会 - Day 1, resorts world sentosa, $78
• Metal/Core/HC Gig: That Incredble Gig in JUNE ft. TARIOT, Aggressive Raisin Cat, Destiny, Overthrown, Tailgates, Shy Guys, centre 42 waterloo st (bras basah), $16
• Esplanade: Cheats (PH), outdoor, free
• Esplanade: Shirly Temple (indie-rock, 60s psych pop), outdoor, free
• Esplanade Rap x Chinese Chamber Classical x Text?: Axel Brizzy, Calista Liaw, Jeremy Wong, Wovensound, Khalif Rawi - The Art of War 2.0 - Last, free
• Chamber: More Than Music Trio - Notes of Passion (dvorak, strauss, sibelius, tartini) - day 1, esplanade, $20-$30
• Jazz Loft: Sean Hong Wei Quartet (tenor sax lead). blu jaz L3 at bali ln, $22
• Cool Cats: Nikki Muller, also on 18 Jun, jw mariott beach rd (esplanade), jazz-ish bar $40
• Mandopop Chinese Opera: Who Says It First 戏谁先说 by Nam Hwa Opera - Day 1, 1 straits boulevard, preview, $28
• Chinese Theatre: Sunrise by Jin Xing Theatre Shanghai - Last, esplanade, $88
• Candlelight: A Tribute to ABBA - VOX string quartet, the arts house city hall, $35
• Drag Event: Baby Queen Movie Screening - SG drag movie & drag aftershow, projector golden mile, $39
• Gegarfest: Gerhana Skacinta (ska/rocksteady/reggae), Ryzall Noh, Caliph Buskers, singapore expo, free
• Gastrobeats: Shirlyn + The UnXpected (rock), marina bay open space, free

 

• DJ, NORTH EAST SOCIAL CLUB x Thugshop: Soul Mass Transit System (UK garage, bassline) ft mza, lemak, helios, tuff club 138 robinson rd cbd, $37
• DJ, HOUSEWRK Presents: SWEDISH HOUSE MAFIA tribute, projector x picturehouse (the cathay), $22 (SHM10 code discount)
• DJ, CIEL X Therapy Room : Open Decks DJ ft. Jas, Daya, Vincent, Mari, BenBen, edition rooftop bar dhoby ghaut (82 clemenceau ave), $22
• DJ, Thugshop XXL Series feat. PIG&DAN (techno, progressive), MDLR 62 cecil street (telok ayer), $40
• DJ, Bailar - Agitar ft piratheeb, kelibre, dj snickaz, djsan, naddz (hiphop reggaeton latinhouse), hard rock cafe orchard, ~$20 not clear
• DJ, AfroDesi Night at Majesty Chen, Oxley Tower L20, 138 robinson rd, $25
• DJ, Phuture Zouk: TRANSFIX invites TRANCE4M by Last One Standing - DJ Tony Hang, Daniel Ang and Joshen, zouk clarke quay
• DJ, Blu Jaz: Back to the 90s with DJ Jag x Big, blu jaz at bali ln, $11
• DJ, Offtrack: Anwar, beside hong lim park, music gastro bar
• DJ, Potato Head: The Beat Usagi + Nino Blink (disco/funk), 36 Keong Saik Rd, bar bistro
• DJ, Yang Club: Kaylova, reiko & kidd royale ft mc hund, clarke quay
• DJ, HQ: GONNO (jp house, techno, ambient). headquarters club 66A boat quay, $37
• DJ, Marquee: Revolution - DJ Zippy's 'Future Rave' night, marina bay sands $20
• DJ, CE LA VI: FLOYD LAVINE (ZA afro house), kenneth f, marina bay sands hotel, $38

 

17-Jun Sat

• CLANG: 克朗! CHINESE Indie Music Fest - ft 麋先生 MIXER, 9m88, 旺福 WONFU, 守夜人 NIGHT KEEPERS, 海豚刑警 IRUKA PORISU, 甜约翰 Sweet John, 温室杂草 Easy Weeds, pasir panjang power stn, $120
• 伍佰 WU BAI AND CHINA BLUE ROCK STAR 2023 巡迴演唱会 - Last Day, resorts world sentosa, $78
• SUGA of BTS Agust D - Day 2, indoor stadium, $168 soldout
• Dewi Persik - Dangdut Mania ft Rina Nose and Nabila Maharani (INA), Rosalina Musa (SG), star theatre buona vista, $88
• Indie Rock Gig: TURN IT UP Vol II Rabak Records - 8forty5 EP Launch, KYYRA, Nosedive, feelslikeyou, freshpoutine, see link, $20 or doors
• Indie Rock Gig: Pink Cloud Summer - Bellied Star, MRTNS, FADER, Line Drive, Late Culture, see link, $25 soldout
• Esplanade: Door Plant (THA dream-pop/indie-surf band), outdoor, free
• Esplanade: Oh, Flamingo! (PH indie rock), outdoor, free
• Esplanade: ChambeElectronic: In The Living Room ft. Miao Kaiwen, Frances Lee, Chow Jun Yan, free
• Chamber: More Than Music Trio - Notes of Passion (dvorak, strauss, sibelius, tartini) - last, esplanade, $20-$30
• Carnatic Violin Ensemble: Indian Performing Arts Convention 2023: Strings of Gold ft Embar S. Kannan - with Apsaras Arts Dance Co., esplanade, $22 to $35
• SSO Organ: Tom Scott's The Composer and the Mouse + The Carnival of the Animals (family friendly), victoria concert hall, $20
• Jazz Loft: Amanda Lee Swingtet, blu jaz L3 at bali ln, $22
• Mandopop Chinese Opera: Who Says It First 戏谁先说 by Nam Hwa Opera (SCCC Cultural Extravanganza)Last, 1 straits boulevard, $28
• Standup Comedy: Fakkah Fuzz (M18), esplanade, $55
• Kids Ballet: Live Your Story by JE Dance Academy, NUS UCC, $28
• Beatbox Battle: Escension Beatbox Battle by 555 Beatbox, 42 waterloo st (bras basah), $15
• Our Tampines Hub: Let's Rock (retro hits from 60s-70s), tampines, free reg
• Anime Event: MUSIC PROJECT & IDOL Only Event by iFest SG - Day 1, peninsula excelsior hotel ballroom, tics $30
• Soundbath: Mantravine's Soundbath, altered states at kallang riverside park
• Drag/Ballroom: Pink Kiki Ball 2.0 by vogue in progress, with dj bobby pingpongpanda, c2ac, MDLR 62 cecil street (telok ayer), $37 soldout, door available
• Drag Event: Yours Queerly's Queerly Affair 2023, 102 pasir panjang rd, $25
• Prohibited Projects: Distro Day Out - punk/subculture hangout , the substation alley 45 armenian street
• Gegarfest: Khai Bahar, jay jay, nana karia, singapore expo, free

 

• DJ, DJ Jovynn for Cross Border by Party Lab x Diamondcosg, prism club marina square, $30
• DJ, 🏖 Party Social's Pool Party - Caribbean Vibes ft DaBishop OnDMix, DJ Cheri, Afro Junior (dancehall, reggaeton, afrobeats hiphop), grand park city hall, ~$20
• DJ, Bussy Temple: Father's Womb (Queer NB Positive Rave) - Dance Divine (DE), Sayang (UK-MY), Halalbutch, Soyf§g, Howrøng, 72-13 Mohamed Sultan Road (robertson quay), $27
• DJ, Stickies x What You Know Dance Battle - Block Party (hiphoppy), Stickies 11 Keng Cheow St (clarke quay), $25 doodm
• DJ, 4xF Uncharted - ft. Vaibs, pure love, Daya, Cosmo Carbon, Labraatz, Kayh (housey), stratos rooftop bar at national design centre (bugis), $27
• DJ, CULTURE Presents Back 2 Two Thousands, luxe club marina square, $32
• DJ, Dance Kartel - Gloo, The Kongsee 10 Gemmill Ln, $20
• DJ, Manifest - Jungle Beats Afrohouse + Tribal Tech - ft Cyril Labaude, Stephen Day, Joshua P, Mandala Club 31 Bukit Pasoh, $30
• DJ, EATMEPOPTART: Electric Feel - If You Leave ft. weelikeme, fantastic dinosaur (80s s disco, pop, funk, new wave), projector x picturehouse (the cathay dhoby), $20
• DJ, Yang Club: Asian Nation ft Noizefaktor (my), sherpa, reiko, mc hund, clarke quay
• DJ, Majesty Chen: Even Up Booze & Schmooze Mixer, Oxley Tower L20, 138 robinson rd, $49
• DJ, KPO: PET SHOP BOYS Tribute Night - admirably with DJ Kenneth Siew, beside orchard central (somerset)
• DJ, Offtrack: Archie (ID), bongomann & daryl knows, beside hong lim park, music gastro bar
• DJ, Tuff: Thugshop x Art Beyond Presents - BERLIN SESSIONS with MATCHY (melodic techno & house), 138 robinson rd cbd, $37
• DJ, HQ: VOISKI (techno, leans ambient), headquarters club 66A boat quay, $37
• DJ, Capital Zouk: Total Recall with Caden & Rattle (90s - 00s), capital zouk clarke quay (22+), $75
• DJ, Zouk: Charged with Hong & Ghetto (bass night), zouk clarke quay, ~$45 with 2 drinks
• DJ, Marquee: Slushii (bass, dubstep/trap), marina bay sands,

 

18-Jun Sun

• SUGA of BTS Agust D - Last, indoor stadium, $168 soldout
• ITCHYWORMS (PH rock), timbre one-north, $50
• Jesslyn 陈佩贤 x YU JIA TSENG 曾昱嘉 - Heartfelt Concert 走心音乐会4, esplanade, $88
• Esplanade: monda(e) - instrumental rock/post, outdoor, free
• Esplanade: INTERMISSION - post-punk, outdoor, free
• Esplanade AI Theatre: AI x Improv Theatre, esplanade, free
• Carnatic Fusion Jazz/pop: Niranjan Pandian & NP Collective for IPAC - Samavaya - A Euphonic Co-existence, esplanade, $22-$35
• Classical Harp x Audio-Visual: The Four Seasons Reimagined By The Harp Quarterly x Avik Chari x Lynette Quek, national library drama center, $18-$28
• Candlelight: A Tribute to Joe Hisaishi - Candlelight Orchestra, victoria concert hall, left $84
• Live Reggae/Rocksteady/DJ: Sunday Live Reggae with Reggae Remedy ft Izaar, DJ Rumshot, Thirty Six Brewlab 36 Club Street (boat quay)
• Gegarfest: Insomniacks, Rahila, singapore expo

 

• Chinese Opera: One Opera Singapore 戏曲一家亲 - Cantonese, Hainan Qiong, Hubei Huangmei, Hokkkien, & Teochew Opera (SCCC Cultural Extravaganza), SCCC auditorium, $10 soldout
• Ballet: DuCon Singapore Gala ft Kimin Kim and May Nagahisa of Mariinsky Theatre, SOTA dhoby ghaut,$60
• Avant Dance: PheNoumenon by T.H.E Dance Company (last), esplanade, $28-$40
• Soundbath: Haw Par Chill-Lah: Hypno Sense & Sound Bathing, haw par villa, $60 (also on 17/sat)
• Anime Event: MUSIC PROJECT & IDOL Only Event by iFest SG - Last Day, peninsula excelsior hotel ballroom, tics $30
• DJ, KAMPONG BOOGIE x Potato Head: Straight outta Kampong (hip hoppy, mixed genres, rnb funky), 36 Keong Saik Rd, bar bistro tickets at door

 

19-Jun Mon

• Esplanade: Meet the East and West: Hindustani classical sitar and Western guitar - ft Guru Susanta Chowdhury & Isuru, free
• Avant Dance: Wild Flower by Jin Xing Dance Theatre Shanghai - Day 1, esplanade, $58
• Candlelight: A Tribute to Jay Chou - by Celeste Syn 冼佩瑾, chijmes city hall, $35

 

20-Jun Tue

• Esplanade: Meet the East and West: Hindustani classical sitar and Western guitar - ft Guru Susanta Chowdhury & Isuru, free
• Classical Art Song: The 11th Singapore Lieder Festival - Arnold Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire , esplanade, $15-$22
• Candlelight: A Tribute to Coldplay - pianist Sueli Tang, chijmes hall city hall, $48
• Avant Dance: Wild Flower by Jin Xing Dance Theatre Shanghai - Last, esplanade, $58

 

21-Jun Wed

• AI Theatre: AI x Improv Theatre, Esplanade, free
• Cool Cats Jazz: The Jazz Saxophone: with Sean Hong Wei, jw mariott beach rd (esplanade), jazz-ish bar $30
• Candlelight: Magical Movie Soundtracks - by pianist Gabriel Hoe, chijmes city hall, $35
• DJ, Potato Head: Prav of .wavy (hiphop rnb), 36 Keong Saik Rd, bar bistro

 

22-Jun Thu

• Kruelty (JP hardcore), Krusty (MY), Deceased & KillonSight, phil's studio at parklane shopping centre dhoby L5, $35 now
• Esplanade Multidisciplinary Poetry, music, theatre: Between Ground and Sky, exploring Shirley Geok-lin Lim & Tan Tiag Yi , free
• Jazz Loft: HORNS ARE UNIQUE (HAU) ft Benoit Trouwaert, Andreas Marinello, Rick Smith, blu jaz L3 at bali ln, $22
• Cool Cats Jazz: Beautiful Bossanova with Natasha Oong, jw mariott beach rd (esplanade), jazz-ish bar $30
• SIAO CHAR BORS COMEDY: The Big Gay Variety Show, projector golden mile tower, $28
• Voices of Singapore Men's Audition, capitol theatre
• BEERFEST ASIA, Open Carpark beside Kallang Leisure Park
• DJ, Offtrack: Nez Senja, beside hong lim park, music gastro bar
• DJ, Tipsy Penguin turns 5! Tipsy Slumber Party ft. DJ Mad Jester & Emo Nemo + Bolster Fight Championship, NTUC Income Building Tampines Central

 

Ongoing maybe not music

• Till 25 June Gastrobeats and iLight Singapore, free
• Exhibition: Naruto TV 20th Anniversary Exhibition, marina square, $25, everyday
• Theatre till 18 Jul: Wild Rice's Hotel, funan city hall, $70 for 2 connected shows, every other day
• Theatre till 18 jun: Pangdemonium's Doubt - A Parable, esplanade, ~$60, everyday
• Avant Dance 15-18 Jun: PheNoumenon by T.H.E Dance Company, esplanade, $28-$40
• Ballet Kid-friendly 15-18 jun: Singapore Ballet - Peter & Blue's Birthday Party, school of the arts dhoby ghaut, $35
• Theatre 15-18 Jun: Wild Rice's Singapore Youth Theatre - A Double Bill: Every Student is A Good Student/ In My Head, funan, ~$30 soldout
• Dance till 11 Jun: Authentic Flamenco - Paula Rodríguez, Kewalram Chanrai Arts Centre (Robertson Quay/Fort Canning), everyday, $65
• Indian Arts Workshops 18-24 jun: Indian Performing Arts Convention 2023 Workshops - FB, and IG
• Kid Friendly 9-25 jun: Esplanade: Discovering the Harp! with Laura Peh, only on fri-weekends, free
• Exhibit 13-18 jun: Esplanade: Transit 步: The Installation, free
• * exhibit till 18 jun “Conundrum Chamber”, by three artists: BODHI, Jayalakshmi, and Yang Han Wen

It was a fine day in May and we pulled up and talked about some books. We covered Blitz by Daniel O'Malley and, because it was recently Mother's Day, I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy. And we spent way more time on them than we usually do, so we must have liked them. Quite a few people read the Blitz. Incorrigible_muffin had previously covered it, but was disappointed in the a payoff, and said the two story lines didn't really resolve. Aurora_the_Off-White said that she liked it, but agreed that it wasn't on the same level as the first two.
She said that Blitz could have a strong philosophical payoff even if the storylines didn't have an strong resolution. If someone read Blitz by itself without the first two novels, they might enjoy it more. Carbonjen thought there was a lot to like about the writer, saying he writes women well. Muffin said there were a lot of interesting possibilities in the world he created. The author covers the British and American versions of supernatural bureaus, but there were many of these throughout the world.
We talked about the story's structure. The main character's lost memory lets the author explain the supernatural elements in detail and do the worldbuilding without any distracting exposition. Munsontime had a thought, asking if it was technically the same person in the body or a completely new personality that developed after the wiped memory. If a personality is a product of the experiences and memories the person accumulates, then it's probably a different person.
Munson blitzed through the first two and is currently on the third. He was surprised at the spelling of the main character's name, Myfanwy Thomas, having listened to the audiobook. I was surprised and a little disappointed that the pronunciation is just "Miffany". Princess_MoNaanKay stopped by to return the first book int the The Checquy Files, The Rook that I had lent out. I thought she was returning it specifically because we were reading The Blitz, but she said she's decided to see other bookclubs. So we just need to move on and live our best bookclub life and hope she finds happiness.
Jennette McCurdy was apparently in a show called iCarly. I had never seen it or heard of it, so I think I missed a lot of context from the book. Everyone else in our group really liked the book - finding it insightful and funny. Most people agreed that the things the author's mom did stood out, and so did the actions of Dan Schneider, who was the creator of iCarly. But she didn't go into that in depth. Muffin said the system that pipelines kids into the entertainment business is fundamentally responsible for many of these abusive situations, and the actions of the mom are a product of that. Aurora thought that the author used humor to cope with loss and grief.
We talked about long wait times for getting books from the library. Carbonjen actually bought Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica because she was not optimistic about it becoming available through the library. She didn't have as many spicy romance recommendations as last time, but did have a couple. She thought Pestilence by Laura Thalassa was good and a fun concept. It's the first of The Four Horsemen series; a romance involving the four horseman of the apocalypse.
She liked The Siren a lot less. I think this was the one by Kiera Cass. Apparently the characters said the word "fishcunt" too many times and it became grating. She also didn't like how a lot of the characters in A Court of Thorns and Roses were developed in the story. She mentioned Brutal Prince only to say it was brutally bad, and is reading Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo and liking. And that makes Muffin happy.
Sassypapaya recently read Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr, which is very popular around these parts. I think she said she read The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller, and may have had good things to say about Lightlark by Alex Aster, or that may have been someone else. She was too far away from me for me to follow the conversation from that side of the circle very well. She asked about Verity by Colleen Hoover and Muffin said that Colleen Hoover was a step up from Stephanie Meyer.
Munson and his friends have a rule for their bookclub: you can't use the term "Beautiful Prose". But if he was forced to provide an example of beautiful prose, then he might use it when talking about Another Country by James Baldwin. He described it as "Kerouacky" - intimate and sexual especially for 1961. It's about the Jazz scene in NY in the 60s, with themes of race, gender, and sexual orientation in its cultural context. A slice of life story in the gay, black, jazz scene in New York. The Trial of Henry Kissinger by Christopher Hitchens is next for his other bookclub, Apparently Hank is bumping up against age 100. It was estimated that his cold-blooded policy directives are responsible for 4 or 5 million deaths. We talked briefly about Red Rising by Pierce Brown, which was the biggest book in the world for a minute. Munson said that, as a sci fi guy, he had already read many similar stories before and it just wasn't a big deal for him.
Assaulty recently read American War by Omar Al Akkad, and talked about how people end up on different sides of a conflict. Many times people don't have a choice about which side they end up on, and American War addresses some of these themes. She asked for more like this book. Asterion7 suggested Paolo Bacigulupi works such as The Water Knife and Shipbreaker, which are near future works with major themes of climate catastrophe. For this kind of thing I always recommend Afterwar by Lilith Saintcrow. Saintcrow a romance writer and I was really surprised by this book. It's gritty and hard, and a little spicy but not romantic.
Assaulty also read Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin and likes reading about creative partnerships like this. She told us about Nevada by Imogen Binnie, which is one of the inspirations for Detransition Baby by Torrey Peters; This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone; and The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks, the first book of the Night Angel trilogy.
Muffin told us about The House of Eve by Sadeqa Johnson, the next book after the The Yellow Wife, which features Lumpkin's Jail. The House of Eve takes place in DC and Philly and ties in with the events of the first boo., The author will be giving a talk on June 8th at the Library of Virginia, and Muffin wanted to read this before seeing the author.

Please join us for a talk by award-winning author Sadeqa Johnson on her new novel, The House of Eve, the follow-up to her book Yellow Wife, which won the Library’s 2022 People’s Choice Award for Fiction. In this moving work of historical fiction set in 1950s Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., the stories of two women collide in unexpected ways as they both make decisions that shape the trajectory of their lives. The House of Eve was an instant New York Times best seller and was selected by Reese’s Book Club as the February 2023 pick. A book signing will follow the talk.
The Carole Weinstein Author Series supports the literary arts by bringing both new and well-known authors to the Library of Virginia through online or in-person events. Free and open to the public, the series focuses on Virginia.

Coconut read the second book in the Great Cities series by N.K. Jemisin called the The World We Make. Asterion7 picked up Trust by Herman Diaz, a Pulitzer prize winner. He also read We Are All the Same in the Dark by Julia Heaberlin and liked it enough to finish it, but not much more than that.
assaulty is looking for a gateway to Sci Fi, and asked about the distinction between Sci Fi and Fantasy. However many people there are in the room, that's the number of different opinions you're likely to hear at any given time. Some say it's magic versus technology. If Sci Fi doesn't have magic, what about Star Wars and force lightning from those Sith guys? So maybe Star Wars is actually Fantasy and Star Trek is Sci Fi. But what about wormholes and different dimensions and the super annoying character Q? It's a subject worth exploring, but there might not be an answer. To me those are just two different themes with strong aesthetic styling.
Assaulty may have read Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler or it might have just been recommended to her because she is interested in Sci Fi and liked The American War. Skyvrbyvr loved Octavia Butler's Kindred giving it 5 stars. She says it's not just beautiful prose: she respects that Butler is not afraid to create gruff and real people - characters that are somewhat unlikable but somehow still relatable.
Aurora had a huge list of completions and I have no idea if these are all hers or not. But this month she read a bunch of first books across several series. I think heard Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo; Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn by Tad Williams the first of the The Dragonbone Chair series (I think she deemed it meh); Elantris by Brandon Sanderson also caught a meh; and Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch, the first of the Gentleman Bastards series.
The last one generated a lot of interest as a lot of us have read it and really liked it. Like The Checquy Files, the first book is fantastic and there are diminishing returns after that, though I haven't read the last two: The Republic of Thieves and The Thorn of Emberlain. Munson says that if you read Sanderson, then The Stormlight Archive series is the way to go. Aurora also has Circe by Madeline Miller on hold at the library.
We talked about a few books about music, I think all of these are from Munson, including Meet Me in the Bathroom by Lizzy Goodman: Rebirth and Rock and Roll in New York City 2001-2011; Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain; and Sing Backwards and Weep, a memoir by the singer Mark Lanegan. We also talked a little about Nardwuar, a music interviewer who is amazingly in-depth but often described as offputting.
Munson says he can sometimes be invasive and not enjoyable but agrees that he is talented. Nardwuar is likely autistic and we were informed that "neurospicy" is no longer acceptable. Obviously, I'm cool with someone else deciding what they find offensive and following their recommendations, but I wish we had something to pivot to. We talked about how the line between normies and nerurodivergents can be pretty thin and while gatekeeping mental health can be frustrating, it's also infuriating that people resist any accommodation for neurodivergent people.
I knocked off a few books, including On a Night of A Thousand Stars by Andrea Yaryura Clark; Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata, and Gold Fame Citrus by Claire Vaye Watkins. The last was comparable to Station Eleven in terms of quality and themes. The story wasn't as good, but the prose was pretty exceptional. The author was able to do some things I hadn't seen before. I'm reading The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty, The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin, and listening to a couple courses about Human Pre History, First Civilizations, and pre-Alexandrian Empires.
Apparently George RR Martin joined the writer's strike and is not writing anything, not that you could really tell. We talked about the 8th season of Game of Thrones, and how those two producers just ruined at least hundreds of millions of dollars in sales of DVDs, downloads, books, and comics. One of the most disastrous effects of incompetence on a brand I've ever seen.
We talked about Patrick Rothfus's Name of the Wind and how the main character was a bit of a Mary Sue, but the narrator might have intentionally been portrayed as unreliable. Someone brought up Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits by Laila Lalami, and we added The Moor's Account as August's non-dorky read. Some of the guys don't want to me call it a Muggle book anymore, and would rather call it a regular book. Maybe we need to keep looking for the right term.
We talked about books with actual paper pages versus reading on a device or listening to audiobooks. Carbonjen says she prefers the Kindle Paperweight because her dogs chews up actual books. I read paper, epub, and listen in about equal proportions. I was listening to Dodge, or Fall in Hell and was not liking it, but started liking it better when I flipped to the epub version. Munson says he uses safari reader on his laptop and will set it to autoscroll. We also compared strategies for downsizing our libraries. Very few people keep every book they buy anymore, especially if you have moved your collection a couple times.
We talked about the St. James Muse, trails on the James, the resurgence in skating, and art classes at the VMFA and Visual Arts Studio. We also talked about all the pedestrians being hit by cars and how squaring street corners can slow cars down. Right now corners are rounded, encouraging cars to take them at speed. And how dash cams are an essential equipment for cars now. Chop Suey is now Shelf Life and Wonton is now "Wonny". But has retired and been replaced by two new cats, presumably who are earning much lower, entry-level wages.
Someone brought up BookTalk.org, saying they mostly got ass recommendations out of it. I've used https://www.whatshouldireadnext.com and it isn't so bad, but really isn't any better than Goodreads. I've used Shepherd a couple of times, which can be really good if you're looking for exactly the type of book that has been covered in one of their lists, but it seems to only accept general categories.
Coming Up on June 18

• Fall; Or, Dodge in Hell
• or some other Neal Stephenson book

Coming Up on July 23

• Just pick a book in your To Be Read pile and tell us about it. We were lamenting the large backlog that each of each is carrying around and decided to just knock some of them out.

Coming Up on August 20

• The God of Endings by Jacqueline Holland
• The Moor's Account by Laila Lalami

With the draft approaching quickly, I wanted to throw out my final personal big board. I will include notes for prospects I am especially high or low on and my lottery grades.
Disclaimer: This is going to be a lengthy post; notes for my solidified lottery grades are longer than those outside of it.
-Tier 1: Upper Echelon-
1- Victor Wembanyama

• At 7'4 with his level of skill, this is a prospect who can truly be whatever he wants to be if he can buy into the Spurs system and stay healthy. Has a mechanically sound stroke that has shown promise from distance, possesses strong touch around the basket, a budding handle, and obviously can throw down dunks whenever he gets position inside. Will likely struggle initially against more physical interior defense. Nimble enough to clear the lane for his teammates driving opportunities. Will be a nightmare in the dunkers spot.
• Defensive game breaker. Some unreal blocks, can switch 1-5 and while not the best lateral mover from a defensive stance, will stay in front of guards a good amount of the time due to the sheer amount of space he takes up. Solid on the glass but leaves something to be desired in this area- I believe he can and will gain weight (has a better frame than guys like Chet) and rapidly improve establishing position in the paint on both ends as he does.
• I don't think his ceiling will be reached as the number one option in an offense or a primary playmaker like Jokic, despite having the ability to create shots and handle the ball I think asking him to do it consistently would be a disservice to his strengths. Wembanyama will excel as a generational defender and off ball offensive player, able to stretch the floor, play in the post, function as an unreal lob threat, and crash the boards. The Spurs are perfect for him and I am so excited to see him go to an organization that is unlikely to ask him to do too much. High floor in the Kristaps Porzingis mold, ceiling is incomparable.

2- Scoot Henderson

• High level athlete at point who has excelled against some of the best competition available for a prospect since age 17. Solid mid range game and a plus handle; while the driving and finishing ability draws eyes, I think his ability to get to his spots consistently is what really separates him from a lot of the other guard prospects in this class. Good pace which I am a sucker for, excels at changing speeds and has the best first step in this class.
• Head is constantly up- makes crisp passes moving downhill, out of the pick and roll. Plus playmaker and the ball handling accentuates this.
• Has the tools to be a plus defender.
• Highest floor at guard available, I would be shocked if Scoot is never a quality NBA starter. Reaching his ceiling will depend on how his shot selection, decision making, and 3 point stroke progress.
• Comparison(s): Markelle Fultz, De'Aaron Fox

3- Brandon Miller

• Assassin from distance at 6'9 with a functional handle and shot creation skillset. Quick release off the catch and seems to always be in the right position on the perimeter. Plus rebounder and is a more physical player than he is given credit for.
• Strong defender who can guard 1-4, good length and displays strong recoveries. Decent shot blocker. Never saw him singled out in a great defensive unit for Alabama.
• Very loose handle, slow shot of the dribble, will limit his effectiveness in isolation early in his career. Think he will be better suited attacking 1on1 via the triple threat and face-ups than off the dribble. Has some difficulty finishing at the cup when attacking downhill- showed flashes of a guy who can glide to the rim and kiss it off the glass, but is easily bothered by contact and seems to toss the ball up and pray a lot more than I'd like to see.
• Will take him some time to become a number 1 option in an offense or even a volume scorer, but should be an excellent role player early. Can see a number of outcomes for Miller ranging from bench piece to primary offensive weapon, but think there is a place for a guy with this skillset in any rotation.
• Comparison(s): Paul Pierce, Khris Middleton

-Tier 2: Solid Lottery Grades-
4- Taylor Hendricks

• A tall 6'9 with serious length, Hendricks possesses the plus athleticism, natural shot-blocking ability and defensive versatility to anchor an NBA defense. Can guard 2-5 effectively and is an excellent interior presence- can handle drivers head on and avoid fouling or swallow a shot a the help defender. Would like to see him be in better position more consistently, but this will come with time. Can struggle to stay in front of quicker guards. High floor on the defensive end.
• Lob threat and floor spacer at UCF, I have questions about the inconsistent mechanics but honestly believe shooting 40% from deep without a consistent release says a lot more good than bad. 78% free throw shooter backs up projection as a strong floor spacer.
• Somewhat of a black hole on offense. Handle is loose and inconsistent, but there is potential there. Flashes of shooting off the dribble. Well rounded and versatile prospect with a ton of upside.
• Comparison(s): Robert Covington with bounce, Jaren Jackson Jr. (ceiling)

5- Keyonte George

• Natural shooter off the catch, on the move and off the dribble with near flawless mechanics. Possesses an NBA level bag at all three levels, excels at creating space in isolation. The premier tough shot-maker in this class.
• Linebacker frame makes him an intimidating man to man defender when tasked with other guards; strong and can press his man. Good point of attack defender, inconsistent throughout the season for Baylor but showed flashes of being a high level on-ball defender. Must be in better position off ball. Serious swing factor- can be an excellent two way guard in the right system.
• On offense, downhill shot making and shot selection are questionable. I buy the finishing at the rim and flashes of driving ability long term- he gets out of control going downhill and too often tries to bully his way through bigger, well-positioned defenders. Has the handle to avoid contact- must work on his pace and poise in this area in order to use that pairing of strength and quickness to his advantage. Would like to see him work on the floater- prefers mid range pullups where a runner would fit his game better and likely result in a more efficient game around the basket. Think poor shot selection (as well as the defensive inconsistencies) stem from being asked to do a ton at Baylor.
• Playmaking is far and away the biggest swing factor for George and is why I am so high on him. Threw some really high level passes at Baylor and has a casual feel to the way he throws some very difficult passes- signs of a player who has a great feel for the game and opposing defenses. Operates comfortably as a passer or scorer in the PnR, is a good downhill playmaker and excels at threading the needle to cutters. Needs to become a more consistent part of his game, will come as he is not relied upon as the offense's only plus shot creator.
• Comparison: Jamaal Murray

6- Jarace Walker

• Moving semi-truck of a basketball player who skies for some blocks that are just ridiculous. Can effectively guard 1-5, can struggle with foul trouble. Excellent man to man defender. Solid rebounder. Got pushed around off-ball a little more than I'd expect from someone his size. Extremely functional athlete on this end.
• Decent floor spacer who has made great strides as a shooter. Possesses good touch on put backs and set shots around the rim. Has a solid floater going downhill. Does not use his frame enough on offense and is not a very functional athlete. Very lethargic handle and does not create a lot of space- red flag for a guy who settles for mid range jumpers. Best as an off-ball player on offense. Until Walker is ale to get downhill in 1on1 or PnR situations more effectively he has a low ceiling on offense. Would like to see him work on his face up and back to the basket game.
• Believe everything he showcased at Houston will translate to the NBA, strengths and weaknesses alike. Also believe he is pretty close to his ceiling, but if that is very productive player who instantly upgrades any defense, is that such a bad thing?
• Fit is EVERYTHING here. One of the most difficult prospects for me to rank along with Whitmore and Vukcevic.
• Comparison: Paul Millsap

7- Dariq Whitehead

• Pure, rainbow jumpshot that is beautiful to watch. Hits the rim soft and rarely hits rim on a make- picturesque and at a 43% clip. Was fantastic for Duke this year as a catch and shoot guy, showed the ability to create space and shoot quickly off the dribble.
• The consensus is that Whitehead had his athleticism sapped by that foot injury and was never able to showcase it at Duke. When I watched Whitehead play this year, I saw multiple instances where he drove to the rim, elevated, took a strong foul, and put up a look that had a chance to go. These were plays where I said to myself 'Holy shit, look at that guy jump'. Has great body control in the air and didn't seem to be lacking the touch, strength or bounce to finish in the NBA.
• Flashed a smooth handle and stepback, would like to see him improve on using his handle to get going downhill towards the rim rather than step back beyond the arch.
• Just seemed out of sorts at Duke. In every game I watched Whitehead play, there were plays that highlighted just how smooth and special of a three level scorer he can be and other plays that highlighted how out of sync he was with the rest of the Duke team and his confidence. Seemed to not know 'when to do what' as a guy who did almost everything at Montverde.
• Am extremely high on Dariq Whitehead as a guy who showed the ability to score from all three levels and take over games at Montverde, and then once at Duke adapted himself to be a valuable and extremely effective role player despite being clearly out of sorts due to injuries. I buy his floor as a guy with the tools to contribute in a variety of ways, and think that he will only improve as he regains his confidence in his legs and gets more comfortable out there. There is a chance for a star here. A gamble I would 100% start considering at 7 or 8.
• Comparison(s): Gary Harris, Victor Oladipo

8- Kobe Bufkin

• Extremely well rounded game, good size/length.
• Crafty handle that he is able to maintain through contact, good pace to boot. Seems to always be doing something good with the ball at his own speed- I don't know how else to say it. Needs to add some counters, spins into/hops into some tough looks.
• Is a much better finishing guard than a lot of the other guard prospects in this draft; plays within his thin frame by consistently avoiding contact on the drive. Showcases great touch with either hand at full speed, love his layup package. Underrated athlete.
• Capable mid range scorer and a strong shooter from deep. Similar to Hood-Schfino- they are as smooth as it gets getting to their spots. Smooth mechanics and a high release as a lefty.
• Long frame with good hands on the defensive end; is a pest. Can guard 1-3, is a functional athlete on this end. High IQ defender who is in great position more often than not. Will be a plus on this end at the next level.
• Needs to gain some strength in order to fight over NBA screens, has the frame to do it. Will take time and is important for him to maximize his potential and skillset.
• Needs to become a more consistent playmaker. Seems to decide what he is doing with the ball early as opposed to reacting to the defense. This will come with experience. Has upside as a passer and is a solid playmaker in the PnR. Is not doing anything crazy as a passer, but moves the ball well and throws some nice skip passes.
• True combo guard
• Comparison: D'Angelo Russell

9- Maxwell Lewis

• Extremely gifted shot creator and scorer at all three levels. Excels at using a strong handle to get downhill consistently and is able to avoid contact consistently. Plus athlete who throws down some big dunks. Can shoot the ball effectively off the dribble or the catch from three and the mid range. Is able to operate extremely well in tight spaces. Excels at freezing defenders more so than shifting them. Has a bad habit of shuffling his feet off the catch when getting ready to put the ball on the floor, results in glaring turnovers. Very complete offensive game. Looks more like what people think Brandon Miller is than Brandon Miller actually is.
• Average passer, does not hold the ball too long. Can throw some high level passes at times, at others turns the ball over trying to. Makes the easy pass well enough.
• Struggles on defense, gets beat off the dribble and swipes at the ball too much. Needs to work on positioning off the ball. Similar to Jett Howard on this end- has all the tools, just seems to struggle. These are seemingly coachable issues for Lewis, but it is big red flag that he is a high energy player on this end yet still gets beat consistently.
• Context for Lewis is important- playing in one of college basketball's less talented conferences on the worst team in it makes him a more difficult grade. I find myself scoffing at the empty stats argument, however- the shots he is making and the way in which he creates them will function against higher level competition. The guys is, simply put, a very talented scorer. Furthermore, he was the only talented on ball scorer on the Pepperdine roster and was keyed in on by every defense he saw to an almost absurd degree, yet was able to put together some of his best games of the year against the best opponents on their calendar.
• I realize I am about 15 slots over consensus here. The mid-major really doesn't concern me; I buy the jumper, ball handling, and driving ability playing at the next level enough to warrant a team having patience with him as a defender and with the turnover problems. The offensive skills will especially shine as Lewis is allowed to operate off the ball and is not the focal point of defense's game plans. Am partial to prospects who have an elite, bankable skill: Lewis is an elite off the dribble scorer on the wing.
• Find myself asking what the discussion surrounding him would look like if he shot 53% from 3 towards the end of the season instead of the beginning.
• Comparison: Otto Porter Jr., Devin Vassell

10- Jalen Hood-Schfino

• The best playmaker in the class by a wide margin for me. Lethal in the PNR, excellent handle in tight space, fantastic pace and poise, can throw any pass in the book effectively. Sometimes gets caught trying to do too much and is somewhat turnover prone as a passer, think this is normal weakness for a guard.
• Lethal mid range jumper on the move and off the dribble, should be a calling card. Essential for a modern point guard. Solid mechanics and can pull deep range. I buy the shot extending beyond the arch long term.
• Defense is not a weakness. Not very switchable, but will hold his own against other guards.
• Must be a more consistent shooter from deep and improve his finishing- easily bothered by contact and not very elusive in the air. Is able to rely on solid floater game to avoid contact, but he must be able to finish at the cup to be a starting caliber guard in the NBA. Just an average athlete, but crafty and intelligent enough on the floor that I think he will improve here. More a streaky shooter from distance than a bad one.
• Have never seen a player completely dictate the pace and flow of a game one night, then fail to make a tangible impact whatsoever the next night out. It was almost confusing this year. Have to remember he is just a freshman, and the flashes of brilliance as a lead guard are too enticing.
• Comparison: Lonzo Ball

11- Cam Whitmore

• Elite athlete, this plays at both ends. Despite a lackluster handle, seems to get downhill and all the way to the rim often- is dynamite when he arrives there. Ideal transition finisher. Can go through or over defenders in the air. Capable shooter, slow release. Don't expect him to be a volume shooter.
• Excellent rebounder for his size, high energy defender. Very strong player, should be able to handle opposing 2s and 3s, small ball 4s on this end.
• Black hole on offense and does not have the shot creation skill to warrant this; I question his court vision and feel for the game. Do not see him being a plus shot creator; poor lateral mover and very stiff motions. All-around poor body control.
• No chance in hell he is 6'7. Low on Whitmore but athleticism, strength, and energy ability give him a good chance to be a valuable part of a good rotation and/or starting lineup. Really don't see the upside here the same way I see the floor.
• Comparison: Isaac Okoro

-Tier 3: Fringe Lottery Grades-
12- Anthony Black

• Versatile and competent defender who consistently uses his size and athleticism to make an impact on that end. Rarely rattled as a ball handler, makes the right pass consistently. High IQ floor general. Plus athlete on offensive end as well.
• Must improve as a shooter, mechanics could use some work. Like the flashes of shot creation he has shown, just needs to be able to maintain some level of scoring gravity to open up his playmaking at the next level.

13- Jett Howard
14- Jordan Hawkins

• Versatile 3 point marksman who is a plus athlete and a junkyard dog on both ends. I don't know how versatile he is, but I would want him on my team. Modern skillset and a high character guy, flashes of shot creation in tight space. Good in the mid range.

15- Cason Wallace
16- Ausar Thompson

• Love his skillset- elite athlete with a growing mid range and perimeter game, is a plus defender. Cannot find anything he did in OTE that Julian Phillips could not do (besides get away with overdribbling). Still, there is potential here that I cannot ignore, and his perimeter scoring is much further along than his brothers. Better finisher as well. Will need time to be a meaningful contributor, more than I think people are willing to recognize.
• Comparison(s): Josh Jackson, Terrence Ross

17- Gradey Dick
18- Tristan Vukcevic

• 6'10 with a high basketball IQ. Quick, consistent stroke from three. Great touch around the rim. Moves very well with his size, can run the floor and handle in the open floor. Willing and able passer. Needs to gain strength. Serviceable rim protector off the bench, best as a 4 on defense until he bulks up. A ton of upside here and I think if he played in a more visible league folks would be higher on him, have cooled off of throwing a lottery grade on him but think he is a great prospect and is being underrated.

-Tier 4: Solid First Round Grades-
19- Amen Thompson

• I will not deny there is some allure here as a big guard with elite athleticism and solid court vision. Worth a gamble in the first. What I will never understand is how someone who was inefficient against poor competition as the oldest player in the league, struggles to score from all 3 levels, and overdribbles to create any space in a half court offense is a consensus top 7 pick. Amen struggles to make layups and realistically is going to have a steep learning curve as a passer and ball handler in the NBA. Easily the lowest floor of anyone in my first round.
• Comparison: Donte Exum

20- Bilal Coulibaby
21- Dereck Lively II
22- Bryce Sensabaugh

• Excellent marksman from distance who can put the ball on the floor. Was asked to do a lot in the Ohio State offense and performed admirably. Strong finisher, good athlete. Very slow and stiff dribbler, does not create a lot of separation outside of his step back. I do not buy the shot creation, he is just a poor lateral mover.
• Poor, borderline awful defender no matter how you slice it.
• Comparison: Dion Waiters

23- Nick Smith Jr.
24- GG Jackson
25- Julian Strawther

• Pure shooter with a quick release and a serviceable game going to the basket. Great rebounder for the position, holds his own on defense. Gets sped up putting the ball on the floor and can get out of control, over relies on floater.

26- Sidy Cissoko
-Tier 5: Fringe First/Early Second Round Grades-
27- Kris Murray
28- Colby Jones
29- Mo Gueye

• Am consistently amazed this guy is not higher on boards. Was staying up until midnight just to watch him play. Superb athlete, rebounder and shot blocker. Makes a consistent impact on defense and is a strong interior presence. Potential as a shooter, improved almost 30% from the stripe from freshman to sophomore year and hovered around 28% from three. Raw prospect but if he can space the floor consistently in the future he is going to be a steal and a quality rotation piece; shooting mechanics are not a lost cause whatsoever.

30- James Nnaji
31- Rayan Rupert
32- Leonard Miller
-Tier 6: Solid Second Round Grades-
33- Marcus Sasser
34- Noah Clowney
35- Amari Bailey
36- Andre Jackson
37- Mike Miles
38- Julian Phillips
39- Terquavion Smith
40- Trayce Jackson-Davis
41- Ben Sheppard
42- Bobi Klintman
43- Olivier Maxence Prosper
44- Brandin Podziemski
45- Ricky Council IV
46- Charles Bediako
47- Kobe Brown
48- Jalen Wilson
49- Jaylen Clark
50- Jordan Walsh

New Releases for June 2023

Data courtesy http://www.bookreporter.com
The genre info is from the users on goodreads.com
For more discussion, see the monthly New Releases post.

Title	Author	ReleaseDate
Biography
Pageboy	Elliot Page	June 6, 2023
Rickey	Howard Bryant	June 13, 2023
The Church of Baseball	Ron Shelton	June 20, 2023
Fantasy
Psyche and Eros	Luna McNamara	May 25, 2023
The First Bright Thing	J.R. Dawson	June 13, 2023
Fiction
And Then He Sang a Lullaby	Ani Kayode Somtochukwu	June 6, 2023
Between Two Moons	Aisha Abdel Gawad	June 6, 2023
Empire	Conn Iggulden	June 6, 2023
Lucky Dogs	Helen Schulman	June 6, 2023
Such Kindness	Andre Dubus III	June 6, 2023
Watch Us Shine	Marisa de los Santos	June 6, 2023
The Cafe at Beach End	RaeAnne Thayne	June 13, 2023
Forgiving Imelda Marcos	Nathan Go	June 13, 2023
Nightbloom	Peace Adzo Medie	June 13, 2023
Reproduction	Louisa Hall	June 13, 2023
You Were Always Mine	Christine Pride	June 13, 2023
Welcome to Beach Town	Susan Wiggs	June 20, 2023
The Rachel Incident	Caroline O'Donoghue	June 22, 2023
Little Monsters	Adrienne Brodeur	June 27, 2023
Historical Fiction
Crow Mary	Kathleen Grissom	June 6, 2023
Killingly	Katharine Beutner	June 6, 2023
Lady Tan's Circle of Women	Lisa See	June 6, 2023
The House of Lincoln	Nancy Horan	June 6, 2023
The Last Drop of Hemlock	Katharine Schellman	June 6, 2023
The Paris Daughter	Kristin Harmel	June 6, 2023
The Wind Knows My Name	Isabel Allende	June 6, 2023
The Radcliffe Ladies’ Reading Club	Julia Bryan Thomas	June 6, 2023
The Last Lifeboat	Hazel Gaynor	June 13, 2023
Maddalena and the Dark	Julia Fine	June 13, 2023
Return to Valetto	Dominic Smith	June 13, 2023
Sally Brady's Italian Adventure	Christina Lynch	June 13, 2023
The Spectacular	Fiona Davis	June 13, 2023
Hotel Laguna	Nicola Harrison	June 20, 2023
I Am Homeless If This Is Not My Home	Lorrie Moore	June 20, 2023
The Brightest Star	Gail Tsukiyama	June 20, 2023
The Glass Chateau	Stephen P. Kiernan	June 20, 2023
Banyan Moon	Thao Thai	June 27, 2023
The First Ladies	Marie Benedict	June 27, 2023
The History of a Difficult Child	Mihret Sibhat	June 27, 2023
History
Taking Berlin	Martin Dugard	June 6, 2023
Last Call at Coogan's	Jon Michaud	June 6, 2023
Never Give Up	Tom Brokaw	June 13, 2023
Horror
Maeve Fly	C.J. Leede	June 6, 2023
Literature
The Imposters	Tom Rachman	June 27, 2023
Memoir
Rocky Mountain High	Finn Murphy	June 13, 2023
Mystery
Relentless Melt	Jeremy P. Bushnell	June 6, 2023
A Disappearance in Fiji	Nilima Rao	June 6, 2023
All the Sinners Bleed	S.A. Cosby	June 6, 2023
Retribution	Robert McCaw	June 6, 2023
The Girls of Summer	Katie Bishop	June 6, 2023
The Game She Plays	Siena Sterling	June 6, 2023
Code of the Hills	Chris Offutt	June 13, 2023
Bad Influence	Alison Gaylin	June 13, 2023
The Puzzle Master	Danielle Trussoni	June 13, 2023
What Remains	Wendy Walker	June 13, 2023
A Stolen Child	Sarah Stewart Taylor	June 20, 2023
A Most Agreeable Murder	Julia Seales	June 27, 2023
Try Not to Breathe	David Bell	June 27, 2023
Nonfiction
George	Frieda Hughes	June 6, 2023
Kiss Me in the Coral Lounge	Helen Ellis	June 13, 2023
Adult Drama	Natalie Beach	June 20, 2023
Directions to Myself	Heidi Julavits	June 27, 2023
Like a Rolling Stone	Jann S. Wenner	June 27, 2023
Romance
Cassandra in Reverse	Holly Smale	May 11, 2023
Same Time Next Summer	Annabel Monaghan	June 6, 2023
Everything's Fine	Cecilia Rabess	June 6, 2023
My Magnolia Summer	Victoria Benton Frank	June 6, 2023
A Little Ray of Sunshine	Kristan Higgins	June 6, 2023
The Little Italian Hotel	Phaedra Patrick	June 6, 2023
Unfortunately Yours	Tessa Bailey	June 6, 2023
The Sweetheart List	Jill Shalvis	June 13, 2023
Famous in a Small Town	Viola Shipman	June 13, 2023
Love, Theoretically	Ali Hazelwood	June 13, 2023
The Favor	Adele Griffin	June 13, 2023
The Five-Star Weekend	Elin Hilderbrand	June 13, 2023
Summer's Gift	Jennifer Ryan	June 20, 2023
The Happiness Plan	Susan Mallery	June 20, 2023
The Wife App	Carolyn Mackler	June 27, 2023
The Seven Year Slip	Ashley Poston	June 27, 2023
Science Fiction
The Endless Vessel	Charles Soule	June 6, 2023
Girlfriend on Mars	Deborah Willis	June 13, 2023
Sands of Dune	Brian Herbert	June 27, 2023
Thriller
Cross Down	James Patterson	June 5, 2023
Girls and Their Horses	Eliza Jane Brazier	June 6, 2023
The Survivor	Iris Johansen	June 6, 2023
The Whispers	Ashley Audrain	June 6, 2023
Night Will Find You	Julia Heaberlin	June 8, 2023
The Long Way Back	Nicole Baart	June 13, 2023
Inside Threat	Matthew Quirk	June 13, 2023
Speak of the Devil	Rose Wilding	June 13, 2023
The Drowning Woman	Robyn Harding	June 13, 2023
The First Death	Kendra Elliot	June 13, 2023
The Gulf	Rachel Cochran	June 13, 2023
The Woman Inside	M.T. Edvardsson	June 13, 2023
You Can Trust Me	Wendy Heard	June 13, 2023
The Quiet Tenant	Clémence Michallon	June 20, 2023
The Spare Room	Andrea Bartz	June 20, 2023
What the Neighbors Saw	Melissa Adelman	June 20, 2023
Zero Days	Ruth Ware	June 20, 2023
The Only One Left	Riley Sager	June 20, 2023
Before She Finds Me	Heather Chavez	June 27, 2023
Have You Seen Her	Catherine McKenzie	June 27, 2023
Lay Your Body Down	Amy Suiter Clarke	June 27, 2023
The 9th Man	Steve Berry	June 27, 2023
Unknown
Fire Strike	Mike Maden	June 6, 2023
Be Mine	Richard Ford	June 13, 2023
I Walk Between the Raindrops	T C Boyle	June 13, 2023
Trial	Richard North Patterson	June 13, 2023
Palazzo	Danielle Steel	June 27, 2023
The Sweet Remnants of Summer	Alexander McCall Smith	June 27, 2023
The Boys from Biloxi	John Grisham	August 22, 2023

New Releases for June 2023

Data courtesy http://www.bookreporter.com
The genre info is from the users on goodreads.com
For more discussion, see the monthly New Releases post.

Title	Author	ReleaseDate
Biography
Pageboy	Elliot Page	June 6, 2023
Rickey	Howard Bryant	June 13, 2023
The Church of Baseball	Ron Shelton	June 20, 2023
Fantasy
Psyche and Eros	Luna McNamara	May 25, 2023
The First Bright Thing	J.R. Dawson	June 13, 2023
Fiction
And Then He Sang a Lullaby	Ani Kayode Somtochukwu	June 6, 2023
Between Two Moons	Aisha Abdel Gawad	June 6, 2023
Empire	Conn Iggulden	June 6, 2023
Lucky Dogs	Helen Schulman	June 6, 2023
Such Kindness	Andre Dubus III	June 6, 2023
Watch Us Shine	Marisa de los Santos	June 6, 2023
The Cafe at Beach End	RaeAnne Thayne	June 13, 2023
Forgiving Imelda Marcos	Nathan Go	June 13, 2023
Nightbloom	Peace Adzo Medie	June 13, 2023
Reproduction	Louisa Hall	June 13, 2023
You Were Always Mine	Christine Pride	June 13, 2023
Welcome to Beach Town	Susan Wiggs	June 20, 2023
The Rachel Incident	Caroline O'Donoghue	June 22, 2023
Little Monsters	Adrienne Brodeur	June 27, 2023
Historical Fiction
Crow Mary	Kathleen Grissom	June 6, 2023
Killingly	Katharine Beutner	June 6, 2023
Lady Tan's Circle of Women	Lisa See	June 6, 2023
The House of Lincoln	Nancy Horan	June 6, 2023
The Last Drop of Hemlock	Katharine Schellman	June 6, 2023
The Paris Daughter	Kristin Harmel	June 6, 2023
The Wind Knows My Name	Isabel Allende	June 6, 2023
The Radcliffe Ladies’ Reading Club	Julia Bryan Thomas	June 6, 2023
The Last Lifeboat	Hazel Gaynor	June 13, 2023
Maddalena and the Dark	Julia Fine	June 13, 2023
Return to Valetto	Dominic Smith	June 13, 2023
Sally Brady's Italian Adventure	Christina Lynch	June 13, 2023
The Spectacular	Fiona Davis	June 13, 2023
Hotel Laguna	Nicola Harrison	June 20, 2023
I Am Homeless If This Is Not My Home	Lorrie Moore	June 20, 2023
The Brightest Star	Gail Tsukiyama	June 20, 2023
The Glass Chateau	Stephen P. Kiernan	June 20, 2023
Banyan Moon	Thao Thai	June 27, 2023
The First Ladies	Marie Benedict	June 27, 2023
The History of a Difficult Child	Mihret Sibhat	June 27, 2023
History
Taking Berlin	Martin Dugard	June 6, 2023
Last Call at Coogan's	Jon Michaud	June 6, 2023
Never Give Up	Tom Brokaw	June 13, 2023
Horror
Maeve Fly	C.J. Leede	June 6, 2023
Literature
The Imposters	Tom Rachman	June 27, 2023
Memoir
Rocky Mountain High	Finn Murphy	June 13, 2023
Mystery
Relentless Melt	Jeremy P. Bushnell	June 6, 2023
A Disappearance in Fiji	Nilima Rao	June 6, 2023
All the Sinners Bleed	S.A. Cosby	June 6, 2023
Retribution	Robert McCaw	June 6, 2023
The Girls of Summer	Katie Bishop	June 6, 2023
The Game She Plays	Siena Sterling	June 6, 2023
Code of the Hills	Chris Offutt	June 13, 2023
Bad Influence	Alison Gaylin	June 13, 2023
The Puzzle Master	Danielle Trussoni	June 13, 2023
What Remains	Wendy Walker	June 13, 2023
A Stolen Child	Sarah Stewart Taylor	June 20, 2023
A Most Agreeable Murder	Julia Seales	June 27, 2023
Try Not to Breathe	David Bell	June 27, 2023
Nonfiction
George	Frieda Hughes	June 6, 2023
Kiss Me in the Coral Lounge	Helen Ellis	June 13, 2023
Adult Drama	Natalie Beach	June 20, 2023
Directions to Myself	Heidi Julavits	June 27, 2023
Like a Rolling Stone	Jann S. Wenner	June 27, 2023
Romance
Cassandra in Reverse	Holly Smale	May 11, 2023
Same Time Next Summer	Annabel Monaghan	June 6, 2023
Everything's Fine	Cecilia Rabess	June 6, 2023
My Magnolia Summer	Victoria Benton Frank	June 6, 2023
A Little Ray of Sunshine	Kristan Higgins	June 6, 2023
The Little Italian Hotel	Phaedra Patrick	June 6, 2023
Unfortunately Yours	Tessa Bailey	June 6, 2023
The Sweetheart List	Jill Shalvis	June 13, 2023
Famous in a Small Town	Viola Shipman	June 13, 2023
Love, Theoretically	Ali Hazelwood	June 13, 2023
The Favor	Adele Griffin	June 13, 2023
The Five-Star Weekend	Elin Hilderbrand	June 13, 2023
Summer's Gift	Jennifer Ryan	June 20, 2023
The Happiness Plan	Susan Mallery	June 20, 2023
The Wife App	Carolyn Mackler	June 27, 2023
The Seven Year Slip	Ashley Poston	June 27, 2023
Science Fiction
The Endless Vessel	Charles Soule	June 6, 2023
Girlfriend on Mars	Deborah Willis	June 13, 2023
Sands of Dune	Brian Herbert	June 27, 2023
Thriller
Cross Down	James Patterson	June 5, 2023
Girls and Their Horses	Eliza Jane Brazier	June 6, 2023
The Survivor	Iris Johansen	June 6, 2023
The Whispers	Ashley Audrain	June 6, 2023
Night Will Find You	Julia Heaberlin	June 8, 2023
The Long Way Back	Nicole Baart	June 13, 2023
Inside Threat	Matthew Quirk	June 13, 2023
Speak of the Devil	Rose Wilding	June 13, 2023
The Drowning Woman	Robyn Harding	June 13, 2023
The First Death	Kendra Elliot	June 13, 2023
The Gulf	Rachel Cochran	June 13, 2023
The Woman Inside	M.T. Edvardsson	June 13, 2023
You Can Trust Me	Wendy Heard	June 13, 2023
The Quiet Tenant	Clémence Michallon	June 20, 2023
The Spare Room	Andrea Bartz	June 20, 2023
What the Neighbors Saw	Melissa Adelman	June 20, 2023
Zero Days	Ruth Ware	June 20, 2023
The Only One Left	Riley Sager	June 20, 2023
Before She Finds Me	Heather Chavez	June 27, 2023
Have You Seen Her	Catherine McKenzie	June 27, 2023
Lay Your Body Down	Amy Suiter Clarke	June 27, 2023
The 9th Man	Steve Berry	June 27, 2023
Unknown
Fire Strike	Mike Maden	June 6, 2023
Be Mine	Richard Ford	June 13, 2023
I Walk Between the Raindrops	T C Boyle	June 13, 2023
Trial	Richard North Patterson	June 13, 2023
Palazzo	Danielle Steel	June 27, 2023
The Sweet Remnants of Summer	Alexander McCall Smith	June 27, 2023
The Boys from Biloxi	John Grisham	August 22, 2023

Rotten Tomatoes: 71% (91 reviews) with 6.40 in average rating

Critics consensus: While it plays too much like a sizzle reel of DC's greatest hits to fully stand on its own two feet, The Flash has enough heart and zip to maintain a confident stride.

Metacritic: 61/100 (29 critics)
As with other movies, the scores are set to change as time passes. Meanwhile, I'll post some short reviews on the movie. It's structured like this: quote first, source second. Beware, some contain spoilers.

The early word on The Flash calling it one of the greatest superhero movies ever made was pure hyperbole. But in the bumpy recent history of the DC Extended Universe, it’s certainly an above-average entry.

-David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter

Miller's the Flash goes back in time to change the future and connects with Michael Keaton's Batman. But the movie, after a smart and playful first half, gives itself over to comic-book bombast.

-Owen Gleiberman, Variety

In its best moments, “The Flash” touches on something new and exciting, but too often, its the past that tugs on, keeping it from speeding ahead.

-Kate Erbland, IndieWire: B–

The Flash is an ambitious superhero movie that largely pulls off its tale of two worlds, two Flashes, and two Batmans. The superhero fan service is strong with this one – perhaps too strong at times – but it never fully overshadows Barry Allen’s genuinely tragic and heartfelt story of grief. Though the visual effects aren’t always the best and the third act is a bit overwhelming, strong performances and a refreshing earnestness keep The Flash on track and running circles around many of the recent DC Universe movies. If this is the truly last stop on the Snyderverse express, then it’s a respectable way to go out.

-Joshua Yehl, IGN: 7.0 "good"

What it amounts to is a movie that spends all its time racing from one poorly-thought out story element to another, from one only modestly satisfying nostalgia shout-out to another, and with only questionable results. How fitting, yet how disappointing: “The Flash” has the runs.

-William Bibbiani, The Wrap

This is not a movie with any new ideas or dramatic rethinking, and – at the risk of re-opening the DC/Marvel sectarian wound – nothing to compare with the much-lauded animation experiment in the recent Spider-Man films. The intellect in this intellectual property is draining away.

-Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian: 2/5

The movie’s stronger underlying themes, like the importance of living in the present and learning to let things go, are overshadowed by the multiversal gymnastics. And as much good stuff as the "The Flash" features, including a nifty scene where Barry slo-mo saves a slew of falling babies in entertaining fashion, the film can't help but get tripped up by the same old hurdles.

-Brian Truitt, USA Today: 3/4

Maybe nerd culture was a mistake. The first and last 10 minutes demonstrate the winning superhero saga this might have been, but the middle two hours are devoted to sloppy, shameless fan service.

-Alonso Duralde, The Film Verdict

The hype is real. DC’s The Flash may not be the greatest comic book movie ever made, but it comes damn close. Easily the best in the genre since Spider-Man: No Way Home, this fresh, invigorating, and hugely entertaining summer treat is as good as it gets when it comes to cinematic takes on superheroes.

-Pete Hammond, Deadline

The Flash ends on a purposefully open note (and a pretty good joke), so that if the film succeeds at the box office, Miller's Barry can run again another day. If it doesn't, the precedent is set for a full continuity reset. Whatever DC movies await us in the future, let's hope they avoid multiverses. It's well-trod territory at this point, even for a speedster.

-Christian Holub, Entertainment Weekly: C+

Merging Looper and Looney Tunes makes for some jarring transitions between time-travel melodrama and power-mishap shenanigans. That’s never more clear than in the movie’s tail end, wherein Muschietti, who seems like a slick Spielberg-acolyte crowdpleaser in the J.J. Abrams mode, struggles with whether The Flash is an emotional cautionary tale, a universe-resetting franchise play, or just a zany sci-fi farce, subject to channel-flipping multiverse gags. You can feel The Flash wishing it could steal a glimpse into the audience and revise itself on the fly accordingly; no wonder early screenings apparently hedged on an ending until the last possible minute. Fandom has created a culture where a fun, zippy movie can’t stop looking back over its shoulder.

-Jesse Hassenger, Paste: 7.0

While I have a few complaints and there are a couple of head-scratching loose ends, "The Flash" is still a funny, emotional, action-heavy crowd-pleaser that ranks among the best DC movies ever made.

-Ben Pearson, /FILM: 7.5

Oddly, The Flash being so brilliant actually gives DC a bit of a headache. The studio’s new head honcho, James Gunn, is currently planning a much-publicised reboot of its comic book movie universe that may not include the Scarlet Speedster. Throw in Miller’s even more publicised personal problems and a poorly received film could have provided the perfect opportunity to have him (and the bad press) jog off into the sunset. Given the critical buzz and potential box office bump, that looks unlikely now. The Flash’s future is starting to look a lot sparkier than his past.

-Alex Flood, NME: 4/5

This feels like the definitive Flash movie.

-Mike Ryan, Uproxx

This much-beleagured cinematic universe has finally hit upon a winning film, and one that will be forever tainted. It’s not the most tragic thing regarding the person whirling at the center of it all — not by a long shot. But it is a reminder that you can make a superhero movie that seeks to unite all worlds but can’t quite reckon with the one outside the theater. And it’s proof that you can always run as fast as your superhuman intellectual property can manage, but there are things that you simply aren’t able to hide.

-David Fear, Rolling Stone

The Flash clearly wants its audience to get caught up in the excitement of multiverse adventures, returning superhero favorites, and fun antics of Barry Allen, to the point that they never consider that the time travel aspects make absolutely no sense, and only hurts the larger story in the way that it’s handled here. Thankfully, those antics are enjoyable and hard not to get excited about, but unfortunately, this isn’t a story that holds together on a narrative level. Cameos and fan service are fine to have, but the story has to be there to back them up, and it’s not quite there with The Flash.

-Ross Bonaime, Collider: C+

One of the most spectacular and frustrating mixed bags of the superhero blockbuster era, "The Flash" is simultaneously thoughtful and clueless, challenging and pandering. It features some of the best digital FX work I've seen and some of the worst. Like its sincere but often hapless hero, it keeps exceeding every expectation we might have for its competence only to instantly face-plant into the nearest wall.

-Matt Zoller Seitz, RogerEbert.com: 2.5/4

Even despite being saddled with the baggage of the DCU’s failures, that the story that works in The Flash manages to shine through the noise is no small feat. The bitter irony, of course, is that even its artistic victories are tempered by the film being released in the shadow of Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin K. Thompson’s Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, which hits nearly every story beat and big swing for nostalgia attempted here, but with exponentially more finesse, grace, and emotional power. Nothing Batman or Supergirl do in The Flash to save the world is more effective than what Barry does to save it with a hug and a can of tomatoes.

-Justin Clark, Slant: 2.5/4

Considering how “The Flash” makes many of its characters face death and inevitability throughout, “The Flash” should not feel as hollow as it does. But you can’t blame Barry for it. He’s just a high-energy tour guide here, as everything around him becomes a blur leading us to the next reference. It has taken so long for a feature-length “The Flash” to finally hit theaters, and he’s too late. Barry is barely the lead character of his own movie.

-Nick Allen, The Playlist: C

It’s clear that DC doesn’t really know what it’s paying tribute to, other than the knowledge that other comic book movies exist. The Flash, much like Barry himself, has been stranded with no real sense of history, and no real sense of the future, either. It does the best it can.

-Clarisse Loughrey, The Independent: 3/5
PLOT
Barry Allen / The Flash travels back in time to prevent his mother's death, which traps him in an alternate reality without metahumans. Barry enlists the help of his younger self, an older Batman and the Kryptonian castaway Supergirl in order to save this world from the restored General Zod and return to his universe.
DIRECTOR
Andy Muschietti
WRITER
Christina Hodson
STORY
John Francis Daley, Jonathan Goldstein & Joby Harold
MUSIC
Benjamin Wallfisch
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Henry Braham
EDITOR
Jason Ballantine & Paul Machliss
RELEASE DATE
June 16, 2023
RUNTIME
144 minutes
BUDGET
$220 million
STARRING

• Ezra Miller as Barry Allen / The Flash
  
• Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne / Batman
  
• Sasha Calle as Kara Zor-El / Supergirl
  
• Michael Shannon as General Zod
  
• Ron Livingston as Henry Allen
  
• Maribel Verdú as Nora Allen
  
• Kiersey Clemons as Iris West
  
• Antje Traue as Faora-Ul
  
• Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne / Batman