News The Legend of Vox Machina The Legend of Vox Machina Season 3 Trailer Sees the Gang Go to Hell (Literally) Just a little trip downstairs, no big deal. By Vanessa Armstrong | Published on August 30, 2024 Credit: Prime Video Comment 0 Share New Share Credit: Prime Video It’s hard to believe that there’s already a third season of the series The Legend of Vox Machina heading our way. The show premiered on Prime Video in January 2022, if you can believe it. And based on the trailer for the third season that was recently released, it looks like the band of misfits are still going strong, even when their adventures take them to the underworld, among other places. Here’s the synopsis for the upcoming episodes: The Chroma Conclave’s path of destruction spreads like wildfire while the Cinder King hunts down Vox Machina. Our lovable band of misfits must rise above inner (and outer) demons to try and save their loved ones, Tal’Dorei, and all of Exandria. The show comes from Critical Role and Titmouse, and stars Critical Role founders and cast members Laura Bailey (The Last of Us: Part II), Taliesin Jaffe (World of Warcraft), Ashley Johnson (The Last of Us), Liam O’Brien (Marvel’s Avengers), Matthew Mercer (Baldur’s Gate 3), Marisha Ray (Fallout 76), Sam Riegel (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), and Travis Willingham (Marvel’s Avengers).  The first three episodes of the third season of The Legend of Vox Machina premieres on Prime Video on October 3, 2024. The remaining episodes will drop three at a time weekly, because it’s fun to be confusing. The first two seasons are currently streaming on the platform. Check out the trailer below. [end-mark] The post <i>The Legend of Vox Machina</i> Season 3 Trailer Sees the Gang Go to Hell (Literally) appeared first on Reactor.

Books Terry Pratchett Book Club Terry Pratchett Book Club: Raising Steam, Part III In which Moist has an incredibly unreasonable boss (but we already knew that because of the tyrant thing, he’s just in a mood this week…) By Emmet Asher-Perrin | Published on August 30, 2024 Comment 0 Share New Share Can I borrow some of that goblin sleep potion? I would also like to talk to my knees. Summary The Wesley brothers try their hands at a steam boiler in the Effing Forest and blow themselves up, and Harry wakes Moist in the middle of the night in a panic over it. Moist tells him and Dick Simnel to meet him in the forest. He meets the local publican, finds out what happened to the young men, keeps the press away from their mother, and holds a little press conference. Simnel tells the group that he is sorry for what happened to the brothers and promises to share information about steam engines at his own school to prevent these accidents from happening again. Simnel creates a t’turning table to turn the engine around, and Harry panics over the other people learning to build steam engines and finding out what their patents will and won’t protect them from. (Thunderbolt tells them not to worry about it.) Vetinari tells Moist that the new priority is getting a nonstop line to Uberwald, and that he wants it done as quickly as possible, no excuses, which horrifies Moist, who was hoping to slow down for a bit and also doesn’t think it can be done. Harry makes certain to take care of the Wesley brothers’ mother and sells a few shares in the railway to get money for the steel needed to build the line to Uberwald. The Quirm stop opens to much celebration and pomp. Constable Feeny Upshot notices the goblins doing work underground and learns that they’re planning to make a railway there for goblins to get around faster. Moist meets Georgina Bradshaw, a widow who has been using the train to see the world in her later years. He has the idea to have her write up travel tips and guides for people using the railway and advises Harry to let her travel for free to that end. The railway is growing and the artificers are making toy train sets, and Moist is getting so little sleep that Of the Twilight the Darkness gives him a goblin potion, which makes him very high and then knocks him right out for excellent sleep. King Rhys makes the choice to go to an important summit in Quirm, as the grags have been quiet of late. Moist is working along the railway constantly now and gets a clacks from Adora Belle, telling him Vetinari needs to see him immediately. He heads back to the city to find the Patrician again insisting that the line to Uberwald must be completed even faster, and that the future may depend on it. Moist names his golem horse Flash, and tells Harry they have to speed up building again. The first train crash occurs, not on their line but a private one, when the entrepreneurs in question mess with the system Simnel helped them develop. A troll named Crackle and a dwarf named Dopey Docson meet in a coffee shop along the railway, discover they’re both librarians, and though they’re both married, begin to fall in love and leave together. A coup occurs while King Rhys is in Quirm, though Albrecht tries to put a stop to it. Moist is woken in the middle of the night again and summoned to the palace, then informed by Vetinari that the unfinished railway to Uberwald must transport the Low King, his retinue, and an armed Watch escort back home to end said coup. Vimes advises Moist to find Bashfull Bashfullson in all those for aid. Simnel insists that they use the Iron Girder for the job, certain that she’s the best in an emergency. Moist meets with King Rhys and insists on keeping the plan to get him home a secret until most of his court have left the room, knowing that there could be a spy among them. The Low King goes to Harry and Effie’s for dinner and when he questions Moist’s plan, Moist promises that the railway will be ready to get them to Uberwald on time despite the lack of laid track at present. Vetinari notes that he’s made this promise in a room full of people with excellent memories. As they’re eating, Vimes informs the group that the Low King has departed for Uberwald by fast coach; this is a ruse, and Cheery and a group of his officers are the ones inside. King Rhys and Moist are disguised and everyone board the Iron Girder and sets off. Delver groups begin attacking the decoy coaches and don’t fare well. They travel a while and stay with Dick Simnel’s mother—there’s something wrong, but she won’t tell Moist what it is. Moist and the king change disguises the next morning and head for the train, with Moist dressed as an engineer this time. He notes a suspicious dwarf (and a partner elsewhere) pretending to be a train spotter and questions him; when the dwarf is visibly nervous and unprepared, Moist pulls the cord to stop the train. Vimes questions the pair and gets all the information he needs, with his first set of coveted names. He sends them to the Patrician once they hit the next stop, promising to keep their families safe, provided they aren’t lying. Moist is impressed and Vimes is pleased; they continue their journey onward. Moist is beset by an uneasy feeling that everything is going too well at the moment… Commentary The commentary about the goblins changing as they assimilate is particularly wrenching at this point, namely in the segment where we revisit Feeney Upshot and find the goblins in his district hammering away at an underground train. He sees how they’ve changed their ways in order to become a part of this new world, and it upsets him to realize that Goblins are becoming “men” in a way—Feeney realizes that this is a kind of theft from the world. This can work to the opposite effect too, of course; sometimes diaspora groups will cleave more closely to the ways of their homeland to avoid losing touch, and become more rigid than they would be at home, as a result. But if you choose to join with another culture, as many of the goblins are doing now, you’re going to lose your own, bit by bit. It’s properly nerve-racking as the story continues precisely because we’ve had the last two to back it up: Now the fun becomes the knowledge that Moist von Lipwig has a penchant for pulling miracles out of thin air, and everyone knows it. He has to do it again. Everyone expects him to. Everyone is relying on the brilliance that always explodes under pressure. And it’s true that Moist enjoys that part of things, but also that this undertaking is far less under his control than the others. And that’s a particularly clever way of increasing the stakes for a conman who is very good at managing others—there are simply too many moving parts to the railway for him to have an eye on everything. The plan to get the Low King to safety has him in a panic because he’s far too aware of the fact that so many pieces of this journey are completely outside of his control. Close quarters delegation is very different from trusting thing from afar. I have to appreciate that the plot creates perfect terms to tie the railway with the progress that is making the grags angry, and then conceives of a reason why the end of the book has to take place on the train in order to stop them. It’s very neatly done, is my point. And then we get the enjoyment of watching many of our favorite players throughout the Ankh-Morpork situated books come together in service of that plot. Which leads to one of Vimes’ best interrogation scenes. The acknowledgement that when Sam Vimes does his job correctly, he’s no different than a con artist is such a pointed way to show him from the outside. Vimes himself also notes that what he does is really no different from the grags (with the threatening in order to get what they what), just that he believes he’s nicer about it and “on the right side.” Which… yeesh. A good reminder, as always. It’s fun to find those lines where you you love someone as a character, but would not feel the same way if you met them in real life. Asides and little thoughts This bit about the Wesley brothers: His brother watched in admiration and a certain amount of trepidation, or it would have been trepidation had he known the word existed. This is an actual feature of language—you can’t experience things you don’t have words for. Language shapes our reality in a very literal sense because of this. (You can’t see colors that you don’t have names for, a thing that broke my brain a little when I learned it.) The meeting between Crackle and Dopey is basically Pratchett’s very own coffee shop AU, and I would like more of it, please. I did giggle at Vimes “no ticket”ing the dwarfs when Moist stops the train to catch them. Vimes: “I wonder what his lordship will say about my lovely list of names? I reckon he’ll go right past acerbic en route to ironic and end up slap bang in sardonic without even taking a breath.” Buddy, you are in public right now?? Keep it in your pants? Pratchettisms There is something vaguely worrying about the word ‘reckon’ that leaves the ear, for many hard to understand reasons, wishing it was something else a little more certain and a little less frightening. Thunder rolled around the mountains, like the marbles of the gods. He put it down as a place to avoid unless you like bad cooking and banjos. “You majesty, pressure is where I start,” said Moist. Moist forced his face to go so deadpan that it might have actually been dead. The outside air was permeating the carriages now with the scent of the Sto Plains, which consisted of one scent and that was cabbage or cabbage-like and it was a sad smell, it drooped helplessness. Melancholy. Mind you, the cabbages themselves were excellent, especially the new varieties. Too much traveling on the railway could turn you into a philosopher, although, he conceded, not a very good one. Next week we’ll finish the book![end-mark] The post Terry Pratchett Book Club: <i>Raising Steam</i>, Part III appeared first on Reactor.

Scary: Migrants Attempt Boarding of School Buses near San Diego

I'm shocked! Shocked!... Well not that shocked.

There is a surprising amount of life in the wake of death.

Earth has not always had what we know as "fire", so when did it have its first flame?

Sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down in episode 29...

The bridge is over 7 meters (25 feet) long and dates back at least 5,600 years.

The alphabet perverts are grooming another young child. A video of what appears to be a young boy scantily dressed as a girl broke the internet this week. The child is seen provocatively dancing on a stage, surrounded by half-naked grown adults shaking their naughty bits in his face.  ??BREAKING: This little boy is going viral for dancing in a shocking and provocative way at a drag queen party in Los Angeles. The young man can be seen doing hand stand splits and dancing with grown transgenders, men, and women while being cheered on by a crowd in this… pic.twitter.com/cIcSpo8JXF — Dom Lucre | Breaker of Narratives (@dom_lucre) August 29, 2024 It is difficult to tell which of the adult accomplices are men and who, if anyone present, is actually a woman. Multiple he/she’s are seen wearing nothing but bras, thongs with straps attached to high-heeled boots, and other lingerie.  Meanwhile, the child is flopping around in front of a cheering crowd, whilst wearing a women’s crop top. The X account criticizing the creep show insists no little girl “would be allowed to do this without her parents getting arrested.”

Vice President Kamala Harris sat down this week to field softball questions from a friendly liberal network after spending several weeks avoiding the fourth estate. In her interview Thursday with CNN's Dana Bash, Harris was afforded an opportunity to account for her mischaracterization of President Joe Biden's competency when it still benefited her to do so. Rather than admit fault, Harris doubled down and emphasized that she has no regrets. "You were a very staunch defender of President Biden's capacity to serve another four years right after the debate," said Bash. "You insisted that President Biden is 'extraordinarily strong.'" After Biden's disastrous debate with President Donald Trump on June 27, Harris told CNN host Anderson Cooper, "Yes, there was a slow start, but it was a strong finish. And what became very clear through the course of the night is that Joe Biden is fighting on behalf of the American people. On substance, on policy, on performance, Joe Biden is extraordinarily strong." When Cooper gently pushed back, highlighting anxiety among congressional Democrats over Biden's performance, Harris responded, "People can debate on style points, but ultimately this election and who is the president of the United States has to be about substance. And the contrast is clear." Bash asked Harris on Thursday, "Given where we are now, do you have any regrets about what you told the American people?" "No. Not at all," said Harris. "I have served with President Biden for almost four years now, and I'll tell you: It's one of the greatest honors of my career. Truly." 'Joe Biden is very much alive.' "He is so smart and loyal to the American people," continued Harris. "I have spent hours upon hours with him, be it in the Oval Office or the Situation Room. He has the intelligence, the commitment, and the judgment, and disposition that I think the American people rightly deserve in their president." CNN panelists later spun Harris' long-standing mischaracterization of Biden's abilities as the result of "loyalty" and "grace." The Trump campaign, on the other hand, said of Harris' admitted lack of remorse: "She lied to the American people as she perpetuated a massive, wide-reaching fraud — until it was no longer tenable." Harris' post-debate spin earlier this summer was hardly the first time she tried to firm up public confidence in Biden's abilities. He gave critics and allies alike cause to worry in recent years with his evident difficulty completing sentences; heavy reliance on cue cards; struggles to stay upright; repetition of the same debunked anecdote nearly word for word, in short succession; confusion of the living for the dead, his sister for his wife, and the names of disparate nations; apparent need to spend roughly 40% of his presidency out of office; identification as a proud black woman; and his apparent need for former President Barack Obama as an escort. When asked in September 2023 whether Biden was too old to run again, Harris told reporters, "Joe Biden is going to be just fine," reported Reuters. "Joe Biden is going to be fine. Let me tell you something: I work with Joe Biden every day," added Harris. Harris was asked in an October 2023 "60 Minutes" interview what would happen in the event that something should "befall President Biden, and he is not able to run." Harris answered, "Joe Biden is very much alive and running for election." In February, Harris condemned special counsel Robert Hur's report about Biden's handling of sensitive classified information, which suggested that the Democratic president had a "poor memory" and was possibly too senile to charge. She called the report "gratuitous, inaccurate and inappropriate." Harris told reporters that contrary to Hur's characterization, Biden was capable — "in front of and on top of it all." "The way that the president's demeanor in that report was characterized could not be more wrong on the facts and clearly politically motivated," added Harris. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!