A video shared on Facebook claims to show a police officer in Manchester, U.K., who was purportedly stabbed by an African immigrant. Verdict: False The claim is false. The original video, shared on YouTube, indicates an acid attack occurred at the Piccadilly bus station. On Aug. 8, the Manchester Evening News reported police descended on […]

Daniela Larreal Chirinos was found dead in her Las Vegas apartment

'That's scary'

'We just loved her'

'I am surprised at the vehemence and the numbers'

A 94-year-old Englishman decided to have a go on the world’s fastest zip line to raise money for his local hospice care. Great-grandfather-of-four David Aris lost his beloved wife, June, to cancer five years ago. For the last few months of her life, she had been cared for by St John’s Hospice, which also provided […] The post Daredevil 94-Year-old is Oldest Ever to Take on World’s Fastest Zip Line–Going 100mph appeared first on Good News Network.

News Azrael Azrael Trailer: If You Speak to Evil, It Will Kill You In another raptured timeline… By Vanessa Armstrong | Published on August 19, 2024 Credit: IFC Films/Shudder Comment 0 Share New Share Credit: IFC Films/Shudder The upcoming movie Azrael isn’t the first piece of entertainment to explore what life would be like for those left behind after a rapture-like event. And like most of those explorations, the new normal isn’t so great. In Azrael, those who didn’t presumably ascend into heaven are left on a world where no one speaks (why no one speaks isn’t clear in this trailer, though it’s obvious that if they do… not-good things will happen to them). What is clear is that there are supernaturally tinged creatures with sharp teeth who now inhabit the world as well, and that they’d be more than happy to murder anyone they come across. Here’s the official synopsis: In a world in which no one speaks, a mysterious, devout community hunts down a young woman named Azrael (Samara Weaving) who has escaped their imprisonment. Recaptured by its ruthless leaders, she is to be sacrificed to pacify an evil which resides deep within the surrounding wilderness—but Azrael will stop at nothing to ensure her own freedom and survival. It’s intriguing to see that the protagonist is named Azrael, which you might recognize as the name of the Angel of Death. In addition to Weaving, the movie stars Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Vic Carmen Sonne, Katariina Unt, and Sebastian Bull Sarning. It comes from director E.L. Katz, whose previous credits include an episode on Netflix’s The Haunting of Bly Manor, and comes from scribe Simon Barrett, who has penned several segments in the V/H/S franchise and was one of the writers of the screenplay for Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. Azrael comes to us from IFC Films and Shudder and premieres in select theaters on September 27, 2024. Check out the trailer below. [end-mark] The post <i>Azrael</i> Trailer: If You Speak to Evil, It Will Kill You appeared first on Reactor.

Books book review Violent, Passionate, Frenzied, and Thrilling: Hayley Dennings’s This Ravenous Fate A review of Hayley Dennings’s YA fantasy novel. By Alex Brown | Published on August 19, 2024 Comment 0 Share New Share Several years ago, best friends Elise Saint and Layla Quinn’s lives were turned upside down. Layla’s parents were murdered by reapers (this universe’s version of vampires) and Layla herself was turned, all while Elise’s father, a manufacturer of reaper-killing steel bullets, failed to intervene. Layla blamed Elise, and Elise in turn fled to Paris. Now, the Prohibition is still going strong, but in Harlem liquor and reapers are everywhere. Fresh from her time at a musical college in France, Elise returns to New York hoping to take her place as the heir to her father’s empire, sparing her younger sister the same fate. When Layla is framed for murder, the girls are once again pulled back together. Elise only wants to protect her father’s business interests, while Layla is determined to clear her name. But something else is going on in the back alleys of Harlem. Reapers are going on rampages before turning human. Everyone is lying and the bodies are piling up. And something intense and passionate is sparking once more between these former friends.  Layla and Elise are troubled girls making trouble. All Elise wants is her father’s approval, especially after being away for so long. When Layla turned, Elise lost her best friend. When Elise betrayed her, Layla’s foundation was shattered. Both girls are unmoored and lost, drifting apart in a sea of anger and resentment. Each decides to use the other, to exact their petty grievances and to win the favor of the distant parental figure who looms over their lives. That means forming an alliance with each other while secretly using whatever information they gather to give themselves a leg up, whether in the reaper community or in the Saint steel empire. It’s hard to like either girl, but it’s equally as hard not to at least root for them. One cannot win without the other failing, but that didn’t stop me from cheering each victory and bemoaning each setback. Although friends-to-enemies-to-lovers is not one of my favorite tropes, Dennings handles the tempest between Elise and Layla well. She leans into the fraught romance, mercurial moods, and morally gray personalities.  Buy the Book This Ravenous Fate Hayley Dennings Buy Book This Ravenous Fate Hayley Dennings Buy this book from: AmazonBarnes and NobleiBooksIndieBoundTarget The novel struggles in a few ways. I’m not one of those people who needs a fully developed and detailed magic system in my fantasy, but I do at least need a basic understanding of how the world works. With This Ravenous Fate, I’m still unclear on the hows, whats, and whys of reaperhood or the alliances between the gangsters, the reapers, the humans, and the Saints. Dennings also repeats set-ups and action sequences without much plot development or character growth to distinguish them. This has the unintended side effect of turning compelling side characters into cannon fodder. It also bogs down Layla and Elise’s investigation. The “who” part of the “whodunit” is telegraphed early and often, but the girls are so distracted with side quests that it takes them a while to catch up to the reader. Personally, I wish there was more sense of place. The setting, mid 1920s Harlem, is a thriving, fascinating place, but we see very little of it. Most of the events are centered on private residences and The Cotton Club. In both the real world and Dennings’ novel, it was a whites-only, mob-run club with mostly Black performers. While in its Harlem location, everyone from Duke Ellington to Cab Calloway to Dorothy Dandridge to Lena Horne performed there; women dancers were advertised as “tall, tan, and terrific,” meaning not older than 21 years old, at least 5’ 6” tall, and light enough to pass the paper bag test (the saying became famous enough that Bud Pollard directed a film with the same name starring the great Francine Everett about a singer and dancer at a nightclub who gets tangled up in a murder).  But the Cotton Club is only one of dozens of places for people to indulge in Harlem’s nightlife. Although Langston Hughes described the neighborhood as being plagued by a “growing influx of whites toward Harlem after sundown, flooding the little cabarets and bars where formerly only colored people laughed and sang,” it was also teeming with places for Black folks to spend time in. Alas, they barely get any mention. Diving deeper into what Harlem was like at this time would’ve opened up more opportunities to talk about colorism, segregation, queerness (even the Cotton Club hosted queer musicians like Ethel Waters and Bessie Smith), the First Great Migration (between about 1910-1940, about one million Black people left the South for more economic opportunities in the North, Midwest, and West with around 175,000 landing in Harlem prior to WWII), racism against identities other than Black, the Harlem Renaissance, the rapid rise of Black workers in industrial fields such as steel manufacturing, rent parties, etc. Perhaps it’s just the Black history nerd in me, but I had hoped this alternate history novel would play more in the historical sandbox. Thing is, even taking into account the aspects that didn’t work for me, I still enjoyed This Ravenous Fate. Between the exciting premise and protagonists I wanted to hug as much as shake my fist at, it had me hooked. Layla and Elise are fun antihero protagonists. They make terrible decisions based on selfish reasons, then reap the bloody consequences. It’s violent, passionate, frenzied, and thrilling.  Readers, especially of the teen variety, who want to scratch that Interview with the Vampire tv show itch should look no further than Hayley Dennings’s This Ravenous Fate. It is the perfect late summer indulgence.[end-mark] This Ravenous Fate is published by Sourcebooks Fire. The post Violent, Passionate, Frenzied, and Thrilling: Hayley Dennings’s <i>This Ravenous Fate</i> appeared first on Reactor.

A student protester outside the Democratic National Convention in Chicago claimed police who “wounded, tackled, and choked” her “peers” are the same ones who “profit from the constant oppression of all people.” Anti-Israel, pro-abortion, and Marxist demonstrators joined forces to protest at the convention this weekend. “Police and the same people have profited off of the beating brutalizing and arresting of their students also profit from the merciless slaughtering of Palestinians that has persisted for decades now,” the woman said, “and those same people profit from denying bodily autonomy, and those same people profit from the constant oppression of all people of color.” Watch her here: The post Police ‘Profit From Merciless Slaughtering of Palestinians,’ Democratic Convention Protester Says appeared first on The Daily Signal.

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. Several high-profile accounts remain “withheld,” i.e., inaccessible in Brazil, despite the latest developments in the clash between X and Brazil’s judicial authorities. Over the weekend, X announced that it was closing its operations in Brazil – the latest stage in the ever-escalating dispute over censorship in that country, ongoing for several years now. At the center of the massive controversy are what X considers censorship orders issued by Alexandre de Moraes, president of Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court and a Supreme Federal Court justice. On Saturday, X said that while it was shutting down operations in the country because of unwillingness to comply with the orders, the platform would continue to be available to people there. However, X is continuing to “withhold” accounts belonging to journalist Guilherme Fiuza (@GFiuza_Oficial), journalist Allan dos Santos (@allanldsantos), journalist Rodrigo Constantino (@Rconstantino), and podcaster Monark (@monark). Santos’ account was first blocked in April of this year, while the others saw the same fate in January 2023. The accounts can be accessed from outside Brazil. All four are among prominent opponents of the current authorities, however, Moraes insists his orders – that are supposed to be kept secret, but which X has consistently been making public – have to do with curbing misinformation and “protecting democracy.” X, on the other hand, insists that these violate Brazil’s own laws and has repeatedly stated it would not comply. The announcement on Saturday said that what triggered the decision to close operations in Brazil was a threat from Moraes that X employees would be arrested because of the social media company’s decision to defy censorship demands. This time, once again, Moraes made the threat through what was supposed to be another secret order, but X once again decided to expose it. In the past, X owner Elon Musk said that the company might have to withdraw from Brazil because the secret orders to block popular accounts, on top of everything, did not provide any details explaining the demands. It now remains to be seen if Musk will make good on the promise from April, when he said that “all restrictions would be lifted.” If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post X Is Still Withholding Accounts of Notable Brazilian Journalists and Podcasters Despite Exiting Brazil appeared first on Reclaim The Net.