Join producer, musician and DJ, Zedd, as he delves back into World of Warcraft. Literally. World of Warcraft: The War Within's new feature, Delves, are bite-sized adventures for up to five players plus a customizable NPC companion that can be completed in 10 to 15 minutes and payout some serious rewards. Will lapsed player Zedd and his team of World of Warcraft vets be able to overcome all obstacles and walk away with a treasure trove of fresh loot? Watch now and find out.

Turns out that running a kingdom is hard. Players simply can't just sit on their thrones eating roast chicken and cherry tomatoes while someone sings for them. There has to be some form of ruling involved. That's what Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord demands from its players.

Theres nothing subtle about the eat-the-rich message at play in Blink Twice, the horror-thriller that adds director to the list of hyphenates for actor-producer-writer-model Zo Kravitz (The Batman, Kimi). This is the kind of movie where people talk in declaratory speeches, or let silent tears and brandished knives do the talking for them. Its statements about gender, violence, trauma, and entitlement are blaring and blatant, with little room for ambiguity or interpretation. And that absolutely seems to be the movies primary point.Blink Twice is a story designed to make people angry, then give them a focus for their rage. Kravitz and co-writer E.T. Feigenbaum are aiming to provoke recognition and righteous fury, and they rarely pull their punches. But theyre working in a mode thats become so familiar with other recent movies that its hard for Kravitz and Feigenbaum to find distinctive ground of their own.Actor Naomi Ackie is their primary weapon in that particular war. Ackie makes a compelling, empathy-inducing lead as Frida, a catering-company wage-slave facing a choice between making rent, or making a move on her unlikely crush object, ultra-wealthy tech mogul Slater King (Channing Tatum). Slater has recently been embroiled in some kind of scandal, and hes on a standard-issue media-assisted image-rehabilitation tour that includes public apologies, the promise Im working on myself, and some envy-evoking references to getting back to nature on his private island, where hes growing his own crops and raising his own chickens.Hes also partying hard with his inner circle. Frida manages to catch Slaters appreciative eye while shes supposed to be working at his companys glitzy annual gala, and soon she and her roommate and best friend Jess (Alia Shawkat) are on a luxe private plane to that private island. Theyre joined by a handful of Slaters own besties, mostly played by familiar faces Christian Slater and Haley Joel Osment as two of his work buds; Kyle MacLachlan as his therapist; Geena Davis as his eager-to-please assistant. And then there are the other women on board, Hot Survivor Babes champion Sarah (Adria Arjona) and giggly party girls Camilla (Liz Caribel) and Heather (Trew Mullen).As soon as they get to the island, the champagne, pot, and designer drugs start flowing, between rounds of gourmet food, daily pool parties, and hedonistic lounging. Except while Frida tries to signal her interest in hooking up with Slater, and Sarah keeps glowering competitively as if she wants him for herself, somehow the nights keep blurring by, and sex never enters the picture. Theres more to it. Fridas housekeeper is behaving oddly. Poisonous snakes keep turning up. Frida doesnt know how she keeps getting clotted dirt under her custom animal-design nails. Somethings terribly wrong, Jess suggests, and they dont know what. The answer is dark enough that Amazon MGM Studios issued an official trigger warning, not wanting audiences to get caught by surprise.Approaching Blink Twice as a Big Twist movie will just leave viewers disappointed: The Big Twist is fairly obvious, heavily telegraphed, and not really the point. The point is what women do in a situation where men appear to have all the status, power, and leverage and the question of why so many men throughout history have wielded those things in such predictable ways.Its certainly no coincidence that most of Slaters tech-bro buds are white-presenting rich dudes, while Frida and the other women are all lower class, women of color, or both. The power inequity of class, gender, and race is painted all over Blink Twice in the vivid reds and stark black-and-whites that also define Slater Kings dcor aesthetic at that annual company gala.And yet the movie doesnt approach any of these things with nuance or careful craft. Theres certainly potential to the setup, but Kravitz and Feigenbaum are working in the shadow of many similar recent movies, including The Menu, Triangle of Sadness, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Story, and the disastrously mishandled Dont Worry Darling. Like all those movies, Blink Twice first revels in the privileged, glamorous lives of the super-rich, then indulges in the fantasy of interrupting those lives with well-justified violence. But in an era of constantly growing wealth inequality, where roughly every third thriller villain is some form of tech bro, it takes more than a basic dudes bad, wealth bad, power corrupts message to make a movie stand out.Kravitz and Feigenbaum get a long way on striking images and style, and on tapping into relatable frustrations. Frida and Jess situation is certainly understandable: They just want to escape rent concerns, their skeevy boss, and their dead-end jobs for a while. The movies entire engine runs on anger about how easily those things come into the hands of certain kinds of smug, self-justifying, endlessly entitled men, while women (and particularly women of color) have to pay a heavy toll to attain the same goals. Tatums amused, warm charisma, set against Ackies convincing welter of emotions at the situation shes in, gives that anger a focus and a face.But it doesnt give it much depth. In the last 10 minutes or so, Blink Twice suddenly comes into focus, with a too-brief moment of clarity and creativity that steps outside all the similar movies from the last few years. Suddenly, it feels like the movie has a more specific point of view, and a much sharper and more incisive edge. If that kind of intentionality and specificity stretched throughout more of the movie, Blink Twice would be a real conversation piece. As it is, its just the latest film to tell a familiar story about men vs. women, haves vs. have-nots, and how cathartic it can be to imagine a bloody response to societal problems that rarely come within knifing range.Blink Twice is in theaters now.

When your homes value rises, you have more equity, which is a good thing. When it sinks, you have less equityand it might be an indication that the housing market and the economy in general is headed for choppy waters, which is a bad thing. Both of those scenarios assume that home values will change steadily over timebut what happens if your homes value drops or rises sharply and suddenly? Right now property values are pretty high, and have been rising steadily for years. But as anyone who was alive in 2008 can tell you, home prices can plummet overnight. If your homes value goes up or down very rapidly, there are a few steps you should take to protect your investment and your property.What to do if your property value goes up sharplyIf you wake up one morning and find that your house has jumped in value, you automatically have a huge benefit: more equity. You literally own more of your house than you did a short time ago, just because the ratio between what you owe on your mortgage and what you could get if you sold the place has gotten bigger.But dont just take the wintheres more you can do to really take advantage of the situation:Have the house appraised. When you took out your loan to buy the house, everything was based on the appraised value of the place. If the house is now worth dramatically more, you have an opportunity to get rid of private mortgage insurance (PMI) if you have it, or refinance to a better rate (if rates are, in fact, lower than when you initially took out the loan). To do either of those things, youll need to have the place appraised to make the increase in value officialnot a self-appraisal, but paying for a real appraisal. That relatively small cost might be well worth it if you save yourself thousands (or more) in PMI and interest.Consider selling. A house isnt just an investment, its where you livebut people sell their homes every eight years or so, on average, so if your home is suddenly worth a lot more, its worth asking yourself if the time is right. Selling your house can give you a nice payout by liquidating all that equity, after all.Consider a HELOC. A home equity line of credit (HELOC) is a loan made against your homes equity, so waking up with more of that equity means you can get a larger HELOC to work with. You can use that HELOC money to make improvements to the house at a relatively low cost in terms of interest, which can lead to even higher home value and even more equity, so this could be a golden opportunity to renovate, repair, and refresh your property.What to do if your property value goes down sharply The opposite scenario is waking up one day to discover your home is worth considerably less than it was yesterday. This is not the time to panic, howeverits the time to consider some thoughtful moves that can protect your finances and your home:Appeal your property tax assessment. Your local government assesses the value of your home in order to set the amount of tax you have to pay on the property. If your property was last assessed at the high tide of its value, it might be worth it to file an appeal to get your assessment, and thus your tax bill, lowered. The procedure will vary depending on where you live, but it could mean significant savings.Contact your insurance. Another reason to get a fresh appraisal on your home is your homeowners insurance, which is based in part on your homes value and the estimated rebuilding costs. If that value has dropped, you might be able to lower the amount of coverage, and thus the premiums that youre paying for that coverage.Prepare for HELOC changes. If you already have a home equity line of credit on your house, it was based on your homes old valuation. If your lender notices that your house is now worth significantly less, they might freeze or reduce your HELOC. You still have to repay anything youve borrowed from the HELOC, but you might lose access to any remaining funds. It might make sense to move some money out of your HELOC if you know youre going to need it soon.Consider refinancing. If the shift in your homes value has pushed you into negative equity territory (meaning you owe more on your mortgage than the house is currently worth), you can consider a refinance to balance things out. This can be tricky depending on current interest rates and your lenders willingness to work something out, but its something worth considering the moment you notice the sudden change in your homes valueand its certainly worth a call to your lender to see what makes sense.

Blue Origins New Glenn heavy-lift rocket and its Mars-bound NASA payload now have a tentative launch date. The company said on Friday that the inaugural flight will take place no earlier than October 13, carrying two probes built by Rocket Lab to help NASA study the effects of solar wind on Mars atmosphere. This will be the first time New Glenn flies after years of delays in its development, and the date cuts well into the window of opportunity for travel to Mars, which occurs roughly every two years based on the planetary alignments. That launch period opens on September 29 and extends to mid-October, per Ars Technica.We're going to Mars! https://t.co/5OHNy7QETX pic.twitter.com/3hRbseLPEo Rocket Lab (@RocketLab) August 23, 2024 The mission will lift off from Space Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The twin spacecraft of NASAs Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers mission (Escapade) arrived in Florida on August 19 to begin preparations and integration with the launch vehicle.Now, the pressure is really on for Jeff Bezos-founded Blue Origin to get New Glenn ready in time. Bloomberg reported on Wednesday that the company recently suffered two failures at its factory that resulted in damage to hardware for its second and third New Glenn flights. But, a spokesperson told the publication that its still on track for this years inaugural launch.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/blue-origin-targets-mid-october-for-new-glenns-inaugural-flight-and-launch-of-nasas-escapade-mars-mission-224611923.html?src=rss

Looking for Quordle clues? We can help. Plus get the answers to Quordle today and past solutions.

Zoom shares jumped on Thursday after the company reported better-than-expected results for the second quarter and lifted its full-year guidance.

https://youtu.be/Q-VoVOCn6N4Our Emmy nominated work on Ripley primarily features in episode three - subtle, nuanced, and ultimately invisible work that helped build tension in the scene and adhere to aesthetic of Steven Zaillians vision.#ForYourConsideration #Emmys #VFX

How Wt FX delivered invisible effects for the gripping boat sequence. From befores & afters magazine in print.In episode 3 of the Steven Zaillian Netflix series Ripley, based on the novel The Talented Mr. Ripley, the deceitful Tom Ripley (Andrew Scott) beats his friend Dickie Greenleaf (Johnny Flynn) to death with an oar on a small boat off Sanremo.Later, he ties the deceased Dickie to an anchor and dumps the body overboard.This all plays out, in black and white, in open water off the Italian coast.However, the scene was in fact largely shot in a small tank, with Wt FX tasked with creating the water digitally, extending the environment and sky, and also dealing with some digital doubles, fire elements, blood splatter and other augmentations for the sequence.The state of waterCertainly, Wt FX is well-versed in simulating water, particularly with recent experiences on Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Avatar: The Way of Water. The VFX studio has solved water on projects such as those with many physically-based approaches, including its Loki state machine which has a unified approach to the many states of water.Theres these principles of water that we try to get as realistic as we can, notes Wt FX visual effects supervisor Christopher White, who oversaw the studios work on Ripley. It can be many things that you mix in different combinations to get a very different look. Avatar: The Way of Water was all about the caustics. Wakanda Forever was all about the turbid water. Ripley was all about highlights and salinity in the water. We try to be as realistic as we canwe learn all the rulesbut then we often break them to tell the story.The boat shots in the sequences included motoring along, as well the boat being stationary amongst the waves. As noted, this was filmed on a small tank, necessitating the replacement of that tank water with coastal water and the surrounding environment, while retaining the actors and the boat (and sometimes replacing it). Sometimes the boat would be static in the tank for a shot that would eventually need to see it motoring along. That was some of the trickiest work, shares White.Since most of the movement in the plate was put into the camera while the boat remained static, the challenge was adding a sense of travel to the boat and movement from the waves. We would add in some additional boat rocking, in addition to our CG water, and try to make it all move through a true dynamic space.In fact, Wt FX set up the scene so that the animators would animate the boat which would in turn drive the water simulations. The animators could set the path of the boat and what its motion is and then there were some quick dynamics in there that we know will fit into the final water simulation, outlines White. The chase boats that are filming these are also dynamic boats as well. So it feels like youre looking from one boat zipping along next to it. That just adds the sense that its being filmed for real.We also have a system set up, continues White, so that the simulation artists who might be working on very similar types of shots can pick up the animation and be able to run all the sims. It lets you consistently look at runs of shots and compare them and have a foundation to it, instead of having to chase the solution on every shot.The look of waterWhile its existing tools were certainly utilized to simulate water for this boat sequence, Wt FX had to nevertheless deliver water that fit into the particular aesthetic of the show (White says this was to have some movement to the water, but to not be too choppy.) Another example of this was achieving a certain look of highlights on the water surface. We were able to make it work great for where there really would be highlights, but they liked them so much, remembers White, that they wanted them in every shot. So, there is a little bit of cheating. Each frame needs to look beautiful, and as long as it doesnt jar for the audience, it works.Another kind of look in the water, for when salt water meets fresh water, was something the visual effects studio needed to achieve. Its this phenomenon where fresh water goes into salt water and it creates a different pattern, describes White. Once you notice it, you notice it everywhere. It helped to add in a little bit of variation and breakup to the water shots. For this in particular, we ended up developing a technique where we rendered fresh water and salty water and had the compositor place where those things took place.Wt FX further faced the challenge of a constant overcast sky in the scenes. Notes White: Completely overcast sky can look very boring on the water. A lot of our work was just trying to figure out, how do we keep the water looking interesting with the somewhat simple sky? The director really wanted these little hits of light and sunlight that wasnt necessarily representing the sky. So, what we actually had were multiple suns set up in our scenes to achieve this.Under the waterThe camera goes under the water, too, for views looking up at the boat from underneath, and for when Tom himself falls overboard and at one point gets hit by the anchor being dragged along. This required some digi-doubles for a handful of shots. They shot stunt performers doing the whole sequence which gave us good reference for what happens underwater, discusses White. That was extremely helpful in putting this altogether.For the underwater shots, too, Wt FX implemented the Snells window look. This is a phenomenon where someone underwater can look up to the sky and appear to see a hole through the water to the sky. What happens is, explains White, the light can get through the water at a certain point, but because of the difference in index of reflection between the two materials, some of the rays dont actually get out. They bounce back down. So you can see the reflection of the pool or the underwater surface on the sides.The team would invoke that effect to, for example, match director notes where they might be a call to see more of the sky from under the water. We would change the internal reflection of the water to expand and contract this to make a composition that was pleasing, says White. It meant we had these controls to hit the aesthetic notes.Fire and blood and the use of practical elementsIn addition to digital water and environment work, Wt FX was responsible for tackling a fiery moment in the boat sequence, when Tom uses gasoline and his lighter to try and burn the anchor rope. Here, practical fire elements were a key part of the VFX mix.We could have gone with digital fire, but our team suggested we do a practical fire element shoot sets out White. They built part of the boat, and then tried different fuels including petrol and gel to get a library of elements for the rope burning. I always enjoy elements shoots because you can iterate for a while on the computer, but an element shoot can also give you great reference and happy accidents and things you wouldnt expect.Similarly, practical blood elements helped with the moment Tom begins attacking Dickie with the oar. I wanted the blood splatter to have the correct physics, states White. Instead of us guessing at how it would hit the sleeve, our art director Gino Acevedo and his team here got a mannequin with the shirt and replayed the strikes. Gino also made some scars on the face and would work out how that might drip on a shirt.Then I built these keynotes that I put forward to the client so that they could see that we had thought through each of these events and how they all build up. And, of course, you do a little bit of embellishment to make more blood as you go along, but then all the events on his clothing made sense.The final blood additions were tracked in and composited by Wt FX using smart vectors in Nuke. Back in the day, tracking on clothing wouldve been a nightmare, says White. But some of these more recent tools help quite a lot.Read the full invisible effects issue of befores & afters magazine.The post The way of water (in Ripley) appeared first on befores & afters.