French qualifier Valentin Royer ousted No. 1 seed Andrey Rublev 6-4, 7-6 (2) on Saturday at the Lynx & Co Hangzhou Open in China.
It was the opener for Rublev, who had a first-round bye. For Royer, it was his first win over a Top 20 opponent, fueled by 32 winners to 19 for the Russian.
Royer advanced to the quarterfinals and will play Learner Tien, who defeated Italian Giulio Zeppieri 6-4, 6-3. Also moving into the quarters were third-seeded Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan, who came from behind to beat Australia’s Aleksandar Vukic 6-7 (6), 6-4, 6-4 in two hours, 13 minutes.
Corentin Moutet of France and Tomas Martin Etcheverry will face off in another quarterfinal. Fourth-seeded Moutet eliminated fellow Frenchman Arthur Cazaux 6-7 (1), 6-3, 7-6 (3). Etcheverry, of Argentina, sent Australian Rinky Hijikata packing 6-1, 6-4.
Yibing Wu defeated dropped the first set but came back to defeat Sebastian Korda 4-6, 6-1, 6-4. Czech Dalibor Svrcina eliminated China’s Zhizhen Zhang 6-4, 6-3.
Chengdu Open
Taro Daniel of Japan and Alexander Shevchenko of Kazakhstan advanced to the quarterfinals in upsets in Chengdu, China.
Daniel topped third seed Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 to move on to his first quarterfinal since Auckland in January 2024. He will play Shevchenko, who took out sixth seed Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard of France 6-7 (2), 7-6 (5), 6-4.
Top seed Lorenzo Musetti of Italy needed three sets to knock out Serbia’s Dino Prizmic 7-5, 3-6, 6-2. Musetti had 10 aces and 11 unforced errors. Next up for Musetti is qualifier Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia, who topped Mackenzie McDonald 6-2, 7-6 (4).
Police Chief James Avens learned a mass swearing-in ceremony was planned for Officer Daniel and asked K-9 Officer Ashley Liles to present the boy with his official appointment certificate on the chief’s behalf.
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Officer Daniel’s dream was to become a police officer, but he was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2018 and given five months to live.
Officer Daniel’s mission is to join as many law enforcement agencies across the United States as possible.
“We are so proud to have someone with the courage, bravery, and inspiration that Officer Daniel possesses as a member of the Matthews Police Department. We thank him for allowing us to be a small part of achieving his goal,” the police department posted on social media.
Daniel has been sworn-in to over 1,000 agencies, according to his Facebook page.
VIDEO: 4-year-old in recovery after the flu developed into rare brain condition
HOUSTON, Texas — At the start of sunrise, Daniel Hernandez and his father, Martin, start tackling an overgrown lawn. A service that takes them all day. A service that is also free.
Hernandez said they started helping neighbors in need three years ago after encountering a woman who needed to pay for her medication, instead of lawn care.
“It showed us that there are people out there that need help, and that’s what made us do what we do today,” Hernandez said.
Twice a week, the father-and-son duo drives around the city and looks for neglected yards. Hernandez started recording their work and posting the videos on YouTube. Their page has accumulated nearly 500,000 followers.
Hernandez explains how they select the yards to cut, and also touches on their growing YouTube page in the video above.
In “No Pain,” the third episode of Interview With the Vampire season two, Armand (Assad Zaman) shares the story of the Theatre des Vampires as Louis (Jacob Anderson) expresses reluctance to join—something that doesn’t stop Claudia (Delainey Hayles) from eagerly wanting to be a part of it.
Why Are Vampires Associated With Queerness?
This week we bite into the history of Paris’ vampire coven and Lestat’s (Sam Reid) role in its founding, as well as vampire rules, dark gifts, and more immortal romance. Levan Akin directs “No Pain” from a script by Heather Bellson in Anne Rice’s Immortal Universe of vampire lore, airing Sundays on AMC and AMC+.
Taking a break from the isolating room at Louis and Armand’s penthouse, Molloy (Eric Bogosian) gets a real meal at a posh sushi restaurant in Dubai. There he’s accosted by a man who goes by Raglan James (Justin Kirk), who represents another mysterious party tracking vampires that knows more than Molloy is being told by Louis and Armand. Book fans definitely geeked out a bit here at the character’s introduction and little foreshadowing lines from James thoughout (if you know you know). Molloy thinks he’s not exposed, but after James advises him to be open to communication, he ends up getting hacked by the mysterious figure anyway when he gets back into the penthouse. Talk about a poor firewall, friend! Daniel is immediately sent files of more vampire information that he ever imagined in relation to his interview subjects and himself.
Molloy tries to play it cool and hide James’ helpful info dump via chat box, as Armand arrives before Louis to share an on-the-record history lesson about the Paris Coven’s origins. The soft-spoken Armand is very old, despite his perpetually angelic-looking appearance: in 1556, the Roman Coven he was a part of sent him to Paris to head up its enclave, which lived in squalor deep in the shadows underground. They were run by sects driven through ancient religious laws and gods to keep them in eternal damnation mode under Satan. It got old very quickly for Armand; by the 18th century, when Lestat began to run amok in the city above, flaunting his alluring menace on the unsuspecting living, it drove most of the Paris Coven crazy to see such heretical behavior. But it intrigued Armand.
In order to exert dominance as the Paris Coven’s maitre, Armand reveals himself to the fledgling Lestat and informs him he’s his new master as he exists in their domain and must follow vampire law. So of course Lestat blows him off, with the swish of his cape and his blond bouncy hair, because he does not want to be an obedient, poor, peasant vampire. The rejection only makes the brat Frenchman more hot to Armand, who’s never faced a challenge. Naturally, the coven wants severe punishment for Lestat as they see him break so many more rules including taking a mortal lover. That’s the breaks for letting Lestat run his showman lifestyle—and Armand uses his ancient powers to literally drop his ass and drag him into cooperating with a show of power that switches Lestat’s view on Armand.
The boy wants power and he immediately plans to get it, so he shows up to the coven’s hovel with Christ on a cross (literally) to dismantle the old ways, which is what Armand wanted but knew he couldn’t get away with. He pisses on their rules and old god worship, because to Lestat they’re not there to stop them from being gods themselves. The coven breaks loose into the night; some end up taking to the sun to escape meaningless existence, while others jump into power. Knowing they need to be reeled in, because careless killing endangers all of them, Lestat encourages Armand to begin the coven anew through the Theatre des Vampires, a show where they perform their true identity and take their prey while the living laugh at the fiction they think they’re seeing.
Lestat’s reformation leads to a new age of the vampire, giving Armand the freedom he sought, and he tells Lestat he loves him while Lestat being Lestat only covets Armand’s dark gifts. As soon as he learns them from the maitre, Lestat abandons him and the coven but leaves them the means to continue without him. Lestat’s ghosting and lover melodrama is something Louis is aware of and helps provide insight on when he sits with Armand and Molloy. It would take Armand 150 years to tell someone else he loved them, and you can deduce it’s Louis—oh, the piping hot tea!
Molloy resumes Claudia’s Paris diaries, as she campaigns to join the coven that Louis wants no part of except to see her happy (and also he’s sweet on its maitre). She takes on the tasks of cleaning the theater house as she learns more about the coven, particularly Santiago. The acting troupe’s lead inspires her with his performances and dark gift of making people accept death before killing, and with her Daddy Lestat’s ambitious streak, she wants that power too. So Santiago takes her under his wing because he was also orphaned by a terrible maker, but of course he doesn’t know hers was Lestat—just some rando vamp named “Bruce.”
Lestat’s presence is also felt in Louis’ motivations; like his former lover, there’s an independent streak that prevents him from having any interest in the coven, and that makes him attractive to Armand. The Paris Coven resents that even though all Louis does is enjoy Parisian culture and take up photography, with sporadic human meals, Armand begins to join him on his late-night wandering throughout the city. They fall in love over discourse about good vs. evil and enjoying music at jazz clubs—even with the occasional mental projection of Lestat showing up in Louis’ mind. Last season’s “Come to Me” song reappears in a fun scene as a diss track with Lestat on piano singing to Louis, “You little whore, you only want him because you’re feeling blue,” which disrupts the romantic evening—and Armand reveals he knows his maker is Lestat. Foolishly, Louis tells Armand everything and the maitre reprimands him over breaking so many rules he needs to enforce punishments for. Honestly, the expectation that Lestat would even teach Louis any rules is ridiculous, so when he says Lestat told him “shit” the frustration is understandable. Thankfully, Armand is stupidly sprung on Louis too, so he doesn’t kill him or Claudia immediately as was probably expected.
Louis, of course, does not tell Claudia that his new boyfriend knows the truth; he continues to build a fake story around their history with “Bruce” and bond with her over their shared Lestat trauma. It really mirrors the complex PTSD that survivors of emotional and physical abuse can carry on from loved ones—even after making it out of the situation, it can haunt you, and in Louis’ case this presents as that manifestation of Lestat always following him. In anger, Louis kills a random person imagining them as Lestat and carelessly leaves the body behind. Within the coven, Santiago points out that his own maker was killed for less.
Tensions begin to rise as the coven wants Louis dealt with, even as they embrace Claudia. As they begin to induct her into the coven by reciting the rules every vampire should follow (not knowing she’s broken a few of them), Armand takes Louis through the sewers to finally kill him. Louis is ready for it and asks for Armand to take care of Claudia, but the maitre reveals her being in such a young body will break her in time. Louis doesn’t accept that and begs for the coven to give her a chance, but Armand insists he’s seen it before; over the centuries, vampires in children’s bodies are not able to evolve past their physical limitations. Louis defends her, insisting she’s strong and it wouldn’t break her—perhaps blinded by her love for her. Seeing the damage Lestat has caused, Armand asks if Lestat broke him and Louis says no, but he carries him. The trauma bonding brings them together as do the life and death stakes here. The tension is too much and they kiss, starting a tryst and avoiding all the punishment talk for now.
There’s a belief or a saying, at least, that love conquers all. In the secular world the reference is to the power of emotional love to compel men and women to do extraordinary things. Love is said to move us to do the unthinkable with sometimes positive and in many instances negative results. One of the reasons for this apparent inconsistency lies with another saying and that is “Love is blind.” Again, in this secular world nothing can be reckless and misdirected as blind love. Now take the same saying and apply it with biblical references and it takes on a whole new meaning. Love conquers all. Just for the sake of giving an example, God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son. The greatest commandment is love of your neighbor as yourself. God is Love. Out of love, we have been saved. From this perspective love takes on a set of characteristics that only result in positive endings.
I’m reminded that spiritual love differs from secular love in that one is conditional and the other is not. By that I mean love in this sense, from its biblical basis, is an unconditional state of being. Love, according to scripture, is a constant. It never ceases to be and it never ceases to give.
I believe that is what is meant by unconditional. Love by and other definition is not love. It is a perversion of God’s great gift to us. Love like faith requires covenant. I am moved by Daniel’s prayer,” O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant of love with all who love HIm and obey His commands…” Daniel 9:4. I must tell you that this sums up quite a bit for me about this subject. Unconditional love begets something less than unconditional love in return. So all of this begs the question how do you love someone? How do you attempt to love God? Unconditional does not mean undisciplined. It does not preclude commitment.
As a matter of fact scripture would indicate that you can’t have anything real happen in your life unless it’s based on the love about which I speak. Our entire existence is seen from the perspective of love of family, mother, father, wife, son, husband, fellow man, God. Jesus was crucified based on this love. Isubmit to you that our obligation to each other is to attempt to love ourselves in such a manner as to recognize the God within us and to then appreciate the God in everyone else. We are then in a covenant relationship with self, each other and therefore in line with the covenant that God has with man. The end result then must be a positive outcome. Jesus’ crucifixion had a positive outcome. I submit again that his very directed and guided love will always guarantee an outcome consistent with the wishes of God. Therefore again I say in this context love conquers all. It is our reason for being. It is the reason for salvation”…God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God and God in him.” 1 John 4:16.
May God bless and keep you always.
The following passage is from “Spiritually Speaking: Reflections for and from a New Christian” by James Washington. You can purchase this enlightening book on Amazon and start your journey towards spiritual enlightenment.
Lego Half Life 2 is a mod that does exactly what the name suggests. Created by Not Dave or Daniel, it takes the classic first-person shooter and turns it into a LEGO game, complete with bricky inhabitants.
Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga’s Air Combos Make Me Feel Skilled AF
It doesn’t overhaul the entire game, so don’t go expecting bricky vehicles and bricky landscapes and bricky buildings; the only things being swapped out here are the characters. But given most LEGO games leave a lot of the landscapes “normal” anyway, the effect is still pretty good!
There are some perspective issues, of course. Swapping out full-size humans for tiny little yellow men and women (and aliens) will do that to your viewpoint. But it looks manageable, and more importantly, it looks very funny.
