![]() ![]() PCB layout, wiring routes, grounding strategies, heatsinking, power transformers, and especially power-supply design, will affect stability, transparency of sound, and the ability to drive speakers. In using power op-amps, implementation is key. I've subsequently compared my Gaincard to one of its clones and one DIY version, and learned that all LM3886 op-amps are not created equal. After reviewing it, I bought the Gaincard and used it every day for 10 years with a pair of Rogers LS3/5a speakers. ![]() The 4706 Gaincard's high price, radical simplicity, and unorthodox power supply spawned concern among measurements-oriented audiophiles, but word quickly spread about how musically satisfying it could sound. The Gaincard, introduced in 1999, had only nine parts per channel, short signal paths, minimal power-supply capacitance, and, with only one of 47 Lab's Power Humpty power supplies, cost $3300 (a second Power Humpty cost an additional $1800). The roots of the storied LM3886 can be traced back to 47 Laboratory's 4706 Gaincard integrated amplifier, designed by Junji Kimura, which I reviewed for Listener magazine Robert Deutsch reviewed it for Stereophile in December 2001. Now, before you get your knickers in a knot about an "audiophile-grade" power amplifier based on a lowly op-ampinstead of this year's fashionable MOSFET, JFET, SIT, or bipolar deviceyou must understand that the AkitikA's LM3886 op-amp is notorious and fashionable. Note the three deep-finned heatsinks: one behind the rear panel, for the power-supply regulator, and two in a row along the inside of the left side panel, one per channel, to cool the two LM3886 power operational amplifiers. The first thing to note is the steel wall separating the audio circuitry from the toroidal mains transformer and regulated power supply. The GT-102's interior is spartan, but studying its layout gives the potential kit builder a good idea of how much screwing and soldering will be required to build it. On the rear panel are only an IEC power-cord inlet, two gold-plated RCA jacks, and two pairs of generic speaker binding posts. Its front panel sports only a logo and an illuminated, bright green plastic rocker switch for power on/off. The GT-102 is a class-AB, 60Wpc stereo power amplifier in a case made of relatively thin steel. So long as your kit is correctly assembled, we'll refund the price you paid, you just pay return shipping. If within 30 days of receiving the kit you aren't satisfied, return the kit. ![]() Which I did.īecause the GT-102 is available as a kit I begin my description of it by quoting AkitikA's "Satisfaction Guarantee" for this US-made amp: When I asked John Atkinson if I could review AkitikA's GT-102 power amplifier, he said okay, but suggested that, because he would be testing it on his lab bench, I should request the factory-assembled, pre-tested version ($488). For me, kits were the start of a new lifeone that led me to secret societies and darker corners of the audio underground. (I worshiped at the Philco 16B Tombstone.) Solder fumes, wire strippers, and building amps remain very appealing to me. By the late 1980s I'd advanced to building simple tube amplifiers from scratch, using parts cannibalized from antique radios. Next, I started reading Audio Amateur and Speaker Builder magazines, buying used test instruments, and modifying my Dynaco and Hafler gear. Yahweh, Bob Marley, and The Specials loved this potent lively-up system as much as I did. To this day, Dylan and the Doors have never sounded better!Īfter moving to New York City, I built a solid-state Hafler DH-101 preamp and two (!!) DH-200 amplifiers, which I used to drive stacked pairs of Large Advent loudspeakers. I didn't want to take tubes to college, so I also built Dynaco's solid-state PAT-4 preamplifier and Stereo 120 amplifier, which I used to drive Dynaco's A-25 loudspeakers. He practically forced me to build a Dynaco (footnote 1) Dynakit Stereo 70 tube amplifier, as well as the matching PAS-2 preamplifier and FM-3 stereo tuner. He taught me Ohm's law, and how to solder, dress wires, and use a multimeter. When I was in high school, my best friend was a radar technician for the Navy. My friend wondered if I wanted to review the AkitikA amp (the name is a palindrome, based on a kit). (The studio guy bought his assembled and tested for $488.) Now, he likes the AkitikA more than his broke-down reference amp." So he went online and bought this 60W AkitikA solid-state amplifier to use while his big amp was being repaired. An e-mail from an old audiophile pal: "Herb, my buddy owns a recording studio, and he told me one of his $10k reference amplifiers stopped working and the manufacturer said it would take months to be repaired. ![]()
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![]() At almost two hours, the film feels a bit long and suffers from multiple endings, but Okada is clearly a talent to watch. ![]() “Maquia” marks the directorial debut of Mari Okada, a popular animation screenwriter (“Anohana,” “The Anthem of the Heart”), making her one of the few women directing animated films in Japan. Like Arwen in “The Lord of the Rings,” she learns to accept the burdens of her long life, as well as its rewards. But her love never waivers, even when she visits the aged Erial on his deathbed. Eventually, Erial grows old and feeble while Maquia remains young and lovely. Because she never seems to age, Maquia has to move every few years, finding work and shelter where she can.Įrial grows at a normal rate, rebelling against his adoptive mother’s protective care and striking out on his own. Maquia tells the story of the titular young girl from a race of long lived elf like weavers. Written and directed (her directorial debut, in fact) by Mari Okada of Anohana fame. Although she admits she knows nothing about motherhood, Maquia devotes the next several years to raising the boy she names Erial (Miyu Irino). Maquia: When The Promised Flower Blooms, is a masterfully crafted fantasy epic about motherhood, love, and life itself. A raid by armed knights leaves her stranded in the human realm of Mezart, where she rescues a baby whose parents have been killed. They spend their time weaving a special fabric that preserves time and memory within its warp and weft. Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms A story of encounters and partings interwoven between people this is a human drama with feelings that touch one’s heart gradually, which everyone has experienced at least once. The elfin Maquia (Manaka Iwami) belongs to the Clan of the Separated, whose members live for centuries, but cease aging in their teens. “Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms” is a romantic adventure that reflects the Japanese belief in the transitory nature of all beauty. ![]() ![]() ![]() For those seeking a slightly more pleasant playthrough here is the best M ega Man 4 boss order. Wily returned as the antagonist in subsequent titles of the main series with a. Like the previous three games, players can choose which stages and bosses they want to conquer first. He was however defeated by Rock, who upgraded to the combat robot Mega Man. Mega Man 4 is another classic entry in the series, though some feel it marked something of a downward turn. 20 chance to have old charge Behavior 40 chance to skip the level 1 charge 40 chance to skip all charge levels and instantly shoot at a full. Atomic Fire tends to have lower ammo consumption than vanilla. ![]() Its charge speeds and X- velocity is also randomized. Related: Mega Man 11: Robot Masters Order And Weaknesses It is generally quite a bit more effective than it was in the original Mega Man 2. Thankfully, Mega Man 11 was able to keep the retro charm of the series while adding new additions of its own. The most recent entry, Mega Man 11, came nearly a decade after the last numbered installment and was well received by players who endured the long wait for a new installment. The Mega Man franchise is famous for its huge number of sequels and spinoffs and maintains a solid fanbase to this day. The Mega Man games typically allow players to choose which stages they want to tackle first, with the order sometimes determining how easy - or tough - a playthrough will be. Mega Man is also able to copy the weapon of any defeated Master to upgrade his own arm cannon. Mega Man himself is a robot created by a kindly doctor who must do battle with a mad scientist and his Robot Masters. The character is known as Rockman in Japan, with the series later being rebranded Mega Man in the West. ![]() Mega Man is a classic side-scrolling action series from Capcom, the developers behind other legendary franchises like Resident Eviland Street Fighter. Some forward planning helps make this retro entry in the series a little easier, so here is a guide to the best Mega Man 4 boss order. ![]() ![]() ![]()
![]() ![]() The Holy Grail is a spiritual artifact, so only astral entities, such as Servants, are capable of touching it. Only one Servant can be summoned in each war from one of seven classes: Saber, Archer, Lancer, Berserker, Rider, Assassin, and Caster. ![]() Specific legends may be summoned with the aid of catalysts, which are artifacts, ideas, or experiences similar to or of value to the desired Servant. A Noble Phantasm's hidden abilities may be released by invoking its true name, but casual brandishing of a Noble Phantasm is best avoided, for symbolic Noble Phantasms usually belie a Servant's identity, diminishing their competitive advantage. These resurrected Heroic Spirits possess superhuman characteristics and wield powerful artifacts or abilities called Noble Phantasms. ![]() The past four Holy Grail Wars have typically occurred every sixty years, but the fifth war has eerily started prematurely, only ten years after the fourth war.Įach magus, better known as a Master, is aided by one of the seven summoned spiritual familiars known as Servants, who are the reincarnations of legendary souls from all across time. For the past two centuries, seven magi were gathered and engage in a Battle Royale, each gambling his or her own life to obtain the Holy Grail, a legendary chalice capable of granting wishes. Fuyuki City is the setting for a secret and violent war among competing magi. While the original work never received an official English translation, numerous unofficial patches were produced by fans and its adaptations gathered a large audience outside of Japan.įate/stay night spawned a number of other works within the Fate series, beginning with its sequel Fate/hollow ataraxia, and introduced fan-favorite characters used in subsequent works, even when they did not take place in the same continuity as stay night.įate/stay night takes place in 2004, in a parallel world from Tsukihime. It was ported to several platforms, and its three narrative routes- Fate, Unlimited Blade Works and Heaven's Feel-received numerous adaptations in manga, animated movies and animated series format. Set in the same universe as previous TYPE-MOON releases, it is among the most well-known and popular visual novels. It is TYPE-MOON's first commercial work, following its transition from a doujin soft visual novel group. Fate/stay night (フェイト/ステイナイト, Feito/sutei naito ?) is a Japanese eroge visual novel game created by TYPE-MOON, which was originally released on January 30, 2004. ![]() ![]() ![]() Which can be helpful for landing some of the more tricky super moves. They can buff your fighter, distrupt your opponent. Such power! There's a couple of new ADORABLE support Pokemon, which you can call into battle at certain times to help out. I really liked Decidueye's style! But even with all these new additions, I can't help but default back to Machamp. Decidueye is a keen Owl archer, who glides to enemies with ease for precision attacks! Decidueye is the final new addition, who wasn't actually in the arcade version. You mean your favourite besides Pikachu Libre of course?Ĭosplay Pikachu, is officially THE BEST. The super moves are so good!! There's also the creepy shadow tentacles of Darkrai,Īnd Croagunk, who is my favourite of the newcomers. I never really gelled with or liked Scizor's move sets, but that super move! Yes! The new playable Pokemon include: Empoleon - a regal penguin! I love the way Empoleon slides around the battlefield.įantastic ice blast! There's also Scizor! It includes a few tweaks to the original game, and a few new POKEMON to play with too! And the good news is, just about everything is unlocked right from the start! Pokken Tournament DX is a re-release for the Switch. ![]() Shadow Mewtwo, a soulless fighting machine! Series of fighting leagues, where you learn about the mysterious The game features online and offline modes, and also a Indeed! Based on an Arcade Game originally, Pokken Tournament took a variety of Pokemon characters, and introduced an exciting fighting system that was both flashy, and deep in strategy. We reviewed the original Pokken Tournament when it first came out on Wii U, and we really liked it! Pokken Tournament DX isn't about collecting and evolving Pokemon, it's about putting two of those cute critters in a ring, and bashing it out! ![]() ![]() ![]() The Horror drama witnessed its first fall on Monday by collecting around Rs 3.75 crore approx.Īdding the preview collection from Tuesday to Thursday i.e Rs 2.25 crore net approx, Annabelle Creation has earned Rs 29.50 crore net approx. The film continued showing its huge growth and went on to earn Rs 7 crore net approx. ![]() With the Conjuring franchise being very popular in India, the film did a huge business of Rs 4.50 crore (45 million) net approx on day one. It has done double the business of Bareilly Ki Barfi in five days. on day 5, taking its total business to around Rs 29.50 crore. The film has earned Rs 3.50 crore net approx. On the other hand, Hollywood horror film Annabelle Creation is overtaking Bollywood release Bareilly Ki Barfi with a good margin. The first-week business is expected to end up between 18-19 crore net approx. That’s a good business for a film made on a moderate budget. Bareilly Ki Barfi starring Ayushmann Khurrana, Kriti Sanon, and Rajkummar Rao has collected Rs 1.95 crore on its first Tuesday, taking its total five business to Rs 15.5 crore net approx. ![]() The film opened to a slow start on its first day but picked up well over the weekend. The film has managed to sustain the momentum after its first weekend. The film is currently heading to become a commercially successful film of the year. All eyes are on a few major releases at the end of the year to see if there’s a possibility that ticket sales might recover.Annabelle Creation has done double the business of Bareilly Ki Barfi in five days at the Box Office.Īyushmann Khurrana, Kriti Sanon, and Rajkummar Rao starrer Bareilly Ki Barfi has received tremendous word of mouth and this has eventually helped the film to earn well at the Box Office. As of Sunday, the summer box office was more than 10% behind last year, and the year was dragging by 3%. Last weekend’s total domestic gross came in below the opening weekend of just a single film - “Suicide Squad” - the year prior. It’s met, in limited release, by a number of fresh films including A24’s “Good Time” starring Robert Pattinson, Neon’s “Ingrid Goes West,” and Roadside Attractions’ “The Only Living Boy in New York.”Īll this during a weekend that could use a serious boost. The Weinstein Company’s “Wind River,” which performed well at four locations last weekend, will expand to about 45. The film, which has received mixed reviews, tells the story of Walls’ dysfunctional and nomadic family life as a child. Larson reunited with “Short Term 12” director Destin Daniel Cretton for the project, who helmed the project from a script he penned along with Andrew Lanham and Marti Noxon. The adult drama brings with it the star power of Brie Larson, Naomi Watts, and Woody Harrelson. That leaves Lionsgate’s “ The Glass Castle,” an adaptation of Jeannette Walls’ popular 2005 memoir, which is tracking for a soft opening of $5 million, or at the most in the high single digits. That’s slightly below the first “Nut Job” movie, which opened to $19.4 million before going on to take in $120.9 million worldwide during its run. The story of a group of animals who attempt to save their home from being bulldozed and turned into an amusement park, is aiming to make about $15 million. The same could go for Open Road’s animated sequel “ The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature,” which is opening in 4,003 locations. The horror sequel should steal the top spot on the domestic charts from the film adaptation of Stephen King’s “The Dark Tower,” which led last weekend with only $19.2 million. For those invested in the “Conjuring” canon, it serves as a prequel to the first “Annabelle.” Stephanie Sigman, Talitha Bateman, Anthony LaPaglia, and Miranda Otto star in the pic that critics have generally given a thumbs up to (it currently has an 80% on Rotten Tomatoes). Sandberg directed the sequel about a dollmaker whose creation terrorizes a group of orphan girls. While the horror genre routinely beats out expectations, “Annabelle 2” looks to come in below the first “Annabelle” ($37.1 million) “The Conjuring” ($41.9 million) and “The Conjuring 2” ($40.4 million). ![]() Either way, off a $15 million budget, the horror installment should be quite profitable. Some tracking suggests it should earn $30 million. and New Line’s “ Annabelle: Creation.” The fourth installment in what has become the “Conjuring” extended universe is casting its evil eye on about $25 million this weekend. That appears to be the case for Warner Bros. If we are in the midst of the movie business’ summer of hell, one starring a demon-possessed doll might as well top the charts. ![]() ![]() So, if you want to save even more money, keep an eye out for a deal on one of these for even better savings. To help you find the right one for you, we’ve collected our top picks here that will save you some money but still do the job.Īnd, with Black Friday and Cyber Monday on the horizon, deals are popping up all over the place and that includes on the webcams we’ve included in this guide. That’s particularly true if you’re willing to skip extras like multi-mic arrays, auto-pan and tilt, and 4K resolution. While they’re a bit more limited in terms of features compared to more expensive offerings, the best budget webcams are still an excellent investment. While students are mostly back in school, they still need to be able to make video calls, whether it’s to connect with classmates on a school project or get some after school tutoring in. from Sony Computer Entertainment Japan that uses the PlayStation Eye camera and a deck of real cards. ![]() It is the successor to the EyeToy for the PlayStation 2, which was released in 2003. These are games that support the PlayStation Eye. This allows players to interact with games using motion and color detection as well as sound through its built-in microphone array. The technology uses computer vision and gesture recognition to process images taken by the camera. Regardless of whether you’re working from home or not, many people are and a growing number of meetings are happening online, making video conferencing essential to your workflow. The PlayStation Eye is a digital camera device, similar to a webcam, for the PlayStation 3. Now is the time to upgrade from your laptop’s built-in camera, since a quality webcam is more important than ever, considering how prevalent Zoom calls and meetings have become. Though Microsoft and Logitech’s offering got the most attention, you can find quality webcams that won’t break the bank from quite a few other well-known manufacturers. The best cheap webcams 2021 has to offer are a lot easier to find than those of last year, now that the pandemic has somewhat slowed. ![]() UK | Argos | Amazon | Currys | CPC | Staples US | Walmart | Amazon US | Logitech | Microsoft | B&H Photo | Newegg Click on the links below to access the current live stocks of webcams at these popular retailers. ![]() ![]() A couple scenes even seem to be lifted directly off the videogame for the movie, and I actually quite liked that. Having seen some gameplay of DreadOut, I was pleasantly surprised to see how much of the movie follows the main story beats of the game. Let’s begin with the things this movie does right. If that sounds like a rather flimsy premise for a movie, that’s because it unfortunately is. While scouring one of the more forbidden areas in the apartment, our protagonist Linda unknowingly reads a cursed mantra that opens a mystical portal to another realm. It follows five high school students who visit an abandoned apartment to shoot some videos to ‘go viral’, in their words. This movie adaptation follows the storyline of the game very loosely, expanding more on its DLC component. The movie reached Malaysian shores on 18 April. It’s no surprise then, that the movie has enjoyed financial success in Indonesia after its debut in January this year. Pewdiepie covered it soon after the game’s release, bring the title to mainstream players worldwide. ![]() Ever since its release, some DLC has been released for the game and it appears to have gathered a small cult following in Asia. It’s a true testament to the lack of originality that plagues the horror movie scene these days, and doesn’t even arrive quickly enough to capitalize on its counterpart game’s popularity being 4 years late to that party.įor context, DreadOut is an Indonesian horror movie based on another horror survival game released in 2014 that shares its title. This horror flick has its moments, certainly, but they are few and far between, buried under hammy acting and a script that seems content with rehashing tired horror movie tropes and clichés. One would think filmmakers would have learned that by now, but here we are at the umpteenth half-baked film adaptation of a videogame. Maybe videogames just shouldn’t be made into movies. ![]() ![]() He is not quite as work oriented as his peers, whom he secretly refers to as ‘the Seven Dwarves’, wanting simply to get by, but the demands of the job are such that every so often he has to show willing. The first person narrator is Frank Dominio (his name usually reduced to Domino by colleagues), one of six supervisors under the command of senior manager Richard at a never named business institution. Title novella “My Work Is Not Yet Done” is the wild card, with Ligotti in a mood that could almost be described as playful, his prose demonstrating a somewhat lighter touch than usual and the narrative punctuated with some gruesome and inventive death scenes that wouldn’t look out of place in a remake of The Abominable Dr Phibes. Its fate is to grow ever bigger until all others are subsumed, the dialectic of the corporate world offering no synthesis other than stagnation and self-cannibalism. OneiriCon defines itself in terms of those entities that oppose it, but its blind growth will tolerate no resistance, not even that of its dark nemesis, the Nightmare Network. ![]() There’s more than a hint of the collage format, an assemblage of ‘found’ literature, to the structure, with classified adverts, corporate memos, extracts from a supervisor’s notebook and snippets of propaganda all thrown into the mix, and other scenes that peel away the commercial fascia and reveal the corruption lurking beneath, that all we are really looking at is ritualised savagery and a dehumanising agenda. It reads like something that might have come from the pen of William Burroughs or perhaps J. “The Nightmare Network” is the shortest story and also the most experimental. It is a clever and beautifully written story with a text that is infused with many of the familiar tropes and devices of supernatural horror, and ultimately uses these not for their own sake, the atmosphere they evoke, but to offer a critique of popular practices in the modern workaday world, and its subtext echoes powerfully in this age of the credit crunch, when we are all suffering the effects of corporate overreach. He is the quintessential ‘potential coach’, transformed into a demiurge and causing chaos by encouraging others to overreach themselves. Blaine Company is itself a victim, infected with the insane ambition to become ‘a dominant force in the world marketplace’, and the never named narrator, who at first appears to be simply a cipher, someone who is acted upon, is in fact the instigator of this situation, with his ability ‘to affect persons, and even places, in a way that brings their unsuspected possibilities and purposes out of hiding and into the full light of realization’. ![]() And here is where the more common dynamics of a Ligotti story are reversed. The Blaine Company has recently transferred lock, stock and barrel to the Golden City, where a yellow haze hangs in the air, seeping into clothes and the fabric of people’s lives, staining everything, but the old name for this metropolis, Murder Town, persists in the carnage that occurs on its streets at night. To long time readers of the author, the scenario portrayed will feel familiar: an omnivorous corporate entity whose activities remain nebulous, described simply as ‘document manipulation’, and whose employees come and go with no explanation for what happens to them. To deal with the shorter work first, the novelette “I Have A Special Plan For This World” is the story most representative of Ligotti’s oeuvre. ![]() The novella which gives the book its title was the recipient of both the Stoker and the International Horror Guild Award. This collection comes with the subtitle ‘Three Tales of Corporate Horror’ and was previously published by Mythos Books in the US in 2002. ![]() Those of us in the know can take consolation from Virgin’s championing of his work, first with the release of Teatro Grottesco and now with My Work Is Not Yet Done (Virgin paperback, 183pp, £7.99). He is one of those for whom that damning phrase ‘cult following’ was coined, revered by the cognoscenti for the uniqueness and consistency of his vision, the skill he brings to its reinvention as literature, but largely unknown to and uncelebrated by the world at large. Thomas Ligotti, whom The Washington Post once called ‘the best kept secret in contemporary horror fiction’, is not a writer regarding whom words like ‘easy’ and ‘accessible’ trip lightly off the reviewer’s tongue. INSIDE THE NIGHTMARE NETWORK WITH THOMAS LIGOTTI A feature on the work of Thomas Ligotti that originally appeared in Black Static #10:. ![]() |
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