![]() I honestly did laugh out loud at the beginning with the deer peeing on the son in the shower. I mean, there’s something there if you dig deep enough, but it’s probably not worth the excavation. He wants to do the same things he did in high school with his friends, refusing to grow up. It seems like the main arc is about Sandler’s character not wanting to have another kid, which isn’t enough for an entire movie. The whole time here, I was looking for a plot. Grown Ups 2 is definitely a hangout movie, but that is also a difficult way to describe the movie, as most Sandler movies are hangout films by design. I did see the first one long ago, and though it I didn’t like it, there was a loose camping plot. GL: Wow, yes, that is a good summation of this film. Were you able to find any bright spots in this deer piss-soaked misadventure? Why do you think Sandler and company decided to make this sequel beyond the possibility of another huge payday? ![]() And sometimes that’s fine! I don’t mind the occasional plotless comedy as long as the jokes are good enough and the cast works well enough together, or the characters are likable enough. Whatever narrative threads it tries to weave between its lame scenes are inconsequential and never maintain any stakes of any importance. Grown Ups 2, however, never even tries to justify its existence. Even the original Grown Ups “worked” as a loose hangout comedy and at least had an arc it could revolve around in the gang’s childhood coach dying. And I would agree that, as terrible as films like Jack and Jill are, there are still flashes of humor to be found. Also, after comedian Tom Scharpling shared his Grown Ups 3 script, it sparked my interest even more.īS: I think your experience with Sandler has been fairly universal, so I understand that. I’ve wanted to watch Grown Ups 2 for a while now after hearing about the clip of Shaquille O’Neal throwing a guy over a roof from the Doughboys podcast. I’ve been surprised by a lot of things I found funny in films like Jack and Jill, but also there are also plenty of things that just didn’t age well. In the last couple of years, I’ve revisited the Sandler films I’ve missed in the last two decades and other Happy Madison films. Punch Drunk Love is also one of my favorite movies. I followed Sandler closely throughout the 1990s (I even liked Little Nicky), and then I stopped watching his films sometime after Click although I did see You Don’t Mess With The Zohan and loved it. Aside from Dumb & Dumber, those were huge for me as a little comedy nerd. Greg Lindberg: When I was a kid, I was a pretty big Saturday Night Live fan, and I remember seeing Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore in the theater with my dad. Were you ever a fan of his? Had you seen the film previously, or its prequel? Grown Ups 2 has such a notorious reputation, even amongst the rest of the filth that is Happy Madison, so tell me what drew you to a discussion on this film in particular. ![]() ![]() First, tell me a little about your background with Adam Sandler and Happy Madison films in general. Today, we’re cliff-diving - naked - into the depths of cinematic hell that is Grown Ups 2.īen Sears: Greg, thanks very much for joining me on this oversized-tire ride through what is surely the nadir of many formidable actors’ careers. This week, we continue Happy Valley with another Very Special Episode, featuring a roundtable discussion with Greg Lindberg (host of the Fresh Questions? Air podcast and contributor to Midwest Film Journal). But do they truly represent the nadir in the career of one of comedy’s once-brightest stars? Are there any hidden or underrated gems? Is there such a thing as too few fart jokes? Will I retain any sense of sanity by the end of this? Join me and find out, as we venture to the Happy Valley. Over the years his films have slowly morphed into a pariah on the landscape of big budget studio comedies, becoming thinly veiled excuses for lavish vacations. How did it come to this? At the height of his power in Hollywood in 1999, Adam Sandler founded his own production company as a way to continue making the movies he enjoys.
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![]() Martin is largely responsible for creating the setting and lore behind Elden Ring but has not had as much involvement in the in-game dialogue.Įlden Ring will be available on PC, Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 - it will also be available on last-gen consoles which will come with support for next-gen consoles if you ever upgrade, meaning you don't have to buy the game twice. 'I was blackmailed over nude photos I sent on Grindr - and I'm not alone' Most recently, a leak revealed supposed Elden Ring DLC called Barbarians of the Badlands. ![]() Martin, best known for his A Song of Ice and Fire books which were the inspiration for the Game of Thrones TV show. It was released February 25th (It was originally announced for January of the same year, but was delayed by a month), 2022 on the PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4. The game is the creative child of a collaboration between award-winning videogame director Hidetaka Miyazaki - the brain behind the Dark Souls series - and George R.R. Then the second and final DLC was released in March 2017. There are only a few days to go until Elden Ring is finally launched after a lengthy delay.Īs one of the most highly-anticipated games of 2022, Elden Ring was originally set to be released back in January but was pushed back by just more than a month. Dark Souls 3 was released in April 2016 and the first DLC, the Ashes of Ariandel in October 2016. ![]() ![]() Gamers who love to play Minecraft (where you place blocks to build things & go on adventures), should also find that they very much enjoy playing Minecraft Builder (where your imagination, determination and stamina are your only limits). Use your imagination to its limits, challenge your mind, and experiment with new ideas for design. Easier said than done when you have such a huge plane to control! This truly is the ultimate test of a pilot - are you up to the task? Good luck Pilot!įor those of you who enjoy testing your building and creative skills: Explore and design a new world, mine resources, build your dream house or unique landscape or just create new environments for fun. Quick reactions are also vital to the success of your missions, as you often have to make sharp maneuvers to go through checkpoints. A steady hand and nifty fingers are very important, as you have to carefully guide your plane through the air, strategically adjusting altitude, speed, and wing position in mid-flight. The aim of this game is to experience life as a pilot! This tricky flight simulator requires great patience, determination, skill - just like in real life (and a little bit of luck too). These challenges include safely landing and passing through checkpoints. This giant aircraft is very difficult to control, and you have to perform a variety of difficult tasks while flying it. Have you got the piloting skills to take control of one of the most powerful planes of all time? Airplane Flight Simulator is an extremely challenging flying simulation game where you become the pilot of a 747 passenger aircraft – a large plane that became famous during the 20th Century and is still in service today. Note: This game is designed to be played on laptops and desktop PCs, it can only be played on mobile devices if you connect a keyboard as there are too many control buttons required to fit onto the screen for optimal gameplay. The awesome 3D graphics and authentic gameplay make for an edge-of-your-seat experience! How long can you survive in this frenzied air battle? You must dodge and weave to avoid enemy fire while also placing yourself into good attacking positions. Attack and defense are essential in equal measure in the sky. This all-action flying war game requires good observation skills, very hand-eye coordination, sharp reactions on your keyboard, and accurate shooting. Score as many enemy plane eliminations as you can before your armor runs out, or you crash to the ground. Test your combat flying skills and nerve in a highly challenging fighter pilot RPG: Air Warfare 3D is a difficult and intense online flying and shooting game for older kids / teens where you must guide a missile-firing military jet into a chaotic free-roam air battle for an all-out dogfight, and try to survive for as long as possible. √ Check your manga for new chapters automatically. You won't find yourself losing track of unread manga ever again. √ Organize your manga list better with 'Reading' and 'Following' system. √ Add manga from your favorite websites to the app easily by entering their URLs or use the Internal Web Browser to bookmark them. Here are some features you will love to know. With Manga Woo, you will never want to read your manga using web browser ever again. Manga Woo is a simple but effective manga reader app that provides a great reading experience together with a lot of useful features designed by manga lovers for manga lovers. Looking for a nice app to *Read* and *Follow* your favorite manga from your favorite websites? 20+ Psychology Tricks to Read Anyone Like a Book. 12 Android Apps You Need to Delete Immediately.
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This long-line duster is pretty and delicate, and is sure to be the statement piece of your outfit. sequin pants + Find adorable pants & leggings that fit your unique lifestyle. ![]() Photos were hi-res "*.JPG" images from a Nikon D600 (~ 12 MB each). It would not "stitch" 3 photos together without an error message - 'not enough memory.' Since there was 5.5.Gb of system RAM availble, I ASSUME that the problem was the video card (12 appears to convert the photos to a "*.BMP" images for cropping, stretching, etc. When I first purchased Adobe Elements & Premiere 12, I installed it on a a desk machine e/w Intel quad core I7 processor (3.4 GHz w/8 Gb 1600 RAM running Win 7-64 bit O.S. Without getting into deep detail, the answer appears to be system specific. A rich set of tagging controls, based on subject, location, or event, help to streamline navigating immense catalogs of imagery and support direct uploading of content to social media sites, including Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo and Twitter. Mobile device support helps to make files shot with a smartphone or tablet readily available within Elements and, conversely, files housed within Elements albums can be viewed and shared from linked mobile devices. Quick, Guided and Expert modes can be selected depending on the amount of manipulation and control desired during editing and distinct Editor and Organizer interfaces allow for intuitive handling of photos and clips. The expansive set of editing capabilities from both Photoshop and Premiere Elements 12 are housed within a friendly environment, featuring easy-to-recognize icons and commands for a more seamless working method. Beginning with a wide range of editing and enhancement capabilities, Elements 12 presents a breadth of unique tools and effects for automatically optimizing the look and feel of both photos and movies. Almost one in five shopping centre units now lies empty, and more than one in eight units have been empty for more than a year.The Adobe Photoshop Elements 12 & Premiere Elements 12 for Mac and Windows combines two versatile and intuitive editing and organization programs for managing a complete digital imaging and video workflow. Despite the wealth of information available to shoppers online, there’s an irreplaceable comfort in being able to ask a brand representative about a product – especially when it concerns a beloved pet or your skincare routine.” Post-pandemic shoppingįigures from the British Retail Consortium show that in the second quarter of 2021, the overall shopping centre vacancy rate increased to 14.5%, meaning there have now been more than three years of rising vacancy rates. This includes beauty, electronics, pets and furniture. ![]() “It’s no one-to-one replacement for a social shopping experience, and it’s unlikely to have much penetration into categories where a great deal of the value comes from the advice or service of the sales associate. "Till-less will be important for the future of retail, but its impact won’t be the same in every sector or market,” she says. ![]() For example, drinks retailer Beam Suntory has partnered with the music app Shazam to deliver an AR-based gaming experience at the point of sale that overlays video and 3D animations using an app to gamify the shopping experience.įor Melissa Minkow, retail industry lead at CI&T, technology notwithstanding, the human experience is still essential. Interactive packaging has continued to evolve, with augmented reality (AR) the ideal candidate to move these experiences into the virtual space. Living life till-freeĮmbracing technology has always been key to enhancing consumers’ shopping experiences. These trends show that a low-touch, or no-touch, approach looks set to become a recognisable aspect of high street shopping. It also found that 56% of respondents felt unsafe working with a sales associate. In a survey of 10,000 American consumers, 53% of respondents said they felt unsafe trying on products in dressing rooms, 49% felt unsafe trying on shoes, and 71% felt unsafe testing beauty products. Research conducted by US-based firm First Insight in August has shown that with the resurgence of the Delta variant, safety concerns around in-store shopping have begun to rise.
![]() Optional position adjustment for previous input imageĮnblend blends input images one at a time, calculating and optimising a new seam line for each new input image against the intermediate output image so far. all-threads Use all available CPU threads reverse Reverse image priority (last=highest) for resolving Must be specified as last option before input images no-output Do not blend (for use with -save-seams) save-seams Save seams to PNG file for external editing tempdir Specify temporary directory (default: system temp) cache-threshold= Allocate memory beyond X bytes/ilobytes/ For TIFF output, X may be:įor JPEG output, X is JPEG quality (0-100, default 75)įor PNG output, X is PNG filter (0-9, default 3) w, -wrap= Blend around images boundaries (NONE (default), wideblend Calculate number of levels based on output image size, depth D / -d D Override automatic output image depth (8 or 16) +X: increase number of blending levels by X X: decrease number of blending levels by X ![]() levels X / -l X X: set number of blending levels to X It is a significantly faster drop-in alternative to Enblend, although it lacks some of Enblend's advanced features. Image position adjustment via command line parametersĪbout Multiblend is a multi-level image blender for the seamless blending of image mosaics, such as those created with Hugin, PTAssembler, or PTGui.Rewritten, better quality blending engine.Now properly ignores Enblend's -f parameter.Multiblend Multiblend Current version (Windows binaries): (676k) Source for Linux/Mac/FreeBSD etc: (48k) Latest changes: ![]() ![]() Would the grid in Texas have failed in February 2021 had it been connected to the rest of the US?Ī key advantage of grid connectivity from one state to the next lies in the ability for both states to export and import power as needed based on prevailing conditions. While remaining autonomous from federal regulation may seem like an altogether core Texan value, the downside of not being connected to surrounding grids is that in the event of a crisis brought about by a lack of available energy resources–as was the case that led to the blackouts in February 2021–Texas can only draw a very limited amount of power from out-of-state sources.Ī year removed from the most devastating blackouts in the state’s history, the question facing Texas and its energy players concerning its electric grid and others in the US is…to connect or not to connect? Ĭurrently, Texas relies on a power grid that is separate from the two larger power grids, meaning the state and its grid operator the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) are NOT under the jurisdiction of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), which oversees, among other things, the commerce related to interstate energy transmission. In the year since the blackouts, the topic of ensuring grid reliability within the Lone Star State has been closely examined and hotly debated by Texas’s energy players.Īmong the potential solutions is connecting the state’s energy grid–the Texas Interconnection–to the country’s two other power grids– the Eastern Connection, which links suppliers and customers east of the Rockies, and the Western Connection, which links power west of the Rockies. The unfortunate toll of an estimated $80 to $100 billion in property damage pales when compared to the tragic loss of anywhere between 246 and 702 lives during the storm. It has been just over a year since Texas suffered rolling blackouts that forced millions of citizens to go without power for days amidst historically freezing temperatures. ![]() Don't use it with people, and be cautious with buildings. Gigapixel AI is a software program form Topaz Labs that is designed for photographers to help enlarge images ready for printing. So its best use case is to enlarge heavily cropped distant wildlife images. It's now better in those areas, but still not very good. It works well for things like feathers, fur and foliage, but the details looked obviously fake for people and buildings. For more than that, GAI is basically inventing fake details that look plausible, but are nevertheless invented. I've found that GAI offers no advantage over bicubic for 2x uprezing. ![]() So the question is, can one of them do the job of both? It's apparent simplicity belies the fact that this is one serious, professional piece of software. The Interface The Gigapixel interface itself is clean and straightforward, but what it does to your images is both astonishing and sophisticated. Topaz Gigapixel AI is a great bit of Photography editing software that performs very well on low resolution images to convert or upscale them to high resolution photographs. The reverse can be done too by first enlarge with Gigapixel AI and then shrink the result with resampling for a sharpen effect. The standalone version 6.0 was used for this review. How does the result compare with Gigapixel AI? I'm trying to evaluate whether one of them can be used for selected pictures.įor those of you using both, doesn't Sharpen AI do the job of Gigapixel AI?įirst, enlarge the picture using some conventional method like bicubic - and then apply Sharpen AI on top. ![]() Go ahead, he said, his eyes still closed. Hello Hermione, he replied in his usual tone, albeit with a hint of warmth. For an instant, she was struck by how carefree he looked, as though the weight of the world was not on his shoulders. She would not fail him again.īrushing past a few branches and trimmed hedges, she finally found him sitting by a lake, his eyes closed in relaxation. Hermione still cringed at the way she treated Harry for nine months, and the trials it took to convince him that she still cared and trusted him. ![]() Ron’s glances at her had her uncomfortable, while Ginny’s hungry glances at the manor and ( her! Her mind screamed at her, despite her best efforts) Harry.Īfter setting down her bags, she noticed her friend (former, she thought sadly) leave the house and followed him. Weasley being quelled with a glance before she started to rant was rather funny. She had noticed the twins smile mischievously at that and fervently hoped that they listened to him. Harry had been there, calmly greeting them, informing them where they were going to sleep and more-or-less introducing them to the facilities there before warning them not to enter one of the chambers. A flame burning in the hearth, comfortable seats, a book-rack and the large window made it look like the perfect retreat, as opposed to being the ancestral estate of nobility. ![]() When she, her parents and the Weasleys were sent to the man hall of the keep via portkey, the simple elegance of the decor took her breath away. Hermione’s eyes widened as she took in the opulence of Potter Manor, from the well-kept gardens to the elegant and ancient building itself. He had an army of unwanted guests to prepare for. Shaking out of the memories, Harry continued on his walk. There were times when the dragon raged through him, demanding that she submit, taunting him to take her, to claim her… There were times when he wanted her to leave, because the wounds were still fresh. There were times when, while looking at Hermione helping him, he wanted to forgive her and confess how much he cared for her. He had (with some worry) noticed that her grades had not improved, but he had yet to confront her about that. This loyalty to him had been cemented when she stayed and helped him with the more esoteric magic, comforting him when the nightmares raged in his mind, nursing him back to health when a spell or ritual backfired all without complaint. He had his doubts, of course, but she had remained faithful to him, despite the exams and coursework. It had taken a lot of time and patience, but he eventually got used to the idea of having a partner. Much to his surprise, Hermione had remained loyal to her oath never questioning him and always ensuring that she was there for him. She’d bound herself to him as penance (that was the only thing he could call it), sworn to help him and never betray him or his secrets. While the senior Grangers’ reaction to him and his home was something to consider, there was also the issue of Hermione.Īfter he had learned to ignore the way her absence affected him last year quite well, her sudden reappearance in his life had been met with feelings of betrayal, hurt and anger, especially after she had intruded on his privacy and witnessed his transformation into the dragon. There was also the issue of the Grangers to consider. This would put him in close contact with the Weasleys for the next two months, starting in about two hours from now. The desperation in the old mage’s voice was so surprising that he had relented. Dumbledore had requested that he allow his Manor to be used as a safehouse where the Weasleys and the Grangers could retreat to. The solitude was welcoming.īut it wouldn’t be for long. He had placed his parents’ personal notes on spellcasting in the library, where they belonged, while the house-imps arranged the Black relics.ĭespite this, the Manor was quiet. Some days had him alternate between Godric’s Hallow, Grimmauld Place and the estate, rescuing his parents’ belongings (still under protective magic) and the Black heirlooms, preserving them in his Manor’s walls. The books and artifacts in the estate’s library, while not as varied as Slytherin’s collection, were still beyond what most private collections had to offer.Ĭontrary to what some may have thought, he hadn’t spent all his nights in the Chamber. When he’d assumed the mantle of Lord Potter shortly after his sixteenth birthday, he’d been informed of the location of his ancestral estate - and it was a godsend. ![]() Harry sighed wistfully as he walked along the corridors of his family’s ancestral home. |
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