#I need to work on my shading and the pa placement looks slightly off but

[house-stray]

Who wants to see a thing I spent way to much time working on today!

blasphemous cock NSFT below the cut

[cebeavers]

Dorney Park 2009

June 19, 2009 Photo Album

I’d been planning a huge summer coaster trip since the end of 2008. My original plans were too ambitious. Then there were issues with work. Then there were issues with pets. But eventually everything worked out and instead of 10 days up north for coasters and more, my trip was cut down to a more manageable 5 days with three large amusement parks and 2 days spent in 2 different cities. I had a plan, a place to stay, and a mission, to finally hit 200 coasters.

Friday, June 19, 2009 was West Virginia Day, and as a state employee, I always have the day off with pay, so I left the nite before and headed out to my brother’s place, which was roughly half the distance to my first destination: Dorney Park in Allentown, PA. I had been told that Dorney was not an all day park. I was meeting up with friends on Friday evening at the park, so I didn’t want to arrive too early. Unfortunately, on Friday morning I woke up at about 6:30 am and couldn’t get back to sleep. I decided I’d go ahead and move out.

The drive from Moorefield to Dorney Park was not bad, even if I did take the scenic route. I arrived at the park around 10:00 am, parked, and headed to the main gate. My first impression after going thru the gate at Dorney was of a mini Cedar Point. The front Midway is very reminiscent, and even though Talon is on the right, its right up front like Raptor. And since Talon is right up front, that was my first coaster.

Talon-My first ride on Talon was in the front seat. The first drop is typical B&M Inverted goodness that goes directly into the loop. I really liked the layout with the Zero G roll, the Immleman, a nice airtime hill that was much like the one on Afterburn at Carowinds, and then Laterals from the helix. The ride sounded rattly, but was actually very smooth, and because it’s one of the quiet B&M coasters, the only sound is the wind and the passengers. Talon is a nice, well paced inverted that seems to take the best parts of Batman & Afterburn, with a sprinkling of Raptor thrown in. It isn’t too intense and was way fun.

After my flight on Talon I walked over towards the Shoot the Chutes and took some pictures. I toyed with riding the Mouse, which is right off the midway (great placement), but instead headed over to the park’s other B&M coaster, Hydra The Revenge.

Hydra The Revenge-I’d heard good and bad about Hydra. I really was looking forward to the inverted roll out of the station. My first ride was in the front seat, and boy does the pre-lift inversion mess with you, but in a good way. The lift hill was short and fast, and Hydra is a very against the grain coaster. Instead of taking the normal route of drop, loop, Zero G, etc., you drop and head into a dive loop, Zero G, alternating corkscrew, Cobra Roll, slight airtime producing hill, then hit the lateral section with another corkscrew. I was impressed. Hydra is definitely not like the rest of the B&M floorless coasters, and I loved the placement.

So I liked Hydra. I liked Talon. My next stop was Steel Force. How would it stack up? I walked down thru the trees and down the hill. I toyed with riding Dominator, but decided to come back to that later. Then when I got closer to Steel Force, I saw the park’s only wooden coaster, which I’d forgotten about. I went to get in line, but it was down at that moment, so I passed on thru. There is a very nice, shaded area with trees in-between parts of Thunderhawk that was very nice. But I was heading to another coaster, so no time to stop and enjoy the scenery now.

Steel Force-Steel Force is at the park’s boundaries. I was again faced with no lines, so I decided to go to the back of the train. It looks like it’s going to be amazing. But honestly, other than some decent floaty air, Steel Force didn’t do very much for me. I thought maybe I just got a bad ride. The first couple of hills are okay, but not forceful. The turnaround is definitely forceful, but I’m not a huge fan of lateral forces. Then the mid-course brake run kills the rest of the ride. There are quite a few hills and tunnels, but very little airtime. I was not impressed. It was okay, but not great.

I toyed with riding Revolution but passed, hoping to get on later that evening when I was with others. Then I walked over to Possessed to see a very short line. Since I’d ridden the coaster before they moved it from Geauga Lake, this ride wouldn’t be a credit, but I do love impulse coasters, so there was no need to skip it. It was only a 2 train wait for the front, so that was where I went.

Possessed-The launch didn’t sound as loud as when it was at Geauga Lake. I love these coasters and wish more parks had them. The first launch up the twisted spike is fun, but I’d forgotten how high you actually get when going up the back spike for the first time. I always cringe in the front seat as you go up the twisted spike for the 2nd time because it feels like you’re not going to stop. Then on the back spike, the LIM brake holds you ever so slightly. I love that about these rides because it still scares me. My only complaint is that I wish that the train went up the back spike one final time and then came to a stop in the station, since braking whilst going backwards makes my head hurt and causes a bit of nausea.

Up next, I went over to Dominator and headed into the shot side of the queue. I was hoping (and yet dreading) a powerful launch, but by the time I got to the top, I wasn’t thrown into the restraints.

I went over to ride the Ferris Wheel, but I was denied since I was a lone rider. I needed a bathroom break so I went to the front of the park and wanted to see when the ice show started, but I didn’t realize that the new theater hadn’t opened yet so I went into one of the shops before running to the bathroom and then taking a break at Game Day Grille. Then I wondered over Wild Mouse for a spin.

Wild Mouse-For my first mouse of the trip, it was nice to ride one that wasn’t over braked and that ran very well. It was kind of odd to see the cars painted as cats, but I guess the ‘theme’ is cats chasing mice in the trap. Dorney’s mouse was fast and the trims weren’t catching for the most part. It could use a paint job, but otherwise it was a fun coaster.

I’d ridden all of the major coasters at this point but had lots of time to kill. I gave Talon and Hydra another ride, then went over to ride the one train near the rapids ride. It was quaint, and I like riding park trains because while relaxing, I’m still getting to do something fun, and take pictures along the way. Then I headed over to the rapids ride and talked to Dan for a while, who was working.

After visiting Dan, I walked back over to Steel Force for another ride. Just as soon as I got in line, the ride closed for some unknown reason. I waited it out for a while, but then decided to go. I came back around to Thunderhawk, which was now running.

Thunderhawk-I didn’t have high hopes, but I was at least expecting something fun and classic. Thunderhawk was rather boring. What could have been a great ride was trimmed to death and the last part of the ride was just slowly jumping over some hills. Sad, really, as the ride has a good layout and great potential. I never felt like riding again.

I tried to go see the new Ice show, but the theater isn’t done quite yet. I did get around to riding Steel Force again, and got a better ride, but still nothing special. I rode Possessed again in the back seat for a thrill, then walked over to the kiddy coasters, but didn’t ride any of them yet. Eventually I parked myself on a park bench, talked to Matt and Kevin either on the phone or via text, and then took a slight nap. Once I got up to head to the front of the park, I ran into Dan again as I was ordering some Mac & Cheese to eat. I walked with him for a bit, and then headed to the front gate to wait for Matt, where I sat on another bench in the shade.

Finally, Matt called and said he’d arrived, so I went to the front gate and met him. Of course, our first ride was Talon. Again, it was running very well, and I sat in Matt’s favorite seat, which had lots of lateral forces. Usually they make me queasy, but this time it was really good. Next up we hit Hydra again before making our way around the park. I made Matt ride the Zephyr train with me, and we hit up the two available kiddy coasters, since I’m too tall to ride The Unnamed Coaster (Formerly Little Laser, but recently renamed Steel First after my visit). Well, Matt didn’t ride the Roller Skater with me, but he did ride the Dragon. First up was the Roller Skater.

Woodstock’s Express-The ride op was a lot of fun. Roller Skaters can be no fun a lot of times, and this one wasn’t that great. It has a nice setting, but it was a little shaky and they sent us around twice. I was really only riding it for the credit.

We walked over to the other area with a few kiddy rides where Laser used to be. This area has a nice flat plot to put more stuff. The kiddy rides were very carnival looking, and there was a building at the end used for Haunt. They should just have it as a dark ride since the park has none. We went to the last credit of the day that I needed.

Dragon-I was actually glad I rode. This was a fun coaster that had some nice forces and was really a lot of fun. You get some good speed going as you go around, and we went around maybe 6 times. It was just a simple portable kiddy coaster, but it serves its purpose.

So we walked up to the Ferris Wheel now that I had a partner to ride with. I don’t know why, but I love Ferris Wheels. We walked around some more and then Kevin & Emily called to let us know they were at the park now too, so we met them and headed to the rapids ride to see Dan, but he’d already left, so we headed to Talon. Matt and I went up and rode, but Dan didn’t come until after we were getting off. And of course, he had to announce over the PA that Matt and I were in the station.

We headed over to Hydra and got a quick ride in before heading back over to Steel Force to wait for Dan. Even after riding, the rest of the group stated that Steel Force wasn’t running at its best. I had to hike to make it to the restroom behind Steel Force, which is like 200 miles away from the midway. I think it’s further to that bathroom than it is from the midway at Dollywood to the station for Mountain Slidewinder, but whatever.

Matt and I went over to Revolution to get a spin. Just as I finally got the light on my seat to go Green, meaning I could fit, the ride op realized someone had thrown up on the station floor and had to shut the ride down. I didn’t get back for my ride. So we rode Steel Force another time then headed up the midway. We were going to ride Possessed, but didn’t. Instead, Matt, Dan and I headed to Dominator for a drop ride. I still like these better than Intamin drop rides.

So that was the last ride of the nite. We headed out the front as Dan parted ways to go home. Matt, Kevin, Emily and I went to a Perkins for dinner and ended up running in to Tim Danner, whom I hadn’t seen in a couple of years. He was eating there with his girlfriend. Dinner was decent and our waitress was a blast. Once we were finished, though, we headed back to Matt’s, which was about a 40 minute drive thru mostly back roads to Pottstown.

[tech-battery]

Razer Opus Review

Even with the number of options out there – and believe us, there’s A LOT – it’s astonishingly hard to find quality Bluetooth headphones in the mainstream sector. There are, of course, the usual shoo-in brands like Bose, Sony, and Beats that most people go for. And, there are those that sit right on the cusp of the audiophile market like Sennheiser, Audio-Technica, and Shure. The rest are either not worth your money or, at best, a hit-or-miss.That means that if you want something other than what these brands offer – in terms of aesthetics, perhaps, or price – then you’re kind of limited. If you’re looking for great quality sound, that is. Razer Opus

That’s why, when I tested Razer’s latest attempt at non-gaming over-ear headphones, I was mildly and pleasantly surprised. This set of cans rivals the likes of Beats Solo Pro and Bose QuietComfort 35 in terms of quality and features, minus the high price tag and perhaps with a brighter sound. I’m absolutely here for them. Design and Features

If the Razer Opus Wireless ANC Headset has one weakness as a pair of consumer Bluetooth headphones, it’s probably the aesthetic. Not that the headphones aren’t great looking – on the contrary, they have a smart, no-nonsense, minimalist design that will appeal to almost anyone. Razer trims that with its name on both ends of the band, as well as the THX logo on both ear caps, in silver engraving, then wraps it all up in a rare midnight blue coating. (The black shade to follow.)

It’s a clean look, but overall a bit homogeneous and just a tad too familiar. I’ve actually seen this similar clunky style on a pair of Sony headsets or a cheaper Sennheiser long before I’ve ever laid eyes on the Razer. This is, of course, hardly a deal-breaker, but if you’re typically drawn to more unique-looking headphones like I am, you probably won’t get excited about this one.

Looks aside, there’s plenty to love about the Razer Opus’s design, especially in terms of comfort. The top of the adjustable headband is padded with luxurious memory foam that’s almost half an inch thick and wrapped with soft leatherette that’s nice to the touch. As are the ear cups, which are also angled so that they fit around your ears better and sit on your head beautifully. And, while the headphones are tight enough to stay on even when you're moving your head around, they’re not too tight that they feel like they might be crushing your skull after you’ve had them on for a while.

I tend to have a problem with Bluetooth over-ear/on-ear headphones – even after only a few minutes of wear, my ears and the sides of my skull start to feel the pressure. This hasn’t been a problem with the Razer Opus.

The ear cups also swivel about 90-degrees towards the back, a feature you won’t always find in Bluetooth headphones, but comes in handy when you have it, as it helps in both packing flat in your backpack and accommodating different head shapes. I love swiveling ear cups as I prefer to move one cup off my ear when someone’s talking to me or listening to PA announcements at airports. Although that doesn’t work as well with the Razer Opus due to the larger, angled cups, it’s still a nice feature to have.

There are five buttons here – the essentials: volume up, volume down, play/pause and power, and the ANC/Ambient button that turns the Razer Opus’s Hybrid Active Noise Cancellation function on and off. What this button does, essentially, is it lets you turn off the ANC and pick up a bit of ambient noise around you so you can hear what’s around you without needing to take the headphones off.

The “hybrid” in the name refers to the two-mic system these headphones use for its ANC. It’s got both a feedforward mic, which is designed to cancel low to mid frequencies, and a feedback mic, which is designed to cancel out lower pitch noise. The two work together to deliver a pretty effective noise cancellation.

What I appreciate more here, however, is the nifty Ambient Awareness or Quick Attention mode, which is activated when you hold down the ANC/Ambient button. This function essentially stops the audio and lets you clearly hear your surroundings.

So, instead of you scrambling to hit the pause button, turn ANC off, and push one ear cup aside just to hear airport announcements or have a short conversation with someone, you simply hold this button down. It’s pretty effective too – it’s almost as if a veil has been lifted, and you can clearly hear everything around you even with your headphones still on.

Another Razer Opus feature worth mentioning here is the ability to auto pause when you take the headphones off and auto play when you put them back on. It’s a really handy feature, though I did find it to be app-specific. That is, while it works well with Apple Music, Spotify, iTunes, and YouTube, it hasn’t worked once with Amazon Music, and often has trouble with Netflix.

Of course, it’s also worth noting that although I did have a production model as my review unit, I tested the headphones a week before their official release. A simple update should fix this limitation right up.

Together, these features clearly point to the Razer Opus being marketed towards not just mainstream consumers, but specifically mainstream consumers who are always on the go. These headphones are designed to be used when you're walking to work, working at cafes, commuting on trains, and flying to your next destination. They even come with their own airline headphone adapter to prove it. Software

At this point, not much can be said about the Razer Opus app. Available for both iOS and Android, it’s a pretty straightforward app, with just an EQ that’s only customizable with the five available presets Razer has preconfigured for specific situations. Unfortunately, at least for now, you cannot control the EQ yourself.

Besides the EQ presets, you can use this app to set the headphones’ auto shutoff – after up to 1 hour of downtime – and to toggle the Auto Pause/Play feature. It’ll also display how much juice you have left on the headphones, although it doesn’t give you exact numbers, just a battery icon.

What’s most impressive here, however, is that it doesn’t matter which device the headphones are currently connected to. You can control your Razer Opus headphones via the app on your phone, regardless of whether it’s paired with a laptop or a Nintendo Switch Lite or anything else. As long as the headphones have been previously paired and set-up on the app, you’ll be able to switch presets to get the most ideal sound. Performance

What I’m blown away with here is that although the Razer Opus has a consumer-level price tag, these headphones do sit in the prosumer category when it comes to sound quality. Testing them on a whole lot of songs, as well as several games (Far Cry 5, Red Dead Redemption 2 and Animal Crossing) and a couple of movies (Inception, Spiderman: Into The Spiderverse), I found them to produce a slightly warm sound.

They deliver a mid-low boost, with a very controlled low end that can be had in spades without being overwhelming. Kendrick Lamar, for example, sounded amazing on these cans.

To see how these headphones fare with movies, I chose to watch Inception, as Nolan likes to put a lot of rumble in his movies and a lot of really quiet speaking parts. While it's not the same as watching the movie on a home theater unit with a sub, the headphones still had plenty of rumble. Even better, the voices were clear and articulate despite all the action and the score that’s playing.

The high-end is also very controlled, although there is some very high end sizzle that gives some songs a bit of harshness (as well as pushes sibilance and cymbal sounds forward a little). This seems to be a Razer signature sound, however. Both the controlled low end and the very high end sizzle are tonal qualities I’ve experienced in other Razer products like the Nommo Pro and the Razer Hammerhead Duo.

The Razer Opus also has a wide soundstage, great enough that you’ll feel immersed in the media you're listening to, especially music. You could hear individual instruments coming out of different directions, almost as if you're on stage with the musicians. They’re also excellent for movies – in that one scene in Inception where the whole street starts blowing up, you can hear the different placements of explosions as they appear across the screen.

Sadly, for gaming, while the headphones work well, they don’t really offer virtual surround sound or other tricks of the trade that gaming headsets often tout for a more immersive experience. They’re still plenty immersive though, and should get you through your gaming needs when you’re away from your actual gaming rig at home. Using them while playing Far Cry 5, for example, you could hear characters move from one side to another or yell out from far away.

There are two ways to connect these headphones to devices and handheld gaming consoles – via Bluetooth (4.2) and with the 3.5mm cable included, which gives you a couple of options. Unfortunately, when you take the analog route, you’re also taking away a couple of features: the ANC and the EQ presets. As a result, you’re not only hearing all that noise around you, but you’re also getting sound that’s muddier, hazier and less articulate with mediocre spatial separation.

In short, the sound quality goes down a bit when you go analog – enough that I’d stick to Bluetooth whenever possible. With no notable latency, even in gaming, you can count on that connection to give you the best experience possible.

As far as the noise cancellation feature, there’s a lot to love here. I appreciate the fact that you can turn the ANC on/off, and I love that Ambient Awareness feature that essentially lets outside noise pass through just by holding down a button. Having said that, the noise cancellation may not be quite as good as Bose or Sony’s, both of which have such impressive noise cancellation that they can drown out loud airplane engines.

However, not many headphones can beat those two companies’ noise cancellation technology. The fact that the Razer Opus’s comes pretty close is a feat in and of itself, so we’re not complaining.

When it comes to battery life, the Razer Opus is no slouch. Many headphones offer up to 20 hours of battery life, and the Razer Opus promises up to 25 hours. Even after about 15 hours of use on a single full charge, the headphones still had around 20% battery life left. While 25 hours on a single charge may be a little optimistic, these will at least perform favorably next to other Bluetooth headphones out there.

The Razer Opus Wireless ANC Headset retails for $199.99, and is available in the US, Canada, and Europe as well as China and the Asia-Pacific. It comes in midnight blue and black.

Verdict

If you want impressive sound and a great feature set, there aren’t a lot of consumer-level over-ear headphones out there to choose from outside of what Bose, Sony and Beats roll out, and even fewer under $300. But, Razer didn’t just create another nameless alternative here. The Razer Opus Wireless ANC Headset actually gives the best of them a good run for their money, with its warm, well-balanced sound, wide soundstage, great noise-cancellation, a few bells and whistles, and very minor flaws. And at only $199.99, it might just be the best value noise-cancelling headphones right now.