#Michael Ballif

[moviesandmania]

10/31 PART III Horror anthology - reviews and free on Tubi, Vudu and YouTube

10/31 Part III is a 2023 horror anthology film in which host Malvolia the Queen of Screams presents a batch of twisted creepy tales of mummies, madmen, fun-sized demons and more. The movie is obviously a sequel to both 10/31 (207) and 10/31 Part II (2019). Also known as 10/31 Part 3. Directed by Michael Ballif, Jed Brian, Zane Hershberger, Jonathan Patrick Hughes, Jacob Perrett, Brad Twigg, and…

[raiyine]

GUEST MOVIE REVIEWS by Mike Duke

GUEST MOVIE REVIEWS by Mike Duke

Something Creepy This Way Comes:Halloween Movie Reviews by Mike Duke Candy Corn (2019)Director: Josh Hasty Synopsis: “It’s the eve of Halloween in Grove Hill, Ohio. A traveling carnival is in town for the weekend and local outcast, Jacob Atkins, has been hired as one of the freaks in the event’s main attraction, ‘Dr. Death’s Side Show Spook House Spectacular.’ When a group of bullies target…

[halloweendailynews]

Watch 'Halloween 4' Opening Credits Shot-for-Shot 2021 Recreation

Filmmaker Michael Ballif, the indie production collective Witching Season Films, gave us all a Halloween treat this past weekend when he released his 2021 shot-for-shot recreation of iconic opening credits sequence in the 1988 sequel Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers. In the video’s description, Ballif explains, “As an effort to show our ultimate appreciation and love for the iconic…

[scumdogsteev]

October Horror Films 2019 | Day 24 | The Witching Season (dir. Michael Ballif; Witching Season Films 2015)

Trailer:

Block: Anthologies

[materialsscienceandengineering]

Scientists power past solar efficiency records

Collaboration between researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology (CSEM), and the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) shows the high potential of silicon-based multijunction solar cells.

The research groups created tandem solar cells with record efficiencies of converting sunlight into electricity under 1-sun illumination. The resulting paper, "Raising the One-Sun Conversion Efficiency of III-V/Si Solar Cells to 32.8% for Two Junctions and 35.9% for Three Junctions," appears in the new issue of Nature Energy. Solar cells made solely from materials in Groups III and V of the Periodic Table have shown high efficiencies, but are more expensive.

Stephanie Essig, a former NREL post-doctoral researcher now working at EPFL in Switzerland, is lead author of the newly published research that details the steps taken to improve the efficiency of the multijunction cell. While at NREL, Essig co-authored "Realization of GaInP/Si Dual-Junction Solar Cells with 29.8% 1-Sun Efficiency," which was published in the IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics a year ago.

In addition to Essig, authors of the new research paper are Timothy Remo, John F. Geisz, Myles A. Steiner, David L. Young, Kelsey Horowitz, Michael Woodhouse, and Adele Tamboli, all with NREL; and Christophe Allebe, Loris Barraud, Antoine Descoeudres, Matthieu Despeisse, and Christophe Ballif, all from CSEM.

Read more.

[todayclassical]

May 22 in Music History

1722 Birth of composer Johannes Schmidlin. 

1723 J.S. Bach arrives in Leipzig to become cantor of St. Thomas Church.

1759 Birth of composer Gervais-Francois Couperin.

1780 Birth of composer Jan Emmanuel Dulezalek.

1783 Birth of composer Thomas Forbes Walmisley.

1790 Birth of tenor Giuseppe Ciccimarra in Altamura. 

1811 Birth of Italian soprano Giulia Grisi in Milan.

1813 Birth of German composer Richard Wagner in Leipzig. 

1813 FP of Rossini's opera The Italian Woman in Algiers at the Teatro San Benedetto in Venice.

1820 Birth of composer Alexander Ernst Fesca.

1822 Birth of English conductor and Henry Wylde. 

1836 FP of Felix Mendelssohn's oratorio Paulus 'St. Paul', composer conducting, at the Lower Rhine Music Festival in Düsseldorf.

1850 Birth of Austrian violinist and composer Johann Schrammel.

1852 Birth of French violinist Emile Sauret. 

1856 Birth of English-American organist and composer Humphrey John Stewart in London. 

1861 Birth of tenor Desire Pauwels in Ghent. 

1865 Birth of Catalan-Argentinian conductor Enrique Morera in Barcelona. 

1872 Richard Wagner lays the cornerstone of his Festival Theater in Bayreuth, Germany. It was his 59th birthday.

1873 Birth of Estonian composer Rudolf Tobias.

1874 FP of Verdi's Requiem, conducted by the composer in Milan.

1874 Birth of composer Francesco Paolo Neglia.

1879 Birth of American composer Eastwood Lane. 

1879 Birth of composer Jean Emile Paul Cras.

1884 Birth of composer Alceo Toni.

1885 Birth of Costa Rican composer Julio Fonseca in San Jose.

1891 Birth of French composer Lucien Caillet. 

1892 Birth of Dutch tenor Louis Van Tulder in Amsterdam. 

1899 Birth of pianist Marcelle Meyer. 

1900 Birth of Flemish coloratura soprano Vina Bovy. 

1902 Birth of Czech baritone Emanuel Kopecky in Prague.

1907 Birth of Corsican soprano Marta Angelici. 

1909 Birth of English composer Minna Keal. 

1911 FP of Debussy's Martyre de Saint-Sebastien. André Caplet conducting Paris Opera at the Théatre du Châtelet.

1916 Birth of American composer Gordon Binkerd.

1917 Birth of Austrian conductor George Tintner in Vienna.

1922 FP of Alexander von Zemlinsky's opera Der Zwerg 'The Dwarf' at the Cologne Opera.

1924 FP of Igor Stravinsky's Piano Concerto at Koussevitzky Concert, at the Paris Opéra conducted by Serge Koussevitzky, composer was the pianist in Paris.

1924 Birth of composer Claude Andre Francois Ballif.

1925 Birth of Argentinian baritone Norberto Carmona in Mendoza Argentina.

1925 Birth of American tenor James King in Dodge City, KS. 

1929 Birth of composer Asher Ben-Yohanan.

1931 Death of Spanish soprano Ofelia Nieto.

1931 FP of William Grant Still's ballet Sahdji. Eastman Ballet and Rochester Civic Orchestra, Howard Hanson conducting.

1934 Birth of American pianist and conductor Peter Nero. 

1935 Birth of American tenor Mallory Walker in New Orleans.

1949 Death of German composer Hans Pfitzner in Salzburg.

1977 Death of Dutch composer Marius Monnikendam in Haarlem. 

1950 FP of Richard Strauss' Four Last Songs in London. 

1982 FP of Alvin Singleton's A Yellow Rose Petal for orchestra. Houston Symphony, C. William Harwood conducting. 

1990 FP of John Harbison's Simple Daylight with text by Michael Fried, with soprano Dawn Upshaw and pianist Alan Feinberg at the Herbst Theater in San Francisco.

1999 FP of Bright Sheng's Flute Moon with Aralee Dorough, flute. Houston Symphony, Christoph Eschenbach conducting.

2003 FP of Melinda Wagner´s Piano Concerto Extremity of Sky commissioned by the Chicago Symphony, Emanuel Ax with the Chicago Symphony under Daniel Barenboim. 

2013 Death of French modernist composer Henri Dutilleux.

[theeleganceintheextremes]

Synopsis: A writer spends the night in a notoriously haunted house in hope of finding inspiration for his latest project. He soon realizes that he is living in his own horror story. - Witching Season Films

Film Personnel:                                                                                             Crew: Director/Editor: Michael Ballif | Writers: Michael Ballif, Caroman Turner, David Harris | Producers: Jake Watters, Allen Bradford, James Morris | Executive Producer: Michael Ballif | Director of Photography: Michael Ballif | Musical Composers: Randin Graves and Slasher Dave | Art Director: Sadie Z Ballif | Production Designers: Jake Watters, Allen Bradford | FX and Creature Designer: Tyler Russell | Gore FX and Makeup Artist: Jordan Swenson | Gaffer: Allen Bradford | Recording/ Sound Designers: Michael Ballif, Allen Bradford, James Morris | Production Assistants: Samuel Morris, Adam Zeller                                     Cast: James Morris, Stevie Dutson

Social Media Platforms | Witching Seasons Film                                            Official Website                                                                                                  Official Facebook Profile                                                                         Official Instagram Feed                                                                                    Official Twitter Feed                                                                                         Official YouTube Channel

Social Media Platforms | They Live Inside Us                                                 Official IMDb Profile

[caseinpoints]

NREL, Swiss scientists push silicon-based solar cells to 36% efficiency

Collaboration between researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology (CSEM), and the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) shows the high potential of silicon-based multijunction solar cells.

The research groups created tandem solar cells with record efficiencies of converting sunlight into electricity under 1-sun illumination. The resulting paper, “Raising the One-Sun Conversion Efficiency of III–V/Si Solar Cells to 32.8% for Two Junctions and 35.9% for Three Junctions,” appears in the new issue of Nature Energy. Solar cells made solely from materials in Groups III and V of the Periodic Table have shown high efficiencies, but are more expensive.

Stephanie Essig, a former NREL post-doctoral researcher now working at EPFL in Switzerland, is lead author of the newly published research that details the steps taken to improve the efficiency of the multijunction cell. While at NREL, Essig co-authored “Realization of GaInP/Si Dual-Junction Solar Cells with 29.8% 1-Sun Efficiency,” which was published in the IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics a year ago.

In addition to Essig, authors of the new research paper are Timothy Remo, John F. Geisz, Myles A. Steiner, David L. Young, Kelsey Horowitz, Michael Woodhouse, and Adele Tamboli, all with NREL; and Christophe Allebe, Loris Barraud, Antoine Descoeudres, Matthieu Despeisse, and Christophe Ballif, all from CSEM.

“This achievement is significant because it shows, for the first time, that silicon-based tandem cells can provide efficiencies competing with more expensive multijunction cells consisting entirely of III-V materials,” Tamboli said. “It opens the door to develop entirely new multijunction solar cell materials and architectures.”

In testing silicon-based multijunction solar cells, the researchers found that the highest dual-junction efficiency (32.8%) came from a tandem cell that stacked a layer of gallium arsenide (GaAs) developed by NREL atop a film of crystalline silicon developed by CSEM. An efficiency of 32.5% was achieved using a gallium indium phosphide (GaInP) top cell, which is a similar structure to the previous record efficiency of 29.8% announced in January 2016. A third cell, consisting of a GaInP/GaAs tandem cell stacked on a silicon bottom cell, reached a triple-junction efficiency of 35.9%—just 2% below the overall triple-junction record.

The existing photovoltaics market is dominated by modules made of single-junction silicon solar cells, with efficiencies between 17% and 24%. The researchers noted in the report that making the transition from a silicon single-junction cell to a silicon-based dual-junction solar cell will enable manufacturers to push efficiencies past 30% while still benefiting from their expertise in making silicon solar cells.

The obstacle to the adoption of these multijunction silicon-based solar cells, at least in the near term, is the cost. Assuming 30% efficiency, the researchers estimated the GaInP-based cell would cost $4.85 per watt and the GaAs-based cell would cost $7.15 per watt. But as manufacturing ramps up and the efficiencies of these types of cells climbs to 35%, the researchers predict the cost per watt could fall to 66 cents for a GaInP-based cell and to 85 cents for the GaAs-based cell. The scientists noted that such a precipitous price drop is not unprecedented; for instance, the cost of Chinese-made photovoltaic modules fell from $4.50 per watt in 2006 to $1 per watt in 2011.

The cost of a solar module in the United States accounts for 20% to 40% of the price of a photovoltaic system. Increasing cell efficiency to 35%, the researchers estimated, could reduce the system cost by as much as 45 cents per watt for commercial installations. However, if the costs of a III-V cell cannot be reduced to the levels of the researchers’ long-term scenario, then the use of cheaper, high-efficiency materials for the top cell will be needed to make them cost-competitive in general power markets.

The funding for the research came from the Energy Department’s SunShot Initiative—which aims to make solar energy a low-cost electricity source for all Americans through research and development efforts in collaboration with public and private partners—and from the Swiss Confederation and the Nano-Tera.ch initiative.

NREL is the U.S. Department of Energy’s primary national laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency research and development. NREL is operated for the Energy Department by The Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC.

News item from NREL

Solar Power World

[moviesandmania]

10/31 PART III (2023) Horror anthology sequel - trailer and release date

10/31 Part III is a 2023 American horror anthology film in which host Malvolia the Queen of Screams presents a new batch of twisted creepy tales of mummies, madmen, fun-sized demons and more. Also known as 10/31 Part 3 Directed by Michael Ballif, Jed Brian, Zane Hershberger, Jonathan Patrick Hughes, Jacob Perrett, Brad Twigg, and Jennifer Nangle Written by Michael Ballif, Jed Brian, Rocky Gray,…

[midnightmurdershow]

2 Hours (2012) Directed by Michael Ballif

[moviesandmania]

HE NEVER LEFT (2023) Reviews of serial killer thriller plus trailer

‘Some legends refuse to die’ He Never Left is a 2023 American horror thriller film about a fugitive and his girlfriend being stalked by a serial killer at a motel. Written, co-produced, directed by and co-starring James Morris from a storyline co-written with co-producer Michael Ballif. Executive produced by Josh Harrington and Jake Watters. The Witching Season Films production also stars Colin…

[moviesandmania]

HE NEVER LEFT (2023) Serial killer horror thriller - preview with trailer

‘Some legends refuse to die’ He Never Left is a 2023 American horror thriller film about a fugitive and his girlfriend being stalked by a serial killer at a motel. Written, co-produced, directed by and co-starring James Morris from a storyline co-written with co-producer Michael Ballif. Executive produced by Josh Harrington and Jake Watters. The Witching Season Films production also stars Colin…

[moviesandmania]

They Live Inside Us (2020) preview of Halloween horror pic, with trailer

They Live Inside Us (2020) preview of Halloween horror pic, with trailer

‘Every house has a story.’

They Live Inside Us is a 2020 American horror feature film about a writer that spends Halloween night in a haunted house. Having sought inspiration, he soon realises that he is living in his own horror story from which he cannot escape!

Written and directed by Michael Ballif, based on a storyline co-written with James Morris and Caroman Turner, the Witching Season…

[hesawifebeaterdanusethegun]

They Live Inside Us (Michael Ballif, 2020)

All GIFs by @hesawifebeaterdanusethegun

[hesawifebeaterdanusethegun]

They Live Inside Us (Michael Ballif, 2020)

All GIFs by @hesawifebeaterdanusethegun