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Your home theater offers a chance at escape. While the mundane world drones on around us, there are exciting fictional avenues that give the imagination new places to go, new adventures to experience — a whole universe of the mystical and magical. Whether that’s a faun meeting you at a lamp post to introduce you to witches and a talking lion, or a young boy with a wand that can change the world, diving into these dreamscapes can enliven and recharge our minds.

Here are eight of the top fantasy television shows and movies — escapes into new lands of enchantment and wonder.

People often enjoy feeling frightened around Halloween. Each year, many of us dive into movies and media that make the hair on the backs of our necks stand up. Whether it’s revisiting a favorite horror flick or immersing yourself in a scary video game, being shocked and surprised by ghouls and ghosts has become a favorite pastime, especially around the end of October.

In this article, we’ll investigate eight of the most blood-curdling video games, all of which are made even more impactful when played through a dedicated gaming mixer like the new Yamaha ZG01.

For the past decade-plus, a new style of music and music production has been growing in popularity, particularly amongst younger music fans. The rise of DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) software like Steinberg Cubase, along with compact, affordable recording equipment, has given aspiring artists increased opportunities to create full-blown musical productions in their homes (as opposed to being forced to go into professional recording studios) and to release them to a worldwide audience through social media and popular file sharing websites. The result? A brand-new genre of self-produced songs and artists that are calling the shots and cranking out hits from their bedrooms.

So what is Bedroom Pop, anyway? In this article, we’ll take a deep dive into the sound and history of this burgeoning genre, and identify some of the top practitioners of the style.

The violin, for all its sonic and visual beauty, can be difficult to learn. It’s a precise instrument that requires manual dexterity, a good ear and a great deal of practice. But knowing your instrument and developing good playing habits can open the door to lifelong enjoyment and a long-lasting musical relationship that will yield many rewards.

Here are eight tips that will help you on the road to mastering the violin.

The history of sports video games started some 50 years ago with the release of the mock-table tennis title Pong in 1972. About a decade later, things got more interesting, with then-advanced games like One on One: Dr. J vs. Larry Bird in 1983 and Tecmo Bowl in 1987. Since then, the sports video game landscape has grown exponentially. Today, there are tennis games with which you can work up a sweat through the use of wireless controllers, golf games featuring legendary athletes like Tiger Woods, and football, soccer, baseball and basketball games that feel like real life.

Here, we will dive into the best of the past two-plus decades, highlighting the top titles and what makes them special, from growth in graphics to the enjoyment of playing … and winning. All these gaming choices offer engaging sporting experiences with the ebb and flow of competition, and the details in their soundtracks can be equally important for generating emotion, from the crowd noises to the acoustics of the arena itself, particularly if you add the immersive envelopment of surround sound.

Since its launch in 2011, the live streaming service Twitch has become an indispensable online platform for gamers, serving as a hub of entertainment for viewers who want to watch others navigate popular games. By October 2013, the service boasted some 45 million unique users who were watching gameplay both live and on-demand, with a multitude of fun games, from “e-sports” like football, baseball and basketball titles to first-person role-playing games like Grand Theft Auto and multiplayer games like Fortnite.

Of course, success breeds competition, and today, Twitch is not the only platform that gamers can dive into. YouTube, for example, offers everything from gaming tutorials to live gameplay of popular titles like Call of Duty. The social platform Discord, which debuted in 2015, gives players the ability to communicate via instant messages, voice calls, video calls and text massaging in private or public chats, trading tips (and even a little trash talk) as they play.

Nonetheless, Twitch still serves as the primary forum for introducing new titles, showcasing how specific games can be played and elucidating strategy as well as providing gaming tips, tricks and secrets. There’s even a biannual convention known as TwitchCon where fans can play and compete with one another. Here are seven of the best games to enjoy on Twitch.