Strange noises echo in the distance. You start breathing heavily, heart pounding hard, and some animal instinct screams that you need to get out. You throw on your shirt, dash into the hallway, and started running for your life….. the real game begins.

This game made use of settings of a haunted hotel to spook people.  The producer generally made use of non-verbal ques which successfully made the game so popular. For example the use of ghastly make ups and dressing, suggests a type of non-verbal communication used to transmit the image or information to its audience.

Next the use of paralinguistic ques such as shrilly screams from the ‘ghosts’ in the games adds up the audio and visuals in the game, which adds a notch higher in its intensity. The producer went all the way out to produce this with real life images which brings up the visual impact on the player.

Generally, i think the game has succesfully done what it has set out to do, to scare and spook people.  Very much different from many online games, this is extremely eerie and seems to be too real.

I realised, beyond the superficial way of watching movies for the plot and celebrities staring in it, there’s so much more meaning to the film beneath the layer!  I learnt, every action, every scene, every detail has a motive behind it.  And each execution is being thought through thoroughly and is shot to perfection, or rather shot to what best portray its message before it is shown on screen.

Our group did on Dostana, a popular bollywood film, and did our reseach on indian films versus hollywood films but we mainly analysed the indian film.

The film is actually a film about friendship, Dostana which actually means friendship.  As we can see the India is slowly moving away from its traditional way of filming and it seems, steering towards the hollywood influence.  The settings of the movie is all shot in Miami, a very liberal place where homosexuality is acceptable.  For an indian film to touch on homosexuality which is largely frown upon and a highly sensitive topic in india, i salute the producer’s courage.

It can be seen, the producer seems to be testing the water in the indian market whether it is a suitable time to bring in western influence into the country.  Since few years ago, Mtv was brought into india, it was not well received. Now it seems india is ready for some changes! Dostana’s one of the biggest movie hits in india and the female lead even won some asian award! Brilliant!

Through humor, song and dance, as well as settings away from India. The movie is made in a light-hearted and “fun” manner to soften the resistance of the traditional Indian cultural beliefs on homosexuality; but the continual use of the song and dance keep the movie in line with other Bollywood movies.  It can be seen, it still tries to keep tinges of Indian flavour in the film, all’s not lost yet. The settings is in Miami since gays are prohibited in India and this film might be trying to portray gays as fun loving people just like others and hopefully gain acceptance in India.

Our group fell in love with the movie after we did an analysis of it! It is awesome!.. CATCH IT SOMETIME GUYS.. =)

However, the show differs pretty much from the book in one key aspect, parents.  Clearly, parents involvement and responsibilities seems to be more prominently seen on tv than it is in the books.

The show also adds morality that’s missing from the books by making the characters more sympathetic.  Serena feeling remorseful and is working on changing, Nate and Blair are messed up because of their demanding parents, and how Jenny changes and desperate acts in order to fit into high society.

Nevertheless, the show still won’t be popular with parents wanting to shield their children from growing up too fast.
In a world where racy photos of Disney Channel star Vanessa Hudgens surface on the Internet, however, it appears that early teenage sophistication is a reality whether it’s depicted in the media or not.

This is exactly the case with the newly realieased Dawn of War 2, more commonly known as DOW2.

Initially, i thought it just needed me to reactivate the game over the internet, which is common for games and business software today to combat piracy.  But it turns out, the game can’t even be launched without logging on to steam!

These moves seem to make sense because the pc games business, like the music CD business, is being torn asunder by legitimate copying. As such, console game are growing because they are harder to pirate and users do not have to keep upgrading their graphics cards and processors to make sure their new pc game will run on their old machine.

So much for the inconvenience made to the players in order to safe guard the game producers’ interest, the irony is that these games will get hacked anyway and the hacked versions will run without all the copy protection inconveniences.

His latest finds – Ninja Blade.  Think ninja, sword fights and Japan in a video game.  What players need to do is to play hero by wielding their swords, hack and slash zombie minions and cybernetic creatures in the monster-infested Tokyo.
The monsters are huge with drool dripping from their fangs.  However, all it takes are five well-timed buttons presses to kill each of them.  There is not much challenge here.

Aside from a variety of swords, from the katana, broad sword to the dual knives connected to a chain, Ken, the character the player will assume, also possesses unique abilities that allow him to detect the creatures weak spot.
Not a game for females generally as it seem to be too gore. Quite similar to left4dead actually, just that this is using swords and is set in Japan.

This includes protecting one another, trying not to friendly fire and also to leave no man behind. This game requires a high level of group communication and contains a high level of interaction.

The group needed to have a certain level of Synergy if they were to survive the attacks. Moving about alone would mean nearly certain death. There are monsters such as the Hunter that renders one helpless once it pins its prey to the ground. This means that another teammate would have to come to the rescure. They’re interdependent for basic survival in this game. But players also have to balance their effort based on both individual and group needs.

Whether it is wiser to save yourself first, or to risk it to save another’s. Or to hold on to some health kit or to heal a team mate. This game involves any choices highly similar to the ones we have in life, even if not of the same magnitude. How would you play this game???

“What General Weygand called the Battle of France is over. I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization. Upon it depends our own British life, and the long continuity of our institutions and our Empire. The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this Island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, “This was their finest hour.”

While many today are embracing the arrival of the new hope, Barack Obama, and his eloquent speeches, I prefer to revisit the glory and heroes of yesterday. Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill is definitely one of the greatest leaders the world has ever seen.

Though Obama brought along with his administration a new Hope, he has yet to prove his doubters wrong. On the other hand, Churchill has not only led his nation through the darkest moments of mankind, but is also an orator, officer in the British Army, a historian, a Nobel Prize-winning writer and an artist. The series of 3 speeches that he gave during the Battle of France would go down in history as one of, if not the most inspiring speeches ever.

Churchill incorporated the Use of Pathos and Logos with skill and eloquence in his speeches, intertwining both aspects so well that his men were willing to put everything they had on the line to win the war. Logos, which indicates the use of logic in speaking, was used as Churchill tried to reason with all that they were that last line of defense against the tyranny of Hitler. He also listed out the fact that all that they cared for were to be vanished if they were to fail in their stand. But beyond the reasoning he gave, he enticed his audience with the promise of an honor and pride that would “last for a thousand years”.

Which was it that makes his speech such a good one? I’m sure it’s his use of Pathos. He understood that while men could act against reason, men could not resist the lure of glory and pride. Now can you think of a better speaker? But do bear in mind that words are but words if they have no results to speak for themselves: )