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My first impression of this movie titled Kung Fu Panda (2008), honestly speaking, was not an illustrious one. In my mind, I imagined an animated film laden with adolescent humour, ‘cutesie’ characters and with a plot as thin as air, targeted mainly at the young. Watching the show has certainly proved how wrong I was. Although it was no mega-blockbuster, Kung Fu Panda (2008) was a pot full of laughs and enjoyable entertainment for everyone in the family.

The star of the show is, of course, ‘Kung Fu Panda’ himself – an obese and melancholic panda named Po leading a mundane life of selling noodles, voiced by funnyman Jack Black. This panda is in love with kung-fu, and he dreams about learning kung-fu and becoming like the local martial arts heroes The Furious Five. The Furious Five are composed of the Tigress, Crane, Monkey, Snake and Mantis; they are the revered martial arts exponents tutored by the widely respected Masters Shifu and Wugui.

The sudden reappearance of Tai Lung the evil snow-leopard, who was Master Shifu’s previous apprentice who went rogue, forced Master Shifu and Master Wugui to choose a legendary Dragon Warrior from the masses. Through a series of freak but hilarious circumstances, Po was selected by Master Wugui. This came as an offending shock to the fraternity as Po was clumsy, lazy and had no aptitude for kung-fu at all, and it was an especially difficult blow for Tigress as it was widely believed she would be the Chosen One. With the selection, began the arduous task of training and imparting skills to Po. As the time ticked away, Po began to pick up kung-fu and even began to impress Master Shifu and the Five. Eventually, Tai Lung reached the city and so, begins the showdown between Po and the evil Tai Lung.

This show is worth the watch. Why? The first thing is that this show is simply funny. Granted, this is a kid’s show, you will not find intellectual punchlines that will blow you away. However, this flick will keep you smiling or giggling away for the better part of an hour, especially at Po’s antics during his training. Some scenes had me doubling over in laughter, like the time when Po was dueling Master Shifu for a dumpling. Another good reason to catch Kung Fu Panda is that it is visually arresting. Po is irresistibly cute while the other characters like Tai Lung and Tigress are so artfully created that it exudes an aura of authority, fear and respect. Furthermore, this is a kung-fu flick and naturally you can expect attractive fight scenes. Although it is computer-generated, the fight scenes are explosive and beautifully choreographed. Each fight was more exciting and pulse-racing than the one before.

It would be unfair to say that Kung Fu Panda (2008) is devoid of a plot or storyline. It does, albeit a very predictable and boring one. However, we do have to bear in mind that this is a kid’s show and we cannot expect a plot too complicated, and it is true that the merits more than make up for this in the visual department. The one qualm I have is that the other characters seem under-developed. The entire crew of superstars voicing the Five seemed under-utilized. Jackie Chan played the goofy but good-natured Monkey but he could not have spoken for than ten lines in the whole show. The movie revolved too much on just Po.

This movie will not blind you by its ‘awesome-ness’ but it is definitely worth the money for your ticket.

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Cabal Online is a Massively-Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) that is built upon the legend of the ancient world. Players are taken into the world of Cabal, understanding the storyline and their purpose of existence. In the world of Cabal Online, players can choose among 6 character classes (known as Authentic Six), namely Warrior, Blader, Mage, Force Shielder, Force Archer and Force Blader. The first 3 are the 'basic' characters but without the power of the force, the latter three are the 'advanced' jobs, incorporated with the power of the force. Although the latter may all sound fanciful, there isn't really much difference in those characters in terms of capabilities, it rather, depends on how one plays the character.

Currency: In Cabal Online, the currency used is known as Alz, and it is the most basic form of trade, unlike other games that depend a lot of jewels or other rare materials gotten from monsters. Also, Alz can be 'earned', like any other games, from monsters and selling items to shops.

Equipment: Each job has their own set of armoury. Although 2 characters would share the same type of equipment, the armour would require different stats to equip for each character. There are Martial armours, worn by Bladers and Mages, Battle armours for Force Bladers and Force Archers, and also Armour suits worn by Warriors and Force Shielders. There are several advantages for it being set this way. It makes it a lot easier to sell off your armours, since there is a large demand for it. However, this advantage brings about some obvious problems - it is awfully difficult to buy your items since there are others out there requiring the same items. It is up to the players themselves to get the best deals and become the strongest character.

Mission: The unique thing that differentiates Cabal Online from many other MMORPG games has to be the fact that the missions tend to be overwhelming and never-ending. The missions are linked to one another, with main missions and other side quests. The storyline is split into several main missions which will bring the player through different worlds and maps, leading them to exploration and the hunt on stronger monsters. This allows players to experience the storyline of Cabal Online, to understand truly what made Cabal possible. The earlier maps are Bloody Ice, Desert Scream and Green Despair. As players progress through the quests, they would be brought to other towns and areas such as Port Lux, Fort Ruina, Forgotten Ruin, Lake Side and Undead Ground. They would have to battle monsters that never tested their strength to such an extent, difficult battles await as the players explore the towns of Cabal.

Battle: In battles, Cabal Online follows the idea of 3D hunting. Players can move their characters in a 3D manner and engage monsters as they please. Although the levels of players determine the aggressiveness of monsters, some monsters would still be provoked once a player gets into its line of sight. There are combos for the players to throw out with their skills. By throwing in combos, players get skill experience at a faster rate and hence, skill up faster. Cabal allows PvP (Player Versus Player) combat, which means that players could be easily pit against one another to determine who's the better of the two.

Skill: Cabal is similar to World of Warcraft (WoW) in the sense that skills have to be learnt. The experience level of a character matters lesser as compared to the skill level. A level 60 character with a very high skill rank could defeat a level 100 character who is much weaker in terms of skills. Skills are the basic form of offence. The skill is split into 2 parts, namely Sword and Magic skills.

All in all, for those who want a totally new experience in MMORPG but hate to grill for one single level, Cabal Online is the game for you.

For more information, log onto www.cabalonline.com
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Good Luck Chuck (2007) is a romantic comedy about how a man tries to break and overcome a childhood voodoo curse to win over the girl of his dreams and finally find true love. Sounds corny? You bet it is, but this is a romantic comedy and nonsensical plots have more often than not reared its ugly head in this genre of movies. However, this movie is not without its merits and it is still a decent film to catch.

The film starts off with 10-year old Charlie Logan playing a game of 'spin the bottle' with his group of friends. He then refuses to kiss and make out with a crazed goth-girl as per the game rules dictate, and the girl casts some sort of hex on him out of spite. 25 years later, Charlie has established himself as a successful dental surgeon. He has plenty of luck with women looking for fun; however he has no luck with finding the true love that he so fervently seeks. Eventually it dawned upon him that he was still under a curse - whichever woman that sleeps with him, will find true happiness and marital bliss with the next partner. Goaded on by his obnoxious childhood friend Stu Kaminsky, he goes on a sex romp (supposedly doing community a service), sleeping with hordes of eager women who want to eventually find true love, albeit by having sex with Charlie first.

Charlie's promiscuous perspective of life makes a drastic change when he meets Cam (played by the lovely Jessica Alba), a clumsy and accident-prone zookeeper with an obsession with penguins. In order not to lose her to her next partner, Charlie has to remain celibate, which obviously is a challenging feat for Charlie (especially when it's Jessica Alba!). After Charlie mistakenly assumes that the hex is broken, he finally lets loose and enjoys a night of passion with Cam. To his horror, as a result of Stu's deceit, the hex was not broken and he risked losing Cam to the next man she meets. Charlie then races against time to break the curse and eventually Cam, touched by his sincerity, accepts him and they got married in Antarctica (or North Pole, or wherever penguins populate).

This movie drew tremendous amounts of flak when it aired in USA, and it was easy to comprehend why. The humour was slapstick and at numerous points you would find yourself rolling your eyes to the jokes rather than laughing like you're supposed to. This movie is full of sexual content, basically an entire parade of topless females. The difference between Good Luck Chuck and the popular American Pie series is that the former tries too hard to display more depth and plot to shrug off the stereotype of a brainless sex-laden flick. At this, Good Luck Chuck is an unmitigated disaster. In contrast, American Pie does not seek to distinguish itself and actually excels at being a value-less, watch-and-laugh-and-forget sex comedy, which is why it is rather well-accepted. Jessica Alba's character Cam was an outdated movie cliché the bungling and clumsy female lead character was funny five years ago.

As I mentioned in my opening paragraph, this movie is not without several redeeming factors. Dane Cook and Jessica Alba put in some decent acting as the lead characters and I felt that the plot did not do any justice to their efforts. Dane Cook, in particular, did a good job as the charismatic Dr Logan. This was the main saving grace as to why I rated this movie 3 and not anything lower. Other than this, there were actually some sincere bits towards the ending of the movie, when Cam gets so suffocated by Charlie's protectiveness that she tries to break away.

Watch Good Luck Chuck (2007) if you do not have anything else better to watch in the romantic comedy department, but stock up on popcorn. You will at least have something to do when the perpetual bad humour fails to crack you up. Oh, and nobody ever calls him Chuck anyways.

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Headshot! Bet that's what many of you can achieve, or at least heard of this term before. Sounds familar, welcome to the world of Counter-Strike (CS). With this newest instalment, Counter-Strike: Source brings the world of CS to a whole new realm, with enhanced graphics as well as perhaps more realistic equipment as compared to its predessesor, Condition Zero.

Valve created a much better version of CS and personally I feel that it's much closer to reality. An example would be the HE Grenade. (For those who don't know what HE means, neither do I. All I know that it's a grenade that can blast anyone sky high.) Previously, in Condition Zero, the HE grenade is awfully weak, more than often dealing less than 30% of the target's health on a direct hit from in-between his legs. However, it has been revamped in Counter-Strike: Source. The damage from it could kill anyone with full health from a direct hit. (Trust me, I've experienced it before and you wouldn't know what hit you until you look up to the top left corner of the screen and see that you've been killed by a grenade.)

I almost forgot. For those who still have no idea what CS is about, it is actually a First-Person Shooting (FPS) game. The game allows players to choose from a wide variety of arms, from the Semi-Automatic Machines Guns (SMGs) to rifles and even the shotguns. Common weapons found in the real world could also be found in the game, such as the M4A1 Carbine and the favourites of terrorists, the infamous AK47.

The game's split into two teams, one being the terrorists and the other, the counter-terrorists. There are several game modes out there. One being the standard "Bomb" maps, where the terrorists have to go to one of the 2 bomb sites out there, set up a C4 charge, and prevent the good guys from defusing it. The second map type is the less-often played "Save the Hostage" maps. This time, it will be the terrorists that are camping at the sites where the hostages are held at. The counter-terrorists would have to move in and rescue the hostages, bring them to the save zone. But, there's a catch. The hostages are not invulnerable, hence the extensive use of HE grenades to soften the hostage-held sites is not going to work. You'll most probably end up killing all the hostages. The last map type is the "Eradicate the Other Team" type of maps. As the map type says so, the main objective of teams is not to plant bombs, nor rescue hostages, but shoot the other team to smitereens.

For those who have access to steam, you should be aware that some game modes are modified. For example, in a standard map, deathmatch is enabled. Meaning that you don't have to wait for the round to end to restart if you're already dead. Instead, you spawn almost right after you die, and could spawn at points spread across the entire map, making it impossible for someone to camp safely without being backstabbed.

Counter-Strike Source is a game that is actually featured in major competitive gaming events, such as the World Cyber Games (WCG) and the Championship Gaming Series (CGS). It is definite worth buying if you have been playing CS for quite a while. With a well-established online network already, one could play against players from many places at home, as longer as there's access to steam.

All in all, it is a game that shifts the already massive population of Counter-Strike gamers to a new height, with the improved effects and all. Try not to get addicted though, this game is seriously addictive.

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