Garage Sale at Japan National Olympic Stadium

As it is known, Tokyo Japan will be hosting the 2020 Olympics. This means that they will be using the National Olympic Stadium for the opening and closing ceremonies as well. Not surprising a large budget of $1 billion is created for the sole purpose of upgrading it alone. The Olympic Stadium a.k.a. Kokuritsu Kyogijo, will be demolished by 2015 and is set to for a five-year renovation period. To herald the stadium's impending haitus an official ‘Sayonara Kokuritsu’ campaign had been made that both reminisce the historical events that took place in Kokuritsu but to also promote Japanese culture to the rest of the world.

There's some recent news however. Apparently, before demolishing the entire stadium, it has to be dismantled first and guess what, they're for sale!

The lawn, the VIP seats. the reporter's seats and even 20 pieces of fucking manholes. This sounds really hilarious at first, but to fair, Kokuritsu had its share of memorable events. I'd like a seat too since I've never been to an Arashi concert before (haha joke!) Manholes are just weird though. I wonder who would ever buy those. Well, if you have any plans, go find them here

Xiao Long Nu: The Little Dragon Maiden Through the Years

Derived from one of the most memorable Chinese wuxia (a genre focusing on the adventures of martial artists) novels, The Return of the Condor Heroes (ROTCH) had been successfully adapted to screen throughout the years, making it one of China's best known love stories. 

Its protagonists, the lovers  Yang Guo and Xiaolongn has long since become iconic characters in the entertainment industry. Most especially, Xiaolongn, which literally means The Little Dragon Maiden. That girl is deemed as the most beautiful in the Chinese wuxia universe. With "skin as white as snow, beautiful and elegant beyond convention and cannot be underestimated, but appears cold and indifferent", it is not surprising that actresses who have played her were all pretty badass gals. 

Now because of my admiration for ROTCH and Xiaolongn in particular, I made this simple infographic showing all the popular adaptation of the wuxia novel and their respective lead actresses who have played The Little Dragon Maiden:

BREAKING NEWS: AKB48 Members Injured at a Fan Event

Kawaei Rina(19), Iriyama Anna (18) and a male staff member were attacked today by a 24-year-old man carrying a hand saw. He managed to get inside inside the AKB48 handshake event around 5pm at Takizawa, Iwate Prefecture today. The event was cancelled immediately and police was called to the scene. The suspect was arrested on the spot for attempted murder.

Kawaei Rina was said to be bleeding from the head while Iriyama Anna and the staff member had arm injuries The extent of the injuries were forutnately non life threatening.

The famous idol group AKB48 is known for their handshake events where fans could have the change to interact with their favorite idol. Due to the popularity of these events, inspections of baggage is almost always overlooked, thus it isn't thoroughly impossible that a man could smuggle a dangerous weapon inside the venue.

SOURCE

Tips on Passing the Philippine Civil Service Examination

I took the PPT Professional exam last April 6, 2014 at Capitol University. I was alone at first but soon met my friends who were also assigned in the same school. The exam lasted the whole morning so by the time we were dismissed, I am already very hungry and absolutely stopped caring whether I passed or not. Now, less then two months from the exam, I am surprised to found out that the results are out early* and that I passed! For a first-time taker, it's fabulous and certainly made mah mother proud!

*APRIL 6, 2014 EXAM RESULTS COULD BE FOUND HERE

I'm so darn happy! Some people say that it's just an exam so one could work in a government office. That's right, but it's not just an exam. This babe has an 80% passing rate and this makes Civil Service Examination kinda prestigious. Thus, a huge congratulations to all passers!

Now I'd like to share a few tips on how to ace this! There would be a second exam schedule this October and I hope some of my observations might help. Now for the exam coverage:

"The Career Service Professional examination will cover the following subject areas: in English and Filipino: vocabulary, grammar and correct usage, paragraph organization, reading comprehension, analogy, logic, numerical reasoning, and general information.  

The Career Service Subprofessional examination will cover the following subject areas: In English and Filipino: vocabulary, grammar and correct usage, paragraph organization, reading comprehension, spelling, clerical operations and numerical reasoning.  

Both examinations will cover the subject area on general information and shall have the following subject matters: Philippine Constitution, Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees (R.A. 6713), Peace and Human Rights Issues and Concepts, and Environment Management and Protection".

Never depend on the reviewer. They have a few similar questions with the actual exam, but it still is not enough. So what else should you study? Let me count the ways:

Basic Mathematics. You won't be using calculator so be ready to welcome cramming and hasty manual computations during the exam. It will be useful during the Logic part since numbers are also present in that shit. To make things easier, start studying like an elementary student!

How to add fractions

Converting decimals to percent

Understanding indirect fractions

Remembering the multiplication table

I'm not joking with the last one. In this modern age where scientific calculators are the norm, most people tend to forget their Multiplications! (Like me, I have t manually add a string of 6s since I comepletely forgot the sequence haha)

Memorize important elements from the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees. As mentioned, it will be part of the exam's coverage, but unlike grammar and logic, there is no need to 'solve' general information questions like the Code of Conduct, but instead, it depends on your stored knowledge about the topic. Thus it is important to freshen and actually memorize your notes this time. It helped me immensely in the exam.

Visualize the Logic problems. Logic is a bitch. But I was saved by drawing the problems and figuring them out through it. For example, a logic problem says that there are five guys sitting in a row, A hates C but D want to sit at the end but B would like to sit next to E, etc. What I did was create a table of the persons and the seats then I proceeded to mark all there preferences. If I finally have a neater understanding of the situation, I will then arrange them according to their wishes and hope my answer's one of the choices.

Don't give up on numerical reasoning. I never studied for this part of the exam since I have no idea how to study it in the first place. But my main tip for surviving Numerical Reasoning questions is to stay calm. In a number sequence for example, there are a lot of ways those digits could be related. Try them all out:

The sum between the numbers. Then look for a pattern.

The difference between the numbers. Then look for a pattern.

How far they are from each other. Then look for a pattern.

Do they follow the number before them? Then look for a pattern.

Always have a plan in mind as you go through these. The challenge is to do them fast enough and not panicking along the way.

Now, for the exam proper!

Arrive early. Seriously. Like 5:00am. Every year, there are a lot of exam-takers and it is such a chore to come in 20 minutes before the exam. You're not late it's true, but you will be pressured to double check your requirements, your room assignments and how the hell are you supposed to get there.

Follow instructions carefully and don't be afraid to ask. By the time you get inside the room, there are still a few formalities to go through. Like the seating arrangements, signing your signatures, etc. It is an utmost importance to be careful and not make a mistake in doing these. If you don't understand or if you have a question about something, feel free to ask your proctors, these guys were trained to ensure that the Civil Service exams go smoothly so there's no need to be shy.

Bring an extra pen AND pencil. It pays to be a boy scout in this situation.

Empty your bladder before the test starts. My main problem with the exam was the time shortage. I am certain that I would have answered some of the questions confidently if given more time. But life is unfair, so you will just have to make the most of what is given to you. Thus going to the Bathroom is a big NO while you are busy with answering already. Do it while everybody's still preparing.

That's all the tips I could give as of now, Ganbatte everybody!

Whatever happens to you belongs to you. 

Make it yours. Let it nurture you, because it will. 

- Cheryl Strayed

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Fan-Made Akira Live Action Trailer is Superb!

Requests for live version of the 1988 anime cult classic Akira had been heard for many years already. There had been talks of creating such film in Holywood but even the current plans is yet to see the light of day. However in 2012, fans created the Akira Project via an IndieGoGo campaign, a global crowdfunding site. The main goal was to create a 5-minute live acton trailer that would also "stick as close to the source material as possible. A chance to do Akira Justice."

After a year and a half of waiting, Akira Project is finally done with their own fan-made live action Akira trailer. It is awesomesauce:

Lead by director/producer Nguyen-Anh Nguyen and CineGround Media, the team is composed of 100 people from 12 countries. They had Xavier Yuvens as Tetsuo and Osric Chau (a.k.a. Kevin the prophet) as Kaneda. The product is a tasteful, impressive fan trailer that could put Hollywood to shame.

Well I might be exaggerating, but don't forget that this is an unofficial project by devoted fans. Any attempt by Hollywood studios in the future better make sure that they'll follow this group's vision in recreating anime classics into live action films. Nothing's as worse as seeng a Japanese character being played by a Caucasian (remember that Zac Efron as Kaneda rumor? cringe)

Congratulations to all the team members, the actors who gave their tim and to everyone's creativity and efforts. Job well done!

A Different Kind of Riddle

When I first stepped into 4chan, I was an immediate /x/phile. In layman's terms, my first home board was /x/Paranormal where anons talk about anything supernatural, weird and odd. Discussions about tulpas, skin walkers, dreams and mythologies are usual. Most of the anons in /x/ are also deemed to have the best research skills in all of 4chan.

The following riddles I'll share with you today is from one of /x/'s many threads. It was originally archived but the current state of the website is still unsure. OP translated the riddles he got from 2chan thread called "Stories that are scary if you understand their meaning." Some of the stories here were also gathered from other sources.

Basically you have to know what fuck is going on in each story. Jot down your theories and answers and we'll check them later. Let's begin!