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For Mother’s Day this year my husband got me Resident Evil 4. And some oriental lilies. But this post is about the game.I suck at video games. I really do. But Resident Evil 4 is pretty fun so far, so I decided to walk our readers through the game as I play it. It’s like vicariously playing the game as if you really suck at it.Here goes.This game takes place several years after Raccoon City got nuked because it was overrun with zombies and shit. The Umbrella Corporation has supposedly gone down the tubes. You play as Leon S. Kennedy, who doesn’t look a day older than he did in the first game. Seems the president’s daughter went on holiday in Spain and was kidnapped by some crazy cult, so it’s your job to get her back (though I fear I might regret saving her, because her picture on the DVD case even looks annoying. Leon better get laid for this.)The game starts with a cutscene of Leon driving through gloomy Spanish forest with two snarky policia who talk to each other in Spanish a lot, obviously making clever, cutting comments about Leon- probably about his hair, which, to be honest, is kind of ridiculously emo looking. They halt long enough for one of the cops to take a piss (with sinister music in the background!) and then they stop at this rickety little shack. The policia stay in their safe truck while Leon (you!) goes into the house, without even knocking (I mean, you’re not given the option to knock so you just have to barge right in). There’s this hollow-eyed, bearded dude putting some wood into his fireplace or something. There’s a cutscene where Leon approaches the guy and shows him a picture of the president’s daughter, asking if the guy has seen her. He asks in English, because he’s American and thus an asshole who thinks everyone in the world should speak English. Hollow-eyed man screams at him in Spanish. Leon actually retreats, and the man picks up this ax that was propped up by the fireplace.And suddenly you find yourself facing a crazy ax-wielding Spaniard who wants to chop you into sausage meat. You have to shoot him or knife him. Since he has an ax, stabbing him is tough- an ax apparently being a longer-range weapon- so you really just have to shoot him. If you suck like I do, you have to shoot him about 5 times before he falls (and since your gun only holds 10 bullets at a time, this is a problem). But after he’s dead you get to loot the body, and he’s loaded with cash.If you check out the rest of the house while the guy quietly decomposes downstairs, you’ll find more ammo. And also under the stairs you’ll find shelves lined with skulls. This makes you feel a lot less guilty about killing him.Here’s the thing about this house (and the entire village so far): there is loads of ammo and cash and ‘green herbs’ (it took me a while to figure out what that was for. It raises your health meter, or maybe it just makes you not care you’re wounded…). Yet despite all this bounty, the villagers only ever attack with axes, knives, scythes, pitchforks etc. And in one unfortunate section, a chainsaw. But that comes later.You leave the house and have to fight off some more guys armed with farm implements. This was where I realized you could shoot the bad guys’ feet and disable them, then once they’re on the ground, stab them to death. This really saves on ammo. It only took me half an hour and two deaths to figure this out!I told you I’m crap at video games.The cops have taken off, so after fighting off these farmers, you have to walk this creepy path through the forest to the village proper. Luckily there are signs with arrows pointing the way. Less luckily, these signs are all decorated with human skulls and ragged strips of bloody flesh. At this point I was wondering if the president’s daughter was actually worth it, because even her picture in the game manual looks annoying, but you re

Being obese is never seen as being advantageous. Aside from putting one at risk for many illnesses, another disadvantage of being big-bodied is, well…experiencing a failed suicide attempt. A woman from Jiehe, a rural town in Shandong, China, attempted to kill herself because she feared her husband would reprimand her for causing the potatoes of [...]Author informationGenevieve BaxaGenevieve Baxa is a college student living in the Philippines. She has a great passion in writing, especially in writing short stories. This unpredictable lady loves everything about East Asia. She is enthralled by the culture and fashion of these countries. She also loves everything about children; teaching them; taking care of them; and playing with them. In addition to that, Genevieve especially loves to go on Mission Trips and serving different kinds of people. Above everything else, she is a lady who fears her God.TwitterFacebookThe post Woman’s Large Figure Causes Failed Suicide Attempt appeared first on Weird Asia News. Related posts:Time-travel Attempt Kills Two Chinese SchoolgirlsLarge Chinese Cities Sinking into GroundFailed at Love? Take Two Days Off Work!

Prolific blogger and GooglePlusser Christopher Helton talks about Dorkland! Blog and Dorkland! Roundtable. Music used with permission from Alaska in Winter.The post Roll For News with Christopher Helton appeared first on Geeky & Genki.

Homemade luncheon meat, hae bee and eggs $13.90 "Give us this day our daily bread." I used to recite this as a school boy at St Andrew's School almost every morning.  It didn't make much sense to me back then, because we ate mostly rice.  Bread in the 70's meant those soft white traditional loaves which they used to hand slice in front of you while you wait.  Often, they don't slice it

Alana Smith-Brown of Rogue Princess Squadron talks all things DC animated. The post DC ANIMATED 101 WITH ALANA SMITH-BROWN appeared first on Geeky & Genki.

Bizarre restroom incidents are not overly surprising anymore. But one recent story, in which a toilet exploded when it was being used, caught our attention. In Leqing City, in China’s Zhejian Province, at around 6:00 a.m. on May 1, 2013, a woman was using a public restroom when the toilet literally exploded. The blast so [...]Author informationJay PoonThe post Chinese Woman Escapes Unhurt in Toilet Explosion appeared first on Weird Asia News. Related posts:Chinese Driver Escapes Miraculous Brush with DeathChinese Invention to Provide Relief for Squat Toilet UsersChinese Man Drops Mobile Phone:Trapped In Toilet

I had a lovely weekend visit to Kampot with Khymer friends in Jan 2012. It is a beautiful riverside town with a more tranquil atmosphere, and I found it to be the perfect get-away from the chaotic fun of PP. My favourite thing to do in Kampot was to stroll along the river-front promenade and watch life on the river go by. The hazy Bokor Mountains were a romantic backdrop and I loved the beautiful flowering trees that lined the walkway and the waterfront road. We stayed at a lovely guest house near the Kampot river called Mea Culpa. As part of their restaurant they produced gourmet pizzas in their outdoor pizza oven. It was fun to watch them being prepared. The next morning we walked the short distance down to the river and had a look around the small fresh fish market. Boats were unloading the fish, crabs and other seafood, most of which was still alive. Then we took a wander around the the Kampot Market, just 1-2 blocks back from the river. I love markets, especially seeing produce that is famous from that area. Fresh green Kampot pepper corns are wonderful, complimenting fish or crab dishes with a bit of lime juice. I think on my next visit to Kampot I’d like to visit a pepper farm. Bokor Mountain The day’s main event was a drive up Bokor Mountain. The new highway up the mountain jungle has reduced to driving time from 2 hours to about 40 mins. Bokor Mountain is famous for the abandoned ruins of a French hill station, and along with those of a church and the former summer residence of Prince Sihanouk. Unfortunately the mystique and charm of this area has been ruined by the new development of an enormous monstrocity of a casino and hotel near the top of the mountain. It was under construction when we saw it but would probably be finished by now. Bokor Station was off limits as it was under renovation. I think developers are trying to return it to its former glory, but I fear it may lose its character. The views from the mountain are still magnificent but the development is badly damaging wildlife in the area which is a great shame. We had a picnic at the top of the mountain. There were different types of Cambodian fruits ( Mangosteen, Milk Fruit, Dragon Fruit, Bananas which are so much tastier than the ones we get at home etc) but the main treat our hosts bought especially for us was local crab. I think crab meat is delicious but they weren’t very big and it was very messy and fiddly getting the meat out of the shell. A great experience but I probably wouldn’t bother with it again unless someone else did all the hard work for me. Getting There It takes about 3.5 hours to travel from Phnom Penh(PP) to Kampot by car or private taxi (USD$40-50). We went in our friend’s car and about half way we stopped at a family road stall selling young coconuts for refreshment. We picked out a coconut each and one of the stall holders skilfully lopped the tops of with a machete and popped a plastic straw in each. We were told these were the best coconut variety in Cambodia and the juice was indeed delicious. Something rather humorous then happened. The store holders were looking at me and saying something to our friends. Apparently they thought I was very beautiful, which is funny because I am very much a “plain Jane” where I come from in NZ. It seems Cambodians admire the narrow Anglo-Saxon nose , and I certainly do have a long thin nose! Most bus companies (air-con but no on-board toilet so one toilet stop half-way) go to Kampot via Kep, take 5 hours and cost about USD$4.50. The more upmarket Giant Ibis Transport costs USD$8 and travels directly from PP to Kampot in 2.5-3 hours and will drop you off at your accommodation. The post A Beautiful “Thin-Nosed” Woman’s visit to Kampot. appeared first on Asian Ramblings.

I am not a visa officer, nor am I migration agent. I am in no way affiliated with the Australian Embassy Manila nor with the Australian government. This post comes from my experience with preparing and submitting visa applications for family members and for myself. Also note that this entry pertains to my experience in applying for an Australian tourist visa in April 2013. This is geared towards applicants who holds a Philippine passport, though the preparation can be applied for other nationalities as well. The Australian immigration update their forms every 3 months. I will try to answer your questions the best way that I can, but bear in mind that I can’t answer all your questions. If you ask a question I’ve already answered in the post, I will ignore you. After almost seven years, I finally have an update to my now epic How to Apply for an Australian Tourist Visa series. I have written two posts on the topic, both garnering over a thousand comments, with one getting over 4,500! I have stopped replying to comments, since I don’t think I’m not the best person to be talking about it, as my knowledge of the visa process is largely obsolete, so the visitors have taken upon themselves to answer each other’s questions, with successful applicants coming back to share their good news and help others. It has become a mini forum of sorts and I have to admit I’m happy it turned out that way. I found it to be a great help when I took another chance to apply for an Australian tourist visa once more. Before I get to the visa application process, here’s some background about me and my circumstances: I am a Philippine passport holder, and have applied and received a visa from Australia before. I have a valid US Visa, with used tourist visas to Canada, Japan, and Myanmar. I also have more than 70 arrival and departure stamps from various countries, and that’s just in one passport. I am single and have my own company registered with the DTI. I have a bank account and a couple of credit cards, and I have two sisters who live in Australia, one of which is a temporary resident and the other a citizen. My intention to visit was for a short break from life in Manila, and to hopefully visit places I missed during my first two trips to the Australia. Step 1: Download and read the necessary pages, documents, and forms. This is very important, I can’t stress that enough. It won’t do to just ask questions without reading these web pages and documents first, because you’ll look like an idiot. Majority of your questions would likely be answered by the information written in these files. All these are available for download at the Australian Immigration website, immi.gov.au, and they are all free. Visitor Visas (Subclass 600) information page Application for a Visitor visa – Tourist stream (Form 1419) Visitor visa (Subclass 600) Application document checklist Charges and fees (Form 990i) Currency converter There is no need to print all of those pages or forms (unless you prefer to read them off the computer), but the one thing you should print is the visa application form. It’s a fillable form, wherein you can type in your answers on the form itself and print it afterwards. If you use Adobe Reader to open it, it will not save the changes to the form, so fill it out only when you are ready to print and submit. However, if you’re using Foxit PDF Reader, it can save the changes to the form, so you can fill it out and edit it later on before printing. Step 2: Gather the required documents In page 15 of Form 1419, Part M is actually an application check list. The column on the left lists all the required documents, while the column on the right lists the additional documents you may submit. Here are the documents I submitted: Valid passport with certified copy of the identity page and pages with visa stamps Recent passport photo taken within the last six months Visa app

I tightly gripped several immediate takeaways from this Hangout. The post Productivity 101 with Brennen Reece appeared first on Geeky & Genki.

Whenever we visited somebody’s home in Shan State, we were inevitably offered green tea or water and a bite to eat. Often the snack was fruit, such as a few bananas or the watermelon shown above. Sometimes it was something a bit more substantial such as nor khom, a type of bamboo, steamed and eaten with a simple but utterly delicious dip made from ground salt, dried chili and makhwaen (prickly ash). I really enjoyed these simple meals, which usually also involved conversation in Tai — a language I understand very little of, but love to try to figure out — as well as the chance to peek inside somebody’s home. Perhaps one of the more interesting opportunities for the latter was in Wan Puen, a Thai Lue village outside of Mong La. Most of the 69 families in Wan Puen still live in traditional-style wooden houses — a relative rarity, even in this area. The houses can be rather dark inside, so most socialising is done on the elevated bamboo porch, which also functions as the kitchen and laundry area: Sitting on this porch, which was about eight feet high, provided me with an entirely different perspective on the village. I was struck by the way the tidy tiled roofs formed something of a rural skyline. That the houses were surrounded by neat fences and faced the same direction also lent the village an almost city-like element of organisation. Shattering this perception was the fact that, directly below every house was a buffalo or cow, and the messiness, sounds and smells that accompany this. Inside, cooking was done on an open hearth; a soot-blackened rack above the fire held garlic, shallots and dried chilli. At the other end of the room, a girl watched a Thai game show on television. After a while, when people had gone back back to doing their chores, and when my guide and our hosts were deep in conversation about the price of dried frogs — at least that’s what I caught — I had essentially been forgotten about. This casual hospitality left me free to crunch watermelon, take pictures, listen to Tai, and generally just soak up the scene.