On The Shelves In Oxford This Week We Have Two Books Focusing On Two Of Our Favourite Things- Literature

Underrated Anime

Here are some titles that I feel deserve more love than they get!

From the New World - This anime was a masterpiece. Paced and well-planned, the show entangles you without you knowing until its too late. I highly recommend it for anyone who wants to sink their teeth into a psychological fantasy that leave you with a strange mix of innocence and uneasiness. 

Princess Jellyfish - A love story between a confident and fashionable crossdresser and an awkward, introverted girl. This is golden!

Welcome to the NKH! - Just the right amount of humor and psychological torment to keep every viewer enthralled. Is it a conspiracy? 

Monster - What happens when a promising young doctor saves the life of a boy who was fated to die? A gripping thriller of justice and revenge!

Bokurano - A group of kids become the chosen pilots of a robot faced with saving the planet, a beyond awesome experience for them!…or so they think. They sign the binding contract and now each one of them must pay the price. 

Wolf’s Rain - As legend has it, wolves will open the gate to Paradise in a dying world. This anime is a gripping, heart-wrenching tale of an unlikely pack of wolves searching for promised Paradise. Out of any of the shows on this list, Wolf’s Rain is worth watching. It is a legend it its own right. 

Samurai Champloo - THE MUSIC. The music alone should be enough to draw you into this epic tale, but in case you need more persuasion, know that this show revolves around the two most badass fighters in town and their quest to help a girl they are indebted to find the samurai who smells of sunflowers. Ugh its so gooooood. 

Mawaru Penguindrum - Weird and comical sum up this anime pretty nicely! It is a fun watch that you will find hard not to binge on once you start. Stay with me people: An alien penguin-hat grants a girl her life back in exchange for her two bothers’ help in acquiring the Penguindrum (whatever that is). I know what you are thinking, but please give it a try! You won’t regret it! 

Eden of the East - “This nation faces a great crisis. One among you must save us. I cannot tell you how. I cannot tell you why. Should you fail, you will be eliminated.” 12 people have been chosen to save Japan, each given a phone with 10 billion yen on it and the simple instruction to save Japan–their lives are on the line. Despite this harsh description, the actual show also has an element of humor, so don’t be afraid to jump in! Noblesse Oblige.

Steins;Gate - Many of you have probably heard of this and thought that is was too stuffy or complicated for you, but I’m here to tell you that you will watch this show, make it to episode 22, and then thank me. YOUR WELCOME. Sure, this show takes some getting into, but once you delve deeper into the plot, you will find things falling into place. It has unconventional characters, a really great romance stuck in there, and a pretty refreshing, sciency tone. Enjoy. 

Nodame Cantabile - To think that so many people have not seen this gift to humanity sickens me. Nodame is most assuredly the most interesting and unique anime character to walk this little anime earth. There is music! There is romance! There is SO MUCH HUMOR! There are 3 seasons!!! You can’t really pass up this opportunity to watch a legend.  

Hunter X Hunter (2011) - This is the only long-running shonen series I will ever watch. This is a series for those of you who like action but not fight scenes that span multiple episodes and like actual character development and good animation consistently throughout the show (I swear its perfect the whole way). Gon wants to be a Hunter just like his father and he meets Killua, the boy-assassin (an resident cinnamon roll), Kurapika, the last of the Kurta clan hell-bent on revenge, and Leorio, a guy who wants to strike it rich. Follow these four on a journey you won’t forget!

My worst fear on a test? The feeling of getting an exam paper in front of me, and not being able to remember anything, while back at home when reading the book I thought I knew everything. Sounds familiar? In that case, it may help to try these techniques. They help you practice retrieving information, rather than being familiar with the concepts you are studying. These have helped me loads, and I’m actually pretty convinced that these techniques are better than many others I used to apply, like rereading and regular summarizing. Hopefully they work for others as well :)

1. Summarise… in questions.

How do you do it? Instead of writing down facts, you convert facts to questions. Underneath the these, you answer them in your own words. This is technically the baby of summaries and flashcards. Don’t do this with every small fact, but rather convert several to one question, and omit the less important things always. You’re not going to remember every detail and most teachers don’t require you to (of course if they do, study them lol) .

Why would you do it? It is proven that asking yourself questions about the material enhances understanding and remembrance. Additionally, you can instantly quiz yourself on the material. Only reading your summary is not going to help you much with remembering, but actively retrieving information is! Also, when you’re reading and summarising the textbook throughout the semester, you’re already getting your study material for the test ready => less stress and work for when you gotta study.

2. Teach your peer / pet / pillow

How do you do it? Explain key concepts (many books provide these at the beginning or end of the chapter) to anyone who wants to listen. Don’t have anyone who wants to? Your cat probably won’t mind (but who knows what cats want tbh) and your reflection is always listening to you as well. 

Why would you do it? Explaining things to other people requires you to really understand what you are talking about, and you will more quickly find holes in your knowledge once you’re not able to explain it. Additionally, you’re probably gonna have to explain stuff on tests so it’s good practice.

3. Re-do your homework

How do you do it? Pretty obvious. Well, don’t write every answer down in detail again! For maths it may be useful to only tackle the most important exercises again, while for history you may want to spend an hour to just go over them all and test in your head if you can form a sensible answer.

Why would you do it? Going over the homework is always a good idea because 1) the theory is practically applied in those questions, so you have to think about what you have learned, enhancing integration, and 2) teachers are lazy and will often reuse or slightly modify textbook questions.

The women of A Song of ice and fire  

The women of Robert’s rebellion  

They forget to tell the stories of them, when without them would be no history.

Keep reading

how can i make my characters empathetic?

Hey there, anon! Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of others. I have two different ways to answer this: how to make your characters be empathetic and how to make people empathetic towards your characters.

HOW TO MAKE CHARACTERS BE EMPATHETIC 

This one is pretty self-spoken for. There is really only one way that I know of to make a character to be empathetic and it’s to put them in a situation that the character feels sympathy for another or have them care about something and to, eventually, share the feelings of the other character.

This could be just about anything - get creative with it! For example, have someone be treated unjustly, someone be thrust into grief or danger, facing an inner struggle, etc.

HOW TO MAKE PEOPLE EMPATHETIC TOWARDS CHARACTERS

This is actually pretty easy and you can also just repeat the above tips and tricks if you’d like!

However, different examples - and remember to get creative with it - are having your character display a valuable trait (though this is typically more rewarding if done a little before they make a choice that has a negative impact).

In addition, people love to watch real talent. Have your character be particularly good at something but don’t just tell how good someone is with a knife; show us. Show us how long it took, how many hours of pain and getting injured they had to withstand. Show them caring for their knives as if they were children. Show not tell is a very important part here.

Have them wish for a universal change or show them caring for people. For example, wishing for world hunger to go away and helping starving people go hand in hand together. Wishing for equality and going to rallies for pride, black lives matter, etc, go hand in hand. 

Give them something unique about them. Something that will make the reader grow some sort of attachment to them. 

I hope this helped, anon, and if you have any additional questions, please come ask! Happy writings! x

- Mod Lilly

If you need advice on general writing or fanfiction, you should maybe ask us!

Jimins eyeshadow game tho. 💅

Use the phrase "My understanding was..." instead of "I assumed..."

If you use the phrase “I assumed…”, you’ll be viewed as having hastily jumped to a conclusion based on insufficient evidence.

If you use the phrase “My understanding was…”, people will merely think you misunderstood something, and will be far kinder to you (and in instances where what you misunderstood was something they said, they will often apologize, or fault themselves for not being more explicit).

This is especially useful in a professional/workplace environment. Telling your supervisor you “assumed” something typically results in a reprimand; saying “My understanding was…” will instead be attributed to a miscommunication, or a lack of clarity in their original instructions.

Sketching Tips

Scottish Deerhound, Rhodesian Ridgeback, Borzoi, and Irish Wolfhound

Hound group

LCKC all breed show, day two

July ‘18

3 Study Methods You Should Use More Often

This was originally for an article writing assignment, but I thought “why not write something I can also post on my blog?” so here are three study methods that I haven’t seen a lot of in the studyblr community but are definitely worth mentioning.

The Leitner System

          Flash cards have remained one of the most popular ways to study. Some people use them to memorize vocabulary, remember answers to specific questions, or even associate dates with events. Although the use of flash cards is convenient, their effectiveness has been reduced due to most people’s habits of prioritizing each card equally and therefore spending too much time memorizing the information on them.

          The Leitner System, created by a German popularizer of science named Sebastian Leitner, is a more efficient method of studying that implements the concept of spaced repetition. All the cards start off in one pile. You would first scan through these cards, then test yourself. Each card you answer correctly goes to a second pile, while those you answer incorrectly should be revised then placed at the bottom of the pile. When you review the cards in the second pile and get them correct, they will be promoted to a third pile. An incorrect card will always get demoted to the first pile, even if they had previously been promoted to the last pile.

          The reason why this method is so effective is that you end up reviewing the first pile of cards more frequently—the cards you don’t know very well. Some people choose to review their Stack 1 cards every day, Stack 2 cards every other day, Stack 3 cards once every three days, and so on.

          Once all your cards have been promoted to the highest box, study them thoroughly and then start over. The continuous revision trains your speed so that you may reach fluency, which allows you to recall the information faster.

Timed Memorization

          The name tells it all: you memorize a certain text within a time limit, normally around five to ten minutes depending on your fluency and memorization abilities. When the timer starts, you begin memorizing. When time is up, you flip to the next page, even if you haven’t finished the previous page yet. Continue until you’ve gone through all your material.

          Timed memorization helps you to discipline yourself because your brain thinks that there’s no time for messing around; you have to do this here and now. Make sure to repeat the things you missed and revise everything frequently. This method is actually one of the most effective for cramming as it gives a better coverage than if you spend a whole half hour memorizing one subtopic.

The Memory Palace or Mind Palace

           Sound familiar? In BBC’s Sherlock, the ‘highly functioning sociopath’ uses this method to remember vital information and facts. A mind palace is a systematic arrangement of information, each detail corresponding to a specific object in a familiar place. To ensure that you really remember everything, the objects have to appear shocking and conspicuous.

           Here’s an example: if I wanted to memorize “crimson, 11, delight, petrichor (the smell after rain)”, aside from imagining Amy Pond or the Doctor saying it, I would first choose a place, let’s say my school. I’d imagine myself walking up to the front gate and seeing that the entire building has been painted the color of blood—crimson. The building would then rise as though it were lifted from the earth and crumble into rubble, controlled by Eleven, the character from Stranger Things. Now, since I can’t really picture delight specifically, I’d probably end up visualizing a colossal sign that simply reads “delight” posted in front of my school. As for petrichor, I’d imagine curves rising out of the puddles on the asphalt after a rainy night, a visual representation of the smell of the rain. Of course, these visualizations have been created to suit my memory. (I wouldn’t know if you watched Stranger Things.)

           I used this method when memorizing case studies for geography, although I chose to visualize fictional places from television series and cartoons. Some people do opt to create artificial places, but these often become blurry and are easily forgotten.

           As with any study method, repetition is vital to storing the information in your long-term memory. Visit your “palace” as often as you can. Soon enough, you’ll remember the data as well as you remember the place associated with the data.

So there you have it, three lesser known methods of studying that have proven to be immensely efficient. Now, there is no “correct” way to study, but there are methods that can ease your learning process.