The Robert Downey Effect: The Right Hire

How much is a great hire worth?

Well, in the case of Robert Downey, Jr. and Avengers: The Age of Ultron, about $596 million or so.

The movie starring the actor as Iron Man is set to open this Friday in the United States, and it will likely be one of the highest-grossing movies ever. After all, the first Avengers movie raked in $1.5 billion – making it the third-highest grossing movie ever – and Age of Ultron has already made $200 million in 44 overseas markets.

Some people mistakenly think that the success of comic book movies like Age of Ultron is inevitable, that they capitalize on a product – Marvel’s beloved characters – that have been in our lives since our childhood. And yet, when you really analyze the numbers, that isn’t the full story.

Yes, the name recognition of a Spider-Man or Captain America helps, but Marvel isn’t just capitalizing on its characters. It’s also capitalizing on the talents of the Downey, whose proven himself to be a revenue-generating superstar.

2008: A bleaker time for Marvel’s movies

At the start of 2008, movies starring Marvel’s characters had a much different reputation. The past seven major motion pictures featuring a character from the comic book company had an average Rotten Tomato score of 35 percent, meaning most critics didn’t like them.

And while they made money, they were making less money than what the company expected. Overall, those seven movies – which were released from 2004 to 2007 – brought back roughly $2.60 for $1 spent on them.

That sounds good, but the historical return for a movie featuring a Marvel character to that point was $3.02 in for every $1 out.

Then came Downey

That abruptly changed in 2008 with the release of Iron Man, starring Downey. The movie earned $585 million off of a $140 million budget and garnered a 93 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the second-highest score ever for a movie featuring a Marvel character (the first is Spider-Man 2 with a score of 94 percent, in case you were wondering).

The main reason Iron Man was so loved? Well, look at this quote from Rodger Ebert’s review of the film:

“At the end of the day it ‘s Robert Downey Jr. who powers the lift-off separating this from most other superhero movies,” Ebert wrote.

Since Downey’s first appearance, there have been 14 more major motion pictures featuring a Marvel character without him in it. While those movies were critically successful, averaging a Rotten Tomatoes score of 67 percent, they returned just $3.10 for every $1 spent on them, or about 3 percent higher than the company averaged before.

Meanwhile, the four Marvel movies starring Downey averaged a stellar Rotten Tomatoes score of 84 percent and made a total of $3.92 billion (almost $1 billion a movie!). Two of them – the first Avengers film and Iron Man 3 – are among the six highest-grossing movies of all time.

$596 million

Here’s the bottom line: there have been 31 major motion pictures featuring Marvel characters that didn’t have Downey in them. In those 31 movies, for every $1 spent on them, they’d bring back $3.06.

Compare that to the four Marvel movies Downey has been in. In those movies, for every $1 spent on them, they brought back $5.19 – a 70 percent higher return-on-investment than average.

Bringing it back to the beginning, we often ask how much hiring top talent matters. Most of the time we say it’s incalculable, it’s too hard to put a price on.

Well, with Downey, using trend data, we can make a pretty informed guess what he’s worth toAvengers: Age of Ultron, which has a $280 million budget:

Without Downey, the movie should expect to see a 306 percent return-on-investment: $280M X 3.06 = $857 million

With Downey, the movie should expect to see a 519 percent return-on-investment: 

$280M X 5.19 = $1.453 billion

When you subtract $857 million from $1.453 billion, you realize the “Downey effect” is worth $596 million. Not too shabby.

Guess hiring the right person really matters after all ;)

NYSC Survival Guide:The Clarion Call Obeyed

It’s about that time when you go and serve your country.The Batch A corp members for 2015 is out and with it ,the happiness of a good state ,sadness of a failed runs to an oil producing state and fear of a northern sate. This is an excerpt from an NYSC survival kit, enjoy.

"I have taken the liberty to interview some of my friends to learn their camping experience; I have also scouted blogs, dairies, journals and other archives in a bid to get as much info as possible about the three weeks of camp.

For those of you that are scared because it’s the first time you are leaving your family for such a long time, don’t worry you are not alone.

It is that anxiety that lead me to this research; hearing people recount their camping experiences has put me a little bit at ease.

According to most people it is the best 3 weeks of their lives. “You wouldn’t want to leave”. Well, i will be the judge of that after my own experience. I decided to get a comprehensive list of the things we might need to make life at the camp a more palatable experience. Below is the list of things you will likely need:

Condom and Birth Control/After-Morning Pills

16 Photocopies of Statement of Result (Original and Photocopies)

16 Photocopies of School ID Card (Original and Photocopies)

16-24 copies of passport photo (take as many as possible)

Original & 16 Photocopies of Call-up Letter (This will be taken and not returned to you)

10 plain sheets of paper

A Pen

Stapler with your own pins (will save you a lot of begging)

Glue and Tipex (they say everything @ d camp is 4 sale, u want to save as much as possible)

NOTE: Make a lot of Photocopies before going to Camp. A copy can be as much as N20 at the Orientation Camp.

Please remember to also take the original documents, some camps will send you home if u don’t have originals.

+

A Cardigan

4 Round-necked white T-Shirts Throughout your stay at the orientation camp, you will only be allowed to wear your white top and shorts; you might not like the ones that will be handed to you at camp so you can get those fitted brands as long as they are white, With these duly pointed out, no need to pack a lot of clothes to the Camp. You should only take a few in case you need to go to Mosque on a Friday or Church on a Sunday.

2-3 extra pairs of white Shorts (All white)

A Pair Of Plain White Sneakers (NYSC will give u 1 but you’d be lucky if they fit plus it spoils quickly know Naija & low quality things)

2 pairs of white socks

A pair of slippers (These camps are very dirty according to my source, The bathrooms are filthy! The bedrooms are dirty! The corridors are icky! Just have something on your feet at all times)

DETTOL (very essential, BRING or BUY. It’s just to disinfect your bath water)

Towel (BRING from home. At least you know it’s clean. Anything you buy from Mami Market may or may not be secondhand.)

Bed-Sheets, Pillow Cases, and A Pillow. (BRING from home. Again, the peace of knowing what you’re sleeping on is clean. Mattresses will be provided by NYSC. It is best to “double up” with the mattresses, as they are about 1 to 2 inches thick

Handkerchief (BRING from home. There will be BUCKETS of sweating. Do yourself a favor)

Sleep clothes (BRING from home. *note that it is ridiculously hot at night, so a large t-shirt or long tank top and little shorts will suffice)

Underwear (Guard it jealously, I was told people steal panties SMH)

Detergent (BUY from market. Again, this reduces the amount of load you’re bringing into camp. Remember how I said camp offers no frills? You have to wash your clothes, underwear, and bed things. However, if you’re lucky the mami market will have vendors offering laundry services! The only caveats are: you run the risk of your stuff getting lost)

A Novel (very essential esp. if u read a lot, or if u get bored easily like me) u can also bring board/Electronic games if u like (Chess/Scrabble/PsP/Gameboy)

Money (About 10 to 15,000 Naira should see you through the camp period modestly. but if you have to drink and hang out at The Mammy market a lot, then you can take more money depending on how much you can finish, be wise though! Sha budget N1000 per day)

Toiletries/Sanitary Pad (If you are posted to the Up-North like Yobe and Maidugiri, pls do not spray perfumes/anything scented, or the flies won’t stop hugging you. For the ladies, u will be wearing white all through when it’s time for your menstruation, beware of stains. )

Bucket, soap dish (buy at the camp site, don’t stress yourself taking one to the place, they always sell in the camp)

Waist bag (Try to buy this before you get to the camp, very very essential, U’ve got to put all ur money in it and tie it round ur waist, cos some people won’t come to camp with money and will steal)

Torchlight and Batteries (BRING or BUY. Seeing as there’s hardly ever any electricity, and you might want to read at night, having the flashlight helps.

Music (Ipod, MP3, Phone, , just take your music, )

ATM card (u may need 2 run out and get dough)

Painkillers, Malaria Medicine, Allergy Medicine, etc. (BRING from home. You do not want to make the mistake of getting ill in camp. The camp clinic is a BIG JOKE!)

Padlock (BRING or BUY. Well, you might not need it if u have a hard suitcase – no padlocks required. And anyways, thieves apparently can tear people’s bags with scissors or knives to get to their things)

Sun Glasses/Face Cap: (It can get really sunny, especially in the north, but I’ll advice all to take sun glasses since you’ll be standing on the parade ground for long hours. unless it’s rainy season)

MOSQUITO NET (My friend said the camp is Mosquito’s headquarters)

If you have a camera you can take it along because you will want to snap a lot of scenes. If you have a Blackberry phone, that’s good for you because you can easily and share on social networks. If you don’t have any of those, you will have to pay some guys on camp who do that as business to follow you around and snap you wherever you go. They might charge up to N2000 for the duration of the camping. They should give you all your photos and videos in CDs at the end of Camping.

You will be fed three times a day in camp but I must not lie to you, the food there is nothing to write home about. If you are someone like me who loves to eat good food, make provisions for your own food. You should get some fast foods along, some breakfast cereals and beverages. You should also hold extra cash to eat at the Mami market. You will get good foods there

THINGS U DON’T NEED

Don’t take materials like pressing iron, knife, fork, tin cutter to the camp. They will be seized and returned to you only on the last day of camping. I was told this is a security measure.

Food Flask (if you’ll eat camp food, I only stood in line for camp food once, and almost got a slap from d lady serving cos I didn’t understand the food, so Mammy Market was my savior, and might be yours too, in the end my food flask was gathering dust under my bed)

Don’t pack loads of unnecessary stuff. As for day clothes (mufti) pack one or two cos you’ll only be allowed to go on mufti on Sundays and you have 3 Sundays, so why pack all your clothes? On the 1st day of registration, try to see that after you do your registration where u declare your call-up letter, you endeavor to register for accommodation as early as possible, if not you’ll not have a place to sleep on ur 1st night in camp, and that’s not funny.

The forms that will be handed to you and attach your passport are very easy to fill. Fill them correctly. After your registration, you will be issued with your State Code Number. This will be like your PIN throughout your Service Year.

After you have been given your State Code, you should proceed straight to collect your mattress and your NYSC Kit. During my own time, I went straight to my hostel (you will be directed), put my mattress in place before going for my kit. Go for your kit on time so that you can get your size.

The Camp Commandant (the soldier in charge) and the other soldiers may tell you that if you participate in parade, play volleyball, and do all they want you to do, you will end up being posted to a favorable place for you Primary Assignment – LIES! Soldiers ain’t got that power at all, maybe the Camp director and some NYSC officials can help, but not all of them have the powers they claim.

Have fun but never agree to be manipulated or coerced into anything by anyone. I wish everybody good luck and I hope to see you in my camp."

hope you enjoyed it

culled: www.cruisenigeria.com

Awesome Shoes For Impoverished Kids That Grow With The Children

If you’ve ever had kids or even remember what it was like to be a kid, you probably know just how fast kids grow out of their clothes and shoes. Kenton Lee recognized this problem when he set out to make inexpensive shoes for children living in poverty around the world. His solution?

Make shoes that grow with the children.

Lee started an organized called The Shoe That Grows to help kids living in poverty never have to worry about not having shoes again. Some 300 million kids walk through their young lives completely barefoot because shoes are too expensive for families to buy for their kids. They don’t have the financial means and the kids grow out of them so fast anyway.

Lee’s shoe design is one that grows and expands and, unlike other inexpensive shoe options, are incredibly durable. 

The shoe grows and expands in three primary places to allow for maximum use for the growing young person.

20 Signs You Have Found Your Soul Mate

Finding a soul mate is #1 for many people. Personally, I believe you have a lot of chances to do so. Your soul mate might not necessarily just be one person. There’s a reincarnation based believe that I’ve always been fond of. That belief is that when you die, your soul shatters and breaks into pieces. Those pieces are randomly brought together with pieces of many other souls to form new souls and new people. So when you meet someone that you so strongly click with or find that person who is so clearly your soul mate, you’re really finding pieces of your soul in them, and they’re finding pieces of their soul in you.

Neat huh? No matter how it happens, these are 20 signs you’ve found your soul mate.

1. Your soul mate is endlessly loyal to you.
2. Your soul mate is always supportive of you.
3. Your soul mate has a similar guiding compass.
4. Your soul mate sparks an intense passion in you.
5. You can communicate comfortably with your soul mate.
6. Your soul mate makes you feel special.
7. Your soulmate transcends spiritual boundaries with you.
8. Your soul mate appreciates your affection.
9. Your soul mate thinks you’re just irresistible.
10. Your soul mate helps you feel safe.
11. You feel like you can completely trust your soul mate.
12. You don’t just experience their endless love, you feel it.
13. You’re spiritually connected more so to your soul mate than anyone else.
14. You can spend time sitting in silence but know what your soul mate is thinking.
15. Even in times of tragedy, you find strength in your soul mate.
16. Your soul mate turns to you with all their secrets, hopes and dreams.
17. Your soul mate has the same ideas about raising children as you.
18. Your soul mate always includes you in major and minor life decisions.
19. Your soul mate pushes you to be better and you return that favor.
20. As people, in terms of being happy and successful, you and your soul mate thrive together

So, now you know...go out there and find the person :)

Lagos To Abuja Victory Trek

Suleman Hasheem, the man on foot trek from Lagos to Abuja as part of his pledge to celebrate the victory of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari in the last presidential election yesterday arrived Suleja, a suburb just 35 kilometers away from the nation’s capital.

Hasheem who has now trekked for 18 days arrived Suleja at about 1:37pm to a rousing welcome by supporters and was received at the palace of the emir of Suleja, HRH Awwal Ibrahim.

The 33 year-old, had made a promise to trek from Lagos to Abuja if Buhari wins the presidential election, saying the purpose of terminating his journey in Abuja is where he thinks he could see the retired General and congratulate him.

Hasheem, who grew up in Osun and Lagos, now lives in Ibadan where he is working in a construction company.

Hasheem told reporters that his decision to embark on the mission was borne out of the happiness he feels for Buhari for becoming a leader for the masses.

He said in Bida four days ago that after 13 days of trekking, he worn-out five pairs of shoes with a new pair just bought for him by a good Samaritan.

Hasheem said before embarking on his mission, he ensured that he was financially equipped but to his amazement, up to the time he arrived Suleja, he did not have to spend a single kobo from his pocket because of kind, generous receptions he has been receiving.

NIGERIAN IMMIGRATION PAST QUESTIONS

NIGERIAN IMMIGRATION PAST QUESTIONS

Congratulations to the lucky ones that got shortlisted for the job,below are some past questions to help with the studying. Goodluck

NIS Current Affairs ::  Current Affairs Past question and Answers ...NIS Current Affairs

NIS English::English Past Questions and Answers... NIS English

NIS Mathematics::Mathematics Past question and Answer ... NIS Maths

NIS General Aptitude Questions:General Questions ...  NIS General question

Top 100 Tweak Websites

These websites will make you work the internet like a pro ;),from sending tweets longer than 140 characters to creating websites that can self destruct!!. Below are the top 100..

Fayrouz L’Original Expression Show – Season 2

Last year, the Fayrouz L’Original Show kicked off with a call to entry where fashion designers, models, photographer and make-up artists from all over the country created a team of four and took on a series of tasks. The show ended with an amazing grand finale event and the winning team, Elan walked away with $20,000 prize.

Season 2 is back and Fayrouz is on the hunt for the next original team, have you got what it takes? Create a team of four – model, fashion designer, photographer and make-up artist and you could win 4M Naira in the Fayrouz L’Original Expression Show. Go to http://fayrouzloriginal.com/competition/ to register!

10 smartest people in the world

The Human brain is at the epicenter of the human nervous system enclosed in a hard shell called cranium, one of the most vital part of our system. 

The Human brain is three times as large as the brain of any other mammal with an equivalent body size.

Few people born gifted by the most precious wealth of the nature, intelligence.

They are different from ordinary people and their approach toward different situations of life is unique.

They belong to different walks of life and do better than the average person.

Most of the intelligent people struggle very hard throughout their lives and made a history with their innovative skills and accomplishments.

This list honors the Top 10 Smartest People in the World.

10.Stephen Hawking 

Stephen Hawking was born 300 years after the death of Galileo in England. At the age of eleven, Stephen went to St. Albans School and then on to University College, Oxford. Stephen wanted to study Mathematics. Mathematics was not available at University College, so he pursued Physics instead. After 3 years, he was awarded a first class honours degree in Natural Science. Stephen then went on to Cambridge to do research in Cosmology, there being no one working in that area in Oxford at the time. His supervisor was Denis Sciama, although he had hoped to get Fred Hoyle who was working in Cambridge. After gaining his Ph.D. he became first a Research Fellow and later on a Professorial Fellow at Gonville and Caius College. He has an IQ of 160. He has twelve honorary degrees. He was also awarded the CBE in 1982, and was made a Companion of Honour in 1989. He is the recipient of many awards, medals and prizes, is a Fellow of The Royal Society, and a Member of the US National Academy of Sciences.

9. Paul Gardner 

Allen Paul Gardner Allen is one of the founder of Microsoft. He also happens to have an IQ level of 170. As on 2013, Allen is the 53rd richest person in the world. He is well known all across the world and is recognized as an inventor, investor, and a philanthropist of the 20th and 21st century. In 2010, he became a signatory of The Giving Pledge, promising to give at least half of his fortune to philanthropic causes

8. Sir Andrew Wiles

Sir Andrew Wiles made significant contribution to mathematics when he proved Fermat’s Last Theorem which is the most difficult problem in maths. With an IQ of 170, he is also a Royal Society Research Professor at Oxford Society and specializes in number theory. He has also received 15 prizes in Math and Science.

7. Judit Polgar

She is a child prodigy with an IQ of 170 and has already taken over Bobby Fischer’s record in chess. She is touted as the most talented female chess player of all times. Polgár is the only woman to have won a game from a current world number one player, and has defeated nine current or former world champions in either rapid or classical chess: Anatoli Karpov, Garry Kasparov, Boris Spassky, Vasily Smyslov, Veselin Topalov, Viswanathan Anand, Ruslan Ponomariov, Alexander Khalifman, and Rustam Kasimdzhanov. She is the second chess master to appear on this list.

Apart from his okay acting skills, James Woodss has an IQ level of 180. The film, stage and TV actor went to UCLA for his high school and got a full scholarship at MIT. Woods was a vocal supporter of former U.S. President George W. Bush and the Iraq War, though he is a registered Democrat. He is also an avid support of former Mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani. Woods lobbied hard to play Giuliani in the biopic Rudy: The Rudy Giuliani Story, and considers the role one of the favorites of his career.

5. Garry Kasparov

He is Russia’s chess grandmaster who became the youngest undisputed world champion at the age of 22. He beat the then-champion Anatoly Karpov after a head-on battle in 1985. Kasparov held the official world title recognized by the international chess federation until 1993. A dispute occurred forcing Kasparov to give up the crown and to form instead another chess association called Professional Chess Association. In 1997, he lost a chess match to Deep Blue, the first time a world champion had lost to a computer under standard time controls. Kasparov was recognized as the “classical” world champion until 2000, when he was defeated by Vladimir Kramnik. He has an IQ of 190. In March 2005, Kasparov announced his retirement from professional chess, so that he could devote his time to politics and writing. He formed the United Civil Front movement, and joined as a member of The Other Russia, a coalition opposing the administration and policies of Vladimir Putin.

4. Rick Rosner

With an exceptional IQ of 192, Rick Rosner is a famous American TV writer, who happens to also be intelligent. Other thing that is fascinating about Rosner is his work experience which includes working as a stripper, bouncer, nude model, and a roller skating model. He now writes and produces for quiz shows and for several programs that are produced by Jimmy Kimmel, including The Man Show,Crank Yankers, and Jimmy Kimmel Live!

3. Ung-Yong

Even the term ‘child prodigy’ is an understatement for Ung-Yong. He displayed the signs of a future genius just when he was 6 months old. He could speak and read in Korean and other languages. His IQ score is 200.

2. Christopher Hirata

Hirata has an IQ of 225. At age 3, he entertained himself, at the grocery story, by calculating the total bill of items in his parent’s shopping cart, item-by-item, by weight,quantity, discounts, and sales tax At the age of 4, he became a part of Caltech. At just 12, he took up college level courses in physics and calculus and won a Gold Medal at International Physics Olympiad at 13 and became the youngest American to achieve that. He is currently teaching astrophysics at California Institute of Technology and he’s only 31 year’s old. Hirata deserves mention on this list for his achievement as the youngest American (at 13) to win a gold medal in the International Physics Olympiad in 1996.

1. Terence Tao

Tao has an amazing IQ of 250! His father once told the med that at the age of two, during a family gathering, his would teach a 5-year-old child arithmetic and English. At 9, he had reached college level and obtained a master’s degree at 16. He has won several awards and is the youngest professor at UCLA. He is also one of only two children (other than Lenhard Ng) in the history of the Johns Hopkins’ Study of Exceptional Talent program to have achieved a score of 700 or more on the SAT math section while just 8 years old. Tao had a score of 760. As of 2013 Tao has written over 250 research papers and 17 books.

CULLED from: naij.com

All The Funny Memes From The Election

The election has come and gone but the memories and the next four years we are going to see. Here are Some of the pictures that had cracking up.Enjoy LOL