Phantasy Core - Vote Your Favourite!

the digital art comp Phantasy Core have ended days ago and now the next part is to choose the winner. how? by  looking at who has the most 'Like's on facebook (hmmm.. more of a popularity contest now IMO). but anyway.. more vote is better. so i invite everyone to vote here:

http://www.facebook.com/adcomon9

go to Photos..

and click on Phantasy Core: 3D Entries

click on theicon to Like (vote) for your favourite

my entry is one of them but i'm too proud to ask for people to vote me XP. but i do ask everyone to vote for the work you like best. pls pls pls do that ya ^^

i really do hope this competition will be held again next year and the year after. so i do hope more people will know about it and support it.



but anyway, good luck to all participants!

tentang Robbed by a Bookstore

i couldn't seem to fall asleep so i thought i'd write some short post for this weekend. ranting. like last week. lol.

the other day Borders (bookstore) did this promotion, sign up for Borders VIP card (for free) and get $20 to spend in store.. on anything. heyy who doesn't want a free $20. and last thursday we found out, VIP members will get a 40% off fiction and cookbooks this week. so today, we went to borders to get some books. my wife signed up for it as well :P.

she bought 2 Patricia Cornwell's to complete her collection. they were $21.99 each. so after that discount they should be around 26.40 but the cashier somehow pressed the wrong discount button and gave only 35% off. so minus the $20 we got from the VIP card thing, she should've only paid $6.40 but she had to pay like $2 more. haiz..

but as for me, i got myself a nice penguin book The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes ($9.95) and another Neil Gaiman book, Smoke and Mirrors ($25.50). and -40% = $21.30 and then minus the $20.. i only had to pay $1.30. pretty cool eh? andddd... both books are compilation of short stories. so now i have heaps of short stories to read and kinda relax my reading habit for a little bit. been reading thick-ish novels (not to mention some have those smaller prints) for some time now. so i'll probably welcome the break

anyhow, we when we realized there's been a little (tiny rather) bit mistake abt the discount, we went back into Borders and told the cashier (tho one who's not busy) abt it and asked if he can do anything about it. he kinda thought about it for a bit and said he can help but it'll take some time.. besides it's only $2.

hmm.. i would like to get back my money.. i dont like to be robbed. especially by a big corporation. is it too hard to confirm the thing, open the register and give us a freakin gold coin (our gold coin)? pfft. but anyway hey if it's too hard for a big company to return a customer's $2 then i won't bother you. i'll try to get more discounts off you and spend less real cash next time.

uh.. i honestly wanted to write a short post but i guess i went overboard :P

ima go sleep now. 

Phantasy Core - Submissions and Thoughts

i think i did not do well. the design process was rushed, no real planning, and no real decision making was made. i kinda let everything just happen.. and it did not happen and it sucked

lol

i really should've spent more time working on the character instead of exploring the ps3 XD
my bad then

but i submitted it anyway. here's some of them:

tentang Something For The Weekend

this week have been awesome in the gaming news part. to me at least. new games announced. batman arkham city's new trailer looked so good people are arguing weather it's CG or live action lol. drake in coming back in uncharted 3. new game releases have been awesome lately. and prices of games are awesome this time of year.

i'm really thinking of buying some games but dont really wanna go overboard.

SpikeTV's video games award gonna be tonight but i wont be able to watch it. couldn't find any site that streams it and it wont be on tv here in australia.

but anyway, this is a video that kinda sums up my weekend



have a great weekend!

tentang MSC MALAYSIA KRE8TIF! DIGITAL CONTENT CONFERENCE 2010

just thought i'd share this.

(via mscmalaysia.my)

It's back! MSC Malaysia Kre8tif! Digital Content Conference is back by popular demand, offering three days of awesome content from renowned international and local industry experts! Come and join us in learning the building blocks towards a strong foundation of creativity!

the event will be held at
PICC Putrajaya, Malaysia
on 15 - 17 December 2010

read more about the event and register here (kre8tif! website)
(http://www.mscmalaysia.my/topic/kre8tif+2010)

Phantasy Core - Sketch, Basemesh and Simple Sculpt

sketch in Photoshop
not final design. but roughly how it will look like and the pretty final proportions

basemesh done in MAX.
took me a few days to model. did not manage to decide how the back and hair would look like but because of time constraints, i moved on to ZBRUSH anyway

sculpted in ZBRUSH
im still very new to zb. so i think it did not look refined.. and not as good as the image i had in mind :P
changes were made.. no more armour and he looks more like a gorilla+turtle than a bear. but not too bad

will model the crystals that will be his new natural armour.. whatever that would look like.
a week left! ><

tentang Lara Croft Gameart

well sort of. it is this image, the cover of gameinformer mag, that made me really want to see more of the in-development game. a new game, a prequel, of tomb raider is said to be in the works and oh yeah that lara croft looks great. wonder if the in game graphics would look as good

honestly, i'm not a fan of tomb raider. never played that game lol. but that image looks so good!!!

read more about the next tomb raider game here (IGN australia)

tentang Blogging in Low Priority Mode

hehe..

i am so not liking this. it seems, i have slightly slipped back to my gaming habits. not online ones (thank god) but on my recently purchased, 2nd hand, fat 500GB PS3. only have 2 games at the moment and have not even installed the 2nd game. still on the 1st game, a very good game and something nostalgic to me

this week i realized it's december, which means..
1 - my time here is getting shorter. need to prep for job hunting when we move back to KL
2 - Phantasy Core digital art comp deadline is around 2 weeks' time. need to finish modeling pronto and start texturing!
3 - 2010 is about to end
4 - hm.. nothing else

but i need to regroup. finish those 3d stuff
so with a very heavy heart, i think i have to put blogging in the low priority list until furthur notice. no i am not shutting down the blog (that's outrageous!). i just might not be able to blog-walk too much. and the posts will probably be more of the progress of my 3D stuff.

and i will need a lot of crits and comments on those.

so i will see u guys around. but ima be a little bit of a hermit for a bit.

^^

tentang Ambient Occlusion

okay.. what 'ambient occlusion' or AO is is a render for 3D image/video composite. it is like shadows render but a little different. if normal shadow will depend on the direction of the light source(s), AO's shadows will depend on distance of one object to another.

haha.. some people will go wtf. it's some 3D art tech stuff. people in 3D will normally use AO in their 3D work (unless they're skipping the step to save rendering time), but when i was a fresh grad, i have no idea what AO is.

but when i first used AO i was still a maya user. max was to me that other 3D package that i thought inferior lol. but now i have converted (tho not fully).. one of the things i did not manage to make as good would be this.. the ambient occlusion. maybe.. i did not read the right tutorial to make it.

last week i finally found a proper one. and just so that i wouldn't have a hard time looking for it in the future.. and that others (who are interested in these stuff) can share it. i decided to make a post and link the tutorial here.

'Fast Ambient Occlusion in 3ds Max'
by Tom Isaksen

(click to read)

tentang Fly Me To The Moon (REVISITED)

hey i posted a vid of this guy before haven't i? andrew lawson sang 'fly me to the moon' (in other words) in his xfactor australia audition. he sang brilliantly and i loved his style and singing voice. click here if u wanna watch his audition vid.

so this andrew guy managed to go all the way to the grand final of xfactor australia. pretty cool. there were 3 finalists and each had to sing 4 songs and one of the songs last night was their audition song. so he sang 'fly me to the moon' again, this time with music and a very distracting group of female dancers. i kinda think the dancers we're a little too much. a lot simpler performance (with a lot more brilliance) would have made the song a lot better

but his was not too bad. still pretty fun.. and still adore that song.

so the results will be announced tonight. i did not text my vote because no use my voting if i'm gonna send all 3 finalists a vote lol

but anyhow, good luck to them

tentang Unstable Internet Could Lead to Health Problems

no it is not a scientific fact. but to people like me, having no internet connection is a really bad thing. yeah maybe i'm an internet junkie but when i can get online i can operate properly.

but you know what's worse than not having internet connection? a very unstable internet connection. one that connects, but drops out after 1 minute of use, then i have to disconnect the connection.. wait for it to refresh and then reconnect.
.
.
.
.
.
.
after another 1 minute of use, the connection (that seems perfectly fine and connected) dropped again

i has been like this for 3 days now (i assume it started saturday.. but i didn't get to go online that day :P). i was kinda hoping that everything will be fine today but it looks like things isn't showing any signs of improvement. sigh.. i know i can use dialup and be patient. but slow connection.. 5 years ago that might be all right. but  not now.. all sites are too large for dialup. too slow.. and unless time is not at all important to u, then dialup could waste a lot of time.



>_<

bad day lah!

tentang A Cute Dorky Poem

it's a poem in the movie Harold and Kumar Goes to Guantanamo Bay, written by a David Feinberg, apparently not the David B. Feinberg (deceased) that people find when they do a quick wiki search for the author. the author of this wonderful poem is, as claimed by people on the net (via filmchatblog), an advisor at a high school (when the comment was written in 2008-ish.. i assume).

but anyway.. i find the poem really clever and brilliant.. and modern. which i really love.


The Square Root of Three 
by David Feinberg

I fear that I will always be
A lonely number like root three

The three is all that’s good and right,
Why must my three keep out of sight
Beneath the vicious square root sign,
I wish instead I were a nine

For nine could thwart this evil trick,
with just some quick arithmetic

I know I’ll never see the sun, as 1.7321
Such is my reality, a sad irrationality

When hark! What is this I see,
Another square root of a three

Has quietly come waltzing by,
Together now we multiply
To form a number we prefer,
Rejoicing as an integer

We break free from our mortal bonds
With the wave of magic wands

Our square root signs become unglued
Your love for me has been renewed

song : Muse - Knights of Cydonia

ok
muse rocks! XDXD




this is an interesting music video by muse. i love it. a little wacky but the song is awesome so who cares if the video is wacky?

btw to people who does not listen to muse, this is not a new song. and not a new vid. so if u think hey it looks as wacky as that new MCR vid... 'NaNaNa' is after 'Knights of Cydonia' and i dont believe anyone copied anyone

tentang Epic Mickey Character Overview

Video Games | Epic Mickey | Character Overview

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

this new game is coming out on wii and i seriously cant wait for it to come out. not that i'd go buy it ASAP but i do want to know how good it will really be. i honestly would buy it even if it isn't as good as we all hoped.. just because i love looking at the animation in the game's preview vids so far

tentang CG Competetion Phantasy Core

got this in the inbox today. just thought i'd share it with everyone. everyone is still invited to join the comp!!

Just to remind you that Phantasy Core: The Massive CG Challenge wants your powers!

If you want to be the top artist and take the hot cash. You must to start to post your Work In Progress on CGfrenz right now!

WIP Deadline: 15 Nov 2010
Submission Deadline: 15 Dec 2010
Award Ceremony: Jan 2011

Get a high quality showcase of Phantasy Core for FREE!

Visit http://forum.cgfrenz.com/ for more information. If you don't know where to get y our answer? Ask for help!

Regards,
The CGFrenz Team.

http://forum.cgfrenz.com/index.php

*WIP Deadline means you must start posting Work-In-Progress images before 15th of November at the forum

**submission deadline means u must send in ur required finals before 15th of December.

GLHF! ^^

song : Dashboard Confessional - 'Vindicated'

was reading up some entertainment news just now and saw an update on Spiderman4. no i am not looking forward for it.. the 3rd installation ruined it. but the new did remind me of this song i like.

from the movie Spiderman, a song by dashboard confessional called 'vindicated'.




to tell the truth, i still do not really grasp the meaning of that word.

(from dictionary.com)

tentang A Real Quick Tip

this post is for friends who needed some help with blogging stuff. i dont know everything but i'll try to help whatever i can. ok i know the post below looks hard and complicated and can be intimidating.. but it is rather simple really



Q1) how to upload header/banner/signature (siggy) and link them to another page
to me the easiest way would be (for blogspot users) to upload the image file in a new post as a picture, publish it, and then use the URL for any future use. here's a step by step guide :

to upload
- make a new entry in ur blog (cerita la a little bit abt it.. like the one i did abt banner) and insert new image
- publish it
when u view the post (in the blog) u can click the image and a it will open the image. copy the URL of that window to use it

to link
- go to 'Edit Post' in ur blog's dashboard and edit the post u just made earlier.
i suggest u copy the whole part from..
<div class="separator"...
until...
</div>
and paste a copy of it below so that u have 2 banners in that post.

- change the URL of the image in this part after <a href="... (highlighted yellow is my banner's URL)

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlnh_OXvywkIYDzpXFpq549s2f3EY2UbiRbmX2AbddnAoagpRjAw3g1q7mTqPzpnaoXMgC0zGI7rSiMK8xUu7nOexvzHqjPqVy-pop-jvS_1o1Z0zH016e8kisAqGHPR91FqeyH_SYkyw/s1600/kb_banner.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlnh_OXvywkIYDzpXFpq549s2f3EY2UbiRbmX2AbddnAoagpRjAw3g1q7mTqPzpnaoXMgC0zGI7rSiMK8xUu7nOexvzHqjPqVy-pop-jvS_1o1Z0zH016e8kisAqGHPR91FqeyH_SYkyw/s1600/kb_banner.gif" /></a>

to the URL of ur site (mine is http://kusut-blogs.blogspot.com/). this will link the image to ur site (when they click lah).

example:
<a href="http://kusut-blogs.blogspot.com/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlnh_OXvywkIYDzpXFpq549s2f3EY2UbiRbmX2AbddnAoagpRjAw3g1q7mTqPzpnaoXMgC0zGI7rSiMK8xUu7nOexvzHqjPqVy-pop-jvS_1o1Z0zH016e8kisAqGHPR91FqeyH_SYkyw/s1600/kb_banner.gif" /></a>

if u need to use the banner/header/siggy in a post, u can copy the whole thing again (the edited HTML one this time), and paste into the post u want



if there's any other questions, do ask and i'll update this post with new answers.

tentang Getting Reviewed

was blog hopping via that new 'Mesti Serbu' list on 100penulis.com. i have to say.. there's lots of interesting blogs in the list. i did not visit all of them today but the 25 most recently updated was clicked and visited. had fun ^^

and at more than one of the blogs they made an entry abt this 'program' that i find interesting. it is a get-reviewed thing by blogger Gnesop of Riwayat Hatiku blog. sounds easy enough..
make an entry (advertise the program) - let them know - use the banner
..and done!

easy right? anyone interested should head to his blog and read the full instructions.

but i wonder.. are english language blogs accepted? hmm.. we'll see lah >_<

tentang Our Growing Library

ok maybe not exactly a library. it's a bookshelf. one bookshelf rather. but it is growing rather rapidly this year. i am torn between buying more books (while they're cheaper here than in malaysia) and worrying abt all the packing when we move back home or not buying books and maybe not have a good reading habit when we go back. so... @_@

but anyway this is how it started and the most recent. watch how it has grown in these few years!

2008.. some time after moving to adelaide

2009.. more books! +mags, +albums

2009.. end of the year. moved out to a new place. new wider and slightly bigger shelf

2010.. too many books for one shelf to handle :P

2010.. our raya furniture! bought a 'billy bookcase' to fit all our books.

at present, we still have one book shelf, and additional 20 (ish) more new books :P
btw.. the books are not all mine. most of it are my wife's but they're all shared anyway.

and yes.. i have not read all of them

tentang Banner

was bored so i made a banner for some thing friends wanted to work on

i like it but i dont know it it really look good :P

it does look like a banner right? heh

tentang Phantasy Core - malaysian digital art comp!

i just found out abt this today (via pergh.com forum) and i have to say.. i am truly psyched up abt it! excited and right now i really wanna join the competition!

so ok.. what is it?
kind of similar to Dominance War (which is also going to kick off in a few weeks if im not mistaken) but organized in malaysia. so maybe there'll be more local talents participating. and the prizes are in RM so.. yeah. the competition is open to anyone around the world but by the looks of it, i think it might not be so appealing to most people.. and the site's English isn't actually proper too :P

but anyway,

there'll be 2 categories, 2D and 3D art. participant may not use the same design in both categories. ima join the 3D category.

so in 3D (im not interested in 2D so i wont talk bout that one :P), basically anything goes except for 10k tri count total (that means everything total up to 10k tris max), no mecha. hmm what else. i suggest anyone interested to quickly read their guidelines and stuff at their page (link) because it has already started and there's not much time left to start doing what we need to do to qualify.

Submission Date

15^th October 2010

Closing Date

15^th December 2010

i assume submission date is actually start of competition, and closing date is, well, closing date.
so again, more details can be found here.

tentang For Animators

doing animation can be a very tedious, frustrating and painfully detailed work. and often animators burn out.

so if there's animators out there looking for some inspiration and motivation to keep going, i do hope this Epic Mickey video about their animation work. enjoy ya!

tentang My Scott Pilgrim Avatar Fun

saw this link at baliomegatron's twitter.. i cant help myself. just felt i had to make one too! lol

mine sucks but did not want to go overboard with it :P

make yours!

tentang Types of Banners According to Me

this entry is actually a part from my weekly 100penulis.com post. this week, i just wanted to rant about the important things we should think about when designing a banner. the entry was getting a little too long so i decided to take this part out and post it here. but it still managed to be a long post lol.

you can read the post at 100penulis.com

*** 

(cont'd)

like i mentioned at the main entry, there are many kinds of banners that we use as our headers. but to make things seem simple (:P) i group them up into 5 main groups. text banners, minimalist banners, photo banners, corporate banners and advanced banners

text  - a simple design indeed for a header banner. only text and not much styling but still can look good. check out these blogs' banners - farhanfirdaus.com, sophiesm.com
if u decide to make a this type of banner, do know which fonts you should avoid (ie. Comic Sans. avoid that one pls)

minimalist  - minimalist is a style of their own (and i really love btw). it is a style that has lots of negative space (empty space). examples - emilayusof.com, ariffshah.com

photo  - probably the most common (and recommended). choose an image as background, and put text on top.

corporate  - some blogs go for a clean design.. and a very professional look. a good look to choose but somehow, i don't have no idea why, these kinds of blogs love to put wayyyyyy to many ads on their site. which i despise! :P

advanced banners  - these advance banners are probably made by a proper web designer. and the better ones are those that doesn't take much time (and data downloads) to load. if you're interested to make these kinds of banners and you have no web-authoring experience, it might take some time. i suggest you pay someone to design it for you :D

song : Green Day - 21 Guns (Cast Version)

i just found out green day has a musical version of american idiot called American Idiot on Broadway. hum.. interesting idea. lol.

i am not a die hard fan of green day. but i always loved their lyrics and some of their songs are still in my playlist. i remember this first time i listened to green day was back when i was a little kid and my eldest brother left a green day cassette in the hi-fi and thought it listen to it and maybe it'll make me a cool kid. lol

but anyway, this version of the song 21 Guns by the casts of the musical. love it. still as intense but with a lot more different emotions.. because of all the different people singin i guess.

tentang Working on Doing Nothing

it is hard not to be able to do anything much. not to make much noise or disturb anyone. and not to fall asleep!
today i had to sit at this exam hall for two hours.

i planned to read so i brought a mario puzo with me and started reading. 30 mins in and the quiet room starts to look a little fuzzy. the air feels so comfortable and i realize i am nearing that state where i might fall asleep. so i started doing something else.. i started writing.

planned some entries for this blog. wrote for the whole time as if i was the one taking the exam.

heh pretending to be morino ibiki is kinda interesting. fun almost. lol!

tentang Being Critical

im wondering if being critical is really a negative, positive or just neutral quality.

in blogging, i find often bloggers are more inclined to criticize something than being critical about it. which to me becomes more of a form of trolling and flaming than just a harmless critique. these things happens too often in the blogosphere

if i have not mentioned this before, i try to avoid posting negative things and negative emotions and, well, most things that cause negativity to spread. the only thing  i can think of, right now, that contains the word 'negative' that is a good thing is the negative space in design. that's a positive negative

so i googled up the word 'critical' before writing this post (to make sure im not too wrong, if i am). since uni, after learning what a critical review is, i always thought of 'critical' as an honourable word that is always misunderstood. and i found this

then i googled up ' criticize'

so turns out, 'criticize' and 'critical' is not necessarily a negative word. but often it is used to imply negativity. hence, im guessing, the reason why online trolls think they are criticising but the fact is they are just being another troll trolling.. no matter how smart they make themselves sound. sophists (lol a word i just learn the meaning of here) trolls.

perhaps to properly be critical, one must be able to (and understand how to) think critically. which is, really, to understand the topic, be neutral, and comment on both the good and the bad. owh.. and see the issue from different perspectives.

lol im being a smartass again!

song : My Chemical Romance - 'Na Na Na'

was browsing youtube when i found this vid. apparently the official music video (the vid 2nd vid below) was released a few days ago (the 14th) and the album will be out Nov 22nd 2010. it is not out yet. cool. i used to love their music because of the energy and the lyrics. i dont mind the emo image and the crap those 'real' emo kids say about them. i just love the music ^^

this song is a lot less emo i think. a little funky and a lot rock!

My Chemical Romance 'Na Na Na' official music video


My Chemical Romance 'Na Na Na' lyric video


i actually really love the lyric video. awesomely simple. yes it's just a lyric video but is made in a very cool way. the official music video is interesting. heh. i dig it but i think some people would go 'wtf?!'.

this song does, however, remind me of this australian banana commercial


lol

tentang Formspring Form on Sidebar

what is this formspring thingy? honestly i have no idea. its like twitter but less famous and specified for people to ask me questions. not that you can't ask questions on twitter lol.

anyway i decided to give it a go and see if it really can make a difference. the good thing about it (in my situation that is) is formspring isn't as saturated as twitter and i feel no obligation to 'add friends' there since i intend to make it as a medium for anyone to ask me questions and simply answer them. not for IMs or tweets or whatever. it is somehow convenient to me

so anyway, now everyone and anyone (yes anonymous is allowed but i honestly prefer to know who's asking) may ask me anything. simple questions, opinions, help, design tips, etc. i will try to asnwer all of them unless the question is inappropriate. please don't be shy about it

it is really a simple step. type in your question in the box at the formspring widget on the right sidebar and click 'send'. done! i'll answer the question when i get it. no i don't have any fancy iphone or blackberry so i dont get notifications ASAP. but i do check my email frequently.

so again, everyone is welcome to ask ^^

tentang The Previous Week

oh now it's weekend again. i kinda hope i can be more productive during weekends. have been too comfortable with the concept of weekends as two days of rest. hope i can really change that someday :P

but anyway, last week have been kinda busy. lots of things to do but got it done so im good. just that i did not manage to post much stuff on this blog. just a few crap but at least there's something.

so last week, i had to write up a special weekend entry for 100penulis.com for sunday. i wrote the post on saturday, then scheduled it for 8.00am sunday , malaysia time. the post was about our addictions and what addictions that we have. more like a rant really. i ended it with the question 'what is your addiction?' hoping that it will spark a series of comments. it did, sort of. it was OK.

then on sunday i wrote another post for 100penulis.com. this time is is for my weekly slot on monday. so i wrote my 'kongsi knowledge' segment and this time it was about composing photos with reflection. fished out the few reflection pics from the photo album (found only 2! >_<) and wrote some things while trying to keep it simple. again, wrote it quickly, scheduled it for 2.00am (@_@ btw!) monday malaysia time

on monday we cleaned up the house a bit. we had our quarterly house inspection on tuesday. it was such a hassle though we did not really have to clean up much. the house wasn't in a mess really. the only hard thing we had to do was to clean up the backyard. a rather small area but since the rain came and went, and with all the sun the week before, the grass managed to grow exceptionally fast it seems.

wednesday is work day.. until thursday. but on wednesday i managed to stole some time and work on my animation's storyboard. (checklist.. most pre production work is done except for the detailed storyboard, animatic, and maybe sound recording). though i only managed to draw 6 frames, but it's 1/3 of the way. so that's good

friday we went to the city and did some shopping and had lunch in the city. nasi ayam hainan was dreadful and my wife had singapore fried noodle which was also very very oily but it's a nice small halal place on rundle mall and it's not too expensive so im not gonna complain much :P. we bought all the groceries and a really cool baking book. we plan to try one of the recipes (that involves baking the cake, decorating with fondant and some cute flowers) this weekend ^^. i have a feeling that my wife will end up doing more work than me :P

oh im glad last week went well. now i really hope that i can finish the storyboard this week and start the modeling process before next weekend! yoshhh!

tentang SD9599

it looks like some code right? just means Sains Dungun 1995 - 1999.. the year and school we went to. i was asked to write the 'about us' section for our website so i decided to post it here.. and since i spend a lot of time admiring my own blog (lol), this also acts as a reminder so that i won't forget about this little thing im supposed to do

anyhow.. here goes..

***

about us

SD9599

We are a family, a community, a group of very close friends.


(school logo)From the year 1995 till 1999, we attended the boarding school in Dungun,Terengganu called Sekolah Menengah Sains Dungun (Dungun Secondary School of Science). Some of us stayed starting the first day of school until the last day of being a fifth former; some joined us later, some left us early; nevertheless, we all belong here and we are SD9599.

Spending all those years together in a boarding school means a lot to us all. We share stories, experiences and life lessons. We share victories, failures and all those silly little quarrels in between. We share secrets and we cherish every single memory of our friendship.

Now we have gone our separate ways and carried on with our lives. We have grown up and no longer the children we once were back in 1999. SD9599 will be the foundation of our future as we grow up and wise up with hope that it will be a future worth living for us, our children and our children's children.

This family, this community, this group of friends, this is sd9599

***

oh done! that was quick. hope the webmaster will like it and not ask too much amendments XD

tentang Reminder For Online Shoppers

blogwalking today i found ajjah's entry about her recent problem with her purchases she made online. i think it is a very good thing to be aware of and shared with others

on her blog she wrote of how this so called 'distribution' company people managed to get hold of the things she bought from overseas while it was at the customs'. and how they tried to scam her to pay more money for the taxes (that she was expecting to pay anyway).

so do read her whole experience here


i do hope people won't be scared off from buying things online. it is enough problems about people falsely advertising things and scamming online to get hold of ur credit card number, now this. i do hate scammers. and they think they can't be caught.

thanks to ajjah for sharing the info.


and an entry by editor d_tieah at 100penulis.com about her experience being scammed can be read here (link).


maybe in the future, we'll be better prepared to deal with these people if they targeted us. and maybe make them stop doing these things and realize 'hey people are harder to get scammed' and hopefully they'll stop trying to >_<

song : Somewhere Only We Know

just an old song that i haven't listened to for a while. love the emotion in this song. hopefully no new singers will remix this song and mess it up.



edit: because the vid i posted isn't full, i started searching for another video of this song. then i found an 'alternate' version. a different music video. nice!



edit: another song by keane is 'everybody's changing' (thanks cEro) which was the music for TM's re-branding campaign advertisements few years back

tentang Busy Start for a New Week

actually not too busy.

like i mentioned before, i joined this blog community called 100penulis.com. i am enjoying the friends there, writing there, commenting and be able to read someone comment before and after me. it is really picking up momentum IMHO

every weekend they'll give an opportunity to a few of us editors to have our entries posted for the whole day. yes, in a way, there'll be less entries during the weekend but the entry will have more attention than ususal.

and this sunday, as it turns out, will be my turn

i am freaking out a bit tho.. because on monday, which is the next day, my weekly post will be due. and to make it even more challenging, the deadline is at 2.00am malaysia time @_@ which is at 4.30am here. i need to schedule this one



ok better get organized and start writing ASAP. schedule the posts and done!


heh now all i need is an idea what to write. ideas anyone? pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee................

tentang 100 Followers

this blog finally reached a milestone few days ago when i finally get 100 followers. lol 'follower' sounds like this is some cult XDXD

anyway, i am pleased to announce my 100th follower
author of blog 'Aku Bukan Cinderella' (i'm no cinderella), blogger CikGadis

thank you and congratulations! i did not announce this before because i just decided.. CikGadis will get a permanent link to her blog on my sidebar (with banner!). i know its not much :P but i'll make it pretty because it is a prize after all.

so again, thank you CikGadis for being the 100th follower and congratulations ^^

song : Estranged - 'Itu Kamu'

ima share one of the few malaysian songs i love and still have in my playlist even after a few years. it's a song called 'Itu Kamu' (That's You) by a local group (the frontman is AF's Rich if im not mistaken) Estranged

and the music video is actually very good too.. love it! it kinda have almost the same feel with videos made by Ghaz (maggis production).. but with less contrast. and definitely not like most malaysian music videos.. which tend to either look like a karaoke video or a someone's vacation video XD

but anyway, enjoy!





yeah i dont think this vid got the song title translated nicely. i would translate it to either That's You or It's You :P sounds a lot nicer but yeah what do i know i'm just a blogger. heh

For The Hundred

kawasan rakyat 100p bergelimpangan

..mari kita melepak!

(this page is for editors of 100penulis. let us lepak!)

find out more about or visit 100penulis.com

tentang A Nice Little Blogosphere Family

yeah well a family of 100 is not too little eh?

this little family im talking about is actually a group of bloggers who have banded together and write on 100penulis.com. we don't come from the same school, we are not the same age and not all us are interested in the same thing. we are completely different, some of us don't even live in the same country.

so naturally, being so different, everyone writes about things they like.. and because there's 100 of us, the topic varies from simple girly tips to heavy political issues. some , like me, like to write about design.. and others like to write about their travels and experiences. what im trying to say is there are lots of things to read.. and quite a lot of them very interesting. i know its almost impossible to love and read every one of them (because there are simply too many) but almost is not definite.

new posts are scheduled around every 3 hours. so, if you visit 100penulis.com once a week, there's bound to be something interesting. hey if you visit once a day there might be something you might like. and if you like the writings of one 'editor' (thats what we call ourselves), click on their names and read more posts made by them. each editor will write once a week, so if you pay a visit the same day next week, you can read his new posts. my turn is on every monday :D

100penulis.com is not like most blogs out there. we blog because we love to. we are passionate enough in blogging to accept a responsibility and be committed to it.

^^

tentang Come Bring Your Kids to New Upin Ipin TV Show Audition

last tuesday on their blog, les'copaque production made a post about their Hari Raya Bersama Kelab Upin dan Ipin which will take place this weekend!

though the event is especially for Kelab Upin dan Ipin members, non-members are invited as well. and can register to be a member of the club during the open house. but thats optional i think (i might be wrong but i believe people should be able join the fun without being a member.. it's raya anyway)

there will be fun activities including the debut of new mascots Mail and Ehsan. and.... there will be an open audition session for kids 7 - 13 years old. the audition is for their up and coming new Kelab Upin dan Ipin tv show which is expected to hit the tv next year on TV9. i'm guessing... saturday morning?

here's the promo video. pretty cute




anyway, some details :
the audition will start at 10am-5pm, 2/10/2010 and 3/10/2010 (sat, sun)
the Hari Raya event is at 2pm-6pm, 2/10/2010 (sat)

more details available here (les'copaque blog).
take note about payment details there.
and just in case.. click here for the map to get there

be there! ^^

tentang What We Think of Cartoons

ima ask you guys to do me a little favour. a quick poll this weekend. and i do hope i get a lot of feedbacks :D

i would like to know what people think about cartoons. everyone have different views and opinions. so just a quick one off question, what do you think about cartoons?

Cartoons are..

thank you so very much. leave a comment and i'll go visit u guys (if you have a blog.. and that i can visit the blog that is :P)

i used the add poll to blog post guide by SOSwitcher to make this post

tentang The Flintstones, Nintendo 3DS

no they have nothing to do with each other

today is the 50th anniversary of the classic cartoon the flintstones. thanks to google doodle for this neat info.

i used to love this show. when i was little, i used to think of all the cartoon shows on tv, hanna-barbera makes the best cartoons and the flintstones are the best. well i didn't know flintstones episodes that i was watching then were reruns but hey what do kids care right?

i cant believe the flintstones was a cartoon series from the 60s. wow.

***

and yesterday, nintendo finally announced the release date for their new portable, the 3DS. the portable console that was first introduced during this year's E3 last march. the release date is on 26/02/2011 in Japan, and some time in March for US and Europe. no idea when it will hit australia tho. the 3DS still have lots of similarities to the DS but the major difference is that it has a 3D display (like the stereoscopic 3D TV) but you don't need any kind of weird 3D glasses to view it. that is awesome.

nintendo also gave out the specs of the console and the final design which is impressive.. kinda. it has 2 cameras which can take 3D photos and 3D videos. and the graphics processor is said to be extremely powerful, though from the 1UP video below, a lot of the games looks great but not too huge of an improvement (see them here). maybe later games will use the full capabilities of the GPU. processing power however, is said to be more powerful than the Wii (source wikipedia). whoa







cool? i think it is. but dont think i'd buy it. anyhow.. really cant wait to try out the display units. hope JB hifi will have those when the 3DS comes out. who knows maybe then i'd have loads of extra cash and easily be persuaded into buying it. heh

***

meanwhile, rumours are spreading that some game developers have tried a new portable console by sony which is the PSP2.. and that development kits have been released to studios. no official announcements about the existence of the thing have been made so far.. so it is still just a massive rumour. (source here via 1UP.com)

tentang Say No To Click Fraud

this is not a new issue but lately, this issue have been discussed a bit more by blogs that i visit. and today i noticed at nuffnang's blog there is a post about this as well. maybe they decided that click fraud is getting more rampant

We understand that some of you may just be anxious about earning some side income from displaying the banner ads, but do note that this is in fact a violation of our Terms & Conditions under Section 6

- Nuffnang blog

ok blogging is not just writing. there's ethics and responsibilities involved. some of it just makes you a rude person or unethical when you go against it. but some of it, like cheating on your advertisers about the amount of clicks the banner gets from your site; will effect the advertising company which will effect everyone else. what i'm trying to say is, cyber crimes like click fraud is a big deal. sorry.. a huge deal

say no to click fraud

if you are new to blogging or new to putting ad banners on your established blog, please know what click fraud is. wait.. even if you're not new to these things, please know that click fraud is hurting everyone, at your expense.

so,
say no to click fraud

every blogger who has ad banners on thier blog should know how bad click fraud is to everyone. when the ads isn't reaching the masses (but most of it always goes to these fraudsters instead) the advertisers will lose money (yes.. advertising costs money). and when they don't like it, they will advertise less. which will effect nuffnang.com (or advertlets, or adsense, etc) and they will earn less. which means less money for blogs with ad banners. if too much click fraud happening, it could actually cripple the whole thing and everyone will end up earning nothing.

again, if you see groups that to go around clicking ads, tell them that it is a cyber crime. say no to click fraud. warnings have been published by NN and a lot of people have been caught. they have a way to find these frauds.

read full nuffnang announcement here
or the translation here (via poet dusun bayu)

^^

tentang A Late Monday Video

hey i dont know if i have already posted this vid here (im just too lazy to check ATM :P). but i just love the melody of this song.




a very simple, cool and sweet lyric, one of those songs that i wish i have the ability to write for my wife. hehe


oh i just realize that it is now tuesday :P

Europe Trip 2010 Part 4 - Edinburgh

Edinburgh is Scotland's capital city. not a massive city, but they have huge and beautiful old buildings that makes me feel like walking back in time. the buildings are built in a way that to me they look like a massive wall with rooms that people can live in, it has windows and doors and tunnel like alley ways. this 'walls' are separated with each other by main roads, and winds along with the road along Edinburgh's hilly terrain. with almost always gloomy weather, things look almost creepy but beautiful, like nothing, no city, i've even seen before.

so carrying on where i left off..

arriving in Edinburgh
from Newcastle, we took the 6.08pm train to Edinburgh. we arrived at Edinburgh Waverley Station and my wife's friends who live there came pick us up and we went to their house just outside the city. we stayed home, chatted and i went to bed while my wife stayed up catching up with her friend till late. the next day we started out early to Edinburgh Conference Center in Heriot-Watt University Edinburgh, the place where the conference will be.

the Conference Centre
the uni was pretty big.. and has 2 kinda nice place to go have a walk on a nice day called 'the lawn' and 'the loch'. the loch is an area with a pond where birds and ducks swim happily. the loch is like a garden on a hilly area. our friend told us that during winter, when snow covers the whole area, they'd go there to play in the snow. wow that would be fun, especially to us who grow up in a country that has summer all year.

during the stay, food was not really an issue. halal restaurants are everywhere (as compared to Adelaide), and if i dont feel like travelling to the city (which i always dont), the student shop at the convention center sells microwaveable halal food at their halal food fridge thingy.. and to keep costs lower, we brought some canned food and instant noodles all the way from Adelaide. hehe

on the 3rd day of the conference, we went to dinner in the city with a big group from the conference. there were around 20 of us.. of different nationalities - malaysia, australia, USA, poland, kenya, canada, brazil, and others i couldn't remember where they're from.

the next night, the conference dinner was held at this place called 'Our Dynamic Earth'. it is sort of like a science centre but tells the story of our earth. it has a massive lobby with glass walls around it where you can see Arthur's Seat behind you and Edinburgh's skyline around you.

the last day, the water heating did not work. knowing we have a long day ahead of us (we had to check out in the morning, and i have to wait till the conference to end at 2pm) we showered anyway. it was, although summer, a very cold day. it's always cold in Edinburgh i think. later that day i came down with a cold.

that really sucked because we planned to stay in Edinburgh city the next two days and spend time sightseeing. in the end we did all the sightseeing that i can endure. we went to Princes Street and Royal Mile for shopping, for souvenirs mainly. the Princes Street Garden is a very pretty garden with an awesome view of the castle from there.

on the next day, final day in Edinburgh, we went to Edinburgh Castle (theres a very long queue for tickets, but the line moves rather quickly. spent 45 mins in line). there are lots of museums in the castle, and at no extra cost at all. later we hiked up Carlton Hill and had a mini picnic with a very beautiful view of Edinburgh city.

then we went to shop for more souvenirs and head back to the place we stayed, our friend's house. at 7pm we went to the train station and took the train to Glasgow^^

tentang Cat Week on Ellen

im a little busy today so i decided to share this video today. yeah sorry

but this is a fun cute video to watch. and u'll enjoy it even more if u love cats. i'm such a sucker for cats ^^

it is a clip from ellen degeneres show. it's cat week on ellen so this is the first day of that week. there's 3 cute web videos of, obviously, cats! yeah what else is more amusing than watching cute cats doing silly things? if you're bummed like i am, maybe this can cheer you up a little.

go on.. press play

tentang Plan for My Weekly 100penulis Posts

right now i am trying to think of what to post tomorrow on 100penulis.com. it will be my turn tomorrow (between 6am-12pm) to make a post. i used to have a lot of ideas when i first decided to join 100penulis. now the idea have become too much that i actually have not made a decision.

i hate that about myself.. not the indecision, but knowing that my best decisions are the ones made at the very last moment. making me a last minute person.

i was thinking of some review type thing but maybe not. it's better to post reviews (that i plan to write) in this blog so not to cause any confusions.

so i have decided to write stuff about photography. i know i am not a professional photographer, and not a hard core hobbyist either. but i believe i do know enough to share with others.. especially basic things that people didn't know they can do with their compact point and shoot (PS) camera. i know my experience in animation and design would be a lot of help.

so yeah it will be about having fun with cameras, and most importantly, not focusing on having DSLR. so that most people will be able to have fun with photography, and at a much lower entry cost!

***

while making the simple banner for the post, i got to thinking - to focus just on photography would be a little limited. and i do plan to stay at 100penulis.com as long as i can. so i made a decision to make it a session where i share things that i know of, that i think would benefit bloggers.. most bloggers that is.

i will name the session 'kongsi knowledge'. kongsi is malay for 'share'. so it means 'share knowledge'.

i'll post simple things like how to make photos look cooler with macro function and tricks like light trail and stuff.. using compact camera! and if anyone would wanna ask a question or request a tip, (design related) maybe i'll make a post about it on my next turn

^^

yeah i made my desicion

tentang My Raya Report (2010)

today is the 6th of raya.
Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri! eid mubarak! happy eid!
to everyone and maaf zahir batin :D

the preparation
our raya this year is to me the best raya in adelaide so far. we made some kuih raya (well.. my wife did. i provided the moral support). got some kuih last month when we transit at KLIA too. we got 3 kad raya (proper ones, not digital/text) and stuck it to our board. bought a raya furniture and some other stuff for the house for raya.

1st of shawwal
we did not cook anything special today as we plan to spend the day in the city visiting friends. so early morning we went to al-khalil mosque for the eid prayers. unfortunately, we couldn't make it in time so we went to the city mosque instead. the prayer in the city was 30 mins later. after the prayer, we stayed at the mosque and had biryani rice, some roti and various dessert. there was nobody that we know there but we made some new friends.

we then head to bonython park where a group of malaysian post grads are meeting up to celebrate raya. it was not a huge group but there was plenty food for everyone. we have never taken part in their activities before (although we've been in SA for almost 3 years now) so i had to make a formal introduction.. which was embarrassing and unexpected. but it was not too bad. there we met Kak Gina (blog sweet like candy). my wife loves to read her posts

after bonython park we went back to the mosque for friday prayer and then went to an aunt's place. the aunt and her family were going to a malaysian student's open house so we tagged along. turns out, the hostess, a student, is attached to UM. the place where my wife went to for her degree.

the earlier beautiful day is starting to get cold again and rain is on the way. at about 4 we decided to go home. we were full and kinda tired anyway. so we went home, cleaned up the house and started cooking for the next day. we're having our closest friends over to celebrate raya with us

the open house
because it's raya, we invited our dearest friends over on the 2nd day of raya. my wife made ketupat, lemang, rendang, chicken korma, peanut sauce, the kuih raya, and fruit cocktail for desert/drinks. Since that is sort of aussie culture to bring a plate, the guests brought vegetable curry, steamed rainbow trout, a carrot cake, a chocolate cake, ice cream, and juices. that is a lot of food!

the firsts to arrive were the group of malaysian-chinese undergrads who live in roseworthy (where we lived before). the had other plans later that day so they had to come early. then an aussie friend (who is really like our foster mum) arrived with her steamed fish. our chinese friends, the newlyweds, arrived later followed by another chinese couple (also from china); and another aussie friend. the last to arrive was our taiwanese friend who used to be our neighbour in roseworthy college.

so no malay friends? no, our closest malay friends have gone back to malaysia for raya, and some for good. the indonesian family have gone back to indonesia a couple of months ago. we kinda miss them, they were like family to us.. we used to have tarawikh together at their house, we celebrated raya together and because they are a lot older then us, they would look after us and helped us whenever we had any trouble.. and when we're being naughty

the day went really well. we ate and chatted. we showed pictures of our recent trip to the UK and France. and when everyone was done eating, we played wii games - wii play, wii sports, and finally guitar hero. it is really fun playing simple games with a fun group. especially boxing! XD

3rd hari raya
the malaysian carnival 2010 was held that day in victoria park, which is right in the center of adelaide city. we only heard about it the week before, and because of the location, i expected there to be a lot of people. but the sight that greeted us that day was way beyond what i thought it would be like.

we arrived there at around 12pm. the carnival was set up in a simple way - the food stalls on the left, the stage in the middle, and other stalls and booths on the right.

there was not too many people at the 'other stalls' area except for the cooking demonstration tent. the runner-up of 2009 australian masterchef, Poh, was there to do some malaysian cooking demo. a lot of people went to see her and later ask for her autograph.

at the stage area, there were many people, just not too packed but the large opening behind the seats for the stage, people with their food sat down on the grass making the whole carnival look like a massive picnic!

finally the food stalls. there were people everywhere. the lines were super long and the food wasn't prepared quick enough.

after saying hello to friends that was there, we decided to line up for food. we planned to buy a nasi lemak and karipap from one stall and a ramly burger (ala burger special tepi jalan), muar chee and some kuih talam from another. so we each stood in a line and waited. after over 1 hour my wife finally got her turn and then she found out only the nasi lemak is available, and there was another 20mins wait for that. since she waited in line for so long, might as well buy it. just a little later, my turn came and almost the same thing happened. only the burgers were available. so i bought one and waited for the burger.

we walked around to other stalls to see what else is there (and with the shortest line) and got samosas, chee cheong fun, tau fu fah; came back to the earlier stalls to claim our nasi lemak and burger. then we head to the picnic area and sat down to have our lunch in the midst of the mostly malaysian crowd :D. we went home stuffed and happy

4th hari raya
it is a monday so my wife will have to go to school today. i started blogging again and check the many updates on facebook. uploaded a few raya pics for our family to see. but 4th day is still raya right? i was still in raya mood because of all the raya vibes online blogs and such. it was great. for dinner, my wife made an awesomely hot lontong with even spicier sambal ikan bilis! it felt like raya all over again.