tentang A Day After Shoutbox Removal

how does shoutboxes work?
1 - a blogger puts the shoutbox widget on their blog. the widget contains a link to the actual shoutbox's url
2 - visitors to the blog can view the shoutbox and post their shoutouts
3 - visitors who know the url to the shoutbox's actual page can also view the shoutbox and post a shoutout (without visiting the blog anymore)

i have suspected people doing that before. then all this kecoh about the fraud-blogwalk thing started to happen. after contemplating about it a bit i decided to remove my shoutbox. the shoutbox after all have been more like a free text ad space for most. and the ads are now written in good taste. pfft

but days after removing the shoutbox, new shouts are still coming in. (i removed the shoutbox on the 23rd btw)

screenshot from my shoutmix user account page. i may have removed the shoutbox but the account is still active.

the kawalebut link is a frequent. uses different names including 'ana raffali' or something like that. the 2nd link, internationalmesothelioma.com, goes to a site about a form of cancer. there's info there. not crap or anything. but i dont understand why using this dumb method to spread such information? maybe the webmaster is only after money from ads and have no interest at all in health. and that gives me reason to doubt the site's informations.

now my still active shoutbox has become some sort of trap to those fakers. lol.

tentang Anti Cheaters

this issue has been kinda big a deal lately in the malaysian bloggers circle. a lot of titles or names or titles coined by the many bloggers. if it was up to me i'd name it the

ANTI FRAUDULENT BLOGWALKERS

but it's not up to me so everyone may call whatever thay wanna call it :P


what is it? some bloggers have not been sincere or honest about their blogwalking activities. blogwalking or blog-hopping is when a person hops from one blog to the other and just saying a simple 'hello' in a blog's shoutbox and not trying to sound like and ass.

but as time passes, more people joined in the world of blogging and, hoping to direct traffic to their own blog, the blogwalking (or hopping.. whichever method of travel you prefer) culture have been manipulated and tarnished by people driven by their desire for 'quick cash'. they did not really visit your blog but only uses the shoutbox as their own advertising space.

some call them fraudsters, some call them cheaters. bottom line, they are assholes. or a n00b. their choice.

hence, starting today, i have removed the shoutbox in this blog. if anyone wants to say hello they'll have to do an off-topic comment in my entries. and being off-topic, it has a high possibility to be deleted by the owner of this blog (that would be me).

and finally, i would like to stress here that the shoutbox is not at fault. it is made a tool by assholes to send dishonest 'friendly' shououts. dont blame the shoutbox. it has served me well


read 'Kempen Atasi Blogwalking Tipu' at 100penulis.com

read 'Badge ANTI FRAUD BLOGWALKING for Free' at wansteddy tales

(tq Wansteddy for the banner)

happy blogging ^^

tentang Zbrush Exercise Update January 23

another 2 + hours doing the birdman tutorial. having fun!!!

i think i did not get some of the skin to look good. especially the chest. pfft. but well im not gonna try to fix it anymore.. but i'll make it right in my next sculpt. but it does look ok overall i think.

maybe not so bad for a first sculpt

tentang Zbrush Exercise Update January 20

yeah this is a late entry.

just an update. had a few hours to work on the birdman tutorial again.

still in med-res stage. 

i was watching guy ritchie's lock,stock, and two smoking barrels today and found myself observing the skin texture of the 3 characters in one of the scenes.. how the oldest man have lots of deep wrinkles that i would think i looked fake if i did that in zbrush. another man who is a little younger had wrinkles all over his face too but not as harsh. and the young guy does not have much wrinkles on his face.

it made me realize how my character now look like an old person. lol

anyway, here's the progress screenie that i posted before. in case anyone's interested.

tentang Kungfu Bunny (animation)

not mine. saw this online and reallllllyyyyyyy enjoyed it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJc2KExUQsw

(images from chinasmack.com)

Directed by Zhiyong LI, produced by COMMUNICATION UNIVERSITY OF CHINA, Producer Weihua GAO. Year of Production 2009. Technique used 2D Computer. Durée / Duration: 06 min
Synopsis: Something's brewing on the desk. Battle is commencing. Will Kungfu Bunny always be invincible?
Il se trame quelque chose sur le bureau. Une bataille se prépare. Kungfu Bunny sera-t-il éternellement invincible ?

tentang Zbrush Exercise January 18

i bought this magbook Zbrush Essentials last month. just wanted to learn more about that program and improve my skillz. everything i know abt Zbrush before i only learn from blogs and youtube tutorials. so i hope this one will make things more proper

so i started the basic tutorial this month. only managed to spend 3 days so far but i'm enjoying it.

here's where i at so far. doing the birdman tutorial..

progressive screenie. day 1 to day 3 :D

too bad the DVD is a little problematic. my laptop DVD drive cant read the disc properly. i cant unzip the part2 of the tutorial. sigh. but there's lots of other tutorials in there to compensate anyway. im still happy with it ^^

tentang The Depressing Form

uh.. filling up forms and paperworks for that PTPTN Ujrah thing has left me feeling down and somewhat depressed.

i went to an IPTS for my bachelor's degree. spend a great (with extension) 7 years doing my film & animation degree (which i spent most of my time gaming) and in the end, other than proudly holding that degree in my hand, i also have a huge hutang to pay. sigh

the amount that i got was massive (yeah.. private college costs a lot) so i have to pay that back. + the service charges per year of the loan not being settled. they changed the agreement now where i agree to pay the loan back in 16.5 years and i agree that the total amount of 'service charge' as stated in the agreement. this means, if i somehow became a billionaire overnight and can afford to pay off the loan tomorrow, i'll still have to pay the total mount of service charge agreed in the new agreement. sighhhhhhh

but anyway.. if i look at the service charges per year, it's a lot but not a ridiculous amount of money. so i think there's no use cursing and saying things about them and just have to accept that i made that loan and now i have to pay them back.. in 16.5 years X(



sighhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

tentang CGFrenz Mini Challenge: Animation 01

click to enlarge

if you're into video production or animation production, come join us and be part of the fun! ^^
http://forum.cgfrenz.com/index.php/topic,174.msg1290.html#new

tentang Eleven

so this is just a post to welcome the new year and wish everyone a very happy new year. yeah i know.. it's belated. better late than never.

blogging wise, i think it's not really the best start for the new year. but it is a start. i do think however, i might still be focusing on my digital art side of my world at the moment. which means, in this blog, there will not be much of those 'interesting daily discoveries' (not that there's much interesting stuff happening daily) or tutorials. i'll be posting rants (maybe venting out frustration) and stuff about the digital art im making. simple ones.. none too flash

but i do still welcome questions if anyone has any. formspring is still on the sidebar

and i am still with 100penulis.com. maybe i seem a little distracted with other things, but rest assured that my loyalty sets with 100penulis and i am almost always around. i am also a mod for CGFrenz forum now. in fact, at the moment we are organizing a simple animation mini-challenge. just for fun thing.

so yeah.. i'll be online. reading various forums. blog-walking occasionally. but i think in 2011 i'll be more of an owner of a blog then a proper blogger. whichever way it'll be, i will still be here :D