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It’s been a long time since I was sick. And I hate being sick because when I do fall sick it’s usually damned nasty. So since Friday afternoon, I have been coughing my lungs out and yesterday things took a turn for the worse after watching a movie at GV Vivo. My nose has started to run, and there’s this headache that’s so bad I can’t even sleep throughout the night. So I just lie on the bed waiting for daylight and for the clinic to start operation at 0830hrs… since 2230 the night before. I must say it’s ten of the most painful hours in my life, though it isn’t the first time I had a flu this bad. So, it’s $35 for a 10 minutes consultation, some pain killers, medicine to stop the running nose and a cough syrup. And the lady doctor isn’t bad looking though I must say I would prefer to meet her under better circumstances. (And the reason I like this clinic is they don’t normally prescribe anti-biotics.) But hey… take a look at the cough lotion the doctor prescribed. It says poison. I just had some and it’s sweet. That explains why it has that poison label. Just in case you liked it so much you just down the whole damned bottle. And now I am waiting for the medication to take effect so I can finally catch some much needed sleep. Not to mention that I am blaming SMRT for my being sick… on Friday night I came onto a train where there were 2 people coughing away and one of them were sneezing like nobody’s business. Thank you very much, SMRT! |
Author: Grievous
Of advertisements and blogs – Bobo vs Nuffnang
The flu bug keeps me up and I can’t sleep even though I am having a splitting headache. So while I should be resting and hope I get better, here I am reading blogs and I saw Bobo’s reply to Nuffnang’s comment on her blog. The following excerpts of Nuffnang’s comment was taken from Bobo’s post.
Excerpt 1
…We can have several hundreds cheque going on any single day so mistakes are bound to have happened…
Several hundred cheques going on any single day! I’ll want to find out if the expense management people in my office issue that many cheques a day too… for all that payments and what not. Since there are two of them handling cheques so there must be a lot more to handle a day. If not, the two nice ladies will have to start worrying about how long they can keep their jobs!
Excerpt 2
As to the allocation of advertisements, i have to say Nuffnang plays no part in deciding which advertisements go onto which blogs. The final decision lies with the advertiser’s choice. We can recommend but if they do not want to, we can’t do anything about it. Also, bear in mind, not all blogs are suitable for all advertisements, Nike may be suitable for blogs that touches on sports and others like Starbucks may be suitable for food blogs.
That sounds like an explanation to the question on why people aren’t getting ads though I remain skeptical as I am not quite convinced that an advertiser would actually participate so actively in the decision making.
It would be nice if Nuffnang back up their assertion by showing some statistics to those who have signed up for their services just how often their blogs were recommended and on what grounds they are rejected by an advertiser. (I am not asking for these to be made public and I don’t want to know. But at least the bloggers who signed up have a right to know.)
Anyway, as to why I remain skeptical… I had wondered just how many bloggers who signed up, blog specifically on certain matters? I am not saying that topic-specific blogs do not exists, but simply saying, just how many of theare out there? And I must ask, if I am reading a food blog now, who can say I am actually not interested in looking for an air-ticket, or thinking about a new pair of track shoes? Above which, if these blogs are so popular, why should an advertiser go through Nuffnang at all? Why not just sponsor the blog directly like some have did with Xiasuay? Wouldn’t that be a more effective way to spend their money?
Furthermore, I am really wondering which advertisers have committed manpower to actively make the decision on which blogs their ads go to when they advertises with Nuffnang. In fact, if you are an advertiser, would you tend to limit your audience to only a specific group of people? With such a difficult – or unwieldy – business model, I am actually quite impressed that Nuffnang has gone as far as becoming the ‘No. 1 blog advertising firm in South East Asia’ … or something to that effect.
Excerpt 3
… I can only say of all negative comments, we will try to stay relevant to you and strive to become even better than before. Please support Nuffnang, we are an honest advertising medium, not the same you can say of others.
Wow. So is Nuffnang accusing the others of not being honest now? Is Nuffnang suggesting that its competitors are not being honest? In fact, it appears that not just its competitors are now accused of dishonesty, all advertising companies are implicated. Does Nuffnang know something we don’t? If Nuffnang has evidence why doesn’t it produce them for the good of bloggers and blogosphere, and in fact, also for the general public?
Is Nuffnang suggesting that those with negative comments about them are from people with the specific agenda to see them destroyed? But what’s the point of saying so unless they have evidence? Nuffnang should really just simply fix their own public image and leave no room for the negative comments to ferment.
Addendum
According to Bobo’s post here, she had a call from Timothy Tiah and he explained to her that this post was not written by anyone under the employment or associated with Nuffnang.
Whoever did this… shame on you!!
Of advertisements and blogs – Nuffnang Gliterati
On the heels of Advertlets’ recent boo-boo, Nuffnang introduced Nuffnang Gliterati – allegedly an exclusive program to reward ‘Nuffnangers’ for their loyalty.
Well, if you are a ‘Nuffnangers’ of the Inner Circle, this is definitely the thing for you. If you are a blogger looking into earning some money from your blog traffic or one that has not gotten an ad from Nuffnang ever since you put it up on your blog, then I suggest you take a look at this before making your decision.
Anyway, as I read about this new Nuffnang drive, an analogy came to mind: ‘It’s like someone proposing to a girl to marry him, and in return the girl will have to give up meeting all those other prospective guys. But the problem is, there is already some talk as to how this guy is treating his existing girlfriends to begin with and it’s not all positive.’
A even better one would be this, ‘it’s like those young Manchu girls in Qing China. They are make to believe that to enter the palace and serve the Emperor alone, would fulfil their dreams to a good luxurious life. But they just didn’t realise that few gained the chance to enter his chambers, not to mention the rumors in the palace that the Emperor only graces the chambers of a few of his favorite concubines.’
I couldn’t help but laugh when I thought of them. And so I am putting them down in words as I think that about sums it all.
And if you want to understand what my analogy is all about, just visit a dozen or so blogs at random (not those of Xiasuay, Kenny Seah and those on Innit, of course), and look out for the ‘I serve Nuffnang ads’, and then just see how many of them are actually serving ads at all.
More postings at: AMP on the Red Dot; arzhou.com; dhope
Word of the Day
oligarchy –noun, plural -chies.
1. a form of government in which all power is vested in a few persons or in a dominant class or clique; government by the few.
2. a state or organization so ruled.
3. the persons or class so ruling.
Faith (I)
I don’t normally write about my faith in Jesus Christ because there are many aspects of my life that do not stand up to the standards of the Holy God I believed in. I don’t talk about it very often because I would be quite a bad testimony myself – the vulgarities I use, and some of the hum sup jokes I crack from time to time.
Anyway, I recalled that when I was a teenager, I never believed in the Gospel. I once told a classmate over the phone that the Gospel is all hogwash. I will buy none of that virgin birth stuff. And to an old friend I said, “All religion are false. It’s because men needs idols that they believe in all these so-called gods or supernatural beings.” (And I got that idea when watching A Chinese Ghost Story II. [倩女幽魂 II])
At 17 years old, I used to go down to the Queenstown National Library branch at Margaret Drive to borrow and read books that I don’t really understand – books on astronomy such as the formation of the universe etc. I loved watching documentaries on TV talking about the Big Bang and how things come to be. I believed that the universe is formed by one big explosion and everything that came to be on this planet happened by chance. I held to the view that all religions are simply superstition – there is NO God, and what I am reading is a sign of an ‘modern, advanced, educated and scientific’ mind. Religion is for the weak and the stupid. I will not be another of those superstitious, stupid boxers I read about in Chinese history.
Yet in spite of all these, at 19 years old, I said my sinner’s prayer and became a Christian. In 2 years, I became what I had once despised.
What changed? I really do not know. But one thing I never understood when reading the New Testament, was why Jesus Christ went willingly to the Cross. No matter how many times I read it, I couldn’t see any account that Jesus was taken by force. He went willingly and then hang on the Cross to die a gruesome, ignominious death. I asked, “If you are the God you claimed you are, why didn’t you come down from the Cross? And if you are not God, why do you so foolishly die? The world won’t become better because you did this. Your death is in vain!”
And yet at the back of my mind, I keep remembering this: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.” – John 15:13 ~ 14. To me, Jesus is saying to me, “This is why I am willing to die on the Cross. I am doing it so you will listen.”
Some people had asked me how I am sure that’s Jesus speaking to me and I can only say the verse popped in my mind at the weirdest moments. In a shower, when I am shitting, when I am day dreaming, and even when I am looking at girls.
I know this won’t convince anyone that it is God speaking because it really didn’t sound like much. Some might laugh at me and call me a superstitious bump. And for those looking for a story on how much God has blessed me in wealth ever since I believed, you won’t find any of that stuff here either. Go waste your time reading up some of those ‘Get Rich’ books instead.
Still, some may think of me as delusional, but to me, God is a friend who speaks to me whenever I earnestly asked Him for an answer. (I’ll share more of these experience as time goes by and I guesss some of you are going to hate my blog from now on.)
And no, I am not mad or going mad. When I said God speaks to me I don’t mean He pops ideas in my mind like ‘go cleanse the earth in holy zeal’ or ‘kill the infidels’ . If that ever happens to you, we are not having the same faith experience, that’s some kind of mental sickness. Go talk to someone about it, and get some professional help.
Movie: Lust . Caution (色 。戒)
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This is my first movie in 2008, and on New Year’s day too. I watched it with tstar, and according to her, this is her first R21 movie. The movie is 155 mintues long, and is based on author Zhang Ailing’s book of the same name. The background is set in Japanese occupied Shanghai in 1942 and Wang Jiazhi alias Mrs. Mak (Tang Wei), is an undercover operative of the Chinese Nationalist government. She is part of a scheme to seduce Mr Yi (Tony Leung), the head of counter-intelligence of the collaborator Wang Jingwei government, so as to create opportunities for a team of operatives to assassinate Yi. |
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The plot was originally hatched by a group of students – headed by Kuang Yumin (Wang Lihom) – when they were in Hong Kong after the Japanese occupied Guangzhou. It was their desire to do their part for their nation by killing a member of the collaborator’s government. The plot fell apart when Yi left Hong Kong to return to Shanghai to take up his post. Unknown to the group of idealistic students, the Nationalist government has taken an interest in their plot and had placed them under observation. When their plot was almost busted, Nationalist operatives stepped in to prevent it from unravelling. Wang Jiazhi however, was so disappointed by their apparent failure that she returned to occupied Shanghai after the Japanese occupied Hong Kong. The plot, now as part of the Nationalist black-ops, continues but as Yi was too cautious and cunning, the Nationalist handlers in charge of the operation decided that ‘Mrs Mak’ must return to the plot to make it a success. They found Wang in occupied Shanghai and invited her to return to her part in the plot. And since she has originally given much to the plot, she agreed to continue in her role. The rest of the story is of course on how Wang managed to seduce Yi, and became his mistress… There were some sex scenes in the movie and personally I wonder if any actual sex is involved because the scenes are even more realistic than the exaggerated Japanese AVs. But I won’t talk more about the story and would leave those who are interested to enjoy it. Personally, I said it is very well done. The story covers on how ‘Mrs Mak’ deals with every aspect in which Mr Yi would be suspicious. It shows in the end her struggles in her role as a mole and bait, against her own personal feelings for Mr Yi. Everything was very well portrayed and it deserved every bit of the acclaim it has gotten. |
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