All posts by The Artist

General

What People Do In Hollywood

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I was just surfing the internet just now when I came upon a website of a plastic surgery in America. Although I am a scaredy cat and have no plans to get any plastic surgery for myself, I am fascinated with the things that plastic surgery can do and the beautiful person it recreates from a plain Jane. I certainly would love to be beautiful without the pain! I read that breast augmentation is the most common plastic surgery procedure in America. I am not sure what the statistics are though but my sister, who lives in America, told me that not every one there is big-boobed! Well, of course not or it would be a strange land to live in!

However, my sister said that when she went to Hollywood once during her vacation, they Beverly Hills liposuction has been on everyone’s lips. It seems that this is THE “in” thing now and the Who’s Who of Hollywood has been lining up to get one done. Ahh.. this is something that I should get no thanks to the roll of fat that has accumulated around my waist from sitting at the computer the whole day!

Is it painful? Errmm if it is, I’d rather be fat, then!

Blogging, Computing & Internet

Blog Search Engine Marketing & Optimization

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As a blogger with multiple blogs, in a way, I have been trying to find a way to market my blogs. I know I can’t be forever writing as actively as I am now but if my niche blogs are marketed well, I believe that I can create passive income streams from link placements on my sidebar from relevant advertisers.

I have read up on search engine marketing and optimization. So far, people who are using these services are for commercial sites but I am trying to implement what I have learned on my blogs instead. I think that if I do it well, I could pull away from the pack of being just a “blog”.

The bottom line is, no matter what we call it, I am trying to not only to build my Page Rank but also to place certain keywords at the top of the major search engines pointing to my blog(s) so that advertisers would fight to be on my blog. I know this is daylight dreaming but if others have done it, what’s stopping me?

Computing & Internet

Happy Birthday, Google!

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This morning, I saw this picture on Google Search and don’t really recognise what special day it is. Apparently, it is Google’s ninth birthday. Happy Birthday, Google!

Well, Google wasn’t born yet when I started to get online and it is a surprise to realise that it has been more than nine years since my first foray into the World Wide Web. Has it been this long already? I know you must be thinking that I am quite old but I swear I am not that old! I started young, OK? 😀

Back to the Google art celebrating its ninth birthday, can you make out what the “g” is. I think that it’s a bunch of firecrackers but to me, it totally looks like a bunch of falling candy! Hahaha

Blogging, Computing & Internet

Web Design Ideas

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This morning, I was introduced to a blog that is choke-ful with web design ideas. The name of the blog is none other than “Web Design Ideas: My collection of web design ideas”.

Firstly, as someone who gets lost even in simple WordPress codes, I have to hand it to him to write all those codes and EXPLAIN how they work. Of course, I am not going to pretend that I understand them because I don’t but what further impresses me is that this blog was only started in September this year and it already has 63 posts. The author, Valik Rudd, updates the blog with web design ideas at least two times up to nine times a day. He really is enthusiastic about his blog and web designing, I must commend!

Valik Rudd also takes the trouble to explain why the designs and layout of certain websites have caught his eye, why they stand out from the crowd and what makes the special. An analysis from an independent point of view is always appreciated.

I have a new domain name that I thought that I would set up a personal website but I did not have any idea where to start. I think I am going to grab some web design nuggets from this blog and ask my web designer to implement them on my site. I hope Valik Rudd does not mind!

Blogging, Computing & Internet

Too Lazy To Write?

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Recently, I came across something that makes me very angry. Apparently, there are people setting up niche blogs or websites and taking our posts and publishing an excerpt on their site with a link back to our post “to read more”. Normally, I would think nothing of it if this was done once or twice. The thing is, they are cheating to the point of changing the author’s name.

Previously, I would discover that someone actually took my post and put it on his blog with an introduction like “The Artist wrote a very compelling post titled Too Lazy To Write where she said the following: …..

These past couple of days, though, I noticed that these people are not only stealing our content but also images and have the nerve to change the author’s name into something like, Ellen wrote … Guest wrote …

When someone uses an ID as “Guest” there must be something wrong. Stealing content without the writer’s prior permission is not fine but now they want to change our names too. Isn’t it frustrating that we cannot do anything about this?!?

Travel

Vienna or Berlin?

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You may remember that I am planning an overseas trip at the end of the year. I have had enough of domestic travel and yearn for a trip away from the country. I was planning to go to Vienna, Austria initially, but my German friend, Markus, came to visit over the summer and has extended an invitation for me to visit him in Berlin. OK, so now, Vienna or Berlin?

I went online to check for travel information on Berlin and Vienna. Make no mistake, even if I were to take up the invitation, I would still have to put up at one of the hotels in Berlin because I just don’t feel comfortable putting up at his place. Besides, he is sharing a place with another friend.

Hotels in Berlin are not that cheap because they are charging in Euro but they are still cheaper than the hotels in Vienna. No matter if I were to go to Vienna or Berlin, I will be looking forward to be immersed in the arts and old architecture. Berlin has many old castles and Vienna too has its fair share of preserved heritage buildings.

Actually, weather wise and culturally, I am not sure if there is a vast difference between the two countries due to their close proximity. It is just that in Berlin, I would have my personal tour guide but in Vienna, I would be alone, unless I can find someone who would like to accompany me. Perhaps I could invite Markus to a ski trip to Vienna too. That would be fun.

I can’t decide. Vienna or Berlin? I think I better book both hotels in Vienna and Berlin. After all, I could always take a road trip south from Munich and cross over to Austria or take a direct flight from Berlin to Vienna and enjoy the cultures and traditions of both cities!

Computing & Internet

Group Hug Us

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I got to know of GroupHug.Us from Patrick Burt, who left me a comment recently at my post One Million Love Messages. I hopped over to Patrick’s blog and he is running a blog for web people. I think I qualify as a web person since I spend the better part of the day and night online 😀

So I went to GroupHug.Us to see what it’s all about. At first, just looking at the name “Group Hug”, I thought that this is another lovey dovey site. In fact, it is an avenue for people to make confessions anonymously. Since this site allows anonymous submissions, I tend to think that half the entries here were made up.

Even so, it’s not easy to tear myself from that site, I tell you. It’s kinda interesting to read people’s private thoughts openly, the love, the hate, the jealousy and other emotions, even though they may not be true.

After reading a few pages, I wonder why the name “Group Hug” was used. It’s like, “Hey, I’ve got this ugly thought about someone!”

AAwww it is ok, nevermind, don’t worry, we still love you. *group hug*