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End of NCIS season 5

Wednesday 21 May 2008 @ 3:53 pm

A real shocker and sad is what is the 5.18 double 2 hour season finale where everyone gets reassigned, terminated and removed, I find myself that in itself, felt cheated because we paid for 25 episodes with Apple iTunes for the last few seasons.

This Episode : Judgment Day is a real long one with 963MB of iPod Video file to be downloaded (took me 5 hours or so to download totally) with the long standing American Guild Writers strike a huge contributing factor to the loss of over 6 episodes which is a huge loss. Now that I have to wait for the next season, I really feel that NCIS 6 wouldn’t be as great as what the current team is.

That is really gutting one up, big time.

Here’s the RAW DEAL:

Director Jenny Shepard got spooked as a code word was mentioned during a funeral of a close partner.
Frank Myers was drafted in to assist her.
Ziva and Tony was told not to escort her on her field trip to the Muhave Dessert.
Code was found : File Numbers encoded on the wrong dates.

Jenny got killed.

………………….And I let you have fun trying to figure it off.
For more info look on the NCIS Wetpaint .

Episode recap:
Two young boys are playing with a BB Gun. One young boy has the “hots” for the young mail-woman. As she delivers the mail and closes the mailbox, the young boy fires a shot off and hits the back of the mailbox. The door to the mailbox pops open, startling the mail-woman. The two young boys run away and come across a man with sunglasses on a float in his pool. The shoot the float to deflate it and the man sinks to the bottom because he’s already dead.

Ziva and Tony go with Director Shepard to attend the funeral of former NCIS Agent William Decker. Decker’s death was ruled natural causes; he died of a heart attack. As Jenny is signing the guest book, she hears a man ask for Mr. Oshemyda (?). Jenny stops, takes out her compact and views the man from her mirror. As the man leaves, she follows him taking pictures of him from her camera phone. She is only unable to get back and side views of him. Jenny returns to Tony and Ziva and dismisses them, giving them the rest of the trip off. She tells them she’s just going to do paperwork. Jenny takes the car and as Tony turns to ditch Ziva, she’s already walked away so he runs to catch up.

McGee steps off the elevator in the squad room and has a puzzled look on his face. He walks towards his desk and sees Abby sitting at Ziva’s desk. He looks and Ducky is sitting at Tony’s desk. He sits down and Abby flicks open a knife, acting like Ziva. Ducky pretends he’s Tony. As they pick on McGee, Palmer rounds the corner and heads to Gibbs’ desk with a cup of coffee in his hands. They finally admit there is a bug sweep going on and they had to leave. Gibbs walks in as Ducky is making a Tony-type crack about him. McGee hands Gibbs a big envelope that Fornell had left for him. Gibbs takes the envelope and leaves. Ducky heads back to autopsy thanking “probie” for sharing the space.

Jenny pulls into a cheesy motel parking lot and gets out of the car. She is met by former NCIS Agent Mike Franks. After much reluctance, she tells him she thinks Decker was murdered and she believes she’s next. She tells him about a special op she and Decker had been on with another agent 10 years prior. They were there to infiltrate a Russian spy ring. She tells him that there was one word the three of them knew if their identities were compromised. She tells him she heard that word at the funeral and tells him about the man asking for Mr. Oshemyda. Oshemyda was the code they used if anything went bad. Franks asks Jenny who the third agent was, who she is protecting. Jenny says “Gibbs.” Franks asks where to sign on.

Gibbs walks down to his basement with the envelope from Fornell in hand. He puts the envelope down and opens it to reveal the contents are from The Frog investigation. He goes through the contents of the file.

Tony shows up in his funky Hawaiian shirt and takes photos of the ladies. He sees Ziva lying there in her bikini and takes pictures of her. She is reading book, catching some sun. He teases her about not leaving the hotel when they have time off. She worries that they are supposed to be on security detail and feels guilty so she wants to remain at the hotel. Tony references the movie “Against All Odds” and wants to go cruising. Ziva says he doesn’t have a car and he tells her he does. Out front they hop into a nice red mustang with white racing stripes. They head out cruising in L.A.

Jenny and Franks break into Decker’s house looking for a clue. Jenny knows he left a clue behind to help her. As she discovers his laptop, they hear a noise coming from a closet. They advance and open the closet door, revealing Decker’s 22 year old girlfriend, Sasha, crouching on the floor crying. They assure here they are no there to harm her and that they believe Decker didn’t die of natural causes. Jenny realizes Sasha knows this as well. Sasha tells them that Decker told her if anything happened to her, she was to give something to someone. Jenny offers to pass along the message. Sasha takes down a book and removes a bookmark with Jenny’s name on it. Not revealing that’s her, Jenny assures Sasha they’ll make sure the Director gets it. On the back of the bookmark is the name of a diner, address and a key. Sasha reveals Decker had bought it was going to fix it up the following month. She says Decker left an insurance policy there for Jenny. Jenny encourages Sasha to go and be with family ASAP and gives Sasha the keys to her rental car. Sasha takes the keys and leaves. Jenny says she didn’t reveal who she was so Sasha would be safe as the less she knew the better. Franks starts to ask Jenny how it’s going to go down and she replies, “Just the way you like it, no paperwork.”

Abby has been sent the photos from Jenny. She is working on them but because she has no “front” view of either of the two people Jenny caught photos of (the driver and the man from the funeral), she’s at a loss. She turns and begins talking to “Tony” and “Ziva.” She has taken janitor buckets with mops, turned the mops upside down and pasted Tony and Ziva’s faces on each mop. She says it’s to fill the void because they aren’t there in person. She explains this to McGee when he walks in and sees her talking to the “mops.” McGee brings Abby a Caf-Pow but starts to retreat with it when she won’t tell him what she’s working on. Abby finally gives in and gets her caffeine fix. When he realizes they can’t find out who the two identified people are from the photo, McGee comes up with an idea. He takes the time the photos were taken and pings cell phone calls made from that area as the mystery man was in the process of making a call when Jenny took his photo. Just as they figure out who it is, Jenny calls. Abby tells her the man’s name is Viggo Drantyev and they realize that his name is a burn alias. The man didn’t exist prior to 3 days before and stopped existing that morning. The Director orders Abby to erase the file and the search. Abby complies as she looks at McGee.

Stuck in traffic, Tony and Ziva bicker. He turns up the radio, she turns it down. She has a funny feeling about leaving the Director and can’t shake it. Tony is all about orders and hands Ziva his phone and tells her to call Jenny. She dials the Director’s number and puts it on speaker phone. When Jenny answers, Ziva shoves the phone in front of Tony’s face, forcing him to talk. Jenny reveals nothing of what’s going on and chastises them for bugging her and not enjoying the time off. Before she hangs up, they hear Franks in the background revealing information to the Director. As Tony closes his phone, he says it’s probably a roll in the hay. Ziva believes something is going on. Tony teases that she doesn’t know about sex so she wouldn’t understand. Ziva laughs and says she could tell him stories. He begs her to share and she agrees but only if he calls the L.A.P.D. and asks them to run a trace on the GPS on the Director’s rental. Tony agrees.

Gibbs walks into autopsy and stops. Palmer is on the ground performing CPR on a blow-up doll. Gibbs asks him “New girlfriend?” He gives Ducky a look so Ducky excuses Palmer. Gibbs inquires about La Grenouille’s autopsy and they both agree it was clear cut, he died from the gun shot wound. Gibbs leaves as Ducky yells out that some things are better left alone. Gibbs goes up to Abby’s lab and hands her a photo from the bullet pulled out of La Grenouille’s body. She pulls it up on her screen and after some geek chat, she shows him a flaw in the bullet. There are two lines in it that she tells him are from a flaw in the gun that fired it. Gibbs grabs the photo and leaves.

Jenny and Mike Franks show up at the diner. Of course, it’s a bit run down in the middle of nowhere. They go in and look around for evidence or the “insurance policy” but have no luck. Franks asks what he’s supposed to be looking for and Jenny mentions numbers, photos, etc. Franks points to the wall and tells her there are plenty of photos around. Jenny looks closely at them and realizes the dates on them are wrong. She remembers back to their operation and they had used a code with numbers on photos for messages. She pulls down the photos and writes down the numbers. Franks gets ready to go and Jenny tells him she’s not leaving, it’s going to end there. He pulls out a gun and tells her she’ll need an unregistered gun as he hands it to her. He sits down to wait with her.

Tony and Ziva get the location of the Director’s car. They drive to the Santa Monica pier and find nobody in the car and no sign of the Director. As Tony begins to pull out he stops and backs up as they see police cruisers. They exit the car and go down to the crime scene. There they discover a very dead Sasha. After a debate, Ziva calls Jenny back up. She informs Jenny that Sasha is dead, that she had been thrown off the pier at the beach. Jenny claims she’s okay and still reveals nothing. Ziva and Tony head to the car and argue about what to do. They finally call McGee to see what he says. McGee teases them but finally agrees to look up the last location of Jenny’s cell phone and gives it to them. They head out without telling Gibbs what is going on.

In his basement, Gibbs sits down with the files on La Grenouille’s death. He pours himself a drink as he looks at the photo of the bullet. He remembers the scene where he handed Jenny her gun and then the clip. He remembers Jenny handing him back the clip with bullets later in the squad room. After a quick swallow of his drink, he looks down at the clip and removes a bullet from it. He picks up a magnifying glass and discovers the same two identical marks on the bullet as the one that killed La Grenouille. He picks up the phone to call Jenny.

Tony and Ziva pull into a gas station, bickering, as a black SUV pulls out. The mustang was on empty and Ziva thought they would make it. Tony knew they wouldn’t so they stopped for gas. She jokes about holding his nozzle when he tells her to make herself useful. She goes in to get a map, directions, donuts and a blue Gatorade for Tony. Once back on the road, Tony thinks they are lost, stops the car, gets out and screams. He gets back in and they head towards the diner.

At the Diner, Jenny and Franks have a heart-to-heart talk about love life regrets. Jenny admits her regret was Gibbs. She admits she is the one who pushed Gibbs away after the Paris operation because he didn’t fit into her five year plan. Franks makes a remark about it not being too late and with tears in her eyes, Jenny subtly reveals she’s in love with Gibbs without saying it. Franks finally asks if Gibbs knows she’s sick. She tells him it’s nothing bad but he reveals he searched her car, purse and cell phone so he knows the truth. She finally admits Gibbs doesn’t know.

Jenny walks around and finds some very dusty tea and offers to make some. Franks says he has to go to the ‘head’ so he’ll go out and gets some fresh water. While he’s out back, the black SUV pulls up in front of the Diner. Four heavily armed men step out and head towards the diner. One goes in the back, one in the side and two in the front. Shots are fired over and over, no screams or shouts are heard as everything goes quiet.

Tony and Ziva pull up to the diner and see the black SUV and remember it from the gas station. As they head towards the diner, they see bullet holes in the door and broken glass. Ziva asks if he still thinks the Director is off having a quickie. They draw their weapons and quietly enter the diner. They immediately spot several of the dead gunmen with bullet wounds to their heads. As Ziva walks around the diner, she sees the Director’s reflection in a pool of blood. She calls Tony over and they both look at the Director’s blood covered arm. Tony leans down and checks her pulse and finds nothing. The Director’s cell phone rings and Tony picks it up, it’s Gibbs calling. Tony answers it.

Gibbs is hauling down the highway in a sedan. Over the phone, he tells Tony to stay put until he arrives. A few minutes later he arrives at the crime scene. Tony and Ziva are hauling boxes out of the diner. They both see Gibbs and sadly stare at him. Gibbs starts to yell at them for not staying put when Vance walks out of the diner. Vance says it’s his crime scene. Gibbs walks inside and Vance tells him the bodies were removed the day before. Gibbs walks around and stops at the tag labeled “Shepard” and stares at the pool of blood around it. Vance walks up alongside him and apologizes. Vance reenacts the scene to Gibbs, telling him Jenny was standing in the middle of the room. He tells him she got all four of them but took numerous bullet shots before she fell. He tells Gibbs that Ducky will be overseeing the autopsies on all five victims. He says he is heading back to oversee “his” investigation and tells Gibbs, Tony and Ziva to remain behind to follow up on the fifth shooter. They discovered another vehicle had been there along with another shooter. Vance leaves and Gibbs orders Tony and Ziva to investigate Vance’s investigation.

Gibbs drives down the road and pulls over at a gas station. Someone pulls up on the other side and Gibbs says, “You’re late.” Mike Franks says he got there as fast as he could. They go inside the diner and chat. Franks fills Gibbs in on how he got involved and what Jenny knew. Gibbs wants to know where Franks was when Jenny was gunned down. Franks tells him he was out back filling up a pitcher when they arrived. Franks shot the man entering the back of the building and polished off two more with gunshot wounds to the head. Jenny had shot them but Franks wanted to make sure they were dead. Franks told Gibbs about the insurance policy Decker had. He then tells Gibbs that Jenny died protecting him. Franks gives Gibbs the numbers he and Jenny got off the photographs. He also mentions the code name, which tipped Jenny off. When Franks pushes him about loose ends, Gibbs says there were none from the Paris operation. Gibbs admits there were three members for three kills. Gibbs and Decker killed their targets and believed that Jenny killed hers.

Tony calls McGee and then sends him photos of the tire marks left by the vehicle that left the crime scene. Tony tells him nothing else. Abby stands in front of him pacing worrying that something is wrong. McGee assures her all is fine when Ducky walks in. Ducky tells her everything is fine as well just when his cell phone rings. Ducky sees it’s Gibbs. He answers it and Gibbs tells him Jenny is dead and the bodies are on their way to Ducky. Ducky hangs up and breaks the news to a devastated Abby and a shocked McGee.

In her lab, Abby can’t focus. McGee is trying to get her to focus so they can track down the tire marks, the car, etc. Abby wants to know why Tony and Ziva weren’t protecting the Director. McGee wonders the same thing when Tony calls. Tony puts pressure on McGee and is short with him. After he hangs up, Tony paces as Ziva looks at him. She tells him it’s not McGee’s fault. Tony is wracked with guilt over leaving the Director without security.

At his desk, McGee has tracked down the make model and identity of the vehicle. He has called the rental company and they were emailing him the identification of the man who rented the car. Gibbs calls him just as Mike Franks photo shows up on the screen. Gibbs tells him to erase the file, so McGee does. Gibbs gives McGee the numbers that Jenny found and asks McGee to see if he can find out what they mean. As he hangs up, Vance pokes his head over McGee’s shoulder. McGee lies to him and tells him he didn’t have a hit yet on the vehicle. Vance tells him to search for another hour and then go home. When Vance walks away, McGee releases a heavy sigh.

While doing a search on the numbers Gibbs gave him, McGee downloads the photos Tony sent him to go through. He’s also going through security tapes from LAX Airport to find Viggo’s arrival, etc. McGee looks at the photos and sees the ones of Ziva in her bikini and comments on them aloud. Vance walks up behind him. McGee quickly switches screens, shares a little information with Vance before Vance leaves.

Gibbs arrives and heads to autopsy. Ducky and Palmer have just begun to process the five bodies. Ducky stands alongside the Director’s body when Gibbs walks in. Gibbs puts his hand on where the Director’s face is. Ducky says some kind words but then informs Gibbs Jenny was dying. Ducky says Jenny’s death was quick and painless and probably the better way to go rather than how she would have. Gibbs reaches for the zipper and begins to pull it down. He changes his mind, rezips it and leaves before looking.

Tony and Ziva return to the squad room looking down and beaten. McGee makes a remark about them soaking up the sun. Tony takes the offensive and walks towards McGee, taunting him. He takes off his jacket and tosses it on the floor. Ziva walks up and stands beside Tony. McGee says it wasn’t their fault and Ziva thanks him. His phone rings and it’s Gibbs asking them to come down to Abby’s lab.

Abby has gotten the clothing, cell phones, weapons, etc. from the crime scene. Barely able to hold it together, she starts taking the bloody clothing out of the bag. She sees the Director’s shirt and loses it. She walks into Gibbs’ embrace as he comforts her. Abby says the Director was a great dresser and she never got to tell her. She starts to compliment Gibbs on his clothing style, which gets her a smile. McGee, Tony and Ziva walk in and she compliments them. Just as they start to have a round table discussion, Vance walks in. He leaves with Gibbs hot on his heels. Vance wants to know what Gibbs knows but Gibbs isn’t sharing. Vance remarks that they just lost one team member, they could lose more.

Back in the squad room, McGee gets a hit on Viggo in the LAX Security tapes. After some scrutiny, they discover a blonde haired woman entering the same cab as Viggo. McGee puts the woman’s photo up on the screen. When Vance asks if anyone knows her, they all say no. He turns to Gibbs, but finds Gibbs has disappeared. Vance orders McGee to call Gibbs so McGee does. Gibbs cell phone is sitting on his desk ringing. Vance orders them to find Gibbs. They are able to track down the woman’s identity. She is Natasha Lencov and up until 1999, she didn’t exist. In 1999 she surfaced on the grid and is successful in the import/export business. Vance goes to Abby’s lab and they discover Viggo’s phone is missing. Vance knows Natasha will call Gibbs as opposed to Gibbs finding her.

McGee gets a hit on the numbers Gibbs gave him. They belong to an old case file of Decker’s. When Vance asks him to pull up the records, McGee informs him that that particular year, 1985 wasn’t yet put on computer. They head across the street to the archives to get the files. Once there, the man hands over the file box and Vance finds a phone book in it. Turns out Franks had been there an hour before and removed the information with the “insurance policy” Decker had left. However, back in the squad room, they discover her true identity of Natasha is a woman named Svetlana who has ties to a Russian operative/spy. The man had been killed 9 or 10 years prior.

Gibbs enters Jenny’s townhouse. He sits at her desk and rifles through the papers on it. He finds a letter addressed to him but it only says “Dear Jethro.” He puts Viggo’s bloody cell phone on the desk. As he sits there pouring himself a drink, the phone rings and the caller ID is blocked. He answers it and it’s Vance. Vance reads him the riot act and as they are talking Gibbs gets another call and it’s Natasha. Gibbs answers the phone in Russian. He cuts to the chase and tells Natasha he has what she wants.

Vance has McGee do a trace on Viggo’s cell phone and they realize Gibbs is at Jenny’s townhouse. Vance orders McGee to erase the file and tells the rest of the team to stay put as he runs out. Ziva, Tony and McGee wonder what they should be doing.

Gibbs puts his gun on the desk and walks over to the bookcase. Without turning around, he says, “Hello Natasha. or should I say Svetlana.” It is revealed the Jenny had been sent to kill Svetlana during the Paris operation and never did. It had taken Svetlana years to find out who had killed her beloved and it pointed her to Gibbs. Gibbs admits he had indeed killed the man she’d been involved with. He asks her if Jenny couldn’t pull the trigger to kill her, would she be able to kill him. Just as she cocks the hammer on her revolver back, a shot rings out and she falls to the floor. Mike Franks is standing in the doorway with a weapon in hand. When he comes into the room, he nudges towards Gibbs’ gun and asks if he’d planned on going for it. Franks says Gibbs will have a lot of explaining to do when Svetlana’s body is found. Gibbs says they won’t find it.

Gibbs and Franks are walking down a street when fire trucks zoom by. Gibbs watches them head around a corner towards the fire. Just then, a car door opens and Vance steps out. He approaches and confronts Gibbs and Franks. He asks Franks where the file is and Franks says he’ll give it to him, in his will. He laughs and walks off. As Franks stands down the road lighting a cigarette, Gibbs watches the television screen through a shop window. Back in the office, Ziva, McGee and Tony watch the same newsflash. They are showing the fire at the home of Director Jenny Shepard.

Back in the squad room, the team steps off the elevator all dressed up in black. They just came from Jenny’s funeral. They look to the television screen as the reporter claims Jenny died in her home due to an explosion from a gas leak. The reporter announces that Vance was named the new Director of NCIS. Gibbs looks up and sees Vance heading towards his office.

Vance pulls out a file on himself and removes a sheet of paper and shreds it. He puts the file back and locks the cabinet. He then takes the Director’s photo of her father off the desk and puts it away. He asks Cynthia to call up McGee, DiNozzo, David and Gibbs. All four walk into his office and only Gibbs will look him in the eye. Vance has tossed three files on his desk. Vance informs Ziva that the agreement with the Mossad office for the liaison has been terminated - she is to return home immediately. He tells McGee that he is being transferred to the Cyber Crimes unit. Then informs DiNozzo that he is being transferred to the USS Ronald Reagan and leaves the next morning. He hands the three file folders to Gibbs and says “This is your new team.”



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If You Love Someone

Monday 19 May 2008 @ 4:52 pm

If you love someone, one must love to cherish.
One must learn the pains of Hurt.
To put Pride and Ego before everything else.
To be patient with whatever stuff throw at you.

Sayang, Thank you for letting me be in your life.
To let me have a joy and pride that I call my own.
For I can’t just be at last ….
For I can’t just stand there see you cry,
For I don’t know what else to do, with all your pain
Of Love , of Pride and Of Childbirth.

I hurt you time and again
Hurt within me is nothing compared to yours
Yet Again, Time proven I hurt you
For there is no value that I can price
For the Tears you have shed from your eyes
And the Hurt I have been Keeping Inside
Day In, Day Out…seeing things like this

There are useless words of mine,
Just as useless as my body and mind.
The name, in sooth, jut by name I am yours
A Husband and yours , my wife,
But everything Falling Apart

A daily Ritual, maybe not, but once is too much.
I hinted to you my own hurt, of my own pride.
But I let them go, My Pride, and Ego.
For now I have no shame.
Shed no tears for mine

For now…I rather die.
There is no shame in Death,
as how you have said.
I am just in name, yours, and you , mine.
But in reality, we are different. Totally Differ,
I’m just a curse. For your Return.
If not for The Little One, we won’t be here.
And hurt time and Again.

And Since I love you so much more…
I have thought of just being a ‘Bird’
Like you said, once a Jail Bird always will be.
For now, I think it’s time …that you should be rid of me.
All I do need , is to have to complete what I have promised.
That to complete your own study,
So that you can be free,
from the Slave bondage of Everybody,
To show them you are not just as carefree,
That….you are somebody.

For now, in name only I’m just your hubby.
Even the little one is not respecting me.
For I tried to love you as much I could be,
not calling you names, but my Baby.

You are always my baby,
Just as Tia… thanks for her
Giving me a real Baby
For I can’t stand you being bullied by the Baby
or in most instances, from me.

There is no words worth to say,
You won’t care even if I say sorry,
Not even worth the Paper and Ink
That I am just …useless, and in everything.

Mama told me many times
to be patient and to put a dumb mind.
To be quiet, when she keep on shrieking at Me
and if I am about to snap, walk away,
Drive away, but then, I know my livelihood you will break it
an then, respectively, kill our rice bowl, so what am I to take it so easy?

Sorry to Tia for bringing her into this life.
Sorry for You, knowing me.
Sorry to Adeq and Mama, for Trusting me.
Now, it’s time…

I let you choose, should you be free.
I will still love you always,
And should I let you be free,
I don’t want the little one to remember,
That I am her Daddy.

To let her know, the two names is her name only,
nothing else, nothing that she should know,
Whom is the asshole
For I am ashamed , that I am her Daddy.

So Since I Love You So Much,
This time, I am letting it be,
For I don’t want to say it again,
Now, then, who am I again?
A Husband in name, Nay, Why should you be,
Have me, an incomplete fool.

I love you too,So much …
The Hurt is there, For I have lost the feel
Ever Since I was caught
Now.. even when I am free,
I think I rather be back
Banged up, walls and nothing to see.

Don’t you get it, why I sleep outside,
Not because I am cold or what,
But I let you be in comfort,
For I am no one,
Not even to the touch.

Now I am dead,
I wish that is that,
For I pray that no one will know who I am
And put me in just a hole, the sewer also can.

I am helpless here.
It hurt me more.
I Can’t Work Here.
With all the lies.

Now, then, you are right
I should Go.
And let you Go, that’s right.

Enuff is enuff.
I am ….a crack head

[Private Ramble]



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Plain tired

Saturday 17 May 2008 @ 11:54 am

It’s been a tiring fortnight with the end of the HALAL SHOW last week and well, I’m plain dead tired from exploring the 4 expo halls and testing and covering the products.Many things are being promoted, destinations, food and beverages and many more. It’s a tiring but fruitful week with travel agencies promoting their tour packages to LONDON with full Islamic and Halal meals,and some of them even dare to bring people to United States of America, on the scenic I60 road tours and mainly, I for one, NEED A FRIGGING BREAK.

Now, that is out of the way from me, I have to concentrate on the attack with my promotional plans with the guys at the HALAL ROADSHOW.The Australia Advertisers are very aggressive with their marketing plans, not to mention that some of the Hotel Operator Associations are even pushing out HALAL packages and food at their outlets.

It’s funny to think of it though, but I guess HALAL is the business forward.



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Lopsided Discrimination

Monday 5 May 2008 @ 4:18 am

I understand that many companies have issues with their adversaries and the need to have exclusivity is somewhat needed to ensure that competitor’s ads are not showing, but I was in advertising and it’s nice to see some sort of competition of the sort and as long as they don’t show conflicting ads, I am quite sure it’s good business.

One thing though, NUFFNANG is about to run foul of the Anti-Competition Laws in Singapore by their Glitterati. They started it off to kill Advertlets but now since Advertlets,GrabmyAds and GoKita is dead, they started targetting Aductions, a US BASED Company giving the similar excuse that Aductions have an office in KL. However, given that fact,their terms say, servers in the SEA and by doing so, means even GOOGLE ADSENSE is also out of the question as they already have an office here, along side with Yahoo! Publisher for more than 6 months.

It’s the people crying their heart off because of this small issue, and Nuffnang is becoming too bold , IMHO, by stipulating situations which they are going to run foul of, especially since NUFFNANG.COM is actually subjected to the laws of the EU and the US.

This issue was pointed out to me by BLOGMAS and other Publication Networks whom quoted that even BLOG4U is not allowed. But issn’t BLOG4U US BASED like PayPerPost and the sort? So, in doing so, they MUST NON-EXCLUSIVE anyone using PAYPERPOST,BLOG4U, GOOGLE,ADBRITE and YAHOO as they have servers in SINGAPORE and CYBERJAYA. Heck,BLOG4U is in KOREA for heaven sake.

Dear Azrin,

Here’s the list of advertisers that will compromise your Glitterati status.

The list is
1. Advertlets
2. Gokita
3. Nufflets
4. Grabmyads
5. Aductions
6. Blog2u

My colleague informs me that you had aductions on your site, as such your Glitterati status would be compromised.

Have a nice day1

Regards,
Tan Yee Hou
Nuffnang Sdn Bhd
www.nuffnang.com.my

Doesn’t it feel that the agreement is LOPSIDED to their own benefit and for your information, NUFFNANG charges about RM12 PER CPM (thousand impressions) and pays you RM0.88 for Glitterati and RM0.11 for non-exclusive. So imagine that in itself, and that is a price quoted by not one, but many advertisers across the board. At least some charge US$2.00 for the leaderboard because it’s GOOD BRANDING, and even Liew CF charges USD10 for his buttons on Aductions.

Given the fact that Nuffnang had not received ANY PAYMENT for the TELEKOM and CELCOM media ad runs that was on LAST YEAR OCTOBER,because their paymaster, a media buyer was delaying the funds as much as they can, causes them more grief that it was purported that Tim had his eye injury because he had to scratch it so much thinking of means to raise funds for their contractors (bloggers) compared to the new boy in town (Aductions) whom had a paid up capital of RM100,000 with a financial security of almost US$20,000,000 in their bank account.

What is more, Aductions set up office in Malaysia just to test the market so they can jump into CHINA and ARAB Markets which is happening right now, so if you have an ARAB Lingual page,site,blog.. let them know as you can get better rates. These Arabs pay CASH UPFRONT as opposed to Malaysian Agencies loving to go on 120 day credit terms after the end of the campaign.

I do understand the facts behind Tim’s dilemma, but at the end of the day, some business technique will kill the business and especially Anti-Competition Laws in place now.

Timmy: My Advise…stay away from those Ah-Longs (Banks, Venture Capitalists alike especially). The money you get can roll into FOREX and pay off the bloggers better.



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Nuffnang to Go

Wednesday 30 April 2008 @ 10:44 am

It’s a sad thing for me, but at the end of the day , bugs like the Nuffnang Spiders giving me a lot of headache. They took off my Glitterati AGAIN for some technical error, and now I feel that my lowly paid blogs are not the place for NUFFNANG and I feel that I should let the spaces be utilised to people who needs my help and I’m even giving them away for next to nothing.

As some of you heard, Aductions is getting VERY AGRESSIVE and they seem to have secured a deal with a project funded by UNICEF for the sake of children’s welfare.And that their own internal ads are quite expensive, about $10 for CPM which equates to about 10c per view. Which , if blogs and network sites that are heavy traffic, stand to earn as much as $2000 a day and no wonder they can pay my commission out so fast, just as BLOGMAS did last week, and I know it was a nice sum.

So, it’s no use of me holding on to inventory I can’t sell when I can make better somewhat elsewhere.

Sorry Tim.Convince me otherwise.



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Aductions Payout

Wednesday 30 April 2008 @ 4:19 am

I just got my first Aductions Publisher Payout…and well, it is a well deserved $250, which they paid out in RINGGIT MALAYSIA.

Yes, they have paid out, and it’s a nice start. Better than me having to wait for 2 months to get paid for a mere RM50. Just because I started with a similar competitor, they took off my Glitterati immediately so they can forgo my earnings. Which reminds me of what Advertlets did to many of the Bloggers.

Anyway, it’s not a biggie for me, but if they can pay their contractors proper and prompt, they will grow fast and great…

And Yeah..they let me CASH THE CHEQUE. I rushed over to Al-Rajhi Bank TTDI Branch for my moolah.

Guys,what are you waiting for??

I’ll put the check up for you to see in a bit.



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No to disclosures

Friday 25 April 2008 @ 3:17 am

Actually, this is a thing that has been bugging me very much lately since blogsvertise itself have advocated themselves to be ANTI DISCLOSURE POLICY all because of Ted Murphy’s own ideals and now look at the blogging community, all famished because of his ideas.

Well, basically, it means you CANNOT put disclosure badges, saying you get paid by so and so etc.

Plus many other things.

I don’t go into detail, but you get the drift.



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