[link]

I'm still alive, and Still Alive is still an awesome song.

I've been doing work, and not watching this site much.  I'm up to 3500+ deviations in my watchlist.

I'm working full-time now, doing all sorts of strange things with paperwork, people and computers.  

So, who's actually still watching me?

Anything I miss?

------------------------------------
Works of mine you may be interested in:
Inspiration Liberation - a guide to getting inspired and smashing artist/writer's block WITHOUT ripping off someone else's ideas.
Exodus Assistance - an old, somewhat inaccurate guide to the other art sites besides DA, if you are inclined to leave.  Will be updated sometime in the future.
The No-BS Submission Agreement 3.5 - A human-readable summary of the legal agreement you enter into when submitting art etc to DA.  By far the runaway leader in favourites amongst my deviations.  

------------------------------------

The big list of awesome and useful stuff that you should really look at
[link]

Friends of Mine:


Clubs I'm In:


Quote of the Moment:
"For a long time it puzzled me how something so expensive, so leading edge, could be so useless, and then it occurred to me that a computer is a stupid machine with the ability to do incredibly smart things, while computer programmers are smart people with the ability to do incredibly stupid things. They are, in short, a perfect match." - Bill Bryson

Important Notes:
Sai is an idiot. Sai has a problem and is an idiot sometimes.
Cervantes burn your soul!
My current projects list - [link]
So you want to art-trade/commission/request me... [link]

-kargath64
NPR Addict
Supporting Original Content!

A new journal, to carry more important thoughts.

DA as a "Thief"?
It's a topic that keeps coming up on my No-BS Submission Agreement 3.5 comments section.  "How likely is DA to use these provisions anyway?"  "DA is just covering itself."  etc.
It is true there is a distinction between what DA is allowed to do legally and what it is DA's interests to do.
Let's think for a minute here.  Let's say DA decided to rip off ... *ANTIFAN-REAL for example, and use its abilites to license all of his artwork for ads, album covers, movie seed concepts, toilet paper prints, the lot.  *ANTIFAN-REAL finds out from a fan who is confused as to the proximity of *ANTIFAN-REAL's art to his toilet, and *ANTIFAN-REAL sues DA once he finds out that it was DA that helped set it up.  He posts about it in his journal, DA as a whole goes nuts and huge amounts of artists withdraw off the site.  DA crushes him in court, and recovers all legal costs from *ANTIFAN-REAL as well.
In the end, we have DA as the victor of the "rights" battle.  They gained thousands of dollars from the licensing arrangements.  Yet ... they still lost overall.  All those members who quit the site were far more valuable to their bottom line than the money they gained from the sellout.  
The point here is that using the full extent of abilities in a certain area is not always to DA's advantage.  Still, let's look at some variant scenarios from the above:
Upon ripping off *ANTIFAN-REAL, DA immediately bans him.  There is another uproar of course, but DA "leaks" a story that *ANTIFAN-REAL was harrassing people / hacking / posting porn on an alternate account / some other slander.  Yet of course *ANTIFAN-REAL would contact some people outside of DA who would help spread his story on DA, and combined with photo evidence of the "rip products" the revolt would begin - just in a delayed fashion in this version.
Banning the story-spreaders would essentially be confirmation of the story - so DA would need an intensive propoganda campaign to counter it.
*ANTIFAN-REAL doesn't find out, so he never raises a ruckus.  Unlikely.
*ANTIFAN-REAL is not the one ripped - instead a non-english speaking artist in another country is ripped.  They do not have the language skills to sue (or perhaps even the ability to find a proper jurisdiction).  Notes from fans informing him/her would possibly never be able to be read due to language issues.  No suit, but slower user revolt still occurs, albeit in a headless and disorganised mob form.

In the end, whether DA "steals" all comes down to money.  If "stealing" gains DA more money, it will do things that way, if it loses money, it will go the safe route.
The only realistic scenario I can see for DA "stealing" art is in a large-scale "burn the bridges" operation.  It would have to be all executed at once, to stop people withdrawing from the agreement and stopping DA using their works.  There would need to be a LARGE cash inflow from the action, because the userbase being cut so much would then drastically impact future profits.  DA could be preparing for this action right now via an auto Swallow-And-Reduce program (see the translation for details), but there is no way to tell whether this is or is not happening.

FairExposure and Community Management
The recent "FairExposure" issue made me think a little about how the higher-ups at DA manage the community.
DA has been around for years.  There have been many new feature launches ... and yet the admins just don't seem to get it sometimes.
The old system was perfectly transparent.  More favs, higher position, perfectly trackable.  Now the order is decided by a system that is not explained or documented except for sideways answers by the lead tech of the project.  People respond well to being treated as if they are intelligent enough to form their own opinion about the system.  Having ~mcann giving a real rundown of the system would transfer the burden onto the users, as suddenly they feel it is their fault for not understanding the technical specifics, rather than DA being at fault for hiding how the decisions are made.
The removal of the pure-favs method was another rather dumb maneouvre.  People liked the old system.  They were attached to it.  It would have been simple enough simply to make two options to view by: "Popular (Raw)" and "Popular (Platter)".  There was simply no justification for removing the raw popularity metric.  Offering the choice would not have hurt DA.  It all just feels like New Coke.


Interesting DA-related stuff that is better read than summarised
[link] (be sure to click the little link right at the end of page 5 too)
[link]



Not As Important
If anyone knows whether Sprite Recharge is still being manufactured, could you tell me?  Especially if you are in Melbourne and have seen it in stores recently?
Click on these links for cool music: [link] [link]
Could the entire city of Melbourne please stop smoking?  Kthxbai~
Mafia is fun.  Come play with us sometime! [link]


------------------------------------
Works of mine you may be interested in:
Inspiration Liberation - a guide to getting inspired and smashing artist/writer's block WITHOUT ripping off someone else's ideas.
Exodus Assistance - an old, somewhat inaccurate guide to the other art sites besides DA, if you are inclined to leave.  Will be updated sometime in the future.
The No-BS Submission Agreement 3.5 - A human-readable summary of the legal agreement you enter into when submitting art etc to DA.  By far the runaway leader in favourites amongst my deviations.  

------------------------------------

The big list of awesome and useful stuff that you should really look at
[link]

Friends of Mine:


Clubs I'm In:


Quote of the Moment:
"For a long time it puzzled me how something so expensive, so leading edge, could be so useless, and then it occurred to me that a computer is a stupid machine with the ability to do incredibly smart things, while computer programmers are smart people with the ability to do incredibly stupid things. They are, in short, a perfect match." - Bill Bryson

Important Notes:
Sai is an idiot. Sai has a problem and is an idiot sometimes.
Cervantes burn your soul!
My current projects list - [link]
So you want to art-trade/commission/request me... [link]

-kargath64
NPR Addict
Supporting Original Content!

A more important journal to come later, but here's a tag thing from !CageyButterfly, since my last journal was in November O_o

Hit shuffle on your iPod and then write down the song as the response to the question.

1) How am I feeling today?
'Outsiders', Franz Ferdinand
Totally the opposite O_o
A song about drugs, loneliness and relationship breakdown on a day I'm feeling pretty damn good.

2) Where will I get married?
"Doomed Fragmentation" - Sinead
Yup.  Married just after the world ends.  Just the timescale I was expecting >_>

3) What is my best friend's theme song?
Brianstorm - Artic Monkeys
LOL.  Whomever I nominate as "best friend" automatically gets insulted and praised simultaneously by the song

4) What is/was high school like?
"Watch Out" - Vents
Yup.  Angry and cynical. *nods*
(Now I'm just cynical )

5) What is the best thing about me?
BG_Title
ROFL.  The best thing about me is the music that plays in the background near me? AAAH.

6)How is today going to be?
"C'mere" - Interpol
Singing a song to a woman who's already taken?  Hmmmm...

7) What is in store for this weekend?
"Violent Pornography" - System of a Down
O_______________________O

8) What song describes my parents?
"Clubbed to Death 2" - Rob Dougan
Interesting things after an initial silent period?  Sounds appropriate

9) How is my life going?
"N.M.H." - MASAFUMI TAKADA
Not enought time and being a total tease of things to come?  (The damn song is only a 30 second preview of a nice theme music for the game No More Heroes)

10) What song will they play at my funeral?
"Heart in a Cage" - The Strokes
"Now it's three in the morning and you're eating alone"

11) How does the world see me?
"Lovesong" - Amiel
Totally cynical about human emotions?  Censoring my swearing in public channels? Hmm.

12) What do my friends really think of me?
"Pablo's Cruise" - The Avalanches
Slow and weird? XD

13) Do people secretly lust after me?
"Sound Engine" - Cube
I'll take the wishful road and interpret that as people want me to turn them into a sound engine (ooh ahh).

14) How can I make myself happy?
"Seven Nation Army" - The White Stripes
WORLD DOMINATIOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON

15) What should I do with my life?
jungle.mp3 - Matt Uuelemen
NO THANK YOU

16) Will I ever have children?
"Runnin' Wild" - Airbourne
A sure sign to buy condoms if I ever saw one. XD

17) What is some good advice?
"Another Planet" - Pendulum
... I'm too weak to go into space

18) What do I think my current theme song is?
"Dead Drop" - Kevin MacLeod
*deletes track he forgot to delete*

19) What does everyone else think my current theme song is?
"Heart's a Mess" - Gotye
Brilliant song ... but at implication

20) What type of men/women do you like?
"New Wolf" - The Comas
i found you in the bedroom na-ked / le-an-ing on air


21) Will you get married?
"The Sun Comes Through" - Kelly Stolz
Err...

22) What should I do with my love life?
"Supermoves (Animatrix)" - Overseer
Screw in bullet time? O_O

24) Where will you live?
"IO" - Dozuki
Yup, I live just outside my computer's IO ports >_>

25) What will your dying words be?
"Golden Sky" - CamTarn
"One of these days I'm gonna fly"
Didn't Icarus say something similar?

26) How's your day going so far?
"Worms vs. Birds" - Modest Mouse
Me vs Paperwork, more like it XD

27) How's your love life?
"Born Of A Broken Man" - Rage Against The Machine
"They try to escape across the street where
Jesus stripped bare
And raped the spirit he was supposed to nurture
In the name of my"
O_O

I've got various things to be doing, but I'll be on here a bit more now.
In good news, my devWatch is almost down to only 1000!  A couple more good sessions of clearing and I should be through it all.  (Then I'm reviewing my watchlist for quality. )

I also found out that Visual Studio is actually really really good to use.  I don't like the whole .NET approach, but OMG SUPER DEBUGGING

I need to get into contact with people I haven't spoken to in ages.  (hullo ~Shadow-Flame! )

In addition to my usual game-playing and lazy consumption of other's artwork, I'm also planning a few things for DA, including but not limited to:
A review of the No BS Submission Agreement Translation
The launch of the Fanart Consent Project
A news article covering open licensing and the Creative Commons
Possible actual artwork and/or stories!  






-----------------------------------------

Since I need to fill space, how about a journal tag thing, ganked from some furry's journal on the Today page?


1. choose a few of your own characters. Five at the most.
2. make them answer the following questions.
3. then tag three people.
4. feel free to go ahead and add some questions yourself

Characters:
(only picking a few, just to make this quick)
Markus Drake
Solace Jolie
"Unnamed"

how old are you?
Markus Drake: 26.
Solace Jolie: 19.
"Unnamed": I don't think there's a number to express it anywhere near concisely...

are you a virgin?
Markus Drake: ... no, what do you think?
Solace Jolie: Why the hell are you asking?
"Unnamed": Does that concept even apply to me?  I have done ... interesting things to men and women to teach them lessons, however.  I guess not, then.

who's your mate/spouse?
Markus Drake: I'm single.  Bars don't like the presence of cops, even off-duty.
Solace Jolie: I stay away from relationships, for their sake.
"Unnamed": I would say ... I'm wedded to the universe.

do you have any kids?
Markus Drake: I play it safe!
Solace Jolie: The most significant thing I've carried is my stave.
"Unnamed": No need.

what's your favourite food?
Markus Drake: Oh, that place on the corner of Markson and Fifth sells GREAT meat-wrap things.
Solace Jolie: Salad.  Vegetarian salad.
"Unnamed": I don't eat.

have you killed anyone?
Markus Drake: ...
Solace Jolie: I ... I re- ... I really don't want to talk about that.
"Unnamed": Some people still hold on to their perversions in the face of death.  I have yet to figure out the cause of this phenomenon...

do you hate anyone?
Markus Drake: There are certain people who I am commited to avoid.  I avoid them because I would be compelled to break the law if I ever saw them again.
Solace Jolie: I hate whomever ... whatever controlled them on my birthday.
"Unnamed": No ... since anyone who offends me dies anyway.

have any secrets?
Markus Drake: I'm a cop.  There is the whole matter of ongoing investigations...
Solace Jolie: The reason I walk
"Unnamed": Oh, yes

do you love anyone?
Markus Drake: Not right now.
Solace Jolie:
"Unnamed": What is "love" to you?

boy or girl?
Markus Drake: Can't you tell by the goatee?
Solace Jolie: A woman.  I have to chain myself to a tree every month because of it.
"Unnamed": I have no need to restrict myself to either of those constructs, though I could easily form myself to either if I chose.

What do you do to relax?
Markus Drake: I'm a puppeteer!
Solace Jolie: I don't deserve to relax.
"Unnamed": Watch the universe dance before my eyes.

Any comments?
Markus Drake: I've got work to do.
Solace Jolie: I have to go now...
"Unnamed": Stay true and you may never have to meet me.


I don't tag anyone, but copypasta if you want to.


-------------------------------

Works of mine you may be interested in:
Inspiration Liberation - a guide to getting inspired and smashing artist/writer's block WITHOUT ripping off someone else's ideas.
Exodus Assistance - an old, somewhat inaccurate guide to the other art sites besides DA, if you are inclined to leave.  Will be updated sometime in the future.
The No-BS Submission Agreement 3.0 - A human-readable summary of the legal agreement you enter into when submitting art etc to DA.  By far the runaway leader in favourites amongst my deviations.  

------------------------------------

The big list of awesome and useful stuff that you should really look at
[link]

Friends of Mine:

(I totally need to update this list with all the VGFers on DA)

Clubs I'm In:


Quote of the Moment:
"For a long time it puzzled me how something so expensive, so leading edge, could be so useless, and then it occurred to me that a computer is a stupid machine with the ability to do incredibly smart things, while computer programmers are smart people with the ability to do incredibly stupid things. They are, in short, a perfect match." - Bill Bryson

Important Notes:
Sai is an idiot. Sai has a problem and is an idiot sometimes.
Cervantes burn your soul!
My current projects list - [link]
So you want to art-trade/commission/request me... [link]

-kargath64
NPR Addict
Supporting Original Content!

I am disappearing from here for a bit whilst I attempt to melt my face through overexposure to computer LCD sceens in the course of finishing work.

In other news, I'm starting to like the look of the Monday newspaper polls.


-------------------------------

Works of mine you may be interested in:
Inspiration Liberation - a guide to getting inspired and smashing artist/writer's block WITHOUT ripping off someone else's ideas.
Exodus Assistance - an old, somewhat inaccurate guide to the other art sites besides DA, if you are inclined to leave.  Will be updated sometime in the future.
The No-BS Submission Agreement 3.0 - A human-readable summary of the legal agreement you enter into when submitting art etc to DA.  By far the runaway leader in favourites amongst my deviations.  

------------------------------------

The big list of awesome and useful stuff that you should really look at
[link]

Friends of Mine:


Clubs I'm In:


Quote of the Moment:
"For a long time it puzzled me how something so expensive, so leading edge, could be so useless, and then it occurred to me that a computer is a stupid machine with the ability to do incredibly smart things, while computer programmers are smart people with the ability to do incredibly stupid things. They are, in short, a perfect match." - Bill Bryson

Important Notes:
Sai is an idiot. Sai has a problem and is an idiot sometimes.
Cervantes burn your soul!
My current projects list - [link]
So you want to art-trade/commission/request me... [link]

-kargath64
NPR Addict
Supporting Original Content!

Done with exams now, onto all those things I've kept in the background due to study.
Fixing my comp (reinstalling everything, getting a case fan to stop it from melting)
Writing a small program to help people (anyone reading this journal have something that really annoys them with their comp?  One thing you wish it did for you?)
Getting into contact with people I haven't seen in yonks (that means you ~Shadow-Flame!)
Continuing on with the next round of the writing-battle tournament at VGF (you can see my work at [link] .  Look for the posts by "Inferno Dragon" [my opponent] and Kargath.  Tell me what you think people!)
Completing a game or two (F.E.A.R. probably)
and on top of all that, attempting SOME sort of major project!  I will get some progress done!


Oh, and I've been invited to a surprisingly large number of graduate job position ... application processes
Still nice to know my skills are enough to raise their attention levels.  

PS - In Soviet Russia, chair disassemble YOU!
PPS - 5000 deviations down, 3,765 deviations to go


-------------------------------

Works of mine you may be interested in:
Inspiration Liberation - a guide to getting inspired and smashing artist/writer's block WITHOUT ripping off someone else's ideas.
Exodus Assistance - an old, somewhat inaccurate guide to the other art sites besides DA, if you are inclined to leave.  Will be updated sometime in the future.
The No-BS Submission Agreement 3.0 - A human-readable summary of the legal agreement you enter into when submitting art etc to DA.  By far the runaway leader in favourites amongst my deviations.  

------------------------------------

The big list of awesome and useful stuff that you should really look at
[link]

Friends of Mine:


Clubs I'm In:


Quote of the Moment:
"For a long time it puzzled me how something so expensive, so leading edge, could be so useless, and then it occurred to me that a computer is a stupid machine with the ability to do incredibly smart things, while computer programmers are smart people with the ability to do incredibly stupid things. They are, in short, a perfect match." - Bill Bryson

Important Notes:
Sai is an idiot. Sai has a problem and is an idiot sometimes.
Cervantes burn your soul!
My current projects list - [link]
So you want to art-trade/commission/request me... [link]

-kargath64
NPR Addict
Supporting Original Content!

~LaPumpkina stabs me in face, forces me to do pointless quiz

[1] Do you like animals?  Non-cat means non-love

[2] Have you ever met an online friend in person?  Argh, no but there was a close miss, ISN'T THAT RIGHT PUMPIE

[3] Are you athletic? I'm an olympic touchtypist

[4] Are you: thin, fat, athletically built etc: Waif

[5] How much do you weigh? ~60kg

[6] What's your height? ~180cm

[7] Shoe size?  9 to 14

[8] Girls - are you tomboyish, girly, normal, etc?  I'm so tomboyish I think I might be *gasp* an actual boy

[10] How old are you? "A walk in the light green"++

[11] When is your birthday?  Dec 8

[12] Do you like to receive giftart?  I like kiribans

[13] Are you sociable?  

[14] Do you have many friends?  I'm an online superstar!

[15] What's your race?  Mongrel

[16] Do you like to talk on the phone? Not really

[17] Are you single or taken?  Single

[18] Do you eat meat? Yes

[19] Are you paranoid? It's not paranoia if they're really after you

[20] Do you read a lot?  If left alone in a room with a cereal box, I'll read that

[21] Do you listen to music, what kind? Triple J and CDs bought under influence of same

[22] Do you play any instruments?  Ex-cellist

[23] How long have you been drawing? NIL!

[24] What's the meaning of life? No meaning, just causality

[25] Now tag five of your friends! They MUST take this quiz and post it in their journal! Or not...
I'm an antidote!  No tagging here

-------------------------------

Works of mine you may be interested in:
Inspiration Liberation - a guide to getting inspired and smashing artist/writer's block WITHOUT ripping off someone else's ideas.
Exodus Assistance - an recently updated guide to the other art sites besides DA, if you are inclined to leave.  
The No-BS Submission Agreement 3.0 - A human-readable summary of the legal agreement you enter into when submitting art etc to DA.  By far the runaway leader in favourites amongst my deviations.  

------------------------------------

The big list of awesome and useful stuff that you should really look at
[link]

Friends of Mine:


Clubs I'm In:


Quote of the Moment:
"Quote Body" - Quote Author

Important Notes:
Sai is an idiot. Sai has a problem and is an idiot sometimes.
Cervantes burn your soul!
My current projects list - [link]
So you want to art-trade/commission/request me... [link]

-kargath64
NPR Addict
Supporting Original Content!

[link]
ZUGZUG

------------------------

Also, I won't be on here for a bit.  I just got a load of work dumped on my head, so I need to get on top of that.  I'll still be on occasionally in order to work with the <a href="[link]>Storm Artist crew on their TOS to make it not so majorly broken.



-------------------------------

Works of mine you may be interested in:
Inspiration Liberation - a guide to getting inspired and smashing artist/writer's block WITHOUT ripping off someone else's ideas.
Exodus Assistance - an recently updated guide to the other art sites besides DA, if you are inclined to leave.  
The No-BS Submission Agreement 3.0 - A human-readable summary of the legal agreement you enter into when submitting art etc to DA.  By far the runaway leader in favourites amongst my deviations.  

------------------------------------

The big list of awesome and useful stuff that you should really look at
[link]

Friends of Mine:


Clubs I'm In:


Quote of the Moment:
"Quote Body" - Quote Author

Important Notes:
Sai is an idiot. Sai has a problem and is an idiot sometimes.
Cervantes burn your soul!
My current projects list - [link]
So you want to art-trade/commission/request me... [link]

-kargath64
NPR Addict
Supporting Original Content!

Hey.  Stuff happened, so I'll tell you about it.

-I ran out of mints.  The doomsday device is now ticking and I must get more mints to stop it.
-I got assigned an out-of-print textbook as a requirement for my course.    Hopefully that'll be fixed soon.
-I beat Twilight Princess.  Midna wtf did you do that for?
-I have now started actual progress towards the completion of my fighting game.  I am currently attempting to master the O.G.R.E. graphics engine and will hopefully soon move onto I/O and file management.  
-Blender 2.43 is out.   www.blender.org
-I finally got the stuff I ordered from Amazon.com IN DECEMBER.  I got the three Sinfest comic books, which are certainly the funniest comics I've read.  You have to have a certain cynical sensibility to enjoy them (and if you're a hardcore Christian you will probably want to burn them), but it's an excellent collection nothenless.  [The series is also online at www.sinfest.net - click the "First" link next to the current strip of the day.]  I also got Rob Dougan's 'Furious Angels' album.  OMFG.  I've been hunting for this for FOUR YEARS now.  Boy was it worth it though.   I got the super-limited version of the special edition, and it came in a coffee-table book format with the booklet in tall arthouse format in the middle and the two discs on each inside cover.  I honestly don't know where I'll put it but it's still awesome.  The music is incredible.  It's a full orchestra, with additional production on top and the incredible soul voice of Rob belting out songs full of love and death.  The second disc has fully instrumental versions of most tracks, to let the great arrangement come through.  BUY IT NOW PEOPLES.  (You may know Rob Dougan as the guy behind the music for the 'Chateau' and 'Agent Alley' fight scenes in Matrix II and the classic "Woman in the Red Dress" scene from the original.)
-!CageyButterfly and !surrealist-geek got banned not for trolling , but for trolling them.  Then has the audacity to hide the evidence and even remove access to the comment trees that document his behaviour.  (Read much of the journal here: [link] )  I think this might be part of a major 'cleanup' op too - [link] < that was a comment as part of a discussion I was having with another deviant in regards to the submission agreement.  I was educating him as to the technicalities of it and copyright law, but now the entire comment tree has been locked from view.  Nice and reasonable, right?
-As you may have noticed, I updated the Exodus Assistance journal.  No, ~kibbleking, I am not Moses.
-I learnt that Windows Live Messenger's song-to-usermessage feature not only works on WMP, but on iTunes as well.  Proof that even nerds don't know everything about computers all the time


-------------------------------

Works of mine you may be interested in:
Inspiration Liberation - a guide to getting inspired and smashing artist/writer's block WITHOUT ripping off someone else's ideas.
Exodus Assistance - an recently updated guide to the other art sites besides DA, if you are inclined to leave.  
The No-BS Submission Agreement 3.0 - A human-readable summary of the legal agreement you enter into when submitting art etc to DA.  By far the runaway leader in favourites amongst my deviations.  

------------------------------------

The big list of awesome and useful stuff that you should really look at
[link]

Friends of Mine:


Clubs I'm In:


Quote of the Moment:
"Quote Body" - Quote Author

Important Notes:
Sai is an idiot. Sai has a problem and is an idiot sometimes.
Cervantes burn your soul!
My current projects list - [link]
So you want to art-trade/commission/request me... [link]

-kargath64
NPR Addict
Supporting Original Content!

[This is an edited version of a very very old journal.  Some info may be outdated.]


Sick of DA?  Sick


There are several possibilities for those artistically inclined.  The following is by no means an exclusive list, but it is designed to be broad and cover all bases.  

SheezyArt
Well, if you're looking for the thing that reminds you most of DA, this would probably be it.  Sheezy is like DA - mostly because it was designed AS a clone of DA, complete with watches, favourites, notes, featured deviations and the like.  There's also inbuilt user clubs, which DA has yet to implement.  Sounding good so far?  Have a rethink.  
Sheezy's admins are known for being 'evil'.  Nepotism is prevalent.
The site is very unstable.  Server downtimes, hard-disk crashes, and entire users being deleted is not uncommon.
There is little to no restriction against people ripping your work.  Not the place to go if you're a photographer.
The community can be rather vicious.
What you can submit is much more limited than DA.
Still, despite all this, they do have another thing in their favour - a cooler mascot.
www.sheezyart.com

Elfwood
Elfwood certainly has a 'cozy' feel about it, being so small.  However, they have to keep that feel somehow, and therefore they ask you to pass a test just to get in.  The community is focused more on traditional art, and it needs to be fantasy-based in origin.  Server crashes are occasional, but significant.
www.elfwood.net

GFXartist
For the elitist at heart.  GFXartist has a strict content filtering policy - if your pieces are not considered good enough, it's an automatic deletion.  Photos have to be snapped in an 'arty' way and have to be of an 'arty' subject.  The big thing to consider is, unless you subscribe (which is cheaper than DA, BTW), you have to host the images yourself.  
Critique is stronger here, and if you're a novice you could be torn apart.  However, if you gain access to the Elite galleries, you can lean back in your chair and smile, knowing you really are a master artist.
www.gfxartist.com

CGtalk
As the name implies, this is a forum, not a fully-fledged art site, but each user does get their own gallery listing the image topics they have posted.  Awesome competitions are held, with prize values of $10,000 and more, but you have serious competition to deal with.  Digital painters and 3D artists only.
www.cgtalk.com

Elysiun
This is the main <a href="[link]>Blender community site.  Obviously only for 3D images/animations created in Blender.  I love the place.
www.elysiun.com

GAIA Online
More of an experience than a forum, GAIA centres around community.  You pick a sex and body features, and you start with a few hundred gold, some undies, and a pair of rags for clothes.  You buy new outfits, hairstyles and accessories with gold you earn.  Gold is only earnt in two ways: posting in the forum and viewing pages on the site.  This means every time you load a page, you get one gold piece.
The site is centred around the forum, which has sections for gaming, roleplaying, anime, and a huge art section.  You need an outside place to host your art (Photobucket, say) - same as GFXartist.
[link]

Shadowness
recommends this.  It once required you to install spyware for access, which says a lot about the site admin ethics.  You also cannot terminate the license you give them to use your works for anything.  However, it does look like a very nicely designed site.
[link]

Storm Artists
A recent arisal.  Shoddy site design, but has theme capabilities.  The TOS seems decent from a once-over.  Also, NO ADS.
However, the hated !Subversive-imaginati is LEADER of their Community Development division.  You have been warned.
[link]

Eye Fetch
Found via one of °jark's journals.  Doesn't allow traditional art, only photos + digi-art.  Seems more centred around blogging than many sites, but the TOS is horrible.

Humble Voice
Youtube lookalike that allows music, lit, art and video.  I couldn't find a TOS anywhere though.  Quite slow, but pretty.
[link]

The Path Less Travelled
Sick of the restrictions ordinary sites place on you?  Make your own.
This is really only a path for the experienced, as you'll need to do a lot of work, and pay for hosting and domain registration as well.  Shop around before you consider this.

Hosts
The following are sites that are free and allow direct linking:
www.photobucket.com
www.ourmedia.org (allows video!)
www.imagehosting.us
www.imageshack.us
and many more here: [link]

Hope this helps.

------------------------------------

Friends of Mine:


-kargath64
NPR Addict
Supporting Original Content! [link]

I'm back home now, and I'm glad to say it was a nice trip.  The stay with my rellies was far too short, but getting to see them at all is still a bonus.    I also spent about two weeks near Jervis Bay in NSW, and that was a nice relaxing time.  Very good to get some writing done.
I also found Mesmerise by System of a Down, FINALLY.  For only 13 bucks too!  It's nowhere near as political as Hypnotise, but it's a lot stranger instead.  Now I have all five of their albums

Now that I'm back, I'm going to be working on several of my projects.  Hopefully I'll have made a decent amount of progress that I can show you people after about a month's time.  I'll also be implementing my large community project.  (Do you remember that time when I posted about 15 blank journals?  That was in preparation for this.)  I'll have to do a lot of 'cold-noting' first, but that should hopefully get off the ground within a month or two.  

So did I miss anything important?  Any more DA controversies etc?





-------------------------------

Works of mine you may be interested in:
Inspiration Liberation - a guide to getting inspired and smashing artist/writer's block WITHOUT ripping off someone else's ideas.
Exodus Assistance - an old, somewhat inaccurate guide to the other art sites besides DA, if you are inclined to leave.  Will be updated sometime in the future.
The No-BS Submission Agreement 3.0 - A human-readable summary of the legal agreement you enter into when submitting art etc to DA.  By far the runaway leader in favourites amongst my deviations.  

------------------------------------

The big list of awesome and useful stuff that you should really look at
[link]

Friends of Mine:


Clubs I'm In:


Quote of the Moment:
"I don't suppose you've seen my mother, have you?  Or perhaps a suspicious forest fire?" - Kit, Perfect Edge

Important Notes:
Sai is an idiot. Sai has a problem and is an idiot sometimes.
Cervantes burn your soul!
My current projects list - [link]
So you want to art-trade/commission/request me... [link]

-kargath64
NPR Addict
Supporting Original Content!

I'm leaving the state to see my relatives and take a holiday for a bit in a few days.  I'll be gone for 2-3 weeks, with minimal to no internet.  So don't expect me around here too much then

Other than that, Christmas was fun.  I got to see people I hadn't seen for months, and I got some nice stuff, including the GC version of Twilight Princess.  It's an excellent game, but Midna makes me want to hit things D:

I also FINALLY finished that damn story I've been working on for two weeks.  Now to review it today and send it






-------------------------------

Works of mine you may be interested in:
Inspiration Liberation - a guide to getting inspired and smashing artist/writer's block WITHOUT ripping off someone else's ideas.
Exodus Assistance - an old, somewhat inaccurate guide to the other art sites besides DA, if you are inclined to leave.  Will be updated sometime in the future.
The No-BS Submission Agreement 3.0 - A human-readable summary of the legal agreement you enter into when submitting art etc to DA.  By far the runaway leader in favourites amongst my deviations.  

------------------------------------

The big list of awesome and useful stuff that you should really look at
[link]

Friends of Mine:


Clubs I'm In:


Quote of the Moment:
"...there are two ways of constructing a software design:
One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies,
and the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies" - C.A.R. Hoare

Important Notes:
Sai is an idiot. Sai has a problem and is an idiot sometimes.
Cervantes burn your soul!
My current projects list - [link]
So you want to art-trade/commission/request me... [link]

-kargath64
NPR Addict
Supporting Original Content!

"He deserved to die.  They all deserve to die..."



I'm starting to regret one of my purchases for my birthday.  I bought the PC game "F.E.A.R - First Encounter Assault Recon", and it's scaring me shitless.  You'd think the name would have tipped me off, but noooooooo, I had to go buy the freaky shooter instead of the run-and-gun one...

It's an FPS in the style of a Japanese horror movie, with really smart opponents.  You're a special agent in a squad inside the US military, the only squad dedicated to combating extra-normal activity.  You get sent in to assasinate a general, a telepath in control of a thousand clone soldiers as part of another US military plan, as he's gone psycho and the soldiers are attacking, and killing him will shut down the entire battalion.
Your initial attempt fails when you get ambushed by the general himself, and you track him down later to another industrial complex.  You come in with a full assault team this time, and whilst you go on point the rest of the team goes inside.  Then a little girl in a red dress appears and things totally go to shit.  

You are now alone, and have to survive and find the general and kill him.  Not easy when there's a thousand clone soldiers in your way ... or the little girl.  

I have to make special mention of how good some of the scares are in this game.  Sometimes they give you warning that something is coming, just to jack up the tension ... usually by having static interference with your gear (you get a transmission from "Unknown origin" of hissing static, and sometimes your HUD actually starts failing).  Believe me, this works.  Other times you never see it coming.  Both the General and Alma (the little girl) pop up, with the General being more interesting than scary as such ... for the most part (the starting quote in this journal is one of his favourite phrases, usually encountered after he's viciously murdered someone close to the project he was involved in).  Alma, on the other hand, fucks with my head.  Especially as she often appears near melted corpses that are the remains of what her psychic powers do to people.  That and her creepy little giggling laugh, and her crabwalk, and
Then there are the hallucinations.  I won't give it all away, save to say that they seem to be caused by Alma, and involve rivers of blood and things that really resent your presence in the vision.

The AI is great too.   Seeing my opponents group together, call out to each other to check their status ("Report!" "Report, man!"  "... shit I think we lost him!"), create cover (seeing one guy pull some shelves over to block my passage and to get cover for himself was amazing), and use squad tactics to pincer me and flush me out of my hiding spots.

So yeah, it's actually a really good game, but still, it scares me
I should have just bought PREY instead D:



I also went to ~Shadow-Flame's 18th.  That was fun

Props to anyone who is good enough to figure out what the title means.  ~kibbleking is exempt.

Apparently drugs are powerful.  WHODA THUNK IT.
I'm just on the tail end of a nasty reaction to the drugs I was given post-surgery.  They really loaded me up on the strong stuff (I felt drunk for a couple of hours after each time I took them), and it was only a matter of time before the side-effects kicked in.  I spent several days in a nauseous, pain-filled haze due to the effects of the drugs ... which is ironic as the stuff that caused it is supposed to be a PAINKILLER .
I'm feeling a lot better now, but now I'm going to have a fear of codeine and ibuprofen for the rest of my life


In other news, I PASSED ALL MY SUBJECTS
I have no idea how this happened, but I'm happy!   I don't need to restart my course!
Through a weird combination of fate, chance and intent, it also seems I'm to become a graphics manipulation specialist aint:

How's everyone else going?





-------------------------------

Works of mine you may be interested in:
Inspiration Liberation - a guide to getting inspired and smashing artist/writer's block WITHOUT ripping off someone else's ideas.
Exodus Assistance - an old, somewhat inaccurate guide to the other art sites besides DA, if you are inclined to leave.  Will be updated sometime in the future.
The No-BS Submission Agreement 3.0 - A human-readable summary of the legal agreement you enter into when submitting art etc to DA.  By far the runaway leader in favourites amongst my deviations.  

------------------------------------

The big list of awesome and useful stuff that you should really look at
[link]

Friends of Mine:


Clubs I'm In:


Quote of the Moment:
"...there are two ways of constructing a software design:
One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies,
and the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies" - C.A.R. Hoare

Important Notes:
Sai is an idiot. Sai has a problem and is an idiot sometimes.
Cervantes burn your soul!
My current projects list - [link]
So you want to art-trade/commission/request me... [link]

-kargath64
NPR Addict
Supporting Original Content!

In an effort to cut down my journal footer, and since I don't have a shoutbox anymore, I'm putting all of my links here and will just link to this journal from now on.

Places You Should Visit:
VGF Forums - My personally preferred forums.  Video-gaming oriented, but has rooms for many other things.
GAIA Online - Gigantic general-interest and roleplaying forum, apparently the most active English one on the internet.  You get 'gold' the more you view the site and post, and buy accessories and clothing for your avatar with it.  (I'm currently naked save for a tuxedo XD )
TokyoPlastic - Creepy geisha dolls, stereo speaker heads, opera-singing eyeballs ... this is 3D Flash style to the extreme.
Blender 3D - An excellent and free 3D modelling, texturing, animation, compositing (still+video) and rendering application.  Highly recommended.
Elysiun - The best support and discussion forums for Blender.
YafRAY - an optional renderer for Blender.  Slow, but excellent output.
Celshader (OMG I LOVE NPR) - An occasionally-updated blog to do with cel-shaded 3D animation.  
VIm, a programmer's text editor - Seriously, check this out, it's bloody efficient, even if you're just writing poetry or literature.  It takes an hour or two to get used to it, though.
OGRE 3D - A very nice 3D engine, which interfaces well with CEGUI.  The planned rendering engine for Perfect Edge.
Sphere RPG Engine - The best free 2D RPG maker out there (RM2K and RM3K are actually pirated and hacked programs when in English).  Interfaces nicely with RM2K&3K resources, but has a much better scripting engine based on JavaScript (taking all of half-an-hour to learn).
GameHippo - The best freeware games site around.  Excellent selection of thousands of freeware games, and every game added is reviewed.  
Gunbound - Worms and Scorched Earth put in the washing machine, mixed with cute fluid and tactical power, and left on spin cycle for thirty minutes.  Bloody fun to play.
Rakion - an awesome class-based action-arena game.  Can be played as a single-player adventure, deathmatch or various specialised team modes.
OurMedia - OurMedia is an offshoot of the Internet Archive, designed to offer a hosting service for all types of media, especially video files.  Filesize is UNLIMITED, as is bandwidth usage.  An incredible opportunity for hosting for any short film makers.  
3hive - An excellent blog whose sole purpose is to find and link to the freebie MP3 files bands put up on their own websites.  It's all legal and above board, and there's thousands of songs linked to off here.

I'll add more stuff as I find it to be useful.

Labor won the state election! :woot:
Well, actually, they kinda suck but it's better than having a government that wants to slash itself to pieces.
Where's the Dems when you need them?  Oh, that's right, MEG LEES KILLED THEM.

I also got called up for jury duty!  I'd love to do it, even if the pay is shite, but the period I'm assigned to conflicts with my studies, so I'm going to have to defer it.  I'm off to get that stat dec signed soon.
Anyone else been called up before?

I'm also moving slowly but surely through my to-do list.  I finally submitted a photo of my MANIFEST figurine collection, so check my scraps (as pointed out, BOOBIES!).  

I got two new albums too.  "Turn on the Bright Lights" by Interpol, and "In Time For Spring, On Came The Snow" by subAudible Hum.  Bright Lights is an excellent collection from Interpol, and although they're harsh lyrically as ever (what other band refers to "you'll go stabbing yourself in the neck"?), their guitar tales of relationships, love, friendly drug dealers and schizophrenia are as appealing as their work on "Antics".  "In Time For ..." is such a beautiful-sounding album, you'd hardly suspect they're singing about the corruption of humanity, government and the end of the world.  "Fire Out At Sea" and "Aaron's Western Assault" are personal favourites.  One lyric particularly resonates: "Even when I pull the blankets tight up to my chin/I feel I left the window open/so it can get in..."

Also, I'm going in for surgery on Tuesday.  No amputations or work inside torso or anything, just wisdom teeth removal, but I'm still going under general anesthesia (which means respirator etc).  There's always the chance I'll be done in the 15th hour of an anesthesiologist's 16 hour shift, so if I don't post within a week consider me a victim of the underfunded health system

EDIT: I am alive, numb and puffy in the face.  I may have nerve damage on the left side.  Don't any of you attempt to kiss me, it won't be pretty!  


-------------------------------

Works of mine you may be interested in:
Inspiration Liberation - a guide to getting inspired and smashing artist/writer's block WITHOUT ripping off someone else's ideas.
Exodus Assistance - an old, somewhat inaccurate guide to the other art sites besides DA, if you are inclined to leave.  Will be updated sometime in the future.
The No-BS Submission Agreement 3.0 - A human-readable summary of the legal agreement you enter into when submitting art etc to DA.  By far the runaway leader in favourites amongst my deviations.  

------------------------------------

Friends of Mine:


Clubs I'm In:


Places You Should Visit:
VGF Forums - My personally preferred forums.  Video-gaming oriented, but has rooms for many other things.  (I'm a mod in the Polls Forum!)
GAIA Online - Gigantic general-interest and roleplaying forum, apparently the most active English one on the internet.  You get 'gold' the more you view the site and post, and buy accessories and clothing for your avatar with it.  (I'm currently naked save for a tuxedo XD )
TokyoPlastic - Creepy geisha dolls, stereo speaker heads, opera-singing eyeballs ... this is 3D Flash style to the extreme.
Blender 3D - An excellent and free 3D modelling, texturing, animation, compositing (still+video) and rendering application.  Highly recommended.
Elysiun - The best support and discussion forums for Blender.
YafRAY - an optional renderer for Blender.  Slow, but excellent output.
Celshader (OMG I LOVE NPR) - An occasionally-updated blog to do with cel-shaded 3D animation.  
VIm, a programmer's text editor - Seriously, check this out, it's bloody efficient, even if you're just writing poetry or literature.  It takes an hour or two to get used to it, though.
OGRE 3D - A very nice 3D engine, which interfaces well with CEGUI.  The planned rendering engine for Perfect Edge.
Sphere RPG Engine - The best free 2D RPG maker out there (RM2K and RM3K are actually pirated and hacked programs when in English).  Interfaces nicely with RM2K&3K resources, but has a much better scripting engine based on JavaScript (taking all of half-an-hour to learn).
GameHippo - The best freeware games site around.  Excellent selection of thousands of freeware games, and every game added is reviewed.  
Gunbound - Worms and Scorched Earth put in the washing machine, mixed with cute fluid and tactical power, and left on spin cycle for thirty minutes.  Bloody fun to play.
Rakion - an awesome class-based action-arena game.  Can be played as a single-player adventure, deathmatch or various specialised team modes.
OurMedia - OurMedia is an offshoot of the Internet Archive, designed to offer a hosting service for all types of media, especially video files.  Filesize is UNLIMITED, as is bandwidth usage.  An incredible opportunity for hosting for any short film makers.  
3hive - An excellent blog whose sole purpose is to find and link to the freebie MP3 files bands put up on their own websites.  It's all legal and above board, and there's thousands of songs linked to off here.

Quote of the Moment:
"" - Quote Author

Important Notes:
Sai is an idiot. Sai has a problem and is an idiot sometimes.
Cervantes burn your soul!
My current projects list - [link]
So you want to art-trade/commission/request me... [link]

-kargath64
NPR Addict
Supporting Original Content!

[link]
So I finished my exams and it turns out one of the longest standing members of the original forum I registered for is dead.  
I never really knew him that well, but he was a nice guy, somewhat crackers about Star Wars, and he broke his leg a few years ago - causing a limp.
Turns out it never healed.  He had something called Aplastic Aenemia, a rare blood disease that actually is one of the main "boy in a bubble" diseases.  So you can imagine how shit it felt realising that the last exchange we had was:
Viceroy Nute Gunray: /me bitchslaps Kargath
Kargath: /me bitchslaps Tiny Tim
I had no idea it was that serious, but still

Also, I think I failed core subjects!  I'll have to restart my course!  Costing $10,000+!  Eek!

DAMN YOU GODEL AND YOUR INCOMPLETENESS.  NONO WILL SEND ITS MISSILES FOR YOU

Apart from that, I'm BACK.  What did I miss?