For a hot and humid morning, what else is there better to do than kicking back and enjoying Ngoc Lan sings French ballads (while comping of course).

Sasha Frere-Jones’ review of R. Kelly’s latest album is pretty close to mine; however, it takes him damn near 1,500 words, without obscenity of course, to do so. Writing an album like Kelly’s Double Up is fun because he has interesting content—something I rarely find in Vietnamese music—to go off on. Someone once told me that I always focus on the voice, delivery and technicality when I review Vietnamese albums. What else is there to write when almost all of Vietnamese singers do not write their own music. It does get boring after a while, but that just the way it is.

Vassar’s On Campus puts together a list of activities you might enjoy in Poughkeepsie. Wow, there’s actually something to do around here.

There has been a shift in the way I blog. The site has been focused more on the Daily section. The Brief Commentary (my short reviews) has merged into other appropriate categories (Book, Film and Music). I find that writing blurb is better for the web. The format inspired by Rhapsody, Amazon‘s Editorial Reviews, and New Yorker‘s Briefly Noted. Not that I won’t write any more long reviews, but crafting a piece with 100 words or less is more fun and challenging. Less is more, remember?

District of Columbia Superior Court Judge Judith Bartnoff “ruled Monday that no pair of pants is worth $54 million, rejecting a lawsuit that took a dry cleaner’s promise of ‘Satisfaction Guaranteed’ to its most litigious extreme.” Justice is served!

Spent my days off watching the entire collection of The Godfather. Something I have been wanting to do for a while but never get to it. By the way, the first film has moved up to the second spot on the new AFI‘s Top 100 American Films List. Citizen Kane still remains the greatest movie of all time. I haven’t seen that film for a while. It’s time for a revisit.

Coudal’s experimental video on cleaning a keyboard using dishwasher. It worked. I might give my keyboard a wash too. It’s pretty dirty.

“I Got a Crush on Obama” from Obama Girl.

Trinh Cong Son’s “Toi Ru Em Ngu” accompanied by Hoang Trong Thuy’s picking guitar on VNCR.

Brazilian ad campaign featured plus-size women with a tagline loosely translates to: “Forget about it. Men’s preferences will never change.”