Five seventh-grade schoolgirls in Ha Noi gorged sleeping pills for poor test results and disappointed their parents. This kind of educational pressure is still a huge problem not only in Viet Nam but Vietnamese oversea as well. Parents, please stop being so hard on your kids. Education is important, but don’t push them to the edge.

Tiet Canh (blood soup) is not the type of food to look at. Take a few shots of Tequila before give it a try if you’re a beginner. I have to admit, the bird flu really chickens me out now.

Off Topic: Thanks to the staffs at Ao Trang for the lovely calendar and voluptuous card. They look great in my office.

“Rung Chua Thay La” was the first song that I felt in love with Ngoc Lan. Her mellow, pitch-perfect vocals floated like clouds around the suave Latin rhythm. After that I would try to get my hands on every rumba tune she performed. Oh my god! Her rendition of “Xin Thoi Gian Qua Mau” left me speechless with the way she maneuvered her voice in and out the smooth sax and sensual beat. She continued to take my breath away with “Giong Song Que Huong,” “Chuyen Phim Buon,” and later on with “Tuyet Roi.” I loved the rumba so much that I had to cop me a self-taught instruction video so I could get my groove on. And the ladies loved it when I ushered them on the dancefloor. I was a slick operator. “Dang Tien Nu” was the joint that helped me get there. I was practicing with it over and over again. Many years later, I can still rock these tunes and the freshness never seems to diminish.

50 and Spider Loc’s well-crafted “Not Rich, Still Lying” is whipping the Game up. Fiddy doesn’t even rap, he just blows out Game’s secret, “Didn’t you say you woke up out a coma 2001. Well, your brother says you never were in a coma!”

Typographic illustration (Flash ActionScripts and type). Check out Biggie’s “Juicy.” Via Tim

“The Mysterious and Miraculous Mangosteen” (my favorite fruit, Mang Cut). Still craving for that sweet, juicy and exquisite taste, which is similar to D.H. Lawrence’s sex descriptions, “moist, fragrant, snow-white segments of ambrosial flesh.”

I am feeling what Ray Charles is saying in “Busted,” especially when I look at my utility bill for the winter, “I hate to beg like a dog without his bone, but I’m busted.” That’s alright, I’ll survive. Money ain’t a thang.

Bembo’s Zoo, typographic alphabet, is very cute. Gotta share it with my niece.

It’s been almost five years when I came across this Flash piece from InsertSilence. The music is hot and the animation is just amazing.

Listen to the Motown Remixed online. Pretty funky, groovy stuff.

Chris gives Vassar’s Biology a gorgeous, fresh makeover.

Mad props to the Rice Raiser project. The site is well-designed.

The Wed Design Times featured web-related news, articles, reviews and resources.

Web Design from Scratch seems like a good starter kit.

Wicked Black + White motion graphic from Erik Natzke.

Scroll to the bottom of this site, Tiara is there making sure Visualgui.com looks good.

Trinh Cong Son’s “Vet Lan Tram” gets a blues-inflected makeover by his own sister, Trinh Vinh Trinh. The savory arrangement—crisp drums, intoxicating piano licks, exhilarating electric guitar strumming, and a strident sax solo—blends in with her soulful delivery like oil and vinegar.

In an interview with VnExpress.net, Quoc Trung criticized Vietnamese musicians for taking pop tunes and turning them into jazz. He argued that one has to write exclusively for jazz to produce its true form, and he had not found any Vietnamese musicians who have done that. Although I don’t disagree with him that songwriters should focus on jazz if they want to create original compositions, I don’t find anything wrong with taking a popular piece and arranging it with jazz’s syncopation, like Trinh Vinh Trinh’s version of “Vet Lan Tram.” If we look back at jazz history, many musicians had taken the structure of popular songs, such as George Gershwin’s “I Got Rhythm” and Tony Bennett’s “Tea For Two,” and jazzed them up. That was how the 32-bar AABA was common in the early jazz.

Last week, I presented a collection of Thanh Thuy. Today, iLoveNgocLan.com’s music box plays tet-related tunes Ngoc Lan had covered. Listening to their versions of “Canh Thiep Dau Xuan,” I like both of their unique approaches. While Ngoc Lan gives it a light feel with her angelic vocals, Thanh Thuy thickens it with her dark-voiced qualities. They have warmed up my heart and soul in this cold, bitter winter and given me that wonderful vibe for the New Year celebration.

On an unrelated note, I come across a well-written essay, “Crystal Sunshine,” in which the author, Thomas D. Le, discusses Trinh Cong Son’s “Nang Thuy Tinh” in great details. He writes,”Going over the lyrics again and again, I slowly realize that this song comes closest to being a painting, an expressionist painting. I have to come to grips with it on its own terms if I am to gain any kind of appreciation.” He has some interesting point of views, and he has done a superb job in translating the lyrics into English. I would say French too, but I don’t know the language, so I don’t pretend that I do. After reading his piece, I went back listening to Ngoc Lan’s rendition of “Nang Thuy Tinh,” and all I can say is that who could articulate the beauty of sunlight better than the sweetheart with a crystal voice and sparkling eyes herself? The way she phrased the lyrics made it seemed as if she knew Trinh was painting her portrait:”…your eyes round with ectasy / Scintillating in the sun’s crystal golden shrouds.” The experience is breathtaking, especially with the support of Thanh Lam’s exquisite, colorful sax sound.

Back to Vietnamese New Year, I wish everyone a less-stressed year ahead. If you weren’t stressed this year, you are one lucky soul.

French sure is a romantic language. Although I don’t understand what she sings, the soft, sweet and sensuous vocals of the young Vietnamese-Belgian Quynh Anh captivated me on “Bonjour Viet Nam,” a French ballad written by Marc Lavoine.

I love the drums as much as I love women. Drums are heartbeat of music, and women are, well, heartbeat of men. So what will happen when naked, sexy women play the drums? Find out for yourself. The rhythms are hot; the women are blazing. Nude Taiko is definitely an exquisite form of art from sound to visual.

Listening to Thanh Thuy’s rendition of “Pho Dem” on a snowy day is deep-aching.

Word is bond. Street’s disciple meets business’s hustler. Nas is now hooking up with Jay-Z for his next four joints.

Big up to Diem Thuyen Tran, Miss Vietnamese Ao Dai Arizona 2006. You deserve it!

Jazzy got her groove on “Chains of Love” with the GBJ band.

Ngoc Lan‘s and Khanh Ly‘s MP3 collections. Get your hi-speed on!