“When The Colors Come Together” is an aesthetically beautiful watercolor painting by Mr. Hilt, my Jr. High art teacher. He is the man with the visual eyes. Loved his art, loved his class, and loved his personality. He was one of the coolest teacher I had. I missed drawing and listening to Jimmi Hendrix at the same time.

My nephew’s MTX stereo system kills my eardrums. The whole SUV shakes when he pumps up the volume. Couple years ago, he was so impressed with my car system that he went to school to become a professional stereo installer. Now his bass makes my heart pounds. I have to give it to him. The hookup looks mad sweet.

An inspirational story of a Cambodian MC who recites his history through the blend of hip hop and traditional Cambodian music. For samples of Prach Ly’s music and lyrics, drop by Frontline World.

“Thoi Gioi Binary” is an unique Vietnamese poem with English keywords. The Vietnamese version is quite clever but if you can’t read Vietnamese, “a Two-Faced World” is the translated version.

After two years of being silence, Yugop has finally arrived with some wicked experimentations and a newsfeed.

Tonic site is clean, simple and smooth. Check out the “Our Team” section. It’s slick as hell.

Wow! The entire book site created using Flash. Ariel Bookseller is clean, crisp, and visually beautiful but it is accessible?

As I have predicted, Nguyen Ngoc Ngan’s statement on Paris By Night 73 would tick off the folks in Vietnam. However, the misquote from a Vietnamese newspaper is bothering me. Mr. Ngan didn’t say the Vietnamese community in the US is against singers in Viet Nam who were nominated by the Vietnamese government. He only represented Thuy Nga production not the whole Vietnamese community so please get that straight.

The article also mentioned the banning of Mua He Ruc Ro in Vietnam. What is up with that? Mua He Ruc Ro is a highly respected work for its original purpose, which is to celebrate the success of the Vietnamese in America. From what I can recalled from the video, there was no incident of protesting against the Vietnamese government except for maybe Don Duong’s speech but he has every right to speak up on his situation. To make things short, I thought this video should be treasured not only in America but it should served as a sense of pride for the people in Vietnam as well. Unfortunately, the Vietnamese government doesn’t want to recognize the good part about us. They are probably thinking, “Look what they can do after leaving Vietnam. If we show our people this video, everyone would want to leave Vietnam.”

I am not opposing the Vietnamese government and I am not supporting the act against the communist either. I only care about the work of art and the Vietnamese government is not being fare. The Vietnamese community or even the US government is not banning film like Nguoi Dep Tay Do. It’s a beautiful work of art even though it is telling from the communist point of view. I enjoy Nguoi Dep Tay Do as well as Mua He Ruc Ro. A beautiful work is a beautiful work no matter which side created it. I am just hoping that Vietnamse people can get a chance to see both as well and not just Nguoi Dep Tay Do.

I am now rockin’ with the spankin’ new G5. The migrating process is not as bad as I thought but I am pretty much starting fresh and clean to get the most out of it. I was working till 10:00pm last night trying to reinstall softwares and retrieve my prerferences. The hard part is over and now I can’t wait to my hands on that Tiger.

I was accepted to Vassar as a Special Student. I’ll probably be the only old fool in class. I am thinking of taking an English course to improve my writing.

I can’t wait until XHTML 2.0 released. The working draft looks fantastic. Take a look at the Major Differences with XHTML 1.0. It is coming closer to XML. The hr (horizontal rule) is coming back with a new name (separator). That makes sense. The new nl for navigation list. You can now apply href into your li which will minimized your codes tremendously. Many more changes in XHTML 2.0 to improve accessibility so keep your eyes out.

My apology to Trinh Nam Son, the author of “Ve Day Em”, for the incorrect credits on his work. The opening of “Ve Day Em” Flash movie should have read, “Music & Lyrics: Trinh Nam Son” instead of just “Lyrics: Trinh Nam Son.” As a web designer, I totally understand and respect atists’ sweats and tears; therefore, I have editted the opening to comply with the correct information. Meanwhile, I also remastered the sound for better quality. If you have saved the previous version to play on your desktop or to use on another site, please re-download the latest version for proper credits and better sound quality.

As for the talented singer and writer Trinh Nam Son, you had worked extremely hard to create such a beautiful and timeless song and thank you for allowing me to display “Ve Day Em” to the world. It is one of the piece that I have received positive responses beyond the Vietnamese community. It is also responsible for the launching of iLoveNgocLan.com.

Many thanks to my man TNS for his precious collections of Ngoc Lan’s performance on Trinh’s music. She had definitely expressed his lyrics to the fullest with her amazing vocals.

If you enjoy Trinh’s music, Trinh Cong Son Online is a must visit. Although the site is poorly designed, there are tons of MP3s to download. Be patience, the server is extremely slow.

If you enjoy listenning online with high quality sound, drop by Dam Sang radio and tune into the live request.

Chops’s new mix joint with G Unit, By Hook or By Crook has some mighty fly beats. Give it a free spin.

2pac’s Resurrection soundtrack is str8 ballin’. The album is a compilation of some unheard as well as old school joints. Holler If Ya Hear Me is still hardcore, rough, rugged, and raw. Same Song, Panther Power, and Rebel of the Underground proves Pac’s lyrical skill was already amazing back then.

Tim’s refinement in progress is looking great. Congratulations on the wedding.

A new theme design for iLoveNgocLan.com.

Notorious BIG’s Ready to Die – This classic joint has been remastered for better quality. Noticeably, Juicy has a bit more bass than before but I hope it would hit harder. I just love the way Biggie spitted on that track. The simple lyrics hit straight to the point. Ready to Die is a classic joint that you can just pop your head to from start to finish.

Luis’s Alegria – His guitar skill is amazing. This album is a beautiful piece of instrumental. Here are some samples of his work: Selva, El Moro, and Barcelona Nights. For more info on this talented artist and his band, check out Luis Music website.

Ngoc Lan and Tuan Ngoc’s Ru Em Bang Tieng Song – Two of my favorite artists on the same album. Love the duet on Bai Khong Ten Cuoi Cung and Sao Danh Xa Em. They sound great together. I hope there would be more duets on the album.

Last week, I made my first payment through AT&T Wireless via checking account. Everything went smoothly and I even got a confirm email from them. Today, my service was interupted without any warning. They emailed me when to pay my bill but they did not bother to warn me about my incorrect routing numbers (my bank gave me the wrong routing numbers). I whipped out my credit card to make a payment over the phone in order to get my service back. After I recieved my confirmation numbers over the phone, the lady told me there will be a $25 charge for restoring each phone (I have 3 phones). She transfered me to customer service and the guy told me there is nothing he can do to weave the fee. It is my responsible for not making the payment on time. With Verizon, the late fee is 1% without cutting off my service. Verizon even reminded me about my payment via text messages. I was totally dissapointed and would like to cancel my service but I am 1 day over my trial period and I have to pay $175 for each phone. I was totally speechless for this kind of ignorant business from AT&T. So if you’re thinking of going with mLife, remember it is truly a miserable life.

I’ll be gone for two weeks. Not going anywhere particularly; just needed a break from this digital madness. I am quite burning out actually. Besides, I need to spend some quality time with my mother. Probably not the most exciting vaction but it will at least be meaningful to spend time with my family. We’ll visit my sister in Willimantic, CT and a few days at Poughkeepsie and New York city. I’ve been working at Vassar for more than two years and she has never been up here. I probably won’t be blogging as often but I might check in once in a while. I really need to get away.