Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce Tinh Khuc Buon, an indelible performance by Ngoc Lan.

Bao Tram and Nguyen Duc give a mesmerizing Vietnamese opera (cai luong) performance. Their beautiful vocals bring me straight home for the good ten minutes, especially my all time favorite “Me Linh.” What makes this performance stands apart is the soft and delicate touches Bao Tram and Nguyen Duc bring to the opera. Unlike other deep and heavy performers, these two sing effortlessly yet professionally and the traditional instrument (dan bau) enhances their vocals marvelously. So what are you waiting for? Head over to enjoy May Trang Ta Tu.

Bao Tram who puts together this piece is also a talented writer and singer. On top of that, she is fluent in Vietnamese, French, English, and many more. Tram came to France at the age of 11 but she never fails to learn her native language. The first time I came across Tram’s blog, I didn’t think she left Viet Nam at that early age because her Vietnamese is well crafted. If you can read Vietnamese and French, Bao Tram’s blog is a must visit. Her daily thoughts fill with delightful reading for your enjoyment. Keep up the wonderful work chi (sister) Tram.

Last night, I had two big bowls of white porridge and two salted eggs (chao trang hot vit mui), the all time classic Vietnamese dish. Because of its simplicity, it is the perfect choice when you are ill or having a poor appetite. I was not ill nor having a poor appetite. I was simply running out of food in my apartment, which reminded me that a trip home is absolutely necessary.

Luckily, mom gave me a dozen of salted eggs a while ago. She made them herself but I think you can get them at a Vietnamese store. Not sure what she did but I think the eggs was sitting in that saline water for months and that is now the eggs get salty. All I had to do was boiled two of them. With the leftover rice from the day before, I just added water and cooked until it looked similar to oatmeal.

That’s it. Plain and simple but it gives you a delightful flavor. Split the egg in half, scoop a spoonful of hot porridge with a tiny bit of salted egg at a time. Just blow, splurp and swallow. Yes, you don’t even need to chew. How joyful can that be? Eating without chewing. Make sure you scrape everything off the egg and only throw away the outer cells. So when you are feeling not too well, especially with a cold, this classic cuisine is your best medication. Once you try it, you will never go back to chicken noodle soup.

Dam Vinh Hung’s official website (damvinhhung.ws) is featuring Giot Nuoc Mat Cho Doi as their intro. I don’t mind they are using it since I did give permission to a fan; however, they should at least give me the credit for it. I am not mad at the fan but the people who run the site are so irresponsible. I put a lot of effort into this piece and the least they could do is show some appreciation. They should have contacted me and let me know that they are using it.

UPDATE: It turns out that the fan who asked my permission is also the site’s admin. She is new with this sort of things and she had written a sincere apology email; therefore, I hold nothing against her. Hopefully she will be careful with this kind of stuff next time.

By the way, thanks everyone for the support. I really appreciate it.

Interesting subject. It’s already hard enough that the media portrayed Asian boys as being nerdy instead of sexy. Now even our own Asian ladies take a stab at Asian Boys. After reading the post and some comments, I can’t help myself so let’s break it down.

“I wasn’t FOB enough, but I wasn’t white-washed enough either.” I did not realize that when a bunch of Vietnamese boys get together, we become FOB. Since they can’t be white so they identified themselves as in between the FOB and the whitewashed. What do you call those in between? A whole bunch of fucking bananas with yellow skins and white attitudes? Ridiculous.

“I dated [Asian boy] once and he turned out to be this insecure freak.” He must be in love or else he would hit it and leave it in the quickness. You know why white boys like you, right? Exactly! Easy to get in, easier to get out.

“I dated white boys. Some Asian boys didn’t like that much.” Get the fuck out the here. Hey! You want white dick, it’s all good. There are tons of bananas to choose from. That one is too ripe, find another green and fresh one.

“I must admit white guys tend to be more confident and secure… something lacking in those azns..” Here we ho again. They are more confident and secure because they know for damn sure that, “she’s only an Asian chic. I can bang, leave and don’t have to take her home.” He knows for sure that he can find another banana easily to replace you because Asian chics love white guys.

“I would date an Asian guy .. lol.. if I ever met one, that is!!” With that banana image, you ain’t never going to find the right Asia guy.

Now some of the comments are from some of my friends. I do apologize if I offended you; however, silly comments like these only make Asian guys look worst, especially coming from our own Asian sisters. If you want to date white and black guys, go right ahead but please don’t ever make our image looks worse than it already is.

I can’t wait to get my hands on Apple’s Motion. This new toy looks promising. Hopefully, it will be much easier to use than After Effects and produce much better motion graphics than Flash.

The choreography from Zhang Yimou’s Hero looks hot as hell. With the stunning Kung Fu from Jet Li and the striking beauty from Zhang Ziyi, this is a must see film. Hopefully it will live up to its hype.

Dam Vinh Hung’s “Dung Buon Ta Hoi” is probably his newest song and he gives an astonishing performance since the melody fits his style perfectly. However, he has to stop the stupid screaming. Damn! He does it again in the beginning of this song. It is highly annoying. Other then that, he is good.

George School’s Viet Nam Tour is quite interesting. Isn’t it incredible to go to school where you can travel to Viet Nam for two weeks? George School is a pre-college program for kids from grades 9-12. George School is probably similar to Upward Bound Program. The only different is that George School is for rich kids ($30,000 a year) and Upward Bound (free) is for ghetto kids. Thanks to Upward Bound, I was giving an opportunity to go a private institution and get an education I deserved so I owe them my deepest gratitude.

By the way, does anyone know why American combines the words Viet Nam into Vietnam? What is up with that?

In “Can U Get Away” from Me Against The World album, 2pac recited a passionate love story of an emotional thug pouring out his heart. The lyric is refreshing, Pac’s flow is enlightening, the beat is soothing, and the lady’s voice is sympathizing. All the elements engaged together beautifully.

“I can see your state of misery from the introduction / Ain’t about suckin’ and touchin’, just harmless discussion. / Maybe we can see a better way / Late night phone conversations, would that be ok?” -Pac was so polite the to lady. He showed her his honesty, “I hope you see that I’m sincere, / and even if you stay with him today I’m still here.” You can feel the realness in his words and not just some “I love you, baby” crap. Although Pac wrote this song for black women, it could be apply to all the women in the world. Ladies, you don’t have to stick to that man if all he does is fuck, beat, and leave. There are 2pacalypse out there. Actually, there was only one Pac but good men are still around. So keep your heads up. Pac was truly an inspirational artist. The more I dig into his work, the more I respect this man. Pac words surely lived on.

For those who interested in Samuel L. Jackson’s commencement address at Vassar College. Like I said, he did a profound job. After the graduation ceremonies, he was chilling around campus without securities or bodyguards escorting him. Such a cool brother. I wanted to say hi but didn’t want to get into his way. Great job! Mr. Jackson.

Came to Vassar’s graduation today to hear Samuel Jackson delivers his commencement speech. He did a fine job of keeping it short and sweet with some humorous. Why did he speak at Vassar? It’s his daughter’s graduation. Working at at Vassar for a year and a half, I still don’t know who is his daughter.

Designed a new theme (Nostalgia) to celebrate iLoveNgocLan.com 1st anniversary. Although time flies by so fast, iLoveNgocLan.com has accomplished more than what I have expected. As of today, there are 730 posts, 59 poems, 23 articles, 17 themes and thousands of comments from fans around the world. Most important of all, the love goes into this site is unbelievable. My deepest gratitude goes out to the staff and the fans for making this site where it is today. Your hard work and contributions are appreciated.