Hot Off Da Street

Got a brand new Sony DVD player for $30 and a used Sony car stereo head unit for 75 bucks. My car is bumping now baby. No, I do not show off my car and I am not into all that supped up shit to get attentions. I just can’t drive without a system in my car. Base kicking loud music helps me get through long hours driving.

Superman

The bonus music video from Eminem’s 8 Miles DVD is so wack. The porno stars are nasty as fuck.

No Motivation

Being sick is miserable. On top of that, the war is depressing. Not motivated to do anything.

It’s a Fucked Up Week

I am fucked up. My G4 is fucked up. The world is fucked up. It’s all fucked up now. I am out this motherfucker, turn the fucking lights out.

Direct Connection With Users

If you have been following the debates on Macromedia Redesign, here is an interesting reading on Designing in Public.

Flash and Photography

Lately, I have seen many online photography portfolios used Flash effective to showcase and navigate the photos. While Dirk Lambrechts photos are slick and sexy, Erik Refner photos are very dramatic, especially the Cambodian section. The experiences on both sites are definitely enjoyable; however, it would be a pain for dial-up users to get around the sites.

Mot Chut Qua Cho Que Huong (Some Presents for the Motherland)

This song affected me deeply, especially at this movement when the war is about to break out. Ngoc Lan did an amazing performance on the song. I tried to translate the lyrics to my best knowledge and understanding of it.

I send my older brother some cigarettes,
so he can burn his life on his fingers.
Send my mother some needles,
so she can stitch for me my miserable heart and liver.
Send my older sister some cloths,
so she can make a wedding dress or a funeral outfit.
Send my younger brother some candies,
so he can have some sweet because life is bitter.
Send my dad a white shirt,
so he can wear it in the battlefield to dry his corpse.
Send Viet Nam our last tears,
Hoping for peace one day in our motherland.

See Men Shredded, Then Say You Don’t Back War

Gluesome, sick, and disturbing crimes against humanity. The world is coming to an end.

Bloody Brilliant

The Quiet American (Nguoi My Tram Lang) is a bloody brilliant work of art that deals with relationship and politic. The bombing scenes are terrified. Innocent lives are wasted. This is the first time I see Michael Caine performance and he surely inspired me. Brendan Frase and Do Thi Hai Yen (marvellously sexy) performances are incredible as well. Glad the film treats Vietnamese beauty seriously and doesn’t take Vietnamese women as a joke. The soundtrack is very dramatic. I love that intense Vietnamese song in the beginning. This film definitely deserves some recognitions from the Academy Awards.

Recoded

The department of Psychology at Vassar has been recoded with xhtml and CSS layout. The design is pretty much the same as it was

Hey Donny,

“Your site looks amazing – really nice work and your eye for design has come such a long way since our first DArt classes!” -Professor DeTurk.

This email from my former art professor at La Salle just makes my day. Professor DeTurk is really critical when it comes to art and design. I remembered showing her my first site design. I was so excited because I worked all night on that baby. She looked at it trashed it right away. I had a black background layout, several different font styles and colors, amateur photoshopped images, and looping animated gifs all over the place. I thought it was the coolest thing I’ve ever done. I was clueless about the sense of design and she was just bluntly pointed it out. The truth hurt but it taught me to become a better designer. I have alot of respect for her when it comes to design criticism and her compliments showed that I had been improved over the years.

Nguoi My Tram Lang (The Quiet American)

Oh my gosh! This is great. Vassar college is having a screening of The Quiet American tonight at 5:30. I’ve been waiting forever for this movie to hit the theatre and it is here at Vassar. I am so excited.

Vietnam Exhibition

The Vietnam, Journeys of Body, Mind, and Spirit exhibits at the American Museum of Natural History.

48 Hours to Live

As Bush stated last night, Sad-damn Hussein got 48 hours to live. Just think! Where would you go? What would you do? Who would you screw? And who would you wanna notify? Or would yo’ ass deny that yo’ ass about to die?

“48 left until my death. So I’m gon’ waste alot of lives, but I’ll cherish every breath. I know exactly where I’m goin’, but I’mma send you there first. And with the shit that I’ll be doin’, I’mma send you there worse. I’ve been livin’ with a curse, and now it’s all about to end. But before I go, say hello to my little friend. But I gots to make it right, reconcile with my mother. Try to explain to my son, tell my girl I love her. C-4 up under the coat, snatch up my dog. Turn like three buildings on Wall Street, into a fog. Out with a bang, you will remember my name. I wanted to live forever, but this wasn’t fame.” -DMH (Dark Man Hussein)

Goodbye

Two of the web related book publishers: Glasshaus and Friends of Ed.

Nice Site

Inform has a clean layout, straight forward interface, and a nice blend of Flash and html. The interactive demo is a little bit slow, though. Or maybe I am just fed up with Flash and fullscreen window.

Bulldozer Incident

Rachel Corrie, an American college student was killed by Israeli bulldozer. It was such a horrible tragedy; however, she was kneeling in front of the bulldozer while other demonstrators were several yards away, according to the Washington Post. What was she thinking?

No More Pain

Y’all know what I’m jammin’ to right? Hell yeah, 2pac again and again! “I came to bring the pain, hardcore to the brain. Let’s go inside my astral plane.” No More Pain is one of the most hardcore hip hop track ever. Both the beat and lyric are hardcore as hell. It cracks me up when he said, “It’s Westside, Death Row, Thug niggaz on the rise. Busters shot me five times, real niggaz don’t die.” Well, I guess you ain’t real no more huh? Hahaha, just playing Pac, you know I love your joints.

Another track that brings back da good old day is Me and My Girlfriend (no not the Gay-Z shit). I remembered pumpin’ this track in my car then my boy and I were arguing about what Pac meant when he said, “I love finger fuckin’ you.” Isn’t it obvious to you what he meant? Exactly, that’s what I thought too but my homie argued that Pac was referring to the finger that pulls the trigger. Pac was not talking to his girlfriend but referring directly to his enemies. What he really meant was, “I love to pull the trigger to fuck your ass up.” Isn’t that an interesting argument? It does make sense now that I think about it. Too bad Pac is gone and there’s no way we can find out what the hell he said. What do you think? Drop me a line to let me know your opinion on it. Alright, I am outta here for good. Peace!

Home Sweet Home

It’s a lovely Friday. Spring is here, hopefully. Definitely going back Lancaster to see my family for the weekend. Haven’t seen them for months and I really missed homemade food. Mom called me up last night to see if I am coming home today so she can make Pho (Vietnamese Noodle). Isn’t she sweet or what? She knows I haven’t have that for the longest. Gosh, I love this woman to death and no one else could take her place in my heart. She also wants me to take her to Philly (an hour and a half from Lancaster) for Vietnamese groceries so she can cook stuff for me to bring back to Poughkeepsie. I guess, she doesn’t want me to eat too much rice and hot dogs. Anyways, I’ll be out so have a good weekend y’all.

Macromedia Beta 2

The new Macromedia homepage is similar to the previous version (not beta 1). It might has a different look but the combination of Flash and html layout is pretty much the same. Although the Tray Navigation was useful, it slowed down the homepage so it was smart that they took it out. However, the Product and Solution Pickers were great and I didn’t think they caused the homepage to choked. What a waste! I am glad they still keep the Rich Internet Applications.

Daily Doses

Every time I drop by DroLLery, there is always new interesting stuff to read.

Inspiration

With slick and sexy design, 4efx is absolutely gorgeous. With clean and simple layout, 4vs5 allows the works speak for themselves.

Unique Style

Oh man, it’s snowing again. Don’t feel like doing anything but listen to sad songs. Currently listening to “Ke Di Tim Mong.” This song was quite popular but I didn’t like it until Dam Vinh Hung performed it with his unique style. It’s quite hard to accomplished something like that because the song already established itself and if an artist is not doing it correctly, it could ruined his/her career. I have seen so many artists went down the gutter for destroying popular songs. Unlike other artists, Dam Vinh Hung unique style enhanced the songs. For instance, “Tan Tro” had a soft tune but he gave it an energy and made it so lively. Near the end of the song where the beats picked up then he screamed out with passion, “Cuoc tinh thu nhat anh da trot trao ve em. Tinh yeu dau tien tinh yeu do dam da va nhieu xot xa…” Loosely translate, “This is my first love and I gave it all to you. The first true love that is deeply strong and filled with sorrow.” He really took this song to a whole new level that no other artist has ever come close. I liked “Tan Tro” before but loved it after he put a creative twist on it. You must experience it for yourself to understand what I am talking about.

William Gibson

Jack in William Gibson cyberspace, author of the infamous Neuronmancer. His recently novel Pattern Recognition is also enjoyable.

Emptiness

It feels so empty at work. Carolyn, my boss, flew to Paris this morning. Lucky her. Keisha and Megg also took a week vacation. Of course the students won’t come back until the 23rd. Oh well, at least I still have d3studio by my side.

Outreach

A one page layout for Vassar College Outreach Programs is so cute. Of course, it was designed by Kreative Keisha. Great job, Boo! Can’t wait to see your personal site launched.

WthRemix

The list of WthRemix Entries are posted. I am surprised that alot of these sites do not display correctly on Mac IE. If I was the judge, here are my picks:

Honorable Mentions: Timothy Martens (clean and minimal with usable tree menu), Tim Brown (straight forward navigation with simple layout).

Grand Prize Winner: Radu Darvas (well organized, clean layout, and nice graphic).

Happy Birthday Boo!

Went to Yobo yesterday with Keisha to celebrate her birthday. The place was quite funky but the food was great. Happy birthday sweetie and have a nice break too. You deserve it. You’re such a great friend who appreciates diversity and down to earth. I am really glad to get to know you.

Vang Trang Dem Troi

Love the comparison of an ending relationship with the moon on the river in Vang Trang Dem Troi performed by My Le. It’s such a sad song and My Le beautiful voice just carried out that feeling perfectly.

“Tinh ta gio da mai mai cach chia xa, nhu trang xua biet se troi hoai. Tim le roi tren song, anh oi, nguoi yeu dau. Con dau ngay thang mai yeu nhau. Ta xa nhau biet den bao gio. Con lai trang tren song minh da mat nhau muon doi.”

Compelling Education Site

The George School site is neatly organized. With clean layout, nice photos, elegant colors, simple typography, and most importantly, no bells and whistles, the site is perfectly designed for educational purpose.

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