Greg Tate:

Once during an interview with Wynton Marsalis he asked me what quantifiable musical relationship I could conceivably hear between jazz and hiphop. My first answer, besides the obvious rhythmic one, was the timbre and tonality of the voices, the male voices in particular. Even Wynton didn’t find anything to argue with in that. Developing that idea even further I’d say the great MCs of hiphop and the great players in jazz share the characteristic of having unmistakable tones, tones one can identify in sometimes one or two notes, and certainly within 8 bars. The sonic, rhythmic, lyrical organization of ideas of Trane, Wayne and Joe Henderson are immediately distinguishable to the serious listener from those of Ornette, Dolphy, and David Murray—as those of Biggie, Rakim and Chuck D are distinguishable fron the flows of Q Tip, Ghostface Killa, and Trick Daddy.

iLoveNgocLan.com received over 100 original copies of Ta Say, a collaboration with Duy Quang before Ngọc Lan stopped recording due to her illness. If you want to purchase the album and to support Ngọc Lan’s Charity Fund, email us at [email protected]. More info in Vietnamese here.

Two weeks ago (Feb. 17, 2o14), my Sienna windshield cracked. I called my insurance and the representative connected me with Perfection Glass, which is one of its vendor. We set up the next day for the replacement. The technician was supposed to call me in the morning to tell me what time he would come out.

The next day I heard nothing. Around 3 PM, I called Perfection Glass and the sale rep didn’t seem to have my record on file. After ten minutes verifying my info, she told me that they were waiting for the seal to arrive and they wouldn’t be able to come out in another three days. Why didn’t she called to let me know and let me waited a whole day? She didn’t know and didn’t seem to care.

On Feb. 20, 2014, I called the company in the morning to make sure that someone could come out. My wife was at home and a technician did come out to replace the glass. From what she told me, the technician seemed like a nice guy. The only problem was that there was a scratch on the glass and they made a deal to come back to replace a new one last Thursday.

He called me on the day it was rescheduled, but he never came and never called me back. In the evening I called him and he apologized for being behind so we have to reschedule for yesterday. Unfortunately, the snow was heavy so I didn’t expect him to come out. Now I am not even sure when they’ll come again to replace the glass.

It was such a frustrating experience. One lesson learned: never go with what your insurance company recommend.

Yesterday I received the following email from General Assembly:

Hey,

Just saw that you’re interested in learning more about our Front-End Web Development program. My name is Daniel and I handle Admissions for the FEWD course at General Assembly in Washington, D.C.

I’d love to learn more about your goals and program expectations. When’s a good time for a quick chat?

Cheers,
D

Then I realized that I was about a week ago, I was Googling for some front-end web development training in D.C. I know Google tracks me and all, but sharing my info to a third party is a bit too far. General Assembly has appeared in my Facebook feed as well. I guess this is the price I have to bay for using the Internet.

An intriguing take on “How Typography Affects Conversions.” Ankit Oberoi:

For Internet marketers, the most important thing to remember is to use typography to complement and enhance your copy. When done right, it can trigger the right emotion, mood, and even action required to get a visitor to convert.

Here are a few recent podcasts I added to my iPhone:

Let’s Make Mistakes

I love the chemistry between Mike Monteiro’s dry humor and Jessie Char’s whimsical charm. I do hope they talk about design more. I completely agree with Mike on The New York Times’s snow effect. The article was stunning, but I never get to read it.

Typetalk

This is a fairly new podcast on web typography. Dennis Gaebel and Zachary Kain still need some time to polish their chops, but the content is promising.

Real Time with Bill Maher

I am a long fan of Bill Maher, but I don’t have HBO; therefore, the podcast is a great alternative.

Song Travels with Michael Fienstein

I only caught a few episodes of this podcast and planning to go back to the archive for some artists I recognize. Unfortunately, the podcast only contains 15 minutes. Each episode is an hour long on NPR web site.

Links of designers and agencies I gathered for a course on professional design practices. Although I have a long list, these designers and agencies have new, inspiring web presence.

Designers

• Andrew Clarke
• Dan Mall
• Mark Boulton
• Oliver Reichenstein
• Trent Walton

Agencies

• Big Spaceship
• Huge Inc.
• Paramore
• Playground Inc.
• Teehan+Lax

Origami artist Giang Dinh on Buddha:

Remember that Buddha is within any one of us. My hope is that the viewer of the right piece will “fill in the blanks” and see your own “Buddha face”. Do not look for Buddha in the external world; you must look within.

His reason for choosing paper as a medium is also compelling:

Origami is a special kind of sculpture. You start with a piece of paper and end up with the same piece of paper. You do not add or subtract anything thing like other kinds of sculpture. By hiding the unnecessary parts of the paper, the origami artist can create the whole new world. It is magical, like fairy tales. The material is so simple, the possibility is endless. And you do not need many special tools. Mainly it is a direct conversation between your heart/hands and a piece of paper, especially if you fold in the air.

Giang Dinh is the son of painter Dinh Cuong.

Bổng nhiên tôi rất thích cái clip em này ca bài “Bạc Trắng Tình Đời” trong lúc đang ăn nhậu vui chơi. Có cái gì đó rất thú vị và sống động. Mời nghe thử nhé.

I am in the hospital with my mom. She’s diagnosed with pneumonia. It’s around 12:25am and she’s talking in her sleep mostly things about my nephew like telling him to wash his hands. She also seems to be talking on the phone with her friend. I asked the nurse if she’s hallucinating, but he doesn’t know for sure since they didn’t give her any morphine. Very strange. I hope she’s ok.