In her new concise, engaging book, Ms. Lemott shares inspiring stories drawing from the Bible, real life, and her own flaws to illustrate mercy. Ms. Lemott is obviously a skillful writer. Just read how she defines mercy:

Misericordia is Latin for “mercy,” from misericors, “merciful,” which is in turn derived from misereri,“to pity,” and cor, “heart.” Mercy means compassion, empathy, a heart for someone’s troubles. It’s not something you do—it is something in you, accessed, revealed, or cultivated through use, like a muscle. We find it in the most unlike places, never where we first look. (p.51)

Although Ms. Lemott incorporates theology in her writing, she is not preaching. In fact, she questioned God and I appreciate that. The conflicts she had with her son resonated with me the most. I am sure I will be in the same boat when my boys become teenagers. It’s touching and beautifully written. The book design by Amanda Dewey is also gorgeous. I highly recommend turning off your digital device and pick up this book, you’ll be enlightened.

Farhad Manjoo:

Basically, I was trying to slow-jam the news — I still wanted to be informed, but was looking to formats that prized depth and accuracy over speed.

It has been life changing. Turning off the buzzing breaking-news machine I carry in my pocket was like unshackling myself from a monster who had me on speed dial, always ready to break into my day with half-baked bulletins.

Now I am not just less anxious and less addicted to the news, I am more widely informed (though there are some blind spots). And I’m embarrassed about how much free time I have — in two months, I managed to read half a dozen books, took up pottery and (I think) became a more attentive husband and father.

These days I turned off all of the notifications on my phone. I prefer to read printed books over digital devices. I still carry a book with me everywhere I go. I look more like a dork reading a book while most people around me stare at their screen, even in my own home. I deactivate Facebook until I need to use Messenger to communicate with my family in Vietnam. I still need some work with Twitter since I use it mainly related to web design and development. The online publications I read the most are The New Yorker and The New York Times and I usually go for the long essays rather than quick news.

It gets me every time. Whenever I listened to an engaging web design podcast from well-respected web designers talking about the possibility of CSS grid or the excitement of art direction on the web, the host would ask the guest to hold on to that thought so the host could thank the sponsor. Then the host would proceed with something like, “When I have friends or a family members needed a website and they ask me to do it. I don’t want to hurt their feeling, but I also don’t have the time to do it. So I recommend Squarespace to them.” Then the host goes on to read all the wonderful features like big sliders and slick parallax scrollings Squarespace offers.

Isn’t it hypocritical of the hosts to accept those kind of sponsors for web design podcasts? On the show, they criticize how the web is losing its soul and yet they have no shame promoting pre-designed templates from Squarespace, Wix, and similar services. Don’t small businesses deserve a unique-looking website as well to communicate with their customers? Templating is not the way to go. These days, I can spot a Squarespace-templated website without even having to look at the source codes. They all have similar layout, typography, and big graphic area.

If you care about your brand, image, and uniqueness and your designer friends turned you down, don’t settle for generic designs. There are still tons of individual web designers specializes in creating small, simple websites. I am one if them. I have a full-time job already; therefore, I love working on small websites on the side. What type of sites are we talking about? Let’s take a look at some examples.

If you have something to promote, you could use a simple, fast website. For example, I recently designed a website for a professor who had written a screenplay. He didn’t need a CMS since the site is mostly information about the film. He updated the script from time to time and I am fine with helping him uploading a PDF.

If you own a restaurant, you could use a unique website that stands apart from templated designs from Squarespace. I designed a website for Le Mekong Vietnamese Cuisine almost ten years ago and it is still looking great today. The owner contacted me from time to time to update the menu, but most of the information remain the same.

If you want to have the ability to update your own content, I could help you choose a CMS that make works well for what you want to do. For Đẹp Designs, a small architecture studio, I implemented Kirby for them to update the contents with ease.

So if you need a small, custom-designed website, come talk to me rather than making your business the same as millions of others. You want to stand out, not stand in.

I just renewed my membership for Font of the Month Club by David Jonathan Ross. I can’t believe it has been almost a year already. Time flies when you have fonts every month.

Even though these fonts are works in progress, I have been able to put them to use on this blog (current headings are set in Rhododendron) as well as my own site (Bild and Roslindale Text). I must sound like a broken record, but Vietnamese support in a typeface is crucial to me. I am glad David has included Vietnamese diacritics in every Font of the Month. I wish more type designers would make Vietnamese support part of their work-in-progress fonts as well.

After eleven months with eleven fonts, I am still a happy member. If you love playing with types, you’ll definitely find values in being a member. If you’re a design student, this is a good way to impress your professor and classmates without putting a whole in your wallet. As much as I love classic typefaces, I am getting tired of seeing Akzidenz-Grotesk, Helvetica, and Univers in every packaging, branding, and web design. It’s time step up your student projects with new fonts.

I am looking forward to getting all the fonts on the first day of each months to come. Thank you, David.

The launching of Future Fonts is creating some buzz in the type community. The gist of it is that type designers offer their work in progress at a low price. Lizy Gershenzon explains its pricing model:

Future Fonts also makes financial sense for both type designers and buyers. Without devaluing the work, you can get typefaces at a cheaper price. This is because they are still in progress and don’t cost as much as their final releases. As more work is completed and new versions are added, the price goes up. Early buyers lock in at the cheapest rate and get free updates along the way. It’s a win, win, with extra incentive to buy typefaces early.

It’s a fascinating concept, but Future Fonts doesn’t work for me personally because the fonts do not have Vietnamese support. In a way, Future Fonts is similar to David Jonathan Ross’s Font of the Month Club, which I am a member, but David makes his fonts available in as many languages as possible and I really appreciate that.

Jane Mayer writes:

The sources said that when Trump had stayed in the Presidential suite of Moscow’s Ritz-Carlton hotel, in 2013, he had paid “a number of prostitutes to perform a ‘golden showers’ (urination) show in front of him,” thereby defiling a bed that Barack and Michelle Obama had slept in during a state visit.

I try to stay away from politics, but every time Ms. Mayer has a new piece in The New Yorker, I have to stop everything and read it. What a great report on “The Man Behind the Dossier.” I have tremendous respect for Ms. Mayer.

The strong wind over the weekend was terrifying. Other than a few hours without power, nothing has damaged. There were moments I felt like the roof was flying off. I re-nailed the gutters and aluminum trims a couple months ago; therefore, nothing blew off. I am glad that we survived the catastrophe. On top of all, we survived the kids’ conflicts.

The boys played well together for the most part. They still argued from time to time, but no crying, screaming, and whining. I consider that to be a progress when you put five kids together in one house of a couple of days. The boys even decided to have a sleepover. I was a bit anxious at first, but they seemed to get along fine.

The parents had agreed to step back and it seemed to work. We give them a chance to they talk it out. We only intervened if things got too rough. Fortunately, we didn’t have to do much of it. It’s so nice to see the kids played together peacefully. They put less stress on us. The iPads helped too even though I feel guilty as hell for giving in to the evil of technology. What is there for them to do when the are stuck in the house? Letting them running around the house drives me nuts as well. Overall, we had a wonderful time being stuck in the house.

Couldn’t fall asleep last night so I dived right into the “Shrimp & Crawfish” episode of Dave Chang’s Ugly Delicious on Netflix. I started with this particular episode because I wanted to learn the Viet-Cajun cuisine in Houston.

When Chang visited New Orleans he was turned off by the traditionalist. Even a crawfish joint ran by a Vietnamese-America family refused to change the recipe. The chef just cooked the crawfish the way he was taught many years ago. It’s a missed opportunity.

When Chang visited Crawfish & Noodles in Houston, chef Trọng Nguyễn brought Vietnamese rich flavors into the crawfish. Chang doesn’t reject the tradition, but he is also into experimentation and creating new creative fusion. He is an open-minded chef and individual.

The most striking moment of this episode is the conversation he had with a Vietnamese-American shrimper. The man referred to himself as the Vietnamese redneck. He and his family were given an opportunity to pursue the American dream, yet he criticized the other half of the country for taking handouts instead of working hard like them. It’s quite patronizing coming from an immigrant himself.

Chang, on the other hand, simply wanted to give new immigrants an opportunity like we had a couple of decades ago. WhatI appreciate about Ugly Delicious isn’t just the mouthwatering food, but also the political, racial, and cultural perspectives, and most importantly, the openness and acceptance. I am looking forward to watch the rest of the episodes.

I love the art of stand-up comic and I have watched as many specials as I can, but this is the first time reading one. Grossman’s novel revolves around a 57-year-old Israeli comedian with a wounded soul trying to tell jokes for almost 200 pages. He started off with a few funny jokes, but then delved deeper into his bizarre, terrifying personal stories. His materials got darker and harder for his audience to tolerate. He even beat himself up and broke his glasses. It’s a tragic yet terrific read. Jessica Cohen’s translation does Grossman’s fiction its justice.

The plot of Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s The Assassin is hard to follow, but it doesn’t matter. The experience is slow and splendid. The cinematography is stunning and Mr. Hou makes damn sure that you are not missing a frame of it. As for the title character, Shu Qi’s cold beauty and virtuosity in martial art make her irresistible. A visual masterpiece.