Finally got a chance to watch Steven Spielberg’s breathtaking Lincoln. It’s a political masterpiece that makes me wonder how the fuck we got here. In 1864, Lincoln fought hard to end slavery. In 2018, Trump is fucking up our democracy. Lincoln was intelligent and well-read. Trump is neither. Lincoln, gave me hope in one of his eloquent conversations:

All we’ve done is show the world that democracy isn’t chaos. That there is a great, invisible strength in a people’s union. Say we’ve shown that a people can endure awful sacrifice and yet cohere. Mightn’t that save at least the idea of democracy to aspire to? Eventually to become worthy of?

Democracy is still strong.

The new iLoveNgocLan.com has shipped. It needed a fresh look as well as cleaner and leaner codes. I took out a handful of divs in the markup and rewrote all the CSS.

For the homepage header, I wanted to pair up typography with photography. I returned to one if my favorite display typefaces Memoriam by Patrick Griffin. Its elegant curves and swaying rhythms are a perfect match for Ngọc Lan’s styles. The name of the typeface also fits well with the purpose of the site: remembering one of the beloved Vietnamese singers.

For the text face, I wanted to switch it up a bit. I went with Nunito Sans, which is based on Nunito by Vernon Adams. Jacques Le Bailly has done a phenomenal job of extending the typeface to a full set of weights. Nunito Sans is not only clean and beautiful, but also supports the Vietnamese language. The best part is that Nunito Sans is an open source typeface.

Furthermore, I had incorporated some subtle animations into the banners and wordmark. The site is still powered by WordPress. I hope Ngọc Lan’s fans will enjoy the new design.

Đây là lần đầu nghe tiếng hát Út Mai. Những bài nhạc xưa rất hợp với chất giọng soprano cao sang và tuyệt đẹp của Mai. Phải chi Mai được hát với dàn nhạc orchestra thì nghe phê biết mấy. Giọng hát hay nhưng cần phải đầu tư thêm vào âm nhạc như Đức Tuấn.

Blitt is the political cartoonist behind many brilliant satirical covers of The New Yorker. In his latest book, Blitt shares his published works (“Resolute Smokers” and “The Politics of Fear”), his process (rough sketches), and his rejected pieces (a cartoon of Anthony Weiner about to hang himself with a string of wieners). With contributed writers from David Remnick, Frank Rich, Steve Brodner, Steven Heller, to Françoise Mouly, this book shows and tells the humorous genius of Blitt’s body of work.

I didn’t think I would enjoy Marlon Wayans’s latest Netflix special because my impression of him has always been clownish. At forty-five, Marlon is still energetic, charismatic, and goofy as fuck. Surprisingly, his materials are quite good. If you can get past his silliness, you might like his spin on the N-word, hip-hop music, police, Trump, and dirty sex. His conversation with his gay daughter is passionate and honest.

Răng non của thằng Đán lung lay cả tuần nay. Nó bảo tôi nhổ cho nó. Tôi lắc lư và ngọ nguậy mãi nhưng nó không chịu ra. Khi giựt hơi mạnh thì nó than đau. Máu đã chảy ra nên tôi sợ bị nhiễm trùng.

Hôm qua thấy chổ đó xưng lên và nó than đau mỗi khi ăn nên tôi cũng xót ruột. Tối qua tôi lo lắng ngủ không được nên sáng sớm gọi lấy hẹn nha sĩ cho nó. Trưa nay khi mẹ nó đến trường rước nó đi thì nó gọi video cho tôi khoe rằng nó đã tự mình giựt ra.

Thằng con trai giữa này của tôi cũng lì thật. Mai mốt tôi để cho nó tự mình nhổ lấy luôn.

Céline Sciamma’s Bande de Filles is a gripping, wrenching film that explores the life of a young French girl growing up in an abusive, broken home. Marieme (Karidja Touré) whose low grades could not get her into high school joined a girl squad—led by the fine-looking Lady (Assa Sylla). Marieme’s life changed in a significant, surprising way. It’s an oldie but goodie and now available on Netflix.

Geraldine DeRuiter recounts the story of her bully:

In 2010, after years of finding nothing, I learned from a friend that my bully had been murdered in his home not far from where we grew up. Consumed by the story, I pored over every news article on his death I could find. He had been dealing pot and was killed in a robbery gone wrong. One of the murderers had been his childhood friend.

DeRuiter also gives a different perspective on the bully:

Nobody wants to extend sympathy to a tormenter. The trouble is, school and neighborhood bullies aren’t adults. They’re kids, and many are grappling with their own problems. In 2008, the Institute of Education in London published a report that found that bullies had higher levels of anger, depression, emotional disaffection, paranoia and suicidal behavior. Other studies have found that as they grow up, bullies tend to have more trouble keeping jobs, have more problems with alcohol and drugs, and are more likely to have criminal records. A large number of bullies are also victims of bullying, meaning they face some of the same pathologies that they induce in others.

“These kids have been told that they’re worthless, that they’re stupid. They’re dealing with trauma, and they don’t have the social skills to process it. Punishing them just makes it worse,” says Julietta Skoog, a school psychologist with Seattle Public Schools and co-founder of Sproutable, a company that creates video-based parenting tools. “It’s never just ‘I feel like being a jerk.’”

As a victim and survivor of bullying, I also wonder how my tormenters turn out. One of them showed up on Facebook. We were neighbors. I was around eight or nine and he was two years older than me. He beat me up because he thought I made fun of him, which I did not. He was stronger and a better fighter than me; therefore, I was not stupid enough to piss him off. The punch was not as hurt as the embarrassment when I mom got involved. She banned me from speaking to him. As time passed, he wanted to hanging out with me again, but I could not. If he apologized, I would have reconsidered it. Now we are friends on Facebook. He seems to be doing fine. We did not bring up the past. The memory still lingered.

Jeff Rosenblum and Jordan Berg write:

Think about it: Digital has fundamentally changed the way that human beings interact with the world around them. And what was the business world’s response to this world-changing technology? Pop-up ads. Motherfucking pop-up ads. (p.40)

Pop-up ads are friction. They interrupt and annoy customers. To build a strong, long-lasting brand in the modern world, companies must remove friction. In this concise, insightful, and beautiful book, Jeff Rosenblum and Jordan Berg demonstrate the power of eliminating friction to create a brand that focuses on behaviors over messaging, emotional over transactional, transparency over obscurity, and empowerment over frustration. An enlightening and useful read for brand designers and marketers.

Tập truyện ngắn viết về những cuộc hôn nhân đổ vỡ. Tuy mỗi chuyện khác nhau nhưng tác giả cho chúng ta cảm nhận được nổi đau đớn của cảnh ly dị. Từ những tiếng hát não nề đến những chén rượu cay, Nguyễn Mỹ Nữ đem đến cho người đọc những cảm giác nặng trĩu và xót xa. Mong rằng tôi sẽ không rơi vào những tình trạng bi đát như thế. Những ai đang trong hoàn cảnh chia lìa không nên đọc.