Với những tình khúc trẻ trung bốc cháy một thời, Đức Trí chứng minh sự trưởng thành của mình qua sự hòa âm phối khí già dặn và lắng đọng lại. Xưa kia nghe Phương Thanh gào thét não nề trong “Đêm nghe tiếng mưa” và “Cố quên được đâu” thì giờ đây Nguyên Hà thì thầm nhẹ nhàng qua phần orchestra êm dịu.

Khi xưa Hồ Ngọc Hà hát “Và em đã yêu” với con beat R&B dồn dập thì giờ đây Đức Trí dùng acoustic để phần hoà âm giãn ra với giọng hát nhỏ nhẹ của Nguyên Hà. Quyên Linh hát “Ước mơ trong đời” rất tốt với phần hoà âm theo giai điệu blues nồng nàn, nhất là với tiếng muted trumpet.

Lê Hiếu, Lân Nhã, và Hà My cũng đóng góp tiếng hát của mình trong album này. “Giận anh” là ca khúc duy nhất với chất rock nhẹ. Như chưa bắt đầu cho ta được nghe lại những tình khúc quen thuộc nhưng sâu lắng hơn.

On February 4, 2006, I launched a slideshow based on “Bonjour Vietnam,” a French song recorded by Phạm Quỳnh Anh. With gorgeous photography of Vietnam accompanying beautiful melody, the slideshow went viral around the world. Now, 18 years later, I revisit the project and put together a sample page for my Vietnamese Typography book site. The main text is set in Herbik, designed by Daniel Veneklaas, and display text is set in Lavishe, designed by Dương Trần.

Damn, Fox’s poetry collection is dark as fuck. Here’s a piece titled “i’m not sure that god agrees”:

There was a time
when i had never
heard a man call me
stupid
pathetic
bitch
cunt
slut
idiot
and there was also a time
when i had never
felt a man’s hands
hit me
suffocate me
or throw me to the ground
but now
if one of these things
hasn’t happened
by wednesday
i consider it a miracle

Here’s another piece titled “the book of mary magdalene”:

it hurts
to see how i’ve
betrayed myself
trying to save
the souls of men
who do not want
to be saved
it hurts to see
how my legacy
will only rest
in the space
between my legs

The typesetting and the illustrations are beautiful.

This book of poetry is heartbreaking yet beautiful. Sin is so good with words. Here are a few examples:

it’s hard to enjoy the sun
when there’s a storm
growing in your chest

you can’t nurture a rock
you don’t water a stone
no amount of love
will soften the heart
of a person
who doesn’t intend
to love you

when you’ve
been in pain
for years
“it gets better”
sounds like a lie

the more you ignore the wound
the wider it grows, the deeper it gets

We were supposed to be a team, but you treated me
like a competition.

Quietly noticing everything. Saying nothing is so
fucking painful.

people rarely see your wounds
and despite the pain, you feel
you spend most days forcing a smile

you’re toxic
I have to stop
breathing you in

what was once
sweet to taste
is now bitter fruit

forever is something we say
but it’s never what we do

tired of handing roses
to the person
who treats me like weeds

the way I choose a person
sometimes I think
I’m attracted to loneliness

the people who hurt you
are teaching you who to avoid

your relationship spoiled a long time ago. Why do you insist on keeping something past its expiration date?

Thùy Chi có giọng hát mong manh như sương khói. Chỉ cần nghe thoáng qua cũng bị lôi cuốn. Tôi ấn tượng ngay khi nghe cô hát “Đánh rơi bên hồ” (Việt Anh) và “Một thời đã xa” (nhạc Trường Hy và lời thơ Nguyễn Thanh Hà) được nhạc sĩ Đức Trí hòa âm theo dạng acoustic.

Tôi có nghe dự án Nỗi yêu bé dại của Đức Trí và Thùy Chi cũng khá lâu nhưng tuần trước mới có dịp nghe. Những bài pop ballad nghe nhẹ nhàng nhưng hơi bị buồn… ngủ. “Dáng lụa cung tơ” và “Dạt dào thương lắm” là hai ca khúc đỡ buồn (ngủ) nhất nhờ có một chút giai điệu dân gian. Đức Trí chơi đàn tỳ bà thật tuyệt diệu.

“Chắc vì em đã” là một bài hit dễ nghe và dễ gần: “Chắc là vì em đã chọn sai con đường / Nên suốt đêm qua em khóc nhiều lắm.” Đức Trí dùng dàng dây đệm bài này thật mát tai.

With open structures and gracious proportions, Euchre, a sans-serif family designed by Jackson Showalter-Cavanaugh, is designed for comfortable reading. Its balanced contrast makes Euchre a solid text face that supports many languages. For Vietnamese, its acute, grave, and hook above stack to the right of its circumflex. Take a look at Euchre set in Vietnamese.

Yesterday our master bathroom fan stopped working. I bought the exact same model (Broan-NuTone 688 Ceiling and Wall Ventilation, 50 CFM 4.0 Sones, White Bath Fan) to replace. Plugged the fan back in and still nothing was running.

The next step was replacing the housing. I thought the plug might have gone bad. Still nothing. The culprit was the switch. I should have checked the switch first. I replaced the switch and everything worked.

Fortunately the fan only cost $22 so I was not sweating it. The small job I could have done in 3 minutes turned into 3 hours. Lesson learned.

Since today was our last day at Mount Snow as well as our final day for the season, I caught the shuttle at 7:50 am to get to the first chairlift of the day. Unfortunately, the wind was too strong, they didn’t turn on the lift to the top as well as the lift at the back side.

There was only one lift opened and it only could take us to the blue and green trails. Since it was my last day and my legs were exhausted, I decided to take it easy on my snowboard. After my first run the blue trail, my legs were already burned from trying to carve. My heel side was fine, but my toe side couldn’t dig into the snow. I decided to change my bindings from -15 degrees (back) +15 degrees (front) to +15/+15 degrees. Just that alone changed the carving game. I was so happy. I ended up carving the entire day. I need to pick up these skills again next season.

I am sad to say goodbye to this season. My Epic counted 39 days on the slopes. I counted 43 days. I knew some days weren’t counted because they didn’t scan my card. My counts are based my journal entries on this blog. I wrote about each day to keep a record.

Without a doubt, this season had been great for us. A special shout-out to my wife for putting up with me throughout the season. I wanted to hit the slopes any chance I had. Skiing and snowboarding were a form of therapy for me. When I was on the trails, I left all of my stress and worries behind.

We diverted to Okemo today for a change. Okemo was an hour away from Mount Snow. The conditions at Okemo were slushy. I took my five-year-old son to the top. When we went back, I took him on the black instead of the green trail. He skied surprisingly well. He didn’t fall at all.

In the afternoon, I hit all the black trails on my own. I struggled on the moguls a bit. I did four runs and the back lift closed. The day seemed so short. I only did a few carvings on skis.

Tomorrow will be our last day. A week had gone by so fast. I will have to say goodbye to the season after tomorrow.

Album đôi của Đức Tuấn thu âm 16 ca khúc của Phú Quang đã phát hành vào cuối năm của 2018 mà giờ này tôi mới phát hiện. Đức Tuấn rất chịu đầu tư vào phần nhạc nên những sản phẩm của anh rất đáng giá. Từ “Nỗi nhớ mùa đông” đến “Hà Nội ngày trở về”, Đức Tuấn hát những ca tư sâu lắng với tất cả tâm hồn. Chất giọng của anh đẹp và miệt mài. Tuy album đã được thu âm hơn 6 năm mà nghe vẫn tươi sáng.