With Danh Việt’s debut, Chẳng Có Tình Ca, composer-producer Quốc Bảo gives the Vietnamese pop scene the middle finger. The title of the album is a hint that he’s fed the fuck up with the current trend: covering old standards to death or making reprehensible pop hits. I don’t blame him.

Make no mistakes. Quốc Bảo is a pop artist at heart. The different is that he makes pop records, not pop hits. The latter goes viral then swiftly disappears. He is not interested in making hits; therefore, he has carved out his own path and it’s working out well for him.

Chẳng Có Tình Ca features seven tracks. They are dead simple, melodic, but not too catchy or heady. Unlike most hits in the pop territory, which grab your attention immediately, they slowly but surely find their ways into your heart and soul the more you listen. Quốc Bảo has mastered the art of simplicity and he understands less is more. Although Danh Việt has a charming baritone and he could easily pour his heart out to ballads, Quốc Bảo demanded that he holds back his delivery for this record. Even on the darkest song, “B’s Blue,” he sings with effortlessness and leaves room for the intoxicating blues guitar solo. In “Đối Thoại Nửa Đêm,” a duet with Dạ Ngân, he kicks off the poignant lines: “Thu nối sang đông để gió / Xin mũi kim may vào lòng.” The conversation between the two sound like the relationship has turned sour rather than painful (like the needle poking through his soul).

Even on the more brighter numbers like “An” and “Em Mở Ra Tình Mới,” Danh Việt never sounded joyful. The former comes off lazy and the latter comes across appreciative. Opposite to “B’s Blue,” which is the longest and most painful track, “Em Mở Ra Tình Mới,” which is the shortest (only 1:41 minutes) and the most cheerful number, indicates that happiness could just be a brief moment. Despite its brevity, the tune reveals Quốc Bảo’s lyricism. His description of a woman is quite unorthodox and yet so beautiful: “Mùa hoa em nở giữa đông / rét thu vai buồn lắm thân / mà vẫn đẹp sao nàng hương u trầm.”

Going against the grain might be a lonesome direction, but Quốc Bảo has proved that he could make it work. His simple musical approach combined with his slightly eccentric lyricism make him one of the very few standout modern musicians in the overcrowded pop market. He deserves the recognitions as well as the paychecks.

I am pleased to introduce the new Simplexpression just in time for the holidays. The major change is the new workmark. The previous version set in all lowercase Goudy. While Goudy was an elegant choice, I opted for Raleway, which is a sans serif, for a clean, modern design. The sans serif is also a better choice to convey simplicity.

Although the previous layout was responsive, it was not a smooth transition from mobile to desktop. I was still learning responsive design at the time. The new design is much smoother. For the user experience, I want to make it as simple and pleasurable as possible. Check it out.

Erik Spiekermann, Stop Stealing Sheep & Find Out How Type Works, Third Edition, (p.179):

[W]hen you pick a typeface for text in small sizes that is meant to be read on screen, remember Garamond. Don’t sacrifice esthetics for practicality. Pick a typeface that has character and strength. Basically, the models which survived 500 years will look good on screens today.

With a double-set clocking in at 95 minutes of electronic music, Võ Thiện Thanh really wants you to chill the fuck out. The first album, Hòa Âm Của Đại Ngàn, is not only perfect for Trung Nguyên’s coffee shops, but also fantastic for high-end shopping malls. The exotic instrumental music, which includes drum loops, saxophone, trumpet, Fender Rhodes, electric bass, and several traditional instrumentations, will make the shoppers relax and forget about the price tag. Just shop until they drop. Through sound effects (“Chuông Gió” and “Mưa rừng”), fusion experimentations (“Bình Minh Trên Cao Nguyên”), vocal samplings (“Đêm Hội Cồng Chiêng”), Võ Thiện Thanh proved that he has mastered the art of lounging music. Whether in shopping malls or coffee shops, this album will calm your nerves and melt your soul.

The second album, Rừng Xưa Đã Khép, is much more intriguing. Võ Thiện Thanh takes Trịnh Công Sơn songs out of the intimate settings (thính phòng) and put them into the bars. It’s the impeccable vibe for happy hours, preferably with glasses of Martini. Highlights are the collaboration with Nguyên Thảo. Her sensational alto, accompanied by Võ Thiện Thanh’s serene arrangements, breathes soothing air to familiar songs like “Em Hãy Ngủ Đi,” “Phôi Pha,” “Hạ Trắng,” “Rồi Như Đá Ngây Ngô,” “Hành Hương Trên Đồi Cao,” “Cỏ Xót Xa Đưa,” “Rừng Xưa Đã Khép” and “Tình Xót Xa Vừa.” Although Trịnh’s compositions have been covered to death, Võ Thiện Thanh and Nguyên Thảo have managed to resuscitate them. This album might not be the most inventive reinterpretation of Trinh’s music, but it is definitely the most tranquilizing experimentation of his work yet.

An absolute beginner’s book for designers who want to learn HTML & CSS. My design students prefer this book over Thomas Michaud’s Foundation of Web Design, which I recommended. While Jon Duckett’s clear writing and the pleasing visual layout make this book approachable, it lacks the HTML5 goodies and ARIA landmarks. Perhaps a second edition is needed to bring the materials up to date since it released three years ago.

I have been avoided implementing responsive images for a while simply because most browsers aren’t support it yet. Furthermore, I am too lazy to cut up various versions of the same image. Nevertheless, I spent a few hours over the weekend reading and researching for the simplest solution to jazz up my portfolio. Since most of the works I am doing are responsive web design, I want to showcase some screenshots of the sites I have done. Wouldn’t it be nice to show visitors the mobile screenshot of they browse through my portfolio on smartphone, tablet screenshot if they use a tablet and desktop if they use a computer? So I cut up three different sizes for each site I want to showcase.

I read through a handful of articles on responsive images including Eric Portis’s “Responsive Images in Practice,” Jason Grigsby’s “Don’t use <picture> (most of the time)” and Yoav Weiss’s “Native Responsive Images.” Looking at Can I Use, SRCSET is only supported in Chrome and Opera. In order to get responsive images to work across browsers, I needed Picturefill. The deal-breaker for me with Picturefill is that it doesn’t work with the fallback SRC.

In the past few days, I have been thinking whether I should use it or not. Today, I decided to go forward with it since it is my personal site. I am now using native support for responsive image with the hope that it will work in the future when more browsers are implementing it. Check out the work.

A solid reference of the latest features in HTML5 and CSS3. Weyl’s clear, approachable writing makes it easy to understand for beginners and practical for more advanced front-end developers. Good to have on hand for mobile web designers and developers.

Ngoài giọng hát nồng nàn chín muồi, Lệ Quyên không đem đến cho người yêu nhạc Vũ Thành An nét mới mẻ hay riêng biệt của mình qua những ca khúc “Không Tên.” Có lẽ bởi vì áp lực từ người nhạc sĩ đã yêu cầu cô phải hát chính xác từng giai điệu và lời ca nên cô trình bài những nhạc phẩm như một cái máy photocopy. Luôn cả lối hòa âm của Vĩnh Tâm, Minh Quân, và Minh Hoàng cũng bị hạn chế đi rất nhiều.

Về những ca từ tự tay nhạc sĩ Vũ Thành An chỉnh sửa lại thì là sự vinh hạnh cho Lệ Quyên. Riêng “Bài Không Tên Cuối Cùng” tôi thấy có một mâu thuẩn nhỏ nhưng rất quang trọng. Trong phần điệp khúc của bài có câu: “Này em hỡi / Con đường em đi đó / Con đường em theo đó / Sẽ đưa em sang đâu? Mưa bên chồng, có làm em khóc, có làm em nhớ / Những khi tình còn nồng.” Lời mà nhiều ca sĩ đã hát và người nhạc sĩ cho là sai là: “Những khi mình mặn nồng.” Tôi không biết rỏ ai đã sửa lại lời hát hay Vũ Thành An đã tự đổi lại để tránh né cái ám chỉ trong câu đó.

Theo vốn liếng nông cạn tiếng Việt của tôi, “những khi tình còn nồng” thì chỉ là lúc hai người còn yêu nhau tình cảm dành cho nhau còn nồng. Còn “những khi mình mặn nồng” không đơn giản là chỉ tâm hồn mà luôn cả thể xác. Có lẻ anh muốn gửi gấm lại cho người tình củ của mình những gì đã xẫy ra giữa hai người và chỉ có hai người biết. Mưa bên chồng có làm em nhớ đến những cơn mưa mình mặn nồng đấm đuối bên nhau?

Đây chỉ là sự suy đoán riêng của tôi nhưng khi nhạc sĩ Vũ Thành An phải sửa lại hết toàn bộ lời cho “Bài Không Tên Cuối Cùng” thì tôi thấy sự suy nghỉ đó không phải không đúng. Theo như nhạc sĩ cho biết ông không muốn người tình củ và chồng của cô phải đau buồn về lời lẻ của ông đã viết lúc còn trẻ, thất tình và nóng nảy. Nếu như chỉ đơn giản “những khi tình còn nồng” thì đâu có gì quá lớn lao phải khiến ông sửa lời hết cả bài. Ai mà không có những lúc tâm hồn yêu nồng nàn? Nhưng “những khi mình mặn nồng” thì khác nhiều. Và ông phải sủa lại rằng: “Này em hỡi / Con đường em đi đó / Con đường em theo đó / Đúng đấy em ơi / Nếu chúng mình có thành đôI lứa / Chắc gì ta đã thoát ra đời khổ đau.”

The first section of Sue Apfelbaum and Juliette Cezzar’s new book gives an informative primer for editorial design and its elements such as format, identity and typography. The book then jumps right into case studies and interviews, which are the bulk part of the book. While the real-world examples are useful, the book is missing the entire practical aspect of designing the editorial experience, something that I was hoping to read and learn when I decided to make the purchase.

As with his excellent JavaScript: A Beginner’s Guide, John Pollock makes jQuery approachable and easy to understand. Pollock not only clearly explains the concept of jQuery, he also walks you through step-by-step tutorials of how to use it. He builds each exercise gently from one to the next. jQuery: A Beginner’s Guide is a required read for anyone who wants to add rich user interaction to the web.