As far back as I can remember, the first time I listen to a Bob Dylan record was in my freshman year in college. One of my roommates had a sizable collection of Dylan’s CDs. I borrowed one, can’t recall which album, for a spin and was unimpressed with his voice. At the time I was not into lyricism and I was not a rock fan. The only rock music I have listened to all these years is Jimi Hendrix’s.

Last week I read the biography of Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson and learned that Jobs was not only a big fan of Dylan, but he was also using Dylan’s music in his works and quoting Dylan’s lyrics in his presentations. Jobs piqued my interest in Dylan once again. As I searched through my music collection, the only full album I have of Dylan is Highway 61 Revisited. Tim Brown, a former colleague at Vassar College, gave me the album years ago. We shared similar taste in jazz, blues and hip-hop, but I was not into rock.

Upon revisiting Highway 61 in the past couple of days, I still not am impressed with Dylan’s voice—though it is growing on me. The lack of interest in his singing forces me to pay attention to his lyrics. Right off the opening, “Like a Rolling Stone,” Dylan demonstrates his master of storytelling through four concise verses of from-riches-to-rags tales. The chorus of “Tombstone Blues” is already stuck in my head:

Mama’s in the factory
She ain’t got no shoes
Daddy’s in the alley
He’s lookin’ for the fuse
I’m in the streets
With the tombstone blues

Yet the track that epitomizes Dylan’s genius of lyricism is “Desolation Row.” Clocking in over eleven minutes without a chorus, Dylan drops ten verses filled poetic allusion, powerful imagery and countercultural references. By stripping the instrumentation down to just picking acoustic guitar, Dylan gave the song a raw, authentic feel and free of distraction from the lyrics. I am now a fan of Dylan and about to embark on a journey to rediscover his music. I now have two favorite rock musicians: Hendrix and Dylan.

In the introduction of Typefaces for Books, James Sutton and Alan Bartram argue:

While display faces can be extrovert, colourful and rich in character, book faces must be transparent, allowing the reader to hear the author’s voice without distortion or interference.

It is in answering this little question of the author’s voice that the book typographer’s task lies. He must invent an action, a tone, and decide on the volume: should he whisper or shout or sing? whatever he decides he must keep in mind that he is making a window through which the reader can see the view as clearly as possible and be quite unconscious of the proportions of the glazing bars.

A typographic resource, part showcase, part specimen. The book examples are complemented with the authors’s concise criticism. The specimen demonstrations come with various text sizes and line heights. Not all types in the specimen are appropriate for reading text. The book itself is set in Ellington, which is not a friendly for reading typeface either. Nevertheless, the brief historical background of printing and bookmaking is informative.

As we were heading to daycare, Dao greeted his friend Sam. Sam introduced his mother to Dao, “This is my mom.” Dao replied, “But she looks like your grandma.” Luckily she was busy dealing with her access card, which was not working, and didn’t hear what he said. I said to Dao, “Please don’t say that.” But I didn’t explain to him why he shouldn’t. Even though it was not the nice thing to say, he was speaking his mind.

When I was kid, I probably said a lot of things similar, but when my mom was being harsh on me, I lost the confidence of speaking my mind. Years ago, my cousin loved to put together some sort of a talent show whenever we had a family gathering. Each member of the family was encouraged to do something such as singing, dancing or telling jokes. Now that I think about it he had a very good intention. He taped all the video, but I am not sure what he had done with them.

One time, I stood up and told a joke I heard when I was a kid. The joke was that Vietnamese people loved to eat corns without chewing because they could save money by shitting them out, washing them and eating them again. It was a very stupid joke, but most people laughed. The next day I asked my mom what did she think of the joke and she responded in a very snarky way, “You insulted the entire people of Vietnam and I couldn’t find a rock to hide under.” It hit me like a ton of bricks. I felt the goosebumps all over me. From that day on, I refused to participate in anything at family gathering. Her words continued to haunt me even when I went to college and every time I had to do public speaking.

Now I realize that I was stupid and that I made a dumb joke, but it was not the end of the world. I don’t want that to happen to my kids. They should be able to speak their mind and learn from their mistakes, but they shouldn’t be afraid to speak out. Most of the things that they do say are quite adorable. Last week, I was holding lil Han in my arms. Dan ran up to me and demanded, “Daddy, hold me. I want you to take care of me.” It was just so sweet. When grandma sat lil Dan on her lap, Dan wanted to sit on her lap as well and he said, “Grandma, I am a baby too.”

Being a parent, I find it challenging to balance between discipline and freedom and I am horrible at it. I really admire parents who discipline their kids well. I am more on the opposite end; therefore, whenever the child discipline topic comes up, I just listen. I have no advice to give. Some parents believe that you have to be tough with them. Some parents believe you don’t.

I used to spank my kids, particularly Dao, but it was not working so I don’t do it anymore. I improvise in most situation and I am still struggling to set aside my emotion when dealing with them. When I get emotional, I tend to get really mad and I can’t think straight. I just end up shutting myself down. Public humiliation is no longer a big deal to me. If my wife and kids want to humiliate me in public; there is nothing I can do. I know that my wife doesn’t mean it to when she raised her voice at me in public, but after many times of reminding her don’t seem to work, I just let her have it. I just do my part not to embarrass her in front of our family and friends. The kids don’t know any better so I just let them act out whatever they want. Everyone is responsible for his own behavior and I can’t control anyone else’s but my own.

I sympathize with parents whose kids has no kind of respect whatsoever to them. I don’t know their situation so I don’t judge. I highly admire parents whose kids follow their orders. Wow, this is a long rant.

Yesterday morning was just another day of commuting to work. The weather was nice and I was just doing my business as usual until the cop pulled me over before the intersection of Columbia Pike and Oak Hill Drive. I have been driving on this road everyday for almost three years and I had never had any speeding issues. It’s a quiet road with lots of trees. In the summertime, I usually slow down every Thursday to enjoy the farmer market.

In the past few months, the road has been reworked; therefore, the road has been very bumpy. I hate driving on bumpy road simply because I feel bad for my car; therefore, I even drive slower than normal. Yesterday was no exception. There was no way I could have driven 50 miles in a 35-mile zone. I am definitely going to court again to fight this false accusation.

Whenever I get pullover I usually get stress out even though I tell myself that it’s part of life. I have to deal with every four or five years. I shouldn’t let this type of obstacles get to me. I have more important things to think about. I know that there’s not much I can do. I just need to be patience and deal with it when the time comes. For now, I just let it out of my system and writing a mundane post on this topic should do it.

Similar to Alexander Lawson’s Anatomy of a Typeface, Type & Typography is an invaluable book on learning the history of typography. The articles, selected from the Matrix archive, covered a wide range of topics including early Indian typography, the Colum Cille Irish type, Greek types, Treyfold type and music type. The body text of the book is set in Hermann Zapf’s Comenius, which is beautiful, legible and readable.

(Updated)

• Type & Typography: Highlights From Matrix by John Randle, John Berry
• Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
• 30 Years of Swiss Typographic Discourse in the Typografische Monatsblätter by Louise Paradis, Francois Rappo
• Typeface: Classic Typography for Contemporary Design by Tamye Riggs
• Designing Design by Kenya Hara
• Anatomy of a Typeface by Alexander Lawson
• White by Kenya Hara
• Letters of Credit: A View of Type Design by Walter Tracy
• Typographie: A Manual of Design by Emil Ruder
• What They Didn’t Teach You in Design School by Phil Cleaver
• Book Typography: A Designer’s Manual by Michael and Susan Wightman Mitchell

Had a relaxing week in North Carolina. Even though the vacation was short, I am grateful for the time spent with my love ones. We went to the beach a bit and ate a lot of food. I had a chance to read a book. Thanks to my in-laws for the wonderful moments we shared. I am now recharged for an excited project at work.

Now that the hype has subsided, I got around to read Walter Isaacson’s Steve Jobs. In contrast to the negative criticisms from the tech community, I find Isaacson’s writing to be engaging, particularly in demonstrating Jobs’s design sensibility. Jobs had picked the right author to write his biography. I am glad I read it after all. The book is also way better than the movie played by Ashton Kutcher.

Lê Khôi’s debut Cho Một Lần Quên is a predictable but pleasant ballad record. He covers standards from Diệu Hương, Phú Quang and Trường Sa. His charming baritone jelled the most with Diệu Hương’s simple, melodic compositions. He delivers “Để Mặc Tôi Yêu Em” with honesty and empathy.

His most successful take on Phú Quang’s is “Có Một Vài Điều Anh Muốn Nói Với Em.” Trường Sa’s compositions are too mature for him. His take on “Một Mai Em Đi” and “Xin Còn Gọi Tên Nhau” shows that he lacks the experience to truly express the writer’s emotional lyricism.

One of the major setbacks of the album is the musical productions. The pre-arrangements were stale and lacking of dynamics. While Lê Khôi’s voice has potential, he needs to step further than being lumped into Quang Dũng’s group.