These days I no longer have the luxury of reviewing music in depths so I am just going to drop a quick list of what I am listening to.

Jay-Z and Kanye West’s Watch the Throne. A fruitful collaborative effort between two rap giants. Although Kanye can’t match Jay bar for bar, he holds up on his own. The beats are crazy. Check out “Niggas in Paris.”

Toc Tien’s My Turn. Toc Tien is one of Thuy Nga’s bright young stars. She’s not one of the sexiest singers, but still a pleasure to watch and to hear. My Turn is a bit bland, but enjoyable for a trendy pop album.

Siu Black’s K’Bing Oi. Siu Black gives some classic tunes some rock flavors with her big voice. Her version of “Con Chut Gi De Nho” is pretty damn hot.

Giang Tu and Phuong Hong Que’s Can Nha Mau Tim. Giang Tu has become one of my favorite war-related singers. His version of “Mot Mai Gia Tu Vu Khi” is quite captivating. He has a big, raspy voice similar to Duy Khanh without the over-emphetic and over-phrasing issue. Like most of the older singers, Phuong Hong Que hardly changes her singing. Maybe she doesn’t have to since she has a distinctive voice.

Uyen Trang’s Khong Bao Gio Quen Anh. Uyen Trang is new to me, but her remix version of “Xin Dung Trach Da Da” is an instant hook. Even the rapping is forgivable.

This is the first book I read on mobile web development; therefore, I find the first few chapters to be very informative, especially the concise history of the mobile web. While I am familiar with the general mobile techniques, the book has tips that I find helpful like using Sencha.io Src to deliver optimized images with responsive web design.

While the discussions of incorporating mobile web with WordPress, Drupal and Joomla! are short (mostly involve activating plug-ins and modules), the book provided some valuable comparison between the three platforms to help readers pick the right one for the project.

Mobile web is clearly on the rise and us designers need to jump on the bandwagon. Even if you don’t work with WordPress, Joomla!, and Drupal, James Pearce’s Professional Mobile Web Development provides a great introduction to one of the future’s most popular web browsing devices.

I am using Sencha.io Src to deliver the homepage banner and screenshots for my sites and motion. Sencha.io Src is a free service that optimizes images and delivers them according to user’s device. Sencha.io Src is a perfect complement to responsive web design. The implementation is very simple. All you have to do is attaching this url (http://src.sencha.io/) in front of your image source.

A few weeks ago, I played Jazz for Kids: Sing Clap Wiggle & Shake in the car hoping Cu Dao would like it. He was hooked immediately, but only to the opening track, Ella Fitzgerald’s playful rendition of “Old McDonald.” As soon as the song is over, he would request, “Daddy, daddy, McDonald please.” The song has been repeat whenever we’re in the car.

Yesterday, I finally was able to draw his attention away from the song by playing Clark Terry’s “Mumbles.” He started to imitate the scatting and sounded hilarious. I wish I had the camcorder with me. Dao has learned to sing “ABC” and the first four bars of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.” He sang and danced every night before going to bed.

On a different note, I moved his photos from Flickr to Picasa.

I picked up Peter Gasston’s The Book of CSS3 and read through it in almost five hours straight. I simply couldn’t put it down. CSS3 is, without a doubt, one of the core technologies that makes the web so exciting. From media queries to web fonts to transitions and animations, CSS3 brings quite a bit of flavor to not only the presentation but also the interaction to the web.

Through Gasston’s clear explanations and easy-to-follow examples, you’ll see the power of CSS3 in action, which can be used today in contemporary browsers. The last two chapters on “Template Layout” and “The Future of CSS” are intriguing to see where CSS is heading. Definitely a must-read for web designers and developers. Don’t take my word for it. Check out Gasston’s article on “The Future of CSS Layouts” to get a glimpse of you’ll get from The Book of CSS3.

It’s 10:42p.m. and Dao finally went to sleep. He napped almost four hours today in the stroller at the mall. Dung went shopping and I read a whole book. I was so happy that when he woke up I wanted to take him to play some golf, but the rain was pouring. We took him golfing last weekend and he loved it even though he was having a hard time getting the ball in.

On Saturday we went to a friend’s cookout. One of Dung’s old friend has a six-year-old boy. She told us that her son keeps asking her why he doesn’t have a brother to play with. So they are working hard to fulfill his request. The poor guy was bored at the party because most of the kids were girl. Dao is too young for him. So he just stayed with him mom the whole time.

Soon Dao will have a brother to play with so he won’t be a loner. Last night we asked him, “Em cua Dao dau [Where is your lil brother]?” He responded, “Day ne [here]” and pointed to his belly. We corrected him so now he’s pointing to his mommy’s belly.

Speaking of the new baby, he didn’t seem to like pho today, probably because of too much MSG at Pho 75. I have been thinking about the boy’s name, but the only one came to mind is “Duc.” I told my wife that we will named the following kid “Gia” so that we’ll have “Dao Duc Gia [fake morals].”

In a serious note, I would love a Vietnamese name that would be easy to say in both Vietnamese and English. Dao turns out be quite an easy name to say in both languages. Even his friends and his teachers could say his name correctly. His nickname, Duke, is now rarely used. He even refers to himself as Dao like, “Dao is smart,” which is his new compliment to himself.

Hu Tieu Mi La Cay Cho Lon opened for a while now and bluntly scooped up customers from Hai Ky Mi Gia. I tried the house noodle soup a couple weeks after its grand opening, but was not impressed with it. I prefer Hai Ky’s broth over La Cay’s for the noodle soup.

A couple weeks ago we went back to La Cay and I decided to try the curry goat noodle. The curry is a bit salty, but I was hooked. The noodle was near perfect (not too soft and not too gummy) and the goat was spicy and savory. Last week I reordered it one more time with a bottle of Vietnamese Beer 33 and I loved the combination.

If you’re at La Cay the next time, skip the typical noodle soup that everyone orders and give curry goat noodle a try. Squeeze in some lime if the curry is too salty for you. Other than that, the bowl is off the hook.

Just realize that I haven’t written much about food and haven’t taken photos for quite a while. I hope to get back to posting more photos again.

Every now and then I get an email asking me how to create a Flash slideshow. Rather than answering the same question over and over again, I just going to post it here and point people to it.

Although I still create a motion piece once in a while, Flash is no longer one of my professional tools. I stopped keeping up with Flash, particularly with ActionScript, many years ago. I use Flash mostly for animation because I am horrible with After Effects. Flash is much simpler for creating quick teasers.

So the frequent question has always been how to learn Flash. In my days there were many great tutorial sites and I am sure they are still many out there, but the only one I know still exist is Flashkit. Flashkit could be quite overwhelming for beginners. Flash was one of the most challenging programs for me to learn at the time and Flash didn’t even come with a whole scripting language then.

I used the Visual QuickStart Guide Series to help me started. Once you get a grip of Flash’s interface, timeline and how to move movie clips around the stage, you can create slideshows. From there on, it’s up to your patience (lots of) and imagination.

Ngoc Ha has a powerful voice for such a petite figure, but what makes her stands out is the versatility in her delivery. She could maneuver her way around traditional folks as effortless as pop standards. She even throws in some ballroom ballads every now and then just to prove that she can do it.

Her latest release, Mau Thoi Gian, is yet another album showing off her range and trying to cover all bases. The problem is that too many different flavors just slowing down the show. Mau Thoi Gian begins with an excellent version of Quoc Dung’s “Ru Toi Giac Mong,” courtesy of the semi-classical arrangement. The violin solo and the piano comping heightened Ngoc Ha’s vocals.

The second track fails flat comparing to the impressive opener. From the mechanical production to Ngoc Ha’s lack of personal interoperation, her cover of Lam Phuong’s “Cho Em Quen Tuoi Ngoc” is a huge letdown. The music arrangement gets worse on the third track, Thanh Trang’s “Duyen The.” It’s one of those Thuy Nga’s typical mass productions that could get you drowsy quickly.

On the fourth track, Pho Duc Phuong’s “Tren Dinh Phu Van,” the album takes a sharp turn to northern traditional folks. The arrangement here is a wonderful mix of old melodic strings and new electronic rhythm and spacious vibes. The fifth track takes yet another departure to a safe, constrained version of Nguyen Anh 9’s “Co Don.” The sixth track, Pham Manh Cuong’s “Thu Ca,” takes a dizzy route to the dance floor with the ballroom tango. Ngoc Ha even glides into Tung Duong’s territory with Luu Ha An’s “Con Co,” but she doesn’t have the chops to bend notes and mess around with the melodic lines like he does.

With that kind of a range Ngoc Ha could have crafted each experience with each album. I would love to hear a whole album of her interpretation of Pham Duy’s songbook or an entire work of folks flavor. Hell, I would even jam to her ballroom record if she cuts one. Let’s just hope that she gets it. Making an album requires more than just throwing a bunch of tunes together with various styles and arrangements.

Met up with an old buddy yesterday in Eden Center. He’s the only one from high school I still keep in touch with. He hasn’t changed much. Still the same guy I knew more than fifteen years ago. We caught up and reflected on the yesteryears.

Right after high school we took on our own path. We both went to college, but he also joined the US Army. Every time I hear something going on in Iraq and Afghanistan, I think of him. He turns out quite well. All cut and fit. I am now taking on the role of a married man and a father while he’s still enjoying his single life.

At this point of our lives, we seem to have nothing in common, but the thing that we both held on to from the past. No matter how far apart we have grown, I am glad the we still have something that bonded us together. Definitely looking forward to hanging out with my hommie again.