My thanks to those who had made purchases on Amazon’s Black Friday Deals through my affiliation. Amazon continues to add more deals for Cyber Monday; therefore, you can still shop and support Visualgui.

In addition to turkey, liquor, coffee and dozens of Dunkin’ Donuts, my in-laws spent some Thanksgiving time watching Van Son 45 In Minnesota. Although Huyen Thoai was just another typical theme from Van Son production, I enjoyed a few performances.

Trieu Minh, in particular, was a nice discovery. She started off with a gray suite with just a black bra underneath. By the time she reached the break, the jack went off. Even though she took on a forgettable pop song, her powerful, slightly gruff voice and a killer body are unforgettable. In the close-out number, “Huyen Thoai Nguoi Con Gai,” she blew out both the doll-like Cat Tien and the Chinese-inflected Linda Chou. Her voice was more superior than her veteran partners.

Entertainingly speaking, I found Nguyen Huy, the Michael Jackson impersonator, to be fun to watch. Sure, his voice was still somewhat annoying, but his singing had been improved tremendously. Sure, he was copying MJ move for move, but imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Le Nhat Minh’s bluesy version of Trinh Cong Son’s “Mot Coi Di Ve” was not so bad, especially in comparison to his brother’s dance-pop “Honey, Honey.” While Ngoc Ha’s vocals was superb on Duy Khanh’s “Dem Bo Vo,” the whole Japanese arrangement and choreography just killed the Vietnamese folksy aesthetic.

The opening animation that led to Don Ho and Hoang Thuc Linh’s “Dua Em Tim Dong Hoa Vang” was striking. I suspect Don Ho was the man behind that creation. Once again, Don Ho had done a marvelous job of complement his female counterpart. As a whole, Huyen Thoai was much more relishable than Van Son previous releases.

We just rolled out 17 new items on Simplexpression. On the necklace’s detailed pages, we added a display photo to give customers an idea how the piece look on their neck. In addition to free shipping, we also offer complimentary gift-wrapping.

Ngoc Quynh is a smart singer who makes wise choices. She not only knows her own voice, but she also knows how to choose songs and arrangements that complement her vocals. She has a sweet, sensual voice; therefore, she needs some lush, mellow orchestrations to back her up. On her new release, Cho Nguoi, she enlisted Duy Cuong (who is responsible for seven out of ten tracks) and Kim Tuan for the job and the result is a superb album for late-night relaxation.

Cho Nguoi begins with the title track by Lam Phuong. Duy Cuong’s sensational semi-classical orchestration sets off the mood allowing Ngoc Quynh to deliver the solitude and sadness of a homeless woman waiting for her lover in the middle of winter nights. Likewise, her version of “Mot Minh” (also by Lam Phuong) is soulful and intimate with the support of Kim Tuan’s gorgeous piano. The loneliness in her voice came through without being over-sentimental.

On Ngo Thuy Mien’s “Trong Noi Nho Muon Mang,” Ngoc Quynh sings like a wounded songbird, but she skillfully coveys pain without screaming on top of her lung like most inexperienced singers these days. Her duet with Tuan Ngoc on Le Uyen Phuong’s “Cho Lan Cuoi” is a wonderful collaboration. They complement each other’s phrasing while maneavering their way around the swaying bossa nova rhythm.

While the current Vietnamese pop market is saturated with covering old songs, Cho Nguoi takes on a tasteful approach. Although Ngoc Quynh doesn’t give these timeless tunes a new life, she has done a marvelous job of paying respect to the songwriters.

In his fifth release, The Chi-town Nigga With a Nas Flow, The Lebron of Rhyme, The Pornstar Lover, The Malcolm West who “had the whole nation standing at attention” takes listeners into his Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.

Yes, the eogistic monster Kanye West is back and proving that he is still one of the most innovative producers in the game. He pushes his art to a new level by fusing funk, rock, soul, r&b with a handful of hipnotizing rhythms. The interlude to “All of the Lights” features a light, gorgeous unison between the violin and piano while “Hell of a Life” samples heavy prog-rock riffs. His musical genius comes through on the second half of “Runaway,” in which Yeezy distorted his voice through a vocoder that sounds like an instrument made for alien. Although his beats often overshadow his ryhmes, Yeezy is stronger as a rapper. His flow is less breathy and his swag better than ever even next to swaggermen like Jay-Z and Pusha-T on the appealing “So Appalled.”

Musically speaking, Yeezy achieved his fantasy. As far as his rhyme, here’s the closest one: “I put the pussy in a sarcophagus / Now she’s claiming I bruise her esophagus / Head of the class and she just want a swallowship.” Dark and twisted, yes. Beautiful? It’s questionable.

Just downloaded Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy for $3.99 on Amazon.

My buddy Tim gave an inspiring, informative talk on “More Perfect Typography.” Glad to see him doing well at Typekit.

“Who Can Resist a Man Who Sings Like a Woman?,” an interesting piece by Fernanda Eberstadt:

The countertenor is a 20th-century phenomenon, the approximation of an art that has luckily been lost to us. Much of the sacred music and opera roles sung today by Jaroussky or by mezzo-sopranos like Cecilia Bartoli were originally composed for Farinelli and his peers — male singers who were castrated before they reached puberty in order to preserve their high, pure voices. This act of oversophisticated barbarism, supposedly a response to St. Paul’s edict in the Corinthians (mulier taceat in ecclesia, “women should be silent in church”), kept the papal choirs and ducal courts of Europe supplied with sopranos for their Vivaldi oratorios. By the 17th-century, when public decency laws forbade women to appear onstage in the papal states, castrati were moving into the recently invented art of opera, playing male and occasionally female roles, much as boys did on the Elizabethan stage. By the 18th century, a large percentage of male opera singers were castrati.

Yesterday we checked out scenes from the Dr. Seuss’s classic How the Grinch Stole Christmas! carved out of ice at the Gaylord National. After an hour standing in line, Dao was bored and tired. By the time we could get in, he was already not in a good mood. He didn’t want to put on the big blue thick jacket the hotel provided and the place was freezing. He cried so much that Dana just took him out. I took a few photos and left as well. The walk through was actually pretty short. We paid $24 a person and $12 parking for an experience that was less than five minutes. I could understand why they charged so much to keep the gigantic freezer running, but I didn’t think it was worth while.

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