On her new release, Nguoi Dan Ba Di Nhat Mat Troi, Thien Kim sounds bored out of her fucking mind. When taking on Truc Ho’s tunes in particular, what she really trying to tell him is, “Come on, boss! Do I really have to sing these songs again? Haven’t Lam Nhat Tien and Lam Thuy Van already covered the shit out of them?”

On the remixed version of Truc Ho’s “Vang Trang Tinh Yeu,” she delivers the track like she’s trying to catch some sleep than the club beat. Same goes toward the wimpy cha-cha on “Se Hon Bao Gio Het,” she wants to be cuddle under the sheet more than anything else. The lame-out, upbeat remix of “Mai Yeu Nguoi Thoi” shows that Mr. Truc Ho’s creativity has drought out. Like a manufacture, he makes beats to meet productions rather than expectations.

The most heartfelt moment on here—there has to be something—is unsurprisingly not from Truc Ho. Accompanied by Truc Sinh’s picking guitar and spare-arranged strings, Thien Kim pours out her heart and soul to express Van Dong (Duc Tien)’s lyrical emotion on the title track. Words of advice to “Nguoi Dan Ba Di Nhat Mat Troi”: It’s time to pick up the sun outside of Asia’s sky.

With Dam Vinh Hung as his mentor, no wonder Duong Trieu Vu is a fucktard. His latest release, Mai Mai Ben Em, goes beyond mediocre thanks to Mr. Dam who translated two tunes exclusively for this album. “Nguoi La Ai, O Dau?” is one of those Chinese-melody songs that has translated into many Vietnamese versions. Same music, different words, good job, Mr. Dam!

If we were to take Vietnamese words off the album, Mai Mai Ben Em sounds more like a Chinese record. From “Xa Em Ky Niem” to “Dung Lua Doi Nhau” to “Sad Without You,” there is nada Vietnamese aesthetics in those songs. Even a Vietnamese tune written by a Vietnamese writer, like Yen Lam’s “Rat Muon,” the nursery rap and the Chinese-inflected hook don’t give the listeners a hint of Vietnamese culture. Without reading the credit, one wouldn’t have known that the song is Vietnamese.

With Jimmy Nguyen’s “Mai Mai Ben Em,” Le Quyen’s recent version puréed Duong Trieu Vu’s into baby food from her authoritative vocals to the elegant arrangement. On Do Dinh Phuc’s “Trai Tim Cho Em,” another heavily Chinese-influenced, you can hear Mr. Dam all over it. From song selection to the album art, Mr. Dam is pretty much shaped the direction. Just look at the ridiculous album cover: Duong Trieu Vu looks like he’s posing for an energy-drink commercial.

A mother ordered her young girl who is in her early teens a vanilla ice cream cone at a Dairy Queen takeout while I was waiting for my banana split. When my order came up the girl looked at it and told her mother, “I never have banana split before in my life.” The mother was shocked. I looked at her and smiled. She joked, “I must be a really bad parent.”

What I like about freelancing is the wide range of projects and the ability to work one on one with my clients. As a result, freelancing is always challenging yet rewarding at the same time. I get the freedom to design web sites that truly represent the client’s purpose.

My approach to design is very focused. Instead of giving my client two or three choices to choose from, I narrow down to just one even though I might have come up with severals. I also design the mockup as closed to the finish site as possible to help the clients see what the real site would like look like; therefore, contents are extremely important right up front.

Designing a web site is not too hard, but taking away unnecessary elements is quite a challenge. Take the homepage of Thirsty for an example. The author wants to give the site a dark feel but with a light touch of hope. The background is a powerful image of the steel mill. To convey hope and to stay true to the book, I started off with a few dozens of butterflies all over the page. Then I realized that the butterflies were taking over the dramatic feel. I reduced the number down to three, then two, then just one. Hope is very slim, but it is there.

Another instance is the site for Julie Tran Law. Initially on each page, I had a button to allow users to switch language. So if you’re reading the about page in English, there would be a button that would say “Doc Tieng Viet.” In contrast, if you’re on a Vietnamese page, you would see a button that would say “Read in English.” After clicking through the pages, the button began to bug me. It’s not only distracting contents, but also insulting the readers’ intelligent and that was not my intention at all. Users can still get to where they want to read using the English/Vietnamese navigation so I chucked the button.

Like I said, the beauty of freelancing is that I never know what kind of sites I will be designing. I have never done a book site before nor have I done a law site before. I wanted to work on a restaurant site for a while and Le Mekong was a perfect opportunity. Obviously my love for food and design play a huge part in my inspiration.

Beside designing web pages from the ground up, I also get to freelance on parts of the sites. For Brand3, I put my little PHP knowledge to good use. The good thing is that I have been using WordPress for a while and feel very comfortable with skinning it to fit my client’s needs.

I am also collaborating with a geeky-ass programmer who is also a visitor to Visualgui.com on a very simple but complex project. He handles all the back end and I am in charge of the design as well as front-end development. I pulled an all-nightner last Friday on the project, but the good thing was I was not alone. He was miles away, and at the same time he was right there in my phone.

Mad props to Dana and my mother-in-law for looking after Duke while I crank out these projects. I couldn’t do it without their help and support.

Every time I listen to Tuan Ngoc’s gorgeous rendition of Trinh Cong Son’s “Nho Mua Thu Ha Noi,” it urges me to do a slideshow. From Trinh’s picturesque visual lyricism to Duy Cuong’s intimate arrangement to Tuan Ngoc’s intricate yet effortless phrasing, this tune strikes a perfect balance between words, music and vocals. Imaginary and motion would add another dimension to the song and that is where I come in.

A while back, I wrote a post looking for photographers who had taken beauty shots of Ha Noi to collaborate on the piece. I contacted half a dozen of them. Since the project has no money involved, it’s understandable that none of them replied back to me even though their work will get exposure. It would also required more time from them to go out and shoot more photos to accompanied the song so it was impossible to collaborate. As a result, I abandoned the concept.

Thanks to my lovely lady who scoured the web to gather images that are suitable for the slideshow and encouraged me to pick up the project again. So this is for you, my love: “Nho Mua Thu Ha Noi.”

Disclaimer: This is a personal piece and I am not making any money off it. I really hope that the owner of the images don’t mind me using their photos.

Over the weekend, we took Cu Dao to Gymboree classes for a tryout. On Saturday afternoon, we went to a level-2 class, which is for kids from 6 to 10 months. He was doing fine until he puts on his usual move trying to kiss and head butt an eight-month girl. I pulled him away as soon as he attempted to head butt her. He cried and didn’t want to participate in any of the activities. He just clung to his mom the whole time. We managed to calm him down, but he still didn’t want to do much.

Sunday morning, we attended a third-level class, which is for kids from 10 to 16 months. He was the only guy in the class who couldn’t walk yet, but he managed to do fine. He did tried to make his move again, but I jumped ahead and gave him a light head butt instead of pulling him back. He didn’t give me a kiss though. What’s up with that?

Mommy stood out and observed did participate in some of the class activities with daddy and enjoyed the session. Next week, we’ll let him try out the music class before signing up for membership. It was a joyful hour spending with him and other kids his age. I am definitely looking forward to next weekend.

I also managed to snap up some photos of Cu Dao over the weekend. It’s for you, Hoang. Damn, I miss you already after spending a whole night together.

We went to Todai last night for the first time and it was definitely overpriced. Almost 30 dollars a pop for dinner is not worth it. From sushi to salad to hot entrees, Todai’s food selection is much lesser than Minado‘s.

Lobster only served every two hours and it was not that great either. The creamy sauce was overpowering the lobster meat. Raw oyster was served three pieces at a time. Chinese buffets cost less than half of Todai’s price, yet they always have oyster available.

Most of the dishes were just decent and the service was just alright. Since the place was packed, I can’t really blame the girl for not keeping up with the customer’s requests. If I go back again, it would be for the pretty girls who adored Cu Dao and not the food. I’ll stick with Minado for sushi buffet.

I took Dana out for lunch today at Notti Bianche to celebrate her work promotion. This Italian restaurant, which located at the lobby of The George Washington University Inn., is small and cozy. For starter, I had the hot chic pea, pasta and parsley soup. I was thinking of little Duke while I was enjoying this delightful soup. He would have loved it.

For lunch, I had the excellent bucatini with savory clams and sausage. I loved the pasta. Dana ordered the panzanella with salmon, but the chef made the chicken instead. The waiter left us the chicken dish and made another salmon for us. Both the chicken and the salmon turned out great. They both grilled to perfection: cooked outside and juicy, flavorful inside.

With the food quality, exceptional service and affordable price, this little joint is an ideal spot for classic Italian dishes. We will definitely be back again.

I am excited that Duke will go to our first-choice daycare, which is the Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginia, in the second week of April. It feels as if he has been accepted to Harvard. I’ve been checking on them almost everyday for an available spot. I hope Cu Dao will be happy there with other kids and teachers.

I haven’t been adding new photos of Cu Dao lately. It’s hard to take a good shot of him nowadays. He would rush over as soon as I pull out the camera and start to grab it. Not just the camera, he would dash from the living room to the kitchen as soon as one of us open the dishwasher or the refrigerator. One of his favorite toy is obviously the stereo system. Like a DJ, he switches records from jazz to Vietnamese to hip-hop every three seconds.

A hilarious moment happened Last week when we were driving back to New Jersey for Vietnamese New Year. Duke was sleeping for about two hours to soft music. Suddenly the CD player changed to Thanh Thao’s remixed album. He swung his feet as soon as the bass kicked it while his eyes still closed. I was just rolling and wished I have captured that on film.

Viet Thao issued yet another warning to the audience in Atlanta. Nhung Cung Dieu Que Minh could be the last show from Van Son entertainment if the bootlegging problem won’t resolved. I urge you to go buy original DVDs from Van Son. Even if you can’t save the artless Titanic from sinking, you can at least help Van Son buy his dancers some decent outfits. From the performance of Cat Tien to Le Nguyen to the group’s closing, the dancers’ clothes (T-shirts and jeans) looked as if they were purchased from New York Chinatown for a dollar a pop.

Worst was Ngoc Ha’s outfit in “Con Co.” That dress looks like it was purchased on the clearance rack the day after Halloween. The outfit has nothing to do with a songbird, but more like a cheap ho. Ngoc Ha has gone from classy to trashy and her cans looked like they were upgraded. What the fuck is wrong with her? A gorgeous voice is now accompanied by a sex-up image.

Speaking of sex, Van Son’s production is laced with sexual references. The standup comedy between Van Son and Bao Quoc is outright disgusting. Hearing two old men talk dirty is really nasty, not funny. Bao Quoc came across like an old dirty, horny bastard, but that is nothing comparing to Viet Thao’s rapping. It’s really embarrassing to see a grown-ass man rapping none-sense and had the ball to say it’s “rap not rape.” You were raping hip-hop, Mr. Thao.

Why a guy would need surgery is beyond me, but Vietnamese operatic singer Linh Tam creeps me out as soon as the camera zoomed into his face. His eyes, nose and lips are so fucked up that you can’t tell if he’s turning into a she or vice versa. Van Son has recruited some really weird-ass people on the show like a guy who plays the flute with his nose and a bogus magician even though magician’s act is the most enjoyable part of the the show. The only visual attraction is Hoang Thuc Linh whose look is 8 out of 10, but whose voice is 4 out of 10.

If this is the kind of crap Van Son put out, he might as well close up shop. It seems like he has nowhere else to go, but down.