New study reveals how kids can easily learn two languages at once according to AP:

Scientists now know babies are born with the ability to distinguish all of them, but that ability starts weakening even before they start talking, by the first birthday.

I’ve been speaking both languages to Cu Dao, more Vietnamese than English. We’ll see if the study actually works.

Ha Thanh Xuan has a dark, smoky voice, but her delivery is not dramatic enough for sentimental ballads. She should consider switching to romantic ballads.

Cu Dao gets his first experience of the beach over the weekend. Saturday morning, we headed to Virginia Beach with grandma, aunt and uncle. Half way through the 3.5-hour drive, we got pulled over for tinted window for the first time. Unbelievable!

The nice thing about driving was that Cu Dao slept the whole way through. We arrived around noon and headed toward the beach. He slept some more on the beach under the umbrella. When he woke up I took him into the water. I dipped his feet first and he cried. I pulled him up and he stopped crying. I dunked his entire body in and he screamed his lung out, but stopped immediately when I held him tight into my arms.

Cu Dao slept again when we took a night stroll along the strip. We enjoyed all types of entertainment from jazz to break dance. He slept quite well that night and woke us up at six the next day. We walked along the boardwalk and breathed in the morning fresh air

We hit the beach again before checked out. Dana held him in her arms and walked along the beach. It was a priceless image. I then took him into the water again. The water seemed to clean up some of his acnes.

The traffic on the way home was horrendous. Cu Dao slept for three hours. Woke up, screamed, got fed and then got back to sleep for two more. The result was that he wanted to play at one o’clock in the morning with daddy. Being a parent is a tough job. I feel like I am on cloud nine most of the time due to lack of sleep.

Ly Hai is one of those old heads who refuses to leave the young-pop game. His new release is another instant mediocrity.

The album has more variety than a bag of Skittles and the mechanical productions brought down his slightly hoarse voice.

Lam Vu’s new, trendy album, Hay Tin Vao Tinh Yeu Cua Anh, is a like a brand name handbag you could pick up at Canal Street. The cover adorns a counterfeit LV brand and the music—from the beats to the lyrics to the vocals—feels cheap.

Pham Duy would get a heart attack if he listens to this record.

Both of Le Tan Quoc’s instrumental albums are perfect for Vietnamese café shops with comfortable couches and without sexy servers.

I have tremendous respect for Duong Thu. Through his lyrical virtuosity and his appreciation for nature, I imagined that he is one calm, humble individual. After reading his article, “8 mẩu suy nghĩ về giới trẻ và Élite trẻ,” however, I get a different vibe about the man. He is mad pissed off at the younger generation and criticizing heavily their attitude, lifestyle, music taste and even rhetoric.

Although I don’t disagree with his view on the use of English into the Vietnamese language (like replacing “anh yêu em” with “I love you” in writing), I find it rather amusing that he does it himself. What the heck is “Élite trẻ?” Can’t he find a Vietnamese term for Élite? Duong Thu shows his age. He just sounds like a grumpy, bitter, angry old man.

POP stands for product of production. To make a successful pop record, the beat has to be solid. Producer Thanh Tam single-handedly puts Ho Bich Ngoc on the pop-r&b map with his flossy, ear-candy productions on her new release Buoc Ke Tiep.

“Mot Ngay Moi” demonstrates Thanh Tam’s producing craftsmanship. The arrangement is an ingenious blend of jazz and r&b, in which the chime, the horn and the scatting added textures and colors to the bouncy beat. Ho Bich Ngoc’s slightly gruff voice drives home the track, which, by the way, is also written by Thanh Tam.

Vocally speaking, Ho Ngoc Bich weaves many r&b nuances in her phrasing, which comes off annoying at times. “Van Mong Duoc Ben Anh” is where she sounds most natural. The beat is also groovy and the Vietnamese rapping/chanting is intriguing.

Not every track hits the mark and some productions even sound mechanical like the slow ballad “Loi Nhan Nhu” and r&b “Co Khi Nao.” The remix of “Co Khi Nao,” however, is a whole different animal, thanks to the hard-hitting trance beat. Buoc Ke Tiep is perhaps the next big step for Ho Bich Ngoc.