It’s a nice change to hear young singers like Phuong Vy and Le Hieu get intimate with old ballads and it’s also a treat to hear Duc Tri refreshes these standards with a touch of jazz. Mua Thu Cho Em is not a new concept. Duc Tri cut a similar record four years ago with Duc Tuan and Ho Ngoc Ha on Ao Anh. Nothing wrong with repeating a success.

The album kicks off with a duet take on Y Van’s “Nhung Buoc Chan Am Tham.” This tune has been arranged before with an uptempo, but Duc Tri slows it down with a Latin flavor. Between the two, Le Hieu is obviously more experienced than Phuong Vy on covering old standards; therefore, he saves most of the duet tracks, particularly Ngo Thuy Mien’s “Ban Tinh Ca Cho Em.” As for his solo, his bluesy take on Tran Thien Thanh’s “Lau Dai Tinh Ai,” is nowhere near Thuy Vu’s funky rendition. His nasal voice is far less sexy than Thuy Vu’s deep tenor.

Phuong Vy on the other hand lacks the interpretational skills on how to approach a standard. She also lacks the breath control. Her version of Ngo Thuy Mien’s “Ban Tinh Cuoi” is the weakest I have heard. She chooses to restraint yourself instead of taking up an octave on the bridge even though she is capable of soaring. Her rendition of Y Van’s “60 Nam Cuoc Doi” is a proof. Duc Tri turns this tune into a shouting blue, but he also cleverly added an r&b rhythm to it. The result is stunning as Phuong Vy shows her confidence in kicking her vocals up a notch. Unfortunately, she ruined the song with her English fluffing.

Even though the vocals aren’t up to par, Duc Tri managed to created a decent pop album with his minimal, elegant arrangements. That alone proves that he’s talented producer.

The best part about finishing a project is to see my client’s testimony. Thank Ms. Tran for this:

My Declaration:

I hold these truths to be self-evident, that all web designers are not created equal, that they are not endowed by their Creator with certain equal skills, that among these are: Creativity, Expertise, and the pursuit of Professionalism.

Creativity, indeed, is clearly indicated by Donny’s design of my new law firm website. He came up with the solution to solve the mess of having two separate sets of navigation, instead he combined the two together and let the fonts set them apart. He desires to create a unique website for you that reflects what you want.

Donny knows enough to know that less is more. Often a reader will read what is on the website if it’s simple and catchy enough.

I truly appreciate Donny’s professionalism, his quick responses to all my emails and questions. He can get things done quickly and way ahead of the schedule even if it means that he has to pull an all-nightner to complete it.

I must, therefore declare that Donny was created with exceptional skills!

Some readers have noticed that the tone of my blog posts is lighter. Even when I use flowery language, my intention is to praise rather than to degrade. It’s true and being a father has something to do with it. I am more patience and I don’t sweat small stuff anymore, especially when dealing with children.

This blog has always been for grownups and I do not want my kids to be on here. In fact, I would ban them from reading this site, but we all know how kids are. They will do things parents don’t want them to do. Occasionally, we have some kid showing up here and acting up just to get my attention.

I know who you are and I know that you need love too. Your dad is not close by to ground you or to educate you. Trust me, I know how you feel. My dad is never around either, so I have to be my own man. I have learned to take care of myself and my family. I am grown now and I am confidence that I can be a great father figure. So please, give me a chance and I’ll make it up to you, just like daddy. I will take good care of you, but I will not hesitate to spank that ass if you get naughty.

I don’t watch the Factor, but I make an exception when Jon Stewart shows up for an interview. Jon is the man that could stand up to Bill’s bully and he did it brilliantly with a bit of his comic style. Love the scenario part where old Bill says he’s running for president, Jon quickly responded, “I think that’s a really bad idea.” Actually, that’s a really scary idea. Watch part 1,2 and 3.

Thanh Thao is not a bitch of a singer, but she is a bitch of the dance floor. On Dance Remix 2010, she packs together a bunch of mediocre hits and take them both to night and fitness clubs.

What makes Thanh Thao still has her foot in the pop scene all these years is her investment in productions. Mad props to the producers for the bass-pumping, energetic beats on the medleys that are helping me burning my calories. Even my little boy bounces when I play this record.

Thanks to the 808 drum machine, you can still get up and move your body to the most heart-breaking, close-to-reality lyrics: “Em khong tin xa nhau anh song mot minh anh… Neu khong tai anh thi em da co mot tinh yeu.” Although buried inside those pulsating bass and Chinese strings, her emotion and honesty delivered, as if underneath all the noisiness is a lonesome soul desiring to be heard.

Grabbing your heart while moving your feet is not easy to accomplish, but Thanh Thao has pulled it off. Ain’t that a bitch? Even though this is just the beginning of 2010, Remix is easily a dance record of the year.

My high school friends, Mai and Phong, welcomed their first newborn into the world. Sylvia Xuan Le born January 30, 2010. She weighs 1lb 13oz and is 13.25 inches long. Sylvia would have been a spring baby like Cu Dao, but she decided to come out three months early. Cu Dao has to meet Sylvia one of these days. Congrats to Mai and Phong. Sylvia is adorable.

Attorney Julie Vien Tran just launched Julie Tran Law, a simple, professional and elegant web site with dual languages (English and Vietnamese) to promote her law offices.

What I have learned from our email conversations is that Ms. Tran is not only professional, but also very approachable, and I wanted to convey that on her web site. Right on the homepage, I have Ms. Tran standing in front of a faint (almost silhouette) but recognizable building of the Supreme Court. Her pinstripe suit suggests professionalism and her friendly smile gives visitors the personal connection.

The only problem is that Ms. Tran is a modest person and she doesn’t want the web site just to be about her since she will be planning on recruiting more attorneys. (Any lawyer needs a job?) So the homepage will be changed once she hired a photographer to take some shots to be rotate on the front page, but for now, I am glad we are launching with this direction.

As for the navigation, my initial approach was to have two separate sets: one for English and one for Vietnamese. When I combined the two together and set them apart using font size variations, the navbar looks much better. If users want to read Vietnamese, they can just click on the Vietnamese words.

Ms. Tran designed the logo herself and I made a suggestion to use a different typeface. I wanted the letter J and L to have a sense of balance with the middle T holding the two letters together to resemble the scales of justice. Bauhaus 93 has that perfect balance.

As for the coding, this site is structured in HTML5, the future of markup, with a dash of CSS3 for some visual effects and a bit of PHP to hold the pages together.

Work has been crazy for the past few days. Last night, I pulled an all-nightner to catch up on my freelance projects. The beautiful snowing scene outside and the hot jazz from Dextor Gordon inspired me to stay up to work. I thought I wouldn’t have to go to work the next day, but there was not even a delay.

Here at work, there are so many projects that I need to do so I don’t even need coffee to stay awake. It sounds scary, but I am working around the clock. The only time I get a break is when I am with Duke, which is about two to three hours before he goes to bed. After heading home from work, I played with him, fed him, bathed him and sent off to bed with mommy. I powered up my laptop and got to work again.

I am not complain though. In fact, I am glad to be able to stay busy in this economy. Many friends and family members are losing their jobs and are collecting unemployment. Finding a job these days is not easy anymore.

What makes The Bright Mississippi a brilliant record is Allen Toussaint’s refined, rich reinterpretation of New Orleans standards. With a cast of all-star players including clarinetist Don Byron, trumpeter Nicholas Payton and guitarist Marc Ribot, Mr. Toussaint—who may be one of the best jazz pianists alive you have never heard of—revives classics like Louis Armstrong’s “West End Blues,” Duke Ellington’s “Day Dream” and Thelonious Monk’s “Bright Mississippi” by returning to the root. As a result, The Bright Mississippi sounds sweet, joyful and familiar on the surface, yet soulful, gentle and whimsical underneath. His pianistic approach is full of angularity and subtlety. Every time I listen to the opening riff on Sidney Bechet’s “Egyptian Fantasy,” particularly in this rendition, I wonder where Mr. Nguyen Van Thuong got his melody for “Dem Dong.”

Both Dana and I took Cu Dao to the pediatrician this morning for his 9-month check up. As we have predicted, Duke’s weight (15 pounds 15 ounces) is falling off the curve because he has been refusing to take the bottle for a whole week. Dana tries to nurse him at night, but it is still not enough. We need to suspend his solid until he takes some milk. He is doing fine with everything else.

Duke are growing two more upper teeth so they are now six together. I feel bad for Dana every time she breastfeeds him. She screams in pain whenever he bites, but still let him latch on until he’s satisfied. After the doctor, we took him to La Petite Academy to drop off his application. The waiting list for Jewish Community Center, which is our first choice, is taking a long time so we decided to go with La Petite Academy, which seems nice and convenience for us.

We took him to the infant room to play with other kids. Duke was playing with a musical toy by himself until another 9-month boy crawled over and pumped into him. He immediate did the head-butt affections. Sometimes I am not sure if that’s how he shows his affections or testing his head. Last night he was standing with his hands holding on to the table. He slipped and banged his head against the round edge of the table. I pulled him away as he started to cry. He swung off me and crawled back to the table. He stood back up and banged his forehead against the table to hear the way it sounds. I was just wondering what the heck was he thinking.