Out of the blue, I received a package from songwriter Pham Anh Dung. It turned out to be an unofficial copy of an album titled Quynh Ca with a sticky note reads: “Donny, I have enjoyed reading your web site (Visualgui).” I was flattered and immediately popped in the CD.

Quynh Ca is a compilation of Pham Anh Dung’s poetry-turned-music compositions about Quynh flower. “Quynh,” the only tune PAD had written the lyrics himself, gets a sensual, intimate performance by Dieu Hien whose voice is slightly raspy and simply intoxicating. There are two versions of “Dem Nguyet Quynh” (poem by Vuong Ngoc Long). I have not heard of Xuan Thanh before, but her take is much more soulful than Bao Yen’s. The track starts off with a poem’s recitation backing up by the Vietnamese zither and flute. Xuan Thanh’s gorgeous soprano floats like a nightingale in a dark sky. Who else could express “Quynh Lan” (poem by Pham Ngoc) better than Quynh Lan herself? Her recording of “Quynh Nhu,” “Quynh Le” and “Voi Quynh” are no less hypnotizing.

After the first spin, I was impressed. I contacted PAD to get more information about the album to write a review. Unfortunately, Quynh Ca is only a “burn” album for friends. Still, the concept of Quynh is so clever that I decided to mention it. If any singer wants to cut a themed album, this is the way to go. Hint. Hint. Hint.

I have a concept for a motion piece that requires beautiful photographic of Ha Noi. I have the song in mind already, but don’t have any photos to work with. If you are a photographer and would like to collaborate, get in touch with me. If you know any photographic works, please let me know as well.

Like most of Thuy Nga’s typical video releases, Paris By Night 96: Nhac Yeu Cau 2 is more on cleavage and less on content. Unlike its musical presentation, which shows no sign of innovation, Thuy Nga tends to push the sexual visual to the edge.

Take Tu Quyen’s and Nhu Loan’s “Lien Khuc Hoi Nguoi Tinh” for example. Most of the time, the singers are the main attraction and the dancers are just the supplement. In this case, the dancers who wore nothing but white panties and covering themselves up with a white piece of cloth damn near pushed Tu Quyen out of the frame even though she looked cute. Even when the topless dancers left the stage, Nhu Loan couldn’t top those sensual broads. Although Thuy Van can’t carry a note, she sure knows how to present her body. As always, she looked trashy but sexy. I am not mad at her though. Someone has to entertain married and bored Vietnamese men. Paris By Night is the alternative venue for those of us who can’t make it to Café Lu or Di Vang 2.

By fulfilling the popular demands, Nhac Yeu Cau 2 is filled with Chinese-translated hits (“Tinh Em Ngon Nen”), “Medley New Wave 80” and sentimental ballads like “Thoi Doi” and “Nhung Doi Hoa Sim.” Although Tran Thai Hoa sounded weak in “Tuong Niem,” he gave a surprisingly decent performance of traditional folks with Ngoc Ha. Quang Tuan made his first appearance on Thuy Nga’s stage with Y Lan. They don’t seem to go well together on stage. While he looked like a piece of rock, she looked like a piece of gum.

The diva duet between Bang Kieu and Tran Thu Ha was nothing novelty, but Bang Kieu’s acting in Nguyen Ngoc Ngan’s skit, “Ao Em Chua Mat Mot Lan,” was. He has the perfect voice for the character. Mr. Ngan is very clever in his gay-bashing/embracing storyline. (He first slammed you in the face then handed you an icepack.)

If I have to pick one song from Nhac Yeu Cau 2, it has to be Ngoc Anh’s “Giet Nguoi Trong Mong.” With her gruff voice, she gave Pham Duy’s tune a killer rendition.

Way before I came on board, the International Business department went out on its own when the School of Business couldn’t provide what it needed, which is PHP and MySQL. Since the school server runs on ColdFusion and the department had everything tied into PHP and MySQL, the challenge was to bring the site back to the school and keep everything else running. As a result, I worked closely with the department’s web developer who resides in New Zealand to redesign and remerge the International Business web site.

Lil Duke had me good last night. He literally got me whipped. It was midnight and he still didn’t want to sleep. He was crying in his crib. I didn’t want to wake up his grandma who has been with him during the day and his mom who has been struggling at work due to lack of sleep; therefore, I got up and patted him a little. It didn’t help and he cried louder.

I picked him up and rocked him a bit until he felt back to sleep. Half an hour later I tried to put him back down, but he was brawling again. I picked him back up and went downstairs. I tried to sit on the couch and rest, but he wouldn’t let me. I had to walk around the house. Around one something, I was so burnt out. I put him on the kid mat where he usually played in the morning and laid next to him. He started to cry and I determined to let him cried out. I consulted the doctor and he told me it was ok to let him cry. Eventually he would get tired and fall asleep. Half an hour went by and his cries crescendoed.

I couldn’t let him go on any further. His cry was like a knife cutting straight through my heart and mind. My head was pounding and my soul was shattered. I gave up. I held him tight into my arms and the guilt of letting him cried took over me. I didn’t know what to do. If you’ve been through this, please advise.

Saturday morning, we decided to drive 2.5 hours to Lancaster, PA to pay my mom and my sister a visit. Coincidentally, my family was throwing a birthday party for Andy and Sam who are Duke’s cousins. The party was fun until one of my cousins decided to have a little drink. He drove home and brought back a bottle of Mezcal Con Gusano. Between the five of us, we killed the entire bottle plus a case of Yuengling.

Everything seemed to be fine until I got back to my sister’s place. I was throwing up and had one of the worst feelings ever. At this point, I had to relied on Dana to take care of Duke. I passed out, yet in my mind the pain of guilt was even heavier than the pain of the liquor. The next morning, Duke got up around 7:00 and signaled me to take him out for a stroll like usual. He smiled at me as I picked him up, but I had to put him down again. I still couldn’t even stood straight. I had to lied down again because my head was still spinning.

What the hell did I do to myself? I let both Duke and his mom down for just a moment of drink. Thankfully, Dana who is a wonderful mother had been there for him when his daddy couldn’t. Sorry kiddo for daddy’s irresponsible behavior.

Duke has been doing great even after the shots and the long drive. He’s a strong boy.

Yesterday Duke took four shots: DTaP, HIB, IPV and Prevnar. He screamed when the needles poked his thighs, but he stopped crying altogether as quick as the fourth needle pulled out. I was very proud of him.

He is growing 50% across the board: 11bls 2oz (weight), 22.5″ (height) and 15.25″(HC).

I took off yesterday to spend the whole day with him. After the doctor, we drove to his mom’s workplace. Three of us went out for lunch. Duke got to visit his mom’s co-workers and then he drove to GW to greet my gangs. My boss adored him.

Duke came down with a fever last night from the shots. He was quite feisty. I hope he’ll get back to normal soon or else his parents don’t get to sleep much.

The king of pop had left the building. May his soul sets free.

My humanized alarm clock rang an hour earlier than usual this morning. Around 5:30, Duke started to whine and caused his mom who had been restless with him all night to be grouchy. I picked him up and went downstairs to let his mom catch some sleep before work.

Changed Duke’s heavy and poop-filled diaper. Poked our head out the door and felt the cool morning wind. We took a long stroll around the block before Duke eyes almost closed. Went back into the house, cleaned up the kitchen and took out the trash for today’s pickup. Went back upstairs and get ready for work.

Half an hour later, Duke woke up and all curled up in his grandma’s lap. They looked at each other and smiled. Duke mouth was wide opened and occasionally stuck his tongue out. The bonding between Duke and grandma grows stronger the day his mom went back to work. We are very grateful and thankful that Duke is under his grandma’s care while we are away.

A very interesting take on Ngoc Lan and Trinh music (in Vietnamese):

Đúng rằng hát nhạc Trịnh, cảm nhận nhạc trịnh không cần phải gò bó, phải phá cách, phải gồng mình tìm cái gì đó cho riêng ai – như ai đó đã nói… tôi thích cái bình thường giản dị này lắm, không cần phải lên tới cao vút vẫn tới ngọt ngào, thiết tha trong Hạ Trắng, vẫn nhẹ nhàng mà nồng nàn trong Chiều Một Mình Qua Phố, vẫn da diết và day dứt trong Tình Nhớ , rồi bỡ ngỡ tiếc nuối trong Ru Ta Ngậm Ngùi …một Ngọc Lan trong trẻo ấm áp mà mê hoặc tới lạ thường!!