Armani White delivers a concise album with bouncing beats, fluid flows, and great guests. White invited 90s rap stars, Ludacris, Busta Rhymes, and N.O.R.E., on “Billie Eilish Legends Mix” to close out the album. I haven’t listened to these MCs for years and they had proved that they can still rhyme.
Without me, who will take you home from school
Who will write letters for you to bring to class
Who will dry your tears when you cry
Who will take you out on rainy evenings
And when you smile during the nights,
Who will admire your white teeth
Your bright eyes are like glistening planets
When the air’s foggy, who will breathe to clear the mist
Who will hold your hands to make your cheeks turn pink
Who will gently breathe clouds into your hair…
Without me, if one day you should cry
The autumn light in your eyes will be diminished
Your hair grows longer with poet melancholy…
Without me, who will fondle you
Who will see the smile in your eyes
Who will listen to you talking about the autumn wind
Who will hold your hands and lead you to the joys of Spring
And feel your veins pulsing with life
Without me, if one day you should die
God will ask me why your hair lacks luster
Why your arms so skinny, why your eyes so dull
With head bowed in shame, I’ll be heading toward Hell.
Translated by Vương Thanh
Không có anh lấy ai đưa em đi học về
Lấy ai viết thư cho em mang vào lớp học
Ai lau mắt cho em ngồi khóc
Ai đưa em đi chơi trong chiều mưa
Những lúc em cười trong đêm khuya
Lấy ai nhìn những đường răng em trắng
Đôi mắt sáng là hành tinh lóng lánh
Lúc sương mờ ai thở để sương tan
Ai cầm tay cho đỏ má hồng em
Ai thở nhẹ cho mây vào trong tóc…
Không có anh nhỡ một mai em khóc
Ánh thu buồn trong mắt sẽ hao đi
Tóc sẽ dài thêm mớ tóc buồn thơ
Không có anh thì ai ve vuốt
Không có anh lấy ai cười trong mắt
Ai ngồi nghe em nói chuyện thu phong
Ai cầm tay mà dắt mùa xuân
Nghe đường máu run từng cành lộc biếc
Không có anh nhỡ ngày mai em chết
Thượng đế hỏi anh sao tóc em buồn
Sao tay gầy, sao đôi mắt héo hon
Anh sẽ phải cúi đầu đi về địa ngục…
Nguyên Sa
This self-titled album is the first time I set my ear on Dara Starr Tucker. With her beautiful voice, she maneuvers her way effortlessly around the bossa-nova rhythm on “Scars,” the album opener. She sweeps me up completely on the second track. Her interpretation of John Denver’s “Annie’s Song” is just so damn romantic. Listening to her phrasing reminds me of the love of my life. After 15 years together, I still have tremendous love for my wife. Our relationship has been on the upward trajectory. She helps release my stress. The lyrics capture our love; therefore; I have to quote the entire song written by John Denver:
You fill up my senses
Like a night in a forest
Like the mountains in springtime
Like a walk in the rain
Like a storm in the desert
Like a sleepy blue ocean
You fill up my senses
Come fill me againCome let me love you
Let me give my life to you
Let me drown in your laughter
Let me die in your arms
Let me lay down beside you
Let me always be with you
Come let me love you
Come love me againLet me give my life to you
Come let me love you
Come love me againYou fill up my senses
Like a night in a forest
Like the mountains in springtime
Like a walk in the rain
Like a storm in the desert
Like a sleepy blue ocean
You fill up my senses
Come fill me again
I wish I can listen to the entire album with my wife on our relaxing, all-inclusive vacation for just the two of us. I can only dream.
Whence I ever find
My true I?
The self, ignorance,
The self, innocence,
The muted I, amiss everlasting sorrows,
The desolated I, wandering in the poetic dreamland.
Whence I ever find…
My true I?
In the tranquility of endless streams,
In the seemingly calmness of unfathomable seas,
In the hopeless abyss of long buried conscious,
In the deep of the nights,
I found myself,
In my heartbeats,
Pulsating the relentlessly nostalgic rhythm
Of a forlorn alien reminiscing one’s long lost homeland.
Translated by Vương Thanh
Phút nào tôi chợt tìm tôi
Cái tôi ngơ ngẩn, cái tôi dại khờ
Cái tôi lạc lõng trong Thơ
Cái tôi câm lặng bơ vơ sầu dài…
Phút nào tôi chợt tìm tôi
Tìm trong thăm thẳm chơi vơi hút tìm
Tìm trong biển lặng sông im
Tìm trong đêm thấy nhịp tim ai hoài…
Tuệ Nga
Dear Cubs and Parents,
Our beloved Cub Master has appointed me to organize a group bike ride on Sunday at Occoquan Regional Park; therefore, you are cordially invited to this special event. To participate, please bring your bike, helmet, and water bottle (no plastic please).
We will gather in front of Shelter 3 (our assigned picnic area) at 10:00 am sharp. We will take the blue trail from the park to the Gerry Connolly Cross County Trail, which will lead us to the Workhouse Art Center (a former prison). Then we will turn back and stop by the Suffragist Memorial.
By the way, across from Shelter 3 is a volleyball court. If anyone has a volleyball, please bring it.
Heads up: I invited Chị Thi, Anh Nhan (I believe it’s Nhân not Nhẫn) and their twins to our picnic. They are looking to send their kids to scouting next year.
See you all on Sunday!
Donny
I recently implemented the new CSS feature to balance the headings on this blog:
h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6 {
max-inline-size: 50ch;
text-wrap: balance;
}
Today, I noticed it works on Chrome. More explanation from Adam Argyle over at Chrome Developer Blog.
Who the fuck named a band Dinner Time. It turns out the group is made up some of the most innovative musicians today including multi-instrumentalist Terrace Martin, saxophonist Kamasi Washington, and pianist Robert Glasper. For a group of superstar artists, the music on Enigmatic Society is super spare. Its style is a fusion of jazz, hip-hop, and R&B. I prefer the instrumental recordings such as “Watts Renaissance” and “The Lower East Side” over the vocal recordings. It’s a pretty chill album nevertheless.
This evening, autumn arrives with its seasonal wind
This evening, the far sky in a light mist of cloud dreams
A small boat on the river gently floats
Like a melody of love,
gently plucked with the heart strings.
The trees covered in autumn’s foggy breath
its cool wind blows through thousands of branches
From afar, the wind’s lyrics resonates across the forest pines
The song of a bittersweet love, a golden dream has died
Rushing along with the wind,
the little boat follows the bright moon.
In the Love river,
water flows in different directions.
Boat, o boat, to which destination
are you drifting towards?
Floating on the Love river,
Who knows how deep it is or how shallow.
Remember those foggy evenings,
when feelings of the heart are shared…
So much sadness since then,
the boat’s dreams flows with the river currents
Although the dream harbor may still cherish love
O Boat, do not have expectations or hopes.
The soft moonlight
A boat in the dark night
On the vast waves,
dreaming of a harbor
some place?
Translated by Vương Thanh
Đêm nay thu sang cùng heo may
Đêm nay sương lam mờ chân mây
Thuyền ai lờ lững trôi xuôi dòng
Như nhớ thương ai chùng tơ lòng
Trong cây hơi thu cùng heo may
Vi vu qua muôn cành mơ say
Miền xa lời gió vang thông ngàn
Ai oán thương ai tàn mơ màng
Lướt theo chiều gió
Một con thuyền, theo trăng trong
Trôi trên sông thương,
nước chảy đôi dòng
Biết đâu bờ bến
Thuyền ơi thuyền trôi nơi đâu
Trên con sông thương,
nào ai biết nông sâu?
Nhớ khi chiều sương,
cùng ai trắc ẩn tấm lòng.
Biết bao buồn thương,
thuyền mơ buồn trôi xuôi dòng
Bến mơ dù thiết tha,
thuyền ơi đừng chờ mong
ánh trăng mờ chiếu,
một con thuyền trong đêm thâu
Trên sông bao la,
thuyền mơ bến nơi đâu.
Đặng Thế Phong
and a stone in your body. Your job is not to kill the bird with the stone.
Victoria Chang
I have been blading regularly. On my lunch break at work, I would hit the skatepark with my aggressive skates then hit the bike trail with my three-wheel skates. The big wheels make blading on bike paths comfortable. I blade as fast as a jogger and that’s my exercise for the day.
As for aggressive skating, I haven’t elevated my skills. I pretty much stayed in my comfort zone. I can stall, but I can’t grind. I only drop in at a certain height. I had no motivation to pick up more advanced skills. This afternoon, I realized that I should focus on learning to blade backward. My backward skills definitely need improvement. I haven’t thought much about it.
I still practice snowboarding in my basement. My focus is on my posture, particularly my stand for carving. I just can’t wait for the winter again so we can go skiing and snowboarding.