“I Like The Way She Do It” Here’s Fiddy punch lines: “I am stupid rich, got retarded money / I am special ed, I got special bread.”

“Don’t Copy That Floppy,” a hysterical rap video teaches kids about piracy.

Visualgui.com is now set in Goudy. If you don’t have Goudy, Georgia will display.

A gorgeous, three-column portfolio from Corinne Stoppelli.

Senator Gravel tries to get the “Obama Girl’s Vote.” Oh shit! He even did the Soulja Boy move. Quite a hilarious video. (Thanks Hoang for sending it along).

Phan Dinh Tung wants to take a step beyond his comfort zone, but at the same, he doesn’t want to abandon his fan base. So he drops two albums at once to accommodate both. Tung Ballad is a poppy record to fulfill his obligation while Tung Trinh is his take on Trinh Cong Son’s standards to reach more mature listeners.

Ballad is clearly not so hard for PDT to pull off. In fact, he delivers the pop tunes without breaking a sweat. His flows are effortless, but much more important than that, he knows the value of the hooks. Once you got the hook down, the rest of the song will follow. In Minh Khang’s “Nguoi Ra Di La Anh,” he kicks off with the hook that will stay in your head for at least a month. Once you heard it, you can’t help humming to it. That’s how ridiculously catchy the tracks on Ballad are and his voice—clear, powerful with sugarcoated tone—is perfect for them. “Anh Phai Lam Sao,” also penned by Minh Khang, is an instant hit. When he sings, “no one will love you more than he has,” you almost believe him.

Unlike Ballad, you could hear that PDT tries really hard on the Trinh record. The transition from Ballad to Trinh isn’t quite a smooth ride. The first half of the album is just passable. “Diem Xua” is where he started to sound relaxed and began to feel the lyrics. His version of “Ha Trang” is surprisingly convincing because he just let his soul float with the simple picking guitar. The jazzy-flavored “Toi Oi Dung Tuyet Vong” is well executed. The intro, which featured a female vocalist that sound like Hong Nhung, is novelty and the minimal piano tinkling in the arrangement gives the tune a bluesy touch.

Both albums showcase two different sides of PDT. If he were to combine the two together to catch all, it would have been all over the place like a buffet. With the two separate, each album sounds focused and crafted. So this is not a bad move at all.

Does anyone have a good recommendation for a mortgage loan?

On the cover of her new album, Hard Candy, Madonna rocks a championship belt around her waist and sits with her legs spread open. She sure deserves the champion-of-sex title. No one could eye and mind fuck us longer than she could. She did it when she was “Like a Virgin.” She is doing it again like a MILF.

Right off the opening “Candy Store,” she wastes no time offering us her raw sugar (“sticky and sweet”). Then in “4 Minutes” she flirts with the young Justin Timberlake: “Just say the words and imma give you what you want.” In the next track, “Give It 2 Me,” she follows up with more seductions: “If it’s against the law, arrest me / If you can handle it, undress me.” While she does all these sizzle talks, a handful of hot, clubbing beats (courtesy of Pharrell Williams, Timbaland, Justin Timberlake and Nate “Danja” Hills) are backing her up. The only problem is that you don’t take a fifty years old woman to a club, even though she is Madonna. You want to take her somewhere else away from the crowd. Know what I mean?

All in all, Hard Candy is nothing more than a dance album with Madonna’s sex touch lost in the beats. Though her words are filled wit lust, suggestive metaphors, her delivery lacks the passion. Even when she sings, “Sex with you is… uh… incredible,” she comes off like a kindergarten teacher who offers her kids some candies for their cooperation. In the closing “Voices,” Timberlake brings up the questions: “Who is the master? Who is the Slave?” Not sure if she still holds the whip.

NPR profiles Bessie Smith:

No blues singer can escape the influence of Bessie Smith, “The Empress of the Blues.” Through hugely popular recordings and a busy nationwide touring schedule, she gave the blues a raw, regal poignancy — and marketability. Her feverish growls and impassioned delivery informed nearly every facet of African American music, from Mahalia Jackson to Mary J. Blige.

Check out the program here.

A video shows the policemen beat the shit out the suspects. Damn!