Lauren Henderson is a sultry jazz singer with an ear for interpretation. Her reimagination of “That Old Black Magic” in a bossa-nova groove is just intoxicating with the help excellent accompanists including Joel Ross on vibes, Sean Mason on piano, Eric Wheeler on bass and Joe Dyson on drums. Other featuring instrumentalists including Gabe Schneider and Nick Tannura on guitar and John Chin on piano. In addition to covering standards, Henderson pens her own lyrics such as the title track. It’s a beautiful tune. The ten tracks on Conjuring are perfect for relaxation after a long, exhausting day.

One of my sons had a long field trip yesterday from 7:00 am to 6:30 pm. The entire family, including grandma, came to pick him up. Once he got off the bus, I told him, “We’ll go to the skatepark for a bit and then we’ll go out to eat.” He flipped out, “No, I want to go home. I haven’t played yet.” I replied, “We go out as a family.” He said, “Family is no fun.”

I was not sure if he meant what he said, but his words felt like a knife stabbed right to my heart. I canceled our plan and took everyone home. I made damn sure he didn’t touch his PC at all for the rest of the evening. If that behavior isn’t a sign of digital addiction then I don’t know what is.

Am I the only antediluvian dad who is too concerned about digital addiction with children? Maybe I should be the one to get counseling for having an issue with kids using digital devices from morning until dawn even when we went camping in the woods. They ate with their device on. Some of them were spoonfed while glued to the device. They took a shit with their device. They didn’t want to do anything else and I was too frustrated to suggest anything else.

Aren’t digital devices worse than smoking? With smoking, at least you get a break for a few minutes. I am fighting a losing battle because I am the only one who seems to be overeating. Maybe I should just chill out. We were in the woods. What the fuck can the kids do other than playing on digital devices? Why didn’t I come up with activities for them to do? Taking them to the skatepark is all about what I wanted, not what they wanted. It’s all about me.

I didn’t want to take them fishing because I find it too cruel. I just can’t imagine spotting something delicious to eat and biting into a sharp hook. One time, one of my sons caught a fish and I had to unhook it. It was just so damn gruesome. I am not god nor buddhist, but why would I treat living creatures that way when they don’t even harm me? Then again, I eat fish and meat; therefore, I am as hypocrite as fuck.

In retrospect, I should have pulled my kids away. Just let them sit around, relax, enjoy nature even if they were bored out of their minds. I tried not to intervene, but that didn’t do any good. I am failing my responsibilities if I turn away and allow them to sink deeper and deeper into the digital abyss.

A sad evening creeps into my heart
I seem to hear the sounds of autumn leaves falling…
Falling in the rain,
rich and warm like the voices of yesteryears,
singing the verses of a bygone era…

A feeling of desolation’s in the air
It silently creeps into my soul
Looking at the sad dewdrops falling in the sunset,
I suddenly miss my long ago love

Feel like I’m going crazy with yearnings
Alas! Where are you now? Where were our times together?
We keep waiting for each other
in a dream, My Love.
But will we ever,
ever see
each other again.

An autumn so long ago
seems to come back tonight
My Love had gone far away
Who will return to visit the streets of yesteryears?

We keep waiting so long for each other, My Love!
A sad mist covers the source of life’s happiness
We promise, in some distant future lives, to be together
But I will miss you so much, forever and ever…

Time’s like a bird in flight
The same months and days keep passing by
When was the season of serenity and joy in my heart?
When will my love and longings for you ever subside?

Translated by Vương Thanh

Hoài cảm

Chiều buồn len lén tâm tư
Mơ hồ nghe lá thu mưa
Dạt dào tựa những âm xưa
Thiết tha ngân lên lời xưa

Quạnh hiu về thấm không gian
âm thầm như lấn vào hồn
Buổi chiều chợt nhớ cố nhân
Sương buồn lắng qua hoàng hôn

Lòng cuồng điên vì nhớ
ôi đâu người, đâu ân tình cũ?
Chờ hoài nhau trong mơ
Nhưng có bao giờ, thấy nhau lần nữa

Một mùa thu xa vắng
Như mơ hồ về trong đêm tối
Cố nhân xa rồi, có ai về lối xưa?

Sương buồn che kín nguồn đời
Hẹn nhau một kiếp xa xôi,
nhớ nhau muôn đời mà thôi!

Thời gian tựa cánh chim bay,
qua dần những tháng cùng ngày
Còn đâu mùa cũ êm vui?
Nhớ thương biết bao giờ nguôi?

Cung Tiến

I made 8 cents in 7 days with display ads. Adsense doesn’t make sense for this blog. I removed it without anything else to promote. Let’s keep it minimal for a bit. After all, this blog is nothing but personal; therefore, I want to get back to just write.

I thoroughly enjoyed Mammal Hands’ Gift From the Trees on a beautiful morning. The album is relaxing but also exciting thanks to the hip-hop backbeat Jesse Barrett. His rhythmic work on “Labyrinth” is riveting. Nick Smart’s keyboard and Jordan Smart’s sax duo reminded me of Dave Brubeck’s and Paul Desmond’s on the classic “Blue Rondo à la Turk.” In contrast, “Deep Within Mountains” is so fine and mellow. Of course, Nick Smart’s ostinato is catching as hell on “Spinner.” A perfect album to release your stress early in the morning with coffee our late at night with cocktail.

Taking the 50%-off deal, I licensed Kaius Text, designed by Lisa Fischbach. Of course Kaius Text supports Vietnamese. I did not advise Vietnamese diacritics for Kaius, but I had worked with Lisa on other typefaces for TypeMates. She nailed the diacritical marks. I added Kaius Text to the recommendation page at Vietnamese Typography.

I stand by the windowsill, feeling sad
Seeing a love story ending, and a person’s heart’s changed
On these once happy lips,
smiles’d gone faraway…

Alas! The teardrops for my first love!
I thought it was like a dream
My lover returns to my side and silently calls my name
But on these sad eyelashes, the long days still hurriedly pass by
I’m like a withering autumn leaf, yearning for a lost love

Oh, this one teardrop
For a compassionate love, for the lover in my heart
I’ll be going to a faraway place
To weave the long days of melancholy in aloneness.

You used to follow my footsteps at the church
Our love story was soaring high, and my heart was aroused
But now, I’m just moving through the long months and days…
This life, Fate’d made me met you to fill my heart with sorrow.

Gazing at the clouds drifting away
Teardrops roll down my cheeks in grief
Pain tearing my lips but my heart still full of dreams and wishes
Alas! The ivory teardrops for my first love

Translated by Vương Thanh

Giọt nước mắt ngà

Em đứng bên song buồn
Nhìn cuộc tình trôi qua và lòng người phôi pha
Trên hai đóa môi hồng
Nụ cười đã đi xa
Ôi giọt nước mắt nào cho cuộc tình đầu

Em ngỡ như cơn mộng
Người tình về bên em và gọi thầm tên em
Nhưng trên đóa mi sầu ngày dài vẫn qua mau
Em tựa lá úa sầu cho cuộc tình dài sau

Thôi một giọt nước mắt này
Cho cuộc tình đam mê, cho người tình trăm năm
Em về đan tóc lụa là
Kết từng chuỗi ngày buồn riêng mang

Anh đi về dấu giáo đường
Cho cuộc tình bay cao, cho lòng mình xôn xao
Em cuộn theo tháng ngày dài
Kiếp này trót gặp người cho buồn

Trông áng mây u hoài
Giọt lệ nào thương vay, tình đành tràn mi cay
Đau thương xé môi gầy mà lòng vẫn mơ say
Ôi giọt nước mắt ngà cho cuộc tình đầu tiên

Ngô Thụy Miên

TypeMate is running a special deal of 50% off on all of its font collection. It has a handful of fonts supporting Vietnamese. I had the pleasure of advising a few of them. I am eyeing on Kaius Text, designed by Lisa Fischbach. It supports Vietnamese as well, but I didn’t review the diacritics; therefore, I am not sure how they look. The deal ends tomorrow so I need to make a decision fast.

With a subscription to Amazon Music, I have been listening to new jazz and hip-hop albums and discovering artists I haven’t known before. For instance, I have been pumping Young Nudy’s Gumbo in my Sienna. The title of his songs filled with meats and vegetables including “Brussel Sprout,” “Portabella,” “Shrimp,” “Duck Meat,” and “M.R.E.,” which, my oldest son told me, stands for “Meals Ready to Eat.” I am not sure if Nudy’s lyrics have anything to do with food since all I can hear are “pussies” and “bitches.” He sounds high as fuck on all of the tracks, but the beats are just infectious. The melodic string plucked against the pounding bass line makes “McChicken,” produced by Coupe, chilling and hypnotizing at the same time. The hook and the rhymes are just too damn misogynistic and too trigger happy to quote on here. That’s what hip-hop is all about. You have to separate the art from the content. I enjoyed Gumbo even though I have not heard of Young Nudy before.

Is it the color of sunshine or the color of your eyes
It’s autumn with rain falling, I’m holding your hands, so soft and shy
The sun’s shadow falling early on the terrace this evening
And then some day, the clouds will be flying up high in the sky.

The sunshine’s away to let sorrow creeps into your hair
Your face’s pale, with a look of wistful melancholy
Those olden days, why the autumn leaves didn’t turn yellow,
and why the sunshine hadn’t entered into your eyes.

You enter the park with silent footsteps
The wind and the clouds have returned to the forest
The grass and trees suddenly light up with the color of sunshine
You enter the park with wondering round eyes
Sunshine’s sparkling like golden crystal gems
My soul suddenly feels a deep melancholy rising…

The evening has entered the garden of your eyes
Autumn comes and goes away many times
Thousands of trees lighting up like candles in two rows
To welcome the sunshine into your eyes
(The color of sunshine’s now in your eyes)

Translated by Vương Thanh

Nắng thủy tinh

Màu nắng hay là màu mắt em
Mùa thu mưa bay cho tay mềm
Chiều nghiêng nghiêng bóng nắng qua thềm
Rồi có hôm nào mây bay lên.

Lùa nắng cho buồn vào tóc em
Bàn tay xanh xao đón ưu phiền
Ngày xưa sao lá thu không vàng
Và nắng chưa vào trong mắt em

Em qua công viên bước chân âm thầm
Ngoài kia gió mây về ngàn
Cỏ cây chợt lên màu nắng
Em qua công viên mắt em ngây tròn
Lung linh nắng thủy tinh vàng
Chợt hồn buồn dâng mênh mang

Chiều đã đi vào vườn mắt em
Mùa thu qua tay đã bao lần
Ngàn cây thắp nến lên hai hàng
Để nắng đi vào trong mắt em
(Màu nắng bây giờ trong mắt em)

Trịnh Công Sơn