Le Kieu Nhu can hardly sing, yet she knows how to get you hooked just like the way she had Nguyen Nhat Huy on the tip of her finger. The man who was responsible for the mega hit “Nguoi Ve Cuoi Pho” is now focusing his energy on the young, trying-to-be-sexy chick. Who can blame him? A man has to do what a man has to do.

Let’s be fair. Le Kieu Nhu is not a bad vocalist. In “Tinh Nhu,” an opening track off her second album Tinh Khuc Nguyen Nhat Huy, she rides the cha-cha tempo like a drunken chick in a karaoke bar, but she manages to pull it off. Her out-of-tune delivery and odd phrasings make the cute tune so damn amusing. Despite her limited vocal ability, she could soar like a bird with a wounded wing in the slow-ballad “Tinh Si.” In contrast, she sounds weightless on “Cuoc Tinh Chiem Bao,” as she tries to float with the Jacuzzi-jazz arrangement. If her voice wouldn’t put you to a snoozing mode, the smooth saxophone would.

Then again, who wouldn’t feel bad for someone who croons the last words for her lover (“Lan Cuoi Cho Nguoi Tinh”) with such benevolent? Never mind the generic, computer-generated rhythm, just listen to the way she delivers the refrain: “Tha anh dung den trong doi / De em dung qua hy vong / De trong long khong mang dang cay / Loi yeu nao nhu con gio bay / Gio em tin ai nua day?” She makes you feel guilty but in a pleasure way.

Vanilla Ice made it on the news for domestic battery.

I like they way Ian James Cox presents his creative work with full screenshots.

YoDiv turns your designs into XHTML and CSS.

A site dedicated to the art of X-rated movie posters from the 1960s and 1970s. They were much better designed than those found in video stores today.

Less on top, more at bottom. Nice and simple personal web site from David Sutoyo.

A nice site with gorgeous illustrations and smooth transitions for a design studio.

Young Buck is not ok.

Textism’s “Did You Really“:

You’ll agree that everything deserves a second chance. A few months ago Twitter started slowly making sense. I’m not sure I concur that, as some have said, the constraints of 140 characters will force anyone to think or write in a meaningfully new way, but there’s something attractive about this throwaway stream of rants, thoughts, links, asides. Fragments of the lives of others just drift in, make you smile, or wince, or roll your eyes for a second, and then disappear. Very little offered, nothing expected in return. I can get behind that.

Yes! I, too, am a Twitter.

After three consecutive flops, My Tam is finally making a solid comeback with Tro Lai. Maintaining her pop and r&b flavors, her new album is a consistent set—track for track—in both vocal performance and beat production. Her song choices are wise and her writing skill has revealed incredible improvement.

The advantage of singing her own songs is that she knows exactly how they should be delivered. “Nhu Em Doi Anh” is a slow, pop-rock ballad in which she carried the tone and emotion just like the way she has intended: sweet and mellow. “Khi Tinh Yeu Tro Lai,” also written by her, is an instant hit as well. She takes her time pouring her heart out on the simple, electric guitar that accompanied by a thumping r&b beat.

Although she does her own songs good, she does other songs even better. In Quoc Bao’s “Va Em Co Anh,” she proves to have enough juice to take on a gospel-tinged cut. The way she vocalizing and phrasing reminded me of r&b singer like Alicia Keys and Mariah Carey. Unfortunately when she tries to be like them on “Hurt So Much,” the spell breaks. Even with such a marvelous voice couldn’t save her English accents.

Music wise, the Korean producers have done a much better job on here than her previous Vut Bay. They must have recognized that they can’t turn a “toc nau moi tram” into a blonde Korean doll. The slow productions blended in with her voice smoother. Tro Lai indeed is an important return for My Tam and she has reclaimed her title as the princess of Vietnamese pop.

NPR profiles one of my favorites jazz pianist Bud Powell:

Pianist Bud Powell was admired by his contemporaries as an adventurous original with a style marked by unrivaled virtuosity. Today, he is remembered for redrawing the course of modern jazz piano by pioneering bebop improvisation at the keyboard. Though personal misfortune interrupted his career, and shortened his life, at his peak Powell exuded an emotion and power that captivated audiences and musicians alike.

Download the program here.