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Commencement and Real-Time Design

One of the advantages of working with an existed design is that you could kick out pages faster. I put together the Commencement page for the School of Business based on a secondary template, but I changed the layout a bit to give more room for the cheerful photos.

One of the strange but cool things about working at the School of Business is the design process. Unlike many sites, which wait until everything is completed to launch, we just put up whatever we get done. For instance, the homepage was launched before any other pages were done. I was surprised when my boss told me to just put up the homepage and continue to work on the interior pages. So we are replacing the old with the new as we go along. In a way, it makes sense because the web is always changing. Even if you wait until everything is complete (might be a year or two later), you still need to make changes later on. In other words, nothing on the web is set in stone.

Music

Nguyen Khang – Love

Nguyen Khang has a fabulous voice, but he needs a talented producer like Rick Rubin to get on him the right track. Asia and Van Son, two of the three notorious Vietnamese music productions, are backing him up, yet they don’t know what to do with him. Ta Muon Cung Em Say, his previous album with Asia, covered popular tunes with not much creative effort. Love, his new release under Van Son, featured new and lesser-known tunes, but they are simply monotonous.

I have to get past nine slow, sleepy cuts in order to hear something that I have wished he would focus his energy on making. It’s actually a combination of “Ai Ve Song Tuong” and “Toi Di Giua Hoang Hon” that set in a simple bluesy, swing arrangement. He didn’t even have to maneuver his voice around the jazz rhythm, but the result is still intoxicating. If he could turn some of these dead-slow tempo ballads into jazz-pop grooves, we would have something invigorating to enjoy. For instance, “Con Chut Van Vuong” would have been a great piece if it were converted into a bluesy ballad. “Tieng Tho Dai” could easily transform into a bossa-nova number and kill off the back up singer while you’re at it. No offense, but I can’t stand Nguyen Khuong’s caramel voice. His spineless whining on “Soi Toc Yeu Yeu” is still remarkably irritating.

Nguyen Khang, my brother, I have mad love for you and would hate to see you go down. If you feel burn out. Take some time off. Get away from Vietnamese music for bit. Go on tour and stop putting out albums that might harm your stature. Move forward, not back. Go further, don’t stop. You’re still blessed with that powerful, rugged and raw voice. Now work on some innovations.

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Gambling Scam

Phuong Quoc Truong aks Pai Gow John plead guilty in casino scam:

According to federal prosecutors, the scheme worked like this: A member of the crew, called the card recorder, would track the order of blackjack cards, relaying them with a hidden transmitter to an off-site associate who would enter the sequence into a computer.

The bribed dealers would then perform false shuffles, creating a “slug” of unshuffled cards. The slug would be returned to the shoe, the device that holds the cards being dealt. When the slug cards were dealt in later rounds, the card recorder would signal associates at the table to dramatically increase their bets on hands the recorder knew would probably win. The off-site associate, using a card-tracking computer program, would relay when the odds were the greatest.

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Trinh’s Medley

Hong Nhung, My Linh and Le Thu give Trinh Cong Son tunes simple, straightforward but distinctive touches. Hong Nhung is as sensual as always in “Diem Xua.” My Linh is soaring high but way too breathy in “Bien Nho.” Le Thu is flawless in “Nhu Canh Vac Bay.” (Thanks Leo)

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Evolution

The photo featured below the main navigation is captured by my future wife. Isn’t she a great photographer? Keep working on it baby.