A rainy Saturday at the New York Bontanical Garden checking out the art of the Japanese Chrysanthemum.

It’s Halloween week.

The kind of English writing that needs to be translated into Vietnamese to understand. An article in Viet Nam News titled “Old school crooners abroad eye comeback” is a perfect example. I get a kick out of the title as well as the opening sentence: “Viet Nam’s booming economy is realising many dreams for the country’s music industry, but as singers at home seek audiences abroad, those natives already settled overseas are looking to woo fans back in their homeland.” Gotta love the caption for Tuan Ngoc: “Born to be mild.”

5 Dong Ke is apparently a very conceptual group. Its previous record, Tu Tinh Ca, was based around a style of a cappella. Its new released, Canh Mat Troi (Wings of the Sun), is structured in a storytelling experience: Track one tells a tale of a new day, in which all the creatures lilting to the rhythm of life; track two reflects on a childhood memory with the details of the kite flies high in the peaceful sky; and on the stories go.

Even the music arrangements have been conceptualized. Like its contemporary peers, 5DK always explores new sound (acoustic instrumentations and new-age groove). Unlike Tung Duong and Ngoc Khue, the group’s approach is more accessible. My personal favorite is the synthesis between western rhythm and eastern string in “Doc Huyen Cam,” one of the four tracks on the album written and composed by Bao Lan who is one of the members of the group. The plucking monochord sounds eerie and exotic against the space-out groove.

Although the musical production breathes fresh air into the album, what makes 5DK unique is how beautiful the girls sound together. Their tones are flawless on the spellbinding “Ban Mai” (“Morning”) accompanied only by Viet Anh’s arresting piano. And just imagine that somehow all four girls trying to convince you to stay with them—”Nguoi oi nguoi o dung ve”—would you have the heart to walk away? Hell no.

The dress looks cute on her. (Don’t mind me. I am just practicing my sentence.)

A few snaps around the Falls.

Damn, Jay’s leaked tracks so far so hot:

“Hello Brooklyn” with Weezy
“No Hook“

Can’t wait to get my hand on the album. American Gangster baby!

Ben Stocking on Hoang Thuy Linh’s online sex tape:

But for many in communist Vietnam, new ideas about free love are much harder to accept than the free market. And unlike men, women who break the old sexual taboos are not easily forgiven.

Vassar homepage gets a warm, welcoming look from Tim Brown.

“A High School Under the Hood“:

Ms. Silberman tells the students she does not want to hear hardship sob stories. She was born in the Pink Houses, a public housing project in Brooklyn, and managed to graduate from Vassar College.