No. Anorexia (a provocative ad)

6-7 hours, 2 sessions and lots of gasoline to come up with these striking letters.

The problem of Vietnamese music is obvious. New singers pop up every day while songwriters fades away. Dieu Huong who made a few hits, including the notorious “Vi Do La Em,” is a talented lyricist, but a limited composer. Her new album, Hu Ao, sounds dull partly because of the cheap arrangements, but mostly because of her restricted range.

Musically, “Cho Mot Lan Quen” has a melody that is a reminiscent of a dozen of songs Quang Dung had covered. “Coi Doi Vui” is one of those cheersy (cheerfully cheesy) tunes that always assigned to the forever-young Don Ho. “Cho Em Hoi” is a slow ballad that progresses steady all the way until the end where Diem Lien gives a hair-raising belt out. The lazy-rumba “Tinh Mai Theo Ta” allows Y Lan yet another opportunity to do her namby-pamby delivery.

Trong Bac who is unknown to me handled the title track. He has a charming voice, but similar to Anh Tuan with lesser power. Although Nguyen Khang gives a great performance of “Mot Nua Tam Hon,” it sounds like some of her more popular tunes, especially the chorus. Not sure why Dieu Huong covers “Vi Do La Em” herself since the song is better presented in a male viewpoint.

One of the major weaknesses of Hu Ao is the crowded vocalists. The result is more like a piecemeal slapped together than a coherent production. Maybe her intention was to have a mix of voices to mask the similitude between the tracks, but still didn’t work.

From Christian J. Ward who “has developed a fetish for drawing mysterious femme fatales, psychedelic mind clouds and men in capes trying to look dangerous.”

One of my favorite pieces is “Clockwork A.”

An impressive archive of the New Yorker at Cover Browser.

Jenny McCarthy shares:

[The doctor] looked at me and then pointed to what Evan had made in the corner. Evan had taken those ear cones they use to look inside your ears and made the most perfect row lined up across the room.

An Ellen Von Unwerth’s photographic book. Peep the slideshow.

You can make it here. You can make it anywhere. The wicked Style Wars!

Simple, gorgeous poster

Back in 1998, Mark C. Vadon walked into a Tiffany store to search for an engagement ring, he was so frustrated with the sales clerk that he started his own jeweler business online called Blue Nile. He told the New York Times that when he asked the clerk the differences between the two rings, the clerk replied, “Buy the one the speaks to you.” Now Vadon’s online venture ranks behind only Tiffany on sales, yet without having a single store.

Having firsthand experience with Tiffany, I could relate to Vadon’s exasperation. Tiffany might sell real, high-end diamonds, but its business ethic is downright phony. When you buy its product, the staffs will give you their undivided attention. When you return its product, they act like you don’t even exist, and will do anything (even lie) to get you to back out, like 500 dollars sizing charge if the item was to return even though the policy has nothing written about it.

Though a full refund was made through the manager, the returning process was not as smooth as the purchasing transaction, which complimented with a glass of champagne. Ms. Sarah Law, who sold me the ring, didn’t look as lovely as she did when we first met. It was like getting splash in the face with cold water. Not that I ever could afford to step back into the Tiffany stores again, but they had given me the reason not to.