It seems like my sky isn’t the only one that is so cloudy grey today. I know how you feel, Andy, but like my man Ray Charles said, “The Sun’s Gonna Shine Again.” So keep your head up.

I miss you, hommie. Looking at your little brother’s engagement photos makes me realized that almost a decade has passed. I still remember it like yesterday when we found every possible reason to cut school. We cut school because we needed the sunlight to tint your little red-hot ride. We cut school to play Tien Len at your crib. We cut school just because school’s breakfast sucked, and then we raced each other all the way to Philly to have Dim Sum. But hey, we made it through high school, didn’t we?

You were the craziest, man. That chick was jealous because I spent more time with you and the crew. Remember the Oriental Club’s trip to Montreal? We drank, gambled, bugged out at the arcades, and hit the clubs. Even though we couldn’t keep our eyes open the next day, our breakfast served by French-spoken waitresses in tight shorts and bras sure woke us all up. Yet the best part was when you made that stuck-up Julia unstuck while entertained us with your wack-ass muses during all those long rides.

The good old memories I will never forget, my brother. Shit done changed down here, dawg. Without you holding everyone together, we all grew apart. Luan moved to Cali like he had always wanted and married with three kids. The last time I talked to Tung, which was about five years ago, he was polishing nails and dropped out of Penn State. See what happen when you weren’t around to watch him? He kept his head in them boobs instead of them books. With your hustling skills and his brain, you guys would have pulled it through. It’s a damn shame because he was the smartest out of all of us. We copied his homework so much that we both failed on every Calculus exam.

I wish I could turn back the hand of time, and I wish that accident never happened. After you had drowned, I was sinking too, and it was your mom who pulled me back up. She told me that you would be happy if I succeed in school. I’ve done my best not to let you down, so rest in joy, my brother.

(A late eulogy)

Tim Brown refined his personal Web site. Try to minimize your browser. Sweet, ain’t it?

I have thought of putting together an inspirational resource for higher education designers, but never put my mind and time to it. Fortunately, eduStyle has thought of it and actually did it.

“What You Don’t Know about Martha…” is that she’s my mother at the office. Everything I need, she’s the first person that comes to mind. I just put a dense on my car, do you know where I can take it to? Yes. I get you the numbers. I need a hundred more blank CDs (for work and music); she has Staples delivers them in two days. I still haven’t touch the fax machine because she does it for me every time. When I needed a ride home when my old car broke down, she took me home. When she gets hot peppers or vegetables from the farm, she hooks me up. In return, I give her my love and my music. She loves my jazz collection even though she was married to a rocker. Martha rocks! You see why I love Vassar?

On her debut Tra No Tinh Xa, Y Phuong whose potential in reinvigorating ballads is promising has bestowed her soul into the wrong tracks. Her big, dense, and seductive voice is a huge waste on the sugary pop tunes. By the time you hit third spin, the album struggles to retain your attention. All the songs are familiar, yet both the vocals and productions did not succeed in reviving them. Y Phuong stays too faithful to the originals instead of treating them like boyfriends. Screaming at them or cheating on them whenever she wants to.

Even though her song choices don’t impress me, especially with the remaking of Khuc Lan’s translated “Ngan Nam Van Doi” and “Hoi Nguoi Tinh,” her soulful voice doesn’t fail me either. The album is listenable, but nowhere near the groundbreaking level. Her decision to re-record the title track by herself is a wise one; however, she should have kept the bluesy flavor and stripped away the rock instead.

Out of all the three male guests, Don Ho complements her voice best on Chuong Duc’s “Con Toi Voi Toi,” even though his delivery is over-refined, which sounds so damn unnatural. Worst is club-friendly “Mai Ben Nhau” from Pham Khai Tuan with Chosen contributing the rap verse. La Bouche is long gone, baby. Unlike what we have heard on the opening of Asia’s Bon Mua, Nguyen Khang’s gruff voice, strangely, isn’t an appealing match or Quoc Vuong’s “Nguoi Da Voi Xa” isn’t the right song for their duet.

Not sure what was on her mind, but if she wanted to cover old songs, might as well go for pre-war ballads instead of these post- popular hits. At least the pre-war songs would last longer than these bubblegum pops. Y Phuong needs to up her game, throw in some jazz and blues, and take bold steps in hitting different angles of a tune so that what she has been working so hard on won’t be shattered.

Put Your Best Foot Forward: 19 Gorgeous Website Footers

Back in January 2004, I kicked off Visualgui.com with a post on Universal Principles of Design in which I reprinted a handful of principles that apply toward Web design. Since then the post has been mentioned on designer’s blogs around the world, yet it takes three years later to see a book on Principles of Beautiful Web Design.

Unlike Universal, Beautiful Web Design is brief with only five chapters focusing on layout and composition, color, texture, typography and imagery. No CSS, XHTML or Photoshop tutorials can be found in this book, but Jason Beaird (the author) gives plenty sites’ screenshots and brief explanation of the designs to illustrate how the principles have been applied.

Beautiful Web Design is, no doubt, a great book for the novice. If nothing else, the least what the book could do is steering you away from designing horrendous Web sites. Visual aesthetics, however, is only half of the web game. CSS and XHTML are equally important. I am not suggesting that this book should include the technical aspects, but you’re not getting a bang for your buck for its pricy cost ($39.95)—unless you could get a discount from Amazon, which is 34% off as of this writing.

Nina Simone is probably feeling anything but good right now from above that her signature song, “Feeling Good,” is being molested by the damn M[o]use, the Pussycat Dolls, Michael Bublé, and a handful of American Idol contestants. Even Randy Crawford and Joe Sample want a piece of that soul too with their latest album (guess the name of it). With Crawford’s sultry voice backing up by Sample’s delicious keyboard licks, their rendition comes closest to Simone’s classic, but with a glass of Martini and a bubble bath supplementary. In fact, “Feeling Good,” which starts off the album, is a warm up for a host of romantic ballads (including “Mr. Ugly,” “But Beautiful,” “Lovetown,” and “All Night Long”) to come. Even though the whole joint is way too smooth for me, “When I Need Love” sure brings back the melancholy and damn done lulls me back into submission.

The Notorious B.I.G. aka Biggie Smalls was gunned down a decade earlier on this day. Unlike his murder case, his music has not yet been forgotten. From the hypnotizing “Juicy” to the juicy “Hypnotize,” “Big Poppa” is remembered as one of Brooklyn’s finest rappers who were recognized as a virtuoso of flow.