After Charles Wyke-Smith answered a lengthy question on CSS, his friend told him, “You should put this all in a book – I’d buy it.” Through his connection with an editor at New Riders, Wyke-Smith landed himself a book deal.

Like many CSS books on the market, Stylin’ with CSS introduces web standards, XHTML, and of course CSS. Wyke-Smith explains how CSS works, how to style text, how to create page layout, and so forth. Since the book offers nothing new or unique, isn’t it a bit too late to come out with a beginner CSS book at this time?

In Wyke-Smith’s introduction he writes, “Stylin’ with CSS is all about designing and building Web pages that look stylish and professional…” Yet the examples provided in the book are anything but those two elements. Although the book is not about design, and the main focus is on CSS, the author should at least try to create something visually appealing to attract the designers. The example does not have to be like a Zen Garden piece, but a simple layout with a nice use of type is good enough. Unfortunately, the screenshots provided in the book turn me away. The pages look as if they were designed in 1994 – when the author first started designing for the web.

If Stylin’ was published a year ago, it might make some impact, but it is too late now since there is an array of well-written CSS books already published. From a designer standpoint, I have no need for this book. Why should I learn to create something that does not pull me in? Besides, the raw tutorials covered in the book could be found online.

Not a whole lot of changes. Still keep the cleanness and the crispness. The whitespace and the structure are untouched. Just needed more visual impact and some fresh graphics. Another reason for the renovation was to get rid of negative margin, which Win IE 5 and below don’t seem to understand. Anyway, enjoy the new look!

Jazz, a film by Ken Burns, is an inspiring documentary on one of the most influential pieces of music in America and the world. Although the film is more than 19 hours long (10-episode), the short but intriguing biographies of jazz masters, especially the dramatic life of Charlie Parker, keep the viewers engaging. From the “Pop” of jazz (Louis Armstrong) to one of jazz best composers (Duke Ellington) to one of jazz greatest vocalists (Billie Holiday) to one of the swingiest drummers (Chick Webb), Jazz is a great introduction to a distinctive American art form.

Tung Duong is a fresh new musician in Viet Nam who has tremendous potential. His debut album, Chay Tron (Escape), which featured seven tracks from Le Minh Son, has some hipnotizing jazz tunes. His version of “Chay Tron” is way better than Tran Thu Ha‘s, and his rendition of “Trang Khat” is unmatchable.

Tim Brown joins our web team two weeks ago. He brings many exciting things to our group including his jazz and blues collections, which is quite extensive. My iTunes is on a heavy rotation with all of his music selections, especially his dad’s jazz mix (the man has a great taste). Welcome Tim and thanks for the grooves.

Web feeds have changed the way I visit websites. I just subscribe to my favorite places and watch new contents roll into my desktop aggregator (NetNewsWire). Feeds have not only saved me time, but also kept me on top of things. Why do I need TV when I can get the latest news from CNN delivered right to my computer? I no longer need to check Zeldman.com every morning to be disappointed that he only writes once in a while. Zeldman is still “da man” though.

Even though I offer a content syndication feed (RSS 2.0) on this site, I never have to write a code for it. WordPress does all the magic for me, and I am grateful for that. I probably won’t ever have to hand rolled a feed, but it is still helpful to know how to produce one. I picked up Ben Hammersley’s book, and it is all that I need to get myself familiar with the development process.

Coming straight from O’Reilly’s press, Developing Feeds with RSS and Atom is guaranteed to get readers roll up their sleeves and start rolling their feeds with its slim in volume, clear in explanation, and concise in coding approach. Whether developers need to roll out an Atom, RSS 1.0, or RSS 2.0, they can find the solutions in this book. Feeds can be created with PHP, Perl using XML::RSS, or Ruby. Hammersley offers step-by-step guides for all three. Besides the coding, the most important lesson from this book is the understanding of the differences between various RSS’s and Atom. Readers need to know the standards, and how they work in order to parse them. While feeds are mostly found in blogs, chapter 10 (“Unconventional Feeds”) shows what feeds can do beyond the blog community, such as Amazon Wishlist to RSS, Google to RSS with SOAP, the W3C Validator to RSS and Podcast Weather Forecasts.

We have a fantastic web developer in-house who I turn to all the time when I need PHP help, but if my boss ask me to create an RSS feed for no reason, I won’t pull my hair out. I just snatch the feed from WordPress, and modify it to suit our need. Why not create it from scratch? Why should I? Developing Feeds with RSS and Atom already gave me what I need to know. Since I already know what I am doing, modifying codes are faster for me than starting from scratch. It’s all about speed and precision, baby.

With Kung Fu Hustle, Stephen Chow churns out yet another brilliant work with the fusion of martial arts, special effects, and his sense of humor. Chow not only directs, writes, and performs, but he also does whatever it takes to entertain us. So before entering the theater, leave your common sense at the door, and enjoy the show – remember to silence your cell phone too. My cell phone joke might not work, but Chow’s pop-culture references work like a charm, especially the Buddha’s Palm and the Roadrunner commercial. The hair on fire is not another stab at Michael Jackson, I hope.

Of course, Chow’s comedy plays an important role in the film, but the kung fu sequences are also gorgeously choreographed, thanks to Yuen Wo Ping whose works include Kill Bill, Matrix and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Despite the lack of blood spills all over the screen like Kill Bill, Kung Fu Hustle illustrates Chow’s violent and brutal comic style. If the fighting, the axing, the flying, the screaming, or nothing in the film is convincing, the little romance between the sweet but muted girl (Huang Sheng Yi) and Sing (Stephen Chow) might be.

The plot of Kung Fu Hustle might not be compelling, but it serves Chow well, and allows him to go nuts with other aspects. Sing started the trouble between the ruthless Axe Gang and poor group in the Pig Sty Alley. The Axe thugs are tough, but the kung fu fighters in Pig Sty are tougher. After losing the battle, the Axe gangleader seeks professional killers for revenge. The fighting scenes take off from there. In between the chaos, Chow cleverly sneaks in a few flashbacks for a romantic story, and some quiet moments from the beautiful Huang Sheng Yi.

Kung Fu Hustle is a type of film that can be enjoyed by paying attention to the aesthetic experience. Leave your personal judgment behind and just focus on the work of art itself. That way, you’ll get Chow’s jokes and appreciate the film more.

I tend to stay away from sites like CSS Reboot when I design, or else my work will end up looking something like one of them. Otherwise, I would love to surf around for some CSS visual pleasures.

Featured in the May 1st Reboot gallery, NTT Graphics is crisp, clean, and inspired by the pure and elegant design of VisualGUI. I am glad someone found this site to be an inspiration.

Check out my little Eric. He definitely got that swing. Keep on grooving baby, you rock! Uncle loves ya.

Alexandra Marvar frontpage banner. Shameless self-promotion.

Dontclick.it! You heard it right. You can surf but you can’t click. Very cool way to navigate. The intuitive interface design and the fluid transition make the site fun to look around. Give it a try.

Disturbing the peace. These guys and gals are jamming in the forest. Groovy baby!

Holy moly. That’s a crazy crash!

Sometimes working with a headphone help, especially when your office is below the college dorm. For the past two days, I’ve been hearing constant bedroom squeaks when I take off my headphone. Yes! I am still hearing it. Damn kids, keep it down. I am trying to get some work done. This is what it feels like working in my office. Well! Not that extreme, but you get the picture.

Ngoc Khue’s Ben Bo Ao Nha Minh is creeping up on me and her charismatic voice – childlike on the surface but deep down matured – is magnetizing me. I still have the record on heavy rotation both at work and in my car. I can’t wait for her second volume to drop. If you haven’t pick up Ben Bo Ao Nha Minh yet, you’re missing out on the goodies.

Lan Song Xanh is a fantastic concert filled with young and energetic performances, but Thu Minh catches my attention the most. She is blazing in a white suit showing off her cleavage. That girl has a killer body: tall and fully blossomed. I like the way she moves and her sense of style. She is both classy and sexy. I am rooting for her: hottest singer of the year.