This is not a comparison and definitely not a competition but a gratitude to the two remarkable Vietnamese artists who have brought some sounds and colors into my unexciting life. Their performances on Ngo Thuy Mien’s Tinh Khuc Buon are indescribable; you just have to experience them yourself. While Ngoc Lan effortlessly brings the natural beauty to the work of art, Don Ho soulfully breathes life into the aesthetic experience.

Ngo Thuy Mien must be extremely proud to witness these two artists expressed his lyrics to the highest level. Every single word they articulated cuts straight to the heart, especially “buon” (sad). Don Ho respires the word “buon” as if the winds blow out its sadness quality. On the other hand, Ngoc Lan exhales the melancholy out of the word.

If you think I am exaggerating, here is Don Ho’s Tinh Khuc Buon and Ngoc Lan’s Tinh Khuc Buon. Go ahead and enjoy them but keep in mind, this is not a competition. I would love to hear your comments but do me a big favor, do not compare. Feel free to disagree with me. You can tell me I am full of shit or I am way too obsessed but do not slam the artists, blame the fool who wrote this post. This is what happens when you have no cable TV or Internet connection at home but tons of CDs to listen to.

What the heck is Giao Thoi? Thankfully, the term is explained by Mrs. Lan (Minh Duc) at the end of the film. It literally means everyone gets to shine once in his/her life. Throughout Giao Thoi, you will see the rise and fall of many individuals whether they are rich, poor, powerful or weak. One minute you could have everything; however, the next minute, you could walk away with bare hands. And yes, women can ruin your life.

Giao Thoi is a Vietnamese romantic drama TV series directed by Phan Hoang and he had done a fantastic job of putting women on the frontline. The smart and sexy women in the film put men in critical conditions. Kieu Linh (Truong Ngoc Anh) changes men like changes clothes and they still fall head over heels for her. She feels no remorse for her action and willing to move on like nothing happen. Kieu Hanh (Hien Mai) uses men to gain social power. Along with a college degree, she uses her look to get higher ranking even sleeping with old men. She is the greediest and the most dangerous of the three sisters. Kieu Lan (My Uyen) is the youngest and the sweetest. Opposite from her sisters, Kieu Lan is not greedy and she believes in true love. Ironically, the mother, Mrs. Lan, also overpowered her husband. She has all the control and the old man (Manh Dung) is powerless in the house of four women.

Giao Thoi was filmed in 1999 and they had covered almost every social issue that goes on in Vietnam including: Sex cafe (Cafe om), sex restaurant (bia om), poverty, use power to except illegal cash, AIDS, Taiwanese marriages, and much more. The best part of the film is when Kieu Lan slaps the Taiwanese bastard in the face and said, “dirty dollars.” I wish Vietnamese women did that in real life instead of the other way around. The best line is when Kieu Linh commented on artists, “Every artist thinks he has a mansion up in the sky.” The film also touches on commercial art vs. real art. It is interesting to see how commercial work could ruin an artist’s stage of mind and creativities.

Giao Thoi is well directed, well written, and the entire cast had done a wonderful job of holding up the series. Everyone is equally good in his/her role. Furthermore, Nguyen Anh 9 and Nguyen Quang had done an outstanding job on the musical score. It enhances the film nicely. Although Giao Thoi is 40 hours long, the good stories will keep you engage till the end. It is highly recommended for the Vietnamese movie lovers like myself.

Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce Tinh Khuc Buon, an indelible performance by Ngoc Lan.

Bao Tram and Nguyen Duc give a mesmerizing Vietnamese opera (cai luong) performance. Their beautiful vocals bring me straight home for the good ten minutes, especially my all time favorite “Me Linh.” What makes this performance stands apart is the soft and delicate touches Bao Tram and Nguyen Duc bring to the opera. Unlike other deep and heavy performers, these two sing effortlessly yet professionally and the traditional instrument (dan bau) enhances their vocals marvelously. So what are you waiting for? Head over to enjoy May Trang Ta Tu.

Bao Tram who puts together this piece is also a talented writer and singer. On top of that, she is fluent in Vietnamese, French, English, and many more. Tram came to France at the age of 11 but she never fails to learn her native language. The first time I came across Tram’s blog, I didn’t think she left Viet Nam at that early age because her Vietnamese is well crafted. If you can read Vietnamese and French, Bao Tram’s blog is a must visit. Her daily thoughts fill with delightful reading for your enjoyment. Keep up the wonderful work chi (sister) Tram.

Last night, I had two big bowls of white porridge and two salted eggs (chao trang hot vit mui), the all time classic Vietnamese dish. Because of its simplicity, it is the perfect choice when you are ill or having a poor appetite. I was not ill nor having a poor appetite. I was simply running out of food in my apartment, which reminded me that a trip home is absolutely necessary.

Luckily, mom gave me a dozen of salted eggs a while ago. She made them herself but I think you can get them at a Vietnamese store. Not sure what she did but I think the eggs was sitting in that saline water for months and that is now the eggs get salty. All I had to do was boiled two of them. With the leftover rice from the day before, I just added water and cooked until it looked similar to oatmeal.

That’s it. Plain and simple but it gives you a delightful flavor. Split the egg in half, scoop a spoonful of hot porridge with a tiny bit of salted egg at a time. Just blow, splurp and swallow. Yes, you don’t even need to chew. How joyful can that be? Eating without chewing. Make sure you scrape everything off the egg and only throw away the outer cells. So when you are feeling not too well, especially with a cold, this classic cuisine is your best medication. Once you try it, you will never go back to chicken noodle soup.

Improve your design with Jan V. White’s Editing by Design. This classic masterpiece will show you how to attract magazines’ readers from every possible angle. For instance, it shows how to grab readers’ attention while they are flipping through the magazine and how to use space appropriately instead of wasting it.

Even though Editing by Design focuses on graphic design, I find many elements could be applied to the web as well. For example, rhythmic placement (sameness) could be used to help visitors get a sense of where they are. The rhythmic placement of a navigation menu would help increase usability. With his third edition, White has updated the materials to cover design for screen as well; therefore, he mentioned principles that applied toward the web along the way.

Complimenting his explanations with the witty hand-draw cartoon illustrations, White makes it easy to comprehend the fundamental of design including: layout, typography, color, space, and much more. White starts off with The Multi-page Medium and Inducement where he gives us an invaluable psychology tour of how readers approach a magazine. My favorite chapter is Originality because of the useful tips from White:

You don’t need to be “original” if you:
1. Do not overfill the pages
2. Split information into its component parts
3. Organize space on the page into well-designed zones
4. Devise shapes appropriately to the material
5. Vary the visual texture the way the text is written
6. Don’t mix information types within the info-unit
7. Use contrast to help searchers find what they are looking for
8. Use the same visual techniques throughout
9. Use verbo/visual means appropriate to the material

Yes, but what if you’re stuck for ideas?
Work at it
Develop and keep up a file
Loosen thinking
Forgive yourself
Eliminate the negative
Use your hands
Describe the subject in words
Look for patterns
Substitute a pictorial metaphor
Use a detail
Transform the familiar
Look for a new angle

Finally, the Q&A section is useful for designers (web, graphic, information), art directors, and editors. If you wear one of the hats mentioned, Editing by Design is for you. The content presented is timeless so buy it, read it, learn it, and apply it.

Dam Vinh Hung’s official website (damvinhhung.ws) is featuring Giot Nuoc Mat Cho Doi as their intro. I don’t mind they are using it since I did give permission to a fan; however, they should at least give me the credit for it. I am not mad at the fan but the people who run the site are so irresponsible. I put a lot of effort into this piece and the least they could do is show some appreciation. They should have contacted me and let me know that they are using it.

UPDATE: It turns out that the fan who asked my permission is also the site’s admin. She is new with this sort of things and she had written a sincere apology email; therefore, I hold nothing against her. Hopefully she will be careful with this kind of stuff next time.

By the way, thanks everyone for the support. I really appreciate it.

Interesting subject. It’s already hard enough that the media portrayed Asian boys as being nerdy instead of sexy. Now even our own Asian ladies take a stab at Asian Boys. After reading the post and some comments, I can’t help myself so let’s break it down.

“I wasn’t FOB enough, but I wasn’t white-washed enough either.” I did not realize that when a bunch of Vietnamese boys get together, we become FOB. Since they can’t be white so they identified themselves as in between the FOB and the whitewashed. What do you call those in between? A whole bunch of fucking bananas with yellow skins and white attitudes? Ridiculous.

“I dated [Asian boy] once and he turned out to be this insecure freak.” He must be in love or else he would hit it and leave it in the quickness. You know why white boys like you, right? Exactly! Easy to get in, easier to get out.

“I dated white boys. Some Asian boys didn’t like that much.” Get the fuck out the here. Hey! You want white dick, it’s all good. There are tons of bananas to choose from. That one is too ripe, find another green and fresh one.

“I must admit white guys tend to be more confident and secure… something lacking in those azns..” Here we ho again. They are more confident and secure because they know for damn sure that, “she’s only an Asian chic. I can bang, leave and don’t have to take her home.” He knows for sure that he can find another banana easily to replace you because Asian chics love white guys.

“I would date an Asian guy .. lol.. if I ever met one, that is!!” With that banana image, you ain’t never going to find the right Asia guy.

Now some of the comments are from some of my friends. I do apologize if I offended you; however, silly comments like these only make Asian guys look worst, especially coming from our own Asian sisters. If you want to date white and black guys, go right ahead but please don’t ever make our image looks worse than it already is.

DreamWorks animation had once again cooked up another delicious dish with different flavors for both the parents’ main course and the kids’ happy meal. Shrek 2 is not overshadows by the original Shrek because of the amusing parodies that cleverly blended into the ingredients. From The Little Mermaid, Beauty and The Beast, The Lord of The Ring, the Red Carpet, to Hollywood, these references make Shrek 2 fresh and enjoyable. They also brought back “Livin’ La Vida Loca” and I thought that song is dead.

The new addition to Shrek 2 is Puss ‘n Boots who is mad adorable. The animator must have whipped up his characteristics based on Antonio Banderas’s charisma. It is so him. Of course, DreamWork’s CGI is marvelous and Shrek 2 is bangin’.

Even though English is my second language, there is no excuse for my improper use of punctuations; however, I don’t feel so bad for not getting it correctlyt because Lynne Truss’s Eats, Shoots & Leaves, the Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation, shows British and American make mistakes too. As a stickler, Truss is fed up with the incorrect use punctuations and she shows no love for the ones who misused them.

Unlike other grammar books, Eats, Shoots & Leaves is concise, humorous, and approachable. Truss demonstrates how misplaced punctuation could alter the communication and she does it in a witty manor. She has done a great job of providing correct and incorrect usage of basic punctuation side by side for comparison. The best part of the book is the little history of punctuation such as: who invented italics, semicolon, coma, etc. Thanks to Truss, I am now clear on the use of ellipses and [sic].

I am not an expert on this subject. On the contrary, I am not even close to average; therefore, reading this book and writing this review is a hard task. Not only I have to read it slowly and carefully, I also have to write down useful advices. There is one usage of punctuation in the book I am quite confused and hoping Truss would explain it but she didn’t. From what I can recall from reading grammar books, the punctuation always goes before the quote; however Truss uses it interchangeably throughout the book. For Example:

Punctuation is “a courtesy designed to help readers to understand a story without stumbling”.

Notice how Truss uses the period after the quote. Shouldn’t it be before the quote? One time she uses it after; other time she uses before. Can someone explain to me when to use it after/before appropriately?

I can easily see how this book would make it to English classes required reading. Eats, Shoots & Leaves is both invaluable and enjoyable for anyone who would like to punctuate properly.