Sister Helen Prejean, best known as the author of Dead Man Walking, gave an inspiring lecture on the death penalty and the injustice system. Minorities and the poors are more on deathrow than the whites and the riches. She covered many incidents during her journey and the interesting one she touched on was president George Bush. He executed a woman while he was a Texas governor. According to Sr. Prejean, the woman had picked up the bible and began to changed her life. She also taught other prisoners the words of God. She could have been sentenced to life but Bush decided to execute her. The woman’s life and death were in his own hands. He had the power to give her half of a chance but he did not.

Watch the film Dead Man Walking, if you haven’t seen it; however, her lecture was even better then the film. The way she described her experience and her interaction with the prisoner was phenomenon. She also expressed how hard it was facing the conflict between the victim and the accused murderer family members. At the end, she encouraged Vassar students to get a good education and start taking actions against death penalty.

The screening was filled with professors, administrators, and students. They actually ran out of seats. Jose Padron, the director, traveled all the way from Cuba to share his film. This is his first time to the US and he thanked Vassar for it. There are a few directors from Cuba that were suppose to come to the US for a film festival; however, they could not get here because of the war. Isn’t Vassar powerful or what?

Leo Brouwer is one of the world greatest guitarist. I knew his music before but didn’t know it was his until I saw the documentary today. I was totally fascinated with the way he plays his guitar. It sounded like there were forty fingers playing instead of ten. Although the documentary was only 70 minutes long, it took Jose Padron 22 years to complete it due to political and financial issues. The film deals with Cuba social issues so it was not pleasing the officials. He wanted to have the complete control over the artistic part so he was funding the movie on his own. He shot the entire film with a 35mm camera which is a pain. Well, all his hard works paid off because the documentary was fantastic and I enjoyed it very much. Congratulations! Jose. Oh by the way, he is a very nice individual.

Film Presentation

Jose Padron, one of Cuba’s most important contemporary filmmakers, will show and discuss Leo Brouwer, a documentary about the world-renowned Cuban musician, composer, and conductor. Of course, I am going to be there. Man, I love working at Vassar. They always have all kinds of great events, lectures, and resources. This is the type of college that I would definitely send my kids to. The tuition is kind of high but it worth every penny of it. If you’re looking for a “real” intellectual institution, you might want to consider Vassar. Come and visit us, I will guarantee that you’ll fall in love with the campus. I remembered my first interview. My first impression was the beautiful campus. I am not kidding you. If you don’t believe me, take a sneak preview at the slideshow presentation. Please keep this on the down low. The presentation is still in its development stage and only you can get a sneak peak at it because I love you. As a visitor to D3studio.net, you are very special to me. Alright, let me stop kissing your ass. Go ahead, launch the presentation. Caution! The movie is 11.9 mb. Dial-up users, you might want to launch a smaller version (2.8 mb) instead. Enjoy!

Can’t believe I have been blogging almost everyday for the past three months. The whole purpose is to improve my writing and I am enjoying it very much. I know my English is really bad but hey, I am working on it. Actually, I was a good writer when I was a kid studying in Vietnam. Ironically, I hated writing when I was in fourth grade. I always bribed the girl next door with ice cream to write my papers. She was not a good writer because I always got C grades on the papers she wrote. My dad caught me one time and beat the hell out of me. After that she was not allowed to come over to my house anymore. I was forced to write on my own and it came to my surprise that I got a B on the first essay I wrote. The teacher actually liked my writing. I began to discovered my talent after that.

In fifth grade, I was selected to represent my class in a writing competition between all the fifth grade classes at my school. Although, my essay was good but I came in second place because the judges said my writing was too violent. The topic was “describe something you did that you regretted.” So I described how I disobeyed one of my teacher and he slapped the taste out of my mouth. I might be exaggerated a little bit but teachers did hit students. Thank God they don’t do it anymore. If I did not remembered a poem or failed an exam, the teacher would slap my hands with his/her wooden ruler. My hands were swollen everyday. After getting hit so much, I didn’t feel pain anymore. Of course, the judges were the teachers so they didn’t admit that they were wrong that was the reason that they gave me second place.

After fifth grade, I left Viet Nam to start a brand new life. I had to learned everything over again. Of course, as a hard headed as I am, I didn’t want to learn. Time drifted away, I lost my Vietnamese and my English didn’t seem go anywhere. My whole life is such a waste so far.

The screening for Feminist Pornography was packed and of course most of the audiences were females. I was the only employee there and the rest was students. Obviously the porn industry is dominated by males but this documentary focused on females who produced and controlled their films from feminist perspectives. I might be ignorance about pornography but the film did not inspired me at all. It’s true that all porns are the same. They all do the same damn thing. I do want to see people takes pornography into a higher level. I don’t mind women take control by being aggressive and erotic but fuck my ass with a dildo? Hell fucking no. I can’t even watch shit like that. It’s against nature. In addition, how can a girl gets aroused when she has a dildo strapped on and another girl sucks her dildo? Makes no sense to me. The dildo should get aroused not the person who wears it. Maybe it’s a feminist thang.

Unbelievable!

It’s still snowing in Poughkeepsie. Tonight, Vassar is showing a documentary by Becky Golberg called Hot and Bothered: Feminist Pornography. Screening to be followed by a Questions and Answers session with the director and the director of photography. Interesting! Hope it won’t be cancelled due to the weather.

Rain Breaw lectures on Theories and Practice of User Interface Design was excellent. She did a great job on covering issues of good user interface design, usability concerns, and look and feel assessment. However, I was a little bit distracted by a student who used the paper cutter while she was giving the lecture. The squeaky sound broke my concentration. He’s a college student; he should know better than that. It’s so inconsiderate to do that while someone is giving a lecture.

Web Design Position

In case you’re interested, I found this job posting at Fuck That Job.

Full time graphic/web designer wanted for design studio in lower manhattan. Two to three years experience, plus bachelor’s degree.

Must know HTML, Photoshop, Illustrator, Quark Xpress, Fireworks, Dreamweaver, and Flash.
Director, Premiere, PHP/SQL, Indesign, and 3D Studio Max a plus.

$6.50/hr to start. Mondays to Saturdays 8am to 6pm.

Send resume and cover letter in body of email, along with a link to your online portfolio (url) for consideration. all attachments will be deleted.

Not too bad huh? Maybe I should apply for myself.

Inspirational Peace Message

Thich Nhat Hanh (what a wonderful name) is a Vietnamese Buddhist monk and a peace activist. He had written many books includes: Being Peace, Peace is Every Step, Touching Peace, and many more. In 1967, he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Dr. Martin Luther King, for his work for Peace during the Viet Nam War.

Here is an inspirational peace message narrated by Thich Nhat Hanh and presented by Beliefnet.

Ignorance is Bliss

I was talking to my roommate and somehow Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon came into our conversation. He said it’s the worse movie he had ever seen. He thought it was so fake that people could fly around and a 90 lbs girl could kick ass. Well, what do you expect from a white boy perspective? I just laughed because I didn’t want to response to that kind of ignorance. Of course, the movie is unreal, it’s a fantasy. Use your imagination for a little bit and enjoy the aesthetics experience. Focus on the work of art itself and do not bring in your own judgement. Step out of your own culture for once and appreciate diversity.

Why the hell did I wait so long to watch this uplifting movie? The Joy Luck Club is remarkable. They did a great job of packing all the major stories in two hours. I used to be addicted to Chinese long ass movies. For instance, each of the mother’s story in Joy Luck Club would take about 20 to 30 hours to tell. The Chinese long movies delved into much deep details than what you would see in The Joy Luck Club. They want you to feel as if you are living in it. Ater spending many hours in the fantasy world, I was always hated so much that I had to come back to reality at the end of the movies.

Pretty Boy

Check out this cute Flash music video. The vector graphics are beautiful and the music is nice.

Mooning

Their mission is to moon the White House and they need $10,000 to do it. I can’t believe people are actually donating money for it. I am not interested in politic issues, but that is so disrepectful to the Constitution. Anyways, talking about mooning reminded me of an incident last weekend that made me laughed so hard. I was accidently cut off this one guy while cruising around Lancaster with my boyz. The guy had three teenage daughters in the back seat of his car. While we were stopping at the red light, the girls gave us loser signs with their fingers. We wanted to get them back so we told Chino to moon them. As soon as the greenlight turned, I pulled up closed to them than Chino pulled down his pants. They were screaming their lungs out. Those girls are probably still having nightmares about it. They were exposed to a fat ass moon because Chino weights around 300 pounds. That was some funny shit.

Listening to Long Me performed by Dalena. I have a lot of respect for Dalena because she is an American, who can not speak Vietnamese really well but sings Vietnamese songs perfectly. Long Me is an old song that praises Vietnamese mothers. The song requires lots of souls and feelings to express the lyrics. Not only Dalena did an extraordinary job on the song, she also wrote some of the lyrics in English as well. Although her English translation is not as rich as the Vietnamese, she has captured the general meaning of it.

Long Me bao la nhu bien Thai Binh giat giao.
Tinh me tha thiet nhu giong suoi chai ngot ngao.
Loi Me em ai nhu dong lua chieu ri rao.
Tieng ru ben them trang ta soi bong Me yeu.

Mother’s love is deeper than the sea so wide.
Her soul as sweet as peaceful stream inside.
Her words on songs are gentle breezes raise.
Rockin’ by her baby in the moonlit night.

Thuong con thao thuc bao dem truong,
Con da yen giac Me hien vui suong biet bao.
Thuong con khuya som bao thang ngay.
Lan loi gieo neo nuoi con toi ngay lon khon.

Your cries she hears in the night.
With songs of love she sings you soft truthly.
With love from the morning until night.
Although your life, she holds you in her heart.

Kick Ass Video

Fat Boy Slim’s Weapon of Choice video rocks. Christopher Walken is awesome. Love his moves on the video, especially the part where he flys around the building.

Chemical Brothers

Blasting Chemical Brothers all day long. They have some great funky beats. My favorite shit includes: Block Rockin’ Beats, Under The Influence, Choco’s Groove, Daft Punk – Da Funk, Hey Girl – Hey Boy, Bomb That Bass, and the remix of Bring The Pain by Method Man.

Will, my co-worker, recruited me to his Capoeira class. He is very good at it. The technique is really different. It’s like dance karate but it really works your body. Damn, I was hurting like a bitch. I am such a weak ass motherfucker. All I do these days is eat, sleep, and glue to this fucking computer. This piece of shit is eating me alive but I can’t do a fucking thing about it. I have been thinking of changing a career but can’t do a damn motherfucking thing but web design. I am just fucking screwed.

Paid in Full

According to VNExpress, My Tam makes 20 millions VND (approx. $1300 USD) per night for her performance while the monthly income for an average Vietnamese worker is 1 million (approx. $70 USD). Damn, that chic got everything: young, gifted and loaded. The next time I see her walking around Sai Gon, I’m gonna rob her. Yeah! You heard me, My Tam. Better duck and hide when I come back to Viet Nam. I am just playing girl. Still love your voice very much. You deserve all that money for your hard work. Don’t mind me, I am just a hater.

Illist Illustrations

Although Celia Calle web site design is not too impressive, her artworks are simply amazing. The illustrations are aesthetically powerful and the works of art speak for themselves.

Kicking out 6 grants for AES (American Education Services). 5 more grants to go and 10 more for my mom, I’ll be debt free. Damn I can’t hardly wait. Mom was skeptical when I asked her to loan me the money. She was like, “How come your cousin doesn’t have to pay anything for her college?” I replied, “My cousin doesn’t go to a private school, ma.” La Salle cost me 25 grants a year and I only owe 30 Gs altogether. I still think it was a great deal.

Noding My Fuckin’ Head to OutKast’s B.O.B

“Don’t pull the thang out, unless you plan to bang. Bombs Over Baghdad!
Don’t even bang unless you plan to hit somethin’. Bombs Over Baghdad!
Power music, electric revival. Power music, electric revival.”

That song got a fly ass beat. If you want some dope ass hip hop flavor, get OutKast Greatest Hits. Hits like Rosa Parks, The Whole World, B.O.B, Elevators, and Spottieottiedopaliscious, you’ll guarantee to drop a few pounds.

I was also listening to How To Rob An Industry Nigga by 50 Cents. That song cracked me up. He talked shit about everybody. What y’all think about The Jump Off video? The beat is off the hook. God damn, Lil’Kim looks slutty but sexy as hell.

Vassar was showing Monsoon Wedding today. I have a mix feeling about this film. The story line is great in a way that eventually you will get to know all the characters. I absolutely love the use of rich colors throughout the film. I admire the dances and Indian techno. Indian wedding is much more fun than Chinese and Vietnamese. Marigolds (Bong Van Tho) play a big part in Indian traditions. I am wondering what the significant meaning behind it. In Vietnamese, Bong Van Tho (marigolds) mean lifelong flowers. They play a big part in the Vietnamese too but I have never seen them being used for weddings. The bad part about this movie is the slow paste. The worse part is the lip-syncs, they don’t match up at all. It gets really annoying.

Anyways, I am not going into details about the movie but one of the theme is about arranged marriage. It actually works. Arranged marriages tend to be more stable than regular marriages. It’s really hard to married someone you don’t know but the love eventually grow. Your relationship will eventually build up and you’ll learn to appreciate each other. In contrast, unarranged relationships usually go down the drain. The first three months are the best part of the relationship. After that, it starts to drift away. You start to get bored. You no longer appreciate your partner. You just don’t care anymore. A year or two goes by, you can’t take it anymore and want a divorce. Ok enough of this crap.

No one can sing this song better than Don Ho (I am talking about the Vietnamese Don Ho, not the Hawaiian Don Ho). It is one of his best performance because he puts so much soul and feeling into it. Specially the bridge part.

Anh den voi em, voi tat ca tam hon.
Em den voi anh, voi tat ca trai tim.
Ta den voi nhau, muon mang cho don dau.
Mot lan cho mai nho thuong dai lau.

I came to you with all of my soul.
You came to me with all of your heart.
But it’s too late, for love meant to be.
For love to stay with me always.