So I spent the whole day reformatted my Mac. It has been working nicely so far. Thanks Keisha so much for helping me out. You’re so smart and patient. I am pretty new to the Mac world so I am just learning as I go along.

Movies I Want to Watch

Nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the Academy Award, Gail Dolgin and Vicente Franco’s Daughter From Danang seems like a good film to enjoy. Justin Lin’s Better Luck Tomorrow looks interesting as well.

Film vs. Computer Science

One of the greatest benefit of working for Vassar is free schooling so I might as well take an advantage of it. Vassar do not offered graduate schools so I am looking into getting another major. I am currently debating between film and computer science. It seems like they have a great program on film and I love movies but realistically what am I going to do with it? Therefore, I am leaning more towards computer science and I think it will benefit me greatly with what I am doing now. It’s about time I am dragging my lazy ass back to school. Well, not yet but at least I am thinking about it.

Congratulations! Miss Massachusetts

Enjoyed Miss USA 2003. It was a must needed break from cnn for a little bit. I thought Miss Texas was flawless from head to toe and her answer was great. She spoke out what she believes. Furthermore, nothing can top a pretty woman with a love for sushi. It’s just a perfect combination.

Ladies! Some fashion tips for y’all. Read it, practice it, and kick it the slutty style.

Gay Sex

Well, my computer was not returned until 4:00pm. It’s still a piece of crap. I am going to spend the whole day tomorrow back up my works and reformat the hard drive. It’s going to be as pleasure as having a gay sex (pain in the fucking ass) but I gotta do what I gotta do. Hopefully this will solve the problem. Anyway, did you watched the Oscar last night? Steve Martin was hilarious. He was such a great host. After Michael Moore trashed president Bush in his speech, Martin said: “It was so sweet backstage. The Teamsters are helping Michael Moore into the trunk of his limo.” That was pretty funny. I was disappointed that The Quiet American wasn’t even nominated. It’s such a great film. Oscar sucks!

Pissed Off

Another morning without my computer. I called up the guy from CIS this morning, he said my computer won’t be done until noon. What the fuck? Last Friday, he told me it would be ready by Monday morning. My computer has been out since last Thursday and the only thing he is working on is running a diagnostic test. Took him 2 and a half mother fucking days just to do that. Ain’t that a bitch?

My cousin Yen turns 25 today. She’s a month and a day older than me. I can’t believe time just flied us by. It seems like yesterday that we were riding bikes together. On Saturday, we had a family gathering and celebrated her birthday at the same time. Like always, we had bangin’ ass Vietnamese foods. First, we had “lau,” one of my all time favorite dish. Not sure if there is an English name for it but it’s basically “cook as you eat.” There were shrimps, meatballs(raw), oysters, beef, mushrooms, cabbages, all type of Vietnamese vegetables. They were all fresh and uncooked so you have to do is dip them in a boiling seasoned water (soup) located in the middle of the table on top of the gas stove. Take them out when it cooked, dip them in Sate (hotsauce) and soy sauce, and put them in your mouth. My Gosh, they are heaven, especially with a bottle of Heineken. After that we had steamed salmons with vegetables. Rolled them up with spring rolls and dip into man nem (the real fish sauce that only the real Vietnamese can handled). Then we had bo kho (Vietnamese beef stew with french baguette). I am not gonna go on with desserts and all the sweet stuffs. Damn my stomach was about to exploded.

After stuffed all that foods, we sat together to chit chat about my cousin Minh wedding which is coming this december. He’s currently a MIS professor and his fiance is a maternity doctor. What a perfect match huh? I am so happy for them. He asked me to put together a small site for him so that our family all over the world could access it. I told him I will be glad to do it. So check back later for this special project.

Got a brand new Sony DVD player for $30 and a used Sony car stereo head unit for 75 bucks. My car is bumping now baby. No, I do not show off my car and I am not into all that supped up shit to get attentions. I just can’t drive without a system in my car. Base kicking loud music helps me get through long hours driving.

Superman

The bonus music video from Eminem’s 8 Miles DVD is so wack. The porno stars are nasty as fuck.

Being sick is miserable. On top of that, the war is depressing. Not motivated to do anything.

I am fucked up. My G4 is fucked up. The world is fucked up. It’s all fucked up now. I am out this motherfucker, turn the fucking lights out.

Direct Connection With Users

If you have been following the debates on Macromedia Redesign, here is an interesting reading on Designing in Public.

Flash and Photography

Lately, I have seen many online photography portfolios used Flash effective to showcase and navigate the photos. While Dirk Lambrechts photos are slick and sexy, Erik Refner photos are very dramatic, especially the Cambodian section. The experiences on both sites are definitely enjoyable; however, it would be a pain for dial-up users to get around the sites.

This song affected me deeply, especially at this movement when the war is about to break out. Ngoc Lan did an amazing performance on the song. I tried to translate the lyrics to my best knowledge and understanding of it.

I send my older brother some cigarettes,
so he can burn his life on his fingers.
Send my mother some needles,
so she can stitch for me my miserable heart and liver.
Send my older sister some cloths,
so she can make a wedding dress or a funeral outfit.
Send my younger brother some candies,
so he can have some sweet because life is bitter.
Send my dad a white shirt,
so he can wear it in the battlefield to dry his corpse.
Send Viet Nam our last tears,
Hoping for peace one day in our motherland.

See Men Shredded, Then Say You Don’t Back War

Gluesome, sick, and disturbing crimes against humanity. The world is coming to an end.

Bloody Brilliant

The Quiet American (Nguoi My Tram Lang) is a bloody brilliant work of art that deals with relationship and politic. The bombing scenes are terrified. Innocent lives are wasted. This is the first time I see Michael Caine performance and he surely inspired me. Brendan Frase and Do Thi Hai Yen (marvellously sexy) performances are incredible as well. Glad the film treats Vietnamese beauty seriously and doesn’t take Vietnamese women as a joke. The soundtrack is very dramatic. I love that intense Vietnamese song in the beginning. This film definitely deserves some recognitions from the Academy Awards.

“Your site looks amazing – really nice work and your eye for design has come such a long way since our first DArt classes!” -Professor DeTurk.

This email from my former art professor at La Salle just makes my day. Professor DeTurk is really critical when it comes to art and design. I remembered showing her my first site design. I was so excited because I worked all night on that baby. She looked at it trashed it right away. I had a black background layout, several different font styles and colors, amateur photoshopped images, and looping animated gifs all over the place. I thought it was the coolest thing I’ve ever done. I was clueless about the sense of design and she was just bluntly pointed it out. The truth hurt but it taught me to become a better designer. I have alot of respect for her when it comes to design criticism and her compliments showed that I had been improved over the years.

Nguoi My Tram Lang (The Quiet American)

Oh my gosh! This is great. Vassar college is having a screening of The Quiet American tonight at 5:30. I’ve been waiting forever for this movie to hit the theatre and it is here at Vassar. I am so excited.

Vietnam Exhibition

The Vietnam, Journeys of Body, Mind, and Spirit exhibits at the American Museum of Natural History.

48 Hours to Live

As Bush stated last night, Sad-damn Hussein got 48 hours to live. Just think! Where would you go? What would you do? Who would you screw? And who would you wanna notify? Or would yo’ ass deny that yo’ ass about to die?

“48 left until my death. So I’m gon’ waste alot of lives, but I’ll cherish every breath. I know exactly where I’m goin’, but I’mma send you there first. And with the shit that I’ll be doin’, I’mma send you there worse. I’ve been livin’ with a curse, and now it’s all about to end. But before I go, say hello to my little friend. But I gots to make it right, reconcile with my mother. Try to explain to my son, tell my girl I love her. C-4 up under the coat, snatch up my dog. Turn like three buildings on Wall Street, into a fog. Out with a bang, you will remember my name. I wanted to live forever, but this wasn’t fame.” -DMH (Dark Man Hussein)

Goodbye

Two of the web related book publishers: Glasshaus and Friends of Ed.

Nice Site

Inform has a clean layout, straight forward interface, and a nice blend of Flash and html. The interactive demo is a little bit slow, though. Or maybe I am just fed up with Flash and fullscreen window.

Bulldozer Incident

Rachel Corrie, an American college student was killed by Israeli bulldozer. It was such a horrible tragedy; however, she was kneeling in front of the bulldozer while other demonstrators were several yards away, according to the Washington Post. What was she thinking?

Saw Su Ba (monk) in my dream last night. She smiled at me and called out my name. She passed away a few years ago. Although, the last time I saw her was 19 years ago, her kind-hearted descriptions remained in my mind forever. When I was five, spent about a year at the temple and it was the happiest experienced ever. There was Su Ba (“grandma” monk), Su Co (“auntie” monk), chi My Chau (“sister” monk) and me (just a lucky regular 5 years old kid). Chi My Chau was adopted to the temple after her parents abandoned her because of her disability. According to the Vietnamese theory, it was a curse if the child was borned abnormal. The parents must killed or gave up the child. However, Chi My Chau was the kindest and sweetest individual I’ve known all my life. Although she was limping when she walks, she was always taking care of me and was never too busy to spend time with me.

Each morning, Chi My Chau and I watered the garden then we would helped Su Co sweep and clean the temple. After that, we would pick out vegetables to prepare lunch. Vegetarian dishes were always delightful. I loved the fried rice that was made from white rice and vegetable oil. Plain and simple but delicious. They used to teased me how easy I was to raised, all I need was the fried rice. After an afternoon nap, it was play time. Chi My Chau taught me how to make all kinds of neat stuff such as kites, birds, propellers, etc. from coconut leaves and papers. Flying kites was my favorite hobby. Chi My Chau made beautiful kites.

After play time, we would gathered into Su Ba room for Bible lessons. After that, all of us gathered around the temple to pray. I was in charge of hitting the gong. It was my favorite task because whenever I hit that gong, everyone bowed, specially big occasions when there was alot of peple. Of course, I couldn’t hit it all the time. I had to follow Su Ba’s prayer and knew when to hit the gong. Following the prayer, it was dinner time. My favorite time was after dinner where Su Co would tell fantasy stories on how the Buddha used his/her powers to help people. After storytime, Chi Chau and I walked around the temple to insert incense.

That was my daily routine at the temple. It was the most peaceful life I ever had. I was surrounded by love and spirit. It was like living in heaven and I was protected from the outside world. When I was six, my parents came picked me up because it was time for me to go home and go to school. I could remember vividly the teardrops from Chi My Chau eyes as we said goodbye. We were a bonded family and I didn’t want to leave. They were my temple family members that I will never forget. My life after the temple was a disaster. The real world was full of evil, hate, and temptation. Without their guidance and direction I was lost and became a little monster (another interesting story). I could never go back to that life because the real world has rotten me. I have no place after this life for me. I have no Jesus or Buddha in me, not even God.

Now back in Poughkeepsie. Had a quality time with the family. Came home Friday night, my mom made goi cuon (spring roll), pho (Vietnamese noodle), and sinh to sau rieng (durian smoothie). Damn I was stuffed to death. Saturday, took my mom and my aunt to Philly for grocery shopping. We stopped at Joy Tsin Lau for tim sum (tea lunch). Never have enough of shrimp dumplings. At the asian supermarket, I bumped into my uncle. Man, he was bling blingin’ with gold chain, diamond ring, and a Rolex. On top of that, he’s pushing a brand new 2003 Lex LX. Damn it! He should have lent me some of his dough so I can pay off my student loans.

We bought heo quay (Chinese roast pork) for dinner. My head started to spin after munching away the pork skins. Too much fatty gets me dizzy as hell but I couldn’t help myself. After dinner, I spent some time with my cutie Sammie. We watched Mulan together. It was probably the fifth time I watched that animated film. The storyline is so sweet. The music is fantastic. Of course, the illustrations and animations are amazing.

On Sunday afternoon, hang out with the fellaz. It was unbelievable. We picked up some tacos and chalupas at Taco Bell for lunch. After finished eating them at my boy’s crib, everyone was fighting for the bathroom. Damn, I’ll never eat at Taco Bell again. The foods were bangin’ but they just come right back out. That’s pretty much sumed up my weekend.