“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.

Y’all know what I’m jammin’ to right? Hell yeah, 2pac again and again! “I came to bring the pain, hardcore to the brain. Let’s go inside my astral plane.” No More Pain is one of the most hardcore hip hop track ever. Both the beat and lyric are hardcore as hell. It cracks me up when he said, “It’s Westside, Death Row, Thug niggaz on the rise. Busters shot me five times, real niggaz don’t die.” Well, I guess you ain’t real no more huh? Hahaha, just playing Pac, you know I love your joints.

Another track that brings back da good old day is Me and My Girlfriend (no not the Gay-Z shit). I remembered pumpin’ this track in my car then my boy and I were arguing about what Pac meant when he said, “I love finger fuckin’ you.” Isn’t it obvious to you what he meant? Exactly, that’s what I thought too but my homie argued that Pac was referring to the finger that pulls the trigger. Pac was not talking to his girlfriend but referring directly to his enemies. What he really meant was, “I love to pull the trigger to fuck your ass up.” Isn’t that an interesting argument? It does make sense now that I think about it. Too bad Pac is gone and there’s no way we can find out what the hell he said. What do you think? Drop me a line to let me know your opinion on it. Alright, I am outta here for good. Peace!

Home Sweet Home

It’s a lovely Friday. Spring is here, hopefully. Definitely going back Lancaster to see my family for the weekend. Haven’t seen them for months and I really missed homemade food. Mom called me up last night to see if I am coming home today so she can make Pho (Vietnamese Noodle). Isn’t she sweet or what? She knows I haven’t have that for the longest. Gosh, I love this woman to death and no one else could take her place in my heart. She also wants me to take her to Philly (an hour and a half from Lancaster) for Vietnamese groceries so she can cook stuff for me to bring back to Poughkeepsie. I guess, she doesn’t want me to eat too much rice and hot dogs. Anyways, I’ll be out so have a good weekend y’all.

Macromedia Beta 2

The new Macromedia homepage is similar to the previous version (not beta 1). It might has a different look but the combination of Flash and html layout is pretty much the same. Although the Tray Navigation was useful, it slowed down the homepage so it was smart that they took it out. However, the Product and Solution Pickers were great and I didn’t think they caused the homepage to choked. What a waste! I am glad they still keep the Rich Internet Applications.

Every time I drop by DroLLery, there is always new interesting stuff to read.

Inspiration

With slick and sexy design, 4efx is absolutely gorgeous. With clean and simple layout, 4vs5 allows the works speak for themselves.

Unique Style

Oh man, it’s snowing again. Don’t feel like doing anything but listen to sad songs. Currently listening to “Ke Di Tim Mong.” This song was quite popular but I didn’t like it until Dam Vinh Hung performed it with his unique style. It’s quite hard to accomplished something like that because the song already established itself and if an artist is not doing it correctly, it could ruined his/her career. I have seen so many artists went down the gutter for destroying popular songs. Unlike other artists, Dam Vinh Hung unique style enhanced the songs. For instance, “Tan Tro” had a soft tune but he gave it an energy and made it so lively. Near the end of the song where the beats picked up then he screamed out with passion, “Cuoc tinh thu nhat anh da trot trao ve em. Tinh yeu dau tien tinh yeu do dam da va nhieu xot xa…” Loosely translate, “This is my first love and I gave it all to you. The first true love that is deeply strong and filled with sorrow.” He really took this song to a whole new level that no other artist has ever come close. I liked “Tan Tro” before but loved it after he put a creative twist on it. You must experience it for yourself to understand what I am talking about.

William Gibson

Jack in William Gibson cyberspace, author of the infamous Neuronmancer. His recently novel Pattern Recognition is also enjoyable.

Emptiness

It feels so empty at work. Carolyn, my boss, flew to Paris this morning. Lucky her. Keisha and Megg also took a week vacation. Of course the students won’t come back until the 23rd. Oh well, at least I still have d3studio by my side.

While surfing around, I was drawn into Asian Abuse. Growing up as asian kids, we all have been abused by our parents one way or the other. Some experienced it physically, mentally or even both. Don’t give me wrong, I love my mother to death but growing up with her was not easy at all. She would not let anyone put his/her hands on me even my own father; however, she put a lot of pressure on me mentally. My father was not around so she raised my sister and I on her own. She put lots of hope on my shoulder. She wanted me to accomplished what she didn’t get a chance to do. She would sacrifice anything in order for me to get an education. She made me feel guilty if I didn’t do good in school. I felt extremely depressed when she compared me with my cousins. She would always said, “Look at your cousins, one makes 60 thousands a year, one makes 80 thousands a year and you can’t even get a good grade.” Mom, did you know that I was hurt inside when you said, “Look at so and so, they listen to their parents. I am so unfortunate to have a son that not only don’t listen but also talk back to me.” I just wanted to expressed how I feel mom. There was no such thing as communication. Parents talk, kids listen, and that’s it. Until this day, she still treats me as a 12 years old kid but she finally understands and accepts me the way that I am and not someone like my cousins or the good kids who always listened to their parents. Our relationship is much better now then the way it used to be. I know that you will always love me and want what is best for me so you didn’t do all that stuff intentionally to hurt me. So I don’t blame you mom and I will always love you.

A one page layout for Vassar College Outreach Programs is so cute. Of course, it was designed by Kreative Keisha. Great job, Boo! Can’t wait to see your personal site launched.

WthRemix

The list of WthRemix Entries are posted. I am surprised that alot of these sites do not display correctly on Mac IE. If I was the judge, here are my picks:

Honorable Mentions: Timothy Martens (clean and minimal with usable tree menu), Tim Brown (straight forward navigation with simple layout).

Grand Prize Winner: Radu Darvas (well organized, clean layout, and nice graphic).

Happy Birthday Boo!

Went to Yobo yesterday with Keisha to celebrate her birthday. The place was quite funky but the food was great. Happy birthday sweetie and have a nice break too. You deserve it. You’re such a great friend who appreciates diversity and down to earth. I am really glad to get to know you.

D3studio launches nfsahc.org.

Swamped

What a Monday morning? Still freezing in Poughkeepsie. It feels like the wind blows my brain out. My car broke down. I am completely swamped with both personal and Vassar works. I am so hungry and they are not making anymore oatmeal because the students are on spring break. The campus is so empty without the students.

Just finished watching Rebecca, another classic disturbing drama from the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock. The woman housekeeper is so creepy and mysterious. It’s a great film. Anyhow, I began to appreciate classic movies after taking a course at Lasalle called Film as Art. The course focused on critical evaluations of the work of a diverse but representative group of outstanding films and filmmakers. It was one of my favorite class and Bill Wine (the professor) was excellent. In fact, I liked it so much that I went on to take another course called Critical Approaches to Film. The course traced the history of the medium of American film, analyzed it chronologically, as well as genre by genre, from its inception at the turn of the last century through its place in society as we begin a new century. This course was taught by Bro. Gerry and he was outstanding. Not only we had to analyzed the films but we had to acted out a scene from a movie in a small group. I played Gavin Elster (Tom Helmore) in Vertigo and Lyle (Dennis Hopper) in Red Rock West. It was nerve-racking because I had never done anything like that before. It turned out well at the end and I enjoyed it.

Sickest Lyrics

After listening to the first two lines of Ignition by R Kelly, I couldn’t take it anymore. The first line he said, “You remind me of something, I just can’t think of what it is.” You remind me of a child molester, that’s it. He went on, “Girl, please let me stick my key in your ignition, babe.” Hope he didn’t used this metaphor on a child. Sick bastard!

Hatred and Racism

Watched American History X last night, a powerful film that depicts hatred and racism. Edward Norton performance is outstanding throughout the film. The illest part is when he ordered the black kid to bite the concrete then he stepped on his head. That crushed sound gave me a chill. The truth about racism illustrated in this movie shocked me deeply.

Check out the studio.

Flash Web Experience

I must admit, Macromedia had used Flash to its full potential on its site. They had taken the web experience to a whole new level with Flash. After surfing around the site, I am thrilled with the user experience. For instance, the front page remembered where I was before when I returned to it. When I went to Flash exchange to download a component. Found the component I wanted and clicked to download. It took me to a sign in screen. I went on to create a new account because I wanted to see how it works. After filling out the form, it automatically downloaded the component for me. It did all that work without having to leave the page. That’s incredible.

Flash Usable Interface

Love the interface design on Joshua Davis/Praystation. It’s straight forward, intuitive, and highly usable.

Flash Mad Wicked Motion

The animations and soundtracks from Insert Silence are raw rough and rugged. There are no words to describe it. You just have to experience it for yourself. Enjoy!