Thang Nguyen 555
Cultures on Collision Course
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Author: Thang Nguyen 555
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Tonight is New Year‘s Eve (Giao Thua) here in Vietnam. Senator McCain and Lieberman are also here on their SEA trip. But many years ago, McCain probably heard the sound of firecrackers. Tonight, there won’t be firecrackers, but everything should happen just as it has for centuries: visit ancestor’s graves or ash stored next to a…
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The night before New Year’s Eve (year of the Dragon), Saigonese and expats got a choice to watch the rehearsal at formerly known as Independence Palace, or nurse a beer at Acoustic. Years ago, this neighborhood was a hang-out place for privileged kids who attended nearby French lycee. Today, at least in this den-like corner,…
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In his year-end Opinion, David Brooks of the NYTimes recited a story about people in Louisiana who had lighted a candle for neighbor’s graves. This year-end here in Vietnam, I saw just that and more…incense, flowers and fruit. People are either already home or on the way. They cook, clean and cater to many needs,…
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The Great Gatsby got another round of remake, this time in 3-D. With help of steady cam, we are invited into his mansion of many rooms. This should give a feel for the place and Gatsby’s desire to revenge through success. We too ,with IT 3.0-enabled, can take our “Monte Christo” acts online. For years, we were passive…
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Steve Jobs hated the on-off switch. Perhaps more so because it was a relic of electricity (Edison) and automobile manufacturers (Ford). He did not like old wine in the same wineskin, given our always-on Cloud Service in A/C data centers. Apple chose North Carolina as a site to store music, video and the rest of its customers’…
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Most people are out to celebrate the upcoming New Year (Tet). Dzzzzzzzzzzzzo! Heineken toast! Except for one young man, crutches aside, lifted his body (one leg dangling, the other with flipping blue jeans) up to train his upper-body. Now, that got my attention. I complimented him on finding out the right angle to wrap his hands around…
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In reading Steve Jobs, a theme keeps emerge: less is more. He cut out the fat and all its distraction. (being a veggie, he stayed true to form). His closet was full of the same long-sleeve stretch shirt that defined his personal brand. His take on wealth and money was also consistent with his 60’s philosophy. Steve…
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It’s time to celebrate. Harvest time. City folks here in Vietnam go home where beer and Banh Chung (Bean Cake) are waiting, while country folks truck in their flowers and fruits in the opposite direction to sell in the city. This year, we don’t see the return of H5N1. So eat on. Chicken and ducks. A…
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For years, Newsweek had devoted one-page My Turn for reader’s Op-ed. This move paved the way for crowdsourcing and blogging, which are both technology-enabled (same way the Karaoke machine let the audience to have their turn at the mike). We will come to a point in the future where past practices (museum, musical hall and magazines) criss-cross with…
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I heard “Bonjour Vietnam” again last night…”un film de Coppola…” http://stanmark.multiply.com/reviews/item/9?&show_interstitial=1&u=%2Freviews%2Fitem It evoked psychedelic images and texture of horror (adapted from Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.) Yet we were sitting in a boutique studio, with aged ladies sang along to Le Uyen Phuong’ s Last Word to You , equivalent of Bono and Cher: “let’s lay down one last…
Thang Nguyen 555 