Originally posted on Thang Nguyen 555: Cast away. Sending an SOS. an SMS. I hope that someone will get my message. We are born to connect (our belly button testifies to this) with nature and others. Yet marketers are telling us that in Retirement Ville, cruise ship (with sauna sound that reminds us of incubator) and…

Originally posted on Thang Nguyen 555: Years ago, my roommate invited me over for Thanksgiving. The ride from Penn State to Lancaster was a long but memorable one. It’s predominantly Amish there. And I remember discussing with his Dad about “Turning East” by Harvey Cox (the subject I took that summer). Years have gone by.…

Originally posted on Thang Nguyen 555: Have you submitted your name to be shuttled up to Mars?  Space and sea travel or your names on Mars and not marble. This is to show our preference for progress over permanence  – technology over religion. While it’s good to sit on one of the benches with our…

Originally posted on Thang Nguyen 555: Saw Rod Stewart on TV, mute out sound at the gym. Still with the spiked up hair, shiny suit and swaying. Staying power and loyal fan base. My daughter asked “what’s that word to mean someone who because of him/her, you model after”. I tried “influencer”, “role model“, “mentor”…

Originally posted on Thang Nguyen 555: How would you like to keep up at third place, just to have your legs give in at the last-minute? That’s what happened to SF track star, who managed to crawl to the finishing line. http://abcnews.go.com/US/injured-high-school-runner-crawls-finish-line-push/story?id=12298473 In the late 70’s, it’s all about running. Then we learned more about…

Originally posted on Thang Nguyen 555: First they outsourced to lower the cost of, let’s say, an I phone. The guy (Chinese farm-to-factory worker) if not jumped out of the window from a Foxconn‘s dorm, wished he had because there was no way he could afford one. Even his counterparts in NYC had to get in line…

Originally posted on Thang Nguyen 555: A Vietnamese film director, a Japanese novelist, a Beatles title (which I read the Vietnamese translation bought in Hanoi)= Norwegian Wood. http://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/film/norwegian-wood-film-a-labour-of-love Indian telecom companies bought out Middle Eastern counterparts to target mobile market in Africa. China beefs up its investment in construction and rare earth mining in S…

Originally posted on Thang Nguyen 555: The cut-aways (filmed after the interviewed subject had left), the backstage steady cam sneak peeks, the studio bird-eye-view shot showing anchors walk away from the set while credits roll and music fade out…. We are a society privileged with multiple vantage points , given us the illusion of omnipresence. When…

Originally posted on Thang Nguyen 555: I like Bond, James Bond. Unlike Batman, Bond shows his face, grace under pressure and yes, his penchant for “work hard play hard”. But don’t ever doubt his loyalty and commitment to serve the Queen. The franchise still commands a huge audience with formula that works: Bond got a…

Originally posted on Thang Nguyen 555: Change bears a different connotation to different people. In the 60’s, change threatened the status quo (Hell No, we won’t go). It’s inevitable that we need to adapt (from jukebox to boombox, from paper-back book to e-book).  A few years from now, we would rather be dead than getting…