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Rage, rebellion and Rock seem to fit together. Gone were Happy Days and the Mamas & Pappas. As soon as we got color television, it were as if innocence had vanished along with the Black- and- White TV sets. Rage against the machine. Against materialism and modernity. Against the wind (symbolically speaking). Rock, or stone, needs to roll. Rolling Stone.…
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Like a scene from Cinema Paradiso (when the film producer returned to his village just to find out his beloved movie house demolished for a parking lot) I too start seeing the skyline of Saigon rising, blocking the old bank where my sister used to work. Another one is being planned next to cho Ben Thanh…
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When honey moon is over, people are faced with bills, kids crawl and cry, temptation to compare with alternate spousal choices. My Dad went through that struggle. I have gone through the same. Lingering legacy. Unintended consequences. The result: my half-sister and me. What to do and what to say. Same chromosome, but with a slightly different cut of…
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The audience sang along, occasionally to the shared mike. We will we will rock you. Tonight gonna be a good good night. Even Top of the World which was a relic from the 70’s. A night at Acoustic, Saigon. A night to release the stress. A night to see Rock rules in a whole new generation. The…
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I see strength in broken places every day. In people peddling lottery tickets, in pedicab drivers, in xe-om and conical-hat ladies. They move about under the shadow of high rises here in Saigon. Broken limb and broken dream. Yet I see strength in their struggle. I see resilience where there should have none. Death is in no…
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I reward myself with strong coffee after my morning exercise. It had been a month before I found out that Cam Ly, a Vietnamese famous singer – with her signature song “Bo Ben La’ (strange shores) live in the house next to the alley where I had my coffee. Strange shores, strange circumstances. When in…
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The only way to hold a job and still jog and blog is to sacrifice your sleep. You will always find time for things you hold near and dear e.g. texting to ones you care about, reading about Oakland shooting etc…. ROW rest of world could wait. There is only 24 hours in a day.…
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I jumped on the divan and sat in the middle of it, as far away from the rising water as possible. For a 3 year-old, the sight of water everywhere must be frightening. Water like what was brought in yesterday by the storm. Saigon was hit direct. Trees toppled and treasure lost. The French architect planned…
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Out of hundreds, emerged one. Winner of the throne. Winner of brand simple. Vua Hung Vuong, Vietnam‘s first King. His campaign? Neither communication skill, nor combating skill. But culinary skill. Simple dishes yet full of meaning: square bean cake representing the Earth, round one the Moon. Harmony without and symmetry within. Bingo! The throne is yours.…
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Thang Nguyen 555 