Thang Nguyen 555
Cultures on Collision Course
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Tag: Youtube
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Just as soon as it is unbearably hot, it rains. The season turns. All we are is Dust in the Wind, sings the Kansas. But before that, one more stanza. Take it to the limits. What are the chances for some friends to turn to the guy sitting next to him at a random cafe,…
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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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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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Bob Seger‘s still the same. Shania Twain‘s still the one. And at C’est Moi tonight, the owner/singer (Vietnamese back from France) still carried the show with her energy and charisma, as if she owned the place. When you sing, you have to lift the audience out of the here and now. If they are on…
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While waiting for my next appointment, I heard a man whistle. He carried a tune while being oblivious to outsiders. Maybe he just try to pass the time in between classes. Maybe we should whistle too. We are all passing the time. Some of us are doing time. Stephen Hawking wishes he could hear his own…
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We always rushed through dinner to claim our living room space, or call it a stage. Daddy’s mandolin, brother’s violin, and my guitar. But we never played with one another, being from three different generations. So “Du Am”, “Em Toi” and “Le Da” in mandolin. Then “Serenade”, “Guitare D’Amour” either by violin or guitar. Finally…
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David Brooks of the NYTimes had a piece about the US economy which he coined as “mid-life-crisis economy that needs to be rejuvenated”. That’s oil. Here in Vietnam, I found quite a contrast. Young demographic, young economy that goes no where but up. Community Colleges, Trade and Vocational schools, English classes. One by one, they…
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It’s not that safe at Safeway, if you decided to munch on one of their merchandise (eat-now, pay-later vs pay-now, eat-later), as one pregnant Honolulu tourist found out. http://news.yahoo.com/pregnant-mom-says-sandwich-arrest-horrifying-214407004.html We learned in this AP article that no one stopped to say,” this has been taken far enough” i.e. we have made mountains out of mole hills.…
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Via camera phone, satellite uplink and YouTube upload, we got pictures and sound of the upheaval in Libya up to the minute. The golden gun (its now-deceased owner must have watched James Bond’s Gold Finger), the Club Car and female bodyguards. When I was growing up, we were cooped up inside the house (curfew) while news of…
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