What do I think of Facebook?

I’ll tell you what I think of Facebook. A new design is a new design, and some people will welcome it, some people will be reluctant to change. But that is not the problem. From a neutral perspective, Facebook is rolling out new features like the company is in a rush. How long ago did the “Wall”, “Info”, “Photos” buttons left the top to go under the profile picture? Not so long ago. And now they come up with a bunch of features, most noticeably the “ticker”, which exposes every single activity on Facebook of yours to each and every friend, in real time. Needless to say, I was confused about this, considering how Facebook has been widely criticized for its lack of privacy.

I have yet to see the good in the new design and features. Facebook destroyed their identity. What is the difference between Facebook and Myspace? Why did people move from Myspace to Facebook? Yes, the consistency. Myspace offered its users everything, much like a personal blog – you could change the appearance of your page any way you want, there were no restrictions. This created a mess – people put thousands of flash widgets, horrific fonts, autoplaying background music, colourful background images that prevents anyone from seeing the text above it, and so on and so forth. That was when Facebook stepped in. Facebook offered a clean and consistent design where user pages looked alike, except for the profile picture and the info. You no longer need to scroll down through 5 Flash widgets to find a person’s favourite film. It’s all organized, and at the same place for everybody’s profile. The news feed was not cluttered with a bunch of crap on the other side, leaving the users to focus on what’s most important: updates. Updates that people actually want to show the world, by pressing the “Post” button.

After the popularity went up, Facebook constantly changed its user interface to offer what they think is better than the old design. Sometimes they are so efficient in coming up with this stuff that a total redesign of the website was rolled out only months after the old design was introduced to users. The consistency was gone. People didn’t even have time to familiarize themselves with new features before they are hit on the head with new ones. Buttons are thrown across the page. More and more features are designed to expose every little bit of information a person can put on the site. The logical and efficient chronologically ordered “Most Recent” feed was gone. No pre-release statement was issued, features just come when Facebook wants them to come. Facebook is not in beta testing, and features should be announced to us before we are forced to use them.

Facebook was constantly under criticism for privacy, too. There used to be little to no privacy on Facebook. Users couldn’t control who sees what. That was improved a little, until Facebook rolled out the “ticker”, the little sidebar on the right that updated in real-time what your friends are commenting on Facebook. Sure, you may say that without the ticker people could still see your posts. Or you may say that I should shut up if I don’t want people to know something. Right, right, very thoughtful. Have you ever considered that nobody had time to go profile to profile looking at “recent activities”? Have you ever thought that the ticker was like providing you with a room full of screens with videos from surveillance cameras stalking each of the 1000 friends you have on your Facebook? There is a reason why Facebook was criticized. And then you might say “Facebook is a social network, it’s meant to expose you, so get over it.”. Sure, go ahead, say curse words loudly in front of your parents when you are talking on the phone. Or, you can scream “I HATE HARRY POTTER” to your friend while sitting next to a bunch of Potterheads. It’s your choice. When I posted the “Post” button to update my status, I agreed that it will be an announcement, and that it will show up on everybody’s home page. However, when I press Enter to post a comment, I only wanted to comment on the matter, and nothing more. I didn’t want my comment/opinion to be like an announcement, showing up as little text on everybody else’s homepage. It was meant for those who were interested and who wanted to read the comments, not for everyone.

So that’s what I think of Facebook. It’s going downhill. (And no, Tumblr is not cooler than Facebook in any way, in case you’re wondering). I don’t understand the motivation behind all the things that Facebook is rolling out, as they are doing it constantly, without letting the users know beforehand or get used to it afterwards. User feedback meant nothing to Facebook, because they are the developers, this is their website, they can do whatever they want with it. They don’t need any user feedback, they like a feature, they make it happen, even though millions of users feel the other way. So why is Facebook still the most popular site around right now? Because there was no alternative (there is now). How many social websites with extensive features exist, except from myspace and facebook? Myspace lost it, and there was a monopoly in social networking on the internet. All the criticism led to no change, because we had to endure Facebook no matter how bad it is going to be, for we had no other choice. However, Google+ stepped in a few months ago and it is pretty promising. I’m not going into detail about this, but Google+ got their plans straight and went right after Facebook, trying to solve the privacy issue that Facebook couldn’t in order to compete. The problem now is, will people be willing to migrate to a new site that is a bit better with new features and new looks, or will they just stay in their comfort zone, much like Windows users? All of you who said that people are just anti-innovation when they complained about new Facebook features, time to prove that you are not a hypocrite.

To Japan.

I have been following the news from the moment it broke out — Annie’s mother reported the earthquake from Japan and Yuki said there was an earthquake in Hawaii, immediately afterwards. Now four days after, I find myself stressing a little bit too much over this, especially the nuclear issue.

I have been to Japan. Maybe only on a tour that is supposed to show off all the good sides of it, but nonetheless, it was remarkable. Japan is located right on the Pacific Ring of Fire, at the edge of converging tectonic plates and is prone to disaster. They also suffered considerable damage from WWII. Still they rose to the position that they are in now: highly developed and among the top nations of the world. I admire the will of the Japanese people, they work so hard to make up for their disadvantages.

Japan sure is always prepared for earthquakes as they have about 400 earthquakes per day, but this is just horrible. A 9.0-magnitude megathrust earthquake followed by a consequent tsunami and a lot of aftershocks swept away millions of homes and destroyed thousands of lives as well as put nuclear power plants in the verge of a deadly meltdown. There will be even more volcanic eruptions and aftershocks in the next few days. Why is disaster after disaster unfolding and devastating Japan in this short period of time? Japan is in a huge crisis right now, out of nowhere, and that is unfair, from my point of view.

Another thing I want to talk about is the way anti-nuclear people are using the accidents at Fukushima Daiichi as arguments to prove that they are right. As a person who is never able to resist reading articles related to science, I find this action entirely stupid. I will not argue on how nuclear power is great here. Nothing is ever enough for you isn’t it? What are the chances that a 9.0-magnitude will happen and jeopardize a nuclear plant? The plant is really old, and is retiring next month if this incident never happened. When it is working and providing 30% of the electricity for your country, you never recognized its importance, but when it breaks out of a one thousandth chance, you go all anti-nuclear and say ‘look at Japan’. When people try to calm things down, you go ‘they are pro-nuclear, they MUST defend nuclear power’. If that is your argument, then get off the internet. I bet none of you are nuclear experts or have any knowledge of what fission is, and none of you can give a scientific argument of why nuclear power should be banned. People are dying in Japan, the whole country is in a crisis, and all you care about is your belief that nuclear power is bad. Maybe you prefer living next to a coal plant after all.

That is (roughly) what I want to say about the nuclear problem. Things are very, very bad right now, but I have faith in Japan and its people. I must emphasize that the 50 people working at the Fukushima plant right now are truly brave humans. I respect them the most, risking their lives to save that of thousands of others. Heroes emerge from disaster, and Japan will pull through this.

Everything will be better soon, and Japan will grow stronger, building back what they have lost from the pieces that the disaster left behind.

TOEFL.

So as people may know, I got my TOEFL results yesterday. 112 is a pretty big deal, it is something many people aspire to have. People say that I was exaggerating and did really well on the test, but that really is not the case. When I received my scores, I was genuinely surprised.

I am totally honest when I say that I did badly on the test. I was almost falling asleep in the two multiple-choice sections, nervous on Speaking and almost falling asleep again in Writing. The perfect score in Writing was anticipated; I am confident with my writing, and I did pretty well on the test. The Listening and Reading part shocked me very much. Is it just good luck? I guessed 20% of the questions, and still managed to have really high scores. I guess it all went in my favour so I shouldn’t whine about it too much.

What I really want to talk about, is how I felt so proud of myself the moment I received the scores. I didn’t get much out of the Vietnamese English curriculum as they mainly focused on grammar rather than practical English such as speaking and listening. Learning English to me wasn’t a subject at school, but instead a hobby. Of course, I can’t forget the most basic lesson from my dad: ít is, nhiều are (few is, many are; playing on the similarity of the Vietnamese “few” and the English “is”), but most of what I have today was acquired on my own. I was a geeky weirdo in my junior high years, my class was one of the worst in the school, which consisted of girls who favoured boyfriends over school in such a way that they skipped 90% of the classes and boys who favoured making a fuss over everything to the point that most of them got into fights involving weapons. There were a few nerds, but I didn’t really fit in. My hobbies were really different – I liked video games and designing websites, an interest which was brought back to me recently by Tom. Those interests got me wandering around online all the time learning things by myself, and I learned a lot of English just posting on the IGN Boards. I can still see my posts today, and laugh at how silly I was and how bad my English was.

My English improved little by little with posting on online boards, watching movies, TV shows and listening to Man of the Hour. MOTH was very important, as now I find my accent to be an imitation of Patrick and Sebastien’s. Then I got into A2 Ams which required a substantial level of English proficiency, and eventually got to Canada and bounced to the top of my school because of my excellent language skills. Then came the TOEFL and to be honest I wasn’t really studying. I borrowed a book from the library and put it there for a whole month, putting things to later. I crammed for it a few days before the actual test, and it turned out I got 112. I didn’t even study for a whole year like Zakku or buy any Official Guide books like Annie, everything just came, much like a miracle.

And so I’m proud of myself. I am proud of the fact that my English now is a result of pure enthusiasm and work, I am proud that I made myself comfortable doing what most people consider a chore. Of course, my English is far from the level of my friends (namely Tom and Lai`) who are very highly intellectual, I’m just average, but I am glad that I have reached this level by my own. I am now a step, a big step, closer to the university gates. However this is only a step and I still have a lot of obstacles in my way ~

Therapy

It’s that time of year again… Well not exactly, this doesn’t happen every year. This year is just more special than the others, that’s all. Tet is coming, and with it many interesting things are going on, the A1 dance party, NHAT and stuff…

I can’t say that life right now is filled with excitement, I live in a small apartment with my sister, my daily schedule is the same everyday except for the weekends, my classes are the same everyday (which is kind of weird at first, now I’ve adapted myself to that). I hate the kind of boring, monotonous life I’m living in; I prefer the kind of life I had when I was at Ams, where everyday had something new to offer. I can’t say that my life here is full of boredom either. I go to school everyday from nine to five to study and hang out with my friends and teachers who are always fun, they keep me from dying from boredom. Socializing is not that hard of a task for me. Life has been busier too, it’s application season now anyway. Everyday I come home with a pile of homework, mostly coming from English. But still I long for my life back home.

It can’t be helped, missing home, especially when you are emotionally attached to that life. That would explain why I still engage in projects with my friends back home, helping Zakku with NHAT and Tom with Project Awesome. I want that life back, undoubtedly, but that is not all.

Tet is coming in about a week or so. I would now be at home running busy preparing with my family, hanging out with my friends, feeling that chilly weather distinctive of Hanoi and enjoying the active, exciting atmosphere of the holidays, if only I am actually in Hanoi right now. I have now understood the feelings of abroaders when the holiday season comes. Just thinking of how things are going on makes your eyes swell up with tears, and feel lonely and homesick in the process.

The A1 dance party is in 2 days, and it just feels terrible to be where I am right now. As a close friend of some of the A1ers, and a member of the small Twitter community which mainly composes of them, I should have been the first person to get a ticket or even help them in the process of organizing the event. But I can’t, due to my circumstances. What is worse, Annie is going to the dance, since she is close to the people I am close to on Twitter, too. I regret, I should have been helping them, I should have been the one who would pick Annie up on the night and have the night of my life, for the very first time. But instead I am here looking at their tweets about buying dresses, and feeling lonely.

NHAT is coming too. I am the active person who always take part in those things, and it just hurts now that I can’t do anything. I still provide support to Zakku whose confidence is too low to judge anybody, but I still feel that it isn’t enough. I can’t get along with standing outside, especially when I have all the skills and time needed for the job.

Those events will pass by, one by one, easily, as I have a busy time ahead and will just forget to feel bad when people are partying. I have a new life too, and my school prom is coming up too, in May. Things will work out the way it is supposed to be, I can’t change anything. Participation in the projects with my friends back home is time-consuming and hard, as we live in different time zones. It is taking up way too much of my time and I think it’s time to stop. I need to work on what’s important and practical for me right now. This blog post is just written on account of the overwhelming emotions in me right now, and after this, I will concentrate on what I should. I will try.

Paramore

So the story surrounding Paramore and its members recently has spurred a lot of media attention and suddenly every Paramore fan and non-fan turned to Paramore. Overall it’s a sad story and it put me through a drive of different feelings.

You can find out what happened by Googling news with the keyword “Paramore” so I won’t bother. This will be the space for my personal opinion only.

I personally only knew Paramore for one year, when my girlfriend told me to, she’s a big fan. I started listening to All We Know is Falling from December 2009, Brand New Eyes from March 2010, RIOT! from June 2010, and then I got their Acoustic EP and B-Sides from then. I fell in love with them decently fast and I’m not going to lie, I’m not the hardcore fans who stuck with them for 5 years but still I had some sense in me (and I’m pretty sure that it is better than many people).

First, the leaving of Josh and Zac Farro. I found it out when my friend told me, and my initial feeling was sad. Unlike people who decided to hate somebody right away, I respected their decision. Bands are bands, they will have lineup changes and will evolve, and nothing can stop them from doing that. Furthermore, if Josh and Zac aren’t happy, then the band could well turn out to be a failure in the future. It was the rightful thing to do, and the rest of the band were cool as well, as they stated on their official blog. It was supposed to be painless.

But still, I’m sad, maybe even sadder than many people. Paramore is one of the few bands that I respect and adore. I don’t just go out and love any random band or person that sounds catchy, Paramore really struck my heart. They’re brilliant, I may say, all around. Lyrically, they touched my heart with their deep lyrics, especially on Brand New Eyes, they have showed their growth from a punk sounding band to a deeper, more emotional band. Instead of screaming out everything they had, the lyrics became deeper with more meaning. Musically, they’re brilliant in every way, each member of the band contributed to the beautiful music they made, Hayley with her strong voice really lights up and also bring the emotion into songs, which I find many female artists nowadays lacking; Josh with his awesome guitar riffs that made me fall in love; Taylor and his aspiring talents; Zac and the drumming that I absolutely adore; and finally Jeremy with his killer bass lines and his fun attitude on stage. I also adored Paramore as five fun personalities blending together, close to the fans and most importantly five musicians, not workers for a money making business. They are artists.

That’s why losing just one of the five would break my heart, and it did. Without Josh and Zac, I doubt the potential of Paramore to release songs that can make me fall in love absolutely, since they have lost their awesome drum beats, guitar riffs and especially half of the lyrics. When Hayley, Taylor and Jeremy released the statement on the website I was very sympathetic, and I hoped that Paramore would try to still bond together, although with only 3 people. I even joined, half for fun, half seriously, a campaign to let Cobus Potgieter join Paramore as the drummer, since I love both of them (although I doubt it, Cobus prefers working alone I guess). But that wasn’t the end of the story. Everything was supposed to go very smoothly and painless, until Josh and Zac released their exit statement, their side of the story, and most importantly, the truth about Paramore.

It’s all over the news as well so Google them if you care.

This brought everything to a crisis. Paramore “fans” began to pick sides and fight for either Hayley or Josh, due to the exit statements containing some bitter truth. My initial reaction was hoping that the statement was fake, because nothing proved that it was Josh himself who wrote that statement, everything was so fishy in my point of view. But then AP confirmed the source, and everything fell apart. Some people say that Hayley is an attention craving b***h, some say that Josh is, some say that Hayley has no personality, some say that Josh is jealous of Hayley, and the war broke out. Apart from the trolls who drop in to say one line without any clarification, I actually found it bitter that some people really picked their sides and had arguments to their sides. So this is what I want to say to everybody.

Josh released his statement, it’s a natural thing to do. He revealed his side of the story, and the important truth. I bet nobody would want to support a Paramore covered by sugar-coated lies to blind you and take your money. But some people do, and defend their decision. You’re wrong. Josh isn’t jealous, he didn’t make a fail move, he isn’t a crybaby, it’s you, the one who is picking sides, who is afraid of the truth, afraid of seeing through the lies that covered your favourite band, afraid of accepting that things aren’t the way they seem. Stand up and look at the truth directly, face it and let it go.

Hayley isn’t to blame either. Josh didn’t try to blame it on Hayley. Maybe he did, but the source of the problem doesn’t come from Hayley. So stop all the hating. If you read the post carefully, everything came from Hayley’s parents and manager, who wanted her to pursue a solo career. And that’s where my point of view comes in.

I’m sad. I have to say this even though I really do not want to: Paramore is a lie. The family is a lie. The friendships broke long ago. And the most bitter thing is, real music today, is a lie.

I don’t take sides. Taking sides is stupid. If you’re a true fan you will be able to judge for yourself. Josh said the much needed truth, it was bitter but it was the truth, he didn’t blame it all on Hayley, even though that’s what it seems. Hayley doesn’t deserve to be blamed. The sweet announcement on the website, wasn’t what they think inside their heads. It is the sugar coated lie made by the people that “know how to run the music industry”.

I, like many fans, believed in those lies. I believed that Paramore was a very united family. I believed that they were passionate in making music. I believed that they cared about their fans. I was wrong. I lost hope in the image Paramore used to be in me, and pretty much everything else.

And there still is some person who is responsible for this. Some person who made this disaster the way it is, from the very beginning, 6 years ago. Yes, I’m talking about you, people from the music industry, the managers, the record labels, the people who decide what goes on the air. I blame the whole music industry today, for destroying the art form we called music.

You all know how I hate all the popular stuff that’s always on the radio. Now you know why. I can’t stress this enough, this industry is corrupt. First, music making isn’t supposed to be an industry at all. So I have some final words, for the fate of music today.

Paramore turned out the way it was because of the managers and record labels. Read Josh’s post, Hayley was pushed around and influenced by the way her manager worked. Look at music nowadays. What’s cool now? Justin Bieber? Katy Perry? A 15 year old boy who can barely sing and wins fans with his cute look. I don’t blame him, he’s just fifteen. He is exploited. It is evident if you look at it: they’re even trying to release a movie about the boy. Can this get any more ridiculous? Justin Bieber, as we all know, has his charm and his pre-puberty voice. Once he grows old, he’ll just fade away like all the other young stars. Look at Lindsay Lohan. Look at the boy that starred in the first Home Alone movie. Look back at Justin Bieber. They’re trying to make as much money as possible out of the boy, until they can’t anymore. That’s just sad. Popular music nowadays is full of heavily studio edited voices and nonsense lyrics, it’s all about who wears better clothes, who looks prettier, who looks more handsome. And worst of all, music is money. A bunch of plastic people faking smiles to get more and more money to the labels. That is not how music is supposed to be. Teenage dreams fade. Music is supposed to be fun, to be an art, to be a hobby. When you go on stage, you’re supposed to be happy jamming to your favourite jams, not playing to please the fans. I adore indie bands for a fact, they just sit in their basement tuning their amps all day to get the right sound, and write about what matters to them, and have fun playing it. Money killed music and it’s sad. My statement ends here: I’ve lost all hope in the music making industry.

So yeah, I’ve just poured my heart out to write what matters to me. I don’t care if you like this or not, I would be happy if you do, but it’s what important to me and I expressed it. I’m feeling a lot better now, thank you.

Coming back to the root of the problem, I hope the best for Paramore, Hayley, Jeremy, Taylor, Josh and Zac, you people are still the five that I adore.

~ Untitled.

Sometimes I feel like I have two lives. One online and one offline. People say that too but I’m different. My offline life is in Canada, where I go out and meet everybody everyday, and try to learn new stuff from school. My online life is in Vietnam, where I’m basicly always longing for Annie, for my old friends, for Ams, for all the fun they’re having, for the A2 parties, for AGT and the A1 dance, for everything. At night when I go online, I completely forget about homework, about the real life, about the cold that I’m feeling, and jump into that virtual world on Facebook and Twitter. But people would be at school at that hour anyway, so I’m completely alone. I miss those days when I would go online every evening and everyone will be there and we’ll do something stupid or dead serious with eachother. I have TV and everything, but I just need somebody to talk to. But I’m alone. That is the reason for what happens to me every night. I always stay up with these stupid thoughts in my head that keep me awake for hours, then finally fall asleep because I’m too exhausted. And then in the morning I would start a new day, go to school, talk to everybody and be the happy jolly Nick.

How can I and should I fix this? Thoughts are haunting me every night ~

 

A Thousand Times for A Thousand Suns

Not until more than a month after Linkin Park’s newest album ‘A Thousand Suns’ is released, I can overcome my laziness and actually write something about it. This is not a review, just saying, because I don’t want to fall into the same snobby reviewing routine again, as with every single other comment of this album on earth, it’s more like a diary of how I listened, listened a little more, then a little bit more, and felt of the album.

The reason for the lateness was I wanted to get into it. It’s not the kind of album that can be fully understood in the first few listens, and to write something about it too early is not wise. At all. (Of course if you listen to them about a thousand times per day that would be a different story…) So today while listening I felt the urge to write this and I’m just gonna write it.

First off, I’m going to state my viewpoint. My opinion is, this is not a brilliant album, nor a perfect one, nor a masterpiece. Those who say that can press Ctrl + W, Command + Q or Alt + F4 right now. It’s not the worst album ever either, nor a bad one, nor trash. If you think so, press any of the key combinations mentioned above. I’m not saying that you’re not worthy of the right to read this, since everybody does, but I just don’t want to waste your time reading something you don’t like. So take my advice, yes?

Okay. I downloaded this album on Sept. 8, 2010, the original release date. Which is something I never do, since I’m not that updated in terms of popular music. The album has been leaked a few days before that, and the hype was too much that I had to ask on Facebook, should I download this album? 9 out of 10 said no, but I downloaded it anyway. I spent an afternoon listening to it, trying to see how people are enraged over this album.

At first all my thoughts were negative. I tried to point out what was good in the album, but my first impressions were no, no and no. Linkin Park has changed, fact, and it shocked me. (Hold off the thoughts that I know nothing about music and only want the old LP,) No screaming, no guitars, no riffs, no… rock. Okay? All I heard were funky beats and electronic notes and whatnot. One thing remarkable was the lyrics. It was good and deep, and reflected the content of the album.

I’m not going to seperate every song, since this album is best enjoyed as an album. Lots of filler tracks and strong lyrics. The album is about nuclear warfare, so I heard, and as expected from any political album, the lyrics has got to be brilliant. The feeling were there, but a little bit washed away by the music. Seriously… I coudn’t feel it.

During the process, I read a lot of reviews online. As I became more familiar with this album, my views on the album became clear to myself. This album has tried to change into something new and unique, but also turned its back to the band’s past. It deserve positive and negative reviews, and yes, it had them all. That’s why I’m neutral here.

After enough listens, I’ve got it. I got into it, it got into me. The goodness in the album got into me, the deep lyrics, the nice beats. I can fully understand the album now, at least I think so.

A Thousand Suns is a pretty good album. It’s completely different from what Linkin Park has done before, they’ve parted from rock to becoming more techno and club music-like. Some people say that Linkin Park is trying to become more commercially viable and radio friendly, but I have no comment on that. I mean, it’s hard to actually know what they are trying to do. The album was a political one, with deep meaningful lyrics provoking thoughts on war, especially nuclear warfare. The music was, as I said, more techno sounding. Guitar riffs are nowhere to be seen, Mike Shinoda and Mr. Hahn had more say in this record. Mike got to rap a lot, and almost the whole album was created by Hahn, who showed us what is really standing behind the turntable. Chester Bennington slowed a bit down on ‘The Messenger’, the ending track and stand out for me, where he showed pure singing talent.

It’s tough to get emotional on this one, despite the amazing lyrics. I caught a glimpse of everything… Catchy electronic controlled beats, some Muse-like music, a little bit of Flobots beats and lyrics… All mixed into one epic planned record. All I can say is… well done.

Some people will be disappointed, some will love this record, but I have the feeling that if this exact album was released by some other band, it would become the best thing ever. For Linkin Park, it was a good effort, but not the best. Linkin Park is no longer a rock band, but rather a band making a new genre of themselves. The risk LP took was losing half of their fans to devote to something new. That is the only flaw of the record.

So I will probably give this a 4 stars in iTunes. Although I wouldn’t do so because I never give something under 5 stars (it’s been a ritual since I started owning an iPod). The album is obviously not perfect, but nicely done. As an album, it deserved praise, but as a Linkin Park album, rethink.

I’ll possibly enjoy this album as just an album ~

The problems about writing long blog posts is that it takes a lot of time and I always have things to do such as have dinner and the like. After the first break from writing my thoughts becomes mixed up and my entry becomes a mess. But anyway, I think I made my point clear in this one. ~

There are some significant songs, but I guess I’ll talk about them later. ~

That’s it. My opinions on the newest album of Linkin Park. Note that I’m just a 17-year-old with a decent music taste, so please think twice before you want to scold me or something ~ And if you’re the kind who thinks you’re always right and just won’t take my words seriously, then I’d advise you to eff off ~

[10|06|2010]

This is getting a bit awful but I’m gonna do it anyway.

So I tried to write a blog post on LiveJournal about Ha Noi and the 1000th anniversary and all that, but thoughts keep messing up in my head that in the end it came out as a mess of thoughts and emotions mixed into a badly-written entry. It’s under LiveJournal privately now because I plan to rewrite it later.

Recently I’ve been coming up with a lot of ideas but most are pushed aside for the lack of time. Maybe I’ll make a to-do list now. Huh.

• My presentation is coming up on Friday and I have this awesome concept for it. I’m not sure if it will stand out and stick but I’m gonna follow it to the end.
• Planning to photoshop me holding an electric guitar, I don’t know though. I can’t seem to take a good stock.
• Reedit and voice my self-duplication time freeze teleporting video.
• Take tons of photos for project 124.
• Buy a good camera. Preferably DSLR.
• Buy a guitar. After that do tons of musical and videography projects.
• Take tons of photos and edit them for the interwebz.

Anyway, I have a presentation on Friday. I’ve gotta work now. Tomorrow is a pretty light day, no homework on anything, and a free period to work with the presentation. Mr. Shin will announce that he’d cancel Friday’s 4th period to make it his extra-long weekend <3 If you didn’t know, next Monday is Thanksgiving day. I’ll try to set up a hang out with friends :’(

I’ve got this idea of a new about page. Not sure if people’s gonna visit that anyway (lol). And this idea of customizing the links bar with pretty names of my own. If WordPress is my brain then LiveJournal is my heart. The idea came up while I was setting up my flavors.me page. Sorry about my usage of too many blogging clients. It’s that my friends use different ones :’( Should I close my WordPress for LiveJournal or vice-versa? Or keep both?

That’s it. Gotta work on my presentation now. Good day everyone. (Mine was terrible by the way, with a few extra sparks. Check it out on my LiveJournal if I have enough time to LJ it.)

America’s Got Talent

This is not the usual stuff. Today I’m gonna let WordPress do what it does, host more serious and public and not personal content. From now I’ll put the usual emo crap to LiveJournal.

Moving on. So, I watched America’s Got Talent today and I was really impressed. I’ve been following from the semis but well… Anyway, as impressed as I am, I’m gonna write about my thoughts on the top 10 and my opinions for the top 4. I’m not making predictions, I’m just writing out my own thoughts on who will get it.

Contestants, in order of appearance, were:

• Studio One Young Beast Society ~ I was not impressed. I mean I’ve seen way better dance crews. But I appreciate the work that they have been putting into this dance crew. They are young and talented, that’s why they have won the judges’ hearts. Still, I don’t think they’ll go through.
• Christina and Ali ~ They are… fine. I hate to say this but all they got were sympathy votes. They’re not the best singers but they sure can inspire. They’ll be famous and America will love them, but they are not the ones that will win a million dollars.
• Jeremy VanSchoonhoven ~ He’s great and I’ve admired him from the semis when he stood up after a terrible crash. I love him so much. His stunts are amazing, too. Something AGT needs. But well, there are only 4 spots left. I feel very sorry for him, but he won’t make it.
• Taylor Matthews ~ Teen girls will love him. For sure. But he’s not top 4 material. He’s not.
• Anna & Patryk ~ lovely lovely young kids. I love them. They’re so cute and sweet. They’re so talented at dancing. Their dancing career is just taking off.
• Fighting Gravity ~ now this ~ this is what I’m talking about. I’ve loved them from the first time I’ve ever watched them. Their act is so creative, and so original. Each time they put on a show they have something new, something cool to show the audience. It’s fair to say that they’ll get into the top 4 for sure. Although they remind me of ArcAttack. Both are original, never before seen. Too bad ArcAttack was voted out.
• Michael Grimm ~ Don’t say I have anything against singers. I love this guy, I really do, he’s solid, but not so last night. I wasn’t impressed by that, but I’m not America. I’m not even an American. Sucks.
• So from here you know that the last 3 acts got my votes. Michael Grasso, his routine is getting a little bit boring, and last night’s performance was pretty easy to figure out, but it’s still new and surprising.
• Prince Poppycock ~ His arrangement, set design, everything just rules. He loves America and America will love him too. He’s unique and talented. His performances always wow the audience with tons of background dancers, perfect for a Vegas show.
• Last but not least, Jackie Evancho. Heavenly, like the judges said, there’s nothing to doubt. She’s like the 10-year-old Susan Boyle, with the voice that nobody can believe it comes from her mouth. It’s not the usual dancing or singing, it’s pure talent. And she’s just ten. Her career may be ruined if guided the wrong way but… she’s there to win the heart of everybody.

So with all that said, my votes will be for Jackie Evancho, Prince Poppycock, Fighting Gravity and Michael Grasso (if I ever get to vote, that is). A special singer, a creative showman, a group of original dancing style, and a magician. Like Howie said, variety is the best thing about this show. Those 4 are the most special in their field, and original. Things like blacklight dancing or Jackie’s voice are what we’ve never seen before. Prince Poppycock and Michael Grasso is just plain awesome. So let’s see what will go down tonight shall we.

Autumn chill.

The chill of the autumn, ah, one of the nicest feelings ever.

Seriously.

Like when you wake up one day and find out the absence of the summer heat, the burning sun and everything summer, instead it’s late August and the air is a little bit cold, with chilly winds rushing through the window, you know it’s autumn ~

Words I heard from my friends that autumn is coming to Hanoi. Well now I’m 12000 kilometers far away, and unfortunately I can’t feel that. Autumn is coming late to Canada, and it’s not gonna be the same as the Hanoi chills ~

I still remember it last year. The day I woke up and rode to school with my hoodie on for the first time of the schoolyear. The chill, the wind touches my skin and made me feel something different. Very different. The feeling of wanna be loved… Whatever it is. Don’t laugh at me. It’s just that it reminded me so much about the last crazy winter, my first winter at Ams, growing up with a lot of things to learn and to think about. That feeling struck me and made me nostalgic, and at the same time, happy.

Hanoi’s autumn is beautiful, really. When the leaves start falling and the air starts cooling down. It isn’t any world-famous but it’s enough to make you wander around watching it changes.

Maybe that’s how I got to Uyen. Our nature is like that, emo, loving. We both needed somebody to hold during this cold season, and both loved this feeling so much. We got together just like that, in the easiest of ways, forming something beautiful within our loving hearts.

I’m no person with a huge vocabulary full of SAT and beautiful words, I’m just a teen from high school translating feelings into words. That’s how I roll ~

Autumn is coming but it’s not gonna be the same. How will the Canadian autumn pleases me – that we’ll have to wait.

For now, let’s just enjoy this awesome feeling.