Turns out I didn't win the Viet Tide competition.  I feel kind of disappointed and down right now since I've devoted long hours to making the painting.  I guess there will always be winners and losers.  It just so happens I'm one of the ones that lost.  I guess it's a double-edged sword.  Had I won, I'd probably be full of myself.  An ego boost doesn't hurt, but I see more gain in losing than winning.  Losing the competition will motivate me to try and improve my art--in both concept and execution.  The best thing I can do now is to improve.  I will rise to the occasion--someday!


Thinh Nguyen

Nice video I've found a while back.  It's comprised of Van Gogh's paintings, with background music called "Starry, Starry Night," sung by Don Mclean

The cold night grows increasingly lifeless, and the dimming lights across the neighborhood flicker their disconcerting illumination light down on the sidewalks.  It's just one of those days.  It's one of those days where everything is still and hauntingly quiet.  Crickets can be heard chirping away, but the winter season has just kicked in, so it's becoming less and less frequent.  As the fog kisses the early morning with its bone-chilling blanket of mist, the day finally spawns melodies from sparrows and even the crackling call of the raven.

Just finished watching the movie, "The Sting".  Great movie.  It's filled with laughs and had a lot of unexpected turn of events from the witty protagonists.  Though, there was something in the movie that I found peculiar.  Johnny Hooker said to one of the characters, "It's two in morning and I don't know nobody."  I don't know if other people feel the same way, but I could relate with that quote.  The feeling of that you're alone, despite knowing a whole bunch of people.  I remember hearing my english teacher in high school talk about it while we were learning about the transcendentalists and romantics.  Reading the writings of Emerson and Thoreau sort of compelled students to zone in on their own personal attitude about their lives.  Well, hearing the quote from Hooker struck a chord with me when I heard it because it's basically the same idea.  I paralleled this to my experiences in college--and even in a broader sense, my own life.  After school is over, it's homework.  And at the end of the day, there's no one that I can talk to, other than my family members.  For me, there are people in school I see everyday.  A general "hey" or "good morning" to professors and fellow students are really the only exchange of conversation.  Friends from high school soon begin to drift away as people begin to change or go towards different directions in their lives, while others do indeed last.  And I find myself being the outlier of all these fast-moving events.  It's late at night, and "I don't know nobody".


Thinh Nguyen

And so it comes to an end.  The first semester of college went by way too fast.  As fast as I turned my shoulders and back, the days passed swiftly.  Again, I still have some mixed feelings about college and how different it is from high school.  My time in school thus waits for my getting to know the ins and outs of what college has to offer.

Thank god finals are over.  The final in my 3D design class killed me.  I spent tireless nights working on the thing, since I only had only 1 week to do it.  On top of that, I had to finish writing an essay, study for math final, fill out my sketchbook, and work on 4 separate pieces for my 2D design final.  I always find myself asking, "How in the world am I going to finish all of these things?!"  Surprisingly, it all works out in the end.  And when everything is over, I threw down my backpack with extreme prejudice and lied on my bed, glued on to the comfy sheets and sung to sleep by the rain trickling outside the my bedroom window.  It's finally over...for now.


Thinh Nguyen

Things haven't been going well in my family lately.  It has to do with my oldest brother.  To keep a long story short, my parents don't approve of him seeing his supposed "friend,"  who  happens to be a girl.  Well, having two people who are male and female in their twenties would obviously spark some intermingling of developing a relationship.  I don't know what's my brother's status, but my parents obviously could see that their friendship has already crossed the border to the other realm of being more than just friends.  The house has been a wreck ever since.

From what I can tell, my parents' main reason for disliking my brother's girlfriend is, more or less, her physical appearance.  They expressed how physically unattractive she is.  I don't want to get into the details of how they've described her, but from my point of view, I don't necessarily care what the other person looks like--as long as they have a good heart.  They keep rambling on and on about her, and how she is no good for their son and how he could do better.  I sat down confused by that statement.  All this time, I thought my parents had avocated the importance of being a good person, and that the way other people perceive us is based on what actions we do and say to others.  Then again, my mom, in particular, has always been a tough critic.  She is always condescending to peoples' appearances and fails to recognize the value of goodness from within.  She is hard to please.  She is also a staunch woman, which can be good or bad depending on the situation.  Also, after what happened to my brother while he was handcuffed and was temporarily revoked of his driver's license when a police officer instigated that my brother was driving while intoxicated, I really do question his girlfriend's loyalty and devotion to him.

Yeah, I'd be lying if I said attractiveness is unimportant, because whether romantics like it or not, the way somebody looks often determines on how other people view that individual.  Honestly, no one wants to be unattractive.  Even animals don't want to be unattractive.  Male birds would have a hard time attracting a female bird if their feathers weren't pristine or beautiful.  But the duality of inner beauty and outer beauty sometimes can work separately or in concert.  Often times, even attractive people marry someone who is less attrative than they are.  This makes no sense from a direct perspective, but it does indeed make sense because people fall in love with someone else's funny personality, tenderness, or by just having a good heart.  And those are the qualities, I think, make a marriage lasts.

I truly hope things will get better soon.  My brother is leaving for Vietnam soon, and I hope this trip will open something inside of him to make wise decisions in the future.  My parents aren't just angry about his girlfriend, but this includes a myriad of other things, in which I won't disclose.  Well, it's good to vent these things out in the open.  Writing in these blogs is the closest I've been to expressing something to another person.


Thinh Nguyen

It's rare that I find a movie that is exquistely crafted and beautifully directed as Grave of the FireFlies (written and directed by Isao Takahata).  Taking place in World War II, this animated movie tells the story of two Japanese siblings (big brother, Seita, and little sister, Setsuko) who try to survive the ongoing terror of air raids.  Don't expect intense action and melodramatic scenes, which ironically is the beauty of this rare gem, but do gear in for a movie that does depict the unrelenting repercussions of war and its heartwrenching effects on the lives of innocent civilians.  This movie's strengths mainly stems from its wonderful moments of silence and its virtuous sincerity of innocence.  They way Seita fills water inside the empty canister of Fruit Drops to let his little sister, Setsuko, savor the remaining remants of artificial induced flavorings was a scene in the movie that truly opened my eyes and ears to this masterful film. 

Let this movie open your eyes, ears, and even heart to the story that is the Grave of the FireFlies.  You won't be disappointed.


Thinh Nguyen