Category: Random Stuff

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Levy Tran Needs to Apologize to Nobody

Levy Tran Asian Girlz
@MissLevy Twitter Profile Image
@MissLevy Twitter Profile Image

I usually don’t like to publicly weigh in on internet drama and politics, but today I will for three reasons. First, I consider myself a moderately successful, educated part of the Vietnamese American subculture who has the potential to affect it and define it in the future. Second, I don’t want to live in an environment where we can’t make jokes about ourselves­ – even if bad ones – and openly mock the stereotypes that define us for a lot of people. And third, I think model, actress, and fellow Viet-American Levy Tran doesn’t owe anybody an apology for her part in a recent music video called “Asian Girlz.”

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, keep reading.

Continue reading “Levy Tran Needs to Apologize to Nobody”

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All The Critics Love You In New York

I was speaking with someone this weekend about the value of moderation: swinging too far in one direction almost guarantees an equally strong reaction toward the other direction. I believe that goes for anything from religion to substance use and even to generosity (but how can one be too generous???).

Anyway, I like and agree with this article in the New York Times‘ opinion section about the defensive use of irony that defines the hipster class – but I only like it because it was followed by a tempered response from a reader called Gemli from Boston, who tellingly identifies him/herself 30 years older than the author.

So I won’t quote the author – you can read that yourself – but I’ll quote the commenter since this is the internet. Read more below…
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Continue reading “All The Critics Love You In New York”

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Replacement Drives

I will be replacing the studio’s big, loud, and temperamental Lacie Big Disks with smaller, quieter (and now cheaper) G-Tech G-Drives. I’m over Lacie drives with their unreliable power adapters and poorly engineered power management/sleep mode. The data recovery service will take 10 business days and cost almost $1300 because the Lacie Big Disk is actually made up of two hard drives on the inside, so they’re extracting data from two separate discs then merging it back into one folder structure. Definitely an unexpected cost and I’m sure I’m getting fleeced but I need this data – it includes “Chinatown” the final song from Ming & Ping‘s new record (which should have been sent to the manufacturers by now) as well as all of my own demos from the last couple of years. Funny how you don’t think to back things up if they’re “in progress”. Live and learn. Or not.

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Over Two Years of Work, Vanished

I’m super sad and freaked out. The hard drive containing the files for all of my new music and some of Ming & Ping‘s tracks has stopped mounting. Over two years of work – only some of it is backed up. Sometimes I can trick it into mounting, but all of the folders show zero files. Tomorrow I will take the drive to a data recovery place and see how it goes. The universe is really starting to wear on me…

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I’m Going to See SVIIB Play Tonight


 

This song is how I feel sometimes. Each day after today, I will feel less and less resentment until only positives remain – in the form of nostalgia. That’s how it works, right?

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[dropcap char=”Scavenger” type=”text”/] School of Seven Bells

 

I gave you the time
You didn’t say
You didn’t want it

You let the days slide
Into a drain
Until you lost it

You took me like a drug
To make you feel loved
To make you feel wanted
To make you feel fine
To make you feel life
I made you feel something
‘Cause you can feel nothing

I know what you are
You’re a fake
You’re a scavenger
Too scared to take part
You only take
‘Cause you’re a coward

On your own
You have no one
On your own
You’re not enough

You took me like a drug
To make you feel loved
To make you feel wanted
To make you feel fine
To make you feel life
I made you feel something
‘Cause you can feel nothing

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Ashtavakra Gita

A friend of mine gave me this book to read. I haven’t read a book in a hundred years but I think I can read this one, since there are only about 25 words per page.

Maybe I’ll even learn something… like… there is no spoon…

 

Thanks, Jessica!

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Everything You Touch

Maybe it’s because I was raised as a buddhist or maybe it’s just a sensibility that my mother has ingrained in me, but I believe that one must take ownership of every action one takes. I was raised to always be conscious of how my actions will affect the world around me and that it’s my responsibility to the universe to take the good path when given a choice. And there’s always a choice.

Few things bother or disappoint me more than when people blame their action or inaction on uncontrollable forces in the world. Mistakes happen and nobody is perfect, especially me. But there’s always a choice, even if it’s a difficult choice between bad or worse. You must own up to your failures and choose the good path toward fixing the things you damage. Else, you waste your limited time alive on escapism, distractions, regrets.

There was a story on NPR this morning about modern yoga losing its Hindu origins. Although the yoga comparison is a bit esoteric, one line from the story resonated, “every thought, every action has a ramification … there is this moral responsibility to own what you do.”

And these are the contents of my head. <3

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Event: 2nd Annual Party

This weekend was the Bao Vo Creative 2nd Annual Soiree, our year-end party at the Creative studio. The turnout was great and it was super nice to have so many great, interesting people all come together!
Thanks to everyone who came to celebrate the end of a productive year with me, the twins, and Pee Wee Herman’s digital image. Hope to see you next year!
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Good News – New Studio!

I’m very happy to report that I’ll be moving into a new studio/office/shop in downtown Los Angeles this September!
The new studio and location is sure to offer a new level of productivity and inspiration.
See you downtown! :)
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Busy Bee

Been busy busy busy… New projects, people, clients will be added soon.

Meanwhile, you can read about starving artists in this NPR Story. :)
Here’s a preview:

“I think American artists are perceived as unemployed, marginal and passive,” he says. “If you look at the statistics, artists represent one of the major occupations in the American economy. These are highly trained, productive and highly entrepreneurial people.”

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White on White

Some people have been asking me why i chose to design all of my personal stuff so sparse, as “it’s kinda hard to know what you do.”

:) I think so too. I believe it’s a way to make people slow down a bit and notice things that you want them to notice. Ever met a really interesting person in a crowd, not because they were the one demanding attention, but because they interacted with you on a truly personal level?
I’ve noticed that when I give somebody my card for the first time, they hold it up close, rub their fingers across the paper, and treat it like a gift. That’s kind of how I want this website to be. :)
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New Website Launch

Woohoo!

After 9 days in exile, I’m very happy to announce that the new creative website is up. Still continuing to add things here and there, but everything should be up by this weekend.

Also very happy to announce that besides the sketchbook galleries, the site contains no Flash – no stress, easy to update, viewable by almost everyone including iPhones. :)
Lots of work, but thank god for laptops and wireless internet! And thanks to Coy at whycoy.com for photographing almost 800 sketchbook pages! Hope you enjoy!!!