Hung Truong: The Blog!

Goin’ To Chicago (Interview with Orbitz)

I’m going to Chicago this Thursay and Friday for an interview with orbitz.com. With the help of some friends (and Google Maps) I compiled a map of stuff I should see while I’m there. The timing might be kinda tight since I also have to interview (the main reason I’m there) but hopefully I can do things like:

• See the mirror blob thing
• Eat some pizza (Giordano’s seems to be the most popular choice)
• Go up to the top (or almost the top) of the John Hancock building
• Eat some popcorn
• Go to the Apple Store (low priority but I need to do some name dropping or something)

This is my first time in Chicago (well, I drove through once to get to Michigan but didn’t stop) so it should be interesting. I wonder if Obama is still hanging around. Maybe I can do the fist bump with him if I run into him…

Song Currently Stuck in My Head: Falling in Love With Love

There’s an instrumental version of this song by the Art Blakey Trio that I’ve liked for a while. One day, I don’t remember quite when, the random feature of iTunes played me the vocal version on the giant Clifford Brown collection I have. I like learning the words to songs, especially Jazz standards, so it was a surprise to me that the song actually had words:

Falling in love with love is falling for make-believe

Falling in love with love is playing the fool

Caring too much is such a juvenile fancy

Learning to trust is just for children in school

I fell in love with love one night when the moon was full

I was unwise with eyes unable to see

I fell in love with love with love everlasting

But love fell out with me

What’s interesting is that there are two rhymes for each line. Like how ‘trust’ rhymes with ‘just’ and ‘fool’ rhymes with ‘school.’ It’s easier to do in this song since there’s only like, eight lines and most of the time they’re just rhyming ‘love’ with ‘love’ anyway.

I like the idea of a song about falling in love with love. It’s meta! The only way to get more meta would be to write a song about this blog post about a song about falling in love with love! Someone should totally do this.

At first, I thought the line was “caring too much is just a juvenile fantasy” because all the instrumental versions I’ve heard give that note extra “syllables.” I guess instrumentalists can take more liberties with the song than vocalists. Sometimes I think adding more “syllables” is a bad idea, but it works in this song (maybe because I heard it that way first).

I started listening to a bunch of different versions of the song on Last.fm. The Sarah Vaughn version is pretty damn sweet!

Situational Comedy Television Show Idea: Hammer/Escher

Idea: MC Hammer has a nearly fatal brain injury, caused by a falling hammer (irony). It turns out that half of his brain has been permanently damaged. The only choice is a semi-brain transplant. The only available brain belongs to MC Escher. It has been cryogenially preserved since his death in 1972. The operation is a major success; MC Hammer has now become MC Hammer/Escher. The world ushers in a new era of really confusing rap.

Flu: The Shot

I forgot to write about this, but I got a flu shot last Friday. Now, the flu shot is a prophylactic (site note: I am impressed with myself for spelling that word correctly WITHOUT a dictionary or any other spelling aid) against future sickness. But did you know it can sorta make you sick!? It can.

Apparently the process of makin’ antibodies can give you the side effect of fever and also making your arm (the one that is shot) sore. I was pretty much out of commission with a huge headache and general blah feeling on Friday evening.

I was thinking about the flu shot. It doesn’t contain all of the flu strains; just the ones that “scientists” think will be around during flu season. So these “scientists” just pray that the flu strains they picked will be the ones that people will be inoculated with.

This kinda doesn’t make sense to me. If a large portion of the population is immune against many different types of flu, wouldn’t that make less competition for a strain that isn’t in the flu shot to take control? It’s basically like giving one flu the monopoly on humans. I’m not sure it works that way, but it seems to make sense. I suppose there’s very few strains of flu so that makes it less likely that one flu would take over. Plus tons of people don’t get the shot anyway. I’m not an epidemiologist or anything, so don’t take my word for it!

Either way, I hope I don’t get knocked on my ass by the flu like last year!

John Hodgman Book Signing at Ann Arbor Borders: #1165

John Hodgman is a pretty funny dude. I’ve previously listened to his book on audio and also borrowed it from the library to read the charts (much funnier in chart form). So when I heard he’d be making an appearance in Ann Arbor at Borders #1, I was really stoked.

I got there on time at around 7:00pm, but apparently John wanted to teach us a lesson in punctuality? Actually, someone should teach John a lesson in “Michigan Time,” being 10 minutes late for everything. As I got there, he was saying some random funny stuff about the guy who directed Hancock having two (!) copies of Frank Herbert’s Dune in his bag in an airplane. Wow. Then some Q&A about voting machines and mole men. And he read some words. Out of the very book I was to purchase!

A line formed for signing, and I kinda got there at the end because I thought I needed to grab a book for him to actually sign. I must’ve waited maybe an hour or two? Probably closer to two. When my moment came, I made sure to point out to John that I had corrected his spelling of Albuquerque, only to have him burn me by spelling it even more incorrectly. Then he wrote “Sorry about New Mexicoe” in my book. What a bastard! Just kidding. Apparently John counts the number of books he’s signed. He yelled the number of the next person in line to prompt them to approach. I’m #1165.

I should also add that Hodgman was really nice. Very polite and receptive, even to crazed fans. I guess minor celebrity hasn’t gotten to his head yet. Except for the random ALL CAPS words he throws into his writing. THAT IS ALL.

Oh, and about the picture, I dunno what happened. Maybe Hodgman is shrinking or I am entirely tall, or maybe he was just leaning over a bunch? It’s totally going to be my Christmas card!