For Your Consideration

A fascinating interview with filmmaker Chloé Zhao (“Nomadland”, “Songs My Brothers Taught Me”, “Rider”) about creativity, mid-life crisis, magic mushrooms and Shakespeare, death, and more. (53 minutes)

We did watch Terrence Malick’s “Tree Of Life” after Zhao’s praise in this interview and it barely got ★★ (two) out of 5 stars from us. 👎 👎
One can certainly love an artist’s work but not care for what they like.
(As with Thomas Pynchon, who is my favorite author, the recommendations he has made over the years have mostly left me cold.)

I learned much from this historical analysis.

I highly recommend it to you if you want to put the present into clearer perspective, beyond the memes and cliches. (8 minutes)

Old Music (early 1500s)

Cipriano de Rore (1515-1565) was a Franco-Flemish composer of the Renaissance. Performed by Exaudi.

Listen to the amazingly gorgeous four-voice textures in this Latin madrigal: Calami sonum ferentes.

PS

The setting for that piece is a poem by Catullus (84-54 BC).

For today’s literary and historical-perspective lesson
read his notoriously sexually explicit poem
Catullus 16 > HERE <.]

New Music (2025)

The Anthony Paule Soul Orchestra featuring Willy Jordan

Thank you for reading/listening. Thoughts very welcomed.