Matthew Zapruder is the author of three collections of poetry: American Linden, The Pajamaist, and Come On All You Ghosts (Copper Canyon, Fall 2010), as well as co-translator from Romanian, along with historian Radu Ioanid, of Secret Weapon: Selected Late Poems of Eugen Jebeleanu. He has received a William Carlos Williams Award, a May Sarton Award from the Academy of American Arts and Sciences, and a Lannan Literary Fellowship. An editor for Wave Books and a member of the permanent faculty in the low residency MFA program at UC Riverside-Palm Deser. He lives in San Francisco.
Zuoxiao Zuzhou in conversation with Michael Timmins. Moderated by Andrew Jones, chair, Center for Chinese Studies.
The music of Zuoxiao Zuzhou, one of Chinese best-known rock musicians, draws playfully on rock and roll, Chinese folk and operatic sounds, and electronic textures. A leading composer for independent Chinese films, he has worked closely with Ai Weiwei and Jia Zhangke. He is also a novelist and memoirist, whose two published books feature wildly creative accounts of the artistic life in a country hell-bent on development at any cost. Whether in his books or his songs or his graphic art, Zuoxiao Zuzhou pushes the envelope artistically and politically, maintaining a tough, humorous, unflinching and clear-eyed empathy for those who have been silenced and marginalized.
Michael Timmins is the songwriter and guitarist for the Canadian alternative country/blues/folk rock band Cowboy Junkies, formed in Toronto in 1985. Their second album, The Trinity Session, earned them both critical attention and a cult following. The band's version of The Velvet Underground song "Sweet Jane" was featured in the film Natural Born Killers. Their Nomad Series includes the 2010 album, Renmin Park.
UC Berkeley Professor Alex Filippenko, one of the world's most highly cited astronomers — also voted by students the ""Best Professor"" on campus a record nine times — offers a look into the University of California’s innovative astronomy education and research efforts. Studies at the observatory include stellar explosions, Earth-like planets orbiting other stars, and giant black holes.
Filmed at Discover Cal event, April 7, 2015
http://discovercal.berkeley.edu/