All Li Po-ems

Happy Friday, Humanitarians! Did you enjoy the Tang dynasty poets? We wrapped up our Post-Classical studies by taking a look at two of China's most famous poets of all time, Li Po (or Li Bai or  Li Bo) and Tu Fu (or Du Fu). These gentlemen have influenced poets and artists in general for generation after generation, even now. I actually even read an article yesterday about how China's first heavy metal band counts Li Po as his major inspiration, so take that poetry haters!

That moment when bae asks your advice about another guy.

Just a little bit about both of these two gentleman:

• Li Po was (and really still is) considered the greatest of all Chinese poets. He was revered in his lifetime for his poems and was known by his free-spirited, wilder, and eccentric spirit, although a Daoist. He was, in fact, so eccentric that according to legend he died by drowning when he tried to grab the moon's reflection in the Yangtze River. 
• Tu Fu, who was BFFs with our boy Li Po, is also highly revered among the world's poets. He aspired to be part of the government as a civil servant but failed the civil service exam and could just never quite make it into government prominence, no matter how hard he tried. He had a dear love for China, which showed up in his poetry's themes quite frequently, but at the end of his life, China's courts were under turmoil because of the An Lushan rebellion. 

If you're interested, there are tons more Tang poems that are easy to find online. They're beautiful and pretty easy to read.

Lolz.

For my last venture into SXSW's glorious musical selection, I'll wrap up the week with my favorite new song so far this year, Sylvan Esso's "Die Young". Sylvan Esso is an indie duo from North Carolina, and they're coming out with a new album later this spring. Check out "Die Young", a song about how sometimes falling in love shifts your plans (and enjoy the beat).

Happy weekend friends!!! I'm going to leave you with this because it's probably the most adorable video I've ever seen. Just in case you're needing a little pick-me-up for your weekend.