“‘Brainwave’ fuses art, science, philosophy” plus 2 more

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• ‘Brainwave’ fuses art, science, philosophy
• Wolverton: JooJoo is a completely different take on the tablet computer
• A college sandwich showdown

‘Brainwave’ fuses art, science, philosophy Posted: 18 Apr 2010 05:31 PM PDT One of the more innovative — and certainly the most esoteric — public program series in the city has got to be "Brainwave." Now in its third year, "Brainwave" (presented by the Rubin Museum of Art) pairs prominent scientists with equally important artists and educators to discuss issues of the human mind and how it perceives the world. The project is the brainchild, if you will, of Tim McHenry — the Rubin's director of programming since the launch of the museum in 2003. "[The series] comes out of the programmatic content of the museum," explains McHenry (the Rubin specializes in art from the Himalayan region). "We have a lot of Buddhist art. Buddhism is a practice that enables you to reach enlightenment through absolute focus…control of you own mind. When you train your mind, it changes your brain. You can't do it unless you know what that is. For the rest of us, it's helpful to know how that works, which is the premise of the series. And so, for the price of admission everyone ends up enlightened!" he jokes. McHenry cites the work of researchers like French author/biologist Mattheiu Ricard and neuroscientist Richard Davidson with pioneering the study of meditation's effects on the brain. However, he appropriately credits himself for the idea of pairing such experts with people from other fields. "Brainwave" launched in 2006, though, according to McHenry, not without some reservations. "Some people had doubts," he recalls. "They wondered, 'what's it got to do with us?' — meaning the [Rubin] museum. But if you can't take risks, you shouldn't be in the business. We were a young institution with nothing to lose; and this museum itself is an experiment. Every institution needs to constantly reinvent itself on some level to stay ahead of the game. This series makes people think, which is what we're here for." Of course, it doesn't hurt the success of your program if its ideas are being expressed by nationally known writers, artists and entertainers such as Paul Simon, Moby, Lewis Black, Tom Wolfe, Julie Taymor, and R.L. Stine. McHenry, who programmed the "New Yorker" Festival during its first four years, clearly knows the box office value of star power. Still, he insists, it's the opportunity for these people to hash out ideas with important scientific thinkers that attracts these participants. "The chance to collaborate with people from different disciplines doesn't happen very often [for them], says McHenry. "That's what motivates them. Experimentation is second nature to these people." This year, the stars will be talking about…stars. In conjunction with the Rubin's exhibition "Visions of the Cosmos: From the Milky Ocean to an Evolving Universe" (on view through May 10), the museum is supplementing its normal menu of discussions with neuroscientists and artists with visits by physicists and astronomers, to, as McHenry puts it, "wrap our minds around notions of infinity." The exhibition itself gathers together works of Himalayan art representing its three principal religions (Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism) and their various cosmological myths. Alongside these is an exhibition of Western theory on the subject, stretching from Aristotle and Ptolemy to a fascinating new film by the American Museum of Natural History that illustrates the earth's place in the universe as derived from the latest telescopic mapping. The current "Brainwave" season launched February with a dialogue between choreographer Mark Morris and neuroscientist Bevil R. Conway. There have been programs every weekend since then. I was lucky enough to catch two of the more exciting pairings. Interestingly, in both cases the scientists proved just as lively and amusing as the artists, and the artists just as intellectually inquisitive (if not as good at math) as the scientists. The first — "What Time Is It?" — matched screenwriter/director Charlie Kaufman ("Synecdoche, New York", "Being John Malkovich") with physicist Brian Greene, host of PBS's "The Elegant Universe" and author of the children's book "Icarus at the Edge of Time". Kaufman has spoken at the Rubin before (on the subject of Jung's "Red Book") — but in this discussion, Green proved the more dominant presenter; not just in the depth and breadth of his ideas, but in the compelling, entertaining manner in which he presented them. Not only is Greene fast on the draw ("Could you repeat the question?" was his quick witted reply to one audience member's interminable query), but he has a knack for helping us digest astoundingly complex notions like string theory, Quantum mechanics and the idea of a "Multiverse." The principal concept one took away from the talk was the idea that there may be no actual flow or movement to time; that instead, it may be structured much more like a grid of simultaneous, equally valid "nows". It was thoughts such as these that inspired the question "Do you guys smoke a lot of pot?" from an audience member — who turned out to be "New Yorker" writer Susan Orlean, upon whose book ("The Orchid Thief") Kaufman's film "Adaptation" was based. Equally heady was a colloquy called "How Did the Universe Get Its Spots?" — between Barnard College astrophysicist and author Janna Levin, and performance artist Laurie Anderson (the first — "and the last," she quips — artist-in-residence at NASA). As might be expected, Anderson proved spacey in more ways than one, although with humor and charm to spare. She brought along a dog-eared copy of Levin's most recent book "How the Universe Got Its Spots" — in which the author expresses a new theory (shared by some) that the universe, contrary to widespread belief, may actually be finite; and constructed in a sort of loop. The idea, Levin admits, is one that can be expressed mathematically (but likely could never be empirically proven). The houses for both programs were packed; not only with ordinary, inquisitive New Yorkers, but also the likes of Lou Reed and his entourage — which took up most of an entire row (Reed himself is a former presenter in the "Brainwave" series). Presiding over both of these mind-expanding conversations was McHenry himself — a charismatic, witty host who could easily take his entertaining and polished act to television or radio. Interestingly, he proves to have to do very little interceding to keep his discussions flowing. The speakers do just fine on their own. However, McHenry's introductions and closing encapsulations are as thought-provoking as the ideas of his guests. "Our brains are all we've got," McHenry gushes. "Its capabilities are limitless, so how can there be any limit to the engagement with that? And so we forge ahead." "BRAINWAVE" Through April 19th At the Rubin Museum of Art 150 West 17th Street, at Seventh Avenue Call 212-620-5000 For a schedule of events, visit www.rmanyc.org Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Wolverton: JooJoo is a completely different take on the tablet computer Posted: 18 Apr 2010 12:11 PM PDT You may not have heard about it amid all the iPad hype, but another take on the tablet has also started to reach consumers' hands: the JooJoo. Before I held a demo model of the JooJoo in my hands in December, I didn't understand tablets, nor why someone would want one. The JooJoo made me realize that a tablet could complement — not replace — a laptop and a smartphone and be a far better gadget for watching digital video or reading e-books. I was eager to play with the final version of the JooJoo because it sprang from a different philosophy than the iPad, even though both are touch-screen devices. Like its sister device, the iPhone, the iPad is focused on task-specific applications. Although it has a Web browser that's comparable to what you might have on a PC, iPad and iPhone owners often use other programs in its place. So they might use the Facebook application instead of going to the Facebook Web site. And YouTube videos are typically viewed in the iPad's YouTube program, rather than at YouTube.com. In contrast, the JooJoo, created by startup company Fusion Garage, is built entirely around a Web browser. Any applications you might want to use on it have to be Web apps. In theory, that's not a bad idea, because you can do plenty of things on the Web these days. You can get e-mail through Hotmail or Yahoo. You can create a spreadsheet or write a letter in Zoho or Google Docs. You can play games on Facebook or Pogo, watch movies on YouTube or Hulu, and listen to music on Pandora or Lala. The JooJoo's browser, unlike the iPad's, supports both Adobe's Flash technology and Java, a popular programming language on the Web, allowing the device to access many more Web-based applications and features than Apple's gadget. You can watch movies from Hulu on the JooJoo, for example, which you can't do on the iPad. However, the JooJoo's focus on the Web has its downsides. Unlike with the iPad, the JooJoo doesn't allow you to store data locally. So without an Internet connection, you can't listen to music, read a book or watch a video. But the bigger problem with the JooJoo is that, unlike the iPad, it feels like an unpolished, first-generation device. The power button, for example, is a thin sliver on the side that can be difficult to press. Worse, often the only immediate indication you get that you've pressed the button is a faint JooJoo logo that can be easy to overlook. I found myself pressing the button repeatedly, not knowing whether the device was on or not. The JooJoo is thicker and heavier than the iPad, making it less comfortable to hold. And its Intel-based chip gives the device a shorter battery life than the iPad and makes the JooJoo feel sluggish by comparison. The gadget's home screen comes preloaded with a collection of icons representing popular Web pages and Web apps, including Twitter, Picasa and Netflix. Unfortunately, you can't edit the list or reorganize it, even if your favorite sites aren't included. You also can't choose one of your own photographs to use as your home-screen wallpaper; instead you have to pick one from one of the eight Fusion Garage has provided. Another shortcoming is that the JooJoo doesn't let you zoom into a Web page. You might think that with the JooJoo's 13-inch screen you wouldn't need to zoom into a page, but Web links are typically designed to be clicked by the tip of a mouse pointer, not a fingertip. Unable to zoom on the link I wanted to click, I often found myself clicking the wrong thing and having to go back. When you click on the browser's address bar or on a box on a Web form, you get a keyboard that takes up only about half of the screen. You can click a button to get a larger keyboard that's easier to type on, but there's no way to set that as the default, meaning each time you want to use it, you have to click the "zoom in" button. Also, I found the JooJoo to be buggy. Several times when the device said it had multiple Web pages open, I tried to access those pages but saw only a blank screen. To clear the device's memory of those phantom pages, I had to restart it. Planned updates to the JooJoo in the coming weeks and months are supposed to address many of these problems. The first will be aimed at some of the bugs, and future ones will allow JooJoo users to edit the home page icons, change the default keyboard and play movies or music stored on an external USB drive. Those updates should make the JooJoo a more capable and fun device. But for now the JooJoo, which has the same $500 price tag as the entry-level iPad, is not even in the same league. Contact Troy Wolverton at 408-920-5021 or twolverton@mercurynews.com. Follow him at www.mercurynews.com/troy-wolverton or Twitter.com/troywolv. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

A college sandwich showdown Posted: 18 Apr 2010 04:30 PM PDT Posted By Don Fraser, St. Catharines Standard Posted 5 hours ago The best things between two slices are always close at hand. That's the guiding philosophy of Laura Ramik, a competitor at the Fresh Chef Competition held at Niagara Culinary Institute on Saturday. Her sandwich, titled Hometown Hero, uses all-Ontario ingredients. They include a heritage pork shoulder from a family farm in Wiarton. Topping it are provincial apples, herbs, goat cheese and a super-sharp "Niagara Nasty" cheddar from Cheesy Guy Cakes in St. Catharines. Remik had already given her recipe a test chomp. "It's just a fantastic sandwich," said the 23-year-old Mississauga native, who now lives in St. Catharines. "I thought everyone does steak sandwich, so why not do a roast pork— a delicious, tasty, moist meat. "My father even asked for the recipe and made it for himself, and he's not much of a cooking person." Ramik joined ten finalists from more than 50 entries in a sandwich-making competition hosted by Niagara College and Canada Bread. College culinary students were invited to submit their top recipe idea, using an assortment of Canada Bread's products. Advertisement Competitors at the Niagara-on-the-Lake campus event were asked to make eight sandwiches to be used for judging and served to guests. A panel of Canada Bread panelist judged the concoctions. At stake was a $3,000 grand prize, $1,500 for second place and $500 for third. Before the slicing and dicing, college chef professor Jim McClean got the competitors fired up. "This competition is all about presenting a great sandwich and using great products to get there," McClean told them. "It's a friendly competition until when it goes on the plate and big money comes up," he said, to nervous laughs. "Have fun with it and be creative." In the end, Ramik took home the bronze. "I'm thrilled," she said afterward. "The only think I'd like to have done differently is been able to taste my competitors' sandwiches." dfraser@stcatharinesstandard.ca Fresh Chef Competition, hosted by Niagara College and Canada Bread First Place ($3000) - Shannon Brubacher, from Welland - Smokey Bacon and Cheddar Second Place ($1500) - Joshua Karbelnik, from Toronto (now Fenwick) - Asian Salmon Burger Third Place ($500) - Laura Ramik, St. Catharines - Hometown Hero Fourth - April Valvano- Who's UMami Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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