Matt Meshulam's Brain Dump

And no, I don’t mean Obama’s jacket. I’ll give you a hint: doesn’t that desk look pretty bare? This is 2009, remember. Shouldn’t there be a cute little MacBook or something sitting front and center?

There were a few news cycles around inauguration time with stories about “Blackberry One.” The press tried to sell the idea of the smartphone as a symbol, but the White House certainly isn’t using it that way. I haven’t seen any photos of Obama using it; in fact there hasn’t really been any mention of it recently, let alone a discussion about the possibility of a real computer.

The conventional wisdom is that the President doesn’t need a computer; all communications are conducted through staffers. But part of Obama’s brand is that he’s tech savvy and in touch with the people. I know they’re posting the weekly address on YouTube, but if he really wants to put his money where his mouse is, he should be personally blogging or twittering at least daily. It sounds silly, but if the president had a personal presence online (as opposed to the great steps being taken to bring the White House website up-to-date), it would do wonders to keep young voters enthusiastic about Obama as an agent of change.

…is not a required course for my pre-med friends. Molecular gastronomy, or “M.G.” as it is often called, is the science of cooking. The term is also used to describe food created by avant-garde chefs who use non-traditional preparation techniques.

Raspberry sorbet, Chocolate/Raspberry sauce, Raspberry, Meringue, Chocolate air, cotton candy, raspberry powder

The dessert above is from L2O, a Chicago restaurant that, as you can see, does some pretty experimental things. L2O’s chef, Laurent Gras, writes a blog documenting some of the things he’s working on. There’s also a Flickr pool with shots of a lot of their dishes.

My homeland of Chicago happens to be a hotspot in the world of molecular gastronomy. In addition to L2O, Chicago is home to Grant Achatz’s restaurant Alinea (gallery complete with unneccesary sideways scrolling here) and Moto, whose Willy Wonka-esque chef Homaro Cantu also runs a design firm to develop his cutting-edge food technologies. This short video featuring Cantu illustrates many of the techniques of this type of experimental food preparation:

If you want to see more, check out this longer video of Moto’s pastry chef Ben Roche speaking at Taste3:

• Last week I attended a concert featuring my teacher, Rich O’Donnell, doing cool percussion things along with an experimental flute player and a dancer. The dancer had sensors on her hands and feet and was controlling a synthesizer patch that Rich created. Rich alluded to the idea that the computer was like another musician that was improvising along with them, as opposed to a tool that could be operated deterministically. It doesn’t take long when working with more advanced synthesis software to get a program to a point where you don’t know what it will do next. Is “artificial creativity” a component of “artificial intelligence?”
• I got a pair of Etymotic ER-20 earplugs and have used them at the last two Gargoyle shows. First impressions: they took a little getting used to putting them in, and I’ve never put anything that far into my ear canal. But they sound pretty good and the attenuation is just right. They don’t sound nearly as muffled as normal foam plugs but they’re not perfect, the highs are still rolled off quite a bit. When I lose/break them I’ll probably explore other options but for $10 on Amazon they’re a great deal for flat-frequency response hearing protection.
• Free Music Alert: The group leader from my trip to Israel sent me an EP he made as his alter ego, Daniel Harris. Kinda ambient/reverby/Animal Collectiveish.  I’ve found it makes for great background study music. Download here.