McKenzie blog

Justin Bieber announces first U.K. arena tour

LONDON (Billboard) – Justin Bieber's march to global domination shows no sign of slowing down. The 16-year-old singer set to bring his "My World Tour" to U.K. arenas next year.

The 10-date tour, which is promoted by AEG live, begins March 4 with a two-night run at Birmingham NIA.

The tour also calls in at Liverpool Echo Arena (March 11), Newcastle Metro Arena (March 12) and two nights at London's O2 Arena (March 14 and 16).

Other dates include two shows at Manchester's MEN Arena (March 20 and 21) and Sheffield Motorpoint Arena (March 23).

The nationwide trek, which marks the first time that Bieber has toured the United Kingdom as a headline artist, wraps March 24 at Nottingham Trent FM Arena.

(Editing by Zorianna Kit)

Video Games Lead to Faster Decisions That Are No Less Accurate

ROCHESTER, N.Y., Sept. 17 – ROCHESTER, N.Y., Sept. 17 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Cognitive scientists from the University of Rochester have discovered that playing action video games trains people to make the right decisions faster. The researchers found that video game players develop a heightened sensitivity to what is going on around them, and this benefit doesn't just make them better at playing video games, but improves a wide variety of general skills that can help with everyday activities like multitasking, driving, reading small print, keeping track of friends in a crowd, and navigating around town.

In an upcoming study in the journal Current Biology, authors Daphne Bavelier, Alexandre Pouget, and C. Shawn Green report that video games could provide a potent training regimen for speeding up reactions in many types of real-life situations.

Video games have grown in popularity to the point where 68 percent of American households have members that play them, according to a 2009 report by the Entertainment Software Association.

The researchers tested dozens of 18- to 25-year-olds who were not ordinarily video game players. They split the subjects into two groups. One group played 50 hours of the fast-paced action video games "Call of Duty 2" and "Unreal Tournament," and the other group played 50 hours of the slow-moving strategy game "The Sims 2."

After this training period, all of the subjects were asked to make quick decisions in several tasks designed by the researchers. In the tasks, the participants had to look at a screen, analyze what was going on, and answer a simple question about the action in as little time as possible (i.e. whether a clump of erratically moving dots was migrating right or left across the screen on average). In order to make sure the effect wasn't limited to just visual perception, the participants were also asked to complete an analogous task that was purely auditory.

The action game players were up to 25 percent faster at coming to a conclusion and answered just as many questions correctly as their strategy game playing peers.

"It's not the case that the action game players are trigger-happy and less accurate: They are just as accurate and also faster," Bavelier said. "Action game players make more correct decisions per unit time. If you are a surgeon or you are in the middle of a battlefield, that can make all the difference."

The authors' neural simulations shed light on why action gamers have augmented decision making capabilities. People make decisions based on probabilities that they are constantly calculating and refining in their heads, Bavelier explains. The process is called probabilistic inference. The brain continuously accumulates small pieces of visual or auditory information as a person surveys a scene, eventually gathering enough for the person to make what they perceive to be an accurate decision.

"Decisions are never black and white," she said. "The brain is always computing probabilities. As you drive, for instance, you may see a movement on your right, estimate whether you are on a collision course, and based on that probability make a binary decision: brake or don't brake."

Action video game players' brains are more efficient collectors of visual and auditory information, and therefore arrive at the necessary threshold of information they need to make a decision much faster than non gamers, the researchers found.

The new study builds on previous work by Bavelier and colleagues that showed that video games improve vision by making players more sensitive to slightly different shades of color.

About the University of Rochester

The University of Rochester () is one of the nation's leading private universities. Located in Rochester, N.Y., the University gives students exceptional opportunities for interdisciplinary study and close collaboration with faculty through its unique cluster-based curriculum. Its College, School of Arts and Sciences, and Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Sciences are complemented by the Eastman School of Music, Simon School of Business, Warner School of Education, Laboratory for Laser Energetics, Schools of Medicine and Nursing, and the Memorial Art Gallery.

SOURCEUniversity of Rochester

US radio takes on Taliban in Afghan propaganda war

KABUL, Afghanistan – A U.S.-funded radio station is hoping a small hand-cranked radio can help turn the tide in a propaganda war against the Taliban, handing out thousands of the devices in the hopes of winning over ordinary Afghans.

The idea is to counter the Taliban-sponsored stations — the so called "Mullah Radios" — that operate mainly in the tribal areas along the Pakistani border and broadcast propaganda that helps turn public opinion against foreign troops and the pro-Western Afghan government.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty this week started distributing 20,000 free radio sets to Afghans, including those in distant mountain villages and refugee camps.

"We want to increase the access to information to the Afghans, especially in remote areas and to the displaced persons," said Julian Knapp, spokesman for RFE/RL. "The objective is to help people become more informed about the democratic processes."

He said the operation, which will last for several weeks, will cost $500,000. That covers the cost of transporting the radios by Afghan Air Force helicopters to the isolated villages and the $20 price tag for each of the solar-powered, hand-cranked sets.

"In most of those places there is no electricity, and batteries are expensive," Knapp said. The radios, a version of which was distributed in Haiti after the earthquake, are powered by both solar panels and a hand crank.

Radio is key to reaching the majority of Afghans: With only a limited access to television, newspapers and the Internet, most depend on radio programs to get their information. In rural areas, where three-fourths of some 28 million Afghans live, 90 percent of women and 60 percent of men are illiterate, according to the latest surveys.

International forces say they are fighting a two-pronged war in Afghanistan — one against the insurgents' weapons and the other their propaganda.

They believe getting the right information to rural Afghans could be key to their success. Much of the troops' focus has been on persuading locals not to support or give shelter to the insurgents, but instead to help coalition troops root them out. A stable Afghanistan depends as much on the confidence of locals in their own government as it does on an end to Taliban violence.

Reflecting the importance of propaganda in the fight against the insurgency, Gen. David Petraeus, the top commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, recently issued a series of operational guidelines to troops that includes instructions on how to conduct the "information war" against the Taliban.

"Fight the information war aggressively," Petraeus instructed. "Challenge disinformation. Turn our enemies' extremist ideologies, oppressive practices, and indiscriminate violence against them. Hang their barbaric actions like millstones around their necks."

"Be first with the truth," the guidelines said. "Beat the insurgents and malignant actors to the headlines."

Petraeus said in a recent interview that the allies have to work hard to counter the Taliban media offensive "to ensure that terrorist propaganda doesn't stay out there for too long unchallenged."

But, many say the West may have already lost the media war in Afghanistan.

"The Taliban has created a sophisticated communications apparatus that projects an increasingly confident movement," the International Crisis Group, a prominent Brussels-based think-tank, said in its most recent report on this issue. "Using the full range of media, it is increasingly tapping into strains of Afghan nationalism and exploiting policy failures by the Kabul government and its international backers."

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in 2002 launched Radio Azadi — Pashto for "Liberty" — in Afghanistan. The station — broadcasting in Pashto and Dari languages — claims to be the most popular source of news in the country, with a 43 percent market share and some 7.9 million listeners weekly.

Knapp said the dial on the distributed radios will not be fixed to Radio Azadi's frequency.

"They can choose to listen to whatever they wish," he said, "but we believe they'll listen to the truth."

"Black Sheep" a strong debut for Italian raconteur

VENICE (Hollywood Reporter) – Most of Ascanio Celestini's theater productions consist of him sitting in a chair, captivating audiences with monologues that combine great wit, historical commentary and genuine despair over a range of social injustices.

So it's no surprise that "The Black Sheep," the feature debut from the prolific raconteur-writer-actor, also captivates, though here for the precision and artistry with which he brings his characters to life.

In a work of art that displays his sensitivity and vast storytelling skills, Celestini captures the impoverished agrarian society that was Italy just 40 years ago, the innumerable injustices that lie within our mental institutions and the story of a life, interrupted. He is not the visual artist that Julian Schnabel is, but, like the latter in "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly," he lifts profound tragedy from darkness with warmth, humor and even hope without stooping to cheap sentimentality or caricature.

Nonetheless, the first Italian film in competition at this year's Venice International Film Festival will divide viewers, many of whom will not appreciate the narrative-heavy style. But this is a true example of "auteur" cinema that melds the boundaries between the written word and classical visual storytelling. Celestini's frequent off-camera narration doesn't guide or illuminate events, it tells a story, flows along streams of consciousness and repeatedly tries to make sense of the senseless.

Most importantly, it doesn't sacrifice character development. On the contrary, the film works thanks to its well-written roles and great performances, especially from intense young newcomer Luigi Fedele.

At the end of the "fabulous 1960s," 10-year-old Nicola (Fedele) lives with his grandmother, who tends chickens and was "born old, lived old and died old." His mother is vegetating in a mental institution, his sheepherder father (Nicola Rignanese) and two older brothers (Alessandro Marverti, Mauro Marchetti) live up in the hills. Nicola has a fertile imagination -- particularly for martians -- but is failing school and loves only his classmate Marinella (Wally Galdieri) while the rest of his peers mock his poverty and backward ways.

During the summer, Nicola goes to help his brothers, who commit a terrible crime. To keep the "black sheep" of the family -- the only member neither as crude nor violent as the rest -- from giving his siblings away, Nicola is sent to live as a guest with the nun (Luisa De Santis) who runs the mental asylum. When a tragedy occurs, Nicola is wrongfully blamed and officially locked up. The black sheep becomes sacrificial lamb.

Thirty years later, Nicola (Celestini) and his only companion (Giorgio Tirabassi, a wonderful actor Italian cinema too often ignores) live a quiet routine in the institution. They banter comically, help the nun with groceries and remind us that the mad never leave madhouses in a tragicomic joke that Celestini repeats throughout.

"Sheep" jumps back and forth between the past and present; for example, during a daily outing to the supermarket, Nicola sees the older Marinella (Maya Sansa) again and starts dreaming about a normal life. Like so many of the institutionalized, Nicola wasn't mad when he arrived in the asylum, but after decades of electroshock therapy and pills, does he stand a chance outside the gates that keep him from the "real world?"

#yn-dailybeast-banner img { display:block; }Revenge of the Bushies

NEW YORK –President Obama's nod to former President Bush in his Iraq speech Tuesday night ("No one could doubt [his] support for our troops, or his love of country and commitment to our security") helped put W. back in the headlines, amid signs of a rebound. Will ties to 43 help or hurt the Team Bush veterans seeking office this fall? Samuel Jacobs reports.

George W. Bush is on the rebound. It's hardly a full-blown comeback, but the early signs are good for the Decider: White House successor, Barack Obama, , in advance of an Oval Office speech in which 44 announced the formal end to combat operations initiated on 43's watch. And when Congress returns from its summer recess in September, debate over whether to extend the Bush tax cuts will be front and centera crucial part of ongoing efforts to jump-start a measly economic recovery.last week, residents of Louisiana said they thought Bush displayed better leadership during Hurricane Katrina than Obama did during the Gulf oil spill. And with buzz over his forthcoming memoirto ramp up as voters head for the polls this fall, the Bush legacy is suddenly threatening to become a significant factor in the midterms.

How popular is Bush now? Administration veterans' resumes offer one measure, and it isn't a happy one. When you look at them, there's one obvious thing missing: Bush's name.

No one will feel the impact more than the handful of Bush administration alumni who will be on the ballot. But if they're confident the association with their former boss who left office with historically dismal approval ratings—will be an asset in November, they aren't showing it. Judging from their campaign rhetoric, those candidates are being extremely cautious about playing the Bush card.

• •The dangers are evident: a country angry over the Obama administration's aggressive government intervention into the markets and health care probably don't need the distraction of being reminded of some of his predecessor's faults. On the other hand, there may be an upside to touting the Bush credentials more aggressively, given the trend lines. " If you were to look at the change in the political temperature and even as you look at the Bush brand in the last 12 months, there is a case to be made where things have changed pretty dramatically," says Gary Marx, a Republican strategist who worked on the 2004 Bush-Cheney campaign.

• •In Ohio, Bush's former budget director Rob Portman is pulling ahead in the race to replace retiring GOP Sen. George Voinovich. In Connecticut, Tom Foley, part of the vanguard of MBAs sent by Bush to make over Iraq, is gunning for the governor's seat, being vacated by retiring Democrat Jodi Rell. In Arkansas, a Karl Rove protege, Tim Griffin, looks ready to return to Washington, campaigning to replace yet another retiring Democrat in the state's 2nd Congressional District.

Dan Coats, Bush's ambassador to Germany, is running for the Senate in Indiana. , John Bolton, the former ambassador to the United Nations could have designs on the White House. If so, Bolton will have to get line behind some fellow Bushies. Indiana governor Mitch Daniels, another Bush budget chief, is receiving conservative encouragement to mount a bid for president in 2012. And then there's the constant low-level pleading on the right for Jeb Bush, the president's brother and the former governor of Florida, to join the 2012 fray.

have some strong wind at their back; a new poll out from Gallup gives the GOP its best generic-ballot showing in nearly 70 years. And there's plenty of Bush fundraising muscle to be had. Through their new outfit, American Crossroads, Bush advisers Ed Gillespie and Karl Rove have said their goal is to . A bankroll of that size puts Rove and Co. in the same league as Haley Barbour's Republican Governor's Association and the Republican National Committee.

For their part, Democrats are determined to remind voters that this crop of candidates served the most unpopular president in memory. In fact, the very notion thaBush aides can appeal to voters leaves Democrats befuddled.

"Rob Portman is the No. 1 George Bush look-alike in the country," Sen. Sherrod Brown, Democrat of Ohio, . "I just can't believe the voters are going to choose the candidate who more than anybody else in the whole country represents what got us into this situation."

We've been here before. Back in 2002, two years removed from the Clinton administration, aof veterans from that White House, including a foulmouthed aide named Rahm Emanuel, tried their luck as principals. Clinton alums had a serious leg up on the Bush veterans. Bubba rode high out of the White House with , the best marks for an outgoing president in 50 years. Dubya, meanwhile, slunk out of Washington with an , the least popular president in 70 years.

Thanks to that basement-level number, the Republicans basically hid their party's leader during the 2008 Republican National Convention. Even though his(Bush's favorability rating was at 45 percent in July), the former president is staying away from the campaign trail.

How popular is Bush now? Candidate resumes offer one measure, and it isn't a happy one. When you look at them, there's one obvious thing missing: Bush's name. In his official biography,his time as White House Associate Counsel to the first President Bush but leaves off the name of the second President Bush when describing his "Cabinet-level" duties. Tom Foley, who was George W. Bush's classmate at Harvard Business School, practices a similar sin of omission: "In 2003 and 2004, the White House asked Tom to serve in Iraq overseeing most of Iraq's state-owned businesses and developing a plan for re-establishing a strong private sector economy," . Nine paragraphs into his biography, Griffin mentions his service to the president, while avoiding using his name: "In 2005, Tim served as Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Director, Office of Political Affairs at the White House," .

Still, even some Democrats are wary of making the resurgent Bush a key issue in the campaign. John Whiteside, campaign manager for Griffin's Democratic foe Joyce Elliott, says that drawing too much attention to 43 would be a misstep. For one thing, after leaving office, presidents naturally rise in the eyes of voters, he says. For another, it makes the campaign look like it is searching to blame the president for the country's economic problems rather than offer solutions.

"I think it's not like 2006 where you can just run something that says this guy was close to Bush and it wins you a campaign," Whiteside said. But he added, "It's definitely fair game, and we've always used it as a credibility factor."

Samuel P. Jacobs is a staff reporter at The Daily Beast. He has also written for The Boston Globe, The New York Observer, and The New Republic Online.

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