Cloud Atlas at Erie Art Museum, July 10.

The 2012 film Cloud Atlas will play at the Erie Art Museum (map) on July 10. A German film, it features a number of household names in its ensemble cast and is the English-language debut of Korean actress Bae Doona. It also includes a year 2144 Seoul as one of its many settings.



The movie starts at 7:00 pm, and tickets are available online and at the door.

Researching Chinese soldiers in American Civil War.

Joseph Pierce.

With the country commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg, it's timely to pass along the "Association to commemorate the Chinese serving in the American Civil War" website, which collects research on Chinese soldiers who fought in the American Civil War and "would like to honor the Chinese people who fought for freedom for their host, in this new country, the United States of America". A Department of Defense website provides more information about Chinese soldiers in the Civil War, including Joseph Pierce, pictured above:

Pvt. Joseph L. Pierce was age 21 when he enlisted in the 14th Connecticut Infantry in August 1862. It's unclear how Pierce ended up in the United States. One story has it that his father sold him to Connecticut ship Captain Amos Peck for $6. Another story was that his brother sold him for $60. Still another was that Peck picked up the lad, who was adrift in the South China Sea. Peck, a lifelong bachelor, turned the 10-year-old he called "Joe" over to his mother in Connecticut.

Young Joe went to school with the Pecks and formally became Joseph Pierce in 1853. He picked up the last name from President Franklin Pierce.

At the time of his enlistment Pierce was a farmer in New Britain, Conn. He listed his height at 5 feet 5 inches, dark complexion with dark hair and black eyes. His birthplace was Canton in Kwangtung Province, China.

His regiment participated in the Battle of Antietam, Md. Sept. 17, 1862.

He suffered some sickness during his time around Washington and was in the hospital for a time. He was assigned to the Quartermaster Department for a bit and rejoined the 14th in time for the Battle of Chancellorsville, Va. in May 1863.

The 14th had a distinguished role in the Gettysburg campaign. "It fought on the north part of Cemetery Ridge on July 2 and was one of the units that helped repel Pickett's Charge," said Gettysburg Historian John Heiser. "The 14th was primarily responsible for turning back Brig. Gen. James Pettigrew's North Carolina division." Today, you can see the 14th Memorial to the north of the grove of trees marking the High-water Mark of the Confederacy.

The 14th's regimental history says that during Pickett's charge, Pierce appeared "pig-tail and all, the only Chinese in the Army of the Potomac." But he wasn't.

Ryoji Ikeda's DATA.TRON at Wood Street Galleries, from July 12.

A previous incarnation, by Liz Hingley.

Japanese sound artist Ryoji Ikdeda's DATA.TRON will open at the Wood Street Galleries downtown (map) on July 12. From the gallery website:

data.tron is an audiovisual installation, where each single pixel of visual image is strictly calculated by mathematical principles, composed from a combination of pure mathematics and the vast sea of data present in the world. These images are projected onto a large screen, heightening and intensifying the viewer’s perception and total immersion within the work.
Ikeda's website has fuller descriptions of this and similar installations.

On July 12th at 10 pm will be a Test Pattern live set:

This test audiovisual work from Ryoji Ikeda, presents intense flickering black and white imagery, which floats and convulses in darkness to a stark and powerful, highly synchronized soundtrack. 
Through a real–time computer programme, test pattern converts Ikeda’s audio signal patterns into tightly synchronized barcode patterns on screen. The velocity of the moving images is ultra–fast, some hundreds of frames per second, so that the work provides a performance test for the audio and visual devices, as well as a response test for the audience’s perceptions. 
test pattern is the third audiovisual concert in Ikeda’s datamatics series, an art project that explores the potential to perceive the invisible multi–substance of data that permeates our world.
 Taking various forms – installations, live performance and recordings – test pattern acts as a system that converts any type of data (text, sounds, photos and movies) into barcode patterns and binary patterns of 0s and 1s. The project aims to examine the relationship between critical points of device performance and the threshold of human perception, pushing both to their absolute limits.

The live set will be held at Pierce Studio on Liberty Ave. (map) and tickets are $10. The exhibit at the Wood Street Galleries will run through September 8.

YouTube has plenty of examples of his installations, if short videos on small computer screens count as examples. Here's a bit from 2012's The Transfinite in New York:

Hong Kong based consultant among top candidates for Port Authority CEO.

Charles Monheim, currently working as a consultant in Hong Kong, is among three top candidates for the vacant Port Authority CEO position, writes the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

Korean movie Two Weddings and a Funeral wins People's Choice Award from Silk Screen Asian American Film Festival.

The Korean movie Two Weddings and a Funeral (두 번의 결혼식 한 번의 장례식') was awarded the RAGS Foundation People’s Choice Award from the 2013 Silk Screen Asian American Film Festival. It was announced by Silk Screen on the 17th, but the news didn't really break until Korea's StarNews picked it up today

김종광수 감독은 26일 낮 12시께 자신의 SNS 페이스북을 통해 수상 사실을 알렸다.

김조광수는 "제 장편 데뷔작 '두번의 결혼식과 한번의 장례식'이 미국 피츠버그에서 열린 실크 스크린 필름 페스티벌에서 관객상을 수상했습니다. 축하해주세요. 헤헤"라고 밝혔다.

from his Facebook's private Timeline and his Twitter on the 26th:

기쁜 소식. <두결한장>이 미국 피츠버그에서 열린 Silk Screen Film Festival에서 관객상("Audience Choice Award")을 수상하였습니다.

— 김조광수 (@kimjhogwangsoo) June 26, 2013

Origami in East Liberty, Butler in July.

Unaffiliated picture via tulinishimura.

The Carnegie Library branch in East Liberty (map) will host a free "Kids Create: Fourth of July Origami" on July 3 from 3:30 to 4:30, presented by Emmaline Silk of the Origami Club of Pittsburgh:

Join us in the children's room and learn the art of Japanese paperfolding. Celebrate the Fourth of July and fold hats, flags and more! For children and adults, too!

The libraries in East Liberty and Squirrel Hill will also host various free origami workshops throughout July.

In Butler, the Maridon Museum (map) will hold an origami workshop on July 9. It's $5 per person and reservations are required.

"Korean Red Invaders Drive Within Suburbs of Capital".

On June 25, 1950 North Korea rolled into South Korea and declared war shortly thereafter. On the 26th, Eastern Standard Time, it made headlines in the Pittsburgh Press.

Attention Pittsburgh's Kenny Chesney fans:

A timely and appropriate one of "36 Iconic Tokyo Metro Subway Manner Posters" teaching riders about etiquette in public.

Taiwanese inventors win 70 medals at Pittsburgh's INPEX.

Via udn.com.

From FocusTaiwan on the annual invention trade show in Pittsburgh:

Taiwan bagged 37 gold medals, 33 silver medals and five special awards on Friday night at the 28th Invention and New Product Exposition (INPEX), held from June 19-21 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the United States.

Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou and Premier Jiang Yi-huah both sent congratulatory messages to the Taiwan delegation soon after learning of the Taiwanese inventors' brilliant performances.

Enka singer Jero given University of Pittsburgh Medallion Award.

Via the University of Pittsburgh Asian Studies Center and Jero's blog.

Pittsburgh native and 2003 University of Pittsburgh graduate Jero (Jerome White) is presented with a University of Pittsburgh Medallion Award, given to graduates who have "brought honor to the University and whose efforts have contributed to Pitt’s progress".

For more on Jero, try Google or this 2008 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette feature. It appears to be an unwritten rule that when covering Jero one must make numerous references to rap and hip-hop because he's black. The Youngstown Vindicator outshone all others with: "Part Public Enemy, part Sinatra, part schmaltz".