Hot Topics: David Hockney Revels in iPad Art

Who says you can't teach old artists new tricks? English painter David Hockney, best known for elaborate photo collages and watercolors of Los Angeles swimming pools, has traded his paintbrush and camera for an iPad. The 73-year-old artist uses the electronic tablet as a sketchpad and sends his pictures of landscapes, flowers and caps to friends, according to the Los Angeles Times.

 "What fascinates me is not just technology but the technology of picture-making," Hockney tells writer Barbara Isenberg during a tour of his Yorkshire studio. "I spend more time painting, of course, but I treat the iPad as a serious tool. The iPad is influencing the paintings now with its boldness and speed."

When The New Yorker introduced the iPad app version of the magazine on Oct. 4, the cover featured "The Breakfast Plate," a picture that Hockney used the iPad to create. The artist's iPhone and iPad drawings have been on display in an art gallery at Paris' Fondation Pierre Bergé Yves Saint Laurent and, the Times notes, may soon hit the road to other cities, too.

Social Innovation a la American Idol: Boomer think tank Civic Ventures has named 25 finalists for its inaugural LaunchPad contest to help social entrepreneurs over 40 jumpstart programs to improve their communities. Chosen from approximately 1,000 entries, the finalists include individuals with proposals to have retired nurses teach kids about healthy cooking, launch a cancer support group for Chinese speakers, provide career help to veterans, offer counseling to undocumented immigrants and provide internet access to low-income seniors. Browse the complete list here and then cast your ballot. Five finalists who receive the most public votes on the Civic Ventures website before Feb. 25 will receive $5,000 each.

No Fly Zone: First he threw his weight around as a professional wrestler, then as governor of Minnesota. Now Jesse Ventura is putting his considerable muscle behind a lawsuit seeking to stop the Transportation Security Administration's airport screening policies. Ventura, 61, filed a lawsuit in federal court in Minnesota this week alleging the new full-body scans and pat-downs violate his rights under the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unreasonable search and seizure. "We consider the pat-downs and the whole-body scanners to be a step too far, and they have crossed into the realm of the unreasonable," Ventura's attorney, David Olsen, told CNN. Ventura had been flying several times a week for work but stopped using commercial planes to avoid TSA screenings.

Brat Pack Star Turns Winemaker: While his younger brother grabs more salacious headlines, Emilio Estevez is making a name for himself in a very different way -- as a winemaker. The 48-year-old actor planted grapes in the yard of his Malibu estate in 2004 and produced the first bottles of his Casa Dumetz label three years later. The vineyard's Malibu Pinot Noir, Syrah and Viognier wines are distributed only in southern California but will be available online in the future, according to Delish.com. Estevez joins the ranks of celebrity winemakers such as Peggy Fleming, Francis Ford Coppola, Tom and Dick Smothers, Mario Andretti and Mike Ditka.

Sinking Ship Sales: Think it's hard to sell a home in a down real estate market? Try selling a yacht. Demand for ultra-luxury yachts is a third of what it was in the go-go days before the recession, with annual sales dropping to about 100 boats in 2008 from 300 in the mid-1990s, according to The New York Times. But there are signs that sales of new and used boats could be on the uptick in and outside the United States. In case you're in the market, Boat International, a yachting industry website, lists multimillion-dollar price cuts on several new and used luxury cruisers.

National Book Critics Circle Awards: Finalists for the 2010 awards include Jonathan Franzen's Freedom, Jennifer Egan's A Visit From the Goon Squad, Paul Murray's Skippy Dies and Patti Smith's Just Kids. Winners will be announced March 10. See the complete list here.