Linkin Park
jtoney | April 6, 2013It is a feeling of unbelievable joy. We have all felt it, at one time or another. For me, it is at its most palpable in a concert or a sports event with tens of thousands of fans. Initially, everyone is milling about, chatting, texting, a thousand unconnected specks. Then there's a moment capturing everyone's attention - a touchdown, a band jamming with pure, raw energy - and, in an instant, everything changes. Those specks converge into a single, connected, joyous crowd. Differences, stress, arguments, angst, worries fade away.
Social media has figured out how to harness this ineffable…
jtoney | March 21, 2012
Chester Bennington from Linkin Park performing at Sonisphere Festival in Kirjurinluoto, Pori, Finland. {Kallerna}
Ring tones that are felt, not heard, could be on their way.
From The Wall Street Journal TechEurope blog:
According to the patent application, Nokia is proposing "a material attachable to skin, the material capable of detecting a magnetic field and transferring a perceivable stimulus to the skin, wherein the perceivable stimulus relates to the magnetic field."
Or to put it another way, a vibrating tattoo.
That magnetic field would interact with the tattoo, causing it to…
jtoney | July 20, 2011
Michael Bay's "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" is a visually ugly film with an incoherent plot, wooden characters and inane dialog. It provided me with one of the more unpleasant experiences I've had at the movies.
Roger Ebert
Having witnessed the destruction of the twin towers on 9/11 from across the Hudson river, it was years before I could look at an airplane taking off from Newark airport without evoking that nightmare. Watching Transformers: Dark of the Moon brought it back in a visceral way with scene after numbing scene of toppling skyscrapers destroyed by Decepticons.
Yes, the…
jtoney | July 13, 2011
Those late nights of coffee-induced creativity sessions. Whether they're a memory or a recurring event, how we share them has changed dramatically.
In our 24 hour/seven days per week cycle of news media and activity in general, there is yet another mode of expression and sharing of what's going on this instant....Instagram.
Peaks such as this used to be reserved for an inner circle of friends. Now fans {I am one of them} can take a gander, if they wish, into the creative process. I am lucky to have close friends who are composers, musicologists, and my mother was an artist. In this…
jtoney | July 8, 2011
Why do we itch? Is there a cure?
Counterirritation is an effective treatment, used for decades, based a simple idea:
Pain masks the itch
For example, if you're suffering from poison ivy, taking a very hot shower can bring some relief, or ingesting something with capsaicin, the pain-inducing compound in hot peppers such as jalepenos, can be effective. Can the nerves that transmit sensations of pain and itch be separated or are they intrinsically intertwined? As shown in this "ball of nerves," separation of sensations is no easy task.
Courtesy of Xinzhong Dong
Ball Of Nerves
Just before…
jtoney | May 24, 2011The Rap Guide to Evolution Music Videos, sponsored by the Wellcome Trust.
I've been exploring the use of rap and pop culture to teach science and mathematics, ranging from Lupe Fiasco to Linkin Park, but that topic is for another day. But anyone interested in evolution, whether student or teacher, could find this "Evolution Rap" a refreshing approach.
Bottom line: learning should always be this fun.
Lyrics:
"Yo, yo, the Origin of Species
Ain't no feces, dawg, believe me..."
And that's all I could think of
So then I thought, this needs to be re-written
By looking at the similarities in…
jtoney | March 30, 2011
Disaster relief for Japan has taken on many forms, and I applaud artists when they use their talents and their broad outreach to help the victims and their families. The band Linkin Park has responded in their own way, using graphic design guided by their fans.
This effort is part of the "Music for Relief" campaign.
You can view the CNN broadcast here about their design.
Linkin Park - Not Alone Lyrics
I break down, fear is sinking in
The cold comes, racing through my skin
Searching for a way to get to you
Through the storm you...
Go, giving up your home
Go, leaving all you've known
You are…
jtoney | February 22, 2011Source.
Anyone working to benefit human rights knows the challenge of public outreach and community engagement. I have been working with the AAAS Science and Human Rights Coalition for more than two years and we have made excellent progress in engaging scientists and scientific societies to learn how they can contribute their skills towards human rights with programs such as Scientists on Call.
But the efforts of popular performers such as Linkin Park are truly extraordinary in the scope and breadth of their outreach.
Today, February 22, Linkin Park is hosting a special chat on Facebook that…
jtoney | February 6, 2011Source. Linkin Park's Chester Bennington / Photo by Ian Witlen.
If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the mighty one... Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds. Bhagavad Gita
From the first moment of "Requiem" from A Thousand Suns, ripples of peripatetic paroxysms began to spread across the sold out Madison Square Garden arena the evening of February 4. Peripatetic, because the source of LP's music was dynamic, shifting from percussion to keyboards to the trading lead rapid-fire vocals of rapping Mike Shinoda to…