Nine Inch Nails concert impressive

It’s been a while since I’ve posted something on here. I’ve been pretty busy. On Monday night, I went to the Nine Inch Nails concert at the Schottenstein Center. Since then, I’ve been hoping to find time to blog about the show, but I just didn’t get around to it until now.

First, I’ll say that NIN is a band that just isn’t for everyone. And I understand that. But let’s say hypothetically that maybe 5% of music listeners like NIN. I’d guess that about 10% would like NIN if they actually heard more than two of their songs. Trent Reznor has found a way to take evolve his music throughout the years so that each new album is different than the previous, while still sounding like NIN. For those who are reading this but don’t listen to NIN, Trent Reznor is NIN. He writes the music, records all the instruments and vocals, and mixes the music. And he has a live band the tours with him to complete NIN.

Monday night’s show was really awesome because I had never had the chance to see Robin Finck on guitar. He toured with NIN in the 90s at the peak of NIN’s popularity. The last two NIN shows I’d been to featured Aaron North on guitar, who brought great energy, but could never fit NIN like Robin Finck. Also, as a drummer, it’s always a treat to get to hear Josh Freese.

The thing that I have told everyone who asked me about the show is that the visual experience really made the performance complete. NIN is always pushing the limits of what can be done with video on multiple screens, and not just behind the band. They drop a cage down in front of the band occasionally that can be seen through at times, but can also play video. You get a great effect with the band playing in front of one screen and behind another screen. I could probably go on and on about the performance but like others say, “you had to be there.”

Oh, and who else was there? My friend Matt who I used to live with in college drove to Columbus from Logan to check out the show with me. So it was an all around great night of music, incredible graphics and getting to see a good friend.

(The video below is Trent doing a little Vanna White impression to start the song Echoplex.)

Election Not News in Sapulpa

I saw this video on CNN.com and it really has me thinking. Watch the video if you haven’t yet.

On Wednesday, November 5, the day after the presidential election, the Sapulpa Daily Herald (Oklahoma) did not report the election results. I had been looking at an election map last week and I noticed that nearly 2/3 of Oklahoma votes were for McCain.

So naturally, one might jump to the conclusion that the newspaper decision makers weren’t pleased with the election results and therefore chose to not run the story. The Obama voters of Sapulpa feel this way, and this is how the story made its way to CNN.

To be fair, the publisher of the paper was given a chance to explain. According to Sapulpa Daily Herald publisher Darren Sumner, “I’m sure they read about it and watched it on TV or got on the Internet and followed it as many people did, and knew complete coverage several hours before we were going to go to press.”

So, it sounds like the reason given for not reporting Obama’s victory is that it didn’t qualify as news. The readers of the paper already knew the results, so the story would be old news to them. But isn’t that the situation in nearly every daily newspaper market?

I’d be interested in seeing what the Sapulpa Daily Herald looked like when President Bush was re-elected, defeating John Kerry in 2004. Did they not report the election results in 2004? How about 2000? I’d like to know.

Is Sapulpa redefining the definition of newsworthy, or just interpreting newsworthy in a new way? My newspaper experience was limited to being the paperboy, so I’ve never had to determine what makes the news and what does not.

Perhaps the Sapulpa Daily Herald paid special attention to the saying, “If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” My guess is they just didn’t have anything nice to say.

What do you think?

Edit: I’ll be interested to see if this publication reports the results of the Oklahoma Sooners vs. Texas Tech Red Raiders game in a few weeks. If the Sooners knock off the #2 team in the nation, will there be an article? But wait. I’m sure most of the paper’s readers will be following the game on TV, radio and Internet. So perhaps it won’t be newsworthy. And what if Texas Tech wins? Hmm.

Trying to publish my thesis, again

Last night, I submitted my thesis to a journal for consideration to be published. This is my third attempt at publishing this manuscript.

In 2006, I defended my thesis at The Ohio State University and earned my M.A. I think it was Fall of 2006 that my co-author (and Master’s advisor) and I sent the thesis to a journal for the first time. In 2007, we received word from the journal that although they weren’t rejecting it, it needed major revisions before being sent out for review again. We worked on editing the thesis for some time before realizing the recommended changes didn’t work for us.

So in 2007, we sent the piece to a different journal for a second attempt at publishing it. Unfortunately, we found out in 2008 that it had been rejected. At that time, I had a good talk with my co-author and also did alot of thinking and decided to let the thesis rest, essentially boxing it up for good, only to be revisited if we had additional ideas for research to add to the work.

But recently, we had the itch to send it to one more journal for a third attempt at publishing. Why? It’s because despite the fact that the manuscript does not solve a major puzzle in the field of study, it does feature data that could be very meaningful for future research. It could be an important piece to furthering the research in a certain area.

So fingers are crossed for a third time.

Facing Past Fears

I’m trying to get some work done this morning before celebrating my mom’s birthday, but I’m a big procrastinator and decided to pay a visit to my blog. Today’s topic? My fears. Or more specifically, things I’ve been afraid of in the past. I was looking through some old pictures, plaques and other memory-triggering things in the bedroom I grew up in, and I was reminded of some of the things I used to worry about.

Elementary school

• I was pretty shy and afraid to go to some birthday parties for friends in the neighborhood. It was really strange, because I’d play down the street with the kids, maybe shooting hoops or jumping on a trampoline, but a birthday party just felt like an event and I was always nervous about them.
• I went through a brief period when I was afraid to eat things. I think it was just a strange week for me, but I had a hard time imagining the food just disappearing from the planet and me being responsible for it. I think understanding that the food digests and exists in a different form helped me get through it.

Middle School

• I would get extremely nervous about the first day of school. It’s tough to say exactly what I was afraid of. It wasn’t just the end of the summer that had me upset. I think I was really nervous about who would be in my classes. If I had a rough time with some kids the previous year, I was always awake the night before hoping they wouldn’t be in my classes that year.

High School

• I definitely gained a healthy (or unhealthy, maybe) fear of failure in high school. I made it all the way through all four years without getting a B on any report card until senior year, when my 91.4% in AP British Literature wasn’t quite high enough (91.5%) to round up to an A.
• Girls. I thought they were awesome to talk to and get to know in school, but I was pretty terrified at the thought of asking one on a date.
• Dances. I only went to one dance throughout high school, and it was prom my junior year. And I went because a girl called and asked me. It turned out that she may have liked me more than I was into her, and if I remember correctly, we may have never talked again after prom.

College

• If I had a fear in college, it was probably that I wouldn’t find a career I’d enjoy. I was interested in tons of things, but had a hard time seeing myself doing any of them for a living. Luckily, my lack of career direction led me to apply for a Master’s degree at Ohio State. Things could not have worked out much better.

Of course those are just the fears I’m willing to put public on a blog. What am I afraid of today? Well that’s the beauty of admitting past fears. You don’t have to talk about the present day!

My TV Turns Two

As you all know, today is a very important day. My TV turns two years old today! On November 4, 2006, an HD-obsessed Tim Laubacher marched into Circuit City and purchased the Sony Bravia KDL-40XBR2. I had seen this beautiful 40-inch HD TV in numerous stores and researched it online before finally making the purchase on a Saturday morning. The Buckeyes were in the middle of a great season, and it seemed like the perfect time to start watching TV in 1080p (well technically 1080i on TV, but whatever).

I can’t believe the TV is now turning two-years-old. I guess you could make the argument that it was manufactured before November 4, but I believe this TV didn’t really come to life until it made its way to my apartment. We’ve had some great times together, like two Buckeyes football victories over Michigan, watching Planet Earth on Discovery HD, and watching shows like The Office in great picture quality.

Like any relationship, we’ve had our moments. We’ve suffered through two OSU football national championship game losses, one basketball Buckeyes championship game loss, the Cavaliers losing to the Spurs in the finals, the Indians losing to the Red Sox in the ALCS, and a few other heartbreakers.

But overall, I wouldn’t trade this TV for any others. It still looks as good as the day I found it. And yes, I’ve given it a few accessories over the years, like an Onkyo TX-SR605 receiver, JBL Cinema Sound CS480 speakers, and recently a Sony BDP-S350 Blu-ray player.

I’m trying to decide if my TV would rather celebrate its birthday by watching some amazing election coverage or by relaxing. Either way, there will probably be cake and icecream involved.

Bird, meet head

It’s story time. This is one of those stories that I tell people and they don’t seem to believe me. So if you’re not going to believe it, go ahead and watch some Youtube videos or something. But if you have an open mind, proceed.

It was probably 4 or 5 years ago that my friend Jon and I decided to go golfing at a course in my hometown, Massillon. After leaving the golf course, Jon was driving and I was the passenger. I don’t remember what we were talking about, but our conversation died in an abrupt thud, when I felt an incredible pain on the right side of my head.

I was confused and hurting. I thought a baseball had just hit my right temple, narrowly avoiding my right eye. I would have suspected a golf ball, but the course was on the driver’s side of the car. Jon pulled off the side of the road immediately, sensing that I was in some pain. Well, it didn’t take incredible sensing skills. I was yelling words not appropriate for this blog.

And then we heard a noise in the back seat. We looked back and what did we find? A bird was fluttering around in the back, equally confused. I can’t tell you if it was a sparrow, a robin, or some other indigenous bird, but it was a bird to be sure.

Jon and I got out of the car and opened the doors. Eventually, our uninvited guest flew away. I had a beak mark on the side of my head, but no medical attention was necessary. Also, no birds were seriously harmed.

What were the odds that a bird was flying low to the ground and came in through the passenger window to hit my head as we were traveling at about 40 mph on the road? Well, it happened. And I’ll never forget it. Please consider using air conditioning and keeping your windows up when driving anywhere with potential for bird attacks.