Rants And Raves

This is where we can rant and rave about anything and everything, whether it makes sense or not. It's pretty much a place for us to ramble on about nothing, so take what we have written at face value, no more/no less, unless you want it to be.

Mike's Rant - August 23, 2004

I Hate Digipaks

I hate digipaks. For those of you who don't know what a digipak is, it's an alternate form of CD packaging. Instead of a nice, sturdy jewel case, a digipak is a flimsy cardboard container. Digipaks aren't new, but they are now starting to take over. Sure, some digipaks are made really nicely, like the new KISS Alive IV. The package opens to both sides and inside is a really cool picture of the lighted KISS logo and "Welcome To The Show" printed underneath. Then each side folds open once more and there's a big picture of the band performing live. There are two folders for inserts; one is a very full booklet and the other is a cool foldout poster. The two discs are on plastic surfaces with prongs (similar to a standard case). Alive IV is the best digipak I have ever seen and will probably remain that way. So if I have to have a digipak, something like that is the way to go. However, there's also the opposite end. The new Rush release, Feedback, is a very cool covers album; unfortunately its digipak casing is pretty shitty. It only opens once, there's no booklet, and the disc just slides in and out of a cardboard folder, like a promo copy. My buddy Derek is a huge Rush fan and really digs the album, but he's very disappointed with the digipak. So why are digipaks becoming so popular? My answer: money. Bastardous record companies are out to save every buck possible and cheap casing is an easy solution.

I've always hated digipaks, but I got the idea to post this late last night when I was lying in bed thinking about getting all the new AC/DC reissues (all digipaks, of course) and how I was going to have no room for them. Why? Because digipaks don't fit in the slots of CD towers like normal CDs do. If I rearranged my entire collection so that I could put all the new AC/DC digipaks where they'd fit on my CD shelf, I'd have to move all the CDs already there (including some digipaks) and have to move them into my CD towers (where I wouldn't be able to put those other digipaks).

Unfortunately, I think digipaks are going to become the standard within a few years. Most casual music fans probably don't care (most of them don't buy their music anyway) and the record companies certainly don't care. I don't think the hardcore music fans like myself are going to be able to stop them, but I'm going to try. If you hate digipaks like I do, or if this rant has inspired you, please join me in doing something about it.

Derek's Rant - August 10, 2004

Music And My Bowling Game

Tonight something was proven to me. Music makes a difference in my bowling game. Call me crazy but I'm going to tell you something. First you need to know a little about my bowling game, I'm not a great bowler by any means but normally I put up #s between 100 and 125 on average. Like I said, not great #s. So far in my life I have gotten one turkey (for all you who don’t know about bowling that is three strikes in a row), that is until tonight. Tonight I was on fire, a la David Lee Roth screaming "I’m on FIRE." Now you may ask, "Okay Derek that's great, but what the hell does that have to do with music?" Let me tell you. I've long had the suspicion that if Tom Cochrane only released one song, "Life Is A Highway," he would largely be considered the greatest artist to have ever lived based on material (obviously one amazing song that still knocks your socks off when you hear it because it is studio perfection at its purist). Okay, I'll settle for greatest Canadian musician to have lived (sorry Rush and Nick Gilder). Anyways, while Tom Cochrane was playing I got my second turkey. I'm not one to turkey often but tonight Cochrane got me in the zone. I stepped up the line and let the ball go. It went at a moderate pace with my spin finally coming in at the end and BAM I got myself a strike. Now I do get strikes on occasion so I gave myself an imaginary pat on the back and waited until Kristina finished her turn. When I stepped up to the line the next time Tom had moved on from the first verse to the chorus (my favorite part of the song) and I let the ball go and BAM I got another strike. Now up till now one might write this off to coincidence and I would whole heartedly agree with you but then something magical happened. By the time it was time to throw my third ball Cochrane was ready to sing the chorus again and I slowly got into my pre-bowling rhythem, stepped up the line, took a deep breath, adjusted my wrist for spin, let the ball go, my leg swung behind me to give me balance and I watched anxiously while Cochrane was belting out "Tell 'em we're survivors" and then it happened: the ball hit right between the first and third pin and continued a domino effect until all was quiet on the bowling lane. There was not a single white pin standing. While I still had not realized my Tom Cochrane effect, I bowled a 157 that game. The next game is where I realized how music effected my bowling game. When "The Way You Make Me Feel," a song by old school Michael Jackson, began playing, I almost bowled another turkey. I got two strikes and nine pins. And damn the other pin was shaking badly, I knew it wanted to go down, but before I could start huffing and puffing to try and create enough air movement, the machine to set the pins up came down and took my lonely pin away. For further proof, I began to suck my second game. You might ask what was playing on the loud speaker. Well I'll tell you, it was "Macho Man" by the Village People. Nothing against the Village People and their fans, but it just doesn't do it for me nor my bowling game. Now in the tenth frame, I had a 4-10 split. This is not the easiest shot to pick up. But they were playing "Old Time Rock 'n' Roll" by Bob Seger and I don't know what happened to me but I became a bowling master, knocking the 4 pin into the 10. This let me take a third shot in the tenth frame.

I guess I have a few options:

1. Take control of the jukebox
2. Ask the manager to play classic rock
3. Always wear an mp3 player with "Life Is A Highway" playing on it.

Hope your bowling game doesn't suffer because of crappy music.