Stick This In Your Fusebox

It isn’t punk…it sure ain’t metal…but it’s definitely loud, and rocks. Of course, I’m talking about one of my favorite rock bands: AC/DC. I recently just received the double DVD set Plug Me In, which is basically a gathering of rarely seen TV footage from various performances. The first disc in the set focuses on the Bon Scott era, if you will. And the second disc is after, with Brian Johnson.

I’ve never actually seen AC/DC in concert in person, but I sure have seen a number of their concerts that have been released on video, such as Monsters of Rock and so on. The gigs shown here on Plug Me In are completely different. And you can note the differences from when Bon Scott was alive and kicking to when Brian Johnson took the mic.

Firstly, there are some extremely rare pieces of footage here from the early days. There is a concert that the boys gave at some high school in Austraila. It’s a hoot, as you can see Angus skinny as can be, looking like he’s skipping class, though he’s in his twenties at the time. Fast forward two years and AC/DC is in England playing gigs on various TV shows such as Top of the Pops. This is when you can see the band’s staples coming together. Angus is wearing his trademark school uniform, the sound is much more in your face, and the crowd is being worked, particularly, by Angus.

My favorite part is during Rocker, where Angus disappears into the crowd and shows up on the balcony. He first goes around playing in front of the babes, then he jumps up on the edge of the balcony and starts playing there like some fearless madman. It’s awesome. This is cool, naturally, but so are the bonuses on this disc (disc one).

There are several interviews with AC/DC on it, and each shows the true characters of everybody in the band. Bon Scott seems intelligent, witty, and always had something to say–especially to the ladies. Heh. Angus was always quiet, but, then again, when you can rock like that, what does one have to say? With AC/DC you get what you hear and see. Raucous in-your-face-take-no-prisoners rock and roll

Disc two has some cool bits, too, of course. It starts out with Brian swinging on his bell I guess that’s the way to put it. The band has renewed energy after losing Scott, but it somehow seems louder and even more over the top. However, with that said, it’s still as good as ever. And, how does disc 2 end? It ends with the boys playing guitar with The Rolling Stones! Angus and his brother Malcolm are up there with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. And, afterward, Mick gives Angus a look that says it all. No handshake could ever say more–he was damned impressed.

Anyway. If you like AC/DC, or know somebody who does, Plug Me In is definitely something to check out.

Coastionary

I think I’m going to go ahead and start work on my “coastionary”, or roller coaster dictionary if you will. I’ve decided on the name as something easily identifiable and easy to remember. In fact, I am now the proud owner of coastionary.com. Yesterday, I began trying to come up with a logo, and I think I finally found one that works. It’s simple and gets the point across. I’ll probably post it here tomorrow when I get it off the computer at work where it currently is–where I last worked on it. Don’t ask.

The site design I think will be fairly straight forward. I plan on centering it around some mundane colors such as gray, black, and white. I might change that, though. We’ll see. I just want something simple that is primarily content-based. I’m tired of sites that look all pretty but don’t deliver with their content. Ugh! And I used to be the other way

New Lair Design

It took me a little while to figure out what the hey I wanted. But, finally, I have come up with a design I halfway like for the Lair. I came across this template a few days ago. I found it on one of the many free template sites for WordPress. I suppose it was meant for a furniture store or something. Before I modified it, the top had a picture of sofa on it. However, I liked the wood pattern.

You can see that the site is really a mix of the new with a touch of the old. I wanted to do this in order to keep it somewhat familiar to those who normally visit it. Yet, with that said, gone is the old “Lair” logo. I wanted something new, and something that fit the new wood-look better. So, I went with a wood sign–go figure–that has the website’s title etched into it. I think it looks all right, too, considering I used Paint Shop Pro to do it with, version 6 at that (which hasn’t been available for over five years, but it’s all I got). But, I might change the background behind the sign, as it seems to sort of wash it out.

The main reason, though, of going to a new template is to make it easier to upgrade the site. This template is made to work with the latest version of WordPress, so there shouldn’t be any funky errors, I hope. Also, I like the idea of having the wider look. It sort of makes the site look less crowded.

There are still a few things to address I’m sure. I probably need to add the search box back in, seeing this template design didn’t have that in mind at all. Though, I doubt many people even use that feature. Please, let me know if you find any errors. And don’t hesitate to let me know what you think!