I go to Blockbuster whenever Movie Gallery doesn't have something. MG used to be Slick Sam's, and it's the only rental store still in business since my early childhood, so I've always felt I owe them something. Well, I think I paid off my debt this morning! Hello, Blockbuster.

Actually, final note in my tangent, I think I will just stop renting games so much and just rent stuff I know I will like but can finish in a week.

I've always though it would be a great idea to have an alternative game rental business that is also a full retail game store, with one big selling point: if you rent a game and then decide to purchase the same game new, any and all rental fees paid will be subtracted from the retail game's price. So, since you just spent maybe $14 or something on your recent rental and late-fee fiasco, you'd now be able to purchase the game brand new for $36.

That way there would be zero risk in renting a game before buying it. I would certainly become a member of such a shop immediately were one to materialize in my town.

I've always wondered why rental stores don't work that way. I would certainly become a member as well. They could always tack on a small fee so that it's still worth it to the gamer but makes a bit more for them to justify the extra service. If only I were more of an entrepreneur, but it's so hard to spell.

@Wario
I'd also be interested in contributing to the Wii Music site if you decide to make it

@chicken brutus
I can't send you nothin' till you connect your Wii and let it register us as friends ma boi!
Either that or you haven't registered me. Either way, everytime I try to send a Wii Music Vid it says I have nobody on my friend list that that has the game.

Blockbuster isn't that great frankly. They still do late fees in the UK and if you don't pay them within a week they start sending you letters threatening to send it to a collection agency (though that isn't legal after so short a time). Frankly I don't see how it is they're still in business other than the fact that there are no other video shops around!

LOL Sean I got your videos. Your Wii Music Theme vid cracked me up (who knew Obama was such a kickass drummer?). It was very creative. I might add something to it and send it back to you. I sent you a few of mine, hope you enjoy!

I've been listening to a lot of Shellac lately, so that's the influence there. You simply cannot beat a repeated solid drum beat and trebly guitar.

I've been listening to a lot of Radiohead (as always), Coldplay (saw them in concert a few weeks ago), Animal Collective, TV on the Radio, Fleet Foxes, and Vampire Weekend. I like a lot of strange bands.

I sent some vids on to Warioswoods and Chicken Brutus. Don't fight it--just let the music posess your soul

@Kid_A

Got your videos -- very nice work, I particularly like the combined sound of the recorder, flute, and violin; I believe I've neglected woodwinds in my videos, so now I need to work them in sometime. You are clearly quite fond of bongos, but you use them well.

@Chicken_Brutus

I've started the ball rolling on a site; I agree with the sentiment of using a CMS so that we aren't starting from scratch and so that we already will have an easy setup for user management and contributing content, but I'm going with Drupal instead of Wordpress. I'm fond of the latter, but the former is more extensible at the core level, and I'm hoping to find the time to incorporate some unique features so that this could potentially be a hub for watching and ranking the best Wii Music videos on the web. I will update once I get through the annoying basics, but I went ahead and set up service with a Drupal-friendly hosting company (something I've been meaning to do for ages anyway, for playing around) and obtained a domain name, which will be secret for the moment, but I find it to be quite appropriate. In the next few days, I'll order myself a video capture device so that I can have some high quality videos to start off with, as well as the crucial ability to encode videos from anyone here in high quality.

My work with web applications, by the way, is generally more the server-side scripting, database integration, and also user interface, but I'm not a graphic designer by any means, so I hope to be able to find a clean theme that can be modestly modified without too much effort in that area.

@Warioswoods

You sir, are a genius at Wii Music. I enjoyed all your videos immensly. I'm assuming your using the balance board, right? I started using it a few days ago, taking all the drum lessons and whatnot. I'm getting better, and I can make some interesting beats, but it's hard for me to keep the beat consistant throughout the entire song. Anyway, nice work! Keep 'em coming.

Also, I didn't understand a word of that Website busisness, (I'm not a technological person) but I'm glad your doing it! And I'd be happy to contribute content if you'd like.

@Kid_A

Thanks! I feel like it takes me forever to come up with anything decent, and of late I haven't had the time to do that it seems, but I hope to find more time to fit it in. I'm a huge fan of Radiohead, by the way--definitely my favorite current band. I keep wanting to make a video with the same percussive arrangement as There There, but I haven't gotten around to it yet and am afraid I'd never get it right.

I do use the balance board for a lot of my videos, but not on all the drums parts, as it seems much easier just to use the remote if you only need a standard beat; but you can probably tell which ones use the board and which don't pretty easily. A secret: I cheat occasionally on the drums. You can take the video speed to half, record your percussion, and then speed it back up again for the other parts. I've done that a few times. However, if a particular instrument is out in front in the final video, that means it had to be recorded on the final pass at the final speed, so there's no possible faking in those cases.

I hope I find time to get the website sufficiently pieced together for basic content to be contributed before long, then I can just add all the other features I'm aiming for gradually after that point.

Yeah, Wario is awesome. Definitely some brilliant stuff coming out of that boy(?).

I'll probably send you the same vids I sent Adam, Kid_A, from a few pages back. If you like them, I have more, including an experimental track using Wario's "click track" method in place of the pre-decided metronome. It's actually done, but I need to re-record a less sloppy version with a stronger ending. I love the way it came out.

Ooh, I look forward to your rhythmic experiment, Chicken.

I have you to thank. It really does sound great, though I confess to "luck" being among the main reasons for that. Even so, your little cowbell trick is going to open this game up much wider for me. So...thanks!

Never underestimate the cowbell.

Chicken, What's the click-track meathod?

Oh, and Wario, I also cheat on the drums
And it's funny that you said that about There There because I'm currently working on something inspired by that. I'll have to pass it along if it comes out decent.

In Wario's own words:

And as long as I'm digging up older quotes, I'll paste this here, if your interested, regarding the vids I'll send your way...probably tonight.

I just finished a rought draft of my There There-ish piece. And I mean rough. Basically what it is, is a lot of bass and heavilly distorted guitars backed up by a very heavy "There There" type drum beat, which I did with the aid of the balance board. About half way through the song, some rock drums kick in, and the whole band comes together and starts playing the actual song (which is "My Grandfather Clock"). At the end it dissolves back into the original drum beat and ends. I like the ending.
I'll pass it onto you, Wario. Maybe you can do something better with it.

Oh, and Chicken have you listened to any of my vids? I'm curious to see what you think.

Will listen tonight, barring tragedy. I was up too late playing Water Warfare and Mega Man last night. I look forward to them very much though, particularly the Vampire Weekend-influenced track.

Yeah, there are two songs I sent you that was influenced by them. There's nothing really in Wii Music that replicates their guitar very well, so I decided to something that replicated those tribal breakdowns that they do in say, A Punk, with the flutes, violins, and bongos. Not to toot my own horn, but they're pretty darn good