By Scott Keith

- Yeah, it's another quickie summary of what's happening in my life and online life to keep YOU, the reader, informed.

- Okay, first of all, Giant Gram 2000 kicks 800 million types of ass backwards and forwards. I literally cannot stop playing this game, as it not only has the most intuitive create-a-wrestler system I've seen in a long while (You actually have to train your wrestler to do the moves he gets, you don't just pick from a list) but the history mode is ultra cool and a total bitch at the same time. The unlocked roster is awesome, and there's some even cooler guys who are unlocked by beating history mode. Our own Don Becker will have a full review up soon, but absolutely this game gets my highest recommendation for so many reasons that I can't even start here.

- Just two weeks remain until Operation: Birthday 2000 when I hit the big 2-6. Tell your friends!

- Okay, onto the site news: Server problems. Yeah, we've had 'em. But Sean Shannon, devoted webmaster extraordinaire, took the step that we needed to take today, deciding to dump the lying Communitech dickheads and get a dedicated server instead. This has nothing to do with the potential IGN deal, by the way -- that's basically with our advertising server, not our actual server server. What this means is that not only do we get a server of our very own, without traffic limitations, but we also get GIGABYTES worth of storage space, which means MORE archived Rant Crew, plus the return of RS Radio (and archives) and if we're feeling really capitalistic, we might be able to sublet space on the server to other websites who want to become a Rantsylvania affiliate. Don't quote me on that last one, though. What does this mean to you, the reader? Well, aside from stable service and longer retention times, not much. What does this mean to us? Well, that's a different story. See, a dedicated server, which gives us massive amounts of freedom, also costs massive amounts of money compared to going the route we were before, through third-party resellers. Essentially it means that all of the RS staff -- including Sean and myself -- are going to be taking a major hit in the money department for the first while. So for those of you who cynically keep insisting that I revamped this site for the money, you're wrong, because I'm not going to making an appreciable amount for the next few months. This change is being made for the same reason I upgraded from the original home-brewed HTML in the first place: Because I have lots of faithful readers who deserve better than getting a "Too many people accessing this server" message every time they want to read something of mine. If it wasn't for the readers, I'd still be reviewing Thunder on RSPW. So the expansion in the coming weeks is my way of paying you all back for bringing us so many hits and giving us so much word-of-mouth exposure since we started last September. And if it costs me some money, then so be it.

- For those who are always interested, the book is progressing into the initial stages. I basically have to submit an outline to the publisher so we can decide what I'm going to be writing, and then it's a mad dash for the finish line by November of this year to meet the publishing deadline. It's an interesting situation for me, because 99% of my best work is done at 3 in the morning on a caffeine binge and pounded out in the space of a couple of hours (the AWA rant, Lear, Lazarus, and the Vince Russo rant to name a few) so actually sitting down and PLANNING something, a tactic which I haven't tried since I did essays in Grade 11 English, is going to make for an interesting challenge. I'll keep providing updates on the progress of the book as I go along, so you can follow the thought processes and the like and compare to the final product when it comes out in February of 2001.

- Just to show how drastically different my audiences on RS.com and Wrestleline are, feedback on the New Blood Rising rant was actually split 50/50 among Wrestleline readers, while RS.com readers were about 98% on my side. I think that's because we cater to a pretty specific audience whereas Wrestleline caters to dumbass marks, but I could be wrong. Some of the more interesting arguments given by the incoherant boobs who wrote my WL address dealt with me "not being fair" to Vince Russo because he has a big master plan and WCW just needs a few more weeks to catch up and blah blah blah. Much like a terminal cancer patient just needs a few more weeks to shake off that tumor, right? The end is near, kids. Undoubtedly for Vince Russo as he self-destructs, but even moreso for WCW in general, because once they merge those tapings into one and go down to 5 shows a month, they've passed the point of no return and become a TV wrestling company. And who were the last few TV wrestling companies? The AWA. The AWF. WXO. GLOW. POWW. You name it, it folded. Better send in those cable bills now to claim your Vampiro t-shirts, kids, you might not have a promotion to cheer for much longer.

- Okay, I know I promised Summerslam 96 in the last update, but I felt like doing some ECW instead, so sue me. However, another highly requested show is the AAA/WCW When Worlds Collide show, aired on PPV in 1994 and featuring some kick-ass lucha. The problem from my point of view is that I'm not entirely comfortable ranting on lucha libre because it's almost entirely out of my area of expertise. I'm pretty sure if I do that show I'll be able to count on about 5 people off the top of my head who will rip the rant apart mercilessly, and they'll probably be justified in doing so. Honestly, I'm the harshest critic of my own work (as hard as that may be to believe given the feelings some people have about it) and I simply don't feel comfortable putting out a product that I know to be less than my best. That's why I'm so uptight about the older rants -- it was a different time and place for me as a writer, and I no longer think that style expresses who I am today, and is thus a weaker piece of writing because of that. So anyway, yes, I do PLAN on doing the show at some point, but I'm not sure when exactly.

- DVD notes: Zenon has dropped rather un-subtle hints at buying me "Beyond the Mat" for my birthday, so you can expect a review of that sometime. I haven't seen the movie yet, but the DVD has a commentary with Barry Blaustein, Terry Funk and Mick Foley, so that should be incredibly cool, plus deleted scenes and other stuff. I picked up the MGM re-releases of Platoon, Kalifornia, and I should have Fargo by the time you read this. All of them are dirt cheap, which makes up for the total lack of extras. But hell, who HASN'T been yearning for a 5.1 mix of Platoon (without getting the Criterion disc, of course)? I'll likely grab the Naked Gun movies, too, just because I'm a Zucker mark. Zenon has rather optimistic expectations about us plebes here in Canada actually getting the ECW DVD day and date with the US release, but given that the WWF releases are usually a month or so behind the US ones, I can't see Paul E's merry band of losers getting something out on time up here at all. In fact, given ECW's total non-exposure up here, I'd be shocked if it were released up here, period. God knows it's been impossible enough to find the UFC DVDs without resorting to Amazon.com, and we get EVERY two-bit fighting group with a PPV deal on Viewer's Choice. God bless online shopping, I guess.

 - That about wraps things up from my end, stay tuned later Thursday for the Smackdown rant from yours truly, as we count down to the Great Switchover when RAW is TNN and I take over!

Until next time, MAKE MINE...oh shit, can't use that one anymore. Hmm...

Until next time, KEEP IT KEITH! Eh, that sucks...

Oh, just read the next fucking report. Out.

- Scott Keith