Well, it finally happened. I got a DVD player. I didn't get a cheap $60 one either. I splurged and got a nice Philips DVD/CD/MP3 player that cost just more than $100.

At first I thought, "Wow! I got a quality DVD player at a decent, mid-range price!" That is until I got home, took it out of the box and realized that it wouldn't work with my mid-'90s TV. The RF modulator that I had to also buy for it to work cost around $30. That's where they get you. Just like a car, it's not the basic model that's expensive. It is the accessories that come with it.

While I was at it, I went ahead and bought some choice DVDs to break it in. "Predator" and "Predator 2" at $10 each were the only real deal in the end considering the immense amount of entertainment contained on each disc.

Just think of it. Arnold Schwarzenegger and a group of mercenaries enter a Central American jungle to engage in what Schwarzenegger believes to be a routine rescue mission. Carl Weathers, who played Apollo Creed in the "Rocky" films, is also in the film along with Jesse "The Body" Ventura. On top of all this, the group is hunted by an extraterrestrial headhunter with dreadlocks and a laser-guided death ray. Talk about awesome.

When it seems like it can't get any better, "Predator 2" pits the predator against none other than Danny Glover. Although Glover's partners on the force are interesting, it would've been really cool if Mel Gibson were in this movie as well. But with Gary Busey also starring in "Predator 2" as Special Agent Peter Keyes, the similarity to "Lethal Weapon" would've been rather unsettling. Another aspect about the film that's so unsettling is that everyone is wearing heavy suit jackets, dress slacks and long sleeve shirts in weather that's more than 100 degrees. Needless to say, there were a lot of sweaty people.

Now that I have a DVD player, I am now also able to watch the two free DVDs that came with my purchases of White Stripes' "White Blood Cells" and the self-titled Datsuns CD. The Datsuns DVD was definitely a "free DVD." It only had three songs on it, performed live by the band, except the actual CD track was dubbed over the performance. It was standard promo crap. The White Stripes DVD, on the other hand, made me feel like I'd gotten more bang for my $17 or $18 I'd dropped on it when it first came out. The four music videos and two studio tracks hit the jackpot.

For those of you who are out of the industry loop, the White Stripes have a new album out called "Elephant." Rolling Stone gave the album five stars, which is the highest rating RS allows for an album. Assigning five stars to an album indicates that the reviewer believes it to be a timeless classic. Although "Elephant" is considerably better than "White Blood Cells," it's still not a five-star album.

The reviewer made a huge point: It was recorded in two weeks on an eight-track recorder. Big deal, I say. Jack and Meg White saved their label a bundle on recording costs by using an eight-track recorder, and yet the sticker price is still outrageous. This is the very reason why I like buying old-school movies and records. When you buy a new release of anything, you're not just buying the contents. You're buying into the hype. With old-school material, the hype is long since forgotten. All that remains is the rich, creamy goodness inside.