I was recently reviewing a Home-Theater-In-a-BOX system, when the stroke of genius hit me – HOME THEATER IN A CAN!!! I can’t believe nobody has thought of this yet. I quickly googled the phrase, and realizing it has not yet hit the pop culture vernacular, I immediately patented it, because what I am about to tell you will revolutionize the world as we know it.

The HTIB system I was reviewing carries a retail price of $100. Yes, you read that right. Use your Dr. Evil voice here: One HUNDRED Dollars. It has a receiver with AM/FM and a progressive scan DVD player. Also included are 5 tiny cube speakers, and a small sub. The speaker wire is pre-terminated with a little widget connector, and they are short runs. So I am thinking to myself, other than a small office cubicle, where could you actually use this thing?? (You see where I am going with this….)

Then it hit me, while I was “sitting” and pondering this situation. I just happened to be browsing the Sunday paper and saw the Target ad circular. They were selling these small LCD screens that you hang on the back of the front seats of your minivan for the kids to watch movies on. I looked up at the door in front of me – I mean, I thought about this and at that moment, HOME THEATER IN A CAN was born.

In many houses today, the master bathroom suite has a small throne room. You know, a little rectangular room with a door that is just large enough for a potty – but small enough that the short speaker cables that came with this little HTIB would cover it! And the speakers would easily mount to the walls! And a little 7″ LCD screen could easily hang on the back of the door! And the sub fits perfectly just under the throne!!!

So there you have it – HOME THEATER IN A CAN!!! This is going to make a huge stink in the home theater world, I just know it!!

It is amazing to me as a reviewer how predictable “the haters” are. You know who I’m talking about. The guys who hate it when you write a positive review. The guys who hate it if you don’t write a detailed enough review. The guys who hate anything from Apple. The list goes on….

I mean seriously, since when am I not allowed to actually LIKE a product? Does it take away my reviewer “cred” if I don’t pick apart each and every piece of gear that comes through? What if it is actually well made, and, God forbid, works?

My favorite though, are the Apple haters. Here is a perfect example of what I am talking about. A few days ago we posted my review of the 2nd generation iPod Shuffle. It’s cool, it works well, and is cheap. It doesn’t try to be anything that it’s not. I like it. So that was the jist of my review. Well, within hours of the review being posted the discussion has a few posts from people who have come to expect better from Audioholics, etc….. Oh geez. Give me a break. Then come the posts suggesting that Apple did NOT in fact pioneer the portable MP3 player – there were other brands to market first, etc.(Whatever.) And of course, many posts talking about the other products/brands out there that are so much better than iPods.

So then, a day or two later, I post a review of a Samsung MP3 player. In the review, just as with the Apple, I reviewed it on its own merit, and pointed out the value and quality of the product. After a full 24 hours, still not a single post in the discussion thread. Crickets….

They could care less about what they claim to love, but write anything about Apple and all hell breaks loose……

I’m rambling….no ranting….no wait. Nevermind.