Can you think of a possible electrical reason for this? things behaving strangely...?

I'm not quite sure what to make of this. it started a couple of years ago when my stereo decided it was only going to play neil young's harvest for months. every time i tried to put in another cd, it would tell me there was no disc and spit the cd back out. put neil back in, no problems. anyhow, the stereo got over it eventually, and i can now play other cd's too, but it won't ever turn off completely. i will turn it off, but it turns itself back on. and now my computer turns itself on and off. and the t.v. turns itself on. and i've had 2 dvd players just quit working altogether until i unplug them for a few minutes. and the lights in the dining area flicker, and sometimes brand new bulbs (chandelier bulbs if it makes any difference) will blow out one right after the other in that lighting fixture. i do have an occasional power surge, i don't know if anyone else in the building does. could it be due to power surges or maybe because the wiring is old in the building? ideas? thanks:)