<< Back to the main page &bull December 2006
Hey folks. Posting may be a little light this week, since we'll be busy playing with our shiny new fire engines, BB guns and the year's most ill-advised present, the My First Oral Surgery playset. So sit by the fire, go outside and marvel at nature's majesty, or just drink eggnog until you can stand your family--we'll be back up to playing weight come the new year.
So Christmastime is here and you're either happily enjoying the season (if you got your gifts online and early), or panicking because you're out of time to get that perfect gift for someone you care about. Either way you have probably seen your fair share of holiday decorations and noticed the same thing that I have when it comes to this season: our decorations are stuck in 1906. The most notable of this is our old pal Santa Claus. I like to think of Santa Claus as the spokesman for Christmas, yet for some reason we haven't bothered to update his image in a hundred years.
Go back into your head and look how you see the big man. He is sitting in his shop with hundreds of elves around making toy horses and trains out of wood and glue. He puts on his big red robe and red felt pants and jumps in a sleigh pulled by magic reindeer. This is the image we all know and the one that we all see plastered on posters and other decorations all over the world during Christmas. But lets get serious for a moment. When was the last time anyone told you they wanted Santa to bring them a wooden toy train for Christmas? Today the toys are more advanced and Santa has had to update in order to stay with these changing times.
First let's start with the elves. As we all know, elves are smart and very dedicated to their jobs. Clearly, Santa has found some quality workers in his short friends. However, these aren't your ordinary woodworking elves anymore. Today, our elvish friends needs at least 6 years of engineering school just to step foot on Santa's workshop floor. That old workshop wasn't cutting it either. Back in 1998 Santa upgraded to much larger building including room for his marketing, ordering (Santa is actually the largest buyer on both Amazon and eBay), and accounting departments. And finally while Santa does still use the old sleigh and reindeer to get around he has had GPS, XM satellite radio, and and iPod dock installed.
Even though Santa has upgraded, our idea of him has not. So I decided to take manners into my own hands with this:
'twas the night b4 Xmas
'twas the night b4 Xmas
and the house was alive
'cause no one goes to bed
till a quarter to five
The children were playing back in their rooms
playing xbox 360 with shots, bangs, and booms
and mom on her blackberry and I on my mac
sat down to blog about our new tie rack
When from my speakers there arose a quick bleep
an email from Santa saying:
“I'm omw. See u soon lol.”
... I'd finish the rest of this but I think it's getting too long, and really, you've spent enough time on this already, so...
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!
Have a big dinner, begin the Airing of Grievances, note the unadorned Festivus Pole, and commence with the Feats of Strength. Festivus is not over until the head of the household has been pinned in a wrestling match.
Festivus Miracles,
Recently I came across Michi Girl, a free Australian daily e-mail newsletter that brings to you fashion finds, weather forecasts, latest sales, and just a random mishmash of lovely finds from the land down under. Being a subscriber to Daily Candy, a similar web site and e-mail newsletter for those in the US and London, I was eager to explore offerings from our neighbors across the world.
What really drew me to Michi Girl was the beautiful artwork featured on the site and newsletter. The pictures are by Kat McLeod, the illustrator for the fun and useful book The Cocktail: 200 Fabulous Drinks by Jane Rocca. I sent a little note to Kat, and not only was she modest and very nice; she was also quite helpful. Upon my request, Kat pointed me in the direction of another book that she illustrated simply titled Bird (at the moment, the site is down)—a book that observes the link between birds, the female form, and fashion and how each influences the other. The book is a wee bit over my budget, but with the production that goes into it (real embroidery and a variety of paper stocks—drool) I definitely plan to own a copy someday.
I did my Christmas shopping online this year. I did it all on the 12th of December. I ordered 6 custom photobooks from Shutterfly and I ordered some games from an online game store located on the East Coast. After placing the custom order on Shutterfly I realized that they might not arrive until after Christmas. We went with a free shipping coupon that we received from them, so for some reason it didn’t occur to us to upgrade the shipping so that we would have more peace of mind regarding the gifts coming on time. I was worried about the photobooks, because they were all different, 20+ pages long, and I figured they would take some time to print. I wasn’t worried about the games that I ordered.
It turns out that Shutterfly also realized that our books might not arrive in time for Christmas and they upgraded the shipping so that we would get the books on time. They upgraded the shipping for free and we didn’t even ask for such a kindness. So, we have already received all of our photobooks and Christmas is saved. But wait, the games from the game store, are due to arrive on the 27th. Sigh. If this game store had upgraded our shipping, or even emailed us saying that there were some delays, to give us the option of upgrading the shipping ourselves, then I would have given them some repeat business. And, I would have written a nice blog post about them too!
My latest indulgence (non-apparel wise) has been movie rentals. And it’s not from the theatre, TV, Blockbuster, Netflix, bittorrent (which by the way is still completely mystifying), or my friend with the largest collection of burned DVDs known to mankind. No. I am getting my fix at the good ole local Safeway. I put my Netflix subscription on hold after getting extremely frustrated with the wait list for new movies. (Dear Netflix, why was I on the waitlist for a month for “She’s the Man”, even after putting it as my #1 before it came out? Clearly there are a lot more closet Amanda Bynes chick-flick fans than I imagined.) Anyways, with Netflix, it’s always the same old story. Being doomed to a painfully unsure wait for new movies to become available while adding a bunch of random filler movies to watch in the meantime. So on top of paying for a monthly Netflix subscription, I was making visits to the local movie rental shop to get my hands on the new releases and forking over another $4. Anywho, I stumbled across a kiosk on my way out of Safeway a while back, and happily discovered that it rented out new releases at a daily rate. Since I have a tendency to make late night runs to the supermarket for candy and flavored water, a cheap movie is the perfect entertainment fix for an otherwise tame night.
The first day comes out to $1.61 (except Mondays, which are 50 cents cheaper), and every day after that is 99 cents. Not bad, unless it takes you over 3 days to return your movie. No membership is required. It only accepts credit cards. For every day that you have it out, it simply deducts 99 cents from your account. Your first movie rental from the kiosk is free.
In the past couple of weeks, I have seen: Devil Wears Prada (again), Tallageda Nights, Step Up (worse then you’d think), Click, Superman Returns, and Pirates of the Caribbean. Little Miss Sunshine is next.
Now, if you do not live close to a movie kiosk, this is probably not a good deal. This is a pretty handy service for people who want to watch the newest movies in a day or two. It’s all about instant gratification.
P.S. TechCrunch notes a pretty sweet new deal from Blockbuster. I'm definitely going to give it a go.
Two fine things I noticed while perusing The Onion today.
1) Gotchaboxes. Real-looking boxes for absurd products (although a USB toaster is not at all inconceivable--I had to check around to make sure someone wasn't actually making one) that you can put your real Christmas gifts in. I bet if you spring for rush shipping you could still get them in time for Christmas. You're probably pushing it for Hanukkah.
2) I'm so far a big fan of Rhapsody. Normally, I'd be reading the A.V. Club, note that they have something nice to say about the Sam Roberts Band, and dismiss them (noting their Canadian-ness) the next time I'm faking being a music snob. But Rhapsody lets you access a huge catalog of full albums that you can stream as you please. Since I spend most of my day in front of a computer anyway, it's well worth my $10 a month, even if I can't (easily) take any of the music with me on my iPod. (I view it as kind of a try-before-you-buy-elsewhere.) Obviously it's not going to have the most cutting-edge indy stuff, but it's not bad, especially when you need to hear that one Grand Funk Railroad song just to get it out of your damn head already. If you want to download the tracks, they're encrypted and you don't actually own them, but I'd look at it as more radio-plus than music-store-minus.
Thanks to Rhapsody, I can confidently spew out, "Sam Roberts? Yeah, pretty straight ahead jangle-rock sound, kind of confessional songwriting but with more energy than that would normally connote. Good organ; a guitarist who liked prog after it was cool. Flat, gravelly lead vocals with drippy harmonies. Kind of Exile-runs-over-Counting-Crows-by-way-of-Ziggy-Stardust," and probably get punched in the face by someone who hates people who insist on trying to sound like Pitchfork when they talk about music.
...Or rather Bonolulu, as we U2 fans like to call it!
For those of you that are not yet in the loop, I wrote a blog entry back in October about a dilemma I had in regards to my lack of a proper digital camera. I was planning to take a trip to Honolulu Hawaii, where U2 and Pearl Jam were due to perform on December 9th.
The concert was amazing! There were actually three acts. The first to perform was Rocko and the Devils. The lead vocalist, Rocko Reedy, is actually U2’s tour manager and has been for the last 15 years. I was not expecting much from these guys, so I was pleasantly surprised with their performance. They had a ton of energy and they did an awesome job! I would love to see them again.
Then it was Pearl Jam’s turn. What we got was everything we expected from a Pearl Jam performance. They certainly did not disappoint, although there were a few Zootopians on the front rail that could have gone without the wine that was being sprayed from Eddie Vedder’s mouth. *eeew*
During the first two acts, I was constantly messing around with my new camera, the Canon PowerShot SD700 IS, because I had just bought it and I was still unfamiliar how to use it in a concert setting. I am so glad I did that, because I had taken a lot of bad pictures of Rocko and Pearl Jam. By the time U2 took the stage, I had it down pretty well.
U2’s last concert of the Vertigo tour was awesome! I could not properly describe how well they did, without doing some injustice. One amazing moment was when Adam Clayton, U2’s bassist, came over to us and he gave my friend Perla Valencia the guitar pick that he was playing with. Wow! The sign that she was holding up “Adam, You’re the HOTTEST” probably grabbed his attention! Well, that and the bright orange “Poptart” t-shirts I had made for us.
My Canon camera did everything that I wanted it to do. I took so many great pictures that it was very hard to pick one to accompany this blog entry. It was a worthwhile investment, because it captured so many wonderful moments at the concert and the rest of my visit in one of the most beautiful places in the world.
Pictured: The Edge, U2's guitarist. December 9, 2006 — Aloha Stadium, Honolulu, Hawaii
If you are at all interested in video games then the name Zelda rings in your ears like the happy sounds of children laughing. Okay well maybe not, but I think its safe to assume you share the some fond memories of everyone's favorite green-hatted adventurer. If this is so, I have some good news to report from Hyrule. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is best installment of the game yet, by far. If you thought that Ocarina of Time was an expansive game, then you've really seen nothing yet. With over 70 hours of gameplay (not including mini games), an innovative and unique control style, and visuals you could only expect from a next generation console this game is prefect for an avid Zelda enthusiast or someone entirely new to the Zelda name. If you don't happen to be lucky enough to have a Wii in your living room, the game has also been released on the Game Cube with slightly watered down graphics and controls.
Very rarely does a game truly deserve an A+, but this is one of those times.
I just saw Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth, and I think it is very important to watch. I do believe that we have some environmental issues that we need to deal with, and I believe that we should be concerned with the buildup of CO2 in our atmosphere.
While I grant that some of Gore’s claims may be exaggerated, I’m quite sure that to not address global warming is to gamble with our future. There’s enough evidence that major catastrophes could result from our current level of fossil fuel consumption that these are no longer gambles I want to make.
What can we do? We can turn off our computers at night. We can take public transportation. We can buy more efficient vehicles when we get our next vehicle. We can change our light bulbs. Even if you think Al Gore is a quack, there are economic benefits to these changes as well. By the time the new light bulbs burn out, they can save up to $30 of electricity and hey, 30 bucks is 30 bucks.
You know when you find something that is so amazing that you only want to hoard it for yourself for fear that once it catches, it will be ruined forever? FOREVER! Well, that my friends, is Impulse. I stumbled across this wonderful little gem through Pike/Pine (a Seattle street style blog) via face hunter. Impulse is a Seattle-based boutique that is relatively new, but which carries a lot of my favorite brands- can we say A.P.C, Mayle, Alice Roi, and other pricey but enduring goodies? Not to mention that the merchandising on their blog is genius. They (quite nicely and with much personal style and flair) model the clothing they sell as if it were a natural extension of their wardrobes.
They have a knack for putting together simple but quirky pieces that have that little ingredient called *personal style*. I get the feeling that each piece has lovingly been picked out because it reflects the taste (excellent taste at that!) of the store owner, rather then a mishmash of trendy in-the-moment hot labels slapped on a model without much styling or creativity. Sadly, the prices are not entirely wallet-friendly, but still very much worthy of sporadic investment splurges. Repeats to self: “Cost-per-Wear...”
P.S. Did I mention that you can email them and they will let you know about stock availability and take phone orders? They are super duper nice.
Welcome to the sixth edition of the Carnival of Shopping! We have got a great mix of entries this week from our contributors, ranging from tactics for beating the credit card companies to a quiz that helps evaluate if you need to be checked into the nearest rehab for shopaholics.
First up we have Barbara from Home Business Wiz with some great tips on how to outsmart credit card companies at their own game. Personally, I prefer alternative methods to beating the credit card game—my credit cards and shredder have become great pals.
Speaking of games, SharpBrains offers us some games to sharpen the most important muscle in our body. What’s that you wonder? The brain of course! Get your minds out of the gutter.
Being a fan of getting more while doing less, Frugal Money Management shows a great method of earning gift cards just by clicking on links and accumulating points. Only 10, 286 more points and I am well on my way to a new garlic keeper.
With the shopping season well on its way, Money Smart Life tells us how to double your savings on Christmas shopping deals, and Simmone from All Tips and Tricks gives some gift ideas for all your last minute shoppers.
Over at Missmalaprop are some great stocking stuffer ideas from Etsy, one of my favorite online sites. Where else could I buy an amigurumi rendition of a Katamari Prince?
If you were one of those diehard gamers who camped out for hours to get the newest gaming consoles but FAILED miserably, ProBargainHunter gives you 169 ways to redeem yourself.
Next up, we have 33 cost-cutting tips from Credit Card Lowdown citing one of the best resources—Mom.
The Lord of Style enlightens us with the mystery that has been plaguing many minds: why should you buy designer? Pay close attention, he is a Lord after all.
After the holidays have rolled around, and you have collected all those gifts that leave you saying, “What were they thinking?” Dr. Deborah Serani talks about the controversial topic of—brace yourself for this—REGIFTING!!
Had enough? Now that you have convinced yourself that you must go out there and BUY BUY BUY, give yourself a moment to take this reality-inducing quiz from Talia Mana.
That’s it folks! Go and be merry. I am off to celebrate with my aluminum pole. Happy Festivus everyone!
UPDATE: Due to the upcoming holiday celebration full of gingerbread cookies and merry-making, the next edition of the Carnival of Shopping will run in three weeks on Wednesday, January 3, 2007. Wow! 2007! Submit your shopping-related posts at BlogCarnival.com or by emailing us at pocketchangeREMOVETHISPARTIFYOUREHUMAN@become.com by Tuesday, January 2nd at noon PST.
Dr. David Thorpe is easily my favorite Something Awful writer, and he's also got a gig writing for Boston's Weekly Dig. Browsing through the archives, I came across a great FAQ on iPod ownership.
Q. I’ve read many columns by other journalists/bloggers dealing with the cultural implications of the iPod. I have some ideas of my own, and I’d like to write some sort of a scholarly poststructuralist reading of the—A. No.
At this time of spending, spending spending, here’s an idea for saving, saving, saving. Big savings! Like as big as our planet. Shift your Gift from Shift Media has a great take on holiday shopping this year. For everything you purchase on their site, they’ll contribute 5% to the charity of your choice. But wait, there’s more. The gifts on Shift Your Gift are also earth friendly, sustainable items like voltaic solar bags, organic cotton t-shirts and recycled fleece beds for your cat or dog. The charities range from earth-savers like the American River Conservancy to people savers like Reach the Children. If you want your favorite charity to be a beneficiary, let them know and they’ll contact them to sign up. Meanwhile, I think I’ll help save the planet by indulging in a long soak in the tub with Pangea Organic’s Luxury Spa Bento Box.
With the temperatures dropping to a whopping 40° (don’t hate me for living in sunny California), winter is officially in full effect! What does winter mean to you? For me, winter is a new wardrobe filled with warm coats, fuzzy hats and scarves, tights, warm woolen mittens, and of course, a mug full of hot chocolate. These are a few of my favorite things:
•1 Rebecca Taylor Military Style Overcoat •2 Rebecca Taylor Embellished Pea Coat • 3 Tocca Guendalin Coat • 4 JCrew Handknit Popcorn-stitch Gloves • 5 Stella McCartney Leather Gloves • 6 Herringbone Tights • 7 A.P.C. Knit Cap • 8 Candela NYC Lurex Knit Berets
I am writing this to thank Amazon.com for a fun and cool way to save on Christmas gifts this year. They have evolved their customers vote for the great deal system into something that is fair and cool for everyone. Now, they have a lottery among all the winning votes for who gets the great deal. Initially, they had it so that whoever happened to click at the right moment got the deal. This had problems because there was so much traffic that their page would time out for most people, including me :(. Anyway, I approve of this new method, and I recommend that you check it out, you might just get a great deal on a gift or two this holiday season.
Every now and then I'll come across a product that just seems completely random and out there. The type of item that results in nothing less than a confused response from the typical onlooker, including myself. Yet, such products tend to tickle my fancy and make my ooh, shiny! list. Indeed, I love the random and the peculiar, and today I wish to present you with one such item…
Behold! The T-Qualizer.*
The dancing lights aren't just the result of animated GIF wizardry, but the shirt itself, as the T-Qualizer has an actual working equalizer on its front that responds to nearby sounds. You're probably thinking, "Sean, a shirt certainly doesn't need such a feature." I wouldn't disagree, but that's in part what makes it so great. Besides, any shirt that necessitates batteries is worth at least a moment of consideration in my view.
---
On a completely different note: sometimes it's nice to have an example to work from when tackling an objective for the first time. The numerous video sites on the web work pretty well in not just telling, but showing you how to accomplish a variety of potentially mystifying tasks. However, sorting through those sites to find what you're looking for can be somewhat daunting.
A few months ago I came across a site that seems pretty well thought out and is specific to the land of instructional videos. VideoJug.com is full of staff- and user-submitted videos showing you how to do pretty much anything and everything. Interested in learning how to buy and prepare fresh flowers? They have a how-to video on the subject. Being tormented by your neighborhood vampire and looking for a way to deal with it? Yep, they have a video on that too.
Enjoy!
Sean McKnew
Product Specialist
*Hugs and kittens to the Paperclip Fairy for alerting me to the T-Qualizer
So the next generation of consoles is here, and it's an all out war out there. Fighting in the streets, smashing of rare and expensive equipment just to prove a point, and aggressive marketing campaigns that fall just short of direct attacks. The good news is that unlike an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie, we get to choose who wins this war of the machines.
The Challengers:
Pro: An absolute powerhouse of technology. This wins the graphics and capability battle hands down. Neither of the other next-gen systems come close in terms of sheer power, and the addition of a built in blu-ray player is really nice. Also, the free Internet play and tons of downloadable content really pushes the bar into PS3's favor
Con: Like all power, this system comes at a cost and a hefty one at that. Models with 60 gigs of storage are retailing at near $600, while the 20 gig model is selling just near $400. This alone has caused many (myself included) to wait for a large price drop before picking up a PS3. Also, the game selection which has been released with the PS3 has been getting extremely disappointing reviews for a system that claims so much.
Pro: This is the next-gen unit that's been sitting around waiting for someone to compete with for nearly a year. It isn't quite a powerful as the PS3, but it can still produce some stunning graphics. Of course, the fact that it has been on the market for over a year gives it a very big boost in the “fun out of the box” factor. If you pick up an Xbox 360 today there is a very good chance that you'll be able to find at least five games which will keep you interested.
Con: Internet play is limited by the fact that you have to pay for it. They are the only company of the three that charges a monthly fee in order to play online. This is unfortunate as games become more and more about playing with friends over the Internet. Like the PS3, there is nothing innovative or new about the the Xbox 360. It is really just a new and shinier version of the original Xbox.
Pro: The only system this year that really shakes things up. The Nintendo Wii is the game system that makes everyone rethink how they play video games, or at least that's what Nintendo wants us to believe. The control style (utilizing motion sensing and accurate remote-style pointing) is like nothing we have seen before, and opens up doors for a new level of immersion that isn't possible in classic gaming. If Nintendo wins this fight, the gaming world as we know it may change forever. It is also the cheapest of the 3 units, coming in at only $260.
Con: The system is significantly less powerful than its opponents. The raw power of the PS3 absolutely dwarfs the Wii. There have also been reports of wrist bands breaking and wii-motes (the Wii's controller) smashing through windows and TV sets. While the Internet play is free, the current game selection doesn't offer much in the way of online features.
Breakdown
The only system that I have extensive hands on experience with is the Wii. So I admit, I am biased towards Nintendo. However, I have had a chance to play both the PS3 and the Xbox 360 in the past month so I can speak a bit to their power and capability. Both the PS3 and the Xbox 360 provide some impressive visuals, and I really enjoyed seeing every detail present on the screen. Seeing these games in near perfect clarity was quite an experience. However, I still believe that it isn't impressive graphics that will move this industry further. The Wii's innovative controls and focus on game play over graphics will give them the leverage needed to bring more people into gaming, and actually grow the market rather than appeal to those who are already hooked. I have spent the past 2 weeks playing The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, and I can say that I am amazed at how much more I'm enjoying the experience than former traditional systems.
So for me, the winner is...Nintendo's Wii.
Kris Belau
Product Specialist
Some months ago, I wrote about sites that aggregate those discount codes that you can present at checkout time at online retailers, sometimes for substantial discounts. Well, thanks to the same smarties who brought us the registration-bypassing BugMeNot, there's now an even easier way: RetailMeNot. You can search their site, of course, but even easier is the bookmarklet: drag it to your bookmarks bar, and with one click, you can check to see if their database has a coupon code for the site you're about to buy from. Very cool.
It’s officially shopping season! OK, well maybe I should clarify that statement with, “It’s officially shopping for other people season!” I swear on my grandmother’s vintage Burberry trench coat that I am a very generous girl. Why, I cannot recall a day when I did not hear, “Hail Jill the Beneficent”* on my way to work, the coffee shop, the blood bank, the orphanage even, but I digress.
Back to shopping. If you are anything like me, you will be running around until the last moment to do your holiday shopping. Buying is always the easy part for me, but it is determining what to buy that is the BIG headache. Take for example a recent company holiday party with a moderately priced White Elephant gift requirement attached. Here’s some of the stuff I considered:
Parcheesi - It is important to note that I have never actually played Parcheesi, but if saying the name is any indication of how fun the game is, I am sold. Blatant plug ahoy.
Visa Gift Card – Always a safe bet and useful gift perfect for anyone.
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off DVD - This is one fantastic movie that brings back many fond memories of high school. Minus the parade and destruction of a Ferrari 250 GT California.
Last, but definitely not the least, an instant-lump-of-coal. Why should Santa get all the fun of deciding who has been naughty or nice?See, did I not tell you that I was hell of generous?! Tis’ the season for giving after all, or at least that is what I have been brainwashed into believing by all the greeting card companies.
*I say it still counts even if I only hear it in my head. An internal monologue is just as important as the conversations you hold with those around you.
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Sony's PlayStation 3
Microsoft's Xbox 360
The Nintendo Wii
