KPC Holiday Gift Guide

Ok, it's the busiest shopping day of the year, but what the heck should you buy?? Fret no more, here's the scoop.

Consumer electronics:

Nintendo Wii. You ain't seen nothin' til you seen Mrs. Angus playin' Dance Dance Revolution on the Wii. Highly recommended.

Nikon D-40 digital SLR (or the D-80 if your budget so allows). We used the D-80 with the 18-200 zoom lens on our trip to Tanzania and Rwanda and got stunning photos. These are great cameras.

Books:

(a) literature. Tree of Smoke. Denis Johnson has pulled off the rare trick of trying to write an important book and succeeding (Haruki Murikami succeeded with the Windup Bird Chronicles, Don DeLillo failed with Underworld).

(b) fun fiction: Jasper Fforde: The big over easy or The fourth Bear. Is the gingerbread man a cake or a cookie? Are you a person of dubious reality? Can you speak binary? These are really fun, engaging, clever, and funny books.

(c) non-fiction. Stuart: a life backwards, by Alexander Masters. A writer's account of his experiences with a rough sleeper. Humorous and harrowing by turns.

Music:

(a) classical. Simone Dinnerstein's Goldberg Variations. New and very nice, though ultimately I prefer this.

(b) pop: Boxer, by The National; Random Spirit Lover by Sunset Rubdown. You really can't go wrong here.


Post modern Ephemera:

My Guys by Meredith Ditmar very funky and fun.

Uglydolls by David Horvath. Ox and Icebat rule our master bathroom!


Good deeds:

Global Giving. Tons of vetted projects, you know where your money is going. You can follow up on project progress. I think this is the future.

Ok people that's it. Now get out there and disappoint Nouriel Roubini!!

(disclaimer: KPC has absolutely no financial interest in any of the products / companies mentioned in this post. We are a truly zero revenue operation (just like General Motors)).