I'm shocked. Are you shocked? It's quite a pleasant surprise what with the holiday season upon us!

J.T.

Gann

mangochutney

paul

SpuriousGeorge

And I agree on hard copies FTW. I'm currently reading my 6 year old daughter The Hobbit for bedtime at night. I just can't imagine doing that with a Kindle?

ninjamurf

"All Families are Psychotic" by Douglas Coupland

I could have been reading "Stereo Equipment for Dummies" and I still would have been awed by the silence and tranquility of No beeps, ringtones, applause, etc...

Shabba

Mmmmm, sacrilicious...

novacthall

mangochutney

Good as in James Joyce's "Ulysses" good?

or good as in "Harry Potter" good?

Pope John Peeps II

Honestly...

Best weekend I have had in years.

Gizmo's are great, but all of us need a break now and again.

Shabba

DeCerbo

Jesus Diaz

I can't think of anything made of metal, plastic and silicon which lights up, bleeps, or goes "Pew Pew," which will bring me anywhere near to the joy of Christmas back then, and that dear, beautiful ultra-cheap cassette deck.

whiskey

paul

dysthymia

"This is blasphemy, this is madness!"

- "Madness, huh!?! THIS IS CATHOLICISM"

And now imagine Pope Benedict shouting this.

(Oh, and before anyone tries to stone me to death, virtually, I would like to say that I am a believing catholic.)

mangochutney

CODIFEROUS

oo0EveryoneElseWasDoingIt0oo

BostonPimpDaddy

infmom

Jason Chen

What prompted the post is the shared experience / memory of the very best christmas gift I ever received. Around the same age, obviously a pivotal time for gifts such as this, I got a small Sony boom box. My first personal music machine. I finally could control what I listened to and when. I could take it anywhere. I loved it like concentrated Shaun Cassidy marinated in Peter Frampton with a dash of Leif Garrett (now that should date me right). I played that thing incessantly, radio and whatever tapes I could get with my meager earnings. It played day and night. Those speakers teethed on a bizarre diet of jethro tull to beethoven, george clinton to the british invasion, the cars, the kinks, the soundtrack to my fair lady. I stuck it with with all sorts stickers. First the antenna broke. Then the handle broke. Then the record button broke. That sucked because I used it to record song ideas bashed out on my old acoustic guitar. It got covered with glue and paint. It still plays back though. I know. It is still in my basement packed up with my electric guitars and drums that I put away when the kids toys took over.

Thanks so much for that great memory. Thinking about that boom box again is a great gift.

startoestudio

But what then drives you to write about gadgets? Is it an abstraction? A gig? Do you write about Platonic ideals with little concern for Earthly shadows? Is Jesus forcing you and we should make a phone call? Are you like Anton Ego, the food critic in "Ratatouille" ("I don't like food, I love it, and if I don't love it, I don't swallow")? Is the gravity of gender stereotypes too strong to overcome, bending the very fabric of time, space and female gadget writers away from the subject of their work? Is it that you're jaded or, on the other hand, entirely content? Are you bothered by an obsessive need to keep every single box for everything you buy, and are simply running out of space? Or is there nothing more than meets the eye, and I'm about to be banned for psychobabbling?

frigg

jackfrost132

Spaceboy

Mr.Purple

And it's fine to not always want gadgets! I think everyone has to step back once in awhile and tell themselves they're just pieces of plastic and sillicon.

JoshS

Sqube

uhmm...

Jesus Diaz

AqueousBeef

My parents...I got them Leoptard for their Mac. It was supposed to be easy. But they are getting old...and it's hard to do anything 7000 miles away.

Me...I already have all the tech I want. I'd just love to go home. Screw the iPod, or the 360 I don't have. I got an old one off eBay after my 40GB 3G iPod died, and I'm good.

I miss my old Technics turntable...

Merry Christmas!

Jsembower

CoolZWhip

Well, I'm gonna get me a USB LP player so I can digitize my original Rapper's Delight from 1979 with all the hiss, crackle, and pop, but mostly my beloved U-Brown's original Revelation Time and London Rock from way back, that are still unavailable on CD (will they ever be?). Them I'll get the Pleo to make some cool moves on the beat.

jmdecombe

chattyjenny

MrBlahBlah

apelaw9

Really good stuff.

MFlick

Anyway, a no gadget Christmas doesn't have to be a bad thing. If I wrote about them all day I might not want them, but I just drool over them all day so its kind of different...

Le0nidas

CoolZWhip

Hanzo

P.S.
I have too many computers.

oo0EveryoneElseWasDoingIt0oo

Didn't think so.

Bowler Hat

imaria

Well written piece, by the way; phrases like "uber-shonk" and "graffiti'd the sides in gold pen that made me high when I got too close to the nib" really brings a human touch that we techheads so often forget about ;]

imaria

@Addy and Jesus:
Strange, you're kinda like my girlfriend and me from your description Addy, funny.

I didn't know that you two are married though, blimey, I really am new to Giz.

@strider_mt2k: "Paper books rule, to be sure, Addy.
(Hardbound doubly so if it's snowing outside.)"
True Sir.
There's nothing better than a cup of hot tea or hot chocolate, a fire burning in the fireplace, my girlfriend next to me and a good old fashioned book in my hands.
(I know from a trustable source, that I'm going to be presented with some kind of anniversary edition of "The Hobbit" on Christmas Eve, can't wait.)

mangochutney

I feel that Christmas was a different world when I used to get simple toys, like the entire collection of star wars action figures. For the next couple of days life would be grand. Now it's "Merry Christmas" here is a wireless router, go wild." Obviously not nearly as fun.

barrakuda

amazon prime makes an AWESOME gift, especially if you do the family version (5 accounts for $80 b/c it's family comes to $16 for each prime account)

discounteggroll

Jesus Diaz

Haroon Malik

homerjay

The only thing I really want is either a Dell or a Samsung 22" wide screen monitor for our main PC, but I'm not pushing it and don't know if anyone knows, so I'm not really sweating it either.
There are always deals going down after the holidays.

Tech gifts for my wife have been hit and miss.
The only slam dunk was the Sansa E-280. Her entire collection is on there with room to spare and it's been flawless for her. (My E-280 is just as great.)

The Palm Pilot (aka the solitaire machine (!) ) and portable DVD player didn't go over as well in the long run, though I think I'm gonna use the DVD player for it's LCD monitor and stereo amp capabilities.
Lord knows playing "Deal or No Deal) on the thing is a painful process, and I've encoded all of our movies already.

strider_mt2k

OMG! Ponies!

AdMmm

CarbonatedWater