Here are some of mine:
Large Diaphragm Condenser
(my 'big' present)
As many of you will know, I'm quite the budding musician. I take great joy in writing, performing and recording music, but I think I view the 'recording' part as a separate musical skill in itself. As anyone who has ever tried to record their band will know, getting an accurate (or more often than not in today's quantised, auto-tuned mega-compressed music world) representation of your musical efforts is akin to performing the 12 tasks of Hercules.
Nevertheless, I've personally found that I'm learning this skill, bit by bit, and feel I am now progressed to a level whereby I can really use a decent quality mic to capture sounds. This is one of the best pro-sumer models in the business, used the world over and renowned for its extremely quiet running. I look forward to sharing recordings I've made in the near future.
Z.Vex 'Fuzz Factory'
'Vexter' series fuzz stompbox
(my 'from me to me' present)
I've only been waiting about 5 years to get one of these bad boys. Capable of creating everything from smooth, silky fuzz tones, to raspy, velcro-like Muff style snarls, and everything in between. I think my favourite feature is the amazing self-oscillation of the two new old-stock sixties germanium transistors which make the thing squeal when you twiddle its pots just right. Luckily the pedal's 'boutique' price tag seems to have kept it just out of the reach of wannabe Matt Bellamy teens, this 'Vexter' model being sold at a reduced price due to it being hand silk-screened as opposed to hand-painted. What a little beauty! Looking forward to making it sing!
Portable MIDI-Controller
(from Gramma's money)
This little guy will complete my trio of Korg Nano controllers. 9 separate channels each featuring a fader, pan-pot and solo/mute buttons, along with a small transport control section, enough to rough-mix or finally get around to learning Ableton Live.
Great for throwing in my bag with my laptop when recording/performing on the go. And a great portable complement to the AlphaTrack DAW controller I purchased last month! Thanks Gramma!
Nintendo GameBoy Micro
Handheld games console
I was never a portable gamer, and never owned a GameBoy. Shocking, I know. I owned a Sony PSP for a short time, but after the novelty had worn off, I imported a JAP DSlite and we've had some really good times. I only recently realised how small these GB Micros were, and they're going for cheap on the 'Bay. Picked this one up, boxed with a few games/carry case, for £30. Bargainous!
Left4Dead 2
Team-based Zombie Apocalypse Shooter
(from money afforded by generous Aunt Ruth)
Having rented this game from a games rental service I subscribe to, and having spent many fun-filled hours punching hot buckshot holes in torsos of the undead with a few of my favourite friends, I knew I wanted to own it outright at some point. So when I saw a preowned copy in my local CeX going for a song, I couldn't resist!
My Xbox Live username is:
peanutismint
If you're so inclined, add me to your friends list and together we shall roam what's left of the United States, double-tapping wave upon wave of the living dead.
Alan Partridge
The Complete Collection
(a sneak-attack present from Bickle)
The best presents are the ones you don't expect. This collection of one of my favourite comedy characters of all time contains the two 'I'm Alan Partridge' series (both of which I already own - but can now trade in for something else!) and the fictional talk show 'Knowing Me, Knowing You...With Alan Partridge', most of which I haven't actually seen in full! So this will undoubtedly provide many hours of hilarity of the highest calibre.
I also purchased a last-minute gift which has yet to arrive. I'd say it was an impulse buy but it's not like it was near a checkout... I'm going to write a post about it sometime next week, so won't say anything about it now, but suffice to say... It's a games console. It's a games console I've never owned before. In fact, this console will be the first I've ever owned by this particular manufacturer....tbc............
I feel I did awfully well on presents this year. It should be noted that this is probably the largest amount of 'cool stuff' I've ever received, I may even have overdone it with presents bought for myself out of money kindly offered to me by generous relatives etc. But hey, Christmas comes but once a year!
For a more serious thought on Christmas (read: boring), please refer to my new blog project, The Warmup Act.
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