Halloween is my favorite holiday, so Thanksgiving and Christmas are a bit of a let down for me. But then again, who wouldn't enjoy the festive pleasure of Christmas food, New Year's parties and the giving/receiving of presents? Despite my Jones for Samhain, I sure do like getting, uh... giving presents to my friends and loved ones. So, for the last several months I've had my radar out for what I consider to be unique and unusual items to give as gifts for Christmas. If you are like me, you want to get the exact right gift for the personality of the person you are giving it to. Part of the present you give to someone is the time you took to find just the right gift for them. And taking the time to look is also a lot of fun.

Out of the 20 or so items I've come across while clicking links, visiting unique stores and reading newspapers and magazines, here are 12 items that I think would make someone very happy to receive. Now, remember these are not your normal Christmas gifts. I've tried to pick unique items that you won't find in most department stores.

The links for each item will take you to the location that is selling them. In some cases you may have to scan the page to find the particular item, but they are pretty obvious.

Here's hoping you find the present that is “just right”, and Happy Holidays to you!

1. Region Free DVD player – If you enjoy films from Hong Kong (like “Dog Bite Dog”), Japan or any other country, you'll need a DVD player that is “region free”, meaning it will play discs from any region in the world. Another advantage to these players is you can play PAL discs from the UK. And most of these players will also play mp3's and DivX /Xvid media files. The videohelp.com link has a nice section on the basics of DVD playing and the fivestarlaser.com site is a video store I've been shopping at for over a decade. They have excellent players that are very reasonably priced.

http://www.fivestarlaser.com/

http://buyersguide.bargainoffers.com/region_free_dvd_guide.shtml

http://www.videohelp.com/play

2. Matthew Kirscht Halloween Card Art – Did I mention how much I love Halloween? Well, Mr. Kirscht creates original Halloween art and sells them at his site and at reasonable prices. I just love the combination of strange and fun images he creates for his posters and cards. Now, for those hard-core Christmas hounds, he's created his first Christmas card in the same creepy style. His work is wonderful and the site is very well laid out. Definitely stop by as these are some of the most unique items you will find for Christmas.

Matthew Kirscht's Original Halloween Art Site

 

3. Ion Audio USB Turntable – The last 5 years has seen an explosion of incredible LPs in the used record stores. So many people are getting rid of their records that you can find mint recordings from the 50's to the present day for as little as 99 cents a piece. I've kept my Thorens turntable and can easily transfer music from LP to my computer, but lots of folks who want to listen to these cool albums don't have a record player or an amplifier (or the patience to hook it all up to their computer). The answer is a small, quality record player that plugs into a USB port on your computer. This is the easy way to transfer your files. The quality is not quite as good as a standard turntable, but it's just right for creating mp3's for your Zen player or Ipod. Check it out.

http://www.ion-audio.com/ionttusb

4. Janus Films: The Essential Art House -This item is a bit on the expensive side ($760), but you essentially get 50 of the most important International films from “Pandora's Box” to “L'Aventura”, plus a 200-page book placing each film in historical context. These are the ground-breaking films from around world that challenged audiences and fully justified the idea that film could be an art form. All of the films are pristine prints (I've bought a few individually on Ebay) and come packaged in a cool cardboard case. This is probably the DVD release of the decade. Brilliant!

http://www.janusfilms.com/

 

 

5. Yoshitak Amano: The Collected Art of Vampire Hunter D – Mr. Amano is a Japanese world renowned Japanese artist primarily known for his work on the Vampire Hunter D novels and on designs for the Final Fantasy video game. This book is a marvelous collection of sketches, paintings and photography from the Vampire Hunter D series. He's also written graphic adaptations of classic novels like “The Tale of Genji” and a collection of beautiful prints “ Amano: The Complete Prints of Yoshitaka Amano”. Combining the Vampire Hunter D book with a DVD or Graphic Novel from the series would be a very cool gift.

Yoshitaka Amano: Collected Art of Vampire Hunter D

 

 

 

 

 

6. Decorative Bookends – If you are trying to find a spot to put the other two volumes of “Lost Girls” while you are reading the set, you might consider buying a very cool bookend. Over the last several years I've become enamored of the art of bookend design. It has a very long history and some of them are quite expensive. Don't worry though, I found a very cool store that not only has a great (and reasonably priced) collection of classic bookends, they also have statuary as well. I've ordered a set for my boss at the bookstore. Take a look!

http://www.statue.com/items.asp?Cc=BOOKENDS

 

 

 

7. Gothic Scents – These hand-crafted scents are incredible. They are also very, very popular both here in the States and overseas. Each bottle has it's own particular scent that is completely unique. Dark Delicacies, the only horror related bookstore in the U.S., has a nice collection of scent designs from Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab. The tiny bottles are well-designed and the cost is reasonable. Each year Dark Del has a one-of-a-kind scent designed just for them. Once it sells out, there are no more.

http://www.darkdel.com/

(click the “Black Phoenix” link at the Dark Delicacies site)

http://www.blackphoenixalchemylab.com/welcome.html

 

 

 

 

8. David Lynch Art Book + Twin Peaks DVD – I am a David Lynch fanatic. “Inland Empire” was my favorite film of the year, but when I saw “The Air is on Fire”, which is a catalog of the recent Paris museum retrospective of his non-film artwork, I new I had to have it at any cost. Such are the burdens of fanaticism. Well, this book is amazing. It contains over 400 illustrations of Lynch's art and photography that dates back to his college days and comes right up to the present. There is also a neat DVD which features interviews and commentary on many of the pieces in the book. Utterly amazing book and highly recommended. It's cheap on Amazon, so grab it quick!

 

 

 

 

 

I was delighted when the second season of Twin Peaks was released this year, but when the Definitive edition came out which included both the first and second seasons AND the pilot, I could have kicked myself for not realizing there'd be a deluxe package like this. The DVD presentation is marvelous. You can even get all of the log lady introductions. Watching each season is a dream trip to a stand-up heaven and hell.

http://www.amazon.com/David-Lynch-Air-Fire-Art/

http://www.amazon.com/Twin-Peaks-Definitive-Gold

9. Second Run DVD catalog – Second Run is a British DVD company that specializes in unusual and forgotten art films. Their catalog focuses on Eastern European new wave films of the 60's & 70's like the brilliant “Marketa Lazarova” (Czech, 1967) and equally intriguing “The Third Part of the Night” (Poland, 1971). There is also a good mix of films from other countries like “David Holzman's Diary” (USA, 1967) and “Nighthawks” (UK, 1978). Many of these films are presented for the first time on DVD with English subtitles. The DVD's are well produced and feature many unusual and interesting extras for each film.

You can order directly from Second Run or from Amazon.uk at a slight discount. Shipping is airmail and it usually takes about a week to arrive to an address in the U.S. Remember, these DVDs are in the PAL format, so you'll need one of those all-region PAL DVD-players I mention earlier in this article.

http://www.secondrundvd.com/browse.php

 

 

 

10. Cthulhu Santa – Admittedly a bit of a gag gift, this cuddly doll version of Lovecraft's famed world eating demon, is still pretty neat. I like the color contrasts and the cute little tentacles. Could this have been what the sailors in “Call of Cthulhu” have been so upset about? A truly one of a kind gift for the Lovecraft aficionado and definitely something you won't find in most stores.

http://www.toyvault.com/cthulhu/plush_cthulhu.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

11. California Mission Pop ups - Hamid N. Zadeh is a talented pop-up artist. His previous pop-up book was a reproduction of the famous Bam Citadel in Iran. Now he's turned his design skills to the missions of California. This two volume set covers 21 missions originally founded by Franciscan missionaries in the 18th century. Each section has a full color photograph of the mission and a pop-up version. The designs are ingenious and both volumes are hand crafted. You can see them at Hamid's design company homepage or at his exclusive distributor, the Iliad Bookshop.

http://www.geomancycards.com/Books_Page_1.htm

http://iliadbooks.com/calmis1.html

 

 

 

 

12. Found Magazine - Magazine subscriptions are pretty common gifts for Christmas, but then again, if you pick just the right magazine, it can be a very interesting gift. Found magazine is a zine devoted to ephemera, or “found” objects. I've been a collector of found items in books for over a decade and came across this magazine while doing research. Each issue explores ephemera collected by the authors, along with unique “found” items that are sent to them (many of them by people who read the magazine). You can find hilarious notes left for stupid roommates, photos taken in quickie photo-mats, bad poetry, personal journals and a lot more. Some of it is silly and some of it is touching. But each bit of ephemera is a little bit of real humanity, which I find fascinating. The mag is well done and imaginatively designed.

http://www.foundmagazine.com/

 

 

 

 

Extra Credit (five more unusual gift ideas)

Plague Bowling pins – Yes, the 10 plagues represented as hand-bowling pins. While more appropriate to Passover, why not give it a try for Christmas?

http://www.jewishsource.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Celtic Jewelry – This company does authentic Celtic jewelry designs and sells them at reasonable prices. If you like jewelry, give them a try.

http://www.celticjewelry.com/index.php

 

 

 

 

 

Home Cheesemaking Kits – Making cheese at home is not as difficult as it sounds. Both of these sites have introductory kits that will get you making your own hard cheese in no time.

http://www.cheesemaking.com/

http://thecheesemaker.com/

 

 

 

 

 

Machinima Feature Film DVD: Stolen Life – Machinima is the art of making films inside of game engines (or real-time engines). Peter Rasmussen made this feature length film on a shoe-string budget, but the result is wonderful. A neo-noir animated film starring Claudia Black and Chris Jones, the quality of the film is very high. A unique and fascinating art form. Plus, you won't find this film at your local shop.

http://www.nanoflix.net/

 

 

 

 

 

 

Giant Robot Online Store – One of my favorite magazines is Giant Robot. It's crazy Asian offbeat culture in one package. I've read articles on the best instant noodles and interviews with Maggie Cheung. They also have one cool store here in Los Angeles. Now you can find all kinds of cool stuff there. I really like the Gama-Go wallet!

Giant Robot Store

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ricky Grove [gToon], Contributing Columnist with the Renderosity Front Page News. Ricky Grove is a bookstore clerk at the best bookstore in Los Angeles, the Iliad Bookshop. He's also an actor and machinima filmmaker. He lives with author, Lisa Morton, and three very individual cats. Ricky is into Hong Kong films, FPS shooters, experimental anything and reading, reading, reading. You can catch his blog here.