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Holiday Buying Guide: Staff Picks
Introduction
So it's December 22nd, and you probably just got off work... Suddenly it hits you. It's December 22nd. Crap. Christmas is so close it could touch you inappropriately, were it so inclined. Fear not, forgetful, procrastinating mortal. TheTechLounge is here to save the day. Four of us sat in dark lonely corners scribbling on shabby old notepads until we each came up with a list of 10 goodies we'd like to get for Christmas. Or for no reason at all, just because you love us. And, transition... Kurtis Kronk's Wishlist 
Processing and Printing (book)BarnesAndNoble.com: $15 I just started shooting with a friend's medium-format film camera, and I'd love to stay true to the film process rather than buying a scanner and digitizing film after having it processed at a lab. The only problem: I've never done any darkroom work. This book might help me get my bearings in a world that is utterly foreign to me. What equipment and chemicals do I need to process the film? What about making prints from the processed film? The answers lie within - hopefully. 
Z'Fogless Shower MirrorBedBathAndBeyond.com: $20 I'm not a big fan of shaving, thus my oft-stubbled, approaching homeless-dude, appearance. But shaving in the shower is nice, if only I could see what the hell I'm doing. Enter, stocking stuffer! With this fogless little fella, I could shave in the shower without the hassle of post-shower cleanup. Rejoice, all thee who look at me on a regular basis. 
Dark Knight 2-Disc Edition (on Blu-Ray, or else)WalMart.com: $24 The Dark Knight was the best Batman movie ever, and it was quite unfortunately the last movie Heath Ledger made before his tragic death. Ledger as the Joker made this movie so much more amazing than it might have otherwise been, and I want it. Just gimme, would ya? And it better be on Blu-Ray, or else. 
Ruth's Chris Gift CardRuthsChris.com: $25+ (if you really care, make it $100) The most direct route to any man's heart is his stomach. Well, that's the G-rated version of the saying, but I'll run with it. Ruth's Chris is one of my favorite restaurants. It's not cheap, but they sure know how to make a good steak (and everything else on the menu). I'm a big fan of movies and restaurants, and this is one gift that would stuff my stocking very nicely. 
Ultrasone PROLine 650 Closed-Back Folding HeadphonesAbesOfMaine.com: $189 Ever since I took the product shots (and played with, just for a little bit) of the Ultrasone PROline 650 headphones Mark reviewed back in 2006, I've lusted after these babies. They were very comfortable, sounded amazing, and relatively portable. If I don't get these for Christmas, I'll be buying them myself. I've lusted long enough. 
Ion DrumRocker RockBand 2 Premium Drum SetDrumRocker.com: $300 Okay, so I like to rock. I know... I once proclaimed that Guitar Hero was retarded - a simple, timed-to-music, game for children. Slow children. Well, I still think Guitar Hero sucks, but RockBand is just different. Nevermind that I now like the guitar just as much as the drums, because the RB guitar is far superior, in my opinion (I love the second set of buttons lower on the neck, and the utter lack of CLICKY CLICKY). Unfortunately, the build quality of the standard RockBand/RockBand 2 peripherals are pretty crap, and I've lost one standard wired guitar and one kickdrum pedal to especially unagressive play. That is to say, pieces of them snapped during normal usage. I swear, we don't play overly-agressive. I'm not trying to be funny here, the build-quality of these standard peripherals is really crap. And that's just part of why I want this sweet kit from ion. The extreme adjustability, supposedly better noise dampening, and the addition of cymbals are a nice plus. And there's also a module you can add to use these things as real drums, if you're so inclined. But me, I don't desire fame... just... I desire... I desire macaroni pictures. 
Drobo 4bay FireWire 800 & USB 2.0 Storage Enclosure (No Drives Included)MacSales.com: $495 I use my MacBook Pro 15" as a notebook and a desktop. When I'm in the office, I plug it into a Dell 3008WFP 30" LCD, and it's suddenly transformed into a powerhouse workstation (well, sort of). The thing that worries me is that I use my MBP so much that it's bound to just die on me suddenly at some point. Even if that wasn't a concern, I tend to accidentally delete things (recent example: I deleted TheTechLounge's Quickbook file accidentally, which means we lost all the accounting data for all of 2008. I now have a huge stack of receipts and bank statements that I've got to manually re-enter. Nothing says Happy Holidays like a buttload of accounting work...). The coolest backup solution I've yet to see is DataRobotics' cleverly-named Drobo. It does everything for you, once you plug it in and throw in some old hard drives. You can hot-swap drives, and it intelligently makes the data redundant so you don't have to do any of that boring stuff that Rich somehow enjoys. I suspect he enjoys his enormous 
Canon Telephoto EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM Autofocus LensBHPhotoVideo.com: $1,789 I've come to love my Canon 50mm f/1.4, and while the 85mm is only a third-stop faster, it would give noticeably narrower depth of field (and thus, even more pleasing bokeh) due to the longer focal length. I haven't purchased one because I'm a little worried about focus speed, but I think it would be a fun lens to use for street photography or intimate portraits, anyways. For this lens, I think I can deal with having to focus manually now and then. 
HP DeskJet z3200 24" Large Format PrinterShadesOfPaper.com: $3,395 This probably isn't really eligible for inclusion in a wish list, since I just ordered one this past Friday, but I haven't received it yet, so I'm including it anyways! As a photographer, I don't like the feeling of losing some degree of control when I send my photos to get printed at a lab. With this rather large piece of equipment in my photo studio, I'll have full control, from beginning to end, in the photographic process. Nothing about it is cheap, but great things usually aren't. 
A Pair of Audis (2009 Audio Q7 and 2009 Audio R8)An Audi Dealer Near You: $150,000+ What? Oh, c'mon, it's not THAT ridiculous of a wish. I could've asked for a Mercedes Benz SLR (sticker says $495,000... that can't be right...); you know, to go with my Canon EOS 5D dSLR... But no, I ask, rather humbly, for a relatively affordable pair of Audis. The R8 would make a wonderful day-to-day car, for the 10 or so miles I have to drive to the office each day. I could cut my best time in half, I bet. My '05 Infiniti G35 Coupe is pretty swift, but the Audi R8's in a different league. And then there's the Audi Q7... you're probably wondering why I would want one of those. Well, I think it would match the R8 nicely, and it would make a lot more sense for when I have to haul my photography equipment around, or suitcases, or whatever. Let's say, theoretically, that I want to drop the kids off at the pool; that is to say, if I feel like driving from my house to the office (10 unfathomable miles away) to literally take a big dump (therefore, taking with me a heavy load... follow?), well, then that's just one of the many things I could do with a Q7.
Page 1: Introduction, Kurtis Kronk's Wishlist
Page 2: Max Slowik's Wishlist Page 3: Anthony Fiti's Wishlist Page 4: Brad Day's Wishlist 
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Add Comment
4 User Comments 1 - Posted by
SOL
on December 22, 2008 - 8:06 pm Kurtis, I have a Beseler 45MCR with your name on it. sol@tbwifi.ca 2 - Posted by
Kurtis
on December 22, 2008 - 9:52 pm Santa really is listening... Do tell. 3 - Posted by
Little David
on January 20, 2009 - 11:07 pm Wow Kurtis I have got to say that the Rock Band 2 drums and "the pair of audis" were my favorite off your wishlist. Especially how the guitar broke =), and the explanation of how you might just feel like taking a drive from your house to your "office" to take a dump haha; it is just to funny.
4 - Posted by
Kurtis
on January 21, 2009 - 12:56 pm Haha - glad I amuse you, Dave. :-D
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