Kevin Marshall's America
You ought not talk about me the same way you do Santa Claus.
While I may be terrible at buying gifts for others, I have a unique talent of finding great things to buy for myself.
My line of reasoning is, well, I’m at the age where I’m too old to make a Christmas list. Sure, I can and have made an Amazon Wish List, but that just ends up being for my own personal pleasure and expenditures. The cold hard fact, kids, is that when you become an adult and don’t start your own family, you reside in that strange and lonely canyon where nobody cares much for what you want for Christmas, and you have to rely on yourself to take the things you want and need.
This happened to me yesterday while I was searching online for gift ideas. As I was perusing the book section, Amazon.com suggested the DVD of “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.”
For only $3.49.
One of my favorite movies for under four bucks? Even with shipping it only came to about six dollars and change.
Hell YES I’ll be my own Santa!
Most of you reading this haven’t seen this movie, but you most likely have seen the parody “alternate ending” of “Yogi Bear” that went viral earlier this week, which is actually an homage to a memorable scene from the film.
"Don't tell me what I can and can not do, Ed."
The film itself is an epic, sprawling re-telling/re-imagining of the circumstances leading up to the death of Jesse James and the man who betrayed and killed the infamous gunslinger. It’s acted beautifully, with a script (adapted from the book of the same name) that breathes a life into the James Gang mythos unlike anything I’ve seen before. It captures the true essence of Jesse James (played by Brad Pitt, who I think often gets overlooked for his acting chops because of all the tabloid publicity), a man whose morals were fiction, whose fiction was myth, and myth was based on half-truths and a charisma that belied the ruthlessness of a rabid, wounded dog.
Plus, the cinematography and film’s aesthetics are incredible. Watching this film for me is like watching my favorite painting come to life.
Did I mention that the incredible score for the film (a portion of which is heard in the aforementioned “Yogi Bear alternate ending” video) was co-written by Nick Cave?
"Yeah, just ain't no peace with old Jesse around. You ought to pity my poor wife."
God I love this film.
I guess maybe instead of talking about my poor gift-giving, I should instead go all Oprah and just devote space on this blog to my favorite things. These are the gifts I love and would like, and already bought for myself. Look at them and want them.
Just don’t expect to look under the chair in your office and find keys to a new car. I don’t make that kind of money; in fact, I only kind of make money.
Not that more money would make me a better gift-giver.
So…who wants an iTunes gift card?
Do you buy gifts for yourself while you’re holiday shopping? What was the last thing you treated yourself to?
Share it!
8 Responses to The Assassination of the Spirit of Giving by the Coward Santa Claus
Leave a Reply
STALK ME
I do the wishlist thing for the same reason you do, mainly as a way of keeping track of things that I want that I can’t necessarily afford that moment. Around the holidays and my birthday, people try buying from the wishlist, but I buy myself so much when I see a sale that it makes me really difficult to buy for.
I told everyone, I do 95% of my shopping on amazon.com, the best gift for me would be a gift card there, but nobody listens…
Yes I do! Two pairs of jeans on Monday.
Ha – I’m guilty.
I have a very eclectic yet disturbingly picky taste in clothing, music, books, etc. and I know that only a select few people in my life actually “get it” so I almost always buy the things I want instead of asking other people.
Last night? Thinkgeek sale. I went on there looking for a gift for my father and ended up buying a t-shirt for me instead :/
I sent a few people my ‘Wist’ but I don’t think they take it seriously. My parents are questioning my desire for a $3000 rideable Buffalo plushie. Gahd.
Will Smith was right: parents just don’t understand.
I do my holiday shopping during the summer and early fall because I consider Black Friday my personal holiday. Some call it selfish, I call it smart shopping.
The last thing I treated myself to was a Mexican vacation, I booked it online on ‘Cyber Monday’ – I’ll be leaving the 2nd week of March.
:)
Can’t say that I did buy anything for me this year – but we’ve put so much into the house this past month, not a lot of “me” money left over.
i usually don’t but this year i bought myself a plane ticket for phoenix. actually, i lie; i can’t shop at Barnes and Noble for any occassion without buying myself at least one thing.
kevin the images from the film are really something especially the sihouetted figure in the mist. looks like it’s worth checking out.
I really don’t do much xmas shopping for other people and for that reason don’t like getting things from other people. There’s one big exception, for whom I’ll buy a gift and from whom I expect something, but that’s really it. My parents insisted on buying me something this year, despite resistance on my part. I felt bad about them spending a lot of money on me, but they said that if it was too much, they’d get a gift card instead for an amount they were OK with, so I relented and told them what they could get me. The other problem with getting gifts is that I’ll buy almost anything I want for myself, so even if you know things I might like, there’s a chance I’ve gone ahead and bought them already. I’ve treated myself recently, but the only xmas-related one in any way was a selection of Reeves & Mortimer DVD sets from Amazon.co.uk that had their prices significantly.