HOT PICKS [FRIDAY]

Over The Top Holiday Gift Guide

December 21, 2007

Lomographic Super Sampler ($89) Hey, why does that weird-looking camera thingy have four lenses? To take four pictures, of course - four sequential panoramic images, no less. And that ring hanging off the bottom? Oh, that’s the “rip-cord” winder, meaning you need to pull it before you can take a shot (no boring old thumb winders here). Only two shutter speeds are available (“slow” and “slower”) and the unit is tiny enough to fit in the palm of your hand. Why should you gift it to someone? Because we think it contains untold secrets and because it is oh-so-infinitely cooler than snapping pics with your cell. Available at Mooncruise Gallery, 235 Cambie St., www.mooncruisegallery.com.

Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie for Theaters DVD ($27.99) This is the greatest animated film ever made. What could be more entertaining than an order of fries, a milkshake and a meatball trying to score chicks by assembling the ultimate workout machine? Especially when said machine kidnaps their Dennis Franz-like neighbour and proceeds to terrorize New York? Binary vomit, death metal, and special appearances from Rush’s Neil Peart and the dude from Evil Dead complete a package that must be owned to be appreciated. Buy it now at A & B Sound, 556 Seymour St., www.absound.ca.

Canned Hamm and Friends, Sincerely Christmas CD (10 loonies) Putting the “X” back in “X-mas,” the weird Vancouver duo of Big Hamm and Lil’ Hamm has taken the energy of their, um, unusual karaoke act and fuelled it into a Christmas album. Rock (or squirm) to such soon-to-be holiday classics as “Christmas Office Party” and “First I Make Love to You, Then I Make Love to Christmas,” and be on the listen for very special guests, comedian Neil Hamburger, Croatian chanteur extraordinaire (well, kind of) Ivan Hrvatska, and another Hamm named Hamster. Buy online. Shipping included.

Ahwaz Hookah House Hubbly Bubbly ($50-$150) That caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland smoked one (although he got to sit on a giant leaf to do it) and so can all your best friends once you give them their very own stylin’ hookah. Now before you start lecturing on how smoking is bad, consider that the shisha is made from fresh tobacco leaves, honey, molasses, and fruit pulp, and contains 0.5 per cent nicotine and zero tar. And it comes in really yummy flavours like mint, apple, and strawberry. And no, it doesn’t make you high—but damn, it makes you feel cool. Visit Ahwaz Hookah House, 1322 W. Georgia St., www.ahwazhookah.com for a gift that keeps on giving.

“Summer” by Jean-Frederic Bourdier ($350—20 x 24 in.) You have always wanted to give someone you love a picture of a boob, and now photographer “polagrapher” - that means he takes Polaroids - Jean-Frederic Bourdier has heeded your yearnings. And what a boob it is! We figure it can’t be more than, say, 25 years old, tops. It’s just so darned perky! The name of the photo is Summer, and it is kind of summery, we guess (are those beads of sweat we see?) Anyway, score this titillating masterpiece at Mooncruise Gallery, 235 Cambie St., www.mooncruisegallery.com.
 
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If you are in the giving spirit yesterday's Charitable Donations Holiday Gift Guide has some worthy causes you should see. Have you entered this week's Contest yet? You could win $100 to Chapters Indigo.

Previous Holiday Gift Guides:

Get Cookin' Holiday Gift Guide
Go Green Holiday Gift Guide
Bounty of Books Holiday Gift Guide
Stuff It Holiday Gift Guide
Charitable Donations Holiday Gift Guide