The Modern Materialist : holidays

A Year Of Cards With One Stamp

Alex Zalben — Mon, 11 May 2009 18:04:00 GMT

Wouldn't it be great to take care of every single holiday card you have to send out with one little stamp? Now you can:

Recap: Gift Guides For Foodies

Alex Zalben — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 16:31:00 GMT

What are the holidays about, if not food? And therefore what better gift to give than that of a gourmet meal, or treat? Here's a recap of all of our foodie gift guides, plus several posts that contained bonus gifts you might have missed:

Gifts Under $25 for Foodies + Contest!

Reminder: Win FREE Gourmet Peanut Butter Cups!

Last Chance: FREE Gourmet Peanut Butter Cups!

Gifts Under $50 for Foodies + Contest!

Reminder: Win a FREE Peanut Butter Gift Set

Last Chance: FREE Peanut Butter Set & Cookbook

Winners: Nerd Gifts Under $100

Alex Zalben — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 14:24:00 GMT

Well, as a review, here were the prizes:

- The Complete Scott Pilgrim: Scott Pilgrim Vol. 1-4 + Scott Pilgrim Color Special + Scott Pilgrim T-Shirt , courtesy of Oni Press.

- 2 Good-Bye Elliot T-Shirts, Courtesy of Busted Tees

And I guess I'll just say a LOT of you wanted these prizes, but only four people are our amazing winners:

Derek (jokerzwyldd at yahoo dot com)

AJ (ajvickey at yahoo dot com)

Joshua Strasburg (jistrasburg at gmail dot com)

Ron Janson (ronjanson77 at yahoo dot com)

Congrats, and please shoot an e-mail to modernmaterialist@nerve.com with your full name and physical mailing address, under the subject "Nerd Gifts Under $100." We'll send you back your prizes, hopefully just in time for the holidays. And once again thanks to Oni Press and Busted Tees for providing the gifts.

If you didn't win this time, no worries, you still have a chance to win a free cell phone and service, so go check that out.

Last Chance: Complete Scott Pilgrim Collection + Bonus Gift

Alex Zalben — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 14:01:00 GMT

[$68, Oni Press]

It's your last chance to one of four prizes, as part of our Nerd Gifts Under $100 giveaway:

- 2 The Complete Scott Pilgrim Sets: Scott Pilgrim Vol. 1-4 + Scott Pilgrim Color Special + Scott Pilgrim T-Shirt , courtesy of Oni Press.

- 2 Good-Bye Elliot T-Shirts, Courtesy of Busted Tees

All you have to do to win is comment on the post linked here by the end of the day today. And, here's another bonus Nerd Gift Under $100:

For The Science Nerd: I just remembered this morning how much I loved my chemistry set growing up, and how much I wish I had one now. And, this set comes with goggles. Everybody loves goggles, right?

[$70, Amazon]

Christmas in Hell: My Shopping Trip To Rite-Aid

Alex Zalben — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 21:35:00 GMT

Earlier today, I stopped by the local Rite-Aid, which is on most occasions the most oppresive, soul deadening pharmacy I've ever been to. No joke. However, they were now cranking up the Christmas Holiday music, and presents were everwhere! Which jacked this up to the Ninth Circle of Holiday Shopping Hell.

Naturally, I took so pictures of the absolute most horrifying gifts available, and decided to, magnaimously, share them with you. Oh, and in case you don't catch on, they go in order of awfulness:

As I mentioned, this is in descending order of awfulness. Nothing paarticularly terrible with a hot dog cooker... Except, there's already something instantly saddening about being given a 50% off hot dog cooker from the pharmacy for Christmas. Also, vaguely insulting that all the gift buyer knows about you is that you like hot dogs. Everybody likes hot dogs.

"Hey, Billy! How's the root beer from that kit I got you for the holidays? You know, the one that was science fun? I can taste some? Thanks, buddy. Mmm... Tastes a little salty. Mixed with your own tears, you say? Okay, keep it up, champ!"

Gift certificates are a cop out for any gift, but for the holidays? Wow. And there are some that are mildly passable on this wall of hell, like Barnes and Noble and Starbucks. But a $10 gift certificate to Burger King? What the fuck kind of gift is that? Fuck you.

"Hey Midge, what's that show the kids like? Is it High School... Musical, right? Okay, let's get them a $7 tin of High School Musical popcorn, they'll love that." Buying this at the check-out should automatically send up a red flag at Child Protection Services.

And last but not least is the Welcome Bear. Which is on this list not for what it is, but where it is. They have an entire store to place a Holiday Welcome Bear, and decide the best place is in front of yeast infection medicine and douches? Seriously? It was a toss up between posting this picture, and the one of the other Welcome Bear, which was, naturally, pointing to the Trojan Magnums.

So that's my experience... What's the worst holiday gift you've seen this year?

Reminder: Win The Complete Scott Pilgrim Collection!

Alex Zalben — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 17:01:00 GMT

[$68, Oni Press]

Just a reminder that we're giving away four prizes, as part of our Nerd Gifts Under $100:

- 2 The Complete Scott Pilgrim Sets: Scott Pilgrim Vol. 1-4 + Scott Pilgrim Color Special + Scott Pilgrim T-Shirt , courtesy of Oni Press.

- 2 Good-Bye Elliot T-Shirts, Courtesy of Busted Tees

All you have to do to win is comment on the post linked here by Wednesday, December 17th. And, because we don't want anyone to be empty handed, here's a bonus Nerd Gift Under $100:

For The Hot Topic Nerd: I think this is officially the first thing we've ever posted from Hot Topic, so that's going on. Whatever you might think of Twilight, the series is undeniably a cultural force, and nerds like to stay current with pop culture. So help them bone up with the complete collection, when they're not gettin' boned. Yeah, I don't know.

[$83, Hot Topic]

Gifts Under $100 For Giant Nerds + Contest!

Alex Zalben — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 18:29:00 GMT

[$68, Oni Press]

We've already told you about cool gifts for nerds under $25; and gifts for nerds under $50; so let's jump it up a notch. And to help kick things off, we're giving away TWO complete collections of Scott Pilgrim, the best damn comic book series of the past decade (no joke):

- The Complete Scott Pilgrim: Scott Pilgrim Vol. 1-4 + Scott Pilgrim Color Special + Scott Pilgrim T-Shirt , courtesy of Oni Press.

If that wasn't enough, we're also throwing in TWO stocking (or menorah, if you prefer) stuffers, courtesy of Busted Tees:

[$20, Busted Tees]

- 2 Good-Bye Elliot T-Shirts, Courtesy of Busted Tees

So that's four winners, total. All you have to do is comment on this post (*See below for official rules) by Wednesday, December 17th, and you'll be able to win one of the above gifts, absolutely free.

Now, in case you DON'T win, check out several more nerdtastic gift ideas:

For The Star Wars Nerd: It's an R2-D2 trash-can, because we all need a good reason to say, "What an incredible smell you've discovered!" You either know what I'm talking about here, or you're not reading this post anyway.

[$99.99, Think Geek]

For The Violent Nerd: You've got to be a particular type of geek to want a 12" action figure of two of the most violent characters in comics (Punisher and Venom) mixed together, and I may actually know a geek just like that.

[$99.99, Sideshow Toys]

For The Nerd With a Family: Little Big Planet isn't just a super cute game, it's also a great bonding game for parents and little ones. Or so I'm told.

[$60, Amazon]

For The Games Nerd: I used to have a set like this as a kid... It was my absolute favorite thing ever. I used to play chess against myself. Sob.

[$97, Amazon]

*Official Rules for MM Contests:

- You can comment as many times as you want, as long as there's at least one comment between you and the previous commenter.

- Please leave some way of contacting you, whether a link to your Nerve account, an e-mail, or otherwise.

- The end of the contest will be announced in the comment section, and winner(s) will be announced in a separate post on the following business day.

Winner: Gifts For Foodies Under $50 Contest

Alex Zalben — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 14:04:00 GMT

[$48, ILovePeanutButter]

Man, you guys are really getting the hang of this. Once again, the Gifts for Foodies Under $50 Contest was even bigger than our Gifts Under $50 for Giant Nerds contest. Only one person is getting sent a gift set of six delicious Peanut Butter & Co. peanut butters, and a cookbook, and that person is:

Kelly (kellywood23 at yahoo dot com)

Congrats, and please shoot an e-mail to modernmaterialist@nerve.com with your full name and physical mailing address, under the subject "Foodies Gifts Under $50." We'll send you back the most delicious stuff ever. And once again thanks to Peanut Butter & Co. for providing the gift.

If you didn't win this time, no worries, you can still enter to win a Destination: Sex City DVD. And we've got plenty more awesome gifts coming your way throughout the holidays, so stay tuned.

Last Chance: FREE Peanut Butter Set & Cookbook

Alex Zalben — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 20:02:00 GMT

It's your last chance to win this set of six delicious peanut butters, and the Peanut Butter & Co. cookbook, courtesy of Peanut Butter & Co. itself. All you have to do is go comment on the post linked here by the end of the day.

And before we go, here's one more bonus Gift Under $50 for Foodies:

It's probably a little too cold to be thinking about picnics right now, but at some point, your foodie friend will be thinking about 'em, and you could do no worse than this collapsible, storable basket.

[$48, Uncommon Goods]

Gifts Under $50 for Foodies + Contest!

Alex Zalben — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 17:06:00 GMT

[$48, ILovePeanutButter]

Okay, now we're getting into it. Gifts under $25 for foodies were nice, but we all know you're not really a foodie unless you blow a nice chunk of change on something ridiculous.

And we're going to kick it off with an EVEN BETTER contest than last time, courtesy of Peanut Butter & Co. The set you see above contains six jars of peanut butter: Smooth Operator, Crunch Time, Cinnamon Raisin Swirl, The Heat Is On, White Chocolate Wonderful, and Dark Chocolate Dreams. Plus, you'll get The Peanut Butter & Co. Cookbook with a foreword by Jerry Seinfeld.

All you have to do to win one of these sets is comment on this post (*See below for official rules) by Wednesday, December 10th, and the set is yours to, er, give as a gift. To yourself. And before you go a-commenting, here's some other Under $50 gift ideas:

Of all the cheesemakers in America, Cypress Grove is probably my favorite. They're best known for the superb Humboldt Fog, and I love the delightful Purple Haze, but other than those two, you can't do much better than this Holiday Assortment, which contains Truffle Tremor, Fog Lights, and an herb flavored chevre of their choice. Perfect for the fromage lover.

[$49, Cypress Grove]

Normally I wouldn't bother with a mass produced, faux olde-timey foodstuff, but Williams-Sonoma's Peppermint Bark is the best. You can get a set of two, so you have one for a friend, and one for the friend who has the same name as you.

[$45, Williams-Sonoma]

Gorilla Coffee isn't for the faint of heart; they brew this stuff strong. But if you like your coffee like a jolt of bitter lightning, this is some of the best damn brew in the country. The box set comes with three pounds of your choice, and, er, the box.

[$37, Gorilla Coffee]

Okay, so... This is a little over $50, but it's close enough, and cool enough that I'm going to include it on this list. In case you don't watch Top Chef, this handy dandy egg topper clamps onto the top of an egg, and neatly slices it off, so you can serve an amuse bouche (or soup, or whatever else) inside the egg shell. Next time you're having a sit down brunch, this is a must have.

[$55, Sur La Table]

*Official Rules for MM Contests:

- You can comment as many times as you want, as long as there's at least one comment between you and the previous commenter.

- Please leave some way of contacting you, whether a link to your Nerve account, an e-mail, or otherwise.

- The end of the contest will be announced in the comment section, and winner(s) will be announced in a separate post on the following business day.

Happy Holidays Hour: Top Off Your Drink?

Alex Zalben — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 22:00:00 GMT

Want an easy, fun, festive way to top off any bottle? Then check these out:

Kind of silly, but isn't that what the holidays are all about?

[$14-$18, Uncommon Goods]