News About Stuff III

Christmas is on the horizon -- we've got three weeks to really make sure we're ready for the season. What does every household need around Christimas-time? A CD of Christmas tunes! There's only so many times you can hear a children's choir (or Dolly Parton, for that matter) sing Silent Night, and the New York Times has compiled a list of newly-released cool collections of Christmas content. From a John Waters Christmas for those of you who feel the need to profane the season, to On a Christmas Journey: A Little Darlin' Christmas for your wife-leavin', hard-drinkin', trick drivin' classic country song-stylings, the music on this list isn't your everyday Christmas tunes.

I wasn't really old enough to truly experience the long-lost art of the aluminum Christmas tree, other than the memory of Linus tapping one, causing a hollow metallic echo, in the Peanuts Christmas special. There's a new book out celebrating this ancient species of Christmas arbor: Season's Gleamings : The Art of the Aluminum Christmas Tree, by Julie Lindemann and John Shimon. They started picking them up around their hometown of Manitowoc WI, and eventually ended up with enough for a book. Little did they know, many of their photographic subjects were made in the aluminum foundries of their own small town. You can see more on their website

Watches are making a comeback -- mechanical ones, to be exact. I haven't wound a watch in decades. I once had a watch that required no winding, but in a feat of mechnical uselessness, it had a winding knob that still felt like it was winding when it was turned. From time to time I'd still wind it, just in case it helped at all. If you want a watch that really winds when you turn the knob, they're much sought-after today.

That nude nun might not be as old as you think! Helaine Fendelman and Joe Rosson of the Kane County Chronicle say it's too good to be true: There's many items on the market refered to as a "fantasy". That's a collectible designed to look much older or rarer than it really is. A reader wrote in to this column, wondering if the belt buckle marked "Tiffany," advertising Coca-Cola with a nude woman, was real or not. Nope, they say -- a fake, either intentionally deceptive or simply ornamental, giving itself unwarranted credibility by simply looking old.

One last Christmas story: I wholehartedly agree with The Columbian - do your Christmas shopping at antique malls! You'll find something unique, something useful, and something definitely worth the money you pay for it. What good is another KMart Fry-Daddy for your grandma? Buy her something that she'll remember, care about, and appreciate. It'll take some looking to find what you want to buy - but that's what Christmas shopping is all about! Get out there, buy something old, ugly, cool, and obscure. Your family will appreciate it when the wrapping paper comes off.

Article by Derek


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