An Extremely Specific Gift Guide

Here are some gifts I’d recommend this holiday if you were looking for the perfect present for a very specific type of person—someone with exceptional yet understated taste. Someone with a discerning eye for design. Someone whose nerdiness is ahem, part of their charm. Someone who is not afraid to shamelessly plug their own wishlist in the form of a general gift guide.

If you happen to know anyone like that, here are some things I would, uh, they would enjoy.

• One thing I’ve learned—the hard way—is that there’s no telling if the TV show or movie or album that you love will be available tomorrow on whichever service is hosting it today. This relatively new problem has an old solution, though: physical media. Fortunately, my wonderful collection of CDs is still in my garage, albeit gathering dust, but I never got rid of them. Unfortunately, I did get rid of anything that could play CDs. I’ve seen this one online, the Syitren R300 portable CD player, which could be great if your intended recipient enjoys a handsome wood trim to class up their electronics.

• By the way, if you’re getting into the vinyl side of physical media, the Audio-Technica LP60X is an entry-level record player with excellent reviews. At $180, there are less expensive turntables out there, but I’ve found that you basically need to spend around this much for one that isn’t going to break or malfunction easily.

• The person you’re shopping for probably enjoyed the PlayStation game Ghost of Tsushima for its breathtakingly realized landscapes and epic story, and the follow-up that came out this year, Ghost of Yotei, has received similar acclaim. They probably want to play that over the holidays.

• Yes, fine, your recipient already has a lot of jackets, but you know what? Cool jackets are cool. And this Denim Patchwork Jacket from Found looks especially cool. Everything from Found looks cool, to be honest.

• For several years, I’ve been using a pair of very decent Bluetooth earbuds. The sound was good, the fit was pretty good, and the Bluetooth connectivity was…okay, it was terrible. Then again, Bluetooth is generally pretty bad! So what choice do we have? And then, one day, I forgot my own earbuds and had to borrow some Apple AirPods for the day. It turns out, connecting to my phone doesn’t have to be a roll of the dice! They connected so easily every time, and now, I just want to live with that level of convenience. Apple AirPods 3 Pro, please.

Let’s move on from things I’ve been looking at, nose pressed up against the shop window, to some things I can heartily recommend from personal experience.

• An introduction to some kind of craft. My nascent ceramics journey continues, and while I’m still frustrated with my relative lack of expertise, I have started to find some satisfaction in the things that I’ve been making. More importantly, this year, I’ve found myself thinking about pottery all the time. Anytime I’m not in the studio, I just want to get back there so I can try some idea that I’ve been daydreaming about, or so I can just get better at the craft and level up. I’ve never before had a creative outlet that wasn’t somehow on the spectrum of professional pursuit. It’s so liberating to make stuff, even though I’m not great at it, just for the sheer pleasure. Hobbies! Wow! Give a high-strung person you love an intro class to something, anything, that has zero stakes for them.

• Supporting Radiotopia. I love Radiotopia. It’s been my podcast home for Song Exploder, Home Cooking, The West Wing Weekly, and Partners. If you’ve ever stuck around to listen to the credits at the end of those shows, you’ve heard me say that Radiotopia, from PRX, is a network of independent, artist-owned, listener-supported podcasts. Well, PRX is a non-profit, and today is Giving Tuesday, so it’s a wonderful time to make a tax-deductible donation to support the kind of creative storytelling that’s the hallmark of Radiotopia shows.

• D’Addario Micro Soundhole Tuner. I got this tiny guitar tuner earlier this year, and I absolutely love it. It sits discreetly in the soundhole of my Guild M-20 acoustic guitar, so I never have to look for it, and I never have to have it hanging off the headstock like a weird little appendage.

• Coffee. I started drinking coffee this year because of this study that found there might be links between coffee drinking and healthy aging. I gave up caffeine (in the form of sodas) in my 20s because I thought it was bad for me, and according to the study, the health benefits are only conferred by coffee – not tea or soda. So, I’ve been swayed by data, and maybe some other study will come along proving how wrong this study was. But in the meantime, I’m treating the benefits of caffeine like Pascal’s wager. If the study is wrong, the harm is probably minimal. But if it’s right, I get to have coffee and my improved health outcomes, too. Most importantly, though, it turns out coffee is nice! All those civilizations, across centuries, for whom coffee was an important part of their culture…they were on to something! Fine, I’m a slow learner. In my defense, I haven’t had my coffee yet.

• You Can Count on Me on DVD. One of my all-time favorite films. I bought the new 4k edition from Criterion Collection a few months ago. I already own this movie on VHS, and I’ve watched that tape many times. I’m looking forward to watching it again with the director’s commentary on.

• Reading glasses. I’ve reached the age where I need them, and you know what? Outside of the mortifying self-awareness that descends when I realize I can’t read a menu and I’ve been just shifting it back and forth and squinting in hopes the squiggles become words—it’s actually kind of fun to have a new accessory. I seem to love forgetting my reading glasses in one room, only to desperately need them in another room, so I’ve gotten a couple tortoise-shell pairs (under $50 each, with the prescription lenses!) from eyebuydirect that I can leave strewn around the house.

• Nylon Mesh Pouch from Muji. When I travel, I put all of my cables in this pouch, which is see-through enough that you can pinpoint where the cable you’re looking for is exactly, before you even unzip it. Plus, all the cables stay together and aren’t floating around in the void of my backpack. It’s reduced clutter and panic on my trips this year.

Okay, that’s what I’ve got, and what I want. I sincerely hope that something on this list sounded good and somehow finds its way to you, to someone you love, or to someone who wrote this newsletter.

Hrishikesh

PS - In the spirit of this gift guide, leave a note in the comments with whatever’s number one on your wishlist, then casually forward the link to this newsletter to someone who ought to see it.