Ach. With all the hubbub and disasters of the Holiday Hell Season now
past, my partner and I finally got to open our gifts last evening.
My stash consisted of four movies recently released on DVD ("To Kill
A Mockingbird", "Lost Horizon", "Garden State", and "Batman Begins"),
two books ("Unpleasant Ways To Die" and "Eldest"), three very nice
1:43 scale classic automobile models (Lancia Fulvia, SAAB 96 V4
Rallye, and Datsun Fairlady 2000), and (the big one) a Timbuk2
Commute XL shoulder bag ... space and to spare to carry camera gear,
all my usual books, notebooks and electronic gizmos, a laptop or a
couple of portfolio binders, etc etc, for when I need more space and
flexibility than any of my more dedicated camera bags can offer.
It's a darn nice bag.
A gift I ordered for myself is the complete collection of Basil
Rathbone-Nigel Bruce "Sherlock Holmes" movies, fully restored and
digitally mastered at the UCLA film laboratories ... Can't wait for
them to show up! I rented two of them a while back and was stunned to
see how beautiful these films were: a far cry from the creaky, murky
old prints that have been broadcast on television.
And, finally, a couple of boxes of paper and some ink cartridges for
the printer, to close this out on a photographic note.
Quite a stash by my reckoning. Almost makes up for the Hellidays. ;-)
Godfrey
