Science has determined that between November and January 1st there are approximately 50 billion holidays, and within those holidays are 128 billion opportunities for gift giving, and within those opportunities a whopping googob gajillion chances for you to get it right. Don’t fight science. Know your geek, Show them love. You may think a GoT mug is as deep a dive into gift geekery as you need to go…until they force a smile on you and add yours to the 4 others they got.
Let Narazu help you.
Our trained geekgiftologists will steer you clear of the expected, the overdone, and the corporate-laden. Here you’ll find gifts of sight, sound, and mind to delight that hard-to-buy-for lover of all things genre, indie, cool and/or weird. You might even find a little something for yourself.
It’s science, after all.
Best Always!
Team Narazu
All Indie. All Awesome.
FOR THE FILM BUFF
by Leo Faierman
The holidays approach, which means that the plywood shelves of film fans across the globe lie in a state of rapturous hunger. They beg to be stuffed with hard copies and box sets, whose hefty spines serve to advertise their treasures to any and all onlookers. Streaming be damned, we want fancy menus and surprise pack-ins, special video rarities, box matter, errata and interviews. The good stuff.
THE FILMS OF ALEJANDRO JODOROWSKY
For that special person in your life with bizarre and/or psychedelic tastes, the box set The Films of Alejandro Jodorowsky is pretty much a must-have (which makes it a “must-give”). It’s a bit of a dusty set by this point (it released over a decade ago), but a solid arrangement of special features and strong digital transfers make it an important piece in a collector’s library. The three films in question—Fando y Lis, El Topo, and The Holy Mountain—are all must-watch material, though the latter film probably holds up the best as an eye-popping, wildly imaginative hallucinogenic critique of religion, capitalism, and social class. These are the movies that first shaped his unique visionary style, yet it seems that many American viewers continue to skip over the challenging work of the Chilean-born trickster phantom menace himself. I routinely run into film fans who have seen the admittedly excellent Jodorowsky’s Dune documentary, yet haven’t partaken in the disturbing, stressful, but ultimately redemptive works in this box set. In addition to the named three films, the thorough documentary La Constellation and early surrealist short film La Cravate round out the deal, along with packed-in soundtracks for El Topo and The Holy Mountain. To locate this excellent but hard-to-find gift, be aware that it hasn’t seen print in a while; this Amazon link is a good place to start (with a new copy presently available for approximately $100). Outside of that level of spending, any Jodo-superfan would probably love a nice poster, and Amazon has a few good-looking posters under $20 that won’t break the bank.
THE MAD MAX HIGH OCTANE COLLECTION
Okay, now that the hard-to-find one’s out of the way, let’s look at something much easier to order, more obvious but no less vital. The Mad Max High Octane Collection constitutes an eight-disc Blu-ray set featuring 4K transfers of George Miller’s classic, genre-defining post-apocalyptic tetralogy. Fury Road in particular is an extremely important film to me, personally, but even the lesser-appreciated Beyond Thunderdome remains, in my opinion, required viewing (especially for its front half). Certain younger folks may have missed out on classics like Road Warrior and would do well to have these films at arm’s reach, and find out how well they’ve stood the test of time while also setting an influential standard for action cinema, stunts, and set design, as well as unusually brilliant world-building. The High Octane Collection has all four films, a slew of documentaries, and the mighty Black & Chrome B&W edition of Fury Road (a unique concept which works marvelously). You can pick it up for about $50 on Amazon (less for the non-Blu-ray edition), but a cheaper region-free UK-manufactured set called Mad Max Anthology can be had for a little less coin.
Anime fans can be conspicuously difficult to shop for. With a kaleidoscope of series, re-packaged seasons, OVAs, spin-offs, genre mutations, and so on, I’ve sometimes found myself feeling like a disconnected grandparent: “But you love Yu Yu Hakusho. Oh, you wanted the OVA, not the series DVD? And then I got you the American series DVD instead of the Japanese import?” Luckily, with such a gargantuan amount of anime content to draw from, the harder-to-find gems often reside out of obvious sight. Serial Experiments Lain is one such example, and though it enjoyed a burgeoning cult-level of appreciation on its release in the late 90s, it remains a relatively niche example of turn-of-the-century anime. A mix of cyberpunk and supernatural genres with pressing themes of teenage isolation and early-internet paranoia, Lain is a haunting, gorgeous, and provocative series, with more than a hint of Lynchian horror. Over two decades later, its challenging, sluggishly-paced story presentation and stylish design make it the perfect treasure to be rediscovered by a new generation. Amazon currently has a multi-format box set available for $60 (which includes a thin but snazzy art book with episodic commentary), and there’s also a no-frills multi-format option for half the price.
FOR YOUR COMICS AFICIONADO
It’s that time of year again, and here are some helpful hints/tips for getting the geeky person on your list something that will show that there was more thought behind it than the dollar amount attached to it. These picks won’t all be cheap but there will be love behind them!
Comic Organizer – Here’s where you have to love modern technology: There’re several apps out there that will help your comic lover organize their collection. What you’ll need to do is figure out how detailed the person is, as some apps do a lot of the heavy lifting, pulling details from just taking a snapshot of the cover, but all that will cost more. And that’s the catch; the more they need to help organize… the more it will cost. Most of these apps will run about $10-20 dollars, definitely a stocking stuffer or office Santa gift.
DIY Comic Box – This can be a fun family activity that you do with the recipient on the day of or in the weeks to follow (unless you have a spot where you’ll be able to work without the gift being discovered). There are two ways of doing this, the first is hands-on drawing. The costs for this will be relatively low as you’ll only need to buy the actual comic box and, depending on how artistic you are, drawing instruments. If you’re not particularly artistic you can always use some glue to decorate the box (for this–when you’re picking up the box at your local comic book shop–ask them for the dump box; these will be comics that aren’t valuable and no one will lose their mind when you have to cut up the comics for decorating the box).
Artwork – From a sketch to a comic page, comic collectors all have at least one prized piece of comic art. This is a special personalized gift that doesn’t have to be super expensive but it will require a bit of time and thought. To start, you’ll need to figure out who your loved one likes for characters and the type of artists they follow; you might think you know but double-check and (maybe even mine their social media feeds to see who they post and follow). Now that you know what ”Hero” they like drawn by which “Artist,” you’ll need to see if that artist is open for commissions, what type of time frame they can offer and what they’ll charge. The best way to commission an artist is in person at a convention. You can also see more of their work and get a feel for them. Meeting them in person can help you figure out what type of drawing to get (headshot, full-body action, etc.), but keep in mind the bigger and more detailed the artwork the more time and money will be required. A full-body shot with no background can run between $150-200 dollars. Comic pages can start at 300 and go up. You might want to save that one for a nerdy parent or spouse.
Personalized Bag – This year at New York Comic Con, I bought a custom bag that will have my artwork on it. This was a big purchase, but like artwork, this pick is a special and personalized gift, so follow some of the suggestions given above in regards to figuring out the type of art that will go on the bag. In addition to the art, you’ll need to figure out what type of bag (messenger, backpack, sling, tote, etc). While this won’t be as complicated with the artwork, most companies have stock images you can pick from, but you’ll need to definitely figure out the timing. The company I ordered my bag from in early October won’t have it for me until May or June 2020. But some gifts are definitely worth waiting for!
Happy Holidays and see you in the next year!
FOR THE BOOK LOVER IN YOUR LIFE
You might think ‘I’ll just get ’em a gift card to a book store, what more could they want?’ YOU WOULD NOT BE WRONG. But there are other ways to light up that literary heart, from the ridiculously expensive (dare to dream…or at least get inspired to attempt your own version) to the silly, to the utterly sublime.
Need I say more? Well, just this: it’s always a good idea to visit the Narazu store!
CLOTHES MAKE THE BOOK LOVER
Etsy is a treasure trove of unique, cute, kitschy, and coolness. What book lover wouldn’t want an article of clothing bearing artwork or words from their fave book jams? Maye a skirt hemmed in passages from Shakespeare, Frankenstein, or Bubba Ho Tep? A tee with the cover of Dune? A quotation from Octavia Butler? Think of Etsy as Amazon with a conscience; what you want is probably there, but isn’t being a total ass in providing it.
There are also sites like Society6 and Zazzle that often offer swag directly from indie authors themselves, so your gift giving is a win-win for indie love all around!
Now, I’m not saying give a gift of bricks, but how about when it comes to gift card time you think about your local indie brick-and-mortar store? “But Clarence,” you say, “What if they’re not local to my dear gift recipient?” I SAY THEY SHIP IS WHAT I SAY! Indie shops will ship books to your loved ones, so before you default to a B&N or Amazon gift card, consider a Powell’s, Source Booksellers, Pages Bookshop or any of the many easily-Googled indie bookshops throughout the United States (or international; Book Depository ships worldwide). You might need to contact the stores to find out if they are currently offering gift cards or certificates, but that’s all of a 2-minute conversation (or, more likely, a 10-second email).
A CON MEMBERSHIP
Kind of like the gift card, you could surprise your bookish friends and family by letting them know you will foot the bill for them to a con of their choice (this is where the ridiculously expensive might creep in). There are literary conventions throughout the year all across the US: sci fi, horror, romance, comic, steam, mystery–you name it, there’s a con for it. Generally, transportation and lodging factor into the price point, so be aware and clear in your giving that you’re either paying for the admission price itself or you’re going full plane-train-automobile-suite. Either way it goes, this is a unique, highly personalized gift, and if you can tag along as well, so much the better!
SIGNED EDITIONS
Indie writers love signing books. Even flat-Earthers know this as scientific truth. And the awesome people who love reading indie books love getting signed copies of those books, especially before those authors go mainstream with mega-blockbusters and GRR Martin on speed dial. Many indie writers, whether self-published or getting their work out with small press, offer their books directly to the public via their author websites. If you’re not sure if they’ll sign ’em, pop an email to them; they’ll likely say yes and volunteer to deliver it if they’re in the neighborhood. Ordering straight from the author not only puts more money in the author’s pocket, but it strengthens the connection (this might get hokey, bear with me) between reader and writer in the same way that getting a handwritten letter from a loved one is almost guaranteed more fulfilling than a voice-to-text email filled with non sequiturs and typos.