More of my unused shortlist of presents.
For music, consider the latest Florence + The Machine 
I’m actually giving someone the The Robert Downy Sherlock Holmes Movie
Or, if documentary is more your style or your giftee is, say, a biology teacher or something, consider Life of Birds
Also, have a look at these items produced by friends of mine: The Listening Project
Have you read the breakthrough novel of the year? When you are done with that, try:
or Paperback
*Please note:
Links to books and other items on this page and elsewhere on Greg Ladens' blog may send you to Amazon, where I am a registered affiliate. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases, which helps to fund this site.
Have you seen the BBC series Sherlock? Set in modern day London, Dr. Watson is freshly returned from one of the middle east wars, Holmes is brilliantly played by Benedict Cumberbatch (a right proper British name–he played Joseph Hooker in Creation).
The first series is good (2.5 hours or thereabouts) with humour, wit, as it lays out Holmes style and his interaction with Dr. Watson and people in general–Holmes seems to be a cross between Dexter and Professor Snape, at times Cumberbatch’s accent and delivery is near identical to Rickman’s/Snape(very very entertaining).
Second one I didn’t find as clever. We’ll watch the third one tonight.
Anyway, BBC does have some excellent series in addition to their documentaries and they would also make good holiday gifts.
btw, Winged Migration a good gift for any bird lover who doesn’t already have it.
I love the new BBC series. And I want personal copies of it. Note: Watson actually returns home from war in roughly the same place as the original Watson!
heh. I hadn’t realized that.
We discussed seeing the new Sherlock Hollywood movie (Downey, Law) tonight, but BBC won out over Hollywood this time–something about Cumberbatch’s accent that has my wife swooning ever so slightly. Must start cultivating an accent….
@Daniel
It’s hard not to like the new Sherlock, but the 2nd episode did its best by being about as racist as it’s possible to be (barring having a bunch of dudes in black-face chase around a white woman, as in Florence & the Machine’s new video. Which is a shame, because I like their music).
I get the impression that the British have a hard time seeing Orientalim as racist.