Weekend Roundtable: 2013 Xmas Wish List

Christmas is almost upon us. It seems to come faster every year. Have you all been good boys and girls? If so, let’s use today’s Roundtable to remind Santa about all the goodies on our holiday wish lists this year.

Typically, I ask our writers to focus on movie, TV, gaming or home theater items for this type of topic, but this year I thought we’d open it up to pretty much anything you look forward to during this holiday season.

Adam Tyner (DVDTalk)

Between the videogame console launches and some gloriously insane sales at Amazon, I’ve already checked a bunch of stuff off my wish list. I have a truckload of Blu-ray discs on the way, my new Pioneer VSX-1123 receiver ought to be showing up any minute now, and I’m staring down more consoles and games than I’ll ever know how to handle. The funny thing is that I went into this holiday season with two must-haves on my list, and I haven’t picked up either of them yet. I desperately need a new computer. My problem is a compulsion to overspec a new PC, wind up with a terrifying price tag, and then scare myself off. Honestly, anything will be better than the ancient clunker I have now. I was also determined to pick up a new TV. Amazon has the display on the top of my list, the Panasonic 65VT60, for $2,149, a price point that’s surreally low for a set of that size and quality. If Santa doesn’t set me up, I might have to bite.

Brian Hoss

After careful thought, I decided that the item that I most wanted this year was a replacement memory card for my recently purchased PlayStation Vita. While I own dozens of digital games, the included 4GB proprietary memory card can only hold a few. Sadly, 32GB is the max size card here in the States, and with rumors that Sony would bring over a 64GB card before the end of the year seeming less and less likely, I was forced to decide between settling for a good-priced 32GB card through U.S. channels or importing a 64GB card.

During my research, I found an import 64GB card that, even with shipping, was roughly the expected price of a U.S. version and $15-$30 cheaper than what I had seen elsewhere. So, I decided to pull the trigger and import the card while the price was decent. Assuming that it arrives and works without issue, my next wish list item is probably PSN money so that I can get hold of the few big Vita releases that I don’t currently own. (That, or an all-new home theater.)

Daniel Hirshleifer

I usually buy myself what I want over the course of a year, but if I had to choose something I haven’t picked up, it would probably be Season 5 of ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ on Blu-ray. I’ve been very impressed with the quality of the first, third and fourth releases (I have the second, which I bought used so that Paramount wouldn’t profit further off of that one’s crummy quality), but haven’t gotten around to the fifth. Of course, I should probably watch all of the first four, but of course I did a marathon viewing of the whole series (plus movies) before the Blu-rays came out. Maybe I’ll get around to watching the Blu-rays when Paramount starts releasing the series in 4K.

Luke Hickman

Having kids, I’ve learned that it’s far more satisfying to blow all of our allotted Christmas cash on them than to get presents myself – but this year I’m getting a few gifts of my own. Typically, I buy my own presents and have my wife and kids give them to me. Mrs. Hickman is well aware that 99% of my wish list items are Blu-rays or other entertainment-related items, so buying them myself works out well for all parties. This year, to go with my new TV (my big Christmas present), I’ve decided to get a new videogame: ‘Battlefield 4’. A few of my friends already play and love it, so I’m joining the club for some online co-ops with the guys. Not being a big gamer, I don’t own a headset for mid-game communication, so I plan to pick up one of those as well. As always, Christmas day will be dedicated to the family and watching the kids play, but once they go to bed, Dad gets to kill some bad guys!

Michael Spike Steinbacher

I already have most of the electronics stuff I need, but I’d happily take the Samsung 98″ 4K OLED television. It’s not available for sale yet, but it would probably set Santa back about $50,000. Oh yes, world peace would make a good stocking stuffer, as well. But first the TV.

Bryan Kluger

My wish list items are mostly music on vinyl. The top three albums I want most this holiday season are all movie soundtracks. First is the soundtrack for Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Death Proof’, specifically the blood-soaked-on-white-vinyl version. This soundtrack is all kinds of awesome. Number 2 on the list is the soundtrack to the ’80s horror flick ‘Critters’. Yes, they made a soundtrack album for that. I’ve been trying to get my hands on it for some time now, but I’ve been outbid or was just too late in purchasing it. I hope one comes up for sale soon so that I can listen to Johnny Steel’s “Power of the Night” song over and over. (The song was originally done by Terrence Mann.) To round off the list, I want the soundtrack to ‘Phantasm’. It’s an amazing soundtrack and super rare. There are plenty of others on my list, but we’d be here for a few hours.

Jack Lilburn

For this Christmas, I would more than anything like the New York Knicks to stop losing games (9 in a row as of today!). In lieu of miracles, I’d settle for an Xbox360 with a copy of ‘NBA2K14’. At least with that, I could forge my own alternate universe where we weren’t the laughingstock of the league.

Josh Zyber

Christmas? Honestly, I’ve hardly had time to think about it. I’ve got other, more pressing concerns that are happening at the same time and taking up my attention.

What could be fun? Well, this is pretty awesome. I’ll need two of them.

Now it’s your turn. Tell Santa what you want for Christmas in the Comments below.

19 comments

  1. NJScorpio

    Having just bought many Criterion titles, including Zatoichi, and a Camaro, there is only one thing I really want…

    A 1080p projector. My current one is a business projector, putting out an image a bit under 720p in widescreen mode. Oh, and if it was 3D, that’d be even better 🙂

  2. It’s a Christmas Miracle, Jack! The Knicks won last night by 30!!! Luckily we’re in the east so we only need to win 35 games to make the playoffs.
    I don’t really need anything this year, but I’ve been thinking about replacing the tv in our bedroom for a couple months now. Following previous trends I would most likely take the current living room TV (Panasonic Viera 50″) and put it in the bedroom, forcing the purchase of a brand new awesome set.
    I’m happy with the plasma, and don’t really care to have a 3D tv, so I might ask for a bigger version of the Viera-65″ would be as big as I could go with my current set up. That would be nice though. Hmmmmm…
    Merry Christmas!

  3. Congrats to Josh and Mrs. Z.

    Christmas will be taking on a new meaning soon enough… I see wire ties and batteries in the next few Christmases in the Zyber home.

  4. Congratulations Mr.& Mrs. Zyber! The baby bug is in the air! It seems like everyone I know is having a baby. Even on the Internet. I don’t know how you feel about little kid movies, but watching your kids enjoy them may help you appreciate them more. You just may start to enjoy The Smurfs & Smurfs 2. Tomax & Xamot sounds awesome to me. Oh I almost forgot, I would love to see a 70 inch 3d tv beside my Christmas tree. Maybe another Panasonic 3d bluray player and more blurays for stocking stuffers.

  5. Freakyguy666

    Free time…I will finally have some down time to do nothing for prolonged periods…and/or play through Killzone Shadowfall, Last of Us, and Link Between Worlds (3DS).

  6. Timcharger

    Josh, expecting twins around Christmas?! Great, wonderful news. Don’t get me wrong, but I don’t envy you in any way. The G.I. Joe onesies are black, so I’m guessing twin boys? I have two boys, but thank god, I didn’t get them at the same time.

    Move your steelbooks to a higher shelf! You’ll be lucky to still have shelf space for your steelbooks. You better get more than 2 chairs in your theater room, otherwise it’s you that’s sitting on the floor.

    Congrats and don’t look too disgusted when receiving some standard definition Baby Einstein DVDs.

  7. August Lehe

    Topping my wish list for 2014: Blu Rays of

    1. The Innocents (1961) (Criterion?)
    2. Lonely Are the Brave (1961) (Criterion?)
    3. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Disney)
    4. El Cid
    5. 55 Days at Peking
    6. Easier Steelbook Availability
    7. Mighty Mouse Collection
    8. Baby Huey Collection
    9. War of the Worlds (Paramount)(1954)
    10.The Vikings (1957)

    • Barsoom Bob

      The Vikings, 1957, not to be confused with the recent TV series. I have a copy on DVD, would love to have a blu-ray. I love that frackin’ movie. Tony Curtis’ hunting hawk ripping Kirk Douglas’ eye out, epic scenery and battles, lovely, lovely Janet Leigh, the crab tidal pool and the ravenous hound pit and Ragnar, Ernest Borgine’s leap to Vallhalla. One of my favorite movies.

  8. Barsoom Bob

    Congratulations! Two awesome sons in one shot, way to go.
    Wait at least a couple of weeks before you show them Dune, it does have some disturbing imagery. LOL

    • Timcharger

      Reverse psychology:
      Downplay your love of Dune or they’ll rebel and loathe it.

      Forgive them when seek independence and put up a Prometheus poster. They don’t mean it Josh. 🙂

  9. Josh, was this the first announcement on HDD? Glad I didn’t let on earlier – although I don’t think it was really a secret.

    As for my wish list, well, I buy what I want throughout the year. Usually for Christmas, I get clothes, because I suck at buying and picking out my own. My mom can get me a shirt for probably 10% of what I would pay, so that is probably what I want. And I just noticed in the past month that most of my long sleeve shirts have holes in them, and my jeans are becoming frayed. Living in an apartment complex and using their machines, I find that the washer has one setting – ROUGH cycle!

    I guess I could put some of the fanatical stuff on the list – stuff that I know there is no way that I would get, so it truely is a wish list.

    1) 4k television – perferably over 70 inches. And it has to support 4k inputs (I found out that the Seki doesn’t).
    2) My own house. It being paid off would be really nice too.
    3) A significant other. Holidays are lonely when you spend them alone.
    4) For the holidays to be less comercialized. If all I had to worry about was getting home for the holidays and seeing people and stuffing my face and going to church, I would be fine with that. Stressing myself out to find the perfect present ONCE AGAIN sucks, wondering if you are going to spend more than they spend on you or vice-versa, the months of bills (NOT this year), of not getting to see your friends from pretty much the end of November through mid January because they are all so busy. I just want the holidays to mean something again, and not be about either the getting or giving.