Thursday 23 August 2007

When You Wish Upon A Website

I mentioned my Amazon Wishlist quite a few times recently. Just in case you really, really wanted to buy me a birthday present and were stuck for ideas.

I use my Wishlist for two purposes. Firstly, so that people can see what I'd like for birthday, Christmas, Yom Kippur, Diwali, Eid, etc, etc. However, it's also a useful aide memoire, allowing me to note down those items I find, that I fully intend to buy for myself, but which I currently can't afford, or can't justify buying right now.

My Amazon Wishlist has now been running for almost seven years now and I thought it would be fun to examine some of the items therein to see what they say about me and my changing tastes.

Most Recent Item
CD: A Bell Is a Cup Until It Is Struck by Wire. £4.47.
Added on 16th August 2007.
While reading Tony Wilson's obituaries recently, I became interested in bands like Wire, A Certain Ratio and Gang of Four, which emerged from the Manchester scene in the 1980s. I've never really heard any of their music and I thought it was time to educate myself. I've been fascinated with A Certain Ratio for some time now (without actively seeking them out) as they got their name from one of my favourite Brian Eno songs: The True Wheel, from Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy).

Oldest Item
CD: Pin-Ups by David Bowie. £9.98
Added on 18th September 2000.
Lord Bowie's album of cover versions from the mid-1970s. Featuring Twiggy on the front cover, she looks remarkably like him, or vice versa. At some point I've owned all of Dame David's work but this is, I think, the one album that I've never got hold of.

Cheapest Item
DVD: Buster Keaton - Vol. 2. £2.99.
Added on 16th August 2005.
There are a slew of Buster Keaton DVDs on my Wishlist. This one just happens to be the cheapest. This is the sort of stuff to show to those empty-headed sorts who think that just because something is old, black-and-white and silent, it must be rubbish.

Most Expensive Item
Creative Zen Vision:M - 60Gb Multimedia Player. £159.99.
Added on 15th January 2007.
Drool. I want one badly. I listed this at the beginning of the year when it cost around £199. The price has dropped by almost 20% since then, but I've still not been able to justify buying it for myself, not with a new house to decorate, etc. Anyway, this is the MP3 player of my choice. Byte-for-byte, it's cheaper than the iPod and you're not locked in to using a single media format and installing iTunes. And I think it's prettier too.

Highest Priority
DVD: The Nightingales - The Complete Series. £7.97.
Added on 13th December 2006.
A fantastic, rarely seen sitcom from 1990 and 1993. A dark work of comic genius (one of the four main characters was a dead body) set in a Beckett/Pinter influenced universe inhabited by werewolves, gorillas and Christmas allegories.

Lowest Priority
DVD: Law and Order - Series 4. £20.48.
Added on 27th June 2006.
Law and Order is supposed to be great. But I've not yet watched Series 1 and series 2 and 3 are on the wishlist, so this one is at the bottom of the pile.

Most Recent Item NOT Added to Wishlist
CD: Eternal Nightcap by The Whitlams.
Not added on 20th August 2007.
This album was recommended to me by a good friend and I fully intended to add it to my Wishlist. But then I noticed the 4-6 weeks delivery time quoted by Amazon. So I ordered it from one of the Marketplace sellers instead. Should be 5 days delivery from California and then I can see what the fuss is about...

4 comments:

Chris said...

But PT, it's your highest priority, it's been there since last December and it costs a measly £7 something. I didn't think even you were that hard up!

Oh well, OK then, you've hooked me. Just popping over to Amazon to get it removed from your wishlist.

Happy birthday!!!!!

petercmoore said...

Blimey! You're not supposed to tell me! Now I won't be surprised when I open my pressies...!!! :-)

Thank you very much indeedy-do!

Chris said...

BTW, I noticed The Queen is on your list. You can have my copy if you want.

Chris said...

Perhaps you'll have a surprise as well!!!!!

(or perhaps you won't)