I was going to post another edition of Gifts for Geeks, as I did in 2006 and 2007, but my heart's just not in it this year. I don't know if it's the global economic apocalypse, or what, but I'm having a hard time mustering the required level of enthusiasm for buying more stuff. There are still some great ideas in the previous year's lists, and honestly it's always fun to window shop if nothing else. But I think this year I'm going for something more modest, more befitting of the barren Road Warrior hellscape that's apparently bearing down on all of us.
Unless they rescanned everything this is probably a repackaged version of the Totally Mad collection from 1999. That came on 7 cds. That might be why the scan resolution is low. Also, I’d like to believe that the DRM freeness was a choice rather than the path of least resistance on slapping together this latest release.
Unless they rescanned everything this is probably a repackaged version of the Totally Mad collection from 1999
I owned that collection, too, but I rarely used it, because it required the aforementioned crazy software viewers.
The new collection is AWESOME because it’s simple PDF files I can read on almost any machine, at any time, anywhere.
Even if it is the same scanned Mad Magazine content (and it can’t quite be, because the DVD version includes issues newer than 1999), the packaging is so much better and simpler that it completely obsoletes the older version.
A crisis in consumer confidence is one factor precipitating this financial crisis, so I’m not sure why we should feel guilty about our consumerism this year over others. If anything, we should be buying as much as we usually do.
I listen to a podcast with Dick Debartolo, a writer for Mad Magazine for the last 42 years and has appeared in every issue since 1966.
He much prefers this collection to the old 7-disc collection since it runs on modern PC’s (the old one ran on Windows 95/98) and all fits on one disc.
My bet is that they scanned all these issues at an ultra-high resolution for archival purposes and then put lower resolution versions on the 1999 collection (and probably again for the pre-2000 content on this collection).
Are everyday people actually affected by the economic uncertainty? I don’t think so. I’ve yet to see ANYONE I know at work or in my family cut back or change spending habits. People still drop $10 per day on a lunch instead of bagging one and bringing it. People are doing the regular big christmas instead of realizing that it’s not about the presents.
So I say buy what you want and don’t hold back. No need to live within your means when no one has been up 'till now.
Economic uncertainty may be a phrase to describe something, but I’m certain that nothing’s changed for the common man.
@Chris - Dude, it’s called Mad Max, Road Warrior is the stupid American name.
Dood… those are two of my favorite movies! But I kind of like the subheading for sequals; ‘The Road Warrior’ just sounds more fun than ‘Mad Max 2’. Oh! Oh! and don’t forget the third one in the series: Mad Max Beyond Thunder Dome. There’s nothing finer than mid-80s Tina Turner in post-apacolyptic drag.