Merry Christmas

"Oh, the weather outside is weather..." - Kunu, Forgetting Sarah Marshall

I hope you're ready, because here it comes. Christmas is descending upon us like an ornery domesticated chimp. The fat man in the big red coat is out there, hopped up on god-knows-what, and he's ready to make The Deal. He knows what you're going to buy, and I've been studying his habits for the last few weeks, so I know too.

Everyone who doesn't already own a flat screen TV will buy one this year. This goes without saying. Call of Duty: Black Ops will fly off the shelves. The new Xbox Kinect, which for about the cost of a Wii turns your Xbox 360 into a Wii, will be the subject of many misguided purchasers - sadly, all but a few will remain in the original packaging. As usual some new toy will storm the shelves and be mostly out of stock causing widespread Ebay gouging. Not sure exactly what it will be, but I'm fairly certain it will be a combination of at least two these three things: Hamsters, Robots and the 80's. Do with that what you will.

The main thing that should be taken away from all of this is: we are in tough economic times, and expectations are deflated. The Bottom Line is that this Christmas season is going to be violently disappointing, but only to those with expectations in the commercial goods sector. LET ME BE CLEAR - you don't have to buy stuff this year. Save your money for February when everyone goes out of business.