SMV 2016: HSQB's Secret Santa - Send Those Gifts!

RexSueciae · Post by **RexSueciae** » Tue Nov 29, 2016 1:45 am

W. H. Auden wrote: One should not give a poisoner medicine,
A conjurer fine apparatus, nor
A rifle to a melancholic bore.

This is our tenth year of "Secret Santa," renamed after everyone's favorite formerly really angry quiz bowler.

(For those of us who aren't dinosaurs, the original title of that acronym is "Secret Mount Vinokurov." There, you learnt something today.)

This is open to everyone on the forums. If you're under 18, get your parent(s)/guardian(s)'s permission to participate.

There are only three rules:

* Buy your partner a gift, preferably costing no more than $20. Make sure it's a good present; "comedy" bad presents are, almost always, just terrible presents.
* If you sign up, give your partner a gift. Failure to do so will result in open mocking of you.
* Don't give your partner an inappropriate gift. This is a site that is, in large part, aimed towards high schoolers. Don't be stupid.

When you sign up, include 3 to 5 presents you'd like - I'm going to advise that you be somewhat general with this. "Video games" isn't too useful; "PS4 games" is better; "PS4 action RPGs" is also better. I'd say "Fallout 4" is less than optimal, because of possible issues with this and the lack of creativity for which it allows.

If, for some reason, you don't want to be partnered with a person you really don't like, email me about it (don't post, unless you really want to draw attention to yourself). My email is listed in my forum profile, click the button to send me a message.

FOR EASE OF USE: Use the following template to sign up!

Name:
Email:
Present requests:

So, for example:

Name: Henry V
Email: [email protected]
Present requests:
1) The city of Harfleur's prompt surrender
2) A Muse of fire, that would ascend / The brightest heaven of invention
3) Extra fingers

In the style of years past, if you would like to share a funny holidaytide story while making your post, you are free to do so (though not required by any means). Alternately, you could write a brief verse on holidays, in the manner of some respectable poet. This is currently in the high school section, so keep that in mind.

Signups will be open until ~~December 10th 11:59 PM~~ December 11th 11:59 EST, following which assignments will be emailed and you'll have two weeks to purchase and send a gift before the 25th.

That's it! Happy Holidays/Merry Christmas/Happy Hannukah/Happy Kwanzaa/Happy Festivus/Happy Decemberween!

Charbroil · Post by **Charbroil** » Tue Nov 29, 2016 2:26 am

Name: Charles Hang
Email: [email protected]
Present requests: I'd enjoy a book that my gift giver feels has really changed his or her life.

Or, if that's too personal, tennis gear would be fine too. I'd enjoy a short sleeve tennis polo (XL or XXL) or some tennis balls.

A holiday haiku:

Tennis is great, but
My ankles always hurt now.
Painful Thanksgiving

Mike Bentley · Post by **Mike Bentley** » Wed Nov 30, 2016 2:28 pm

Name: Mike Bentley
Email: [email protected]
Present requests: I enjoy posters and jigsaw puzzles based on famous works of art. I'd also be cool with any book from https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertai ... 3c5d931864 except for the Romanovs, which I've already read. Or really any newish book on history or art you'd think I might be interested in.

women, fire and dangerous things · Wed Nov 30, 2016 5:04 pm

Charbroil wrote:or some tennis balls.

Henry V would also delighted to receive a gift of tennis balls, I assume.

Aaron's Rod · Post by **Aaron's Rod** » Fri Dec 02, 2016 9:46 pm

Every year I have regretted not doing this sooooo

Name: Alex Damisch
Email: alexandra.damisch at gmail.com
Present requests:
1. Something readable on feminist/queer/leftist theory, as I am well-versed in Internet Discourse™ but not actual discourse
2. Unusual candy or sweet things of any kind, especially non-Midwest regional (except Pocky because I know you can do better than that)
3. But actually my #1 gift request, burn me a CD of different songs/pieces/etc. you think more people should listen to. Or guilty pleasures, or some local ska band you really like, or whatever. As long as it's neither top 40 nor something ridiculously canonical like Beethoven's 5th I'd be interested in hearing it.

Peter13 · Post by **Peter13** » Sun Dec 04, 2016 11:42 pm

I really enjoyed participating last year, and though I was nervous about my gift, it was really good! (Shout out again to Nick for the gift last year!)

Name: Peter Cordeiro
Email: [email protected]
Present requests:

1. Again, I would like some fiction or non-fiction works that are about or relate to a recent revolution, however defined (As an example, I got Days of God last year, which I really enjoyed.)
2. I am really right now into personal finance books, specifically guides that dealing with index funds / passive investing, but anything regarding finance will do. If you do choose this, try to make the book at a sort of intermediate level (and make sure it is applicable to Canadians, or more preferably, from a Canadian perspective).
3. If you are really stuck on the first two, just give me a trivia book or academic work of literature (classic, Booker Prize winner, etc.). If worse come to worse and I don't like it, I can always give it away to someone else or as a book prize.

Post by **Auks Ran Ova** » Mon Dec 05, 2016 11:23 am

This is always fun!

Name: Rob Carson
Email: [email protected]
Present requests:
1. Anything on the first page of this list other than Orientalism
2. Movies! Blu-rays preferred; anything in the general area of action/thriller/heist/caper/noir is usually a pretty safe bet, as are (good) westerns and (good) comedies.
3. Interesting or unusual food or drink items (alcoholic or otherwise), especially non-north-midwestern local specialties. Please do not send me Malort.

Post by **Kouign Amann** » Mon Dec 05, 2016 2:39 pm

Name: Aidan Mehigan
Email: [email protected]
Present requests:
1. A book on (some aspect of) American religious history.
2. A book on some aspect of architectural history. The more niche/specific/weird, the better.
3. A "thought-provoking" indie game (I think I still have a Steam account). For the past few years, I haven't played as many games as I did when I was a kid, but whenever I've picked up something like Braid, Papers, Please, etc, I've been pretty happy. The shorter and artier, the better.

Aaron's Rod · Post by **Aaron's Rod** » Mon Dec 05, 2016 8:53 pm

Auks Ran Ova wrote:Please do not send me Malort.

I guess Conan O'Brien really DOES hate my homeland.

1992 in spaceflight · Post by **1992 in spaceflight** » Tue Dec 06, 2016 3:21 am

Name: Jacob O'Rourke
Email: jacob.orourke.7 at gmail.com
Present Requests:
1. Any book that I have on this list. Or alternatively, any book you think I should read.
2. Any movie on this list (other than The Shining and Lawrence of Arabia, as I already own them).
3. Any album you think I should listen to (you should feel free to ask me if I have it already, though).

merv1618 · Post by **merv1618** » Tue Dec 06, 2016 7:22 pm

Adam Sperber
merv1618 at gmail dot com

Requests:
1) Music; I love modern folk but won't say no to anything you enjoy, unless it's the Kinks or Bolero.
2) Biographies of interesting people
3) Movies, specifically acclaimed comedies; I'm already well acquainted with Woody Allen, Mel Brooks, and the Marx Brothers. No Strangelove.
4) I'll echo what Rob said about unusual foodstuffs. I love me some good unique eats.

Good Goblin Housekeeping · Tue Dec 06, 2016 10:04 pm

Auks Ran Ova wrote: Please do not send me Malort.

RexSueciae · Post by **RexSueciae** » Sun Dec 11, 2016 12:12 am

Right, so we have 8 people so far, which is...less than a third of last year. But it's also December 10th.

I'm going to extend the deadline by one day, so if anybody wants to jump in at the last minute you've now got an additional 24 hours to do so. Also, I'm going to start emailing everyone currently registered asking for your mailing address for Santa purposes. (If the email is not in your inbox right now, check your spam folder.) Target assignments will be given after everybody registers tomorrow night or whenever.

naturalistic phallacy · Sun Dec 11, 2016 12:36 am

Why not.

Bernadette Spencer
[email protected]

1. Fun foods
2. Wool socks of hilarious design
3. Surprising true crime books.

Alejandro · Post by **Alejandro** » Sun Dec 11, 2016 6:09 am

Alejandro Lopez-Lago
alopezlago [at] hmc . edu

Present requests:
1) A cooperative boardgame that can be played with just 2 people.
2) An indie game for PC; preferably something from the last year since I haven't kept up with what's out there
3) Some book on computer history or computer security history. Approaching Zero is a good example.

Urech hydantoin synthesis · Sun Dec 11, 2016 11:15 am

Name: Ben Zhang
Email: [email protected]
Present requests:
1) Something that seems challenging from http://www.fascinations.com/metalearth, except for the Titanic and the UNSC Mantis.
2) Something that packets a lot of utility in a small space. Things I'm thinking of include Swiss Army knives, multitools, credit card knives, multitool phonecases, or this weird penlike gadget I have which is simultaneously a screwdriver set, flashlight, and spirit level.
3) A book something along the lines of What If?, Thing Explainer, or Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments (but not any of those).

The Stately Rhododendron · Sun Dec 11, 2016 2:33 pm

Isaac Kirk-Davidoff
firstname.lastname [at] yale.edu
1: Anything R.E.M. (the band, not the stage of sleep) related, preferably live sets/bootlegs
2: Tchotchkes, Tchotchkes and more Tchotchkes
3: Palinka
4: A contemporary novel dealing with landscape and/or emotion.

AKKOLADE · Post by **AKKOLADE** » Sun Dec 11, 2016 3:16 pm

Fred Morlan
[email protected]

1) An audiobook of a recent good piece of fiction. I haven't had a chance to read anything good in awhile, probably won't soon, but would love the opportunity to do so. And I've never done an audiobook before so, hey, what the hell.
2) A board or card game.
3) A movie that's laughably bad. MST3k/Rifftrax are acceptable.

west neg, new york · Post by **west neg, new york** » Sun Dec 11, 2016 6:07 pm

Sure, why not?

Name: Robert Chu
Email: rofchu [at] gmail [dot] com
Present requests:
1) A book about painting, film, or classical music (but not The Rest is Noise)
2) A poster/piece of wall art that is also an infographic (something similar to this coffee poster)
3) A CD album by a (good) band whose Youtube channel has no videos with >50k views

Golran · Post by **Golran** » Sun Dec 11, 2016 8:48 pm

I've done this before and enjoyed it, so why not?

Name: Ian Drayer
Email: Golran -at- g.ucla.edu

Present Requests:
1) A cool/fun board game for 2-6 players. At this point I've got very few beyond Scrabble, Monopoly, Sorry!, Trouble etc., and would like to get a more mature collection.
2) A book that outlines interesting and/or monumental court cases briefly (I've now got the attention span of a goldfish, so 3-5 page summaries of cases that I can pick up and put down is ideal).
3) An interesting tchotchke or page a day 2017 calendar for my desk to make my office environment a little more interesting.

Tejas · Post by **Tejas** » Sun Dec 11, 2016 9:00 pm

Tejas Raje
[email protected]

1. Any of the world history books from this list

2. A novel by an Indian author that's not Midnight's Children.

Bosa of York · Post by **Bosa of York** » Sun Dec 11, 2016 9:14 pm

Name: Eric Wolfsberg
Email: [email protected]

1: A book from or about Medieval Europe (history, literature, art, or anything else).

2: A book about music that isn't Lives of the Great Composers.

3: Something underrated.

Dantooine is Big! · Post by **Dantooine is Big!** » Sun Dec 11, 2016 10:17 pm

Name: Young Fenimore Lee
Email: [email protected]
Present requests:

- Classic rock, alt rock, indie rock, or jazz album vinyls. Sleeve required. LP optional. Specific artists I would like (don't judge): Brand New, Taking Back Sunday, Car Seat Headrest, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Animal Collective, Gorillaz, Radiohead, Green Day, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Wayne Shorter, Cannonball Adderley, Coltrane, Herbie Hancock, Parker, Bill Evans. Any great jazz or classic/alt/indie rock albums that you like will do, though.

- A notable book of philosophy by a notable 20th century philosopher. Any Michel Foucault will do. I'm interested in Paul Feyerabend, Karl Popper, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and WVO Quince*. This can also be a collection of essays, or something to that effect.

- A work of Spanish language literature. This can be from any era or country. Something other than Cien años de soledad, El amor en los tiempos del cólera, or Don Quijote de la Mancha would be appreciated.

Happy holidays!

*error intentional

EDIT: Another thing, on a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit (it was on the way home from a school AP Euro History trip, except the flight schedule got messed up so we couldn't go directly back to Chicago) I watched a Spanish film called Stockholm directed by Rodrigo Sorogoyen. I really liked the film, and wish I could watch it again. I can't find a copy for purchase anywhere online, though. RIP any film that's good and is sorta like that one will do.

Thaumatibis gigantea · Sun Dec 11, 2016 11:01 pm

Name: Rebecca Rosenthal
Email: rebecca.the.rosenthal[at gmail dot com]
Present requests:
1. Books. Good bets include fun novels, art history, biology or anything with a lot of pretty pictures. Not anything in physics, chemistry or math, please.
2. I collect postcards and iron-on patches/pins/other gift shop tchotchkes, so if you have an exciting museum or historic site nearby, these are good options.
3. If you live outside of the NYC or Philadelphia areas, a representative non-perishable food of your region. I also like pretty much any chocolate.
Or surprise me with something cool (book, CD or DVD, desk tchotchke etc.) you enjoy and tell me why.

hildebrand of sovana · Sun Dec 11, 2016 11:18 pm

Name: Zack Stier
Email: [email protected]
Present requests:
• a movie that you enjoy, and potentially one you feel is generally underrated
• books, in particular in any of the varieties novels / math / history

Fado Alexandrino · Post by **Fado Alexandrino** » Mon Dec 12, 2016 12:21 am

Name: Joe Su
Email: [email protected]

Wish A: a board/card game of some sort, with relatively short playing time, that's not Coup, because I already received that as a Secret Santa this year.
Wish B: a piece of academically nerdy apparel
Wish C: a desk ornament for my office desk, which currently only consists of two screens, a pile of papers, a pile of packets, and a small poster of a beach.

Story: None

Caveat: I might overshoot the budget by lets say, 1.31 times

RexSueciae · Post by **RexSueciae** » Mon Dec 12, 2016 2:30 am

If anybody's signed up and hasn't gotten an email from me asking for your mailing address, let me know!

You will receive your assignment once I get addresses from, like, four people, including some whom I've just emailed.

RexSueciae · Post by **RexSueciae** » Mon Dec 12, 2016 11:57 pm

Assignments will be going out no later than tomorrow, 6PM. That's after an exam I'm taking, for which I am currently studying. Best of luck to anybody out there who's in a similar situation.

RexSueciae · Post by **RexSueciae** » Tue Dec 13, 2016 6:30 pm

All twenty-one of you ought to have received an email titled "Your SMV Partner" fairly recently. I have begun to undergo semantic satiation from sending these emails by hand.

Go wild! Find a thing and mail it. Or email it, I guess, it's the 21st century. Exercise your radical freedom!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwnyIOoL-LM

1992 in spaceflight · Post by **1992 in spaceflight** » Tue Dec 13, 2016 7:32 pm

My gift has been ordered and will arrive on December 15th.

Bosa of York · Post by **Bosa of York** » Tue Dec 13, 2016 8:27 pm

I just ordered my gift; it should arrive the 16th.

Peter13 · Post by **Peter13** » Wed Dec 14, 2016 3:28 am

My gift has been ordered, and will arrive sometime in the next couple weeks (December 23rd to 30th).

Thaumatibis gigantea · Wed Dec 14, 2016 12:13 pm

Mine should arrive by December 21.

The Stately Rhododendron · Wed Dec 14, 2016 12:25 pm

Just ordered mine. Will arrive by Christmas Eve. It's not hand made, so Andrew Hart can rest assured that his collage of North Korean movie scenes remains one of a kind.

west neg, new york · Post by **west neg, new york** » Wed Dec 14, 2016 5:23 pm

Just ordered my gift. Should arrive sometime between the 19th-28th.

Bosa of York · Post by **Bosa of York** » Wed Dec 14, 2016 10:47 pm

Xochicuicatl Cuecuechtli wrote:I just ordered my gift; it should arrive the 16th.

Make that the 19th.

Alejandro · Post by **Alejandro** » Thu Dec 15, 2016 5:02 am

I've sent mine out, and it should arrive in a couple days.

Mike Bentley · Post by **Mike Bentley** » Thu Dec 15, 2016 2:07 pm

Mine has been ordered and should arrive on Saturday.

Golran · Post by **Golran** » Thu Dec 15, 2016 9:39 pm

Just ordered, should get there by Saturday!

Charbroil · Post by **Charbroil** » Fri Dec 16, 2016 12:24 am

My gift should get to its recipient by next Tuesday (the 20th).

merv1618 · Post by **merv1618** » Fri Dec 16, 2016 12:26 am

Mine'll be there in the early December 20s

Tejas · Post by **Tejas** » Fri Dec 16, 2016 12:34 pm

I sent my gift, should be there sometime next week.

Charbroil · Post by **Charbroil** » Fri Dec 16, 2016 11:54 pm

Thank you to whoever sent me copies of Brideshead Revisited and To the Lighthouse!

Post by **Kouign Amann** » Sat Dec 17, 2016 4:46 am

Charbroil wrote:Thank you to whoever sent me copies of Brideshead Revisited and To the Lighthouse!

That was me—hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

Aaron's Rod · Post by **Aaron's Rod** » Sat Dec 17, 2016 5:23 pm

I just shipped mine; should be there in 2-3 business days.

Bosa of York · Post by **Bosa of York** » Sun Dec 18, 2016 2:31 am

My thanks to Tejas Raje for the copy of Reconquest and Crusade in Medieval Spain. Something having to do with Muslim history was my super-secret/not included out of fear of having two similar requests wish, and I'm glad my gift serendipitously fulfilled it.

Alejandro · Post by **Alejandro** » Sun Dec 18, 2016 4:14 am

My gift has been delayed for a few days due to weather.

Post by **Kouign Amann** » Mon Dec 19, 2016 5:23 pm

Big thanks to Jacob O'Rourke for Sydney Ahlstrom's A Religious History of the American People, which looks as enjoyable as it is immense!

Tejas · Post by **Tejas** » Mon Dec 19, 2016 7:41 pm

I got The Burdens of Brotherhood from Ian Drayer. Looking forward to it, thanks!

1992 in spaceflight · Post by **1992 in spaceflight** » Mon Dec 19, 2016 8:07 pm

Thanks to Alejandro Lopez-Lago for North by Northwest and Network. I look forward to watching these soon!