Fear not, weary shoppers.
If you're sill looking for last-minute gifts for those -- let's face it ... marginal -- people on your holiday gift list, maybe this week's installment of OnMilwaukee.com Recommends will get you off the schneid in time for the Big Guy's arrival.
Cutting yourself some slack this holiday season -- If you are feeling smothered by the season, allow yourself to take something off your plate. I botched five batches of cookies this year, and just didn't have it in me to remake them, even though I had committed to my mother-in-law's cookie exchange. After a few days of living with gnawing guilt, I bailed on the cookie exchange. I was honest and apologetic, and almost immediately I felt the stress melt away like butter. I told a friend about this, and she said she was doing the same thing with Christmas cards this year. She just wasn't going to send them out because she felt too stressed out by so many other things. We decided it's OK to say, "not this year." So, consider this a permission slip for you to take something off your holiday list that's weighing you down. I highly recommend it. -- Molly Snyder Edler
"SnagFilms" -- Everybody loves movies. And everybody loves free stuff. By that deduction, this is one of the greatest things ever: free movies. Snagfilms is Web site that offers a bevy of feature length and short documentaries for free. All the films are submitted to the site by the filmmakers and, after making it through a judging process of sorts, they are posted for the masses to stream and watch. The movies are divided into categories, such as history, politics, health, music, sports and more. Here's to the never-ending supply of entertainment and education online. -- Julie Lawrence
"Reel 13" on PBS -- Every Saturday night, PBS airs its own version of On Demand. It has scheduled a classic and an indie film but adds in a short picked by you! Yep, all week long, you can log onto the Reel 13 Web site and see two shorts pitted against one another, boxing style, for the top honor of a nationwide audience. Classics range from "The Pink Panther" to "An Affair to Remember" while indies bring to light "Adaptation" and "In the Mood for Love." Last but not least though, the choice of short is left completely up to you. This week, "The Last Cigarette" edged out "The Looney in the Straight Jacket: Part II" and "The Lincoln Library of Essential Information Volume 20." -- Maureen Post
Mitchell and Ness Hardwood Classics -- Mitchell and Ness has been making sports jerseys and apparel since 1904. The company specializes in "old school" and "throwbacks" now, but all of their stuff is fine quality. Check out the entire inventory of Bucks stuff. I just picked up a Hardwood Classics Bucks jacket and I love it. -- Jeff Sherman
The Modern Era of the Les Paul Legacy: 1968-2009" -- Coming on the heels of the passing of the guitar whiz of Waukesha, this second volume of a two-book set feels perfectly timed. Guitar expert Robb Lawrence continues his chronicle of the amazing influence of Les Paul, as embodied by the Gibson solid body electric guitar that bears Paul's name. Starting with the rebirth of the Les Paul in 1968, Lawrence takes us on a tour of some amazing guitars -- Les Paul basses, hollow-body versions and more. He talks to guitarist like Warren Haynes and Slash, and to Gibson guitar designers and luthiers to offer what is certainly the most in-depth look at these most legendary of rock and roll guitars (along with the Tele and the Strat, of course). It's full of color pictures of some astonishingly beautiful guitars, details on the electronics and more than you'd ever thought to ask. Published in hardcover for $40 by Hal Leonard. -- Bobby Tanzilo
Rayovac USB battery charger -- Over the last year or so, I've started to use more rechargeable batteries in an effort to make sure my voice recorder, mouse, camera and the other assorted devices and toys in my work bag were always operating at full power. Though my charger is fairly small and easily portable, finding a power source isn't always possible. The Rayovac USB charger solves the problem. It charges two AA or AAA batteries at a crack -- usually pretty quickly -- and is small enough to toss into your bag or desk drawer without taking up valuable space. You can find it at just about any store; I got mine at Walmart (with two AAs) for just $6. -- Andrew Wagner
