Here is the latest version of Ben's wants list - edited for Santa and Christmas 2008
This is going to be a bit shorter than usual as my old wants list is quite out of date and I have a few things to figure out with my new formatting...Games (all for Xbox 360)
I'm really not fussed about my games being new - second hand is perfectly cool as long as they have the manuals... and they work!
- Gears of War #1 - about £13 from Play and £14 from Amazon;
- John Woo Presents: Stranglehold - about £7 from Play;
- Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil - about £6 from Play;
- Tomb Raider: Legend - about £9 from Play and £10 from Amazon;
- Quake 4 - about £10 from Play;
- Second Xbox 360 controller. It doesn't have to be official (such as this example) and I'm not even sure it needs to be wireless. It's just for when friends come over to kill things...
- 10m (or so) ethernet cable so I can use Xbox Live. Clearly I am not going to sort out wireless access any time soon so I need quite a long cable to reach my router and mess up the flat (the second aspect is just a secondary bonus)
Just in case it's useful, here is a quick list of the games I already have:
- Assassin's Creed;
- Bioshock;
- Call of Duty 4;
- Doom 3;
- Elder Scrolls IV - Oblivion;
- Half-Life 2 the Orange Box;
- Halo 2;
- Halo 3;
- Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter #1;
- Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas #1
Instruments
I quite fancy one of the new re-issued Stylophones. These cost about
£15 from
HMV and from Zavvi (no
online store at the moment but they should have them in shops). Other gadget
shops etc. also have them in stock.
Books
I've been told I am quite particular about my books. Ideally I like them to look "new" when they arrive... and new when I have read them (and re-read them, if possible). This has led to at least one leading independent bookshop in London coining the term "doing a Ben" to refer to someone who wants to buy a nice book in new condition and not a beaten up piece of crap with crushed corners, torn pages and large dents. Bastards.- "Baudolino" by Umberto Eco - ISBN 0436276038 - Amazon;
- "Battle Royale" by Koushun Takami - ISBN 0575080493 - Amazon;
- "Life's Lottery" by Kim Newman - ISBN 0684840162 - Amazon;
- "Scatterbrain Hardcover Collection" by Phil D. Amara (Editor), et al - ISBN 1569714266 - Amazon;
- Any of the three "Amphigorey" volumes by Edward Gorey - Amazon;
- "The Complete Far Side" by Gary Larson - ISBN 0740721135 - Amazon
Finally here are a couple of cheap-ish art book catalogues they had in stock at Bookthrift Kensington, next to South Ken tube (22 Thurloe Street). They are paperback so check for bent corners etc!
- Hiroshige and the Utagawa school: Japanese prints c.1810-1860
- Hokusai and his school: Japanese prints c.1800-1840
CDs and records
Oh I'll get back to this at some point properly. In the meantime I have thought of one glaring omission to my collection.
- "Cracker" by Cracker (also on occasion, wrongly referred to as "Cracker Brand") Amazon ;