Are you coming down to the wire with your holiday shopping?

One thing to always keep in mind, particularly for last minute gifts or gifts you can bring when visiting someone or going to a party, is gifts of food. Thing of stuff that’s unique and interesting that people will love but won’t necessarily buy for themselves.

As pointed out in our “For Her” gift guide, Macaroons are hot this year:

Move over, Cupcake! Make room for Macaroons!

Trendy and delicious, fancy and French macaroons are one of those little luxuries which are so hot right now. They also look like little works of art. Making them can be fun but receiving a beautiful box from Paris – even better! Fauchon macaroons are just one special way to give this diabolical treat! Saveurdujour, Danny Macaroons and Macaroncafe are also great places from which to order.

It’s obviously too late to order online, so you’ll have to rely on Google and find some in your area. But as you can see from the beautiful photo above, Macaroons look great, and most women appreciate beauty. They taste great as well, so this gift can compliment the other stuff you have in mind.

Earlier this morning, Microsoft made waves by announcing that it would be pulling out of the Consumer Electronics Show. The announcement was made by Frank Shaw, Microsoft’s head of communications, on the company blog. CEA, the organization that runs CES, claims the opposite, that they chose to give Microsoft the boot. In any case, this is a pretty serious blow to the trade show, and it points to the growing sentiment that trade shows have lost their relevance. As I’m sure some of you remember, Apple did essentially the same thing when it backed out of MacWorld in 2008.

Really, it doesn’t much matter who dropped whom; the end result is the same. CES just took a huge hit, and it’s a hit the CEA should have seen coming. For my part, I’m willing to bet Microsoft backed out. As the company stated, their product releases haven’t lined up with CES keynotes, which is certainly true. There was this other company that held its own keynotes for major product releases, where it would show off finalized versions of products that were ready to ship the same day. You know, that company with the second largest market cap in the world. I’m sure you know who I’m talking about.

Also, as the CEA, why kick Microsoft off the keynote? Who will take their place? Remember, this is the CES. This isn’t a developer’s conference. There won’t be major web properties making keynotes for CES. So who fills Microsoft’s space? More importantly, who forks over the cash to do so knowing the CEA may give them the boot next year? No one. That’s who.

If anything, Microsoft is trying to take control of its hype cycle, in exactly the same way Steve Jobs took control of Apple’s. There is one key difference – the products. Microsoft hasn’t gotten into the hardware game, which makes a product keynote much duller than the Apple counterpart. So much of Apple’s product launch success is tied into showing off a complete product. Microsoft can’t do that, at least not without the help of manufacturers, and manufacturer issues remain a huge source of complaint against Microsoft products. Still, I think moving to Microsoft-sponsored events gives the company a chance to more closely connect with its own fanbase, which Microsoft could really use.

The idea that the CEA would kick Microsoft just makes no sense. Trade shows have been losing traction for years. The last thing the CES needs is a disappearing act from one of the biggest draws for the show.

As 2011 rapidly winds to a close, it’s easy to fall back on lists as a way to fill columns – indeed, as a TV critic, it’s my God-given right – but HBO’s announcement this week that it was cleaning house and cancelling “Hung,” “Bored to Death,” and “How to Make It in America” served to convince me that I needed to discuss a number of now-defunct series that lost their bid for continued existence during the course of this year. I’m not talking about shows like “Friday Night Lights,” which had an end-game in sight and wrapped on their own terms. I’m talking about series that effectively had the rug ripped out from under their feet. Believe me, there were a bunch…and I’m still kind of pissed about quite a few of them.

After seven seasons on the air and surviving a switch between networks (from NBC to CBS), it’s hard to say that “Medium” didn’t live a good, long life. With that said, however, the show had continued to find new ways to keep things interesting, and with the trio of DuBois daughters growing up and getting their own storylines almost as often as their mom. As such, Allison, Joe, and the gang could’ve easily kept going for another few seasons without any complaints from me.

Am I going to try to defend my enjoyment of this show? No, I am not, because there’s no point in wasting your time or mine. You may not have thought it was very funny, and if you didn’t, that would be your right. I, however, did. And I still miss it.

There’s nothing I dislike more than a series that doesn’t know when to leave good enough alone, and for my part, I don’t know why they felt the need to change the formula and kick Skeet Ulrich‘s character to the curb. Sorry, did I say “curb”? I meant “grave,” of course. Not that there’s anything wrong with giving an actor of Alfred Molina’s caliber a more substantial role, but to do so in midseason can’t have pleased the existing viewership very much. Truth be told, I’d rather they’d just kept the original “Law & Order” around, but in its absence, this was a nice substitute, and it sucks that it never had a chance to really spread its wings.

When it comes to casualties in the alien-invasion field, I can accept the cancellation of “V” a bit more than that of “The Event,” if only because it was a minor surprise that it made it to a second season in the first place. And if I’m to be honest, I’m not really surprised that NBC couldn’t be bothered to give “The Event” a shot at a sophomore year, since they probably figured it’d only let them down the way “Heroes” did. But whereas “Heroes” really dropped the ball in its second year, I felt like “The Event” had a better chance of upping the ante. Guess I’ll never know for sure.

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Although described on its cover as “a chronicle of Paul McCartney’s cathartic journey through New York City in the aftermath of 9/11,” one doesn’t necessarily see a great deal of catharsis going on in “The Love We Make,” which originally aired on Showtime earlier this year. Granted, it’s easily arguable that the effects are internal, but the truth of the matter is that the majority of what we see can best be classified in two ways: the bits where McCartney hangs out with famous people, and the bits where average Americans are beside themselves about the fact that they’ve just had a close encounter with an actual, honest to God Beatle.

There’s nothing intrinsically wrong with either of these things: it’s kind of amusing to see someone walking down the street and suddenly realize that they’re looking at Paul McCartney, and, truth be told, it’s also entertaining to be a fly on the wall when celebrities are in conversation with each other, particularly if – as is the case here – they slip into a casual familiarity that’s rarely on display when they’re being interviewed. But the film’s co-director, Albert Maysles, suggests that McCartney’s intent with “The Love You Make” was to use music to bring relief to those who were impacted by the 9/11 attacks and honor those who lost their lives in their efforts to save lives, and while that’s fair enough, the end result would be a lot more entertaining if it wasn’t presented in such a pretentious fashion. I mean, a photo of the State of Liberty on the cover? Really, Paul…? No one’s trying to suggest that you didn’t have good intentions by sticking around NYC in the wake of the attacks and trying to raise people’s spirits, but c’mon…

Although “The Love We Make” isn’t nearly as profound as its presentation tries to make you think it is, McCartney fans will still enjoy the film if they take it simply as – Beatles reference utterly intentional – a day in the life of their hero. We see him practice with his band and watch him do a few interviews, including an appearance on Howard Stern’s show. (Pre-interview, he encounters fellow Stern guest Ozzy Osbourne for what is, amazingly enough, the first meeting between the two rock icons; post-interview, McCartney seems shocked that Stern asked him if he’d ever had sex with a black woman, confirming conclusively that, although he may have been aware of Stern, he clearly hadn’t listened to him very much.) Later, we see Sir Paul dismiss a passerby who tries to get plane fare out of him and watch him get annoyed by autograph seekers who refuse to stop following his limo. There’s also a great moment when McCartney is clearly in no way as excited to hear about the Beatles cover band The Fab Faux as one of its members, Will Lee, is to tell him about it.

Is “The Love We Make” worth seeing? It is if you’re a fan of Paul McCartney. Even then, though, keep your expectations realistic. Just because the man has good intentions doesn’t mean that the end result is always going to be a career highlight…and if you don’t believe me, you need only listen to his song “Freedom,” which he offers up as the grand finale of his performance at the Concert for New York. God bless him for trying to raise everyone’s spirits, but the song’s pretty terrible.

Don’t worry, though: “The Love We Make” is better. At least a bit, anyway.

It’s as if they invited the dark, brooding 19-year-old versions of ourselves into the pitch room.

“So, we’re launching a new line of high-end earbuds. What should the design look like?”
“Like we have bullets in our head, ’cause death is cool.” (*puts on old, clunky headphones with broken foam covers, resumes listening to the Smiths’ Hatful of Hollow*)

The truth is, we would have loved Minutio’s Billets 9mm earphones regardless of how they sounded, because that bullet casing design is so damn cool. As it stands, these things are like listening to music in space. The noise cancellation, for starters, is uncanny. We didn’t hear the doorbell or the phone while listening to music – quietly, we might add – and each is only 15 feet away. The fullness of the sound is unlike any pair of earbuds we’ve ever tried, though to be honest nearly every pair of earbuds we’ve tried before these sounded like styrofoam. The entire package comes equipped with replacement buds as well, and in three different sizes in the event that the default size isn’t a perfect fit for your ears. There is a hard black vinyl case to store the earbuds when not in use, and they even included optional earhooks should you require them. Best of all, there is a built-in microphone, making these ideal for cell phones, web conferencing, and they are certainly killer for online gaming. (They have a sponsorship tie-in with Call of Duty, but these earphones are not made for console gaming.)

One thing to consider with these headphones is that the noise cancellation is really, really good, as in you might not hear the car horn, or the whistle, or whatever noise that would otherwise warn you that you’re about to get hit by a bus. In other words, wearing these while biking or rollerblading could be risky, and we’d definitely only use one bud when taking phone calls while behind the wheel (assuming that’s legal where you live, of course). If you have an audiophile in your life with a warped sense of humor (don’t they all?), these Billets 9mm headphones will speak to both their grown-up selves and the inner teen that still lurks beneath the surface.

Click here to listen to Cheap Girls on Spotify

Welcome to a new column at the Bullz-Eye Blog, where we write mash notes to a singer or band that gets us excited about music, which we admit is increasingly hard to do in this age of Auto-bots (see what we did there?), famewhores, and teen-driven dreck. Our first love letter goes to three guys from Lansing who clearly love the pop as much as the rock, and remember when both used to live together in sweet, sweet harmony.

Yes, they look like the Geek Squad staff at the nearest Best Buy, don’t judge this book by its cover – these guys bring it, dude.

The band drops their third album Giant Orange February 21. They recruited Against Me! frontman Tom Gabel to produce, and if the first single “Ruby” is any indication, Cheap Girls are primed to become the next Sugar, deftly blending the crunching guitars with the unaffected, straightforward vocal. More bands like this, please.

Ruby by CheapGirls

Do you ever just pick something up because it looks cool? I couldn’t even tell you the last time I did, but when the cruZer products from Braun arrived in the mail, I had to play with them because they just looked cool.

The cruZer line is a series of shaving devices created to express the diverse personalities of the men who use them. Your facial hair and body style express your own personality and attitude, and the cruZer line was designed to “underline your personal style.” And how does Braun plan on doing that? Unparalleled versatility.

I received two electric shavers from Braun: the CruZer6 Face and the CruZer Beard & Head Trimmer.

The CruZer6 Face electric razor is marketed as a 3-in-1 shaver, styler and trimmer, and it really was each of those, not just slick marketing. Its primary function is to shave your face, but even if you rock a goatee or Fu Manchu, you could still use it to touch up existing facial hair. The Trimming Comb is a plastic sheath that fits over the head of the shaver that you can adjust to four different lengths, which makes it ideal to trim and maintain a beard or other type of facial hair.

Another feature that speaks to the versatility of the CruZer6 is the Twistable Trimmer on the back side. The trimmer has long been a staple of an electric shaver, but unfortunately, its lack of adjustability is also well known. Not only does the CruZer6 trimmer extend out from the base of the shaver to give you an additional couple inches to work with, it also has two different sizes of trimmer head — narrow and wide. Instead of adjusting your style to fit the function of the razor, the CruZer6 adjust to the needs of the user and provides additional flexibility that other electric razors don’t. In a pinch, you could even use the CruZer6 to shave and manscape or trim any other body hair because it is so versatile.

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If you look at the 2012 Super Bowl lines, the NFC has been a heavy favorite with the dominance of the Green Bay Packers this season. With Aaron Rodgers having an amazing season, the Packers had all the momentum as they were plowing towards a potential undefeated season.

This weekend they hit a pretty big speed bump in the form of interim head coach Romeo Crennel and the Kansas City Chiefs. The Chiefs have had a miserable season, starting the year with high expectations following a successful 2010 campaign. Ravaged by injuries and squabbles between the head coach and the GM, the Chiefs have been a mess all season.

But they have talent on defense, and now they have a solid quarterback in Kyle Orton to ride out the season, and Green Bay found out how difficult it is to go undefeated in the NFL.

But was this just a speed bump, or did the Chiefs expose some problems with the Packers? Aaron Rodgers is a stud and all the pundits were crowning him the king of quarterbacks even while others like Tom Brady and Drew Brees were also carving up defenses with the new rules. But Green Bay now has a problem on the offensive line with backup tackle Derek Sherrod breaking his leg and starter Bryan Bulaga getting an MRI today for a sprained knee. Aaron Rodgers may be great, but he’ll come back down to Earth if other teams can get pressure on him with four lineman like the Chiefs did yesterday. Just ask Tom Brady about his last Super Bowl appearance.

Speaking of Brady, he gave a lesson to young Tim Tebow yesterday as the Patriots spanked the upstart Broncos. The Patriots and Steelers look like the class of the AFC after the Houston Texans and the Baltimore Colts failed to show up yesterday, but the Steelers have a tough road game tonight in San Francisco with Ben Roethlisberger trying to play on a gimpy ankle.

Back to the NFC, Drew Brees put on a show yesterday. For all the talk about Aaron Rodgers this season, Brees is poised to break Dan Marino’s record for most passing yards in a season. We also have two rookies this season with over 3,000 yards, so anyone trying to tell you Aaron Rodgers is having the best season for a QB in NFL history needs to put this in context. By holding back hits on receivers and quarterbacks, the NFL has turned this into something resembling arena football. Stats are inflated.

That said, it’s still shaping up to be a Green Bay/New Orleans shootout on the NFC side. Should be fun to watch.