How 2 d8 a str8: Gifting Edition

Happy Holidays, ladies! The weather outside is frightful, but not quite as frightful as the concept of shopping for other people. Why are gift guides for men so basic? Every year you’re trying to find something nice for your partner / brother / dad / co-worker, and every year without fail, you’re bombarded with the world's lamest gift guides, with what can only be described as loser energy. Wow, whiskey stones again. Wow, I’m sure every man will love that multi-tool that fits in your wallet. What’s happening here - is this all psyop by Big Whiskey Stones ™? Are we purposefully buying men bad gifts as a pathetic form of payback for centuries of patriarchy? I say, enough. Sometimes, men are okay, and it’s okay to show that with material goods! Happy Capitalism Season everyone, here’s the official Boshemia Boy Gift Guide TM. 

The Columbo Trench Coat

For years, male pop culture fashion has been dominated by the villains and the anti-heroes. The Tyler Durden red leather jacket, the Drive bomber jacket, the Chris Evans Knives Out Sweater. Enough. It’s 2022, let’s stop glamorising male villains, and start endorsing the fashionable heroes; and what’s more heroic than the Columbo Trench Coat. Yes, ACAB, but not Columbo — he’s nice! He’s definitely not one of the 40% of cops who beats his wife - he’s a historic wife guy! Get your guy a nice trench coat, start leaving clues around the house and enjoy a nice bowl of chilli together. 

Oh, just one more thing: this does not work with all Peter Falk characters. Do not get him the A Woman Under The Influence hat. 

Photography Classes

In 2023, let your guy get his creative juices flowing, and what better way for him to unleash his creativity than with some photography classes! These days, you don’t even need that HQ a camera — a smartphone is all you need! Gift him with the knowledge that to take a cute picture of your girlfriend, it helps if you know where she should be using the rule of thirds, and how to best adjust the white balance to make her pop. Maybe learn a little bit about angles so you can choose the best angle to photograph your beautiful girlfriend. With the gift of photography, the options are endless — you can take a picture of your girlfriend by a sunset, your girlfriend looking candid as she’s getting ready, your girlfriend looking adorable by a river. You can finally help her post thirst traps on the gram. 

A Marilyn Monroe Boxset

Between Kim Kardashian’s Met Gala moment, and the release of Blonde, it’s been a rough year for Marilyn Monroe. As I’m sure you recall, I personally hated Blonde, but for some reason straight guys absolutely loved it! Apparently, it was an honest portrayal of life in 50’s Hollywood, and totally raw and engaging. Surely with their newfound interests in Old Hollywood, they’ll love a Marilyn Monroe box set. As a bonus, get them a Patreon subscription to You Must Remember This, and a pdf of Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema by Laura Mulvey.

A Slightly Edited Try Guys Book

This year, somehow the biggest celebrity scandal was a C List Internet Vlogger cheating on his wife! (Bring back the days of young starlets doing cocaine, what a boring celebrity scandal). As dull as it was, let him see. Let him see what happens to men who cheat. That Ned guy had it all, and how he’s being edited out of Youtube Videos and is no longer allowed to try things with his buddy. Get an old Try Guy book, and edit out Ned — rip up his pages, scribble over his face. Let him see the consequences. Remind him how much there is to lose. He is not safe. A Try Guy was not safe. No one is safe. Plus you might find some fun recipes to try together! 

Actual Stones

Dudes rock, but not as much as actual rocks. Have you ever seen a guy react to a cool rock? They love it. Find a couple of cool rocks, and he’ll fall in love with you all over again. Whiskey stones? How droll, make it DIY by finding some cool stones and putting them in the freezer yourself. A multipurpose tool that fits in your wallet? That’s 21st-century nonsense. Remind him of the good old days when the only tool man had was a couple of rocks; we coped then, and we’ll cope now. 

A Little Kiss On The Forehead

Frankly, this is the only gift a guy needs. Sure, all the other stuff is nice, but all men are perpetually in search of a little kiss on the forehead. Bonus points if you tuck them in bed and make them some hot cocoa. 

Let’s be real here; we all know the ultimate gift this giving season is the latest issue of Boshemia Magazine: DISTANCE.

DISTANCE features a compendium of work collected over the course of the pandemic. We chose the theme very purposefully – it was a time of great loneliness, of empty streets, of physical and emotional distance. We wanted to honour what was perhaps the strangest period of time our generation will know.

Available in stores soon, and online now