Don’t let the slush scare you: The arrival of winter doesn’t have to signal a hiatus from exercise with this Wall Street Journal-endorsed stair stepper from Brookstone. For college students especially, who are short on time and low on space, you can jump on this stair stepper without sacrificing your exam schedule and fold it up to store under the bed when you’re done. It tracks heartbeat, pace and counts total steps to keep your fitness routine in check this season.

"Frost/Nixon: The Original Watergate Interviews"
Amazon, $18.49

Thinking about seeing Ron Howard’s “Frost/Nixon” in the next month? Well, that’s fine. But why take a risk on a phony Hollywood adaptation when you could watch the real thing? Anderson Cooper? Larry King? Forget about it. David Frost was an artist. A hard, pushy and brilliant telejournalist, Frost never settled for the easy questions. Perhaps the most notorious, but seemingly unknown dialogue of the last century, the interview deserves epic treatment. On Dec. 2, Liberation Entertainment will release the first part in a series of DVDs showing the real interview. A greatest hits set with over 28 hours of footage, this is easily more stimulating than that “Mamma Mia!” special edition you were eyeballing.

"FIFA Soccer 09" for Xbox 360
Best Buy, $59.99

If there was ever any doubt who was king in the soccer video game world, let all doubters be smacked in the face by a Wayne Rooney strike: "FIFA Soccer 09" is the best soccer game ever made. "FIFA 09" makes the beautiful game come to life like never before. Playing it is easy; mastering it can take months. With new custom tactics and a redesigned “Be A Pro” mode, "FIFA 09" actually makes it feel like you're on the field at Stamford Bridge or Emirates. Speed has never mattered more. Pissed that Cristiano Ronaldo could still be caught by a defenseman from Barnsley? No longer. But don't expect the defensive A.I. to be weaker than Jell-O. Putting the ball in the back of the net is tough, but all the build up to a perfectly placed header feels perfectly in place at Emirates Stadium. "FIFA 09" is the closest you'll ever get to playing soccer in Europe, minus the hookers and lingerie models.

“Mystery Science Theater 3000: 20th Anniversary Edition”
Borders, $46.79

“Mystery Science Theater 3000” — the funniest show in TV history after “The Simpsons” — would make a great gift any time of the year, and this 20th anniversary box dropped right on time for the holiday season. It’s a bit pricey, but it’s worth it just to hear those riotous one-liners again as Mike Nelson, Joel Hodgson and their robot pals make wisecracks over four of the worst movies ever made. Especially hilarious in this set are “Werewolf” and the pathetic sci-fi thriller “Future War,” where rubbery dinosaurs attack a cast of woefully inappropriate-looking “heroes” (“Is this a halfway house for fat people?” Mike asks at one point). Plus, it comes with a bust of Crow T. Robot. Now that’s a gift.

Gibson Les Paul Supreme
Gibson.com, $5,190

Jimmy Page played a Gibson Les Paul. Pete Townshend of the Who impaled his hand on the whammy bar of a Les Paul. And Neil Young even named his Les Paul Old Black. The guitars’ star-studded users aside, Les Pauls are solid electric guitars with slim necks for fast finger working and solid bodies made of mahogany and maple woods. While Fender guitars might be the rock guitar your parents buy for your older brother, a Gibson guitar is the blues guitar you work 40 hours a week for and pay for with a debit card when you’re broke and starving.