Archive for November, 2009

I'm not planning on presenting exhaustive lists of Black Friday sales — far too many other sites are doing that — but I am going to point out the ones I actually buy from, such as Amazon's. They put a lot of their stuff on sale plus they've matched many other stores' sales, so now is an excellent time to pick up some DVDs.

Example: Best Buy has seasons 1-10 of The Simpsons on sale for $10.99 – $12.99, but I have all those. Instead I just ordered season 12 from Amazon for $14.99.

Seasons of House for $12.99. Dr. Who for $41.99, half the regular price. Black Adder Remastered: The Ultimate Edition for just $41.99, half off the price and worth every penny.

Plus movie DVDs like Coraline for $8.99 and Star Trek (Single-Disc Edition) for 9 bucks.

If you were interested in getting them anyway (as I was), now's the time to nab 'em.

I really don't see where anything more need be said.

Today's your last chance to win some amazing Can't Stop the Serenity auctions and benefit Equality Now. Up for grabs: a Serenity mini-poster signed by Joss Whedon, a Dr. Horrible poster print signed by Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion and Felicia Day, a copy of The Guild DVD signed by the cast, assorted fan packs of merchandise, more autographs, and even an amazing one-hour tour behind the scenes of the Dollhouse set with costume designer Shawna Trpcic. Check out the whole list here. It's down to the final hours so you'd best get over there.

Money raised from the auctions will be included in the CSTS 2009 Global Donation Total, which currently stands at US $128,000. Your bids will help CSTS to reach this year’s goal of US $150,000 raised for charity!

Also included: the set of chopsticks used (almost) in the movie that I won from serenitymovie.com back in the day.

Announced at the Creation con yesterday, QMx will soon be making officially licensed collectibles for Firefly and Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. We're talking props, ships, t-shirts, maquettes and novelties (keychains, bumper stickers, etc.) So what do you want to see?

Me, I'd suggest for replica catalyzers, blinking van-top bombs with magnetic bottoms for personal use, Vera, the big red button, letters from Bad Horse, a variety of pistols, and maquettes including the Dr. Horrible crew, a bathing Inara and a naked Mal on a rock. Let's go, people!

It started last year when my Save Hiatus buddy Adam Levermore mentioned to me that he'd always wanted to see a shuttle launch, and I told him I was 2 hours away from them and could watch launches from my front yard.

Then this summer he mentioned he had a plane voucher and didn't know what to use it for since he had no cash for anything once he went somewhere. I reminded him of the shuttle launches — which will be ending soon as the program winds down — and said I had a couch. And the plan was made… only I didn't have a couch, so we figured we'd improvise.

Then it got better; NASA announced on their Twitterfeed that they were going to hold a tweetup and the 1st hundred people to register could attend. Adam and I both got in; his two friends who were going to accompany him didn't, and elected to stay behind rather than split the party which, as we all know, always results in death and creepy music.

The deal with the tweetup was that we'd get a day of talks and touring, and watch the launch the next day (weather and pesky fuel lines permitting) from the press area, the closest you can get if you're not rescue crew or actually sitting in the shuttle. We were psyched. This was going to be great, we'd get to see a lot of cool stuff, we could put up with the no-doubt boring talks, we'd get to see the launch, it's be great.

As it turned out, we were wrong. It was much better than that.

I posted a gallery of the trip and the launch here, with commentary.

New, at the Prop Store of London: an Alliance uniform cap. But the description puzzles me:

A purple cap with a triangular patch on the front made for the sci-fi action film Serenity. The cap is similar to the version worn by the Alliance soldiers onboard the Operatives ship when it is attacked by the Reavers. One size fits most.

"Similar to"? Is it an actual costume prop or a replica? The price ($59) suggests it's a real costume prop — too pricey for a home-made or licensed replica, I would think — but maybe one that never saw screen time, which would cost much more.  And it's listed under Props, instead of Replicas. The Prop Store is usually better about such distinctions. Maybe they couldn't conclusively identify where it was used, so declined to say either way?

Whichever it is, it's a nice looking cap for your purple-belly friends.

For the next two weeks (until Nov. 14) Best Buy has the Firefly DVD set on sale for $12.99. Doesn't get much cheaper than this, and you won't find a better return on your investment. For less than a buck an episode, you can get some of the best entertainment ever put on TV.

More to the point, you almost certainly already have a copy if you're reading my site but now it's cheap enough for you to buy another copy or two to give out as presents or just loan to friends and coworkers.

Or if you're like me, it's time to buy a replacement copy for the one you've already been loaning out that's getting a little ragged.

Don't know yet if the prices are the same in the regional stores — anyone? — but this is one of the best deals ever for this set. And I understand some minor gift-giving holiday is coming up soon…