Welcome to the Hobby Haven! I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving (even if you don't observe it, I hope that it was a good day for you!)
I completely meant to do more updating on the shopping guide and possibly do a quick Black Friday deals post, when I realized that 1. Kotaku does a much better job than I ever could (and CheapassGamer does too, to an extent), and 2. My sniffliness might not be seasonal allergies but a cold. Once I realized both, I eloquently shrugged and then downed some more DayQuil and hid under the blankets, occasionally emerging to browse various websites. As a result: no blog posts, but some Christmas shopping got done!
The first half of Black Friday was spent cuddled in bed and shopping online. I bought a Blu-ray player (and some HDMI cables) from Best Buy for my parents; most retailers had these hovering between the $40-70 mark, and I found a nice wi-fi enabled unit for $50. If you're in the market for a BD-player this holiday season, there are a lot of options to pick from. Amazon had some good deals on Blu-rays: I picked up The Heat for $6 and Warm Bodies for $8. I think Bridesmaids is at a similar price point, so I might go get that one later. (Those are for me, by the way. Merry Christmas, Miss Scarlett!) I found a DVD copy of Steve McQueen's Bullit (why can't I find this on BD?) for $5. Lots of CDs were also marked down, so I got the deluxe CD/DVD edition of Within Temptation's latest album for almost 50% off. (Also for myself.)
After that, I buckled down to look for a PS3. Decided that I couldn't wait anymore. There were more or less no good bundles to be had--apparently last year, Walmart had offered a PS3 (don't remember what type) bundle for $200, which I am still furious at myself for missing out on. After scouring lots of listings, I decided on a PS3 bundle from Newegg. It's a brand-new 500GB model that comes bundled with retail copies of Lego Batman 3 and the Sly Cooper Collection. The whole deal was $250, plus $5 shipping. Which is not bad, honestly. I'm hoping to sell off the two games and recoup a bit of money that way, maybe even put that towards picking up a game.
I was feeling better by the late afternoon, so I spent the second half of the day hitting up actual brick and mortar stores. I needed to replenish my NyQuil stock, so I went to Rite Aid--they had some free stuff for rewards members (if you bought certain items, they gave you store credit for the same amount) like cotton balls and laundry detergent, so I got some, plus new laundry baskets. Highly exciting. Went over to Target, and got the first two seasons of Pretty Little Liars for my sister, $10 apiece. Also got some $5 socks for my dad, plus some Walking Dead blind box toys for my mom. She came along, and bought a new slow cooker and some boots. We hit up Best Buy next and got some Christmas CDs (Michael Buble and Josh Groban), plus cheap Blu-rays (Labyrinth, Day After Tomorrow, and the original Batman movies on a Blu-ray boxset, only $25!).
Today, I started perusing the Amazon Cyber Monday deals, and found the Jason Bourne movie trilogy boxset on Blu-ray for $15. It should still be live! Snagged that for my dad, so my Christmas shopping for him is done.
I didn't end up buying anything from Right Stuf's Black Friday sale (holding out for the Christmas one), and Steam hasn't had much to interest me so far. We'll see if I end up buying anything else. In summation: when in doubt, use Kotaku as a shopping guide. I'm going to go to bed and then see if any good Cyber Monday deals pop up. I could use a new Keurig.... Miss Scarlett, signing out!
