Amazon Deals: Clint Eastwood, LEGO games, Cook's Illustrated, Bodum mugs, lots of DVDs, games, etc.

The Deal of the Day is Clint Eastwood: 35 Films 35 Years at Warner Bros for $76.99 (57% off)! That's barely more than $2 per film, with some amazing items in the box set (including Bird, all of the Dirty Harry films, Million Dollar Baby, Mystic River, Gran Torino, and a lot more)

The Video Game Deal of the Day is on LEGO games, with25-33% off pretty much every game in the series. For some of the older games, that pulls the price down to under $16, and even the newer ones are good deals. With the exception of LEGO Indiana Jones 2, I've adored every LEGO game I've played (although I still lack the most recent Harry Potter and PotC games).

In a new promotion, if you download Amazon's Price Check App for IOS or Android and use it on December 10, you can get 5% (up to $5) off an item (up to three times). Not sure it's worth it, but figured I'd point it out.

Along with that, you can find a similar deal on LEGO game downloads for PC and Mac, including 60% off on some items. Most of these come with the nigh-ubiquitous $5 credit next January, too.

The "sponsor" of the deal is Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, which is on sale for $44.95 (25% off).

Other video game deals include LA Noire: The Complete Edition for Xbox for $29.96 (40% off). No discount on the PS3 version for some reason. You can also nab Your Shape: Fitness Evolved 2012 for the Kinect for $34.99 (the Kinect bundle remains on sale for $99.99/33% off).

OH, AND DUKE NUKEM FOREVER IS BACK ON SALE FOR $9.99 (67% off)!

(In case anyone's wondering, no, I have not sold a single copy of SNF through a referral link this year; I'm just amused at how much the game is pretty much the bomb of the year.)

Other good deals:

The Cook's Illustrated Cookbook (just published two months ago) is $20 (50% off), and possibly the only cookbook in recent years that's tempted me. CI remains my favorite cooking magazine, and also one of the few cooking shows that I can enjoy.

The LEGO Star Wars Character Encyclopedia is $9.48 (50% off).

DVDs on sale include Crazy Stupid Love for $14.99 (48% off), Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief for $11.99 (40% off), the first two seasons of Fringe for $14.99 each on DVD/$21.49 on Blu-Ray (70-75% off), Red for $9.99 (66% off), The Bucket List for $4.99 (67% off), The Holiday for $5.49 (63% off), and A Walk to Remember for $3.99 (69% off).

On Blu-Ray, the Spider-Man Trilogy is back on sale for $24.99 (62% off). The Jurassic Park Trilogy is on sale for $19.99 (75% off). Note that this last one is from the NBC Universal Store, so although it includes free shipping, it's not Prime-eligible.

In kitchen stuff, the Cuisinart GR-4N 5-in-1 Griddler is $71.19 (62% off, about $12 below other prices realistically). For people with high-end coffee needs, the Bodum Bistro Double-Wall Insulated 10-Ounce Glass Mugs are on sale for $22.18 for a set of two (53% off). However, they also qualify for the 4-for-3 promotion, meaning you can get eight mugs for a little over $66, or a little over $8 a mug.

In games, Key Harvest is on sale for $10 (80% off).

Finally, for anyone wanting to test their ability to withstand diabetes or a heart condition, the 26-pack of Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pop-Tarts is back on sale for $6.53 (48% off).

Grrr

If you insist that two of your products need to be updated for security reasons, and both updates require me to quit my three running web browsers, even though neither application being updates is a web browser? I hate you. Especially if the product updater doesn't mention this until it's 2/3 of the way complete.

And yes, this means you, Microsoft.

R.I.P., Colonel Potter

Harry Morgan has died at 96.

Man, he was such a part of my childhood; I got hooked on M*A*S*H reruns early on (but long after Morgan had joined the show), and watched it (and even AfterM*A*S*H) regularly.

Best Breaking Dawn Review Ever

Just like the subject line says.

For the record

I'd be much more likely to see The Girl With The Tramp Stamp Tattoo than The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. For serious.

(Of course, I'd see almost anything with Ray Wise in it.)

In case anyone doubts that the LAPD is the same group of monsters Gates ran

When the LAPD finally began arresting those of us interlocked around the symbolic tent, we were all ordered by the LAPD to unlink from each other (in order to facilitate the arrests). Each seated, nonviolent protester beside me who refused to cooperate by unlinking his arms had the following done to him: an LAPD officer would forcibly extend the protestor’s legs, grab his left foot, twist it all the way around and then stomp his boot on the insole, pinning the protestor’s left foot to the pavement, twisted backwards. Then the LAPD officer would grab the protestor’s right foot and twist it all the way the other direction until the non-violent protestor, in incredible agony, would shriek in pain and unlink from his neighbor.

It was horrible to watch, and apparently designed to terrorize the rest of us. At least I was sufficiently terrorized. I unlinked my arms voluntarily and informed the LAPD officers that I would go peacefully and cooperatively. I stood as instructed, and then I had my arms wrenched behind my back, and an officer hyperextended my wrists into my inner arms. It was super violent, it hurt really really bad, and he was doing it on purpose. When I involuntarily recoiled from the pain, the LAPD officer threw me face-first to the pavement. He had my hands behind my back, so I landed right on my face. The officer dropped with his knee on my back and ground my face into the pavement. It really, really hurt and my face started bleeding and I was very scared. I begged for mercy and I promised that I was honestly not resisting and would not resist.

My hands were then zip cuffed very tightly behind my back, where they turned blue. I am now suffering nerve damage in my right thumb and palm.

-- From Patrick Meighan's account of his arrest.