Thursday Amazon Deals: Free $5 credit, tons of toys and games, Star Wars toys, Kitchen stuff, books,

(Boilerplate recap: Yesterday's post is full of deals on Blu-Ray movies, more Kindle books, paper books, and even a camera) Tuesday's post has active deals on video games like Resident Evil 6, Rocksmith, and LEGO PotC, dozens of stocking stuffer DVDs, as well as Kindle books by and about rock stars and cheap MP3s and Pyrex (the Fantasy Flight games are no longer on sale, alas). Monday's post still has active Kindle deals (Kingsolver, Spinelli, Christie, more), toys and games, Ken Burns DVDs, a waffle maker, a gift card contest, and more. Sunday's post still has a bunch of Kindle book deals (Sherri S Tepper, Pratchett, Bujold, Lawhead, Matheson, more), the DVD/Blu-Ray Weekly Deals (Frasier, Ice Age, Marilyn Monroe), and a bunch of toy deals (K'Nex and more). Saturday's post has more Kindle deals (Agatha Christie, Robert Parker, Lisa Goldstein, more), plus Fluxx, Giant Microbes, Xboxes, and some nice DVD deals.)

The big news is the $5 off $25 Promotional Credit! If you're willing to share a response on your facebook account, you get that credit, which is good through December 9.

The Deal of the Day is 60% off various Alex Toys. There are 20 options, including drawing kits, water drums, a tea set, and some nifty car sets.

The Mega Bloks Smurfs Advent Calendar is $9.99 (60% off). Yeah, Advent has started, but the fun of opening something each day and getting a prize never gets old.

Most of the 5" Angry Birds Star Wars Plushes are on sale for $7.99 each (47% off).

The Star Wars Fighter Pods Figure 12pk - Republic Dropship Pack is $7.55 (62% off, about $11 below elsewhere), and the Star Wars Fighter Pods Figure 12Pack - Jedi Starfighter Pack is $8.79 (56% off, about $4 off other prices).

For folks with a little more money to spend on The Force, the Obi Wan Kenobi FX Lightsaber w/Removable Blade is $78.75 (39% off, about $40 off).

The LEGO Star Wars Desert Skiff is $19.99 (20% off, about $5 below elsewhere).

The Batman Power Attack Blast and Battle Batcave Play Set is $16.16 (62% off, and about $14 below other vendors after shipping), while the Ben 10 Omnitrix Challenge is $6.90 (54% off, about $7 below other prices).

The Year of the Dragon Ultimate Optimus Prime is back down to $34.99 (54% off, about $15 off other prices).

In board games, there's a huge Z-Man Games sale, with many games at well over 50% off (although not Pandemic or Agricola, of course).

Disney Pictionary is $12.99 (52% off).

In video games, Just Dance Kids 2 for the PS3 is $8.99 (55% off), while LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga is $14.99 (25% off) for the Wii, Xbox, and DS, and $16.99 (15% off) for the PS3.

I rarely post non-Amazon Prime deals, but GoHastings through Amazon has Rayman Origins for the Vita for $19.99 (33% off). Even after the $3.99 shipping, that's $6 off (and it's on my wishlist, incidentally).

In movies, the deal of the day is on Blu-Ray Book Editions, with 8 movies (Deliverance, The Town, Meet Me in St. Louis, Unforgiven, Citizen Kane, How the West Was Won, A Streetcar Named Desire, and Camelot) going for $17.99 (50% off) each.

Scrubs - The Complete First Season is $9.06 on DVD (55% off).

John Adams on Blu-Ray is $18.99 (62% off).

The Blu-Ray Anime Sale includes FLCL and Black Butler at over 60% off, as well as some other good deals.

The Kindle Daily Deal is John Dobbyn's Black Diamond for $1.99, while the Children Daily Deal offers Craig Frazier's Stanley Goes for a Drive for $1.99.

Happy Accidents by Jane Lynch is $2.99.

Janet Evanovich's Back to the Bedroom is $.99, while other good Kindle deals include Evanovich's Love in a Nutshell for $2.99, Mary Jane Clark's To Have and to Kill: A Wedding Cake Mystery for $.99 and Mary Kay Andrews's Blue Christmas for $2.99.

And it might not be a sale, per se, but George Takei's electronic-only Oh Myyy! (There Goes The Internet) for $9.99 is damned tempting.

In kitchen goods, the Aroma ARC-996 12-Cup Digital Rice Cooker and Food Steamer is $24.99 (21% off, but actually about $20 below other vendors).

The Lodge Pro Logic Cast Iron 14" Pizza Pan is $34.97 (38% off, about $19 off).

Finally, in magazines, both O and ESPN are available again at $5 a pop for a year. Not quite in the same league, Entertainment Weekly is going for $25 for a year (still way cheaper than what EW wants to charge me directly to renew our subscription).

Thursday Amazon Deals: Free $5 credit, tons of toys and games, Star Wars, Kitchen stuff, books, etc

(Boilerplate recap: Yesterday's post is full of deals on Blu-Ray movies, more Kindle books, paper books, and even a camera) Tuesday's post has active deals on video games like Resident Evil 6, Rocksmith, and LEGO PotC, dozens of stocking stuffer DVDs, as well as Kindle books by and about rock stars and cheap MP3s and Pyrex (the Fantasy Flight games are no longer on sale, alas). Monday's post still has active Kindle deals (Kingsolver, Spinelli, Christie, more), toys and games, Ken Burns DVDs, a waffle maker, a gift card contest, and more. Sunday's post still has a bunch of Kindle book deals (Sherri S Tepper, Pratchett, Bujold, Lawhead, Matheson, more), the DVD/Blu-Ray Weekly Deals (Frasier, Ice Age, Marilyn Monroe), and a bunch of toy deals (K'Nex and more). Saturday's post has more Kindle deals (Agatha Christie, Robert Parker, Lisa Goldstein, more), plus Fluxx, Giant Microbes, Xboxes, and some nice DVD deals.)

The big news is the $5 off $25 Promotional Credit! If you're willing to share a response on your facebook account, you get that credit, which is good through December 9.

The Deal of the Day is 60% off various Alex Toys. There are 20 options, including drawing kits, water drums, a tea set, and some nifty car sets.

The Mega Bloks Smurfs Advent Calendar is $9.99 (60% off). Yeah, Advent has started, but the fun of opening something each day and getting a prize never gets old.

Most of the 5" Angry Birds Star Wars Plushes are on sale for $7.99 each (47% off).

The Star Wars Fighter Pods Figure 12pk - Republic Dropship Pack is $7.55 (62% off, about $11 below elsewhere), and the Star Wars Fighter Pods Figure 12Pack - Jedi Starfighter Pack is $8.79 (56% off, about $4 off other prices).

For folks with a little more money to spend on The Force, the Obi Wan Kenobi FX Lightsaber w/Removable Blade is $78.75 (39% off, about $40 off).

The LEGO Star Wars Desert Skiff is $19.99 (20% off, about $5 below elsewhere).

The Batman Power Attack Blast and Battle Batcave Play Set is $16.16 (62% off, and about $14 below other vendors after shipping), while the Ben 10 Omnitrix Challenge is $6.90 (54% off, about $7 below other prices).

The Year of the Dragon Ultimate Optimus Prime is back down to $34.99 (54% off, about $15 off other prices).

In board games, there's a huge Z-Man Games sale, with many games at well over 50% off (although not Pandemic or Agricola, of course).

Disney Pictionary is $12.99 (52% off).

In video games, Just Dance Kids 2 for the PS3 is $8.99 (55% off), while LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga is $14.99 (25% off) for the Wii, Xbox, and DS, and $16.99 (15% off) for the PS3.

I rarely post non-Amazon Prime deals, but GoHastings through Amazon has Rayman Origins for the Vita for $19.99 (33% off). Even after the $3.99 shipping, that's $6 off (and it's on my wishlist, incidentally).

In movies, the deal of the day is on Blu-Ray Book Editions, with 8 movies (Deliverance, The Town, Meet Me in St. Louis, Unforgiven, Citizen Kane, How the West Was Won, A Streetcar Named Desire, and Camelot) going for $17.99 (50% off) each.

Scrubs - The Complete First Season is $9.06 on DVD (55% off).

John Adams on Blu-Ray is $18.99 (62% off).

The Blu-Ray Anime Sale includes FLCL and Black Butler at over 60% off, as well as some other good deals.

The Kindle Daily Deal is John Dobbyn's Black Diamond for $1.99, while the Children Daily Deal offers Craig Frazier's Stanley Goes for a Drive for $1.99.

Happy Accidents by Jane Lynch is $2.99.

Janet Evanovich's Back to the Bedroom is $.99, while other good Kindle deals include Evanovich's Love in a Nutshell for $2.99, Mary Jane Clark's To Have and to Kill: A Wedding Cake Mystery for $.99 and Mary Kay Andrews's Blue Christmas for $2.99.

And it might not be a sale, per se, but George Takei's electronic-only Oh Myyy! (There Goes The Internet) for $9.99 is damned tempting.

In kitchen goods, the Aroma ARC-996 12-Cup Digital Rice Cooker and Food Steamer is $24.99 (21% off, but actually about $20 below other vendors).

The Lodge Pro Logic Cast Iron 14" Pizza Pan is $34.97 (38% off, about $19 off).

Finally, in magazines, both O and ESPN are available again at $5 a pop for a year. Not quite in the same league, Entertainment Weekly is going for $25 for a year (still way cheaper than what EW wants to charge me directly to renew our subscription).

A few links

Because, dammit, I still like LJ more than Facebook. Most of these are gaming-oriented, but not all.

1. Courtney Stanton has a great intro to crossfit, full of both one of the better explanations of what it's like from a beginner's point of view, and good insights like, "I think one of the reasons so many Crossfitters can be found online being shitty and obdurate about How Much Better Paleo Is And If You Don’t Eat That Way You’re Deficient is because Crossfit is itself a really expensive hobby and sometimes rich people forget that not everyone else is rich."

2. Do Kickstarted video game projects make it to completion? Sometimes. As the article notes, the next few months will really give us a better sense (and having just sponsored a remake of Shadowgate, one of my all-time favorite games, I've got a vested interest in this).

2.5 Speaking of Kickstarter, ever wonder about projects that fall just short?

3. How random is XCOM?

4. If this is the current direction of Twitter (and all signs point to yes), that's sad.

5. As I mentioned on Twitter the other day, this article shows A) why I think Patrick Klepek is one of the more awesome people in game journalism these days, B) how messed up the game industry is, and C) why, much as I love everyone who writes for it, the Giant Bomb community (as seen in the comments) is sometimes barely any better than Reditors or the commenters at Kotaku.

6. Here's a great piece on how bad art (in the sense of "poor storytelling skills," not "looks like Rob Liefeld's stuff") can undermine good writing in comics.

7. Here's Anita Sarkeesian's TedXWomen talk (complete with transcript). Bonus feature -- seeing it on her site means avoiding the Reditor MRA trolls who swarmed all over the Ted page.

8. Curious about recently-banned iOS app Boyfriend Maker? Here's the info.

9.Michael Grunwald calls out some of the press complacency in the "fiscal cliff" storyline.

10. Finally, over at The Big Click, here's a piece on Aileen Wuornos.

A few links

Because, dammit, I still like LJ more than Facebook. Most of these are gaming-oriented, but not all.

1. Courtney Stanton has a great intro to crossfit, full of both one of the better explanations of what it's like from a beginner's point of view, and good insights like, "I think one of the reasons so many Crossfitters can be found online being shitty and obdurate about How Much Better Paleo Is And If You Don’t Eat That Way You’re Deficient is because Crossfit is itself a really expensive hobby and sometimes rich people forget that not everyone else is rich."

2. Do Kickstarted video game projects make it to completion? Sometimes. As the article notes, the next few months will really give us a better sense (and having just sponsored a remake of Shadowgate, one of my all-time favorite games, I've got a vested interest in this).

2.5 Speaking of Kickstarter, ever wonder about projects that fall just short?

3. How random is XCOM?

4. If this is the current direction of Twitter (and all signs point to yes), that's sad.

5. As I mentioned on Twitter the other day, this article shows A) why I think Patrick Klepek is one of the more awesome people in game journalism these days, B) how messed up the game industry is, and C) why, much as I love everyone who writes for it, the Giant Bomb community (as seen in the comments) is sometimes barely any better than Reditors or the commenters at Kotaku.

6. Here's a great piece on how bad art (in the sense of "poor storytelling skills," not "looks like Rob Liefeld's stuff") can undermine good writing in comics.

7. Here's Anita Sarkeesian's TedXWomen talk (complete with transcript). Bonus feature -- seeing it on her site means avoiding the Reditor MRA trolls who swarmed all over the Ted page.

8. Curious about recently-banned iOS app Boyfriend Maker? Here's the info.

9.Michael Grunwald calls out some of the press complacency in the "fiscal cliff" storyline.

10. Finally, over at The Big Click, here's a piece on Aileen Wuornos.

A conspiracy theory

After the last couple of weeks of The Voice, as well the ridiculous runs of Street Kingdom and Iconic Boyz on ABDC and pretty much 90% of the other votes I've seen on the rare occasions when I watch reality competitions, I'm convinced that the industry is entirely built around trying to undermine my faith in democracy.

And yeah, I'm familiar with the two Heinlein quotes on democracy.

The point is, everyone who voted the two people off this week's Voice sucks.

A conspiracy theory

After the last couple of weeks of The Voice, as well the ridiculous runs of Street Kingdom and Iconic Boyz on ABDC and pretty much 90% of the other votes I've seen on the rare occasions when I watch reality competitions, I'm convinced that the industry is entirely built around trying to undermine my faith in democracy.

And yeah, I'm familiar with the two Heinlein quotes on democracy.

The point is, everyone who voted the two people off this week's Voice sucks.