Black Friday
Posted on November 27th, 2009 in outbound links
If you think I’m going out today, you’re insane. I’ve stocked up like it’s hurricane season specifically so I won’t have to head out into today’s madness. For those of you not in the States who don’t know: today is our annual running of the bulls. Only instead of crazed bovines, we loose bargain-hunting shoppers in search of day-after-Thanksgiving sales, and all the stores mark things up 20% so they can offer three dollars off to anyone who shows up at 5am. When I was a wee slip of a thing, I remember (with shivering clarity) huddling outside the mall before dawn with my grandmother because, I kid you not, “They might let us in a little early because you’re so small.” Crazy bitch.
But I live in The Glorious Future, now, and I do all my holiday shopping online, from the warmth and relative safety of my home. If you are sane like me, I’ve made you a little list of Things You Can Buy today (or whenever, really) if you’re feeling shoppy without the crazy.
You do like to read, don’t you?
SHIVERING SANDS. Which, okay, you’ve probably already got. But what about your loved ones? Why don’t you love them enough to buy them a look at Warren’s brain? What sort of a son/ daughter/ grandchild/ niece/ nephew/ cousin/ brother/ sister/ neighbor/ complete stranger are you, really?
- COILHOUSE MAGAZINE (and sundries). Issue four of COILHOUSE is just about to drop, but it looks like the
covenbeautiful CH ladies have a few issues of #3 left in stock. (And some shirts and bits and bobs, too.) COILHOUSE is one of the most beautiful magazines on the market, so you really are missing out if you haven’t seen it yet.
- BONESHAKER. Cherie Priest’s brilliant zombies-via-steampunk novel (lightish on the steampunk, but HEAVY on the brilliant) of airship proportions is something you need on your bookshelf, for seriously.
- CHANGING STATES. Sarah Sharp’s photo book of her All-50-States adventure is a bit of a big-ticket item, yes. I don’t know if you love anyone enough to get them this. But there’s no rule against treating yourself for the holidays. In fact, that’s something I heartily endorse.
- HACKING THE EARTH. Jamais Cascio wants to tell you how to save the world. If that’s not in the spirit of the holidays, I really just don’t know what is. And HtE comes wrapped in a loverly cover design by yours truly, so that’s fun, too.
- THE FAST FICTION CHALLENGE. Lee Barnett’s 200-word bursts of clever, funny, horrifying, what-the-hell-ever, all collected in one handsome volume. If you’re even thinking of publishing a book of short fiction, you should check this out to see how it’s done.
- SUNKEN TREASURE. That link is going to take you to Wil Wheaton’s entire Lulu store, but I’m specifically linking this book here because it’s got pretty holiday season colors, and the cover (which I absolutely adore) was designed by my friend Matt Brooker.
Apparel that will make you ever so sexier:
I’ve got to mention Warren’s and my T-shirt of the Week, come on. But it’s a smart one this week, and nothing’s sexier than smart. Plus it expires on Sunday, so it’s the closest thing to a limited-time offer on the list, in keeping with the craziness of today.
- And since Rich picked up the first run of our (Happy()Sad) shirts yesterday (on a national holiday, no less! That’s some dedication.), I’ve got to link them, too. But these have a coupon, also in keeping with the day. Just enter “wilw” (without the quotes) at checkout for 15% off your whole order, through the end of November.
And by “your whole order,” I mean you can buy as much as you want to in the Diesel Sweeties store, and get 15% off it all. Including these Magic Paint Bucket ties, which I had absolutely nothing to do with, but I cannot for the life of me understand why they aren’t sold out.
These crack me up (and I’m somewhat responsible as they followed one of my Make Something rants). Jamais, again, on a lighter-but-no-less-serious note: Carbon Footprint of a Cheeseburger swag.
Housewares and sundries to make your life better:
Just in case you’ve forgotten our cafepress store has more than the TOTW (and because every time we sell a splatter-shield I get to say to Warren HA HA WHO’S CRAZY NOW. And that’s just really fun, I mean, really fun.)
But let’s be honest, here: If you’re going to buy one mug today, It’s going to be Wil’s geeenyus Memories of the Future mug. I really can’t remember if, when I first saw this, I said congrats to Wil for being a genius, or if I cried a little because I will never think of something this clever. I want to say the first one.
- Now that your table is beautiful, let’s move on to your walls, shall we? I just this morning finally talked Emma Vieceli into putting her drop-dead gorgeous prints for sale online. Emma does beautiful work, you know when you can tell from the thumbnail, and your empty wall space needs some love.
Do you need something a little more motivating staring you in the face? What about Matt Jones’ GET EXCITED AND MAKE THINGS print? That link is going to take you to a page where you can find another link out to the high-quality prints by 20×20, but because I want to end this post with a bit of holiday cheer, you can also scroll down to the bottom of that page and get a hi-res version of the image to print out yourself for absolutely free.
So there you go. Holiday shopping: solved. And if you’re just not doing the whole buy things thing this year, that’s all right, too. But give us a link or a retweet, if you would, because your attention and support are just as valuable (honestly? A bit more) as your monies. And then head over to FREAKANGELS if you’d like, because it’s new every Friday, and free to read and enjoy.
