Geek Black Friday Deals

Happy Thanksgiving! To those who celebrate it I hope you have a wonderful time and enjoy your time.
But this also means that the annual Black Friday is tomorrow! So it is time to start looking around and start buying those presents for the Christmas holidays. Most U.S. stores use this to come up with outrageous deals and big discounts on a lot of stuff. And watching the news you often see clips of massive amounts of people running into stores trying to get their hands on any deal they want.

For a long time these Black Friday deals were primarily in U.S. stores only, but in recent years this has changed rapidly. After the internet became so popular in the last decade  more and more retailers now organise these kind of sales online. At first a lot of these online sales started on the Monday after Thanksgiving, dubbing this “Cyber Monday”.
And now everyone with an internet connection is able to surf to their favourite websites to try and see if there is anything they like.
More and more stores are getting involved with the Black Friday/ Cyber Monday craze and some of those online deals are almost too good to pass up as well.
So time to give you an overview of some of my favourite companies and their Geek Black Friday deals. With every company I also tell you which products I like best and made it onto my wishlist.
open2

Review: Edward Scissorhands palette

As some may know I adore buying and using make up. I love to experiment with different products and match my looks to my clothing and mood.
One of my favourite brands that I use is Sugarpill Cosmetics who bring out great vibrant shades which last long and have great pigmentation.
So I was happily surprised when it was announced that they would release a Edward Scissorhands palette filled with 6 colours of eyeshadow.
New eyeshadow shades from Sugarpill and they are inspired by a Tim Burton film? Yes please! So obviously I ordered the palette as soon as I was able too.

It has been 25 years already since the film was originally released and Sugarpill celebrated that fact with a small collection of make up products.
When the first pictures of the Edward Scissorhands palette were released, people were a bit confused about the colours choices. Pastel colours along with more darker ones? A lot of people expected to see primarily dark colours. But they in this case they decided to go with colours from the entire film.

So there are the dark shades inspired by the Scissorhands and the castle. But also the light shades inspired by the ice sculptures and the pastel tints of the houses in the suburbs. Overall it has shades that are all very different and will probably be to the liking of many make up fans.

open2

Black Milk Doctor Who Collection

In recent time more and more brands are bringing out collections based on popular fandoms. We have seen our share of companies bringing out designs based on things like Star Wars, Game of Thrones, Harry Potter and more. And this time it’s one of my favourite brands who are releasing their official Black Milk Doctor Who collection to celebrate the popularity of the BBC series.
This was a highly anticipated and requested release and many fans have been patiently waiting for the collection to arrive. And here it finally is, just in time for the holidays and the upcoming new episodes of the series.

introdrwho
All images in this post are property of Black Milk and BBC

With this collection Black Milk even increased their standard size range to include XXL for the so called Touchdown (football jersey) and Shooter (basketball shirt) designs. Which I think is a solid move as these pieces are very popular and people often asked if it was possible to get a size bigger, so here it is.
The majority of the collection however still is made up out of dresses, bodysuits and leggings. There is plenty to choose from for everyone, so if you always wanted to wear a Tardis dress? Well here is your chance!

Irregular Choice Star Wars Collection

Last Friday the entire Irregular Choice Star Wars collection was released to the fans. And immediately it was clear that the line was going to be popular. There was a line in front of the physical stores and the website couldn’t handle the load of so many people wanting to buy the shoes.
Their popularity came as no surprise as the Irregular Choice Star Wars collection had been announced on the Star Wars Celebration back in April. And ever since then Star Wars and Irregular Choice fans have waited patiently for the designs.

In the weeks leading up to the release 5 out of the 14 designs were previewed on the social media pages. The other 9 were meant to remain a mystery until the official release on the 30th of October. That day has come and passed, so here are all the shoes from the Irregular Choice Star Wars range along with their prices.

logo

Comics – Death Vigil

Once upon a time, I spent a lot of my hard earned money on comics. I was still a student back in those days and with a job on the side I did my best to fund my geek hobbies as best as I could. During that time my favourite series were those with strong female leads and beautiful artwork. Due to this I became a huge fan of the publishers Image and TopCow whose titles and style I really liked. Some of my favourite series were Witchblade, Tomb Raider, Danger Girl, Fathom, Gen13 and many more.
Sadly due to comic stores closing and prices increasing I stopped collecting them and haven’t really been into them for quite some time. But recently thanks to recommendations and the power of internet searches I rekindled my old love and started to look around for new titles.

These days I prefer to collect the Trade Paperback (TPB’s) rather than the individual issues of comics. Not only are TPB’s easier to store, they often include nice little extras and are a bit more sturdy. Plus it keeps me from going berserk with collecting all the different covers that are often available for a single issue. The only drawback for me is that the TPB will take some time to be released and until that time I have to do my best to avoid being spoiled. Death Vigil caught my interest for many reason. One of them being that it is being written and drawn by Stjepan Sejic whose work I really admire. And the fact that it deals with reapers, necromancy and a nice exciting storyline, which are a few of my favourite things.

promo

Irregular Choice Star Wars collection

It comes as no surprise that the release of the upcoming Star Wars film is on the mind of many people. Tickets sales have started, the trailer has been released and merchandise is flooding the stores. It’s a good time to be a Star Wars fan.
And this time more and more companies are working together with Star Wars to bring out some really nice things. One of these companies is Irregular Choice which is known for their bright, colourful and detailed shoe designs.

Ever since the collaboration for the Irregular Choice Star Wars collection was announced, people have been eagerly waiting for the designs to be shown. It took some months of being patient but at long last more and more designs are slowly being revealed to the fans.

I made an update post, with all the available designs and their prices in a new post.

logo

Geek Wishlist

It’s only two months until the holiday season starts here and the stores are already filling up with decorations. While it might seem early for me this means it’s time to start thinking about what I am going to give people this holiday. But at the same time people are also asking me about what I want for my holidays. Luckily this season I have seen a lot of stuff that I really like and I am sure that many of my friends have them on their wishlist as well.

One of the most important things is to never wait too late with your shopping as things sell out soon. And more things are ordered through the internet these days, having to arrive from locations outside your own country. This is a risk as postal services slow down due to the volume of orders around the holidays. And don’t forget that in certain cases customs needs to be paid on orders which means a potential delay of another 2-6 weeks.
So my advice? be prepared and make sure you hit the stores early so you don’t end up empty handed.

As for my wishes this year? Here I will shows you my own geek wishlist with stuff I would love to have. I hope I am lucky enough to receive some of the items. But I also use the wishlist throughout the year for when I want to buy something for myself.

Gaming goodies.
I love video-games, but there is so much merchandise these days. So I promised myself to not buy anything unless I really , really like it. And I have to say that so far I spend considerably less on the merchandise. But than again let’s not talk about where my money goes to if not merchandise.

plush

My Anime Watchlist #1

A few months ago I was gifted a subscription to Crunchyroll for my birthday. Crunchyroll is a streaming service much like Netflix with as major difference that it is focused on Anime, Manga and (Japanese)Drama. I am a huge fan of those but in recent years didn’t really keep up and kind of lost touch with watching and reading stuff like that. But after hearing friends being really enthusiastic about some recent series I decided to pick it up again and I love it!

Since autumn has started it is the perfect time for an anime watchlist, get a warm drink and sit on the couch or in bed. Time to start (binge)watching and pretend the weather isn’t that dreadful outside.
Currently I focus on Anime shows as they hold most of my interest at the moment. Some may think Anime is cartoony kids stuff, but they are dead wrong. It has many different genres and focuses on audiences from all ages. You indeed have titles for pre-schoolers but also series that are marketed at adults with complex/deep storylines which put many Hollywood TV shows to shame.

Here are five of my personal recommendations of anime shows that I think are really worth a watch.

anime

Star Wars Identities Exhibition

This August I went to see the Star Wars Identities Exhibition at Odysseum in Cologne Germany.  It was described as an interactive journey where you will make choices and find your own Star Wars Identity and see dozens of original artworks and props that shaped the Star Wars universe.
As the site says “A stunning collection of Star Wars costumes, models, props, and artwork allows you to see these two heroes and all the other unforgettable characters of Star Wars in a whole new way. And at the same time, a unique interactive identity quest allows you to design your own Star Wars Hero, putting you in the centre of the action.

Since it’s an interactive event you need to buy tickets for specific time slots and perhaps wait in line a bit until it’s the turn of your group. You get a bracelet to wear as well as a device to wear around your neck with an earpiece.
The device around the neck is a receiver that will activate at certain booths letting you hear all the information in the language that you prefer. While most of the information is written down and is read only, there are some monitors who display films, if you stand in the area the device will activate and let your hear what’s going on.
The bracelet is meant to be held in front of sensors at specific places in the exhibition where you answer questions which slowly build the Star Wars character that you are meant to be.

StarwarsID

Edinburgh Travel Plans

Next week I will be heading to Edinburgh, Scotland for a week of holiday together with Jo. I have been to Edinburgh last year around the same time and Jo has lived in the city for awhile so we are sure to relive some good memories. While we are in Edinburgh we have plenty of ideas how we want to spend our time and what kind of things we really want to see. And since we both have been here before we can already skip certain things as we have seen them before.

We will be staying near the western harbour which is close to the Ocean Terminal and offers everything we need just a walking distance away. Another plus is that there is a bus-stop right in front of the hotel which will bring us to the city centre in 10 minutes time. I have stayed there before and loved this hotel and Jo actually used to have her home very close by the hotel. So for us it was an easy choice to stay here rather than in the more expensive parts of the inner city.
But naturally we will do much more than just stay in our room or shop at the Ocean Terminal. So what are our Edinburgh travel plans for the week?

edinburgh2