Is This The Worst Black Friday in Years?

To me, it seems so. It used to be something i looked forward to: seeing the sales from the big three (Walmart, Target and Best Buy) - with Amazon price matching some deals. Then setting up plans on what to get (and where). Now, it's more like why bother.

Some of this is sales spread out from October to beyond Black Friday (making the Black Friday sales meaningless or redundant). It could be that this year/decade/century/millennium absolutely suck. Most of it is sales of uninteresting items. Maybe some of that can be blamed on persistent inflation. Some of it is the bias towards internet sales.

Sales prices are not that good. They don't have many Blu-Rays/DVD (one of my big Black Friday purchases). The ones they have aren't hitting the sub $10 price point much. Seems the "best sale" is buy 2 get 1 free type. Video games aren't really worth buying anymore. i was hoping for decent sales on Game Pass - denied. Wouldn't have minded some good deals on LEGOs or MEGA Bloks 14+ sets.

It's amazing how many items on my Amazon wish list have increased in price (even many of the items "on sale") in the last few days.

Though to be fair, Black Friday doesn't hold the place that looking through the Montgomery Ward catalog did when i was growing up. Back in simpler times before scalpers for "hot" items. 

80s Compilations: Living In Oblivion Volume 3

Part three of my mini-series on this overlooked 1980s compilation (probably). i got these in the 1990s when i was shopping at places like Sam Goody or Camelot Music. i was attempting to find some of the 80s songs i liked, but barely remembered. So, i started to get compilations.

After i got these compilations, i would look for some albums from stores or Warehouse (used CDs). 

80s Compilations: Living in Oblivion Volume 2

i miss the 80s. However, i couldn't purchase all of the songs i wanted (some are not easy to find, or only have one/a couple of decent songs. That is where the compilation comes in. For 80s songs, the only compilation series i have all of the volumes is Living In Oblivion (EMI Records). The 80s were hardly an oblivion (especially compared to the cultural wasteland that is today).

80s Compilation: Living in Oblivion Volume 1

 i've been listening to my CD collection over the last couple of months. Sadly, there are some skips (small playback issues) - some of these are over 30 years old. i used to have many more CDs, but sold of a bunch of them over the years.

If you're wondering, i consider the 1980s to be 1981-1990. i love the 80s. The 90s were hit and miss, this millennium sucks.

i consider compilation collections like Just Can't Get Enough: New Wave Hits of the 80s (have less than half of the 15-release series) as companions to individual artists like George Michael/Wham!, Richard Marx, Michael Jackson, Madonna, etc. Compilations are how i added breadth to my collection. Songs i may remember from artists i did not. i bought a few Greatest Hits due to specific songs in this series. Living in Oblivion may be the only series i have all of (with the exception of the rumored volume 6). 

There are brief liner notes with US and UK peak chart positions.

Happy Belated Halloween

Another holiday has come and gone. One of my favorites - Halloween. The one where people are more likely to show more of their true selves while hiding behind a costume. 

It was also my alleged father's birthday (though it might not have been by an hour or less). This is the first time a while that we didn't order out for pizza (instead making our own). 

 i long for simpler days when i was allowed to Trick or Treat (the closest i can get is playing Costume Quest). Buying your own candy is limiting and expensive. Sorry trick or treater who came here - the candy kind of sucked (were mostly using Easter candy - but mostly jellybeans left). 

If you are wondering, yes, most of my interior Xmas decorations are up. Still trying to figure out how to logistically put an Xmas tree in the room. Might require moving a bunch of stuff (i may not be up to doing that).

i have never considered Thanksgiving to be a real holiday.

23 days until Black Friday, 54 days until Xmas. So far i have only watched Grinch once.