Schlock Mercenary

Thankful Again. Thankful Always.

My family sort of celebrates Thanksgiving year-round. 

Today in particular we give thanks via an ironic bit of excess consumption, including pie, but year-round we are reminded how fortunate we are to have you, fair reader, taking care of us. 

Some of you support us by shopping with us. Some of you support us by shopping at Amazon using our affiliate bookmark. Some of you support us by telling your friends about the comic. 

Some of you just read the comic. Maybe you feel like you're not contributing anything, but know this: I feel privileged to have captured a time-slice of your life, and to have been permitted to fill it with stories I want to tell. Whether or not you're shopping, you're a big part of why I make Schlock Mercenary, and why Sandra and my kids are happy to have me doing it. It's not about the money. I mean, it's nice to HAVE money, obviously, but I had more when I worked in the software industry and today, like every day, I am thankful that I do not have to go back there.

Thank you for that.

I hope this day brings you the opportunity to express gratitude to somebody. Spread that thankfulness around. It's a good thing. Better, even, than pie.

Rise of the Guardians

Rise of the Guardians went a bit heavy on the saccharine for my tastes.

It's a fun show, and if you've got kids who are in the "I believe in Santa" demographic, this film will play quite well. Anybody who loves books like "The Polar Express" (but not the movie, which was an abomination of uncanny valley-ism) will enjoy Rise of the Guardians, and frankly, there's a lot of fun stuff in here for everybody else.

Sadly, the best part of the trailers -- the subversion of stereotypes for Santa and the Easter Bunny -- only carried the first half of the film for me. 

There are interesting discussions to be had with regard to the mythos, and whether it suborns the belief systems currently anchoring Christmas and Easter, or instead stands as a metaphor, giving believers new modes in which to express their beliefs. 

I enjoyed myself, but I've had lots more fun at other shows this year. Rise of the Guardians comes in at #22 for me this year as of this writing. Very Lorax-ish. If you haven't seen Wreck-It Ralph yet, I strongly recommend that film over this one for your holiday trip to the cinema. 

Supporting Schlock Mercenary When You Shop

If you're planning to shop at Amazon.com this holiday season, you can support Schlock Mercenary (and by extension, Howard & Sandra and their children) by beginning your shopping trip with any Amazon.com link you find on this site. Hey, look! There are two such links in this paragraph alone. There's also one in the left side-bar, and that one will stay put for your reference.

I've described the system before, but it bears repeating. Amazon cuts me in for between 6% and 8% of the purchase price of everything you put in your cart on a shopping trip that began with a link from my site, provided you check out within 24 hours. Your price doesn't change. 

This only works with Amazon.com. I don't have an affiliate account with amazon.co.uk, or any of the other non-US domains. 

Please, though, don't feel any pressure to shop at Amazon on my behalf. If you prefer to support local merchants, they'll certainly appreciate your custom to a greater-than-eight-percent margin. But if you're shopping at Amazon.com anyway, start with an affiliate link -- mine, or maybe somebody else's. 

My good friend (and fellow Space Eldtritch contributor) Bob Defendi decided to build his own computer from parts acquired at Amazon. He started the shopping trip from a bookmark he'd made using my affiliate code. He later reported to me what he'd purchased, and I was able to scan at my affiliate reports and determine that his thoughtfulness (he is a good friend, after all) was worth about $80 to me (he built a pretty nice computer.) 

Again, no pressure -- you should shop where you want to shop, and you should support merchants you want to support. But if you're going to Amazon anyway, starting from this link will help support Schlock Mercenary at no additional expense to you (note: Jeff Bezos does take a teency hit, but he can afford it.)