It’s Whatever Wednesdays. I realize that Thanksgiving hasn’t happened yet, but for those who are trying to get a headstart, here are some Holiday Gift Shopping Ideas for 2016.

Spoilers: The Amazon Deal of the Day for 11-16-2016 is Breaking Bad: The Complete Series (DVD) (Blu-Ray). 

Basically, I’m just going through my “wish list” and “recent orders” stuff on Amazon and listing them here with a quick blurb. This list is by no means comprehensive. This is just stuff I like, or I thought was cool enough to buy for the family. All listed prices are as of 11-16-2016.

Stock Photo from: Pexels

Entertainment:

Medical

Scrubs: The Complete Collection – ($105.99)

Not much to say here I think, it’s Scrubs. The first few seasons were pretty awesome, although it kind of tailed off a bit at the end. I think it’s still pretty much a requirement in everybody’s DVD library, especially if you work in health care. It’s not meant to be realistic, but I think it captures a lot of the nuances of working in healthcare.

House: The Complete Series DVD [left] – ($88.99) and Blu-Ray [right] – ($64.13)

Once again, not very realistic, but definitely very entertaining. As far as I know, the Blu Ray set never came out in the United States. However, a region-free version of the Blu-Rays did come out and is actually cheaper than the DVD version at the time of this post. Region-free is a Region 0 coding which means it is not locked to any region and will play on any Blu-Ray player.

I would probably opt for the region-free Blu-Ray set, but some may just want to stick to the Region 1 (United States, Canada) DVDs.

Grey’s Anatomy Season 12 – DVD ($33.98)

To be honest, my wife and I never got into Grey’s Anatomy. However, I do know that is a staple of #girlmedtwitter and I would be remiss if I didn’t mention it here.

As Grey’s Anatomy is still ongoing, there is no complete series set available yet. For those who already have seasons 1-11, buying them season 12 is a foregone conclusion.

General

THIS IS THE AMAZON DEAL OF THE DAY FOR 11-16-2016

Breaking Bad: The Complete Series DVD [left] – ($36.99) and Blu-Ray [right] – ($44.99)

I binge watched most of this series with my wife back when we were fellows in 2012. We never did finish watching it though. I bought the Blu-Rays which are sitting next to my TV, taunting me everyday. Nowadays we just watch whatever kids shows my daughter watches like Peppa Pig and the like.

I wrote this post yesterday and just realized it was the Amazon Deal of the Day now. If you were on the fence before, then you may just want to dive in at this price. I bought it when it was on sale for $49.99, and I thought that was a good price back then (December 2015).

How I Met Your Mother: Complete Series [DVD] – ($79.99)

Unfortunately, HIMYM never saw a Blu-Ray release. I’m not exactly sure why. However, this show is pretty great. Like Scrubs, the first few seasons were really great, and then it got somewhat repetitive and weakened in the later seasons. Overall, it’s still worth having in your collection. In case anyone cares, my wife and I have decided that Friends was still an overall better show.

Unfortunately, I can’t completely recommend the Friends DVD and Blu-Rays that currently exist:

Friends: The Complete Series DVD [left] – ($77.69) and Blu-Ray [right] – ($79.96)

Unfortunately, both of these are the “standard cuts” of the episodes and not the “extended cuts”. If that doesn’t matter to you, then go ahead and buy either of them. The show itself is great and will provide hours and hours of entertainment, especially for those who haven’t watched them yet.

As for me, I bought the original DVD box set for my wife when they were released back in 2005, which has all the extended cuts. If you or your friend, relative, etc are real Friends fans, you may want to consider buying a “gently used” version of those discs:

Friends – The One with All Ten Seasons (Limited Edition) – Used

My wife adores this set. The box itself is made of wood and the plexiglass front swings open to show each season which has its own little box. I do wish they had packaged the discs themselves better, but that is a minor gripe. Back in 2005, we were 3rd year med students and she would literally just leave Friends playing in the background whenever she was home. I think it got her through some tough rotations.

However, whenever you are buying something used, you don’t know what you’re going to get. So be careful. Like I said, unless handled gently, the discs were not packaged all that well and I would imagine they would be prone to scratching. I don’t think I would buy this set sight unseen.

Throwbacks

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Complete Classic Series Collection (DVD) – ($74.57)

My three year old daughter loves the ninja turtles just as much as I did back in the 80s. There is just something about them that resonates with kids that transcends generations. The recent revival of TMNT from the movies was nice… but the movies themselves were only “ok”:

However, to me, I think the original cartoon was much, much better. My daughter found “Baby Ninja Turtles” on her Youtube Kids app and fell in love with them. In case you were wondering, she says Donatello is the best because he has the purple mask. Then we rented the movies on Blu-Ray and she liked them too of course. “Shredder is a bad guy!”

I saw this set at Costco on our biweekly Costco run. What kind of father would I be if I didn’t get her the “real Ninja Turtles”?

Transformers: The Movie (30th Anniversary Edition) [Blu-ray] – ($23.54)

Have you ever seen your boyfriend or husband cry watching a movie? Well, just so you know, if you buy him this Blu-Ray for Christmas, you might just catch a single tear roll down his cheek during one particular scene. BUT HAVE NO FEAR, IT WILL BE A MANLY TEAR!

Ok, but seriously, if your boyfriend/husband grew up in the 1980s, then he knows this movie and he needs this movie.

X-Men: (Marvel DVD Comic Book Collection)

Volume 1 ($13.99) — Volume 2 ($14.99) — Volume 3 ($14.80) — Volume 4 ($14.80) — Volume 5 ($13.59)

Remember that X-Men cartoon you woke up early on Saturdays to watch hoping that there would be a new episode… but it was usually reruns, but you watched it anyways because it was so awesome? This is the real X-Men, all of the personalities of the team are done very well.

Wolverine has his signature IDGAF attitude. Gambit is the cool, card slinging cajun with a dark past. Rogue struggles with the fact she can never touch anyone. Jean fears her own power. Cyclops is still the annoying, but righteous leader. Jubilee… throws sparks… or something. Professor X is the basically the one who ties them all together. There are definitely more that I am forgetting.

If you or someone you know grew up in the 80s like me, then these are the X-Men you know and love.

This ends the Entertainment portion of my Holiday Gift Shopping Ideas 2016. I’ll do some more stuff next week.

no TL;DR this time

-Sensei

If you have some gift suggestions, feel free to let me know so I can check them out.

As per usual: Questions, Comments and Suggestions are welcome.

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