It's black friday, the busiest shopping day of the year.

Perhaps I can help?

Today is purported to be the biggest shopping day of the year. Some stores opened their doors at the ungodly hour of 4 a.m., others had people camping out the night before. According to early news reports this morning, Nintendo Wii, Zune and other mp 3 players as well as games like Halo 3 and gadgets like iphones and ipods are the hot sellers.


A Wal-Mart shopper loads up her cart with Black Friday bargains.


Midnight shoppers rush into the Altamonte Mall in Florida.


The parking lot at the Hamilton Place Mall in Chattanooga, Tenn., was 85 percent full shortly after 9 a.m.

If you are one of those sane people who, rather than getting your car door dinged by a thoughtless shopper in a crowded parking lot or losing your cell phone in the local mall, would prefer to shop from the comfort of your home and personal computer, then I am here to help.

Nowadays, most of the 'great deals' people are clamoring for the day after Thanksgiving in malls are also available online.

And the savvy shopper does better to buy out of state (no tax) and find an online coupon code for free shipping!

I suggest checking these sites before you hit the 'check out' button to be sure you're not missing out on any promo codes or special deals:

http://www.keycode.com
http://www.retailmenot.com
http://www.dealhack.com
http://www.fatwallet.com
http://www.edealfinder.com
http://www.couponmountain.com
http://www.couponcabin.com/
http://www.couponheaven.com/
http://www.dealcatcher.com/
http://www.onlinepromotioncodes.com/
http://www.currentcodes.com/


First and foremost, The Apple Store (who rarely ever has a sale) does have a sale today. AND Only today!

Apple gifts this year, you had better act fast--the sale is of the one-day variety. Highlights include $51 or $101 off MacBooks and iMacs (sadly, you're out of luck if you're trying to justify a MacBook Pro purchase), $21 off the AirPort Extreme Base Station, and $21 off the iPhone Bluetooth Headset. Three iPods are on sale: you'll save $31 on an iPod Classic and $11 on either the Nano or the Shuffle. Lots of other products and accessories are on sale. See them all here.
So now's the time to get that iphone or ipod.



Click here to go to the apple store online sale.

Go here to see Jonathan Blum choices for the top ten tech toys this year.

Watch a CNN video on hot toys this christmas season here.

Check out Buy.com (they have great deals all year and even better today). Especially on things like external hard drives and Zune media players, as well as books and tvs!

Got a serious Sports Fanatic in the house? According to Money Magazine's Charles Passy, Noah Rothbaum and Wilson Rothman, here are The greatest gifts ever for sports fanatics....

My personal top 5 choices for gifts that no one would return:

For anyone, male or female, young or old, the following five gifts are my favorite things to give this season.

1. The Flip Video Ultra 30 minute recorder


Above: The Flip Video Ultra, a pocket sized video camcorder (available with 30 minutes of recording time or 60 minutes). Even my grandmother can use this one. Record and plug it into the tv (cord comes with) or into the computer via the built in usb.
This rocks! I bought four earlier this year and am giving them to my whole family (who are not tech savvy!)

Here's a money saving hint. No one really needs 60 minutes of recording time unless you are making an actual movie. So if it's just for "you tube" fun or to see keep up with your growing nephews and nieces, get them the 30 minute recorder.. they will be thrilled.

Available online at www.theflip.com or target, toys r us, amazon, buy.com, etc.
Be sure to check out all the stores, prices vary on this one. Also available in black or colors.

2. Netflix movie rentals and instant computer movie downloads.



So easy, affordable and who doesn't rent DVDs? Plus the options for the amount of time or number of rentals makes it easy to purchase this for anyone regardless of how much you want to spend.

How it works:(click to enlarge)

Buy it here.

3. Pottery Barn's Fabulous Fur Throws on sale today only!!!!!!!!!!



I get so many compliments on the luxurious feel of this throw from men and women everytime they visit and see it !
Comes in four nice options. Usually $150.00, it's on sale WITH FREE SHIPPING today only for $99.00
Buy it now.

4. Money no object? Spoil your child or yourself with the $345.00 PLEO by Ugobe.

Learn more about this adorable interactive toy here.

5. A Bluefly gift certificate.



Lots of people have heard of Bluefly but haven't actually checked it out. They are unaware that in addition to having designer clothes at a discounted price they carry great home decor items like Thomas Paul Pillows and luxury bedding at prices that are hard to beat anywhere. Shoes are a great find here as well...and as many items for men as women.

And for Project Runway fans, they actually sell the "wall of accessories" here. Luxury and designer handbags, belts and more.

Also, a bonus is that no one makes it easier to return items than Bluefly. They provide you with the free return sticker, just put it in the box, seal it up and set it out for the postman. Costs you nothing and you get full return credit.

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Ready to hit some of the stores who have sales and free shipping today?
Here are a few you can access from the comfort of your home instead of braving the heinous crowds.

Click away...
Apple store
Bluefly
Target
Buy
Toys R Us
Amazon
Bluefly
Pottery Barn
Walmart
JC Penney
Kohls
Best Buy
Circuit City
Sharper Image

Hirst Buys Bacon, Sothebys Makes Bread

Above: Tobias Meyer with Bacon's Self-portrait

There's been a lot of talk about art prices falling and auction houses suffering. However, just the other night, on November 14th, Sotheby's Evening of Contemporary Art Auction in New York set several records and hopes soaring.

Below is a reprint of an article written by Colin Gleadell for the UK's Daily Telegraph. I added the images for your entertainment and information.

Art sales: Damien Hirst's £16m for a slice of Bacon
Colin Gleadell on Damien Hirst's expensive purchase

Damien Hirst may have lost his title as the most expensive living artist at auction to Jeff Koons in New York last week, but he can still claim to be not only the richest artist in the world but also the one who spends the most on art.


Above: Francis Bacon, Self Portrait 1969, sold for $33,081,000 Sotheby’s New York, Nov. 14, 2007

Artist to artist: A 1969 self-portrait by Francis Bacon, which was bought by Damien Hirst bidding anonymously by telephone last Wednesday, he splashed out $33 million (£15.9 million) at Sotheby's on a 14" by 12" in self-portrait by Francis Bacon – easily a record for a small painting by Bacon, and surely one for an artist buying at auction.


Above: Damien Hirst's Platinum and diamond skull which received lots of press

In his excitement, the auctioneer Tobias Meyer, who knew Hirst was bidding, forgot the normal routine of noting down the buyer's registration number on the winning paddle. "I was too happy," he said. And why not?


Above: Tobias Meyer at Sotheby's

With that purchase, Hirst, who now owns four Bacons, joins an elite group of big spenders who last week allayed fears of a slump in contemporary art prices. The group includes the diamond dealer Laurence Graff and the hedge-fund manager Steve Cohen.


Above: Francis Bacon's Second Version of Study For A Bullfight #1, sold for $45.9 million

It is thought that Cohen bought the top lot of the week, Bacon's Study for Bullfight, for $46 million. And Graff spent nearly $30 million on two paintings by Warhol and one by Jean-Michel Basquiat.


Above: Basquiat, Untitled (Electric chair) 1981 - 1982, acrylic, gold spray paint and oilstick on canvas, Sold For 11,801,000 US$

He may have been in partnership with Larry Gagosian when the dealer bought a big Koons sculpture at the sales - the 8ft stainless-steel Blue Diamond, for $11.8 million.


Above: Koon's 8ft stainless steel Blue Diamond, sold for $11.8 million

On the surface it was a glittering display by the art world. More than 100 records were broken and $950 million was spent on contemporary art during the week.

This was itself a new record, close to the highest estimates for the sale set in the balmy early summer when credit crises were barely a glimmer in the eye of far-sighted Wall Street analysts.

Adding style to the occasion were the fashion designers Marc Jacobs, resplendent with blue hair and green scarf, and Valentino. Outbid as a buyer, Valentino successfully sold two paintings by Mark Rothko and a Hirst.

One of the Rothkos, which was sold for $21 million, cost $1.7 million at auction nine years ago. The Hirst made a record for a spot painting in 2003, selling for $438,000; Valentino sold it for $1.6 million last week.


Above: Jeff Koons' Hanging Heart, presently the world-record for art auction sales by a living artist; $23.6 million

The biggest mark-ups, though, came for Koons's $23.6 million Hanging Heart, for which the seller, the US property developer Adam Lindemann, had paid $4 million last year, and for Richard Prince's 2002 painting, Piney Woods Nurse, which was sold by the West coast collectors Nora and Norman Stone for $5.4 million.


Above: Richard Prince's Piney Woods Nurse, 2002, sold for $5.4 million

Bought by the London dealer Jay Jopling, the painting would have cost less than $100,000 when first shown four years ago.


Above: LUCIAN FREUD, Ib and her Husband (1992) ©The Artist, Oil on canvas, 16.8 x 14.7 cm Private Collection, sold for $19.36 million

Older generation artists in demand included Lucian Freud, whose portrait of his daughter, Ib and Her Husband, sold for $19.36 million, making him the most expensive living European artist at auction (in dollars), just ahead of Hirst; the American "Pop" artist Ed Ruscha, whose classic Burning Gas Station was sold by the collector Kent Logan for a record $6.98 million; and the junk-sculpture artist John Chamberlain, whose twisted wreck of car parts sold for a record $4.6 million.


Above: Ed Ruscha's Burning Gas Station, sold for $6.98 million

Among the rising stars attracting accelerating prices were the young Americans Mark Grotjahn and Jules de Balincourt, and the German Anselm Reyle, in all of whom Charles Saatchi has wisely invested.

However, there were some warning signs. At the main Christie's sale, 39 per cent of lots were sold at or below low estimates or not at all.

Nearly half the lots, carrying a combined low estimate of $173.5 million, had been guaranteed, and they realised just $176 million excluding auctioneer's commission. So profit levels must have been minimal.

US buying was also relatively low at around 50 per cent. In recent seasons this has been as high as 82 per cent for New York contemporary art sales, which are aimed mainly at the American market.

Sotheby's had made an even higher level of financial guarantees to sellers, regardless of the outcome of the sales, but, in contrast to last week's Impressionist sales, met it comfortably. The $316 million sale was Sotheby's largest of any kind, ever.

But there was sufficient evidence to predict that, come the next series of important Impressionist and contemporary art sales, in London in February, estimated prices and guarantee levels will be more conservative.

The bubble has not burst. But clouds are still gathering ominously.
__Colin Gleadell for the UK's Daily Telegraph




Click here to see Artnet's illustrated catalog of the Sotheby's Art Auction On November 14, 2007

Turkey Day Facts, Parade Pics and Trivia.

Some Thanksgiving History for you:

•The first Thanksgiving was observed in Plymouth, Massachusettes in 1621



•Approx Ninety (90) Native Americans were at the festivities

•in 1863 President Abraham Lincoln first declared that Thanksgiving should be observed on the last thursday of November

•in 1939, However, President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved it to the third thursday of November. Why? To boost Christmas shopping (this is true) .



•President Harry S. Truman began the tradition of pardoning a turkey. The turkey is most often sent to a petting zoo in Virginia (I wish they'd do that with the other turkey in the picture).



• The average American consumed 13.1 pounds of turkey in 2005



•In 2007, the us will produce 1.6 billion pounds of sweet potatoes

*The first Macy's Day Thanksgiving parade was in 1924



•1934 was the first year the Detroit Lions played the first Thanksgiving day game. they faced off againstthe Chicago Bears

source: us census bureau/macy's, inc /detroit lions

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The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade got under way Thursday morning, mixing new attractions and longtime favorites, solemn tributes and lighthearted spectacle.



Carrying banners and flags, participants gathered on an unusually warm November morning for the parade. The lineup included three new balloons, 2,000 cheerleaders, 800 clowns, the Radio City Rockettes and 11 marching bands -- among them the Virginia Tech Regimental Band, playing in honor of the victims of last spring's campus shooting.The 81st annual parade began with a Michael Feinstein tune especially written for 600 kids from around the nation, whose opening number was choreographed by John Dietrich of the Rockettes.

Below are a few images from early this morning in New York::







and my favorite pic from today's parade:


Maurace Morris, 6, of Brooklyn mugs for the camera as the Shrek balloon is inflated in the background.

Happy Turkey Day Everyone!

Visionaire 52: Private and Visionaire 53: Sound

Visionaire Publications is a company dedicated to creating beautiful artistic collaborations in limited editions. The latest two to be released are issues number 52 and 53. With three editions each year in limited numbers, they do sell out quickly.

Issue # 52: PRIVATE

Edited by Marc Jacobs. Photographed by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott.

Guest Art Director Marc Jacobs teamed up with photographers Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott on the newest installment of the coveted fashion quarterly, Visionaire, which comes housed this time in a limited-edition Louis Vuitton case designed by Jacobs. Alas and Piggott photographed a series of intimate portraits of today's most inspiring contemporary icons, traveling to New York, London and Paris in search of their personal muses.

Subjects include actors Drew Barrymore, Scarlett Johansson and Selma Blair; singers Jennifer Lopez and Lil' Kim; models Gisele Bündchen, Stephanie Seymour and Christy Turlington; New York City Ballet principle dancer and choreographer Benjamin Millepied; and fashion designers Marc Jacobs, Vivienne Westwood and Stella McCartney, to name a few.

PUBLISHED BY: Visionaire Publishing, LLC
FORMAT: Clothbound, 11 x 14in/ 192 pgs/ 100 color
ISBN: 9781888645637 ISBN10: 1888645636
PUBLICATION DATE: 10/01/2007

Issue # 53:


Although not yet released, Sound is available for pre-order.
An interesting collection of five 12 inch vinyl picture discs in a dome case. Complete with MINI toy car that acts as the record player!

Issue 53 of Visionaire--produced this time around in collaboration with the British car manufacturer, MINI--is dedicated to the theme of Sound. Packaged inside a specially produced domed case, it consists of five 12-inch vinyl records, imprinted with images (picture discs), that together contain more than 100 minutes of sound content--from audio experiments to unreleased songs, samples and spoken word pieces. Also included is a MINI Clubman "Vinyl Killer" record player: a battery-operated toy car, containing speakers and a needle. As the little car moves along a record's groove, it plays each track, acting as a fully portable record player and sound system. Beyond all this, the issue also includes two CDs with all of the sound content gathered digitally, as well as a booklet of credits and instructions.



Contributors include: musicians David Byrne, Courtney Love, Michael Stipe, Adam Horowitz (Beastie Boys), Antony & the Johnsons, Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon (Sonic Youth), Nick Rhodes (Duran Duran), Karl Bartos (Kraftwerk), Andrew WK, Chan Marshall (Cat Power), Danger Mouse, Malcolm McLaren, Ruyuichi Sakamoto; artists Robert Wilson, Yoko Ono, Christian Marclay, Doug Aitken, Gary Hill, Sylvie Fleury; DJs Miss Kittin, Trevor Jackson, Towa Tei, Michel Gaubert; fashion designers Alexander McQueen, Helmut Lang; bands Littl'Ans, Fischerspooner, Unkle, Animal Collective, SunnO) and many more.


PUBLISHED BY: Visionaire Publishing, LLC
FORMAT: Dome Case,13.25 x 3.5/5 12-in. records/2 audio CDs/vinyl killer record player
ISBN: 9781888645682 ISBN10: 1888645687
PUBLICATION DATE: 12/01/2007
AVAILABILITY: Not yet published in the U.S. Retailers may backorder through D.A.P.

Buy Visionaire Books here.

Addendum To Yesterday's Post: Grace Gunning

A little note:

Yesterday I wrote a post on Grace Gunning and her unique, mysterious and personal handmade copper reliquary boxes.
Ironically, that was the one day, her own personal site was down. In all fairness to this artist (and to my readers), now that her site is functioning, please be sure to take a look. Her boxes make wonderful personal and unique gifts.



I was also remiss in not explaining how some of her pieces are 'interactive' games, under her site heading "Come Play With Me" (you know, where you roll the ball around until it sits in a little depression?) and I didn't point out her fabulous Changeling boxes which, when moved, images appear and disappear.



Her work ranges from kitschy (little plastic babies and googly eyes) to spiritual (angels, madonna) to retro (robots and toys).
Now that her site is up and running, be sure to visit by clicking here.

Modern Weathervanes From Italy by Dimensione Disegno.

I always felt that weathervanes, belonged atop a lovely country farmhouse- where, from the looks of most of the present designs, they belong.


above left: Traditional Rooster Weathervane, above right: Modern Rooster Weathervane

However, these modern interpretations designed by Afra and Tobia Scarpa of Dimensione Disegno are so much fun, they'd complement even the most modern of homes or yards.

Made of powder coated steel and available with various mounts for either in ground or rooftop, these five colorful wind vanes are all available for purchase.






Each painted aluminium weather vane (Or wind vane as called by some) comes with a telescopic pole and stainless steel counterweight.


Above are the available bases: pole for ground, free standing and mount for fireplace.
350.42000/A pole for ground
350.42000/B free standing
350.42000/C mount for fireplace (only 1 pole H. 120 cm.)
Telescopic tube (max lenght ca. 260 cm.

About The Designers:

above: Afra and Tobia Scarpa

Afra Bianchin was born in Montebelluna in 1937 and Tobia Scarpa in Venice in 1935. They graduated at the Istituto Universitario d’Architettura in Venice and formed one of the most successful and known professional associations. In 1958 they began working in the glass field with Venini in Murano. In 1960 they started working with Gavina; the "Bastiano" sofa and the "Vanessa" metal bed – now in the Knoll International collection – being their most successful pieces.

With Cassina, where they designed furniture exclusively for the house, success came with "Soriana" armchair, which won the Compasso d’Oro award in 1970, and the "925" armchair, which is on permanent display in the Museum of Modern Art in New York. In 1960 they joined Flos and worked as designers with the Castiglioni. Their best known piece for B&B ITALIA are the "Coronado" and the "Erasmo". For Maxalto they designed a whole collection of very fine furniture. They did the "Torcello" system, which is still on the market today, for Stildomus.

For Molteni they did the "Morna" bed, while for Unifor the "Master" series of manager’s furniture. They were also responsible for the Benetton image in Europe and in America. In architecture they designed the Benetton woolens mill and offices in Ponzano, the Scarpa house and the Lorenzin house in Abano Terme, they restored the Villa Minelli and the Fragiacomo house in Trieste.

Their designs are on show in the principal museums of the world and have been chosen for all major international shows.

Buy any one of these great modern weather vanes here.