So I’m at a Big Buy store yesterday, and notice that they don’t have the new edition of I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown on their new release rack. So out of curiosity, I head over to their children’s section to see if it’s there, and I find a couple people standing there, talking about the placement of Peanuts and some other material. I reach by them, because I wanted to take a look at the packaging of the collection of 1960s specials. When I put it back, one of the people talking said “you sure you want to put that back?”

Turns out, she’s someone in quite a respectable position at the Warner Brothers video sales department, specifically dealing with the Peanuts franchise and similar lines. (Yup, that’s one of the things that keeps life in the Los Angeles area interesting – you run into the people behind things.) And she explained that while the DVD was released earlier this week, many of the chains had decided not to put it out until closer to the Christmas season. She reeled off a bunch of specific chains and expected release windows… but the sum of it all is that if you want to get your copy now, you’re likely not to find it in your local store. But of course you can get it now here.

She was also helpful in making sure that I got my comp copy for appearing in the disk’s extras, even though I’ve relocated. Which brings me to my next point: the new FTC rules. Here in the US, the government is warning that they’re going to crack down on bloggers who don’t make it clear that their opinions on products may have been bribed for via free product provided by publishers. I think I’ve always been up front about things here, but just to make sure I’ve got my t’s dotted and my i’s crossed, let me point out:

• I don’t sell my opinion.
• I do make money from most (not all) of the product links I post here – specifically, links to Amazon, Amazon UK (but not Amazon Japan, Germany, or Canada), Bookcloseouts, Sideshow, and I think I’ve got Barnes&Noble working again. If you click through those links and order something – even if it’s not the product I link to – I get a small cut. Even with that, however, I’d like to think my record shows that I’m not skewing my opinion, and that I’m willing to tell you when I don’t like a given book.
• I do get free stuff from time to time. I get all the Complete Peanuts volumes, although I think that’s more as reward for helping them find some strips (more on the early volumes than recently, but even recently I’ve helped them find better source) than for my blogger status. I got a review copy. I got a couple comp copies of You’re a Good Sport, Charlie Brown, but that arose from me being on the documentary featurette (and is, I should note, the only “pay” I get for these featurettes).  I got a case of the 2010 Charles Schulz on Life calendar, but that’s from my business dealings in securing the relevant licenses for them and providing them with the art files…. and most of those copies were forwarded on to the copyright holders of the cartoons and to the Schulz family. I got free review copies of Schulz and Peanuts and Charles M. Schulz: Cartoonist and Creator of Peanuts.There was one shipment of books from Ballantine books, but I can’t remember exactly what; the only thing I recall was the dustjacket -but just the dustjacket – for A Peanuts Christmas. That’s all that I remember getting from publishers and producers. (There’s been a few small items that AAUGH Blog readers have sent me as thank yous.)
• There are some Peanuts-related business dealings in the works for me, some of which my not pan out, and one of which is with an existing publisher of Peanuts material, whose work I’ve discussed in the past. I am not at liberty to announce everything that I’m working on, but I shall try to flag when there might be a conflict.
• I don’t think I’ve hidden the fact that I’m the publisher of Schulz’s Youth and It’s Only a Game, and thus make money off of every copy sold.

And as long as I’m doing a rambling post, in case there are any general comics fans here, here’s some oddly-high-discount items currently available through Amazon.

• The Amazing Spider-Man Pop-up: 86% off, $2.77
• M (adapting the classic movie; hardcover, Jon J Muth) 67% off, $8.33
• Chance in Hell (Gilbert Hernandez) –  84% off, $2.78
• Oh Skin-nay! The Days of Real Sport – 77% off, $5.66
• Twisted Journeys 1: Captured by Pirates – 89% off (of a hardcover price that you’d never pay, but the end result is a cheap kids GN – $3.21)
• Fantastic 4 Color & Activity Book with Tattoos – 75% off, and part of a the buy-3-get-1 deal. At 76 cents, it might be handy for pushing an order over the $25 free shipping minimum.

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