Today’s JEFbot does a 180 from the heaviness of the previous few strips, and the epicness of the long-running Angry Scarf storyline before that, to something a little more lighthearted and frivolous. Of course, we’ll be checking in on Xinda’s progress in the future, so stay tuned for that, but at least for today we’ll be returning to some typical banter between the Cornfather and jefbot.

I’ve gotta admit – like bot here, I’m a pretty hard person to shop for since I tend to buy most of the things I want, especially when it comes to videogames and movies. But that just makes getting a thoughtful, unexpected gift more exciting, right? How about you? Are you easy or hard to shop for? And how about your family or significant others? Hope you all fared well during Black Friday and Cyber Monday!

Yes, I’ve had the Star Wars: The Complete Saga Blu-ray box set in my Amazon shopping cart since they revealed the specs for it a couple days ago on May 4th (May the 4th be with you. Get it?) aka Star Wars Day - but I haven’t clicked on the “Order” button just yet. I have to psyche myself up for it, pretend I’m not going to buy it to send Lucas a “message” and then click the button, just so I feel I’ve done my due diligence in at least keeping up the charade that I have a choice in these matters. Damn you, George Lucas!

I truly didn’t expect or demand that Best Buy help defray the cost of my poor choice of buying the HD-DVD add-on for my XBOX 360, so it was a nice surprise when i received the strip-mentioned gift certificate in the mail.

Having technology become obsolete quickly is something that comes with the territory, and everybody buying HD-DVD or Blu-ray players prior to Toshiba’s February 19th announcement knew that going in. I didn’t really take sides in this format war since I had both players (thanks, PS3!) but I did want to maximize my access to certain titles. Knowing that movies like Children of Men, 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up and Shaun of the Dead were exclusive to HD-DVD at the time meant that I would be picking up a player, case closed. Disney and Pixar being exclusive to Blu-ray meant that even if Sony hadn’t built a Blu-ray drive into every PS3, that I would be picking up a player no matter what.

I’m glad there’s only one format going forward now, although I wish the “war” had gone on a bit longer – player and disc prices were coming down faster than expected and Blu-ray was adding features constantly to keep up with what HD-DVD offered. Now, prices are going back up and Sony doesn’t have as big an incentive to keep the technology updates on the fast track. Still, it was fun while it lasted.

Anyway, I think the faster HD-DVD gives up, the less confusing it will be for consumers looking to get a high-def disc player, and the quicker it will be for HD-DVDs to go into the bargain bins where I will gladly pick them up. Unless another drastic, unprecedented announcement is made where a few Blu-ray studios jump ship to HD-DVD, I think if you’re looking to pick up a movie player for your new HDTV, your decision has just been made for you. I’m just glad the format with the cooler logo and name won.