Always Check For Bargain Price On Amazon

If you like to get art books are great prices, always look for the bargain price box. It should look something like this:



That's the bargain price for The Art of Robots. It's selling right now at the time of this writing.

That book is selling for US$30, but the bargain price is only $US15. It's less than half the retail price.

Titles I have seen carrying that box were The Art of Pirates of the Carribean, The Art of The Incredibles and the Art of Finding Nemo. All of which were sold out already.

My colleague once bought the bargain price version of The Art of Pirates of the Carribean. I couldn't notice anything different from a brand new book. That said, it might be different in another purchase.

It's worth it to look out for that box.

By the way, The Art of Robots is a great book and I have the book review on my blog.

Coming Soon: The Art of Pixar Short Films

It's scheduled to be out on 29 Oct 2008.

Another to add to my collection. Yes!

Check out amazon.com's product page for this item.

Parka's Movie Art Book Store Launched

I've launched Parka's Movie Art Book Store for the art books I've reviewed. The store will be selling books related to animated movies, or movies that feature heavy computer graphics element. There will be lots of concept art, storyboards and character designs.

All the books listed are hand picked by me.

There will also be some pre-release books, which will appear at the top. So you can check out what are the new books that are coming out. Old books which are out of print go to the back pages. You can still order them to try your luck and see if there are restocks.

The store is hosted on Amazon.com's server. You can expect the same level of security and efficiency for your purchase and shipping.

List of Design Books Reviewed

All my old graphic design book reviews from Parka Blogs have been relocated to Graphic Design Book Reviews.

Last edited on 2 Jan 2009

New books: Evangelion #11 and Miyazaki stuff

Evangelion #11, which is probably the slowest ever published Japanese Manga around. Averages 1 per year.

Two artbooks from Hayao Miyazaki's movies. One's the compilation of his movies. The other's a compilation on Tales from Earthsea.

Buying Books from Amazon.com from Singapore

I've been seeing a lot on questions on buying stuff from amazon.com. Here's my guide to help new buyers.

Why would anyone want to buy stuff from amazon.com? Firstly, it they can be found in Singapore, they are very likely to be cheaper on amazon.com. Secondly, the selection of items is unparalleled.

What you'll need is a credit card.

I've got the shipping rates here.



There's a per shipment charge of USD4.99. Shipping cost depends on how fast you want it shipped. My option for shipping is always at default, which is the cheapest, and typically ships less than 14 days.

In my case, I ordered 4 books, and the total shipping charge is $4.99 + ($4.99 multiplied by 4 books) for a total of USD24.95.

Are they are really cheaper?

Here are the prices for the books in the photo if I were to buy them from Kinokuniya
The art of war - SGD33.68
Alternative Zits - SGD36.33
The art of Wall.e - SGD63.67
To Infinity and Beyond - SGD150.00.
That's a total for SGD283.68.

Here are what I got them for from amazon.com
The art of war - USD13.57
Alternative Zits - USD11.53
The art of Wall.e - USD26.00
To Infinity and Beyond - USD47.25
Shipping and handling for the books - USD24.95
That's a total for USD123.30, or SGD172.62 at an exchange rate of 1.4.

Local Kinokuniya or Borders will need to give out a 40% discount if they are to match amazon's price.

You'll typically need to buy at least two books to make it worthwhile.

Certain items are restricted from purchase by international buyers. Electronics, for example, can't be shipped. If you want to buy export-restricted items, you'll have to ship it to vPost. vPost has their own shipping rates and delivery time. For items which you can ship direct from amazon.com, always ship direct from them as it's cheaper.

Blake Babies

Yesterday, I thought the books from Amazon were coming. The CDs came first instead, despite the email saying they were mailed a day after the books.

Here's what I've bought,



So that's 6 CDs costing SGD155 including shipping arriving after 12 days.

Update: The books came in a separate package in the afternoon.


The books I've ordered are, Stop Staring: Facial Modeling and Animation Done Right and Art of Ratatouille.

These two cost SGD114. So that's like SGD57 per book inclusive of shipping. I went down to Borders few days ago armed with a 25% discount coupon. After the discount, Art of Ratatouille cost SGD60. The other book is also much cheaper when bought from Amazon.com.

As much as I support the Singapore economy, buying books is, amazingly, cheaper from foreign countries thousands of miles away. It makes you wonder what profit margin local stores are charging during their non promotional days. And mind you, these big bookshops buy stuffs in bulk and have their own distribution channels.

With the GST going up 2% in July, it will no longer make any economic sense to buy books in Singapore. I've a Popular discount card of 10%. Effectively, it will only be 3% in July.

CDs on the other hand are more expensive but the variety on Amazon is unparalleled.

Side notes:
While I'm talking about Amazon, I must say that their stock/share price is rising and will continue to rise in the future. It now stands atUS$72. It was US30++ last year. Despite its high price, it's a strong buy. Why? If you know what Jeff Bezos is doing, you will be rest assured that it will continue to go up and stay up.

Kinokuniya 20% off from 1 Jun - 27 Jun