After Halloween/November First

12 Days of Christmas Cassettes: 1 Story Time Favorites

Welcome to the Goodwill Hunting 4 Geeks 12 Days of Christmas celebration extravaganza!!! (Don't send me messages telling me that the 12 days of Christmas actually BEGIN on Christmas and end on January 6th, with the Epiphany. I know. But I'm not celebrating that way... so let us quickly move along.) 

2014 has been the year of me falling back in love with cassette tapes. Upon watching the Guardians of the Galaxy this summer, my old love of creating mix-tapes in high school was rekindled. BAck in highschool I was JUST transitioning from buying cassette tapes to buying CDs. But I was still making mix tapes to listen to in my car, or to give to friends. I have fond memories of owning cassettes, handling cassettes, and constantly organizing and reorganizing them. Because of this, as careful readers will note, all through my Halloween countdown this past October a good-sized pile of cassettes had made its way home with me from Goodwill. What readers could NOT have known was that I was also stockpiling cassettes of a Christmas persuasion in preparation for this 12-Day event!!!

My 2014 12-Day Christmas Countdown will be dedicated to Christmas cassettes!!! And to kick things off, I will be highlighting a couple of cassettes that feature Christmas books adapted to audio form! 

The first cassette is an audiobook recording of It's Christmas which is a collection of poems by Jack Prelutsky. I am a HUGE Prelutsky fan, and this collection of poems is one that gets read every single Christmas at our house. But here, the poems are being performed by the author himself, and by Alice Playten. There is music and singing included in the recording as well, making this a nice one to put on and play.

Here's a poem from the book that always makes my kids laugh:

Auntie Flo

Every year on Christmas

there's a gift from Aunti Flo,

she's sent me pairs of underwear

for three years in a row.

The box is always beautiful,

the bow is neatly tied,

but I'm always disappointed

when I see those shorts inside.

I wish she'd send a model plane,

or even a big stuffed bear,

I'd take a box of stones and rocks,

but please! no underwear. 

My wife says that when she gets a gift from her Auntie Flo is depresses her too. I didn't even know she HAD an Auntie Flo. 

Hm. 

Oh well. 

Finally we have the audiobook of Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas which is an amazing story from an amazingly talented poet/author as well. The cassette has the entire story narrated by Boris Karloff on Side A, and all of the songs from the TV special isolated on Side B. So this thing is basically the audio track from the TV special. And... I am completely fine with that. I own this audiobook/soundtrack/whatever-you-want-to-call-it on CD as well. 

Not a shabby set of cassettes to have to kick things off with, if I do say so myself! I'll be going right up through Christmas day itself posting, so be sure to join me back here tomorrow for more of the 12 Days of Christmas Cassettes celebration!!! Merry Christmas and Happy Hunting! 

Halloween Countdown Day 13: Zombie Books!

So, I may or may not have mentioned my love of Zombies on here before. I know, I know, EVERYONE loves zombies nowadays... but a zombie lover like me from the olden-days is finally living in a renaissance that rewards the faithful zombie lover with a PILE of content to fully entertain. I'm not just talking about the 2-thousand zombie films (with more being developed each year) already in existence, or a television show like The Walking Dead (with more on the way), or even zombie comic books, like... The Walking Dead and a dozen other titles... I'm talking about straight up read-words-with-your-eyes books. 

I'm a big fan of well-written zombie fiction. Books like Max Brooks's Zombie Survival Guide and World War Z are at the top of the list. I had never read Pride and Prejudice (I don't think watching Bridget Jones Diary counts) until Seth Grahame-Smith added the Zombies, and FINALLY got me reading the classics. The Zombie Autopsies (clinical zombie fiction), Boneshaker (steampunk zombie fiction), and The Living Dead (anthology of zombie fiction) all rest on my bookshelf. So I like zombie books. 

So going through my local Goodwill and finding this nice pile of zombie goodies was just awesome. I paid .99 cents for the two books on top, and 1.99 for the three on the bottom. 

First up is a pair of books by Wayne simmons, Flu and Fever. These are the only two books he appears to have out in his zombie series so far, and I hope they don't suck. They apparently take place in (or start off in) Ireland, and the story spreads with the virus from there. If the Amazon reviews have any true bearing on my future enjoyment of this book, I look forward to cracking their spines.

This one's interesting. An odd duck. I thought when I picked it up that it would just be a collection of Ryan Mecum's funny haiku about being a zombie (apparently for that I just wanted Mecum's Zombie Haiku this is "Dawn of" and there's a difference). But Dawn of Zombie Haiku actually tells a linear story even though the whole thing is told in haiku after haiku. It looks like a fun and quick read. Apparently Ryan Mecum is all ABOUT the haiku format, because on top of his two zombie books, he has some about Vampires and Werewolves as well. When it comes to horror haiku, apparently Ryan Mecum has the brain you want to pick. 

Finally, I found a copy of David Wellington's Monster Island and Monster Planet. Apparently I am missing the second book, Monster Nation which I combed the book section for more than once before giving up. Monster Island is the first book in the series, and Monster Nation is apparently a prequel. Monster Planet takes place 12 years after the first book. So... I may just go ahead and read these two and then read the prequel whenever I manage to track it down... or because I'm paranoid of reading a series out of order, and I am always sure there will be SOME detail in the prequel that will be VITAL to understanding something in the third book... I'll just wait and be frustrated. Sigh. BUT there are some extremely varied and mixed reviews of this series on Amazon, so it should be interesting if I even CARE about the prequel by the time all is said and done. Insert your own terrible zombie pun here.

Anyway guys and ghouls, that's it for me tonight! I'll be back with more Goblin-packed Goodwill Goodies before you can say "Braaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiins..." Until then, Happy Haunting!

Be sure to check out all of the great blogs participating in this year's Halloween Countdown! You can do so by clicking this link, or clicking on the Cryptkeeper 2013 banner on the sidebar to the right! Also, check out the "Blog-O-Ween" Halloween Blog collective, again by following this link, or through the badge on the sidebar! Thanks!

Halloween Countdown Day 3: Ghosts and Goosebumps Poems

When it comes to ANY holiday, one of my favorite things is well written children's poetry (or even just well written "childish" poetry) to talk about the event. Last year I featured our Top 10 Halloween Kid's Books here at the Goodwill Geek abode in two parts. One of the books in the countdown was a poetry book, as was one of the honorable mentions. Added to the shelf this year is this incredible little book I found at Goodwill for just .99 cents:

Ghosts and Goosebumps: Poems to Chill Your Bones is really a great little collection of poems selected by Bobbi Katz to celebrate Halloween. Deborah Kogan Ray's illustrations are simple but quite eerie and beautiful all the same. I've selected some of my absolute favorites to feature here. I think I'll just post them here and let them speak for themselves for the most part, with some very brief comments of my own. 

I always love a good introductory poem. This one reminds me so much of Shel Silverstein's poem "Invitation" that I wanted to post it here as well: 

While there are some similarities, I don't feel like Katz's poem is derivative at all. It may be sort of in the same vein as Silverstein's... but one is about one thing, and one is clearly about another.

More Autumn Ghosts! I had never read this poem before when I wrote my own poem "Halloween is Coming" but the ideas of Autumn and ghosts just go together so well...

Creepy. As. Heck.

My son was SO excited when he realized he recognized the Prelutsky poem from the book "It's Halloween". This picture gave both my boys the shivers.

I LOVE the descriptions near the end. "giving that dead orange vegetable skull warm skin..." Brrr...

That's it for me boils and ghouls! I'll be back soon with more Grim Goodwill Goodies! Until then, Happy Haunting!

Be sure to check out all of the great blogs participating in this year's Halloween Countdown! You can do so by clicking this link, or clicking on the Cryptkeeper 2013 banner on the sidebar to the right! Also, check out the "Blog-O-Ween" Halloween Blog collective, again by following this link, or through the badge on the sidebar! Thanks!

It's October Eve Once Again!!!

Yeah... it's not centered. But I wanted it BIG.

So it's that wonderful time of the year once again! The night before we tip head-long into the creepiest and BEST of the autumn months, October!

What does this mean? Well, let me tell you dear reader. Shortly after I post this, I will be redressing m site in it's October colors. I will be changing from the amiable Goodwill Geek into the Goodwill Ghoul. The site will change from "Goodwill Hunting 4 Geeks" to "Goodwill HAUNTING for Geeks" See what I did there? (There will be no URL change, JUST the site title will change for the month...)

I will be focusing the next month's worth of posts on Halloween, and I will be posting daily rather than the 3-4 times a week I have been managing up until now.

This will be done as part of a couple of different Halloween Countdowns I am participating in, and it is always EXHAUSTING. In the picture up there you can see that the shelf that I keep dedicated to Halloween year-round. This is my tin altar to the spirits of Halloween. They're almost here!

To celebrate, I want to share an original Goodwill Gee- er... GHOUL poem that I use to celebrate the season:

Halloween Is Coming

Fall has fallen, can't you tell?

The shorter days, the sharper smells.

The shadows stretching all around. 

The leaves all drifting slowly down,

And each one glows with gold-red flames,

The pumpkins patchworked just the same. 

Their faces carved to leer like loons...

For Halloween is coming soon. 

Those leaves? They'll soon turn dead and brown.

To scritch and scratch across the ground.

With shifting whispers, here and there,

Their secrets fill the frosty air.

The wind grows chill, and sharp as knives.

The trees' bare branches rattle-writhe.

Their blackened fingers claw the moon...

And Halloween is coming soon.

Now Autumn's ghosts are flying free.

Through night; Through sky; Through you and me.

October spirits in the night,

Their cloaks are deep, their faces white.

They sing-song tease, and whisper near,

"The night of Masks will soon be here..."

They ride the winds, and trill their tunes...

"Oh! Halloween is coming soon!"

Fall has fallen. Yes, it's true.

The trees all feel it, why can't you?

The Jack O' Lanterns, ripe and round,

The listless leaves that paw the ground,

The ghosts in lace and drifting cloaks,

The cemeteries, gray as smoke,

The signs all bright as a harvest moon...

That Halloween is coming soon.

It should go without saying that this poem (as with most of the photos and all of the other writing on this blog) is copyrighted by me, Derek Ash, the Goodwill Geek, and it is my property. Please don't steal it. Feel free to share it and give credit to me and/or to this site.

So Happy October everyone! I hope it's the best one yet, and that it's a magical and spooky one for everyone out there! I'll be back soon with some Grave Goodwill Goodies! Until then... Happy Haunting!