After Halloween/November First

Old Yeller, Shamu, Happy Meal Toys Galore

Been away for a few days with the family, so I'm trying to play a little bit of catch up. This one is NOT going to knock anyone's socks off I'm afraid, and it really probably should have been doubled up again... but you get what you get. Please don't hate me. 

All of this was picked up on a single trip... I THINK to the Bangor, ME store... but I honestly don't remember at this point. I picked up this copy of "Old Yeller" because I want to read the ending over and over again.

I've never been to Seaworld and I've never seen Shamu... so really, any time I find merchandising based on either I tend to snap it up. I am horribly deprived... or depraved that way...

A couple of Oscar-centric Sesame Street Books (Well, one is technically worm-centric... but Oscar is our gateway into the worm-world of Sesame Street so...). I've pretty much settled on Oscar as one of my (if not the ONE) favorite Sesame Street characters. When you really stop and think about the characters invented on this show, you can point at some of the most original concepts in all of children's entertainment. Oscar is a filth-grubbing, trash-wallowing, belligerent, insolent, grumpy-Gus who, while showing the occasional ray of sunshine through the thunderhead, just never truly reforms. And we love him for it.

Little Golden Books, the cornerstone of many a Goodwill trip for me, were present for this trip as well. I found two of the BIG Little Golden Books, as these are almost always a must-buy for me. "Dinosaur Discoveries" and "Little Raccoon's Nighttime Adventure" 

This was of PARTICULAR interest to me... as it is the first volume in a comic adaptation of Robert Asprin's "Myth" series. I LOVE Robet Asprin's "Myth" series. I wish I hadn't gotten rid of those books quite a long time ago, as I am craving a reread. I am not a huge fan of the particular art style of this adaptation (Phil Foglio's style specifically...), especially since I don't picture Skeeve or Aahz as anything but the Walter Velez interpretation:

But I'll take what I can get I guess.

Finishing off the books portion of the program, we have a Jack Prelutsky collection of Dinosaur poems, illustrated by Arnold Lobel. Jack Prelutsky is absolutely one of the best children's poets EVER and Arnold Lobel is one of the best children's illustrators... and they have a book about dinosaurs people. 

There was also a grab bag! Here are the contents, of which only about 20 percent is going to get any attention in this post. The Blackarachnia in the sealed bag was nice, but as I already own this particular toy, she went off to another home. The Teletubby, Po, actually went to one of my sons, who discovered some of my daughters old Teletubbies toys just a few months before this trip to Goodwill, and he LOVED it. Now on to the other stuff!

First up we have these two Pixar alums, Boo and Woody. I didn't really care all that much about owning this Woody figure, to be honest with you. I pretty much only collect figures from the Mattel Toy Story Buddies line, so while I was mildly pleased to see the old woodster here, I also added him to my giveaway pile. Now Boo? She's a different story altogether. Monsters Inc. Happy Meal Toys I like. So she went right on the shelf with Mike and Sully.

Together again! YAY!

The real gems (besides beloved Boo above) of this grab bag were these two hooligans. A Birdie the Early Bird Happy Meal toy (for toddlers, but I do not care...) and the severed head of Tony the Tiger, still grinning vacantly, mounted on a top. I love merchandise for food mascots, and these two were just what the doctor ordered!

So that's it folks! A quicky but goody. I'll be back with more Geeky Goodwill Goodies soon enough! Until then, Happy Hunting!

Goodwill Finds: Turtles, Ducks, Sesame Street

Welcome once again to another fun edition of: junk I picked up secondhand!!! I can't even begin to tell you when I picked up this lot of stuff... it was a while back. BUT it all did come from Goodwill. And I was pretty excited about some of the finds in this post! Let's take a look, shall we?

First up I found a grab-bag with these three Sesame Street beanie-friend-things in it. If it weren't for Grover and Oscar this would have gotten a pass as you can clearly see that in trying to keep up his youthful appearance in today's cut-throat entertainment biz... poor Ernie had a botched rhinoplasty procedure (I did not end up keeping Ernie, sorry to say...) and will never look the same.

This was an interesting find. I'm always on the prowl for interesting-looking horror anthologies, and this one, Between Time and Terror, seems to be focusing on horror stories with a sci-fi bent. This is just what the Doctor ordered! Barker and Koontz rubbing elbows with the likes of Heinlein and Asimov??? Interesting...

This is a particularly fun find. It's an illustrated adventure detailing Flash Gordon's exploits on Mogo, the Sand World. Actually picked this one up to pass on to a friend... but it looks like so much fun! I even just love the simplicity of Flash on the cover here, his skin almost blending in with the featureless background until we get some bright pops of color in his clothes and weapons. And check out those little shoes!

I'm a sucker for Jack Prelutsky, and ESPECIALLY Jack Prelutsky's collections about specific holidays. I already have Halloween, Christmas, and Thanksgiving. Nice to add Valentine's Day to the pile.

This Duck Tales coloring book from 1987 only had a couple of pages colored on! I absolutely love the Disney Duck-verse. Duck Tales and Darkwing Duck were some of my favorite afternoon shows when I was growing up.

I am ALWAYS excited to find TMNT stuff from the times when I Would have been a kid. This book "Return of the Shredder" is waaay more interesting for its portrayal of the "Crooked Ninja Turtle Gang"

And April O'neil's brave decision to teach people about recognizing the warning signs of a stroke on TV.

Finally, I found another Little Golden Book that I had as a kid (not the literal copy I owned of course) in The Three Bears, This thing is an electric-pastel romp of colors and images that I just love.

The greens are so green! The pinks so pink! The clashing colors layered over and around each other in a chaotic yet stylish display! Love this thing!

That was it folks!  a quickie but goody. The whole pile cost me about 7 bucks and some change. I'll be back soon with more Geeky Goodwill Goodies soon enough! Until then, Happy Hunting!

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!