Stuff I Found While I Was Looking Where I Don't Usually Look

Gotta say, now that I'm past October-December, it is nice to go back over all of the stuff I found in the past few months and finally get a chance to write about them. Today's post is a pile of Goodwill loot that I found because I took a dive into a few sections of the store that I don't usually bother with (aaaand some stuff in the sections where I usually do... because I won't NOT look where I usually do too). 

First up, I found some great vinyl records: 

First up we have this incredible Mickey Mouse Disco record. I love this idea of Disco being represented by a bunch of the Disney characters back in the 70's. This album was put out in 1979 so really Disco was pretty much done by this point... but still.

Seeing Horace and Clarabelle cutting a rug here beside Chip n' Dale and Donald and Daisy warms the cockles of my heart to be sure. I have not bothered to search it, but I am curious to see if the version of "Chim Chim Cher-ee" included on this album is some sort of Disco remix (in which case... weird) or is simply included in its original form (in which case.. weirder... right?).

Now let's jump ahead to 1982 and get into a little Mousercise!!! As we saw with the Disco phenomena, Disney gladly jumped aboard the Jazzercise wagon.  Again though, with a song selection called "Tweedledee and Tweedledum" I have to beg the question if the song is the original from Alice in Wonderland, or a "jazzed up!" version.

I find it hilarious that there appear to be a pair of Silly Symphony bugs Mousercising at the bottom of the picture on the back.

When I come across a Sesame Street Album, I can't pass it up. It's just not in my DNA. And this one looks so familiar that I would ALMOST swear I owned it as a kid. I know I had some Sesame Street Albums.

Then there was this even older Sesame Street record with an included book. On the cover there you can see Mr. Hooper, and Matt Robinson as Gordon!

The book inside is in HORRIBLE condition, but here's one of the better page, depicting the lyrics for the song "Green" and shows an interaction between Kermit and Grover. I MISS the days when Kermit was a Sesame Street Muppet as well as a Muppet Show Muppet.

Here is a later Sesame Street Album "Sing the hit songs of Sesame Street" which features yet another Gordon, Hal Miller this time, on the cover! All-total, four different actors have portrayed Gordon on Sesame Street.

Finally there was "Merry Christmas Sesame Street" which I definitely had as a kid. I distinctly remember being SO disturbed by the gold beads in Bert's mouth.

Here's the interior of the gatefold cover. LOVE this spread! The illustrations are so great, and Roosevelt Franklin makes not one, but TWO appearances!

I also found this Playmobil Pirates Take-Along Dungeon. There were no pirates inside, but that's okay because I really just wanted it for:

These guys! You may recognize them from the League of Extraordinary Bloggers Post I did about pirates back in 2013... If not, you should click that link and give it a read, I give the complete background of these awesome pirate dudes there.

As per usual, I found a few kids' books as well. Here we have a book based on the 80's cartoon adaptation of the Littles, "The Little Winner" and Darkwing Duck's "Clean Money". 

"Safe All Day With the Happies" is a horrific book of consequences. I LOVE THIS.

Here's a picture of a kid falling down the stairs after playing on them. "The Happies do not like broken arms!" HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! 

Love it. 

I usually give the DVD section a cursory glance and then move on. There's usually not much there except for old copies of the third disc from a boxed set of Friends season seven box set... or "The Period of Purple Crying" informational dvds (look it up for yourself... but I see A LOT of these at Goodwill) but I was shocked to discover some stuff I actually wanted to buy in this section this time around! First up I found DVD copies of "The Dream Team" and "Mallrats" which had me VERY ecstatic! I don't know if you remember Dream Team, but that movie was once upon a time one of my very favorites. It made me think that crazy people could team up like superheroes and achieve ANYTHING. Mallrats is a Kevin Smith classic, and I haven't seen it pretty much since it came out. But I'm looking forward to revisiting it.

But wait! There's more! TV movie "Gargoyles" which looks like stupid, schlocky TV-PG horror at its finest! I will probably throw this on as a part of some sort of Horror marathon when Fall gets here. I also found the complete Third season of "The Batman" which I never watched even once when it was on, and don't own the first two seasons of... but you gotta start somewhere right?

...Right?

And finally, "Garfield and Friends: Behind the Scenes" which is a nice way for me to pay homage to the cartoon series from when I was a kid without actually having to buy the entire series on DVD. I loves me some animated Garfield all right!

Well that's it kids! It really paid off for me to check the records and DVDs with a bit more enthusiasm than I usually reserve for those sections because I found some pretty neat stuff! That's all I have to show off for tonight, but I'll be back soon with more Geeky Goodwill Goodies, so until then: Happy Hunting!

A Package From Devin Cönnörs!!!

So I'm horribly overdue on a few things, including the contents of this post... which is a package I received from a fellow named Devin Cönnörs. Devin is a fellow geeky-thrift enthusiast who approached me online with the offer to swap packages. So we did just that! 

This of course took place right before the Holiday blitz last year, and I've had some trouble getting my butt in gear to report on everything that I'd been meaning to (I still have stuff from as far back as last FATHER'S DAY you guys...) so instead of me continuing to make lame excuses for the rest of this post let us just delve into the stuff he sent me, shall we? 

First up are these cassette tape soundtracks for The Karate Kid Part II and Beverly Hills Cop II. These are just awesome. As I mentioned more than once during my Halloween countdown last year, I have become mildly obsessed with collecting old cassette tapes. Soundtracks, novelty albums, and stuff I listened to back in highschool mostly.

One of the most amazing items included was this 45 record of Cyndi Lauper's "The Goonies 'R' Good Enough. I am a Goonies FREAK and a Cyndi Lauper fan from way back, so this thing made me show my true colors and do the truffle shuffle.

Here's a shot of the back, which includes the classic movie poster artwork, and a b-side recording of "What a Thrill".

This grinning guy is Brick BAzooka from 1998's "Small Soldiers". I was working as a Toy Department manager for Wal-Mart back when this movie was released, so I remember the HUGE toy blitz it was represented by. This one takes me waaaay back.

His name ain't "Bazooka" for nothing. Although I never understood how THIS was less freaky than anything the Gorgonites were capable of. I mean, the soldiers were after the monsters because they were freaks right? So how is this normal exactly?

One of my other absolute favorite items in the box was this stuffed chibi Chewbacca. He now resides in a place of pride on my Star Wars shelf.

Aso included were these awesome buttons and magnets. The Monster House button is lenticular, showing the house attacking the main characters. Then there's the fantastic Freddy Krueger button and the two awesome 8bit Zombie pins (the clawed Power Glove and pixellated zombie) ALL of which ended up on the interior ceiling of my car. The magnets are all made by Devin himself, using bottle caps, art clippings, and adhesive magnets. I think my absolute favorite one is Church from Pet Semetary, and the one that had me most confused was the Freddy from an advertisement for pencil grippers.... and then there's f**ing ROBO-COP.

In the toy department we have Lisa Simpson, Goofy, Luigi in a Mario Kart racer, and a Jack 'o Lantern. I love the Lisa figure, as its from the very first set of Simpsons Burger King kids' meal toys, released back in 1989 here in the US and 1990 in Australia. I already own the Marge Simpson from the same set, so now I just need Homer, Bart, and Maggie!

I have no idea what the toy on the left goes to. I know it has something to do with the Mandalorians (it has one of their symbols) from Star Wars, and I suspect due to the color scheme, it has specifically to do with Boba Fett... but I can't figure it out. I assumed at first it went to the Boba Fett Transformer, but I can't find an image of this piece included in that toy anywhere. Even better, IMO, is this wax pack of "Baby" trading cards!!!

Finally, we have these two Muppets Christmas ornaments, that were in fact included on our Christmas tree this past year! Kermie and Piggy are very welcome additions to our tree for sure! 

I can't thank Devin enough for the awesome items he included in this package! He obviously put a lot of thought into his selections, and I hope he enjoyed the stuff I sent off to him half as much. Be sure to visit his tumblr which he plans to start using to talk about items he's found.

I'll be back soon with more Geeky Goodwill Goodies... so until then, Happy Hunting!

FINALLY... the Last 2 days of my 12 Days of Christmas Cassettes

So I completely boned that all up... But ah well. Let's finish up my 12 days of Christmas Cassettes, and then get things back to the regularly scheduled post-holiday programming. There's a lot to get caught up on. So here goes! 

Day 11: Some Rather Questionable Choices

One of the rules that I set for myself when collecting cassettes from Goodwill was this: Don't buy tapes ironically. Don't buy them for the sake of telling a joke or a visual punchline. I was only going to buy stuff that I genuinely LOVE. This Christmas countdown has been a pretty big exception to this rule in some cases, and no cassettes better demonstrate this breakdown of my personal code better than these two:

I mean, LOOK at these things!!! "Christmas Rap Music" by Crew X and "A Romantic Christmas" by John Tesh? Er. Mah. Gerd.

This thing goes so far back around from "good" that it travels completely through "bad" and almost back into "good" territory again. I'm pretty sure some of this music is going to be played in actual rotation with our Christmas playlists in the years to come. Every single track on this tape is a rap version of a classic Christmas song, with a few originals included as well. 

Track List (Not sure where side A ends and side B begins because this thing is still in its cellophane and I don't plan to open it any time soon)

1. The First Noel

2. Up on the Housetop

3. We Three Kings

4. Jingle Bells

5. O Little Town of Bethlehem

6. Deck the Halls

7. Joy to the World

8. It Came Upon a Midnight Clear

9. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

10. Twelve Days of Christmas

11. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

12. The Christmas Rap

Even more questionable than a Christmas Rap album however is a collection of "Romantic Christmas" songs by John Tesh. Of course the question here is: how romantic can you make songs like "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" or "In a Child's Eyes" without going straight down to creepy town? Some of the songs are even accompanied by a boy's choir. This does not scream romance at my house. Disappointingly, these all seem to be instrumentals, so I guess John Tesh just wants to set a Christmas-y ambiance for sexy-time. There is no John Tesh lustily belting out double-entendre-laden lyrics for  "Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella," which just seems like a wasted opportunity.

-Side A-

1. O Little Town of Bethlehem

2. Gesu Bambino

3. It Came Upon a Midnight clear

4. The First Noel

5. Panis Angelicus

6. O Holy Night

7. Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella

8. O Come All Ye Faithful

-Side B- 

9. Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring

10. The Coventry Carol

11. We Three Kings of Orient Are

12. Silent Night, Holy Night

13. Gloria In Excelsis Deo

14. The Homecoming

15. In a Child's Eyes

16. The Christmas Song

Day 12: A Couple of my Personal Classics

For my final day of the countdown I was going to feature two of my all-time favorite Christmas albums:

First up is "Twisted Christmas" from Bob Rivers Comedy Corp. This this has been on constant rotation for Christmas since I first heard it back in '87 or '88. My favorites are hands down "The 12 Pains of Christmas,""The Chimney Song," and "The Bathroom Door Said Gentlemen" but some other greats involve guest stints by Jack Nicholson and Elvis Presley.

-Side A- 

1. The Twelve Pains of Christmas

2. The Chimney Song

3. We Wish You Weren't Living With Us

4. Wreck the Malls

5. A Visit from St. Nicholson

-Side B- 

6. O Come All Ye Grateful Dead-Heads

7. I'm Dressin' Up Like Santa (When I Get Out on Parole)

8. The Restroom Door Said Gentlemen

9. Foreigners

10. Joy to the World

11. A Message From the King

And it just isn't Christmas until I've heard "The Chipmunk Song" at least once. It is a Christmas must-have as far as our playlist goes. 

-Side A- 

1. Here Comes Santa Claus

2. Up on the Housetop

3. Silver Bells

4. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

5. Jingle Bells

-Side B-

6. Santa Claus is Coming to Town

7. It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

8. Frosty the Snowman

9. White Christmas

10. The Chipmunk Song

So that was it! That was the end of the countdown that was supposed to end on Christmas. Instead, I was lucky to have it up before New Year's Eve. I'm sure you all count yourselves as very lucky indeed. What's that you say? More? You want more??? All right then. ONE LAST THING:

Here is an item that I have been meaning to post about for at least 2 Christmases now, and by GUM I am finally going to do it! This 7" record stars the 6 Million Dollar Man in "Elves Revolt" Here's the plot synopsis from Bionic.wikia.com:

• "Steve discovers that Santa's elves are in a labor dispute with their boss. Complaining of low wages and bad working condiions, they go an strike. Their "picket line" is literally formed by a terrorist elf named Ramat, whose scheme to bring Santa to the bargaining table involves melting the polar ice cap. Getting a report from the National Weather Service that the ice cap is melting at a rate of 1°/hour, Steve and Oscar rush to the North Pole to see if there's anything they can do to reverse the process. If not, the majority the northern hemisphere will be covered in water by Christmas. However, they are soon captured by Ramat and can do little more than talk to their fellow captive, Santa Claus, about his union problems. In the end, the foreman of the elves comes to his senses and orders his men to stop Ramat. When they do so, they are able to diffuse all the heating elements Ramat had emplaced, and the two sides of the labor dispute reconcile."

So there are union picket lines, terrorism, and global warming involved in this very special Six Million Dollar Man adventure. The copyright on this record is 1978, which is the same year I was born! I was pretty psyched to find this at Goodwill for only .99 cents, and still in the cellophane no less! Apparently there is a full sized record that contains 4 Christmas-themed Six Million Dollar Man adventures, and this is just one of them... But it's enough for me. Here. Give it a listen (It is bats**t INSANE.)

All right! Now I'm officially done for 2014! I will be back in the new year at some point with a semi-regular posting schedule, and LOTS of stuff to talk about that are literally MONTHS behind schedule. So look forward to that! 

I'll be back soon enough with some Geeky Goodwill Goodies! In the meantime, Happy Hunting! 

Halloween Countdown Day 27: Goodwill Finds!

There are only 3 days between today and the BIG day ladies and Gentlemen! That means this will probably be my last straight-up "Stuff I Bought at Goodwill" post between now and then, because I'll be focusing more on the festivities around the house and just sort of rounding up anything else I've got to share before the night arrives. So let's take one last look at some Halloween-y items I've picked up at Goodwill! 

Possessions: Unclean Getaway from Oni Press is a fun little graphic novel starring a young girl possessed by a demon. This girl is added to a collection of supernatural characters including a poltergeist, a haunted jukebox, the ghost of a headless woman, and a talking, glowing sphere. The story is all about the demon Gurgazon the Unclean who has been added to the collection at the Llewellyn-Vane House for Captured Spirits and Ghostly Curiosities, and who desperately wants to escape. It has a distinct "Great Escape" meets "Perhapanauts" vibe, but almost more for the YA reader set. It was definitely a cool little tale, and one I'll probably check out the following three volumes for. 

"...MORE OF THE NIGHT HE CAME HOME." Ha! I thought I had never seen this movie, but after picking it up at Goodwill and watching it, I realized I must have seen it. I guess this one gets kind of a bad rap... but sitting and watching it back-to-back with the first Halloween, I have to say I kind of enjoyed this one more. There was more going on, the characters were a little more fleshed out, and the pacing was a little more to my liking. It could simply be that I hadn't seen it in so long that it felt new and fresh compared to the very familiar-to-me first film. After rewatching the original Halloween again this year with my daughter, I realized something: There are still some great scenes and classic moments that horror fans NEED to experience, but at times I found myself almost... bored. Sure, parts of the Hospital setting in part 2 (and some of the kill scenes) feel a little hackneyed and hokey... but it does have a nice consistent vibe to it. I don't think it deserves the bad rap it seems to have in some circles. 

Here we have a "Panther Alien" from the early 90's Alien action figure line. Sadly, he did not come with his projectile, which apparently was some sort of firable parasite creature, but he's still pretty neat. As much as I can admire his sleek frame and interesting pose, not being much of a fan of the oddball Alien figures of various different genuses and species, I passed this guy on to a new home almost immediately. 

As we leave the city limits of Halloweentown and move on to other things... we find this novelization of Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome! "He's a lone warrior in a world gone mad! She is the only power in a land of fear." I have not seen Thunderdome in many a year, but I remember it being weird, and disturbing, and really liking it a lot. Again, its a movie that seems to get a bad rap in most reviews I've heard or read, but I don't get it. Finding a novelization of the film really made my day! 

There was also a grab-bag I picked up that had these three handsome fellows included: a couple different versions of Raphael from the mid-2000's toy line, and a PVC figurine of Robbie from the Dinosaurs sitcom! The Raph on the left does a backflip if you bend him over at the mid-section. The Raph on the right is from the 200's series of toys, a Cave-Turtle character. 

A handful of Sesame Street books in A Visit to the Sesame Street Museum, Show and Tell, The Tool Box Book, and Who Am I? These are all nice classic-feeling Sesame Street books.

And keeping in line with the Sesame Street theme, we have this set of cookie cutters! Big Bird, Prairie Dawn, Grover, Bert, Ernie, and Elmo, all in different modes of transportation. Not sure if these are true cookie cutters or if they came with a play-doh set or something, but either way I picked up a little baggie of them for .99 cents.

Some more Jim Henson-themed books in a Fraggle story and a Muppet Babies story.

This was an interesting find. "Little Toot from Walt Disney's Melody Time" on a vinyl record. This just caught my eye and had to come home with me.

Couple of other random properties here in kids' book form. A Garfield book I already have a copy of that I will probably send off to a friend, and a "Ring Raiders: Doom on Ice" book. Ring Raiders were toyline released by Matchbox back in '89 and consisted of jets that you wore on rings on your fingers. There was also a cartoon show to advertise... I mean to tell the story behind Ring Raiders.

This is a set of Tupperware stencils from the 80's. My wife already owns a complete set of these (missing the yellow case) from when she was a kid. I don't know exactly what I plan on doing with these... but letting my kids play with them is the first idea that springs to mind. Which... is admittedly unusual for me.

So there you have it! I'll be back soon with more Gutturally Growling Goodwill Goodies... so until then, Happy Haunting!

Halloween Countdown Day 20: A Package from Laura of Boobobby Blog!

So let us reach again reach a tender, defenseless hand into the gaping maw of... The Goodwill Geek's Mailbag!!! This time around, I received a package from my friend Laura of the BooBobby Blog! She's a great blogger-buddy from way back and she always sends me the coolest stuff. Let's take a look at what she sent! 

It was a Halloween-themed package! Here's the whole pile of wonderful goodies included, but let's get a closer-looksee. Be not afeared... but march onward with me!

First up is this Dracula Burger King Kids' Club meal from 1997. He looks debonair and deadly no?

And he goes rather nicely with the other two monsters I have from the set. Now I just need Frankenstein's monster and I'll have the complete set of four! 

She included this awesome roller-coaster post card for "THE BEAST" that is perfect for Halloween too! She always includes a nice, hand-written note in all of her packages... a practice I NEED to get into the habit of myself!

This book is awesome! Georgie is one of those kids' book characters I've been aware of almost all my life. For some reason though this is the first one to make it into our Halloween reading collection. And its adorable! We received the package today, read the book to the kiddos at bedtime tonight, and now  here I am blogging about it about 45 minutes later. Such a great read! There are about 13 books that star this little ghost, as far as I can figure, and I will definitely be keeping my eyes peeled for more of them in the future!

Next up we have the AMAZING "Ghostly Sounds" vinyl record! This thing is gorgeous to behold! Love the fanged green guys on the back and front.

Then we have the equally if not EVEN COOLER "Sounds to Make You Shiver!" with its army of monsters flooding from a mouldering castle! These things are being hung up somewhere in the cave and displayed proudly! 

Laura also included these Fisher Price Adventure People, because she felt my "Becky the Diver" figure from the same line might be getting lonely. But she also cautioned me that these guys seemed a little sketchy... like a couple of seedy jerks at a Halloween party. (I'm NOT going to do it... but how easy would it be to head-swap blue-jumpsuited fireman guy with this guy:

And make an Adventure People Michael Myers with just a little paint? Like I said, I'm not doing it... but a guy can dream some Halloween dreams can't he? 

Finally, there was this adorable, slobbery guy. Barkley from the Sesame Street Mini Beans line! I can't even BEGIN to pretend this has a tie to the Halloween theme here... and that is exactly okay with me. Barkley just is. He doesn't have to be Halloween-y. He's pure, orange, fuzzy, manic LOVE!!! Aw Barkley. One of my fave Sesame Street Muppets.

Well kids, that's all I've got for tonight! I can't thank Laura enough and I can't stop reeling over her generosity. THANK YOU LAURA!!! I'll be back soon with more Grotesque Goodwill Goodies! Until then, Happy Haunting!