Tuesday, October 6, 2020

Items from the Wish List: Clean-Up on Aisle Ten

 

Rack Toys: Cheap Crazed Playthings by Brian Heiler, Matt Patterson

Colorful packaging hanging from your pharmacists or grocer s shelves, designed to entice you while you sat in your parents shopping cart.
Often terribly made, these strange playthings were low priced enough to wear down even the most frugal adult and were most likely forgotten or broken by the time you left the parking lot. – Amazon.

Tis the Season TV: The Encyclopedia of Christmas-Themed Episodes, Specials and Made-for-TV Movies by Joanna Wilson

Tis the Season TV is the comprehensive encyclopedia of Christmas television programming. Author Joanna Wilson has compiled thousands of Christmas-themed television episodes, specials and TV movies from the history of television and placed them at your fingertips in an easy-to-use guide. This nostalgic reference book is a wonderful holiday resource covering everything from All in the Family to Ziggy's Gift. – Amazon.

The Christmas TV Companion: a Guide to Cult Classics, Strange Specials and Outrageous Oddities by Joanna Wilson

Christmas on TV is wilder, weirder, and more wondrous than you think! The Christmas TV Companion is a funny, engaging look beyond the same Christmas specials that air every year to the cult TV rarities, over-the-top made-for-TV holiday specials, and bizarre, spacey shows that truly expand the notion of Christmas spirit. Loaded with pop culture references, this book is sure to please pop aficionados and TV junkies of all stripes. Its remarkable breadth of content covers the far-out gems of yesterday, as well as the irreverent and cutting edge Christmas material of today, from Arthur C. Clarke to South Park, and from Ed Sullivan to Squidbillies. This guide also contains practical examples for enhancing your own Christmas TV viewing. – Amazon.

Life And Adventures Of Santa Claus/Nestor The Christmas Donkey (Double Feature) Jules Bass, Arthur Rankin Jr. (DVD)

Wanted mainly for the adaptation of L. Frank Baum's book. Love that opening chant, "Ora e Sempre (Today and Forever)"!

The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm All-New Third Edition by Jacob Grimm, Wilhelm Grimm

Perhaps no other stories possess as much power to enchant, delight, and surprise as those penned by the immortal Brothers Grimm. Now, in the new, expanded third edition, renowned scholar and folklorist Jack Zipes has translated all 250 tales collected and published by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, plus twenty-nine rare tales omitted from the original German edition, as well as narratives uncovered in the brothers’ letters and papers. – Amazon. Had a copy that I gave to my nephew Kameron.

Vaesen by Johan Egerkrans

"They may not look like us, but they are not of this world. They have many names and many guises. They are elusive, bewitching and dangerous." Johan Egerkrans’ collection of creatures from the Scandinavian folklore has become a crossover phenomenon. The dark forests, deep lakes and vast mountain ranges of Scandinavia are home to a multitude of supernatural beings. They are known as the little people, the invisibles, or simply the fair folk. When someone vanishes in the woods, when the milk curdles over night, when strange noises are heard in the loft or when an unexplained ailment strikes, it is said to be the work of such entities. Some of these creatures appear all over Europe: ghosts, giants, dragons, trolls, werewolves and faeries. Others are endemic to Scandinavia, such as the Neck who rules the rivers, the nightly Mara, the Huldra who guards the forest, tomtar, mylings and many others. Author and illustrator Johan Egerkrans presents what he regards as the most important – and most fascinating – Scandinavian folkloric beings. This richly illustrated, well-informed collection, a bestseller in Swedish, is now available in English for an international audience. “Egerkrans does what is most important: he writes because he himself loves his topic, with great respect for the reader. This is a book to return to, read parts of many times, and keep on the bookshelf for a long time.” Dagens Nyheter “A book that, which is not always the case, takes both the topic and its readers seriously. That you can return to and immerse yourself in. Even be carried away by.” Göteborgs-Posten Author and illustrator Johan Egerkrans presents what he regards as the most important – and most fascinating – Scandinavian folkloric beings. This richly illustrated, well-informed collection, a bestseller in Swedish, is now available in English for an international audience. – Amazon.

The Traveling Curmudgeon: Irreverent Notes, Quotes, and Anecdotes on Dismal Destinations, Excess Baggage, the Full Upright Position, and Other Reasons Not to Go There by Jon Winokur

On the theory that an account of a pleasant journey is best not thrust upon friends and strangers, that a disaster makes for a more entertaining story, here is a gathering of quotes, commentary, and anecdotes about the travails of travel, the downright strangeness of foreign places, and rueful encounters on the road. Abetted by a parade of well-known curmudgeons, Jon Winokur offers a thousand reasons not to go there. The Traveling Curmudgeon proves that travel and all things related to going from here to there -- destinations, the locals, the tourists, the food, the accommodations, and, oh my god, the souvenirs we drag home -- are all grist for a very entertaining mill. – Amazon.

The Big Curmudgeon: 2,500 Outrageously Irreverent Quotations from World-Class Grumps and Cantankerous Commentators by Jon Winokur

The author of the wildly successful Portable Curmudgeon and Portable Curmudgeon Redux outdoes himself in the biggest collection yet of acid wit and wisdom cunningly collected from sardonic savants of every stripe.

A curmudgeon is defined as 1. A crusty, ill-tempered, churlish old man; 2. Anyone who hates hypocrisy and pretense and has the temerity to say so; or 3. anyone who points out unpleasant facts in an engaging and humorous manner. The Big Curmudgeon is the richest collection yet of curmudgeonly commentary, combining all of the material from the bestselling Portable Curmudgeon and Portable Curmudgeon Redux, plus selections from A Curmudgeon’s Garden of Love—and lots of brand-new quips, quotations, and wisdom freshly collected by compiler extraordinaire, Jon Winokur.

Arranged alphabetically by subject and featuring special sections on such world-class grumps as H.L. Mencken, John Simon, W.C. Fields, and Dorothy Parker, the book is the last witty word on all things cynical, snide, and hilariously grouchy.

Equally suited to the "humor" and "reference" sections, The Big Curmudgeon is filled with the pithiest, smartest things ever said by the wittiest people who ever lived. – Amazon.


Dead Like Me: The Complete Collection

Starring Ellen Muth, Laura Harris (DVD)

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