Happy 7th Birthday Big Pile of Stuff!

Today, July 30th, is the 7th birthday of this, the Big Pile of Stuff blog. For the first few years, I made all kinds of fun graphics for the special occasion, but then the last few years, I have actually forgotten about the day completely. Today, I wanted to to acknowledge 7 years, but I was kinda lazy, so I have just recycled one of my favorite graphics from a previous birthday. I love this one because it looks so much like something you would see on Sesame Street, with the large foam letters on sticks parading around their apartment.
As a special thank you to those of you who actually read this, I will be having a cool giveaway in a few days, so keep your eyes peeled for my next post.

Little Golden Book Monday #175

Today's Little Golden Book is Disney Planes based on the upcoming Disney animated movie of the same name. I saw some previews of this movie about a year ago and thought it looked very much like a direct to DVD film, but that didn't stop me from picking up the book, and I'll be there on August 9th for opening night of the film. At least this book has me a little more interested in seeing the film.

Denny's Celebrating 60 Years Retro Style Menu

I love collecting ephemera, and restaurant menus are a favorite of mine. They are something you see all the time, but you don't generally have the opportunity to add them to your collection which for me makes them all the more desirable. Yesterday when we visited our local Denny's I noticed they still had their very cool celebrating 60 years menu. Denny's seems to change their menu more often than other restaurants, so I figured they may be close to getting rid of these ones. I took a chance and asked our server if I could have one. She seemed very surprised that I would ask, but thought it was very cool when I told her that I collect menus. She went and asked her manager, and a few minutes later she came back and handed me this menu. It has now joined my small but very cool collection of menus. My favorite being the Disneyland Hotel's Monorail Cafe which sadly no longer exists.
Here are the photos of all the pages of the menu. It is filled with lots of great Denny's trivia such as "It began with a donut stand and a promise. Denny's made its start in Lakewood, California in 1953 as a donut stand called Denny's Donuts. The owner, Harold Butler, started his business with this commitment: "We're going to serve the best cup of coffee, make the best tasting food, offer the best value and stay open 24 hours a day." In 1959, the 20-location chain was renamed Denny's Restaurants to avoid confusion with another chain, Doughnut Dan's.
Today, with over 1,700 restaurants in 10 countries, we're committed to keeping that original promise - from our new, better-tasting coffee to our ever-expanding menu of American diner classics. We're America's diner. And we'll continue to serve our guests with the same emphasis as Harold Butler did some 60 years ago.

Little Golden Book Monday #174

Today's Little Golden Book is Disney Pixar Monsters University. I have started to see lots of Monsters university books showing up in many local stores. I have not seen this one on the shelves yet, but since seeing this image on another site, I have been on the look out for a copy to add to my collection!

Little Golden Book Monday #173

Today's Little Golden Book is Walt Disney's Mickey and the Beanstalk from 1988. The story of Mickey and the Beanstalk was originally part of the Fun and Fancy Free animated feature produced by Walt Disney and released by RKO Radio Pictures on September 27, 1947. It was one of the "package films" (feature-length compilations of shorter segments) that the studio produced in the 1940s. It is the 9th animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, and the fourth package film by Disney.
The "Mickey and the Beanstalk" portion of the film was the last time Walt Disney voiced Mickey Mouse, as he was too busy working on other projects to continue voicing the famous character. Disney replaced himself with sound effects artist Jimmy MacDonald.

Little Golden Book Monday #172

Happy Easter. Today I present The Golden Egg Book from 1947. My copy is a fifth printing from 1971 and is showing its age, as the cover is starting to peel. Is it just me or does the rabbit on the cover look something from a horror movie? It is amazing how different the cover drawing looks from all the artwork inside the book. Just check out this cute illustration of the little bunny finding the egg.

Disneyland & California Adventure Guide Maps

 This past Christmas we visited Disneyland for the first time in years! We spend 9 glorious days in Anaheim and spend at least part of ever day at the Disney parks. As you may know, I love collecting ephemera, and Disneyland guide maps are a favorite collectible of mine. As a bit of trivia, these free guides have been provided free of charge courtesy of Kodak since opening day of Disneyland back in 1955. With the bankruptcy of Kodak, these will be the last to be provided compliments of the Eastman Kodak Company.
Every time I visit Disneyland, I come home with piles of guide maps, always with the hope of trading them with other Disneyland fans. That has been my hope for over 25 years, and I have never managed to trade even one of them. I thought I had a chance last year when I attended the North West Mouse Meet. With so many Disneyland fans in one place, I thought I had a chance. But, alas, I didn't contact the Mouse Meet organizer soon enough to get others to bring their extras to the show for trading. Then again, I don't know for sure anyone would care. So, I have now decided to try using the Internet to see if anyone wants to trade.
I have lots of both of the Disneyland and Disney California Adventure guide maps and entertainment guides from our Christmas 2012 visit, as shown above. I also have lots from our trips back between 1988 and 2001. If you have any from before 1988, or from 2001 to today that you either want to trade, or just send my way, please contact me. You can find my email address at the top right of this page.

Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Tray Liner

Last weekend we had to set our clocks ahead an hour, meaning we lost an hour. At least Krispy Kreme Doughnuts was giving away free original glazed doughnuts to everyone who showed up that day. We had our free doughnuts and I also brought home a couple of their new tray liners to add to my fast food tray liner collection.

Little Golden Book Monday #171

Today I realized that I have posted a couple of Little Golden Books based on Toy Story and Toy Story 3, but had not done Toy Story 2. So, today, I present Toy Story 2 from 2006.
I love the Toy Story films and especially enjoyed Toy Story 2. I loved the way they turned Woody and Bullseye into retro stars of yesteryear on their show Woody's Roundup. I want all those collectibles they show in the film! A Woody's Roundup record player would look awesome in my collection.

I Love my Local Library

I have always loved visiting my local library. I have always loved to check out the books in the entertainment / arts section. As a young kid, I would looking for books on magic, as a young adult I was looking for books on animation, and then it was books on Disney. I have always loved magazines, and since I can't afford to buy them all, the library has been a great resource to get all those magazines I want to read, but don't necessarily need to purchase. There are tons of graphic novels. Once I had a son, I started spending lots of time in the children's section. Now that video stores are pretty much a thing of the past, the library has become a great place to get movies... for free!
A number of years ago, I got an app for my iMac called Library Books from Harold Chu. Its one of the best apps on my Mac. It always sits at the top of my Macs menu bar and reminds me how many books I have out, let me know when books are due back by changing colour and lets me know when my requests are ready to be picked up. For just a few bucks on the Apple App Store it has saved me tons of late fees!

Another great feature of the app is that it makes is super simple to make a few clicks and do a search of books available though the library system and then place a hold on them. Once they show up, the app icon will turn green to alert you that you have an item to pick up. Most recently I have ordered Walt Disney's Imagineering Legends a great book by Jeff Kurtti, and the Hidden Magic of Walt Disney World, which is a great read! I also just picked up seasons 1, 2 & 3 of Anamaniacs which I am excited to share with my son. I am currently on the last disc of the IT Crowd season 3.
Our local libraries are also adding lots of new programs. This coming spring break, they are adding movie nights, a kite making session, board game nights (complete with pizza and snacks), Lego building sessions and more.
For those of you who have not been to a library in years, you may want to check it out again!

Little Golden Book Monday #170

I received a call from the dentist this week to remind me that it was time for my bi yearly checkup. Thankfully this Little Golden Book from 1970 titled "Let's Visit the Dentist" had reassured me that I have nothing to be frightened of.
I also scanned in the back cover, as it was different from the ones I usually see over and over.

Little Golden Book Monday #169

Today's Little Golden Book is Walt Disney's Peter and the Wolf, a fairy tale adapted from Serge Prokofieff's musical theme. Pictures by Richard Kelsey for the Walt Disney Studio.  Based on the animated cartoon sequence in Walt Disney's "Make Mine Music".
This copy is a second printing from 1976. Original edition was 1946.
The cover of this book is scuffed up, but I liked the artwork inside too much to pass this up when I found it at a local thrift store. Check out this great double page spread.

Little Golden Book Monday #168

Today's Little Golden Book is Disney's Chip 'N Dale Rescue Rangers: The Big Cheese Caper from 1991, written by Deborah Kovacs and illustrated by Darrell Baker.
I was never a big fan of Chip 'N Dale, I usually saw them as nothing more than a foil for Donald Duck in his old cartoons, and I was too old when the Disney Afternoon was on TV to have watched the Rescue Rangers.

Here is what I know:
1) Chip is the one with a black nose (like a chocolate chip).
2) One of the Rescue Rangers characters named Gadget has her own Go Coaster in Disneyland's Toontown
3) There was a great Chip 'N Dale Rescue Rangers comic book from Boom Comics that lasted just 8 issues before Boom lost their Disney licence.
4) Swampy used to be known as Sewer Al long before he landed the job of spokes gator for Disney's Where's My Water puzzle video game.
OK, I could be wrong on the last one, but the first three are all true.

Little Golden Book Monday #167

Today's Little Golden Book is Disney / Pixar's Monsters, Inc from 2012. This is the first Little Golden Book to feature Monsters, Inc. Then the movie initially came out, it was during the time that LGB's had dropped their Disney licence, so its nice to see they have put one out in 2012. There is a new Monsters, Inc movie titled Monsters University coming out in June 2013, so I guess this is a good time to get the characters out in front of the public again.

While we were in Disney's California Adventure park, we got to ride Monsters, Inc Mike & Sulley to the Rescue, and we also saw all of the characters in the Pixar Play Parade. The highlight of the parade was seeing George Sanderson, who sadly still had a sock stuck to his back!

Little Golden Book Monday #166

Today's Little Golden Book is Disney's Wreck-It Ralph which was released September 2012. I had hoped to find it on our recent trip to Disneyland this New Year's, but had to make a trip down to the Barnes & Nobel in Bellingham to pick it up, as there were no Little Golden Books to be seen anywhere in Disneyland. There was a very cool Fix-It Felix Jr video game in the Starcade in Disneyland's Tomorrowland which was free to play along with a bunch of other retro video games (as seen in Wreck-It Ralph) such as Pac-Man, Q*Bert etc. My son and I had a great time playing the Fix-IT Felix Jr arcade game early one morning before the lines of guests showed up in the park!