Vintage Toys -Toy Reviews -Toy Discount

Reviews

This was given as a gift so I never actually got the opportunity to see the balloons out of the box and hung as they would be when on display. I bought it as a Christmas gift for my 2 year old nephew for display in his bedroom, obviously not for him to play with. Inside the box the mobile looked really cute, although the balloons are joined together by cheap thread. Also the packaging the mobile arrives in is very thinly constructed cardboard and flimsy plastic so it didn't hold up very well to the shipping but the actual mobile inside was undamaged.

I thought this was a great addition to my nephews room even though he is not on infant. I purchased this product for display not for use as a mobile. I loved that the balloons were metal not plastic. Vey fast shipping from seller and well packaged. Thank you, Kimberly

Reviews

I took just enough German in school to get most of the jokes - plus I also own one of the original LP releases with the complete printed libretto. Generally, I'm less impressed with P.D.Q.'s vocal music, but this is a side-splitting gem!

Although this album contains the relatively minor and impenetrable Bluegrass Cantata (I speak German and the puns contained in the work are about as groan-inducing as those that are the hallmark of Peter Schickele's radio program, Schickele Mix), the real jewel of the album is the octet for winds and a bizarre assortment of percussion instruments, the No-No Nonette. This work is full of clever musical puns and inside jokes that characterize Schikele's later, more mature musical satires like the 1712 Overture and the Short-Tempered Clavier. Like those works, the jokes are purely musical and instrumental, except in those places where the musical toys add a touch of Spike Jones. Where else but in Schickele's world could a wind octet feature a beautiful oboe solo (2nd movement) that suddenly goes haywire, making the soloist make an horrifying leap down from the instruments's highest register to it's lowest played deliberately flat, only later to have the same melody played in country-style parallel thirds by alternating pairs of clarinets and oboes? It's almost like a Mozart octet playing the Judds. The penultimate movement is a stroke of genius, with frenetic oboe and horn riffs sounding like something out of Dvorak's wind music framing a B section featuring a serene horn solo (with clarinets murmuring along) echoed by a music box playing an identical passage (per Schickele custom made for his composition according to later commentary on Schickele Mix). . .after each horn entrance the music box is opened again to play, clearly having not been wound since the prior measures. With each entrance, it adds to the schmaltz of the tune by playing ever slower. This album is not for the P.D.Q. Bach dabbler who wants a quick laugh from some of his more obvious satires, but I spent years trying to find this album back in print just so I could enjoy this underrated part of the P.D.Q. Bach canon.

Look at Peter Shickelie's web-site. He sounds like he's a little bit annoyed at the relase of this album on CD. The reason: the title piece on the album, Black Forest Bluegrass, was written entirely in German. Apparently, he wrote it when he found out a large group of Germans would be attending one of his PDQ Bach concerts and he wanted to provide them with a piece in their native language. When it was produced as an album, the liner notes containing the full translation were printed on the album cover so that those of us not fluent in German could enjoy it. It was never meant to be presented without the translation, and yet, when it was produced on CD, they left out the translation, making the entire song unintelligible. Fortunately, its pretty easy to find the translation online (like on Shickelie's own website). Even without the words, Black Forest Bluegrass is pleasent to listen to and quite a clever merger of bluegrass and Baroque music. There are two other pieces on the album: No-No Nonette, a piece which uses toys as some of the instruments (pop-gun, music box, a doll that says "Ma-Ma", etc). Its clever, but pretty slow. "Now Hear Me Through" is an excerpt from "Diverse Airs On Sundry Notions" which are a series of advertisements composed by and purportedly endorsed by PDQ Bach. These are cute, but brief. The remainder of these fake-ads appear on one of his other albums "Report From Hoople." You get the impression that these are the leftovers that they couldn't fit on that album. All-in-all Blackforest Bluegrass is the one piece that really makes this album, and if you're going to buy it (which I reccomend if you like Peter Shickelie's other work) make sure that you download a translation so that you can enjoy it fully.

Be warned! This album is not for everyone. For one to appreciate this album to its fullest, one needs to be versed in both German and English, be able to shift between them with ease, appreciate bluegrass music, appreciate late 18th/early 19th Century music, and be able to honestly laugh at all of the above. Since I fit this description, I feel well qualified to comment here.Schickele's voice is raw, and unmelodic, but so are many early American folk singers at the most fundamental level. And this lends some measure of humor to the entire musical adventure on this album. The translations from German to English (as written) don't do the cantata the justice it deserves as the linguistic jokes and turns-of-phrase easily fly over a non-German/English-speaker's head -- and the heads of some academically trained listeners, too. It might take a second listen for the gags to fully be understood. For any other follower of PDQ Bach, the musical gags and word plays here may seem flat and lacking, especially given some of the other offerings on the market. If you're intending to laugh uproariously, and you don't understand German, you will find this album a huge disappointment. It's just not that type of album. That said, even the English "advertising" madrigal included on the album is merely cute -- not guffaw inducing -- as is the fully instrumental No-No Nonette (which might put you to sleep, despite the strange toy sounds). A mediocre offering for most. For the very small niche for which this album must have been intended, this album offers a few good laughs.

If you liked Schickele's Oedipus Tex, then you've heard pretty much all the ideas used in the Blugrass Cantata before. This recording, however, has an impenetrable libretto sung in German, with no translation in the cover notes. It's also sung mostly by Peter Schickele, whose voice is dull, flat, and less than melodic.The No-No Nonette is also less than inspired.All in all, a great disappointment. Buy Oedipus Tex, it's hilarious and very clever. Leave this one on the shelf.

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As with Sarah's other albums, this one is fabulous! My children and I know all the words to all the songs -- they stay in your heart. She writes about the environment, animals, conflict resolution. Perfect for children and adults alike -- my kids started really understanding at age 4 or 5. They are easy for children to sing and dance to, and are perfect for car rides, too.

My daughter listens to Sarah Pirtle a lot. We sing-a-long with the tape in the car and enjoy listening to it all of the time. Thank you Sarah for your wonderful inspriration and love that you bring out with your music.

Reviews

1 minute wind-up generates 30 minutes of continuous "Bright illumination". it does illuminate after 20 or 30 minutes, but the point is can we use this illumination to see things around us? well, for 5 minutes the answer is yes. The device is handy and rugged. For those who are interested to know how it works: There is a mechanical gear to increase the speed of your manual rotation. the gear is connected to a dynamo. The outlet of the dynamo is rectified, regulated, stored in 3 small NiMH batteries. I like the idea and the construction of the device, but the white illumination is not as good as it is stated. Besides, nothing defeats traditional torches.

I bought a few of these flashlights but was disappointed. After a few months the batteries seem to go bad so when you wind them up for the recommended time, either the light is too dim to be usable or if lasts only for a few seconds.

There are other "battery-free" flashlights on the market, but this one seems to out perform the other models I've seen. "The Illuminator" LED Crank flashlight is a very good item. I had previously owned one of those "shake" flashlights, but I must say that shaking them takes a lot of effort and the amount of light that you get from it is not very much and it fades away in only a few minutes. Therefore, after reading an article on how "crank" style flashlights can gather much more energy more quickly, and store it for a longer period of time, I decided to try "The Illuminator". I must say that I am very satisfied with the product. The flashlight gives you the option to illuminate 1 or 3 of the LEDs at a time, giving you two brightness settings. The 3 LED setting is very bright and easily illuminates an entire room in darkness. The instructions say to wind up for 1 minute to get 1 hour of light and winding is a pretty effortless task, so in theory you can have a care-free flashlight for a long time to come. I truly recommend this one! Now, if only I could crank my air conditioner for 1 minute to get it to work for 1 hour without electricity charges....

Unit offers very good light, easy to use, NO batteries is a nice feature. Tis a bit pricey, but it less here @ Amazon than I have found it else where. So if you are tired of replacing batteries all to often in a flashlight - this unit is for you. I have told all my friends about it.

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This is one of the most hilarious gag gifts that I have ever seen! My friend loved it! The seller shipped it quickly, but my only complaint is that the cardboard bent during shipping.

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It was the perfect gift, thanks for the fast service and great product

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This is a delightful little magnetic dress-up toy. After a couple of years, the one I got is still getting lots of play time. The colors are good and the clothes are pretty. There are lots of parts, but that's what makes it so much fun.

I actually bought this gift for my friends daughter.. and I've seen them play with it and really love it. Personally, i would also love it if only i'm young enough to play with it! ha ha ;) definitely will recommend this product for everyone who have kids or just for a gift for someone else.

We purchased both this item as well as the other ballerina one; and we were very pleased with what we got! They are much cuter in person and come in a nice wooden box which is very nice ------ EXCEPT FOR ONE THING: It doesn't have a LID!!!!!!!! I find it unacceptable that a toy that consists basically of small parts, for kids, can come in a nice wooden FRAME, instead of a box. I was hoping that there would be at least a plastic lid of some sort, but not even that. Once you remove the plastic wrapping you end up with a wooden frame that serves no purpose. However, the girls LOVED the toy itself. Too bad that by the end of the day, half the pieces were already lost.

My daughter (age 2) loves these dolls!! Great gift for any little girl. My only issue with the toy is that there is no top/lid for the box. We ended up buying a separate container and throwing away the wooden box which was a nice way to keep the pieces separated. I would definitely have given 5 stars if the storage was better.

I ordered this as a gift for my 2 year old. She and her 5 year old sister love it. It has given them hours of fun so far and has been durable enough for a 2 year old. I recommend this to anyone.

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read directions carefully, otherwise wont work. it took time for the bird to start drinking. cute idea for aroun a 10 year old. by the time it started working we lost our crowd.

This is a hard-working bird that never asks for a vacation. I set him up to help me with my power plant work when I went on disability and got to work from home, and the initial results were excellent. As time went on, though, I noticed that he only hit the Y key, never the N (and never, ever, the ANY key), no matter what the prompt said on the screen. This intellectual laziness resulted in a near-disaster that I was able to avoid only at the last minute, turning a possible Chernobyl into a mere Three Mile Island.

It's cool to look at for a while but gets a bit boring pretty quickly. It doesn't work forever (but for a long time)

Due to nostaglia, I ordered this toy. I remember having one many years ago. The colored liquid was not dangerous then. Whatever is used as the colored liquid in the present toy is very corrosive. Unfortunately the 'bird' was knocked over on the kitchen counter, the glass broke and the liquid had a terrible effect on the surface of the counter. This toy is made in China and I wonder what is used as this liquid.

Works perfectly (with a little adjustment of the collar up or down and room temperature water). Flimsy construction and needs adult supervision or a very careful kid. Great Wikipedia entry "drinking bird" explains how it works

Reviews

i bought this for a little boy i nanny for and he just loved it! it was a little hard for him to take the wood blocks apart, but once he was shown how to do it, he got the hang of it pretty quickly!

These cars are really cool and my son loves to pull them apart and create new designs. The wood is very durable and such a nice change from all the cheap plastic out there. Highly recommended for little kids and dads to enjoy together!

Y LUCEN BIEN, SIN EMBARGO NO PUDE EVITAR QUE MI HIJO DE 4 AÑOS LO TOMARA Y TERMINARA POR PERDERLE ALGUNAS PIEZAS BUENA CALIDAD DEBO DECIR

I got these for my grand kids at Christmas. They are age 2 1/2 and loved them. They could take them apart and re-assemble them and enjoy playing with them as toy vehicles. Well constructed and a good value. I will purchase similar items for them in the future.

My 3-year-old son loves this little truck. I got it for him as a step up from the mega blocks cars & trucks (they have 3 parts, and he loved to mix and match them). This truck has 12 pieces - three wooden "body" parts (4 1/2 inches long assembled), four wheels (about 3/4 inch each), four rubbery tires, and 1 windshield. As I understand it, these parts should be interchangeable with other autos in the minis series. There are also "repair" kits available, which I think my little guy will really enjoy since he already likes tinkering with the parts he has. So far he only has one Automoblox, but we're planning to add a few to his collection. The pieces seem very solid, and I think it will last for quite a while as long as we don't lose any! If you have smaller siblings around, just beware - the wheels & tires on this are pretty small! Overall, I'm pleased with the quality of this truck, and my son loves it!

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I thought this was a very sweet and wonderful book about a mouse that was lonely and finally made a friend, but by the end of the book, both my 4 year old and 6 year old were in tears. They were so heartbroken that the toy mouse was going to be thrown out that they didn't even understand that the toy mouse became a real mouse and the two friends could finally be together. I think they imagined their own precious stuffed animals as the toy mouse and the thought of throwing their own friends out was too much for them. I say this because if you have children who empathize and anthropomorphize their stuffed animals/toys, this might not be the best bedtime story. At least save it for the mornings when they aren't tired and easily able to move to tears. *** Update *** It's been two weeks and my kids have both mentioned this book. It stuck with them. They now understand that the mouse was far better off being made real and that the two real mice have each other. I'm now working on helping the older of my children understand about the sacrifice the real mouse made to save the toy mouse and how sometimes we have to set aside what we want to help others. This book has many levels. If it hadn't been for the tears on the first reading, it would have gotten 5 stars from me. I love it.

This book was always a favorite with my kids . Recently I was invited to a baby shower and the invitation asked that a book for the baby be included in the gift so we could start off the baby with a small library of reading material. Along with the request was a sticker to put in the book to tell who the book was from. This book was the first to come to mind-

What a delightful book!! I read this book to my daughter and I read it every night, because I feel that this is a great book about being alone and friendship. I recommend it to all young children

I originally became acquainted with this magical tale when my son checked it out from the public library about 20 years ago. Both of us fell in love with this wonderfully-told imaginative story, and each of us has gifted it to many young friends and family members over the years. It goes without saying that the illustrations, too, are a delight.

Every time people see Alexander they scream or chase him, but all he wants are a few crumbs. Willy, on the other hand, another mouse, is loved and cuddled and cared for. That's because Willy is a toy, a wind-up mouse. Well, Willy (the toy) and Alexander (the real mouse) happen to meet and each tell about their lives: a happy one for Willy, a frightening and lonely one for Alexander. Luckily, he thinks, Alexander finds that with the help of some magic from a lizard he, too, can become a happy and loved wind-up mouse. But just in time something shocking happens to make him change his mind about turning into another Willy: Something happens to Willy. (Suitable for preschool through the primary grades.) A Non-Workbook, Non-Textbook Approach to Teaching Language Arts: Grades 4 Through 8 and Up