5 comments about Rick Steves' European Christmas.

1. This is a great combination of travel information, historical background, holiday traditions, great photographs and even recipes, all describing the European Christmas experience. There are chapters on England, Norway, France, Germany, Austria, Italy and Switzerland. Rick Steves even adds a personal touch as his family joins him to celebrate a snowy Christmas in Switzerland. This is a book you will pick up every Christmas to reread and enjoy.



2. Lovely table book with information about how Christmas is celebrated in Europe. Complete with recipes and pictures of family celebrations. Because it was by Rick Steves I was disappointed that there was not specific information on where to stay during the actual Christmas holiday.



3. This is actually a DVD and not a book like the previous two reviews have mistaken. There is a matching book to this DVD and probably what they have mistaken in this case. Now, on to the DVD.
   
   I cannot recommend this DVD enough! My family has sat down to this program for the past two years and everytime I find something new to appreciate about it. Rick Steves takes us on tour in his usual style through several European countries and their unique customs. This time however we are allowed into the homes and traditions of the native peoples families. 7 european cultures are explored through their Christmas and holiday traditions. Italian, Swiss, British, French are to name a few of the places Rick takes us to on Christmas eve and the preceding days of celebration. What I like about the DVD most is the way you are shown each countries holiday traditions seperatly right up to Christmas eve then you are treated to the mounting Christmas eve excitment from all countries as they get ready for Father Christmas's visit or for some cultures the pinnacle of the season that evening. It shows the flashy city wide celebrations as well as what the average family does for seasons greetings. If you want to see humanity at its best this DVD will surely do your heart some good to see the common excitement in all childrens eyes and in the adults voices. Like I said I can't say enough. However, I will break a cardinal rule here and tell you that I would splurge here a little and go to www.ricksteves.com and purchase the Christmas set which includes the DVD, the book that the other two reviewers are refering to, as well as the matching CD that contains all of the carols that are in the DVD. Belive me once you see the performances you will want the CD! This package sells for around 35 dollars and is well worth it! Wishing you a happy holidays whatever time of the year you read this!



4. The Rick Steve's Video "Christmas In Europe" is a very enjoyable video presentation based on his regularly featured public televison program. He travels to Britain, Norway, France, Italy, Germany, Austria and Switzerland giving a presentation of how the Christmas holidays are celebrated in each of these countries. The vast majority of the celebrations are based on traditions and if you are the type of person who enjoys "traditional" things you will love this program. It is colorful and has a large segment of musical presentations scattered throughout it. The DVD was created from the televison program that first appeared on public televison in 2005 or so. The DVD also contains several full presentation musical concerts, a presentation of Italian nativity sets as displayed each season, an interview with the traditional German Christmas angel and an enjoyable slide show of scenes taken from the presentation set to traditional Christmas music. As I said, if you enjoy traditional Christmas topics as I do, you will enjoy this program very much. If your taste are more modern and secular you probably will not enjoy it very much. A reasonable part of the program is centered around Christmas being the birthday of Jesus and this message is found repeatedly throughout the show. Since the birth of the Christ child is an important part of my celebration of the holiday I enjoyed this very much. It was a nicely presented message of the meaning of Christmas that also included some of the pleasant secular tritions along with it. It was a nice balance. Presentation time is about 2 hours long.



5. Does not talk about a lot of cities (one per country). The cities it does talk about hold a lot of information

No comments about The Flight Before Christmas.

5 comments about The Magic School Bus Holiday Special (Space Adventure, Creepy, Crawling Fun, Holiday Special).

1. 1. Holiday Special (Recycling) 2. All Dried Up (Desert) 3. In The Rainforest. We love the DVD, but we paid $20 for it at Target. The holiday segment on recycling is great. Dolly Parton plays the role of Murphy (the Frizz's cousin and head of a recycling plant) and she actually sings. It's really good, and I am lending it to my kid's classes to watch. I recommend it...just don't overpay.



2. This is a gift for my son's 6th birthday in October.
   
   He loves the magic school bus due to it's a learving video as well as a fun video to watch.



3. My 4yr old enjoys all the DVD's in this pack.
   He loves all the 3 videos in the space DVD.
   He also likes the holidays and desert stories in the Holidays DVD. This buy is highly recommended.



4. This are all excellent DVDs, but there are definite problems in representation. First, as of today, there are two entries on Amazon for what appear to be the same thing with different prices ($4 different). Both of these prices are higher than what it would cost to get them separately. Next, the lack of content description is nearly unforgivable. I copied this from another review on the "other" item (thanks, and I hope you don't mind!) and it matches what ebay says, as well I what I would guess because these were the first three released on DVD:
   
   (1) Creepy Crawly Fun (with: Inside the Haunted House, Going Batty & Spins a Web);
   (2) Space Adventures (with: Gets Lost in Space, Out of This World, and Taking Flight);
   (3) Holiday Special (with: Holiday Special (about recycling) All Dried Up, and In the Rainforest).
   
   I got these each individually when they came out, and all are good, my kids like them in moderation and they are almost 3 and 4.5. I've left webpage feedback (at the bottom) for this item several times and suggest other do as well until they fix this!



5. The DVDs are awesome and great for parents and teachers to buy for their children or students to gain more knowledge on certain curriculum areas!
   
   But here's the criticism for Amazon- it is much cheaper to buy the DVDs individually rather than through this "special" deal. I purchased this "special" thinking that it was going to come in a nice fitted case for my "special" set but I was wrong. The DVDs DID NOT come in a packaged case but rather the cheap and thin individual covers. This cost me $11 extra (I bought it for $35.95 but now it's selling for $39.99). It also took over a month and a half for it to arrive.

No comments about Holiday TV Classics.

No comments about Christmas at Water's Edge.

5 comments about Christmas Classics Box Set (Miracle on 34th Street / Jingle All the Way / Home Alone / A Christmas Carol).

1. Fabulous value! The home alone movie was a great movie to be included in this box set along with the classics!



2. I bought this box set for my friend's children as a Christmas present. I really just wanted to send "Home Alone," but it came with all the other films too, which was a bonus.
   
   My friend and her family moved from California to Massachussets last year. The kids (age 4 and 6) were very entertained when they saw Governor Arnold acting in the Christmas movie "Jingle All the Way." It was a big hit and reminded them of home in California. Plus it entertained the parents too. An unexpected bonus, and a great story to tell, don't you think?
   
   "Home Alone" reminded them of their visit to see us in Chicago a year and a half ago. That was my intent in sending that movie to them.
   
   "Miracle on 34th Street" reminded them of when we all went to New York City last spring when we went to visit their Massachussets home.
   
   Although my review is unusual to say the least, it was a very meaningful Christmas present to the kids since the box set highlighted all of the places we have visited together over the past year. I am sure that is not what you intended when you put the set together, but it was a really great gift. Thank you!



3. This is a great bargain. Don't get me wrong! I would buy this again if it got lost. Can't beat the price for 4 good Christmas flicks.
   Although I do wish they had included a newer edition of HOME ALONE in here. This one is the older letterboxed edition that is not enhanced for widescreen TVs. If your DVD player/TV/projector has the picture zoom option like mine, you can escape the problem with the black frame all around the picture on a widescreen TV, but the resolution/picture quality is still poor, of course.
   JINGLE ALL THE WAY was the same thing, despite the deceptive cover which stated that the movie on the DVD was included in both Full Frame and Anamorphic Widescreen versions. Not so! The same crippled leterboxed frame.
   No complaints about either the MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET, which is presented here in beautiful Anamorphic Widescreen, or A CHRISTMAS CAROL, which, as a made for TV movie, is presented in Full Frame, maintaining the original aspect ratio.
   All in all, a great deal for the money.



4. Shop around and you will see this set generally sells for around $32. Any one of the movies easily sells for $9.99. The movies themselves are all great. "Home Alone" most people are familiar with Macauley Caulkin causing havoc on burglars. In "Jingle All the Way", Arnold Schwarzenegger goes nuts trying to buy a kid a hot new toy. George C. Scott is excellent as Ebenezer Scrooge in another version of "A Christmas Carol". The remake of "Miracle on 34th Street" is good as well. I had two of these but for this price I bought the set so I could get the other two and then give two away or donate two to a good cause.



5. I love bringing these movies out after Thanksgiving. The set was a great deal.

5 comments about Disney's Sing Along Songs - Very Merry Christmas Songs.

1. This DVD has been around for many years but it has been updated. It is great for children to hear and learn Christmas songs, especially the traditional ones. I use it in my day care and buy it as gifts for the younger children. They love it!!!



2. I purchased this one for my 4 years old girl for the Holidays. She loved it and it was wonderful to play it to bring our home some Christmas spirit.
   
   Some songs have slow pictures which possibly won't entertain smaller Children. For my 4 years old who loves Christmas songs and know most of them word for word it was very entertaining.
   
   Great songs choices and presentation for the most part.



3. This is a cute video. It has more religious songs than I would of liked. I expected mostly fun goofy songs about Christmas. It is a children's video after all. The music itself is well done. There is a wide range of characters singing. Not a bad video over all.



4. This is an excellent Christmas DVD.
   Preschoolers through 2nd graders love this music.
   Great animation.
   Adult friendly!



5. I completely agree that they really messed this one up. The original was charming and heart warming, but the new one is...well, a little creepy. I think the voiceover reminds me of The Nightmare Before Christmas, which is a great film, but not at all what this video was about. The new songs don't flow well, and the differences in animation are jarring at best. I really can't see why they changed it at all, except maybe to lengthen it. I just shelved my DVD and ordered another VHS to replace my old one. I don't think the DVD wil get pulled out anytime soon....

5 comments about Bach - Christmas Oratorio / Claron McFadden, Bernarda Fink, Christoph Genz, Dietrich Henschel, John Eliot Gardiner, Monteverdi Choir.

1. As most music-lovers know, John Eliot Gardiner gave himself the remarkable task of performing and recording all of Bach's sacred choral/orchestral works in one year, going from church to cathedral to kirk throughout Europe. Not only that, he and the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists did the entire church calendar of cantatas on the Sundays for which they were intended. And, when the original recording company pulled out of the project, he arranged to bring out all the cantatas on his own label. Those CDs have just started being released. Some (perhaps all - I'm frankly not sure) of the performances were also filmed for release on DVD. The very first performance, done late in 1999, was this one of the Christmas Oratorio (Weinachtsoratorium) at the Herderkirche in Weimar, where Bach lived early in his career. The oratorio is a collection of six cantatas; it is not clear whether he intended them to be performed all together, or on each of six feast days between Christmas and Epiphany. Be that as it may, this performance of all six took place before a gala audience and this DVD, beautifully filmed and recorded, is a record of that event. The soloists are American soprano Claron McFadden, the glorious alto Bernarda Fink, the young tenor Christoph Genz as the Evangelist, and bass Dietrich Henschel who seems to be singing everywhere these days (I just reviewed a DVD of Strauss's 'Capriccio' in which he performed the Count).
   
   Not enough good can be said of the performances of the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists, Gardiner's musical colleagues of over twenty years. I was particularly struck by the sensation playing of the woodwind players (baroque instruments, of course) and the valveless trumpets. Unfortunately these players were not named in the enclosed booklet, even though they were stars in much the same league as the singers. And the Choir is, of course, one of the very best currently before the public. Just to hear the chorales that dot the Oratorio is to be blissed out by their beauty as done by the Monteverdi Choir.
   
   The singers are all marvelous, although soprano McFadden's beautiful lyrical soprano sometimes is drowned out occasionally either by the orchestra or, as in the duet with Henschel (in Cantata III, 'Herr, dein Mitleid'), by other singers. Genz, as the Evangelist, is a young earnest narrator with a flexible light tenor. He is marvelous in his arias in IV, 'Ich will nur dir zu Ehren leben' and VI, 'Nun mögt ihr stolzen Feinde schrecken.' Henschel has a flexible bass with plenty of metal; he is a marvelous actor as well. His aria from I, 'Grosser Herr,' is very effective. But the undoubted star - and a good thing, considering how important the alto solos are - is the remarkable Bernarda Fink. She not only has a velvety contralto but she is a deeply involved singer who manages to convey meaning by means of phrasing and inflection. She is outstanding in I, 'Bereite dich, Zion'; II, 'Schlafe, mein Liebster'; III, 'Schliesse, mein Herz.'
   
   I understand there is a release this year, also, of an older performance of the Christmas Oratorio led by Nikolaus Harnoncourt with Concentus Musicus. I have not seen it, but I believe it is from twenty years or so ago.
   
   This 2CD set also includes two short documentaries, interviews with Gardiner: "'Jauchzet Frohleckt' - John Eliot Gardiner's Cantata Pilgrimage" and "Bach Revisited: J.E. Gardiner in Saxony and Thuringia." Sound is in PCM Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1. Subtitles in German, French, English, Japanese. Region Code: 0.
   
   I cannot recommend this release highly enough.
   
   Scott Morrison



2. Gardiner is REALLY on top of this oratorio! The singing, playing, location is all superb and meticulous. He has also done well to hire a trumpet section that is, well not to offend any, NOT British. Playing the first (uncredited) trumpet parts on this DVD are none other than world reknown Baroque trumpeter, Niklas Eklund (see his Art of the Baroque Trumpet Vols 1-5 available on Naxos). Now, to defend my comment of the British, Eklund is Swedish and performs on a 3-hole short model Baroque trumpet (whereas the British perform almost exclusively on 4-hole long trumpets). What exactly does this mean to the average listener? Take any of Gardiner's Bach cantata recordings and hear those really WAVY trills played by the trumpeters (usually Mark Bennett or Crispian Steele-Perkins)- achievable but not really how they should sound. Eklund executes the trills here properly and beautifully (as it is very hard to over trill on the 3-hole instrument). This DVD recording contains some of the most spectacular trumpet playing one will ever see. Eklund is marvelous.
   
   I do have one complaint about the recording, in the opening Coro, the timpani rolls makes the microphones delay on picking up sound.
   
   Okay, so there is more to this beloved cantata than the also beloved trumpet parts in the opening Coro, the Grosser Herr Aria and the many others. But like my fellow reviewer has mentioned, I cannot recommend this visual recording enough.
   
   ***:) A funny note about Gardiner and Eklund - Gardiner fired Eklund later. I've heard rumours Eklund didn't think too highly of Gardiner either. It is to my understanding, Gardiner has a difficult time with trumpeters. This can be seen in the DVD "In Rehearsal with John Eliot Gardiner (BWV 63)". Also, from personal conversations with trumpeter Crispian Steele-Perkins, I'd been told of threats to "insert his horn into him." >Gulp!<
   
   All funny business aside, enjoy and Happy Holidays!!



3. This is a great performance.
   Two discs with the complete
   Christmas Oratorio, each disc
   come come with a documentary,
   one about the recording and
   another about Mr. Gardiner in
   Germany in 1999. After watching
   the DVD for several days, I
   came to the conclusion that
   this is an oratorio to be seen
   as an opera. Very much like
   Monteverdi's vespers of 1610,
   there is a universe here that
   one can listen to, and study
   forever. Mr. Gardiner and his
   English Baroque do it perfect.



4. I have just watched and listened to the whole Weihnachtsoratorium (Christmas Oratorio) on DVD, performed by John Eliot Gardiner, the Monteverdi Choir, and the English Baroque Soloists.
   
   The soloists are excellent.
   The Alto, Bernada Fink, has a nice, warm voice, perfect diction, and gives a beautiful, vehement performance. Sometimes just a little too dramatic for my tastes, actually.
   The Soprano, Claren McFadden, is a lovely African-American woman whose voice suits the soprano part very well. She contributes a great deal to the atmosphere of the work (performed in a beautiful Baroque Weimar church), though she has to compete in my mind with some favorites that are well established: Ruth Zeisak, with Ralf Otto, and Lynda Russell with Harry Christophers.
   The Tenor / Evangelist was Christoph Genz, a young man of great charm, who delivered a beautiful performance throughout, the Evangelist parts of it from the beautiful baroque pulpit. [He pronounced Jesu as "Djesu," rather than "Yesu," and I wonder whether that is common.]
   The Bass, Dietrich Henschel, is fascinating to watch and listen to, but I rather prefer a less dramatic, more lyrical performance in the Bass department. Still, Herr Henschel's performance, personal preferences apart, is practically faultless.
   
   The instrumentalists are, as always with the English Baroque Soloists, brilliant. The brass was incredible, both the first trumpet, as well as the three of them together. The violin duet in the Tenor aria in Cantata 4 was just perfect. (The notes explain that the long melismatic sections on the word 'Leibe' were the descendants of a phrase that described serpents in the original secular cantata of which this piece is a 'parody'.) The cello, the oboes, the baroque flutes (sounding very much like recorders), they were all just wonderful. In addition, they are delightful to watch.
   Gardiner makes a special effort to bring each movement to a perfect close, and the final chord is always beautifully played and ended. Listen to this, when you watch the DVD. (Gardiner conducts with his hands, without a baton, choirmaster-style.)
   
   The choir -- it was fascinating to actually see the choir, or at least this manifestation of it. I had always imagined the choir consisting of a bunch of upper-middle-class Brits. But they looked perfectly ordinary people, of all shapes and sizes, not dominated by any one type, except that perhaps there were possibly a few more Germans there than there might have been in the usual Monteverdi Choir. Discipline was almost perfect, yet the choir clearly enjoyed their singing very much. (This was the first performance on their pilgrimage, and morale was still very high.)
   
   Extras. (You can hardly sell a DVD without these, nowadays.) Each of the two disks has a documentary at the end, featuring Gardiner. On Disk 1, he talks about his motivation for the pilgrimage in general, and he talks about Bach (and Mozart and Beethoven). On Disk 2, we see actual visits to particular churches and locations in the Thuringia and Saxony areas, especially the Thomaskirche and a nearby fortified church of Posset, I believe, close to Leipzig (a "best-kept secret"). This little church has a functioning organ that appears to date several hundred years. Don't miss this segment!
   
   Intangibles:
   Gardiner is very persuasive in his enthusiasm for what he was doing, about Bach, and his pleasure in performing Bach. His team consists of people who really live the music, and this comes out strongly in the DVD. The reception from the church live audience is at first a little laconic, but it was evidently recorded over at least a couple of days, and the later performances were received very well. Visually very satisfying, and auditorily also. I'm very thankful to the earlier reviewers on the Bach Recordings List who persuaded me to buy this DVD.
   
   Arch



5. This was the kick-off concert for the 2000 Bach Cantata Pilgrimage. Formerly, I regarded Gardiner's CD version of the Christmas Oratorio as the best, but this one is better. Perhaps it's the joy of seeing a crack ensemble at work or Gardiner having an absolute ball (he clearly loves the work). I know audiophiles who stop watching after about 10 minutes and just listen, but for me there's a real fascination of watching it all happen in front of you and marvelling that one single man wrote all this magnificence. You come away admiring Gardiner, you come away totally in awe of Johann Sebastian Bach.
   
   The Weihnachtsoratorium is not really an oratorio in the traditional sense but a series of six cantatas, one per day for each of the days of the Lutheran Christmas celebration. Bach, frequently under pressure, plagiarised much of his own work for themes - the music for opening chorale and the marvellous bass aria "Grosser Herr und starker König" of Cantata 1 are lifted from a secular cantata, and Mary's cradle song in Cantata 2 is taken from a seduction song in another secular cantata! But this was standard practice in those days, when the gulf between "sacred" and "secular" music was not so wide, and such is the genius of Bach that it all fits together beautifully. In addition, the great Hassler chorale melody "O, Sacred head", featured in the St. Matthew Passion, appears twice, including as a bright, bouncy concluding chorale at the end of cantata 6 - with a deep spiritual awareness, Bach was already looking forward to Easter at Christmas.
   
   The soloists are great, ditto the English Baroque Soloists, but the stars of the show are, as so often, the Monteverdi Choir, Gardiner's precision instrument and apparently capable of miracles on command. Just listen to them in the wonderful, bouncy, skittering chorale that opens Cantata No.5.
   
   And as if that wasn't enough, you get a couple of bonus documentaries, which gives you Gardiner's insight into the work and to the Cantata Pilgrimage. Gardiner is clearly a man in love with his profession and a joy to listen to.

No comments about Blossoms in the Dust.

5 comments about Davey and Goliath's Snowboard Christmas.

1. Snowboard Christmas could have been wonderful, given the theme, but the message is pure liberal propaganda. The plot and dialog are unnaturally subservient to political correctness. All beliefs and genders are equal. The predetermined ending becomes obvious about ten minutes into the story. Remakes are generally bland, and this one sure is. A big disappointment is the voice of Goliath. Oh well, we live in Orwellian times.



2. During the last couple of years I've seen repeats on t.v. of the old show of "Davey and Goliath",which I loved as a kid" and thought it was too bad that tv was soo Sexist back in 1970's and '60s. I believe ,especially in these violent and self-centered days, America and the world need to have more friendly religious messeges! So many Christian people today seem so bigoted & self righteous and go giving out their version, often misguided messeges, of Christianity.I totally think shows like these need to help bring people together. Also, I suggest viewing the "Vegetable Tales"videos.



3. WHo could say anything negative about wholesome Davey and Goliath. It's been 3 decades since I
   watched in Black and WHite...Davey has moved into the modern age with a sports subject matter
   sure to appeal to the kids. Maybe for me too much effort to be politically correct, but it retains the
   basic value messages...and it sure beats the alternatives available out there .



4. I grew up on Davey and Goliath and still enjoy the old episodes. I was looking forward to a new installment to the series but was greatly disappointed once I began watching.
   
   I am no fan of political correctness (leftist propaganda/indoctrination) and it was a great letdown that the Clokey family and the Lutheran Church succumbed to this poison to society.
   
   Why can't Christians have their own holiday? Muslims and Jews have theirs, and I can't remember the last time a Muslim or Jew made me, a Christian feel inclusive of Ramadan or Hannuka.
   
   Anyway, the animation is topnotch, but the message is garbage. Pass this one by if you're looking for a good ol D&G Christmas message. If that is what you are looking for, then watch "Christmas Lost and Found". All your kids will get out of a "Snowboard Christmas" is feeling guilty for being a Christian....and maybe that is the intent.



5. After a long hiatus the duo of Davey and Goliath are back, and with a wonderful Christmas message, too! The son of the original animators recreates the timeless style of this old 60's favorite, and adds an updated and needed reminder of what the birth of Jesus was all about- the coming of love into the world, not just 2000 years ago, but today and always. The animation looks better than ever, thanks to newer technology, and the story is told in a moving way that kids can understand and adults will enjoy, too. This DVD has now become a season tradition for me and my family! It just goes to show that the truth (and solid artistic work) holds up despite the passing of time.
   Let's see more of such great animation and keep Davey and Goliath coming out on DVD!