Not sure how this escaped my Traditional Christmas Summary, but I woke up this morning remembering a conversation my sister started during a TV show about 'favourite Christmas toys' on the evening of Christmas Day.
It began during the sequence on Action Man, if I remember correctly. Action Man was the British name for what were 12" GI Joe figures in the States. Later, the smaller action figures came along as 'Action Force'. The TV show was harping on about the 'Eagle Eye' feature (strangely, the 'Kung Fu Grip' never came up), and my sister remembered that she'd had one of those. I added that we'd had one each, and that we'd had the Scuba Gear set (both now perished), the Space Sled and astronaut gear, and probably a couple of other bits.
Then she claimed to have had the Action Man 'Rom the Space Knight' figure.
Naturally, I set her straight, and said that Rom had very definitely been mine (still lurking - complete and functional, albeit with one gun's handle broken off - in one of my cupboards, in fact), and that I'd read the comics as well. She felt sure she had, too... but this seems unlikely, based on my - admittedly sketchy - recollection of events. I'm not sure what she was reading at the time, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't Marvel's short-lived Rom the Space Knight comic...
Around the same time, the show mentioned the 12" action figure of The Six-Million Dollar Man... If I remember correctly, my sister knew that one had been mine (I believe I managed to lose all of the 'bionic implants' and, of course, the 'skin' has long since perished), but remembered his 'bionic eye'. She didn't remember the large plastic 'engine' that Mini-Steve Austin could lift thanks to a ratchet-action arm operated by a button on his back... Nor, strangely, did she remember having the Bionic Woman toy (some quick research suggests she had the 'Mission Purse' variant, as I can remember some of those accessories).
Weirdest of all, though, was when the show turned its attention - all too briefly - to TransFormers... Honestly, that section can only have been a minute or two. Shocking, really. But not as shocking as my sister's assertion that she'd had - and played with - TransFormers. Considering I was ten when they hit these shores, making my sister twelve, I'm fairly sure she was far too sophisticated to be playing with toys... let alone anything I was sinking my pocket money into.
It all made me wonder if she was sneaking into my room and playing with my toys when I wasn't around...
In other news, I went to see the US remake of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo yesterday, with my old mate Paul. I'm currently reading the book, so it was basically one massive great spoiler but, if the movie is even half as good as the book - and it certainly skimps on a lot of detail at the very beginning - I think I'm really going to enjoy the book. I may even pick up the boxed set of the original movies.
Brilliant though David Fincher's version is, it can be quite a harrowing film to watch. Not least, Lisbeth's rape is captured quite graphically... but then, so is her revenge. There's a mercifully brief scene featuring a dead cat, but the movie doesn't shy away from anything... I'd say it's quite calculating in what it shows and what it lets the viewer imagine.
Daniel Craig did nothing to change my opinion that Mikael Blomkvist is a complete dick, but Rooney Mara's performance as Lisbeth Salander was very compelling. I know I'm a sucker for 'damaged' girls but... wow...
In the front row of the cinema was a young-ish couple. I only had cause to notice them shortly after Lisbeth's rape, because it looked like the girl was crying or, at least, very upset. A fairly natural reaction to such a horrific scene, I'm sure you'll agree. It was disturbing, therefore, to hear her boyfriend laughing. Whether at the movie or at his girlfriend, I cannot say... but either would make him seem more than a little twisted. Sure, the film had its funny moments, but that scene was not one of them. They both left about half an hour before the end of the movie.
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