Mainlining Christmas

This is from a wave of three figures released by NECA last year in recognition of Home Alone's 25th anniversary. I came across this on clearance in February and picked him up. I'm not a big fan of the film it's based on, but I figured I could always use a generic thief. Besides, I was curious about the style. This is a little larger than most action figures produced these days. Or rather it would be if Joe Pesci wasn't a little shorter than most actors. The scale is designed for an average character to ring in at around eight inches, but Harry measures in at 6.5 - more or less the same as most 6-inch action figures these days. Here's a comparison shot with a few other NECA figures. The Weird Al is in the same style and comes in at 8-inches, while the fully sculpted Terminator is about 6.5: The 8-inch figure with a cloth outfit is something of an homage to Mego, one of the most influential action figure companies in the history of the industry. A lot o

Last year, Public Policy Polling asked 1,267 Americans a series of idiotic questions about the holidays . Among them was whether or not Die Hard qualifies as a Christmas movie. Much to our nation's shame, the vast majority claimed it wasn't. This is hardly the first time I've seen Die Hard's holiday credentials called into question. It's a pervasive idea that seems to show up at least a few times every year. Most of the time, the argument boils down to an arbitrary distinction between a Christmas movie and a movie that's incidentally set at Christmas, which is a can of worms that shouldn't be opened lightly . I mean, there's actually no reason It's A Wonderful Life has to be set at Christmas. Hell, if you move it to the states and change their names to the ghosts of Thanksgiving Past, Present, and Future, you can swap out the season of A Christmas Carol without impacting the plot or moral, if that's how low a bar you want to set. But

Murder in Christmas River Meg Muldoon, 2012 (Note: Many of the Christmas books I am reading this year have one notable thing in common -- they were all cheap or free on Kindle some time in the last few years. No other qualifications.) Premise: Cinnamon Peters is determined to win this year’s gingerbread house competition. It’s good press for her pie shop, and showing up her rival is just icing on the proverbial cake. But when one of the judges turns up dead behind her shop and an old flame cruises back into town, she’ll have more than a contest to worry about. This is one of those cozy mysteries that’s closer to the romance end of the spectrum, but I think it works. Cinnamon is a likable protagonist: emotional without being too sappy, short-tempered at times, snarky but overall kind. Other characters include her friend Kara, her grandfather she’s looking after, her rival in the competition, her new/old crush, her jerk ex-husband, and other townsfolk. They are each interestin

The Dead is an adaptation of a James Joyce story about an Epiphany party, which I suppose we're now annexing as part of Christmas (to be fair, January 6 would have been considered the conclusion of Christmastime when the movie was set, a fact outright stated in the film). This is John Huston's last film before his death, and it seems to be widely beloved with a 92% Freshness rating and several honors. While this isn't unfair - the movie is well constructed and acted - it's definitely not for everyone. For example, it definitely wasn't for me or Lindsay: we found it boring as hell. The plot is essentially contained in the last five minutes of an hour and twenty minute long film. Until then, the entire thing takes place at a party being thrown by three women I'm assuming are sort of standing in for the three wise men. If you want to know whether this is a heartfelt ode to Irish culture or some sort of ironic mockery of tradition, you'll have to go find

Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence is a Japanese/British film about a POW camp during World War II directed by the controversial Japanese film maker Nagisa Oshima. I have a few complaints, but overall it's a well-made, engrossing movie exploring some fairly large questions about culture and human nature. The movie centers around four characters: two prisoners and two jailers. The titular Mr. Lawrence is the sole English character who speaks both languages, and he has a fairly good grasp of Japanese culture. Also held prisoner is a South African soldier, Jack Celliers, notably played by David Bowie, who the camp commandant, Captain Yonoi, becomes obsessed with. Also key is Sergeant Hara, a man who oscillates between cruelty and compassion. The movie's plot is somewhat murky, as the events are intricately linked to the complex motives of its characters. I'm not going to try to offer a complete synopsis - I don't think it would begin to make sense - but I'll focus ins

Erin decided we should watch this based purely on the Santa hat in the trailer. And sure enough, it fits our rubric for a Christmas movie. Carol is a romance that takes place at Christmas, and over 50% of the movie’s run-time takes place directly before or after the holiday. It stars Cate Blanchett as Carol and Rooney Mara as Terese. After a chance meeting in a department store (Carol is shopping, Terese is a clerk) the two become inseparable, causing strife with Terese’s lukewarm fiance and risking Carol’s custody arrangement with her ex-husband. They eventually travel cross-country together in an attempt to run from their troubles for a while. The movie is adapted from Patricia Highsmith’s novel The Price of Salt , which she published under a pseudonym in 1952, when material about gay characters was often subject to obscenity laws. The plot elements are inspired by the real experiences of Highsmith and friends of hers, struggling with their sexuality in a culture that was ent

Are mini gardens really popular enough to justify the mass production of these holiday-themed decorations? The presence of these in the Michaels's clearance section last year suggests the answer is no. But they're weird. And fascinating. And useful to toy collectors. And, most importantly, Christmas. So I picked them up. This is two sets, incidentally: I stacked one on top of the other in the above photograph. The backs contain detailed information about the product, the company that produces it, and other items they make. Kidding. Aside from one having "5 pc" stamped on the top sticker and the UPC, there's no difference in the label - not even a unique name for the different sets. The first set contains six items: Santa, a snowman, a cabin, a table, and two stools. I like the pieces well enough, though the collection seems somewhat arbitrary. Why are we getting chairs and a table with figures who can't sit in them? If the set's meant to