A Large Regular

Yesterday was the 35th anniversary of the release of Die Hard and I have a post on the movie up on Substack. 

Have some personal history with the movie but I still rate it one of the best movies of the 1980's.

As always - please Subscribe, hit the Like button, or share the Link with others you think may enjoy the discussion. Yippee-kay-ay. 

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Some good news - the Truflation Inflation Dashboard shows inflation trending downwards. It was at 5.21% as I wrote this.

- Morgan Freeman on Black History Month. 

- Sad news on Bruce Willis - he has frontotemporal dementia and his condition is worsening.

- More good news - the levels of coral on the Great Barrier Reef are at record levels. The impact of "bleaching events" were wildly overstated by the media.

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

I think political debates would be much more interesting if A: only the microphone of the person who is supposed to be speaking is on and B: if they took place inside giant Faraday cages with giant electric bolts being fired when a speaker goes over their allotted time... What a hero looks like... Who knew? They are looking to re-make the movie Death Wish with Bruce Willis playing the Charles Bronson role... I'd vote for Tim Tebow if he was running for Congress in my District... Speaking of politics - I think if the names Frank Castle or Matt Murdock were put on the ballot in the election of New York mayor there's a good chance they'd win. Or maybe I'm still in my Daredevil Season 2 refractory period... Louis CK will definitely make a profit (eventually) off the critically acclaimed Horace and Pete... All New England Dunkin Donuts should be sent a picture of Pablo Sandoval with the instructions "Do not sell this man donuts!"... The Internet was built specifically for things like this... Hairy Toilet would be a good name for a punk band... Robots were developed specifically for tasks like this... Internet fact of the day - Alaska is so big it could fit the State of New Jersey into it 75 times...

Hollywood is so bereft of ideas that a Die Hard prequel is in consideration. Supposedly the producers are looking for a screenwriter to deliver an idea that makes sense. That's where I come in.

Here's the pitch!

There's only one main character that makes sense to focus on especially since Bruce Willis is too old and bald while Hans Gruber is now Professor Snape to every single movie goer over 8-years of age. The character I'm talking about? Nakatomi Tower itself - an unfinished skyscraper which would be easy to green screen recreate. Why was it unfinished at the time of the first Die Hard? Go into that backstory.

Enter Bob the builder (actually General Contractor). Bob's company is responsible for building Nakatomi Tower but due to a series of mishaps and permitting issues his company has fallen way behind schedule and seriously in the red on this project. His company is on the verge of bankruptcy and to top it off Bob is a single dad trying to raise a teenage daughter who has gone missing with her punk rock boyfriend on Christmas Eve. Bob is ready to put a gun muzzle in his mouth and pull the trigger.

Then miracle of miracles! Nakatomi Tower is blown up! BOOM! Just like that Bob's back in business! The insurance money floods into Bob's company. Clean up this mess! We don't care about overtime just fix it!  To top it off in a feel-good moment Bob's daughter returns home to declare that her boyfriend is a jerk and that not only did she really miss her dad - she wants to take that job with the construction company Bob has been trying to get her to take.

Fade to black. I might need to get an agent to market this pitch.

I have all the respect in the world for Ray Allen but I have a comparison in my head I just can't shake. Is Ray Allen just like Demi Moore?

Hear me out. The comparison works on several levels. What first got me thinking about the comparison is the movie A Few Good Men. Demi Moore got third billing in that movie behind Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson - just like Ray Allen always seemed to get third billing in the Big Three behind Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce. But was that third billing justified? I mean was Demi Moore more important to that movie than Kevin Bacon or Kevin Pollack? Was Ray Allen more important to those Celtics NBA finals teams than Rajon Rondo or Kendrick Perkins? The somewhat bitchy big-boobed potential love interest is the easiest thing in Hollywood to replace. I can't see A Few Good Men being close to the same movie without Cruise or Nicholson but I honestly could see a few other actresses filling out Demi Moore's uniform in that movie. Linda Hamilton for example was considered for the part. Many people also say that shooting guard in the NBA is the easiest position to fill.

In real-life Demi Moore left veteran actor Bruce Willis for Ashton Kutcher who was the hottest thing in Hollywood at the time. Ray Allen is leaving the veteran Boston Celtics for the hotter than hot Miami Heat(s).

I can't get this comparison out of my head. Is Ray Allen the Demi Moore of the NBA?

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting and thought I'd share.

- Between Two Ferns with Bruce Willis

- FX's teaser trailer for "Justified" season two - I can't wait until February for new episodes

- Excellent SI article on agents and players and how the dance often works. Long article but worth it - everyone is talking about this. One detail that struck me was Greg Townsend acting as the model for SNL's Ladies Man.

- Awesome - Toy Grit

- Quite possibly the funniest correction ever