Two words: thick socks.
This would have been the difference between the outcome of the 1988 blockbuster Die Hard had I been given the opportunity to take the role that Bruce Willis made famous.
Thick socks, to me, seems to be the one downfall of the John McClane character when about halfway through the movie all these bullets are whizzing past him and all these cubicle walls are crashing down around him and all of these shards of glass are sharding onto the floor and there’s John McClane, idiot that he was, walking around barefoot.
There are three types of people who like to walk around barefoot. There are hippies, beach-bums and people who spend thousands of dollars a year on making their you-know-whats look pretty (I refuse to name the body part in question due to the people out there who continue to make my life, her life and his life a living hell. Nonetheless, John McClane was neither a hippie a beach bum or a pedicure-fan. He was a hard-boiled cop.
So why’s he taking his socks off?
In addition to the whole sock mistake (which I would not have made), I would definitely have chosen a different “rallying cry.” McClane chose, “Yippie Kay Yay, motherf*cker!” which immediately isolates the kids from looking up to McClane like professional baseball players (go SOX) and charitable movie stars. Seriously, do you think after the whole building blew up and McClane returned to his life on the force that children came around to get his autograph? Not after their parents heard about his little rallying cry. No sir.
Had I been McClane, I would have chosen something a little more mainstream. A little more accessible for the general public. Some of my potential rallying cries could have been:
Oh yeah, buddy-boy!
You’d better check yourself before you wreck yourself!
Boo-yacka-sha!
Ding dong, the witch is dead.
Criminals don’t worry me. I, worry me.
What’s this? (Point to their shirt, then when they look down, hit them in the nose with my finger.)
Keep the change, metermaid!
I’ve got more power in this little finger than your whole brain and I suggest you look at my finger and beware my little finger before it does you in, my friend. Oh yes, before it does you in.
And those are just off the top of my head — a fact that should convince you that had I been given the role of John McClane… Nay, had I been John McClane, the situation at Nakatomi Plaza may have ended up a little bit different. Maybe the city wouldn’t have been pissed off at me for all that damage. Maybe my friend the police officer wouldn’t have had to disrupt his evening of doughnuts by helping me save people’s lives. Maybe I would have worn really thick socks.
Thick socks. I’m telling you. It would have changed everything.
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But what hasn’t changed (aw-right! great segway) is that tomorrow brings us yet another edition of “Words For Your Enjoyment!” That’s where you, dear reader, provide me, dear reader, with an idea for a post. If I use it (tomorrow only), I will provide you with the credit, a link to your site, and a short haiku about you as a person. It’s never been done before and it is groundbreaking stuff, people.
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