Nov 30, 2017
Episode Description: "Did you know that Die Hard was based off a novel? For the first of their holiday episodes, Luke and James have a blast going back to the source with the first half (chapters 1-9) of Roderick Thorp’s “Nothing Lasts Forever” and discovering all its similarities and differences. They kick it off by debating Die Hard’s qualifications as a “Christmas film” and explore the author’s biography, then get right into the story about Joe Leland, Thorp’s version of John McClane. Topics include: the pacing of thrillers, possible male wish-fulfillment inherent in the character, repeated problematic observations by Joe Leland, the differences in POVs between the movie and book, the tonal difference in the violence depicted in the novel, and then finish by making some predictions for the second half of the book. Stay tuned for the outro, because Luke and James announce an upcoming special episode!