144 – CHRISTMAS IN JULY – Live Free Or Die Hard!

Hi, this is Eddie from Big Ed's Barbecue in Waukegan,

Illinois, and you are listening to the Geekcast

Radio Network. Sucker. Hey, it's Mistress Carrie,

and you are listening to Studio 2009. Hey folks,

TF2 and Mike here. This is episode 144 of Studio

2009. This is for Live Free or Die Hard. So when

Steve Megatron and I recorded the Die Hard 3

and 4 episodes, you would have already heard

Die Hard 3, Die Hard with a Vengeance in episode

143 of the podcast. When we recorded these two

episodes, initially, I was so excited because

I wanted to go on a rant about the phrase that's

going around in the current culture of this insert

topic here didn't have to go so hard. Well, we

record these things at 10 p .m. Eastern Time

at night. Normally, I'm very, very, very refreshed

at night. And I'm really ready to go and I'm

raring to go and revved up and I'm usually on

the ball with my numbers when we do double recordings

and everything else. So apparently my brain decided

to take a left turn and decided to screw it up

and decided to throw all that into the 1995 Die

Hard with a Vengeance recording. So I cut it

out and I put it here. So you're going to hear

that first. And then after that, you're going

to hear the Die Hard Live Free or Die Hard. I

want to call it Die Hard 4 .0 because that's

what it was called in other markets when Live

Free or Die Hard came out in 2007. I think Die

Hard 4 .0 is a better name. I get it. They wanted

to go for the, yay, America, 4th of July and

live free and die hard and America is great and

everything else, which America is great. Don't

get me wrong. I'm very patriotic and all that.

So, but yeah, I just wanted to throw this in

here to tell you that, hey, this little clip,

this little eight minute, nine minute clip is

going to be first. Because I cut it out of the

other episode, you're going to hear that. And

then we will get to the film of Live Free or

Die Hard. In this episode of Studio 2009, we

are almost over with the Christmas in July series

of 2025 of the Die Hard films. Steve and I have

had a blast recording these. It has been awesome.

And we can't wait for y 'all to hear them and

enjoy them. And coming up next after this, we've

got my buddy Sean returning. We're going to be

doing the, uh, the fast franchise for the rest

of the summer for August and stuff like that.

So thank you for listening as always. And yeah,

here's a studio 2009 episode one 44 coming up

next. I just sent it. You should have it. Yes.

Thank you. Are you sure this is legal? We're

just running a test in our security system, sir.

It's fine. You have a sexy voice. Is there anything

else I can do for you? To you. We have what we

need. There is nothing wrong with your podcast

player. Do not attempt to adjust the volume.

Yes, folks. The year of 2007 in cinema went hard.

That's what she said. I hate that fucking trend

that's going on right now. soft ass kids today

this soft ass I'm sorry to start the show like

this folks but I have to comment on this and

this is the only current show that I currently

produce that I can do current events with this

like I literally pulled up 2007 in cinema because

I was curious and literally 2007 is stacked the

top 10 and the only reason I'm bringing this

up I'm giggling from my own perspective and it's

just, I'm going to ask you your perspective in

a minute, but I have to do this because all my

fuck, like it's Instagram, man. It's frigging

Instagram. Every scroll I see on Instagram, every

real, every whatever. It's like they'll post

the anything from the eighties or nineties, anything.

They'll post the Transformers theme song from

Generation 1 from the 80s, Season 1, Season 2,

Season 3, whatever. They'll post Beast Wars.

They'll post that theme song. They'll post DuckTales,

the original 1987 DuckTales theme song. And the

caption in the video, because they won't change

it. It'll just be the opening theme song. And

how, like, you want to talk about copyright infringement.

How the hell are these people able to post these

theme songs as they are on Instagram without

Disney? DuckTales is Disney. How Disney is not

coming after these Instagram accounts is beyond

me, but yet you post any of this shit on YouTube,

holy crap, the band hammer comes off on you.

Anyway, I know we're supposed to be here to talk

about the diehard Christmas in July, but it's

just, it's pissing me off. The caption for this

will be, this insert here didn't have to go this

hard. That's the line. And I'm sitting here thinking,

oh, you poor dumbass Generation Z child. Like,

did your parents not teach you well enough? Did

your parents not raise you right? Like, what

the hell? Go ahead. What's your take on this?

Because my take is just like, And this is just

my fist, folks. I'm too old and too fat to actually

put my head down on my desk. But imagine this

is my head against my desk like it was 15 years

ago when I used to do my head desk thing. That's

all that I can do right now is like, oh, my God.

Just incredulity at this whole thing of didn't

have to go this hard. So it's a slang term. I

know. From the Gen Z kids. I know. It's funny.

I'm just saying kids. I'm like, oh, you're a

young whippersnapper. Get off my lawn. It's like

not that long ago. I was a young kid and you

were like, you know, Gen X and I'm millennial.

So it's funny. But so anyways, basically this

it's. It have to go this hard is slang, and it

means that someone is putting in the maximum

effort, intensity or excellence, often unexpectedly

or impressively. So in other words, they're saying

that the stuff that we grew up on, the stuff

that we're, you know, nostalgia, you know, discussing

a nostalgia is so good. That, yes, this this

phrase doesn't make any sense of saying have

to go this hard. I mean. It's like the 90s thing

of going extreme with everything. They're saying

maximum effort, intensity, or excellence. While

the phrase is odd, as are a lot of shorthand

versions of things that kids say now, because

my kids are like Gen Alpha or whatever and saying

this crap. Learning the lingo is interesting

enough, but it's... It's basically a phrase where

they're saying, you know, praising it for being

exceptionally good, bold and intense. Like when

they say this song didn't have to go this hard.

This song is way better than expected. You know,

like that to me, though, it sounds like they're

like, oh, my God, like it implies their admiration.

And while they really gave it their all. And

so while the phrase sounds ridiculous itself.

The sentiment behind it is good. They're making

it sound like we were blessed to have been given

such awesome material, whereas the crap that

they're handed is just total garbage by comparison.

Which screams to the fact that the 80s, 90s,

and early 2000s were peak everything. Yes, yes,

they were. Speaking of the early 2000s, we are

going to, at some point, probably next year in

2026, we are going to be bringing back the movie

box office episodes of Studio 2009, where we

compare various years of the box office. And

like I said, 2007, oh man, just the top 10 alone.

Spider -Man 3, Shrek 3, Transformers, Pirates,

At World's End. I forget if that's the third,

fourth, or fifth movie of that. Order of the

Phoenix from Potter, I Am Legend, The Bourne

Ultimatum, National Treasure Book of Secrets,

Alvin and the Chipmunks, and 300. That's just

the top 10. I scrolled through this entire...

the entire of the Wikipedia article here going

through the entire year of, of 2007, looking

at everything that was released. And I'm just

like, wow. Yeah. 2007 was completely just fully

loaded. Cause yeah. Wow. But cause, well, cause

we're sitting here talking about, In technical

difficulties, let's move on, shall we? Lucy McClain.

It's not McClain. It's Gennaro. Chicks. This

intro has already been recorded, but just in

case you didn't understand the mix -up, we are

inside Studio 2009. Only on the Geekcast Radio

Network. I'm, of course, GFG and Mike. Joining

me is Steve Megatron. This is Die Hard 4 .0.

At least that's what it was in other countries

because other countries didn't want to live free

or die hard. I actually like 4 .0 better because

it ties into the whole internet culture of live

free or die hard. It makes more sense to me.

So anyway, we're going to die, die, die hard

as we can. Finally, we're back with John McClane.

Now we got a choice. The choice is plain. We

can live free or we can die hard. Die hard as

we can. From taking on a terrorist he's never

met to taking on an F -35 jet with the greatest

car explosions by far, this sure looks sweet,

man. And we now know what the basic gist is.

There ain't no Alan and it's not Christmas, thank

God. And we don't know, but we're pretty sure

that John McClane kicks ass and it just goes

into the chorus. Yippee -ki -yay, we're gonna

die, die, die. Yippee -ki -yay, motherfucker.

And that's how the fourth verse in the song ends.

So yeah, Die Hard, Live Free or Die Hard, this

movie, holy crap, this movie was released. years

ago 2007 as you already heard our whole spiel

at the very beginning about 2007 in film and

as I mentioned outside the US it was called Die

Hard 4 .0 and the plot of this one it's basically

let's You know, show everybody what it would

be like if America lost everything. But again,

at the end of everything, it's still... At the

end of the whole fire sale, it's still, I want

my money. In other words, didn't matter. Nope,

didn't matter. Whole thing, just a distraction.

I'm trying to think, where was I June 27th, 2007?

I'm pretty sure I did not see this in theaters.

I know in 2007 I saw a couple of movies in theaters.

I don't think this is one of them at all. Did

you see this in theaters? I did not. I don't

remember what I was seeing in theaters around

that time. Granted, I know I was working at a

car dealership and I was broke a lot. So Lucy's

all grown up now. And in this one we have John

who is... He's... Where is he working? Is he

in LA or is he in... Good. Where is he? Oh, he's

back in New York. Because he's like, oh, this

is a favor for New Jersey or something or other.

So he's tasked with bringing a high -level computer

hacker's... I'll request local law enforcement

to bring in high -level computer hackers nationwide.

NYPD Police Detective John McClain is assigned

to New Jersey to pick up Matthew Farrell. And

as he arrives, assassins are sent to kill Farrell.

So yeah, and that person who's assigning that

is Thomas Gabriel, played by Timothy Oliphant.

And then the movie just goes into, oh my God,

guns everywhere, car crashes, helicopter crashes.

It's not as violent as I, I mean, it's violent

because it's a diehard movie, but it wasn't as

crazy as I remembered it being. I don't think

it's as crazy as, like, each of these films,

you would think that they would amp up the craziness.

This isn't that crazy. No. I mean, these four

films, they have their escalatingness of crazy,

but like, I don't know, like, yeah, the F -35

jet, that was a little crazy, but not, I mean,

about the same level of crazy as you know, Arnold

on, on the jet and true lies. I mean, same damn

thing. True. So that's the whole point with this

plot here is that McClane has to keep Farrell

safe as they go through it. It's all about computers.

It's all about hacking. It's all about this,

that, and the other thing. And they have to stay

safe and they have to either stay on or off the

grid and they have to fight. The bad guys, but

the bad guys are usually one step ahead kind

of a thing. Some of my notes include in the beginning

of the movie when all of the hackers are being

contacted by the bad guys. That's a sexy voice.

Oh, Maggie Q. Now she, I've only seen her in

several things. This is the... Oh. Oh, barely.

She was... Okay, so I would say that this was

the... Okay. This is the second thing I saw her

in. But she was in Mission Impossible 3. That

wasn't her debut, but she was first. I would

say her famous debut, she played a girl in a

car in Rush Hour 2. She was then in Mission Impossible

3. She's been in other stuff in between that,

but again, I'm trying to cut to just the famous

stuff. Live Free or Die Hard. She was in Deception

in 2008. These are just the films. But really,

after the live free or die hard thing, where

I found her again was a TV series in 2014, 2015,

where she played the lead role, Beth Davis, Michelle

Weber in CBS's Stalker, which did not last very

long at all. But she was a. in a Need for Speed

video game in 2008 called Need for Speed Undercover.

So that's the main places that I've seen her

in. And the last thing she did was a film called

The Family Plan in 2023. She hasn't done... Oh,

no. She's Detective Renee Ballard in Ballard.

which is an American police procedural television

series from this year. She's the lead role. Interesting.

I'll have to check that out. Yeah. I mean, this

is basically John older, very bald, no more hair

for John. They even make a joke about that. And

when they made the joke about when Farrell made

the joke about it, I'm like, but he used to have

hair like, you know, 20 years ago at the time.

At least in the first film he had air. Oh, boy.

What were your thoughts on live free or die hard?

I. I could feel that it was kind of happenstance

that he just got roped into this like, oh, all

of a sudden, like he's messing with his daughter's

boyfriend. Yeah. Makes her mad. And then. you're

like okay i know she's getting roped into the

situation here yep and then you get down the

rabbit hole and he's getting to call you know

farrell and you're watching all these guys die

and you're like okay well the one that lived

uh captain uh captain mac there and uh so you

know that was interesting among its many other

things going on then the fact that he's trying

to understand it and then you get this whole

tirade about you know him he's like man the whole

all the news is rigged and blah blah blah and

I was like it was funny because the thought came

to me during the last like I don't know six years

you know but I so I had fun with that clip but

the the absurdity and some of the explosions,

like the tunnel thing. And then him throwing,

you know, he's like, Hey, they threw that at

me. I'm going to throw a car at him. And he throws

a car at the, you know, at the, at the helicopter

and takes it down. And he's like, they threw

a freaking car at the, you know, helicopter.

And yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, it was, it was entertaining

on that, that front too. And, uh, And then all

the back and forth and then the insults that

he throws back and forth. And then he gets Maggie

Q thrown down an elevator shaft and throws that

in his face. Yep, he does. And then, of course,

tricks the, you know, get captures the daughter.

And. Yeah, so. Yeah, no, I like this one. It's

a good interesting movie to see where McClane

is at this point and have to see him dealing

with the modern day because he comes from a day

where there was no technology. And it kind of

goes back to the second movie where Al was like,

oh, gee. and faxes and well holly said i should

wake up and smell the 90s well you gotta wake

up and smell the 2000s now john kind of thing

and uh yeah no i yeah no i i really dug this

one i really enjoyed this one You pretty much

took all, which is fine, you took all my notes,

but one of my notes was, because I did all that

look up about 2007 in film, because 2007 in film

was crazy. Just, oh man, looking at that list

was just crazy. But Justin Long's filmography,

man, just, it's nuts. He debuted as Brandon in

Galaxy Quest in 99. That was his debut in film.

And then he went on to do the Jesus Creepers

movies. He was Justin Redman in Dodgeball. He

did Herbie Fully Loaded in 2005. As you mentioned,

in 2006, he was in Accepted, which, wow. Holy

shit, college sucks. I did not know he was the

voice of Alvin. The Chipmunks, that's crazy.

And more recently, he was in Spin the Bottle

last year. Doesn't say what he did, but he was...

TBA, he's supposed to be in Shrek 2 Retold. I

don't know what that's supposed to be all about,

but yeah. He was in an episode of The Neighborhood

this year. I did not... I think I... didn't didn't

recognize this when i watched it but he was the

voice of roboto in masters of the universe revelation

in 2021 so that's interesting so yeah but but

yeah no justin long still to me always gonna

be the mac from the pc versus mac oh 100 always

like i love the guy he's a cool guy and he's

in the movies that I've seen him in, but he's

always going to be the Mac. Always the Mac. But

yeah, let's see what else did I already do? I

forgot what the F -35 fight was. I thought the

F -35 fight versus John was going to be a little

bit longer than what it was. But again, you have

that same kind of explosion where John ends up

in a closed quarter thing and you have this giant

fireball coming after him. They can't help themselves.

I like that he just kind of giggled about the

whole situation. He's like, he's like, he's like,

going to throw this at me, going to throw a truck

at me. I'm going to throw a car. That's right.

Yep. And this was Timothy Oliphant seven years

after Gone in 60 Seconds, because Gone in 60

Seconds, he played a cop next to Delroy Lindo's

Detective Castlebeck. I forget what the cop's

name was that Oliphant played in Gone in 60 Seconds

off the top of my head, but he does play a great

villain. Because the way he talks to some of

his minions, I'm like, oh boy. He's like, get

it taken care of. That's right. Yeah, get it

done or you're gone. There are a couple of times

I thought he was going to kill some of the guys

on the ground. Like that guy that kept calling

him saying, well, it's kind of done, but it isn't

really done. What should I do now? Don't worry

about it. We'll figure it out later and then

you'll. So, yeah. But live free or die hard.

Yeah, I was very satisfied at the end of this

movie, both when I saw it initially years and

years ago and now, and I am perfectly fine stopping

right here. I felt like that was like our Beverly

Hills Cop 4. Yes, very much so. I was like, okay,

we went, we went further. We saw what happened

to John. We saw what happened to, you know, his

daughter. Okay. Yep. I felt like that was kind

of like, okay, we've, we've hit peak here. There's

nowhere else to go. Yep. Because really, honestly,

like we knew, we knew he had two kids from the

first movie and the second movie, but the son

was never like, it was always about his daughter.

It was always. came to the phone or Lucy did

this or Lucy did that. I didn't even know his,

I don't even remember they ever said his son's

name in the other movies, in the earlier movies.

I think they did, but it wasn't like a big, but

yeah, it wasn't a big deal. It was just like,

okay, but you know, Lucy's daddy's girl and this,

that, and the other thing and everything else,

all of a sudden, you know, 11 years ago now or

X number of years ago now. Oh, Jack's over in

Mother Russia. And it's like, fuck. Here we go.

I don't know. But live free or die hard. Oh,

what I stopped myself from saying in episode

143, I'll say here. The only thing that. I thought

of, and I'm probably not going to give this movie

a five, but when I was thinking, when I got mixed

up last time, that I was saying that the only

reason why that blah, blah, blah would not get

a five is because of this, this, and this. The

only trepidation I had going into this is because

of one specific cameo role in this, and I knew

it was here because it's a plot point of whatever.

But it's fine, it's not that big a deal, but

it's only because of my disdain for this person

in real life nowadays, not for the way the person

was back in 2007. But the Kevin Smith cameo,

I'm like, oh god, get this guy off the fucking

screen. But the Warlock character wasn't that

bad, and... What, like you a big fan of the fat?

He's always more of a Star Wars guy. He's a Star

Wars guy. Who is this man? Hey, dump truck. I'm

not his dad. I'm a cop. How about that? Oh, a

cop. I'm sorry. Thank you very much. Why'd you

bring a cop into my command center? Command center?

It's a basement. It's a command center. Don't

help McClane. I can explain. Just tell us what

you know about Thomas Gabriel, all right? That's

why we came here. Thomas Gabriel? That's cool.

I didn't know. I'm sorry. Get out! I liked how

his and John's interaction was at the end when

he was talking to him about Lucy. I know you

can hear me. This is your frequency, right? 666.

Come on, pick up the mic. Ready? Uh, nobody here

by that name. Sorry. Pack a jerk off! Warlock,

I need you to do whatever it is you do to patch

me through to the FBI, to Deputy Director Bowman.

Do you hear me? Are you serious? You want me

to intentionally open up comm lines to the head

of the FBI Cyber Division? I don't think so.

Freddy, goddammit, they have my daughter! I can

do that. Hold up. Thank you. And I'm probably

going to use that whole exchange about, but Ma,

it's, you know, It's your command center. It's

a basement, dude. Like, I love that. I love that

exchange. So I know I'm kind of being a hypocrite

here, but it's just like, I'm sorry. Whenever

I see that dude's name attached to stuff nowadays,

I'm just like, oh, God. I don't know. It's just

the way I am. I can't help it. No, and I agree

with you. I didn't really much care for his role

in the film. I mean, it was all right. It wasn't.

Yeah, it was okay. Like, I don't. Yeah. I'm kind

of over him. Like, I just don't. Yeah. Yeah.

I don't care. But, like, the character was fine

for what he was in the film. Yeah. So. But, yeah,

no. Like, I had, like. Like we said, this is

pretty much a button on it for us, but at the

end of this, I was like, oh, I could kind of

see it going this way or that way, or they could

do this or that if they wanted to do another

film maybe two years after this or a couple of

years after this. Not in 2013. When you have

a franchise like this, and look, we know, 95

to 2007, that's a little long in the tooth. But,

like, I don't know. It is what it is. And we'll

come back and we'll do the fifth film. I haven't

even looked at the plot on Wikipedia about the

fifth film because I want to go into that so

cold and just so, like, I want to have my most

honest, raw reaction to that movie because, like

I said before, I've never seen it. other than

the the two trailers that i sent you and always

those two trailers are to me is oh hi jack i'm

here to save your ass and then all of a sudden

all these explosions and guns and whatever because

that's all apparently the diehard franchise is

by the fifth film is it's just explosions and

guns and no story at least according to that

trailer uh but um but yeah no diehard live free

or diehard absolutely still love it uh i would

probably give it in comparison to the other three

movies three and a half i want to give it a four

but i'm gonna give it a three and a half i don't

dislike it but i like i don't know i like the

other ones more i don't know i'll probably give

it a four Just because I enjoyed majority of

the film. The follow -up is the one that I'm

like... Be prepared, folks. I don't know what

we're going to give the fifth movie, but... Oh,

boy. I just don't know. It's not even that I'm

trying to go in there with... I just don't know.

That's my thing. Because I don't know anything

about it other than what I've seen from the trailer,

the two trailers I watched. I'm not reading about

it beforehand. I don't want to know the plot.

I don't want to know anything about it. I want

to just go in. It's kind of like with Die Hard

3. Even though I remember with a vengeance. I

had completely forgot summer in the city from

love and spoonful opens that movie. And I was

had a completely genuine, like, Oh, okay. Like

I was excited. I was like, okay, let's go. I'm

into this movie. And I was excited. And I was

this, and I was right. My notes, and I was like,

this happened, this happened, this happened,

I like this, I like this, I like this. Oh, they

did that, okay, whatever. Like, that's what I'm

going into Die Hard 5 with. Yeah, I don't like

the whole yippee -ki -yay Mother Russia bit,

but that was just in the advertising. It is what

it is, fine, whatever, I can get over that. But

here's hoping for a good day to like Die Hard.

I could see that, but yeah, I... I'm not optimistic

for the next film. Not at all. Oh, boy. Where

are we? What are we doing? Oh, boy. We gave the

ratings. We did that. We did that. Did we go

to ad break? I don't even remember now. I don't

think so. Screw it. This is the fourth film.

We ain't going to no damage. We don't need no

stinking ads around here. All right. Anything

you want to promote? Any anything? Do you have

a book coming out or something? I do have a book

coming out August 8th. And it is about podcasting

and my journey in it. And a lot of things for

newbies and veterans alike to take reference

of. And yeah, it's going to be for sale on Amazon,

on Kindle, on Barnes and Noble dot com. And I'm

hoping in Barnes and Noble itself along among

like libraries and other places that I'm still

waiting on the distribution platform to kind

of iron things out the rest of the way. Very

cool. Very cool. Please tell me chapter one,

page one, line one, all caps, get your own website

period. It's not the, it's not that it's my journey,

but yeah, I know. I know. I know. What's it called?

What's the price? So it's called Altered Audio

Podcasting Demystified and it's $9 .99 for the

digital and it's $15 .99 for the standard book.

I honestly wish I could have put it lower except

I, there, there won't be any because of fees

of everything. Right. But it is 140 pages and

I do give some kind of templates, uh, prompts

at the end of the book and some terms. And, uh,

I list out a bunch of different as of right now,

uh, podcasting platforms and things you should

know when you're building a site and, you know,

all of that. So there's, there's a lot of information

in there that it's like trial by fire over the

years. Uh, I'm in another podcasting group with,

uh, rss .com who hosts our shows. And, uh, I'm,

I'm in there giving a lot of notes and tidbits.

And so a lot of this was birthed from that and

just people asking me questions constantly, uh,

in my daily life. Plus, uh, a lot of the, uh,

events that I go to for, to discuss podcasting.

I'm like, you know, I really should write this

into a book because. I'm going to forget more

than I know. Yep. Absolutely. So at least, at

least with this, I can update as needed. Absolutely.

100%. New additions, you know, uh, but yeah,

it's, it should be pretty complete for what it

is. I, I literally added stuff to it like two

weeks ago, like right before I ordered my, my

proof from Amazon and I should be getting my,

uh, Barnes and Noble proof pretty quick here.

Probably before this episode airs. Well, depending

on how fast I get it edited, but yeah, that is

true. Probably. All right. Well, there you go,

folks. Altered audio podcasting, demystified

from Steven C Phillips. There you go, folks.

Go get that. Coming up here in August, August

8th, 2025, geekcastradio .com. Check it out.

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check out Studio 2009 podcast over there as well.

Join us next time when Steve and I will be finishing

up Christmas in July with a good day to die hard.

For now, I am TFU and Mike with... Steve Megatron.

You'll hear us back in the studio soon. McClane!

Stay with me. Dad! When you're tombstone, you

should read always in the wrong place at the

wrong time. How about Yippee -ki -yay? Yippee

-ki -yay, Mr. Falcon. Yippee -ki -yay, motherfucker.