When I started to try and figure out what a pin-up calendar of characters from my books would look like, I came up a blank, because my characters aren’t selling their bodies. They aren’t meant to be singular sexual objects, or actresses (or actors). They’re meant to be people. People who aren’t owned. Context is important when we choose to make a piece of art. Knowing and understanding how our piece of art will be read or viewed within the historical context of other pieces of art is vital to both understanding how others will read it and formulating the defense of our choice despite that context. As someone who wrote a very violent series of novels featuring a cast of characters who use Arabic words on occasion, I’m pretty familiar with the importance of this process.

I watch Die Hard at least a couple of times a year; it’s one of the best written films out there. But there were always two moments in the film that confounded me from the very start, even when I watched it as a kid. There’s a moment when John McClane is upstairs in the floors under construction, and he’s trying to figure out how to get the attention of the police even though the phone lines are cut. During this high tension scene, the camera’s attention swoops with John’s to the building across the way, where a naked woman is talking on the phone, and the camera holds there for a few seconds while he watches her, open mouthed. Right after this moment, he hits the fire alarm to call the authorities, so I figured that somehow this scene was meant to show us his thought processes – hey, other people in the buildings next door have phones. What other way do we have to communicate? – in addition to being a general male-gazey moment for the audience. It was in staring at that picture that I became angry again at the idea that pin-up calendars were being used to support literary foundations. Because it was in that moment that the whole complicated hand-wringing I’d seen so many do in support of the calendar just fell apart for me. But what she’d actually done is take her clothes off, not to be pin-up sexy, but to be real about what bodies which have survived three types of cancer actually look like. She’d had reconstructive surgery on her breasts, which were missing nipples. There was a broad scar across her belly from her hysterectomy. More scars on her legs, her arms; there was loose, stretched skin from rapid weight loss related to her illness. And though her face was carefully made up as any pin-up’s would be, her body showed us a much realer picture; her body carried the record of what she’d been through. Hers was the body of a person who’d been through the shit and survived it, not a body we were invited to own. But I avoided the discussion around it at the time, because wasn’t it obvious? Was it really worth my spoons? I than added 2mm high lettering for the numbers (1 counting up to 25, and later 25 counting down to 1). And just so it was more obvious "Nakatomi Plaza" and a logo in SVG imported into TinkerCAD (adjusting the extruded height). The lettering is raised higher than the rest of the surface to facilitate two color printing, on a single color extruder.For one thing the action is explosive and consistently exciting, and the cinematography is astounding being very inventive and colourful. John McTiernon(The Hunt for Red October, Last Action Hero) directs briskly and efficiently, and the pacing a vast majority of the time is exhilarating. You can add a little fun to your Christmas season with one of these advent calendars. / Daniel Brandt of Brandt Builds (formerly Leatherhead Laser Works) There are two types of people; those that believe Die Hard is the best Christmas movie, and those that are wrong. The Die Hard inspired Advent Calendar Proves This I hadn’t much thought about the annoying literary pin-up calendars in a while – not since January, when Justin at Staffer’s Book Review brought it up again as being intensely problematic. As I told Justin at the time, it was one of those low-level annoyances I’ve learned to live with over the years. I try to save my ire for the truly egregious things these days. I only have so many spoons. As news spreads about Bruce Willis's battle with frontotemporal dementia, we are deeply moved by his enduring legacy in the film industry. With our Die Hard Advent Calendar, you can bring home a piece of Willis's history and celebrate his lasting impact on the world of entertainment. Each piece of this calendar is meticulously crafted to capture the essence and thrill of the iconic Nakatomi Plaza's fall scene, allowing you to relive the magic of cinema once more.

Fun fact: if you decide to buy from me you are buying an ORIGINAL Nakatomi Plaza Die Hard Advent Calendar. I'm like the Banksy Picasso of pop culture tchotchkes for the holidays. I have a lot of copycats out there this holiday season. Faking bodily perfection – in particular among women – has a long and sordid history, too. Did you know women in ancient Athens actually stuffed their clothes so they looked like they had bigger breasts and butts? They bound and smoothed flabby bodies. They wore wigs when necessary. They faked it.Die Hard is an 80’s movie, one with a core emotional conflict that centered on real social change happening at the time – women moving into executive positions who had begun out-earning their husbands. Where was the place for men, in a world like that? How did you define being a man, when it wasn’t through being a bread-winner? What does it mean to be a dude when there are no more monsters to fight and your wife is a CEO? Even if the non-action parts are a tad slow in comparison, that is more than compensated by so many things that makes Die Hard so brilliant.

Make it feel like Christmas is getting near by watching Hans Gruber fall off of Nakatomi Plaza for 25 straight days! These calendars were completely designed by me and are made by me in my garage shop in MD.I created the Die Hard Advent Calendar for the first half to convert the second half over the holidays. A grand plan to unite the world. I'd love if you could help spread the mission and joy this year after a couple of rough ones (amiright?!). Thank you again for supporting the original designer and creator of the Die Hard Advent Calendar - everyone else is just a copy 😉