Why Harrison Ford Wanted Han Solo to Die

**Spoiler Alert** This article contains spoilers for The Force Awakens, but really, what self-respecting Star Wars fan hasn’t seen it by now?

When Star Wars fans first flocked to theatres to see The Force Awakens, they didn’t really know what to expect. Seeing Han Solo was certainly a surprise to some, but nothing compared to the surprise of seeing him die, at the hands of his own son no less! But as it turns out, Harrison Ford wanted it to happen all along.

“I think it’s a fitting use of the character. I’ve been arguing for Han Solo to die for about 30 years, not because I was tired of him or because he’s boring, but his sacrifice for the other characters would lend gravitas and emotional weight.”

As it turns out, Harrison Ford first wanted Han Solo to die during Return of the Jedi, the final installment in the original Star Wars trilogy. George Lucas, however, already quite wealthy from the merchandising deals the first two films brought about, wouldn’t hear it. Lucas, it would appear, “didn’t think there was any future in dead Han toys.” Harrison Ford eventually got his way, of course, even if he would have to wait 30 years, and while fans are still divided on the newer films the Han Solo side of things did make for some very compelling storytelling.

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#FreeBritney, According to Britney Spears’ Dad

Jamie Spears, the father of pop legend Britney Spears, spoke out about his daughter’s conservatorship and the #FreeBritney movement.

“All these conspiracy theorists don’t know anything. The world don’t have a clue,” he said in an interview with The Post. “It’s up to the court of California to decide what’s best for my daughter. It’s no one else’s business.”

Spears was given almost full control of his daughter’s financial and medical affairs via a court conservatorship 12 years ago, this after a very public breakdown. Circumstances don’t seem to have improved for Britney, who has been going through a lot of personal turmoil. Turning to his daughter’s fans, Jamie Spears had the following to say:

“People are being stalked and targeted with death threats. It’s horrible. We don’t want those kinds of fans. I love my daughter,” he told The Post, who noted that he got emotional when saying it.

Spears closed the interview with a plea for privacy for his family: “I love all my kids. But this is our business. It’s private,” he said.

Courts are set to rule on August 22nd to determine whether the initial twelve year conservatorship will be extended past its set expiry date, and you can bet that Britney fans will be watching with keen interest, ready to react and take to Twitter no matter the verdict.

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Who Makes the Trailers for Your Favorite Movies?

Odds are you know who wrote, directed, and even produced your favorite movies, but it may surprise you to learn that all those people often have little to do with making the trailers that get you excited about them.

“[Filmmakers] are brilliant at making a narrative movie – fantastic at it – but they need somebody else to make a short form of their film with a marketing eye – somebody who knows what’s going to attract people,” said Suneil Beri in an interview with Radio Times. Beri is the managing director of film marketing company Create Advertising, the folks behind the trailers for Baby Driver, Black Panther, Spider-man: Homecoming and Coco.

“We’re on the edge of the film industry, a place in a movie’s life where it goes from a piece of art to a business proposition. You’re balancing a creative eye with business sensibility. Sometimes trailers are created that are stunning pieces of art, but they haven’t assured potential moviegoers of the film’s genre or that they’re going to be engaged in its narrative. And that’s our job.”

While it’s sometimes a collaborative process, when it comes right down to it, filmmakers aren’t marketers, and even the most creative people in Hollywood need a bit of help every now and then when it comes to marketing their movies. It’s an interesting look at just one of the many moving parts in the movie making machine!

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A Lawn Mowed Into a Checkerboard Proves Perfect for Physical Distancing

Physical distancing is one of the unfortunate necessities of “the new normal” which in conjunction with face coverings and frequent hand washing can help stop the spread of Covid-19 and help save countless lives in the process. While many indoor spaces remain closed to the public, public parks have seen a bump in visitors as people turn to the outdoors to gather in small groups as they distance from others. One park in particular seems perfectly suited for just that.

The contemporary art gallery in Elblag, Poland had to close its doors due to the pandemic, but Director Adriana Kotynska, an architect, saw an opportunity to reinvent the gallery’s outdoor space – by mowing the overgrown lawn into a checkerboard. The checkerboard pattern creates perfectly spaced isolation zones, allowing visitors to come enjoy the scenery while remaining physically distanced.

The Galeria EL occupies a former gothic Dominican church with a large adjacent courtyard, once the property’s monastic garden. Although the lawn once hosted several outdoor performances and cultural affairs, with those events cancelled visitors have been taking advantage of the space to relax and enjoy the outdoors, especially after the checkerboard pattern was created. It’s just one of a growing number of examples of human ingenuity and creativity in an otherwise difficult time, and one that we’d love to see implemented closer to home as well.

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Now You And Your Friends Can Retire in the Golden Girls House

It remains a fan favorite to this very day, and for fans of the iconic 80s sitcom The Golden Girls, few images may be as memorable as the house that Rose, Blanche, Dorothy, and Sophia all lived in. There may be a catch or two, however. For starters, the house comes with a $3 million price tag, leaving it out of the reach of many. Furthermore, if you were hoping to retire in Miami where the show was set, you may need to change your plans ever so slightly, as the house is in fact located in the Brentwood area of Los Angeles, California. LAst but certainly not least, while the show used actual images of the house’s exterior, on the inside it looks very different from what fans of the show may remember, as the show was actually filmed on a set. Oh well.

If you’re still interested you may like to know a bit about the house’s history. The house was built in 1955 for attorney David Noble Barry III and his wife Margaret Carr Barry who lived in the home until their deaths in 2017 and 2019. That means this is the first time in the house’s 65 year history that it’s up for sale and publicly available. It’s a 2900-square-foot piece of luxury with four bedrooms and 3.5 baths, and while the inside may not remind you of your favorite show, you’ll at least get to think of The Golden Girls every time you come home!

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Catherine O’Hara is at the Height of Her Career

Canadian Catherine O’Hara was, in all respects, a celebrated and accomplished actress long before landing the lead role on Schitt’s Creek, a show that followed the downfall of a once-well off family who lost all but the town they bought for a laugh. Once the show was picked up by Netflix in 2017, however, her stock shot through the roof. In fact, now in her sixties, O’Hara has found herself among the ranks of TV royalty, with Twitter fans going so far as to declare her 66th birthday #CatherineOHaraDay. Having found herself passed over for leading roles throughout much of her career, O’Hara is now among the top names in industry trades “hot lists”, and is in high demand.

“Networks down the line have pigeonholed or diminished the idea of what an older female character can be,” says Dan Levy, O’Hara’s co-star who created the show along with his father, Eugene. (On the show, Dan plays O’Hara’s son, and Eugene plays her husband.) “So to be able to be a part of this moment for Catherine O’Hara at this point in her life and show the world that there is nothing sexier, nothing more hysterical than a woman over 50—that was the joy. Because you’re dealing with a caliber of actor who is so seasoned and so willing to make choices that are outside people’s comfort zones. I think that’s what Moira Rose is a result of: Catherine having the runway to go for it.”

Though Schitt’s Creek may now be over, fans can still catch every episode on Netflix and would be well advised to treat themselves to O’Hara’s stellar performance.

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How Steve Buscemi Stay Occupied During the Pandemic

Having spent his entire life as a New Yorker, Steve Buscemi knows a thing or two about a city, state, and country-wide catastrophe. After 9/11, he was right there on the front lines supporting firefighters as they cleaned up the site, searched for any remaining survivors, and carried the burden of an entire nation on their shoulders. Buscemi, you see, was a firefighter before he was an actor, and his connection to the firefighters of New York has remained strong ever since.

But the Covid-19 pandemic is nothing like 9/11. Like many of us, Buscemi found himself locked down at home, his three storey brownstone in Brooklyn, with nowhere to go. So how has the actor passed the time? Well, in part, he’s been painting. Yellow has been a color that I didn’t think that I was going to use much, but I do like the brightness of it,” he said in a recent GQ interview. “I thought in the beginning that I would be expressing something dark within me. Maybe it does, but it’s been surprisingly fun.”

Of course, when not painting Buscemi has also been occupying himself with the grim task of cataloging works and memorabilia from his wife, artist and choreographer Jo Andres, who died of complications after a long battle with cancer in January of 2019. “It’s just a slow process,” he admits, “because I always get caught up in reading stuff.” The couple spent over 30 years together, raising a son and building many happy memories that will hopefully keep him company in the many hours alone at home.

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Animal Crossing: Everyone’s Favorite Quarantine Passtime

Scrambling for something to do while socially distancing at home? You’re not alone, and while many have turned to binge watching their favorite shows again and again or embarking on long neglected home renovation adventures, it looks like many of us are doing little more than playing Animal Crossing. For many many hours on end.

For the uninitiated, Animal Crossing is a fun experiment in social simulation originally released by Nintendo way back in 2001. Since its initial release, fans have been treated to five different versions worldwide on different platforms, but the premise of each game is roughly the same. In Animal Crossing, the player character is a human living in a village, surrounded by various anthropomorphic animals, each going about their day as the player carries out such activities as planting flowers, going fishing, and our favorite, catching beetles. The game play is open-ended, so you can spend hours upon hours playing without ever running out of things to do.

To date, Animal Crossing has sold over 30 million copies worldwide across various platforms, but these days it’s the Nintendo Switch version that’s attracting everyone’s attention. Should you get tired of the game, although we can’t imagine how, there’s also three spinoff versions: Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer for Nintendo 3DS, Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival for Wii U, and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp for mobile devices.

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Tips for Decluttering While In Quarantine

Like many of us, odds are you may have turned to long neglected home projects while spending all that time stuck at home. It could be that bathroom you’ve always wanted to reno, that room you’ve always wanted to paint, or maybe it’s just time to declutter! If you’re ready to Marie Kondo your home like never before, here are a few tips that may just help you out!

Start with a good cleaning. Decluttering often involves a whole lot of spreading things out in order to see what you have, what you’ll keep, and what you’ll donate. You can’t spread anything out, however, if you don’t have any clean space to spread it out on! Start with a solid cleaning of your space, and it’ll make the rest of the process a whole lot easier.

Date everything you put into storage. Family heirlooms and precious memories are one thing, but for those items that end up in storage, label each one with a date. We often think that while we’re not using something right now, we may have use for it in the future, but dating items in storage can help you know just how long they’ve been there, and what the odds are that they’ll actually get used.

Think twice about new purchases. It may seem obvious, but thinking twice about your purchases doesn’t mean just asking yourself “Do I really need this?” right before ordering it online. Close the tab, walk away for a while, and really think it over. If you really want it the next day, then go ahead and make the purchase!

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Who Performed The Karate Kid Crane Kick?

It’s been over 35 years since The Karate Kid was first released in theatres, but thanks in no small part to Cobra Kai, one of the most popular series to ever be released on YouTube, The Karate Kid is still top of mind for fans worldwide. About to release its third season, Cobra Kai sees Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) pitted against Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) once again, decades after their 1984 faceoff which ended with a crane kick fans will never forget.

Our first introduction to the crane kick, however, came from another iconic scene in the film, one in which Daniel observes Mr. Miyagi perform the crane kick from atop a wooden post on the beach. Pat Morita played the role of Mr. Miyagi in the film, but was he the one to actually perform the iconic kick? The answer, it turns out, is no.

The kick in question was in fact performed by Darryl Vidal, who is a 10th degree black belt and one of the most respected teachers in the world of Karate. Vidal did play a role in the film, but not one as significant as Ralph Macchio or his rival William Zabka. The film ultimately led to a tournament, and the semi-finalists included Johnny Lawrence, Bobby Brown, Daniel LaRusso, and a character credited only as “Karate Semi-Finalist.” That unnamed “Semi-Finalist,” who showed off some flashy moves before being eliminated by Johnny, was played by, as you may have guessed, Darryl Vidal.

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