There are some things you see as a kid that become a skewed fact that actually turns out not to be true at all, like your dad is the tallest guy in the world or your step-uncle is a fantastic kisser.  This also applies to movies, where some detail sticks out for you and you turn it into a false assumption.

Die Hard

Early on in this action blockbuster, jet-lagged hero John McClane receives some weird advice from a fellow passenger about easing his air travel tension by walking on a carpet barefoot and making fists with his toes. When McClane arrives at the Nakatomi building he reluctantly tries this piece of odd advice at the exact moment Hans Gruber and company decided to make their way into the L.A. high-rise to fake their terrorist plot and steal all the loot. This of course sets up the highly original and tense subplot of McClane having to take out several gun-men barefooted as well as survive to save his estranged wife and her co-workers.

You wanna know the secret to surviving air travel?
A tall glass of Scotch and fapping off in the shower?

TILL THIS DAY I still attempt to ease tension and stress by making fists with my toes. Does it work? Beats the hell out of me but since I saw Die Hard in 1988 I still think about this foot maneuver whenever I’m barefooted on carpet. Even when I’m not stressed I think of John McClane and his feet-fists and stupidly attempt it. I have recently tried to google this remedy and there is no scientific article explaining or refuting the fist-toe thing. I have yet to attempt the Mr. Miyagi hand-rub cure though…that looks ridiculous!

Yippee-Kai-Yay Mother Fungus!

So is it dumb to still think after 24 years that walking on a carpet while making fists with your toes could relieve tension? Short answer is abso-freakin’-lutely!