Today's offering is a twofer of links:
Firstly, the first-ever one-man Consumed Podcast. Because
Nat is on set and Max is in California,
I ventured alone to Man of Steel. It's a shorter episode than usual, where I have
to go give it up for Snyder and Cavill outperforming my expectations. There's
also a short Spoiled segment at the end, arguing against the film's one major
misstep. I can't spoil what that is, though, unless you listen.
You can download Consumed: Man of Steel
right here.
right here.
This episode is dedicated to Vira Gunn, our second link. Vira is a wonderful young woman who I've had the privilege of knowing since I was in high school. She has struggled with serious health problems for much of her life and fought through every one of them. But recently her neurological disorder mounted and she suffered a catastrophic shunt failure, requiring three surgeries in three weeks. It's wiped out her savings, her family can't afford to visit her, and she is in far too much pain to deal with this.
Because I've known her for over a decade, I can vouch that
this cause is very real. You should not have to stay up worrying about money
when the nurses are demanding you sleep post-op. I have been stranded without
financial help post-op and it bankrupted me. She does not deserve this. We can
help her.
So if you can donate anything, it's welcome. She has a PayPal account set up right on her Tumblr. If you can't afford anything right
now, you can tweet this, share this on Facebook or Google+ or Reddit or wherever
the internet is found.
Thank you for reading, and listening. I hope you enjoy the
podcast.
I hope Vira gets through okay. Stories like this make me very grateful I live somewhere with universal health care. There are still costs -- and there are still concerns about keeping your job etc, although the are also laws to protect people -- but the medical expenses at least are covered by taxes.
ReplyDeleteBTW, the PayPal link doesn't show up on my phone. I'll switch to my laptop.
Looking forward to listening to the podcast!
It's a great thing you're bringing Vira to everyone's attention. I've been sharing the link. I hope she gets what she needs.
ReplyDeleteSpoilers below:
ReplyDeleteI finally listened to the podcast last night, after coming home from watching the film. I'm totally with you about the henchwoman and about Zod -- I get the feeling that there was at least one scene cut at that point which would have explained a few things. I'm not so disappointed about the ending as you are, though -- given that last battle did happen, its conclusion makes sense (remember ninja skills are based on farming tasks, and Zod's taunt about Kal being a farmer turns into foreshadowing). There must be a time jump between the last battle and the "quip" scene too. It didn't even occur to me about the contrast until I heard the podcast.
I think what I loved the most in the end was the idea that just because someone is on your side, it doesn't mean they are going to do everything your way. I'm also pleased Clark jobs the paper after he meets Lois -- in previous tellings of the story she's been downright cruel to Clark while fawning all over Superman.
There definitely is a time jump between the two scenes in Superman's world. It's the way the movie handles it - that the alleged emotional suffering is so brief before we are back to watching quips and getting a very discordant ending from what they did. Naturally I'm one of the most offended by that kind of ending because that SPOILER thing that happened is possibly my most hated trope.
DeleteI really liked the handling of Lois - they did one of the best jobs of avoiding her pitfalls (witless love interest, damsel, etc.) than most iterations, and I liked how Amy Adams carried her.
What in the ending made you think of allies not doing everything each others' way? That sounds like a very interesting reading.
To me that runs through the whole film -- the Kents' decision to teach Clark to hide his powers (and I *loved* this version if the Kents) because others wouldn't understand, J. Kent's mention that they just assumed the government would show up when Kal's ship landed (but no-one did), the "interview" scene where Kal speaks openly with Lois but argues with the military, and then that final exchange where he basically tells the general what for ("I grew up in Kansas -- I'm as American as it gets") but that he had no interest in being a Dr. Manhatten-style living secret weapon.
DeleteRecall that originally Superman only stood for "truth and justice" -- the "American way" part was added later, and not by his creators, who were never comfortable with it.
That's one of the things I found fascinating about this film -- some if the references reached *way* back, like the whole learning to leap as a prerequisite for flying that you commented on in the podcast.