38 – The World of Batman v. Superman

coverblackA rubric of four factors for engaging fictional choices, looking at the March issue of Empire magazine, the five chapters of the Dr. Pepper promotional comic, two Zack Snyder interviews, and more.

Answers, insights, and commentary on:

  • Exchange, Stakes, Context, and Preference (ESCaPe)
  • Who came first: Darkseid or Thanos?
  • Batman as the Bad Guy
  • Naughty Wonder Woman?
  • Are promo comics canonical?
  • Batman’s relationship to Gotham PD
  • Superman’s impact on geopolitics

…and more.

March 2016 Batman v. Superman Exclusive | Empire
“From the World of Batman v. Superman” promo comic | Dr. Pepper
The Hall of Justice Podcast #28 Zack Snyder | Seth Everett
Zack Snyder on 02/04/2016 | Opie with Jim Norton

$5 Fandago Credit with proofs of purchase | Dr. Pepper
Batman v. Superman Collectible Cans | Dr. Pepper
Justice League Unlimited | Warner Home Video
Justice League: Doom | Warner Home Video
All Star Superman | Warner Home Video
Wonder Woman | Warner Home Video
Sid Meier on Interesting Decisions | Gamasutra
Comic Book Artist magazine | Wikipedia
Batman v Superman To Get Day-And-Date China Release | Variety
History of Ideas – Failure | School of Life
Season 5 Episode 14: The Ring | Last Man Standing

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Happy Lunar New Year! – Version 2.0

37 – Dawn of the Justice League

coverblackWarner Bros. Pictures and DC Films presents: Dawn of the Justice League on the CW. Analyzing DC’s strategy, rebranding as DC Films and the Justice League Universe, new Batman v. Superman footage, first look at Wonder Woman, and breaking down the first official Suicide Squad trailer set to Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody.

Answers, insights, and commentary on:

  • Bridging the gap from Man of Steel to the Justice League
  • DC Films and the Justice League Universe
  • Superman and Batman from conflict to comrades
  • Wonder Woman and the pedigree of epicness
  • The influence of rock on Suicide Squad
  • Suicide Squad trailer breakdown

…and more.

DC Films Presents: The Dawn of the Justice League | CW
Suicide Squad Official Trailer 1 | WB Pictures
Suicide Squad Official Trailer 1 – High Bitrate | 3GB warning!

Charles Roven Talks Character Balance | Collider
Queen: The Story of Bohemian Rhapsody | BBC
Debbie Harry and Harley Quinn Comparison | DCCU
David Bowie & Grant Morrison’s Joker | ComicBuzz
Neil Gaiman Writes a Final ‘Love Letter to Batman’ | Wired
Urban Search and Rescue – X-Code | Wiki
De gustibus non est disputandum | Wiki
Under Pressure | Queen and David Bowie

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Stay warm!

36 – Batman v. Superman TV Spots

coverblackReaction to the first two Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice television spots.

Answers, insights, and commentary on:

  • Humor in TV spots
  • Kevin Smith on the CW special
  • Spoiler definition and policy
  • Riding the wave into BvS
  • Marketing
  • Audience and family react to BvS during TFA
  • Lex Luthor sponsored content
  • Mad scientists and Tesla
  • David Goyer on fatherhood and Man of Steel
  • Joseph Campbell quote in Superman’s costume

…and more.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice – TV Spot 1 | WB Pictures
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice – TV Spot 2 | WB Pictures
The Suicide Squadcast | Tim & Scott
Variations on Shylock by David Suchet & Patrick Stewart | Matt Bracksieck
FAT MAN ON BATMAN 009 | Kevin Smith
The Lowdown interviews Zack Snyder | Obsev
Anne Hathaway’s Batman advice to Jesse Eisenberg | Total Film
Nikola Tesla: Strange Genius
American Icons: Superman | Studio 360
The Writers Panel #238: David Goyer | Nerdist
Michael Wilkinson at CCXP 2015 | Omelete
Building Better Cities – TED Radio Hour | NPR
The Power of Myth | Joseph Campbell
Skullcrusher Mountain | Jonathan Coulton

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35 – Batman v. Superman Trailer 2

coverblackA breakdown and analysis of the Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice Trailer 2.

Answers, insights, and commentary on:

  • Viewing this as a villain trailer
  • Unpacking Superman and Batman’s views
  • The merits and faults of each hero’s position
  • Lex Luthor’s performance
  • Deferring to military expertise on the battlefield
  • Defending Doomsday
  • Setting expectations
  • Analyzing the sneak peek

…and more.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice – Trailer 2 | 3.4 GB warning!
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice – Official Trailer 2 | WB Pictures
Batman v Superman – Exclusive Sneak | WB Pictures
Batman v Superman Trailer Introduced by Ben Affleck | GMA

Blitz Spirit: Britons Who Refused Shelter | BBC History
Turns Out Spoilers Are Good For You | NPR
Pluto, Pixels, & The Psychology of Spoilers | Verge ESP
DC Graphic Novel and DCU MFV Uber Collection | Warner Home
Teen Titans Go! – Two Parter: Part Two | Amazon Video

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34 – Thanksgiving – Mailbag

coverblackA shorter holiday episode.  Being thankful, grateful, and appreciative.  Diving into the mailbag.

Answers, insights, and commentary on:

  • UFC 193: Rousey vs. Holm
  • Lois’s hair color
  • Superman’s character arc in BvS
  • Will Superman be a moral ideal in BvS?
  • Does the title Batman v. Superman denigrate the heroes?
  • Seeing the Fortress of Solitude again
  • PG-13 Rating for Suicide Squad
  • Magic’s effect on tone and realism
  • Maintaining suspense for nonlinear stories and period pieces
  • Steve Trevor in modern day
  • Setting Wonder Woman during The Great War

…and more!

How to make a smart TV ad | Freakonomics
Dana White & Tony Hinchcliffe | Joe Rogan
How can you drive across Antarctica | BrainStuff
How to create suspense | Freakonomics
Cosmic Queries Science Fiction | Star Talk Radio
Justice League Unlimited Complete Series Blu-Ray | Warner Archive
Juvenoia | VSauce
The Professor in the Cage | Jonathan Gottschall
Producer Charles Roven Reveals the DC Brain Trust | Collider
What’s the Meaning of Life | Where There’s Smoke

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33 – Fighting Ability – Culture & Character

coverblackHow can Jor-El fight or beat Zod?  How could Clark fight and win?  We look at Kryptonian culture in the first five minutes of the film for some answers and challenge the assumptions raised by these questions.  Insight into Zod’s character and Clark’s perseverance.

Answers, insights, and commentary on:

  • Martial arts driven by genre and tropes
  • Having genre literacy before criticizing
  • What we learn in just the first 5 minutes
  • The many martial trappings of Krypton
  • Jor-El and Zod were friends
  • Jor-El proves he can fight
  • Krypton relies on projectile weaponry
  • Feudal and warrior culture influence on Man of Steel
  • Are scientists and warriors are mutually exclusive on Krypton?
  • Jor-El as Kryptonian nobility
  • Would Zod have different training than Jor-El
  • The folly of Kryptonian society
  • How does Kal-El know how to fight?
  • How Zod’s training contains disadvantages
  • How the final fight inspires
  • Speculating on Batman and Wonder Woman’s fighting styles

…and more!

Torquasm-Vo | wikia
Torquasm-Rao, Klurkor, and Horu-Karu | io9
The Professor in the Cage | Jonathan Gottschall
Why Men Fight | RadioWest
The Brain: The Story of You | David Eagleman
The Brain with David Eagleman | PBS
Man of Steel Blu-Ray Release Q&A | Yahoo Movies
Jesse Eisenberg on Diane Rehm Show | Scott Brooks
Snyder at Bob Kane Walk of Fame Ceremony | Variety
Nerdist Podcast: David Goyer | Nerdist
Producer Charles Roven Reveals the DC Brain Trust | Collider
Kelly McGonigal: How to make stress your friend | TED
Free Throws | Surprisingly Awesome

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32 – Tornado Part 3 – Understanding Themes

coverblackCreative choices.  The tornado scene intended a “cave of questions” to organically shape Clark’s character, rather than 12-years in an actual literal cave.  Exploring why the alternatives of Jonathan living, saving a child, or dying of natural causes frustrate this intention.  How to find themes and how this scene fits-into and supports those themes.

“If you wanted and expected sameness, perfection, tradition, and safety… why in the world would you ever invite an alien immigrant into your life?  The alien immigrant represents something new, different, foreign, and challenging.”

Answers, insights, and commentary on:

  • Jonathan dying a hero or in a clearly unavoidable way issues
  • What the tornado teaches Clark better than the heart-attack
  • Nonlinear telling softens tragedy and sets the stakes for following acts
  • Interpretation beyond creator intent
  • The pain of birth is worth the potential
  • Organic is better than engineered
  • How the film shows multiple facets to every profession
  • Defying film formulas to set stakes
  • Japanese art of Kintsugi and its philosophy
  • How Superman and Batman approach brokenness differently
  • Remembering brokenness and restoration in religion
  • Should Superman be more unbreakable than Jesus?
  • The climate of angst that gave rise to Superman
  • How an immigrant hero in 1938 causes cognitive dissonance
  • Superman’s heritage of controversy and questions
  • Kintsugi applied to the tornado scene and Batman v. Superman

…and more!

A Thesis on Man of Steel | Reel Analysis
Bring On The Learning Revolution – Ken Robinson | TED
Introduction to Kintsugi | Unknown
Kintsugi: The Art of Embracing Damage | Nerdwriter1
Why Superman Will Never Be Cool | Cracked
Cognitive Dissonance | Wikipedia
Commentary! “Heart Broken” LIVE | This American Life
Dr. Horrible Commentary! “Heart Broken” | Joss Whedon

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31 – Tornado Part 2 – Present – Judgment

coverblackJudgment.  How emergency decision-making works; Judging those decisions with justice, fairness, and reason.  Compassion, empathy, grace, understanding, open-mindedness, and the willingness & imagination to entertain other perspectives definitely helps… but we systematically analyze the unconscious processes that account for fast, intuitive decisions with science and real-life examples.

Primarily a diegetic analysis, we use seven questions as our framework:

  1. Why didn’t Martha let Hank out?
  2. Why did they go for the overpass?
  3. Why go back for Hank?
  4. Why didn’t Jonathan send Clark?
  5. Why didn’t Clark act?
  6. Why did Jonathan hold up his hand?
  7. Why did Clark abide by that?

Answers, insights, and commentary on:

  • The wisdom of knowing that you don’t know and uncertainty
  • The Dunning-Kruger Effect and the Impostor Effect
  • Cognitive biases like hindsight bias, anchoring effect, priming, risk aversion, etc.
  • Deliberate and elemental analysis for fair judgments
  • Reasonable Person Standard with the same knowledge, experience, and circumstances
  • Why don’t we use a perfect person or optimal behavior standard?
  • The Emergency Doctrine
  • The Myth of Overpass Safety in 1997
  • Neuroscience behind why we love our dogs
  • The tragic tale of Tubby and the Tacoma Narrows Bridge
  • Flaws with incomplete utilitarian analysis
  • Hesitation with moral dilemmas regardless of the math
  • Clark as an unemancipated 17-year-old minor

…and more!

Science & Psychology of Fast Intuitive Decision-Making, Cognitive Bias:
Thinking, Fast and Slow | Daniel Kahneman
How You Really Make Decisions | BBC Horizon
Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
| Malcolm Gladwell
Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics | Richard Thaler

Links:
Can You Solve This? 2, 4, 8 | Veritasium
The Dunning Kruger Effect | Wikipedia
Killing Babies, Saving The World | RadioLab
Cognition: How Your Mind Can Amaze & Betray You | Crash Course
Highway Overpasses as Tornado Shelters | National Weather Service
Oklahoma’s Deadliest Tornadoes | PBS Nova
The Power of Myth | Joseph Campbell
Galloping Gertie | 99% Invisible
Cognitive Bias Song | Brad Wray

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30 – Tornado Part 1 – Past – Safe

coverblackA road map for breaking down the tornado scene, the dialogue in the station wagon, the implications of “safe”, remarkable parenting, priming and its effects on the present, and a terrible-not-even-close Mark Waid impression.

Answers, insights, and commentary on:

  • Getting your facts straight before judging
  • Why safe is good
  • Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
  • Why Clark’s limits weren’t tested
  • Assuming Superman’s invulnerability
  • Keeping Clark safe from what?
  • Jonathan’s forgiveness
  • What if there was no tornado?
  • What is priming?
  • Ulysses Contract

…and more!

Superman Kryptonite | Darwyn Cooke & Tim Sale
Killing Babies, Saving The World | RadioLab
#Priming | YouTube
The Inquiry | BBC
Confidence Driven Decisions – Peter Atwater | TED
You v. You | RadioLab

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29 – Sonic Boom – Search – Cemetery – Structure

coverblackSonic booms and other collateral effects of flying at super-speed, showing Lois’s investigative skills in the search for her rescuer, the cemetery scene, an analysis of the structure of the first act, and the psychology of selflessness and killing.

Answers, insights, and commentary on:

  • Larry Niven’s critique of Superman
  • John Hodgeman and Neil Tyson on nostalgia
  • Beneficial collateral effects and power evolution
  • How Lois tracks Clark and shows skill
  • How long the investigation would have taken
  • How and why Clark tracks Lois to the cemetery
  • How the first act reaches a new status quo
  • How the first act structure reinforces the theme of identity
  • Why heroes don’t necessarily need origins
  • Why film can be silent on psychology but not comic conceits
  • Revisiting themes from 1988

…and more!

Science Vs. | Wendy Zuckerman
If superpowers were real: Super Speed – Joy Lin | TED Ed
What if Quicksilver Ran Past You? | VSauce3
The sonic boom problem – Katerina Kaouri | TED Ed
Flying Fast, Flying Quiet | NASA
Black Box | RadioLab
The Adventures of Superman | BBC
Are all Hotels the Same place | Idea Channel
Tips from Bob Woodward on Investigative Journalism | Washington Post
A Psychoanalysis of Clark Kent | Emory University
What makes a superhero? – Stan Lee | TEDxGateway ’13
I Need A Hero | RadioLab
Soldiers of Conscience – POV | PBS
Superman on Trial | BBC
New Stu | RadioLab

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