Randomly Related Slightly Salient Stuff 8

Might be a while until I have time to record another episode.  I basically only have one day a week to record / edit but that’s been taken by emergent work stuff, fellowship, and volunteering for a friend’s local election.  I still hope to get an episode out before the end of the month, but no promises.  No time to comment much, here’s some RRSSS:


Bob Kane Walk Of Fame Ceremony | Variety

Snyder talks about Batman and more shots of the BvS Batmobile.


How to Get Angry A Lot | The School of Life

A sarcastic approach to how you might be upsetting yourself.


Is This Glass Half Empty? | asapSCIENCE

Science behind optimism and pessimism.


Batman vs. Superman: Who Wins?| Variant

Fan of the upbeat Arris Quinones even back on Revision3, here, he polls NYCC’15 attendees (note there is a small, but non-dispositive typo).


Why Superman is better than Batman | NerdSync

Reasonable minds can differ or substantially agree, NerdSync and BanditInc set out to prove reason need not be overridden by preference and argue for the other side.


Why Batman is better than Superman | BanditInc

Reasonable minds can differ or substantially agree, NerdSync and BanditInc set out to prove reason need not be overridden by preference and argue for the other side.


“Batman v Superman” Circa 1949 | New York Magazine

Trailer using the old serial footage.


New York Comic Con – NYCC – Cosplay Music Video 2015 | Sneaky Zebra

Figures that the one year we don’t cosplay… we end up in several cosplay videos.


Lex/OS Announcement | LexCorp

Speaking of NYCC, the Lex/OS marketing and chargers were great. I probably spent an hour soaking in the detail on all the costumes and props.


How filmmakers manipulate our emotions using color | The Verge

Wonder Woman makes an appearance in this color in film video which concisely covers a lot of the points raised on the podcast.


Robot Chicken DC Special 3 Behind-The-Scenes | DC All Access

Really blue humor but shows that DC is able to laugh at itself.


Science vs. Cinema: The Martian | Science vs. Cinema

Even one of the most scientifically rigorous movies of the year still has science flaws. The principle is more important than perfection in this regard.


Could We Destroy The Earth? | SciShow

Primer on the scale of human capabilities versus the Earth.


Who Should Superman Save? | Philosophy Tube

I haven’t watched this yet but expect it to cover a number of philosophies on rescue and valuation.


Surface Pro 4 Review | Tested

These are part of the work-related reason I haven’t had time, but as a perk I’ve been able to use one since the Microsoft event and I’m loving it.


Direct quotes from Total Film‘s December issue out today, with direct access to the cast and crew and exclusive photos, interviews with Gal Gadot about Wonder Woman and Ben Affleck about the prospect of directing a solo Batman film, pick up your issue today:

Zack Snyder: I said, ‘What if Superman fought Batman? That would be cool. What if Bruce Wayne got to kryptonite?’ Then that’s the kind of thing, once you say it out loud one time… it’s hard to beat it.

Charles Roven: The interesting thing is, Batman’s been around for 75 years or something. As different writers tackle him, the movies in how he’s interpreted are [different]. Obviously Chris’ Batman was different to Tim Burton’s, and Zack’s is differen again.

Zack Snyder: As far as American mythology, he’s kind of a thing that does get reinvented from time to time. I had some conversations with Chris Nolan about what he thought. We discussed it a lot, like what the tone would be, what the mood would be, how I would make it different.

Ben Affleck: I was very sceptical when Zack came to me.  I’m obviously older than who has historically, typically been cast… I was surprised. I didn’t exactly understand what he was going for. [After being pitched…] I got really inspired by what he was doing. If I felt we were trying to do the same thing that those guys have done beforehand with Christian, I probably would have shied away. But because it’s within the Batman canon, but a very different take on the character, I thought, ‘Maybe it’s not too soon.’

Henry Cavill: It’s funny because no matter who gets announced, people always throw their hands up in the air and complain, that’s just the nature of it.  But Ben has done an absolutely fantastic job.  He’s brought something to Batman that no one else has brought before.

Charles Roven: [On Batman…] He’s a little more mature.  He’s been doing it for a long time. Maybe jaded by it and darkened by it.  He’s tougher.  He’s different.  He’s still a vigilante and he’s technically still wanted by the police.

Henry Cavill: [On Bruce in the trailer…] What happens there, is one of Bruce’s buildings gets destroyed and he’s trying to save all the people inside the building and he can’t.  So he is this angry person who fears what Superman may do. Why are they just going to trust this superpowered alien? What if he does decide to turn against us?

Ben Affleck: One of the interesting things about Batman is he functions in some ways as an antagonist: you have to remember, this is Batman versus Superman.  He’s found himself in a place of harbouring a tremendous amount of rage for Superman. So it’s how he got there, and what that’s done to him, and what that’s done to people around him like Alfred, who are, I think, very scared and worried for him. It’s something that’s interesting and new.

Zack Snyder: You kind of have to understand both of their point of views.  I think you’re sympathetic to both, in a weird way. It’s inevitable, like two trains heading at each other on the same track.

Ben Affleck: [On the fight…] It’s an epic clash of iconography

Henry Cavill: [On the fight…] A seriously cool spectacle… There’s only so much I can say, but it’s epic. Really very cool.

Zack Snyder: [On the fight…] The advantage that Batman has is the goodness of Superman; the compliance to fair play that Superman has… Batman knows how to exploit Superman.

Ben Affleck: [On the digital suit…] You can move freely, and they can put [the suit] on digitally… It’s a little bit more humiliating to wear, but it’s easier for the digital effects guys. You can see who the priority is. [He laughs.]

Deborah Snyder: We were able to do so much more with the digital doubles in Batman V Superman than we could do before, and that wasn’t that long ago.

Henry Cavill: [On training competition with Ben…] We were training with different people, so there was no direct comparison. But there’s always going to be competition between two men if they want to be superheroes. It’s a matter of making that a nice healthy bit of competition as opposed to negative competition.

Ben Affleck: [On alleged weight-lifting competitions…] I’m not sure I would have won many of them. [He smiles.] [Henry]’s pretty strong: he had a one-movie jump on me for the training side of things. [On physique…] Rather than doing the shredded, ripped model version of a superhero, I just put on as much muscle as I can, to look like a UFC fighter or an American football player, or something like that.

Jesse Eisenberg: The phenomenon of comic books completely passed me by… I’ve seen none of the movies. [Except MOS for BvS] He is a lot of the things we know about the character. What’s unusual about this character in this version is he looks a lot like me. It’s a very modern take on this otherwise historic and iconic character. He has a, I would say, recognisably modern psychology, whether it’s being used to charm or destroy, and has a kind of… erm… it’s difficult to phrase it. [Chuckles] He doesn’t sound like this, by the way. [On his scene with Holly Hunter…] [It] felt more similar to a Jane Campion movie than it did to a superhero movie. [On the heroes…] It’s strange acting with people like Ben Affleck, having to condescend to someone like him. [Laughs] Off set, you’re thinking of this person in reverential terms, and then on set I condescend him, really quite nasty…

Deborah Snyder: [On casting Gal Gadot…] I think it was a couple things. She was amazing in the scene. There was a real connection. Just magical. That’s a quality that’s inexplicable. She also just had the drive. We felt she would hang in there with us.

Gal Gadot: Even in my very best dreams, I could never dream about getting the role of Wonder Woman. [Smiles] It feels like there’s a responsibility, just because there’s a lot of expectation. But it feels great. I really feel like I’m in the best hands.

Zack Snyder: [Gadot’s] confidence is the thing I was most attracted to. Her kindness and her confidence, kind of as a combination. It’s what you’d expect Wonder Woman to have. [On Wonder Woman’s role in the story…] That I think is an interesting story point. I don’t think it’s time to ruin that yet. But I will say that they share a mutual interest. They – all three of them – are in a weird way looking for a similar thing. They’re on the same track.

Zack Snyder: There was actually a moment in the costume test where there was Batman, Superman, and we were testing the Wonder Woman costume at the same time. They were all standing there. I was like, ‘Oh my lord, this is crazy.’ It’s crazy enough just to see the two of those guys together. Once you see the trinity…

Henry Cavill: When you stand there, you realise, ‘Oh wow, this is history right here. It’s really history – comicbook history.’ And when you see the photo, that’s when you go, ‘OK, cool, right. I get why people were standing there agog during the photoshoot.’

Deborah Snyder: The first day that she was in costume on the set and she came out, I literally got teared up. It didn’t really hit me to how historical the moment was, because she’s not been on the big screen ever. She’s 75 years old next year.

Zack Snyder: She’s able to bring her story as the tease of more to come.

Ben Affleck: I think once you’ve seen this movie, you’ll realise why they immediately wanted to go and make her own standalone movie, because [Gal]’s just incredible.

Zack Snyder: [On sharing characters…] I’m happy to take a load off! [Chuckles]  You can’t really be upset about it or tired.  It’s a crazy, amazing job to have to worry about the Flash or Wonder Woman, or what Cyborg’s going to do in this scene. It’s not a thing anyone can complain about…

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3 Comments

  1. Don’t read the comment section of neither of the Why “–MAN” is better tan “–MAN”, it will give you cancer to no end!

  2. Hi Dr.Awkward

    It looks like DCEU confirmed to introduced the magic or mystic elements. We have justice league dark, Wonder woman being a demigod, and finally Suicide Squad Katana Soultaker and Enchantress possession. It is really interesting that both WB and DC plan to incorporate magic even though they always emphasizes that their dc shared universe will be much more grounded and more realistic. Can you maybe give your opinion or do the future podcast on how the magic and mystics elements can blended well with grounded realisms in DCEU so far?? This is like you asking me to combine both the Dark knight tone with Harry potter tone

  3. Hi Dr.Awkward,

    You should take a look at this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhOkiBeq7Tc

    It basically analyses and Kingsman to the current Marvel movies and make a point about Marvel desensitize the real violence and consequences we have in real life as well as complaining the bloodless elements in Marvel. In your opinion do you think DCEU also suffer the bloodless syndrome as describes in the video above?

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