I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: R.E.M. “Superman” (1986).

Even though R.E.M. is all about Michael Stipe, “Superman” is one of my favorite R.E.M. songs.  I know it’s a cover, and I know the lyrics are kind of dumb, but there’s something about Mills’ singing voice that I love (I often think his backing vocals are the strongest parts of R.E.M. songs).

Stipe didn’t like the song and refused to sing lead.  This gave Mills his debut lead vocal appearance.  You can hear Stipe in the background–he sounds great, too.  A total throwaway song that is awesome.

By the way, the original by The Clique, which I never listened to before, is very strangely clipped in the vocals.  I was sure that the band was not American by the vocal delivery, but apparently they’re from Austin.  Huh.

I know I should have picked Voivod’s cover of “Batman” for this post, but how creepy is that R.E.M. cover?

[READ: July 21, 2012] “The Only Human Superhero”

I have it in my head that I might one day read all of Jonathan Lethem’s works.  Although I’m not all that sure I like him that much. (There’s so many Jonathan’s writing, I can’t keep track of who I like).  He has 18 entries on this blog (although I see that none are for his novels).  Nevertheless, I  must like him pretty well.

Anyhow, this article is a one page thing about Batman The Dark Knight.  This was written before the terrible, horrible, unimaginable tragedy in Colorado, so there is no insensitivity about it.

The opening sentence reminds us about what superheros are supposed to be for: believing in something.  Lethem opens by saying that his two-year old’s favorite superhero is Batman, even though he has never seen a comic or a movie of him.  But the connection is fixed because his dad gave him a lunchbox with the batman logo on it.

I’ve never really been into superheroes.  I have no idea why, it seems like something that any red-blooded American boy should have loved.  And yet I never did.  So now as an adult I have the arduous task of picking a favorite superhero.  And the deck is stacked in so many directions, it makes it really hard.  I rather like Tobey Macguire’s Spiderman.  I rather like Nolan’s Batman, I loved the X-Men, but now that Joss Whedon has The Avengers…man, it’s tough.  And despite my son’s name I’ve never been a big fan of Superman.  So I just won’t pick a favorite–I’ll flow with the tide as they are released.

Lethem suggests that Batman’s lasting appeal comes from his cool name and his cool mask.  And that the enemies that he has to fight are the most diverse and, with The Joker, the most emblematic.

Batman has also survived many phases–the campy Adam West (the one I actually know best), the Tim Burton claustrophobic era and now the goth Batman.  I love Lethem’s comments about the Adam West Batman–(who drew the eyebrows on his cowl?) and seems to conclude that–each era gets the Batman it deserves.

There is much to admire about Batman–he has no superpowers per se, he doesn’t use guns (because he parents were killed by guns) and clearly by this incarnation, he’s been pushed really far.

Batman survives all of the changes.

There’s an interview with Christopher Nolan, although I’m not sure if it was done with Lethem.  There’s some questions about the new film (and Catwoman–who is not really “Catwoman” in the film), how Morgan Freeman is like Q (Nolan admits to ripping of the Bond series), the power of non-CGI films, and the fact that The Joker is not at all mentioned in this film.  The ending few questions have to do with class warfare and how Bane (I guess the new bad guy?) tricks the poor of Gotham to attack the rich–implying a danger of populist movements.  Nolan won’t speak to that, nor will he answer whether Bruce Wayne would vote for Mitt Romney.

It’s a fun, if brief, interview.