Superman Family Doings

Bear with me for a bit of silliness. Here is a message thread that started with my father pointing out the news about the gigantic Antarctic ice shelf collapsing.

—–Original Message—–
From: George

You might want to think twice about purchasing any waterfront property right now.

Shortcut to: http://www.news.com/2300-11395_3-6235636-1.html

My father’s cousin commented on it.

—– Original Message —–
From: Lawrie

Well, we smart owners of real estate in Arizona are hoping for beachfront property when the “big one” finally cracks down the San Andreas fault and dumps California into the Pacific Ocean.

Here I am, changing the direction of the exchange…

—– Original Message —–
From: Doug

Hey, I saw that movie! It was Superman I. Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor, putting a nuke in the fault. “Bye, bye, California. Hello, new west coast. MY west coast. Marina del Lex.” OK, so I’m a fanboy.

… and this is my younger sister elaborating on what I said…

—– Original Message —–
From: Marianne

Remember “Otisville” on the map? Lex didn’t even allow his loyal follower one measly town!

(Fangirl, sister of fanboy)

…to which I say…

—–Original Message—–
From: Doug

OtisBURG, with the “R” backwards. I’ll check to be sure.

… and Lawrie finishes it off.

—–Original Message—–
From: Lawrie

You guys are just too funny!

Well, we fanboys take this sort of stuff seriously, so I did indeed check, and here’s how that scene in the movie really goes. (Isn’t Gene Hackman impressive? Some actors would have considered this role to be a throwaway job, but Hackman is completely compelling. No wonder Kevin Spacey, who played Lex Luthor in last year’s Superman Returns, borrows from Hackman.)

[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/2008/MAR/Otisburg.flv 448 252]

I was wrong! It’s not the “R”, but the “S” that’s reversed; which, now that I think about it, makes sense because it’s a sly reference to Superman’s “S” emblem.

This week the family of Jerry Siegel, Superman’s co-creator and original writer, won a victory in court. A lot of people have linked to the New York Times article about it, and I will too.

Superman was a sensation from the get-go, as was Batman. Bob Kane took sole credit for creating Batman, but a writer named Bill Finger actually had a lot to do with it. The characters were teamed up early in their existence, as heard in this brief clip from an old radio show.

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2008/MAR/SupermanBatmanRadio.mp3]