Run-DMSteve

Despite the fact that I was entombed in an office in the middle of an industrial wasteland on a stunningly beautiful day, I had a great birthday. My one indulgence at work was french fries with lunch.

My sister called to remind me of several embarrassments that occurred at my third birthday. She wasn’t even there. Do I make fun of her for her various adolescent infatuations with substandard TV and singing stars of the 1970s? I do? Oh.

I spoke with my parents; for once they did not relive the night I was born. I reminded them that the hospital played the theme from Exodus in the delivery room, an old joke that always gets a laugh because I only use it on my birthday and they forget it from one year to the next. Dad was more interested in talking about his cat’s birthday. When my nephew Jared was born, I was replaced as The Prince, but when Dad got his cat last year, Jared became a non-person. At least I was replaced by a human.

Special D and I ate dinner at a neighborhood Greek place, then I opened my gifts in the back yard in the softly glowing twilight, and then we ate ice cream. This was what my strength coach called a “behavior day.” Tomorrow I get back to the business of training to become tall and thin and a successful novelist.

Somehow today I worked on my book and wrote what you’re reading: my 100th post since my first one in November 2010.

Today’s cartoon is one of the oldest writing cartoons I have. My girlfriend Judy gave it to me in 1979. Nobody knows where it came from. Tomorrow you’ll see another side of the Muse. Thanks as always for following along!

Random Pan of the Day
Hans Zimmer, Man of Steel (2013)
If you were as appalled as I was by Man of Steel (the only thing I liked in it was Kevin Costner), you’re probably wondering why I’m giving it any space at all. Zimmer’s score is dark, dreary, obvious, and unrelentingly thunderous. It’s Wagner’s Ring cycle compressed into a spin cycle. It sounds pretty much like the soundtracks of every other science fiction summer blockbuster of the past five years, and there are numerous places where the music could easily branch off into the darker moments of much better scores, including James Horner’s Glory (1989) and Randy Newman’s The Natural (1984).

However! The online version of the soundtrack includes a little number called “Man of Steel (Hans’ Original Sketchbook).” The running time is 28 minutes. This looks like a job for – Yes? No! I direct your attention to the 4-minute stretch that begins at about the 12-minute mark. This I like. To my ears, it’s the perfect musical theme to accompany Superman as he flies to the rescue. You can keep everything else.

The Jesus references in Man of Steel are hard to ignore. They were already present 35 years ago in Superman: The Movie. I see Superman as more of a Moses figure, but I may be biased here.