An Open Letter to Scott Walker

  

Dear Scotty (can I call you Scotty?  I'm going to call you that, OK?), 

I greatly dislike you.  This should not come as a shock, given that I am a hedonist liberal woman under thirty living in San Francisco with All The Gays, and you are...Scott Walker.  I know this is Way Harsh Tai, but, Scotty, I think you are politically shortsighted, unintelligent, and unfeeling toward your fellow humans, and the fact that you are the governor of an entire state frightens me.  The way I feel about you running Wisconsin is the same way I felt during Aladdin when Jafar was the Sultan for a hot minute: scared and disgusted.  

This is how I imagine you in my nightmares.

That being said, we do have one thing in common - we are both concerned about women's health and well-being, or so we both say.  Yesterday, you signed a bill into law in Wisconsin requiring women seeking legal abortions to undergo an ultrasound before the procedure.  You signed the bill in private, doubtless to avoid the inevitable cheering crowds of grateful women who would have gathered to watch you enact a piece of legislation that will "improve... [their] ability to make an informed choice that will protect [their] physical and mental health now and in the future."  

You and the inevitable crowds of thankful women.

In general, I think it is admirable to help women protect their physical and mental health.  I am glad that we share this common goal!  However, I am a bit confused as to how forcing a woman who has made a difficult decision to end a pregnancy to undergo an unnecessary and invasive medical procedure will help her improve her physical and mental health.  Last I heard, ultrasounds did not have any magical healing powers, and making a woman feel extra-guilty about ending a pregnancy by making her look at the non-viable material in her uterus doesn't seem like it would do too much for her mental well-being.  I mean, I spent 50 minutes last week with my therapist discussing my extreme guilt at forgetting to bring a bottle of wine to my friend's dog's birthday picnic; I can't even imagine how many years it would take to get over having to look at the clump of cells in my uterus via ultrasound just ONE MORE TIME before having an abortion.

If you are serious about improving women's mental and physical health, may I suggest some alternate solutions?  Here are a few just off the top of my head: 

1. Support a single-payer universal healthcare system that would provide preventative care, including family planning and pre-natal care for women, to all Americans.  Or at least get over Obamacare and admit it's here to stay.
2. Work to reduce the stigma of mental illness and work to ensure all Americans, including women, can get treatment for mental disorders such as depression, anxiety, etc. 
3. Partner with your fellow politicians to improve working conditions for women nationally, including equal pay, affordable day care options, and swift responses to workplace discrimination.  It would also be great to standardize a paid maternity leave for women to be with a new child and recover from having a fetus living off of them for 9 months.  Also, paternity leave for fathers and adoptive parents would be great.
4. Watch this movie.

 

Scotty-boy, I'm also very pleased that you want women to be able to make informed choices about their health!  YET ANOTHER AREA OF AGREEMENT BETWEEN US, OMG!  However, I could argue that a woman's difficult choice to end a pregnancy is NOT actually "informed" by an unnecessary and invasive procedure as she's definitely aware that she's pregnant and has made the decision to end that pregnancy.  I'm sure that you just haven't taken a lot of time to think all of this through, because if you and your friends in Texas and Ohio and all over the country had, you might have realized that if you want to "inform" and educate women, you should probably spend time and money and political capital on, you know, improving education (including sexual education) for all women and Americans rather than on making ladies look at a grainy image on a screen.  In fact, the areas you could focus on aren't even limited to the public schoolroom!  You could invest in educating women AND men (please, especially men) on domestic abuse and sexual violence and how to stop it!  You could invest in organizations that teach women about their bodies and how to care for them and respect them and demand respect for others!  You could hire someone to give a seminar on vaginas to every male (and maybe a some females) member of the GOP, since some of them think that vaginas have magical powers!  SO MUCH YOU COULD DO!  And, interestingly enough, improving the standing of women through work in healthcare, women's rights and working conditions, education, and public awareness would all have the trickle-down effect (AND I KNOW HOW YOU LOVE THAT, SCOTTY!) of reducing the need for abortions.  Because, you know what, I get that you don't like them, and that's ok...but Scott, I think, if we pull together, we could prevent so many of them while actually improving women's lives!  WIN-WIN, SCOTTY-POO!  

So yeah, I hope this is constructive commentary, S-Dawg, on our mutual points of concern regarding women's health.  However, I can't help but wonder if maybe the welfare of women isn't your main concern?  You do look like this in my dreams, remember?

God, you are terrifying.  I forgot because we were having such a good time earlier.

I find myself thinking that maybe this isn't about women's health and well-being at all.  It might not even be about SAVING THE BABIES, because, honestly?  Once they are born, you and your buddies don't seem that concerned with what happens to them, Scotty.  If you were, you might be spending more time and energy on all that stuff I listed above with the healthcare and education and shit rather than freaking out about what a woman does with her body. 

And ultimately, I am worried that this may be your actual problem, Scotty - what it is that women are doing with their bodies.  When you think about it, women haven't had much say in that up until a few decades ago. And now we do, and you know what?  I think that scares the ever-loving shit out of you, Scotty.  Most men are cool with women being, you know, full-fledged people now, but for some reason you and a lot of your friends are just freaking the hell out.  I mean, I guess it makes sense, because we are pretty great and that can be a lot to handle.  There are more of us in college than men now, and we are landing plum jobs and moving up the ladder just as quickly as our male counterparts in many instances.  We are waiting to get married and have children, or (gasp!) not getting married or having children at all!  We are having sex for recreational reasons with more than one partner and we are taking birth control while we are doing it.  Hell, we are even reading Fifty Shades of Grey.*   Basically, for the first time in human history, we are actualized and shit and you know what?  You. Can't. Handle. It.

You cannot handle this.

If this is the case, Scotty, then I'm not really sure where we go from here. If history is any indication, you will probably not see the light any time soon.  You will continue to believe that women cannot be trusted to make decisions about their own bodies and will simultaneously neglect to invest time and effort in initiatives that could assist women in living better and making (actually) more informed decisions about their bodies and health.   You will sit in Wisconsin with your parrot...er, advisors, and come up with even more draconian restrictions that will prevent women who need access to legal medical care from receiving the help they need.  You will continue to put the priorities of the rich and the corrupt over those of the middle class and the poor. You will continue to suck the big one. 

You would be pitiable, Scotty, if you didn't have so much power just now.  But you do, so all women can do is continue to run for, and win, some of the highest offices in the land, and filibuster insane legislation in badass sneakers, and be amazing Secretaries of State (and hopefully future Presidents), and generally just continue to freak you and your buddies the hell out.  Because, honestly?  I don't think you ready for this jelly, Scotty.

Sincerely, 

J-dawg

*P.S.  WRT Fifty Shades, I would be ok with you passing a bill to outlaw that book, or its reading.  Not on any moral grounds, but it's just really bad Twilight fanfiction and the guy smirks a lot and they drink a lot of wine and email.  So like, if you're going to pass a bunch of bullshit laws, you might as well make one of them mildly useful to humanity. 

You're a monster and I'm gonna stop you SPOILER ALERT

SPOILER ALERT: DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN MAN OF STEEL AND WANT TO SEE IT STILL AT SOME POINT IN THEATERS OR ON DEMAND OR NETFLIX OR WHATEVER

I haven't posted in literally 18 months but for some reason I am compelled after seeing Batman Begins Except It's Superman Man of Steel.  I really like movies based on comic books despite the fact that (sorry true blue nerds!) I have never read the source material.  The only comic books I've attempted to read were the Buffy Season 8 series, but I stopped because the guys at the comic book store looked at me weird when I came in to buy them (SEXISM).  All I remember is that the government was after Buffy and the Scoobies and they were in Scotland? And Dawn was a giant?  Anyways.  

So I actually enjoyed Man of Steel, though probably not for the reasons Christopher Nolan & crew intended.  It is gorgeously filmed and Henry Cavill is gorgeous and Kevin Costner is all "if you build it they will come" and the effects are AWESOME.  Despite all of this, the movie is not well-written or edited and is, therefore, unintentionally hilarious.  What follows is my recap of the film through one sort-of-nerd's eyes.  Apologies if I missed something; it was a long movie and I had too much wine afterwards.

A RECAP OF BATMAN BEGINS EXCEPT IT'S SUPERMAN, or, OBVIOUS CHRIST IMAGERY: THE MOVIE MAN OF STEEL, directed by the guy who brought you this travesty of a love scene.  

Part 1, in which Russell Crowe has lost a lot of weight since Les Miserables.

He called Jenny.

We begin on Krypton, which is totally exploding from the Kryptonians (?) draining the planet of all its natural resources or whatever.  Russell Crowe, aka Jor-El, delivers* his own son, Kal-El, while an intelligent version of one of those pin box things you would shove your face in to make patterns in as a kid looks on and gives instruction because alien technology.  Afterwards, he goes to the council of Krypton leaders.

Apparently they don't have tablets on Krypton.

*This is a big deal because on Krypton all the babies are genetically pre-coded for their destiny and grown in a Genesis Chamber, which is basically a giant kelp tank with fetuses in fake uteruses growing on branches.  The genetic codes for every unborn Kryptonian ever are all kept on an old skull fragment, called the Codex, which is in the Genesis Chamber with the fetuses, and it's all kinds of creepy and eugenics-y. 

JOR-EL: So, Krypton is dying.  We should probably go.  We can repopulate later, turns out we've been over-thinking that part--

KRYPTON LEADERS: You're suggesting we evacuate the planet?!

JOR-EL:  Well, we have like ships and technology and stuff, so...yes...?

KRYPTON LEADERS: THAT'S PREPOSTEROUS!

AUDIENCE:  Why are these morons wearing gold umbrella stands on their heads?

This enlightened exchange is interrupted by General Zod who comes in with his soldiers and is all like FUCK YOU, KRYPTON LEADERS, YOU TOTALLY SCREWED US OVER! and proceeds to vaporize some of them.  He's crazy but you gotta admit he has a point here.

Turns out he and Jor-El are TOTAL FRENEMIES (military vs. science, blah blah) and they fight about using the Codex to save all of Krypton's bloodlines vs. only those Zod deems worthy because he's basically Hitler.  Jor-El escapes and flies off on a dragon thing (this part is cool but, alas, no screenshot) to steal the Codex and then head back to Chez-El, where his wife, Faora, is waiting to help him launch their kid to Earth.  She's crying and having second thoughts until he's like, "Honey, I know this is hard but if he stays he dies because we are ALL LITERALLY GOING TO DIE.  Also, they have a yellow sun which is good for his cells and he'll be a Christ figure like a god to them," and then she's like, "I guess that makes sense," and they put Kal in his pod and start preparing it for launch with the help of the pin toy robot butler.  Jor-El converts the Codex into an energy beam which does something (foreshadowing dun dun DUN) to Kal and then he does some more science stuff which creates a Krypton USB Key (this is a thing) and throws it in there to complete the Earth Travel Kit.  As they are firing up the engine, Zod comes in.

ZOD: I'm evil; give me the Codex and I'll let you live!

JOR-EL:  As I keep telling everyone, we are all going to die anyways so, um, not worth it.  Also, the Codex is leaving with Jesus my son and screw you.

ZOD:  You're son's totally going to be a freak and no one is going to play with him!  Also I'm going to kill you! 

They fight and everything while Faora takes care of the pod, and when it's ready to launch Zod's like, "Faora don't do it!" and she hesitates because OH MY GOD WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU HESITATE?  EVERYTHING IS GOING TO HELL WE HAVE BEEN OVER THIS, BITCH, PRESS THE BUTTON!  Finally she does and off goes Kal-El to Kansas FINALLY. Zod is reaaaallly mad and kills Jor-El with a sword and Faora is crying and I forget exactly how but Zod is captured by the Krypton leaders.  They have a trial (Really, guys?  The world is ending and instead of just locking these assholes up and letting them die with everyone else you put them on trial?  Ain't nobody got time for that.) and sentence them to being ice blocks in a black hole for a while, after which time they will starve to death in space post-Krypton destruction (except they won't b/c otherwise there won't be a movie).  Before they are frozen Zod is like I WILL TOTALLY FIND YOUR SON FAORA and because she is stupid she lets them freeze him and his crew anyways instead of totally killing his ass.  Faora goes home to await destruction and is swallowed in a fireball with her pin toy robot butler by her side as Krypton's core explodes.  Bye, Krypton!  

Part 2, in which Henry Cavill spends 40 days and nights in the desert does manual labor and has flashbacks to his childhood a la Bruce Wayne hanging with criminals and Liam Neeson in Batman Begins.  It doesn't work quite as well here.

Thirty-three years later (well, would you look at that!) on Earth, Clark Kent is wandering around trying to find his destiny.  He is sometimes shirtless, though not often enough if you ask me, which you didn't.  First he's on a fishing boat when an oil rig explodes and in an awesome sequence saves all the workers and looks great doing it.  

This man is on FI-AAHHHHH

He falls into the ocean and flashes back to being a kid and having his x-ray vision and super-hearing and laser eyes completely freak him out to the point where he has to lock himself in the broom closet and they call his mother.  She gets him to calm down while the teacher and the rest of class surround them and whisper about how he's a freak because that's a totally normal thing to do when a 7 year old is having a nervous breakdown in a broom closet, amirite?

Back in the present day, Clark swims to shore, (sadly) steals some clothes, and somehow goes to work at a dive bar where he defends a sweet cocktail waitress from creeps.  He flashes back to being on a schoolbus in his tween years.

FAT BULLY: Hey stupid Clark, what'd you think of the game?

LANA LANG: Leave Clark alone!  We're going to have a great time on Smallville!

FAT BULLY:  I mean, I actually would just like his thoughts on the game.  I'm pretty tame as far as bullies go.

SCHOOLBUS:  AHHHHH I AM GOING OFF A BRIDGE INTO A RIVER!  

Clark saves them all from watery death by pushing the bus to shore and then goes back for the bully.  This turns out to be a bad move as said bully and his mom go to Chez Kent and the mom is all, "My son knows what he saw and HOLY SHIT MARTHA THAT SHIT IS NOT NORMAL, OK?"  If I were Martha, I'd be all like, "By the way, you're welcome for having a NOT DEAD SON!" but instead she's like, "Oh, well, you know how it is with boys, haha, more tea?"  Outside, Clark is mad that he is in trouble for saving like 10 kids' lives because, you know, most people get medals for that shit: 

JONATHAN:  Clark, we talked about this.  The world can't know about your powers because they would lose their shit.  Did you see what they tried to do to that guy in the bat suit in Gotham? 

CLARK: So what, I was supposed to just let them die?

JONATHAN:  Maybe. 

AUDIENCE:  That shit is cold, Jonathan. That shit is cold.

JONATHAN:  Clark, let me add to your emotional turmoil by telling you that you are actually an alien that we found in a pod.  We are not your real parents and all you had with you when we found you was this weird USB key made of a metal not on the periodic table, which, as I don't have to tell you, is some serious shit.  

CLARK: ...

JONATHAN:  So, whoever your real parents were sent you here for a reason and one day you'll figure that out and it's up to you and destiny and you could change the world.  But yeah, like I was saying,  people fear what they don't understand so good luck with that.

CLARK:  This day sucks.

Part 3, in which Clark Kent meets Lois Lane, Elliot Stabler, Toby from the West Wing, maybe the General (I think he was there at this part anyways?), and half the supporting cast of Battlestar Galactica

Lois Lane gets out of a helicopter in the frozen tundra/mountains of Canada, where she is greeted by Helo from BSG, and the cool half of the audience is like, "It's Helo!  Wow, is this all he's done since Dollhouse?"  Helo's like, "Joe will get your bags," and LO AND BEHOLD, "Joe" is Clark Kent!  Lois meets Toby from the West Wing as well as Colonel Elliot Stabler (DUN DUN):  

LOIS:  I'm here to get info on the thing you found even though you tried to stop me!  But the Canadians believe in freedom of the press, so HA!  

COL. STABLER:  I'm not happy to see you here because I hate the Daily Planet and reporters and I hate you, but Toby from the West Wing and Lt. Gaeta, late of BSG, will tell you everything you need to know anyways from our scans.

LT. GAETA:  It's an alien object encased in ice for like a bazillion years so we are not alone.  Are these all the lines I get? 

COL. STABLER:  Basically.

LT. GAETA:  Damn it. 

COL. STABLER:  Ms. Lane, here's your bunk; definitely don't go outside in the dark and scale a glacier to go investigate the alien thing and take pictures, ok?  G'nite. (DUN DUN) 

Lois proceeds to go outside in the dark and scale a glacier to go investigate the alien thing and take pictures.  However, "Joe" has beat her to it and uses his laser eyes to carve a tunnel into what turns out to be an old Kryptonian scout ship, where he sees a USB port that matches his key.  The consciousness of Jor-El appears and tells Clark all about his backstory and the Codex and all that good stuff we've already been over, thank the lord:

JOR-EL: So yeah, you can be the bridge between us and the humans and show them the way and be a Christ figure and that's your destiny and here, I even made you a suit with a cape and this symbol means hope so you are all about hope, son!  

CLARK: Cool.

Like an idiot, Lois gets into a fight with a pin toy robot butler which gives her a nasty abdominal wound.  Luckily, Clark shows up in time to squash the robot and save her and she FREAKS OUT and he's like, "You are hemorrhaging internally so I need to cauterize the wound, sorry," and I'm like, does cauterizing really take care of the internal bleeding?  Anyways, he does this with his laser eyes and she screams and it's a bit disturbing. 

Clark flies the ship to Antarctica or something and, with Jor-El's ghost's guidance, puts on his suit and "tests his limits," and there is a cool scene where he figures out he can fly and this goes on for awhile but it's fun and the expression of glee on Henry Cavill's face is pretty cute.

Later, Lois is back at the Daily Planet, which is apparently the only newspaper in the entire world that is still profitable, and is trying to pitch her "laser eyes super strength man" story to Perry White/Morpheus, who is one of two, count 'em, two black characters** I recall from the entire movie.    He's like, "No, and also Jimmy Olsen is now a girl named Jenny."  Lois is like FINE WHATEVER and leaks her story to a crazy conspiracy theorist blogger and then proceeds to track Clark down via an  INVESTIGATION MONTAGE.  She interviews Helo, and the oil rig guys, and the cocktail waitress, and grown up Fat Bully, who now hilariously manages an IHOP.  She finally finds Clark's mom and then goes to his dad's grave, where Clark meets up with her and is like, please don't out me.  She is touched by his BLUE BLUE EYES and doesn't, and gets into trouble at work for leaking the story to the conspiracy blogger, but Perry White is like, "You're on admin leave and I'm pissed at you, but I know you're telling the truth so I'm glad you're shutting up because if this is what it looks like people are going to lose their fucking minds," and I'm like, IS THIS PART OF THE MOVIE OVER YET?

**The movie's two black characters.

Part 4, in which shit finally gets real (sort of)

Clark goes home to his mom and is like, "I figured out my destiny, sort of!  And don't worry about that reporter, I'm going to hit that, probably."  At NORAD (sadly my friends had to tell me this is what this was, I don't know these things), the second black character, General Swanwick (aka guy who was in the Matrix AND Dollhouse; SO MANY CONNECTIONS!) is getting reports that there is a ship orbiting Earth.  The ship, which is of course General Zod's because DUH, hovers over Metropolis and sends a signal out to all the world saying turn in Kal-El or they all die:  

JENNY OLSEN:  Wow, the evil threat message is even on my NOKIA PHONE!  

The conspiracy theorist goes on TV saying, "We should ask Lois Lane because she totally knows this guy," and the FBI and Col. Stabler show up at her apartment, and Lois is like, "Oh, fuck."  Clark goes to a priest in Kansas for guidance in a scene which is hilarious in its pointlessness:

CLARK:  So, I'm the alien.  Can't trust Zod but can't trust humans either.  Any advice?

PRIEST:  Uhhh...take a leap of faith?

CLARK:  OK.  (Leaves.)

Clark flies to...the desert (?) to meet the General, Col. Stabler, and Toby from the West Wing to turn himself in to the US government.  They take him into custody and put him in an interrogation room with Lois Lane where they sort of flirt and she almost says "superman" and then the general interrupts through the mirror and Clark's like, "Guys, the jig is up, I have x ray vision and can fly and why are we even doing this?"  And the General and Toby and Col. Stabler are all, "Ok, well, we're turning you into Zod," and Clark's like, "Fine, whatever," and the audience is like, "Why did this scene happen?!"  

So they are back in the desert and Clark and the military are waiting for Zod's henchmen and Lois is all, "Don't do this," and Clark is like, "I have to because guilt," and flashes back to when his Dad died...I think?  Maybe?  Or maybe it was later in the movie that he flashes back to this one?  Or earlier?  In any case, the timing of the flashback did not make sense.  Christ, this movie was badly edited.  But in any case at some point Clark flashes back to this so we might as well hear about it now.  Teen Clark is in the car with his parents and Hank the dog:

TEEN CLARK:  I HATE YOU DAD AND YOU ARE NOT MY REAL PARENTS ANYWAYS AND I AM A WHINY TEEN.

MARTHA: Clark!  You are being a little bitch again!  

JONATHAN:  No, he's right, we're not his parents, but he's going to seriously regret his bitchiness in a minute so let it go.

HANK:  Ugh humans.

A tornado suddenly comes and all the traffic stops and Jonathan helps marshall everyone to hide under an overpass for safety when Martha freaks out because they left Hank in the car, right in the tornado's path. 

JONATHAN:  I will risk my life for the dog!  Clark, stay here with your mom! 

TEEN CLARK: But...there's a tornado...and it's just a dog...seriously?!

HANK: Fuck you, man.

After nearly being crushed to death by a car, Jonathan rescues Hank, who runs to safety with Martha under the overpass.  Then, instead of RUNNING TO SAFETY, Jonathan just STANDS THERE LIKE A COMPLETE FREAKING IDIOT and holds up his hand to Clark all, "No, son, let me go," and lets the tornado blow him away FOR NO LEGITIMATE REASON WHATSOEVER.

TEEN CLARK:  KAAAAAAAHHHHHNNNNN!!!!  NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

HANK:  This is awkward.

So, that was the flashback and it is the most frustratingly ridiculous superhero origin-story parental death ever in the history of film ugh.

Back in the present, Clark says, "I let my father die, even though it was mostly the result of my parents' joint stupidity, so I'm going to go to Zod to save Earth." (I think?  In any case, later in the movie he goes into danger again and maybe uses the flashback as an excuse at that point, who knows.)  Lois is like, "Ok then," and finally a ship comes with Zod's bitchy henchwoman to take Clark away.  The General and Col. Stabler are like, "So, Earth and Zod, we're cool now, right?"  BUT it turns out Zod also wants Lois Lane because *reasons*.  Lois agrees to go because Zod is an evil space alien with unlimited firepower so...limited options there.  Clark gives Lois his USB key and they go up to the mothership and Zod is like "I AM ZOD***!  You triggered a signal with your USB key and so we found you after 33 years of searching so here we are MWAHAHA!"

***I AM ZOD!

Upon exposure to the Kryptonian atmosphere inside the ship, Clark becomes weak and passes out and then Zod goes into his mind and is all, "Give me the Codex and join me and we will rebuild Krypton on the bones of humanity!" and Clark is all: 

UM NO THANKS

So Zod's like, "your loss" and has one of his henchmen take some of Clark's blood to figure out why he is so strong on Earth.  Meanwhile, Lois is being held prisoner in a chamber with no guards because that strategy always works out well for villains.  She sees a USB port and plugs in the key and Jor-El appears and is like,  "Honey, I got this, just do what I say," and he awesomely takes over the ship and opens doors and helps her get into an escape pod while he turns the ship back to human eco-levels.  Strong again, Clark kicks the shit out of everyone and flies Christ-like out into space to save Lois as she falls to Earth.

Are you guys getting this yet?

Zod is SUPER MAD and decides to go down with some of his posse to harass Clark's mom and destroy her house and barn to find out where the Codex is when Clark shows up and a BIG BATTLE SCENE begins because Clark is like "OH NO YOU DID NOT JUST ATTACK MY MOTHER.  COME AT ME BRO!"  The battle scene is basically Clark and Zod flying at each other and banging into shit and throwing each other all around Kansas and Fat Bully's IHOP and this goes on for quite awhile.  The army shows up under the lead of Col. Stabler and they proceed to make things EVEN WORSE for everyone by firing at Clark in addition to Zod and his posse and the audience is like SMH.  Eventually Zod's protective helmet thing comes off and he is overwhelmed by his senses and has to go back up to his ship, so Clark fights two of his henchmen including this super evil bitch who Just. Will. Not. Die.  After tons of things blowing up and flying and crashing and the army and Col. Stabler getting in the way (DUN DUN), the henchmen also finally leave.  The army people approach Clark with their weapons but are uncertain what to do.

COL. STABLER: This man is not our enemy.

CLARK:  NO SHIT, SHERLOCK. 

AUDIENCE: So this is the first Earth battle scene.  That means we have, what, at least like 2 or 3 left?  Jesus.

Part 5, in which I am sorry I started this recap because JESUS CHRIST this movie was long and confusingly edited

Back on Zod's ship, Zod has figured out from his henchman's blood test that the Codex is actually inside Clark himself (remember the foreshadowing from earlier?)...and Zod doesn't need Clark alive to to resurrect the Kryptonian race!  OH NOES!  He tells his peeps to deploy the "World Machine," and then goes to the scout ship to reprogram it and take it to repopulate the Kryptonian species.  He argues with the ghost of Jor-El about morals and genocide for a bit and it's boring and finally he delete's Jor-El's consciousness file and is like, SHOWTIME, BITCHES.

I am still evil and this movie is still happening.

(Note: at some point in here there was another flashback to Clark being teased by actual bullies and not fighting back and Jonathan being like, good job!  But I don't remember when it came into play or why exactly it was relevant but just noting it because I TAKE THIS SHIT SERIOUSLY, ALRIGHT?)

Zod's ship goes to Metropolis and the World Machine goes to the opposite side of the Earth in the Indian Ocean (I think?) and they start doing a joint pulsing magnet thing which sends a shockwave of destruction throughout Metropolis.  It is like Independence Day but a lot slower and lamer.  At NORAD, the General and Toby from the West Wing and some Military Chick are looking at Science Readouts: 

We are doing science.

Dr. Toby determines that Zod is terraforming so he can kill all the humans and remake Krypton on their bones.  Luckily, Jor-El's ghost foresaw this exact situation (?) and told Lois how to stop it, and Lois told Clark (who is now going by "Superman," finally), and they have a pow-wow with the General, Dr. Toby, and Col. Stabler to go over the details:

CLARK:  Here's the deal: we can send them back to the Phantom Zone, using--

DR. TOBY: --a singularity!  YES! SCIENCE!  All we need to do deploy the pod you were found in with your USB key and against Zod's ship here in Metropolois...

CLARK:  ...and I'll go to the Indian Ocean to stop the World Machine...

DR. TOBY: ...AND ZOD AND HIS WHOLE CREW WILL BE SUCKED INTO A BLACK HOLE!  President Bartlett will be so proud!

COL. STABLER:  That's a viable plan.  

AUDIENCE:  What...but...what the fuck?  How so?

LOIS:  Clark, this is so dangerous!  Don't do it! 

CLARK:  Well, like I said earlier (or maybe now, who knows when that flashback actually happened, fucking editors), I let my dad die to save a dog and I'm semi-guilty and tortured about it, so I'm not going to let Earth down, ok?

LOIS:  Fine, we still have two battle scenes left, let's do this. 

Meanwhile, in Metropolis, Perry White and Jenny Olsen and some other guy are running from the destruction while  Lois and the military are in a plane trying to deploy the pod to stop Zod using Science.  There's a very tense buildup and a battle and there's a showdown between Col. Stabler and Zod's super-bitchy hench woman who will Just. Not. Die. as they approach Zod's ship and Lois tries to get the USB key into the port.  

DR. TOBY:  WHY ISN'T IT WORKING?

LOIS:  Something's wrong!  It's supposed to go all the way in!

AUDIENCE: That's what she said.

Eventually, Dr. Toby figures out that you have to close the damned pod for the USB key to go in and the whole apparatus to be activated for...science.  Col. Stabler sacrifices himself and most of his crew (and finally kills the stupid bitchy hench woman) and flies the plane, pod and all, into Zod's ship, just as Clark has destroyed the World Machine after an epic struggle.  Perry and Jenny are saved just in time.  Lois falls from the plane and of course Clark is there to save her, and then he is off to fight Zod who has shown up with his scout ship.  Zod is all, "if you destroy this ship, you destroy Krypton!" and Clark is all, "Eh, Krypton had its shot," and then he uses laser eyes to blow up the Genesis Chamber and crash the ship.  The world is saved!  Everyone is happy!  Lois and Clark reunite in the rubble outside Metropolis!  They kiss! Perry and Jenny and the other guy look on and are like GO GIRL YOU GET THAT KRYPTONIAN ASS!   

LOIS:  They say it's all downhill after the first date.

CLARK:  I think that only applies to humans.

AUDIENCE:

OBVIOUSLY Zod is not dead and he reappears and makes more threats and throws Superman to the ground.

CLARK:  You're a monster, Zod, and I'm gonna stop you.

AUDIENCE:

Now begins the FINAL BATTLE SCENE, where Superman and Zod proceed to TOTALLY DESTROY LIKE HALF OF METROPOLIS, because Superman couldn't have made the tiniest effort to move the fight anywhere else sparing millions of dollars in additional property damage and possibly thousands of lives? 

"This seems like a good place for an epic battle!" -No one.

They fight for a while and the end up in Grand Central Station some train station in Metropolis, where a Cute Wittle Family is...hanging out?  Anyways, Zod is like I WILL DESTROY THEM WITH MY LASER EYES!  And Clark is like NOOOOOOO and grabs Zod and has him in a choke hold and FINALLY SNAPS HIS NECK AND ZOD IS DEAD THANK GOD THE MOVIE MUST BE ALMOST OVER.

Lois comes in and Clark is like tortured by having killed Zod...for...some reason?  And this is the face he makes:

I AM UPSET FOR SOME REASON THAT I SAVED THE WORLD  AHHHHH!

And he hugs Lois and Metropolis is mostly in ashes and...that's that scene.

Part 7, in which I am going to go drink wine now

We cut to Clark's dad's grave, where Clark and Martha are bonding post-near-apocalypse:

MARTHA:  Your dad really thought you were going to be a force for good and that people would know about you and you would be great you know.

CLARK:  Really?  Then, what was with all those mixed messages, and the whole "No one can know! They won't understand you" and dying to save a dog, and telling me to let those kids die, and--

MARTHA:  That's not important right now.  So what's your plan now, kid?

CLARK:  Well, I need a job where I can go anywhere dangerous at a moment's notice and also a disguise, so I'm thinking journalist at a newspaper and...glasses?

MARTHA:  That oughta do it. 

THE END OF THE MOVIE THANK JESUS SUPERMAN

I'm thinking of recording this...

...anyone have any equipment?  It's a parody of Taylor Swift's "We are Never Ever Getting Back Together" and is a good summary of how many ladies feel about politics this week, I believe.

I remember when you Repubs said, ladies,

The war on women isn’t really real, now we’d 
Love it if you’d let us tell you what
You should do with your bodies. (What?)
Then you came around again and said
"Ladies, we miss you and we swear we’re gonna change, trust me."
But remember how Paul Ryan tried to say
That there are different types of rape? We’re not stupid.

Oooh we gave to Obama last night
And oooh, for the last time we’re telling you, we’re telling you

We are never ever ever gonna vote for Romney
We are never ever ever gonna vote for Romney
You can go on Fox News, spew some more lies, have a Tea Party

And we are never ever ever ever gonna vote for Romney.

Like, ever...

Remember when we tried to call you out
And you insisted that you only care about
The e-conomy, which actually would be helped if you
Stopped trying to take away our healthcare.

Oooh, we gave to Planned Parenthood last night
And oooh, for the last time we’re telling you, we’re telling you

We are never ever ever gonna vote for Romney
We are never ever ever gonna vote for Romney
You can go on Fox News, spew some more lies, have a Tea Party

And we are never ever ever ever gonna vote for Romney.

Oooh yeah, oooh yeah, oooh yeah
Oh oh oh

I used to think that you could get it together
And I used to say, "Never say never..."
Huh, so Todd Akin goes on the air is all like, "I misspoke”
And I'm like... "I just... I mean this is exhausting, you don't even know how the uterus works,
and I am never voting for your party. Like, ever"

No!

We are never ever ever gonna vote for Romney
We are never ever ever gonna vote for Romney
You can go on Fox News, spew some more lies, have a Tea Party

And we are never ever ever ever gonna vote for Romney.

We are never ever ever gonna vote for Romney
We are never ever ever gonna vote for Romney

You can go on Fox News, spew some more lies, have a Tea Party

And we are never ever ever ever gonna vote for Romney.

How to impress people at work without having a clue what you're doing (a response to Molly Templeton's call for "how to" articles by women)

Here's how to impress coworkers and bosses at your company without having a damned clue what the hell you're doing.

1.  Memorize all the acronyms.  This doesn't necessarily mean you have know what all the acronyms represent; just remember the acronyms themselves and use them as often as possible.  Why?  Because nobody has the damnedest idea what any of them could possibly mean.  However, if you throw enough of them around, you will *sound* as if you know what you're going on about, and people will treat you with reverence and fear.  If anyone is ballsy enough to ask you to define an acronym, no problem - simply comply and define said acronym with yet another acronym.  This has never failed me.  For example: 

Me:  Hey, Bob, are you going to the sync at 1:30 on the GBS team's HBC project council?

Bob:  Yeah, I think so - what's the HBC project council's mission again?

Me:  Oh, last week at the GBS team's weekly PSS meeting they explained how the HBC council will be working to refine the XPC's PSM ratings framework.  (Awkward pause) Oh, did you not make that meeting, Bob?  

Bob:  *Mumbles unintelligibly and shuffles away*

2.  Always be rushing somewhere.  Nothing gives the impression that you are very busy and important more so than being constantly in a hurry, even if you're just going to the kitchen to get a coffee to sip while reading gossip blogs back at your desk.  I once knew a woman in my office who jogged everywhere she went.  She would literally *sprint* from her desk to the printer - which was three feet from her desk - at least four times a day with such an expression of thunder on her face that one might imagine her printouts contained nuclear codes or the location of Osama Bin Laden's secret lair.  For over a year, we all assumed she was the busiest and most productive worker on our team - until one day, I happened to amble by while she was sprinting over to the printer and discovered her collecting a stack of Banana Republic "Friends and Family" discounts.  After watching her for a few days, I realized that most of her printouts were for coupons, movie or theater tickets, and pictures of her kids.  She still works at my company and has been promoted to manager.   

Well, I sure learned my lesson.  Today, when my Fandango ticket for the Dark Knight Rises was printing, I booked it over to that HP DeskJet in record time.  The admin who sits across the hall from me was visibly impressed.

3.  Know how to do v-lookup and a pivot table.  Excel baffles most people, me included.  However, I can do a v-lookup and a simple pivot table.  Therefore, most of my colleagues think that I am a GENIUS.  It has been scientifically verified that 98.23% of individuals outside of the Finance department at your company don't know how to do anything in excel other than scroll, add an autofilter, and look stuff up using ctrl-F.  However, if you can do a v-lookup, a pivot table, or both, and get someone to see you doing it, you will never, ever get fired.  Why?  Because, my friend, you have got mad technical skills that your department cannot lose.  That, at least, is what they will say in your performance review.  

And, finally, the most surefire tip of them all: 

4.  Stay signed into your work chat 24/7.  Sure, you won't actually be working, but there's no better way to show your team that you are a workaholic who puts the company's welfare above your sleep and personal sanity than that little dot next to your name being any color but grey at all hours.  Even the "orange" of idle is better than nothing, because, for all anyone else knows, you just stepped away to get coffee.  You'll be back!  Or maybe you're on a videoconference or a Skype call.  Who knows?  All anyone (and the IT department) knows is that you (or at least your computer, phone, or tablet) are connected to your corporate network at 3 a.m. PT on a Wednesday - and that shows commitment, damn it. 

Enjoy your corporate success!

  http://the-how-to.tumblr.com/

Insanity

Albert Einstein said, "Insanity is doing the same thing, over and over again, but expecting different results."


So why, when it comes to gun control, are we 100% certifiably batshit insane? 


Every single time we read of another shooting massacre in the news, the debate begins, and then is almost immediately quashed by the gun lobby and the nerves of our political leaders who are terrified of upsetting the subset of the population that believes that pretty much anyone should be able to legally purchase 6,000 rounds of ammunition.  Politicians offer half-baked statements, celebrities compose grammatically sad tweets, the pundits' heads spin around 360 degrees, and after a few days the NRA bristles and flexes its muscles and everyone shuts up. 


The same rhetoric comes up every time: states rights, the 2nd amendment, the vision of the Founding Fathers (who never even conceived of automatic weapons, by the way), the spectre of tyranny, blah blah blah.  "If the victims had had guns, Mr. Psycho wouldn't have killed as many people"; "Guns don't kill people, people kill people!"; "From my cold, dead hands!"


By no means do I believe that Americans should not be able to purchase firearms for personal defense.  I personally would never want to own a gun, but I understand why someone would - if I were, say, a single woman in a remote urban area living alone in a corn field in an impoverished hovel, as opposed to a single woman in a crowded city with neighbors on top of me, I might feel differently about gun ownership for myself.  However, I simply do not understand why one needs an automatic or semi-automatic weapon and thousands of rounds of ammunition for self defense or hunting.  You don't buy that kind of weapon unless you believe your are going to to have the opportunity to shoot a shit ton of people.  And honestly, if you think that opportunity will arise, you are either a hardened criminal or YOU ARE FUCKING CRAZY.  So why are we surprised when these weapons and ammo are purchased by crazy-ass mother fuckers who KILL A SHIT TON OF PEOPLE? 


This pattern will not change until we stop doing the same thing, over and over again. People will continue to die unnecessarily in tragedies like Aurora, Columbine, and Tuscon until we make it illegal for private citizens to purchase automatic and semi-automatic weapons.  


Don't get me wrong - gun control is not the only thing we need to get right in order to make gun homicides a thing of the past.  We need to address the poverty, unemployment, and cycle of gang violence that lead to so many violent ends of the young and helpless in our cities (Chicago is having a particularly tough year when it comes to gang violence).  We need to ensure that those in domestic situations where violence is a threat have an avenue to get out and get support and keep themselves and their relatives (often children) safe.  We need to lift everyone up educationally and economically; a rising tide keeps all afloat. 


But in the wake of Aurora, when everyone is saying it's "not the right time" to discuss gun control, I have to respond by saying FUCK THAT.  No, regulating automatic and semi-automatic weapons at a federal level won't stop all gun violence.  It won't stop all criminals from obtaining these weapons and killing people.  It won't necessarily prevent every potential psycho from killing innocent people in school, or at a movie theater, or on a crowded street.  However, *not* banning these weapons isn't working, either.  If insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, we are definitely insane when it comes to gun control.  The fact of the matter is that every single weapon and piece of ammunition and equipment the shooter used in Friday's massacre was obtained legally.  How could a ban on the weapons and ammunition he used have made the situation worse?  How??  Experts have already noted that had his semi-automatic weapon not jammed in the middle of his spree, many more could have died.  Imagine how much less damage might have occurred if he hadn't had such a weapon on his person at all. 


Insane, isn't it?

27

So it's been a busy month - the holidays, my birthday, Katy Perry and Russell Brand's divorce, the return of Downton Abbey to American television. A series of truly watershed moments!

Christmas break was a two-week long sleep, food, and wine fest and it was AWESOME. Turning 27 was less awesome. As I confessed to several on my friends on the anniversary of my birth, that age always makes me think of Charlotte Lucas (Collins). For the 1.5 male readers of my blog, Charlotte Lucas is Elizabeth Bennet's best friend in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. She is, according to Ms. Austen, "a sensible, intelligent young woman, about twenty-seven," and her life SUCKS HUGE BALLS. She is, at 27, considered to be a near-spinster. She is plain and poor, and not particularly romantic. Her main accomplishment in the course of the novel is marrying a fat, stupid, and annoying parson after he is turned down by her friend and his cousin, Elizabeth. She ends up living a somewhat comfortable but sad existence, contriving ways to avoid her husband by sending him on errands in the parish and distracting him with the garden. Elizabeth, as anyone with a modicum of estrogen in their blood will know, ends up marrying Mr. Darcy. Mr. Darcy is rich, handsome, brilliant, and passionate. Elizabeth is twenty years old.

I guess what I'm saying is that I would REALLY like to not be Charlotte Lucas, but on this latest birthday I can't help but think of her. It's less about who, if anyone, I marry, but about accomplishment. In the world of Austen, marriage is accomplishment, and the younger you are when you accomplish the better (and less despicable) you are. Things aren't that different today, at least as far as accomplishment goes. You got Mark Zuckerface and all his kin making billions by age 22, and you gotta feel a little loserish when you're toiling away in a job that positively bores you and still have student loans to pay off. At age 27.

I know that this is just maudlin reflection and I've also had a few glasses of wine in preparation for tomorrow (a couple really hard meetings happening), but if there's anything I can take from it it's that I probably should spend less time thinking about Jane Austen characters. Seriously, they died at, like, age 40 and didn't have electricity. What the fuck did they know?! Moaaar wine!

For real, though, I want my 28th year to be better than my 27th. I'm not dead yet, but I'm not getting any younger and there really isn't time to waste. At least if I don't want to I don't have to marry a stupid fat parson, so, silver lining?

The Worst

So the past few weeks have just been The Worst because of work. I'm tired, stressed, confused, disorganized and, somehow, completely and utterly bored. Absolutely nothing about what we're doing at work is interesting to me. No. Thing. Org stuff? Boring. People stuff? Boring. I honestly think my apathy is beginning to affect outcomes for individuals and the team, which is really bad objectivly, but personally I just don't give a shit lol. None of what I get paid to do seems to matter and the only reason I accomplish anything at all is to avoid getting yelled at by bosses, colleagues, clients or all of the above. My job is pretty much supposed to be about solving problems, both big and small, for teams and for individuals. Though these problems are annoying, they are at least supposed to be somewhat interesting, and they used to be. Now they just feel like another obstacle between me and my bed.

I know this isn't depression; I'm back on meds and they're doing their job (though being exhausted from the commute and the endless email/ping/call cycle is a factor). This is, quite simply, what my job has become and since my life as an almost-27-year-old single woman is, for better or worse, currently all about work I am just not happy and everything is The Worst. This is my life: I get up between 5 and 6:30 am, depending on meetings, shower and dress, pile into a crowded bus for an interminable shuttle ride to Mountain View with sometimes-annoying and/or smelly semi-strangers, so I can spend my day alternately staring at a screen or in meetings trying to solve problems I don't care about in order to avoid getting yelled at by people I mostly dislike. After anywhere from eight to twelve hours of this, I get into a somehow even MORE crowded bus for an even LONGER ride back to the city. I then work and watch TV and pass out by 11:30 pm. Rinse and repeat; this is my life. It is boring and exhausting and The Worst.

I don't know precisely what I'm going to do about it, but I can't do this much longer. I have exactly nine days until a much-needed vacation. I need to think things over and come out the other side of it with a solution. I'm wasting my life, quite honestly, doing something I really, really don't like and not even feeling useful while doing it. Change is a must.

And I know, it could be worse, I could be unemployed or live in a 3rd world country or be Herman Cain victim; I get it. I know I'm a privileged, entitled, white upper-middle-class Ivy-league-educated whiner. But since I don't really believe in a god or anything I really just have this life to be happy in, and I don't see the point in being so miserable anymore. I've pretty much been hating what I spend most of my time doing since college, and it needs to stop. Over time, this job has just become uninteresting and devoid of any happy moments, and so unless I start to get something out of it again I need to change. I'll keep you posted.