THE BATMAN WILL OPEN IN RUSSIA

I get a lot of emails. I suppose we all do. Most are semi-junk from sites I sort of follow, with updates, headlines, things to buy and so on. This morning, I got one from The Hollywood Reporter that sort of made me laugh and cringe at the same time. "The Batman Will Still Open in Russia, But What Will Happen Next?" was the subject line. 

Fucking weird.

I immediately had this vision of The Batman in Moscow, hunting Putin down and bringing him to justice, hauling him off to Arkham Asylum to hang with The Joker and The Scarecrow and Killer Croc. 

Then my mind went to Zelensky being The Batman, a crime fighting super hero with no super powers other than determination and a sense of what is right and wrong. 

And I dug that thought. 

Things are crazy, but also clarifying, I think, right now. 

Thanks Vlad.

There are a few things that are clear. 

Invading a country because you are a dickhead is bad.

Want of money and power lead people to do evil things to one another.

We are always at our best when things are at their worst.

Always.

I check the headlines of the NY Times, HuffPost, Apple News, and The Washington Post almost hourly, dreading and expecting to see that Ukraine's Batman is dead. 

But so far, that hasn't happened. 

Instead, I read about women in their 60s making Moltov Cocktails. And road signs being changed to read "Go Fuck Yourself " in Russian. And about that garrison of soldiers who told the Russian Navy to Go Fuck Itself.

Seems that Go Fuck Yourself is sort of a new national slogan. Maybe international.

I picture Zelensky/Batman, in his confrontation with Vlad the Invader, telling him to Go Fuck Himself before kicking his ass. 

I am finding this whole situation, this invasion, somehow inspiring. Giving me new found hope in humanity, in resistance, in glory and honor.

This is how you treat a bully. This is what you do to people who want to destroy the world we all share for short sighted and selfish ends. 

This is what is means to be a hero.

Okay. Off to the races. Here's a song. It's The Captain by Guster.

WE'RE ALL MANBATS HERE

When I was a kid, the world was crazy. Watergate was in full swing.  The Beatles had broken up. Jimi and Janis and Jim were dead. The Zodiac was on the loose, and the Manson Family still had a few members taking shots at Ford. When they announced we would be pulling out of Viet Nam, I remember a fellow kindergartener saying to me "I can't believe we lost".  He seemed to take it very personally, which seemed odd to me, being all of five year's old and not feeling like anyone, anywhere, was truly invincible. Not on the playground. Not in my family. Not on TV. Not in life. 

And culturally? We were so divided. There were people who still dressed like it was 1955, and those who dressed like Woodstock never ended. The hippies and the hard asses. I liked the hippies because they had better music and didn't seem as angry. Move love, less fear appealed to me. 

There were good things too. The Planet of the Apes movies. Micronauts. Evel Kneivel. Slurpees. And Comic Books. 

I think one of the many things from that time that sort of summed up the state of the world was Manbat. He was this sort of reverse Batman werewolf like character who wasn't evil or good, but messed up and lost. 

I dug him a lot. 

And I think we are all Batpeople now. Struggling to retain our humanity in a world full of contrasts, short of love and tall on anger, not sure if we are doing the right thing, or even what the right thing is. 

But back then, and now, one thing is remains true. We try. We seek answers. We don't often get them, and when we do, lots of times we misinterpret them. But we keep on trying. We have to. What other choice do we have? 

I grew up in a dysfunctional, alcoholic household. Dismay and terror were part of the daily routine. Paired with the state of the world at the time, I had no choice but to be optimistic. It was difficult, and there were plenty of times when I let the dark side take over, when I was more bat than man. But I kept on. 

And I keep on today. I think the world is gone mad. I think people are lost and afraid and angry. I think we are facing the very real possibility of the end of democracy in America. But I keep on. I have to. 

And if I do turn into some from of hybrid bat/human, I will fight for what I think it right. I may get rabies, or have Batman kick the shit out of me, but that's the way it goes. 

As mister Bowie told us, "we can be heroes". 

So let's do that. Let's find the love and hope and possibility of a better world. 

Here's a song. It's Superman's Song by Crash Test Dummies.