It's a date
The Chicken Man brought us ten chickens and a couple dozen eggs early yesterday afternoon. As he was walking out the door, Gayla was walking in armed with a trusty ice chest to carry them away. I didn't need chicken this week, and Gayla and Caryn both wanted some. It was their first order from The Chicken Man (AKA Terry), and I hope they enjoy it as much as I do. Due to a couple of weeks of abnormally hot temperatures, the chickens were about a half a pound scrawnier than usual. I'm a bit worried there might not be enough meat on the bones to make the chicken really worth eating, but I guess we'll see. In the fall, I was getting 6 pound birds from these folks, and yesterday they were all 4 to 4.5 pounds.
Gayla not only took the chickens, but also my son. Yes, she and her family gave Steve and I a much needed date. We went to the movies to watch Superman Returns. I really enjoyed the movie a lot. Because of frequently watching the movies when I was a kid, I remember the first couple of Superman movies well. I only have vague images from the third and fourth ones, but they were a lot campier and not as good (if my memory serves me correctly). Anyhow, I was pleasantly surprised by Brandon Routh and Kate Boswell as Superman and Lois Lane. They are both really young (Boswell was 21 or 22 when this movie was filmed) compared to Margot Kidder and Christopher Reeves, who were in their thirties. There was plenty of grandiose, truly Superman-type action (you know, the kind that only Superman can do compared to any of the other superheroes out there). And it was silly in the typical Superman way. I mean, it really is funny to watch Clark run down a back alley and rip off his shirt to reveal a giant S super-logo. It works in comics, but in live-action it's just silly looking and has to make you smile if not laugh out loud. But the thing that made it more than just a well-reviewed, fun summer blockbuster was the now quite complicated love story between Superman and Lois. (Spoiler alert) Supposedly this takes place after the events of Superman II jettisoning the third and fourth movies altogether and taking the plot in a totally new direction, and yet there are quite a few plot inconsistencies that make it not-quite-a-true sequel to the second movie. I don't want to dwell on those since there's really no way to resolve them. But, the basic idea of the movie is that Superman went away for five years after the events of Superman II -- that is, after he and Lois started a really romantic fling and even had sex. He left without saying goodbye. The world went to hell in a handbasket without its trusty superhero there to save the day. Lois grieved and felt bitter. And then eventually, everybody moved on. Lois found a new beau, had a son, and wrote a Pulitzer prize winning article entitled "Why The World Doesn't Need Superman." The movie begins when Superman returns to earth, and mostly deals with the complicated emotions he now feels about Lois. She's the first person he really seeks out, and he's obviously hurt that she's moved on and found someone new -- although she still apparently secretly pines away for Superman since she refuses to set a wedding date with her long-time fiancee. The part of this little story that makes it better than your average summer flick (at least to me) is to watch how Lois and Superman cope with the fact that she's now moved on. Her new guy is decent, loving, generous, thoughtful. He's an all around good guy who risks his life to save Lois and then risks it again to save Superman when he knows his sweetie's got the hots for the superhero. He's been faithful to her for five years and would be utterly devastated if she left him for the man in blue tights. In most movies when a woman is torn between the love of two men, it's obvious who she should be with. One is a scoundrel and the other really good, and you wonder why the heroine persists in loving this man who's obviously all wrong for her. Not so in this movie. In fact, there's a lot of reason to think that maybe Superman -- an all around good, truthful, sacrificially loving guy -- is the "wrong" guy for her. Afterall, he left for five years without as much as a goodbye, and he's committed himself to saving the world. He may not have the time to be a faithful husband and father, and he doesn't have this history of stick-to-it-ness that Lois's new beau has. Lois, for her part, must be quite torn. And the new beau, Richard, must feel quite threatened. I mean, who wouldn't with Superman as a rival? Nevertheless, he still continues to give Lois the space, support, and love she needs to sort through her emotions. And Superman, for his part, is just so good that even though he still holds out hope of a union with Lois, he also just wants Lois to be happy and well cared for. So, it's a genuinely complicated love story, and it's not really resolved in this movie. At least we'll have something to look forward to in the sequel.