July 17, 2025

A Little Help From Superman

This is Finish Your Monsters, a weekly blogletter about the creative process. I'm sharing adventures in art and life as well as setting CLIFFHANGER goals for myself, so--

DID I MAKE MY GOAL?

Big picture, I’m working away on the post-production of our horror film, Dead Media. My goal this week was to get to picture lock and start work on some sound design.

And I mostly completed it. I did some fun work on monster sound effects involving heart beats, records scratches, and bee hives. I’m very much looking forward to spending more time in sound design world soon!

But first, the pesky PICTURE part of this MOTION PICTURE.

I finished another edit pass on the film, but we’re not yet at picture lock. I got a little bit of scheduling grace before the next step in the process so I have this weekend to tinker with the film before handing it over for some VFX.

It’s a strange part of the process where I’m fussing with the smallest detail and looking at the big picture of the film. I spend my days with my nose pressed up against the film and trying to see how it looks from two miles away.

Every day I’m haunted by the old NEAR-FAR Sesame Street segment.

Anyway, if you’re interested in helping DEAD MEDIA, I need to raise a bit more money for post-production. You can make a one time tax-deductible donation via Film North here. Thanks to the folks who have made contributions in the last few weeks. Deeply, deeply appreciated.

ADVENTURES OF THE WEEK--

This was both a very sad week and a very hopeful week.

The sadness and the hope were very, very mashed together.

This was a week about Superman and an old friend of mine named CK.

I’ve been doing pretty much nothing but working on Dead Media. I’m starting to face some final, final deadlines and there’s a lot of stress that comes with that.

So I’m trying to steal a few hours here and there for fun. My wife, Sara, and I had tickets for a 4 pm showing of Superman at Grauman’s Chinese Theater on Friday afternoon.

It takes about a half hour to walk from our apartment to the theater. So I took a lot of deep breaths, enjoying the sunny day and got myself to a place of calm. I got a hot dog and a drink. I took some photos of the big S blazing across the curtains of the gorgeous theater.

As I pulled out my phone to post the picture, I got a text.

The text was letting me know that an old friend of mine had passed away.

My friend’s name was CK. He was an extremely vibrant, full of life person. His death was a surprise. I was very close with CK in my younger years. Many parties, many shows and conventions, many extremely unwise shots of tequila right before bar close. He once joked with me that he’d like his tombstone to read, “I’ve never seen a man eat so many chicken wings.” It seemed deeply impossible all that energy could be gone from this mortal plane.

CK and I had also drifted apart. I last saw him a couple years back for only a few minutes in downtown Minneapolis when I was late to leave for the airport. I’d been thinking about him a lot with all my trips to Minneapolis. I realize I found myself looking forward to when I would see him again. But I didn’t think about reaching out. I just thought it would happen. CK had an energy like that. He was like a comet that hurtled in and out of orbit.

In the seconds after I read the text, I felt the shock of his impossible absence, I felt the guilt of not connecting, I felt the horror of never getting to talk to him again.

And the movie was about to start in moments. I decided not to tell Sara until after the film. The lights went out and I settled in to watch the movie.

Many folks have spoken elegantly about the film’s message of hope and empathy. In this film, Superman is very explicitly a metaphor for all of us. He is an alien with super powers, but what defines him most is that he is a human with gifts and flaws and he’s trying as hard as he can to make good, kind, empathetic decisions. I can’t shoot laser beams from my eyes, but like Superman I have gifts and flaws and the power of choice. So do we all.

I also enjoyed the film as both a celebration and an examination of superheroes. The film dropped us in the middle of the action. It was a similar experience to the first time I read a Superman comic book when my grandfather bought me a random issue of Action Comics from a 7-11. It’s a film that shows what it would be like to live in a world of superheroes. There’s the unabashed, bold weirdness of flying dogs, hidden dimensions, and a kaiju attacking the city being a common thing to see on your lunch break. It doesn’t twist itself into pretzels with rationales and excuses for its bombastic weirdness. This is a long, long way from watching the first X-Men film in the year 2000 where they make a withering joke about how dumb they’d look in yellow spandex. This film is not afraid of the FANTASY of superheroes.

But it also wrestled with all the real world complexities: What right do superheroes have to use their power? What’s the line between preventing harm and causing it? How would corporations try to profit from their presence and manipulate them? How would superheroes be shaped by the jealousy and admiration of other people?

As the film started, I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to focus on it. It would just be the film I saw when I found out my friend was gone. And maybe a different film would have made me feel that way.

But I found myself thinking about watching the movie with CK. What parts would he have laughed at? Cheered for? What weird theory would he have about Guy Gardner’s hair? Afterwards at the bar, there probably would have been long riffs about Superman’s robots. Does he ever just make them play video games with him? How many chicken wings does Superman need to feel satiated?

The film was not a distraction. It was a balm. Superman was a friend when I needed one.

After the film, I let Sara know what had happened. We decided to stick to our plans and go out to eat at the nearby Italian restaurant, Miceli’s.

It’s in the heart of Hollywood, but it has a massive neighborhood vibe. Regulars at the bar. The piano player doing shtick, pretending to put on his jacket to leave while still playing a Vince Guaraldi song with one hand.

Sara and I talked about the movie. We talked about CK. We took our sweet, sweet time and sat there for several hours.

I’d been very much looking forward to a martini. But I noticed a different drink on the menu: A Pink Squirrel.

I’ve been obsessed with squirrels for many years. Before I’d ever even sipped a cocktail I heard there was one called a Pink Squirrel. When writing plays and comedy sketches if a character mentioned a cocktail, I’d always have them reference a Pink Squirrel.

But I had never had one.

CK was someone who put hot sauce on everything. It’s a literal true thing he did, but also what he was like as a person. He pushed to experience life. He pushed others to experience life. Sometimes, the shove was a little too hard.

But making a bold, weird choice seemed like the right way to celebrate him. So I had my first Pink Squirrel. And it was shockingly good. If you’ve ever wanted melted ice cream to also have alcohol in it, I highly recommend a Pink Squirrel.

As always with this blogletter, I’m not putting down lessons I need to relearn and relearn and relearn.

This week was a reminder of things that matter. Be hopeful, be bold, be human and try your best.

I’m not sure if they’d like it, but I bet both Superman and CK would try a Pink Squirrel.

LIGHT PLUGS—

DEAD MEDIA! We’ve got a fiscal sponsorship with the great Minnesota organization Film North. They can accept one-time donations that will go directly toward finishing the film: SCORE, VFX, COLOR GRADING, etc. It’s like a Kickstarter where the rewards are A) a tax deduction and B) helping us make the film.

For full info, please check out the page for the upcoming horror film, DEAD MEDIA!

Or if you have any questions about supporting the film, feel free to reach out to me personally!

MY GOAL FOR THE WEEK--

I’ve got to spin a lot of plates to keep things moving on the post-production for Dead Media. This week, I just need to focus on the edit. So my goal for this week is to get the draft of the film passed off to the VFX artist.

YOUR GOAL FOR THE WEEK--

I would absolutely LOVE to hear what you're working on this week in the comments below. What's your goal? How can I help you literally finish your monsters?

A LITTLE SKETCH--

This week’s sketch is Superman flying off to save someone who CAN ONLY BE HEALED BY A PINK SQUIRREL COCKTAIL.

Anyway, thanks for reading, I hope you hear and tell some good human stories this week, and best of luck finishing your monsters