Episode 71 - With host Craig Norris and cohost Taylor Lidstone.
First Broadcast on Edge Radio, 5th April 2024.
Join us in this captivating episode as we delve into the unique Australian Superman radio series from the late '40s to early '50s, exploring its post-war cultural impact and adaptation. Plus, we dive into today’s hot topics:
The debate on whether children earning on Roblox is exploitation or empowerment.
The hilarious audio outtakes discovered in Red Dead Redemption 2.
A former GTA developer sheds light on in-game myths.
The controversy surrounding AI-generated images on social media platforms.
The implications of AI technology in gaming and its societal effects.
And the soaring value of Superman memorabilia in the collector’s market.
Tune in for an insightful journey through pop culture and technology, all through the lens of the iconic Superman legacy.
Episode also available on podcast:
Listen to our previous Australian Superman episodes:
Links
Roblox Studio boss: children making money on the platform isn't exploitation, it's a gift | Eurogamer.net https://www.eurogamer.net/roblox-studio-boss-children-making-money-on-the-platform-isnt-exploitation-its-a-gift?utm_source=feed&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=feed
Red Dead Redemption 2 audio bloopers unearthed in game files
Double Dutch. https://www.eurogamer.net/red-dead-redemption-2-audio-bloopers-unearthed-in-game-files?utm_source=feed&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=feed
Ex-GTA Dev Explains Suicidal NPC, Ghost Cars & Crashing Planes
https://kotaku.com/gta-san-andreas-crash-planes-ghost-cars-myths-explained-1851385673
AI-generated Asians were briefly unavailable on Instagram - The Verge https://www.theverge.com/2024/4/4/24121419/meta-instagram-ai-image-generator-asian-race
After AI-generated porn report, Washington Lottery pulls down interactive web app | Ars Technica
https://arstechnica.com/ai/2024/04/after-ai-generated-porn-report-washington-lottery-pulls-down-interactive-web-app/
Meta’s AI image generator can’t imagine an Asian man with a white woman - The Verge https://www.theverge.com/2024/4/3/24120029/instagram-meta-ai-sticker-generator-asian-people-racism
Andrew Tate's ideology driving sexual harassment, sexism and misogyny in Australian classrooms - ABC News https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-04-02/andrew-tate-effect-in-australian-classrooms/103657122
Superman NEWS: https://www.ign.com/articles/auction-action-comics-1-siegel-keaton-letter-very-different-superman-we-almost-got
It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's the Most Expensive Comic Ever Sold! https://gizmodo.com/superman-dc-action-comic-1-sold-for-six-million-dollars-1851388583
The Adventures of Superman (Radio Drama, Australia, 1949-54) Episode 752 https://www.supermanhomepage.com/multimedia/Sounds/MP3/AusSuperman0752.mp3
Listen live to “Media Mothership” every Friday 4-5pm (Australian Eastern Standard Time) via YouTube, Twitch, and Edge Radio.
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TRANSCRIPT
This is an AI-generated transcript of the audio and it may contain errors. We may update or correct this transcript in the future. Please contact us if you have any questions about the information in this transcript. The audio is the official record of this episode.
CRAIG NORRIS
Welcome to media mothership here, broadcasting out of Edge Radio Studios in Nopalina. Hobart TAS and we're also streaming on edgeradio.org Dot AU YouTube and Twitch. Just search for media mothership. You can message us on 04888. 117070488811707 if you'd like to SMS live in the. Here. Or you can hit us up on the chat on YouTube or Twitch at media mothership. I'm your host Doctor Craig potentially joined in the future by my co-host Lord Taylor. We'll see if he can get petrol for his car. Today's show we've got regular news segments start off, then a deep dive into the next episode of Superman. We'll we'll be asking can the Australian Superman. Actually. Be a culturally significant moment in radio production. This came out in 1949 / 1000. Episodes were. Produced each running 15 minutes out of Sydney radio station 2GB and. So far there, there's four episodes circulating. We've listened to the first two, the origin story of Superman in crypt. As he escaped that dying planet, then we heard his first adventure last week when he emerged fully grown after arriving from Krypton, as opposed to the more modern version where he grew up on the Kent farm. Here he decided to become a reporter after quizzing two people he saved. So anyway, all that and more coming up here on. Media mothership on Edge radio. All right, welcome. Back I am trying some different cool tunes. Let's start first by going over some interesting news articles. One of the first ones that I came across out of Eurogamer headlined Rue Blocks studio boss. Children making money on the platform is an exploitation. It's a gift. So this is the Roblox studio boss. Thing. Uh, that uh, you know they. They, their child, could. Be 15 in Indonesia, living in a slum and with just a laptop create something and make money to sustain life. So it's an interesting piece if you've not ever encountered robots, here's a little sample. From the PS3 PS no sorry PS54 launch that kind of sets some of the scene.
Speaker 4
Legendary the Queen of the ring looking me. I'm supreme in this thing. Have my back against the ropes. Now they are telling me.
CRAIG NORRIS
Yeah. So if you want to wear that music, Roblox is a platform where mostly children, yes, young adults can create and monetize games using in game currency the the roebucks. And it's so, you know, it's kind of kind of building dimension Lego creation dimension. It's got some of the aesthetics are very similar to Roblox. Sorry. Very similar to Minecraft. 2021 the article goes on to say the Eurogamer article goes on to say that people make games went on to accuse robots of exploiting young developers by taking a large cut of the earners earnings that these young players were getting as they were creating in Roblox. So Roblox pays developers in Robux, so that's spelled ROBUX, which can be cashed out at a rate of $3.50 US for 1000 robots robucks. So if you if you. Generate 1000 robots. That's the in game currency. You can cash it out into U.S. dollars $3.50, but the. Economy of that. Is a little skewed. If you look at how much it will cost you to buy 1000 robucks, so in game you can use that currency to pay you know in game items that costs $12.50 US. So while you can cash out 1000 roebucks for $3.50 to buy that equivalent amount in game would cost you $12.00. 50 So that's an insane markup or loss rate, depending on which way you're coming at it, so room locks.
Speaker
No.
CRAIG NORRIS
Your head. You don't have your. Yeah, it's my co-host, Roblox studio head Stefano. Coraza defends the platform, emphasising the opportunities it provides for young developers worldwide. The average Roblox developers in their 20s, but the platform has hired teenagers who gain. Feature of the mind here people success on their platform. Roadblocks, forces focuses on teaching, coding skills and empowering users to become professionals in the tech industry. We're now joined live in studio by my co-host Lord Taylor. How are you, Lord Taylor? OK, there you go. Why isn't that?
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
Now there we. Yeah, that sounds weird testing, OK.
CRAIG NORRIS
Alright, that's weird guests. Oh, well, yeah. No, no, no. Sorry. Yep. I'm using the right mic.
Speaker
OK. It's a bit of.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
A bit of a buzz little. Buzzy Beetle in the background.
CRAIG NORRIS
It sounds like, yeah, yeah, that's intriguing. That intrigues me.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
Please text in if you can hear that buzzing. Sound as.
CRAIG NORRIS
Well, cause you could try going on that. Mike.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
And it doesn't both.
CRAIG NORRIS
No, yeah, that one, that one's really.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
OK. Nice. Yeah, that is nice.
CRAIG NORRIS
That's odd. Alright, well live radio people. Sadly, yeah. You're you're. You're not kind of in camera as well, but we'll we'll, we'll we'll push on. We'll push on, OK. So yeah, have you ever done Roblox?
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
I have tried it. But I tried Minecraft first and Minecraft is just better than Roblox really in what I feel.
CRAIG NORRIS
Isn't there more variety? You can you can kind of do tonnes of different types of games.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
In which one?
CRAIG NORRIS
In.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
Redbox well, I haven't played it that much, I just like spawned in and walked around, and it wasn't as good as Minecraft, but sort of being like Minecraft, so just like OK, fine Minecraft.
CRAIG NORRIS
'S better. Well, I guess that yeah, that that is a mouse there if you wanna. Ohh, look at the article so. The article we're looking at the moment is. What's that? Is Roblox studio boss, I mean I guess that's the interesting here at Roblox that it has received attention for exploiting kids because they can create levels in the game or or things in the game, but then they can. Generate Robux 4 and they can cash that out into real world money, but the exchange rate is is dreadful, right? I mean they use the example here for 1000 robucks you can cash that out $3.50 US but to buy that equivalent number of roebucks it will cost you $12.00. So that's like three times as much.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
Ohh yeah.
CRAIG NORRIS
Mm-hmm. No. So I guess yeah, as opposed to Minecraft because of that economy, it is a double edged sword in terms of, you know, really that's slave wages, you could argue.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
Is it more like Minecraft in the fact that you can, like, go onto Patreon or something like that and someone put assets on there and then you upload it to your own game? Or does it have to be on an?
CRAIG NORRIS
Online I have to get. I have someone on the inside a family member that I've I've implanted.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
So let me.
CRAIG NORRIS
In the world. Blocks. And. And he's been doing, you know, undercover hard hitting investigative work there. So I do want to bring him in in the future episode, but let's let's move on now to the next story, which is Red Dead Redemption 2 audio bloopers unearthed and game files.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
OK.
CRAIG NORRIS
So this is a nice local talking about how a gamer. Was searching through Red Dead Redemption 2I imagine it's the PC version to be able to get into the actual file architecture?
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
You have to.
CRAIG NORRIS
Be yeah. And he came across these behind the scenes bloopers in the audio files. So in one of these folders, he found their audio files there and he started to listen to them. And it's charming. If you look at the YouTube before it, where he's uploaded it, he talks about how it offers a real glimpse into this. Very secretive process, often of rock stars creative process. Because there will be bloopers where the actor that plays the main protagonist in Red Dead Redemption 2, the actor Benjamin Davis slips out of character and swears as he gets his line wrong, and the other characters you can hear their footsteps. They're on this kind of recording stage with the. Motion capture devices I think, and you can hear their movements as they're walking around, kind of acting theatrically, the scene out. As well as some unused lines from the game and rockstars currently of course in the moment getting a lot of press because they're working on the next Grand Theft Auto game, GTA6, which has no release date yet. I.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
Ohh wow.
CRAIG NORRIS
Did I mean we'll. I'll listen. We'll play a little bit of of. It I'll see if I can queue it up to the. Seen where he swears that language warning. English warning maybe? Where is this around here?
Speaker 6
And you get Micah out of that jam.
CRAIG NORRIS
Where is.
Speaker 7
Strawberry and there's talk of hanging.
Speaker 8
Them. Here's open Arthur. What the fool brought this on himself. You know my feelings about him, Dutch.
Speaker 6
You think I can't see and you're wrong. You think I can't see past his bluster to the heart and side? He is a fine man.
Speaker 8
Wow, he's a warrior.
CRAIG NORRIS
You know, a couple of. Different takes.
Speaker 6
I'm ask. I can't. I cannot go through sheriff station. **** me. Sorry.
CRAIG NORRIS
So he slipped something behind there.
Speaker 8
Fine man. No, I'd say.
CRAIG NORRIS
There it was. Yeah. OK, time that. Well, yeah. Yeah. So. But it's interesting, isn't it? Like you've got a disc. You. Well, in this case, it's probably the PC. Port and you're playing it and and normally Rockstar very polished products, but I do love it when you know a fan just starts going through the files, tooling through spending hours and hours and hours and then comes across these blooper reels, normally in movies. Of course at the end credits you'll have blooper reels. But Rockstar doesn't really do bloopers. From what I've experienced, so it's a fun little story of. Yeah, this guy's come. Across with the. Blooper reels posting it up and you know he has these nice kind of commentaries about the. The the kind of rehearsal process or the editing process that provides some insight into. He's also set it against quite a bit of work that his fans done, he said it against the scene which these audio jobs are from, because from one particular submission side quest thing that you're doing.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
That that it's from, yeah.
CRAIG NORRIS
So yeah, we're we're turning down. If you're a huge fan, I want to see a bit of behind the scenes. There's one other. Yeah. Yeah, so. The the the next story I'll play the the music. Now that I've chosen to break. Topics Yep.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
Existing, yeah.
CRAIG NORRIS
Yeah, it's a real classic. It's the we'll be right back so.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
Yeah, I like that one pretty, pretty.
CRAIG NORRIS
Good. Yeah. Yeah. So Kotaku reported recently a former GTA San Andreas developer. Has now gone on to explain the suicidal photographer and crashing planes in. I think this is San Andreas.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
So this is in game.
CRAIG NORRIS
Yeah. So now we have the real story behind and details behind two famous and popular GTA myths. So this was from former rock star N developer Obi Vermejo. The same who was sharing some insights into the development of past.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
Yeah.
CRAIG NORRIS
GTA games, including wide planes in GTA San Andreas, would crash near the player. So it goes on to say that the crashes were due to small section of code that checked for obstacles in the path of a plane but sometimes missed tool thin objects like trees or power poles and that these crashes led to numerous funny moments in people speedrunning the game or let's plays or random sessions in San Andreas. So the collision detection bug also caused planes to crash more often than intended. And there's also this NPC in GTA San Andreas who would take a photo and then walk off a Cliff due to attractors that MPC's head towards once they've completed a scripted activity. Right? So this NPC, you know, like all NPCS, it's a bit like that.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
Ah.
CRAIG NORRIS
That movie, with Ryan Reynolds, the NPC when he. Says.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
Ohh yeah free. Guy free guy.
CRAIG NORRIS
So there's this scripting for each of these NPC's, and clearly for this poor photographers case he would perform his action, which is to take a photo, but then the attractor. Right. So that's. You know, particular coding that all the NPCS would have or what to do next would cause them. To walk off the Cliff as the next week, which was not. And then the final point that this article points out is that the ghost cars in San Andreas, which were an illusion caused by cars spawning on steep hills and rolling down the slope. So I guess it was cause no one was driving, but cars would spawn into the game if they're on a steep. Heal the the car would just start looking as if it's driving, but it's not, it's just not. It's not the brakes and.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
Ah yeah.
CRAIG NORRIS
Yeah. Fascinating. You do, have you ever played any GTA games? Some of the the weird random? Emergent gameplay that's in there.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
Well, the the only GTA game I've played is the newest one. Not not the one that fine.
CRAIG NORRIS
OK. Yeah. The one. There's three protagonists that you kind.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
CRAIG NORRIS
Of play as.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
So I've only played the online version ohh and most of the time when you. Go into the online so you're not.
Speaker
Virgin.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
Playing the story mode? Not really not.
CRAIG NORRIS
Interested. Really. I I'm the opposite.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
Yeah.
CRAIG NORRIS
No, not unless like OK.
Speaker 9
I'd. To be.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
My own character and knock people down and trolled. Yeah, that I don't like that part of that.
CRAIG NORRIS
You get. You get, you know, killed, OK.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
Yeah.
CRAIG NORRIS
We could. Yeah. I've always wanted to do a as part of media mothership, A investigative journalism piece in the world of GTA. Right. You know, I'd call you, like you'd be at home playing GTA Online. I'd be here doing GTA Online somehow with this tech.
Speaker 8
No.
CRAIG NORRIS
Possibly wouldn't work round. But anyway, then we do an interview. Actually, this is great. I don't think I've got one of the articles here, but there's a great article I came across during. I think it was COVID with these two guys in Britain who are actors, performed Hamlets, various Shakespeare plays in GTA, and there's YouTube of them. You know in world, right? It's in the online game of GTA and they go to the wherever the the you know, the equivalent of the the bowl is the the perform. It's kind of bold space. The life of the Hollywood Bowl. Kind of. Space.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
Globe.
CRAIG NORRIS
Theatre group theatre. That's it. And they would start performing Shakespeare in their character, and then, you know, they they'd announce it, one or two people would come up in the stage and they start performing and then, you know, they'd start, you know, the the audience start killing themselves. Shooting themselves and then the police would come in the game and the police would stop firing on the actors. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'd like to do that.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
Cool. Yeah, that sounds good. On radio? Yeah, whole 6 hours of Shakespeare play.
Speaker 9
Yeah.
CRAIG NORRIS
All right, the the next story I want to briefly cover, yeah is. I I might. Yeah, yeah. OK. So there's there's two stories here. The actually the the later one. The the Meta AI one the next one acre. Yep, it's the one that's that's the one I came across first. So the headline for this from the verge is meta AI image generator. Can't imagine an Asian man with a white woman, and the subheading is I tried dozens of times to generate an image of an East Asian man with a white woman.
Speaker 9
Yeah.
CRAIG NORRIS
Matter AIS image tool refused. We tried to do that in the studio while at Edge yesterday, but unfortunately I think it's region locked or something. That's true. Yeah. Got blocked. Maybe it's. Something else? OK, so meta AIS image generator, much like other generators you put props in. You know T Rex playing a guitar and it will, you know, in the style of an Impressionist painting, and it will generate that in this case meta is image generators. So this is from the Facebook guys struggle to generate images of an East Asian man. With a white woman often returning images of two Asian people instead. Mm-hmm. The system also leaned heavily into stereotype. The the the author, NIA Sato says, such as adding a bindi and Sati to South Asian women. Matters tool consistently represented Asian women as East Asian looking with light complexion. So rather than Indian or subcontinent, well, again see, I'd say that's more subcontinent. I mean, she goes in the article and says India failed to appear, but I mean from an Australian perspective, I'd always turn that space as the subcontinent and Asia.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
Hmm.
CRAIG NORRIS
More as yeah, you're you're East Asia space but but it it. It seems that you know Asia can be quite a broad general term that can include a huge geography. So as you were saying, yeah, matters training clearly, however is is East Asia based in terms of Chinese, Korean.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
If you go to North Asia, it's Siberian. Places like that.
CRAIG NORRIS
That's true. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean it also interestingly. Older Asian men, but the Asian women were always young and interestingly, in the comments I was reading for the article, a guy said it's probably because these were trained on Asian gossip magazines, which would always have older Asian celebrities with their young. Starlets or dating interests of the time. So they were saying. It it just reflects the kind of gossip industry. Material.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
Yeah, looking looking at it, it is quite, you know, magazine covery.
CRAIG NORRIS
From the Asian entertainment space. Isn't it? Yeah, it does look like, you know, one of those South Korean K pop.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
Always just bring it back to that.
CRAIG NORRIS
Gossip mags, man. -2 yeah. Yeah. So it generates several order. Yep. So the system performed slightly better when specific South Asian people were requested. So if you started.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
Gandhi.
CRAIG NORRIS
To know why they didn't do Gandhi. But if they if. You ask you know specific, narrow geographies and particularly they have one example there of they they were unable to get or was it Asian man with black woman. So it was an Asian woman with black woman. It's one of the prompts they they talk about yeah. Asian woman with black.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
How are you? That's done.
CRAIG NORRIS
End. But they they they constantly got two Asian women instead. But when they changed the prompt to Asian woman with African American friend, it did generate a African American.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
Again, I think that is like the well, not again, because it didn't say this on there. But I said this back in the where we were before.
Speaker
That's.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
It's to do with the prompt engineer not being specific enough, I think.
CRAIG NORRIS
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Look, I think there's limitations and again.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
Because like, if you look at Asian woman with black friend. The skin. The skin colour is darker even though she's Asian. And then African American is like a specific section of race. And so therefore it has produced that whereas if, like when they wanted to do South Asian people, if they said like from India, from Bangladesh, it might then do what they want it to do rather than having such a wide range of ethnic. That they're using.
CRAIG NORRIS
And I find, unless you're constantly refreshing the prompt screen, you're you're often going to get it repeating what it's previously generated. And certainly I find that with text questions that if you're not breaking the conversation link.
Speaker
Yeah.
CRAIG NORRIS
Entirely and refreshing it. It starts to just refer back to previous answers, which you've no longer you've gone, and you might start with you know how to build a house, and it gives you some suggestions, and then you might move into, you know what? What does Superman eat for breakfast? Umm. And then all of a sudden it's talking about Superman can build a house. And it's like, well, no, but it's it's it's kind of stuck in this conversation loop. So similarly here I'd say, yeah, if if she's been generating one image after another image without refreshing, it could also have a problem. What what I like about this is so she started with the matter AI, then the the next article few days later. Pack. Yeah. Is it she she now goes into Instagram talking about how AI generated Asians were briefly unavailable on. Iran. So, she says, after they reported that Instagram AI's image generation was making weird mistakes around race, the tool temporarily returned an error message today. So this was again the same author from the. Investigation into Facebook reporting that Instagrams AI image generator was creating racially inaccurate images, so when they were creating this before Instagram took that tool off, the AI image generator was making everyone Asian regardless of what text prompt she was putting in. Then the next day, the author encountered the opposite problem that they were completely unable to generate any Asian people using the same prompt she'd done the day before. So an error message then appeared instead of the expected images after a while, saying looks like something went wrong. Please try again later or try a different prompt. So the the same company, so it's meta as well. So Meta the company also behind Instagram did not respond to the authors questions for comment explanation. After some time the Instagram feature started working for simple prompts like Asian man but still had issues with more complex prompts. I imagine like Asian. And with. White wife. Woman. Yeah. Yeah, look, I mean, I'm looking forward to the next startling unavailability of. It it feels. Like this or this? This journalist is on. A crusade. No two articles within two days. Yeah, similar prompts, it seems, seem comfortable.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
Yeah, Instagram AI would still just be better. I wouldn't.
CRAIG NORRIS
It is still, yeah, by the same company. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4
All right, well.
CRAIG NORRIS
Let's let's go to the the sound effect quickly.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
Eric contracture.
CRAIG NORRIS
It is like that. Isn't it must just grab that from the free free thing, cuz that's what he plays? All right, the next article is over. Yeah, this one. It's a funny one again. AI generation is is what it's talking about. This one is. Going on about how a AI generate after an AI generated **** report, the Washington lottery pulls down an interactive web app. User sees promo site, put her uploaded selfie on a topless woman's body. So this is this is a. Really fascinating article in terms of. You know, so there's a lottery in Washington. Like lotteries happen all the time. And part of it featured this website. It seems you could go to and.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
To test drive a win.
CRAIG NORRIS
Yeah, test reviewing website and it was. The article says it was to help designed to help visitors visualise various dream vacations they could pay for with the theoretical lottery winnings. So I guess you you're you take a photo of yourself, you upload it to the site and then it will generate the. Fantasy. Dream vacation that you could go to, but in this case this 150 year old woman did this and she then tells the we should set this up as our own, radio told Conservative Seattle radio host Jason Rantz that the image of her. Swim with the Sharks dream vacation, so I guess she chose that as the prompt or something. On the website showed her face. Then. So that yeah, I got it. She uploaded her selfie. The AI then generated what it felt was going to be the swim with the sharks during vacation, which turned out to be a woman sitting on a bed with her breasts exposed. The background of the AI image showed a bed at some sort of quarium. Lit with fish floating through the air and sprawling under seas with her awkwardly sitting there, but with her head on it on this this this naked torso girl.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
Yeah.
CRAIG NORRIS
Yeah. And this led to her saying, you know what? What's going on here? Why is this happening? And they've they've just pulled it. Understandably, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean that. That's outrageous, though, isn't it? I mean, you know, the the they, they, they that it was generating ***********. I mean, that's everyone's fear that that, you know, you have these. Deep fakes and so forth.
Speaker
It's.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
But it says, oh, I can't remember. I've read it, but I was reading it before that they said they worked with the AI company to make sure that this sort of stuff wouldn't happen. We obviously didn't do it well. Enough and and when?
CRAIG NORRIS
Totally.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
It comes to things like cause I use what's it called? Stable diffusion. There's a little sort of bit of code in there which then like runs it past all of these different things, and if it has any any trace. Of anything that could even be slightly like this it. Turns it off, turns it black so you so you can't see it.
CRAIG NORRIS
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
So I don't understand how this happened.
CRAIG NORRIS
It seems like a huge failure. Yeah. So now moving on to. Did you? Yeah, we talked. A little bit about an interesting article about Andrew Tate. Yeah. Look, I wasn't through it. I didn't really. Want to get it anymore? Prayer time.
Speaker 6
Yeah.
CRAIG NORRIS
Yes. Yeah, it is a phenomenon of facing some teachers. I mean, for me, the interesting thing about this ABC News article, Andrew Peet's ideology driving sexual harassment, sexism and misogyny industry in classrooms was this idea that one of the spaces that you can see the, I guess, the kind of experimenting with toxic masculinity. Is in in classrooms and that one of the spaces which are struggling at the coalface of being able to negotiate the impact of toxic masculine spaces like Andrew Tate. On young men, boys is is classrooms. I mean you've you've you're you're currently doing your masters in education. Yeah, you've been. Sent to schools. Hmm. Right. That signal tight. That signal comes up and like, I gotta send Taylor to. You know that that school and and.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
Yeah.
CRAIG NORRIS
Yeah, you, you. Said yeah, you you've you've you've encountered.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
I have encountered it and like if you look on the. Australian Teachers subreddit and stuff like that. It is rampant everywhere and even just like teachers subreddit, which is teachers all around the. Cold. Yeah. It's also rampant on there as.
CRAIG NORRIS
Well, because the article goes on to describe, they interview one ex teacher, sadly, who was a a yeah.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
OK, sure.
CRAIG NORRIS
Well, yeah. She's and you teach like she she she was starting her career as a teacher and she gave it up because of the harassment she received in school. And she describes this as being. You know, asking for what our age was making. Yeah. Inappropriate questions, asking personal questions about my age or appearance and then not feeling supported in the school environment and you know, saying, you know, you've you've just got to learn techniques to handle the problem. Umm. Yeah. Felt very in our country then. Moving on to Superman, so we're going to set up the next half of this show, but there is some news about Superman. Interestingly, the first one is. Yeah, that one. Yep. Is that a? 2064 thousand dollar letter reveals a very different Superman we almost got. So yeah, what's interesting here is so. Superman 1938 or 30s came out Jerry Spiegel and Joe Schuster are the creative talent behind Superman. A interestingly though, there's a there's a letter which was sent out by.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
Jerry Springer as you wish.
CRAIG NORRIS
Jerry Siegel. For different artist Russell Keaton to come on board, and you know, they're saying it would have been a slightly different take on Superman at that stage, it would have, you know, the artwork would have looked different, for instance. Then you know what happened later. And what's interesting to me, I guess about this is that that this, the fact that there's a letter talking about this proposed. Superman deal? Mm-hmm. It has been auctioned, right, that it's an auctionable item, right? Yeah. Yeah. And. And, you know, one of the real tragedies of the Superman stories, of course, is the the very limited amount of money that they received from the DC or what became DC Comics.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
A letter. Hmm.
CRAIG NORRIS
When they sold the rights to Superman that it was, I think it. Was, you know, I. I feel the total was. I think it's the equivalent. Of around you know, a few $1000 today. But given the amount of money it went on to make, yeah, and even worse, yes. And now you have these. These letters, I mean, I guess what the significance of this is that it's this. What if letter? You know, what if this became? Yeah, it's it's kind of 5th Beatle.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
It would, yeah. If it had been a different fellow, yeah.
CRAIG NORRIS
Kind of thing or?
Speaker
Yeah, but it does show you.
CRAIG NORRIS
The significance of Superman, that even something like that. That. Is is a significant moment. Mm-hmm. And of course, the other one, of course, is is what really does generate the income or the the, the sense of Superman's impact, which is that. Action Comics number one has been sold again at auction to again be seen as the most expensive comic ever sold. I think it was. Does it say how much?
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
You sold for like 3 million and 6,000,000. Or something like that. Yeah, I saw it just then, but I've lost it now.
Speaker
Yeah.
CRAIG NORRIS
$6 million. Yeah, so and again. I remember seeing this episode of Kevin Smith, Comic Bookman documentary or series, where they go into comic books like comic book Collector who has this Superman #1 and the request that one of the comic book store members has is to smell it. So he takes it out of its protected. Cover. And the guy puts his nose in it and smells it. And he says, yeah, that's it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think colour would still have a really kind of a really musty smell that triggers.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
So why would you?
CRAIG NORRIS
Want that? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. You wanna be careful? I mean, if it's. If it's been now. Yeah. This, this, this one has been valued at six million. You wouldn't want to sneeze.
Speaker
Just.
CRAIG NORRIS
Breathing into it.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
But there there's more than one copy, isn't there?
CRAIG NORRIS
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But again, the reason why I guess 6,000,000 is there's not many given how many were were initially produced and what human went on to become that number one. And I mean, it was considered trash culture at the time and disposable.
Speaker 7
Has it?
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
Has it been republished?
CRAIG NORRIS
Ohh yeah, yeah, yeah. Number one has been republished. But yeah, I mean that that original printing that first run is is is I guess what, what literally makes it collectible that it's limited run much like any collectible pop culture item it's it's because it it it.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
Yeah.
CRAIG NORRIS
Only is available in a small number, and it's particularly important title for the history of superheroes.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
OK.
CRAIG NORRIS
Sir. And even I can't remember seeing an episode of Sliders. Do you ever watch this TV science fiction TV series? It involved this multiverse idea where our heroes were travelling, multiverses of Earth, and each mirth would be a slightly different variation of this earth and they'd get up to one of hijinks and so forth. Anyway, there was one version of Earth they landed on, which was in 1930s. Version of this alternate Earth and the one of the characters takes this issue of Superman because he sees it on this comic book shelf as this. Yeah.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
Fair enough, 6,000,000.
CRAIG NORRIS
Get rich quick. All right, so let's now go into the well, the Superman. Yeah. So as we've been setting up over the last three weeks, we've been exploring the Australian radio version of Superman, first aired back in 1949, and it lasted five years.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
World of Superman.
CRAIG NORRIS
Wrapped up in 1954.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
This one, this one isn't consecutive to the the one that you.
CRAIG NORRIS
Played no this I think this is. Episode 752. Yes, the number 752 here. So given there were 1040 episodes made, this is, I guess towards the end. Of that run. Yeah, right.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
Well, there's still 300 episodes to go.
CRAIG NORRIS
Handed left together 50 minute episodes. So the stars, of course. Leonard Thiel, who became one of Australia's, you know, most fondly remembered actors from the 50s. He was famous mainly for his performance in the television series home. Side that here he plays Superman and received a lot of claim for this is Brisbane local Brisbane boy. Yeah. And we'll try to hear on this the cultural adaptation, mostly curious to see how the script scripts all from the US, How this is recorded in in Australian voices.
Speaker
Yeah.
CRAIG NORRIS
So we'll just play a little bit because I know in 15 minutes we've got K pop unlimited and we do want to spend a bit of time promoting that, but OK. So yeah, presentation, obviously child friendly content. So let's hear here the the setup of it. What I like is maybe it's the way then the reader says Superman is the most destroyed.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
Training, yeah.
Speaker 10
Family. And now Superman. Mikey, being from space stronger than steel, free to roam the world on his lone patrol for the benefit of mankind. Superman, in his guise of Clark Kent, finds himself unable to reveal his true identity and so forestall disaster as he, Lois Lane and young Ralph Marlow wait for Matt Golden's deadly trap to be sprung.
CRAIG NORRIS
So what's interesting here is it's not really a supervillain they're facing, it's it's a trap that's been created, yes.
Speaker
Sprung.
CRAIG NORRIS
Them.
Speaker 2
When did Golden say the logs would be started downriver in less than half an hour? Mr Kent and the gym up here the whole second. Is swept away with us in it. Why the Cheques on the Bank of the river less than 10 feet from the water, Miss Lane, and when logs pile up they go. Everywhere they should on the back as much as a. 100 feet. Sometimes I will go to the range of the jet will. Certainly be in their path. That's right, Mr Kent. Let's be out of here in a hurry. We won't have a chance in the world.
Speaker 10
Unaware that they were being LED into a trap, Clark Hinton Lois Lane had followed Matt Golden to an abandoned timber camp on the edge of a river some distance out of town. They were hoping Golden would lead them to young Ralph Marlow, whom they believed could help solve the secret of Stone Ridge. However, no sooner had they found Ralph than golden reappeared, gun in hand and bound Kent, Lewis and Ralph securely to chairs in the rickety old Shack, a shack which would certainly be swept away in a log jam which Golden had already.
CRAIG NORRIS
So it's kind of dazedly developers, there's, you know, some shenanigans going on in this town out of Metropolis. And uh, Clark Kent Reporter Los Lanes Los Lanes there now.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
I don't know who she.
CRAIG NORRIS
Is ohh really OK, right?
Speaker
So your.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
Is she also a?
CRAIG NORRIS
Reporter. Yes. So like the the classic characters in Superman obviously is Superman. Then once he becomes the reporter, you got Superman's Clark Kent and he works with Lois. Lois lane. Who's the love?
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
Interest. OK. Yeah, right.
CRAIG NORRIS
And Jimmy Olsen is the photographer that often appears in most of the adaptations of the. You're really not a comic book fan, nor a superhero.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
I've heard a lot of like. I've never heard of, no.
CRAIG NORRIS
Jimmy Olsen. OK. Right. Well, yeah, he's considered the. Another main third character, and then you've got, you know, Superman's villains, you know, like. Probably the most well known Brainiac and others.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
Brainiac. Yes, who's two face?
CRAIG NORRIS
Ohh, that's in Batman. That's Batman's villain. Yeah, alright, so well, good. I mean, it's good to.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
Ohh OK.
CRAIG NORRIS
Have some. Of that, there's nothing you could ask.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
Knows nothing.
CRAIG NORRIS
Regions.
Speaker 10
Now, as precious moments take away, Kent tries to think of some way to free himself. Some way to resume his true identity of Superman and save Lois and Ralph from death.
Speaker 2
If only I wasn't right in front of them. If only they couldn't see me, I couldn't clean up this mess in a minute.
Speaker 8
There must be some way, there must be.
Speaker 11
How long have we been here? Look.
Speaker 2
Clock. Ohh sorry, what did you say last?
CRAIG NORRIS
I mean quite like that use of audio to do a introspective thoughts, right? So you have him introspectively thinking, how do I get out of this so I can? I'm Superman because I have to keep my ultra identities. Client can't separate from Superman.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
It does. It does hurt the ears a bit. Though it's a.
CRAIG NORRIS
Little tiny. Yeah. And with the poor quality. Reproduction. Yeah, it's, it's. It's even more difficult. Not too bad. But yeah, again, it's using that theatre of the mind. To create a introspective, reflective moments because, yeah, learn two obviously has to do 3 voices, right? There's the introspective thoughts of Clark, and there's Clark Kent's voice. And then there's when you have.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
Superman's voice. You mean Superman?
CRAIG NORRIS
Superman, you got to put the brake in between.
Speaker 10
To.
CRAIG NORRIS
And then per man for the Australian, it's only Australian version that that, that announcer pronounces it like that. You know version Superman.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
Yeah, like, like with Snape in Harry.
Speaker 8
See.
CRAIG NORRIS
Potter the man? Snape.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
No, no, no, X.
CRAIG NORRIS
Yes, that's right. So going on.
Speaker 11
I asked you how long we've been here. Oh.
Speaker 2
About 10 minutes. That means in 20 minutes the logs will start rolling down river and how long before they get here? Not very long. The currents pretty strong. And the camps only a mile.
Speaker 11
Or two upstream can't understand how golden can arrange for the. Jam here. Oh.
Speaker 2
It's easy. The river's narrow here, not too deep and got a couple of logs. The middle and the rest of the. Against them, Matt, just to be a timberman before he started working for cash striker. He knows all the tricks. Listen, Ralph, exactly what is Golden's position with striker? What does he do? He's sort of a well right hand, man, I suppose golden does all his strikers. Dirty workers there. What you. Mean I don't follow you. Cast him. Did anything underhanded in his.
Speaker 11
Life. And this isn't underhand. Trying to murder us.
Speaker 2
What? You don't think Casper? Better to do this do. You you just said yourself that he would strike his. Right hand man, yes, but just doesn't know anything about this. That's double crossing him. He's been doing it for over a year. You've got to believe him.
Speaker 11
Now, wait a minute, Ralph.
Speaker 2
Playing chess is one of the finest men that ever lived. He wouldn't hurt anybody. Rough striker must know what golden. Is doing. He doesn't. Honestly, he doesn't. That is the kind of person who trusts everybody he's known, kept met for years. They worked in the timber camp together. Mike tried to warn Cassady. I couldn't get anywhere. He laughed at.
Speaker 11
Me. What about this meeting at the high school and the way the teachers are being persecuted?
Speaker 2
Miss Lee has appointed.
CRAIG NORRIS
Yeah, this one has a subplot about the teachers in this. Being underpaid and wanting to strike and complain, but it's all seems to be a little beat up. I don't know. There's a couple red herrings in the story, it's it's not at all a superhero story. It's it's a kind of investigative Crime Story.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
MHM.
CRAIG NORRIS
We'll skip forward a little bit at the. And.
Speaker 9
The camp, about 10 miles out of Taos.
Speaker 7
Working the Dickens. Are they doing away out there? Get them back here. Hello, Matt.
CRAIG NORRIS
Yes, this is Perry White, the editor at the Daily Planet, which is news.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
OK.
CRAIG NORRIS
Unusually in this radio version, he's also become the Mayor of Metropolis who's the editor, and the mayor, which I think is a it looks like a conflict. Of. Interest to me, have you ever heard of a editor of a newspaper? Then also becoming the mayor? Of of the.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
Place. It's a very strange question.
CRAIG NORRIS
Nice.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
Because you know the answer is no.
CRAIG NORRIS
It seems. Yeah, again, so this is it's it's it's something that the radio version has done which is different. So it's just the end, the cliffhanger. Of this episode.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
Very strong.
Speaker
Yeah.
Speaker 9
Well, that didn't come out and you started to investigate. Then all of a sudden the run of logs came down the river, jammed up. Throw into the shack and sweated away.
Speaker 7
Stripped it away with. Kenting side, yes.
Speaker 9
Matt says he's sure there they're dead.
Speaker 10
Cast strike. His voice trembles as he breaks the news to Perry. Right. But is it true? Did Golden really see the shacks swept away when we left Lois Kent and Ralph Marlow? They had just heard the muffled boom of the explosion that released the logs down the river. It is a steep and swift river and in a matter of minutes the log will cover the distance downstream to the shack a mere 10 feet from the bank and just 20 feet from where met Golden arranged for the logs to bank up. As Golden himself boasted, the logs would come ripping through the shack like pile drivers, crushing everything in their course, and now they're rolling and crashing filled the air as the leading Lords in a meds swirling downs come nearer and dearer to the spot opposite the shack where they will be jammed.
Speaker 2
Listen, the logs are coming down the river. Don't jam up in a minute.
Speaker 10
Ralph's warning cry is almost drowned out by the crashing Thunder of hundreds of massive logs rolling down the river, piling headlong into the barrier set by Matt Boulder. With a splintering, grinding roar, they jam up one against the other, and as the powerful current presses against them, they jump the riverbank, shooting wildly toward the flimsy **** as low as scream. Makes a decision.
Speaker 7
It's good screen.
Speaker 2
Can't wait another second. I've got to say. Flow or some route?
Speaker 9
I've broken the ropes. Oh, Superman will take over.
CRAIG NORRIS
Yeah. Yeah. So we have that really cool. Is it really cool? Anyway, the change of voice tone right from Clark Kent's voice to. Superman, this is a job for. You sounds like this is a job for.
Speaker
Come on.
Speaker 10
His true identity of Superman. Under the pale driving force of the logs and Louis and Ralph disappear. Has the Man of Steel waited too long? Has he delayed one second too many? We'll know in the next action packed episode of Super Batman.
CRAIG NORRIS
Damn whistle.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
Yeah. There you go. The thing the thing that really strikes me about that is that like these days, you have audio dramas and you have audio books. Yeah. They've tried to do an audio book, audio drama. And so it's just, I think it sounds. A bit strange.
CRAIG NORRIS
What? What aspects? Of that, do you find about audio? Bookish.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
Well, the narration.
CRAIG NORRIS
Yeah. Yeah, that's true. Yeah. There's a narrator there.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
So that like the the like, they say as I can't remember the characters names as.
CRAIG NORRIS
Could be for a kids audience. Superman. OK.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
Now this is something along the lines of as some somebody cries out the rush of the logs goes down through the the water in an audio drama. It would just it would have that sound effect and lower screaming wouldn't say and lower screams.
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah.
CRAIG NORRIS
Yeah, yeah. And the sound. Effect. Look. I. I wonder if that's because this is intended for a children's audience, right? I do think this. I mean, if you listen to the classic golden Age of radio dramas of this period, the 30s, forties.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
Thing on the Ford.
CRAIG NORRIS
Board. Yeah, let's get that one back up. It it. You know, he does narrate it so that you know, he's telling that story. So, you know, he is narrating. That it does do a lot of showing rather than telling, but it is. I guess that issue of the theatre of the mind. If you got a young audience, maybe the creative decision they've made here is to use in a reader. Yeah, to.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
Was a wrong decision.
CRAIG NORRIS
I you know, I think you could. You could adapt it. We could. We could create a Hobart to men. I don't know. I've been practising the the soup again. That's not even DC.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
So who would you play? Green goblin.
CRAIG NORRIS
What have we learned on this episode? What have we? Learned on this episode. A little bit of AI.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
Stuff little bit of AI stuff, little bit of GTA stuff, Yep.
Speaker
So.
CRAIG NORRIS
Then you know we we time travel back to 1949 to ohh by that says actually probably the 50s by. The time we. Get. To episode 752. Yeah, to, to and and again, not necessarily an Australian accent. It's not a kind of crocodile Dundee breath, but you know, Superman, Superman. He's probably the most distinctive part of it. Yeah, the main actor Australian actor does a fine job as performing, you know, strong male voice, Leonard Teal. Yeah. Who would you play? You give me how you really enjoy it.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
No. I play Superman, mate.
Speaker
Do you think?
CRAIG NORRIS
You could do that tonal range of Clark Kent and then the deeper voice Superman.
Speaker 6
That's OK.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
Of course I could, and I'd give them all different accents. We'll have like a a Welsh Superman.
CRAIG NORRIS
Well, the American version that we're listening to last week, yes, had had had Irish character and it really did diversify that a lot more. Well, this has been media mothership for this week. We'll be going on break for the next two weeks as we collect some data from Asia. So we'll see what audio. Material I can bring back with me coming up next. We have hip hop unlimited. What's happening on K?
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
Pop unlimited good music.
CRAIG NORRIS
Good music. You got any?
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
You always ask and it's always good music. Yes, but it is. It is the one that you don't. Like so $5 I love. That one? No, it's not that one.
CRAIG NORRIS
Any any scandals that we're covering any any musicians that are in a moment of?
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
Scandal. I don't check anything like this. No, I don't. No, I don't. I.
CRAIG NORRIS
You do you just. Wanna say it?
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
Don't have time.
CRAIG NORRIS
If you enjoyed the show, please subscribe and leave a review. If you were listening via the podcast or YouTube. If you have any questions or topic suggestions, write to us.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
Review on TripAdvisor.
CRAIG NORRIS
By a Facebook discord, even discord, Instagram, YouTube, Skype.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
Yeah, yeah. I've.
CRAIG NORRIS
Got some stuff up on.
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
TikTok well.
CRAIG NORRIS
Links for today's show. Will be in the show description on the podcast. Keep listening to Edge Radio coming up next is indeed K Pop unlimited. Is it still called K Pop Unlimited for now. For now, it's exciting. Future awaits. Alrighty. And what are we?
TAYLOR LIDSTONE
Listening to it's right here.
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