Latest news with #ClarkKent
Yahoo
13 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
He's the 'Clark Kent of pommel horse': Stephen Nedoroscik on Rubik's Cube, math videos and his nightly 700-calorie ice cream bowls
'I love a challenge.' The glasses. The contemplative breaks with his eyes closed. The one-armed spins. There's a reason why U.S. gymnast Stephen Nedoroscik emerged from the 2024 Paris Olympics with two bronze medals and a new nickname: 'Clark Kent of pommel horse.' Nedoroscik parlayed his popularity into a stint competing on Dancing With the Stars, in which he placed fourth. Touring with the show hasn't given his body much of a break, he says during our conversation for Yahoo's OT Diaries. 'As gymnasts, we always say that if you take a week off, it's going to take a month to get back in shape,' Nedoroscik tells me. 'So, taking nine months off was quite a hurdle for me. I was scared of taking that time off.' This, after all, is a guy who likes to keep his body and brain busy — the latter with math videos and Rubik's Cubes. But as he gears up for gymnastics competitions again, the bespectacled breakout star of Paris is feeling pretty good. Here's what he says about dancing, keeping his mind sharp and using ice cream to keep his weight up. What a whirlwind of a year it's been for you! After getting bronze in the Olympics, you finished fourth on . Why was that show something you wanted to pursue? It was a sort of victory lap for my success at the Olympics. So I thought to myself, I've earned this time off to dance and travel the country. One of the things that Dancing With the Stars did for me was show me that I can be confident and comfortable in environments that are not meant to be comfortable. Being able to dance in front of millions of people, a sport that I have never done before, really raised my confidence level. Not only from a viewership standpoint of people watching me while I'm working on this craft, but also from the standpoint of competition: being in the zone, staying present and being able to execute certain things that are hard for me. So I do think that it has definitely increased my confidence, and I'm hoping to be able to show that off [in gymnastics] on the world stage soon. The training is notoriously pretty rigorous. What impact would you say it had on your body? Dancing With the Stars demands a lot out of your body, and we were dancing every day for a minimum of four hours. Toward the end, we were doing eight-hour days of dance, so throughout the whole process, I stayed in shape. Not only was I working cardio, but with the lifts that we were doing, I actually gained muscle mass in my arms and legs, which was amazing to me. One of the best things about dancing was that I didn't have to support too much on my elbows or wrists. On the pommel horse, that's where we get injured. So being able to let those body parts relax a little bit was awesome. After dancing for nine months, my wrists are feeling great, and my elbows are feeling a little bit better. Were you keeping up any other fitness routines during that time? I don't usually do a whole lot of running or weightlifting or anything like that. In fact, the only thing that I really did during the Dancing With the Stars tour to stay in gymnastic shape was during our stretching sessions. I would do a few flairs, hit a couple of planches, do my minute hold of a handstand … just making sure that I was hitting those gymnastics basic conditioning elements. So that way, when I came back to the sport, I'd be feeling pretty good. I've returned to [gymnastics] training as of [May], and now that I'm back to the sport, I'm realizing that maybe the stigma around taking time off isn't true. Maybe we can take a little more time off for our bodies. Honestly, my body's feeling a lot better than it was a year ago. I'm training five days a week, slowly getting back all the skills that I was training a year ago. In fact, I'm actually pretty far ahead of where I estimated myself to be. I'll be competing this summer in August at the U.S. Championships. Gymnastics also seems to be a very mental sport. Did the time away from it feel like a reset for your mind? A year ago, I was struggling in the gym as I was chasing that Olympic dream. So over these last nine months, I've just processed a lot of feelings that I've had regarding the Olympics and the whole process leading up to it. I'm reframing it in my head and trying to keep a positive mentality, so that I can gear up for the competition this summer and hopefully the world championships in the fall. As if that wasn't enough, you've also been competing in chess and Rubik's Cube… I'm kind of like a mouse running around on that thing that spins. I feel like I can't stop. So even when I'm not doing gymnastics, I move on to my other hobbies, like Rubik's Cube or chess or video games. I always have hobbies and things that take a really long time to get better at. That's kind of what I love. Pommel horse is the same way. Chasing those marginal gains and taking years to see the progress. That's just the type of guy I am; I love a challenge. They all take a lot of focus, right? In all my hobbies, there's this aspect of staying focused and locked in to what you're doing. It's one of those skills that's transferable in almost everything, and it's gotten me a lot throughout my life. Do you have a specific approach to fueling your body or resting that allows you to stay on top of all of these physical and mental challenges? For the most part, I'm very relaxed when it comes to nutrition. … I need to make sure to get enough calories, but I never really concern myself with where those calories come from. It's kind of well-known that I eat a lot of ice cream, because I struggle to get enough in me throughout the day to not lose weight. So every night I have a 700-calorie bowl of ice cream. Sleep is another thing that I struggle with. Like I said, I keep spinning, I keep moving, and that is a problem for me when I'm trying to settle down for bed — especially when I wake up at 7 a.m. every morning for my workout. After the tour, I had to do a whole readjustment to what my schedule looked like so that I could sleep on time. I would say right now I'm averaging around seven hours of sleep a night, which isn't where I want to be. But I'm slowly chipping away at getting to bed closer and closer to the time that I'm projected to. Is there ever a time when you're doing nothing? What does an actual day off from training, dancing or cubing look like for you? I'm a pretty calm, laid-back dude. I love to just stay at home, whether that's watching a TV show or playing a video game with [my girlfriend] Tess or one of my best friends. It's kind of the day that I take for myself to sort of just charge back up for this next upcoming week. That's good to hear! Let's wrap up with a round of rapid-fire questions … Who is your No. 1 call when you have good news? That's always going to be my mom. Every time. What is your comfort watch? I love The Office. What is your guilty pleasure? It's not a guilty pleasure; it's a proud pleasure of mine: my big bowl of ice cream every night. What gives you the ick? Honestly, not a lot of things give me the ick. Actually, nothing comes to mind. Even if something is weird, I always think, Oh, that was different and kind of cool, I guess. What is something that you eat or drink every day? If I could eat a food for the rest of my life and guarantee my survival, it's going to be mint chocolate chip ice cream. One thing apart from ice cream that I always have is a lot of water. I drink, minimally, a gallon of water a day. What is your internet rabbit hole? Math videos on YouTube. It's my favorite thing ever. People will upload hour-and-a-half-long videos, and I can't wait to get home and watch the whole thing. I'll rewind it so I understand it, so sometimes it takes me three hours to get through. What is one go-to item that never leaves your bag? My inhaler because I have asthma. It's the one thing I will always triple-check I have. What song or album is your personal soundtrack right now? I've been rotating the Beatles a lot recently. What is a wellness trend that you swear by? I don't know any wellness trends. But I do snore, so maybe I should try mouth taping. Gymnastics aside, what are you best at? Cubing. I actually just broke my record last week, 7.86 seconds. What is a skill or hobby that you're trying to get good at? One of the video games I play, Rocket League. I have a lot of hours and experience and years in it. I want to get better at it, and overall, I just want to rank higher. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
13 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
He's the 'Clark Kent of pommel horse': Stephen Nedoroscik on Rubik's Cube, math videos and his nightly 700-calorie ice cream bowls
'I love a challenge.' The glasses. The contemplative breaks with his eyes closed. The one-armed spins. There's a reason why U.S. gymnast Stephen Nedoroscik emerged from the 2024 Paris Olympics with two bronze medals and a new nickname: 'Clark Kent of pommel horse.' Nedoroscik parlayed his popularity into a stint competing on Dancing With the Stars, in which he placed fourth. Touring with the show hasn't given his body much of a break, he says during our conversation for Yahoo's OT Diaries. 'As gymnasts, we always say that if you take a week off, it's going to take a month to get back in shape,' Nedoroscik tells me. 'So, taking nine months off was quite a hurdle for me. I was scared of taking that time off.' This, after all, is a guy who likes to keep his body and brain busy — the latter with math videos and Rubik's Cubes. But as he gears up for gymnastics competitions again, the bespectacled breakout star of Paris is feeling pretty good. Here's what he says about dancing, keeping his mind sharp and using ice cream to keep his weight up. What a whirlwind of a year it's been for you! After getting bronze in the Olympics, you finished fourth on . Why was that show something you wanted to pursue? It was a sort of victory lap for my success at the Olympics. So I thought to myself, I've earned this time off to dance and travel the country. One of the things that Dancing With the Stars did for me was show me that I can be confident and comfortable in environments that are not meant to be comfortable. Being able to dance in front of millions of people, a sport that I have never done before, really raised my confidence level. Not only from a viewership standpoint of people watching me while I'm working on this craft, but also from the standpoint of competition: being in the zone, staying present and being able to execute certain things that are hard for me. So I do think that it has definitely increased my confidence, and I'm hoping to be able to show that off [in gymnastics] on the world stage soon. The training is notoriously pretty rigorous. What impact would you say it had on your body? Dancing With the Stars demands a lot out of your body, and we were dancing every day for a minimum of four hours. Toward the end, we were doing eight-hour days of dance, so throughout the whole process, I stayed in shape. Not only was I working cardio, but with the lifts that we were doing, I actually gained muscle mass in my arms and legs, which was amazing to me. One of the best things about dancing was that I didn't have to support too much on my elbows or wrists. On the pommel horse, that's where we get injured. So being able to let those body parts relax a little bit was awesome. After dancing for nine months, my wrists are feeling great, and my elbows are feeling a little bit better. Were you keeping up any other fitness routines during that time? I don't usually do a whole lot of running or weightlifting or anything like that. In fact, the only thing that I really did during the Dancing With the Stars tour to stay in gymnastic shape was during our stretching sessions. I would do a few flairs, hit a couple of planches, do my minute hold of a handstand … just making sure that I was hitting those gymnastics basic conditioning elements. So that way, when I came back to the sport, I'd be feeling pretty good. I've returned to [gymnastics] training as of [May], and now that I'm back to the sport, I'm realizing that maybe the stigma around taking time off isn't true. Maybe we can take a little more time off for our bodies. Honestly, my body's feeling a lot better than it was a year ago. I'm training five days a week, slowly getting back all the skills that I was training a year ago. In fact, I'm actually pretty far ahead of where I estimated myself to be. I'll be competing this summer in August at the U.S. Championships. Gymnastics also seems to be a very mental sport. Did the time away from it feel like a reset for your mind? A year ago, I was struggling in the gym as I was chasing that Olympic dream. So over these last nine months, I've just processed a lot of feelings that I've had regarding the Olympics and the whole process leading up to it. I'm reframing it in my head and trying to keep a positive mentality, so that I can gear up for the competition this summer and hopefully the world championships in the fall. As if that wasn't enough, you've also been competing in chess and Rubik's Cube… I'm kind of like a mouse running around on that thing that spins. I feel like I can't stop. So even when I'm not doing gymnastics, I move on to my other hobbies, like Rubik's Cube or chess or video games. I always have hobbies and things that take a really long time to get better at. That's kind of what I love. Pommel horse is the same way. Chasing those marginal gains and taking years to see the progress. That's just the type of guy I am; I love a challenge. They all take a lot of focus, right? In all my hobbies, there's this aspect of staying focused and locked in to what you're doing. It's one of those skills that's transferable in almost everything, and it's gotten me a lot throughout my life. Do you have a specific approach to fueling your body or resting that allows you to stay on top of all of these physical and mental challenges? For the most part, I'm very relaxed when it comes to nutrition. … I need to make sure to get enough calories, but I never really concern myself with where those calories come from. It's kind of well-known that I eat a lot of ice cream, because I struggle to get enough in me throughout the day to not lose weight. So every night I have a 700-calorie bowl of ice cream. Sleep is another thing that I struggle with. Like I said, I keep spinning, I keep moving, and that is a problem for me when I'm trying to settle down for bed — especially when I wake up at 7 a.m. every morning for my workout. After the tour, I had to do a whole readjustment to what my schedule looked like so that I could sleep on time. I would say right now I'm averaging around seven hours of sleep a night, which isn't where I want to be. But I'm slowly chipping away at getting to bed closer and closer to the time that I'm projected to. Is there ever a time when you're doing nothing? What does an actual day off from training, dancing or cubing look like for you? I'm a pretty calm, laid-back dude. I love to just stay at home, whether that's watching a TV show or playing a video game with [my girlfriend] Tess or one of my best friends. It's kind of the day that I take for myself to sort of just charge back up for this next upcoming week. That's good to hear! Let's wrap up with a round of rapid-fire questions … Who is your No. 1 call when you have good news? That's always going to be my mom. Every time. What is your comfort watch? I love The Office. What is your guilty pleasure? It's not a guilty pleasure; it's a proud pleasure of mine: my big bowl of ice cream every night. What gives you the ick? Honestly, not a lot of things give me the ick. Actually, nothing comes to mind. Even if something is weird, I always think, Oh, that was different and kind of cool, I guess. What is something that you eat or drink every day? If I could eat a food for the rest of my life and guarantee my survival, it's going to be mint chocolate chip ice cream. One thing apart from ice cream that I always have is a lot of water. I drink, minimally, a gallon of water a day. What is your internet rabbit hole? Math videos on YouTube. It's my favorite thing ever. People will upload hour-and-a-half-long videos, and I can't wait to get home and watch the whole thing. I'll rewind it so I understand it, so sometimes it takes me three hours to get through. What is one go-to item that never leaves your bag? My inhaler because I have asthma. It's the one thing I will always triple-check I have. What song or album is your personal soundtrack right now? I've been rotating the Beatles a lot recently. What is a wellness trend that you swear by? I don't know any wellness trends. But I do snore, so maybe I should try mouth taping. Gymnastics aside, what are you best at? Cubing. I actually just broke my record last week, 7.86 seconds. What is a skill or hobby that you're trying to get good at? One of the video games I play, Rocket League. I have a lot of hours and experience and years in it. I want to get better at it, and overall, I just want to rank higher. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. Solve the daily Crossword
Hindustan Times
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
What cinema can do when kindness is a thing of past
It is difficult to not interpret the screenplay of Superman (2025) — whether the interpretation is naive or nuanced is another matter. You end up drawing parallels with the immediate surroundings, and slowly this imagination expands as time lapses. It crosses borders and seas, to think of a part of the world inhabited by those like us, humans, who are starving under the recklessness of a siege. Yes, we are talking about Israel and Palestine. The premise of Superman has originally depicted the Earth as primitive and physically weak but not without sensibilities. Superman — Clark Kent after he arrives in America — was sent to Earth by his parents to save him from the destruction of their planet Krypton. He honed his skills to be able to focus on what's needed. America's greatest superhero — who shifts between being a baby-faced, introverted, immaculate, soft spoken journalist, if there ever was one, to an extension of this persona with a few alterations to strength — has mostly been depicted without complications. His virtues are impractical, often boring. 'My parents taught me to hone my senses, Zod,' Superman (played by Henry Cavill) tells his nemesis in Man of Steel (2013), referring to his adopted parents on Earth. So, what does James Gunn, the director of Superman (2025), do differently? Nothing, except diversify the skills of storytelling to hone his viewers and bring our focus to what's important and needed. He builds the foundation for the imagination of a reality — Superman (played by David Corenswet) stops the fictional Boravia from invading the neighboring Jarhanpur, and tells Vasil Ghurkos, the Boravian president, to leave. He calls out America's support in propagating this atrocity. You don't have to scratch the surface of this reference to think of the Israeli ambush in Palestine. The casting, cinematography, and visualisation help — Boravians are White, ruthless and heavily armed while the people of Jarhanpur, played by west and southeast Asians, are famished and armed with whatever sharp objects they can find. Boravia has aid and the latest weaponry and it isn't far-fetched to think that Jarhanpur needs the intervention of a superpower to be saved from annihilation. There is also what appears to be a 'political' prison where the primary villain, Lex Luthor, has held people and metahumans. And Gunn's Luthor is a tacit villain. His motives are as personal as they are political. He is an American billionaire tech mogul whose aid to Boravia is helping him buy a share of Jarhanpur. It was all a set up and Gunn has been called out for making a superwoke spectacle. Gunn has denied these intentions. 'I've heard people say it was woke,' he said in an interview, adding that these layers may have crept in because originally, Superman was an immigrant as imagined by the character's creators, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, who were also immigrants. '...It's a story about kindness... And so what does that lead to? Well, does that lead to the way you vote? Sure... I mean, people did value kindness in the past... So that was always the centre of the movie for me, and it wasn't about anything other than that,' Gunn was quoted as saying. But we are at a point where the most basic portrayal of good vs evil runs into debates of woke or apathetic, and, as Gunn points out, kindness is a thing of the past. Despite his intentions, or lack thereof, Gunn's Superman does not skirt over notions of good and evil by depicting unrealistic otherworldly circumstances. This 'woke' Superman is not on the fence. His popularity is waning because he chooses to side with what is morally right, which does not sit well with a population growing vastly intolerant towards immigrants. Somewhere, despite classes in cinematic neorealism, we regressed from having to scrape through layers to get to the plot point through critical thinking. Our notions of good and evil have become rudimentary and siding with the good now amounts to inadvertent wokeness. We are being spoon-fed the plot to absorb the reality. The latest serving of Superman does a fantastic job of it. It tells the world that some circumstances require super interventions because humans are now indifferent. This superhero was never meant to be more human than humans. Remember, he had to hone his skills, learn notions of ethics and morality. In a critical fight with him in Man of Steel, Faora-Ul, the Kryptonian war criminal, tells him: 'The fact that you possess a sense of morality and we do not give us an evolutionary advantage.' A reminder that all evolution is not good evolution. But this could also be open to interpretation. If not humans, maybe some lessons can be borrowed from metahumans. After all, disclaimers — names, characters and incidents – are products of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental — and are only relevant in litigation. The views expressed are personal.
Geek Tyrant
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Geek Tyrant
James Gunn Reveals Key Scene in SUPERMAN Was Almost Much Darker — GeekTyrant
Superman was a film about hope. It was about the human experience, and navigating life under super circumstances. Director James Gunn put his signature style into the film, bringing us humor and heart, and even a pretty dark scene to portray the level of evil Clark was dealing with in his nemesis, Lex Luthor. But as it turns out, the scene was almost much darker. {Spoilers ahead, if you haven't seen the film.} The scene takes place in the pocket universe created by the villainous Luthor, in the prison he is keeping all who ever wronged him. He puts the captured superhero into a cell with Metamorpho, who is meant to conjure Kryptonite to break Superman down if he doesn't reveal the answers to Luthor's questions. Lex then brings in Malik Ali, a falafel vendor who appears earlier in the film when he helps Superman during a kaiju's attack on Metropolis, who he uses as a ploy to get Superman to talk. Luthor ends up shooting Malik, which is shocking and sad, but Gunn revealed that in his original plan, the scene then took a grim turn. In a recent interview on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Gunn said that he toned down the aftermath of Malik's death, which leaves an anguished Superman wailing after watching Luthor shoot the friendly civilian in the head. 'There's a really dark thing in there. There was a really dark thing. Once I saw the movie, I'm like, 'This is [too dark].' So Lex shoots the guy in the head, that was always done in this extreme wide [shot] so it's not too graphic. But the guy fell on the ground, and blood is pouring out onto the platform, and Lex looks down and sees the blood is about to get on his shoes.' At that point, Luthor would have Ghurkos get on the ground to soak up Malik's blood from seeping into his shoes. 'Ghurkos goes, 'What? No!' And Nic looks at him, and his delivery is great, because he looks at him straight and [says], 'No?' And then Ghurkos, sheepishly, sadly, trudges forward and lays down on his back. And [Burić], he's so funny. He lays down on his back and starts soaking up the blood. Then Nic looks over at Superman and says, 'I'll see you tomorrow.'' Gunn noted the scene was shot but was 'cut pretty early,' adding, 'I don't think that was even ever in a test screening.' Before the film's release, Gunn revealed that Drew Goddard, writer of Marvel's Daredevil and the films The Martian , The Cabin in the Woods , and Project Hail Mary , recommended he trim the scene. Gunn told Collider: 'Drew Goddard was really helpful. I think that there were a couple of little things in the movie, three or four things that we really argued about in the film, and all of them had to do with things that were a little bit darker or a little bit lighter. In discussing one of them, Drew Goddard was like, 'You know what? It's just not that film. It's not that film with this little dark ending bit.' And I thought, 'He's right. It's not that film. It is not that film.' And so that line that he said stuck with me for the rest of editing.' Gunn's Superman is now playing everywhere in theaters.
IOL News
22-07-2025
- Entertainment
- IOL News
What lessons can we learn from Superman about global crises and misinformation?
We delve into how Superman's cinematic returns reflects the pressing issues in the real world. Image: IOL Superman is better than all of your favourites combined. Okay, now that I have your attention. Superman has been in South African and worldwide cinemas for a few weeks, prompting fans of both James Gunn and Zack Snyder to come out in full force. Previous adaptations leaned into moral ambiguity, questions of existence, and had flashy fights in dim lighting as well as a storyline with a fight famously resolved by simply invoking the name "Martha." However, this Superman movie brings him back to his classic identity and concentrates on what makes us human, which is ironic, seeing as he is an alien. At its core, it's a message of hope - hope for the future, hope for mankind and hope for a better world. But then reality hits when you step out of the cinema: We don't live in Metropolis. We don't have Superman. And the world continues to grapple with war and misinformation. The past few years have been defined by global unrest, with headlines dominated by heartwrenching images of war and despair. War rages in Palestine and conflicts engulf African countries and other parts of the world. The Palestine-Israel war has resulted in thousands of deaths, humanitarian crises escalating, and reports of starvation. Additionally, media institutions struggle under the weight of political polarisation and misinformation in the age of AI. In light of this, Superman's dual identity as both a caped hero and journalist, Clark Kent, takes on an interesting and new relevance. When Superman is not saving the world, Clark Kent, a reporter for the fictional 'Daily Planet', is the embodiment of ethical journalism (okay, that ethics line gets blurred when he technically interviews himself, but we digress.) In today's media climate, where public trust in journalism dwindles thanks to AI and misinformation on social media, Kent's role serves as a reminder of what journalism could and should be. It's standing for what's right, even if there is a megalomaniac figure like Lex Luthor out to get you. And in the real world, there are definitely several Lex Luthors and Vasil Ghurkos. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Ad Loading This intersection of truth and heroism comes at a critical time. A recent Pew Research Center study found that only 26% of Americans say they trust national news organisations 'a lot.' According to a Statista report, Nigeria recorded the highest trust in news at 68%, followed closely by Scandinavian countries like Finland, Denmark, and Norway. In contrast, Hungary and Greece had the lowest trust levels at just 22%, partly due to concerns over media independence. If we take a look at local statistics, trust in South African media has seen a slight decline recently, with an overall trust score of 55%, a 6 percentage point drop from the previous year's 61%. Disinformation on social media continues to rise, while global conflicts are increasingly shaped by information warfare. 'Hope isn't naïve,' said Gunn in a press statement last year. 'It's essential. Especially when the world feels like it's burning.' The upcoming film reportedly leans into these ideals of hope, positioning Superman not as this detached godlike figure with amazing powers and laser eyes, but as someone who wrestles with how to help in a world that sometimes resists truth itself. Of course, we know that Superman's return doesn't offer solutions to our global crisis. He won't swoop in to stop the war in Gaza, he won't get his tech friends to tackle misinformation, and he cannot help feed starving people. But while fictional, his story (specifically this one) gives a real lesson: true justice doesn't come from power, it doesn't come from money. It comes from compassion and humanity. Or in South Africa, we would just say "Just be lekker." IOL
