Spoilers.

Watchmen is an alternate history.

Most quote the main difference as "superheroes exist" but I think it is far simpler than that. It's "Dr. Manhattan" exists.

Even so, in the Watchmen universe, after the late 1950s appearance of Dr. Manhattan, JFK is still assassinated, Nixon still becomes president, the Cold War still happens.

The reasons are slightly different, but the results are the same.

The rest of the world?

Various musicians still write their protest 1960s songs. Iggy Pop is still active in the late 70s, singing songs penned with David Bowie. Penned in Berlin.

By specifically mentioning songs, the writers are saying "these things did not change".

By not mentioning so many others they might be saying "perhaps these things did change". David Bowie was writing with Iggy Pop, but was he writing and releasing his own albums? We don't know.

We never hear alternate history songs (ones different to the ones we know, or ones we don't know) in either the comic or the movie. Is there meaning in this?

If you take the song choices in the Watchmen movie as something more than laziness (Nena = The 80s) and give the choices some specific alternate-timeline-political meaning, they're far more interesting.

"99 Luftballons" was released in our timeline in early 1984. It was written partially as a reaction to seeing red balloons released at a Rolling Stones concert in Berlin, the musician wonders if the balloons will float over "the wall" and what the reaction will be.

In the movie in Watchmen's timeline the song is played in a restaurant at the end of 1985. Is this because it was released slightly later, or just because restaurants only play old, established hits?

Regardless, the song playing tells us many things. Germany exists, East/West Berlin as we understand them exist, Nena exists, Star Wars exists.

It tells us so much that the comic/movie (so focused on America and specifically New York) doesn't.

Perhaps the Rolling Stones don't exist. It could have been at any concert.

The movie tells us Simon & Garfunkel exist, as does their hit "The Sounds of Silence". This song is on S&G's first album and is Paul Simon's reaction to the JFK assassination. Their album bombed and they broke up. Their producer noticed "Silence" was getting airplay and, without S&G's permission, overdubbed guitar/bass/drums and released the version of the song most people know.

All of this happened in the Watchmen timeline.

In our world, the new version of the song did very well and S&G got back together.

In the movie Watchmen's world, S&G might not have got back together.

We don't know.

Given why the song was written, and given The Comedian's history, the use of the song is filled with meaning. Perhaps it's use is far far too obvious, or perhaps it shows how much meaning the director intended in every song choice?

But who ever gives the song the thought it deserves?

I was going to write about the popular music choices in Watchmen, but I've stalled on the discovery (and memory) that some of the song choices were based on their mention in the book.

That slightly changes the points I was going to make... but I'll rethink and return.

Meanwhile, see Wired's take on the music of Watchmen.

On my first (and only) reading of Watchmen I didn't think of the costumed heroes as super-heroes. They were in my mind ordinary men and women. They were brave and very good at self protection, climbing, fighting, but they were ordinary.

Dr Manhattan is a superman with the powers of a god. He was, in my mind, the only unusual/supernatural element to the comic. Everything weird came from him. Nite Owl II's technology, the air-ships, most of the politics and alternate history. Without him you could almost pretend the Minutemen existed. Manhattan cannot be ignored.

The movie appears to infer that our heroes are indeed super. They are super strong, super powerful. They can smash walls/bones/tables with their fists. They survive falls and damage no human could. However, it is possible even with these depictions to argue they are no more super than your average action hero. Even the movie "super" heroes die, sometimes accidentally. They are still damaged when they're hit. Explainable.

Except for Rorschach's mask. In the book, an explanation for the moving patterns is given (again, Dr. Manhattan). It isn't given in the movie.

With the Manhattan explanation I'd expect the mask to look more like layers of latex with liquid suspended in it. Instead, it looked like hessian and an unexplainable supernatural moving pattern. I understand the poor actor could never have breathed in a full latex mask, but they created a blue man, they could CGI out some breathing holes.

I don't understand why they did it. When every other odd technical element in the Watchmen universe is explained by the presence of big-blue, the unexplained shifting patterns of Rorschach's fabric mask stuck out like a sore thumb as something very wrong.

I admit though, that watching the patterns shift on what was living, talking, breathing, moving fabric was quite likely much more interesting than flat, shiny latex. It was mesmerising.

Perhaps latex would have looked too bondage? Hessian is dirtier... it better suits Rorschach's alter ego as an "End Is Nigh" sign carrier.

I should not be hung up on such things.

We returned to Shira Nui on Saturday night to celebrate our 9th anniversary.

We sat at a table, buying single dishes instead of going Omakase. I had the pan fried salmon and it was as fantastic as I remembered. We both had a select of five appetisers for entree which included oysters, deep fried pork and others I can no longer remember.

We deserted on our favourite, creme cheese crepe and black sesame ice-cream.

I enjoyed another japanese malt beer, whose name I have again managed to forget.

It was, without planning, almost exactly as I said it would be back in 2007.

Lovely.