If there’s one thing I hope never changes for us as friends - it’s how the little things keep our group dynamic going. Whether it be an episode of “Heroes”, a game of “Primordial Soup”, or a huge movie event like “Spider-Man 3″, I hope there will always be something that we all enjoy, but appreciate at different levels.

Nothing describes this better than the way we all felt differently about “Spider-Man 3″, the latest and arguably the most anticipated comic book movie yet. Even though we all believed it was a decent movie despite the draggy plot and distinct lack of characterisation, we all had different gripes that were just impossible to find a consensus on.

My own distaste was the handling of Harry Osborne, whom I had felt had the most potential to be the biggest villian in the Spider-Man film series. Harry had lost so much do to his relationship with Peter Parker, including the change of heart of Mary Jane and the death of his father Norman Osborne, that you could feel his genuine hatred for Spider-Man. Yet, tempered by his sincere admiration and mutual respect for Peter Parker, and you had the makings of a conflicted villain. For a while, this seemed to be the path that director Sam Raimi followed. However, the plot saw Harry’s life take one turn after another, and instead of birthing a nemesis so tragic that Spider-Man would be torn fighting, what followed was an inexplicable about-face that saw the New Goblin as an ally rather than an opponent.

Because every argument needed two sides, I eventually found myself facing-off against kakita, who didn’t feel the way I did because, by his own admission, he was never really aware of the tragedy of Harry Osborne as depicted in the comics and television animated series. And of course, instead of dwelling on the movie’s character, we naturally gravitated to discussing the difficulty of transferring the Green Goblin suit from the comics to the silver screen without making it look like a campy, non-threatening outfit.

All because, at the end of the day, our friendship, all 9 of us present today, is made up of not only deep philosophical tirades, but also simple fanboy debates about issues that we all enjoy and are passionate about. I couldn’t ask for more.

Captain America is dead. Long live the American Dream.

At least, that was the big news of last week. Reuters picked up the story and reported on how one of the oldest superheroes in the past century (first appearance in 1941) has finally bit the dust and kicked the bucket. Back home last Wednesday, Life! gave the whole of page 4 to the Reuters story and also printed a blurb at the top of the main paper. It’s reassuring and rather vindicating for a Captain America fan like myself to know that there’s a big real-world reaction to this most shocking and tragic event.

Of course, a lot of the media’s interest comes from the political subtext that could be read from such a literary device. The representation of the American Dream of justice, peace, freedom and human rights has died, killed by the combination of Evil Personified and a brainwashed US intelligence agent. Not to mention that said icon was also involved in a self proclaimed “Civil War” against those fighting for national security, a War which ended when the “right to privacy” surrendered to the “right to safety”.

But for me, a fan of Captain America for the past decade, it’s just a huge tragedy. A tragedy that a man was forced to evolve into a symbol, to grow beyond all human limitations, to represent an ideal that few people still buy into. Because at the end of the day, what writer Ed Brubaker was really doing was returning Captain America back to his status as a human being in a world gone crazy. So it is ironic, then, that when Cap (the man) faces his own mortality, it is all that he stands for that is called into question in the real world.

I guess, in my long-winded way, I’m saying that even though he was a comic book character, as a person, Cap meant more to me than as the personification of an ideal. He was a young man who wanted to fight for his country in World War II but was medically unfit. Still, he persevered and underwent a secret experiment that turned him into a Super Soldier. Then, while fighting one battle after another, he befriended a younger man nicknamed Bucky and together, they became one of the biggest legends of the War. Cap’s story is unique because it is a path we can all follow. No one else comes as close to the Marvel Everyman like Steve Rogers, Captain America.

And now he is dead.

Having watched the Ghost Rider movie starring Nicolas Cage last night, caught a repeat telecast of the 79th Academy Awards this morning and less than an hour ago, finished watching the latest episode of Heroes… I’m swimming in thoughts about what defines a Hero to me. But more of that later.

Ghost Rider, the latest Marvel Comics character to appear on the silver screen could not have asked for a more unique debut. Sure, like several other comic book characters, his story, his mythos, was re-written to better suit a 100 minute flick. Sure, like Blade, he was played by an actor who insisted on making the movie more about him than the comic book character. Ultimately, though, what was different was just how retro the whole movie felt.

Despite a rather angsty storyline (for a comic book movie) - A stuntman sells his soul to the devil to save his father from cancer and becomes a bounty hunter whom the devil calls upon when a demon tries to rule the Earth (What?! I said it was angsty, not believable!), the treatment for Ghost Rider comes as being unable to take itself seriously. It’s like watching Adam West and Burt Ward running around in colourful spandex all over again. But at least THEY had the acting chops to pull off the crappy dialogue.

Don’t get me wrong, though. As a fellow comic book fan, I have great respect for Nicolas Cage and am extremely envious that he is a relatively big name in a Hollywood during a time when comic book movies are all the rage (almost every comic book movie in the past five years has been #1 at the US box office) and is thus able to get the part of one of his favourite superheroes (he even has a tattoo of Ghost Rider!).

I personally think Cage is capable of being a believable action hero, if sometimes breaking the mould, somewhat. His turn in National Treasure as an intelligent, dorky ex-Marine was slightly more appropriate than playing a dangerous criminal who loves his daughter in Con-Air. In Ghost Rider, however, Cage’s version of Johnny Blaze just comes across as being too hokey… too LAME… to really get behind.

Thank goodness his opponents were just as LAME, otherwise you might actually see me rooting for the bad guy. The only person who really seemed to relish his role and to really enjoy it is Wes Bentley who plays the antagonist Blackheart. With wonderful flair and morbidity, Blackheart becomes a villian that any hero would look good going up against.

Though I love Ghost Rider to death (pun not intended), this movie could barely hold my attention, and it was only the fanboy moments of seeing the Ghost Rider side by side with his predecessor from the Wild West that made it worth remembering.

Afterthought: Come to think of it… the only person really to blame is director-writer Mark Steven Johnson, who gave us a crappy rendition of Daredevil that wasn’t helped by casting fanboy Ben Affleck. I’m beginning to sense a trend here…

How wonderful it is to be alive today, where comic book characters from the previous century come to life in strange, new ways, through film and video games. I’ve just completed the PC version of Marvel: Ultimate Alliance and I can’t begin to describe the absolute joy it has been to just take control of a team of superheroes whose adventures I have been faithfully following for the past decade.

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance gives you the opportunity to play around with up to 25 of Marvel Comics’ most loved creations. Controlling Captain America (and later on changing his costume to that of the USAgent’s) is like a dream come true, although as the story progressed, it became clear to me that Iron Man is the more useful character. Nothing beats his plasma discs, not even Cap’s shield throw. It was a blast to also use the various different costumes and to see all the additional powers associated with each outfit, such as the original Ghost Rider being able to resurrect allies.

Despite the hero roster missing some classic Marvel heroes like the Hulk, one is otherwise spoilt for choice between Avengers like Thor and Black Panther, and New Avengers like Luke Cage and Spider-Woman, the Fantastic Four and other solo heroes like Daredevil and Elektra.

Finally, while most of the dialogue between the heroes and villians was often tired, cheesy material, there were flashes of brilliance with gratituous dollops of humour when using witty characters like Spider-Man and Deadpool.

The only thing I wasn’t particularly happy with was the over-reliance on the Ultimate Marvel universe, even though the story itself is based in neither continuity. Costumes and characters seemed to contradict the current Marvel Universe - Captain America, for example, seems to lack any leadership ability whatsoever, relying on Nick Fury’s charisma instead. But other than this personal gripe, the cut-scenes are beautifully animated and the voice-acting is top notch.

Score one for comic books! Soon they’ll be so mainstream I can imagine a module on Superheroes for just about every subject from Physics to Literature.

How ironic that after more than a decade without the quintessential Japamerican comic, it’s En who re-introduces me to Usagi Yojimbo.

(Ironic, because En’s more or less dropped the American comic for manga, and manga is the one thing I would never touch, especially not Naruto - for reasons even I can’t comprehend.)

Anyway, En unearthed two volumes of Usagi comics from among the library@orchard collection, and I unflinchingly grabbed them from her. Shameless, but I really missed the rabbit ronin. My first encounter with him was in the cartoon version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (the Fred Wolf version from 1987, not the current animated series from Fox) and back then I thought Usagi was the result of a mutagen experiment between a samurai and a rabbit. It was only years later that I discovered that Stan Sakai was the genius behind the bushido bunny who despite being an anthromorphic oriental warrior in the vein of Splinter and the Turtles, was conceived quite seperately from Eastman and Laird’s creations.

But I get ahead of myself. One of the volumes I was fortunate to *ahem* obtain thanks to En was the Grasscutter epic. A volume of 12 chapters (4 prologues and 8 story issues), the Grasscutter was one of the biggest story arcs ever found in a Usagi story. The titular item is the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi, a mythological sword that equals King Arthur’s Excalibur in cultural prominence. In the story, two warring political factions (belonging to the Shogun and the Emperor) seek to obtain the lost sword, believing that ownership of the blade will represent the true mandate of authority. Naturally, the weapon falls into the hands of neutral party Usagi Yojimbo, who recognises its power over the populace, and realises that regardless of which side ends up with the blade, civil war will erupt.

The story is told in a simple fashion, with many of Usagi’s friends and enemies from previous stories making appearances, but the message is no less epic as a result. The climatic fight scene would rival any Naruto battle and the characterisation goes deeper than any Samurai X story. Truly, the tale of Usagi Yojimbo is an evergreen classic - two decades on.

And I think we’re off to a nice start.

A/P Sherwood is the FIRST Engineering lecturer I’ve seen who comes into the LT wearing a t-shirt one size too small, jeans and a container of liquid nitrogen.

He then pulls out a polymer strip, almost a meter long, and starts to play with it. He straightens it, and watches it flop down. Does it a couple more times, and THEN, in the most underhanded voice he can muster he comments (to himself), “This is fun.”

I won’t even begin to describe him put the polymer strip into the liquid nitrogen and stroking it to prove how “rigid” it gets when cold.

All this in the middle of a half an hour lecture. Whoa. And I’m going to see this guy three times a week for the next semester!

And in other news…

The Avengers Disassembled event has more or less kicked off. This book, which affects several Marvel Comics titles including Thor, Captain America and Iron Man, is one of those “we’re not a crossover, but there sure are repurcussions to everything” stories.

The Avengers are in an internal crisis. They have been declared the property of the United Nations, and are the world’s superheroes (even though based in New York City). This puts members like Iron Man (who, in a twist of fate, was elected Secretary of Defense) and Black Panther (who is somehow still King of his African nation of Wakanda) at odds with the other members over several issues.

To make matters worse, a supervillian (currently believed to be Captain America’s archnemesis, the Red Skull) is causing all some of the Avengers to behave irrationally. Tony Stark wears his Iron Man armour to a UN conference, and then threatens the Latverian representative. Furthermore, long-time supporting characters like the Warriors Three and Baldur fall, casualties as Thor’s world caves in on itself.

All in all, it seems like an interesting read. I wonder how it ends.

And just for your entertainment - HULK BLOG! and here’s a cute Taiwanese road safety commercial.

2004 got off to a really good start in terms of my entertainment with both the WWE and Marvel Comics producing some of their best work in recent memory.

The 2004 Royal Rumble is arguably one of the best produced matches following the demise of global competitor World Championship Wrestling in 2001. The production level and direction were superb and the audience was treated to an amazing array of diverse talent. We had arguably some of today’s best wrestling all-rounders investing everything into the match. Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit and Rob Van Dam pulled out all the stops and took the battle to a whole new level. It was a great way to start off the year and it really built up interest in Wrestlemania XX, this March.

On the Marvel front, 1602 has taken pole position in gunning for some of the best concepts in comic book history. Written by highly acclaimed scribe Neil Gaiman, this retelling of the history of the Marvel Universe is rife with amazing twists and subtle turns. Truly, a gem to behold and one that I am proud to own.

If this trend of highly-entertaining comics and shows continues, I might be forced to find a part-time job to finance my addiction.