Now that 3D has crow barred itself into our lives movie goers will surely be thinking one thing. Surely what we want to see more than anything else is a fourth all singing, all dancing Spiderman movie.

Sadly the third installment arrived a touch too early for our latest cinema phenomenon. Imagine the evil jazz dancing scene in full 3D glory!

Okay, bad example, but like it or not a fourth installment is on its way along with an army of favourite Marvel characters including Captain America and more Iron Man escapades. Now Disney has got its mits on one of the hottest properties in the movie world, they’re determined to extract every last bit of cash they can.

However there is a dark cloud on the horizon and it comes in the form of the children of a Marvel Legend. Jack Kirby worked on some of the most iconic characters to grace the comic and now his children claim they should be entitled to a piece of the action.

They’re not alone. The descendents of Superman Co-creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster are currently involved in a battle to get hold of rights to the DC flagship franchise.

If successful they could get the go ahead to launch rival versions of characters such as Spiderman and Iron Man. For fans still reeling of Disney’s $4bn purchase of the Marvel portfolio, this could be good news – few wanted to see the heritage of Spiderman mix with the DNA of Mickey Mouse and an alternative may prove popular.

One way or another the contest of the superhero heavy weights looks set to be fought out in the law courts of Hollywood.

Not a day goes by that something previously considered science fiction doesn’t become reality, it seems. From phones with the internet on them to shoes clothing with MP3 players built into it, technology is advancing at a rate of knots, but I didn’t really see ocean-based air conditioning coming.

Lockheed Martin have been awarded two grants totalling a million dollars to develop their Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) technology from the US Department of Energy, and following on from this, a seawater-based air conditioning (SWAC) system could be in the offering.

I’ll be honest, I’m not overly sure how the technology works, but having our homes and offices heated and cooled using power from the sea certainly seems to be a step in the right direction for renewable energy throughout the world. The technology’s already being put to work in countries like Sweden and Hawaii to reduce electricity usage in the summer, and rolling this out worldwide will certainly significantly aid with this, hopefully helping to stem global warming.

It seems that not only is the future closer than we first thought, it’s eco friendly too.

A survey this week announced that men rate themselves more financially savvy than women. According to a poll by Scottish Widows men are more confident than women with 49 percent rating their knowledge of investments, savings, spending, retirements and investments as good or excellent.

However, perception is all very well. I, for instance, firmly believe I look like a cross between Ewan McGregor and Maximus from Gladiator. However photographic evidence and popular opinion suggests otherwise. Likewise, there is a growing body of thought that it is a male over inflated sense of our own capabilities that helped sparked the crisis in the first place.

Two professors have launched a study that found that women’s risk adjusted returns out perform their male counterparts by, on average, by about one percentage point each year. Because they trade less frequently and hold fewer volatile positions they are far less likely to incur substantial losses.

So, the conclusion seems to be obvious. If men want to perform well in a volatile market they will be better off handing control of their portfolio to their wives.

It sounds a nice theory, but does it work? Probably not – at least not in the black and white way this study suggests. Instead, investment funds will be well served if they make the most of the differing perspectives men and women can bring to the market. Diversity is the watchword of 2010.

It’s that time again. After a mid tournament break, the six nations is back. Egg chasers rejoice; footballers despair. Battle is rejoined.

Most eyes will turn to Rome where on Sunday the French attempt to continue their stroll to the grand slam. But if it’s entertainment you want, head to Cardiff where you can follow the glorious folly that is Welsh rugby.

To bring you up to date. So far the men in red have adopted the innovative tactic of gifting their opposition a big first half lead and then attempting to haul them in. It’s been difficult at times. Occasionally they’ve had to resort to passing directly to opponents to help them across the line.
Unconventional? Yes. Exciting? Certainly. Effective? God no.

When the spirit moves them, the magicians in red can weave magic beyond the dreams of mere mortals. At the same time they can’t seem to manage the simple task of catching a ball or throwing at a lineout. No matter what the state of the game you can’t escape the feeling that a bowel loosening mishap lies just around the corner.

So get set for the usual Millennium Stadium roller coaster ride. And if Shane Williams jinks through the tacklers only to lob a pass into the gigantic mitts of O’Driscoll, then you can’t say nobody warned you.

Pets are in the news again and this time it’s the old chestnut of dangerous dogs. After a number of high profile attacks this has been front and centre of the government’s agender and in the run up to an election it was surely inevitable that this would appear once again.

This time the government has raised the possibility that owners may have to take out insurance against their dog attacking passers by. So rejoice; if a pit bull rips your arm off at least your hospital bills will be cared for.

However, as so often, the plans fail to address the root cause of the problem – people. There will always be those who buy certain breeds as status symbols, as a way of intimidating others. They buy the dog and train them to be aggressive. You could do the same thing with any animal.

And they’re less likely to be responsible enough to own insurance – so even if this latest cunning plan works, then you’re still up a certain creek without a paddle… or a limb.

The solution lies in education. The dogs aren’t the problem – it’s the people who rear them to be killers. Prosecutions can help, but a better option would be to improve education and put measures in place to stop certain people getting their hands on a dog of any breed in the first place.

It is nearly upon us – the biggest extravaganza for corporate events in recent memory. I refer of course to the FIFA World Cup™. Some say it has something to do with football, but we know better.

Any major competition brings in a whole lot of business from the corporate world, with corporate events often proving the perfect opportunity to seal deals. However, in recent times that’s been a little subdued. It seems unseemly to be throwing vast sums of cash when we’ve been undergoing economic Armageddon.

However, the lure of the FIFA World Cup™ will prove too big to resist. Only the Olympics bring in more people from around the globe. As corporate events go – it takes some beating.

This year, the attraction is bigger than ever. For the first time the tournament is heading to Africa with South Africa the hosts. The entire continent is eager to show the world that it can emerge as an equal partner in global business.

For this reason, corporate events here represent a fantastic chance to treat existing clients and explore new areas of expansion.

With There.com closing, Therians are packing their bags and bidding farewell to their world as they know it, thoughts of pastures new will be consuming their minds: where to now? Where will my fellow Therians migrate to? Which other Virtual Worlds cater for us teens? Three words: Teen Second Life!

The recession has been cited as the main reason for There.com closing but Therians don’t care about the shortcomings of Makena, the owners and creators of There.com; they just want to continue living their virtual lives, meeting likeminded peeps and hanging out with friends, and Teen Second Life offers all this and the ability to fly!

Construct your own amusement park, design and build your own ride, take part in one of the many educational programs on offer (beats reading a book huh!) or simply explore with your customized avatar.

Live the dream online; create anything, share with friends, meet new people, explore a whole new world!

Although Teen Second Life is significantly smaller than Second Life, it offers a fantastic entry-level to Second Life as when teen users turn 18 they are rewarded by graduating to Second Life – they reach virtual Adulthood!

March 9th is a sad day for Therians but it need not be: look upon it as a new beginning, a new life. A Second Life!

Kathryn Bigelow’s excellent depiction of the US military bomb squad’s tense and sometimes fatal efforts in Iraq will go down in history as the film that finally honoured a female with the Best Director Oscar.

But it also symbolises the way in which the Iraq war has remained at the forefront of public interest for the wrong reasons. Mainly because the war itself was wrong.

This manufactured war has spawned many films, but The Hurt Locker has become the first Iraq war film to be honoured by the Academy, taking home six statues.

Grossing just $14.7million – small fry for a six-time Oscar winning movie – The Hurt Locker’s success surprised many around the world on Oscar night.

Yet the fact it has made such an impression to the Academy simply echoes the sentiments that people around the globe feel towards the Iraq war, the people of Iraq and those that have lost their lives serving for their country.

Bigelow dedicated her win to those dedicated Military personnel: ‘to the women and men in the military who risk their lives on a daily basis in Iraq and Afghanistan and around the world. And may they come home safe.”

Sometimes things just don’t work out the way you want them to and you end up moving to pastures new, hopefully to the job of your dreams. I had to do this recently, but unfortunately, the life of the geek is also the life of the hoarder. I have THREE retro NES systems because I keep forgetting that I’ve got one or not being able to find it, for example, and that’s not an isolated incident. This can make moving a bit of a pain, but with some storage in Leicester, I overcame it.

I find it hard to part with things sometimes, and I just didn’t have time to organise myself properly; I didn’t want to sell a lot of what I had, but I also didn’t want to take the three vans-full of stuff in one go, so I hired a self storage unit in nearby Leicester. It helped.

Not my place

Maybe I need some counselling or something, but the upshot of this is that until I get over this and manage to sell or throw away the things I don’t need, it’s going to be gathering dust in storage in Leicester.

The team from Inflatable film cover the latest screening

Here’s an event for your diaries, but one you might not have thought about. The sixth Rwandan film festival, nicknamed Hillywood, is set to celebrate all things African this July.

This is one of the smaller festivals on the global circuit, but undoubtedly one of the most remarkable. It comes in two parts. First a conventional festival takes place in the capital of Kigali, but what really draws in visitors are the travelling screenings that tour the countryside.

Every year a series of events with a large inflatable screen heads off around small villages in the countryside. It is a remarkable event and draws in thousands from miles around. For many it is the first time they have seen a film let alone one in their own language of Kinyarwanda.

It is a remarkable sight, especially considering the country’s dark past. However things are moving forward rapidly. The films are growing in sophistication and are becoming more accessible to a wider audience. Leading the way is Africa United, a British/Rwandan coproduction which is currently in development.

It’s theme of a group of kids walking from Kigali to South Africa to take part in a skills tournament at the world cup is far removed from the war torn image of Africa, but it fits in with the theme of this year’s festival ‘Africa Celebrated.’

If you’re even remotely interested in film then this event is one of those must-see experiences. It is one of the most beautiful countries in the world and its burgeoning film culture is bristling with imagination and creativity.

For a glimpse of what it’s like visit the website of Inflatable Film http://www.inflatablefilm.com This Seattle based production company is currently working on a documentary going behind the scenes of the festival. They’re about to enter post production and a trailer is up on their site. It’s well worth watching. Meanwhile the festival itself starts on July 11. Visit www.hillywood.org for more information.