Speaking of Yahoo. And Comics.

If you use Yahoo as home on your browser, you notice how they continuously update their news. Decisions for what gets in and what gets moved out is made by a small group of people at Yahoo headquarters. Some news items are there for very brief periods, others stay all day, depending partly on the "hits" it receives, which in itself is an interesting and scary social phenomenon.

A few days ago I noticed, on their news, an announcement of an upcoming Captain America movie. An hour later I went back to find the story and it was gone. I did find it later through on an internet search and was surprised to find that it has been known about in movie-circles for over six months. I recall several conversations with my sons over the years about the viability of a Captain America movie (usually when we are leaving a comic book themed movie) and we have agreed that the mood of the country just didn't fit what Captain America was all about. Maybe we're wrong. I'm going to be as interested in how they present Steve Rogers/Captain America as I am in the movie plot itself.

I hope it works, I wish them well. How the creators will pull it off in the world we live in I don't know. Popular patriotism is not popular. Supposedly, it won't be a strictly period piece, that is, it will move back and forth from the 40's to the present.

As much of a Marvel guy as I am, I think the Batman Begins film may be the best in the comic book genre. And behind that SpiderMan 1. My favorite superhero had the worst movie of all -- and that would be, Daredevil.

Yahoo + Microsoft? I Like it.

I'm sure you've seen the news of Microsoft's $45 billion bid for Yahoo. I think it's a good idea for both companies and the only way Google can be challenged. Yahoo needs Microsoft's cash and Microsoft needs Yahoo's internet presence and search business. Microsoft Live, Hotmail, and MSN are viable divisions of Microsoft but have no chance of competing with Google or even Yahoo.

The boys at Google have it going for them. How long they can continue their search dominance I don't know, but their entrance into online docs, hosting, books, maps, etc. show a nimble, intelligent, and aggressive company that we all wish we had invested in just a few years ago.

Super Bowl 2011 -- in Arlington (I love saying that)

You don't have to like football or sports in general to be impressed with the progress of the new Dallas Cowboy's Stadium in Arlington. The Star-Telegram's website today highlighted the stadium and area as related to the coming 2011 SuperBowl. It's worth a look (make sure you click the "see stadium details" link).

http://www.star-telegram.com/Multimedia/News

I happen to like buildings, architecture and sports so it's enjoyable for me to watch and follow.
When the SuperBowl arrives in 2011, Fort Worth will be ready with new hotels, boulevards and maybe even a train from the airport south and west (then again, maybe not). Grapevine's Gaylord Resort will get a big boost as will our Convention Center. Dallas and Fort Worth will get a lot of tourism dollars. Personally, I can't wait.

In like news: Dallas - Fort Worth ranks No. 6 in fastest growing large metro areas according to Forbes magazine and reported in Yahoo news. Projected growth for 5 years: 20 %. Austin was No. 1 at 32%. If that gets a big "so what" from you remember, property values climb the same way anything else increases in value: high demand, short supply = prices up. low demand, big supply = prices down. Cleveland and Detroit have the latter.

Fort Worth has the infrastructure, available land, natural resources, and drive to be a growing, prosperous city. I hope we can also maintain a certain virtue, a small town attitude and that common sense disposition of fairness to its residents and visitors, without which monetary wealth is of little value.