Superman

You know why Superman leaps tall buildings with a single bound? To keep one jump ahead of the Immigration and Naturalization Service that's why. If our immigration agents ever catch up with him, he'll be kicked out of the country. It probably isn't nice to bring this up just when we're about to make the big fuss over the Statue of Liberty, symbol of America's welcome to some. But the fact is that America does not welcome all and Superman is an illegal alien -clearly subject to deportation.

According to the Hollywood Reporter , Amy Adams (left) will play Lois Lane in the upcoming Superman reboot. British actor Henry Cavill previously was cast as Superman/Clark Kent, with Diane Lane and Kevin Costner playing his adoptive parents. Ma and Pa Kent sure never looked so good in the comics. Zack Snyder will direct for Warner Bros., and there had to be a number of Warners' execs who began sweating and hyperventilating when Snyder's $100 million "Sucker Punch" took in only $19 million and handily lost its opening weekend box-office battle to the low-budget sequel to "Diary of a Wimpy Kid. "  

Last September, when the folks at DC comics said they were going to kill off Superman, comic-book and fantasy fans sputtered in disbelief. Isn't this the same guy who was able to withstand fascist dictators, evil scientists, intergalactic baddies and even the torturous acting of Margot Kidder? But the folks at DC swear on the grave of Superman co-creator Joe Shuster that Superman really dies in Issue No. 75, due out tomorrow.. Some space trunkin' evildoer named Doomsday, who's got these weird growths on the back of his hands, pounds the Man of Steel to a pulp.

Death becomes him. Talk about soaring to new heights - Superman's popularity is flying higher than ever these days, since DC Comics announced that the Man of Steel will die in issue No. 75. The bad news came out Sept. 4. Superman won't cheat death, either; he doesn't cheat. But no one's saying he's dead and gone. Rumor is, aficionados say, that the Man of Steel will come back, faster than a speeding bullet. Sue us if you want to, but we don't see how Superman's comeback could be construed as a national security issue or anything, so we'll go ahead and spread the unsubstantiated rumor about his return: Remember that little skin sample a doctor took from Superman a while ago?

Look! Out on the sidewalk! It's Superman! This week, DC Comics will launch a comic-book series in which the Man of Steel will walk across America, doing good deeds along the way. The first issue in the series is set in Philly - specifically, according to the script, starting at 48th and Larchwood Streets, which is identified as, um, "the South Side. " He stops at a diner for a "Philly cheese steak sandwich" but is short on money, so the waitress allows him to work it off by cleaning the storeroom.

Margot Kidder, Lois Lane in the Superman movies, was being evaluated yesterday at a California psychiatric hospital after being found Tuesday "dirty, frightened and paranoid" in the backyard of a well-kept Glendale home. A resident who found the actress hiding in a woodpile and warned her of black widow spiders said Kidder replied that "what she was hiding from was a lot worse than black widows. " Kidder had last been seen Saturday waiting to board a flight to Phoenix at Los Angeles International Airport, 25 miles from the Glendale house.

It's a different sort of role for Christopher Reeve. There's nothing super about the movies' Superman in "Street Smart. " As he put it, "I'm interested to see if the audience will accept me as a weasel in the film. I don't think I begin to redeem myself until the last 10 minutes of it. " It feels a little unreal talking to Christopher Reeve. He is so tall, so handsome and so perfectly articulate that you begin to wonder if what is before you in this West Hollywood hotel room might not be a lifelike hologram representation beamed in from the planet Krypton.

When James, 10, is looking a little down, his foster mother has just the ticket to make him smile. "I think you need a hug," she'll say. "I know I do. " And he'll respond with joyful affection. James has a background of confusion, neglect and abuse. It's hard for him to handle a change in routine of any kind and he will sometimes react with aggressive yelling when he's frustrated. It is difficult to assess his IQ as he has exhibited some autistic tendencies. He can be in a world of his own, where only he knows, but he cannot express what his thoughts and feelings are. He attends special classes in school where he is learning life skills and is functioning on about a 4-year-old level.

A despotic ruler of a Persian Gulf nation sponsors anti-American terrorism and rubs out anyone who opposes him. How would you take care of this tyrant? - (a) pound his country with countless sorties, (b) nuke the slimeball, or (c) call Superman? While the U.S. public regularly choose options (a) or (b), the editors at DC Comics appear to be playing topical in this month's "Superman. " In the latest issue, the guy in tights escorts Marlo, the tyrannical leader of the fictional nation of Qurac, back to the United States for a Manuel Noriega-style trial.

When I was a kid, about 6 or 7, I flew across the room. I stood on the end of my parents' bed, extended my bathrobe behind me and pushed off. I sailed through the air, cleared part of the room, and came to a remarkably soft landing by skidding to a stop under my father's chest of drawers. "Like Superman!," my sister exclaimed. That, I informed her, was the whole idea. That was the only flight for which there were witnesses. My career as Superman went largely unnoticed by the world around me. No one knew that I could fly (faster than a speeding bullet)

Repertory Films Ambler Theater 108 E. Butler Ave., Ambler; 215-345-7855. www.amblertheater.com . Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2010) $4. 3/24. 11 am. Broad Street Ministries Presbyterian Church 315 S. Broad St.; 215-735-4847. www.broadstreetministry.org . Bullet in the Head: Director's Cut (Hong Kong, 1990) $5. 3/23. 6-9 pm. Bryn Mawr Film Institute 824 W. Lancaster Ave., Bryn Mawr; 610-527-9898. www.brynmawrfilm.org . Going Gaga. $7. 3/28.

As bad as the School District's financial situation is, it's hard to have much confidence in the stopgap solution that the School Reform Commission has devised. Faced with the need for an additional $61 million in budget cuts, the SRC sacked the system's interim superintendent and chief financial officer and replaced them with a chief recovery officer who will run the district only for the six months before a new superintendent is expected to be announced. If former acting Superintendent Leroy Nunery II and former CFO Michael Masch are to blame for the district's financial problems, why are they being retained as special advisers, albeit at less pay?

Stewardess, crisply: "Fasten your seat belt, Mr. Ali. " Muhammad Ali, eyes twinkling: "Superman don't need no seat belt. " Stewardess, sweetly: "Superman don't need no airplane, either. "   He just turned 70. And what were the odds of that? All those punches, those cruel left hooks, those sledgehammer rights, the awful toll taken by rope-a-dope, that thunderous trilogy with Joe Frazier, and then Parkinson's syndrome to boot.

ST. LOUIS - On Sunday night, after an improbable Game 2 victory had amped up the noise in the Cardinals locker room, bullhorn-voiced Arthur Rhodes boomed out an otherwise indecipherable Spanish phrase that ended in a word, shouted with earsplitting intensity, which needed no translation. ". . .. . . PUJOLS!" Rhodes screamed, emphasizing the name and triggering a reaction among his teammates that was half-laughter, half-nodding agreement. Obviously, if there's one Cardinals name that speaks louder than all the others, that itself has become a glorious baseball bellow, it's Albert Pujols.

LOS ANGELES - It's up, up and away for Superman. "Smallville" ends tonight after 10 seasons of stories on the transformation of mild-mannered Clark Kent (Tom Welling) into the Man of Steel. A lot can happen to a series in 10 years. The original concept behind the show was to create a program about a family dealing with a special-needs child - one who just happens to have superpowers. It ends at a much different place. Accepting people's differences became a major theme in early seasons.

JOHN BAER says he "did his homework" as suggested by Gov. Corbett by watching "Waiting for 'Superman,' " the acclaimed Davis Guggenheim documentary on the state of public schools in America. It seems Baer completed only part of his assignment. If he compared the film to Philadelphia schools - many students will drop out before ninth grade, parents eagerly want choice for their children - he'd find it to be an accurate account of public education and a serious case for scaling up the success of highly effective charter schools so more families would have the education options they so desperately seek.

LOS ANGELES - He had a promising debut, a monster hit, a slight disappointment and a slightly larger disappointment. And in the last few weeks he's become one of the more polarizing directors out there. But now things really get interesting for Zack Snyder. The provocative filmmaker will in a few months begin shooting "Superman: Man of Steel," a reboot of perhaps the most beloved character in the history of movies (a point underlined Sunday with the news about Snyder's choice of Amy Adams to play Lois Lane)

According to the Hollywood Reporter , Amy Adams (left) will play Lois Lane in the upcoming Superman reboot. British actor Henry Cavill previously was cast as Superman/Clark Kent, with Diane Lane and Kevin Costner playing his adoptive parents. Ma and Pa Kent sure never looked so good in the comics. Zack Snyder will direct for Warner Bros., and there had to be a number of Warners' execs who began sweating and hyperventilating when Snyder's $100 million "Sucker Punch" took in only $19 million and handily lost its opening weekend box-office battle to the low-budget sequel to "Diary of a Wimpy Kid. "  

AT GOV. CORBETT'S suggestion, I did my homework. At a news conference last week, while talking about education cuts, the Guv asked who saw the 2010 documentary "Waiting for Superman. " A few hands went up. "That's a homework assignment," he told the rest of us, presumably because it offers insights into his thinking on education. Because many believe plans to cut Philly schools by $300 million and cut higher-ed in half shows that the Guv doesn't think much of education, I figured I'd check out the film.

A man and woman from New Jersey, both in the 20s, face conspiracy and fraud charges related to the making and marketing of performance-enhancing drugs. Some victims thought they were ordering prescription drugs, such as Viagra and Cialis, but got "imitations" prepared in Brian Parker's basement in Brielle, Middlesex County, N.J., according to an indictment announced today by U.S. Attorney Zane David Memeger. Michelle Pfeiffer, 24, of Toms River, Ocean County, allegedly helped Parker get the word out through websites aimed mostly at body builders and athletes.