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I Am Dreaming of $$$uperheroes

Hours after leaving West Mall in a slow saunter, RDJ’s broody eyes still haunt me.

Iron Man had me thinking whether I should put some money in Marvel, after it grossed $20 from me and my partner and a further $32.5 million in its first day of screening on Thursday in the U.S., set to exceed the $85 million projected for its opening weekend. Boxoffice Mojo estimates that the movie has grossed $100 million already.

Recovering that $150 million production cost and $75 million marketing cost seems not such a big feat for Iron Man. RDJ has that power. He had me glued to the seat watching him build his armor and hanging on to every word he said, even if he was only talking to his computers.

Iron Man has replaced Spiderman as my favorite Superhero. I didn’t think that could happen. But, it did. Maybe I should also do the unimaginable, put aside my discomfort that almost half of Marvel’s assets are in intangible good will and without it, its book value is in the negative zone. Maybe I should give more credits to its ability to return its shareholders more than 60 percent even before it embarked on building its movie franchise.

Marvel’s future prospect is indeed shaping up nicely. The strong opening of its first self-financed movie and cash in its sack from unused portions of Merrill Lynch’s $525 million credit facility taken in 2005, promise more.

Next in line, The Hulk. Edward Norton (my favorite favorite actor) is the Incredible Hulk., with Liv Tyler as the shrieking, fretting female guarding his sides. Marvel really knows how to please. Wonder who will be Captain America?

Shares up 2.37 percent last Friday.

I Miss Us

I like watching Dawson’s Creek. I know this is embarassing because a grown up woman should have something more meaningful to do. It could be that I couldn’t live past my adolescence. It could be that Singapore is cleaning up too fast. There are too many options out there to keep up. The massive plan to spruce up Jurong is great, boosting the value of my property. It is all very good. But, there are moments like tonight when I feel the need to chase my past, when I wish Singapore is not too small for Capeside to exist, so that there is a place to turn to when you need a little break from all these growing-ups, meet a few old friends, who would say, ``D, I miss us.’’

New Game

J suggested that we should have a game of analyzing annual reports to identify trading ideas, instead of wasting our idle time on Boggle and Scrabble. I don't know how he would think that is as fun as Boggle and Scrabble for him, especially he is always winning at the two games.
He also wanted to steer my attention from the property market, which I had a larger exposure than to the stock market.
I don't think he would succeed.
My current exposure to stock market is only 23 percent of what I have in properties. No little game will distract when I have too much at stake and entire early retirement plan is dependent on how long the U.S. Subprime will roil the markets.
In this bloodshed, my property investment is still holding up well. My equity investment (bonds are only for accredited investors: I don't have US$2 million of assets yet.) has lost 10 percent of its value. I have liquidity risk in one, and mark to market risk in the other. In a volatile market, I am most affected by the mark-to-market risk. With leverage, that mark-to-market risk is damaging my cash flows. But, I am not making provisions in my P/L statement as yet.
Is there a bubble?
Someone said that the boom has just begun. It can't end that soon.
Asia's equity market has been rising for the last 3.5 years. But, other emerging markets have done better. MSCI rose 128 percent since end of 2003. Latin America and Eastern Europe rose 289 percent and 212 percent so far.
Potential for more growth? Let's wait and see. But my eyes are roving.