So I drank the Heroes kool-aid after all.
I don't have a TV at my house, and don't really miss it, but after seeing a few episodes of the TV series Heroes (which EVERYONE is talking about here in Korea these days) at my friend's house, I bought season one on DVD for cheap.
And, like the X-Men movies, The Bourne Identity, and Jim Carrey's The Mask, the best part of watching a show where people suddenly discover they have superpowers is entertaining the wish-fulfillment fantasy of what would happen if you discovered YOU had superpowers --
A good third of the fun of watching The Bourne Identity series is the daydream that, one day, when somebody threatens YOU, YOU'LL suddenly bust out deadly martial arts and super-spy skills, too; in the movie "The Mask", where the green mask brings out the side of your character that you hide in public, and gives it cartoonish super-powers, and it gives me a ninety-minute-long daydream about what side of ME would come out if I put on that silly mask. Ditto for x-men -- you can fantasize all day about which x-men power would be most fun, most useful, most frightening, and so on.
So in tribute to the TV series Heroes, the survey question is: which superhero power do YOU wish you had?
(and don't say x-ray vision, because then everybody will know you're a perv)
Two rules/qualifiers (just because everybody always says these ones -- like in Korea, you have to say "AFTER your parents, who is your hero?", because otherwise that's all you'll hear):
Don't say Superman's powers, because that's like going to a restaurant and ordering one of everything on the menu. Ditto for saying "Peter Petrelli's [from Heroes] power: the ability to absorb other people's superpowers": that's like saying "If I found a magic lamp I'd wish for a hundred more wishes." -- and kind of defeats the purpose of choosing. EVERYBODY would prefer to have ALL the superpowers, but if you had to pick one, which would it be?
one expat's life in Korea
10 comments:
For the record, I'd choose mind-reading, if I had the ability to turn it on and shut it off, to adjust the intensity, choose WHO to listen to and tune out others, etc.. If I couldn't control the mond-control, I'd prefer sprouting wings and flying (not just superman-style levitation: actual wings, that tuck away nicely when not in use).
Well, I haven't given this a lot of deep thought, and I'm sure there are more powerful powers, but I would just like to fly. No wings, just fly, like I always did in my dreams when I was a kid. It would be fun, and you wouldn't have to wait in traffic all the time! I bet you could burn calories too, and then it would be FUN exercise!
I would choose to have a photogra[hic memory subject to my control, ie, not just piles of useless data in my brain, but the ability to recall at will anyting I had read, seen, heard of etc. To always know where my quotations came from and to remember the story I'm trying to tell. How would this help save the world? I'm not sure, but then, someone has already done that.
I'd want to fly, too.
I'd want something pretty random, like being able to identify metals, including specific alloys, just by the smell. For the most part it would just be a weird novelty. But then may day would come, and I would save the whole world.
"That fool is trying to weld a structure out of aluminum 7075!"
"He'll kill us all! Save us, Metal-Smelling Man! Save us!"
"Stop! I am hereby thwarting your dastardly, diabolical deed! For everyone that despite all of its other remarkable properties, 7075 cannot be welded!"
"You win this time, Metal-Smelling Man. But I will return, and victory through collapsing improper metal fabrication will be mine! Mwahaha!"
And then the chorus of happy townsfolk would begin: "Yay! Metal-Smelling Man! Hurray! I want you to have my baby!" Etc., etc., and etc.
I posed this question to my students today, and the best superhero I got was "Ties Shoelaces Really Fast Boy". Man, that would come in handy every single time you're late for work!! Imagine the seconds he'd save!!
I still have dreams of flying, but I can only fly about a foot above people's heads, and no faster than they can run, so I STILL have this horrible feeling I'm going to get caught if the bad guys just reach their arms up at the right moment. BUT real flying would be cool. Just hop off to Ontario to visit the fam - a trip to Korea for the fun of it...why not?
I would have the superpower of fearlessness.
Tamie: if I had fearlessness, I'd sure hope I were invulnerable, too.
Alyssa: instant recall WOULD be cool, as long as you don't get overwhelmed with having so much in your RAM.
Deb and Brad: you two are the champions of the interesting power choices. How about "moves as if lit by strobe lights at all time". Or "seems slightly inhuman, like a really high-quality android"
Dad: personally, I'd use the power of total memory to cite sources, but mostly to remember who'd already heard my stories -- Alyssa (above) will tell you that I have the habit of repeating them. Now, when I teach five conversation classes a day, it's all just a blur.
Thanks everyone who answered: I love you all!
I had the same thought about Tamie's superpower:
"Welcome back to 'The Nightly Planet at Six'. This just in: the Global Superheroes Guild just awarded Fearless-girl with the appropriately named 'Youngest Ever Superhero To Die' award. She was seen smoking an entire pack of cigarettes, taunting caged tigers, and running through rush-hour highway traffic...with scissors. Fearless-girl was just 9 months old.
In an unrelated story, after an another exhaustive 65-day search, Invincible-boy was found today. Authorities say that this time he was cowering under his bed, sucking his thumb muttering something about his teddy bear quote, looked at him funny, unquote. He is reported to be quite hungry, but in good spirits. Film at eleven."
by the way: hi alyssa and heather! I wasn't sure if you two were still reading, but I'm glad to know you are!
hope you're well.
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