Spider-Man, Spider-Man
Does whatever a spider can
Spins a web, any size
Catches thieves just like flies
Look out! Here comes the Spider-Man!
Is he strong? Listen, bud,
He’s got radioactive blood
Can he swing from a thread?
Take a look overhead
Hey there! There goes the Spider-Man!

My spider sense began tingling when I walked onto campus the other day and saw a huge crowd gathered on the steps of Low Library, watching Toby Maguire and Kirsten Dunst walk back and forth across College Walk for several hours. That’s right, arachnophiles: Spider-Man: The Movie is finally, after decades of speculation, being filmed — and part of the web-slinger’s film is being shot on Columbia’s campus — appropriately enough, considering Spidey is one of three superheroes with ties to journalism (Sure, Superman’s one of the others; extra points if you get the third.) (Though I would have sworn Peter Parker went to NYU, but, hey, it’s the movies …)

I’m actually getting used to seeing film crews loitering in the area, as my little corner of New York has become movie central: I snagged a coffee from the catering folk outside the Riverside Church the other day while they sat around waiting for Kevin Kline to show up for his arty mentor movie Palace Thief. On the other side of the block, Russell Crowe was playing a Noble-prize winning economist (!) in Beautiful Mind, a film based on a book by J-School prof Sylvia Nasar.

They sound like good flicks, too, but I’m geeky enough to get most excited about Spidey, joining the crowd watching the filming and searching for leftover web stuff on the buildings afterwards.

Spider-Man, Spider-Man
Friendly neighborhood Spider-Man
Wealth and fame he’s ignored
Action is his reward
To him, life is a great big bang-up
Whenever there’s a hang-up
You’ll find the Spider-Man!