Tag Archives: history

Lucas Opposed to Altering Old Films

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Lucas recently spoke out against companies altering old films and colorizing black and white features; he claimed that, as a proponent of history, viewers should be able to appreciate a film as it was originally released. “I am very concerned about our national heritage, and I am very concerned that the films that I watched when I was young and the films that I watched throughout my life are preserved, so that my children can see them,” he said a few years ago. Perhaps he should re-examine his beliefs.
–Michael Kaminski,How the Grinch Stole Star Wars

Eddie Izzard: Stripped: One Paragraph Review

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Eddie Izzard: Stripped Banner

We saw Eddie Izzard live last night, and it was awesome. His new set,Stripped, is very similar toDress to Kill in that it’s mostly jokes about history and religion. He discusses the controversy about Intelligent Design vs Evolution (including Charles Darwin’s famous bookMonkey, Monkey, Monkey, Monkey, You) and the improbability of Noah’s Ark. The tour is nearly over, but this is definitely one to pick up when it comes out on DVD.

Robert Metcalfe Demonstrates the Arpanet for AT&T

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Imagine a bearded grad student being handed a dozen AT&T executives, all in pin-striped suits and quite a bit older and cooler. And I’m giving them a tour. And when I say a tour, they’re standing behind me while I’m typing on one of these terminals. I’m traveling around the Arpanet showing them: Ooh, look. You can do this. And I’m in U.C.L.A. in Los Angeles now. And now I’m in San Francisco. And now I’m in Chicago. And now I’m in Cambridge, Massachusetts—isn’t this cool? And as I’m giving my demo, the damned thing crashed.

And I turned around to look at these 10, 12 AT&T suits, and they were all laughing. And it was in that moment that AT&T became my bête noire, because I realized in that moment that these sons of bitches were rooting against me.

To this day, I still cringe at the mention of AT&T. That’s why my cell phone is a T-Mobile. The rest of my family uses AT&T, but I refuse.

– Robert Metcalfe, founder of 3Com, inventor of Ethernet, and part of the Arpanet team at M.I.T., describing his demonstration of the system at its coming-out party, at the I.C.C.C. meeting at the Washington Hilton, in 1972. From theVanity Fair oral history of the Internet.

Crooked Little Vein: One Paragraph Review

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Crooked Little Vein

“I opened my eyes to see the rat taking a piss in my coffee mug” is the first line ofCrooked Little Vein, by Warren Ellis, who may be familiar to you from his work in comics, includingTransmetropolitan andThe Authority. If you’re anything like me, that’s all you need to hear to know this is something you want to read. If you’re unsure, just ask yourself if you would be interested in a novel about a private detective who is hired by the Chief of Staff to locate the other Constitution, “a secret document privately authored by several of the Founders detailing the real intent of their design for American society.” In the course of his search, he is exposed to underground cultures and practices that make him want to run screaming the other way. Ellis takes great pride in his ability to make you squirm in your seat, and based many of the oddball scenarios in the book on things he found on the internet. If you’re a fan of Ellis’ other work, then I’m sure you’ll get a kick out of this, and if you’re not, then I’m sure you stopped reading back at the rat pissing in the coffee mug.

Best. Crossover. Ever.

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Fantastic Four #19

In 1963, Marvel Comics published what became the first issue in a three-part crossover event that covered three different books and three sets of authors and illustrators over the course of 24 years! It’s remarkable because each successive part of the story added another layer of complexity while respecting the material that came before it.

The first book isFantastic Four #19, which introduced a villain who would come to play a much larger role in later Marvel plotlines, Rama-Tut. Written by big, bad Stan Lee and illustrated by bigger, badder Jack Kirby, the story is about the Fantastic Four traveling back in time to ancient Egypt to recover a radioactive plant that Reed thinks can restore the eyesight of The Thing’s blind girlfriend, Alicia.

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