My Space Odyssey™

I fondly remember my first viewing of 2001: A Space Odyssey. It was a personal epiphany that closely mirrored the experiences of so many people who saw the film in the late ‘60’s.

I was eleven years old in 1969 when my father celebrated my younger brother’s birthday by taking us to see 2001. I’d heard so much about the movie and was so excited that I’d already tried to read the novel based on the film, a daunting task for any eleven-year-old! I’d been dying to see 2001 for quite a while, and that first viewing blew me away. This film quite literally changed my life. I was overwhelmed by 2001’s visual beauty that, to my young mind, perfectly expressed what I’d always imagined outer space must look like. The colors and grandeur were beyond anything I’d ever imagined.

The music resonated deep in my psyche, speaking to me on levels I could barely articulate. Immediately after seeing the film, I made it a major priority to acquire the soundtrack album and any other 2001 collectibles I could lay my hands on.

I only got to see the film once during that year, but once was all it took. 2001's profound influence shaped almost every aspect of my life, especially my involvement in computers, art, and music.

When director Stanley Kubrick and screenwriter Arthur C. Clarke premiered 2001 in 1968, audiences and critics alike were stunned. Never before had a special effects film achieved such realism in its portrayal of a future societyís technology. Many fans regarded 2001 as the most compelling and challenging film theyíd ever seen.

2001 was released at a time when the US and Russia were racing to the moon while the world struggled to make sense of shocking political assassinations, Vietnam, and the Cold War. The paranoia and stark surrealism of Kubrick's film seemed to provide a biting commentary on those chaotic times, but it drew attacks from a wide range of critics and filmgoers. 2001ís audiences were roughly divided into three camps: those who loved the film, those who hated it, and those who simply didnít understand it.

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