Much discussion has been made about the quality of the third season of Star Trek. In most Trekkie and Trekker circles, it is viewed as the Cooper Manning of the Star Trek family. If viewed through a less intense lens of science fiction, the third season can be entertaining, although it is indeed an enigma. You have some very good episodes, some iconic episodes, and some episodes that seem to have been written under the influence of some very good drugs. Season 3 is all over the place, but one bit of consistency that can be found is a high entertainment value.

The year was 1842. The West had not been won, it would be about ninety years before anyone hears of Superman, and it was the dawn of the Platinum Age of comics. This was the year The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck was published. It is now considered the first comic book and graphic novel published in America. While the artwork was not original to the U.S.A., (published originally by the Swiss, most likely in 1837), it is still the first to be published in America. Rediscovered in the mid 1990’s Mr. Oldbuck has established a feeding frenzy among collectors, anxious to find other work from what is now the Platinum Age of comics. The artist Rodolphe Töpffer recently had his work republished, and somewhere out there you might be able to hunt down one of the 1,000 copies.

Two must-sees in this week’s update and rare-upon-rare, these are two you can still catch in the theater, (as of May 2007.) You’d be a fool to miss them.

Lately I’ve been reading books about technology companies and technological entrepreneurs, in particular taking in lots of early Commodore and Apple history. I don’t know exactly why, but I’ve found this to be just about the most interesting stuff I’ve ever read. As a computer programmer I think it’s a subconscious search for heroes, an attempt to get to know a little more about the giants upon whose shoulders I’m trying to climb.

These two companies, Commodore and Apple, offer some interesting comparisons. Both broke into the computing world in the late 1970’s and in the mid-eighties both released a computer they thought would change the world, (”put a dent in the universe” in Steve Job’s words), Apple with their Macintosh and Commodore with their Amiga.

Ivan Drago was minding his own business. He was sitting quietly in a pub watching a football game on the telly and nursing his 2nd beer of the evening.

Wigan was playing Tottenham and the game was awfully exciting. The teams were currently tied at two-all and the game was getting pretty intense. The players were giving their all and…dammit, that bastard Scharner was at it again. That guy was always taking cheap shots and Ivan could feel his blood pressure rising with each foul.

Drago was so interested in the game, he didn’t notice the rowdy group of blokes that just made their way into the bar and sat at a table behind him. It wasn’t long, however, before they made their presence known.