Don't make IBM mad

(To buy 2001: A Space Odyssey, click here.)

Stanley Kubrick was never afraid to tackle controversial material that really pushed the edge of cinema. Look at "A Clockwork Orange" or "Full Metal Jacket" and you know what I'm talking about. Sure it's all done brilliantly, but you could easily be offended watching it.

But you know what worried Kubrick the most while making "2001: A Space Odyssey"? Making IBM angry for having a killer computer be the main protagonist. IBM had helped out considerably with the film in terms of technical support, and could have taken this as a danger to their brand or something like that. But this isn't sue-happy 2013, this is the 1960s and IBM was totally cool with it. 

In August 1966, Kubrick wrote to Roger Caras, who was, at the time, vice president of Kubrick's production company, asking if IBM was clear on HAL's murderous sentiments. You can read Caras' full reply over at Letters of Note, but the gist was that IBM was fine as long as it was credited as just one among many consultants and that IBM was not "associated with equipment failure."

There is other slight jabs in the movie that could be seen as attribution to IBM, such as HAL being just one letter off from the acronym HAL, and several IBM logos popping up. Most people, however, would never make the connection that if you bought an IBM it would try to kill you.

Now an iPhone? That's a different story.

What to do in case of an Alien Invasion

Let's face it, we're the party pad of the universe.

Where else are you going to see someone finish off a keg and then shave their armpit hair for good measure? And don't say WAZZU, because despite the best wishes of Husky fans and the entire Pac-10, the Palouse is actually part of the Planet Earth and not the moon.

However, someone is bound to crash the party. That's right, Alien invasion.
There are way too many lame humanoids out there that don't know how to have a good time, I mean how many times have you seen a good bar on Neptune? It's a large ball of gas, the only thing that would survive on that planet is Rosanne Barr.

So if you want to avoid being vaporized or having a creature burst from your chest, here's a couple things you can do to survive an alien invasion:

1. If there's a wise-cracking, former rapper with a cigar walking around, we suggest you follow him.

2. If you're in the military, try to stay out of the first wave of soldiers in the counter-attack. As Hollywood has shown us, counter-attacks to alien invasions usually lead to a complete butt-whopping of the U.S. military and there's usually something terrible that happens to them (They all get their brains sucked out or are forced to watch the TV series "Joey").

However, if there is a "last chance to save the world" opportunity that is risky, unorthodox and involves an IBM programmer, we suggest you participate in it because it's probably going to work.

3. If it looks cute, its probably going to eat your flesh.

4. The aliens will have shields, they always have shields.

5. Your relatives or friends will somehow survive the initial attack, and despite the city their in being completely wiped out, they'll be fine. You'll need to save them in some sort of heroic fashion though, but they won’t be tough to spot since their the only four people alive in a 500 mile radius.

6. Always sneak in the alien ship and fly it away. Despite the technology being from a different planet, the controls will still resemble that of a Playstation 3.

7. The mothership is the size of Texas but blowing it up in orbit will not cause any debris falling from space, because the explosion was just so cool.

8. Listen to the dorky scientist aid that slept with the president's aid, he knows more that 3,000 scientists working for NASA, the NSA and the FBI.

9. The Aliens are filled with goo, but its great tasting.

10. Everytime you kill an alien you have to make some reference to an Elton John song.