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Confidential space cases! We\u2019ve been struggling to finish C-U Confidential #8<\/strong> but our new hope is to nail the outstanding elements in the next week en route<\/em> to hitting those presses and jump-starting the spring issue. Luckily, we have just<\/em> the intergalactic divergence to keep you entertained if the Stanley Kubrick<\/strong>\/Arthur C. Clarke<\/strong> masterwork 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY<\/strong> is your style!<\/p>\n A few days ago, our friend Luke Boyce<\/strong> of Shatterglass Studios<\/strong> in Champaign<\/strong> made the discovery that Hollywood<\/strong> workaholic Steven Soderbergh<\/strong> had released a \u201cfan edit\u201d of 2001<\/strong> this past Wednesday, January 14<\/strong>, tucked away on his boutique Web site<\/span><\/a> Extension 765<\/strong> and credited to the nom de plume<\/em> \u201cW. de Rijk.\u201d Within the same evening, University of Illinois<\/strong> alumnus and scholar in robotics ethics Dr. Peter Asaro<\/strong><\/span><\/a> pointed out this 2001<\/strong> homage<\/em> in the form of wallpapers and Flash backgrounds<\/span><\/a>, a work-in-progress designed by Mike Dillinger<\/strong> of OVNI Armada<\/strong><\/span><\/a> that has possibly been hiding deep inside an Internet crater for a few years now. Finally, your humble editor attempted to locate The Making of Kubrick\u2019s 2001<\/strong><\/span> edited by Jerome Agel<\/strong> (Signet Books\/NAL, 1970) that he remembered appearing on several genre pages two years ago. No such luck for him, as copyright infringement notices now stand in for the digital facsimile<\/span><\/a>, so enthusiasts will have to dredge up physical copies on their own or<\/em> instead read 2001: Filming the Future<\/strong><\/span> by Piers Bizony<\/strong> (Aurum Press, 1994) at the Urbana Free Library<\/strong> or<\/em> merely salivate over the sold out, limited edition, four-volume expansion<\/span><\/a> by Bizony and Parisian design house M\/M<\/strong>, The Making of Stanley Kubrick\u2019s \u20182001: A Space Odyssey<\/strong><\/span>\u2019<\/span><\/strong>, released by Taschen<\/strong><\/span><\/a> last summer.<\/p>\n Chances are pretty good none<\/em> of you dearest readers would\u2019ve had 1,000 bones to toss away for the pleasure of caressing that monolithic marvel. Don\u2019t lie. HAL<\/strong> is watching you.<\/p>\n ~ Jason Pankoke<\/p>\n p.s.<\/em> Regarding the Agel title, a 350-page compendium of miscellanea including several Kubrick and Clarke interviews, media coverage and criticism of the time, numerous stills, myriad fact sheets, and the Clarke short story \u201cThe Sentinel<\/strong>\u201d that inspired 2001<\/strong> \u2026 we can confirm<\/span><\/a> a young Roger Ebert<\/strong> is excerpted quite enigmatically on page 239.<\/p>\n p.s.2<\/em> The fictional relationship between Urbana<\/strong>, the University of Illinois<\/strong>, and the HAL-9000<\/strong> computer, as dramatized in both the filmed and novelized 2001<\/strong><\/span>, is what justifies an occasional mention here on C-U Blogfidential<\/strong>. Nonetheless, it begot a one-shot campus event in 1997<\/span><\/a> called Cyberfest<\/strong>, which indirectly begot Roger Ebert\u2019s Overlooked Film Festival<\/strong> in 1999<\/span><\/a>, which directly begot the inevitable \u201cEbertfest<\/strong>\u201d screening of 2001<\/strong><\/span><\/a> in 2001 \u2026 because, 2001<\/strong>.<\/p>\n