Alien-iversary.

5/25.

May Twenty-Fifth.

An important date.

See... today is Ripley's birthday.

On this date in 1979, the world was introduced to one of the greatest horror films of all time, starring the greatest female survivor/warrior of all time.

 Seriously? My God.

 Thirty-two years ago this very day, the world finally met the unique and utterly magnificent Ripley, a Warrant Officer on the USCSS Nostromo, uneventfully towing megatons of raw ore from Thedus to Earth for 'the Company'.

Of course, that 'uneventfully' becomes a very frightening 'eventfully', and cinema/pop-culture horror history were made.

Yes, I wrote 'horror' and I meant horror. For all its sci-fi trappings, Alien is as simple and effective an 'old, dark house with a bad thing in it' horror tale as you will find. It is Jaws in space; it is Night of the Living Dead only with one single bad-ass ghoul; it is Hallowe'en with an alien Michael Myers (and a similarly willing-to-fight-for-her-life 'final girl'); it is science fiction only in the way Star Wars, a cowboy western serial, is science fiction -- the scenery might be Asimov but the atmosphere is pure Lovecraft.

So.

The thirty-second anniversary of a few important creations -- that alien, that facehugger, that chestburster, and that incredible Ripley -- I mean, my God, remember the first time you ever laid eyes on these now iconic images?

Yes, I know. I am a man. And man, is she not.

I'm watching this at least once today. I think you should too.

We raise a glass and give a heartfelt thank you to Giger, Shusett, O'Bannon, Scott... and most importantly, Sigourney Weaver.

You gave us a hero we didn't expect, and didn't even know we needed.

You were such a pleasant surprise.

You were the first woman to make me realize it didn't matter that the hero was a woman, and then that it mattered a whole hell of a lot that you were.

Happy 32nd to you, brave Ripley, last survivor of the Nostromo.

-- SIGNING OFF --