When my Dad was reading OMNI magazine back in the 1980′s I was just a little kid. I didn’t know that it was published by Bob Guccione or that OMNI was a visionary science magazine that hit a sweet spot between inspired scientific speculation, imaginative short science fiction, and the cutting edge of technology and research to create a publication that always felt like it had been published the day after tomorrow. OMNI has had a strange and somewhat troubled life online, but fans of the magazine now have some reason to celebrate. Here’s The Verge with the skinny…

Omni Magazine was an enormously influential publication that ran from 1978 to 1995. Created by Penthouse publisher Bob Guccione and wife Kathy Keeton, it featured interviews with scientists such as Freeman Dyson, art from the likes of H.R. Giger and Chris Foss, and original fiction from established science fiction authors such as Isaac Asimov and newcomers like William Gibson. The original magazine went digital in 1995, but shuttered in 1998. In 2013, Jerrick Media resurrected the magazine in an online format called Omni Reboot.

Until recently, back issues of Omni Magazine were stored on the Internet Archive, for readers to page through at no cost. The collection of issues was taken down a couple of years ago, but it’s now back online on Amazon.com.

Click through The Verge link to access the magazine on Amazon. In the meantime here’s a mind blowing playlist featuring “Inside the OMNI Vault” — a series of portraits highlighting the mind expanding visual artists who brought OMNI‘s features, interviews and essays to life…

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This year we celebrate the 35th anniversary of Bob Guccione’s X-rated epic, Caligula.

You can watch the whole film on YouTube, but I couldn’t find a version in English or with suitable subtitles. Instead, I offer this documentary about the subject of the film. While this version lacks the T&A content that made the movie such a phenomenon, it delivers a compelling message about the ancient roots of Western society and a cautionary tale about power, corruption and the decadence of the predator class.

Here’s a breakdown…

There are few surviving sources on Caligula’s reign, although he is described as a noble and moderate ruler during the first six months of his rule. After this, the sources focus upon his cruelty, extravagance and sexual perversity, presenting him as an insane tyrant. While the reliability of these sources has increasingly been called into question, it is known that during his brief reign, Caligula worked to increase the unconstrained personal power of the emperor (as opposed to countervailing powers within the principate). He directed much of his attention to ambitious construction projects and notoriously luxurious dwellings for himself. However, he initiated the construction of two new aqueducts in Rome: the Aqua Claudia and the Anio Novus. During his reign, the Empire annexed the Kingdom of Mauretania and made it into a province.

In early 41 AD, Caligula became the first Roman emperor to be assassinated, the result of a conspiracy involving officers of the Praetorian Guard, as well as members of the Roman Senate and of the imperial court. The conspirators’ attempt to use the opportunity to restore the Roman Republic was thwarted: on the same day the Praetorian Guard declared Caligula’s uncle Claudius emperor in his place.

Here is Caligula’s 1400 Days of Terror…

Stay Awake!

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