MPI Teleproductions, a video production and distribution company located just south of Chicago, is currently in production on a series titled "The 20th Century."

This 10-part video series is a major endeavor that MPI says it is "undertaking with our sister company, the WPA Film Library. Various experts have been interviewed on subjects ranging from home life in the 1900s to power in the Nixon administration during the 1970s." Not to mention how absolute power corrupts absolutely, Crusty opines.

Now get this, fans of the Crustacean: MPI wants to interview His Crustiness, since he "would be an invaluable addition to our work in the '70s and '90s and a discussion of how personal computers and the Internet got started." Get outta town!

MPI's '70s series will talk about the Xerox PARC project and the inception of the first personal computer. In the '90s, the series will address the Internet explosion and how the world of computers has become unavoidable.

MPI expects to finish the series in time for a February 2000 release. Visit MPI's Web site at