You and your conspiracies.
The history channel has an awesome series "The Universe". I have the first season on DVD, and the second season starts tomorrow night.
The Universe - History.com
As far as other life goes. It's interesting to think of how long the universe has been here. Humans have only been around for a few hundred thousand years give or take. Civilizations could have risen and fallen in other parts of the universe long before we were around (and by long, I mean billions and billions of years before us). Humans are just now scratching the surface with our technology and science. Just a few generations ago, people were riding horses and building fires to keep warm. What humans have been able to do in the past century is amazing. Imagine a civilization that has been around for a million years.
Here's some pretty good clips that deal with astronomy.
The entire history of life and the cosmos rolled into under 10 minutes.
YouTube - A HISTORY OF EVERYTHING
Most important image ever taken.
YouTube - The Hubble Deep Field: The Most Important Image Ever Taken
Pale Blue Dot. <3 Carl Sagan
YouTube - We Are Here: The Pale Blue Dot