Century plants

Century plants are very common in my neighborhood ( I have several in my yard)...not exactly beautiful or friendly, but better than most of the cacti. Anyway, they are named century plants because people traditionally say they only bloom once a century - it's really more like 25-50 years, but once they bloom they die..which if you look at the bloom you will understand why =). They typically are just the spiky leaves with no stalk at all in the middle. One right by my house started blooming a few weeks ago and it has been remarkable to watch!
Doesn't it look like something out of a Dr. Seuss book?