Birthdays
Mark Boone Junior b. 1955
William Gibson b. 1948 (won 1985 Hugo and Nebula for Neuromancer)
Many happy returns to Mr. Gibson. I remember people made a big deal out of the fact he didn't use a word processor back in the 1980s and accused him of being a Luddite. He's on Twitter now, so I guess he got over it.
Prediction: 1997: Air Force One is hijacked by terrorists and crashes in the penal colony of Manhattan Island. The president escapes, but must be rescued by Snake Plissken.
Predictor: Escape From New York, 1981
Reality: Science fiction has a steady undercurrent of the idea that cities are hellholes. John Carpenter said that Watergate was a major influence on his writing of Escape From New York, that presidential malfeasance would be the seed of a massive crime wave and rise in incarceration.
I like cities. Crime is not out of control, though our justice system might be. In any case, the breakdown of society hasn't happened just yet.
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!
Every alternate Monday belongs to the Popular Mechanics predictions, and their stuff is about as far away from the apocalypse as you can get. The future is shiny and cool and usually convenient for folks like you and me.
Join me then... IN THE FUTURE!
Oh, I loved Escape from NY - I need to Netflix that again!
ReplyDeleteFun fact on Carpenter: he lived in Marin (Dillon Beach) when he wrote The Fog.
Rgds,
Tegrain
I came upon this by chance. The L.A. Times reprinted their "L.A. 2013" article from 1988 and Googling "L.A. 2013" showed me that "Escape From L.A." was supposed to take place in 2013. So of course I had to Google the original and there was a date on that one, too.
ReplyDeleteThanks, John Carpenter, you magnificent bastard.
Not from the future, but from the interrugnum between Star Trek TOS and the first movie:
ReplyDeletehttp://mystartrekscrapbook.blogspot.com/2008/11/1976-mad-star-trek-spoof.html