16 May 2013

Birthdays
Megan Fox b. 1986
Lynn Collins b. 1977
David Boreanaz b. 1969
Bill Smitrovich b. 1947
Danny Trejo b. 1944  

Ms. Collins, who gets the Picture Slot, was in John Carter and X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Boreanaz was on Angel and Buffy, Smitrovich has a long career and when he shows up in genre, he is usually playing a military man as he does in Iron Man. Trejo works a lot and his best known genre films are the Spy Kids series.

The less said about Ms. Fox, the better.

Many happy returns to them all.

(Also my sister Karla, who has never been in a sci-fi movie or TV show. Love ya, sweetie!)
 

Movies released
The Chronicles of Narnia:Prince Caspian released, 2008
Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones released, 2002
Shrek released, 2001

As we can see this week with the release of the new Star Trek film, mid-May is the start of the summer blockbuster season and it has been ever since the first Star Wars movie. Before Star Wars, most big summer movies like Jaws waited for the end of the school year to be released.
 

Prediction: 1985: The last of the sea elephants is slaughtered, one of an innumerable number of species hunted to extinction in the twentieth century.

Predictor: H. G. Wells in The Shape of Things to Come, published 1933

Reality: Born in 1866 and writing in 1933, it isn't surprising for Wells to think that humans would continue the wholesale slaughter of species that had already happened during his lifetime. In this book, he also predicted humans would hunt the penguin into extinction. At the time he was writing, the sea elephant was definitely endangered. Early in the 20th Century, they were down to less than 100 individuals and they were being hunted for the oil in their blubber.

We aren't perfect, but we are doing better. Organizations like the World Wildlife Fund do a good job of publicizing endangered species and governments around the world do what they can to protect creatures and their habitats. The important breeding habitat for sea elephants is Año Nuevo State Park just north of Santa Cruz, California. I went on a tour during breeding season there when I was in college. They aren't pretty and they don't smell great, but they are remarkable creatures and I'm glad they are still around.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

German chocolate postcard day! Regular readers will know what that means.

 
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!