5 May 2013

Birthdays
Vincent Kartheiser b. 1979
John Rhys-Davies b. 1944
Marc Alaimo, b. 1942

Nice birthday choices! Kartheiser is better known now from his work on Mad Men, but he was a regular on Angel as well. Alaimo is best known as the Cardassian Gul Dukat on Deep Space Nine.

And then we have the picture slot. Mr. Rhys-Davies did regular work on TV in Britain all throughout the 1970s, then became known to American audiences in Raiders of the Lost Ark. His best known work in genre would be on Sliders and under a lot of make-up in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The picture I used is from the show where I first noticed him, I, Claudius, playing the centurion Macro.

Predictor: L.A. 2013, article by Nicole Yorkin, published 3 April 1988 in the Los Angeles Times Magazine

Predictions (reality): In 2013, we will enjoy all these advancements in information technology.

Holographic meetings and special 3D glasses. (Oh, God, no. It's bad enough to be forced to wear 3D glasses at the movies, but at work? I was in the videogame business when virtual reality was the big buzz idea. Those 3D helmets gave you a headache within minutes.)

In the evening, you can pick from ten films showing on cable. 
(Ten?!? OMG, how will I ever make a decision when there are ten whole films I might be watching at this very moment? Ten is more than my dizzy little mind can process. Quick, get me to the fainting couch!)

Students have smart cards that contain their educational record.
(They could. They don't. School still want to keep kids as far removed from their "permanent record" as is physically possible.)

A personalized newspaper is being printed on the home computer.
(Well, the only mistake here is printed. Why waste paper? Read it on an enormous full color screen that sits about two feet in front of you.)

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Tomorrow, it's another visit to the smooth and shiny future predicted on the pages of Popular Mechanics from the middle of the 20th Century. I can't say if the prediction will be accurate or not, but it's a good bet that you will like the way it looks.

 
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!