15 September 2013

Norman Spinrad

Birthdays
Jonathan Liebesman b. 1976 (director, Battle Los Angeles)
Tom Hardy b. 1977 (The Dark Knight Rises, Inception)
Kenneth Hite b. 1965 (Lost in Lovecraft)
Colin McFarlane b. 1961 (Batman Begins, The Dark Knight)
Ed Solomon b. 1960 (writer, Men In Black)
John Reynolds b. 1941 died 16 October 1966 (Manos: The Hands of Fate)
Tommy Lee Jones b. 1946 (Men In Black, Captain America)
Norman Spinrad (Star Trek, Bug Jack Barron, The Iron Dream)
Henry Darrow b. 1933 (Star Trek, Babylon 5)
Jackie Cooper b. 1922 died 3 May 2011 (Superman)
James Fenimore Cooper b. 1789 died 14 September 1851 (The Monikins)

Eleven birthdays today, no fabulous babes, nearly equally split between actors and writers/directors. I nearly went with poor John Reynolds in the Picture Slot, whose only role on film was as Torgo in Manos: The Hands of Fate. He died at 25 the same year the film was made, and movie is best known to fans of the TV show Mystery Science Theater 3000. Instead, today's picture is of Norman Spinrad, because I still recall fondly his book The Iron Dream. The conceit of the story was that it was written by a young Adolph Hitler and for me, the story lived up to the premise.

I was also surprised to find James Fenimore Cooper's name on the list at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database. His story The Monikins is about intelligent monkeys who can speak and the trip to their homeland.

Many happy returns of the day to the living.

Prediction: The Third Martian Expedition lands on the red planet in the month of April, 2000. They find a small town in the style of the early 20th Century Midwest, populated with family members of the crew.

Predictor: Ray Bradbury in The Martian Chronicles, published in 1950

Reality: Small town Midwestern life from the early 20th Century is often portrayed by Bradbury as idyllic bordering on paradise, but just as often there is some aspect that acts like the serpent in Eden. Long story short, the Third Expedition does not survive.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

An exact date for nuclear annihilation taken from a TV movie.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!