Dolph Lundgren b. 1957 (Universal Soldier, Johnny Mnemonic, Masters of the Universe)
Gary Ross b. 1956 (director, The Hunger Games, Pleasantville)
Kevin Murphy b. 1956 (Mystery Science Theater 3000)
Kate Capshaw b. 1953 (Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Dreamscape)
Aneta Corsaut b. 1933 died 6 November 1995 (The Blob)
Lois Smith b. 1930 (True Blood)
Claudia Barrett b. 1929 (Robot Monster)
Osamu Tezuka b. 1928 died 9 February 1989 (writer, Astro Boy, Metropolis)
Robert Quarry b. 1925 died 20 February 2009 (Count Yorga, Vampire)
Leonard Stone b. 1923 died 2 November 2011 (Lost in Space, Land of the Giants, Soylent Green, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory)
Ignatius Donnelly b. 1831 died 1 January 1901 (author, Caesar’s Column, Atlantis: The Antediluvian World)
It's a little unusual to have a list this long and the youngest person on it is in his fifties, but that's today's list. I could easily have put Tom Servo in the Picture Slot or Dolph Lundgren. If I was in a puckish mood, I might have put Claudia Barrett being carried away by the guy in the gorilla suit with a space helmet, but I decided on Astro Boy instead.
I have discussed Ignatius Donnelly before, the writer of the anti-Semitic futuristic story Caesar's Column. Looking up names on the Internet Speculative Fiction Database this morning, they listed his book on Atlantis in "non-fiction". He made up Atlantis. We should be allowed to call a hoax that is now 131 years old a hoax.
Just sayin'.
Best wishes to all the living on the list.
Predictor: Ray Bradbury in The Martian Chronicles, published as a book in 1950
Prediction: In August 2002, Tomas Gomez, a worker newly arrived on Mars, has a strange meeting across time with a Martian. They disagree about whether the Martian is in the past or the future. Both of them are going to parties.
Reality: Yet again, Bradbury shows why the Hard SF crowd looked down their noses at him. Right now, I'm reading Rushdie's memoir Joseph Anton, and Rushdie is definitely of the view that writing is about sentences. It's obvious that Bradbury felt the same way.
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!
Switching up the line-up a little this week to get another prediction about 2014 from Isaac Asimov in 1964.
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
Have you heard the album that Kevin Murphy and the others recorded as the Rifftones? Most of the songs are based on movies; there's one that sings about 'sparkly vampires, effervescent zombies...'
ReplyDeleteSPOILER ALERT! There was certainly nothing sparkly about Count Yorga. Two scenes stick with me, a pretty young girl, bitten by Yorga, not yet a vampire but feasting on a raw kitten, and the end scene where Count Yorga gets the hero.
DeleteI saw the live Rifftrax version of Starship Troopers earlier this year. It was a lot of fun, but the jokes went by so fast I can barely recall any of them.
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