Friday, December 20, 2013

20 December 2013

Birthdays
Christopher Bertolini b. 1989 (writer, Battle Los Angeles)
Nicole de Boer b. 1970 (Stargate: Atlantis, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Cube)
Eduardo Sanchez b. 1968 (writer, The Blair Witch Project)
Nicole Maurey b. 1925 (Day of the Triffids)
Albert Dekker b. 1905 died 5 May 1968 (Dr. Cyclops)
Edwin A. Abbott b. 1838 died 12 October 1926 (author, Flatland)

A rather short birthday list today, with a lot of folks whose work in the genre is limited to one title. Both Albert Dekker and Nicole Maurey had long careers, Maurey mostly in French films, but the movies listed are the only sci-fi they did. Bertolini has written three screenplays total so far, only Battle Los Angeles is sci-fi. Sanchez has more work, but for my money, only the first Blair Witch Project is worth mentioning. Abbott's Flatland is more math fiction than science fiction, which may explain my soft spot for it. And so that leaves the Pretty Girl = Picture Slot choice of Nicole de Boer, who played the new symbiont host Ezri Dax on Deep Space Nine after Terry Ferrell left and has several other roles in sci-fi and fantasy, mostly on TV.

Many happy returns of the day to all the living on the list, and to Mr. Dekker and Mr. Abbott, thanks for the memories. 
 

Predictor: John Clark Ridpath, 1840-1900, author and educator, predicting the next 100 years of progress in honor of the 1893 Columbian Exposition, held in Chicago.

Predictions: Mankind with leave the Age of Iron for a new age, the Age of Aluminum. None shall call it "aluminum" or "aluminium", but "alum" for short. This new age will shine with all the luster of the metal for which it is named...

The second great change will be the substitution of sound over sight... the coming century will bring us the sound book in some form, and with that the intellectual equipoise of mankind will begin to be restored. The mental diseases and unrest of our race are largely attributable to the over excitement of the faculties through the sense of sight.

Reality: First things first, the facial hair. This is not some hillbilly, this is a learned man, the kind of fellow who uses the word "equipoise" correctly in a sentence.

And now to the predictions. If there is a metal that defines the 20th Century, I'd say it's steel instead of aluminum, and the Yanks and the Brits still can't agree on how to pronounce the 13th element. That said, stainless steel has made the 20th Century much shinier than the 19th, though its shine and resistance to rust come from chromium, not aluminum.

In his second set of predictions, he was right about the "sound book", but the sense of sight has not been made secondary to the sense of hearing in education. He was dsimissive of "words and symbols", and so in some ways people are using sight in a way Ridpath would consider more "natural" when they watch most movies and TV. As for the sense of sight being the cause of mental diseases, he obviously never went to a Motorhead concert. (All kidding aside, he's writing this in his early fifties. I wonder if his vision was failing and he didn't get a good prescription.)

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

It's the one year anniversary of the end of the world. You didn't think I'd forget that, did you?

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
 


4 comments:

  1. He looks like an outcast from Duck Dynasty.

    Except they are fake.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Their beards are fake? I don't watch the show, but the picutres I've seen make the beards look real.

      Delete
    2. no, but there are pictures of them pre-reality TV, clean shaven and looking like the wealthy business owners they are. The redneck look and talk is pretty much a pose, and the show is scripted (poorly). It's all a con and a grift.

      Besides, ZZTop does the beard thing much better.

      Delete
  2. coincidentally, Crooks and Liars recently had a post about the whole Duck Fakery:

    http://crooksandliars.com/2013/12/duck-dynasty-yuppies-red-neck-drag

    ReplyDelete

Traveler! Have you news... FROM THE FUTURE?