Tuesday, March 11, 2014

11 March 2014

Birthdays
Anton Yelchin b. 1989 (Star Trek [reboot], Fright Night, Terminator Salvation)
Daniella Kertesz b. 1989 (World War Z, AfterDeath)
David Andres b. 1981 (Once Upon a Time, The Vampire Diaries, Arrow, Warehouse 13, Heroes, Charmed, The Source)
Johnny Knoxville b. 1971 (Men in Black II)
Terrence Howard b. 1969 (Iron Man)
John Barrowman b. 1967 (Arrow, Torchwood, Doctor Who, Shark Attack 3: Megalodon)
Peter Berg b. 1964 (director, Hancock, Battleship)
Alex Kingston b. 1963 (Arrow, Doctor Who, FlashForward)
Jeffrey Nordling b. 1962 (Arrow, TRON: Legacy, Apollo 11, Time Trax, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Alien Nation, Beauty and the Beast)
Elias Koteas b. 1961 (The Last Days on Mars, Let Me In, The Fourth Kind, The Haunting in Connecticut, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Skinwalkers, S1m0ne, Gattaca, The Prophecy, Cyborg 2, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)
Fulvio Cecere b. 1960 (The Tomorrow People, Lost Girl, Resident Evil: Afterlife, Watchmen, Supernatural, Battlestar Galactica, Stargate SG-1, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Paycheck, Odyssey 5, Smallville, Witchblade, Dark Angel, Earth; Final Conflict, Millennium, Highlander [TV], The X-Files)
Stephen R. Hart b. 1958 (The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, Space Janitors, Oz the Great and Powerful, Lost Girl, Wonderfalls, Resident Evil: Apocalypse)
Rob Paulsen b. 1956 (voice work, The Tick, Samurai Jack, Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law)
Douglas Adams b. 1952 died 11 May 2001 (author, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, writer, Doctor Who)
Diane Sherry Case b. 1952 (Superman [1978])
Mark Metcalf b. 1946 (Buffy, Angel, Star Trek: Voyager)
Angelique Pettyjohn b. 1942 died 14 February 1992 (Star Trek, Repo Man, Mad Doctor of Blood Island, Batman, Mr. Terrific, The Green Hornet)
Nancy Kovack b. 1935 (The Invisible Man [TV], Marooned, Star Trek, Batman, I Dream of Jeannie, Bewitched, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Jason and the Argonauts)
Albert Salmi b. 1928 died 22 April 1990 (Dragonslayer, Future Cop, Land of the Giants, Lost in Space, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Twilight Zone)
Christopher Anvil b. 1925 died 30 November 2009 (author, Federation of Humanity, The Day the Machines Stopped)

This is what good research methods can do. Last year, before I found ways to get better data, this list had two names and now it has nineteen. There are a lot of good choices for the fabulous babe Picture Slot: Alex Kingston from Doctor Who, Diane Sherry Case was Lana Lang in the Christopher Reeve version of Superman, Nancy Kovack and Angelique Pettyjohn had their moments in the spotlight in the original Star Trek. As a Whedonverse nerd, Mark Metcalf played The Master, the big bad in the first season of Buffy.

But seriously, I gave the Picture Slot to the late Douglas Adams because his work is the most iconic by far of anyone on this list. And he made me laugh.

Many happy returns to all the living on the list and to the dead, thanks for all the memories.

Movies released
Robots released 2005
 
 

Predictor: Ray Kurzweil in The Age of Spiritual Machines, published 1999

Prediction: By 2009, most books will be read on screens rather than paper.

Reality: Close, but no cigar. I think we can argue that most reading is done on screens now and probably has been since e-mail became ubiquitous, but book sales still outpace e-books, so stipulating books makes this prediction incorrect.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

More early 20th Century optimism from our pal in London T. Baron Russell.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
 

3 comments:

  1. Also, Douglas Adams was a writer on Doctor Who, wasn't he? Not inconsequential.

    By the by, Mark Metcalf had moved to the Milwaukee area many years back, he and his wife run a restaurant. In between that and his sporadic acting gigs, I have had the pleasure to watch him perform in local theater, most often in the First Stage Children's Theater presentations. He did a stellar turn as the Father in A Christmas Story one year.

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  2. Good choice with Adams. He had the ability to deflate a lot of pretentious institutions with good humor although I thought the fifth book of the trilogy (Mostly Harmless) was pretty dark.

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