Saturday, March 8, 2014

8 March 2014

 Birthdays
Freddie Prinze Jr. 1976 (Witches of East End, Scooby-Doo, Wing Commander)
Jed Ress b. 1970 (Galaxy Quest, Lake Placid, Crow: Stairway to Heaven [TV], The X-Files)
Aidan Quinn b. 1959 (Frankenstein [1994], The Handmaid’s Tale)
John Kapelos b. 1956 (Lost Girl, Category 7: The End of the World, Dead Like Me, Forever Knight, The Shadow, The Relic, The X-Files, Angel, Timecop, Lois & Clark, Quantum Leap, Weird Science)
Mickey Morton b. 1927 died 8 August 1993 (The Star Wars Holiday Special, The Bionic Woman, Wonder Woman, Star Trek)
Priscilla Lawson b. 1914 died 27 August 1958 (Flash Gordon)

A short list today, but several choices for iconic that have next to nothing to do with big career success. More than half the roles Priscilla Lawson played were uncredited, but she was Princess Aura in the Flash Gordon serial. Jed Ress was one of the aliens in Galaxy Quest. But instead we get Mickey Morton, a big guy whose main roles were as the giant who gets his ass kicked by the hero or heroine, here in the Star Trek episode The Gamesters of Triskelion. It's pretty much giant typecasting, isn't it? Personally, I blame David and Goliath for starting this ball rolling, though fairy tales certainly perpetuated this stereotype. It's time we checked our small, quick and clever privilege.

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

Movies released
Oz the Great and Powerful released, 2013


Predictor: Jeremiah M. Rusk, first Secretary of Agriculture from 1889 to 1893

Prediction: "Will our soil and methods of agriculture improve so as to provide food without difficulty for all our population in 1993?"


[Many] factors must be taken into account in estimating our possible future production. And we have not yet touched upon what inventive genius and science may discover in the interest of greater production and diminished waste in the next 100 years. But, in the light of what these agencies have accomplished in the past 100 years, I think I can relieve you mind of any anxiety. Your children or your children's children should not have to go hungry for want of sufficient productiveness of United States soil.

Reality: Full marks for Rusk here, both for the sensible prophecy and the very manly beard. I have trimmed his remarks a bit, and in the beginning of his essay he quotes someone as predicting a billion Americans in the 20th Century, a number he correctly thinks is way too high. I also like his tip of the hat to 19th Century technological progress. From our vantage point, the changes brought by the 20th Century clearly dwarf the progress made in the 19th, but especially in agriculture, huge strides forward began in the 1800s.

Looking one day ahead...INTO THE FUTURE!

We interrupt our regular schedule for a prediction from 2014 about 2014, but a lot less sensible than the thoughts of Jeremiah M. Rusk.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

2 comments:

  1. John Kapelos also had a major role in the TV show "Forever Knight" (which might be the first vampire detective show ever made) and a small role in "The Shadow" (1994).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, I'll make the changes. I also found a movie called The Relic that qualifies.

      Delete

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