Sunday, April 13, 2014

13 April 2014

Birthdays
Hannah Marks b. 1993 (The Amazing Spider-Man, Grimm, FlashForward)
Courtney Peldon b. 1981 (InAlienable, Third Rock from the Sun, Deep Space Nine, The Visitor, Lois & Clark, Harry and the Hendersons [TV])
Bokeem Wodbine b. 1973 (Riddick, The Host, Total Recall [2012], Blade: The Series, The X-Files)
Rick Schroder b. 1970 (No Ordinary Family, Journey to the Center of the Earth [TV], The Andromeda Strain [2008])
Andrew Plevin b. 1968 (Inception, Witchville, Blood: The Last Vampire, Batman Begins)
Erick Avari b. 1952 (Warehouse 13, InAlienable, Flight of the Living Dead, Dark Matter, Heroes, Daredevil, The X-Files, Star Trek: Enterprise, Planet of the Apes [2001], Stargate SG-1, The Mummy, Babylon 5, Lois & Clark, VR.5, Deep Space Nine, Stargate, SeaQuest 2032, Star Trek: Next Generation)
Peter Davison b 1951 (5th Doctor) b. 1951 (Doctor Who, The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy [TV], The Tomorrow People)
Ron Perlman b. 1950 (Hellboy, Pacific Rim, Conan the Barbarian [2011], Season of the Witch, The Devil’s Tomb, I Sell the Dead, Mutant Chronicles, Outlander, Absolon, Star Trek: Nemesis, Blade, The Tick [TV], Charmed, Alien Resurrection, Perversions of Science, Highlander [TV], The Island of Dr. Moreau [1996], The Adventure of Captian Zoom in Outer Space, The City of Lost Children, Beauty and the Beast, The Ice Pirates, Quest for Fire)
William Sadler b. 1950 (Iron Man 3, 666 Park Avenue, Fringe, The Mist, Wonderfalls, Roswell, Deep Space Nine, RocketMan, Poltergeist: The Legacy, Bordello of Blood, The Omen [TV], Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey, Hard Time on Planet Earth, Project X)
Doug McGrath b. 1935 (Ghosts of Mars, Twilight Zone: The Movie, The Incredible Hulk, The Starlost)
Joyce Meadows b. 1933 (Lois & Clark, The Brain from Planet Arous)
Mari Blanchard b. 1923 died 10 May 1970 (Abbott and Costello Go to Mars)
Howard Keel b. 1919 died 7 November 2004 (The Day of the Triffids)

Good birthday list today. The real strength of the line-up is the guys born in the early 1950s, including this year's Picture Slot winner Peter Davison, the fifth Doctor. But there are also three great character actors, Erick Avari, William Sadler and last year's Picture Slot winner Ron Perlman. There is a step of familiarity with the public above the Oh That Guy level which I call "Hey, It's Abe Vigoda!" A lot of his most iconic roles are in heavy make-up, but I think Ron Perlman is almost at the Abe Vigoda level of recognizability. In any case, I love the work of those guys.

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

 
Predictor: Alfred Coppel in Dark December, published 1960

Prediction: Major Kenneth Gavin emerges into a blasted world after an eight-month-long war sometime during the 1970s. Outside the sheltered bunkers where men like himself considered what they were doing merely a technical problem--a job to be done--everything he has fought for and loved has been destroyed.

Reality: Once again, a tip of the hat to Paul Brians and his great database of nuclear war fiction. As I often do on Sundays, the prediction is nicked verbatim from his description of the work, most of which I have not read.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Monday. OMNI Future Almanac.

'Nuff Said.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

4 comments:

  1. I would propose that Ron Perlman has exceeded Hey It's Abe Vigoda status, and is firmly into the "ZRM'S Wife Rcognizes That Actor!" territory.

    I Sell The Dead was hilarious, as was his turn in The Tick as Blaze.

    men like himself considered what they were doing merely a technical problem--a job to be done--everything he has fought for and loved has been destroyed.

    Level 7 by Mordecai Roshwald portrayed the men who waged the nuclear war similarly, but went a different direction by having them be selected on the basis of their lack of connection to the surface world, and establishing a new society underground. Of course, THAT doesn't exactly work out well either, and the final passages from the narrator are chilling.

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    Replies
    1. Even though there was a ton of make-up, he starred in a popular TV show Beauty and the Beast and a popular movie series Hellboy. Add Sons of Anarchy to the list and I think you are right, he's a notch above Abe Vigoda, especially for younger people.

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    2. I've always thought of Perlman as a Tom Waits lookalike. For good or for ill, he is now much better known than Tom Waits.


      (Hint: ill.)

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