Friday, April 18, 2014

18 April 2014

 Birthdays
Britt Robertson b. 1990 (Tomorrowland, Under the Dome, Power Rangers Time Force)
Rosie Huntington-Whiteley b. 1987 (Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Mad Max: Fury Road [2015])
Laura Mennell b. 1980 (Alphas, Smallville, Supernatural, Fringe, Eureka, Watchmen, Flash Gordon [TV], Fallen, The 4400, Stargate: Atlantis, Andromeda, Millennium)
Ethan Cohn b. 1979 (Intelligence, The Amazing Spider-Man, Alice in Wonderland [2010], Heroes, Lady in the Water)
Melissa Joan Hart b. 1976 (Sabrina, the Teenage Witch)
Martin Papazian b. 1976 (The Amazing Spider-Man, Supernatural, The Island, Charmed)
Edgar Wright b. 1974 (director, Ant-Man, Shaun of the Dead)
David Tennant b. 1971 (Doctor Who, Fright Night, The Sarah Jane Adventures, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, The Quatermass Experiment [2005])
David Hewlett b. 1968 (Time Machine: Rise of the Morlocks, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Stargate, Splice, Mutant X, Cube, Scanners II)
Maria Bello b. 1967 (Touch, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor)
Eric McCormack b. 1963 (Alien Trespass, The Andromeda Strain, Free Enterprise, Highlander, The Lost World)
Benedict Taylor b. 1960 (Star Wars: Episode I)
Eric Roberts b. 1956 (Sharktopus, Heroes, Pandemic, Witchblade, The Dark Knight, Doctor Who, so much low budget crap I can’t even count it all... and I counted Sharktopus, for pity's sake)
Rick Moranis b. 1953 (Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, Ghostbusters, Little Shop of Horrors)
James Woods b. 1947 (Coma [TV], Vampires [1998], Contact, Cat’s Eye, Videodrome)
Robert Hooks b. 1937 (M.A.N.T.I.S., The Flash, V [1985], Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Time Express)
James Drury b. 1934 (Men Into Space, Forbidden Planet)
Clive Revill b. 1930 (Lois & Clark, Dracula: Dead and Loving It, Babylon 5, Star Trek: The Next Generation, C.H.U.D. II, Rumplestiltskin, Twilight Zone [1986], Wizards and Warriors, Death Ray 2000, The Empire Strikes Back, One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing, The Little Prince, The Legend of Hell House)
Gunter Meisner b. 1926 died 5 December 1994 (Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, The Boys from Brazil)
Nigel Kneale b. 1922 died 29 October 2006 (author, Quatermass)
Frank R. Paul b. 1884 died 29 June 1963 (artist)

Plenty of actors and actresses deserve their chance in The Picture Slot today, including last year's choice David Tennant, but instead we have the artwork of Frank R. Paul, whose illustrations in the early years of the magazine Amazing Stories sets the stage for so much of the artistic style of sci-fi for decades after.

Many happy returns of the day to the living and to the dead, thanks for all the memories.


Predictor: Tom de Haven in Freaks' Amour, published 1979

Prediction: This story concerns the interrelationships of a group of wretched freaks created by a small-scale atomic accident on "Caliban night," April 18, 1988, and forced to earn their living doing "rape shows" in nightclubs.

Reality: This is another story with a date in it - this time an exact date - from the nuclear holocaust fiction database of Paul Brians. While alien invasion and science gone wrong are two major themes of strife in sci-fi, the two "realistic" fears most exploited in the genre were/are nuclear war and overpopulation. We haven't had a nuclear war since Nagasaki and knock wood it stays that way. As for overpopulation... a lot of people feel we are already there.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

We return to 1893, where white guys with facial hair looked boldly into the century just ahead of them and predicted things would go their way.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
 

10 comments:

  1. so much low budget crap I can’t even count it all

    That's a very meta movie title.

    So, Eric Roberts is the spiritual predecessor to John Carradine? How did you put it? "Take part. Cash check. Rich yet? If not, repeat."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I may have mutilated that a bit in my memory, and laziness to actually look it up in the archives.

      Delete
    2. 1. Take a role.
      2. Pay the rent.
      3. Dead yet? If not, back to step 1.

      Slightly less optimistic, but the idea is there.

      Delete
    3. That was it. Eric Roberts is that guy, is he not?

      Delete
    4. 344 roles, 66 in projects that have yet to see the light of day.

      Ree-donk-ulous!

      Delete
  2. OT but you should go and see the current exhibit at the Oakland Museum: "SuperAwesome: Art and the Giant Robot." http://www.examiner.com/article/superawesome-art-and-giant-robot-opens-at-the-oakland-museum-of-california

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  3. I think the Pan-Asian, Tokyo Pop influenced magazines, games and other "toys for adults" would gladden the geek side of your nature.

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  4. Do you include the 1990's "Doctor Who" movie to be part of Eric Roberts' "so much low budget crap I can’t even count it all"? For all its flaws, I'd include that by name because it *is* canon "Doctor Who" and he did play one of the iconic villains of the series.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, and he was also a guest star on the TV series "Witchblade".

      Delete
    2. I added those, Mr. Marshall. When I looked at his, there were 66 movies listed as completed, pre-production, post-production, filming or announced and I thought... oh, this is bullshit.

      I've taken the ten minutes to check stuff out and included your recommendations.

      Delete

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