Thursday, June 19, 2014

19 June 2014

Birthdays
Paul Dano b. 1984 (Looper, Cowboys & Aliens)
Aidan Turner b. 1983 (The Hobbit, Being Human)
Lauren Lee Smith b. 1980 (Ring of Fire [TV], Blade: The Series, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Mutant X, Dark Angel)
Zoe Saldana b. 1978 (Guardians of the Galaxy, Rosemary’s Baby [2014 TV], Star Trek, Avatar)
Ryan Hurst b. 1976 (Taken, The Postman)
Hugh Dancy b. 1975 (Ella Enchanted, Relic Hunter)
Chelah Horsdal b. 1973 (Arrow, The Cabin in the Woods, Supernatural, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Iron Invader, Stargate, Eureka, Alien Trespass, Alien vs. Predator: Requiem, Bionic Woman, Battlestar Galactica, X-Men: The Last Stand, Smallville, The 4400, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Andromeda)
Robin Tunney b. 1972 (End of Days, The Craft, Frogs!)
Alan Van Sprang b. 1971 (Survival of the Dead, ReGenesis, Diary of the Dead, Land of the Dead, Starhunter, Mutant X, Earth: Final Conflict, Highlander: The Raven)
Chris Larkin b. 1967 (Doctor Who, Mysterious Island [2005 TV], Highlander [TV])
Mia Sara b. 1967 (Dorothy and the Witches of Oz, Nightmares & Dreamscapes, Birds of Prey, Lost in Oz, Jack and the Beanstalk: The True Story, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea [1997 TV], Timecop, Time Trax, Legend)
Samuel West b. 1966 (Dark Relic, Van Helsing, Doctor Who: Dimensions in Time, Prince Caspian and the Voyage of the Dawn Treader [1989 TV])
Sadie Frost b. 1965 (Dracula [1992])
Andrew Lauer b. 1965 (Iron Man 3, Adventures of a Teenage Dragonslayer, King of the Lost World, Screamers)
Virginia Hey b. 1952 (Alien Armageddon, Farscape, The Return of Captain invincible, Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior)
Salman Rushdie b. 1947 (author, Midnight’s Children, Haroun and the Sea of Stories)
Steve Ryan b. 1947 died 3 September 2007 (The X-Files, D.A.R.Y.L.)
Pier Angeli b. 1932 died10 September 1971 (Octaman)
Diana Sowle b. 1930 (Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory)
Robert Fyfe b. 1925 (Cloud Atlas, Xtro)
Louis Jourdan b. 1921 (Swamp Thing, Count Dracula [1977 TV])
Pat Buttram b. 1915 died 8 January 1994 (Back to the Future Part III, Knight Rider, The Munsters)
Julius Schwartz b. 1915 died 8 February 2004 (editor, DC Comics)
Harry Lauter b. 1915 died 30 October 1990 (Superbeast, Escape from the Planet of the Apes, Land of the Giants, The Invaders, The Time Tunnel, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Green Hornet, Batman: The Movie, My Favorite Martian, Earth vs. Flying Saucers, The Werewolf, Creature with the Atom Brain, It Came from Beneath the Sea, Captain Midnight, Rocky Jones, Space Ranger, The Day the Earth Stood Still)

The most iconic genre roles on the list are all fabulous babes and Virginia Hey from Farscape is my choice this year. Last year it was Zoe Saldana and Mia Sara from Legend is the early front runner for next year. Harry Lauter is definitely an Oh That Guy, but not as recognizable as Ed Lauter (no relation), a bald character actor who died last year.

Sometimes I feel a little guilty including someone who only had one role in genre, and I felt that way today about Pier Angeli, a beauty who died very young and who had just the one role in the forgettable Italian sci-fi movie Octaman. On the subject of dying young, Steve Ryan is a character actor best known as the one-handed guy on Arrested Development who taught the Bluth kids terrifying lessons at their father's request. I had no idea he had died. In the other direction, I had no idea Louis Jourdan was still alive.

As my father often says, you learn something new every day, if you aren't careful.

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

Movies released
Jason and the Argonauts released, 1963

Seeing this at the Grand Lake in Oakland the summer it came out is still a special memory for me.
  
In the year 2000!

Predictor:
Lee de Forest, "The Father of Radio", predicting the world of 2000 in the 17 January 1960 edition of the Sunday supplement American Weekly.

 Prediction: Some day, the need for power wires and such common household items as cords and plugs may have vanished: There is a technical possibility that power can be transmitted directly on invisible beams-and that an airplane, for instance, can be controlled and powered by transmission of a radio and energy signal.

Reality: De Forest is not the only person I've read who thought broadcasting energy was a thing, but I've never heard of a successful example, especially not over distances necessary for an airplane.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

The weekly schedule is interrupted for an exact date of a nuclear Armageddon. Fun!

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

2 comments:

  1. Nice picture choice.

    I have always thought that the idea of beaming energy would be impractical due to energy losses and that annoying inverse square law; but that if it could be worked out, it would be less an energy source and more of an energy weapon.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I concur about Virginia Hey, obviously enough.

      You bring up energy weapons. Let's recall that the laser was supposed to be an energy weapon but that didn't quite work out. I love the Gahan Wilson cartoon of a mad scientist furiously crushing a copy of the Wall Street Journal in the background, while in the foreground the hunchbacked assistant whispers to a visiting graverobber, "General Electric beat him out on his death ray, and he's simply furious!"

      A classic.

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