22 June 2014

Birthdays
Portia Doubleday b. 1988 (Her, Carrie [2013], Legend of the Mummy)
Joe Dempsie b. 1987 (Game of Thrones, Merlin, Doctor Who)
Douglas Smith b. 1985 (Antiviral, Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, The X-Files)
Lindsay Ridgeway b. 1985 (Star Trek: Voyager)
Stephanie Jacobsen b. 1980 (Star-Crossed, Quantum Apocalypse, The Devil’s Tomb, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Battlestar Galactica, Farscape)
Donald Faison b. 1974 (Kick-Ass 2, Skyline, Clone High, Sabrina, The Teenage Witch)
Mary Lynn Rajskub b. 1971 (Safety Not Guaranteed, Dude, Where’s My Car?)
Michael Trucco b. 1970 (V [2010], Meteor Storm, Battlestar Galactica, The Big Bang Theory, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Charmed)
James McCauley b. 1966 (The Amazing Spider-Man 2, True Blood, I am Legend)
J.J. Cohen b. 1965 (3rd Rock from the Sun, Back to the Future, V [1985])
Bruce Campbell b. 1958 (Spider-Man, Alien Apocalypse, Sky High, Man with the Screaming Brain, Terminal Invasion, Bubba Ho-Tep, Timequest, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Xena, The X-Files, Weird Science [TV], Assault on Dome 4, Escape from L.A., American Gothic, Lois & Clark, Congo, Army of Darkness, Mindwarp, Waxwork II: Lost in Time, Darkman, Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat, Moontrap, The Evil Dead I and II)
Tim Russ b. 1956 (Star Trek: Voyager, Asteroid vs. Earth, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari [2006], Star Trek: Generations, SeaQuest2032, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Journey to the Center of the Earth [1993], Eve of Destruction, Alien Nation, Beauty and the Beast, The Twilight Zone, Spaceballs, Timestalkers, Starman [TV], Amazing Stories)
Graham Greene b. 1952 (Twilight Saga, Phil the Alien, Big Wolf on Campus, The Green Mile, Poltergeist: The Legacy)
Meryl Streep b. 1949 (Into the Woods, Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, Defending Your Life, Death Becomes Her, Alice at the Palace)
Lindsay Wagner b. 1949 (Warehouse 13, Alphas, A Light in the Forest, The Bionic Woman, The Six Million Dollar Man)
David L. Lander b. 1947 (Zoom, Black Scorpion, Sabrina, The Teenage Witch, The Tick, Homeboys in Outer Space, Freddy’s Nightmares, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Who Framed Roger Rabbit)
Octavia E. Butler b. 1947 died 2/24/2006 (won 2000 Nebula for Parable of the Talents)
Michael Lerner b. 1941 (X-Men: Days of Future Past, Tale of the Mummy, Godzilla [1998], Omen IV: The Awakening, Amazing Stories, Strange Invaders, Wonder Woman)
Kris Kristofferson b. 1936 (Blade, Planet of the Apes, NetForce, Millennium)
Amrish Puri b. 1932 died 12 January 2005 (Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom)
Ralph Waite b. 1928 died 13 February 2014 (Carnivale, Timequest, Time Trax)
H. Rider Haggard b. 1856 died 14 May 1925 (author, She)

I love a good same day birthday pair and Meryl Streep and Lindsay Wagner certainly qualify. (David L. Lander and Octavia Butler... not so much. People with fond memories of Squiggy who read black feminist sci-fi are few and far between.) On this blog, Wagner would trump Streep because Lindsay's most famous role is genre and iconic, though Meryl is easily the biggest movie star on this list. She has made and still makes a lot of "Oscar bait" films, and the Academy voters have not shown a lot of love for genre over the years, with a few exceptions like Cliff Robertson in Charly and Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight Returns.

After all that, it's Bruce Campbell and his BOOMSTICK in the Picture Slot because... reasons.

One last comment on the birthday list today. I'm embarrassed that I only know Tim Russ from Star Trek: Voyager, because he has a long Oh That Guy career before that role.

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

Predictor: Margaret Thatcher, October 26, 1969

Prediction: "No woman will be Prime Minister or Chancellor or Foreign Secretary – not the top jobs. Anyway, I wouldn’t want to be Prime minister; you have to give yourself 100 per cent."

Reality: The blog welcomes our new prediction source, The Experts Speak by Christopher Cerf and Victor Navasky. As you might expect, the short answer for the Reality section is going to be "nope", but I did find one about prices that could almost be counted as true if the Consumer Price Index is factored in. Today's prediction, while it does not have the usually required date attached, gets the nod because of the added dimension of irony.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Monday's a fun day for me, because I get to open up the OMNI Future Almanac to some random page and see what they thought would happen by some date that's usually already passed by now.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!