Mae Whitman b. 1988 (Boogeyman 2, Bionic Woman, Phil of the Future, Independence Day)
Natalie Portman b. 1981 (Thor, Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium, V for Vendetta, Star Wars, Mars Attacks!)
Katharine Cullen b. 1975 (Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, The Girl from Tomorrow)
Johnny Depp b. 1963 (Pirates of the Caribbean, Into the Woods, Alice in Wonderland, Transcendence, Dark Shadows [2012], The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, From Hell, Sleepy Hollow, The Astronaut’s Wife, Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare, Edward Scissorhands, A Nightmare on Elm Street)
David Koepp b. 1963 (writer, Snow White and the Huntsman 2, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Zathura: A Space Adventure, War of the Worlds, Spider-Man, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Jurassic Park, Death Becomes Her, The Shadow)
Michael J. Fox b. 1961 (Mars Attacks!, Shelley Duvall’s Bedtime Stories, Tales from the Crypt, Back to the Future, Teen Wolf)
James Newton Howard b. 1951 (composer/orchestrator, The Dark Knight, Signs, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Unbreakable, The Sixth Sense, The Devil’s Advocate, Waterworld, Outbreak, Twilight Zone: The Movie)
Joe Haldeman b. 1943 (author, won 1976 Hugo and Nebula for The Forever War, won 1990 Nebula for the novella The Hemingway Hoax, won 1993 Nebula for the short story Graves, won 1999 Hugo and Nebula for Forever Peace, won 2006 Nebula for Camouflage)
Joan Marshall b. 1931 died 28 June 1992 (Star Trek, Twilight Zone, Men Into Space)
Lin Carter b. 1930 died 7 February 1988 (author, Callisto, Conan)
Leo Summers b. 1925 died 1 April 1985 (artist)
Keith Laumer b. 1925 died 23 January 1993 (author, Imperium, Retief)
The obvious choices for the Picture Slot: Natalie Portman (last year's featured artist), Johnny Depp, Michael J. Fox.
Somewhat less obvious choices: multiple award winning author Joe Haldeman, Joan Marshall because she was on the original Star Trek (attorney prosecuting Kirk in Court Martial, Elisha Cook Jr. was the defense)
My choice: A cover from a Retief novel by Keith Laumer. I loved the Retief novels when I was younger, but the covers have nothing to do with the character. Retief is a low level diplomat from earth. There's always some screw-up in relations with aliens and he always fixes it because though he is unassuming in his work, he's the smartest guy in the room. He's like an intergalactic Jeeves, though in Jeeves fictional world everyone knows and appreciates how clever he is. Almost always someone else take the credit for what Retief accomplishes.
I love Retief and Jeeves, but if forced to choose, I love Jeeves more, even before Stephen Fry played him. Jeeves should be older and smaller and balder than Fry, but Fry and Laurie were perfect together in that series.
Side note on the dead: Jeez, our dead birthday folk sure died young. Nobody made it to 70 and Carter and Summers didn't make it to 60.
Many happy returns to the living and to the dead, thanks for the memories and you all left the party too soon.
Movies released
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier released, 1989
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| Sex chip drawn by Matt Collins from Scientific American, 20 April 2009 |
Predictor: Professor Tipu Aziz of Oxford, quoted in The Australian on 22 December 2008
Prediction: In ten years' time (by 2018), people will have chips implanted in their brains that will simulate sex. Moreover, by 2015 there will be multiple implanted chip designs with a variety of applications.
Reality: Oh, yeah, there's an app for that. It should be noted that the movie Back to the Future: Part 2 also said there would be chips implanted in people's brains by 2015. Heck, there are enough glitches with FitBit, I don't see how anyone's going to go for chip implants directly into the brain. It should be noted that modern pacemakers are small computers and they work very well, but that not the same as directly into the brain. We still only understand the merest rudiments of how the brain works.
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!
Geoffrey Hoyle takes us to the exciting world of 2010.
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
have you considered fm-2030 (aka f m esfandiary) as a prediction source? he had a number of hits as well as some tremendous misses (usually he was way too optimistic). i recommend starting with his book optimism one. upwingers and telespheres also have quite a few predictions.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't aware of his work before. Thanks for the tip.
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