Hector David Jr. b 1989 (Power Rangers Samurai, Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief)
Thomas Ian Nicolas b. 1980 (Halloween: Resurrection, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show, A Kid in King Arthur’s Court, Harry and the Hendersons [TV])
Wyatt Russell b. 1986 (The Walking Dead, Cowboys and Aliens, Solider, Escape from L.A.)
Chiwetel Ejiofor b. 1977 (2012, Children of Men, Serenity)
Peter Serafinowicz b. 1972 (Guardians of the Galaxy, Shaun of the Dead, Star Wars: Episode I – The One We Don’t Mention, Jack and the Beanstalk [TV 1998])
Jamie Glover b. 1969 (An Adventure in Space and Time, Jupiter Moon)
Fiona Shaw b. 1958 (True Blood, Harry Potter, Super Mario Bros.)
Ron Glass b. 1945 (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Serenity, Firefly, Star Trek: Voyager, Deep Space, Twilight Zone [1985])
Lawrence Pressman b. 1939 (Dark Angel, The X-Files, Mighty Joe Young [1999], Deep Space Nine, Man from Atlantis, Tucker’s Witch)
Tura Satana b. 1938 died 4 February 2011 (The Astro Zombies)
Nick Adams b. 1931 died 7 February 1968 (Mission Mars, Invasion of Astro-Monster, Frankenstein Conquers the World, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Outer Limits)
Susan Cummings b. 1930 (Twilight Zone)
George Clayton Johnson b. 1929 (writer, Logan’s Run, Star Trek, Twilight Zone)
William Smithers b. 1927 (The Amazing Spider-Man [TV], The Six Million Dollar Man, Star Trek, The Invaders, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea)
Fred Gwynne b. 1926 died 2 July 1993 (Pet Sematary, The Munsters)
Earl Hamner Jr. b. 1923 (The Invaders, Twilight Zone)
Joe Shuster b. 1914 died 30 July 1992 (writer/artist, Superman)
Thomas Gomez b. 1905 died 18 June 1971 (Beneath the Planet of the Apes, Bewitched, Twilight Zone)
John Wyndam b. 1903 died 11 March 1969 (author, Day of the Triffids, the Midwich Cuckoos)
Nikola Tesla b. 1856 died 7 January 1943 (inventor/writer)
It's a very Twilight Zone set of birthdays. We have two writers from the original series, George Clayton Johnson and Earl Hamner Jr, and both of them are still alive, bless them. Thomas Gomez and Susan Cummings were in episodes from the original series and Ron Glass was on the 1980s version of the show. And even so, when it came to the Picture Slot, I chose Peter Serafinowicz as Darth Maul from that movie I try to mention as rarely as possible, just because he's as iconic as it gets without going all baby boomer and picking Fred Gwynne. Other good choices are Nicola Tesla and Joe Shuster's cover art from the first issue of Action Comics in June 1938. Chiwetel Ejiofor, Ron Glass, Tura Satana, a cover from a John Wyndham novel? Yes, I could go in one of those directions as well. Next year's Picture Slot is a wide open field.
Many happy returns to the living on the list and to the dead, thanks for all the memories.
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: Many firms now are drowning in an ever-rising sea of paper work; so is government. Electronic computers will take over vast recording and accounting jobs, freeing tens of thousands of clerical personnel for other responsibilities. The need for expensive models of many new products, from jets to smaller items, will be eliminated: computers can predict their performance under varying conditions in a few hours.
Reality: Computers have changed the face of record keeping, and according to an article in The Washington Post, the percentage of clerical workers in government has shrunk from 75% of the federal workforce in the 1950s to about 4% now. On the other hand, using computers to predict performance of other products is not one of the main uses. We still buy expensive models of new products without doing the cost-benefit analysis
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!
The mystical and ineffable wrongness that is Edgar Cayce.
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
Honestly, until today, I had no idea the voice of Darth Maul was dubbed by Serafinowicz. It was his expressions and his moves which were Darth Maul to me, and those were Ray Park. Still, your website, your choice.
ReplyDeleteBut happy birthday to Ron Glass, whose mysterious past as Shepherd Book was one of those missed opportunities from the too-short "Firefly" and whose portrayal of a devil on "Twilight Zone" was funny as hell (pun intended).
Thanks for the clarification, James. I did know about Ray Park at one time, but imdb.com said it was Serafinowicz and I just went with it. Didn't realize it was a David Prowse/James Earl Jones situation.
DeleteThat was Ron Glass as the Devil? I was too busy laughing at Sherman Helmsley, who played the lead in that episode, to notice. "I of Newton" was certainly one of the strongest of the 1980s TZ episodes.
DeleteI would pick a nit in that in structural and mechanical engineering fields, computers are routinely used to predict the performance of structures and assemblies, and that prototyping is not only a bit more rare, but what is done is vastly accelerated through detailed 3D computer design.
ReplyDeleteIn particular, BIM modeling in architecture has greatly improved the coordination of building structure and mechanical elements.
Occasionally, I reflect that when I started down this road of buildin-designin', everything was drawn meticulously by hand; pencils and ink and vellum. Now that the career is nearly destroyed along with so much of the construction industry, there is very little hand drawing going on, even for an old goat like me. Big, illuminated drafting tables are hardly used in my office., but computers! Computers!
Interesting point as always. Analogous but not really the same: I saw a documentary about the great movie poster (and album cover) artist Drew Struzan this weekend. Several people made the point that movie posters aren't hand drawn anymore, mostly they are photos and/or photoshopped stuff. Several art forms are heading straight towards oblivion in the lovely future we live in.
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