Tuesday, August 12, 2014

12 August 2014

 Birthdays
Leah Pipes b. 1988 (The Originals, The Vampire Diaries, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Angel)
Electra and Elise Avellan b. 1986 (Grindhouse)
Charlotte Salt b. 1985 (Beowulf)
Natalie Mendoza b. 1981 (Code 46, BeastMaster [2000 TV], Farscape)
Maggie Lawson b. 1980 (Gamer, Smallville, Pleasantville, Meego)
Casey Affleck b. 1975 (Interstellar)
Rebecca Gayheart b. 1971 (Dead Like Me, Invasion, Sliders, Earth 2)
Yvette Nicole Brown b. 1971 (Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, Repo Men, The Island)
Michael Ian Black b. 1971 (Reaper)
Ellory Elkayem b. 1970 (director, Return of the Living Dead: Rave to the Grave, Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis, Eight Legged Freaks, They Nest)
Katherine Kendall b. 1969 (Southland Tales, Firefly)
Andras Jones b. 1968 (The Attic Expeditions, Alien Nation [TV], A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama)
Brett Sexton b. 1967 (Surface, Birds of Prey, Vanilla Sky, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, The X Files, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Angel)
Peter Krause b. 1965 (Beastly, The Lost Room, 3rd Rock from the Sun)
Bruce Greenwood b. 1956 (Star Trek Into Darkness, Star Trek, Super 8, National Treasure: Book of Secrets, Mee-Shee: The Water Giant, I, Robot, The Core, Sleepwalkers [TV], Deadly Nightmares [TV])
Sam J. Jones b. 1954 (Ted, Flash Gordon [2007 TV and 1980], Black Scorpion, Stargate SG-1, Earth Minus Zero)
Ray Abruzzo b. 1954 (The Burning Zone, Lois & Clark)
Jim Beaver b. 1950 (Revolution, Supernatural, Tremors [TV], Star Trek: Enterprise, 3rd Rock from the Sun, The X Files, Lois & Clark)
Bruce Solomon b. 1944 (Night of the Creeps, Twilight Zone [1986])
Dana Ivey b. 1941 (Addams Family Values, The Addams Family, Explorers)
Oliver Ford Davies b. 1939 (Game of Thrones, Star Wars: Episodes I, II and III, Jack and the Beanstalk: The Real Story, The Cloning of Joanna May, Moonbase 3)
George Hamilton b. 1939 (The Little Unicorn, Love at First Bite)
Carol Eve Rossen b. 1937 (Mr. Merlin, The Fury, The Stepford Wives, The Invaders, Twilight Zone)
Michael Coles b. 1936 died 26 April 2005 (The Satanic Rites of Dracula, Dracula A.D. 1972, Doctor Who and the Daleks)
Elizabeth Shepherd b. 1936 (The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne, Poltergeist: The Legacy, PSI Factor: Chronicles of the Paranormal, Damien: Omen II, The Tomb of Ligeia)
William Goldman b. 1931 (screenwriter, Dreamcatcher, Memoirs of an Invisible Man, The Princess Bride, The Stepford Wives)
John Bluthal b. 1929 (Dark City, The Fifth Element, Spellbreaker: Secret of the Leprechauns, Leaping Leprechauns, Superman III, The Return of Captain Invincible, The Flying Sorcerer)
Dan Curtis b. 1927 died 27 March 2006 (writer, Dark Shadows, Frankenstein [1973 TV])
Ralph Nelson b. 1916 died 21 December 1987 (director, Charly, Twilight Zone)
Richard L. Bare b. 1913 (director, Twilight Zone)
Jane Wyatt b. 1910 died 20 October 2006 (Amityville: The Evil Escapes, Starman [TV], Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Gemini Man, Star Trek)
Oskar Homolka b. 1898 died 28 January 1978 (The Invisible Man [1976 TV], The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm, The Invisible Woman)
Marion Lorne b. 1883 died 9 May 1968 (Bewitched)

Today's list spans a long time, and for my money there are several iconic roles on the list. Marion Lorne played Aunt Clara on Bewitched and Jane Wyatt was Spock's mom Amanda on Star Trek.  Katerine Kendall was Inara's female client on Firefly, which gives us the deathless tagline "I'll be in my bunk." Sadly, I didn't think the still shots of her were very clear. So we get Sam J. Jones in his most famous role as Flash Gordon from the movie of the same name. As usual, there are famous actors (Casey Affleck, Peter Krause, George Hamilton) who are not best known for their genre work.

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

 Predictor: Geoffrey Hoyle in his 1972 children's book, 2010: Living in the Future

Prediction: At the town depot there are also other pipes—giant pipes that run the length and breadth of the country. This is a clean, efficient way to ship anything from a box of nails to a crane.

If someone buys a new electric car, this is the way it is delivered. The car is wrapped at the factory and dropped into the pipe full of liquid. Large pumps along the pipe keep the liquid flowing. Detectors at the pumping stations make sure there are no blockages and that the goods arrive at the right place.

When the car reaches the town’s main depot, it is lifted from the pipe, unwrapped, and delivered.

This is a very fast way of shipping goods. If you buy a car in the morning it will be delivered the same day.

Reality: I'm very sorry to say this is the last prediction from Hoyle's book. I'm sorry because I've enjoyed his work and doubly sorry because this prediction stinks sooooo much. What he is talking about is kinda sorta like pneumatic tubes, which of course this blog deeply loves, as do all right thinking individuals. But pneumatic tubes pick a single size container and that makes the system work. The idea that you could move anything from a box of nails to a crane with a system of hydraulic tubes that criss crosses a nation is massively impractical and I know of no such system working at any scale anywhere on the planet.

Sorry, Geoff. It's been fun but... we live in what you called the future and it's nothing like this.

Never to be Forgotten: JJ Murphy

The Irish actor JJ Murphy was cast for season 5 of Game of Thrones as Ser Denys Mallister, the oldest member of the Night's Watch. He shot his first few scenes for the show but died a few days later. The show's producers have decided not to recast the role. "We will not be recasting J.J. Murphy. He was a lovely man, and the best Denys Mallister we could have hoped for. And now his watch is ended."

He only had ten roles on film total, and his other genre work was in Dracula Untold. I couldn't find Mr. Murphy's birth year online, but he was 86 when he died.

Best wishes to the family and friends of JJ Murphy. He is never to be forgotten.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Herman Kahn gets to make his guesses about the 1970s and 1980s again tomorrow. This time he almost gets it right.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

2 comments:

  1. Addendum: George Hamilton was seen (but not heard) as Ned's father in "Pushing Daisies".

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. As a rule, I leave out voice work except in very special circumstances, but thanks for the tip.

      Delete

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