Wednesday, August 13, 2014

13 August 2014

 Birthdays
Sebastian Stan b. 1982 (Captain America, Once Upon a Time, Hot Tub Time Machine, The Covenant)
Alex Gonzalez b. 1980 (X-Men: First Class)
Damien O’Hare b. 1977 (Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, The Broken, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl)
Grégory Fitoussi b. 1976 (World War Z, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra)
Jody Thompson b. 1976 (Fringe, 2012, Smallville, Alien Trespass, Stargate: Atlantis, Reaper, Flash Gordon [TV], Painkiller Jane, The 4400, Stargate: SG-1, Blade: The Series, Supernatural, Andromeda, Mission to Mars, NightMan)
James Carpinello b. 1975 (The Punisher)
Michael Sinterniklaas b. 1972 (The Venture Bros. and a whole lot of other voice work I don’t count)
Crystal Allen b. 1972 (Anacondas: Trail of Blood, Anaconda III, Star Trek: Enterprise)
David Monahan b. 1971 (The Dark Knight Rises, Supernatural, Angel, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch)
Heike Makatsch b. 1971 (Resident Evil, Anatomy 2)
Sean Hood b. 1966 (writer, The Legend of Hercules, Conan the Barbarian [2011], The Crow: Wicked Prayer, Cube²: Hypercube, Halloween: Resurrection)
Debi Mazar b. 1964 (Red Riding Hood [2006], The Tuxedo, Space Truckers, Batman Forever)
John Slattery b. 1962 (The Adjustment Bureau, Iron Man 2, From the Earth to the Moon)
Tom Perrotta b. 1961 (writer/producer, The Leftovers)
Dawnn Lewis b. 1961 (The Burning Zone, Sliders)
Tony Alcantar b. 1960 (Arrow, Continuum, Supernatural, Once Upon a Time, Alice, Revolution [2009 TV Movie], Stargate SG-1, Fantastic Four, Dead Like Me, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Andromeda, Dark Angel, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show, Strange World)
Kathleen Gati b. 1957 (Alphas, Arrow, The Future, Carnivale)
Tom Davis b. 1952 (writer, Coneheads)
Gene Day b. 1951 died 23 September 1982 (comic artist)
Jane Carr b. 1950 (Star Trek: Enterprise, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Babylon 5)
Lillian Hurst b. 1949 (True Blood, Lost, The X-Files)
Maria Rohm b. 1945 (Count Dracula [1970])
Kevin Tighe b. 1944 (Salem, Lost, The 4400, Strange World, Star Trek: Voyager, Escape to Witch Mountain, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Immortal [TV])
Raymond Serra b. 1936 died 20 June 2003 (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles I & II [1990 & 1991], Wolfen)
Pat Harrington Jr. b. 1929 (The Invisible Man, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, 2000 Years Later, The Munsters)
Buck Kartalian b. 1922 (My Favorite Martian [1999], Monster Squad, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes [1972], Octaman, Planet of the Apes [1968], Batman, The Munsters, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea)
Neville Brand b. 1920 died 16 April 1992 (Man from Atlantis, Killdozer, Twilight Zone)
Kurt Kasnar b. 1913 died 6 August 1979 (Wonder Woman, Land of the Giants)
Tristam Coffin b. 1909 died 26 March 1990 (The Time Tunnel, Batman, The Crawling Hand, The Night the World Exploded, Creature with the Atom Brain, King of the Rocket Men)
John Beal b. 1909 died 26 April 1997 (Amityville 3-D, Ark II, Dark Shadows, The Vampire)
Alfred Hitchcock b. 1899 died 29 April 1980 (director, The Birds)
Bert Lahr b. 1895 died 4 December 1967 (The Wizard of Oz)

Secrets of the blog revealed!

1. If you look at the credits for Michael Sinterniklaas, that will explain a lot of my feelings about voice work. The Venture Bros is such a special case as far as I'm concerned it gets a label. There are far better known shows that don't get a label, like Heroes. That's just how I roll.

2. I saw Alfred Hitchcock's name on imdb.com and debated whether anything he did is truly genre. My decision was that The Birds should count as a monster movie and a fantasy, since all bird species have not decided to attack all humans en masse.

Yet.

3. I was tempted to put Neville Brand on the list just so I could type Killdozer. (See? Now I've done it twice!) But Brand was also on the original Twilight Zone. I always list folks from that show.

4. I always feel my age when I put the oldest person on the list in The Picture Slot, but Bert Lahr as The Cowardly Lion is clearly iconic and when I saw the quote by John Waters, well, that was the cherry on top of the sundae, wasn't it?

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

Predictor: Herman Kahn in the 1972 book Things to Come, published by the Hudson Institute.

Prediction: In 1985 an Italian, Tanzanian, Bolivian or Turk will listen to a to an Icelandic pop singer on a Thai-made transistor radio, wearing clothes designed in a Seoul boutique while riding a Nigerian bicycle to see a Swedish movie.

Reality: All right, let's get to what he got right first, Icelandic pop singers. Bjork and the Sugarcubes first hit in 1986, but I'm giving Kahn full marks for that. The transistor radio should be replaced with a Walkman to be more mid 1980s, and while clothes had some international successes from small companies in many countries, Nigerian bicycles and Swedish blockbuster movies is stretching the point a little too much for full marks.

 
Never to be Forgotten: Arlene Martel 1936-2014

Arlene Martel, best known as Spock's intended bride T'Pring on Star Trek, died this week, joining a list that is way too long. Besides Star Trek, her other roles in genre include Battlestar Galactica [1978], Dracula’s Dog, The Six Million Dollar Man, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, My Favorite Martian, The Outer Limits and Twilight Zone.

Best wishes to the family and friends of Arlene Martel, from a fan. She is never to be forgotten.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

The fabulous babe content in the birthday list for the next few days is remarkably high. Just sayin'.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
 

6 comments:

  1. 1. I saw the Sugarcubes in Milwaukee in 1988-or-89. I always liked them better than her solo work.

    2. Killdozer is AWESOME.

    3. When I was very young, The Birds was broadcast on TV. Our living room at the time had the TV at one end, and the stairs to the upstairs bedrooms at the other. My parents sent me to bed, so they could watch the movie, and were focused on it so they didn't notice that I crept back down partway and watched through the balusters.

    To this day, I can't walk by a group of massed birds without anxiety. Hitchcock, you bastard.

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  2. World O' Crap had nice obit for Ms. Martel today also, with some good links. Quite an actor, that one.

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  3. Lauren Bacall (R.I.P.) had one role that might be considered fantasy: as the ghost of Elvira in a TV production of "Blithe Spirit". Your call as to whether or not to give her a tribute-mention.

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    1. That's an interesting point, Mr. Marshall. If we count voice work, she has a few more roles that count as well. I'm going to take a little while to consider it.

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    2. do it Prof. Sometimes, sheer star power, not to mention Fabulous Lady (I can't find it in myself to call her a 'babe') needs to be considered.

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    3. It's hard to deny the request of two of my favorite commenters, but I'm going to leave Lauren Bacall out. Ghost stories are a gray area for me, and just the one role in a long career feels like too much of a stretch.

      To be clear, I love her work. Tomorrow night, I'm going to re-watch Murder on the Orient Express, one of my favorite films with an "all star cast", a popular gimmick from about World War II until the mid 1970s.

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