2 August 2014

Birthdays
Kara and Shelby Hoffman b. 2002 (Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events)
Zuleyka Silver b. 1991 (In Time, Touch)
Kerry James b. 1986 (The Boy Who Cried Werewolf, SGU Stargate Universe)
Sam Worthington b. 1976 (Avatar, Wrath of the Titans, Clash of the Titans, Terminator Salvation)
Edward Furlong b. 1977 (Star Trek: Renegades, The Zombie King, Arachnoquake, The Green Hornet, Night of the Demons, Dark Reel, Warriors of Terra, The Crow_ Wicked Prayer, Brainscan, Pet Sematary II, Terminator 2: Judgment Day)
Jacinda Barrett b. 1972 (NightMan, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys)
James Preston Rogers b. 1972 (Alphas, Lost Girl, Death Warrior, Outlander)
Matthew Del Negro b. 1972 (Teen Wolf, Witches of East End, Eastwick, Stargate: Atlantis)
Alice Evans b. 1971 (Grimm, The Vampire Diaries, Lost, Highlander [TV])
Kevin Smith b. 1970 (writer/director, Tusk, Reaper, Dogma)
Cynthia Stevenson b. 1962 (Dead Like Me, Neverwas, From the Earth to the Moon, Max Headroom)
Mary-Louise Parker b. 1964 (R.I.P.D., The Spiderwyck Chronicles)
Olivier Gruner b. 1960 (Sector 4: Extraction, Re-Generator, One Night, Interceptor Force 1 and 2, Velocity Trap, Mars, Automatic)
Ken McLeod b. 1954 (author, The Fall Revolution)
Butch Patrick b. 1953 (Zombie Dream, Young Blood: Evil Intentions, The Munsters, Shazam!, Lidsville, The Phantom Tollbooth, I Dream of Jeannie, My Favorite Martian)
Joanna Cassidy b. 1945 (Heroes, Ghosts of Mars, Vampire in Brooklyn, The Tommyknockers, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Blade Runner)
Susan Denberg b. 1944 (Frankenstein Created Woman, Star Trek)
Max Wright b. 1943 (From the Earth to the Moon, Quantum Leap, ALF, Misfits of Science, Faerie Tale Theatre)
Isabel Allende b. 1942 (author, The City of the Beasts, The Infinite Plan)
Sandra Ellis Lafferty b. 1940 (The Hunger Games, The Vampire Diaries, The Prophecy 3, Conan [TV], Dark Skies, The Prophecy)
Wes Craven b.1939 (director, Vampire in Brooklyn, New Nightmare, The People Under the Stairs, Shocker, The Serpent and the Rainbow, The Twilight Zone [1985-6], Deadly Friend, Nightmare on Elm Street, The Hills Have Eyes I and II, Swamp Thing)
Peter O’Toole b. 1932 died 15 Dec 2013 (Phantoms, Supergirl, Stardust, Creator, High Spirits, Gulliver’s Travels, Ray Bradbury Theatre)
Bernard L. Kowalski b. 1929 died 26 October 2007 (director, Knight Rider, Sssssss, Attack of the Giant Leeches, Night of the Blood Beast)
Carroll O’Connor b. 1924 died 21 June 2001 (Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Outer Limits)
Theo Marcuse b. 1920 died 29 November 1967 (Star Trek, The Invaders, The Time Tunnel, Batman, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Outer Limits, The Twilight Zone)
Nehemiah Persoff b. 1919 (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Battlestar Galactica, The Bionic Woman, Logan’s Run, Wonder Woman, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Invisible Man, Dracula, Land of the Giants, The Power, The Time Tunnel, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Twilight Zone)
Gary Merrill b. 1915 died 5 March 1990 (Earth II, The Time Tunnel, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Outer Limits, Twilight Zone, Mysterious Island [1961])
Beatrice Straight b. 1914 died 7 April 2001 (Faerie Tale Theatre, Poltergeist, Wonder Woman)

Looking at the people in the Picture Slot recently, I've been favoring actors older than I am for the most part, so today I looked for iconic folks near the top of the list and decided on Edward Furlong from Terminator 2.  There are a lot of other excellent choices today, including Sam Worthington, Kevin Smith Butch Patrick, Joanna Cassidy, Wes Craven (last year's pick), Theo Marcuse and Nehemiah Persoff. There are several other famous names on the list whose roles in genre are not their best known work, so I didn't list them.

For me, the two big surprises are that Nehemiah Persoff is still alive at 95 - mazel tov, Mr. Persoff - and that Theo Marcuse died young. I think Marcuse's best known roles are as Korob in Star Trek and as Rip Torn's strongarm man Felix in The Cincinnati Kid. I must have known he died at one time, but I completely blanked on it when doing the research this morning.

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

Movies released
Signs released 2002  
 

Predictor: Dale Brown in The Day of the Cheetah, published 1989

Prediction: In August of 1994, a deeply planted KGB mole is ordered to steal the DreamStar XF-34 fighter, which is controlled by the pilot's thoughts.

Reality: Umm, Craig Thomas had a thought controlled fighter in the 1977 novel Firefox, only it was the Russkies who made it and Clint Eastwood who had to steal it (movie version, of course). I guess "the old switcheroo" makes this an original idea for Brown.

Sort of.

And sort of not.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

We get a prediction from The Experts Speak, so you can be pretty sure it will be wrong.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!