Maxim Knight b. 1999 (Falling Skies)
Hayden Panettiere b. 1989 (Heroes)
Robert Knox b. 1989 died 24 May 2008 (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince)
Laura Haddock b. 1985 (Guardians of the Galaxy, Rage of the Yeti, Captain America: The First Avenger)
Nathan Jones b. 1969 (Mad Max: Fury Road, Conan the Barbarian [2011], Doom Runners)
Carrie-Anne Moss b. 1967 (The Matrix, Red Planet, Forever Knight)
Kim Catrall b. 1956 (Modern Vampires, Invasion, Split Second, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Big Trouble in Little China, City Limits, Mannequin, Tucker’s Witch, The Incredible Hulk, Logan’s Run [TV])
Walter Williamson b. 1946 (The Omega Code, Babylon 5)
Basil Poledouris b. 1945 died 8 November 2006 (composer, Starship Troopers, RoboCop 3, RoboCop, Cherry 2000, Amerika, Twilight Zone [1985], Conan the Barbarian, Tintorera: Killer Shark)
Loretta Devine b. 1949 (Supernatural)
Peter Weir b. 1944 (director, The Truman Show, The Cars That Eat People)
Clarence Williams III b. 1939 (Deep Space Nine)
Wilt Chamberlain b. 1936 died 12 October 1999 (Conan the Destroyer)
Tony Steedman b. 1927 died 4 February 2001 (Babylon 5, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Beauty and the Beast, The Charmings)
Anthony Boucher b. 1911 died 29 April 1968 (editor, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction)
A list of random thoughts about today's list.
1. Last year it was Carrie-Anne Moss from The Matrix, this year it's Kim Catrall from Big Trouble in Little China. Long before Kim Catrall was mocked mercilessly for her role on Sex and the City, she was mocked mercilessly on Mystery Science Theater 3000. Dr. Forester introduced City Limits with the line "This week's experiment is City Limits, with James Earl Jones in one of the worst movies he ever made and Kim Catrall in one of the best movies she ever made." That still makes me laugh.
2. The people with just one role. All the reasons are different. Maxim Knight is just a kid and who knows where his career will go. Hayden Panettiere hasn't gone back to genre since Heroes. Poor Robert Knox was killed in a bar brawl four days after his last scene was shot. Wilt Chamberlain only played a role other than himself in one movie. And then there's Loretta Devine and Clarence Williams III, each of them with over 100 credits and only one in sci-fi, not counting voice work. A lot of hard working black actors don't get cast in sci-fi or fantasy and they aren't the only ethnic group treated this way. If an Italian-American actor gets cast as a mobster, that's pretty much how his or her entire career will go. It's much the same for Hispanic actors who play gang members.
3. Die young much? Of the deceased on today's list, Only Tony Steedman (Socrates in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure) lived to see 70. When I was hunting names on isfdb.org this morning, I saw the illustrator Aubrey Beardsley was on their list, but I didn't include him. He died at 25. To think of the accomplishments of people dying that young is both impressive and depressing.
Many happy returns to all the living on the list and to the dead, thanks for all the memories.
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: The atom and electron will be your doctor's servants. Electronic ""brains,"" for instance, will store knowledge of every symptom of every disease, making instantly available to physicians everywhere up-to-the-minute scientific findings which they could never hope to keep abreast of.
Reality: This is some good thinking on de Forest's part and it is 100% accurate. He couldn't be expected to know that computers would be most used for storing pictures of adorable cats and porn, but to grade him down for that would be completely unfair.
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!
The Picture Slot will be a tip of the hat to My People and Our Agenda, he wrote somewhat cryptically.
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
He couldn't be expected to know that computers would be most used for storing pictures of adorable cats and porn
ReplyDeleteBut he hoped. OH, yes, he HOPED.
I always wonder how closely people are reading my stuff. Thanks for making it clear some people are reading all the way to the end.
DeleteThe Picture Slot will be a tip of the hat to My People and Our Agenda, he wrote somewhat cryptically.
ReplyDeleteMath professors?, he suggested with a huge tongue in a huge cheek.
Re. "Die young much:" Heh. Reminds me of an old joke, "I won't say I haven't accomplished much with my life, but when Mozart was my age, he'd been dead 20 years."
ReplyDeleteRe. Kim Catrall: Split Second is definitely genre, but not highly recommended, IMO. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105459/
I first heard that joke from a Tom Lehrer record. At the time, I think Lehrer used "five years".
DeleteSplit Second has been added. Thanks for the tip.
That's probably where I heard it too, then.
DeleteFour, not five, but who's quibbling?
DeleteStrangely, no one ever says, "When Bach was my age, he'd fathered more children than the city of Barstow."
It requires graphics to present cats and porn via computer.
I will remember Kim Catrall for "Big Trouble in Little China," yes, but more for "Mannequin" (which was about as "80s" a movie as it was possible to make). And yet, when it's on some basic channel on a lazy Sunday afternoon, I have to watch it. It's hypnotic.
ReplyDeleteKudos to Prof for including City Limits. which also features Robby Benson being squooshed by a desk.
DeleteMannequin is one of those judgment calls in my book, something that only happens according to one character, not unlike James Stewart in Harvey. That's why it's not on the list.
DeleteAs for its hypnotic effect, I'm glad I don't have cable right now and can't test the hypothesis. ;^)
This year, our local theater season tickets include Harvey at the Rep and Wizard of Oz at the Skylight Music Theater. It's like they aimed directly at a certain zombie.
DeleteOf course, it you're not watching City Limits MST version, you are better off doing anything else, up to and including any long-delayed painful outpatient procedures.
DeleteAlso, we may need to have a long bloggy argument/discussion about Harvey. Harvey is a Pooka, as we all know, and there are several instances where Harvey's actions impact people other than Elwood.
DeleteDammit, now I want to watch Harvey. Not on Netflix, alas.
DeleteWait wait wait. I know judgment call, your blog, etc and yadda, but Wizard of Oz is also one of those movies that 'happens to one character".
ReplyDeleteI am throwing the red flag asking for an booth review of Harvey.
I do not care about Mannequin, that one can stay as called.
I looked on my earlier credit choices and Mannequin counted for several actors, so it gets in for Catrall as well.
DeleteAn actor in Harvey just happens to have a birthday today (22 August), so I'm including it as well by popular demand.
"Harvey" is one of a handful of B&W movies I have on DVD. I've been tempted many times to let it go in order to free up shelf space but every time I put it in the "to be traded in" box, it always ends up back on the shelf before that box goes out the door.
ReplyDelete