24 September 2014

Birthdays
Nicole Leduc b. 1999 (Jennifer’s Body, Supernatural, Kyle XY)
Spencer Treat Clark b. 1987 (The Last Exorcism Part II, Superheroes, Unbreakable)
Grey Damon b. 1987 (Star-Crossed, American Horror Story, Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, True Blood)
Brit Morgan b. 1987 (True Blood, The Middleman)
Jessica Lucas b.1985 (Evil Dead [2013], Cloverfield, 2030 CE, Halloweentown II: Kalabar’s Revenge, Seven Days)
Lara Jean Chorostecki b. 1984 (Lost Girl, Beauty and the Beast [2012], Antiviral)
Justin Bruening b. 1979 (Wonder Woman [2011], Knight Rider [2009])
Ian Bohen b. 1976 (Teen Wolf, Beauty and the Beast [2014], The Dark Knight Rises, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Weird Science [TV])
Marc Guggenheim b. 1970 (writer, The Flash, Green Lantern, Arrow, Percy Jackson, FlashForward)
Megan Ward b. 1969 (Dark Skies, Joe’s Apartment, Encino Man, Trancers II)
Kelly Jo Minter b. 1966 (A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child, The Lost Boys)
Kieran Mulroney b. 1965 (Star Trek: Enterprise, Seven Days, From the Earth to the Moon, Star Trek: The Next Generation)
John Logan b. 1961 (writer, Hugo, Star Trek: Nemesis)
Kevin Sorbo b. 1958 (Piranha Sharks, The Guild, Paradox, Andromeda, Xena, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Kull)
Brad Bird b. 1957(director, Tomorrowland, The Incredibles, The Iron Giant)
Rick Zumwalt b. 1951 died 19 March 2003 (Timecop, Batman Returns, Rockula, Freddy’s Nightmares, Tales from the Crypt, Werewolf)
Harriet Walter b. 1950 (Fairy Tales, The Magical Legend of the Leprechauns)
Phil Hartman b. 1948 died 28 May 1998 (3rd Rock from the Sun, Small Soldiers, Coneheads)
Ian Stewart b. 1945 (writer, The Science of Discworld)
Kenneth Tigar b. 1942 (The Avengers, Fringe, The X Files, Star Trek: Voyager, Lois & Clark, Quantum Leap, The Flash, ALF, Phantasm II, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Knight Rider, Project U.F.O., Wonder Woman, Man from Atlantis)
Sven-Ole Thorsen b. 1944 (Kull the Conqueror, Last Action Hero, Nemesis, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Abraxas, Guardian of the Universe, Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future, The Running Man, Predator, Red Sonya, Conan the Destroyer, Conan the Barbarian)
Jim Henson b. 1936 died 16 May 1990 (writer, Dinosaurs, The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth)
John Brunner b. 1934 (won 1969 Hugo for Stand on Zanzibar)
Arthur Malet b. 1927 died 18 May 2013 (Hook, Beastmaster 2: Through the Portal of Time, Wonder Woman, Halloween, Heaven Can Wait, Young Frankenstein, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, I Dream of Jeannie, Bewitched, My Favorite Martian, Munster, Go Home!, Mary Poppins)
Bert I. Gordon b. 1922 (director, Empire of the Ants, The Food of the Gods, Necromancy, Village of the Giants, The Magic Sword, Earth vs. the Spider, War of the Colossal Beast, Attack of the Puppet People, The Amazing Colossal Man, The Cyclops, Beginning of the End, King Dinosaur)
F. Scott Fitzgerald b. 1896 died 21 December 1940 (writer, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
Horace Walpole b. 24 September 1717 died 2 March 1797 (author, The Castle of Otranto)

Notes on the birthday list
1. The Picture Slot. I used Jim Henson last year, and deciding not to repeat myself, I have to admit that the most iconic actor in genre born this day is Kevin Sorbo, though I find his politics appalling. He makes the professional atheists look good, and that takes some work. But at near the end of the top 100 birthday list on imdb.com was Bert I. Gordon, a.k.a. Mr. B.I.G., maker of many cheesy films and often interested in making things big, like insects, rats, spiders and people. I was honestly surprised he was still alive at 92, so I chose a poster from one of his films. Those in the know can be certain I did not choose this film at random.

2. The dead. Both Jim Henson and Phil Hartman died way too early, but they don't qualify for "Wait... He's Dead?" status with me because I can't forget they are gone. Rick Zumwalt died young, a big bald wrestler/biker type who I never quite remember from role to role. Arthur Malet, on the other hand, died at 85 last year and he had a lot of great roles over the years. As for the people born before the 20th Century began, I include Fitzgerald because Benjamin Button was made into a film and The Castle of Otranto is considered the first gothic novel.

3. Oh That Guys. Besides the late Arthur Malet, Kenneth Tigar is a quintessential Oh That Guy. Take a look at his pictures and you'll see what I mean. I've seen his work in possibly dozens of movies and TV shows and I never quite put a name with his very recognizable face. (Heck, he played six different roles on Barney Miller and I watched that show all the way to the end.) Sven-Ole Thorsen also has a lot of roles, many of them in Schwarzenegger films. I would guess he's a fellow gym rat.

4. The writers.  If I decided not to go with some movie or TV show, I might use Brunner's Stand on Zanzibar in the Picture Slot next year.

Many happy returns to all the living on the list (even Kevin Sorbo), and to the dead, thanks for all the memories.

Movies released
Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga-Hoole released, 2010  
 

Predictor: Anonymous writer in the New York World, writing in March 1911 about the first of February, 2011

Prediction: What vehicle shall Mr. Smith take to his business? The railway then runs under every street? The moving sidewalk that passes before all the shop fronts? Shall he go on foot over the innumerable bridges which unite at all the building at all heights? He decides upon an aerotaxi, which he can procure from the roof of his apartment building.

The sky resembles the harbor of a great port in which multitudes of vessels are moving in every direction. Aerocabs with polished hoods buzz about like big beetles. The ventripotent Tottenville-Poughkeepsie aerobus passes like a flash in a whirlwind. As it is scarcely 8 o’clock few private airships, with solemn footmen in livery and gauntlets, are seen. But many clerks mounted on old-model, second hand Bierots hasten to their morning work.

Upon a biplane of archaic model, which looks like a flying bureau, they mount a cripple sandwich man, who scatters handbills as he dodges about in the crowd with all the skill of the New York street arab.

The use of balloons has not been abandoned: those cumbrous bladders inflated with flammable gas, those dangerous toys with which our ancestors used to allow themselves to float, not yet knowing how to fly. They are to be seen everywhere but without aeronauts. Reduced in size and always captive, they serve as buoys and marks, bearing the names of the several streets below or of the landing stations. Like baskets, great incandescent electric lights are hung from them to illuminate the air routes at night. And then there are the advertising balloons, launched from the roofs of the great stores like soap bubbles, which float in all directions to announce the great white sale here or the bargains in furniture there.

Mr. Smith mounts a cab which has come to a stop besides the terrace. Off he goes over New York. Some of the small antiquated buildings of the early 20th Century still exist – the Metropolitan Tower, the Public Library and the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. But these once magnificent structures are insignificant now in this forest of fifty-story buildings, with their spacious roof terraces, built to last out of steel and cement, proof against fire and earthquakes. These gigantic structures are studios, factories, shops, hotels. Manhattan Island is the heart of the city, It is covered from one end to the other with these buildings in which nothing but business is done, for no one lives on Manhattan any more.

These buildings are tied to each other at almost every story by suspension bridges, which give the city the aspect of fifty cities superimposed, each filled with moving multitudes.

Reality: Boy, this guy sure loves the flowery language. Ventripotent means big bellied. Street arab is archaic for homeless person. Cumbrous is awkward because of size.

Let's start with what he gets right. The skyline of Manhattan now is nothing like the skyline in 1911. Fifty story skyscrapers are not at all uncommon.

And then there's the rest. Air traffic the way he describes it would be an invitation to extinction. Except for stunt pilots like the Blue Angels, most aircraft keep a wide berth of open space around them. He does mention flying cars, and it is the blog's policy not to mention reality and flying cars together, but the space wouldn't be filled up like some great harbor.

People still live in Manhattan. The buildings aren't connected by walkways at every floor. We don't have moving sidewalks everywhere.

It's remarkable how much his picture of the future is like The Jetsons, which was made fifty years after this.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

It's Thursday already and another prediction from Dr. Lee de Forest.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!