17 November 2014

 Birthdays
Lauren Maltby b. 1984 (Zenon)
Harry Lloyd b. 1983 (Game of Thrones, Doctor Who, Genie in the House)
Brett Gipson b. 1983 (Knight of Badassdom, Transylmania)
Bojana Novakovic b. 1981 (Devil, Drag Me to Hell)
Rachel McAdams b. 1978 (About Time, The Time Travelers’ Wife, Earth: Final Conflict)
Zoe Bell b. 1978 (Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, Gamer, Angel of Death, Lost, Planet Terror, Cleopatra 2525)
Stuart Stone b. 1977 (Mutant X, Donnie Darko, Flash Forward, Maniac Mansion)
Brandon Call b. 1976 (Warlock, The Charmings, Something is Out There, I Dream of Jeannie… Fifteen Years Later)
Leslie Bibb b. 1974 (Iron Man 1 and 2, Early Edition)
Ralph Garman b. 1974 (Ted, Sharktopus, Charmed)
Leonard Roberts b. 1972 (Blackstar Warrior, Heroes, Smallville, FreakyLinks, Buffy)
Bjorn Stein b. 1970 (director, Underworld: Awakening)
Salvator Xuereb b. 1965 (Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Awake, Knight Rider [2009], The Chronicle, Timecop, Alien Nation [TV])
Dylan Walsh b. 1963 (The Lake House, Congo)
Felice Schachter b. 1963 (Zapped!)
David Price b. 1961 (director, NightMan, Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde, Children of the Corn II: The Final Sacrifice, Son of Darkness: To Die for II)
Frank Spotnitz b. 1960 (producer, The X Files, The Lone Gunmen, Harsh Realm)
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio b. 1958 (Grimm, The Abyss)
Pamela Immel b. 1955 died 8 September 2014 (Zombies vs. Strippers)
Dean Paul Martin b. 1951 died 21 March 1987 (Misfits of Science, Deadly Nightmares)
Stephen Root b. 1951 (The Big Bang Theory, True Blood, Idiocracy, From the Earth to the Moon, VR.5, RoboCop 3, Quantum Leap, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Eerie, Indiana, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Ghost)
Bill Lancaster b. 1947 died 4 January 1997 (writer, The Thing [1982])
James Warwick b. 1947 (Babylon 5, Doctor Who)
Steven E. de Souza b. 1947 (screenwriter, Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life, Judge Dredd, The Running Man, V, The Return of Captain Invincible, The Powers of Matthew Star, Knight Rider, The Bionic Woman, The Six Million Dollar Man, Gemini Man)
Roberta Collins b. 1944 died 16 August 2008 (Death Race 2000, Kolchak: The Night Stalker)
Danny DeVito b. 1944 (Men in Black, Mars Attacks!, Batman Returns, Amazing Stories)
Lauren Hutton b. 1943 (Deadly Nightmares, Time Stalkers, Once Bitten, Faerie Tale Theatre, Starflight: The Plane That Couldn’t Land)
Martin Scorsese b. 1942 (director, Hugo, Amazing Stories)
Peter Cook b. 1937 died 9 January 1995 (Whoops Apocalypse, The Princess Bride, Supergirl, Bedazzled [1967], Alice in Wonderland [1966 TV])
Rance Howard b. 1928 (The Genesis Code, Sasquatch Mountain, Angel, Small Soldiers, Babylon 5, Mars Attacks!, Apollo 13, Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest, Bigfoot: The Unforgettable Encounter, Tales from the Crypt, Universal Soldier, Quantum Leap, Superboy, Creator, Cocoon, Splash, Battlestar Galactica [1978], Village of the Giants)
Robert Brown b. 1926 (Bewitched, Star Trek)
Rock Hudson b. 1925 died 2 October 1985 (World War III, The Martian Chronicles, Embryo)

Notes on the birthday list.
1. Two nearly unspottable Canadians. Rachel McAdams, like Ryan Gosling, is a movie star and doesn't have to get roles on Canadian produced TV shows. The other Canuck is Stuart Stone, who doesn't have a lot of roles on the best known recent Canadian genre TV shows.

2. Zoe Bell. I don't list stunt work, but Zoe Bell is one of the best known female stunt women in the world. All I listed here is her acting credits, which don't include Xena: Warrior Princess, where she was Lucy Lawless' stunt double.

3. Rance Howard. Definitely an Oh That Guy, the father of Ron Howard often was on set when Ron was a child star and his dutiful son regularly finds work for him in the films and TV shows the younger Howard directs and produces. That said, Rance Howard has 260 credits on imdb.com with maybe 10% to 15% due to his son, almost none of it is voice work. That's one hard working guy, and good on ya, Rance.

4. Die young much? We have five people on today's list who didn't make it to sixty years old. That's a lot.

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


TV specials aired
The Star Wars Holiday Special, premiered 1978

The Picture Slot: Last year, when I hadn't done as much research, I had a poster of The Thing, written by deceased birthday boy Bill Lancaster. This year is the 36th anniversary of The Star Wars Holiday Special and it has to be acknowledged. I doubt I'll be able to keep this blog going through November 2018 because it's hard to find enough predictions, so you are looking at the newspaper ad in The Picture Slot today.

You're welcome.

Next year, the competition is between Harry Lloyd from Game of Thrones, Danny DeVito from Batman Returns and Peter Cook from The Princess Bride.
  

Predictor: The OMNI Future Almanac, published 1982

Prediction: Recent research hopes that prostaglandin (PG) based drugs will finally be the breakthrough in the treatment of migraine headaches.

Reality: OMNI Future Almanac quotes some researchers from the early 1980s who were looking into PG-based drugs. Looking online, a paper in 2013 still holds out hope, but in the past thirty years, the hoped for breakthrough into the treatment of migraine has yet to materialize.

Looking on day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

The next to last excerpt from FM-2030 will be published tomorrow. A word to the wise is sufficient.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!