Noah Ringer b. 1997 (The Last Airbender, Cowboys & Aliens)
Nick Bateman b. 1986 (Space Janitors, My Babysitter’s a Vampire)
Nathan Kress b. 1982 (Video Game High School)
Jake Abel b. 1987 (Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, The Host, I Am Number Four, Supernatural, Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, Threshold)
Georgia King b. 1986 (Cockneys vs Zombies, Sinbad [TV], Merlin [TV])
Robert Kazinsky b. 1983 (True Blood, Pacific Rim)
Damon Wayans Jr. b. 1982 (Blankman)
Miranda Raison b. 1977 (Sinbad, Merlin, Doctor Who, Dark Realm)
Steven Pasquale b. 1976 (Coma [2012], Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem)
Chloe Sevigny b. 1974 (American Horror Story, Demonlover)
Goran Kostic b. 1971 (The Last Days on Mars, The Deep [TV 2010], Children of Men)
Peta Wilson b. 1970 (Superman Returns, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Highlander [TV])
Dan Bakkedahl b. 1969 (Gotham, Grimm)
Phil Buckman b. 1969 (An American Werewolf in Paris, Weird Science)
Romany Malco b. 1968 (No Ordinary Family, Gulliver’s Travels [2010], Level 9)
Owen Wilson b. 1968 (Night at the Museum 1 & 2, The Haunting, Breakfast of Champions, Armageddon, Anaconda)
John Campling b. 1966 (616, Narcopolis, The Zombie King, Apocalypse Z, Jack the Giant Killer, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows)
Tim Guinee b. 1962 (Revolution, Fringe, Iron Man 1 & 2, Smallville, Stargate SG-1, Strange World, Level 9, Blade, Brave New World, Vampires)
Nick Chinlund b. 1961 (666 Park Avenue, Grimm, Wyvern, The Chronicles of Riddick, Buffy, The X Files)
Steven Moffat b. 1961 (writer, Doctor Who, Jekyll)
Elizabeth Perkins b. 1960 (From the Earth to the Moon, Big)
John Shepherd b. 1960 (Quantum Leap, Friday the 13th, Part V: A New Beginning)
Shari Shattuck b. 1960 (Babylon 5, Goddess of Love, Freddy’s Nightmares, Knight Rider)
Kevin Nealon b. 1953 (Aliens in the Attic, Little Nicky, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Coneheads)
Alan Moore b. 1953 (author, Watchmen, V for Vendetta, From Hell)
Delroy Lindo b. 1952 (The Core, Devil’s Advocate, Congo, Beauty and the Beast [1987 TV])
Dennis Haskins b. 1950 (The Boy with the X-Ray Eyes, Twilight Zone [1987], Amazing Stories, The Greatest American Hero)
Michael Swanwick b. 1950 (won 1992 Nebula for Stations of the Tide)
Eric Pierpont b. 1950 (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Solar Flare, Surface, Star Trek: Enterprise, Star Trek: Voyager, Sliders, Babylon 5, Alien Nation [TV]. Deep Space Nine, Children of the Dark, Star Trek: Next Generation, Time Trax, Beauty and the Beast, Invaders from Mars)
Andrea Marcovicci b. 1948 (Amazing Stories, The Canterville Ghost, The Stuff, Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone, Voyagers!, The Incredible Hulk, The Hand)
Alan Dean Foster b. 1946 (novelizations of Star Trek, Star Wars, Alien, Alien Nation and many more)
Susan Sullivan b. 1942 (Dead Like Me, The Incredible Hulk [1977], Dark Shadows [1967])
David Hemmings b. 1941 died 3 December 2003 (The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Tales from the Crypt, Nightmare Classic, Faerie Tale Theatre, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde [1980 TV], Barbarella)
Brenda Vaccaro b. 1939 (Supergirl, Capricorn One)
Ian McCulloch b. 1939 (Doctor Who, Hammer House of Horror, Zombie Holocaust, Zombie, The Ghoul, I, Monster, It!)
Margaret Atwood b. 1939 (author, The Handmaid’s Tale, Oryx and Crake)
Max Phipps b. 1939 died 6 August 2000 (Farscape, Sky Pirates, The Return of Captain Invincible, Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior, Thirst, The Cars That Eat People)
John McMartin b. 1929 (Beauty and the Beast [TV])
Alan Shepard b. 1923 died 21 July 1998 (astronaut)
Imogene Coca b. 1908 died 2 June 2001 (Alice in Wonderland [1985 TV], Bewitched, It’s About Time)
Notes on the Birthday List.
1. The Picture Slot. Last year it was Margaret Atwood and this year, when astronauts are trump, we have Alan Shepard, first American in space. There are plenty of choices for next year, though I would say the front runner is Eric Pierpont from the Alien Nation TV show, though I might go with MST3K.
2. What, no Canadians? Yes, it's surprisingly true. I didn't find a single Canadian in this very long list of artists. I'm surprised too.
3. They did genre? There are a lot of actors whose names I know that I didn't know did any genre, but I checked their imdb.com C.V. just in case. The biggest surprises for me were Brenda Vaccaro, Susan Sullivan, Andrea Marcovicci, Delroy Lindo and Kevin Nealon. People can get typecast, sometimes because of ethnicity or being comic actors or "soap opera actors" and never get roles in fantasy or sci-fi. I wasn't surprised by Imogene Coca, definitely a comic actress. I still remember the sitcom It's About Time, though I have made a valiant effort to forget it.
Many happy returns to all the living on the list and to the dead, thanks for all the memories.
Movies released
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 released 2011
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire released 2005
Star Trek: Generations released 1994
Cherry 2000 released 1988
TV show premieres
Mystery Science Theater 3000 on Comedy Central, 1989
Prediction: 21st Century Values. Traditional values have issued from eons of scarcity - hardship -brief lifespans - insularity. Late 20th-century breakthroughs are formatting new environments which spawn new values and ideals. A 21st-century consciousness is surfacing increasingly free of Puritan guilt - shame - cynicism - self-denial.
What does the oldworld psychology of sacrifice mean in the new age of abundance? Entire generations are coming on line who have never known poverty and hardship -for whom abundance and comfort are the norm. The new consciousness views hardship as stunting - wealth as liberating.
What does age-old orientation to suffering mean at a time when medical breakthroughs are screening out physical and mental pain?
What does the work ethic mean in the age of intelligent technology which is taking over more and more of our work? The work ethic now slows down growth. The new Leisure ethic accelerates innovation and progress.
What does competitiveness mean in an age of plenty? Why do we need to know who is best at anything? Why contests? Why winners and losers? Why the Nobel prize the Pulitzer prize the Academy Awards? Systems that pit people against one another are oldworld and manipulative and must be boycotted. Competition saps everyone's energy. To hyperspeed ahead we need complementation of everyone's creativity.
What do religions and spiritualisms which demand child-like submission to deities and "higher authorities" mean at a time when vigorous new generations growing up in permissive open environments accept no authorities as final or absolute? At a time when out cosmic leaps are daily proving there are no permanent constraints - that we are free agents in the universe?
The greatest breakthrough of our age is unfolding in our self image. A new brand of revolutionary is fat emerging - fired up by entirely new dreams. Up-Wingers are not content with civil rights - equal rights - human rights. These freedoms are no longer enough.
Reality: Let's start with what he gets right, since that is the much shorter list. This is a time of plenty compared to the past.
Now what he gets wrong. The idea that there are no permanent constraints is crap. When it comes to exploring the cosmos, the speed of light is a permanent constraint. Living creatures age and die, and the advances in medicine slow these processes down, but cannot stop them completely. When it comes to distances in space we can actually manage to travel, we have a limit to how much air and water there is.
I will agree with old Frozen Moron-2030 that competition at the levels we practice now is getting in the way of the progress of the species, but we can't just kill off all the billionaires, as iniviting a prospect as that is.
Next week, we get his final flourish, his complete vision of the utopia he thought he deserved. I don't know yet who will replace old FroMo as our Tuesday regular, but that person or persons will be hard pressed to be more entertaining with their mistakes.
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!
I try to start a new national day of memorial, though I will likely be less successful than even FroMo.
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
Ian McCulloch b. 1939 (Doctor Who, Hammer House of Horror, Zombie Holocaust, Zombie, The Ghoul, I, Monster, It!
ReplyDeleteNow THERE'S a career!
It's About Time...?! Now there's a memory and a half! Imogene Coca and Joe E. Ross. If I remember correctly they wanted to call her "Shag" but settled on "Shad" when the censors complained. Around the same time as The Time Tunnel, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and...dear god, I'm getting old! I think I'll go weep quietly into my eight track tape collection!
ReplyDeleteDon't warp the eight tracks! You are throwing money away!!
DeleteCare to buy this big stack of heavy black vinyl I have in my closet, Prof?
DeleteRight now, I own one record and nothing to play it on, I am somewhat ashamed to say.
DeleteI'm with Michael. I try to remember It's About Time fondly every once in a while, and will continue to do so until it finally shows up on MeTV and reminds us why it only lasted one season.
Delete