12 December 2014

Birthdays
Daniel Magder b. 1991 (The Good Witch’s Garden, Mee-Shee: The Water Giant, X-Men, Earth: Final Conflict)
Dyllan Christopher b. 1991 (Phil of the Future, Armageddon)
Kate Todd b. 1987 (Lost Girl, My Babysitter’s a Vampire)
Fabrizio Santino b. 1982 (Gangsters, Guns & Zombies, Captain America: The First Avenger)
Gbenga Akinnagbe b. 1978 (Fringe)
Josh Heald b. 1977 (writer, Hot Tub Time Machine)
Mayim Bialik b. 1975 (The Big Bang Theory, Pumpkinhead, Beauty and the Beast [1987])
Jennifer Connelly b. 1970 (Inkheart, The Day The Earth Stood Still, Hulk, Dark City, The Rocketeer, Labyrinth, Phenomena)
Madchen Amick b. 1970 (Witches of East End, Beauty and the Beast [2012], Star Trek: The Next Generation, Sleepwalkers)
Romano Orzari b. 1964 (The Colony, Punisher: War Zone, Mutant X, Level 9, Nosferatu [1990])
Ana Alicia b. 1956 (Halloween II, Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century)
Sarah Douglas b. 1952 (Strippers vs Werewolves, Witchville, The Stepford Husbands, Monster Mash: The Movie, Stargate SG-1, Babylon 5, Return of the Living Dead III, Beastmaster 2, The Return of Swamp Thing, Solarbabies, Conan the Destroyer, V: The Final Battle, Superman I and II, The People That Time Forgot, Space: 1999, Rollerball [1975], The Last Days of Man on Earth)
Cathy Rigby b. 1952 (Peter Pan [2000], The Six Million Dollar Man)
Bill Nighy b. 1949 (I, Frankenstein, About Time, Jack the Giant Slayer, Total Recall [2012], Wrath of the Titans, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Doctor Who, Underworld, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy [2005], Shaun of the Dead, Phantom of the Opera)
Wings Hauser b. 1947 (Tales from the Hood, Space Rangers, Beastmaster 2: Through the Portal of Time, Freddy’s Nightmares)
Kenneth Cranham b. 1944 (Maleficent, The Legend of Hercules, Merlin [TV 2008], Hellbound: Hellraiser II, Old Drac)
Phyllis Somerville b. 1943 (Fringe, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
Leslie Schofield b. 1938 (Blakes 7, Star Wars: A New Hope, Doctor Who)
Gordon Hessler b. 1925 died 19 January 2014 (director, Wonder Woman, KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, Cry of the Banshee)
Eugene Burdick b. 1918 died 26 July 1965 (author, Fail-Safe, The 480)
Edward G. Robinson b. 1893 died 26 January 1973 (Soylent Green, Batman)

Notes on the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. Last year it was Sarah Douglas from Superman II. This year, it's Jennifer Connelly from Dark City, the wonderfully ominous sci-fi film from 1998. Next year it's hard to say, but the top three choices remaining are Mayim Bialik, Bill Nighy and Edward G. Robinson.

2. Canadians incognito. Three Canadian actors on the list, but none of them worked on the best known of the Canadian genre shows, Stargate, Smallville and The X Files. Instead of asking people to guess, I'll just out them myself. They are Daniel Magder, Kate Tood and Romano Orzari.

3. The Guy at the Door. British actor Leslie Schofield is the oldest living person on the list today and he turns 76. Everyone born before him is already gone, so we give him our special best wishes.

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

Predictor: H.G. Wells in his 1902 book Anticipations

Prediction: (T)he whole of Great Britain south of the Highlands seems destined to become such an urban region, laced all together not only by railway and telegraph, but by novel roads such as we forecast in the former chapter, and by a dense network of telephones and parcels delivery tubes.

Reality: Young Herb doesn't use the word "pneumatic", but we know that's what he means. There are still plenty of small towns in England and Wales and the pneumatic tube had its heyday and faded away, sad to say.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

We head back to 1893 to hear from a man with no facial hair (boo!) but a remarkably clear view of the advances that electricity will bring (yay!)

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!