Sunday, December 14, 2014

14 December 2014

Birthdays
Max Topplin b. 1989 (Carrie [2013], Dead Before Dawn 3D, Please Kill Mr. Know It All, Todd and the Book of Pure Evil, Haven, Fringe, The Incredible Hulk [2008])
Vanessa Hudgens b. 1988 (Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, Sucker Punch, Beastly)
Joe Rokicki b. 1985 (Jack Frost)
Sophie Monk b. 1979 (Click, Monster!)
Patrick O’Brien Dempsey b. 1978 (Thor)
Martin Christopher b. 1977 (Fringe, Sanctuary, Stargate, Supernatural, Painkiller Jane, Eureka, Night at the Museum)
KaDee Strickland b. 1975 (The Grudge, Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid, The Stepford Wives [2004], The Sixth Sense [1999])
Thuy Trang b. 1973 died 3 September 2001 (The Crow: City of Angels, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers)
Miranda Hart b. 1972 (Hyperdrive)
Michael Stoyanov b. 1970 (Space Station 76, The Dark Knight, Mom and Dad Save the World, Quantum Leap, Hard Time on Planet Earth)
Archie Kao b. 1969 (The Hill Have Eyes II, Power Rangers Lost Galaxy)
Natascha McElhone b. 1969 (The Truman Show, Solaris, Feardotcom)
Ted Raimi b. 1965 (Attack of the 50ft Cheerleader, Legend of the Seeker, Supernatural, Planet Raptor, Spider-Man, The Man with the Screaming Brain, Odyssey 5, Invader ZIM, Xena: Warrior Princess, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Apollo 11 [TV], American Gothic, SeaQuest 2032, Army of Darkness, Candyman, Darkman, ALF, Alien Nation, Evil Dead I and II, Shocker)
Peter Murnik b. 1965 (Touch, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Armageddon, Quantum Leap)
Rebecca Gibney b. 1964 (Nightmares & Dreamscapes, Salem’s Lot [2004], Farscape, The Lost World, Sabrina, Down Under, Time Trax)
Don Franklin b. 1960 (Journeyman, Seven Days, Asteroid, SeaQuest 2032, Somewhere in Time)
Debbie Lee Carrington b. 1959 (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Mighty Joe Young [1998], Perversions of Science, Men in Black, Mom and Dad Save the World, Batman Returns, Total Recall, Spaced Invaders, Harry and the Hendersons, Howard the Duck, Invaders From Mars, Amazing Stories, Earthlings, Return of the Jedi)
Celia Weston b. 1951 (American Horror Story, Under the Dome, The Invasion, The Village, Hulk, K-PAX)
Paul Zaloom b. 1951 (Beakman’s World)
Vicki Michelle b. 1950 (C.O.O.L.I.O. Time Travel Gangster, Queen Kong, Space: 1999, Virgin Witch)
Dee Wallace b. 1948 (Zombie Killers: Elephant’s Graveyard, Grimm, Robocroc, My Stepbrother is a Vampire!?!, Aliens from Uranus, Warehouse 13, Soupernatural, The House of the Devil, Halloween [2007], Abominable, The Frighteners, Alligator II: The Mutation, Critters, The Twilight Zone [1985], Cujo, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, The Howling, Man from Atlantis, The Hills Have Eyes, The Stepford Wives)
Lynn Marie Stewart b. 1946 (Here Come the Munsters, Pee-Wee’s Playhouse)
Patty Duke b. 1946 (Amityville: The Evil Escapes, Look What’s Happened to Rosemary’s Baby, The Sixth Sense [1972 TV], Journey to the Unknown, 4D Man)
Stewart Brand b. 1938 (writer, Space Colonies, The Media Lab)
Lee Remick b. 1935 died 2 July 1991 (Faerie Tale Theatre, The Medusa Touch, The Omen, Damn Yankees! [1967 TV Movie])
Lewis Arquette b. 1935 died 10 February 2001 (Little Nicky, Babylon 5, SeaQuest 2032, Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman [1993], Tales from the Crypt, Quantum Leap, ALF, The Incredible Hulk, Man From Atlantis)
George Furth b. 1932 died 11 August 2008 (The Munsters Today, The Man with Two Brains, Megaforce, Sleeper, I Dream of Jeannie, Batman)
Joe Brooks b. 1923 died 5 December 2007 (Gremlins, Exo-Man, The Six Million Dollar Man, Batman, I Dream of Jeannie, Bewitched, The Munsters)
Elyse Knox b. 1917 died 15 February 2012 (The Mummy’s Tomb)
Laurence Naismith b. 1908 died 5 June 1992 (Scrooge [1970], The Valley of Gwangi, The Invaders, Camelot, Jason and the Argonauts, Village of the Damned, Vampire Over London)
Frances Bavier b. 1902 died 6 December 1986 (The Day the Earth Stood Still)

Notes on the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. Last year, I had a picture of Natascha McElhone because... purdy. This year I'd like to give props to Dee Wallace, also purdy and the owner of a remarkable career. She has 211 credits on imdb.com and only a handful are voice work. She did have a few years as a regular on a few TV shows, but none of them were long lasting hits. It's not impossible for an actress to start working in her twenties and keep working into her sixties, but most who have accomplished that became stars like Meryl Streep or Bernadette Peters. Dee Wallace has done it the hard way, role by role, sometimes in big budget stuff, sometimes in small. Good on ya, Dee.

Next year, I can't say who will be in the Picture Slot. If I'm in an Oh That Guy mood, Ted Raimi is possible, if I want another fabulous babe I might sneak in Vanessa Hudgens from the quickly forgotten Sucker Punch, or I might go Oh That Girl and fabulous babe with Debbie Lee Carrington, one of the best known little person actresses.


2. Wait... she's dead? I had Lee Remick's name on last year's list but I failed to mark down that she died over twenty years ago. If I ever knew it - and I'm an obit fan, so I should have known it - the fact completely slipped my mind.

3. Spot the Canadians! There are two. I'll give the hint that both were born after 1975. Good luck.

4. Hey... no Star Trek! It does happen, but not that often. In just over two months of noting the Star Trek free days, this is the seventh.

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

Movies released
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey released, 2012
I Am Legend released, 2007
King Kong released, 2005

 
Predictor: Philip K. Dick in Breakfast at Twilight, published first in the July 1954 issue of Amazing Stories

Prediction: A family has been bounced forward in time seven years to 1980 to a U.S. devastated by a nuclear war and invaded by Russian troops. The holocaust has gradually evolved out of a series of conflicts beginning with the Korean War. Russian robot-controlled bombardments are systematically destroying the entire country. When the family's house is bombed they are bounced back into their own time, but realize it is futile to warn their disbelieving contemporaries of the war they know is coming.

Reality: Once again, the vast majority of nuclear war stories I have found come from Paul Brians' great database and I thank him yet again.All I will add to the synopsis Professor Brians wrote is that as usual, PKD loves to play around with questions about the natural of reality.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Another Monday, another dip into the gift that keeps on giving, The OMNI Future Almanac.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
  

11 comments:

  1. Dee Wallace is a great choice. And a work ethic that stands with the best of them. I hope all of those checks cleared....

    I am starting to kind of love your Sunday No Nukular War feature. Because we know that there was no nuclear war (despite the best efforts of Dick Cheney) and that gives me hope, despite the constant predictions of bomb-doom from various gore-crows.

    Of course, doom due to actual threats like global climate change are another issue. You need to book a room away from the rising tides, Prof?

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    Replies
    1. "I am starting to kind of love your Sunday No Nukular War feature."

      AAAAAaaaarrrrgh! As of January, my plan is to move it out and put in another Sunday regular feature. There are still a few more nuke predictions left after I give it the swan song on 28 December. I might shoehorn it back into the line-up in the Spring.

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    2. Gosh, i didn't mean to trigger an episode....

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  2. PKD may have sucked at predicterating, but BOY was he good at the story-writing thing...

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    Replies
    1. Yeah, I'm glad I discovered PKD, if ridiculously late.

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  3. Replies
    1. I am impressed with Mr. Raimi's work ethic as well, but he's "only" got 83 credits. I was about to write we will never seen anyone with a CV like John Carradine's anymore, but I checked myself. Two people who are still alive and NOT in porn with more than Carradine are James Hong with 394 credits and... wait for it... Eric Roberts with 372!

      You could have knocked me down with a feather.

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    2. OK, that may be true, but Ted Raimi's work is almost always under pounds of makeup. Eric Roberts is almost always being pretty boy...

      Also, how much credit has to be given for being the guy whose career was launched under multiple gallons of blood-syrup and has otherwise been the go-to guy when his brother needs someone willing to be swung around in a harness while wearing latex makeup and spewing beef stew?

      For my money, Ted is a superstar.

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  4. Canadians spotted! Martin Christopher has many tell-tale signs, Max Topplin is a little harder to detect.

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  5. Ted does have the advantage of working on his dad's projects.

    McElhone is from the George Clooney version of Solaris, I assume. Maybe I will try watching it.

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    Replies
    1. Yes, the lovely Natascha is in the more recent version.

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