23 December 2014

Birthdays
Conor Carroll b. 1998 (Ender’s Game)
Spencer Daniels b. 1992 (Star Trek [2009], The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
Adnan Haskovic b. 1984 (Snowpiercer)
Summer Altice b. 1979 (Chillerama, The Scorpion King)
Estella Warren b. 1978 (Beauty and the Beast [2009], Planet of the Apes)
Josh Cowdery b. 1978 (Godzilla [2014], Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Marvel’s The Avengers)
Corey Haim b. 1971 died 10 March 2010 (Merlin [1998 TV], Watchers, The Lost Boys, Silver Bullet)
Martha Byrne b. 1969 (Anna to the Infinite Power)
Joan Severence b. 1958 (American Horror Story, Black Scorpion I and II, Tales from the Crypt, Deadly Nightmares, Max Headroom)
Nej Adamson b. 1958 (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, Doctor Who)
Stefan Arngrim b. 1955 (Arrow, Fringe, Supernatural, V [2009], Flash Gordon [TV], Battlestar Galactica: Razor, The Fog. Earthsea, Dead Like Me, Seven Days, The Crow: Stairway to Heaven, Poltergeist: The Legacy, Strange Days, Highlander [TV], Fear No Evil, Land of the Giants)
Cheryl Howard b. 1953 (Apollo 13, Willow, Splash)
Susan Lucci b. 1946 (Ebbie)
Charles Herbert b. 1948 (Twilight Zone, 13 Ghosts, Men Into Space, The Fly, The Colossus of New York, The Monster That Challenged the World)
Harry Shearer b. 1943 (Seven Days, Godzilla [1998], ALF, The Right Stuff, Abbott and Costello Go to Mars)
Peter Medak b. 1937 (director, Carnivale, Species II, Beauty and the Beast [1987], Faerie Tale Theatre, Twilight Zone [1986], Otherworld, The Changeling, Space: 1999)
James Stacy b. 1936 (Something Wicked This Way Comes)
Frederic Forrest b. 1936 (It Lives Again, Dark Shadows [1970])
Ronnie Schell b. 1931 (Soupernatural, Phil of the Future, Hard Time on Planet Earth, Mork & Mindy, Love at First Bite)
Harry Guardino b. 1925 died 17 July 1995 (Wonder Woman, Future Cop, The Outer Limits)
Alan North b. 1920 died 19 January 2000 (Highlander, The Powers of Matthew Star)
Robert McCall b. 1919 died 26 February 2010 (artist, LIFE magazine, 2001: A Space Odyssey)
James Gregory b. 1911 died 16 September 2002 (Kolchak: The Night Stalker, Beneath the Planet of the Apes, Star Trek, Twilight Zone)
Maurice Denham b. 1909 died 24 July 2002 (Doctor Who, Countess Dracula, Blood Beast from Outer Space)
Arthur Dudley Vinton b. 1852 died 12 September 1906 (author, Looking Further Backward)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. Last year, it was an illustration of Robert McCall's from one of the 2001: A Space Odyssey posters. This year, it's Estella Warren from the reboot of Planet of the Apes because... purdy. Next year, I think it will be either Stefan Arngrim from Land of the Giants or James Gregory from Star Trek or maybe Corey Haim from The Lost Boys. 

2. What's with all the child actors? The two youngest on the list, Conor Carrol and Spencer Daniels, both worked as child actors not surprisingly, but so did Stefan Arngrim, Charles Herbert and to my surprise, Harry Shearer.

3. Canadians spotted! All three Canadians on the list have already been mentioned, Estella Warren, the late Corey Haim and Stefan Arngrim from Land of the Giants, who has made a successful career for himself, the only one that has strong Canadian genre tendencies.

4. Fun facts to know and tell. Cheryl Howard is Ron Howard's sister, a family that believes deeply in nepotism, as did the Bridges under father Lloyd's tutelage. Susan Lucci's one genre credit is a gender switch of Scrooge. Arthur Dudley Vinton wrote an "answer" novel to Edward Bellamy's very popular 1888 novel Looking Backward. We will be seeing some of his predictions in the new year. Ronnie Schell is a San Francisco Bay Area native who billed himself in the 1960s as "America's slowest rising comedian". He got a regular role on Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C. and kept working steadily ever since, both in front of the camera and in voice work.


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

Predictor: W. Warren Wagar in A Short History of the Future, published 1991

Prediction: The world's population will reach six billion in 1998 and seven billion in 2011.

Reality: The dates for these milestones given from the sources found online were 1999 for six billion and 2012 for seven. I won't quibble here, that's very good work.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Another interruption of the weekly schedule for a prediction of creepy happenings in Australia.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!