Friday, December 26, 2014

26 December 2014

Birthdays
Zach Mills b. 1995 (Super 8, Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium)
Kit Harington b. 1986 (Game of Thrones, Silent Hill: Revelation 3D)
Roxanne Pallett b. 1982 (Devil’s Tower, Crystal Skull, Lake Placid 3)
Eugene Khumbanyiwa b. 1976 (District 9)
Joshua John Miller b. 1974 (Class of 1999, Teen Witch, Halloween III: Season of the Witch, The Greatest American Hero)
Josie Ho b. 1974 (Contagion)
Micha Hauptman b. 1973 (Supernatural, Iron Man)
Jared Leto b. 1971 (Mr. Nobody)
Danielle Cormack b. 1970 (Legend of the Seeker, Xena, Cleopatra 2525, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Amazon High)
Graham Shiels b. 1970 (Guardians of the Galaxy, Arrow, Thor: The Dark World, Hydra, True Blood, Charmed)
Tricia Leigh Fisher b. 1968 (No Ordinary Family, C.H.U.D. II – Bud the Chud)
Steve Le Marquand b. 1967 (Farscape)
Sandra Taylor b. 1966 (Batman & Robin)
John Lynch b. 1961 (Merlin [2012], Night Wolf, Black Death, Alien Hunter, The Secret of Roan Inish, Chimera)
Tahnee Welch b. 1961 (Johnny 2.0, Cocoon 1 & 2)
Temuera Morrison b. 1960 (Green Lantern, Star Wars: Episodes II & III, The Island of Dr. Moreau)
Fred Schepisi b. 1939 (director, Iceman)
Robert V. Barron b. 1932 died 1 December 2000 (Quantum Leap, Frankenstein: The College Years, Alien Nation [TV], Out of This World, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, The Supernaturals, Amazing Stories)
Donald Moffat b. 1930 (Twilight Zone [1985], The Right Stuff, The Thing [1982], Popeye, Logan’s Run [TV], Exo-Man, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Terminal Man)
Denis Quilley b. 1927 died 5 October 2003 (Timeslip)
Akihiko Hirata b. 1927 died 25 July 1984 (Godzilla, Rodan, The Mysterians, The H-Man, Mothra, King Kong vs. Godzilla, Atragon, Ghidorah, Ultraman, Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster, Son of Godzilla, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla)
Shirley Patterson (aka Shawn Smith) b. 1922 died 4 April 1995 (It! The Terror from Beyond Space, World Without End, The Land Unknown, Batman [1943])
Sean Sullivan b. 1921 died 3 June 1985 (The Dead Zone, The Starlost, Dr. Frankenstein on Campus, 2001: A Space Odyssey)
Richard Widmark b. 1914 died 24 March 2008 (Coma [1978], Twilight’s Last Gleaming)
Elisha Cook Jr. b. 1903 died 18 May 1995 (ALF, Twilight Zone [1986], Salem’s Lot, The Bionic Woman, Blacula, Rosemary’s Baby, Star Trek, Batman [1966], House on Haunted Hill, Adventures of Superman)
Vladimir Sokoloff b. 1889 died 15 February 1962 (Twilight Zone, Beyond the Time Barrier, Sabu and the Magic Ring, I Was a Teenage Werewolf, Monster from Green Hell, Queen of Atlantis)

Notes on the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. Last year, I went with Akihiko Hirata from the original Godzilla movie, and this year it's Kit Harington from Game of Thrones. During the last hockey season, Mr. Harington was in the stands at a Maple Leafs. A cameraman spotted him and this caption was put under his picture.

JON SNOW
Ned Stark's bastard, knows nothing

Well, I laughed anyway.

Next year, I'll probably use Oh That Guy Elisha Cook Jr. in his role from the original Star Trek.

2. Hard to spot Canadians. Graham Shiels is Canadian, but the resume doesn't give it away. Sean Sullivan was Canadian, but he died in 1985, which is a little before the Canadian genre TV trend became a full fledged industry.

Try spotting the Kiwis instead! There are two and I think they can be sussed out.

3. Fun fact to know and tell. I haven't trained my Word or Blogger spell-checkers, so they will ask about the spelling of Battlestar and Galactica and Farscape and Stargate and many other words that often show up here. In the case of Akihiko Hirata's credits, the spellchecker completely accepts Godzilla as a word, but the other Japanese monster names are marked as unknown. From this I surmise that Godzilla has truly become an icon, while Ghidorah and Mothra are still in the realm of nerd knowledge.

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


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

Prediction: It is improbable that ever again will any flushed undignified man with a vast voice, a muscular face in incessant operation, collar crumpled, hair disordered, and arms in wild activity, talking, talking, talking, talking copiously out of the windows of railway carriages, talking on railway platforms, talking from hotel balconies, talking on tubs, barrels, scaffoldings, pulpits--tireless and undammable--rise to be the most powerful thing in any democratic state in the world.

Reality: The description doesn't match them exactly, I'd say Lenin, Hitler and Castro fit the description of this improbable person fairly well.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Around the holidays, I have to check the calendar to tell what day it is, but tomorrow is Saturday and we go back to 1893, for modest facial hair and a modest prediction.


Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
 

5 comments:

  1. Godzilla and Mothra both have songs. Godzilla's is more famous, though Mothra's features Those Darn Accordions, from your neck of the woods...

    Mr. Nobody was an OK movie. perhaps a little overrated on Netflix.

    Fun Facts: The building exteriors for House On Haunted Hill were shot using one of Frank Lloyd Wright's Hollywood concrete-block houses, although the interiors had absolutely nothing to do with them. Had to wait until Blade Runner for that....

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    Replies
    1. Mothra is an amazingly underrated monster. Gamera... he was made for MST3k and it for him.

      Thanks for the House on Haunted Hill tidbits. When I was wee, I asked my mom what was the scariest film she ever saw and House on Haunted Hill was her answer. I think I tried to watched it back in the 1960s and turned the TV off in terror.

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  2. The screen cap of Kit Harrington is one of the most hilarious things I've seen this year, especially since I just got through reading A Storm of Swords (in which "You know nothing" seems to appear once per page). Alas, it's a well-'shopped fake; Entertainment Weekly has the original.

    Not that it prevented this insightful Reddit observation about Ser Harrington.

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    Replies
    1. I saw the caption on TV and assumed it was real. Thanks for letting me know the truth. And the Reddit joke was damned funny as well.

      Delete
  3. The Kiwis: Temeura Morrison has a good Maori first name and Danielle Cormack did Xena, Hercules and Legend of the Seeker.

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Traveler! Have you news... FROM THE FUTURE?