27 December 2014

Birthdays
Laurence Belcher b. 1995 (X-Men: First Class, Doctor Who, The Shadow Within)
Olivia Cooke b. 1993 (The Quiet Ones, The Signal)
Casey Campbell b. 1993 (10,000 Days, Seeking a Friend for the End of the World)
Jessica Harmon b. 1985 (Supernatural, Arrow, Chupacabra vs. the Alamo, Kyle XY, Battlestar Galactica, The New Addams Family)
Marek Oravec b. 1983 (Captain America: The First Avenger, Torchwood)
Emilie de Ravin b. 1981 (Once Upon a Time, Lost, The Hills Have Eyes, Carrie [2002 TV], Roswell, BeastMaster [TV])
Sitara Hewitt b. 1981 (Lost Girl)
Lisa Jakub b. 1978 (Independence Day, Matinee, War of the Worlds [1990 TV], Twilight Zone [1989 TV], Once Upon a Giant)
Noah Cappe b. 1977 (Defiance, Bitten, The Good Witch, The Fifth Quadrant)
Aaron Stanford b. 1975 (12 Monkeys [2015 TV], The Hills Have Eyes, X-Men: The Last Stand, X-Men 2)
Heather O’Rourke b. 1975 died 1 February 1988 (Poltergeist I, II and III)
Kylee Cochran b. 1974 (The Crow: Salvation)
Thomas Wilson Brown b. 1972 (Honey, I Shrunk the Kids)
Alex Skuby b. 1972 (Pandemic, Angel, Buffy)
Chyna b. 1969 (Illegal Aliens, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Relic Hunter, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Alien Fury: Countdown to Invasion)
John Henry Canavan b. 1969 (True Blood, Lost, Odyssey 5, Relic Hunter, The New Addams Family)
Mitzi Martin b. 1967 (The Island, S1m0ne, Dude, Where’s My Car?)
Eva LaRue b. 1966 (RoboCop 3, They Came from Outer Space [1991 TV], Freddy’s Nightmares, The Barbarians)
Theresa Randle b. 1964 (Spawn, Space Jam, Near Dark)
Melissa Moore b. 1963 (Hellborn, Vampire Cop, Repossessed, The Invisible Maniac, Evil Spawn)
Shashawnee Hall b. 1961 (The Amazing Spider-Man, M.A.N.T.I.S., Lois & Clark, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Manimal)
Maryam D’Abo b. 1960 (Dorian Gray, Timelock, Space Precinct, Tales from the Crypt [1993 TV], Something Is Out There, Arthur the King, Xtro)
Barbara Crampton b. 1958 (The Lords of Salem, Space Truckers, Robot Wars, Trancers II, From Beyond, Re-Animator)
Tovah Feldshuh b. 1952 (Lady in the Water, Once Upon a Classic, The World of Darkness)
Aharon Ipale b. 1951 (The Mummy, Invisible: The Chronicles of Benjamin Knight, Knight Rider, Salvage 1, Wonder Woman)
Charles Band b. 1951 (producer/director, Re-Animator, Crawlspace, Puppet Master, Demonic Toys, Trancers, Metalstorm: The Destruction of Jared-Syn, Parasite)
Kent Williams b. 1950 (WarGames, Time After Time)
Gerard Depardieu b. 1948 (Falconman, Babylon A.D., Witches to the North)
Ciaran Madden b. 1945 (Star Maidens, The Beast Must Die, Gawain and the Green Knight)
John Amos b. 1939 (Zombie Hamlet, Voodoo Moon, The Beastmaster, Future Cop)
Jean Hale b. 1938 (Batman, My Favorite Martian)
Guy Rolfe b. 1911 died 19 October 2003 (The Bride, Space: 1999)
Thea von Harbou b. 1888 died 1 July 1954 (writer, Metropolis)

Notes from the birthday list
1. The Picture Slot. Last year, the Picture Slot was given to the late Heather O'Rourke from the Poltergeist movies. This year it's Emilie de Raven from Lost. I have to admit there aren't a lot of iconic genre roles amongst today list of artists, but I think Thea von Harbou's work as the writer of Metropolis puts her in the lead position. She was the wife of director Fritz Lang.

2. The Canadian onslaught. There are five Canadians on today's list, though some have not done enough roles to be easily spotted. Jessica Harmon, Sitara Hewitt, Lisa Jacub,  Noah Cappe and John Henry Canavan are all born in The Great White North.

3. Hey, no Star Trek! It happens, but not often.

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

Predictor: E.J. Edwards (1847-1924), journalist, making predictions about 1993 in honor of the 1893 Columbian Exhibition in Chicago 

Prediction: In is quite within the bounds of possibility that, by the year 1993, the mechanical work of publishing newspapers will be done entirely with electricity... it is possible the reporter and editor will no longer be compelled to write, Rather, the spoken word may be imprisoned in cold type.

Reality: Edwards didn't go crazy here, since he thought people in 1793 wouldn't have a had a chance to predict 1893. He's right about electricity, but speaking into a machine that writes is still not widespread. Of course, there is spoken word news on the radio and TV, but that's not what he was predicting. Making those predictions in 1893 before radio and moving pictures exist would have taken a very active imagination, and that wasn't Edwards' style.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

While 27 December has a sparse choice of iconic artists, 28 December is overflowing. Just one of those things.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!