3 December 2014

 Birthdays
Jake T. Austin b. 1994 (Wizards of Waverly Place)
Dominique Jackson b. 1991 (My Parents Are Aliens, The New Worst Witch, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy [2005])
Michael Angarano b. 1987 (The Brass Teapot, Sky High)
Amanda Seyfried b. 1985 (Pan, Ted 2, In Time, Red Riding Hood, Jennifer’s Body, Solstice)
Brian Bonsall b. 1981 (Star Trek: The Next Generation)
Jenna Dewan Tatum b. 1980 (Witches of East End, American Horror Story, The Grudge 2, Dark Shadows [2005 TV movie])
Cuyle Carvin b. 1980 (Fat Planet, Dragon Day, Snake Club: Revenge of the Snake Woman, Captain Battle: Legacy War, Terminal Legacy, The Cold Equations, Alien Opponent, Assault of the Sasquatch)
Anna Chlumsky b. 1980 (Cupid, Early Edition)
Jonathan Cherry b. 1978 (WolfCop, House of the Dead, They)
Cristi Harris b. 1977 (Night of the Scarecrow, Night of the Demons 2)
Joseph Gatt b. 1974 (The 100, Teen Wolf, Game of Thrones, Star Trek Into Darkness, Wonder Woman, Thor, The Dark Path Chronicles, Saurian, Orpheus & Eurydice, Jason and the Argonauts [2000])
Joris Jarsky b. 1974 (Lost Girl, Haven, Survival of the Dead, The Incredible Hulk, Blindness, Stargate: Atlantis, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Mutant X, Vampire High)
Holly Marie Combs b. 1973 (Charmed, The Nightmare Room, The Craft)
Keegan Connor Tracy b. 1971 (Once Upon a Time, Embrace of the Vampire, V [2011], Eureka, Supernatural, Battlestar Galactica, Stargate SG-1, The 4400, Jake 2.0, Dark Angel, Strange Frequency, Seven Days, NightMan, The New Addams Family)
Brendan Fraser b. 1968 (G.I. Joe – The Rise of Cobra, Inkheart, The Mummy, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Bedazzled [2001], Monkeybone, Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy, Encino Man)
Mark Deklin b. 1967 (Warehouse 13, Riverworld, Charmed)
Steve Harris b. 1965 (In Your Eyes, Minority Report)
Andrew Stanton (writer, John Carter, Toy Story, WALL-E, Finding Nemo, Monsters, Inc., A Bug’s Life)
Julianne Moore b. 1960 (The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Carrie [2013], Children of Men, Blindness, Evolution, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Tales from the Darkside: The Movie)
Daryl Hannah b. 1960 (2047 – Sights of Death, Zombie Night, Shark Swarm, Jack and the Beanstalk: The Real Story , My Favorite Martian [1999], Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman, Memoirs of an Invisible Man, High Spirits, Clan of the Cave Bear, Splash, Blade Runner, The Fury)
Valerie Quennessen b. 1957 died 19 March 1989 (Conan the Barbarian)
Melody Anderson b. 1955 (Deadly Nightmares, Flash Gordon, Manimal, Battlestar Galactica, Logan’s Run [TV])
Steven Culp b. 1955 (Revolution, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Stargate: Atlantis, Star Trek: Enterprise, How to Make a Monster, Brimstone, James and the Giant Peach, Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday)
Mel Smith b. 1952 died 19 July 2013 (The Princess Bride, Morons From Outer Space)
Eugene Clark b. 1951 (Space Riders: Division Earth, Aladdin and the Death Lamp, Land of the Dead, RoboCop: Prime Directives, Earth: Final Conflict, TekWar, Knight Rider 2000, Millennium, The Twilight Zone [1989], War of the Worlds [1988 TV])
Heather Menzies-Ulrich b. 1949 (Captain America, Logan’s Run [TV], The Six Million Dollar Man, Ssssss)
Mary Alice b. 1941 (The Matrix Revolutions)
Don Calfa b. 1939 (Necronomicon: Book of Dead, Chopper Chicks in Zombietown, Amazing Stories, The Return of the Living Dead, The Bionic Woman)
Len Lesser b. 1922 died 16 February 2011 (Frankenstein & the Werewolf Reborn!, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, The Werewolf Reborn!, Sorority Girls and the Creature from Hell, Amazing Stories, The Amazing Spider-Man [1977], Kolchak: The Night Stalker, The Girl with Something Extra, Slither, Land of the Giants, Mr. Terrific, My Favorite Martian, The Munsters, The Outer Limits)

Notes on the birthday list.
1. Wait... he's dead? I put Mel Smith in the Picture Slot as a make-up post, since he died of a heart attack while this blog has been written and I did not give him his own Never to be Forgotten post. He was a British comic actor who paired with Griff Rhys Jones on a couple of TV shows, but likely best known to Americans in his small role from The Princess Bride. His experience shooting the film was painful, as it turned out he was allergic to the contact lens solution, unbeknownst both to him and the make-up guy. As a result, he never saw the finished film, which is a shame.

2. Wait... she's dead? Valerie Quennessen's best known role is probably in Summer Lovers, an obvious male wish fulfillment fantasy where an incredibly good looking guy (Peter Gallagher) on a Greek holiday with his incredibly good looking girlfriend (Darryl Hannah) is seduced by an incredibly good looking French girl (Quennessen) and everybody decides a threesome would be a lot of fun. She died in a car accident when she was 31. Very sad.

3. Better known as...  Some actors here are not best known in their genre roles. Len Lesser was Uncle Leo on Seinfeld. Heather Menzies-Ulrich started as a child actor in The Sound of Music. Steve Harris was a regular on Friday Night Lights and The Practice. Julianne Moore is one of the several movie stars on the list and I was a little surprised at how many genre roles she has done. I think audiences would probably recognize her more from The Big Lebowski, Boogie Nights, Far from Heaven, The Hours and Don Jon. For me, Anna Chlumsky's best known roles are in My Girl when she was a kid and her roles in the Armando Iannucci vehicles Veep and In the Loop. Amanda Seyfried was in Mamma Mia! and Veronica Mars among other big roles in major features.


4. Spot (some of) the Canadians. Of the six(!?!) Canadian born actors on the list, two have resumes that look Canadian and the other four are hard to spot. The only hint I'll give is that the oldest was born in the 1940s and the youngest in the 1970s. Good luck.

5. The candidates for next year's Picture Slot. Last year, Darryl Hannah was in the Picture Slot from Blade Runner. People who know my enthusiasms might think I would use a picture from another role, but it is not to be, as we have too many other good choices. Brian Bonsall played Worf's son Alexander on Star Trek: The Next Generation, and that counts as iconic. Brendon Fraser also has a lot of big roles in genre, and the most iconic is likely from The Mummy. But if I get into an iconic fabulous babe mood, then I can choose from Melody Anderson from Flash Gordon, Valerie Quennessen from Conan, Holly Marie Combs from Charmed or Amanda Seyfried from In Time or Red Riding Hood. There's plenty more pretty on the list, but regular readers know I can fussy about iconic.

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

Predictor: Anonymous writer in the New York World, predicting the year 2011 in 1911

Prediction: (continuing last week's story of a worldwide search for an embezzler named Lafuite.)

Throughout the city the news was discussed. Soon a new dispatch was posted:

"3:15 P.M. - It is announced that an etheromobile disappeared twelve days ago from a garage in Brooklyn. Lafuite is believed to have taken possession of it at night to elude pursuit by taking refuge on the moon. If this prove true all hope of finding him must be abandoned. We do not possess thanks to the carelessness of the Government any means of arresting a man upon the surface of our satellite."

Yes the moon, 238,850 miles from the earth, a five months journey, is a safe refuge for the criminal. If the villain has twelve days' start he can never be caught and at the end of his journey he will have a whole world to himself.

The crowd is struck with admiration for the audacity of the criminal and half hopes this rumor may prove true. The whole city is excited. Vast crowds gather before the bulletin boards of the newspapers. More than 30,000 are assembled before that of The World, now an hourly paper. From the balcony a vast trumpet roars dispatches as they are received from all over the earth.

At 4:45 a shout goes up. The disappearance of the etheromobile has been explained. It is carrying a committee of four members of the University to observe meteorological phenomena. So Lafuite is still on earth.

At 5:30 a dispatch from Vera Cruz announces that a man corresponding to the description of Lafuite and traveling alone in an aeroplane descended in that city to get gasoline and food. He left again for the South at 300 miles an hour.

At last, at 6:05, a thunderous dispatch proclaimed that the defaulting cashier has just been arrested in a cafe in Buenos Aires, where he had been identified in spite of the fact he had shaved his beard off and was wearing black goggles.   

Reality: I love the writing style of this guy and his flights of imagination. The idea of newspapers printed hourly and headlines blaring out on loudspeaker is not what the world looks like, but in 1911 no one had an idea what radio would become with the next decade. I will note that his prediction of 300 mph planes was bold in his day, but many planes have cruising speeds from 400 to 600 mph. Compare that to his etheromobile to the moon, which is not supposed to be a rocket. A five month journey means it would be cruising at a breakneck average speed of... 65 mph! It gives the phrase "Are we there yet?" a whole new meaning.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

We have only two more predictions from Lee de Forest, so enjoy them while you can.


Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!