Nathan Gamble b. 1998 (The Hole, The Mist, The Dark Knight)
Luke Bromley b. 1944 (The World’s End, Torchwood)
Tiler Peck b. 1989 (Donnie Darko)
Will Rothhaar b. 1987 (Grimm, Battle Los Angeles, Fringe, Radio Free Albemuth, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Buffy)
Naya Rivera b. 1987 (Frankenhood)
Vanessa Johansson b. 1980 (Day of the Dead)
David Mitchell b. 1979 (author, Cloud Atlas)
Kaja Foglio b. 1970 (illustrator, Girl Genius)
Rachel Harris b. 1968 (Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, Star Trek: Voyager, SeaQuest 2032)
Chris Gartin b. 1968 (Transcendence, True Blood, M.A.N.T.I.S.)
Vendela Kirsebom Thomessen b. 1967 (Batman & Robin)
Olivier Martinez b. 1966 (Cybergeddon)
Barbara Scolaro b. 1966 (Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters 2, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Alien Fury: Countdown to Invasion)
Rob Zombie b. 1965 (director, The Lords of Salem, Halloween I and II [2007 and 2009], The Devil’s Rejects, House of 1000 Corpses)
Simon Russell Beale b. 1961 (Penny Dreadful [2015], Into the Woods, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland [2011 TV], Alice in Wonderland [1999 TV])
Oliver Platt b. 1960 (Gods Behaving Badly, X-Men: First Class, 2012, Bicentennial Man, Lake Placid, Tall Tale, Flatliners)
Wanda Cannon b. 1960 (Andromeda, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Code Name: Eternity, Earth: Final Conflict, My Secret Identity)
Ralf Moller b. 1959 (The Scorpion King, Mutant X, Relic Hunter. Andromeda, Conan [1998 TV], Batman & Robin, Universal Soldier)
John Lasseter b. 1957 (director, Cars 1 & 2, Toy Story 1 & 2, A Bug’s Life)
Rockne S. O'Bannon b. 1955 (writer, Constantine, Defiance, Revolution, V [2011], Farscape, Creature, Invasion, Alien Nation, SeaQuest 2032, Twilight Zone [1986], Amazing Stories)
Kirstie Alley b. 1951 (Village of the Damned, Deadly Nightmares, Runaway, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Quark)
Haruki Murakami b. 1949 (author, 1Q84, Sputnik Sweetheart)
Anthony Andrews b. 1948 (Tales from the Crypt, Nightmare Classics, Doomwatch)
Roger Ewing b. 1942 (Bewitched)
Geoffrey Hoyle b. 1941 (author, 2010: Living in the Future)
Bob Dishy b. 1934 (The Twilight Zone [1985])
Bruce Lansbury b. 1930 (writer, Swamp Thing, The Return of the Six-Million-Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman, Knight Rider, The Powers of Matthew Star, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century)
House Peters Jr. b 1916 died 1 October 2008 (Twilight Zone, Target Earth, Red Planet Mars, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Batman and Robin [1949], King of the Rocket Men, Flash Gordon)
Ray Teal b, 1902 died 2 April 1976 (I Dream of Jeannie, The Twilight Zone, The Absent-Minded Professor, Men Into Space)
Jack London b. 1876 died 22 November 1916 (author, The Iron Heel)
Charles Perrault b. 1628 died 16 May 1703 (author, Mother Goose)
Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. To be honest, the only person on the list today I consider to have a truly iconic genre role is Kirstie Alley in The Wrath of Khan and I used her picture before. German bodybuilder Ralf Moller was Conan on the TV show, but I never saw it and I don't know how many people did. So I thought about the birthday folk who are not in front of the camera and decided Charles Perrault's Mother Goose is the most important work in the fantasy field.
2. Spot the Canadian. Oliver Platt was born in Canada, but his father was a United States diplomat stationed there, so he does not have Canadian citizenship or a credit list that shows Canadian tendencies. There is one Canadian native and the credit list does give her nationality away, though it's mostly from last century. Good luck!
3. The Guy at the Door. Producer/writer Bruce Lansbury turns 85 today. Everyone younger than he is alive and everyone older is dead, though it should be noted that the next oldest person, House Peters Jr., was born 14 years earlier, a large gap. Ignoring the randomness of being born on January 12, he also has an older sister named Angela who is still with us. In any case, Lansbury is The Guy at the Door today and I send out special best wishes for many happy returns.
Many happy returns to all the living on the list, especially to Bruce Lansbury, and to the dead, thanks for all the memories.
Prediction: On 12 January 1992, The HAL 9000 becomes operational.
Reality: First a technicality. The 1992 date is from the Kubrick movie and Clarke's sequel book. In Clarke's book adaption of the movie, the date is 12 January 1997.
As for reality, computers still aren't anything like HAL, but I consider HAL and Skynet important enough to have their "birthdays" commemorated every year. They are by no means the first examples in science fiction of machines overtaking humans and making us obsolete, but both are given exact dates, an important distinction as far as the blog is concerned, and both are still cultural touchstones.
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!
The post-mortem for the picks from ESPN's 14 pro football experts of this weekend's four football games.
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
Which Skynet birthdate(s) do you use? There are so many of them.
ReplyDeleteVote for next year's picture slot: a "Farscape" picture since Rockne O'Bannon was a creator of it as well as a writer.
Also, slight editing note: you misspelled January at the top of the post.
Second the vote for Rockne. Alien Nation was far smarter than most sic-fi of the time...
DeleteThanks for the editing note. Always glad to get them.
DeleteFarscape and Alien Nation are both good choices.
Wanda Cannon is today's Canadian.
ReplyDelete