17 January 2015

Birthdays
Laura Surrich b. 1988 (The Cure, King Kong)
Ray J. b. 1981 (Mars Attacks!, Steel)
Diogo Morgado b. 1981 (The Messengers)
Zooey Deschanel b. 1980 (The Happening, Tin Man, Bridge to Terabithia, Once Upon a Mattress [2005 TV], The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Elf)
Leigh Whannell b. 1977 (Insidious, The Matrix Reloaded)
Keith Robinson b. 1976 (Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue)
Anne Stedman b. 1976 (Space Cowboys)
Freddy Rodriguez b. 1975 (Planet Terror, Lady in the Water)
Genndy Tartakovsky b. 1970 (Artist, Star Wars: Clone Wars, Samurai Jack, The Powerpuff Girls, Dexter’s Laboratory)
Naveen Andrews b. 1969 (Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, Sinbad, Lost, Planet Terror, Rollerball [2002], Mighty Joe Young [1998])
Jeff Chase b. 1968 (Star Trek Into Darkness, Revolution, Looper, Swamp Shark, Star Trek [2009], Undead or Alive: A Zombedy, The Punisher, Black Knight)
Sofia Shinas b. 1968 (The Hunger [TV], The Crow)
Kang-ho Song b. 1967 (Snowpiercer, The Host)
Joshua Malina b. 1966 (Extant, Knights of Badassdom, The Big Bang Theory, American Horror Story, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Stargate SG-1, From the Earth to the Moon, Sliders)
D.J. Caruso b. 1965 (director, Tin Man [2014], I Am Number Four, Smallville, Dark Angel, VR.5)
Chris Casamassa b. 1963 (Sci-Fighter, Mortal Kombat)
Jim Carrey b. 1962 (Kick-Ass 2, A Christmas Carol [2009], Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, Bruce Almighty, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, The Truman Show, Batman Forever, Earth Girls are Easy, Once Bitten)
Denis O’Hare b. 1962 (American Horror Story, True Blood)
Brian Helgeland b. 1961(writer, Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant, 976-EVIL, Tales from the Crypt [1996], A Nightmare of Elm Street 4: The Dream Master)
Mitch Vogel b. 1956 (Wonder Woman, Ark II, Isis, The Immortal)
Sharon Duce b. 1950 (The Tomorrow People [1995 TV], Doctor Who, Outland)
Andy Kaufman b. 1949 died 16 May 1984 (Heartbeeps)
Todd Susman b. 1947 (Angel, The Burning Zone [TV], Weird Science, The Invaders [1995 TV], Lois & Clark, Coneheads, She-Wolf of London, ALF, Twilight Zone [1985], The Amazing Spider-Man [1978])
Randy Boone b. 1942 (Kolchak: The Night Stalker, Twilight Zone)
Tom Lowell b. 1941 (Escape from the Planet of the Apes, The Invaders, The Addams Family, The Twilight Zone)
Stuart Nisbet b. 1934 (They Came from Outer Space [1990 TV], Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Project U.F.O., The Six Million Dollar Man, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, Bewitched, The Green Hornet, My Mother the Car, The Munsters, Twilight Zone)
Sheree North b. 1932 died 4 November 2005 (Freddy’s Nightmares, Future Cop, Destination Inner Space)
James Earl Jones b. 1931 (The Big Bang Theory, Star Wars, Stargate SG-1, Lois & Clark, The Meteor Man, Fairie Tale Theatre, City Limits, Conan the Barbarian, Exorcist II: The Heretic, The UFO Incident)
Eartha Kitt b. 1927 died 25 December 2008 ( Erik the Viking, Batman [1967])
Betty White b. 1922 (Lake Placid)
Nevil Shute b. 1899 died 12 January 1960 (Author, On the Beach)

Notes on the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. Previous years saw Naveen Andrews from Lost and James Earl Jones in the Picture Slot, and there are plenty of good choices in terms of household names on the list. As usual, iconic status in a genre role is also a major criterion and given that, it was a two-person contest and Eartha Kitt topped Jim Carrey because... reasons. Kitt got the role in the third season because Julie Newmar was filming something else, but Yvonne Craig brings up an interesting point. In the third season she played Batgirl and one of her duties was fisticuffs with Catwoman. Craig is quoted as saying she comes up to about Julie Newmar's navel and it would have been hard to make the fight convincing. Eartha Kitt is much shorter. As for ranking the Catwomen, my heart is with Newmar, but no matter how you rank Julie, Eartha, Lee Meriwether, Michelle Pfeiffer, Halle Berry and Anne Hathaway, the person in sixth place is crazy gorgeous.

2. Canadians incognito. Neither of our Canadian actors has a credit list that gives away their place of birth. Jim Carrey is a movie star and is not one to hang around Vancouver hoping the agent can swing a guest spot on Continuum. The lovely Sofia Shinas is also Canadian, but she only has 13 credits total on imdb.com and only two in genre.

3. MST3K. In a late addition, I completely forgot about City Limits! The cast list gives Dr. Forrester one of my favorite lines of his. "This week's experiment is City Limits, with James Earl Jones in one of the worst films he ever made and Kim Catrall in one of the best films she ever made."

That still makes me laugh.

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

Predictor: Mary Elizabeth Lease, lawyer and columnist, asked to predict the world of 1993 in honor of the 1893 Columbian Exhibition.

Prediction: The railroads, channels of communication, light, water and all public improvements will be managed by the state and owned by the government. Gold will cease to be the basis of the monetary system. Temperance laws will be unnecessary, as every man will be a prohibitory law unto himself. Woman's dependence on man will be a thing of the past. The accumulation of great wealth will dwindle. Corporations will be controlled. Three hours will constitute a long day's work. Science will condense the nutrition found in plants into concentrated food, a small phial will furnish people with subsistence for days. Killing animals for food will be a horror of the past. We will communicate with beings from other planets and Sunday excursions to the moon will be commonplace. 

Reality: She might dress like a society dame, but it's obvious she's a Commie hippie, right? She gets full points for guessing the gold standard would vanish and giving the best reason why, and she gets partial credit for predicting women would be less dependent on men. I guess the concentrated food prediction is also close enough for some credit, but the rest... well, what do you expect from a Commie hippie?

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Another look into the exciting future of 1970, courtesy of Robert A. Heinlein.


Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!