Monday, January 19, 2015

19 January 2015

Birthdays
Logan Lerman b. 1992 (Percy Jackson, The Butterfly Effect)
Erin Sanders b. 1991 (Carnivale)
Damien Chazelle b. 1985 (The Last Exorcism Part II)
Bitsie Tulloch b. 1981 (Grimm)
Benjamin Ayres b. 1977 (Bitten, Lost Girl, Dead Before Dawn 3D, The Vampire Diaries, Fantastic 4; Rise of the Silver Surfer, Smallville, Supernatural, Battlestar Galactica, Stargate SG-1, Jeremiah)
Candice Hillebrand b. 1977 (Tekken)
Marsha Thomason b. 1976 (Lost, The Haunted Mansion, Black Knight)
Natassia Malthe b. 1974 (BloodRayne, Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, Fringe, Fallen, Skinwalkers, Bloodsuckers, Andromeda, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Halloween: Resurrection, Seven Days, Dark Angel, Lake Placid, First Wave, Millennium)
Rachel Luttrell b. 1971 (Stargate: Atlantis, Charmed, Maniac Mansion, Forever Knight)
Wendy Moniz b. 1969 (666 Park Avenue, The Others)
Matt Hill b. 1968 (Dead Like Me, Taken, Sleepwalkers, Bordello of Blood, The X Files)
Paul McCrane b. 1961 (From the Earth to the Moon, The X Files, Superboy, The Blob [1988], RoboCop)
William Ragsdale b. 1961 (Left Behind, Touch, Frankenstein: The College Years, Mannequin: On the Move, Fright Night 1 & 2 [1985 and 1988])
Allen Steele b. 1958 (author, Orbital Decay, The Death of Captain Future)
Roger Ashton-Griffiths b. 1957 (Game of Thrones, Doctor Who, Mutant Chronicles, Torchwood, The Brothers Grimm, Merlin [1998], Tales from the Crypt, Haunted Honeymoon, Brazil)
Tracy Stratford b. 1955 (Twilight Zone, The Evil of Frankenstein)
Katey Sagal b. 1954 (Futurama, Lost, Jack and the Beanstalk [2010], Smart House, Tales from the Crypt)
Linda Hayden b. 1953 (The Boys from Brazil, Queen Kong, Old Drac, The Blood on Satan’s Claw, Taste the Blood of Dracula)
Desi Arnaz Jr, b 1953 (Automan)
Nadiuska b. 1952 (Conan the Barbarian)
Shelley Fabares b. 1944 (The Canterville Ghost [1985], Mork & Mindy, The Incredible Hulk, Twilight Zone, Captain Midnight)
Michael Crawford b. 1942 (Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland [1972])
Larry Clark b. 1943 (director, Teenage Caveman [2002])
Reiner Schone b. 1942 (Ice Planet, Sliders, Babylon 5, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Handmaid’s Tale, Amerika)
Tony Anholt b. 1941 died 26 July 2002 (Lexx, Relic Hunter, Space: 1999)
Bryan Pringle b. 1935 died 15 May 2002 (Haunted Honeymoon, Brazil, Jabberwocky)
John Richardson b. 1934 (Battle of the Stars, War of the Planets, Frankenstein ’80, One Million Years B.C., She)
Richard Lester b. 1932 (director, Superman II and III, The Mouse on the Moon)
Patsy Rowlands b. 1931 died 22 January 2005 (Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland)
Tippi Hedren b. 1930 (The 4400, The Nightmare Room, Tales from the Darkside, The Bionic Woman, The Birds)
Lisa Lu b. 1927 (2012, The Tick, Demon Seed)
Fritz Weaver b. 1926 (The X Files, Deep Space Nine, Tales from the Darkside, The Twilight Zone [1985 & 1961], Creepshow, The Martian Chronicles, Wonder Woman, Demon Seed, The Invaders, ‘Way Out)
Nicholas Colasanto b. 1924 died 12 February 1985 (My Favorite Martian, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea)
Jean Stapleton b. 1923 died 31 May 2013 (The Ray Bradbury Theatre, Beakman’s World, Faerie Tale Theatre, Damn Yankees)
Guy Madison b. 1922 died 6 February 1996 (Superargo and the Faceless Giants, The Beast of Hollow Mountain, On the Threshold of Space)
Ken Hughes b. 1922 died 28 April 2001 (screenwriter, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang)
Edgar Allan Poe b. 1809 died 7 October 1849 (author, The Masque of the Red Death, The Fall of the House of Usher)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. Previously, before I had done as much research, I had Edgar Allen Poe in the Picture Slot. In his book The Dreams Our Stuff Is Made Of, Thomas M. Disch argues that Poe is the true father of sci-fi, not Verne or Wells. Whether we accept that or not, he is certainly iconic. This year, not wanting to repeat myself, my choices were Leela from Futurama, Fritz Weaver from The Obsolete Man episode of Twilight Zone or Tippi Hedren from The Birds.

Did the fabulous babe win? Why, gosh, I guess she did. To be fair, Leela is fabulous as well, if you like animated and one eyed.

If I weren't such a geezer, I might include Logan Lerman in the choices, since he plays Percy Jackson in those series of movies. While I am not the target for the YA novels or the movies made from them, I have read some of the books and seen some of the movies. As a consumer of pop culture, I would say young Mr. Lerman has not reached the level of fame experienced by Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Jennifer Lawrence, Kristen Stewart or Robert Pattinson.

2. Spot the Canadians! There are four, though some were born elsewhere and emigrated. All were born after 1960.

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

Predictors: The ESPN panel of pro football experts

Predictions: 
Seahawks over Packers by a 13-1 consensus
Patriots over Colts by a 13-1 consensus

Reality: Back when I used to gamble, I had a friend, who when paying off after he deemed that I was ridiculously lucky would say "Tell them where you got it, but don't tell them how." The favored Seahawks did win yesterday, though they did it with five turnovers, a desperate trick play that worked and some very lucky bounces. That said, they won and all the people who said they would get the points.

This gives the experts a combined record of 92 correct and 48 incorrect, which rounds to 65.7% right. If this were a true-false test, that grade would probably count as a D by most standards, but if we assume even odds on all the games before they start, this result would be just a hair away from the 99.99th percentile when graded on the normal curve, and even if the Seahawks had lost, the experts would be in the 95th percentile. Of course, what this really says is that most of the favorites won and there were only a few games considered to be difficult to predict. In the baseball playoffs this year, two wild card teams played for the championship and the experts stunk the place out.


Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

 The Birthday List has a Star Trek regular and a guy who walked on the moon and neither of them will be in the Picture Slot. Take turns, guys, fair is fair.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!


4 comments:

  1. Bitsie Tulloch is 34?? I'll have whatever she's drinking (while stipulating that Grimm is never likely to be iconic).

    "To be fair, Leela is fabulous as well, if you like animated and one eyed."

    I want Leela subjected to the Barbie Test: could anyone with her measurements actually walk erect? (Upright, that is.)

    Since the line on both games was large--the Pats covered, the Seahawks didn't--I hesitate to give full credit for picking the winners. But my respect for sports announcers is only slightly higher than for Ed Wood's directorial acumen, so that may distort reaction.

    Was it the same person who picked the dogs?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That 34 year olds still look great is almost a given in show business. I'm amazed at how good looking the 50 year olds are nowadays and it's not all plastic surgery.

      No, it was different people picking the dogs. Adam Shefter is the best over the 10 games at 8-2, Mike Golic is the worst at 5-5.

      Delete
  2. You would think Seattle would be more grateful to McCarthy for giving them the game.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The four Canadians are Bejamin Ayres, Natassia Malthe, Rachel Luttrell and Matt Hill.

    ReplyDelete

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