Saturday, January 31, 2015

31 January 2015

 Birthdays
Lily Mo Sheen b. 1999 (Underworld: Evolution, Click)
Joel Courtney b. 1996 (Super 8)
Justin Timberlake b. 1981 (In Time, Shrek the Third, Southland Tales)
Bobby Moynihan b. 1978 (The Brass Teapot, The Invention of Lying)
Kerry Washington b. 1977 (Fantastic Four, Wonderfalls)
Kevin Christy b. 1977 (Race to Witch Mountain, Heroes, Knight Rider [2008], Neverland, Seven Days, Buffy, Dude, Where’s My Car?)
Paul Scheer b. 1976 (Piranha 3D)
Anna Silk b. 1974 (Lost Girl, Earth Storm, Anonymous Rex, Puppets Who Kill, Mutant X)
Portia de Rossi b. 1973 (Mockingbird Lane, Cursed)
Patricia Velasquez b. 1971 (Almighty Thor, Mindhunters, The Mummy, Beowulf)
Eric Walker b. 1970 (And You Thought Your Parents Were Weird, The Ewok Adventure)
Minnie Driver b. 1970 (Peter Pan Live!, The Deep [2010], Ella Enchanted, The X Files, Princess Mononoke)
Dexter Fletcher b. 1966 (The Coven [2015], Cockneys vs Zombies, Kick-Ass, Stardust, Doom)
Cindy Ambuehl b. 1965 (Meteor, Charmed, Dark Breed, Weird Science [TV], Strange Luck, Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead)
Grant Morrison b. 1960 (writer, All Star Superman, Batman R.I.P., New X-Men)
Anthony LaPaglia b. 1959 (Tales from the Crypt, The Twilight Zone [1986], Amazing Stories)
Robert Grubb b. 1950 (Salem’s Lot, Mad Max Beyond Thunder dome)
Carol Hawkins b. 1949 (Blakes 7, When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth, The Body Stealers)
Jonathan Banks b. 1947 (Millennium Man, Harvey [1996 TV], SeaQuest 2032, Tales from the Crypt, Highlander [TV], Deep Space Nine, Freejack, Otherworld, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, The Invisible Woman)
Glynn Turman b. 1947 (Revolution, Super 8, FlashForward, Millennium, Freddy’s Nightmares, Gremlins, Manimal, The Twilight Zone [1985], The Greatest American Hero)
Connie Booth b. 1944 (The Tomorrow People, High Spirits, Monty Python and the Holy Grail)
Jessica Walter b. 1941 (Big Bang Theory, Poltergeist: The Legacy, Babylon 5, Vampire, Dr. Strange [1978], Wonder Woman, The Sixth Sense [1972 TV], The Immortal)
Stuart Margolin b. 1940 (Strange Frequency, I Was a Teenage Faust, The Ray Bradbury Theatre, Futureworld, Land of the Giants, Bewitched, Women of the Prehistoric Planet)
Suzanne Pleshette b. 1937 died 19 January 2008 (Spirited Away, The Invaders, The Birds)
James Franciscus b. 1934 died 8 July 1991 (When Time Ran Out…, Beneath the Planet of the Apes, Marooned, The Valley of Gwangi, Twilight Zone)
Jean Simmons b. 1929 died 22 January 2010 (Howl’s Moving Castle, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Dark Shadows [1991])
Jean Speegle Howard b. 1927 died 2 September 2000 (Buffy, Meego, Lois & Clark, Homeboys in Outer Space, Apollo 13, Scrooged, Cocoon)
William R. Sylvester b. 1922 died 25 January 1995 (Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, The Six Million Dollar Man, Gemini Man, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Devil Doll, Gorgo)
John Agar b. 1921 died 7 April 2002 (The Naked Monster, The Twilight Zone [1986], King Kong [1976], Zontar: The Thing from Venus, Women of the Prehistoric Planet, Journey to the Seventh Planet, Destination Space, Invisible Invaders, Attack of the Puppet People, Daughter of Dr. Jekyll, The Brain from Planet Arous, The Mole People, Tarantula, Revenge of the Creature, The Rocket Man, The Magic Carpet)
Eddie Byrne b. 1911 died 21 August 1981 (Star Wars: Episode IV, The Mummy [1959], Island of Terror)
Percy Helton b. 1894 died 11 September 1971 (Land of the Giants, Batman [TV], The Green Hornet, Twilight Zone, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, The Adventures of Superman)

 Notes from the birthday list.
The Picture Spot the Canadian! In previous years, the Picture Slot was handed to Justin Timberlake and Percy Helton, a great Oh That Guy. I thought about having a picture of John Agar, star of many 1950s sci-fi films, but I decided instead to use a publicity still of Anna Silk, star of the Canadian genre show Lost Girl, who happens to be both a fabulous babe and the only native-born Canadian on our list today.

Wait... they're dead? and The Guy at the Door.  The oldest living person on today's list is Stuart Margolin, best known as Angel from The Rockford Files, and everyone younger than him is also alive, which makes him The Guy at the Door. I'm embarrassed to write it, but I hadn't quite processed that any of the next four oldest people on the list - Suzanne Pleshette, James Franciscus, Jean Simmons and Jean Speegle Howard - had died. While the first three were genuine TV and movie stars, Ms. Howard was the mom of Ron Howard and did most of her acting work in small roles after she turned 60. Her husband Rance is still alive.


MST3K. There are a lot of movies that got the Two Robots and a Janitor treatment on today's list, including Women of the Prehistoric Planet, The Mole People and Marooned. There may be others I that don't recall, but Zombie Rotten McDonald stepped up and we add Gorgo, Revenge of the Creature and Devil Doll.

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


Predictor: Junius Henri Browne (1833-1902), journalist, predicting what 1993 will look like in honor of the 1893 Columbian Exhibition in Chicago.

Prediction: Socialism will grow in the United States in a modified form... There will be more equality in education, position and fortune... There will be no attempt to enforce total abstinence... Criminals will less severely punished and their number will have materially diminished... The law will be simplified... Religion will be little taught and have little influence... The principles of medicine will be much better understood... businesses will be conducted harmoniously, with employers and workers sharing in the profits... Women will win the right to vote... American literature will stand at the head of English literature.

Reality: Well, this guy wasn't asking for much, was he? I would say he was right about socialism (Social Security), medicine and women getting the vote. Depending on the year in question, there was more equality of position than they knew in the 1890s, but that's heading in the opposite direction right now. Is American literature is ahead of the Brits? I think that is a debatable point, it's certainly advanced from what it was in the 19th Century. He was wrong about forced abstinence, though we got over it, universal profit sharing and the lessened influence of religion.

This guy looks like a milquetoast, right? Browne's most famous achievement was escaping from a Confederate prisoner of war camp and traveling 400 miles to re-join the fight. Are you more impressed with him now? Yeah, me too. 

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

We interrupt our regular schedule for a prediction of some computer mogul trying to take over the Internet.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

2 comments:

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