9 January 2014

 Birthdays
Nicola Peltz b. 1995 (Transformers: Age of Extinction, The Last Airbender)
Nina Dobrev b. 1989 (The Vampire Diaries, The Originals, Never Cry Werewolf)
David Ellison b. 1983 (producer, World War Z, Star Trek Into Darkness, G.I. Joe: Retaliation)
Julia Dietze b. 1981 (Iron Sky)
Joshua Harto b. 1979 (Iron Man 1 & 3, The Dark Knight, Invasion, Carnivale )
Patrick Sabongui b. 1975 (Almost Human, Arrow, Warm Bodies, Sucker Punch, TRON: Legacy, Stargate: Atlantis, Caprica, The Cabin in the Woods)
Angela Bettis b. 1973 (Carrie [2002], Sliders)
Howard J. Ford b. 1973 (director, The Dead 1 and 2)
Marco Sanchez b. 1970 (Star Trek Into Darkness, Super 8, Dollhouse, Tyrannosaurus Azteca, Star Trek: Enterprise, Charmed, SeaQuest 2032)
Joey Lauren Adams b. 1969 (Coneheads)
Rhoda Griffis b. 1965 (The Hunger Games, Surface, The Rage: Carrie 2, From the Earth to the Moon)
Joely Richardson b. 1965 (Vampire Academy, The Day of the Trifids [2009], The Last Mimzy, Event Horizon, Loch Ness)
Tyrone “Muggsy” Bogues b. 1965 (Space Jam)
Joseph Culp b. 1963 (Cyxork 7, Deep Space Nine, Apollo 13, The Fantastic Four [1994], The Arrival [1991], The Greatest American Hero)
Anthony Harrison b. 1961 (Fringe, Supernatural, Aliens vs., Predator: Requiem, The 4400, Smallville, White Noise, Dead Like Me, The Core. Strange World, The Sixth Day, The X-Files)
Imelda Staunton b. 1956 (Maleficent, Harry Potter, Doctor Who, Psychoville, Nanny McPhee)
J. K. Simmons b. 1955 (Terminator Genisys, Spider-Man, Jennifer’s Body, The Astronaut Farmer)
Vincent Grass b. 1949 (The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian)
John Doman b. 1945 (Gotham, Mercury Rising, Deep Space Nine)
Kathryn Walker b. 1943 (D.A.R.Y.L., )
Susannah York b. 1939 died 15 January 2011 (The Ray Bradbury Theatre, Superman, The Awakening)
K Callan b. 1936 (Heroes, Carnivale, Lois & Clark, Deep Space Nine, The Unborn, Quantum Leap)
Bob Denver b. 1935 died 2 September 2005 (Meego, ALF, The Invisible Woman, Far Out Space Nuts, I Dream of Jeannie)
Paul Mantee b. 1931 died 7 November 2013 (Apollo 13, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, The Manitou, Logan’s Run [TV], Day of the Animals, The Six Million Dollar Man, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Invaders, The Time Tunnel, Batman, Robinson Crusoe on Mars)
Algis Budrys b. 1931 died 9 June 2008 (author, The Falling Torch, Rogue Moon, Who?)
Lee Van Cleef b. 1925 died 16 December 1989 (Escape from New York, My Mother the Car, Twilight Zone, It Conquered the World, Space Patrol, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms)
Fernando Lamas b. 1915 died 8 October 1982 (The Lost World)
Steve Plytas b. 1913 died December 1994 (Batman, Superman 4, Doctor Who)
Karel Capek b. 1890 died 25 December 1938 (author, Rossum’s Universal Robots)

The Picture Slot. Last year I had a picture of a production of Rossum's Universal Robots in the Picture Slot, honor Karel Capek as the originator of the word robot. This year I had many iconic choices, including Lee Van Cleef, Paul Mantee from Robinson Crusoe on Mars, Susannah York from Superman, J.K. Simmons from Spider-Man and Imelda Staunton from Harry Potter. But instead we are looking at Julia Dietze from Iron Sky. She is not quite as iconic as the others, but if you saw the poster for the movie, she was featured front and center. The main reasons she gets the honor are:

1. Fabulous babe-osity.
2. Zombie Rotten McDonald might buy a ticket to California and stalk me if I didn't.


Canadian real and faux. There is one natural born Canadian on today's list, and one credit list that  looks Canadian, but belongs to a Brit. See if you can tell the difference.

That MST3K Feeling. The new label marking the appearance of movies used on Mystery Science Theater 3000 gets used today because of Lee Van Cleef's appearance in It Conquered the World. The gang at Best Brains also made fun of his TV show The Master, but that wasn't fantasy or sci-fi. Van Cleef played a ninja, but not that well.

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

 Predictor: H.G. Wells in his 1902 book Anticipations

Prediction: It is not too much to say that the London citizen of the year 2000 A.D. may have a choice of nearly all England and Wales south of Nottingham and east of Exeter as his suburb, and that the vast stretch of country from Washington to Albany will be all of it "available" to the active citizen of New York and Philadelphia before that date.

Reality: Like our pal from The New York World, Wells was of the opinion that insane commutes were going to become the norm in the 20th Century. Granted, when I worked in the video game industry I often had at least one co-worker who lived someplace crazy because they were dead set on owning a home; one commute was Bakersfield to San Mateo three times a week, another was Manteca to San Rafael every day. But these were the exceptions to the rule and with the wild fluctuations in gas prices, a lot of people are seeing the value in not being slaves to their internal combustion engines.
 

Never to be Forgotten: Rod Taylor 1930-2015

Rod Taylor, the handsome Australian actor who starred in the 1960 version of The Time Machine, died on Wednesday, four days short of his 85th birthday. Two other well known genre appearances are in The Birds and The Twilight Zone. He was also in some less well-known genre productions, including Kaw, The Warlord: Battle for the Galaxy, Colossus and the Amazon Queen and World Without End.

Best wishes to the family and friends of Rod Taylor, from a fan. He is never to be forgotten.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

We go back to 1893 to hear views of the future from... a bodybuilder?

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!