Taylor Lautner b. 1992 (Twilight, The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D, Shadow Fury)
Q’orianka Kilcher b. 1990 (Neverland)
Harris Allan b. 1985 (Supernatural, Final Destination 3, The 4400, Smallville, The New Addams Family)
Sarah Butler b. 1985 (Moontrap: Target Earth, I (Heart) Vampires)
Natalie Dormer b. 1982 (The Hunger Games – Mockingjay, Game of Thrones, Captain America)
Dru Viergever b. 1981 (The Colony, Survival of the Dead)
Matthew Lawrence b. 1980 (Creature of Darkness, Big Monster on Campus, Tales from the Darkside)
Damian Lewis b. 1971 (Dreamcatcher, Life Force)
Jennifer Aniston b. 1969 (Bruce Almighty, Leprechaun, Quantum Leap, Mac and Me)
Becky LeBeau b. 1962 (Munchie, Dinosaur Island, Transylvania Twist, Not of This Earth)
Diane Franklin b. 1962 (Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, TerrorVision, Amityville II: The Possession)
Catherine Hickland b. 1956 (Mattie Fresno and the Holoflux Universe, Witchery, Robowar – Robot da Guerra, Werewolf [TV], Knight Rider)
Wesley Strick b. 1954 (writer, Arachnophobia, Wolf, Doom, A Nightmare on Elm Street [2010])
Philip Anglim b. 1952 (Deep Space Nine, Millennium, Monsters)
Paul Norell b. 1952 (Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Xena, Power Rangers, Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King)
Sonny Landham b. 1941 (2090, Predator, The Switch or How to Alter Your Ego)
John Fink b. 1940 (Batman & Robin, Batman Forever, Battlestar Galactica [1978], The Bionic Woman, Topper Returns [1973])
D’Urville Martin b. 1939 died 28 May 1984 (Rosemary’s Baby, The Invaders)
Burt Reynolds b. 1936 (The X Files, Universal Solider II & III, Frankenstein and Me, Twilight Zone)
Tina Louise b. 1934 (The Stepford Wives, Look What’s Happened to Rosemary’s Baby)
Conrad Janis b. 1928 (Bad Blood, V, Mork & Mindy, Quark, The Invisible Man [1975], My Favorite Martian)
Leslie Nielsen b. 1926 died 28 November 2010 (Stan Helsing, Superhero Movie, 2001: A Space Travesty, Repossessed, The Ray Bradbury Theatre, The Creature Wasn’t Nice, Creepshow, Dracula: Dead and Loving It, Day of the Animals, The Reluctant Astronaut, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Tales of Tomorrow, Forbidden Planet)
Kim Stanley b. 1925 died 20 August 2001 (The Right Stuff)
Sidney Sheldon b. 1917 died 30 January 2007 (writer, The Twilight Zone [1986], I Dream of Jeannie)
Pat Welsh b. 1915 died 26 January 1995 (Return of the Jedi, E.T.)
Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. I often fret over making geezer choices for the Picture Slot, but this is the third February 11th where I have had pictures of actors at the top of the post and my prior choices were Taylor Lautner from Twilight and Natalie Dormer from Game of Thrones, two choices that are not geezer-ish in any way. When you take those two out of contention, Leslie Nielsen from Forbidden Planet is as iconic as it gets, though there was another possible choice I will discuss later in the post.
2. Spot the Canadians! Harris Allan is the obvious Canadian, Dru Viergever... not so much.
3. Voice work that counts. I often skip over any voice acting credits on a list. For example, I took The Iron Giant out of Jennifer Aniston's credits today. But the late Pat Welsh is here because of two voices credits, one as a bounty hunter in Return of the Jedi and the more important one, the voice of E.T. The alien in E.T. didn't look much like any movie alien before it and a lot of its look and behavior made it seem old. Having it voiced by a woman in her late sixties was not done by accident. This was a creature that had spent a very long time on a space ship.
4. The gateway drug to genre. There were sci-fi shows on TV before Twilight Zone, both for kids and for adults, but they are largely forgotten today. No channel airs a Science Fiction Theatre marathon on a three day weekend. It's remarkable to see the people who showed up on Twilight Zone, many of whom had very successful careers with almost no genre work. Robert Redford is one obvious example, and today's birthday boy Burt Reynolds is another.
Many happy returns to all the living on the list and to the dead, thanks for all the memories.
Prediction: If then we recognize clearly that steam cargo transport across the ocean can only be done remuneratively at about one half the speed now attained by the very fastest mail-boats, we shall soon perceive also that the chances of the auxiliary principle, if wisely introduced, placing the "sailer" on a level with the cargo ship worked by steam alone, are by no means hopeless.
Reality: I've made it clear I like George Sutherland. He is very knowledgeable of the state of the art in 1901 and he is sensible. But it is because he is sensible that he never guesses the truly unbelievable advances that would happen in the 20th Century. Container ships seem very mundane to us, but they are principal reason Chinese products can flood the American market. If you told Sutherland how big and how fast these things would be, he would be flabbergasted. You couldn't surprise him any more by telling him men would walk on the moon and we would heave heavier than air craft traveling faster than the speed of sound.
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!
More silliness from The Experts Speak.
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
Transport container shipping was actually a natural evolution, but the intermodal idea was probably not easy to predict. Up until that point, shipping was mfr to warehouse.
ReplyDeleteeven stranger, is predicting the third generation use of the containers for habitation and other things. Sturdy, portable structures that are able to be purchased for a song and repurposed for nearly anything....