13 February 2015

 Birthdays
Mena Suvari b. 1979 (American Horror Story, The Cape, Day of the Dead, The Rage: Carrie 2)
Carey Torice b. 1977 (Dark Night of the Pumpkinman 2, Silent Scream)
Michael DeMello b. 1974 (Surrogates)
Scott Levy b. 1971 (The Helix… Loaded)
Andrew Bryniarski b. 1969 (Dracula’s Guest, Texas Chainsaw Massacre [2006], Seven Mummies, Firefly, Rollerball [2002], Good vs Evil, NightMan, Scooby-Doo, Conan, Lois & Clark, Batman Returns, Street Fighter)
Kelly Hu b. 1968 (Arrow, Age of Tomorrow, Warehouse 13, The 100, The Vampire Diaries, Area 57, Dark Shadows [2004 TV movie], X-Men 2, The Scorpion King, Strange Days, L.A.X. 2194, Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan)
Neal McDonough b. 1966 (Agent Carter, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Captain America: The First Avenger, Tin Man, Minority Report, The X-Files, Star Trek: First Contact, White Dwarf, VR.5, Quantum Leap, Darkman)
Stephen Manley b. 1965 (Nightwing: The Series, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock)
Mark Patton b. 1964 (A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge, Anna to the Infinite Power)
Henry Rollins b. 1961 (The Devil’s Tomb, Jack Frost, Welcome to Paradox, Johnny Mnemonic)
Richard Tyson b. 1961 (Bigfoot, Flight of the Living Dead, Battlefield Earth)
Matt Salinger b. 1960 (What Dreams May Come, Captain America [1990])
David Naughton b. 1951 (The Nightmare Room, Beanstalk, Twilight Zone [1989], An American Werewolf in London, Planet of the Apes [TV])
Pernilla August b. 1958 (Star Wars: Episodes I and II)
Leslie Bevis b. 1957 (Deep Space Nine, Alien Nation, Spaceballs, V)
Joe Estevez b. 1946 (Drakul, The Attack of the 30 Foot Chola, Axe Giant: The Wrath of Paul Bunyan, The Voices from Beyond, Horrorween, La Femme Vampir, Zombie Farm, Hercules in Hollywood, Vampire Blvd., Black Scorpion, Blood Slaves of the Vampire Wolf, Rollergator, Cyber Seeker, Beach Babes from Beyond, Starman [TV], The Invisible Woman, Werewolf, Soul Taker)
Michael Ensign b. 1944 (The Drone Virus, Star Trek: Enterprise, Solaris, The X Files, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Star Trek: Voyager, Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Doctor Hackenstein, Otherworld, Voyagers!, WarGames, Jekyll and Hyde… Together Again, The Greatest American Hero, Superman)
Stockard Channing b. 1944 (Practical Magic)
Donald Sumpter b. 1943 (Jekyll & Hyde, Atlantis [2013], Game of Thrones, Merlin [2010], Being Human, The Sarah Jane Chronicles, Dracula [2006], Doctor Who, The Lost Continent)
Carol Lynley b. 1942 (The Shape of Things to Come [1979], The Evil Touch, Beware! The Blob, The Sixth Sense [1972], The Night Stalker, The Immortal, The Invaders)
Bo Svenson b. 1941 (Deep Space, Wizards of the Lost Kingdom)
Oliver Reed b. 1938 died 2 May 1999 (The Pit and the Pendulum, The House of Usher, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Gor, Venom, Condorman, Doctor Heckyl and Mr. Hype, Z.P.G., The Curse of the Werewolf, The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll, H.G. Wells’ Invisible Man)
George Segal b. 1934 (2012, The Terminal Man)
Caroline Blakiston b. 1933 (Return of the Jedi, My Partner the Ghost, Out of the Unknown)
Barbara Shelley b. 1933 (Doctor Who, Blakes 7, Five Million Miles to Earth, Dracula: Prince of Darkness [1966], The Gorgon, Village of the Damned, H.G. Wells’ Invisible Man, Blood of the Vampire)
Kim Novak b. 1933 (Satan’s Triangle, Bell Book and Candle)
Susan Oliver b. 1932 died 10 May 1990 (Freddy’s Nightmares, Star Trek, Death in Space, The Invaders, Twilight Zone)
James Griffith b. 1916 died 17 September 1993 (The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Isis, The Six Million Dollar Man, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, Batman, The Amazing Transparent Man, The Vampire, Rocky Jones, Space Ranger)
William Dozier b. 1908 died 23 April 1991 (producer, Batman, The Green Hornet, Red Brown of the Rocket Rangers)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, There were pictures of Susan Oliver from Star Trek and Pernilla August from Star Wars, and with them removed there are still some iconic roles to choose from, but I'm jonesing so bad for some new Game of Thrones, I went with Donald Sumpter as Master Luwin.

2. Nepotism Not FTW. Joe Estevez is the younger brother of Martin Sheen. He has been in a huge number of films, but I don't list the ones on imdb.com that are said to be direct to video. Consider that Attack of the 30 Foot Chola  is NOT listed as direct to video and this gives you an idea of how successful his career has been. (No, I've never seen it.) On imdb, it says that Joe gets voiceover work largely because he sounds like his brother, so there is a little nepotistic advantage at work. He also showed up in two MST3K targets, Werewolf and Soul Taker.

3. More MST3K. The Amazing Transparent Man with James Griffith also got riffed by Joel and the bots.

4. Where are the young people? And the Canadians? No actor on our list today was born in the 1980s or after. That's pretty rare. Quite often, our Canadians who get work on the genre shows are younger actors, but there are no Canadians either. Go figure.

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

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

Prediction: One always imagines a cook working with a crimsoned face and bare blackened arms. But with a neat little range, heated by electricity and provided with thermometers, with absolutely controllable temperatures and proper heat screens, cooking might very easily be made a pleasant amusement for intelligent invalid ladies. It seems likely that there will be no chimneys at all to the house of the future of this type, except the flue for the kitchen smells. This will not only abolish the chimney stack, but make the roof a clean and pleasant addition to the garden spaces of the home.

Reality: Okay, Herb gets full points here, although cooking is not just an amusement for "intelligent invalid ladies". Lots of people like to cook and some are able bodied men. I will not comment on intelligence or lack of same.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Back to 1893 for some bold predictions from the Reverend David Swing.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!