19 February 2015

Birthdays
Victoria Justice b. 1993 (The Boy Who Cried Werewolf, The Troop)
Kalli Thorne b. 1992 (Chillerama)
Aree Davis b. 1991 (The Haunted Mansion, Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue)
Luke Pasqualino b. 1989 (Snowpiercer, Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome)
Sam Reid b. 1987 (Astronaut Wives Club)
Ophelia Lovibond b. 1986 (Guardians of the Galaxy, Thor: The Dark World)
Haylie Duff b. 1985 (Addams Family Reunion)
Arielle Kebbel b. 1985 (The After, The Vampire Diaries, True Blood, Vampires, Suck, The Grudge 2, Aquamarine)
Josh Trank b. 1985 (director, Chronicle, Fantastic Four [2015])
Brian Kubach b. 1983 (Piranha 3D, Wizards of Waverly Place)
Mika Nakashima b. 1983 (Resident Evil)
Daniel Spink b. 1979 (The Butterfly Effect 1 & 3)
Caroline Chikezie b. 1974 (Supernatural, Torchwood, Eragon, AEon Flux)
Bellamy Young b. 1970 (Last Day on Earth, Supernatural, Knight Rider [2009], The X Files)
Benicio Del Toro b. 1967 (Guardians of the Galaxy, Thor: The Dark World, The Wolfman, Sin City, Tales from the Crypt)
Justine Bateman b. 1966 (Lois & Clark, Tales from the Darkside)
Kathleen Beller b. 1965 (Time Trackers, The Sword and the Sorcerer, The Six Million Dollar Man)
Jessica Tuck b. 1963 (Grimm, True Blood, Super 8, FlashForward, Surface, Batman Forever, Lois & Clark, The Visitor [1997 TV])
Ray Winstone b. 1957 (Snow White and the Huntsman, Elfie Hopkins: Cannibal Hunter, Hugo, Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, The Devil’s Tomb, Beowulf, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Ghostbusters of East Finchley, Space Precinct)
Jeff Daniels b. 1955 (Looper, My Favorite Martian [1999], Pleasantville, Grand Tour: Disaster in Time, The Butcher’s Wife, Arachnophobia, Purple Rose of Cairo)
Stephen Nichols b. 1951 (Witchboard, House [1986], Wizards and Warriors)
Big John Studd b. 1948 died 20 March 1995 (Hyperspace, Beauty and the Beast)
John Bloom b. 1944 died 15 January 1999 (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Harry and the Hendersons, The Hills Have Eyes II, Dracula vs. Frankenstein, The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant)
Gwen Taylor b. 1939 (Space: 1999)
David Margulies b. 1937 (Ghostbusters I and II, Tales from the Darkside)
John Frankenheimer b. 1930 died 6 July 2002 (director, The Island of Dr. Moreau [1996], Prophecy, Seconds)
Lee Marvin b. 1924 died 29 August 1987 (Twilight Zone)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, the Picture Slot had Lee Marvin from The Twilight Zone and Jessica Tuck from True Blood. Possible choices for today include Jeff Daniels from Pleasantville or The Purple Rose of Cairo or Ray Winstone from Beowulf, but instead I chose Benicio Del Toro from Guardians of the Galaxy. Before Guardians, I don't consider any of his roles iconic, but this movie is not just a hit, I think it will continue to be remembered fondly, unlike some movies about transforming robots I could mention.

2. Nepotism FTW, sorta. Haylie Duff is the older sister of Hilary Duff. Hilary Duff's career was at its high point with Lizzie McGuire over a decade ago.

3. No Canadians and just barely Star Trek. No actors on our list were born in Canada today and there is just one Star Trek credit, the late John Bloom in Star Trek VI. Bloom was a very tall guy, well over seven foot, and worked as an accountant until low budget filmmaker Al Adamson talked him into playing Frankenstein's Monster in Dracula vs. Frankenstein. He died at the age of 54; dying at relatively young ages is not uncommon for the very tall. 

4. Speaking of dying young... Big John Studd might sound like a porn star, but it was the stage name of wrestler John William Minton. A few years back, I looked into the sometimes repeated statistic that the average life expectancy of pro football players was 55 years old. This claim is nonsense. On the other hand, pro wrestlers from the Steroid Era, which is the heyday of Hulk Hogan until today, have shown a tendency to die young. People who say wrestling is fake are right if their point is the winners of matches are known in advance, but the guys in the ring are doing live action stunts that can cause real injuries. The combination of performance enhancing drugs and painkillers can cause both physical problems and lead to severe depression. Other contact sports like boxing and mixed martial arts don't show problems quite as severe.

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

Predictor: Grover Cleveland, former President of the United States, speaking in 1905.

Prediction: Sensible and responsible women do not want the vote. The relative positions to be assumed by man and woman in the working out of your civilization were assigned long ago by a higher intelligence than our own.

Reality: When I went to school, we barely learned anything about the presidents who aren't on Mt. Rushmore. Cleveland was a Democrat and he had two non-consecutive terms. In his era, the Democrats were a conservative party and the Republicans had the radicals in terms of equal rights for all. He was against the temperance movement as well as the suffragettes, which isn't surprising since those two reforms went hand in hand. As a history teacher one told me, the 18th and 19th Amendments taken together were an attempt to outlaw bad husbands.

Cleveland believed in responsibility, but only up to a point. He fathered an illegitimate child. He didn't marry the woman, but he did pay child support. Like the conservatives of today, he was against the government protecting people's rights to vote, especially black people. In 1894, he signed the repeal of the Enforcement Act of 1871, which protected the voting rights of former slaves. Blacks would not have federal support of their franchise again until 1964, and it would not have happened except for Republican votes thwarting the actions of conservative Democrats of the time. Democrats as conservative as the Dixiecrat wing of my childhood are rare, and honorable Republicans are effectively extinct. In honor of Cleveland, I am using the "scumbag" label today.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

We will hear from another turn of the century scumbucket, H.G. Wells.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!