Monday, February 2, 2015

2 February 2014

Birthdays
Sydni Beaudoin b. 1990 (Spawn)
Amadou Ly b. 1988 (The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2)
Gemma Arterton b. 1986 (Clash of the Titans [2010], Hansel & Gretel – Witch Hunters, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time)
Emily Rose b. 1981 (Haven, Jericho)
Rich Sommer b. 1978 (Radio Free Albemuth, Vamped Out, The Storm)
Oz Perkins b. 1974 (Star Trek [2009], Wolf)
Tanya Clarke b. 1972 (Supernatural, American Horror Story, Repo Men)
Brittaney Bennett b. 1969 (Smallville, Earth: Final Conflict, Forever Knight, Highlander)
Doc Hammer b. 1966 (The Venture Bros.)
D.C. Douglas b. 1966 (Haunted Hathaways, Sharknado 2: The Second One, Star Trek: Enterprise, Future Force)
Michael T. Weiss b. 1962 (Bones [2001], Dark Shadows [1991])
Michael Talbot b. 1955 (Space [1985], Carrie)
Carol Ann Susi b. 1952 died 11 November 2014 (Big Bang Theory, Journeyman, Cats & Dogs, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Death Becomes Her. Kolchak: The Night Stalker)
Barbara Sukowa b. 1950 (12 Monkeys [2015], Johnny Mnemonic, Space [1985])
Brent Spiner b. 1949 (Warehouse 13, The Big Bang Theory, Alphas, The Guild, Superhero Movie, Threshold, Star Trek, Dude, Where’s My Car?, Independence Day, Phenomenon, Twilight Zone [1986], Tales from the Darkside)
Farrah Fawcett b. 1947 died 25 June 2009 (Saturn 3, The Six Million Dollar Man, Logan’s Run, The Girl with Something Extra, I Dream of Jeannie)
Blake Clark b. 1946 (Rise of the Damned, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Little Nicky, The Mask, Tales from the Crypt, The Greatest American Hero)
Geoffrey Hughes b. 1944 died 27 July 2012 (Polterguests, Doctor Who)
Bo Hopkins b. 1942 (Phantoms, Deadly Nightmares, Tentacles)
David Jason b. 1940 (Hogfather, Danger Mouse)
Thomas M Disch b. 1940 died 4 July 2008 (author, Supernatural Minnesota, Camp Concentration, The Brave Little Toaster, My Life as a Child)
Jackie Burroughs b. 1939 (Into the Labyrinth, Re-Generation, Dead Like Me, Smallville, Food of the Gods II, Twilight Zone [1989], The Dead Zone [1983])
Duane Jones b. 1936 died 22 July 1988 (Night of the Living Dead)
Tony Jay b. 1933 died 13 August 2006 (The Burning Zone, Lois & Clark, Eerie, Indiana, Beauty and the Beast [1989], My Stepmother is an Alien, Whoops Apocalypse)
Robert Mandan b. 1932 (Weird Science [1998 TV], Deep Space Nine, Zapped!, Mr. Merlin)
Sheila Allen b. 1929 died 15 November 2013 (Alice in Wonderland [1985 TV], Land of the Giants, Lost in Space, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea)
Elaine Stritch b. 1925 died 17 July 2014 (3rd Rock from the Sun, Cocoon: The Return)
Ayn Rand b. 1905 died 6 March 1982 (author, Anthem, Atlas Shrugged)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. For iconic roles in genre, Brent Spiner is the big name on this list and he was in the Picture Slot previously. I also used Duane Jones, the African-American actor from the original Night of the Living Dead. With those two retired from the competition, the field becomes less iconic to be sure. I was thinking of going with one of the characters voiced by Doc Hammer from The Venture Bros. because I'm a huge fan, but instead I went with Gemma Arterton (and her co-star Jeremy Renner) from the poster of Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters because, well, she looks great.

2. Three Canadians, one native and two transplants. Jackie Burroughs and Tanya Clarke weren't born in Canada, but the emigrated there. Brittaney Bennett was born there.

3. Nepotism FTW. Commenter James Marshall VI suggested a new label dealing with nepotism when someone on the list has a much more famous family member and gets work because of the connection.  I like this idea and I'm calling it Nepotism FTW. There will be some cases in the gray area, but not this first one. Sheila Allen was Irwin Allen's wife. Take a look at her credits. Nepotism FTW.

Many happy returns to all the living on the list and to the dead, thanks for all the memories.
 
Predictors: The pro football experts at ESPN

Prediction: The New England Patriots were favored by a consensus of 10-4 over the Seattle Seahawks.

Reality: It was a strange game and a close one at the end, but the Patriots pulled it out thanks to an interception on a play call that will be second guessed for years. (Actually, this is first guessing. Marshawn Lynch up the middle. If it fails on 2nd down, do it again on 3rd down, and 4th down if necessary.) Getting ten right and four wrong gives the expert panel a final score of 102-52 over the eleven playoff games, which rounds 66.2% correct. That might sound not very expert. But if you assume the games are tossups before they are played (not a great assumption, but an easy one) This score is in the 99.99th percentile in terms of lucky guessing. Trying to give a weighting which takes into account how well home teams do, if we said that average is about 60% right, getting 66% right is still in the 94th percentile on the bell curve. In other words, the experts deserved to be called experts in this case.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Another prediction of the early 21st Century from W. Warren Wagar's 1991 book A Short History of the Future.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

2 comments:

  1. With only one timeout left, you can't run three Lynch-up-the-middle plays. And Lynch-up-the-middle plays had been progressively less successful as the half proceeded (including the one where they went from the 2 to the 4 that caused settling for a FG earlier).

    To have a chance to get in three plays, one of them has to be a pass--but it has to be a pass that will either score or drop incomplete.

    The expected sequence would be Lynch run-TO-pass-Lynch run, breaking pattern if they score. I can live with pass-run-TO-run.

    The thing that was wrong wasn't passing, but rather passing to any place other than the wider parts of the field. All of the successful Seahawk passes were sideline-based, including the one that ended the first half. If you look at the video, the Patriots defense was stacked toward the center/right-side-of-the-Seattle-line (precisely where the pass went).

    You have 20 seconds. You have Russell Wilson, who is mobile and has had a few good runs. Leaving him in the pocket and throwing to the center of the field isn't using your resources.

    A pass on second down isn't expected--so not a bad concept. It was only that pass that was wrong.

    ReplyDelete

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