20 February 2015

Birthdays
Rihanna b. 1988 (This Is The End, Battleship)
Miles Teller b. 1987 (Insurgent, Divergent, Fantastic Four [2014])
Cortney Palm b. 1987 (The Purge: Anarchy, Demon Legacy, Zombeavers, Alien Rising, Alice in Wonderland [2010])
Danielle Benton b. 1985 (The Eschatrilogy: Book of the Dead, Sucker Punch, Supernatural)
Bronson Webb b. 1983 (Pirates of the Caribbean, Game of Thrones, The Dark Knight, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban)
Majandra Delfino b. 1981 (Ultra, Roswell)
Lauren Ambrose b. 1978 (Torchwood, Psycho Beach Party)
Ophelie Winter b. 1974 (2001: A Space Travesty)
Kimberly Davies b. 1973 (The Invisible Man [2001], Psycho Beach Party)
Peter James Smith b. 1971 (Serenity, Dead Man on Campus)
Angelica Lisk-Hahn b. 1969 (Lost Girl, Warehouse 13, Jumper, Odyssey 5, Earth: Final Conflict)
Lily Taylor b. 1967 (Gotham, Almost Human, The Conjuring, Hemlock Grove, The Haunting, The X-Files)
David Herman b. 1967 (Futurama, Dude, Where’s My Car, Idiocracy, Angel)
Cindy Crawford b. 1966 (Wizards of Waverly Place, 3rd Rock from the Sun)
Ron Eldard b. 1965 (Super 8, Deep Impact, Drop Dead Fred)
Kimiko Gelman b. 1966 (The Hunger Games, Minority Report, Freddy’s Nightmares)
Willie Garson b. 1964 (Wizards of Waverly Place, Zoom, Taken [TV], Stargate SG-1, What Planet Are You From?, The X-Files, Being John Malkovich, Star Trek: Voyager, Buffy, VR.5, Mars Attacks!, Quantum Leap, Repossessed, Groundhog Day, Brain Dead)
Rodney Rowland b. 1964 (American Horror Story, FlashForward, Charmed, Angel, The Sixth Day, Seven Days, Dark Angel, Welcome to Paradox, The X-Files, Space: Above and Beyond)
French Stewart b. 1964 (Rise of the Zombies, Stargate, Clockstoppers, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Charmed, Space: Above and Beyond)
Dwayne McDuffie b. 1962 died 21 February 2011 (producer, Justice League, Ben 10)
Imogen Stubbs b. 1961 (Erik the Viking)
Joel Hodgson b. 1960 (Mystery Science Theater 3000, Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves)
Anthony Stewart Head b. 1954 (Dominion, Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, Warehouse 13, Merlin, Repo! The Genetic Opera, Doctor Who, Buffy, VR.5, Highlander [TV])
Edward Albert b. 1951 died 22 September 2006 (Power Rangers Time Force, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Conan, Demon Keeper, Space Marines, Sorceress, Time Trax, Deep Space Nine, The Girl from Mars, Beauty and the Beast [1990], Deadly Nightmares, Galaxy of Terror)
Jennifer O’Neill b. 1948 (Time Changers, Poltergeist: The Legacy [TV], Scanners)
Peter Strauss b. 1947 (Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone)
Sandy Duncan b. 1946 (The Bionic Woman, The Six Million Dollar Man)
Brion James b. 1945 died 7 August 1999 (Pterodactyl Woman from Beverly Hills, The Fifth Element, Cyberjack, Highlander [TV], M.A.N.T.I.S., Knight Rider 2010, Future Shock, Time Runner, Nemesis, Mutator, Cherry 2000, Annihilator, Blade Runner, Galactica 1980, The Incredible Hulk [TV])
Marj Dusay b. 1936 (Galactica 1980, The Bionic Woman, The Immortal, Star Trek)
Larry Hovis b. 1936 died 9 September 2003 (Holmes & Yo-Yo, My Living Doll)
Richard Matheson b. 1926 died 23 June 2013 (author, I Am Legend, The Shrinking Man, What Dreams May Come)
Robert Altman b. 1925 died 20 November 2006 (director, Quintet)
Pierre Boulle b. 1912 died 30 January 1994 (author, Planet of the Apes)
Malcolm Atterbury b. 1907 died 16 August 1992 (Twilight Zone, The Birds, The Invaders, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea)
Gale Gordon b. 1906 died 30 June 1995 (The Thirty Foot Bride of Candy Rock)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. We have a lot of famous names here today and plenty of choices for iconic work. Previous Picture Slotters were Pierre Boulle for Planet of the Apes and Brion James for Blade Runner. Other people I consider iconic in genre here are Richard Matheson, Anthony Stewart Head from Buffy and French Stewart from 3rd Rock from the Sun, but the Picture Slot goes to Joel Hodgson, originator of one of the greatest ideas in comedy history, making fun of cheesy movies, TV and short films. Happy 55th birthday, Mr. Hodgson. I'm a big fan.

2. Spot the Canadians! Danielle Benton's country of birth isn't super obvious from her credit list, but actress/stunt person Angelica Lisk-Hahn is a little easier to spot.

3. Nepotism FT... Wait, he'd dead? Edward Albert is the son of Eddie Albert. He's not the only person on the list to die young, but I had been able to file the rest of them in the deceased category. I had no knowledge of his death until I clicked on his imdb.com page this morning. As commenter Zombie Rotten McDonald noted, that's one of the things that kinda sucks about reading this blog, and it also kinda sucks when writing it, too.


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 has become apparent that whole masses of human population are, as a whole, inferior in their claim upon the future, to other masses, that they cannot be given opportunities or trusted with power as the superior peoples are trusted, that their characteristic weaknesses are contagious and detrimental in the civilizing fabric, and that their range of incapacity tempts and demoralizes the strong. To give them equality is to sink to their level, to protect and cherish them is to be swamped in their fecundity.

Reality: As I promised in yesterday's teaser, we get another visit from H.G. Wells, scumbag bigot raised in the midst of the greatest empire the world has ever known, which is a nice way of saying the society of the worst fucking thieves in history. This is more "white man's burden" nonsense and it was extremely common in his day. As regular readers already know, I don't consider that a very good excuse. In his defense, he only gets to the really creepy stuff in Chapter Nine and a lot of the book is about more about technology.

Still... scumbag.

Never to be Forgotten: Alan Howard 1937-2015. Reading Sir Patrick Stewart on Twitter, I found out yesterday that British actor Alan Howard died earlier this month. Howard was one of the top Shakespearean actors of his generation, though not quite as well known to American audiences as fellow contemporaries of the Royal Shakespeare Company like Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellan and Derek Jacobi. In his time at RSC, he played all the Shakespearean kings. On film and TV, he was in Foyle's War, The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, Oxford Blues, The Heroes of Telemark and The Americanization of Emily. Posessor of a lovely voice, he also was much in demand as a reader in the audiobook industry and is remembered here as The Voice of the Ring in The Lord of the Rings movies.

Best wishes to the family and friends of Alan Howard. He is never to be forgotten.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

1893 calls once again and we will hear from a predictor (and scumbag) who has showed up in the prediction section before.

Also, no exciting facial hair.


Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!