Monday, February 23, 2015

23 February 2015

Birthdays
Dakota Fanning b. 1994 (Twilight, Push, Charlotte’s Web, War of the Worlds, Taken, Hansel & Gretel )
Emily Blunt b. 1983 (Into the Woods, Edge of Tomorrow, Looper, The Adjustment Bureau, Gulliver’s Travels, The Wolfman)
Adam Hann-Byrd b. 1982 (Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, Jumanji)
Raushan Hammond b. 1982 (Tales from the Crypt, Hook)
Inna Korobkina b. 1981 (Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Dawn of the Dead)
Erika Ervin a.k.a. Amazon Eve b. 1979 (American Horror Story, Hemlock Grove)
Kelly Macdonald b. 1976 (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, Nanny McPhee, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy)
Callan Mulvey b. 1975 (Captain America: The Winter Soldier, BeastMaster [2001 TV])
Marie-Josee Croze b. 1970 (Battlefield Earth)
Craig Hurley b. 1968 (Warlock: The Armageddon, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Freddy’s Nightmares)
Tamsin Greig b. 1967 (Doctor Who, Shaun of the Dead, Neverwhere)
Michael Arata b. 1966 (Night of the Demons)
Kristin Davis b. 1965 (Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl 3-D, Alien Nation: Body and Soul, Mann & Machine)
David Warshofsky b. 1961 (The Future)
Patricia Richardson b. 1951 (Quantum Leap, C.H.U.D.)
Peter Fonda b. 1940 (Revolution [TV movie 2009], Journey to the Center of the Earth [TV], Ghost Rider, Supernova, Escape from L.A., Futureworld)
Paul Morrissey b. 1938 (director, Blood for Dracula, Flesh for Frankenstein)
Linda Cristal b. 1934 (Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea)
Majel Barrett-Roddenberry b. 1932 died 18 December 18, 2008 (Star Trek, Babylon 5, Earth: Final Conflict, Planet Earth, Genesis II)
Bernard Kay b. 1928 died 25 December 2014 (Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger, Space: 1999, Doctor Who, Trog, The Champions, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe [TV], They Came from Beyond Space)
Jon Hall b. 1915 died 13 December 1979 (The Beach Girls and the Monster, The invisible Man’s Revenge, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, The Invisible Agent)
Lin McCarthy b. 1918 died 23 November 2002 (The Day After, Knight Rider, Project U.F.O., The Invaders)
Terence Fisher b. 1904 died 18 June 1980 (director, Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell, Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed, Frankenstein Created Woman, Dracula: Prince of Darkness, The Earth Dies Screaming, The Gorgon, The Phantom of the Opera, The Curse of the Werewolf, The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll, The Brides of Dracula, The Mummy, The Revenge of Frankenstein, Horror of Dracula, The Curse of Frankenstein)
Norman Taurog b. 1899 died 7 April 1981 (director, Visit to a Small Planet, The Wizard of Oz [uncredited])
Kathleen Harrison b. 1892 died 7 December 1995 (A Christmas Carol [1951])
Victor Fleming b. 1889 died 6 January 1949 (director, The Wizard of Oz)

Notes on the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. Previous Picture Slotters have been Majel Barrett, easily the most iconic on this list and Victor Fleming, the credited director of one of the most important fantasy films of all time. (Note we have one of the uncredited directors of The Wizard of Oz here as well, Norman Taurog.) This year, I decided to go with Emily Blunt from Edge of Tomorrow because... she's purdy.

2. Detecter la Canadienne. There is a separate French language film industry in Canada, but it is by no means equal, since the Anglophone industry is very busy filming shows to be aired in the U.S. Marie-Josee Croze was born in Quebec, but has never had a role on a Canadian genre show. It's rare when French-Canadians make it onto the top 100 birthday list on imdb.com.

3. Nepotism FTW. Two famous examples today, Peter Fonda and Majel Barrett. I was surprised to see how many roles she had before Star Trek, but after that show it's hard to deny how much of her career she owes to her husband.

4. The Gal at the Door. Argentinian born Linda Cristal is best known for the TV show The High Chaparral is our oldest living girl today and everyone born before her is gone. As always, special best wishes to the Gal (or Guy) at the door.

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

Predictor: Walt Hickey from fivethirtyeight.com, predicting the six major Academy Awards based on winners of earlier awards from this year.

Correct predictions:
Best actor: Eddie Redmayne
Best actress: Julianne Moore
Best supporting actress: Patricia Arquette
Best supporting actor: J.K. Simmons
Best Picture: Birdman


Incorrect predictions:
Best director: predicted Richard Linklater, won by Alejandro González Iñárritu

Commentary: Their model did very well on these six categories. I consider the screenplay awards to be "major", though not all agree, and there, Hickey's model got one of two, correctly predicting a win for The Theory of Everything in adapted, but getting it wrong on original screenplay when Birdman beat out the favorite The Grand Budapest Hotel.

In any case, 5 of 6 or 6 of 8 are very creditable showings.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Once again, we look at the future predicted by W. Warren Wagar in 1991.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

2 comments:

  1. Tamsin Greig was also in the BBC fantasy TV show "Neverwhere", penned by Neil Gaiman. I preferred Gaiman's novelization of his own series but the TV show was very good.

    ReplyDelete

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