4 March 2015

Birthdays
Bill Milner b. 1995 (X-Men: First Class)
Jenna Boyd b. 1993 (Carnivale)
Josh Bowman b. 1988 (Night Wolf, Myths)
Cody Longo b. 1988 (Piranha 3D)
Tamzin Merchant b. 1987 (Salem, Red Faction: Origins)
Margo Harshman b. 1986 (Toxin, The Big Bang Theory, From Within, Journeyman, Rise: Blood Hunter, The Elf Who Didn’t Believe)
Scott Michael Foster b. 1985 (Once Upon a Time, Zero Hour)
Jessica Heap b. 1983 (Battle Los Angeles, Journey to Promethea, Mutants)
Len Wiseman b. 1973 (director, Sleepy Hollow [TV], Underworld, Total Recall [2012])
Nick Stabile b. 1971 (Charmed, Bride of Chucky)
Shavar Ross b. 1971 (Frogs!, Beauty and the Beast [1988], Friday the 13th: A New Beginning)
Patsy Kensit b. 1968 (The Children’s Party at the Palace, Strange Frequency, Aladdin [TV 2000], Tales from the Crypt, Turn of the Screw, The Legend of King Arthur [1979 TV])
Steve Bastoni b. 1966 (The Half Dead, Man-Thing [2005], The Matrix Reloaded, BeastMaster [2001 TV], Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Lost World, Time Trax)
Kevin West b. 1965 (Phil of the Future, Black Scorpion, Angel, Sliders, Team Knight Rider, Nightmare Ned, Blankman, Super Mario Bros., Killer Tomatoes Eat France!)
Paul W. S. Anderson b. 1965 (director, Mortal Kombat, Event Horizon, Soldier, Resident Evil, AVP: Alien vs. Predator, Death Race)
Daniel Roebuck b. 1963 (The Walking Dead, John Dies at the End, Grimm, Jack and the Beanstalk [2010], Lost, Woke Up Dead, Halloween [2007], Bubba Ho-Tep, The Invisible Man [TV], Lois & Clark, Quantum Leap, Star Trek: Next Generation, Project X, Cavegirl)
Steven Weber b. 1961 (Helix, Sleepy Hollow [TV], Eve of Destruction, Falling Skies, Nightmares & Dreamscapes, The Shining [TV], Dracula: Dead and Loving It, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Tales from the Crypt)
Patricia Heaton b. 1958 (Space Jam, Memoirs of an Invisible Man, Alien Nation [TV])
Ron Fassler b. 1957 (Watchmen, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Roswell, The Nightmare Room, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Star Trek: Voyager, Alien Nation [TV], Child’s Play 3, Gremlins 2: The New Batch, Max Headroom)
Mykelti Williamson b. 1957 (Touch, Species II, Time Trax, Salvage 1)
Catherine O’Hara b. 1954 (Lemony Snicket’s Series of Unfortunate Events, The Hidden Room, Beetlejuice, Dave Thomas: The Incredible Time Travels of Henry Osgood, Rock and Rule)
Adrian Zmed b. 1954 (Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show)
Kay Lenz b. 1953 (Lois & Clark, Trapped in Space, Shakespeare’s Plan 12 from Outer Space, Starman [TV], House [1986], Prisoners of the Lost Universe)
Robert Bizik b. 1947 (Limitless, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, The Happening, Enchanted)
Frank Novak b. 1945 (Watchmen, Charmed, Angel, The X-Files, Independence Day, Watchers III, Carnosaur, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Quantum Leap)
Adrian Lyne b. 1941 (director, Jacob’s Ladder)
Paula Prentiss b. 1938 (Saturday the 14th, Mr. and Mrs. Dracula [TV], The Stepford Wives)
Thayer David b. 1927 died 17 July 1978 (The Amazing Spider-Man, The Invisible Man [1975], The Werewolf of Washington, Dark Shadows, Journey to the Center of the Earth)
William Alland b. 1916 died 11 November 1997 (writer/producer, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Revenge of the Creature, The Deadly Mantis)
George Gamow b. 1904 died 20 August 1968 (author, Mr. Tompkins in Wonderland, One, Two, Three… Infinity)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot: Fabulous and Canadian. In 2013, the first year of the blog, the Picture Slot was for the prediction from Popular Mechanics. In 2014, It was the poster from The Deadly Mantis, written by William Alland. Going with that theme, Creature from the Black Lagoon would also clearly count as iconic, but I decided instead to go with an actor. There are names the public knows on the list, but no one who is an A-List movie star. My choice for most iconic is Catherine O'Hara from Beetlejuice, here pictured at the beginning of the scene where the guests sing Day-O. Besides being a fabulous babe, Ms. O'Hara was also born in Canada, as were most of the cast of SCTV.

2. The Gal at the Door. The beautiful actresses from the 1960s are in their seventies and eighties now, and Paula Prentiss certainly qualifies as one of those beauties. She the oldest living person on the list and all people who are her junior are also still alive. I always give special best wishes to the person in that position in a birthday list, and I do so gladly today for Paula Prentiss.

3. MST3K. As far as I know, The Deadly Mantis and Revenge of the Creature are the only movies on the list today that played on the Satellite of Love. If I'm wrong, I expect one of my eagle-eyed readers to point out another.

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

Predictor:George Sutherland in the 1901 book 20th Century Inventions

Prediction: For coastal passages across shallow but rough water like the English Channel, the services of moving bridges will be called into requisition. One of these has been at work at St. Malo on the French coast opposite Jersey, and another was more recently constructed on the English coast near Brighton. For the longer and much more important service across the Channel submarine rails may be laid down as in the cases mentioned, but in addition it will be necessary to provide for static stability by fixing a flounder-shaped pontoon just below the greatest depth of wave disturbance, and just sufficient in buoyancy to take the great bulk of the weight of the structure off the rails. In this way passengers may be conveyed across straits like the Channel without the discomforts of sea-sickness.

Reality: Just to be clear, there was never a bridge across the Channel, though when the tunnel underneath was proposed, Thatcher's government was more interested in a bridge. The Chunnel was completed in 1994, so it counts as a 20th Century invention and our Mr. Sutherland gets full marks.

 Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

It's Thursday and we get another incorrect peak  into the future courtesy of The Experts Speak.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!