Wednesday, April 1, 2015

1 April 2015

Birthdays
Asa Butterfield b. 1997 (Ender’s Game, Hugo, The Wolfman, Merlin [TV], Nanny McPhee Returns)
Matt Lanter b. 1983 (Astronaut’s Wives Club, Star Crossed, Vampires Suck, Heroes)
Sam Huntington b. 1982 (The Throwaways, Being Human, Warehouse 13, Superman Returns)
Taran Killam b. 1982 (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles [2014], Roswell)
Hannah Spearritt b. 1981 (Primeval, Seed of Chucky)
JJ Feild b. 1978 (Captain America: The First Avenger, Blood: The Last Vampire)
Bijou Phillips b. 1980 (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Undead, It’s Alive [2008], Venom)
Yuko Takeuchi b. 1980 (The Ring)
Anamaria Marinca b. 1978 (Europa Report, Doctor Who)
David Oyelowo b. 1976 (Interstellar, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, A Sound of Thunder)
Alan and Albert Hughes b. 1972 (directors, The Book of Eli, From Hell)
Lachy Hulme b. 1971 (The Matrix Revolutions)
Jane Adams b. 1965 (Poltergeist [2015], Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Carnivale)
Thomas Alfredson b. 1965 (director, Let the Right One In)
James Robinson b. 1963 (writer, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Cyber Bandits)
Tony Guma b. 1962 (Star Trek Into Darkness, Super 8, Star Trek)
Jennifer Runyon b. 1960 (Carnosaur, Quantum Leap, Space [TV], Ghostbusters)
Ivan G’Vera b. 1959 (The Village, Terminator: Salvation Alien Nation [TV])
Denise Nickerson b. 1957 (Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, Dark Shadows)
Barry Sonnenfeld b. 1953 (director, Pushing Daisies, Men in Black, The Addams Family, The Tick)
Annette O’Toole b. 1952 (Smallville, It, Superman, Cat People)
Heather Young b. 1945 (Galactica 1980, Land of the Giants, The Time Tunnel, Batman)
Samuel R. Delany b. 1942 (won 1967 Nebula for Babel-17, won 1968 Nebula for The Einstein Connection)
Don Steele b. 1936 died 5 August 1997 (Gremlins, Death Race 2000)
Gordon Jump b. 1932 died 22 September 2003 (Hard Time on Planet Earth, Amazing Stories, The Incredible Hulk, The Fury, The Bionic Woman, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, Bewitched)
Debbie Reynolds b. 1932 (Halloweentown)
George Baker b. 1931 died 7 October 2011 (The Canterville Ghost, Doctor Who, The Prisoner)
Grace Lee Whitney b. 1930 (Star Trek, Batman, Bewitched, The Outer Limits)
Betsy Jones-Moreland b. 1930 died 1 May 2006 (The Outer Limits, My Favorite Martian, Creature from the Haunted Sea, Viking Women and the Sea Serpent)
Jonathan Haze b. 1929 (X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes, The Little Shop of Horrors, The Terror, Viking Women and the Sea Serpent, Not of this Earth, It Conquered the World, The Day the World Ended, Monster from the Ocean Floor)
Michael O’Herlihy b. 1928 died 16 June 1997 (director, Logan’s Run [TV], Star Trek)
George Grizzard b. 1928 died 2 October 2007 (Twilight Zone, 3rd Rock from the Sun)
Anne McCaffrey b. 1926 died 21 November 2011 (author, Dragonriders of Pern series, The Ship Who… series)
Ned Glass b. 1906 died 15 June 1984 (Kolchak: The Night Stalker, I Dream of Jeannie, Mr. Terrific, Bewitched, My Living Doll, Twilight Zone, War of the Worlds)
Lon Chaney b. 1883 died 26 August 1930 (London After Midnight, The Phantom of the Opera)
Edgar Wallace b. 1875 died 10 February 1932 (writer, King Kong)

Notes form the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, the Picture Slot went to writer Samuel R. Delany and Heather Young from Land of the Giants. Even with those two excluded, these plenty of iconic choices. Being a geezer, I'm often not up to date on the work of the youngest actors on the list, but Asa Butterfield was Hugo in Hugo and Ender Wiggins in Ender's Game. On the other end of the age spectrum, a poster of King Kong to honor writer Edgar Wallace or a picture of Lon Chaney (Sr.) as The Phantom of the Opera would still count as iconic. But as luck would have it, we've gone a week without fabulous babes, So Grace Lee Whitney as Yeoman Janice Rand from the original Star Trek gets the nod.

2. Nepotism FTW. Bijou Phillips is the daughter of John Phillips from The Mamas and the Papas and his third wife Genevieve Waite.

3. No nepotism here. George Baker has Doctor Who on his resume, but he is not related to either Tom Baker or Colin Baker, both of whom played The Doctor. (Tom and Colin are not kin, either.) George was one of the Number Two actors in the first episode of The Prisoner. American audiences of a certain age probably know him best as Tiberius in I, Claudius.

4. MST3K. The only two movies I know for sure were on MST3K are Viking Women Versus the Sea Serpent and It Conquered the World.

5. Living Canadian free! Somewhat surprising to have no Canadians on a list this long, but that is the case today.

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

Movie released
The Incredible Shrinking Man released, 1957
 
Predictor: George Sutherland in the 1901 book Twentieth Century Inventions

Prediction: The circular fan, placed in the centre piece of the ceiling and controlled by an electric switch on the wall, is the principal type of apparatus applicable to the purposes of ventilation. As electric lighting of dwelling-houses becomes more common, and ultimately almost universal within cities, the practice will be to arrange for lighting and for ventilation at the same time. But, unfortunately, the current now principally employed for electric lighting and consisting of a series of impulses, first in one direction and then in the opposite, "alternating" with wonderful rapidity, is not well adapted for driving small motors of the types now in use.

Reality: Regular readers will know I am keen on George Sutherland because he is practical and well-informed, which does not guarantee accurate predictions. This prediction is accurate, as fans and lights on the same switch are very common, but there were already patents in place for A/C motors in the 1880s, in the United States by Nicola Tesla and in the U.K. by Elihu Thomson. It's possible not all the bugs had been worked out when Sutherland was writing this, but it was due to lack of intellectual firepower working on the problem.

 
This month's splash illustration: Back when special effects in movies were not all that special, pulp magazines were the prime source for fans who wanted science fiction (or scientifiction, as this magazine called it) and plenty of it. I wanted to use one of the many logos from the magazines back in the middle of the 20th Century and this version of Amazing Stories just beat out the Weird Tales logo.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Another clunker from The Experts Speak.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
  

5 comments:

  1. Any chance to discuss the amazing efforts made for Yeoman Rand's space-age beehive is good.

    I would like to see the B-52s manage to get their hands on the original hairpiece and then write a song about it....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think she kept spare phaser batteries up there.

      Delete
  2. Also, they apparently combined the beehive with the mullet. Remarkable, really....

    ReplyDelete
  3. If only they had done an episode where the Yeoman had grown to 50-foot size...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. As a connoisseur, the 1950s and 1960s were hip deep in 50 foot blondes. Now a giant size Uhura... that would have been both different and better.

      Delete

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