Thursday, April 9, 2015

9 April 2015

Birthdays
Isaac Hempstead Wright b. 1999 (Game of Thrones)
Elle Fanning b. 1998 (Maleficent, Super 8, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Lost Room, Taken)
Kristen Stewart b. 1990 (Snow White and the Huntsman, Twilight, Jumper, Zathura: A Space Adventure)
Leighton Meester b. 1986 (Surface)
Lili Mirojnick b. 1984 (Grimm, Cloverfield)
Arlen Escarpeta b. 1981 (Grimm, Extant, Friday the 13th)
Jay Baruchel b. 1982 (RoboCop, This is the End, Being Human, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, The Worst Witch, Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Matthew Blackheart: Monster Smasher)
Matthew Bennett b. 1968 (The Strain, Orphan Black, Battlestar Galactica, Stargate SG-1, Andromeda, Seven Days, Total Recall 2070, Earth: Final Conflict. PSI Factor: Chronicles of the Paranormal, The X-Files)
Jay Chandrasekhar b. 1968 (Warehouse 13, Knight Rider [2009])
Cynthia Nixon b. 1966 (The Outer Limits, Addams Family Values, The Manhattan Project)
Mark Pellegrino b. 1965 (The Returned, The Tomorrow People, Being Human, Revolution, Grimm, Supernatural, Lost, NYPD 2069, Astronauts, The X-Files, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Knight Rider 2010)
Fred Dekker b. 1959 (writer, Star Trek: Enterprise, RoboCop 3, The Monster Squad, House I and II)
Dennis Quaid b. 1954 (Legion, Pandorum, G.I. Joe: the Rise of Cobra, The Day After Tomorrow, Frequency, DragonHeart, Wilder Napalm, Innerspace, Dreamscape, The Right Stuff, Jaws 3-D)
Marty Krofft b. 1937 (producer, Land of the Lost, Electra Woman and Dyna Girl, Wonderbug, Dr, Shrinker, The Krofft Supershow, Far Out Space Nuts, The Lost Saucer, Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, The Bugaloos, Lidsville, H.R. Pufnstuf)
Avery Schreiber b. 1935 died 7 January 2002 (Dracula: Dead and Loving It, Saturday the 14th Strikes Back, The Wizard, Twilight Zone [1985], Caveman, Galaxina, My Mother the Car)
Aubrey Woods b. 1928 died 7 May 2013 (Blakes 7, Z.P.G., Doctor Who, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, The Abominable Dr. Phibes)
Brad Dexter b. 1917 died 12 December 2002 (The Incredible Hulk, Project U.F.O.)
Michael Ward b. 1909 died 8 November 1997 (Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell)
Robert Helpmann b. 1909 died 28 September 1986 (Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland [1972], Chitty Chitty Bang Bang)
Allen Jenkins b. 1900 died 20 July 1974 (Bewitched, Batman, Topper [1955])

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. Quite often, I have only a passing knowledge of the youngest folks on our list, but on the April 9 list, the previous Picture Slotters were Isaac Hempstead Wright from Game of Thrones and Kristen Stewart from Twilight, the youngest and third youngest people listed today. I considered the second youngest - Elle Fanning from Super 8 - for the Picture Slot today, but decided instead to go with Dennis Quaid in his role from The Right Stuff.

2. Nepotism or not? The two contestants for the Picture Slot today both have siblings who also act. I think Dakota Fanning is a little more famous than Elle, but both have about fifty credits to their names on imdb.com and I'm not exactly in the target demographic, so I might be wrong. As of 2015, I'd say Dennis Quaid is more famous than his brother Randy as an actor, but Randy is much more famous as a crazy person than Dennis is.

3. Canadians to spot or not. Jay Baruchel was born in Canada, but a lot of his credits are projects filmed in the States. Matthew Bennett, on the other hand, has a very Canadian looking resume, though he hasn't shown up on Smallville or Supernatural.

4. Guy at the Door. The oldest living person on the list has no one younger who has died, so that makes Marty Krofft The Guy at the Door at 78 years old. I have to admit that the Krofft puppets creeped me out pretty bad when I was younger and still do today, so I will try to think kind thoughts of him by remembering Electra Woman and Dyna Girl. Wait, they were just silly. Pretty, but silly.

Many happy returns to all the living on the list, most especially Marty Krofft, and to the dead, thanks for all the memories.
 
Predictor: Article in New Scientist magazine, 30 April 1964

Prediction: “The odds are now that the united States will not be able to honor the 1970 manned lunar landing date set by President Kennedy.”

Reality: The Mercury missions ended in 1963 and Project Gemini didn't get crews into space until 1965. I'm assuming this lull in progress made it seem to the writer that things were not going well. As history tells us, the landing happened in the summer of 1969.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Friday rolls around and it's H.G. Wells' turn again.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

6 comments:

  1. While "Sigmund and the Sea Monsters" and some of the others were just silly to me, the original "Land of the Lost" was brilliant in so many ways, especially Enik and the history of the Sleestak, who were the only monsters on TV which frightened me as a child: slower than humans but stronger and they never stopped unless faced with bright light. Marvelous. (Looking at the Wikipeida article and seeing so many familiar SF authors and TV writers connected with the show, I can see now that my liking for SF dates back further than I had realized.)

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    1. I looked up the Wikipedia and you are right, a lot of big names wrote for it. I don't know that I ever watched even one episode.

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  2. Replies
    1. The nicest thing I can say about the entire output of the Kroffts is that Bob Marley liked the theme song from Banana Splits enough to rip it off as the refrain for Buffalo Soldiers.

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  3. Quaid should also get credit for "Frequency," a movie that went right under my radar, but quite enjoyed when I finally caught it. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0186151/

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, I added it. One of those movies that I forget about as well.

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