Wednesday, July 1, 2015

1 July 2015

Birthdays
Hannah Murray b. 1989 (Game of Thrones, Dark Shadows [2012 movie])
Laura Jacobs b. 1987 (Almost Human, Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief)
Hilarie Burton b. 1982 (Extant, Forever)
Kim Jackson b. 1981 (Iron Sky, Scooby-Doo)
Clemency Burton-Hill b. 1981 (Supernova, Dungeons & Dragons: Wrath of the Dragon God)
Elizabeth Thai b. 1979 (Man of Steel, Arrow, Eureka, Fringe, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, The Dresden Files, The 4400, Smallville, Andromeda)
Liv Tyler b. 1977 (The Leftovers, Space Station 76, The Incredible Hulk, The Lord of the Rings, Armageddon)
Julianne Nicholson b. 1971 (The Others, Storm of the Century)
Colin Patrick Lynch b. 1968 (Serenity, Firefly, Angel, Terminator 2: Judgment Day)
Ritchie Coster b. 1967 (Let Me In, The Dark Knight, The Tuxedo)
Harald Zwart b. 1965 (director, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones)
Dominic Keating b. 1962 (Beowulf, Heroes, Star Trek: Enterprise, The Immortal, Good vs Evil, Buffy, Poltergeist: The Legacy)
Andre Braugher b. 1962 (The Andromeda Strain [2008 TV], The Mist, Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Salem’s Lot, Frequency)
Dale Midkiff b, 1959 (Flight of the Living Dead, Alien Fury: Countdown to Invasion, Time Trax, Pet Sematary)
Alan Ruck b. 1956 (The Whispers, Zombie Night, Fringe, Eureka, The Happening, InAlienable, Stargate: Atlantis, From the Earth to the Moon. Star Trek: Generations)
Robby the Robot built 1955 (Earth Girls are Easy, Gremlins, Mork & Mindy, Wonder Woman, Project U.F.O., Space Academy, Ark II, Lost in Space, The Addams Family, Twilight Zone, The Invasion of the Neptune Men, The Invisible Boy, Forbidden Planet)
Dan Aykroyd b. 1952 (Earth vs. the Spider [2001 TV], Evolution, Coneheads, Ghostbusters, My Stepmother Is and Alien, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Twilight Zone: The Movie)
Brian George b. 1952 (Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, The Big Bang Theory The 4400, Andromeda, Star Trek: Voyager, The X-Files, Lois & Clark, Deep Space Nine, Weird Science [TV], Poltergeist: The Legacy, Here Come the Munsters, Quantum Leap, Martians Go Home)
Terrence Mann b. 1951 (Sense8, The Dresden Files, Critters)
Michael Pressman b. 1950 (director, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze)
Deborah Harry b. 1945 (Anamorph, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Tales from the Darkside: The Movie, Videodrome)
Tony DiBenedetto b. 1944 (Lois & Clark, The Hidden II, Splash)
Genevieve Bujold b. 1942 (The Adventures of Pinocchio, Coma)
Inga Neilsen b. 1940 (Beyond Westworld, Wonder Woman, The Invisible Man, Grave of the Vampire, Batman)
Karen Black b. 1939 died 8 August 2013 (Ooga Booga, Dr. Rage, Teknolust, Dinosaur Valley Girls, Plan Ten from Outer Space, Evil Spirits, The Invisible Kid, It’s Alive III: Island of the Alive, Faerie Tale Theatre, Invader from Mars [1986], Capricorn One, The Invaders)
Ron Masack b. 1935 (They Came from Outer Space, Starman [TV], The Aliens Are Coming, Wonder Woman, Laserblast, Land of the Lost, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, Twilight Zone)
David Prowse b. 1935 (Star Wars, The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy [TV], Jabberwocky, Gulliver’s Travels [1977], Space: 1999, Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell, The Tomorrow People [1973 TV], Doctor Who, Vampire Circus, A Clockwork Orange, The Horror of Frankenstein)
Jean Marsh b. 1934 (An Adventure in Space and Time, The Tomorrow People [1994 TV], A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, Doctor Who, Willow, Return to Oz, The Changeling [1980], UFO, Unearthly Stranger, Twilight Zone)
Farley Granger b. 1925 died 27 March 2011 (The Invisible Man [1975], The Six Million Dollar Man)
Florence Stanley b. 1974 (Dark Shadows [1960s])
Harold Sakata b. 1920 died 29 July 1982 (Death Dimension, The Amazing Spider-Man [1978], Dimension 5)
Olivia de Havilland b. 1916 (The Swarm)

1. The Picture Slot. In earlier years, the Picture Slot was filled by Liv Tyler and Robby the Robot. This year it was a competition between Hannah Murray who plays Gilly on Game of Thrones, Dan Aykroyd from Ghostbusters and the winner, David Prowse as Darth Vader, seen here without his helmet.


2. Spot the Canadians! The fact that Dan Aykroyd is Canadian is at the level of not very tough trivia to my mind, and the other Canadian is the very pretty Laura Jacobs, whose career so far has consisted of being very pretty in the background.

3. Wait... she's dead? I'm still not quite used to Karen Black being dead.

4. Wait... she's alive? I kinda sorta knew Olivia de Havilland was still alive. I knew that she and her sister Joan Fontaine were still feuding until Joan died in 2013, the thing is I'm a little sketchy on which one is alive and which one is dead.

5. I know this, but I'm still not used to it. Deborah Harry turns 70 this year. Most of the rest of the folks from the punk/new wave scene of the 1970s are about ten years younger.

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

Movie released
The Last Airbender escaped, 2010  
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs released, 2009
 
Predictor: George Sutherland in his book Twentieth Century Inventions

Prediction:  Just as the miner pounds away at the rock by means of compressed air or electricity, brought to his hands through a pipe or a wire, so the farmer will work his land by spades or ploughs by the same kind of mechanical power. The advantages of electrical transmission of energy will greatly favour this kind of installation on the farm, as compared with any other method of distribution which is as yet in sight. For the ploughing of a field by the electric plough a cable will be required capable of being stretched along one side of the area to be worked.

Reality: I like our sensible friend Mr. Sutherland, but he made an early decision that gas powered machinery was not going to be useful because of the technological challenges of 1900 and 1901. Those problems got fixed and we got the petroleum fueled modern world, like it or not.

This month's splash illustration: I'm a little amazed this exists, but this is a toy based on the 1963 episode of The Outer Limits entitled The Zanti Misfits. I was eight when I saw this and it scared the bejeezus out of me. The face of this toy kind of reminds me of Dr. Venture, so it's a little less scary now, but I can still transport myself back to the terrified pre-pubescent kid who first saw it in black and white.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

It's Thursday again and we get another clunker prediction from The Experts Speak.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
 

3 comments:

  1. Deborah Harry turns 70 this year


    LA LA LA LALALALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU....[running away, beginning to sob]

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sutherland's prediction of AC-powered farm equipment is finally coming to fruition, as smaller-scale electric tillers, trimmers, chainsaws and the like have (at long last) started to perform as well as their gas-powered counterparts. What he got completely wrong was the market: it's backyard gardeners, not large-scale farmers, who have a use for this sort of equipment. As their older, gas-powered equipment fails, gardeners are increasingly replacing them with electric models.

    Eventually, battery technology should improve to a point where cordless equipment will replace both gas-powered and AC-powered implements. At that point, this Sutherland prediction will collapse.

    ReplyDelete
  3. What ZRM Said. Again.

    Working the refs time: Can we have Hillarie Burton next year? Especially if some sane (i.e., non-Disney) production company picks up Forever, but otherwise, well, just because...

    ReplyDelete

Traveler! Have you news... FROM THE FUTURE?