Friday, August 21, 2015

21 August 2015

Birthdays
Maxim Knight b. 1999 (Falling Skies)
Hayden Panettiere b. 1989 (Heroes, Aliens in the Family)
Robert Knox b. 1989 died 24 May 2008 (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince)
Elarica Gallacher b. 1989 (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince)
Kiami Davael b. 1986 (Conan [1998])
Laura Haddock b. 1985 (SuperBob, Guardians of the Galaxy, Rage of the Yeti, Captain America: The First Avenger)
Alicia Witt b. 1975 (The Librarians, Curse of the Ring, Vanilla Sky, Dune)
Nathan Jones b. 1969 (Mad Max: Fury Road, Conan the Barbarian [2011], Doom Runners)
Carrie-Anne Moss b. 1967 (Jessica Jones, Frankenstein [2015], The Matrix, Red Planet, Matrix [1993], Forever Knight, Deadly Nightmares)
Kim Catrall b. 1956 (Creature, Modern Vampires, Invasion, Split Second, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Big Trouble in Little China, City Limits, Mannequin, Tucker’s Witch, The Incredible Hulk, Logan’s Run [TV])
Loretta Devine b. 1949 (Supernatural, Anna to the Infinite Power)
Walter Williamson b. 1946 (The Omega Code, Babylon 5)
Basil Poledouris b. 1945 died 8 November 2006 (composer, Starship Troopers, RoboCop 3, RoboCop, Cherry 2000, Amerika, Twilight Zone [1985], Conan the Barbarian, Tintorera: Killer Shark)
Peter Weir b. 1944 (director, The Truman Show, The Cars That Eat People)
Clarence Williams III b. 1939 (Millennium, Deep Space Nine, Tales from the Crypt)
Wilt Chamberlain b. 1936 died 12 October 1999 (Conan the Destroyer)
Tony Steedman b. 1927 died 4 February 2001 (Babylon 5, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Beauty and the Beast, The Charmings)
Jack Weston b. 1924 died 3 May 1996 (Short Circuit 2, The Incredible Mr. Limpet, Twilight Zone, Rod Brown of the Rocket Rangers)
Anthony Boucher b. 1911 died 29 April 1968 (editor, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. Not all that long a list today, but certainly not short on the iconic. Previous Picture Slotters were Carrie-Anne Moss for The Matrix and Kim Catrall from Star Trek, and continuing with the fabulous babe theme, today it's Hayden Panettiere from Heroes.

2. One hard to spot Canadian and an explanation. Carrie-Anne Moss is Canadian. You will see she is in The Matrix and Matrix. The one without the definite article is a 1993 TV show about a hitman that comes back from the dead.

3. MST3K. Usually I look through the credits of the older actors when trying to find movies that got the Best Brains treatment, but of course today the actress that appeared in a movie on that show is Kim Catrall.

Are you singing along with Crow T. Robot in your head right now? Because I am.

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


Predictor: H.G. Wells in his 1901 book Anticipations

Prediction: Every man will be soberly and intelligently setting about the particular thing he has to do [in time of war], even the rich shareholding sort of person, the hereditary mortgager of society, will be given something to do, and if he has learnt nothing else he will serve to tie up parcels of ammunition or pack army sausage. Very probably the best of such people and of the speculative class will have qualified as cyclist marksmen for the front, some of them may even have devoted the leisure of peace to military studies and may be prepared with novel weapons.

Reality: If we have learned anything from reading these gleanings from Anticipations, we have learned that Wells hates a lot of types of people. Here, he is hating on the idle rich and because I share his distaste, I don't mind so much. Still, turning these people into "cyclist marksmen" seems overly cruel, since it seems like a class of soldier who would get slaughtered rather easily on the 20th Century battlefield.
 
Never to be Forgotten: Ellen Albertini Dow 1914-2015 Ellen Albertini Dow died at the age of 101. I am embarrassed to say she died in May and I just noticed, but better late than never. She taught acting and dancing for decades before she went in front of a camera for the first time in the 1980s. Best known as the rapping granny in The Wedding Singer, she is remembered here for The Invited, Good vs Evil, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Carnival of Souls, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Quantum Leap, Space Case, Memoirs of an Invisible Man, Freddy’s Nightmares, Beauty and the Beast [1987 TV], Munchies and Twilight Zone [1986].

Best wishes to the family and friends of Ellen Albertini Dow, from a fan. She is never to be forgotten.   

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Saturday is the Weekly Soapbox and this week I have a few cheery thoughts about nuclear war.
  
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

5 comments:

  1. Ellen certainly cashed a lot of checks, and good on her for that...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Herbert also has quite a hard on for War. He is more bloodthirsty than Jack The Ripper was in that movie; at least Jack did his killing one by one, personally. Herbert goes for his killing wholesale...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sadly, I got to the War chapter in sensible Mr. Sutherland's book and he is every bit as awful as Herbert. You can imagine my disappointment.

      Delete
  3. "pack army sausage." is THAT what the kids were calling it back then?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am sitting in front of my students taking a quiz as I read this. I very nearly cackled, but I held it in straining a muscle in my side, thank you very much.

      Delete

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