Friday, September 4, 2015

4 September 2015

Birthdays
Ellie Darcey-Alden b. 1999 (Doctor Who, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2)
Peggy Nesbitt b. 197 (The Hobbitt)
Caitlin and Amanda Fein b. 1992 (The X Files, Deep Impact)
Carter Jenkins b. 1991 (Aliens in the Attic, The 4400, Surface)
Charlotte Frogner b. 1981 (Dead Snow 1 & 2)
Max Greenfield b. 1980 (American Horror Story, No Ordinary Family)
Wes Bentley b. 1978 (Interstellar, American Horror Story, The Hunger Games, Underworld: Awakening, Jonah Hex, Ghost Rider)
John Ruby b. 1977 (Touch, The Event)
Rasika Mathur b. 1976 (Rubberhead, Cloverfield)
Kai Owen b. 1975 (Torchwood, Being Human, Rocket Man)
Jason David Frank b. 1973 (Power Rangers, V.R. Troopers)
Francoise Yip b. 1972 (Sanctuary, Fringe, Caprica, Blood Ties, Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem, Flash Gordon [TV], Andromeda, Blade: Trinity, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Smallville, Jeremiah, Mindstorm, RoboCop: Prime Directives, Earth: Final Conflict, Futuresport)
Ione Skye b. 1970 (Haunt, The Dead Zone)
Richard Speight Jr. b. 1970 (Supernatural, Jericho, Big Monster on Campus, Menno’s Mind, Hypernauts, Amanda & the Alien, Freddy’s Nightmares)
Noah Taylor b. 1969 (Edge of Tomorrow, Game of Thrones, Predestination, Pirates of the Caribbean: Secrets of the Dead Man’s Chest, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Lara Croft Tomb Raider, Simon Magus, Vanilla Sky)
Kristen Wilson b. 1969 (Mega Python vs. Gatoroid, Dr. Doolittle, Dungeons & Dragons)
Mo Brings Plenty b. 1969 (Cowboys & Aliens)
John DiMaggio b. 1968 (Futurama, Princess Mononoke, Adventure Time, among many others)
Phill Lewis b. 1968 (Wizards of Waverly Place, What Planet Are You From?, Buffy, Starman [TV])
Michael Bent b. 1965 (Threshold, Firefly)
Todd Sherry b. 1961 (Eastwick, Alien Autopsy, Charmed)
Annabel Schofield b. 1963 (Solar Crisis)
Damon Wayans b. 1960 (Blankman, Earth Girls Are Easy)
Domiziana Giordano b. 1959 (Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles)
Patricia Tallman b. 1957 (InAlienable, Babylon 5, Star Trek: Voyager, Dark Skies, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Army of Darkness, The Flash, Night of the Living Dead [1990], Hard Time on Planet Earth)
Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs b. 1953 (Weird Science, Homeboys in Outer Space, Alien Nation)
Alan Blumenfeld b. 1952 (Touch, Heroes, Stargate: Atlantis, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, The Dark Side of the Moon, The Munsters Today, Beauty and the Beast [1988], Innerspace, Jason Lives, The Twilight Zone [1986], WarGames)
Judith Ivey b. 1951 (Rose Red, The Devil’s Advocate,Frogs!)
Michael Berryman b. 1948 (Apocalypse Kiss, Army of the Damned, Necrosis, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show, Conan, The X-Files, Beastmaster 2: Through the Portal of Time, Wizards of the Demon Sword, Guyver, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Aftershock, ALF, Saturday the 14th Strikes Back, Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Barbarians, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, My Science Project, Weird Science, The Hills Have Eyes, Voyage of the Rock Aliens, Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze)
David St. James b. 1947 (Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Donnie Darko, My Favorite Martian [1999], Alien Avengers II, Alien: Resurrection, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Space: Above and Beyond, The Invaders [1995 TV movie], Lois & Clark, Monolith)
Cynthia Pepper b. 1940 (The Addams Family)
Bob May b. 1939 died 18 January 2009 (Lost in Space, The Time Tunnel)
Leonard Frey b. 1938 died 24 August 1988 (Earthlings)
Nicholas Worth b. 1937 died 7 May 2007 (Star Trek: Voyager, Starforce, The X Files, Sliders, Deep Space Nine, Timelock, Plughead Rewired: Circuitry Man II, Darkman, Hell Comes to Frogtown, Knight Rider, The Greatest American Hero, Swamp Thing, Coma, The Invisible Man [1975], The Six Million Dollar Man, Scream Blacula Scream)
Edward de Souza b. 1932 (The Golden Compass, She-Wolf of London, 1990, Doctor Who, The Kiss of the Vampire)
Dinsdale Landen b. 1932 died 29 December 2003 (Doctor Who, Morons from Outer Space, Out of This World)
Dick York b. 1928 died 20 February 1992 (Bewitched, Twilight Zone)
Howard Morris b. 1919 died 21 May 2005 (It Came from Outer Space II, Transylvania Twist, Splash, The Munsters’ Revenge, Space Academy, Twilight Zone)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. Did you ever wonder if Darren Stephens worked with Don Draper?  Okay... it's just me.

Previous Picture Slotters were Patricia Tallman from Babylon 5 and Michael Berryman from The Hills Have Eyes. Two other actors I considered were John DiMaggio, the voice of Bender, and Bob May, who was the actor inside the robot on Lost in Space, though Dick Tufield did the voice.

2. Wait... they're dead? We have a bunch of actors born in the 1930s who are already dead. The two whose deaths I had quite processed are Leonard Frey and Nicholas Worth.

3. Spot the Canadian! Today we have Francoise Yip.

4. Nepotism FTW. Ione Ske is the daughter of Donovan Leitch.

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


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

Prediction: The Japanese are a people quite abnormal and incalculable, with a touch of romance, a conception of honour, a quality of imagination, and a clearness of intelligence that renders possible for them things inconceivable of any other existing nation. I may be the slave of perspective effects, but when I turn my mind from the pettifogging muddle of the English House of Commons, for example, that magnified vestry that is so proud of itself as a club--when I turn from that to this race of brave and smiling people, abruptly destiny begins drawing with a bolder hand. Suppose the Japanese were to make up their minds to accelerate whatever process of synthesis were possible in China! Suppose, after all, I am not the victim of atmospheric refraction, and they are, indeed, as gallant and bold and intelligent as my baseless conception of them would have them be! They would almost certainly find co-operative elements among the educated Chinese...

Reality: This is about as complimentary as an Englishman of Wells' time can be about another nationality, and it's still incredibly condescending, most notably to the Chinese. We also have the history lesson of the Japanese making up their minds to "improve" the Chinese, and it wasn't quite the wonderful thing Wells had hoped for.
 
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Another Saturday, another Weekly Soapbox.
  
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

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