19 September 2015

Birthdays
Taylor Geare b. 2001 (Flashforward, Inception)
Katrina Bowden b. 1988 (Piranha 3DD, Tucker & Dale vs. Evil)
Danielle Panabaker b. 1987 (The Flash, Time Lapse, Arrow, Piranha 3DD, Grimm, The Crazies, Sky High)
Kevin Zegers b. 1985 (The Colony, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, Vampire, Zoon, Dawn of the Dead, Smallville, Twice in a Lifetime, It Came from the Sky, Nico the Unicorn, Specimen, The X Files)
Lydia Hearst b. 1984 (Cabin Fever: Patient Zero)
Columbus Short b. 1982 (Quarantine, War of the Worlds)
Tanja Reichert b. 1980 (Relic Hunter, Poltergeist: The Legacy)
Adam Dunnells b. 1980 (Mega Shark vs. Kolossus, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., No Ordinary Family)
Jeremy Jordan b. 1973 (Storm of the Century)
Sanaa Lathan b. 1971 (Alien vs. Predator, Blade)
Kim Richards b. 1964 (Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No, Race to Witch Mountain, Project U.F.O., Return from Witch Mountain, The Car, Escape to Witch Mountain, The Picture of Dorian Gray)
Paul McGuigan b. 1963 (director, Victor Frankenstein, Push)
Cheri Oteri b. 1962 (Southland Tales, Inspector Gadget)
Carolyn McCormick b. 1959 (Spectropia, The Warlord: Battle for the Galaxy, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Enemy Mine)
Richard Ridings b. 1958 (Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Merlin, Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life, Relic Hunter, Highlander [TV], Red Dwarf, Erik the Viking, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Billy the Kid and the Green Baize Vampire)
Kevin Hooks b. 1958 (director, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Supernatural, Alphas, Lost, Alien Nation [TV], V; actor, Innerspace )
Rex Smith b. 1955 (The Trial of the Incredible Hulk, Transformations, Faeries Tale Theatre)
David Bamber b. 1954 (Doctor Who)
Allan Havey b. 1954 (The Man in the High Castle, Hancock)
Ernie Sabella b. 1949 (Quantum Leap, Fright Night Part 2)
Jeremy Irons b. 1948 (Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, The Color of Magic, Eragon, The Time Machine)
Tanith Lee b. 1947 died 24 May 2015 (writer, Tales of the Flat Earth, Animal Castle)
Randolph Mantooth b. 1945 (Battlestar Galactica, Project U.F.O.)
Mariangela Melato b. 1941 died 11 January 2013 (Flash Gordon)
Lloyd Haynes b. 1934 died 31 December 1986 (The Green Hornet, Batman, Star Trek)
David McCallum b. 1933 (Jeremiah, Team Knight Rider, VR.5, Babylon 5, SeaQuest 2032, The Watcher in the Woods, The Invisible Man, Frankenstein: The True Story, The Six Million Dollar Man: Wine, Women and War, The Outer Limits)
Antonio Margheriti b. 1930 died 4 Novmeber 2002 (director, Alien from the Deep, Treasure Island in Outer Space, Yor, the Hunter from the Future, Flesh for Frankenstein, Mr. Superinvisible, War of the Planets, Wild, Wild Planet, Assignment: Outer Space)
Kathie Browne b. 1930 died 8 April 2003 (Star Trek, Mr. Terrific, The Brass Bottle, My Favorite Martian)
Mel Stewart b. 1929 died 24 February 2002 (Bride of Re-Animator, Martians Go Home, Dead Heat, The Invisible Woman, Mr. Merlin, The Greatest American Hero, Tabitha)
Adam West b. 1928 (Monster Island, Black Scorpion, An American Vampire Story, Weird Science [TV], The Flash, Doin’ Time on Planet Earth, Zombie Nightmare, Time Warp, Warp Speed, Batman, Bewitched, The Outer Limits, Robinson Crusoe on Mars)
William Hickey b. 1927 died 29 June 1997 (Tales from the Darkside: The Movie, Tales from the Crypt, Between Time and Timbuktu)
Rosemary Harris b. 1927 (Radio Free Albemuth, Spider-Man, The Boys from Brazil)
Damon Knight b. 1922 died 15 April 2002 (writer, To Serve Man)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. Previous Picture Slotters were Adam West and Kathie Brown, and this year's winner is Carolyn McCormick as Minuet, a character that proved the old phrase "Riker will chase anything in a skirt with a pulse" gave him way too much credit, since she was just a holodeck character.

2. Spot the Canadian! Kevin Zegers has the kind of career the Canadian government hoped they would be able to produce when they required a quota of Canadian born on the shows produced in their country.

3. Nepotism FTW. Lydia Hearst is the daughter of Patty Hearst.

4. MST3K. Adam West was in Zombie Nightmare.

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

The Weekly Soapbox: The Swan Song

This will be the last post on this blog. I have enjoyed myself for the past thirty three months putting the lists and predictions together and making my little comments, but my interest has been waning for some time now. I had hoped to make it through the end of the year or at least to make a month long tribute to Back to the Future II, but I just can't find the time right now. I'm teaching more classes than I have for a while, which is very good for my bank account, but a little bit of a challenge in terms of time management. Not doing the blog will save me about an hour a day in research and writing.

I want to thank all the people who read the blog over the past few years and especially those who took the time to leave comments. We all know the standard Internet warning "Don't read the comments!", but in the successful blogs I've written, the main reason I continued them was because I wanted to read what my commenters would have to say. You guys (and gals) have been great.

I also enjoyed learning new things in my research, like today when I read that Patty Hearst's daughter is a supermodel (who knew?), but as much as I enjoy a good Fun Fact to Know and Tell, time constraints mean our little party is coming to an end.
  
Wishing all my readers safe and happy journeys... IN THE FUTURE!

11 September 2015

Birthdays
Jett Good b. 1999 (Spy Kids: All the Time in the World in 4D)
Tyler Hoechlin b. 1987 (Teen Wolf)
Elizabeth Henstridge b. 1987 (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.)
Ariana Richards b. 1979 (Jurassic Park, Tremors, Grand Tour: Disaster in Time, Spaced Invaders)
Cameron Richardson b. 1979 (10.0 Earthquake, The Lottery, Rise: Blood Hunter)
Tiffany Shepis b. 1979 (She Wolf Rising, Attack of the Morningside Monster, The Prometheus Project, Night of the Demons, Bonnie & Clyde vs. Dracula, Zombthology, Nightmare Man, Abominable, Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV, Tromeo and Juliet)
Taraji P. Henson b. 1970 (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Satan’s School for Girls)
Harry Connick Jr. b. 1967 (Bug, Independence Day)
Kristy McNichol b. 1962 (The Bionic Woman)
Virginia Madsen b. 1961 (Dead Rising: Watchtower, Witches of East End, The Haunting in Connecticut, The Astronaut Farmer, The Haunting, Star Trek: Voyager, The Apocalypse Watch, The Prophecy, Earth 2, Candyman, Highlander II: The Quickening, Zombie High, Creator, Dune)
Susan Gibney b. 1961 (Lost, Knight Rider [2008], Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Alien Nation)
Anne Ramsay b. 1960 (Extant, Wizards of Waverly Place, Planet of the Apes [2001], Star Trek: The Next Generation)
John Hawkes b. 1959 (Lost, S. Darko, Strange Frequency, Taken, The X Files, The Crow: Stairway to Heaven, Buffy, Steel, From Dusk Till Dawn, Future-Kill)
Julia Nickson b. 1958 (Half-Life, Power Rangers Wild Force, SeaQuest 2032, Babylon 5, Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: The Next Generation)
Roxann Dawson b. 1958 (Star Trek: Voyager)
Scott Patterson b. 1958 (The Event, Saw, Them [1996], The Lost World [1998 TV movie])
Tony Gilroy b. 1956 (writer, Armageddon)
Reed Birney b. 1954 (In Your Eyes, From the Earth to the Moon)
Amy Madigan b. 1950 (Fringe, Doppelganger, Carnivale, The Dark Half, The Day After)
Kathrine Baumann b. 1949 (Knight Rider, The Thing with Two Heads)
Michael Sacks b. 1948 (Starflight: The Plane That Couldn’t Land, The Amityville Horror, Slaughterhouse-Five)
Felton Perry b. 1945 (Hollywood Vampyr, Dark Breed, RoboCop 1, 2 & 3, Automan)
Brian De Palma b. 1940 (director, Mission to Mars, Carrie, Phantom of the Paradise)
Charles Dierkop b. 1936 (Superguy: Behind the Cape, Merchants of Venus, Hard Time on Planet Earth, Star Trek, Land of the Giants, Batman, Lost in Space, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea)
Ian Abercrombie b. 1934 died 26 January 2012 (Wizards of Waverly Place, Charmed, Star Trek: Voyager, Good vs Evil, Buffy, Jurassic Park: The Lost World, Babylon 5, Test Tube Teens from the Year 2000, Addams Family Values, Army of Darkness, The Flash, Warlock, Frog, Otherworld, The Ice Pirates, Tucker’s Witch, Voyagers!, Blood Beach, Battlestar Galactica [1978], The Six Million Dollar Man, Young Frankenstein)
Eve Brent b. 1929 died 27 August 2011 (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Roswell, The Green Mile, Weird Science [TV], Date with an Angel, BrainWaves, Adventures of Superman)
Earl Holliman b. 1928 (NightMan, The Six Million Dollar Man: Wine, Women and War, Visit to a Small Planet, Twilight Zone, Forbidden Planet)
David Morris b. 1924 died 29 October 2007 (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory)
Herbert Lom b. 1917 died 27 September 2012 (Whoops Apocalypse, The Dead Zone, Dorian Gray [1970] Count Dracula [1970], Journey to the Far Side of the Sun, Mysterious Island, Project M7)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. The previous Picture Slotters were Roxann Dawson and Earl Holliman, and I think there are good choices up and down the list, including Herbert Lom, Charles Dierkop, Michael Sacks, Susan Gibney, Virginia Madsen, Ariana Richards and Tyler Hoechlin. I chose Elizabeth Henstridge because she wasn't even listed last year and of course, she is so damned adorable.

2. Living Canadian free! It happens.

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: There will arise… a New Republic dominating the world. It will be none of our ostensible governments that will effect this great clearing up; it will be the mass of power and intelligence altogether outside the official state systems of to-day that will make this great clearance, a new social Hercules that will strangle the serpents of war and national animosity in his cradle.

Reality: Does this sound anything like the world at any time? The only mass of power outside government that looks even slightly capable of this would be a confederation of large corporations, and I have my strong doubts this would be an improvement over the messy system we have now.
 
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

It's the weekend, so no predictions, but I will stand up on the Weekly Soapbox.
  
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

7 September 2015

Birthdays
Hugh Mitchell b. 1989 (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets)
Evan Rachel Wood b.1987 (Westworld, True Blood, S1m0ne, American Gothic)
Alyssa Diaz b. 1985 (Grimm, The Last Ship, The Vampire Diaries, Revolution, Ben 10: Alien Swarm)
Josh Hammond b. 1979 (Lazarus: Day of the Living Dead, Piranha Sharks, Jeepers Creepers II, Alien Arsenal)
Devon Sawa b. 1978 (Creature of Darkness, Final Destination, Idle Hands)

Oliver Hudson b. 1976 (The Breed, 10.5: Apocalypse)
Noah Huntley b. 1974 (Dracula Untold, Snow White and the Huntsman, Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, 28 Days Later…, The Omega Code 2, Event Horizon)
Alex Kurtzman b. 1973 (writer, Venom, Van Helsing, Sleepy Hollow, Transformers, Star Trek, Fringe, Cowboys & Aliens, The Island, Xena, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys)
Shannon Elizabeth b. 1973 (Night of the Demons, Cursed, Thir13en Ghosts, Good vs Evil)
Tom Everett Scott b. 1970 (Beauty and the Beast, Race to Witch Mountain, Dead Man on Campus, An American Werewolf in Paris)
Monique Gabriela Curnen b. 1970 (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., The Dark Knight, Journeyman, Anamorph, The Lady in the Water, Angel)
Diane Farr b. 1969 (Collision Earth, Roswell)
Angie Everhart b. 1969 (Bigfoot, Bugs, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Bordello of Blood, Last Action Hero)
Toby Jones b. 1967 (Agent Carter, The Hunger Games, Captain America, Snow White and the Huntsman, Harry Potter, Doctor Who, The Mist [2007])
W. Earl Brown b. 1963 (Knights of Baddassdom, American Horror Story, The X Files, Vanilla Sky, Charmed, Angel, Being John Malkovich, Deep Impact, Project: ALF, Vampire in Brooklyn)
Cliff Simon b. 1962 (Stargate)
Christopher Villiers b. 1960 (Triassic Attack, From Time to Time, Doctor Who, Ultraviolet)
Stewart Finlay-McLennan b. 1957 (Lost, National Treasure, E.A.R.T.H. Force)
Mira Furlan b. 1955 (Space Command Redemption, Lost, Babylon 5)
Doug Bradley b. 1954 (A Vampire’s Tale, Pumpkinhead: Ashes to Ashes, Hellraiser, Dominator, Proteus, Nightbreed)
Corbin Bernsen b. 1954 (Vipers, They Are Among Us, Beings, Atomic Twister, Dead Above Ground, Spacejacked, Menno’s Mind, Inhumanoid, Aurora: Operation Intercept, Star Trek: The Next Generation, King Kong [1976])
Michael Emerson b. 1954 (Lost, Saw, The X Files)
Julie Kavner b. 1950 (Click, Revenge of the Stepford Wives)
Susan Blakely b. 1948 (My Mom’s a Werewolf, Twilight Zone [1987], Deadly Nightmares)
Dario Argento b. 1940 (director, The Sandman, Dracula 3D, Phenomena)
John Phillip Law b. 1937 died 13 May 2008 (Alienator, Barbarella, Golden Voyage of Sinbad)
Bruce Gray b. 1936 (Stargate SG-1, Charmed, Star Trek: Enterprise, Cube²: Hypercube, Earth: Final Conflict, Starship Troopers, Babylon 5, RoboCop [TV], Star Trek: The Next Generation, Knight Rider)
Alan Steel b. 1935 died 5 September 2015 (3 Avengers, Hercules and the Treasure of the Incas, Hercules Against the Moon Men, Hercules Against Rome, Hercules and the Black Pirates, Hercules and the Masked Rider, Samson and the Slave Queen, Ursus, the Gladiator Rebel, The Fury of Hercules, The Giant of Marathon, Hercules Unchained)
Peter Lawford b. 1923 died 24 December 1984 (Bewitched, The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Canterville Ghost)
Anthony Quayle b. 1913 (Holocaust 2000)
Roy Barcroft b. 1902 died 28 November 1969 (Rosemary’s Baby, Destination Inner Space, Billy the Kid Versus Dracula, Commando Cody, The Adventures of Superman, Zombies of the Stratosphere, Radar Men from the Moon, The Vampire’s Ghost, Flash Gordon)
George Waggner b. 1894 died 11 December 1984 (director, Batman, The Green Hornet, The Wolf Man, Man Made Monster)
Dr. John William Polidori b. 1795 died 24 August 1821 (author, The Vampyre: A Tale)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. Quite a few well-known faces on today's list and in previous years I went with fabulous babes Evan Rachel Wood and Mira Furlan. Sad to say, we will have an obit for a fabulous babe down farther in the post, so instead I went with Doug Bradley as Pinhead from the Hellraiser series. 

2. Spot the Canadian! Only one I could find today, Devon Sawa, does not have a resume full of Canuck sci-fi, which makes him hard to spot.

3. Nepotism FTW. Oliver Hudson is the son of Goldie Hawn. 

4. MST3K. Birthday boy Alana Steel passed away two days ago, and some of his Hercules movies were given the treatment.

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

Predictor: The OMNI Future Almanac, published 1982

Prediction: Just as aircraft will be further enhanced by computer assistance, air traffic control will rely more heavily on computers to keep track of the aircraft in the area.

Reality: There are some things from the past that are more than a little terrifying when you sit down to think about them. The technology available for air traffic control even as recently as thirty years ago was archaic. Suffice it to say, this prediction gets full marks.
 

Never to be Forgotten: Judy Carne 1939-2015

A rough day for those of us who grew up on television in the 1960s. Judy Carne, best known for Love on a Rooftop and Laugh-In, died earlier this month in Northampton, where she was born. She was the first wife of Burt Reynolds. She is remembered here for a role on I Dream of Jeannie.

Best wishes to the family and friends of Judy Carne, from a fan. She is never to be forgotten.

Never to be Forgotten: Martin Milner 1931-2015

Adding to the sad nostalgia for folks of a certain age is the death of Martin Milner, best known for Adam-12, Route 66 and The Sweet Smell of Success. His connections to genre include the TV version of RoboCop, The 1960 movie 13 Ghosts, the 1950 TV series On the Threshold of Space and most memorably for me, an episode of the original Twilight Zone.

Best wishes to the family and friends of Martin Milner, from a fan. He is never to be forgotten.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Another prediction from Heinlein's The Door Into Summer.
  
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

2 September 2015

Birthdays
Gavin Casalegno b. 1999 (Teen Wolf)
Austin Abrams b. 1996 (The Walking Dead)
Kian Lawley b. 1995 (The Chosen [2015])
Allison Miller b. 1985 (Terra Nova, Blood: The Last Vampire)
Yani Gellman b. 1985 (Beauty and the Beast [2012], Monster Warriors, Jason X)
Tiffany Hines b. 1983 (Damien, Toxin, Meteor, Heroes)
Nicholas Pinnock b. 1973 (Monsters: The Dark Continent, Captain America: The First Avenger)
Shauna Sand b. 1971 (Dark Realm, Charmed)
Cynthia Watros b. 1968 (Video Game High School, Warehouse 13, Lost, Mars)
Kristen Cloke b. 1968 (Willard, The X Files, Millennium, Space: Above and Beyond, Quantum Leap, Megaville)
Salma Hayek b. 1966 (Tale of Tales, Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant, Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over, Dogma, From Dusk Till Dawn)
Tuc Watkins b. 1966 (Warehouse 13, Infested, The Mummy, Harry and the Hendersons [TV])
Keanu Reeves b. 1964 (The Day the Earth Stood Still, A Scanner Darkly, Constantine, The Matrix, The Devil’s Advocate, Johnny Mnemonic, Dracula, Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Babes in Toyland [1986 TV])
Linda Purl b. 1955 (True Blood, Mighty Joe Young, The Hidden Room, Time Travelers)
Mark Harmon b. 1951 (From the Earth to the Moon)
Mary Jo Catlett b. 1938 (Legend of the Mummy, ALF, Blood Beach)
Derek Fowlds b. 1937 (Frankenstein Created Woman)
Chuck McCann b. 1934 (Horrorween, They Call Him Sasquatch, Invasion, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, The Tick, Dracula: Dead and Loving It, Sliders, Knight Rider, The Greatest American Hero, C.H.O.M.P.S., Far Out Space Nuts)
Mel Stuart b. 1928 died 9 August 2012 (director, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory)
Francis Matthews b. 1927 died 14 June 2014 (Out of the Unknown, Dracula: Prince of Darkness, The Revenge of Frankenstein)
Samuel A. Peeples b. 1917 died 27 August 1997 (writer, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Flash Gordon [TV], Jason of Star Command, Space Academy, Star Trek: The Animated Series, Star Trek)
Penny Santon b. 1916 died 12 May 1999 (Quantum Leap, Starman, Short Circuit, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, Bewitched, My Favorite Martian)
Meinhardt Raabe b. 1915 died 9 April 2010 (The Wizard of Oz)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, the Picture Slot belonged to our two movie stars, Salma Hayek and Keanu Reeves. With them out of the running, my vote for most iconic is the late Meinhardt Raabe as the Munchkin coroner.

2. The Guy at the Door. On today's list, comic actor Chuck McCann is the oldest living person and everyone younger is still with us. Special birthday wishes to him.

3. Living Canadian free! No Canadians to spot today.

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

Predictors: Michael Mann, Michael Kozar and Sonya Miller

Prediction: The 2015 Atlantic hurricane season will have between 5 to 10 named storms, with eight the most likely number.

Reality: We are halfway into the season and the sixth storm just got named. The only thing that can go wrong here is undershooting the mark, which is not impossible.
 
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Is our pal Morris Ernst likely to be wrong on the optimistic side? Well, his book is titled Utopia 1976, so the odds are good.
  
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

31 August 2015

Birthdays
Holly Earl b. 1992 (Dracula: The Dark Prince, Doctor Who, My Hero, Red Dwarf)
Ryan Kelley b. 1986 (Teen Wolf, Ben 10:Alien Swarm, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Smallville)
Leo Bill b. 1980 (Doctor Who, Alice in Wonderland, Jekyll, 28 Days Later…)
Shannon Richardson b. 1979 (The Walking Dead, The Vampire Diaries)
Mike Erwin b. 1978 (The Vampire Diaries, Hulk)
Sara Ramirez b. 1975 (Spider-Man, Star Patrol)
Marc Webb b. 1974 (director, The Amazing Spider-Man 1 and 2)
Chris Tucker b. 1972 (The Fifth Element, The Meteor Man)
Jason Presson b. 1971 (Gremlins 2: The New Batch, Twilight Zone [1985], Explorers)
Zack Ward b. 1970 (Fallen Cards, Blood Lake: Attack of the Killer Lampreys, Save the Supers, Warehouse 13, Dollhouse, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Transformers, Lost, Charmed, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, Freddy vs. Jason, Sliders, Forever Knight, Maniac Mansion)
Jonathan LaPaglia b. 1969 (Seven Days)
Phina Oruche b. 1969 (Charmed, The Forsaken, FreakyLinks, Restless, Homeboys in Outer Space)
Daniel Bernhardt b. 1965 (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Creature, The Matrix Reloaded, Mortal Kombat: Conquest)
Todd Carty b. 1963 (Krull)
Julie Brown b. 1954 (Wizards of Waverly Place, Alien Avengers II, The Addams Family [1993], Quantum Leap, Earth Girls Are Easy, The Incredible Shrinking Woman)
Dawn Roddenberry b. 1953 (Star Trek)
Lowell Ganz b. 1948 (screenwriter, Robots, Splash)
Roger Dean b. 1944 (artist)
Larry Hankin b. 1940 (Weird Science, Star Trek: Voyager, Lois & Clark, Star Trek: The Next Generation, ALF, Amazing Stories, Faerie Tale Theatre, Doctor Dracula)
Jack Thompson b. 1940 (Man-Thing, Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones)
Noble Willingham b. 1931 died 17 January 2004 (Quantum Leap, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Tucker’s Witch, The Howling, Man from Atlantis)
James Coburn b.1928 died 18 November 2002 (Faerie Tale Theatre, Looker, Twilight Zone)
Anthony Bate b. 1927 (Ghost Story, The Guardians, The Champions)
Buddy Hackett b. 1924 died 30 June 2003 (Space Patrol, Scrooged, The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm)
Herbert Wise b. 1924 died 5 August 2015 (director, The 10th Kingdom, The Woman in Black)
Ed Grady b. 1923 died 10 December 2012 (Surface, Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest, Children of the Corn II: The Final Sacrifice, The Handmaid’s Tale, D.A.R.Y.L., Wolfman)
G.D. Spradlin b. 1920 died 24 July 2011 (Dark Skies, Space, The Greatest American Hero)
Richard Basehart b. 1914 died 17 September 1984 (Mr. Merlin, The Island of Dr, Moreau, Time Travelers, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Satan Bug, Twilight Zone)
Frederic March b. 1897 died 14 April 1975(I Married a Witch, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, it was Richard Basehart - partly because I'm an MST3K freak and Gypsy loved him so - and the artist Roger Dean. The three finalists today were Frederic March from Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Julie Brown from Earth Girls Are Easy and the winner, Chris Tucker from The Fifth Element, the only actor in the film who was as loud as the special effects.

2. Spot the Canadian! If I went to four finalists, I would go Whedonverse nerd and chose Zach Ward from the last episodes of Dollhouse. He is Canadian and likely best known from his role as a bully in A Christmas Story.

3. Nepotism FTW. Dawn Roddenberry. No more need be said.

4. The Guys at the Door. Director Herbert Wise died early this month, and if not for that, he would have been the oldest living person on the list but not the Guy at the Door. With him gone, suddenly 1940 is the cut-off year on this list between the living and the dead, and our two Guys at the Door are Australian actor Jack Thompson, whom I first noticed or his role in Breaker Morant, and Larry Hankin, the guy who played Kramer in the show-within-a-show version of Seinfeld. When this demographic oddity occurs, we wish the Guys at the Door a little extra.

5. The crazy extra. Shannon Richardson is a domestic terrorist who was caught by the FBI for sending letters laced with ricin to President Obama and New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg. She also had minor roles in a few TV shows, but imdb.com gives her name and her picture but does not list her credits. This is odd.

Many happy returns to all the living on the list, especially Jack Thompson and Larry Hankin, and to the dead, thanks for all the memories.

Predictor: OMNI Future Almanac, published 1982

Prediction: In the early part of the 21st Century, am ultralight airplane will be developed to explore the surface of Mars. Based partly on the U2 spyplanes, it will be capable of flight in Mars' thin atmosphere and will film vast amounts of the red planet's surface.

Reality: Umm... no. No matter how ultralight this thing is, its useful lifetime would be measured in hours, maybe days at the most. If you are going to send something to Mars, more bang for the buck is required.
 

Never to be Forgotten: Wes Craven 1939-2015

Horror director Wes Craven died yesterday at the age of 76. He came up making horror films when Hollywood's worst kept secret was that low budget horror films were enormously profitable. Several horror directors from his era, including John Carpenter, David Lynch, Tobe Hooper and of course Craven himself, were given "auteur" status. The film distributors made sure fans knew the name of the director, hoping that they could build a brand with loyal viewers who knew what they wanted, even if reviewers considered the films beneath contempt. It turns out the distributors were right. (Note: Having a successful film with many sequels is not enough to get this treatment. Sean S. Cunningham wrote and directed the first Friday the 13th, but isn't involved in the later big screen versions. His name is not nearly as well known as those of his contemporaries.)

Craven has three great successes attached to his name: The Hills Have Eyes, A Nightmare on Elm Street and Scream. Other directorial credits include Vampire in Brooklyn, New Nightmare, The People Under the Stairs, Shocker, The Serpent and the Rainbow, The Twilight Zone [1985-6], Deadly Friend and Swamp Thing.

The outpouring of affection for Craven on Twitter was not unlike the love shown for Roddy Piper. My favorite tweet was from John Hodgman, who wrote:


I met Wes Craven in Chicago in 2012 and he could not have been less terrifying. I miss him.

As Vincent Price said, the goal is not to be remembered, but instead to be missed. For Mr. Craven... achievement unlocked.

Best wishes to the family and friends of Wes Craven from a fan. He is never to be forgotten.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

A new month, a new splash illustration, birthdays and predictions galore.
  
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

27 August 2015

Birthdays
Cainan Wiebe b. 1995 (Once Upon a Time, Falling Skies, Sucker Punch, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, Supernatural, Tin Man, Sanctuary, The 4400, Dead Like Me)
Alexa Vega b. 1988 (The Remaining, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, The Tomorrow People, The Devil’s Carnival, Spy Kids, Repo! The Genetic Opera, NetForce)
Michelle Pierce b. 1987 (Battle Los Angeles, Transformers)
Kayla Ewell b. 1985 (Lucifer, The Vampire Diaries)
Jennifer Armour b. 1985 (Ghoul)
Patrick J. Adams b. 1981 (Orphan Black, Rosemary’s Baby [2014], FlashForward, Lost)
Trenton Rostedt b. 1980 (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., The Walking Deceased, Revolution, The Starving Games, Grimm)
Aaron Paul b. 1979 (Birds of Prey, The X Files, K-PAX, 3rd Rock from the Sun)
Bodie Olmos b. 1975 (Battlestar Galactica)
Darren Goldstein b. 1974 (Limitless)
Rhett Giles b. 1973 (Quantum Apocalypse, Beauty and the Beast [2009], Wovesbayne, Lost, Dracula’s Curse, King of the Lost World, Frankenstein Reborn, Way of the Vampire)
Joy and Leanna Creel b. 1970 (The Cell)
Monica Lacy b. 1970 (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., The Cell)
Cheryl Fergison b. 1964 (Doctor Who)
Reece Shearsmith b. 1969 (An Adventure in Space and Time, The First Men in the Moon [2010 TV], Shaun of the Dead)
Clare Stansfield b. 1964 (Xena, Steel, The X Files, The Flash)
Dean Devlin b. 1962 (producer, The Librarian, Eight Legged Freaks, Godzilla [1998], Independence Day, Stargate)
Siobhan Redmond b. 1959 (Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein)
Diana Scarwid b. 1955 (Heroes, Lost, Wonderfalls, From the Earth to the Moon, The X Files, Strange Invaders)
Peter Stormare b. 1953 (Arrow, The Zero Theorem, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, The Brothers Grimm, The Tuxedo, Armageddon, Minority Report, The Lost World: Jurassic Park)
Paul Rubens b. 1952 (Area 57, Mystery Men, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Batman Returns, Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, Faerie Tale Theatre)
Gary Imhoff b. 1952 (Carnivale, The Green Mile, Buffy, The Powers of Matthew Star)
Charles Fleischer b. 1950 (Black Scorpion, Lois & Clark, Back to the Future Part II, Hard Time on Planet Earth, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Knight Rider, A Nightmare on Elm Street)
Captain Kidd Brewer Jr. b. 1948 died 22 May 1990 (The Abyss, Piranha Part Two: The Spawning)
Barbara Bach b. 1947 (Caveman, The Great Alligator, The Humanoid, Screamers)
G. W. Bailey b. 1944 (Mannequin, Short Circuit, Runaway)
Tommy Sands b. 1937 (Babes in Toyland)
Janet MacLachlan b. 1933 died 11 October 2010 (The Thirteenth Floor, Pinocchio’s Revenge, Free Spirit, Beauty and the Beast, The Boy Who Could Fly, Wonder Woman, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Invaders, Star Trek)
Ira Levin b. 1929 died 12 November 2007 (writer, Rosemary’s Baby, The Stepford Wives, The Boys from Brazil)
Hoke Howell b. 1929 died 9 May 1997 (Alien Species, Wizards of the Demon Sword, Alienator, The Greatest American Hero, Humanoids from the Deep, Project U.F.O., Kingdom of the Spiders, Bewitched, Lost in Space, The Munsters, My Living Doll)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. Previous Picture Slot residents were Barbara Bach from Caveman and Alexa Vega from Spy Kids. While there are a few well-known names here, I decided to go with Paul Rubens from Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, which I count as genre because of the ghost story aspects. For those who might think I am making a mockery of a sci-fi/fantasy blog, I can only say:

I know you are, but what am I?

2. Spot the Canadians! Two Canadians today, Cainan Wiebe and Patrick J. Adams.

3. Nepotism FTW. Bodie Olmos. No more need be said.

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

Predictor: Morris L. Ernst in the 1955 book Utopia 1976

Prediction: The cost of irrigation and industrial water will be cut in half – a saving sufficient to let every person have a sailboat, allow out scientists to research to death the common cold or permit all our cities to build libraries and put on the shelves thousands of books.

Reality: I have not been able to find figures on the history of the cost of irrigation, but I am struck by Ernst's idea that somehow cost savings to the agriculture industry will somehow magically be re-distributed to people who want sailboats, scientific research or the public library system.
 
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Will H.G. Wells be a jerk in tomorrow's prediction? Only one way to find out.
  
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

23 August 2015

Birthdays

Alana Mansour b. 2003 (Terra Nova)
Stephen Joffe b. 1991 (Time Blazers, Terminal Invasion, Frequency, Storm of the Century)
Annie Ilonzeh b. 1983 (Beauty and the Beast, Arrow, Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief)
Ruta Gedmintas b. 1983 (The Strain, Prowl)
Clare Grant b. 1979 (Mega Shark vs. Kolossus, Team Unicorn, The Guild, Iron Man 2)
Ray Park b. 1974 (Jinn, G.I. Joe, Heroes, Slayer, X-Men, Star Wars; Episode I – He’s Like the Only Cool Thing in It, Mortal Kombat)
Aaron Douglas b. 1971 (iZombie, The Returned, The Strain, Falling Skies, Hemlock Grove, Eureka, Battlestar Galactica, Smallville, Reaper, Bionic Woman [2007], Catwoman, I, Robot, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, The Chronicles of Riddick, Andromeda, 10.5, Paycheck, Jeremiah, X-Men 2, Taken, Stargate SG-1, Dark Angel)
River Phoenix b. 1970 died 31 October 1993 (Dark Blood, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Explorers)
Jay Mohr b. 1970 (S1mOne, The Adventures of Pluto Nash, Small Soldiers, From the Earth to the Moon)
Charley Boorman b. 1966 (Excalibur)
Roger Avary b. 1965 (writer, Beowulf)
Chan-wook Park b. 1963 (director, Thirst, I’m a Cyborg, but That’s OK)
Ed Gale b. 1963 (The Polar Express, Fairie, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Weird Science, The Munster’s Scary Little Christmas, Lifepod, Land of the Lost, Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey, Child’s Play, Phantasm II, Spaceballs, Howard the Duck)
Deron McBee b. 1961 (The Invisible Man, Roswell, Conan [TV], Sliders, Batman Forever, M.A.N.T.I.S., Immortal Combat, Time Barbarians)
Chris Potter b. 1960 (The Good Witch, A Wrinkle in Time, Andromeda, Astronauts, Arachnid, The Hidden Room, War of the Worlds)
Jennifer Holmes b. 1955 (Misfits of Science, Knight Rider, Voyagers!, The Incredible Hulk)
Charles Busch b. 1954 (writer, Psycho Beach Party)
Mark Vann b. 1954 (Torchwood, Lost, Spider-Man 3, Angel, Early Edition)
Bolaji Badejo b. 1953 died 22 December 1992 (Alien)
Rick Springfield b. 1949 (Nick Knight, The Incredible Hulk, Wonder Woman, Battlestar Galactica, The Six Million Dollar Man)
Shelley Long b. 1949 (Zombie Hamlet, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Lois & Clark, Freaky Friday [TV], Hello Again, Caveman)
Bob Peck b. 1944 died 4 April 1999 (Smilla’s Feeling for Snow, Jurassic Park, Slipstream)
Bobby Diamond b. 1943 (Twilight Zone)
Richard Sanders b. 1940 (ALF, The Invisible Woman)
Peter Wyngarde b. 1933 (Doctor Who, Flash Gordon, The Champions, The Prisoner, Burn, Witch, Burn, The Innocents, The Dybbuk)
Barbara Eden b. 1931 (Sabrina, The Teenage Witch, The Stepford Children, I Dream of Jeannie, 7 Faces of Dr. Lao, The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea)
Vera Miles b. 1929 (BrainWaves, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, The Outer Limits, Twilight Zone, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms)
James Millhollin b. 1915 died 23 May 1993 (Lost in Space, Bewitched, Batman, My Favorite Martian, My Living Doll, Twilight Zone, Zotz!)
Morris L. Ernst b. 1888 died 21 May 1976 (author, Utopia 1976)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, the Picture Slot went to Barbara Eden, owner of easily the most iconic role in genre of all of today's birthday boys and girls, and James Millholin because I was in an Oh That Guy mood. This year I go more new school with Canadian actor Aaron Douglas from the re-boot of Battlestar Galactica.

2. Spot the Canadians. Besides Douglas, Stephen Joffe and Chris Potter are Canadian.

3. Nepotism FTW. Charley Boorman is John Boorman's son who cast him in Excalibur. If that isn't nepotism, nothing is.

4. Inside the suit. Besides Douglas, the other person I considered for the Picture Slot was the late Bolaji Badejo, the very tall and thin Nigerian who was inside the suit of the full grown alien in Alien, his only film role ever. Another actor who has spent some time inside costumes is little person Ed Gale, whose first role on film was inside Howard the Duck. His career survived that ignominious start and is likely best known as Homer Stokes' "little man" in O Brother Where Art Thou?

5. Wait... he's dead? We have several actors who died young on today's list. I didn't know about Bolaji Badejo until today, so I didn't know he was dead until today. I have already processed the fact River Phoenix isn't with us any more, but I wasn't so clear about Bob Peck. He plays the big game hunter in Jurassic Park who gets one of the greatest last lines for a character in film history...

"Clever girl."

6. Fun fact I didn't know until today. I've been using Utopia 1976 as a source for quite a while now and did not know that Morris Ernst died in 1976. By the Alanis Morissette definition this counts as ironic, but by the dictionary, not so much. I would say it's more along the lines of "what a co-inky-dink."

7. Hey... no Star Trek! Yesterday, I brought up how rare it is not to have a Star Trek actor or writer on the list, and now it's happened two days in a row. I guarantee it won't happen three days in a row.

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

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

OMNI Future Almanac to start the week off right.
  
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

22 August 2015

Birthdays
Dakota Goyo b. 1999 (Dark Skies, Real Steel, Thor, Ultra)
Dannielle Lozeau b. 1987 (Werewolf Rising, The Bell Witch Haunting, The Devil Girl of Devonshire, Legion, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Pretty Dead Things)
Jorge Diaz b. 1983 (Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones, True Blood)
Jennifer Finnigan b. 1979 (Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Big Wolf on Campus)
Brandon Quintin Adams b. 1979 (The Burning Zone, Ghost in the Machine, Quantum Leap)
James Corden b. 1978 (Into the Woods, Doctor Who, Gulliver’s Travels, Vampire Killers, Jack and the Beanstalk: The Real Story)
Rodrigo Santoro b. 1975 (Westworld, Lost)
Cindy Valentine Leone b. 1975 (Teen Witch)
Kristen Wiig b. 1973 (Ghostbusters, The Martian, Paul)
Heidi Lenhart b. 1973 (Crocodile 2: Death Swamp, The Burning Zone)
Richard Armitage b. 1971 (The Hobbit, Captain America: The First Avenger, Star Wars: Episode I – Yes, Yes That One Again)
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje b. 1967 (Game of Thrones, Thor: The Dark World, The Thing [2011], G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, Lost, The Mummy Returns, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea [2001])
Ty Burrell b. 1967 (The Incredible Hulk [2008], National Treasure: Book of Secrets, Dawn of the Dead, Evolution)
Pamella D’Pella b. 1967 (Alien Nation: Millennium, Beauty and the Beast, ALF)
Alfred Gough b. 1967 (writer, Smallville, I Am Number Four, Spider-Man 2, Timecop)
Courtney Gains b. 1965 (Mimesis, Alien Encounter, Halloween [2007], Charmed, Superboy, Starman [TV], Misfits of Science, Back to the Future, Children of the Corn)
Andrew Wilson b. 1964 (Idiocracy, Merlin: The Return)
Lara Harris b. 1962 (American Horror Story, Demolition Man, Monsters)
Mark Williams b. 1959 (Doctor Who, Being Human, Harry Potter, Frankenstein’s Wedding… Live in Leeds, Stardust, The Borrowers, Red Dwarf)
Holly Hawkins b. 1959 (True Blood, Alice in Wonderland)
Colm Feore b. 1958 (Gotham, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Beauty and the Beast [2014 TV], Revolution, Thor, Battlestar Galactica, The Chronicles of Riddick, Storm of the Century, Creature [1998 TV], Forever Knight, Beyond Reality, War of the Worlds [TV])
Cindy Williams b. 1947 (Lois & Clark, UFOria, The Creature Wasn’t Nice, Beware! The Blob)
Valerie Harper b. 1939 (My Future Boyfriend)
Sylva Koscina b. 1933 died 26 December 1994 (The House of Exorcism, Uncle Was a Vampire, Hercules Unchained, Hercules)
John Lupton b. 1928 died 3 November 1993 (Shazam!, The Invaders, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Time Tunnel, Jesse James Meets Frankenstein’s Daughter)
Honor Blackman b. 1925 (Cockneys vs Zombies, Dr. Terrible’s House of Horrible, Jack and the Beanstalk: The Real Story, Tale of the Mummy, Doctor Who, Jason and the Argonauts, H. G. Wells’ Invisible Man)
Ray Bradbury b. 1920 died 5 June 2012 (author, Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles)
Alma Beltran b. 1919 died 9 June 2007 (Ghost, Knight Rider, Kolchak: The Night Stalker)
Cecil Kellaway b. 1893 died 28 February 1973 (Bewitched, My Favorite Martian, Twilight Zone, Zotz!, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, Harvey, The Luck of the Irish, I Married a Witch, The Invisible Man Returns)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. Honor Blackman and Ray Bradbury, the previous two Picture Slotters, certainly count as iconic, but I could be accused of going old school, since they are both older than I am and their fame is from the 20th Century. This year, I go with Mark Williams, who is younger than I am and his fame is mostly from Harry Potter, a 21st Century product. Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje and Richard Armitrage were other considered options.

2. Spot the Canadians! Dakota Goyo, Jennifer Finnigan and Cindy Valentine Leone.

3. I'm bad at guessing women's ages. As I wrote in my Yvonne Craig tribute, I thought she was a few years older than my older brother when she was just five years younger than my mom. Going the other direction, Melody Patterson, who also died this week but had no genre roles, was on F Troop and she was still in high school; I would have thought she was five to ten years older. And then we have Honor Blackman, still alive thank goodness, who was just shy of 40 when she had her two most famous roles here in the states in Jason and the Argonauts and Goldfinger. I would have guessed all those incorrectly.

4. MST3K. The lovely Sylva Koscina played Iole opposite the hunky Steve Reeves in both Hercules and Hercules Unchained.

5. Hey... no Star Trek! This was a long streak between Star Trek free days, the last one being on July 24.

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

Movie released
1990: The Bronx Warriors released, 1982

The Weekly Soapbox: Nuclear war

It's a very good time to note that the last time a nuclear bomb was used against an enemy was 70 years ago as of this month. Back then, the United States was involved in a costly and deadly war and we were the only ones with the bomb. We dropped two and the Japanese surrendered.

A few years later, we weren't the only ones with the bomb and the great fear of the second half of the Twentieth Century was born. If you read Command and Control, you'll see there were several accidents that might have resulted in nuclear explosions, but I must admit as I read it I thought it showed the multiple safeguards actually worked pretty well. There was also the Cuban missile crisis and several false alarms on both sides, but the scorecard is still clear: since nuclear weapons have been the property of more than one nation, they haven't been used.

Predictions of nuclear war are extremely common in movies and literature and even today, the spectre of nuclear terrorism is used to keep us afraid enough to keep up our truly insane defense spending. I for one, don't think the world is quite that dangerous, but I fully admit I could be suffering from confirmation bias. If something awful happens and I'm still alive, I will admit my error, but it would likely mean that I am wrong and Glenn Beck is right, and I really do seriously think that is awfully damned unlikely.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Another lazy Sunday with just a birthday list. Could we have a Canadian (gasp!) in the Picture Slot? Signs point to yes.
  
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

15 August 2015

Birthdays
Jennifer Lawrence b. 1990 (X-Men, Hunger Games)
Emily Kinney b. 1985 (The Flash, Forever, The Walking Dead)
Clinton Aaron b. 1984 (Left Behind, The Appearing)
Natasha Henstridge b. 1974 (Beauty and the Beast [2015], The Secret Circle, Impact, Ghosts of Mars, Jason and the Argonauts [TV 2000], Species I, II & III, Homeboys from Outer Space)
Ben Affleck b. 1972 (Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Paycheck, Daredevil, Dogma, Armageddon, Phantoms, Buffy the Vampire Slayer [movie])
Anthony Anderson b. 1970 (Transformers, Alien Avengers)
Debra Messing b. 1968 (The Mothman Prophecies, Prey)
Michael Berresse b. 1964 (Meet Dave, A.I. Artificial Intelligence)
Andy Forrest b. 1963 (The Future, Carnivale)
Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu b. 1963 (writer, Birdman)
David Zayas b. 1962 (Gotham, Grimm, Skyline, Angel)
Zeljko Ivanek b. 1957 (12 Monkeys [TV], True Blood, Revolution, The Event, Heroes, Lost, From the Earth to the Moon, The X-Files)
Tess Harper b. 1950 (Early Edition, The Hidden Room, Twilight Zone [1986], Amityville 3-D, Starflight: The Plane That Couldn’t Land)
Ann Ryerson b. 1949 (Constantine [2005], Minority Report, Friday the 13th Part VI)
Jill Haworth b. 1945 died 3 January 2011 (The Mutations, Horror on Snape Island, Horror House, It!, The Outer Limits)
Nigel Terry b. 1945 died 20 April 2015 (Doctor Who, Highlander [TV], Excalibur)
Barbara Bouchet b. 1943 (Star Trek, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea)
Lou Perryman b. 1941 died 1 April 2009 (Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, Poltergeist)
Michael J. Reynolds b. 1939 (Moonshot, Lexx, Earth: Final Conflict, The Lifeforce Experiment, Twilight Zone [1989], Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future, Plague, The Neptune Factor)
Pat Priest b. 1936 (The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant, Bewitched, The Munsters, My Favorite Martian, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea)
Mike Henry b. 1936 (The Six Million Dollar Man, Soylent Green)
Abby Dalton b. 1935 (Cyber Tracker, Viking Women vs. the Sea Serpent)
Jim Dale b. 1935 (Unidentified Flying Oddball, Pete’s Dragon)
Lori Nelson b. 1933 (The Naked Monster, Day the World Ended, Revenge of the Creature)
Janice Rule b. 1931 died 17 October 2003 (The Ray Bradbury Theatre, Twilight Zone, Bell, Book and Candle)
Nicolas Roeg b. 1928 (director, The Witches, The Man Who Fell to Earth)
Mike Connors b. 1925 (Earthlings, Voodoo Woman, The Day the World Ended)
Vincent Beck b. 1924 died 24 July 1984 (The Invisible Man [1975], The Bamboo Saucer, Lost in Space, The Time Tunnel, Santa Claus Conquers the Martians)
Elizabeth Kerr b. 1912 died 13 January 2000 (Mork & Mindy, The Six Million Dollar Man)
Signe Hasso b. 1910 died 7 June 2002 (The Green Hornet, The Outer Limits)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, I went fabulous (and iconic) with Jennifer Lawrence from The Hunger Games and Natasha Henstridge from Species. If I were going to choose a guy instead this year, I could choose Nigel Terry from Excalibur, but he got a picture when he died a few months back. Using Ben Affleck from Daredevil or Vincent Beck from Santa Claus Conquers the Martians would just be cruel, so the best choices for continuing the fabulosity theme are Abby Dalton from Viking Women vs. the Sea Serpent, Pat Priest as Marilyn Munster, Barbara Bouchet as one of the legion of babes Kirk seduced on Star Trek and today's winner, Emily Kinney from The Walking Dead.

2. Wait... he's alive? Years ago, I did a blog on the headlines from the supermarket tabloids and they put a lot of celebrities from the 1960s on the cover with warnings they would be dead soon. They predicted Mike Connors was not long for this world five years ago. This is in keeping with their usual accuracy, which is pretty damned awful. Mike Connors turns 90 and best wishes to him. On a non-genre note, Rose Marie turns 92, though I didn't find a credit for her.

3. MST3K. We've got a mess o' stuff today. I've already mentioned the movies that Abby Dalton and Vincent Beck were in, but there's also Revenge of the Creature with Lori Nelson.

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

Movie released
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension released, 1984

The Weekly Soapbox: Overpopulation

We have had a lot of predictions about population and the majority of them are really about overpopulation or methods that will be used to stop overpopulation.

There are a lot of scary ways to present the numbers. For example, if we start at 1925 and move by 30 year increments, it looks like this.

1925: Just under 2 billion
1955: Just under 3 billion
1985: Just under 5 billion
2015: Just over 7 billion

It may be hard to see any hope in these numbers, but the rate of increase slowed down in the 1960s and is still decreasing. Guys like Paul Ehrlich made their reputation predicting mass starvation as the third world norm, but the percentage of people living in danger of food scarcity has decreased dramatically in the past fifty years.

The true cost of massive number of humans is environmental degradation, which includes our contribution to climate change. Like with overpopulation, we are showing only a minor political will to try to solve the problem. Will climate change be "not as bad as predicted"? Or is it a problem so big, we can't even see the events that will impact us before rising sea levels make a significant change in where humans can live and work?

In something of an ironic twist, the Catholic Church - which made efforts to control overpopulation difficult - is now one of the strongest voices to speak out about capitalism's degradation of the environment, most notably since Pope Francis has been installed.

I usually don't make exact predictions, but when my students are my age in the second half of this century, I think things will be significantly worse than they are now for the majority of people unless serious action is taken soon by governments around the globe.
 
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Sunday's are birthday list only. It's Julie Newmar's special day, but I've already used her in The Picture Slot. Oh, how I rue the "no repeats" rule. Who will it be instead?
  
Fin out one day from now... IN THE FUTURE!

13 August 2015

Birthdays
Sebastian Stan b. 1982 (The Martian, Ant-Man, Captain America, Labyrinth, Once Upon a Time, Hot Tub Time Machine, The Covenant)
Alex Gonzalez b. 1980 (X-Men: First Class)
Damien O’Hare b. 1977 (Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, The Broken, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl)
Grégory Fitoussi b. 1976 (World War Z, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra)
Jody Thompson b. 1976 (Sanctuary, Fringe, 2012, Smallville, Alien Trespass, Stargate: Atlantis, Reaper, Flash Gordon [TV], Painkiller Jane, The 4400, Stargate: SG-1, Blade: The Series, Supernatural, Andromeda, Mission to Mars, NightMan)
James Carpinello b. 1975 (The Punisher)
Michael Sinterniklaas b. 1972 (The Venture Bros. and a whole lot of other voice work I don’t count)
Crystal Allen b. 1972 (Anacondas: Trail of Blood, Anaconda III, Haven, Star Trek: Enterprise, Wolves of Wall Street)
David Monahan b. 1971 (The Dark Knight Rises, Supernatural, Angel, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch)
Heike Makatsch b. 1971 (Resident Evil, Anatomy 2)
Moritz Bleibtreu b. 1971 (World War Z, Speed Racer, Run Lola Run)
Sean Hood b. 1966 (writer, The Legend of Hercules, Conan the Barbarian [2011], The Crow: Wicked Prayer, Cube2: Hypercube, Halloween: Resurrection)
Debi Mazar b. 1964 (Red Riding Hood [2006], The Tuxedo, Space Truckers, Batman Forever)
John Slattery b. 1962 (Ant-Man, Ted 2, The Adjustment Bureau, Iron Man 2, From the Earth to the Moon)
Tom Perrotta b. 1961 (writer/producer, The Leftovers)
Dawnn Lewis b. 1961 (The Burning Zone, Sliders)
Tony Alcantar b. 1960 (Arrow, Continuum, Supernatural, Once Upon a Time, Alice, Revolution [2009 TV Movie], Stargate SG-1, Fantastic Four, Dead Like Me, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Andromeda, Dark Angel, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show, Strange World)
Danny Bonaduce b. 1959 (Bigfoot, Shazam!, Bewitched)
Kathleen Gati b. 1957 (Alphas, Arrow, The Future, Carnivale)
Tom Davis b. 1952 died 19 July 2012 (writer, Coneheads)
Gene Day b. 1951 died 23 September 1982 (comic artist)
Jane Carr b. 1950 (Star Trek: Enterprise, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Babylon 5)
Lillian Hurst b. 1949 (True Blood, Lost, The X-Files)
Maria Rohm b. 1945 (Count Dracula [1970])
Kevin Tighe b. 1944 (Salem, Lost, The 4400, Strange World, Star Trek: Voyager, Escape to Witch Mountain, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Immortal [TV])
Raymond Serra b. 1936 died 20 June 2003 (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles I & II [1990 & 1991], Wolfen)
Pat Harrington Jr. b. 1929 (The Invisible Man, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, 2000 Years Later, The Munsters)
Buck Kartalian b. 1922 (My Favorite Martian [1999], Monster Squad, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes [1972], Octaman, Planet of the Apes [1968], Batman, The Munsters, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea)
Neville Brand b. 1920 died 16 April 1992 (Man from Atlantis, Killdozer, Twilight Zone)
Kurt Kasnar b. 1913 died 6 August 1979 (Wonder Woman, Land of the Giants)
Tristam Coffin b. 1909 died 26 March 1990 (The Time Tunnel, Batman, The Crawling Hand, The Night the World Exploded, Creature with the Atom Brain, King of the Rocket Men)
John Beal b. 1909 died 26 April 1997 (Amityville 3-D, Ark II, Dark Shadows, The Vampire)
Alfred Hitchcock b. 1899 died 29 April 1980 (director, The Birds)
Bert Lahr b. 1895 died 4 December 1967 (The Wizard of Oz)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, I had Dean Venture - voiced by Michael Sinterniklass - and Bert Lahr as the Cowardly Lion. While there are some well-known names, iconic folk are scarce. I could have gone with Kurt Kasnar from Land of the Giants, but he was my least favorite character on a very weak show, so instead I went with Alfred Hitchcock and a publicity still from The Birds, the only movie he made that I consider genre.

2. Spot the Canadians! Kathleen Gati and Jodi Thompson were born north of the border, Tony Alcantar moved to Vancouver to get work.

3. This whole "tempus fugit" thing. Okay, I know The Partridge Family is 40 years ago, but it's a little strange to me that child star Danny Bonaduce is three years older than John Slattery, whose career over that past decade has been as "the grown-up", both on TV and in movies. It goes without saying that I older than both of them.

4. MST3K.  I know The Crawling Hand got the treatment, there might be others.

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

Predictor: Morris L. Ernst in the 1955 book Utopia 1976

Prediction: Electricity usage in the United States doubles every 10 to 12 years.

Reality: Ernst overshoots this number by about a factor of two. If his numbers were right, 1976 should have seen an increase of about four times more energy used (between 3.6 to 4.6, depending on whether we use 10 or 12 as the doubling interval), but the best estimates I could find online said the electricity output in 1976 was about double 1955 instead of four times greater.
 
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

It's H.G. Wells' turn again tomorrow. Will he be truly disgusting or merely appalling? He's definitely capable of both.
  
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

4 August 2015

Birthdays
Cole and Dylan Sprouse b. 1992 (Wizards of Waverly Place, The Nightmare Room, The Astronaut’s Wife)
Lucinda Dryzek b. 1991 (Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Doctor Who)
Chet Hanks b. 1990 (Fantastic Four, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull)
David Kaye b. 1988 (Paranormal Solutions Inc., Arrow, Edge of Tomorrow, Supernatural, Dark Angel, So Weird)
Alex Williamson b. 1988 (Me and My Mates vs. the Zombie Apocalypse, #7DaysLater)
Lily Costner b. 1986 (The Postman)
Meghan Markle b. 1981 (Fringe, Knight Rider [2009])
Abigail Spencer b. 1981 (Oz the Great and Powerful, Cowboys & Aliens)
David Lewis b. 1976 (Man of Steel, Supernatural, Fringe, Seeds of Destruction, Stonehenge Apocalypse, Zombie Punch, Wyvern, The Day the Earth Stood Still [2008], Smallville, Ba’al, Beyond Loch Ness, Eureka, The Butterfly Effect 2, Kyle XY, Alien Incursion, Stargate SG-1, Alienated, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Dead Like Me, Halloween: Resurrection, Level 9, Lake Placid, Lexx, The New Addams Family, The X-Files)
Andy Hallett b. 1975 died 29 March 2009 (Angel, Buffy)
Ron Lester b. 1970 (Sabrina, the Teenage Witch)
John August b. 1970 (writer, Frankenweenie, Dark Shadows, Corpse Bride, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Titan a.e.)
Thomas J. Churchill b. 1970 (Lazarus: Day of the Living Dead)
Michael DeLuise b. 1969 (Bloodsuckers, Lost, Stargate SG-1, 3rd Rock from the Sun, SeaQuest 2032, Tales from the Crypt, Encino Man, Amazing Stories)
Daniel Dae Kim b. 1968 (Insurgent, Once Upon a Time, Lost, The Andromeda Strain, Spider-Man 2, Star Trek: Enterprise, Hulk, Momentum, Angel, Charmed, Crusade, Brave New World [TV movie], NightMan)
James Tupper b. 1965 (Resurrection, Toxic Skies)
Sebastian Roche b. 1964 (The Originals, Once Upon a Time, Pegasus vs. Chimera, Grimm, The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural, Fringe, Vamped Out, Beowulf, Charmed, Odyssey 5)
Lauren Tom b. 1961 (Supernatural, Threshold, Quantum Leap)
Bernard Rose b. 1960 (director, Frankenstein [2015], Candyman)
Billy Bob Thornton b. 1955 (The Big Bang Theory, The Astronaut Farmer, Armageddon, Chopper Chicks in Zombietown)
Lori Lethin b. 1955 (Werewolf, Starman [TV], The Day After)
Donald Gibb b. 1954 (Hancock, Black Scorpion, Homeboys in Outer Space, Breakfast of Aliens, The X-Files, Harry and the Hendersons [TV], Quantum Leap, They Came from Outer Space, Transylvania 6-5000, Otherworld, Knight Rider, Conan the Barbarian)
Kristoffer Tabori b. 1952 (Sliders, SeaQuest 2032, Quantum Leap, The Twilight Zone [1985], Small and Frye, Brave New World [TV movie])
Sara Botsford b. 1951 (Matty Hanson and the Invisibility Ray, Three Moons Over Milford, The Fog, Tremors 4: The Legend Begins, Total Recall 2070, Sliders )
William Frankfather b. 1944 died 28 December 1998 (Dark Skies, Deep Space Nine, Death Becomes Her, Cool World, Tales from the Crypt, Alien Nation, Freddy’s Nightmares, Harry and the Hendersons, Twilight Zone [1987], Invaders from Mars, Amazing Stories, The Greatest American Hero)
Richard Belzer b. 1944 (3rd Rock from the Sun, Species II, The X-Files, The Invaders, Not of This Earth, The Puppet Masters, Lois & Clark, The Flash)
Georgina Hale b. 1943 (Cockneys vs Zombies, Doctor Who, Hammer House of Horror, The Watcher in the Woods)
Don S. Davis b. 1942 died 29 June 2008 (Stargate, Flash Gordon, Supernatural, Beyond Loch Ness, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Andromeda, Atomic Train, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show, Poltergeist: The Legacy, The X-Files, M.A.N.T.I.S., Highlander [TV], Needful Things, Hook, Omen IV: The Awakening)
Martin Jarvis b. 1941 (Neander-Jin: The Return of the Neanderthal Man, Stargate: Atlantis, Space Island One, Space: Above and Beyond, Doctor Who, Taste the Blood of Dracula)
Frank Vincent b. 1939 (Stargate: Atlantis)
Jeanne Carmen b. 1930 died 20 December 2007 (The Naked Monster, The Monster of Piedras Blancas)
Tom Hennesy b. 1923 died 23 May 2011 (Revenge of the Creature)
Wesley Addy b. 1913 died 31 December 1996 (The Invaders, The Outer Limits)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot and MST3K. In previous years, the Picture Slot went to the late Andy Hallett from Angel and Daniel Dae Kim from Lost. The biggest movie star on the list is Billy Bob Thornton, but I don't think of him as iconic in genre. That leaves us with Oh That Guy actors for the most part, and I considered Sebastian Roche and Don S. Davis before deciding on Tom Hennesy, a cowboy actor who was in the monster suit for the non-underwater scenes of Revenge of the Creature, which also means we have an MST3K movie on the list.

2. Spot the Canadians. Today it's David Kaye, David Lewis and Sara Botsford.

3. Nepotism FTW. Some names here should give it away, like Michael DeLuise, Lily Costner and Chet Hanks. There are two other cases, one I count and one I don't. Georgina Hale married Ken Russell, but she had a career before meeting him and worked in plenty of projects he didn't direct. The other is Kristoffer Tabori, son of director Don Siegel and actress Viveca Lindfors. That I would count as nepotism.

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

Predictor: John Langdon-Davies in A Short History of the Future, published in 1936

Prediction: Human beings will become standardized for a time but eventually the state will encourage individuality again along certain carefully controlled lines.

Reality: Langdon-Davies had some very odd ideas, but state encouraged limited individuality is just plain goofy.
 

BONUS!

Predictor: Terminator 2, released 3 July 1991

Prediction: 8/4/1997 Skynet launched

Reality: Skynet turns 18 today! That means it can vote, but you can't take it out for a drink afterward, which is just cruel as far as I'm concerned.
 
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

We hear again from our sensible pal George Sutherland about the inventions he predicts will exist by the year 2000.
  
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

3 August 2015

Birthdays
Georgina Haig b. 1985 (Once Upon a Time, Fringe)
Max Landis b. 1985 (writer, Victor Frankenstein, Chronicle)
Emily Baldoni b. 1984 (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Coherence, Legend of the Seeker)
Jon Foster b. 1984 (Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines)
Kyle Schmid b. 1984 (Being Human, Lost Girl, Arrow, Dead Before Dawn 3D, Smallville, The Covenant, Odyssey 5, My Best Friend is an Alien, Virus)
Evangeline Lilly b. 1979 (Ant-Man, The Hobbit, Real Steel, Lost, Smallville, Freddy vs. Jason)
Tomas Lemarquis b. 1977 (Snowpiercer, Errors of the Human Body)
Franco Castan b. 1977 (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Revolution, Coma [TV mini-series])
Michael Ealy b. 1973 (Almost Human, Underworld: Awakening, FlashForward)
Stephen Graham b. 1973 (Pirates of the Caribbean, Season of the Witch, Inkheart)
Melissa Ponzio b. 1972 (Teen Wolf, The Walking Dead, Touch, The Vampire Diaries)
Brigid Brannagh b. 1972 (Star Trek: Enterprise, Angel, Early Edition, Charmed, Kindred: The Embraced, American Gothic)
Elizabeth Berrington b. 1970 (Doctor Who, Psychoville, Nanny McPhee, The Little Vampire)
Anne Marie DeLuise b. 1969 (Smallville, Sanctuary, The Thaw, Painkiller Jane, Stargate SG-1, Supernatural, Dead Like Me, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Mysterious Ways, Code Name: Eternity, First Wave, Total Recall 2070, Earth: Final Conflict, Highlander: The Raven, Eerie, Indiana: The Other Dimension, Side Effects, Darkman II: The Return of Durant)
Asante Jones b. 1968 (Zombie Strippers!, Journeyman)
Luke Massy b. 1966 (Thor, Charmed)
Isaiah Washington b. 1963 (The 100, Bionic Woman [2007], Ghost Ship)
Lisa Ann Walter b. 1963 (War of the Worlds, Bruce Almighty)
Molly Hagan b. 1961 (Navy Seals vs. Zombies, iZombie, Charmed, The Invisible Man, Early Edition, Deep Space Nine, ALF)
John C. McGinley b. 1959 (The Nightmare Room, Target Earth, Highlander II: The Quickening)

John Landis b. 1950 (director, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show, Innocent Blood, Twilight Zone: The Movie, American Werewolf in London)
Philip Casnoff b. 1949 (Dollhouse, Message from Space)
Phil Rubenstein b. 1940 died 26 June 1992 (RoboCop 2, My Mom’s a Werewolf, ALF, Mannequin, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Knight Rider)
Martin Sheen b. 1940 (The Amazing Spider-Man 1 and 2, Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, The Time Shifters, Total Recall 2070, Babylon 5: River of Souls, Alchemy, Crystal Cave, Project: ALF, Captain Nuke and the Bomber Boys, Roswell [TV Movie], Beyond the Stars, Firestarter, The Dead Zone, The Outer Limits)
Stephen Berkoff b. 1937 (The Frankenstein Chronicles, Witches of East End, Doctor Who, Children of Dune, Deep Space Nine, Space Precinct, Metamorphosis [TV movie], Outland, A Clockwork Orange, UFO, Prehistoric Women)
Gordon Scott b. 1926 died 30 April 2007 (Hercules and the Princess of Troy, Goliath and the Vampires)
Rona Anderson b. 1926 died 23 July 2013 (A Christmas Carol)
James Komack b. 1924 died 24 December 1977 (writer, My Favorite Martian)
Jean Hagen b. 1923 died 29 August 1977 (Panic in Year Zero!)
P.D. James b. 1920 died 27 November 2014 (author, Children of Men)
Alex McCrindle b. 1911 died 20 April 1990 (Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope)
Clifford D. Simak b. 1904 died 25 April1988 (Won 1964 Hugo for Here Gather the Stars)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, the Picture Slot went to Evangeline Lilly from Lost and Michael Ealy from Almost Human. Having used two 21st Century productions, I feel free to go a little more old school with Alex McCrindle as General Dodonna from Star Wars.

2. Spot the Canadians! There are three today: Kyle Schmid, Evangeline Lilly and Anne-Marie DeLuise.

3. Nepotism and not. Anne-Marie DeLuise is married to Peter DeLuise and I don't consider that nepotism except in extreme cases. Max Landis is the son of John Landis, that absolutely counts. Brigid Branagh is from San Francisco and is no blood relation to Kenneth Brannagh.


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

Movie released
Total Recall released, 2012

Predictor: The OMNI Future Almanac, published in 1982

Prediction: During the 21st Century, many of the responsibilities of traditional schooling will be transferred to parents. The mass availability of video and computer hardware will bring the classroom into the home. The chief purpose of schools and classrooms will be to socialize young people and to introduce them to one another. By necessity, and even without long classroom hours, the worldwide literacy rate will rise.

Reality: They get this right for the wrong reasons today. The increase in home schooling comes from parents who don't want their little angels to learn about evolution, not so much from the technological end. And then there's the rise in literacy, which is completely accurate by all estimates, rising from about 60% to 80% since the early 1980s. 
 
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

We are running out of predictions from our regular Tuesday source, John Langdon-Davies. It's the commie's penultimate guess tomorrow.
  
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

31 July 2015

Birthdays
Alexis Knapp b. 1989 (Vamp U, Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief)
Sofia Pernas b. 1989 (Age of the Dragons)
Jessica Williams b. 1989 (Hot Tub Time Machine 2)
Charlie Carver b. 1988 (The Leftovers, Teen Wolf [TV])
Raymond Pickard b. 1982 (The Borrowers, The Canterville Ghost)
Eric Lively b. 1981 (The Butterfly Effect 2)
Harry Potter b. 1980 (wizard)
B.J. Novak b. 1979 (Amazing Spider-Man 2)
Andrea Drepaul b. 1979 (Damien, Beauty and the Beast, Warehouse 13)
James Harvey Ward b. 1978 (The Dark Knight Rises, True Blood, The Vampire Diaries, No Ordinary Family)
Tressa Thomas b. 1978 (Flatliners)
Jayce Bartok b. 1975 (Spider-Man, Aliens in the Family)
Annie Parisse b. 1975 (Fringe, NYPD 2069, National Treasure)
Michael Klesic b. 1975 (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Children of Men, Space Cadets, Multiplicity, Weird Science)
Jodi Ann Paterson b. 1975 (Dude, Where’s My Car?)
Emilia Fox b. 1974 (Merlin, Dorian Gray)
Tami Stronach b. 1972 (The NeverEnding Story)
Allison Barron b. 1972 (Harry and the Hendersons, Quantum Leap, Out of This World, Night of the Demons, A Nightmare of Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge)
Christina Cox b. 1971 (Arrow, Elysium, Stargate: Atlantis, The Chronicles of Riddick, Andromeda, Mutant X, Code Name: Eternity, Earth: Final Conflict, The Crow: Stairway to Heaven, First Wave, Forever Knight)
Ben Chaplin b. 1970 (Cinderella, The Water Horse, Dorian Gray, The Return of the Borrowers [TV])
Dean Cain b. 1966 (Supergirl, The Black Hole [2015], Smallville, 10.5: Apocalypse, Lost, Futuresport, Lois & Clark)
Jim True-Frost b. 1966 (666 Park Avenue, Fringe, W.E.I.R.D. World)
Pat Finn b. 1965 (Wizards of Waverly Place, Dude, Where’s My Car?, 3rd Rock from the Sun)
J. K. Rowling b. 1965 (won the 2001 Hugo for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire)
Ian Roberts b. 1965 (Infected, Puppet Master X; Axis Rising, Superman Returns)
Kym Malin b. 1962 (Weird Science)
Wesley Snipes b. 1962 (Blade, Futuresport, Demolition Man)
Greg Travis b. 1958 (Halloween II [2009], Night of the Living Dead 3D, Starship Troopers, Humanoids from the Deep, American Gothic, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventures [TV])
Dirk Blocker b. 1957 (The X Files, Quantum Leap, Starman, Poltergeist, Beyond Westworld)
Michael Biehn b. 1956 (Metal Hurlant Chronicles, Planet Terror, The Insatiable, Clockstoppers, Megiddo: The Omega Code 2, Asteroid, The Abyss, The Seventh Sign, Aliens, The Terminator, Logan’s Run [TV])
Al Sapienza b. 1956 (Gotham, The Flash [2014], Godzilla [2014 and 1998], The Tomorrow People, Arrow, Fringe, NightMan, Dark Skies, Judge Dredd)
James Read b. 1953 (Charmed, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Star Trek: Voyager, Lois & Clark)
Barry Van Dyke b. 1951 (Light Years Away, She-Wolf of London, The Canterville Ghost, The Powers of Matthew Star, Galactica 1980, Mork & Mindy, Tabitha, Wonder Woman, Gemini Man)
Lane Davies b. 1950 (3rd Rock from the Sun, Babylon 5: In the Beginning, Lois & Clark)
Richard Griffiths b. 1947 died 28 March 2013 (Harry Potter, Hugo, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Whoops Apocalypse, Superman II)
Geraldine Chaplin b. 1944 (The Forbidden Room, Gulliver’s Travels [TV], Z.P.G.)
Sab Shimono b. 1943 (Ben 10: Race Against Time, Southland Tales, Waterworld, The X-Files, The Shadow, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III, Max Headroom, Knight Rider)
France Nuyen b. 1939 (Automan, The Six Million Dollar Man, Battle for the Planet of the Apes, Star Trek, Dimension 5)
Geoffrey Lewis b. 1935 died 7 April 2015 (Odyssey 5, The X-Files, The Lawnmower Man, Annihilator, Amazing Stories, Night of the Comet, The Amazing Spider-Man [TV], Salem’s Lot, Mork & Mindy, Quark, The Six Million Dollar Man, Ark II)
Ted Cassidy b. 1932 died 16 January 1979 (Man From Atlantis, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Bionic Woman, Planet Earth, Genesis II, I Dream of Jeannie, Mr. Terrific, The Addams Family, Jack and the Beanstalk [TV], Star Trek, Batman, Lost in Space)
Don Murray b. 1929 (The Stepford Children, Radioactive Dreams, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes)
Primo Levi b. 1919 died 11 April 1987 (author, The Periodic Table)
Mario Bava b. 1914 died 27 April 1980 (director, Baron Blood, A Bay of Blood, Blood Brides, Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs, Planet of the Vampires, Caltiki, the Immortal Monster, Lust of the Vampire)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, the Picture Slot belonged to J.K. Rowling and Ted Cassidy, both easily defended on iconic status. If I was going modern, both Dean Cain and Wesley Snipes are iconic, but both are also jerks in their own way, Cain one of those Fox News jackasses and Snipes a tax evader. So instead it's the lovely France Nuyen from the original Star Trek and I expect very few complaints from heterosexual males.

2. Spot the Canadians! Andrea Drepaul and Christina Cox are today's northern contingent.

3. Nepotism and Not. Folks who know 1960s America TV will know that Dirk Blocker and Barry Van Dyke count as nepotism, Van Dyke a little more than Blocker. Geraldine Chaplin also counts, but Ben Chaplin is not related to Charlie, just to be clear.

4. Harry Potter turns 35 today. I wonder what model of mini-van he drives.


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

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

Prediction:But I believe that these prevailing men of the future, like many of the saner men of to-day, having so formulated their fundamental belief, will presume to no knowledge whatever, will presume to no possibility of knowledge of the real being of God. They will have no positive definition of God at all.

Reality: A lot of science fiction writers got it in their heads that the world would become more like the the folks they hang out with and religion would dwindle away.

Mmmm... not so much.
 
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

A new splash illustration goes up tomorrow for the month of August and a few thoughts about those jetpacks and flying cars we were promised.
  
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!