15 September 2015

Birthdays
Matt Shively b. 1990 (Teen Wolf, Paranormal Activity 4)
Chloe Dykstra b. 1988 (The League of S.T.E.A.M., Chaotic Awesome, COPS: Skyrim, Drag Me to Hell, Wizards of Waverly Place, Spider-Man 2)
Chelsea Kane b. 1988 (Wizards of Waverly Pace)
Christian Cooke b. 1987 (Witches of East End, Dark Relics, Demons, Doctor Who)
Ben Woolf b. 1980 died 23 February 2015 (American Horror Story, Insidious)
Amy Davidson b. 1979 (NetherBeast Incorporated)
Dave Annable b. 1979 (666 Park Avenue, Spellbound)
Tom Hardy b. 1977 (Mad Max: Fury Road, The Dark Knight Rises, Inception, Sucker Punch, A for Andromeda, Minotaur)
Marisa Ramirez b. 1977 (Supernatural, Roswell)
Jonathan Liebesman b. 1976 (director, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles [2014], Wrath of the Titans, Battle Los Angeles, Darkness Falls)
Marcus Shirock b. 1975 (Hercules Reborn, Bermuda Tentacles, Android Cop, Angel, Charmed)
Josh Charles b. 1971 (Bird People, After.Life, Muppets from Space)
Danny Nucci b. 1968 (Arrow, Monster Heroes, Firestarter 2: Rekindled, Quantum Leap, The Twilight Zone [1986])
Kenneth Hite b. 1965 (writer, Lost in Lovecraft)
Steven R. Monroe b. 1964 (director, End of the World, Jabberwock, Mongolian Death Worm, Ice Twisters, Wyvern, Ogre, Sasquatch Mountain, It Waits)
Philip Paley b. 1963 (Land of the Lost)
Colin McFarlane b. 1961 (Olympus, Hounded, Torchwood, Hyperdrive, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight)
Oren Aviv b. 1961 (National Treasure, RocketMan)
Ed Solomon b. 1960 (writer, Venom, What Planet Are You From?, Men In Black, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure)
Wendie Jo Sperber b. 1958 died 29 November 2005 (Back to the Future)
Barry Shabaka Henley b. 1954 (Carrie [2013], Flash-Forward, Heroes, Fallen)
Brad Leland b. 1954 (The Leftovers, Hancock)
Sabina Franklin b. 1954 (The Worst Witch, Blakes 7)
Olver Stone b. 1946 (director, The Hand)
Tommy Lee Jones b. 1946 (Captain America, Men In Black, Small Soldiers, Batman Forever)
Shelby Leverington b. 1946 (The Island, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Twilight Zone [1985], Cloak & Dagger)
Roy Brocksmith b. 1945 died 16 December 2001 (Babylon 5, Kull the Conqueror, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Lois & Clark, Good & Evil, Eerie, Indiana, Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey, Arachnophobia, Total Recall, Martians Go Home, Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Wizard, Wolfen)
John Reynolds b. 1941 died 16 October 1966 (actor/director, Manos: The Hands of Fate)
Norman Spinrad b. 1940 (writer, Star Trek, Bug Jack Barron, The Iron Dream)
Henry Darrow b. 1933 (NightMan, Babylon 5, Star Trek: Voyager, Time Trax, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Knight Rider, Beyond the Universe, The Incredible Hulk, The Bionic Woman, Wonder Woman, Halloween with the New Addams Family, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Invisible Man [1975 TV], Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Outer Limits)
Andree Melly b. 1932 (The Brides of Dracula)
Henry Silva b. 1928 (Cyborg – Il Guerriero d'Acciaio, Escape from the Bronx, Alligator, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Quark, The Sixth Sense [1972 TV], Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Outer Limits)
Jackie Cooper b. 1922 died 3 May 2011 (Superman, The Invisible Man [1975], The Astronaut, Twilight Zone)
Joseph Pevney b. 1911 died 18 May 2008 (director, The Incredible Hulk, Star Trek, The Munsters, Bewitched, Destination Space)
Fay Wray b. 1907 died 8 August 2004 (King Kong, The Vampire Bat, Doctor X)
Tom Conway b. 1904 died 22 April 1967 (The Atomic Submarine, Voodoo Woman, The She-Creature, Bride of the Gorilla, Cat People)
James Fenimore Cooper b. 1789 died 14 September 1851 (The Monikins)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, the Picture Slot skewed old school, in 2013 with writer Norman Spinrad and in 2014 with the fabulous Fay Wray. If I wanted to push the blog into the 21st Century, the best choice would be Tom Hardy in the most recent Mad Max, but instead I went with Roy Brocksmith in his role from Star Trek: The Next Generation, and I blush to mention that he's one of those "Wait... He's Dead?" folks for me.

2. An unspottable Canadian. Fay Wray is from the Great White North. I had no idea.

3. MST3K. This one's pretty easy, John Reynolds, who died only a little after filming was complete, directed Manos: The Hands of Fate and also played Torgo.

4. Nice same birthday pair. I always like it when two people who are both well known were born on the exact same day, and Oliver Stone and Tommy Lee Jones certainly qualify. 

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

Predictor: Robert A. Heinlein in his novel The Door Into Summer

Prediction: "IMPORTANT NOTICE! This service automaton DOES NOT understand human speech. It has no understanding at all, being a machine. But for your convenience it has been designed to respond to a list of spoken orders."

Reality: Our pal Bob takes a dim view of The Singularity here, and by 2000 he was still right, machines have no true understanding. It's quite popular in sci-fi now and there are those predicting the reality just around the corner, but as an old school programmer I remain very skeptical.

Never to be Forgotten: Steve Bickel 1951-2015

Film executive Steve Bickel was found dead this week after collapsing on a hiking trip in Portugal. He is mentioned here because he produced the 1980 time travel fantasy Somewhere in Time, starring Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour.

Best wishes to the family and friends of Steve Bickel, from a fan of the movie. He is never to be forgotten.
 
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Another visit from our pal George Sutherland and his book Twentieth Century Inventions.
  
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!

5 September 2015

Birthdays
Gage Golightly b. 1993 (Teen Wolf, 5ive Days to Midnight)
Skandar Keynes b. 1991 (The Chronicles of Narnia)
Kat Graham b. 1989 (The Vampire Diaries)
Christina Ulloa b. 1982 (Charmed)
Nan Yu b. 1978 (Speed Racer, My DNA Says I Love You)
Carice Van Houten b. 1976 (Game of Thrones, Intruders, Repo Men, From Time to Time)
Paddy Considine b. 1974 (The World’s End)
Justin Nimmo b. 1974 (Power Rangers in Space, Pleasantville)
Rose MacGowan b. 1973 (Once Upon a Time, Conan the Barbarian [2011], Charmed, Grindhouse, Monkeybone, Encino Man)
Dweezil Zappa b. 1969 (Jack Frost, The Running Man)
Terry Ellis b. 1963 (Batman Forever)
Peter Wingfield b. 1962 (Alphas, Caprica, Stonehenge Apocalypse, 10,000 Days, Highlander [TV], Charmed, Smallville, Catwoman, Andromeda, X-Men 2, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Halloweentown II: Kalabar’s Revenge, Stargate SG-1)
Roberta Weiss b. 1961 (Tales from the Darkside, Deadly Nightmares, The Dead Zone)
Joseph Steven b. 1956 (Star Trek [2009], Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, The Scorpion King, K-PAX)
Michael Keaton b. 1951 (Birdman, RoboCop [2013], Jack Frost, Multiplicity, Batman, Beetlejuice)
Scott H. Reiniger b. 1948 (Dawn of the Dead [2004 and 1978])
Dennis Dugan b. 1946 (The Howling, Unidentified Flying Oddball, The Sixth Sense [1972])
Wim Wenders b. 1942 (director, Nosferatu the Vampire)
Raquel Welch b. 1940 (Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Lois & Clark, Mork & Mindy, Bedazzled, One Million Years B.C., Fantastic Voyage, Bewitched)
George Lazenby b. 1939 (Team Knight Rider, Superboy, Death Dimension)
William Devane b. 1939 (Interstellar, Leprechaun’s Revenge, The X-Files, Stargate SG-1, The Dark Knight Rises, Race to Space, Hollow Man, Space Cowboys, Timecop, Doomsday Rock, Virus, Timestalkers, Testament)
Alyce Andrece b. 1936 died 14 May 2005 (Star Trek, Batman)
Rhae Andrece b. 1936 died 2 March 2009 (Star Trek, Batman)
Frank Farmer b. 1932 (Ghost Ghirls, Team Knight Rider, The Burning Zone, The Invaders, Babylon 5, Wonder Woman, Capricorn One)
Bob Newhart b. 1929 (The Big Bang Theory, The Librarian, Elf)
Gloria Holden b. 1903 died 22 March 1991 (Dracula’s Daughter)

Notes on the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, the Picture Slot was filled by the twins Alyce and Rhae Andrece from the I, Mudd episode of Star Trek and Carice Van Houten from Game of Thrones. I could have gone with Michael Keaton from Batman, but continuing with the fabulous babe theme of previous years, it's Raquel Welch in the fur bikini from One Million Years B.C., possibly the most iconic picture from her career.

2. Not the Canadian and Spot the Canadian! Peter Wingfield has a lot of role in Canadian genre productions, but he was born in Great Britain and I have no information about him becoming a resident alien in Canada. His imdb.com bio is proudest of the fact that he has recently completed his studies to become a medical doctor, and good on him for that. Regular reader Abu Scooter informs me that Roberta Weiss is Canadian, a fact which I miss on the initial post.

Nepotism FTW. Dweezil Zappa.

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

Never to be Forgotten: Alan Steel (a.k.a. Sergio Ciani) 1935-2015

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Italy cranked out a lot of movies known collectively as "sword and sandal" in an attempt to cash in on the success of Biblical era costume dramas like Spartacus. The hero was always a bodybuilder, playing characters named Hercules, Machiste, Ursus, Goliath or Samson. While many of the bodybuilders like Steve Reeves and Reg Park were Americans, Sergio Ciani, whose screen name was Alan Steel, was born in Rome. While he was not always the lead, he appeared in 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 and Hercules Unchained. Two of these were given the MST3K treatment.

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

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Today's soapbox is postponed a day due to the holiday.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

3 September 2015

Birthdays
Ashley Boettcher b. 2000 (Aliens in the House, Aliens in the Attic)
Victoria Jones b. 1991 (Men in Black II)
Garrett Hedlund b. 1984 (Pan, TRON: Legacy, Eragon)
Paz de la Huerta b. 1984 (4:44 Last Day on Earth)
Christine Woods b. 1983 (The Walking Dead, FlashForward)
Nichole Hiltz b. 1978 (Alien Autopsy, Smallville, Buffy, Dude, Where’s My Car?)
Nick Weschsler b. 1978 (The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Roswell, Team Knight Rider)
Ashley Jones b. 1976 (FlashForward, True Blood)
Clare Kramer b. 1974 (Tales of Halloween, Big Ass Spider!, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Buffy)
Noah Baumbach b. 1969 (writer, The Fantastic Mr. Fox)
Charlie Sheen b. 1965 (Big Bang Theory, The Arrival, The Wraith, Amazing Stories)
Costas Mandylor b. 1965 (Saw, Hyenas, Immortally Yours, Beowulf, Disaster Zone: Volcano in New York, Dinocroc, Charmed, Andromeda, Last Exit to Earth)
Daniel Myrick b. 1963 (writer, The Objective, Solstice, The Blair Witch Project)
Holt McCallany b. 1963 (Heroes, Alien³)
Merritt Butrick b. 1959 died 17 March 1989 (Fright Night Part 2, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Beauty and the Beast, Why on Earth?, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Zapped!, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan)
Kevin McCorkle b. 1958 (The Amazing Spider-Man, The Island, The X Files, Star Trek: Voyager)
Jean-Pierre Jeunet b. 1953 (director, Alien: Resurrection, The City of Lost Children)
Lou Richards b. 1951 (Growth, Charmed, Hulk, The X Files, Project U.F.O., Logan’s Run [TV])
Valerie Perrine b. 1943 (Faerie Tale Theatre, Superman, Slaughterhouse Five)
Pauline Collins b. 1940 (Doctor Who, Merlin)
Eileen Brennan b, 1932 died 28 July 2013 (Tales from the Crypt, The Ray Bradbury Theatre, Babes in Toyland [TV])
Nora ‘Dodo’ Denney b. 1927 died 20 November 2005 (Splash, Tucker’s Witch, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, Bewitched, My Favorite Martian)
Anne Jackson b. 1926 (The Shining)
Terry Wilson b. 1923 died 30 March 1999 (Escape to Witch Mountain, Westworld)
Cecil Parker b. 1897 died 20 April 1971 (Psycho-Circus, The Brain, The Man in the White Suit)
Pat O’Malley b. 1890 died 21 May 1966 (Twilight Zone, Invasion of the Body Snatchers)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, the Picture Slot went to Clare Kramer from Buffy and Merritt Butrick from the Star Trek movies. This year, it's Nora 'Dodo' Denny as Mrs. Teavee from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

2. Nepotism FTW. Charlie Sheen is a star in his own right now, but being Martin Sheen's son was definitely a boost to his early career.

3. Living Canadian free.  Did not find any Canadian actors on the list today.

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: By 1976, trucks may be propelled on special highways without drivers.

Reality: Ernst is very early with this one, assuming automatically driven cars were only twenty years away when he wrote this. The technology is possible today and will likely be accepted practice within ten years or so, though truck drivers may not just roll over and accept obsolescence so easily.
 

Never to be Forgotten: Dean Jones 1931-2015 Dean Jones, the clean-cut star of many Disney films, most notably the movies featuring Herbie the Love Bug, has died at the age of 84. Besides making films for Disney, Jones also starred in many films for the Christian audience. (Note that "clean cut" is sometimes misleading, as in Bob Crane's example.) He also had many roles on Broadway, including the original actor to play the lead Bobby in Stephen Sondheim's Company. His roles in genre include Scrooge and Marley, Special Report: Journey to Mars, Once Upon a Brothers Grimm and the Italian production Mr. Superinvisible.

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

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

There are still a few weeks left of predictions from Anticipations and some of Wells' prophecies do not make him look like a scumbag.

Emphasis on some.
  
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

1 September 2015

Birthdays
Zendaya b. 1996 (Zapped [2014])
Michael Adamthwaite b. 1981 (The 100, Strange Empire, Nerds and Monsters, Arrow, Horns, Once Upon a Time, Supernatural, Fringe, Sucker Punch, Behemoth, Riverworld, Twilight: New Moon, Smallville, Reaper, Watchmen, Flash Gordon [TV], Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Dead Like Me, 10.5, Stargate SG-1, Jeremiah)
Lara Pulver b. 1980 (Edge of Tomorrow, True Blood)
Camille Chen b. 1979 (Grimm, American Horror Story, Touch, Meteor [TV], Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over)
Justice Leak b. 1979 (The Vampire Diaries, Powers, Insurgent, Supergirl)
Adrienne Wilkinson b. 1977 (Star Trek: Renegades, Nobility, Charmed, Angel, Xena)
Jenae Altschwager b. 1976 (Alien Ecstasy, She Alien, Alien Sex Files 3, Click, The Island)
Scott Speedman b. 1975 (Underworld: Evolution, Underworld)
Burn Gorman b. 1974 (The Man in the High Castle, Forever, Game of Thrones, Pacific Rim, The Dark Knight Rises, Torchwood)
Jhonen Vasquez b. 1974 (Invader ZIM)
Maury Sterling b. 1971 (Extant, Coherence, Dollhouse, Charmed, Star Trek: Enterprise, Angel, Dark Skies, Outbreak)
Ricardo Chavira b. 1971 (Warehouse 13, Piranha 3D)
Padma Lakshmi b. 1970 (Star Trek: Enterprise)
Zak Penn b. 1968 (writer, Pacific Rim 2, Alphas, The Avengers, The Incredible Hulk, X-Men: The Last Stand, Elektra, X-Men 2)
James Nguyen b. 1966 (writer, Birdemic 1 and 2)
Michelle Meyrink b. 1962 (Nice Girls Don’t Explode, Real Genius)
Joe Jusko b. 1959 (artist, Marvel Comics)
Sachi Parker b. 1956 (Eerie, Indiana, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Alien Nation [TV], Scrooged, Back to the Future)
James Rebhorn b. 1948 died 21 March 2014 (Coma [2012], The Adventures of Pluto Nash, From the Earth to the Moon, Independence Day, Cat’s Eye)
Susan Backlinie b. 1946 (Quark)
Venita Wolf b. 1945 died 22 November 2014 (Star Trek)
Beau Starr b. 1944 (Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Final Days of Planet Earth, The 4400, Earth: Final Conflict, Relic Hunter, Total Recall 2070, Halloween 4 and 5, V, Knight Rider, The Powers of Matthew Star)
Zitto Kazann b. 1944 (The X Files, Angel, Charmed, Buffy, Sliders, Waterworld, The Flash, Werewolf [TV], Automan, Tucker’s Witch, Knight Rider, The Greatest American Hero, The Six Million Dollar Man)
Don Stroud b. 1943 (Little Bigfoot, Babylon 5, The Alien Within, Carnosaur 2, Cyber Seeker, Frogtown II, Quantum Leap, Super Force, Hyper Space, The Powers of Matthew Star, The Incredible Hulk, The Amityville Horror)
C. J. Cherryh b. 1942 (won 1982 Hugo for Downbelow Station and 1989 Hugo for Cyteen)
Judy Levitt b. 1940 (InAlienable, Babylon 5, Star Trek: Generations, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Moontrap, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home)
Lily Tomlin b. 1939 (The X Files, The Incredible Shrinking Woman)
Ron O’Neal b. 1937 died 14 January 2004 (Hyper Space, Beauty and the Beast [1987], Knight Rider, The Greatest American Hero, The Final Countdown, Brave New World)
Anne Ramsey b. 1929 died 11 August 1988 (Scrooged, Doctor Hackenstein, ALF, Deadly Friend, Knight Rider, Wonder Woman)
George Maharis b. 1928 (Superboy, The Sword and the Sorcerer, Logan’s Run [TV], Bionic Woman, Look What’s Happened to Rosemary’s Baby, Death in Space, Journey to the Unknown, The Satan Bug)
Yvonne De Carlo b. 1922 died 8 January 2007 (American Gothic, The Munsters)
Vittorio Gassman b. 1922 died 29 June 2000 (Quintet)
Richard Farnsworth b. 1920 died 6 October 2000 (Space Rage, Resurrection, Strange New World, Mighty Joe Young)
Betty Blythe b. 1893 died 7 April 1972 (She [1925])
Edgar Rice Burroughs b. 1875 died 19 March 1950 (author, John Carter)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. The previous Picture Slotters were Yvonne De Carlo and Edgar Rice Burroughs. This year, it goes to Venita Wolf from the Star Trek episode The Squire of Gothos. I consider major guest roles on Star Trek to be iconic almost always and she's a fabulous babe as well, but the third reason she is getting a mention is that she died last year and it escaped my attention. She should have had a send-off.

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

2. Spot the Canadians! Did you know Yvonne De Carlo was from the Great White North? I didn't. We also have Michelle Meyrink, Scott Speedman and Michael Adamthwaite. Of all of these actors, only Adamthwaite's credit list gives away his nation of origin.

3. Nepotism FTW. Sachi Parker is Shirley MacLaine's daughter.

4. Okay... WTF? Justice Leak? This is a Washington scandal, not an actual person's name.

5. Stealth MST3K. Our Picture Slotter Venita Wolf was also in Catalina Caper, not genre but it did get the best Brains treatment.

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

Predictor: Robert A. Heinlein in his 1957 book The Door Into Summer

Prediction: I found that a helicopter bus was due to leave for the center of the city in twenty-five minutes.

Reality: Local public transit that flies... not so much. Heinlein thought it would be here by the year 2000.
 

 This month's splash illustration: This month, I took a section from the cover of one of Frank Miller's Dark Knight series, probably the most influential version of Batman to this day.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

We take a look at the Atlantic hurricane season at the halfway mark in the season.
  
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!

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!

19 August 2015

Birthdays
Tristan Lake Leabu b. 1999 (Superman Returns)
Joseph Castanon b. 1997 (Jericho, Click)
Veronica Roth b. 1988 (writer, Divergent, Insurgent, Allegiant)
Tammin Sursok b. 1983 (Airship Dracula, Aquamarine)
Tania Nolan b. 1983 (Grayson: Earth One, Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, Legend of the Seeker)
Mike Moh b. 1983 (True Blood, Street Fighter: Assassin’s Fist, Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight)
Erika Christensen b. 1982 (FreakyLinks, 3rd Rock from the Sun)
Michelle Borth b. 1978 (TiMER, Supernatural, Komodo vs. Cobra)
Callum Blue b. 1977 (Smallville, The Sarah Jane Adventures, Dead Like Me)
Tracie Thoms b. 1975 (Looper, Wonder Woman [2011], Grindhouse, Wonderfalls)
Ahmed Best b. 1973 (The Star Wars prequels)
Matthew Perry b. 1969 (L.A.X. 2194)
Kyra Sedgwick b. 1965 (Gamer, Phenomenon, Amazing Stories)
Kevin Dillon b. 1965 (Tales from the Crypt, The Blob [1988])
John Stamos b. 1963 (Tales from the Crypt, Alice in Wonderland [1985])
Stu “Large” Riley b. 1963 (Kick-Ass, The Adventures of Pluto Nash)
Tony Longo b. 1961 died 21 June 2015 (Hercules in Hollywood, Fangs, The X Files, They Came from Outer Space, Beauty and the Beast [1987], Hell Town, Splash, Small & Frye)
Martin Donovan b. 1957 (Ant-Man, The Lottery, The Haunting in Connecticut, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Dark Shadows [2005])
Adam Arkin b. 1956 (Lake Placid, Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, Perversions of Science, The Hidden Room, Hard Time on Planet Earth, The Twilight Zone)
Peter Gallagher b. 1955 (The Gathering, House on Haunted Hill, High Spirits)
Jonathan Frakes b. 1952 (Star Trek, Roswell, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Lois & Clark, Twilight Zone [1985])
Randi Oakes b. 1951 (Battlestar Galactica)
Jim Carter b. 1948 (The Golden Compass, The Wind in the Willows [TV], Ella Enchanted, Dinotopia, Jack and the Beanstalk: The Real Story, The Little Vampire, The Witches, The Company of Wolves, Flash Gordon)
Gerald McRaney b. 1947 (Jericho, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Hansel & Gretel, The NeverEnding Story, The Incredible Hulk, The Aliens Are Coming, Logan’s Run [TV], The Brain Machine, The Fantastic Journey, The Six Million Dollar Man)
Christopher Malcolm b. 1946 died 15 February 2014 (Whoops Apocalypse, Labyrinth, Highlander, Superman III, The Empire Strikes Back)
Jill St. John b. 1940 (Batman, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Lost World)
Diana Muldaur b. 1938 (Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Incredible Hulk, Planet Earth, Star Trek, The Invaders)
L. Q. Jones b. 1927 (Timerider: The Adventures of Lyle Swann, The Incredible Hulk, A Boy and His Dog, My Favorite Martian)
Angus Scrimm b. 1926 (Phantasm, John Dies at the End, The Nightmare Room, FreakyLinks, Munchie, Mindwarp, Subspecies, Transylvania Twist, Chopping Mall, Salvage 1, Project U.F.O.)
William Marshall b. 1924 died 11 June 2003 (Dinosaur Valley Girls, Sorceress, Amazon Women on the Moon, Twilight’s Last Gleaming, Scream Blacula Scream, Blacula, Star Trek)
Gene Roddenberry b. 1921 died 24 October 1991 (creator, Star Trek, Andromeda, Planet Earth, The Questor Tapes, Genesis II)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. It's a very Star Trek day. Previous Picture Slotters were Gene Roddenberry and Jonathan Frakes, and Diana Muldaur could be used either from The Original Series or from Next Gen. Angus Scrimm as The Tall Man from Phantasm also counts as iconic, but I instead went with the late William Marshall, not his Star Trek role, but instead as Blacula. I liked this picture because of how much it looks like a frame from a comic book, much in the style of artist Gene Colan.

2. Wait... he's dead? He died in 2014, so I should have given Christopher Malcolm a Never to Be Forgotten post, but his passing escaped my notice. His role best known for is as Eddie's ex-husband Justin, the father of Saffron, on Absolutely Fabulous.

3. Nepotism FTW. Kevin Dillon is the brother of Matt Dillon, a relationship I usually don't count. Adam Arkin is the son of Alan, a relationship I usually do count.  

4. Living Canadian free!  I didn't find anyone from north of the border today. That will happen from time to time.

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

Movies released
Spy Kids: All The Time In The World In 4D released 2011

Predictor: George Sutherland in his 1902 book Twentieth Century Inventions

Prediction: A great advance in economy of fuel will take place when the household coal intended for cooking purposes is ground up together with the proper proportions of certain waste products of chemistry, so as to make a "smouldering mixture" which can be kept regularly supplied to a shallow or thin fire box by pressure applied from beneath or at the parts farthest away from the objects to be heated. An oven, for instance, may be surrounded by a "jacket" filled with ground smouldering mixture having a non-conducting insulator outside and a connection with a chimney. The heat from the fuel is thus kept in close proximity to the objects requiring to be cooked, and comparatively small waste results.

Reality: Sorry, Mr. Sutherland, the winners for cooking fuel are natural gas and electricity. I am not an engineer, but what you are describing sounds way messier than natural gas and a pilot light, though of course, there are risks to have so many pipelines around as well. 

 Never to be Forgotten: Bud Yorkin 1926-2015 Bud Yorkin, a producer and director best known for making TV comedies such as All in the Family, Sanford and Son, What's Happening! and Maude, has died at the age of 89. He is mentioned here because he was an uncredited executive producer of Blade Runner. On imdb.com, his name was also attached to a new Blade Runner project, though it had no date released.

I'll admit I had to think if these two credits were enough to get a mention on a sci-fi blog, but in the end I decided it was worth it, largely on the basis of the importance of Blade Runner. If his one uncredited executive producer credit was for Krull or The Ice Pirates... meh.

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

Never to be Forgotten: Yvonne Craig 1937-2015 While I had to debate the inclusion of Bud Yorkin with myself, when I heard that Yvonne Craig died, there was no debate at all. A classically trained dancer, most of her early career in the 1950s and 1960s was in guest roles on TV shows. (She had six different roles in four years on Dobie Gillis, for example.) She got more exposure in supporting roles in two Elvis Presley movies, It Happened at the World's Fair and Kissin' Cousins.

Her two best known roles are as Marta on Star Trek (pictured here) and Barbara Gordon on Batman. (Genre fans might well count her third most famous role as her part in the awful Mars Needs Women opposite Tommy Kirk.) In interviews, she says she took the role in Batman to avoid being an Oh That Gal; reading the obituaries that have been published, it looks like it worked, as all of them mention that role first.

Miss Craig also tells the story that she is a large part of the reason Eartha Kitt was hired to be Catwoman in the third season. While it can be seen as a blow for racial equality, a major reason from a production standpoint was that if Julie Newmar continued in the role, it would stretch credulity seeing the 5'3" Batgirl kick the ass of 5'11" Catwoman, especially since Miss Newmar also had extensive dance training. It looked like more of a fair fight against the 5'4" Miss Kitt.

I have to admit reading of her death was like being on Count Rugen's torture device from The Princess Bride. It felt like months were taken off my life in the wink of an eye. Part of the horrible surprise was that I assumed she closer to Burt Ward's age, but in fact she was eight years older than him and eight years younger than Adam West. Whatever her age, I naturally had a crush on her when I was a lad and part of my childhood is gone.

Best wishes to the family and friends of Yvonne Craig, from a heartsick fan. She is never to be forgotten.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Tomorrow, we get more sunny predictions from Morris Ernst in his book Utopia 1976.
  
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

12 August 2015

Birthdays
Cara Delevingne b. 1992 (Suicide Squad, Pan)
Keith Stanfield b. 1991 (The Purge: Anarchy)
Leah Pipes b. 1988 (The Originals, The Vampire Diaries, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Angel)
Electra and Elise Avellan b. 1986 (Grindhouse)
Charlotte Salt b. 1985 (Beowulf)
Natalie Mendoza b. 1981 (Code 46, BeastMaster [2000 TV], Farscape)
Dominique Swain b. 1980 (Journeyman)
Maggie Lawson b. 1980 (Gamer, Smallville, Pleasantville, Meego)
Casey Affleck b. 1975 (Interstellar)
Rebecca Gayheart b. 1971 (Dead Like Me, Invasion, Sliders, Earth 2)
Yvette Nicole Brown b. 1971 (Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, Repo Men, The Island)
Michael Ian Black b. 1971 (Reaper)
Ellory Elkayem b. 1970 (director, Return of the Living Dead: Rave to the Grave, Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis, Eight Legged Freaks, They Nest)
Katherine Kendall b. 1969 (Southland Tales, Firefly)
Andras Jones b. 1968 (The Attic Expeditions, Alien Nation [TV], A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama)
Brett Sexton b. 1967 (Surface, Birds of Prey, Vanilla Sky, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, The X Files, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Angel)
Peter Krause b. 1965 (Beastly, The Lost Room, The Truman Show, 3rd Rock from the Sun)
Bruce Greenwood b. 1956 (Star Trek Into Darkness, Star Trek, Super 8, National Treasure: Book of Secrets, Mee-Shee: The Water Giant, I, Robot, The Core, Sleepwalkers [TV], Deadly Nightmares [TV])
Sam J. Jones b. 1954 (Ted, Flash Gordon [2007 TV and 1980], Black Scorpion, Stargate SG-1, Earth Minus Zero)
Ray Abruzzo b. 1954 (The Burning Zone, Lois & Clark)
Jim Beaver b. 1950 (Revolution, Supernatural, Tremors [TV], Star Trek: Enterprise, 3rd Rock from the Sun, The X Files, Lois & Clark)
Bruce Solomon b. 1944 (Night of the Creeps, Twilight Zone [1986])
Dana Ivey b. 1941 (Addams Family Values, The Addams Family, Explorers)
Oliver Ford Davies b. 1939 (Game of Thrones, Star Wars: Episodes I, II and III, Jack and the Beanstalk: The Real Story, The Cloning of Joanna May, Moonbase 3)
George Hamilton b. 1939 (The Little Unicorn, Love at First Bite)
Carol Eve Rossen b. 1937 (Mr. Merlin, The Fury, The Stepford Wives, The Invaders, Twilight Zone)
Michael Coles b. 1936 died 26 April 2005 (The Satanic Rites of Dracula, Dracula A.D. 1972, Doctor Who and the Daleks)
Elizabeth Shepherd b. 1936 (The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne, Poltergeist: The Legacy, PSI Factor: Chronicles of the Paranormal, Damien: Omen II, The Tomb of Ligeia)
William Goldman b. 1931 (screenwriter, Dreamcatcher, Memoirs of an Invisible Man, The Princess Bride, The Stepford Wives)
John Bluthal b. 1929 (Dark City, The Fifth Element, Spellbreaker: Secret of the Leprechauns, Leaping Leprechauns, Superman III, The Return of Captain Invincible, The Flying Sorcerer)
Dan Curtis b. 1927 died 27 March 2006 (writer, Dark Shadows, Frankenstein [1973 TV])
Ralph Nelson b. 1916 died 21 December 1987 (director, Charly, Twilight Zone)
Richard L. Bare b. 1913 (director, Twilight Zone)
Jane Wyatt b. 1910 died 20 October 2006 (Amityville: The Evil Escapes, Starman [TV], Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Gemini Man, Star Trek)
Oskar Homolka b. 1898 died 28 January 1978 (The Invisible Man [1976 TV], The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm, The Invisible Woman)
Marion Lorne b. 1883 died 9 May 1968 (Bewitched)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, the Picture Slot went to Sam J. Jones as Flash Gordon and Jane Wyatt as Spock's mom. Excluding those two, the most iconic genre actor is likely Marion Lorne as Aunt Clara from Bewitched. After that, I'd likely put Oliver Ford Davies, Maester Cressen in one episode of Game of Thrones and the unfortunately named Sio Bibble from the Star Wars prequels. (The story goes that George Lucas let his kids name characters in the sequels, which explains Mace Windu and Count Dooku. Nothing and no one will ever explain J**-J** B**ks to my satisfaction, and I might have to smack anyone who tries.) But I decided instead to honor one of my favorite screenwriters of all time, William Goldman. I can love movies for a lot of reasons, but when I was a kid, my first love was snappy dialogue, and The Princess Bride has as many quotable lines as Casablanca or All About Eve or Dr. Strangelove.

2. Canadian pre-spotted for your protection. Bruce Greenwood's career has taken him south of the border many times, with only a few Canadian genre shows to his name.

3. Nepotism more or less. Casey Affleck is Ben Affleck's kid brother and he does show up in some productions where Ben is one of the guys in charge - Good Will Hunting and Gone Baby Gone being the most notable - but Casey gets plenty of work on his own, so I'm not going to give this post the Nepotism FTW label.

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

Predictor: George Sutherland in his 1902 book Twentieth Century Inventions

Prediction: One pound of good coal will evaporate nine pounds of water, equal to about 250 cubic inches, this doing 250 foot-tons of work. But Niagara performs the same amount of work at infinitely less cost.

Reality: As a mathematician, I quibble with "infinitely less cost", but this is still an interesting point of cost analysis. It's not like renewables are a brand spanking new idea, though we now understand costs to the environment as well. I am somewhat optimistic that we can wean ourselves off of fossil fuels, but longtime readers will know I'm unmovable commie scum deeply versed in Alinsky style treachery and deceit. (In all serious, if someone quotes Alinsky these days, you know it's someone off the deep end of the conservative side of the pool.)
 

Never to be Forgotten: Herbert Wise 1924-2015

Director Herbert Wise has died at the age of 90. he was born in Austria, but was part of the Kindertransport system that took European Jewish children and sent them to Britain. He did a lot of work on British TV and the highlight of his career for me is directing all twelve episodes of I, Claudius, still one of the highlights in the history of television. He is remembered he for the British TV version of The Woman in Black - recently redone with Daniel Radcliffe - and The Tenth Kingdom. 

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

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Thursday means a visit from Morris Ernst and his overly optimistic book from the 1950 entitled Utopia 1976.
  
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

11 August 2015

Birthdays
Tyne Stecklein b. 1988 (True Blood)
Jemima West b. 1987 (The Mortal Instruments)
Chris Hemsworth b. 1983 (Avengers, Thor, Snow White and the Huntsman, The Cabin in the Woods, Star Trek & Star Trek Into Darkness, Guinevere Jones)
Drew Nelson b. 1979 (The Strain, Lost Girl, Fringe, Supernatural, Smallville, Earth: Final Conflict)
Lynn Adrianna b. 1979 (Chronicles of the Dead, Her)
Anna Gunn b. 1968 (NYPD 2069, Sleepwalkers, Quantum Leap)
Collin Chou b. 1967 (The Forbidden Kingdom, The Matrix Revolutions, The Matrix Reloaded)
Embeth Davidtz b. 1965 (Amazing Spider-Man 1 & 2, Europa Report, Thir13en Ghosts, Bicentennial Man, Fallen, Army of Darkness, Mutator)
Viola Davis b. 1965 (Ender’s Game, The Andromeda Strain [2008], Threshold, Solaris)
Miguel A. Nunez Jr. b. 1964 (The Adventures of Pluto Nash, Scooby-Doo, W.E.I.R.D. World, Carnosaur 2, Babylon 5, Lois & Clark, Twilight Zone [1985], The Return of the Living Dead, Friday the 13th: A New Beginning, Automan)
Elya Baskin b. 1950 (Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Heroes, Spider-Man 2 & 3, The Invisible Man, VR.5, Quantum Leap, DeepStar Six, 2010)
Adam LeFevre b. 1950 (The Leftovers, The Invasion, Storm of the Century)
Stuart Gordon b. 1947 (director, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show, Space Truckers, Robot Jox, Dolls, From Beyond, Re-Animator)
Ian McDiarmid b. 1944 (Utopia, Star Wars I, II, III, V & VI, Sleepy Hollow [1999], Dragonslayer)
Laurel Goodwin b. 1942 (Star Trek)
Stuart Rosenberg b. 1927 died 15 March 2007 (director, The Amityville Horror, Twilight Zone)
Charles Cooper b. 1926 died 29 November 2013 (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Men Into Space)
Mike Douglas b. 1925 died 11 August 2006 (The Incredible Shrinking Woman)
Arlene Dahl b. 1925 (Journey to the Center of the Earth)
Lloyd Nolan b. 1902 died 27 September 1985 (The Outer Limits)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. It's a short list today and the iconic choices are few. I have no problem justifying the previous choices, Chris Hemsworth as Thor and Ian McDarmid as Palpatine, and with them gone, I think the next most iconic is Embeth Davidtz from Army of Darkness.

And she's purdy.


2. Spot the Canadian. Experienced spotters should have no trouble identifying our lone Canuck today.

3. Not really nepotism. Chris Hemsworth is better known than his brother Liam, but I don't know how many doors opened for either due to this blood relation.

4. Is he a jinx? I blush to note that Ian McDiarmid was in every Star Wars movie except for A New Hope, also known in some circles as The Good One. (I'm keen on Empire as well, though I admit some cheesy aspects.)

5. And since I'm already blushing... Yesterday I said Rhonda Fleming and Maureen O'Hara were the prettiest redheads ever and today is the 90th birthday of Miss Arlene Dahl, a very pretty redhead as well. I do wish Miss Dahl many happy returns, but as Gene Hackman said in Hoosiers "That's my team out on the court."

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

Predictor: John Langdon-Davies in his 1936 book A Short History of the Future

Prediction: The highbrow art of our day will have no future save as a historic curiosity, since it has sacrificed everything to a misguided individualism.

Reality: There is more to the book than what I have used, but this is the last of Langdon-Davies' main predictions. I would say highbrow art- has waned in popularity since the 1930s, but it's too much to say there is no future, especially when he said it. Between 1936 and now, there were a lot of classical musicians, opera singers, ballet dancers of both genders, fine artists, playwrights and novelists who were major cultural figures, though I would say that number is dwindling today.   

Never to be Forgotten:  Gerald S. O’Loughlin 1921-2015

American character actor Gerald S. O'Loughlin has died at the age of 93. He was an Oh That Guy, but it might be more accurate to say he was an Oh That Officer for as often as he played cops and military men. (The picture is taken from the series The Rookies, where he was a regular.) For genre roles, he was in The Secret Kingdom, Automan, The Powers of Matthew Star, Twilight’s Last Gleaming and The Green Hornet.

Best wishes to the family and friends of Gerald S. O'Loughlin, from a fan. He is never to be forgotten.
 
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Wednesday means another visit from our sensible friend George Sutherland.
  
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

6 August 2015

Birthdays
Romola Garai b. 1982 (The Last Days on Mars)
Karl Davies b. 1982 (Game of Thrones)
Adrianne Curry b. 1982 (Light Years Away)
Marisa Miller b. 1978 (R.I.P.D.)
Jennifer Lyons b. 1977 (Professor Creepy’s Scream Party, The Amazing Spider-Man, Return of the Killer Shrews, Jack Frost 2: Revenge of the Mutant Killer Snowman)
Melissa George b. 1976 (Gothica [TV], 30 Days of Night, The Amityville Horror, Charmed, Dark City)
Soleil Moon Frye b. 1976 (Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Piranhas)
Jason Rogel b. 1976 (Swamp Shark, The Quick and the Undead)
Ever Carradine b. 1974 (Supernatural, Eureka, 3rd Rock from the Sun)
Vera Farmiga b. 1973 (Source Code, Neverwas, Snow White: The Fairest of Them All)
Paolo Bacigalupi b. 1972 (won 2010 Hugo and Nebula for The Windup Girl)
Jason O’Mara b. 1972 (Terra Nova, Resident Evil: Extinction, Eastwick, Space Truckers)
Merrin Dungey b. 1971 (Once Upon a Time, Beyond, Good vs Evil, Deep Impact, Babylon 5)
M Night Shyamalan b. 1970 (director, After Earth, The Last Airbender, The Happening, The Lady in the Water, The Village, Signs, Unbreakable, The Sixth Sense)
Alan Cox b. 1970 (The Odyssey)
Michelle Yeoh b. 1962 (Babylon A.D., The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor)
Leland Orser b.1960 (Revolution, Touch, Star Trek: Enterprise, Daredevil, Alien: Resurrection, Star Trek: Voyager, Invader, Escape from L. A., Deep Space Nine, The X Files, Eerie, Indiana)
Ian R. MacLeod b. 1956 (author, The Great Wheel, The Summer Isles)
Stepfanie Kramer b. 1956 (The Man with Two Brains, The Secret Empire)
Kevin Jarre b. 1954 died 3 April 2001 (writer, The Mummy)
Catherine Hicks b. 1951 (Child’s Play, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Tucker’s Witch)
Jack Klaff b. 1951 (Red Dwarf, Whoops Apocalypse, Space: 1999, Star Wars)
Dorian Harewood b. 1950 (The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Kyle XY, Stargate SG-1, Earth: Final Conflict, Time Trax, Solar Crisis, Amerika, Desire, the Vampire, Looker)
Michael Anderson Jr. b. 1943 (Highlander [TV], The Martian Chronicles, Logan’s Run, Land of the Giants)
Louise Sorel b. 1940 (Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, The Incredible Hulk, The Curse of Dracula, Star Trek)
Paul Bartel b. 1938 died 13 May 2000 (Good vs Evil, Escape from L.A., Gremlins 2: The New Batch, Amazing Stories, Munchies, Heartbeeps, Death Race 2000)
Peter Bonerz b. 1938 (director, ALF; actor The Addams Family)
Barbara Windsor b. 1937 (Alice in Wonderland [2010], Doctor Who, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang)
Piers Anthony b. 1934 (author, Xanth)
Norman Barthold b. 1928 died 28 May 1994 (Capricorn One, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Westworld, My Favorite Martian)
Frank Finlay b. 1926 (Merlin [2008], The Magical Legend of the Leprechauns, Lifeforce, A Christmas Carol, The Thief of Baghdad [1978 TV], Count Dracula, The Deadly Bees, Target Luna)
Robert Mitchum b. 1917 died 1 July 1997 (Scrooged)
Lucille Ball b. 1911 died 26 April 1989 (The Magic Carpet)
Charles Crichton b. 1910 died 14 September 1999 (director, Alien Attack, Space: 1999, The Day After Tomorrow [1976 TV movie])

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, I went with fabulous babes who fell for Capt. Kirk, Louise Sorel and Catherine Hicks, and this year I go with Paolo Bacigalupi's The Windup Girl, a novel I read earlier this year.

2. Nepotism FTW. As you might guess, Ever Carradine is from the Carradine clan, daughter of Robert.

3. MST3K. The one I know for sure is The Deadly Bees with Frank Finlay

4. Today's surprises. I checked on Lucille Ball and Robert Mitchum expecting nothing, but she had one early in her career and he had one late.


5. Living Canadian free! One of those strange days.

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

Predictor: Morris L. Ernst in Utopia 1976, published in 1955

Prediction: As for water usage, with weather and rain control, the amount of water we need for irrigation will be what we make of it.

Reality: Controlling the weather is not quite as popular a prediction as flying cars or moving sidewalks, but this is definitely not the first prediction.

It doesn't make the prediction correct, but Mr. Ernst might be happy to know he's got company in his mistaken view.

Never to be Forgotten: George Cole 1925-2015
British actor George Cole, known best in his country as the star of a TV show Minder, has died at the age of 90. He is pictured here as the young Ebenezer Scrooge in the 1951 version of A Christmas Carol. His other genre credits include Mary Reilly, UFO and The Vampire Lovers.

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

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Once again, I will the writings of the young H.G. Wells to ruin that charming view some of us had of him when Malcolm McDowell played Wells all those years ago.
  
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

5 August 2015

Birthdays
Mars Curiosity landed 2012
Maddox Jolie-Pitt b. 2001 (World War Z)
Olivia Holt b. 1997 (Girl vs. Monster)
Ryan McDonald b. 1984 (Warehouse 13, Fringe, 2012, ReGenesis, Halloween: Resurrection)
Jesse Williams b. 1981 (The Cabin in the Woods)
Sophia Winkleman b. 1980 (Red Dwarf, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe)
Victor Cruz b. 1980 (Gotham, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Fringe)
Iddo Goldberg b. 1975 (Salem)
Lori Bagley b. 1973 (The Stepford Wives [2004])
Paul Kasey b. 1973 (Doctor Who, Being Human, The Sarah Jane Chronicles, Inkheart, Torchwood, 28 Days Later…, Blade II)
Darren Shahlavi b. 1972 died 14 January 2015 (Tomorrowland, Once Upon a Time on Wonderland, Continuum, Arrow, Aladdin and the Death Lamp, Mortal Kombat, Red Riding Hood, Watchmen, Bionic Woman [2007], Reaper, Slither, Merlin’s Apprentice, Legion of the Dead)
James Gunn b. 1970 (director, Guardians of the Galaxy, Slither [2006])
Chuck Campbell b. 1969 (Sanctuary, Stargate: Atlantis, Painkiller Jane, Stargate SG-1, Jason X, Earth: Final Conflict)
Jonathan Silverman b. 1966 (Inkubus, Jekyll, 12:01, Death Becomes Her)
Mark Strong b. 1963 (Nosferatu in Love, John Carter, Green Lantern, Kick-Ass, Babylon A.D., Stardust)
Tawny Kitaen b. 1961 (Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, They Came from Outer Space, Witchboard)
Vivian Kubrick b. 1960 (The Shining, 2001: A Space Odyssey)
Janet McTeer b. 1961 (Insurgent)
Maureen McCormick b. 1956 (I Dream of Jeannie, Bewitched)
Holly Palance b. 1950 (The Omen)
Loni Anderson b. 1945 (Sabrina, The Teenage Witch, Munchie, Amazing Stories, The Incredible Hulk, The Invisible Man [1975])
Natalie Trundy b. 1940 (Battle for the Planet of the Apes, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, Escape from the Planet of the Apes, Beneath the Planet of the Apes, Twilight Zone)
Larry Elmore b. 1948 (artist)
Jan Francis b. 1947 (Ghostbusters of East Finchley, Aladdin and the Forty Thieves, Dracula [1979])
Alan Howard b. 1937 died 14 February 2015 (Lord of the Rings)
John Saxon b. 1935 (Lancelot: Guardian of Time, From Dusk Till Dawn, Hellmaster, My Mom’s a Werewolf, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Prisoners of the Lost Universe, Battle Beyond the Stars, Wonder Woman, The Bionic Woman, The Six Million Dollar Man, Strange New World, Planet Earth, The Time Tunnel, Queen of Blood, Blood Beast from Outer Space)
Zakes Mokae b. 1934 died 11 September 2009 (The X Files, Waterworld, Outbreak, Vampire in Brooklyn, Knight Rider)
Joan Weldon b. 1933 (Them!)
Neil Armstrong b. 1930 died 25 August 2012 (first man to walk on the moon)
Don Matheson b.1929 died 29 June 2014 (Dragonflight, Alice in Wonderland [1985], Land of the Giants, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Lost in Space)
Mickey Shaughnessy b. 1920 died 23 July 1985 (Conquest of Space)
Selma Diamond b. 1920 died 13 May 1985 (Twilight Zone: The Movie)
Parley Baer b. 1914 died 22 November 2002 (Star Trek: Voyager, Roswell, Quantum Leap, Time Trackers, Twilight Zone [1986], The Incredible Hulk, Project U.F.O., Bewitched, Land of the Giants, I Dream of Jeannie, The Addams Family, My Favorite Martian, My Living Doll, The Outer Limits, The Brass Bottle)
John Huston b. 1906 died 28 August 1987 (Battle for the Planet of the Apes)
Reginald Owen b. 1887 died 5 November 1972 (Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Bewitched, Mary Poppins, A Christmas Carol [1938])

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, the Picture Slot was given to Neil Armstrong and The One Ring, voiced by Alan Howard. If I was in the mood to put up an actor, Reginald Owen as Scrooge is the most iconic, and putting up Mark Strong from Green Lantern would just be cruel, but I decided to celebrate the third anniversary of Mars Curiosity, one of the most science fiction-like real events in the past decade.

2. Spot the Canadians! Ryan McDonald and Chuck Campbell are Canadians and their credit lists look Canadian. The late Darren Shahlavi's credits look a little Canadian, but he was born in the U.K. (He also deserved his own Never to be Forgotten, but I didn't see his obit last January.) The unspottable Canadian is Selma Diamond. If I had to guess, I would have assumed she was a Jewish girl from New York.

3. Nepotism FTW. Vivian Kubrick and Maddox Jolie-Pitt are classic cases of nepotism.

4. Stuff didn't expect. Sometimes I see a name on imdb.com that I know and I click through to their credit page just to check, not knowing any genre credits and not expecting anything. That's what I did today with John Huston, Mickey Shaughnessy, Selma Diamond and Loni Anderson. That's a lot of surprises. 

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

Predictor: George Sutherland in Twentieth Century Inventions, published 1902

Prediction: But in electrical house-warming, for which a white heat is not required and in which the necessary protection from the air can be secured by embedding the conveying medium in opaque solid material, the problem becomes much simpler, because strong metallic wires can be used, and they may be enclosed in any kind of cement which does not corrode them and which distributes the heat while refusing to conduct the electric current. A network of wire, crossing and recrossing but always carrying the same current, may be embedded in plaster and a gentle heat may be imparted to the whole mass through the resistance of the wires to the electricity and their contact with the non-conducting material.

Reality: I don't know if this method was ever used, but it seems to me it would be hard pressed to produced enough heat to warm a house in the dead of winter in any cold climate unless the wall would become dangerously hot to the touch. Our undead architect friend would certainly know more than I on this subject.
 

Never to be Forgotten: Lynn Manning 1955-2015

 Los Angeles based actor and playwright Lynn Manning died from liver cancer last week. Manning had a very tough life even before dying so young. His young home life was very chaotic, living in multiple foster homes after his mother nearly killed his stepfather. He was blinded by a gunshot wound when he was 23. He established himself in the Los Angeles theater community and also acted on screen as well. He is mentioned here for a role in the sitcom the Vamps Next Door.

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

Never to be Forgotten: Coleen Gray 1922-2015

Actress Coleen Gray began he film career in the 1940s and was featured in big budget films like Kiss of Death, The Killing and Red River. Later in her career, she got bigger roles in smaller genre productions, most notably The Leech Woman, a film which got the MST3K treatment. Other genre roles include  Tales from the Darkside, The Sixth Sense, The Phantom Planet and The Vampire.

Best wishes to the family and friends of Coleen Gray, from a fan. She is never to be forgotten. 
 
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Thursday now belongs to our very optimistic pal Morris Ernst in his 1955 book Utopia 1976.
  
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!