18 October 2013

Birthdays
Zac Efron b.1987 (Firefly)
Frieda Pinto b. 1984 (Rise from the Planet of the Apes)
Xun Zhou b. 1974 (Cloud Atlas)
Owen Wilson b. 1968 (Night at the Museum)
Jean Claude Van Damme b. 1960 (Universal Soldier, Timecop)
Arliss Howard b. 1954 (The Time Traveler’s Wife, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Twilight Zone, The Day After)
Chuck Lorre b. 1952 (show runner, The Big Bang Theory)
Pam Dawber b.1951 (Mork and Mindy)
Joe Morton b. 1947 (Terminator 2, Eureka, Brother from Another Planet)
Howard Shore b.1946 (music, Lord of the Rings, The Hobbitt)
Peter Boyle b. 1935 died 12 December 2006 (Young Frankenstein, The X-Files)
George C. Scott b. 1927 died 22 September 1999 (Firestarter, Dr. Strangelove)
Klaus Kinski b. 1926 died 23 November 1991 (Nosferatu, Timestalkers)

A lot of well known names on the list today. Pam Dawber gets The Picture Slot not only for being a Pretty Girl, but given all these people, she is the one whose most famous role is in a show with a science fiction premise.

Many happy returns to all the living people listed here.   
 

Songs of the Future!

Predictor: War Movie, written by Paul Kantner, released on the 1971 album Bark by Jefferson Airplane

Prediction:
Thirteen battalion of mind raiders 
Three hundred master computer killers 
From great platforms in the mountains
Twenty mile lasers & great giant trackers... 
Twenty miles south now in 1975 
All my people rose from the countryside 
Until we meet again and touch our hands together in another land

Reality: This album was released on their own label in 1971, the first recorded after founding member Marty Balin left. This is the first of two songs by Kantner that predict important events happening in 1975. The second such song, Ride the Tiger, was recorded by Jefferson Starship and has been mentioned on the blog back in August. As for the prediction, no great revolutionary war took place in 1975. At least as far as I remember. That time is kind of a blur for me, if you know what I mean.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

What can we expect in 1993. Splendid Amazons and pygmy men.


Hmm. I'll have to mark my calendar.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
 

11 October 2013

Birthdays
Michelle Trachtenberg b. 1985 (Buffy)
Matt Bomer b. 1977 (In Time)
Claudia Black b. 1972 (Farscape, Pitch Black)
Stephen Moyer b. 1969 (True Blood)
Michael J. Nelson (Mystery Science Theater 3000)
Tim Choate (Babylon 5) b. 1954 died 24 September 2004
David Morse b. 1953 (Contact, World War Z)

An all actor list of birthdays, and most of these actors are best known for TV work. Once again, we have a Babylon 5 actor who died before the age of 60. Tim Choate played Zathras and his character was not mentioned in the main credits. The other four late actors, Andreas Katsulas, Jeff Conaway, Michael O'Hare and Richard Biggs, were main credit actors.

And so I repeat, a very unlucky show. More than that, it's hard to find it in re-runs or streaming online, so for a younger generation it's considered obscure. That's a shame. It was one of the first sci-fi shows with a long story arc, and it made the Star Trek franchise step up it's game.

Well, that's enough ruing the fate of a 1990s TV show. Many happy returns of the day to the living actors on the list.
 

Songs of the Future!

Prediction: 
The machine that we built
Would never save us that's what they say
That's why they ain't comin' with us today
And they also said it's impossible
For a man to live and breathe underwater…

Predictor: Jimi Hendrix, from the song 1983... (A Merman I Should Turn To Be), recorded in 1968

Reality: Wait. Jimi Hendrix is going to become Ethel Merman? That's... disturbing.

Wait. Scratch that. Misunderstanding. My bad.

They said it was impossible for a man to live and breathe underwater in 1968 and 45 years later... well, they are still saying it.

Nice guitar solo, though.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Tomorrow, we will hear another voice from 1893 predict the 20th Century, this time looking at the possibility for a truly American theater experience.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

31 August 2013

Birthdays
Marc Webb b. 1974 (Director, The Amazing Spider-Man)
Zack Ward b. 1970 (Transformers, Dollhouse)
Jack Thompson b. 1940 (Star Wars episode II: Attack of the Clones)
Richard Basehart b. 1914 died 17 September 1984 (Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea)


Many happy returns to the living on our list today. I gave the Picture Slot to the late Richard Basehart because Gypsy on Mystery Science Theater 3000 had a big crush on him.

Songs of the Future!

Prediction:
Toll the bell, pay the private eye
All's well, 20th Century dies.

Predictor: David Bowie, I Have Not Been to Oxford Town, from the album Outside, released 26 September 1995

Reality: The predictions are not really in the lyrics as much as they are in the liner notes. The premise is that many ritual murders will occur at the end of the 20th Century and art critics will be brought in, not to solve the crime but instead to decide whether or not the murder should be considered art.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Sundays belong to The Martian Chronicles for the next few months, and tomorrow the first men set foot on the Red Planet.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
 

3 August 2013

 Birthdays
Evangeline Lilly b. 1979 (Lost)
Martin Sheen b. 1940 (Amazing Spider-Man, Babylon 5, Spawn, The Dead Zone)
Clifford D. Simak b. 1904 died 4/25/1988 (won 1964 Hugo for Here Gather the Stars)

I got into Lost late and I left early. I watched several seasons on DVD courtesy of Netflix and gave up when I got the distinct impression it was being made up on the fly. (Score one for me.) But for all that, Evangeline Lilly is really cute and I would have to be an idiot to give the picture slot to anyone else. Martin Sheen has been in genre films and TV shows, but the best known work in his long successful career is in non sci-fi.

Movies released
Total Recall (remake) released, 2012

Songs of the Future!

Prediction:
 Look to the summer of seventy-five 
All the world is gonna come alive

Predictor: Ride the Tiger by Jefferson Starship, 1974

Reality: The lyrics are heavy handed racial stereotypes with a prediction of Asian domination because of their more spiritual outlook. Looking backward, it's clear that Asia has a much more important role in world affairs than it did when the song was written, but nothing magical happened in the Summer of 1975 to cause this. The success of Asia has more to do with manufacturing the plastic shit Americans love to buy than in any more enlightened world view.

Special thanks to my old buddy Michael Dresbach, a.k.a. El Doctor Padre Mickey, for remembering this particular song.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

An exact date for the start of the robot controlled future.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
 

27 July 2013

Birthdays
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau b. 1970 (Game of Thrones)
Julian McMahon b. 1968 (Fantastic Four, Charmed)

Many happy returns to Jaime Lannister and Doctor Doom, an odd couple if there ever was one.

Release dates

Planet of the Apes (reboot) released 27 July 2001
The Guild, episode 1 of season 1 released, 2007 

Felicia Day and company started a series about a group of online game players interacting with one another in real life as well six years ago today. It has had quite an impact on the way original stories are presented to the public. Best wishes to Ms. Day, her cast and crew.

As for Tim Burton, his career is checkered at best and his Planet of the Apes is one of his many films best forgotten, in my never humble opinion.
 

Songs of the Future!

Prediction:
Cuz they say two thousand zero zero party over,
Oops out of time
So tonight I'm gonna party like it's 1999

Predictor: Prince in the lyrics of 1999, recorded 1982

Reality: A lot of people got all antsy about the change of the calendar, but we survived it pretty well. Even if the song was not prophetic, I do nominate side one of this album as the best single side of vinyl of all time. In order, the tracks are:

1999
Delirious
Little Red Corvette

Seriously, if a compilation calls itself The Best of Prince and it doesn't have all three of those songs, it's not the best of Prince.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Another exact date from the racist fantasy The Turner Diaries.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

20 July 2013

Birthdays
Roberto Orci b. 1973 (writer, Xena, Star Trek (reboot))
Josh Holloway b. 1969 (Lost)
Carlos Saldanha b. 1968 (co-director Ice Age)
Reed Diamond b. 1967 (Dollhouse)

In a situation like this, I often go with the Whedonverse actor in the picture slot, but even though I gave up on Lost well before the ending that disappointed many, there's no denying how popular it was during much of its run.

Movies released
The Dark Knight Rises released 2012

There was a time not so long ago that I saw nearly every big budget sci-fi and comic book movie that came out, but a few bad experiences cured me of this habit. For me, The Dark Knight was one of those bad experiences, so I didn't see The Dark Knight Rises.
  

Songs of the Future!

Prediction: The public discovers the world will end in 1977, five years in the future

Predictor: David Bowie in the song Five Years from The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, released in 1972

Reality: The world didn't end, of course, but music fans will likely have noticed that I use the label "We've got ____ years/And that's all we've got" for all apocalypses with specific dates on them, which is the hook from Five Years.

Five Years is song one on side one on Ziggy and it's one of the best opening songs on an album of all time as far as I'm concerned. More than that, I once remember playing the album for a friend who asked if it was a greatest hits compilation.  For those of us who were listening to the radio in 1972 (a mere 41 years ago) the songs are that familiar and that good.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Yet another bold prediction with a cool illustration from Popular Mechanics.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE! 

13 July 2013

Birthdays
Fran Kranz b. 1981 (Dollhouse)
Gil Birmingham b. 1953 (Twilight)
Cheech Marin b. 1946 (Spy Kids)
Harrison Ford b. 1942 (Star Wars)
Sir Patrick Stewart b. 1940 (Star Trek: The Next Generation)

Today presents a difficult decision. Harrison Ford or Sir Patrick Stewart? Star Wars or Star Trek?

Kingdoms have swayed in the balance of simpler decisions.

But this year, I found out a few things about Sir Patrick that give him the nod in the first 13th of July this blog will celebrate.

He does charitable work for two causes, ending domestic violence and helping people with post traumatic stress disorder. Here's a video from a comic convention where he talks to the crowd about why.

Sir Patrick is a wonderful mensch as well as an A-Number-1 Tip-Top Actor. Many happy returns to everyone on the list.

(Thanks to Laura Eakins for pointing out an earlier error on my part. My data base erroneously had Mr. Ford's birthday on 14 July.)

Songs of the Future!

For the next few Saturdays, this blog will celebrate popular songs that predicted future events, with dates included that have already passed or will happen soon. With this last criterion, a song like In the Year 2525 is not going to be included.


Song and songwriter: Marathon by Jacques Brel, 1968, English lyrics by Mort Shuman and Eric Blau

Lyric:
And the Seventies flash and the Eighties bang
And the Nineties whimper and the century hangs
Robots working in the cotton fields
Vacations on Venus just a tourist deal
Fornication on tape, instant happiness...

Reality: The predictions about the decades are vague, but flash, bang and whimper sound like a war and its aftermath. This is written at a time of great nuclear anxiety, but as we know, there wasn't a big nuclear war and with any luck there won't be one.

So let's go with the specific predictions.

Robots working in the cotton fields: Big machines driven by humans, yes. Robots, no.
Vacations on Venus: No. Way too hot and a poisonous atmosphere.
Fornication on tape: Video taped porn? Yeah, absolutely.
Instant happiness: There are mood-altering drugs that could be called "instant happiness", but they don't work in all cases.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

The next few Mondays will be predictions from OMNI Future Almanac, so I'll be handing Sunday chores over to Popular Mechanics.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!