20 June 2015

Birthdays
Hulk released 2003
Jadin Gould b. 1998 (Man of Steel, Battle Los Angeles)
Claudia Lee b. 1996 (Kick-Ass 2)
Christopher Mintz-Plasse b. 1989 (Kick-Ass, This is the End, Fright Night)
Shefali Chowdhury b. 1988 (Harry Potter)
Dreama Walker b. 1986 (Vamperifica, The Invention of Lying)
Collings Pennie b. 1985 (In Time)
Jobeth Wagner b. 1985 (True Blood, Hancock)
Kate Kelton b. 1978 (Haven, Growth)
Ronnie Gene Blevins b. 1977 (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., True Blood, The Dark Knight Rises, A.I. Artificial Intelligence)
Tom Wlaschiha b. 1973 (Game of Thrones, The Sarah Jane Chronicles)
Josh Lucas b. 1971 (Space Warriors, Hulk)
Raymond Olubawale b. 1970 (Resident Evil)
Robert Rodriguez b. 1968 (director, Sin City, From Dusk Till Dawn, Planet Terror, The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl 3D, Spy Kids, The Faculty)
Nicole Kidman b. 1967 (How to Talk to Girls at Parties, The Golden Compass, The Invasion, Bewitched [2005 movie], The Stepford Wives, The Others, Practical Magic, Batman Forever)
Chuck Wagner b. 1958 (Into the Woods, The Sisterhood, America 3000, Automan)
Miles O’ Keefe b. 1954 (Waxwork, Sword of the Valiant: The Legend of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Ator the Fighting Eagle)
John Goodman b. 1952 (Speed Racer, The Borrowers, Fallen, Arachnophobia, C.H.U.D.)
Don Mantooth b. 1952 (Knight Rider, Battlestar Galactica [1979], Kolchak: The Night Stalker, The Six Million Dollar Man)
Candy Clark b. 1947 (Buffy the Vampire Slayer [movie], The Blob [1988], Starman [TV], Amityville 3D, Q, The Man Who Fell to Earth)
Oliver Cotton b. 1944 (Penny Dreadful, The Dark Knight Rises, Beowulf [1999], Space Precinct, Space; 1999)
John McCook b. 1944 (David’s Dinosaur, Amazing Stories. Once Upon a Brothers Grimm)
John Mahoney b. 1940 (3rd Rock from the Sun, The Manhattan Project)
Wendy Craig b. 1934 (Out of the Unknown)
Brett Halsey b. 1933 (TekWar, Forever Knight, Automan, Knight Rider, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, The Bionic Woman, Revenge of the Creature)
Danny Aiello b. 1933 (The Stuff)
James Tolkan b. 1931 (Early Edition, Robo Warriors, Back to the Future, Masters of the Universe, Iceman, WarGames, Wolfen, The Amityville Horror, The Werewolf of Washington)
Olympia Dukakis b. 1931 (The Librarian)
Bonnie Bartlett b. 1929 (Firefly, Stargate SG-1, SeaQuest 2032, The Wizard, V, Salem’s Lot)
Martin Landau b. 1928 (Sleepy Hollow [1999 movie], The Adventures of Pinocchio, The X-Files, The Return of the Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman, The Twilight Zone [1985, 1964, 1959], The Return, Meteor, The Fall of the House of Usher, Space: 1999, The Outer Limits)
Robb White b. 1909 died 24 November 1990 (writer, Thirteen Ghosts, House on Haunted Hill, The Tingler)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, the Picture Slot went to Robert Rodriguez and Nicole Kidman. This year, it was a toss-up between Martin Landau and today's winner, Tom Wlaschiha, who playes the Faceless Man Jaqen H'ghar on Game of Thrones.


2. Hey, no Star Trek! Star Trek is far and away the most common label on the blog, but some days there are no Trek artists are celebrating birthdays. So far this month, it's happened about once a week.

3. MST3K. I know Revenge of the Creature got the treatment, there may be others.

4. Spot the Canadian! Kate Kelton is our lone Canadian today and she's hard to spot.

5. The Guy at the Door. Regular readers will know I feel somewhat awkward pointing out this demographic quirk when it happens, but today I can put a positive spin on it, or at least I think I can. Martin Landau is the oldest living person on the list and everyone younger than him is also alive. This includes a bunch of actors in their 80s, some of the best known names on the list. There is a nineteen year gap between Mr. Landau and the next oldest person, the writer Robb White, and it is completely unreasonable to expect Mr. White would live to be 106. So in terms of good news, no one on our list died young and the oldest person happens to be Martin Landau, to whom the blog extends its best wishes for him to enjoy many more happy, healthy years. 

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

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

Prediction: Radio and television will no doubt continue to be part of effortless imbibing, but the difficulty of supplying over five billion new words a year to fill our demanding may well create a competitive disability.

Reality: The lion's share of Mr. Ernst's predictions are about uses of leisure time, and he believes Americans will have much more with a new 30 hour work week. More than that, he believes Americans will use the extra time in morally and physically uplifting ways, and he does not consider being in an audience uplifting. He gets some points for predicting the entertainment industry may effectively run out of things to say, but does not make the further prediction that movies and TV would make so many remakes and people would still watch them.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Sunday belongs to Robert A. Heinlein's The Door Into Summer, whose predictions are mostly about technological advances in the last half of the 20th Century.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

14 March 2015

 Birthdays
Ansel Elgort b. 1994 (Allegiant, Insurgent, Divergent, Carrie)
Demetrius Joyette b. 1993 (Carrie [2013], Wonderfalls)
Jamie Bell b. 1986 (The Fantastic Four [2015], Jumper, Snowpiercer, Jumper, King Kong [2005])
Mercedes McNab b. 1980 (Supernatural, Angel, Buffy, Escape from Atlantis, The Fantastic Four [1994], The Addams Family, Harry and the Hendersons [TV])
Chris Klein b. 1979 (Rollerball [2002])
Daniel Gillies b. 1976 (The Vampire Diaries, The Originals, True Blood, Spider-Man 2, Jeremiah, Cleopatra 2525, Young Hercules)
Corey Stoll b. 1976 (Ant-Man, The Strain, Charmed)
Ernesto Cantu b. 1975 (Extinction, World War Z)
Grace Park b. 1974 (Battlestar Galactica, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Andromeda, Jake 2.0, Stargate SG-1, Dark Angel, The Immortal)
Veronica Gray b. 1974 (La Femme Vampir, Batman & Robin)
Meredith Salenger b. 1970 (Race to Witch Mountain, My Apocalypse, Werewolf in a Women’s Prison, Lake Placid, Buffy, Poltergeist: The Legacy, Village of the Damned [1995], Tales from the Crypt, )
James Frain b. 1968 (Agent Carter, Intruders [2014], Sleepy Hollow, Grimm, Tron Legacy, True Blood, FlashForward, Dark Relic, Fringe, Invasion, Threshold, Tales from the Crypt, Loch Ness)
Kevin Williamson b. 1965 (writer, The Vampire Diaries, The Faculty)
Kiana Tom b. 1965 (Universal Soldier: The Return, Cyber Bandits)
Laila Robbins b. 1959 (Witchblade)
Season Hubley b. 1951 (Humanoids From the Deep, The Twilight Zone [1985], Escape form New York)
Billy Crystal b. 1948 (Which Witch?, Tooth Fairy, The Princess Bride, Faerie Tale Theatre)
Steve Kanaly b. 1946 (Scorpio One, Twilight Zone [1989], Time Express, The Bionic Woman, The Terminal Man)
Tim Rossovich b. 1946 (Harry and the Hendersons [TV], ALF, Knight Rider, Automan, Voyagers!, Looker, Wonder Woman)
Anita Morris b. 1943 died 2 March 1994 (Eerie, Indiana, Tales from the Crypt, Martians Go Home)
Wolfgang Petersen b. 1941 (director, The Neverending Story, Enemy Mine, Outbreak)
Raymond J. Barry b. 1939 (The 100, LA Apocalypse, Lost, The X Files, Flubber [1997], Tales from the Crypt)
Eugene Cernan b. 1934 (astronaut)
Michael Caine b. 1933 (The Last Witch Hunter, Interstellar, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, Inception, Children of Men, The Prestige, Bewitched [2005], 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea [1997], The Muppet Christmas Carol, Jekyll & Hyde [TV], The Hand, The Swarm, The Magus)
Skip Young b. 1930 died 17 March 1993 (Lobster Man from Mars, Earth vs the Spider)
Arch Johnson b. 1922 died 9 October 1997 (Wonder Woman, The Invisible Man [1975], Bewitched, Land of the Giants, The Invaders, The Munsters, Twilight Zone)
Dennis Patrick b. 1918 died 13 October 2002 (Twilight Zone [1987], The Incredible Hulk, The Bionic Woman, The Six Million Dollar Man, Dark Shadows, Lost in Space, The Time Travelers)
Albert Einstein b. 1979 died 18 April 1955 (physicist)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, the Picture Slot went to astronaut Eugene Cernan and Mercedes McNab from Buffy and Angel. The contenders this year were Albert Einstein, Michael Caine, Billy Crystal and the winner, Grace Park from Battlestar Galactica.

Wait, the fabulous babe won? That's just weird, I tell ya. 

2. Spot the Canadians! Besides being a fabulous babe, Grace Park was raised in Canada, though not born there. True natives on the list are Daniel Gillies, Mercedes McNab and Demetrius Joyette.

3. Hey... no Star Trek! Yet again, we have a day without any Star Trek actors. Just one of those things

4. MST3K. Skip young was in Earth vs the Spider.

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

Predictor: Octavus Cohen (1860-1927), music and drama critic.

Prediction: Shakespeare will still be in vogue, but the popular concoctions of today will be forgotten. Regional theater will be strong and the two great cities for drama will be San Francisco and Chicago. Few performers will have incomes commensurate with Sarah Bernhardt or Adelina Patti. America will produce composers the equal of Beethoven and dramatists equal to Sheridan and Goldsmith, though no equal to Shakespeare shall ever live.

Reasonably well-to-do men will have telephotes in their home and be able to watch performances from anywhere in the city live in the comfort of his own home. Refreshments at the theatre will be dispensed by machines.

Reality: Okay, here's a guy going out on a limb. His "telephote" is our television, so he gets full points there. Machines for refreshment, another good call.

As for the first paragraph, he's right about Shakespeare still being at the top of the heap, and as for late 19th Century entertainment other than Gilbert and Sullivan, almost all the rest is lost. New York outshines Chicago still and the desert city of Los Angeles is more important than San Francisco. (I should probably refrain from cracks about "desert cities". We in Oakland are probably about two years away from being a desert city ourselves.) We have loads of entertainers making Sarah Bernhardt money or better. I don't think any 20th Century classical composer stands equal to Beethoven in the public consciousness, but we do have playwrights much better known than Sheridan and Goldsmith.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

More of Heinlein's guesses about 1970 and 2000 from his vantage point in the late 1950s.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
 

14 January 2015

Birthdays
Grant Gustin b. 1990 (The Flash, Arrow)
Kacey Barnfield b. 1988 (World War Dead: Rise of the Fallen, Jabberwock, Resident Evil: Afterlife, Lake Placid 3)
Zach Gilford b. 1982 (The Purge: Anarchy, Rise: Blood Hunter)
Jordan Ladd b. 1975 (Awaken, Embrace of the Vampire)
Kevin Durand b. 1974 (The Strain, Garm Wars: The Last Druid, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, Resident Evil: Retribution, I Am Number Four, Lost, Legion, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Kyle XY, Threshold, Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, The Butterfly Effect, Dead Like Me, Taken, Andromeda, Dark Angel, Stargate SG-1)
Davis S. Hogan b. 1974 (Z Nation, Bigfoot, Grimm)
Katie Griffin b. 1973 (Annedroids, Earth: Final Conflict, Total Recall 2070, The Adventures of Sinbad, Forever Knight, RoboCop)
Jason Bateman b. 1969 (The Invention of Lying, Hancock, Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium, Teen Wolf Two, Knight Rider)
LL Cool J b. 1968 (Rollerball [2002], Deep Blue Sea)
Emily Watson b. 1967 (The Water Horse, Equilibrium)
Kerri Green b. 1967 (The Goonies)
Mark Addy b. 1964 (Atlantis[TV], Game of Thrones, The Time Machine)
Steven Soderbergh b. 1963 (director, Solaris, Contagion)
Suzanne Danielle b. 1957 (Hammer House of Horror, Flash Gordon, Doctor Who)
Lawrence Kasdan b. 1949 (writer, Dreamcatcher, The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Return of the Jedi)
Carl Weathers b. 1948 (Sheriff Tom Vs. The Zombies, The Sasquatch Gang, Alien Siege, Predator, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Six Million Dollar Man)
Stuart Baird b. 1947 (director, Star Trek: Nemesis)
Vonetta McGee b. 1945 died 9 July 2010 (Brother Future, Repo Man, Blacula)
Marjoe Gortner b. 1944 (Otherworld, Food of the Gods, Starcrash)
Holland Taylor b. 1943 (Spy Kids, Strange Frequency, The Truman Show)
Faye Dunaway b. 1941 (The Gene Generation, Anonymous Rex, The Handmaid’s Tale, Supergirl)
John Castle b. 1940 (RoboCop 3, 1990, The Prisoner)
Tom Tryon b. 1926 died 4 September 1991 (I Married a Monster From Outer Space)
Warren Mitchell b. 1926 (A Christmas Carol [2000 TV], Jabberwocky, Moon Zero Two, Blood Beast from Outer Space, The Curse of the Werewolf, The Crawling Eye)
Guy Williams b. 1924 died 30 April 1989 (Lost in Space, Captain Sindbad, I Was a Teenage Werewolf)
Joe Seneca b. 1919 died 15 August 1996 (SeaQuest 2032, The Blob [1988], Amazing Stories)
Joseph Losey b. 1909 died 22 June 1984 (director, X the Unknown, The Boy with Green Hair )
Hugh Lofting b. 1886 died 26 September 1947 (author, Doctor Dolittle)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, I used Mark Addy from Game of Thrones and the writer Lawrence Kasdan. I could gone new school and used Grant Gustin, star of the new show The Flash, but instead I went old school with Guy Williams from Lost in Space. Other good options include Carl Weathers from Predator and Faye Dunaway from The Handmaid's Tale.

2. Spot the Canadians! There are two, they were born after 1970. With those hints, it's possible to find them.

3. MST3K. I know of two on the list: Warren Mitchell was in Moon Zero Two and Guy Williams was in I Was a Teenage Werewolf. Zombie Rotten McDonald has added one, since Mr. Mitchell was also in The Crawling Eye.

4. Wait... she's dead? I didn't know Vonetta McGee had died. Very pretty actress, her heyday was in the 1970s.

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

Predictor: Anonymous writer in the New York World, predicting the year 2011 in 1911

Prediction: When they rose from the table after dinner Mr. Barrett expressed the hope that Mr. Smith would pass the evening with them and suggested that they go to the theatre. His daughter suggested the opera. Mr. Barrett thought Mr. Smith might like to hear that ancient classic Chantecler which was being given at Daly's.

"I like those old-fashioned simple things" said the host, "and in music I confess I do not understand the new composers beyond Strauss. Mother, will you join us?"

The aged Mrs. Barrett shook her head. "I will leave you. I have my own theatre, that of the old folks."

"My mother has a photocinematograph and is never tired of making it unroll the films on which her whole life is registered." said Mr. Barrett. "Daughter, put out the lights and put us in communication with the Old Theatre."

Mr.s Barrett had the telephototheatrophone in his house.

Reality: This is the last of the predictions from The New York World. Here our anonymous pal is predicting some sort of home theatre for playing films the owner has made and something else like television. The first one is not such a great leap forward in 1911, but predicting television is several technical advances away from the state of the art in 1911. We got similar predictions from the 1905 book A Hundred Years Hence and Looking Backward: 2000-1888, so while this is bold and correct, it is not completely original. The in joke here is that Chantecler, allegedly ancient, was a verse play released in 1910.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Tomorrow is Thursday and we get another incorrect prediction from The Experts Speak. 

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

20 November 2014

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25 October 2014

Birthdays
Conchita Campbell b. 1995 (The 4400, Supernatural, Zixx: Level Two)
Will Harris b. 1986 (Galyntine, In Time, Sky High)
John Robinson b. 1985 (Something Wicked, Transformers)
Mehcad Brooks b. 1980 (Creature, True Blood, Dollhouse)
Sarah Thompson b. 1979 (Angel, FreakyLinks)
Mariana Klaveno b. 1979 (True Blood)
Michael Weston b. 1973 (Coma [2012 TV], Gamer, Supernatural, Evil Alien Conquerors, Wishcraft, NightMan)
Persia White b. 1972 (The Vampire Diaries, Angel, Buffy, Weird Science [TV], Last Action Hero)
Craig Robinson b. 1971 (Rapture-Palooza, This is the End, Hot Tub Time Machine 1 & 2, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian)
Michael Soltis b. 1971 (Fringe, 10.5, X-Men 2, Smallville, Taken, Stargate SG-1)
Adam Goldberg b. 1970 (Christmas on Mars, Frankenstein [2004 TV], The Prophecy)
Michael Boatman b. 1964 (Warehouse 13, Quantum Leap)
Melinda McGraw b. 1963 (The Dark Knight, Journey Man, The X Files, House of Frankenstein)
Tracy Nelson b. 1963 (My Stepbrother is a Vampire!?!)
Darlene Vogel b. 1962 (Farscape, Back to the Future Part II)
Gale Anne Hurd b. 1955 (producer, The Walking Dead, Punisher, The Coven, Hulk, AEon Flux, Armageddon, Terminator, Tremors, Alien Nation, Aliens, The Abyss)
Glynis Barber b. 1955 (Highlander: The Return, The Apocalypse Watch, Red Dwarf, Blakes 7)
John Matuszak b. 1950 died 17 June 1989 (The Princess and the Dwarf, Superboy, The Charmings, The Ice Pirates, Caveman)
Mark L. Taylor b. 1950 (Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Harry and the Hendersons [TV], Alien Nation [TV], Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, Innerspace, Star Trek: Voyager, Arachnophobia, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Twilight Zone [1986], V: The Final Battle)
Leigh Christian b. 1945 (The Six Million Dollar Man, Beyond Atlantis)
Anthony Franciosa b. 1928 died 19 January 2006 (Twilight Zone [1989], Earth II)
Peter Dennis b. 1933 (Star Trek: Voyager)
Marion Ross b. 1928 (Colossus: The Forbin Project, The Outer Limits)
Billy Barty b.1924 died 23 December 2000 (The Munsters Today, Lobster Man from Mars, Willow, Masters of the Universe, Snow White, Rumpelstiltskin, Star Fairies, Legend, Dr. Shrinker, The Lost Saucer, Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, The Bugaloos, The Undead, The Bride of Frankenstein)

Whit Bissell b. 1909 died 5 March 1996 (Project U.F.O., The Bionic Woman, Land of the Giants, The Invaders, I Dream of Jeannie, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Outer Limits, Men Into Space, Monster on the Campus, The Time Machine, Soylent Green, The Incredible Hulk [TV], The Time Tunnel, Star Trek, I Was a Teenage Frankenstein, I Was a Teenage Werewolf, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Atomic Kid, Target Earth, Creature From the Black Lagoon)
Leo G. Carroll b. 1886 died 16 October 1972 (Tarantula, Topper, A Christmas Carol)

Last years Picture Slot was Sarah Thompson as Eve on Angel, because I'm a Whedonverse nerd and she's a Fabulous Babe to boot. This year, I went with Oh That Guy extraordinaire Whit Bissell. Next year is a toss-up, but the character actor choices are the most likely, John Matuszak, Mark L. Taylor, Billy Barty or Leo G. Carroll.

Many actors on the list have credits in Canadian produced genre TV, but there is only one native Canadian on the list to spot. Answer in the comments.
 

 Five fun facts from 2015!

Predictor: Back to the Future, Part II released 22 March 1989

Prediction: In 2015, there will be a massive number of TV channels to chose from.

Reality: People really do have TV screens that big in their houses, though splitting into six sub-screens is not very common. The screen at the upper right is not just some smutty addition by an Internet photoshopper, that was really one of the options Marty could have chosen. While this is a comedy and many predictions were just there to be amusing, this one is pretty close to right on the money.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Back to the Future week ends with a date from the first film.


Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

18 June 2014

 Birthdays
Max Records b. 1997 (Where the Wild Things Are)
Willa Holland b. 1991 (Arrow, Legion)
Jacob Anderson b. 1990 (Game of Thrones)
Meaghan Rath b. 1986 (Being Human, 10.5: Apocalypse)
Kristina Klebe b. 1979 (Chillerama, Zone of the Dead, Halloween [2007])
Alana De La Garza b. 1976 (Forever, Charmed, Smallville, Mortal Kombat: Conquest)
Kim Dickens b. 1965 (FlashForward, Lost, Hollow Man)
Ralph Brown b. 1957 (Jack the Giant Slayer, Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist, Star Wars: Epidsode I – The One We Don’t Discuss, Alien³)
Isabella Rossellini b. 1952 (The Phantom, Infected, Earthsea, Merlin [1998], Death Becomes Her)
Carol Kane b. 1952 (Addams Family Values, Scrooged, The Princess Bride, Transylvania 6-5000)
Miriam Flynn b. 1952 (Evolution, Deep Space Nine, Buffy)
Steve Miner b. 1951 (director, Eureka, Day of the Dead, Smallville, Lake Placid, Halloween H20: 20 years Later, Friday the 13th II and III)
Mac McDonald b. 1949 (Red Dwarf, The Fifth Element, Gulliver’s Travels [1996 TV], The Tomorrow People, Nightbreed, Batman, Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, The Empire Strikes Back, Rollerball)
Roger Ebert b. 1942 died 4/4/2013 (writer, critic)
Michael Sheard b. 1938 died 21 August 2005 (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Doctor Who, Space, The Invisible Man, The Empire Strikes Back, Blakes 7, The Tomorrow People, Space: 1999)
George Hearn b. 1934 (Star Trek: The Next Generation)
Richard Boone b. 1917 died 19 January 1981 (The Last Dinosaur)
E.G. Marshall b. 1914 died 24 August 1998 (The Tommyknockers, Superman II, Vampire)
Nedra Volz b. 1908 died 20 January 2003 (ALF, Earth Girls Are Easy)
Keye Luke b. 1904 died 12 January 1991 (Gremlins, Superboy, Beauty and the Beast [1988 TV], Star Trek, Project X, The Green Hornet [1966 and 1940])

Last week, the Picture Slot would have belonged to Jacob Anderson, leader of Danerys' Unsullied. But Game of Thrones is officially off the air now, so it's a open race. Carol Kane from The Princess Bride is certainly iconic, Isabella Rossellini is obviously a fabulous babe, Michael Sheard is famous as the admiral who Darth Vader chokes with his brain. (Sheard also played Hitler five times, though I don't see the resemblance.) But as you can see, the Picture Slot went Keye Luke in his role from Gremlins. You might notice that he was in two different versions of The Green Hornet, which is only barely a genre show. He was Kato in 1940.

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

Movies released
Toy Story 3 released, 2010

Predictor: Herman Kahn in Things to Come, published in 1972 by the Hudson Institute

Prediction:By 1985, cable TV will be a virtually unlimited smorgasbord of home entertainment for every taste.

Reality: Welcome to our new regular Wednesday predictor, Herman Kahn, who is called "a prominent futurist". Our regular commenter has some choice words for anyone called a futurist, but let's note that this was a very good call. In 1972, cable is pretty much a forced option for people who live away from the big broadcast antennas and though cable 30 years ago is a paltry thing compared to today, it was quite a step up from the three networks, PBS and UHF we had in the early 1970s.

Kahn was a conservative intellectual and gained notoriety in the 1960 when working for the RAND Corporation and stated that nuclear war was survivable and winnable. Characters stating his ideas showed up in several movies, notably Walter Matthau in Fail-Safe and Peter Sellers as Dr. Strangelove in the movie of the same name. Not unlike Lee de Forest, Kahn is hit and miss, unlike Ray Kurzweil and Paul Ehrlich, who were pretty much miss and miss.

And miss and miss and miss again.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!
  
I mentioned Lee de Forest and of course, tomorrow is his regular date, guessing about the year 2000 from his vantage point in 1960.

Join us then ... IN THE FUTURE!
 

3 April 2014

 Birthdays
Cobie Smulders b. 1982 (Avengers, Captain America, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Andromeda, Jeremiah, Smallville)
Alessandro Juliani b. 1978 (Man of Steel, Continuum, Eve of Destruction, Fringe, Smallville, Dinosaur Train, Riverworld, Alice [TV], Reaper, Battlestar Galactica, The Time Tunnel [2006], Stargate SG-1, Earthsea, Jeremiah, Welcome to Paradox)
Matthew Goode b. 1978 (Watchmen)
Jamie Bamber b. 1973 (Star Trek Continues, Dollhouse, Battlestar Galactica, The Devil’s Tattoo)
Adam Scott b. 1973 (Piranha 3D, Wonderfalls, Star Trek: First Contact)
Ben Mendelsohn b. 1969 (The Dark Knight Rises, Farscape)
Eddie Murphy b. 1961 (The Haunted Mansion, The Adventures of Pluto Nash, Doctor Dolittle, Vampire in Brooklyn)
David Hyde Pierce b. 1959 (Hellboy, Addams Family Values, Vampire’s Kiss, The Terminator)
Alec Baldwin b. 1958 (Dr. Suess’ The Cat in the Hat, The Adventures of Pluto Nash, Thomas and the Magic Railroad, The Shadow, Beetlejuice)
Wolf Kahler b. 1940 (Cockneys vs Zombies, Loch Ness, Raiders of the Lost Ark)
Lawrence Dane b. 1937 (Phenomenon II, MythQuest, Stargate SG-1, The Time Shifters, Highlander: The Raven, Bride of Chucky, Poltergeist: The Legacy, Darkman II, Millenium, Bionic Showdown, Scanners, The Invaders)
Kevin Hagen b. 1928 died 9 July 2005 (Land of the Giants, The Time Tunnel, Lost in Space, Twilight Zone)
Timothy Bateson b. 1926 died 16 September 2009 (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Hogfather, My Hero, Relic Hunter, Merlin, Neverwhere, Doctor Who, The Evil of Frankenstein, The Day the Earth Caught Fire)
Marlon Brando b. 1924 died 1 July 2004 (Superman, The Island of Dr. Moreau)
Jan Sterling b. 1921 died 26 March 2004 (1984 [1956])
Washington Irving b. 1783 died 28 November 1859 (author, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow)

There are several people on the list that count as movies stars - Marlon Brando, Eddie Murphy, Alec Baldwin - and Jan Sterling and Coibe Smulders easily qualify for the Pretty Girl = Picture Slot, but today I went with Jamie Bamber from Battlestar Galactica. I should also note that Kevin Hagen as Inspector Kobick on Land of the Giants was the most recurring role outside the main cast.

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

In the year 2000!

Predictor: Lee de Forest, "The Father of Radio", predicting the world of 2000 in the 17 January 1960 edition of the Sunday supplement American Weekly.

Prediction: Miniature TV sets, completely portable, and flat surface sets hung like pictures on your wall will be old-hat.

Reality: Another very good call by Dr. de Forest today. Flat screen technology was available to the public by mid 1990s, but the price was very high, so my only quibble would be the phrase "old hat". In 2014, plasma screens are old hat, but in 2000 they still counted as new stuff.

We have many more predictions from de Forest to enjoy, but this is the last one about communications, his field of expertise. Once he gets onto other subjects, his batting average suffers quite a bit.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

An exact date from a classic interrupts our regular weekly schedule.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE! 

27 March 2014

 Birthdays
Jason Narvy b. 1974 (Power Rangers)Nathan Fillion b. 1971 (Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, The Guild, The Venture Bros., Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, Lost, Slither, Serenity, Firefly, Buffy, Dracula 2000)
Elizabeth Mitchell b. 1970 (Revolution, V, Lost)
Pauley Perrette b. 1969 (The Singularity Is Near, The Ring)
Kevin Corrigan b. 1969 (Fringe, Superboy)
Sandra Hess b. 1968 (Sliders, Highlander [TV], Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, Beastmaster: The Eye of Braxus, Lois & Clark, SeaQuest 2032)
Talisa Soto b. 1967 (Island of the Dead, Mortal Kombat, Vampirella)
Adrian Rawlins b. 1958 (Harry Potter, Doctor Who)
Michael York b. 1942 (Megiddo: The Omega Code, One Hell of a Guy, Dark Planet, Sliders, Babylon 5, SeaQuest 2032, Not of this Earth, TekWar: TekLab, Space, The Island of Dr. Moreau, Logan’s Run)
Julian Glover b. 1935 (Game of Thrones, Atlantis [TV], Alien Uprising, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, The Empire Strikes Back, Doctor Who, Blakes 7, Space: 1999, Five Million Miles to Earth)
Lorenzo Semple Jr. (writer, Flash Gordon, King Kong, Batman [TV], The Green Hornet)
Richard Denning b. 1914 died 11 October 1998 (Creature with the Atom Brain, Target Earth, Creature from the Black Lagoon)

A few unusual things about today's birthday list. Genre movies and TV are much more common today than ever before, so when I make my trek to imdb.com every morning, there tend to be a lot of younger actors. Today, the youngest is turning 40. And speaking of "my trek",  you will notice in the label Star Trek shows up a lot more often than Star Wars, but today we get a Star Wars actor in Julian Glover and no one from Star Trek. Last year the Picture Slot went to Nathan Fillion, an honest to Odin TV star and this year it goes to Michael York, an honest to Odin movie star in his most iconic genre role from Logan's Run.

Many happy returns of the day to the living and to the dead, thanks for all the memories.


Movies released
Monsters Vs. Aliens released, 2009  

In the year 2000!

Predictor: Lee de Forest, "The Father of Radio", predicting the world of 2000 in the 17 January 1960 edition of the Sunday supplement American Weekly.

Prediction: World-wide television, both color and black-and-white, will be common. Atmospheric disturbances never will disrupt it; relays will be possible through communications satellites or use of the atmospheric "scatter effect" which reflects some TV waves over phenomenal distances even now.

Reality: This was pretty bold talk in 1960 and I'll give him 9 of 10. He loses half a point for including black-and-white TV, which died out several decades ago and a half point lost for the word "never" when discussing atmospheric disturbances. Still, when he deals with radio and TV, his predictions are very good. In a few weeks, he'll have predictions of other matters and his batting average will start to slide a little.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Friday means Dr. Paul Ehrlich, one of the least expert "experts" I have ever read.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

19 December 2013

Birthdays
Jake Gyllenhaal b. 1980 (Prince of Persia, Source Code, The Day After Tomorrow, Donnie Darko)
Blake Lindsley b. 1973 (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Starship Troopers)
Alyssa Milano b. 1972 (Charmed, Commando)
Kristy Swanson b. 1969 (Buffy the Vampire Slayer [movie], Dude, Where’s My Car?, Deadly Friend)
Robert MacNaughton b. 1966 (E.T., The Electric Grandmother)
Jessica Steen b. 1965 (Charmed, Stargate SG-1, Armageddon, Earth 2, Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future)
Jennifer Beals b. 1963 (The Book of Eli, The Grudge 2, The Bride)
Sir Ralph Richardson b. 1902 died 10 October 1983 (Things to Come, Rollerball, Dragonslayer, Time Bandits)

Not to be rude, but when comparing the star power of yesterday's birthday list with today's, I wish I could make a few trades to even things out. Jennifer Beals turns 50, the first "Jeez, I'm old!" moment of the day for me. Jake Gyllenhall is the one "name above the title" movie star here, but the person best known for her work in genre is Alyssa Milano for Charmed, one of the many fabulous babes on the list. Just out of a goofy sense of "You're not the boss of me!", I chose Sir Ralph Richardson for the Picture Slot in his role as The Boss in the 1936 film Things to Come, taken from the H.G. Wells book The Shape of Things to Come, source for a lot of depressing and inaccurate predictions about the 20th Century. Richardson did this one genre role very early in his career, became one of the most respected film and stage actors of his era, then returned to genre for a few short roles at the end of his career, for which I can only assume he was paid handsomely, and well did he deserve it.

Many happy returns of the day to all the living on the list and to the late Sir Ralph Richardson, thanks for all the memories.
 
Movies released
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring released 2001

Predictor: Isaac Asimov, predicting the world of 2014 in honor of the 1964 World's Fair

Prediction: As for television, wall screens will have replaced the ordinary set; but transparent cubes will be making their appearance in which three-dimensional viewing will be possible. In fact, one popular exhibit at the 2014 World's Fair will be such a 3-D TV, built life-size, in which ballet performances will be seen. The cube will slowly revolve for viewing from all angles.

Reality: Wall screens, check.

3-D cube TV... umm, not so much. Huge technical problems with this in terms of projection, especially if it can be viewed from any possible angle above ground level.

So our pal Isaac gets a 50% score on this one. To Asimov's credit, he was one of the few grown ass men trying to bring back 19th Century facial hair back in the 1960s, which I am sure our regular reader Zombie Rotten McDonald appreciates.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Because Saturday's regular prediction will be preempted by Winter Solstice stuff, we move the 1893 predictions to Friday for one week only.

Teaser: 19th Century facial hair at its most awesome.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

5 August 2013

Birthdays
Alan Howard b. 1937
Mars Curiosity landed 2012

Mr. Howard has had a long career on stage and screen in Britain, and his one important role in a sci-fi or fantasy film is as the voice of the One Ring in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. I've always loved trivia like this, such as Clive Revill being the voice of the emperor in The Empire Strikes Back before the role was taken over by Ian McDiarmid.

Many happy returns of the day to Mr. Howard.

Regular readers will know I make fun of sci-fi at least as often as I commend it, but it was one year ago today that Curiosity landed on Mars and began to send back data. This is a lot of amazing technical achievements rolled into one small package and I inaugurate a new label "real science fiction". Congratulations to all the people who made this happen. This is what the future was supposed to look like.
  

Movie released
Rise of the Planet of the Apes released 2011

Prediction: "Still far from practical realization, the apparatus combines a portable television transmitter with a push button telephone. When the receiver is lifted, the image of the person making the call flashes on the screen. Fantastic as it may appear today, engineers believe that television telephones may become commonplace with a generation."

Predictor: Popular Mechanics in 1940, one of the many from the book The Future That Never Was, available on Amazon.

Reality: As you can see in the picture, they count this prediction as true because by 1960, TV phone technology worked, though they admit TV phones cannot be called commonplace even today.

Modern readers will also note two other unrealistic details. The woman is holding a receiver and she isn't naked.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

We get the last prediction from Larry Niven. It's about space, it's wrong and it's more than a little boring, one of the main reasons he is being given the heave ho.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!  

26 April 2013

Birthday
Andy Secombe b. 1953

Many happy returns of the day to Mr. Secombe, best known to genre fans as the voice of Watto in the Star Wars films.
 

In the Year 2000!

Prediction: People will be able to watch entertainers in the privacy of their own homes, seeing their image projected on a wall and listening to the audio over the telephone.

Predictor: Postcards produced by Hildebrands German Chocolate Company in 1900.

Reality: While this is the first time I've presented a prediction of this kind on the blog, it is not the first time this was predicted. We will see this idea recur several times as we get more of the Victorian futurists checking in. I haven't presented any of the work of Edward Bellamy yet - just waiting for exact dates he predicted to roll around - but he has a very similar prediction in his book Looking Backward:2000-1887. The only addition is the projection of the image.

It should be noted that radio did exist in 1900, several people having patents for working wireless transmission, the best known names among many today being Marconi and Tesla. On the other hand,  the telephone was then being used by the public, while radio broadcasts were still a few years off.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

A very different look at the Year 2000, this time in a prediction from the 1970s. Are you on Team Frankenstein or Team Machine Gun Joe?

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

 

22 April 2013

Birthdays
Richard Marquand b. 1938 died 9/4/1987
Jeffrey Dean Morgan b. 1966

Richard Marquand is best known as the director of Return of the Jedi. Let's recall that he is the director and not the writer, so Ewoks are not completely his fault.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan is best known to genre fans as The Comedian in Watchmen. Debate rages on as to whether he looks more like Robert Downey Jr. or Javier Bardem. In this picture, I'd go with Downey.

Prediction: By 1964, Television sets will be so thin you can mount one on a wall like a painting.

Predictor: General Electric scientists in 1954, quoted in Popular Mechanics

Reality: Closer than you might think. Although flat screens as actual TVs are first marketed in the late 1990s, engineers at the University of Illinois came up with the first plasma technology screens to be used with computers in... 1964. This is according to Wikipedia and other Internet sources, and of course, when have you ever read anything on the Internet that wasn't true?

(Seriously, this looks accurate.)

The illustration is from The Wonderful Future That Never Was, a collection of predictions from the pages of Popular Mechanics published before 1969 are collected in 2009.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Tuesday is Robert A. Heinlein day, and he predicts the future of food. Will it be Ridiculous Bob or Sensible Bob?  Come back tomorrow to find out.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

7 April 2013

Birthday
Heath Ledger b. 1979 died 22 Jan 2008

Mr. Ledger's best known work in the genre is The Dark Knight, and he was also in The Brothers Grimm and Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, his last film.

Prediction:  As soon as Winston had dealt with each of the messages, he clipped his speakwritten corrections to the appropriate copy of the Times and pushed them into the pneumatic tube. Then, with a movement which was as nearly as possible unconscious, he crumpled up the original message and any notes that he himself had made, and dropped them in the memory hole to be devoured by the flames.

Predictor:  George Orwell in 1984, published 1949

Reality:  So much stuff this little paragraph brings up. 

First off: Pneumatic tubes!  A while back, I joked that The Holy Trinity of Mid Century Futurism were flying cars, moving sidewalks and food in pill form. Well, I have to lose that trinity bit because pneumatic tubes are just as important. I might very well stumble on some other thing that is just as iconic.

The main part of the prediction is the memory hole, a place where facts go to die. Winston Smith's job was re-writing old sources of information so that it all agreed with whatever the current official version of the truth was.

Needless to say, we don't live in the future Orwell predicted. This map of Oceania, Eurasia, Eastasia and the Disputed Territories is not the way the world is split up. We don't have a state run by a single party that always needs to rewrite the past to show they are infallible in the present.

This does not stop some people from believing the past has been doctored, that some unnamed soul is doing the same kind of work that Winston Smith did in the novel. If you believe that Obama was not born in Hawaii, you have to believe his various birth certificates and this announcement in the Honolulu newspaper are frauds perpetrated recently to re-write the past and all copies of the "original" papers have been sent down the memory hole.

Which brings us to the world we actually live in.  Friend of the blog Leo Lincourt tweeted a link to the Smithsonian's Paleofuture website.  In it, the late Internet pioneer Paul Baran made a remarkable prediction in 1969 that more TV stations could create a media environment where people could find news outlets that would cater to the things they believed were true. Baran mentions the John Birchers and left wing student groups as possible consumers of such media  It's stunningly accurate but I have to sneak it in sideways onto this blog because it did not give a date as to when this would happen.

Thanks to Leo Lincourt for finding this gem.

So we have this split world, mainly cleaved along the lines of conservatives and liberals but actually much more fractured than that. Instead of erasing the past completely, both sides assume in a manner "as nearly as possible unconscious" that the other side is filled with lying scumbags. There are competing versions of the truth on more topics than I can count, and each side is convinced what they read, hear and see through their media outlets is the real truth.

Like a lot of liberals, I have come to hate the "both sides do it" argument. Some recent research suggests conservatives buy into conspiracy theories more than liberals do, but that doesn't mean our side is simon pure. As I study more about climate change, it's obvious both sides completely discount the other. The thing is, there is some data that casts doubt on the idea of man made climate change. A strong example is that the rise in CO2 is undeniable and unprecedented but the temperature increases have not moved in lockstep. Because such questions are often raised by people who think the science community is a money-making scam (another conspiracy theory I can't begin to understand much less accept) questions that should be answered are largely ignored instead.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

A look at Newspeak, the language that will replace English.

Join me then... IN THE FUTURE!