14 September 2015

Birthdays
Jessica Brown Findlay b. 1989 (Victor Frankenstein [2015], Winter’s Tale, Labyrinth [2012 TV])
Jesse James b. 1989 (Jumper, The Amityville Horror [2005], The Butterfly Effect, Angel, The X Files)
Andre de Vanny b. 1984 (Nightmares & Dreamscapes, Wicked Science, Hercules [2005 TV], Salem’s Lot)
Kristen Renton b. 1982 (Ghouls)
Mark Wells b. 1980 (Narnia, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow)
J.L. Reate b. 1979 (The Golden Child)
Brian Klugman b. 1975 (actor, Cloverfield, Good vs Evil, Wishmaster; writer, TRON: Legacy)
Christopher McCulloch [a.k.a. Jackson Publick] b. 1971 (Venture Brothers, The Tick)
Andrew Lincoln b. 1973 (The Walking Dead, Moonshot)
Kimberly Williams-Paisley b. 1971 (The Tenth Kingdom)
Pat Healy b. 1971 (Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Night Stalker [2006], Star Trek: Enterprise, Charmed, Angel)
Robert Ben Garant b. 1970 (Night at the Museum)
Niall Greig Fulton b. 1970 (Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Cloud Atlas, Doctor Who)
Joon-ho Bong b. 1969 (director, Snowpiercer, The Host)
Tyler Perry b. 1969 (Star Trek)
Dan Cortese b. 1967 (Locusts: The 8th Plague, Demolition Man)
K.C. Martel b. 1967 (E.T., The Munsters’ Revenge, The Amityville Horror, Wonder Woman)
Michelle Stafford b. 1965 (Charmed, Vampires Anonymous)
Stephen Dunham b. 1964 died 14 September 2012 (Paranormal Activity 4, The Chronicle, The Mummy)
Radames Pera b. 1960 (Starman [TV], Project U.F.O., The Six Million Dollar Man, Shazam!)
Melissa Leo b. 1960 (Oblivion)
Callum Keith Rennie b. 1960 (Alphas, FlashForward, Battlestar Galactica, The X Files: I Want to Believe, Tin Man, Bionic Woman, The Invisible, Smallville, Supernatural, Blade: Trinity, Kingdom Hospital, The Butterfly Effect, Paycheck, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Mutant X, Dark Angel, Strange World, eXistenZ, Highlander [TV], Forever Knight, Timecop)
Haviland Morris b. 1959 (Aliens in the Family, Gremlins 2: The New Batch)
Mary Crosby b. 1959 (Deep Space Nine, Lois & Clark, Freddy’s Nightmares, The Ice Pirates, Automan)
Kirk Baltz b. 1959 (Birds of Prey, Level 9, Seven Days, NetForce)
Michael Bollner b. 1958 (Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory)
Robert Wisdom b. 1953 (12 Monkeys [TV], The Dark Knight Rises, Supernatural, Poltergeist: The Legacy, Mighty Joe Young, Invader)
Howard Deutch b. 1950 (director, The Strain, True Blood, American Horror Story, Warehouse 13)
Sam Neill b. 1947 (The Adventurer: The Curse of the Midas Box, Daybreakers, Merlin’s Apprentice, Sci Fi Inside: ‘The Triangle’, Bicentennial Man, Merlin [1998 TV], Event Horizon, Snow White: A Tale of Terror, Jurassic Park, Memoirs of an Invisible Man, Amerika, Omen III: The Final Conflict)
Rowena Morrill b. 1944 (graphic artist)
Nicol Williamson b. 1936 died 16 December 2011 (Spawn, The Exorcist III, Return to Oz, Venom, Excalibur)
Walter Koenig b. 1936 (Star Trek, InAlienable, Babylon 5, Moontrap, The Questor Tapes, The Starlost)
Harve Presnell b. 1933 died 30 June 2009 (Charmed, From the Earth to the Moon, Lois & Clark, Star Trek: Voyager)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, I went with 21st Century works for the Picture Slot, Andrew Lincoln from The Walking Dead and Jackson Publick from The Venture Bros., with a picture of Hank Venture. But if I made this just about being iconic, Walter Koenig from Star Trek is hard to beat.

2. Spot the Canadians! K.C. Martel did a lot of work as a kid, not that much filmed in Canada. Callum Keith Rennie was born in the U.K., but moved to Canada when young. He has a very Canadian looking resume.

3. Nepotism FTW. Brian Klugman was the nephew of Jack Klugman, not sure how much that counts. Mary Crosby was Bing Crosby's kid from his second marriage. That certainly counts.

4. "and... he was an asshole." It's interesting to read biographies on imdb.com that cannot hide an actor's character flaws. With some folks like cowboy star Ken Maynard and singer Rudy Vallee, the assholishness is the main story. With Nicol Williamson, the writer wants to remind us first that he was really good and then, well yeah... he was an asshole.

5. Worse than The Guy at the Door. 1936 would be the cut-off point between the living and the dead on this list if it was not for Stephen Dunham, who died on his 48th birthday three years ago. Good looking guy, pretty wife... quite a shock.

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

Predictor: Power rankings for the 2015 National Football League season.

Prediction:

AFC East: New England
AFC North: Baltimore
AFC South: Indianapolis
AFC West: Denver
Wild cards: Pittsburgh, Miami*

NFC East: Dallas
NFC North: Green Bay
NFC South: New Orleans*
NFC West: Seattle
Wild cards: Detroit, Philadelphia*


Reality: Most power rankings online are really a lot like the rankings from the end of the last season. The only changes predicted in the playoff line up are the Dolphins replacing the Bengals in the AFC, New Orleans winning the sucky NFC South instead of Carolina and Philadelphia getting the wild card instead of the Cardinals.
 
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Once again, a look at the inventions of the late 20th Century from Robert A. Heinlein in the mid 1950s.
  
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

2 September 2015

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

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

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

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

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

Predictors: Michael Mann, Michael Kozar and Sonya Miller

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

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

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

15 August 2015

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Weekly Soapbox: Overpopulation

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

10 August 2015

Birthdays
Ah-sung Ko b. 1992 (Snowpiercer, The Host)
Lucas Till b. 1990 (X-Men: Days of Future Past, All Superheroes Must Die, X-Men: First Class, Battle Los Angeles, Dance of the Dead)
Brendon Thwaites b. 1989 (Maleficent, The Signal, Oculus)
Nicole Taylor b. 1983 (Insatiable)
Devon Aoki b. 1982 (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Undead, Mutant Chronicles, Sin City)
Roxanne McKee b. 1980 (Dominion, The Legend of Hercules, Game of Thrones)
Pua Magasive b. 1980 (30 Days of Night, Power Rangers)
JoAnna Garcia Swisher b. 1979 (Once Upon a Time, The Astronaut Wives Club, From the Earth to the Moon, SeaQuest 2032, Superboy)
Leo Fitzpatrick b. 1978 (Carnivale)
Joanna Bacalso b. 1976 (Lost Girl, Dude, Where’s My Car?, Forever Knight)
Rick Otto b. 1973 (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Teen Wolf [TV], The Walking Dead, Dollhouse, Phantoms)
Thor Van Lingen b. 1973 (Return of the Living Dead II)
Justin Theroux b. 1971 (The Leftovers)
Claudia Christian b. 1965 (Runestone, Grimm, Starhyke, The Haunting of Hell House, Babylon 5, Highlander [TV], Lancelot: Guardian of Time, Space Rangers, Quantum Leap, The Hidden)
Eric Thal b. 1965 (The Puppet Masters)
Beverly Randolph b. 1964 (The Return of the Living Dead)
Suzanne Collins b. 1962 (author, The Hunger Games)
Antonio Banderas b. 1960 (Automata, Spy Kids 1, 2 and 3, Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles)
Rosanna Arquette b. 1959 (Eastwick)
Don Swayze b. 1958 (Blood Type, True Blood, Charmed, Carnivale, Tremors [TV], The X Files, Lois & Clark, Beach Babes from Beyond)
Rick Overton b. 1954 (True Blood, COPS: Skyrim, Cloverfield, The Astronaut Farmer, Lost, Eight Legged Freaks, Charmed, The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show, Lois & Clark, Groundhog Day, The Rocketeer, Earth Girls Are Easy, Traxx, Willow, Amazing Stories)
Diane Venora b. 1952 (Little Hercules in 3-D, Threshold, Megiddo: The Omega Code 2, Wolfen)
Kate O’Mara b. 1939 died 30 March 2014 (Doctor Who, The Horror of Frankenstein, The Vampire Lovers)
Murray Melvin b. 1932 (Torchwood, Starhunter, Alice in Wonderland [1999 TV])
Lynn Cohen b. 1933 (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire)
Martha Hyer b. 1924 died May 31 2014 (Bewitched, First Men in the Moon, Mistress of the World, Abbott and Costello Go to Mars)
Rhonda Fleming b. 1923 (A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court)
Jeff Corey b. 1914 died 16 August 2002 (Charmed, Brimstone, Perversions of Science, Babylon 5, Beauty and the Beast, War of the Worlds [1988], Starman, Faerie Tales Theatre, Manimal, The Powers of Matthew Star, The Sword and the Sorcerer, Battle Beyond the Stars, The Bionic Woman, The Six Million Dollar Man, Beneath the Planet of the Apes, Star Trek, The Outer Limits, Superman and the Mole-Men, The Next Voice You Hear…, Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man)
Noah Beery Jr b. 1913 died 1 November 1994 (Mysterious Two, Beyond Witch Mountain, The Six million Dollar Man, The Immortal, 7 Faces of Dr. Lao, Rocketship X-M)
Richard Reeves b. 1912 died 17 March 1967 (Mr. Terrific, I Dream of Jeannie, Billy the Kid Versus Dracula, The Addams Family, Batman, The Munsters, My Favorite Martian, Adventures of Superman, Target Earth)
Curt Siodmak b. 1902 died 2 September 2000 (author, Donovan’s Brain)
Jack Haley b. 1898 died 6 June 1979 (The Wizard of Oz)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. Regular readers know the drill. I like iconic and I don't want to repeat myself except under remarkable circumstances. Early Picture Slotters were Claudia Christian from Babylon 5 and the great Oh That Guy Jeff Corey. In a just world, Ah-Sung Ko would be iconic from The Host and Snowpiercer, but that's just my imagination, running away with me.

Jack Haley as The Tin Man is iconic. It may be really old school, but that is completely beside the point.

2. Spot the Canadians! Roxanne McKee is Canadian, but being on Game of Thrones could easily send even the most experienced Canadian spotter off the scent. Joanna Bacalso is a little easier to spot.

3. Nepotism FTW and MST3K. Noah Beery Jr is the son of Noah Beery Sr and the nephew of Wallace Beery. He was also in Rocketship X-M, which means we have an MST3k connection Rosanna Arquette is part of the multi-generational Arquette clan.

4. And special birthday wishes to... Rhonda Fleming turns 92 today. She is not The Gal at the Door because some folks younger than her are already gone, but I wanted to send my best wishes because Miss Fleming is tied with Maureen O'Hara as the prettiest redhead ever. Cristina Hendricks is the most Va-Va-voomy redhead ever, tied with Jessica Rabbit.

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

Predictor: Robert A. Heinlein in The Door Into Summer, serialized in 1956, published as a novel in 1957

Prediction: Denver had become the national capital after the Six Weeks War.

Reality: Yet another causal prediction of a nuclear war from 1950s science fiction. Folks who remember earlier Heinlein predictions might recall he was asked by some folks to actually predict stuff, apart from the predictions he wrote in his fiction. He went from "We're all doomed!" to "Things will be okay."in the space of a couple years in the 1940s. Regular reader Leo Lincourt, much more a Heinlein scholar than I am, suggests his change of mood might have to do with divorcing a wife who made him miserable and then marrying another woman who made him happy.
 
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

We get the last prediction from our 1930s commie John Langdon-Davies. He hasn't been quite as much fun to mock as FroMo-2030, Paul Ehrlich or Ray Kurzweil, but he has been wrong just about as often.
  
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

3 August 2015

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

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

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

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

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


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

Movie released
Total Recall released, 2012

Predictor: The OMNI Future Almanac, published in 1982

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

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

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

27 July 2015

Birthdays
Ashlyn Sanchez b. 1996 (The Happening, Charmed)
Indiana Evans b. 1990 (Arctic Blast, H2O: Just Add Water)
Charlotte Arnold b. 1989 (Beauty and the Beast [2015], Zixx Level One, Eart: Final Conflict)
Lou Taylor Pucci b. 1985 (Evil Dead [2013], Carriers, Southland Tales)
Blair Redford b. 1983 (Beauty and the Beast [TV], FlashForward, The Day the Earth Stood Still [2008], Dance of the Dead, Voodoo Moon)
David Schultz b. 1980 (Safety Not Guaranteed)
Kirsty Hinchcliffe b. 1979 (Haven)
Jonathan Rhys Meyers b. 1977 (The Mortal Instruments, Dracula [TV])
Maya Rudolph b. 1972 (Idiocracy, Gattaca)
Takako Fuji b. 1972 (The Grudge)
Takashi Shimizu b.1972 (director, Kiki’s Delivery Service [2014], The Grudge)
Tristine Skyler b. 1971 (Angel, Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2)
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau b. 1970 (Game of Thrones, Oblivion)
Paul Levesque a.k.a. Triple H b. 1969 (Blade: Trinity)
Bryan Fuller b. 1969 (writer, American Gods, Mockingbird Lane, Heroes, Pushing Daisies, Dead Like Me, Wonderfalls, Carrie [TV movie 2002], Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)
Julian McMahon b. 1968 (Fantastic Four, Premonition, Charmed)
Cliff Curtis b. 1968 (Fear the Walking Dead, The Last Airbender, 10,000 BC, Virus, Mysterious Island [TV], Hercules: The Legendary Journeys)
Donnie Yen b. 1963 (Blade II, Highlander: Endgame)
Roger Guenveur Smith b. 1959 (The Sarah Connor Chronicles)
Roxanne Hart b. 1952 (Meteorites!, Highlander)
Simon Jones b. 1950 (Spectropia, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy [2005 and 1981], Twelve Monkeys, Brazil)
Maury Chaykin b. 1949 died 27 July 2010 (Blindness, Eureka, Stargate SG-1, Andromeda, Lexx, Mister Destiny, Twilight Zone [1989], Def-Con 4, WarGames)
Betty Thomas b. 1948 (director, Doctor Dolittle)
Ilya Salkind b. 1947 (producer, Superman, Superboy, Supergirl)
Rade Serbedzija b. 1946 (The Legend of Hercules, X-Men: First Class, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, Fallen [TV mini-series], Surface, The Fog, Batman Begins, Space Cowboys, Mighty Joe Young [1998])
John Pleshette b. 1942 (American Horror Story, Good vs Evil, The Truman Show, Lois & Clark, Beauty and the Beast [1990])
Lanny Flaherty b. 1942 (Men in Black 3, Signs, Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2, Waterworld)
Gary Kurtz b. 1940 (producer, Return to Oz, The Dark Crystal, Star Wars)
Robert Gunner b. 1931 b. 1931 died 18 December 2001 (Planet of the Apes, The Green Hornet)
Jerry Van Dyke b. 1931 (The New Addams Family, Teen Angel, My Mother the Car)
Keenan Wynn b. 1916 died 14 October 1986 (Hyper Sapien: People from Another Star, Black Moon Rising, Manimal, The Greatest American Hero, The Clonus Horror, The Lucifer Complex, Piranha, The Bionic Woman, Laserblast, The Devil’s Rain, The Girl with Something Extra, Son of Flubber, The Absent-Minded Professor, Twilight Zone)
Lupita Tovar b. 1910 (Dracula)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. Previous Picture Slotters are Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Julian McMahon, both iconic and really good looking guys. I was tempted to go way old school and use a picture of Keenan Wynn from Twilight Zone, but instead it's Jonathan Rhys-Meyers as Dracula from the current TV show.

2. Spot the Canadians! There's two today. Charlotte Arnold's credit list is short, but it is all Canuck genre TV, so the sharp eyed might have caught her. It is not quite as obvious that the late Maury Chaykin was born north of the border.

3. Nepotism, FTW and not. Jerry Van Dyke has been in his brother's shadow for a long time, but I can shed no tear for a working actor with a career spanning more than a half century. Keenan Wynn had a long career too, but I think being Ed Wynn's son did open some doors early on.

Movie released
Planet of the Apes released, 2001

Not a typo: Yes, the birth year for Lupita Tovar is correct, she is 105 today. She played the Mina Murray character in the 1931 Spanish language version of Dracula, the name changed to Eva for some reason. She's not iconic to gringos, but she is certainly fabulous. I'm sure the readers of this blog have the whole tempus fugit concept under control, and we know radiant creatures such as her become abuelitas by and by, but consider that Sra. Tovar could easily have grandkids my age.

Yow.


Many happy returns to all the living on the list, with very special best wishes to the fabulous Lupita Tovar, and to the dead, thanks for all the memories.

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

Prediction: There was not much for her to take in my wallet – a small amount of cash, ID cards, driver’s license, keys and such, and a nasal inhaler against the smog.

Reality: Given the state of air pollution when Heinlein wrote this and the complete lack of will to fix the problem in the 1950s, the prediction isn't that far fetched, but by 1970 when this part of the story, air quality was actually on the mend.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Will our Commie forecaster John Langdon-Davies be just wrong or crazy, weird wrong?
  
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

16 July 2015

Birthdays
Taryn Southern b. 1986 (Battle Los Angeles)
Calum Gittins b. 1986 (Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers)
Rosa Salazar b. 1985 (Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, American Horror Story)
Michelle Morgan b. 1981 (Supernatural, Dominant Gene, Stargate: Atlantis, Diary of the Dead, Fire Serpent)
Jayma Mays b. 1979 (Heroes)
Corey Feldman b. 1971 (Zombex, The Zombie King, Puppet Master vs Demonic Toys, Dark Realm, The Toxic Avenger IV, Sliders, The Lost Boys, Friday the 13th, Gremlins, Time After Time)
Will Ferrell b. 1967 (Land of the Lost [2009], Bewitched [2005])
Daryl Mitchell b. 1965 (Wizards of Waverly Place, Galaxy Quest)
Phoebe Cates b. 1963 (Drop Dead Fred, Gremlins 1 and 2)
Faye Grant b. 1957 (The Omen IV: The Awakening, V, Voyager from the Unknown, Voyagers!, The Incredible Hulk, The Greatest American Hero)
Jerry Doyle b. 1956 (Storm Watch, Sliders, Babylon 5)
Ruben Blades b. 1948 (Fear the Walking Dead, The X Files, Preator 2)
Ann Turkel b. 1946 (The Hunger [TV], RoboCop [TV], Highlander [TV], Deep Space, Worlds Beyond, Knight Rider, Death Ray 2000, Humanoids from the Deep)
Richard LeParmentier b. 1946 died 15 April 2013 (Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Superman II, Space: 1999, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, Rollerball [1975], The People That Time Forgot)
Jeremy Spenser b. 1937 (Fahrenheit 451, Beauty and the Beast [1952)
Barnard Hughes b. 1916 died 11 July 2006 (The Lost Boys, TRON, Mr. Merlin, The UFO Incident, The Borrowers, Dark Shadows [TV], ‘Way Out)
Sonny Tufts b. 1911 died 4 June 1970 (Cat-Women of the Moon)
Mary Philbin b. 1902 died 7 May 1993 (The Phantom of the Opera [1925])

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. Will Ferrell is the big star on the list, but he is not iconic in genre, so the Picture Slot has gone in previous years to Jerry Doyle from Babylon 5 and to Pheobe Cates from Drop Dead Fred. This year it goes to the late Richard LeParmentier as the choked General Motti from Star Wars. My favorite meme from this picture is Peter Cushing getting a thought bubble reading "Drama queen!"

2. Spot the Canadian! Yet again, I think the hint that there is only one makes our Canadian spottable my the well-informed public, which certainly describes my loyal readers.

3. Hey, no Star Trek! it is somehow fitting that a shot from a Star Wars film (who are we kidding? THE Star Wars film) is in the Picture Slot on a day when Star Trek has zero love.

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

Movies released
Inception released, 2010
I, Robot released, 2004
 

 Predictor: Andrew Carnegie in 1900, quoted in The Experts Speak

Prediction: To kill a man will be considered as disgusting in the Twentieth Century as we in this day consider it disgusting to eat one.

Reality: In his day, Andrew Carnegie was probably in the top 1% of the top 1% of the top 1%, which is to say one in a million when it comes to being crazy rich, but this is a noble sentiment, even if it is flat out wrong.

Never to be Forgotten: Aubrey Morris 1926-2015 Veteran British character actor Aubrey Morris, shown here in a publicity still from The Prisoner, had died at the age of 89. I have to admit that when an actor plays a very ill person like Morris did in Deadwood last decade, my brain decides he is gone, which wasn't true until today. Besides The Prisoner, Aubrey appeared in genre productions including Mermaid Chronicles Part 1: She Creature, The Others, Legend of the Mummy, Bordello of Blood, Babylon 5, Alien Nation, Beauty and the Beast, Lifeforce, The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy [TV], Space: 1999, A Clockwork Orange and Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb.

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

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Another corker from H.G. Wells.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
 

10 July 2015

 Birthdays
Hector David Jr. b 1989 (Power Rangers Samurai, Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief)
Wyatt Russell b. 1986 (The Walking Dead: Webisodes, Cowboys & Aliens, Solider, Escape from L.A.)
Thomas Ian Nicolas b. 1980 (Halloween: Resurrection, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show, A Kid in King Arthur’s Court, Harry and the Hendersons [TV])
Jeremy Ray Valdez b. 1980 (Constantine, The Nightmare Room)
Adam Croasdell b.1980 (Supernatural, Dark Realm)
Lucy Gaskell b. 1980 (Misfits, Being Human, Vampire Killers, Doctor Who, Dungeons & Dragons: Wrath of the Dragon God)
Adrian Grenier b. 1976 (Goodbye World, A.I. Artificial Intelligence)
Chiwetel Ejiofor b. 1977 (Doctor Strange, The Martian, 2012, Children of Men, Serenity)
Peter Serafinowicz b. 1972 (Guardians of the Galaxy, Shaun of the Dead, Star Wars: Episode I – The One We Don’t Mention, Jack and the Beanstalk [TV 1998])
Jamie Glover b. 1969 (An Adventure in Space and Time, Jupiter Moon)
Fiona Shaw b. 1958 (True Blood, Harry Potter, Super Mario Bros.)
Sue Lyon b. 1946 (Alligator, The Astral Factor, The End of the World)
Ron Glass b. 1945 (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Serenity, Firefly, Star Trek: Voyager, Deep Space, The Twilight Zone [1985])
Robert Pine b.1941 (The Event, Journeyman, Star Trek: Enterprise, Black Scorpion, Star Trek: Voyager, Indepencdence Day, Quantum Leap, ALF, Knight Rider, Empire of the Ants, Munster, Go Home!)
Lawrence Pressman b. 1939 (Dr. Dolittle 2, Dark Angel, The X-Files, Mighty Joe Young [1999], Deep Space Nine, Man from Atlantis, Tucker’s Witch)
Tura Satana b. 1938 died 4 February 2011 (The Astro Zombies)
Nick Adams b. 1931 died 7 February 1968 (Mission Mars, Invasion of Astro-Monster, Monster of Terror, Frankenstein Conquers the World, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Outer Limits)
Susan Cummings b. 1930 (Twilight Zone)
George Clayton Johnson b. 1929 (writer, Logan’s Run, Star Trek, Twilight Zone)
William Smithers b. 1927 (The Amazing Spider-Man [TV], The Six Million Dollar Man, Star Trek, The Invaders, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea)
Fred Gwynne b. 1926 died 2 July 1993 (Pet Sematary, The Mysterious Stranger, Harvey [1972 TV], The Munsters)
Earl Hamner Jr. b. 1923 (writer, The Invaders, Twilight Zone)
Joe Shuster b. 1914 died 30 July 1992 (writer/artist, Superman)
Thomas Gomez b. 1905 died 18 June 1971 (Beneath the Planet of the Apes, Bewitched, Twilight Zone)
John Wyndam b. 1903 died 11 March 1969 (author, Day of the Triffids, the Midwich Cuckoos)
Nikola Tesla b. 1856 died 7 January 1943 (inventor/writer)

Notes on the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, The Slot went to Peter Serafinowicz for being the voice of Darth Maul and Ron Glass as Shepherd Book on Serenity and Firefly. I truly love the work of Chiwetel Ejiofor in Children of Men and Serenity, but instead, for personal reasons, I went with Fred Gwynne out of the make-up that makes him iconic as Herman Munster.

Ever since I was a kid, I felt sorry for typecast actors, and for Fred Gwynne more than most. We can look at his picture and say he is not movie star pretty - see below for further proof - but he had a remarkable talent. I was really stunned by how good he was in drama when I saw him in Clifford Odet's Paradise Lost on PBS in the early 1970s, and in the late 1980s movie Ironweed, starring Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson and featuring Tom Waits, I was blown away by how beautiful his baritone voice was. The thing a suburban kid in California couldn't know was how much Broadway loved Fred Gwynne. He was a working actor his entire life. He didn't need my pity, but he certainly deserved my admiration and love.

2. Wait... he's alive? Earl Hamner's most famous work is as the creator of The Waltons, but he also wrote some genre as well. Because we have people who died very young like Nick Adams and relatively young like Fred Gwynne, Hamner is not the Guy at the Door, but I do want to show my respects to Mr. Hamner and hope him many happy returns.

3. Nepotism FTW. Regular commenter Jay M. points out that Wyatt Russell is the son of Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn.

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: In the present Empire of Germany there are no other great figures to balance the Imperial personage, and I do not see how other great figures are likely to arise.

Reality: I was reading an essay recently that re-told many stories about Kaiser Wilhelm being a Donald Trump sized asshole. I'm going to give Herbert a pass that he didn't foresee the rise of Hitler thirty after he published this book.

Never to be Forgotten: Omar Sharif 1932-2015

Movie star pretty. See Omar Sharif.

Like most honest to Odin movie stars from the 1950s and 1960s, Sharif didn't make any genre until later in his career, He is pictured here as Captain Nemo from the 1973 version of The Mysterious Island and he played a sorcerer in 1996 version of Gulliver's Travels. Commenter Jay M. also nominates Oh Heavenly Dog as genre, but like with angel stories, I'm idiosyncratic about what I count and what I don't with these type of films.


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


Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Saturday means a visit from our (overly) optimistic pal Morris Ernst and his book Utopia 1976.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

29 June 2015

 Birthdays
Lorenzo James Henrie b. 193 (Fear the Walking Dead, Star Trek)
Addison Timlin b. 1991 (Fallen [2015], Zero Hour)
Christopher Egan b. 1984 (Dominion, Gothica [TV], Beauty and the Beast: A Dark Tale [TV], Resident Evil: Extinction, Eragon)
Lily Rabe b. 1982 (American Horror Story)
Sharon Lemelin b. 1979 (Being Human, Zombie Hamlet, Anonymous Rex)
Zuleikha Robinson b. 1977 (Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, Lost, The X-Files, The Lone Gunmen)
Will Kemp b. 1977 (The Prisoner [2009], Pinocchio [2006 TV], Van Helsing)
Travis Richey b. 1977 (Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, Robot, Ninja & Gay Guy, Dinocroc vs. Supergator, Cry of the Winged Serpent)
Christy Taylor b. 1974 (Weird Science [TV], Mars: Base One)
Sharon Conley b. 1971 (Constantine, The Hunger Games, Teen Wolf [2011 TV], Green Lantern)
Ilan Mitchell-Smith b. 1969 (Superboy, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Weird Science)
Aleks Paunovic b. 1969 (iZombie, Dead Rising: Watchtower, The 100, Zapped [2014], Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, Once Upon a Time, Chupacabra vs. the Alamo, Eve of Destruction, Mortal Combat: Legacy, Smallville, Supernatural, Caprica, Stargate: Atlantis, Bionic Woman, Flash Gordon, Battlestar Galactica, Kraken: Tentacles of the Deep, Eureka, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Mutant X, Andromeda, Stargate SG-1, Jeremiah, Nostradamus, Roswell: The Aliens Attack)
Judith Hoag b. 1968 (Grimm, I am Number Four, Halloweentown, Carnivale, The X-Files, Strange World, Armageddon, The Burning Zone, Quantum Leap, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles [1990])
Melora Hardin b. 1967 (Zombie Hamlet, Timecop, Things That Go Bump, Lois & Clark, Quantum Leap, Mann & Machine, The Rocketeer)
Kathleen Wilhoite b. 1964 (The 4400, Quantum Leap, Witchboard)
Amanda Donohoe b. 1962 (Starship Troopers 3: Marauder, The Atlantis Conspiracy, Stardust, A Knight in Camelot, The Hidden Room, The Lair of the White Worm)
Sharon Lawrence b. 1961 (The After, Nuclear Family, Atomic Twister, Aftershock: Earthquake in New York, Star Trek: Voyager)
Maria Conchita Alonzo b. 1957 (Dark Moon Rising, The Dead One, Predator 2, Vampire’s Kiss, The Running Man, Knight Rider)
Michael Whelan b. 1950 (Illustrator)
Fred Grandy b. 1948 (Monster Squad, Death Race 2000)
Brian Herbert b. 1947 (author, Dune universe)
Michael Carter b. 1947 (The Illusionist, The Cloning of Joanna May, Return of the Jedi, An American Werewolf in London, Doctor Who)
Gary Busey b. 1944 (Mansion of Blood, Piranha 3DD, The Gingerdead Man, The Huntress, Jacob Two Two meets The Hooded Fang, Universal Soldier II: Brothers in Arms, Predator 2, Silver Bullet)
Soon-Tek Oh b. 1943 (Seven Days, Stargate SG-1, Babylon 5, Time Trax, Highlander [TV], The Final Countdown, Logan’s Run [TV], Earth II, The Invaders)
Corey Allen b. 1934 died 27 June 2010 (director, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Otherworld, The Powers of Matthew Star)
Ian Bannen b. 1928 died 3 November 1999 (The Ray Bradbury Theatre, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde [1980 TV], The Watcher in the Woods)
Dick Martin b. 1927 died 14 February 1990 (illustrator, Oz books)
Ray Harryhausen b. 1920 died 5 May 2013 (visual effects, Clash of the Titans, Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, The Valley of Gwangi, One Million Years B.C., First Men in the Moon, Jason and the Argonauts, Mysterious Island, The 3 Worlds of Gulliver, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, 20 Million Miles to Earth, It Came from Beneath the Sea, Mighty Joe Young)
Bernard Herrmann b. 1911 died 24 December 1975 (composer/conductor, It’s Alive, Fahrenheit 451, Lost in Space, Twilight Zone, Jason and the Argonauts, Mysterious Island, The 3 Worlds of Gulliver, The Day the Earth Stood Still)
Slim Pickens b. 1919 died 8 December 1983 (The Howling, The Swarm)
Antoine de Saint-Exupery b. 1900 died 31 July 1944 (author, The Little Prince)

Note on the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. Let me be as delicate as possible here. We have some actors here the public certainly knows, Gary Busey and Slim Pickens to name just two, but I don't think there's anyone here in front of the camera who is iconic in genre. The previous Picture Slotters were special effects wizard Ray Harryhausen and the Oz illustrator Dick Martin, and this year I go with Michael Whelan, the prolific cover artist for sci-fi and fantasy books.


2. Spot the Canadian! Today there is only one, so I leave it as an exercise for the reader.

3. The Guy at the Door. Oh That Asian Guy Soon Tek Oh turns 72 years old today, which is very young to be the oldest living person on the list. As always when we get this demographic oddity, we send out special wishes for many happy returns to Mr. Oh.

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

Movies released

Ted released 2012
Transformers: Dark of the Moon released 2011
War of the Worlds released 2005

Predictor: The OMNI Future Almanac, published 1982

Prediction: Within a few years, the city with the most degraded environment will likely be Cubatao, Brazil, located on the coastal lowlands.

Reality: Checking several lists online, Cubatao doesn't get a mention, while New Dehli, Beijing and Ahvaz, Iran are on multiple lists.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

We get more Commie tommyrot from John Langdon-Davies.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE! 

27 June 2015

Birthdays
Chandler Riggs b. 1999 (The Walking Dead, Jesus H. Zombie)
Matthew Lewis b. 1989 (Harry Potter)
Ed Westwick b. 1987 (S. Darko, Children of Men)
India de Beaufort b. 1987 (Krod Mandoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire)
Sam Claflin b. 1986 (The Hunger Games, Snow White and the Huntsman, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, The Lost Future)
Drake Bell b. 1986 (I [Heart] Vampires, Dragonworld: The Legend Continues)
Sam Hoare b. 1981 (An Adventure in Space and Time, Captain America: The First Avenger, The Golden Compass)
Courtney Ford b. 1978 (True Blood, The Big Bang Theory, The Vampire Diaries, Alien Raiders)
Tobey Maguire b. 1975 (Spider-Man 1, 2 & 3, Pleasantville, Eerie, Indiana)
Christian Kane b. 1974 (The Librarians, Angel)
Stephen Barker Turner b. 1968 (Forever, Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2)
J.J. Abrams b. 1966 (writer/director, Star Wars: Episode VII, Fringe, Star Trek, Super 8, Lost, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Armageddon)
Isabelle Adjani b. 1955 (Nosferatu the Vampire)
Julia Duffy b. 1951 (Wizards of Waverly Place, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Voyagers!, Wizards and Warriors, Battle Beyond the Stars)
Ken Marshall b. 1950 (Deep Space Nine, Quantum Leap, Krull)
James Daughton b. 1950 (Hologram Man, Weird Science [TV], V, The Incredible Hulk, Future Cop, Planet of the Apes [TV], The Sixth Sense [TV], Shazam!)
Paul Koslo b. 1944 (Stargate SG-1, The Flash, Xtro II, Solar Crisis, Robot Jox, Misfits of Science, The Greatest American Hero, The Incredible Hulk, Galactica 1980, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, The Omega Man)
Sandra Smith b. 1940 (Star Trek)
George McCowan b. 1927 died 1 November 1995 (director, War of the Worlds [TV], The Shape of Things to Come, The Starlost, Frogs, The Invaders)
Wallace Earl Leven b. 1926 died 27 February 2012 (The Greatest American Hero, Time Express, The Six Million Dollar Man, Planet of the Apes, The Monster That Challenged the World)
Skelton Knaggs b. 1911 died 1 May 1955 (Captain Video, Master of the Stratosphere, House of Dracula, The Invisible Man’s Revenge)
Billy Curtis b. 1909 died 9 November 1988 (The Twilight Zone [1986], Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Planet of the Apes, Star Trek, Batman, The Angry Red Planet, Adventures of Superman, The Incredible Shrinking Man, Jungle Moon Men, Superman and the Mole Men, The Wizard of Oz)
John McIntire b. 1907 died 30 January 1991 (The Incredible Hulk, Twilight Zone)
Greta Schroder b. 1892 died 8 June 1980 (Nosferatu, The Golem)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, the Picture Slot went to Tobey Maguire, who turns 40 today, and Matthew Lewis, best known as Neville Longbottom. Continuing with the trend of iconic stuff from the 21st Century, today it's Chandler Riggs from his most famous role as Carl on The Walking Dead.

2. The Gal at the Door. It's a short list today. No one born after WW II died young, there is no one born in the 1930s and everyone born in the 1920s is gone. These three facts conspire to make Sandra Smith the Gal at the Door. Her most famous role was as Dr. Janice Lester on the third season Star Trek episode Turnabout Intruder, my second choice for the Picture Slot today. As always, special birthday wishes go out to anyone singled out by this odd demographic coincidence.

3. The Geezer Canadians. There are two Canadians on the list today, both of them born before 1950 so their credit lists don't have that much in the way of Canadian genre productions. They are the actor Paul Koslo and the director George McCowan.

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

Movies released
Transformers: Age of Extinction released, 2014 
WALL-E released, 2008
 

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

Prediction: We can already see the outlines of 1976 products. Telephone and telegraph lines are to give way to microwave radio. Electronic lighting will give safety on sea and land. Atomic batteries are not far off and Solar batteries will be commonplace.

Reality: Even the things he gets right are more the outlines of 2015 than 1976. Microwave radio is a good description of cell phone reception, solar batteries are getting more commonplace every day and at an accelerating pace, but atomic batteries ain't happening and I'm not even sure what counts as "electronic lighting". LEDs perhaps?

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Regular old Sunday tomorrow means another prediction from Robert A. Heinlein's The Door Into Summer.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
 

21 June 2015

Birthdays
Brian Sites b. 1983 (Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines)
Benjamin Walker b. 1982 (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter)
Chris Pratt b. 1979 (Jurassic World, Guardian of the Galaxy, Her, Jennifer’s Body, Path of Destruction)
Garikayi Mutambirwa b. 1978 (Legend of Souls, Jeepers Creepers II, Clockstoppers, Angel, Seven Days)
Erica Durance b. 1978 (Painkillers, Smallville, The Butterfly Effect 2, Stargate SG-1, Andromeda, House of the Dead)
Will Thorp b. 1977 (Doctor Who)
Maggie Siff b. 1974 (The Fifth Wave, Push)
Natasha Beaumont b. 1974 (Inception, The Lost World, Farscape)
Juliette Lewis b. 1973 (From Dusk Till Dawn, Strange Days, My Stepmother Is an Alien, Meet the Hollowheads)
Carrie Preston b. 1967 (True Blood, Lost, The Stepford Wives [2004], Wonderfalls)
Lana Wachowski b. 1965 (director, Sense8, Jupiter Ascending, Cloud Atlas, Speed Racer, The Matrix)
David Morrissey b. 1964 (The Walking Dead, Extant, Earthbound, The Water Horse, Doctor Who, The Reaping)
Doug Savant b. 1964 (Firefly, Godzilla [1998], Teen Wolf)
Sammi Davis b. 1964 (Lost, Lair of the White Worm)
Josh Pais b. 1964 (The Crow: Stairway to Heaven, Deep Space Nine, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles [1990])
Eric Douglas b. 1958 died 6 July 2004 (Tales from the Crypt, The Golden Child)
Berkeley Breathed b. 1957 (writer, Mars Needs Moms)
Robert Pastorelli b. 1954 died 8 March 2004 (Modern Vampires, Beauty and the Beast [1980s], Twilight Zone [1985], Knight Rider, Tucker’s Witch)
Michael Bowen b. 1953 (Revolution, Lost, The X-Files, Night of the Comet)
Robyn Douglass b. 1953 (Galactica 1980)
Rachel Winfree b. 1952 (Roswell, Donnie Darko, The X Files, Lois & Clark)
Michael Gross b. 1947 (Tremors [TV and film], The Hunger, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court)
Meredith Baxter b. 1947 (The Cat Creature)
Tony Scott b. 1944 died 19 August 2012 (director, The Hunger [1990s TV and 1983 movie])
Joe Flaherty b. 1941 (Maniac Mansion, Back to the Beanstalk, Back to the Future Part II, Innerspace, Deadly Nightmares, Dave Thomas: The Incredible Time Travels of Henry Osgood)
Lyman Ward b. 1941 (Black Scorpion [TV], Independence Day, Weird Science [TV], Sleepwalkers, A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge, Battlestar Galactica [1979], Man from Atlantis)
Mariette Hartley b. 1940 (Conan [TV], Encino Man, The Incredible Hulk, Logan’s Run [TV], Genesis II, Mystery in Dracula’s Castle, Earth II, The Return of Count Yorga, Star Trek, Twilight Zone)
Ron Ely b. 1938 (Superboy, Wonder Woman)
Monte Markham b. 1935 (Fringe, Millennium Man, Deep Space Nine, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show, The Incredible Hulk, Beyond Westworld, The Invisible Man, The Six Million Dollar Man, Project X)
Bernie Kopell b. 1933 (The Creature of the Sunny Side Up Trailer Park, Charmed, Bug Buster, Charmed, The Charmings, The Six Million Dollar Man, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, Bewitched, My Favorite Martian)
Maureen Stapleton b. 1925 died 13 March 2006 (Doin’ Time on Planet Earth, Cocoon, The Electric Grandmother)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, it was David Morrissey from The Walking Dead and director Lana Wachowski. I could have gone old school with Mariette Hartley from Star Trek, but I went instead with the third youngest person on today's list Chris Pratt, who in just a couple years now has two iconic genre roles.

2. Things I learned today.
The nice thing: Michael Gross and Meredith Baxter share the exact same birthday, both turning 68 today and good on 'em.


The not nice thing: Robert Pastorelli was a "Wait... he's dead?" guy for me, dying very young. His best known role is as Eldon on Murphy Brown.

Neither nice nor not: Joe Flaherty was born in Pittsburgh, PA. He must have had a Canadian work visa for at least part of his career, but I can find no evidence he ever had Canadian citizenship.


3. Spot the Canadians! There are two today. Lyman Ward works mainly south of the border, Erica Durance works mainly north.


4, Nepotism, not a win. While I didn't know Robert Pastorelli was dead until I did research today, I was aware of the early death of Eric Douglas, son of Kirk Douglas. Very sad story.

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

Movies released
World War Z released, 2013
Monsters University released, 2013
Minority Report released 2002

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

Prediction: I’m going to tell you because it can’t hurt anything… it’s time travel, all right, but it’s not practical. You can’t use it.”

Reality: As reality, time travel isn't happening, but I did like the version Heinlein created for this story. The impractical thing was that you couldn't be sure whether you were moving forward in time or backward. As Heinlein put it "Point in the direction of the future." Instead, time travel sent some stuff forward and the rest backward when used.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Monday rolls around again, which means another dip into The OMNI Future Almanac.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
 

10 June 2015

Birthdays
Kelly Vitz b. 1988 (Teenius, Sky High)
Mitch Ryan b. 1987 (Cabin Fever: Patient Zero)
Celina Jade b. 1985 (Arrow)
Susannah Fielding b. 1985 (Doctor Who)
Leelee Sobieski b. 1983 (Hercules [2005 TV])
Shanna Collins b. 1983 (The Haunting of Molly Hartley, War of the Worlds)
Toby Levins b. 1981 (The 100, Fear the Walking Dead, Falling Skies, Godzilla [2014], Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, The Tomorrow People, Almost Human, Battlestar Galactica, Supernatural, Fringe)
Jonathan Bennett b. 1981 (Smallville, Eastwick)
Melinda Sward b. 1979 (Supernatural)
Shane West b. 1978 (Salem, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Dracula 2000, Sliders, Buffy)
DJ Qualls b. 1978 (Man in the High Castle, Z Nation, Supernatural, The Big Bang Theory, Lost, The Core)
Simon Fenton b. 1976 (A Night in Camelot, Matinee)
Mike Dopud b. 1968 (X-Men: Days of Future Past, Continuum, Man of Steel, Battlestar Galactica, Beauty and the Beast [2012], Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn, Grimm, Warehouse 13, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Stargate, Smallville, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Supernatural, Journey to the Center of the Earth [TV], Blade: The Series, BloodRayne, Kraken: Tentacles of the Deep, Jeremiah, Rollerball, Dark Angel, Seven Days, The New Addams Family [TV], Millennium [TV], Futuresport, Welcome to Paradox)
Elizabeth Hurley b. 1965 (The Tomorrow People, Wonder Woman [2011], Bedazzled, My Favorite Martian [1999])
Amy Yip b. 1965 (Robotrix, Erotic Ghost Story)
Andrew Niccol b. 1964 (director, The Host [2013], In Time, S1m0ne, Gattaca)
Vincent Perez b. 1964 (Queen of the Damned, The Crow: City of Angels)
Ben Daniels b. 1964 (Jack the Giant Slayer, Merlin, Doom)
Jeanne Tripplehorn b. 1963 (Waterworld)
Carolyn Hennesy b. 1962 (Hybrids, Acting Dead, True Blood, Once Upon a Time, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, Deadly Invasion: The Killer Bee Nightmare)
Gina Gershon b. 1962 (Category 7: The End of the World, Voodoo Dawn, Twilight Zone [1987])
Timothy Van Patten b. 1959 (director, Game of Thrones)
Robert Clohessy b. 1957 (The Avengers, Mattie Fresno and the Holoflux Universe, Lois & Clark)
Rich Hall b. 1954 (C.H.U.D. II – Bud the Chud)
Frankie Faison b. 1949 (Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant, Messengers, Prey, The Langoliers, Freejack, Maximum Overdrive, C.H.U.D., Cat People)
Randee Heller b. 1947 (ALF)
Mickey Jones b. 1941 (It Came From Outer Space II, Total Recall, Misfits of Science, V, Starman, The Incredible Hulk, Galactica 1980)
Jurgen Prochnow b. 1941 (House of the Dead, Wing Commander, Judge Dredd, Terminus, Dune)
Alexandra Stewart b. 1939 (Highlander [TV], Deadly Nightmares)
Luciana Paluzzi b. 1937 (The Six Million Dollar Man: Solid Gold Kidnapping, Captain Nemo and the Underwater City, The Green Slime, Mr. Terrific, Hercules)
Maurice Sendak b. 1928 died 8 May 2012 (author/artist, Where the Wild Things Are)
Sunshine Parker b. 1927 died 17 February 1999 (Tremors, Werewolf [TV])
Lionel Jeffries b. 1926 died 19 February 2010 (Lexx, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, First Men in the Moon, The Revenge of Frankenstein, The Quatermass Xperiment)
Judy Garland b. 1922 died 22 June 1969 (The Wizard of Oz)
Garry Walberg b. 1921 died 27 March 2012 (King Kong [1976], The Andromeda Strain, The Immortal, Land of the Giants, The Invaders, Star Trek, Twilight Zone)
Lou Frizzell b. 1920 died 17 June 1979 (Project U.F.O., Devil Dog: The Hound from Hell, Capricorn One, Isis)
Barry Morse b. 1918 died 2 February 2008 (TekWar, Dracula: The Series, Twilight Zone [1988], Whoops Apocalypse, The Changeling, The Shape of Things to Come, Space: 1999, The Starlost, The Invaders, The Outer Limits, Twilight Zone, ‘Way Out)
Robert Eddison b. 1908 died 14 December 1991 (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, The Storyteller, The Legend of King Arthur [1979], Out of the Unknown)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, the Picture Slot went to writer Andrew Niccol because he was the only birthday boy I had back in 2013 before I figured out easy methods of research and Judy Garland in 2014 because The Wizard of Oz is still one of the best and most successful genre films of all time. I thought about Jurgen Prochnow from Dune and Maurice Sendak, but I went instead with Barry Morse from Space: 1999, still one of my all-time least favorite genre TV shows. It should be remembered that Space: 1999 was produced in that desperate era between the cancellation of Star Trek and the release of Star Wars, when sci-fi fans were starved for good options. I watched every week and this was definitely not a good option.

2. Spot the Canadians! I'll give you Alexandra Stewart, because she's hard to spot. There's one more, not hard to spot, though you might be fooled be a faux Canadian.

3. The Gal at the Door and MST3K. The oldest living person on the list is Italian beauty Luciana Paluzzi, now 78. Everyone younger than her is still with us. She was a Bond girl in Thunderball, but is remembered here for genre work, including two films that got the MST3K treatment, the original Hercules and The Green Slime.

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

Predictor: George Sutherland in the 1901 book Twentieth Century Inventions

Prediction: With the advance of municipalisation, and of intelligent collectivism generally, enterprises of public utility will be guarded from mere cut-throat commercial hostility much more sedulously in the twentieth century than they have been in the past.

Reality: Hey! Our sensible pal Mr. Sutherland is a Commie! I knew I liked him.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Because I'm trying not to repeat myself, I will NOT be using a picture of Peter Dinklage tomorrow, and I already feel some pangs about this.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE! 

1 June 2015

Birthdays
Willow Shields b. 2000 (The Wonder, The Hunger Games)
Madison Smith b. 1990 (Supernatural, Evangeline, Chupacabra vs. the Alamo)
Taylor Handley b. 1984 (Toxin, Battle Los Angeles)
Craig Olejnik b. 1979 (Haven, Thir13en Ghosts, So Weird)
Sarah Wayne Callies b. 1977 (The Walking Dead)
Danielle Harris b. 1977 (Night of the Living Dead: Origins 3D, Nuclear Family, Chromeskull: Laid to Rest 2, Halloween I and II [21st Century], Charmed, Eerie, Indiana, Halloween 4 and 5 [20th Century])
Patrick Gilmore b. 1976 (Arrow, Continuum, Primeval: New World, Cabin in the Woods, Stargate, Fringe, 2012, Battlestar Galactica, Smallville, Supernatural, Eureka, The Last Mimzy, Final Days of Planet Earth, Stephen King’s Dead Zone)
Kate Magowan b. 1975 (Stardust)
Melissa Sagemiller b. 1974 (Soul Survivors)
Heidi Klum b. 1973 (Ella Enchanted)
Rick Gomez b. 1972 (Transformers, Sin City, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles [1990])
Paul Schrier b. 1970 (Power Rangers)
Teri Polo b. 1969 (The Hole, The Storm, Brimstone, Van Helsing Chronicles, House of Frankenstein, Phantom of the Opera)
Lezlie Dean b. 1964 (Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare, Hard Time on Planet Earth, Girlfriend from Hell, Freddy’s Nightmares, 976-EVIL)
Mark Curry b. 1961 (Armageddon)
Lisa Hartman b. 1956 (Not of this World, Tabitha)
Robin Mattson b. 1956 (The Incredible Hulk, The Six Million Dollar Man, Phantom of the Paradise, Island of the Lost)
Gemma Craven b. 1950 (Cinderella: The Slipper and the Rose)
Michael McDowell b. 1950 died 27 December 1999 (writer, Tales from the Crypt, Beetlejuice, Amazing Stories)
Powers Boothe b. 1948 (Sin City, The Avengers, Mutant Species, Red Dawn)
Jonathan Pryce b. 1947 (Game of Thrones, G.I. Joe, Clone, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Brothers Grimm, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Brazil)
Brian Cox b. 1946 (The Anomaly, An Adventure in Space and Time, Her, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, The Day of the Triffids, Doctor Who, Timewatch, X-Men 2, The Ring, Bug, Red Dwarf, The Cloning of Joanna May, Hammer House of Horror)
Robert Powell b. 1944 (Merlin of the Crystal Cave, Frankenstein [1984 TV], The Asphyx)
Rene Auberjonois b. 1940 (Warehouse 13, Stargate SG-1, Poltergeist: The Legacy, Deep Space Nine, Batman Forever, Eerie, Indiana, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Count, My Best Friend is a Vampire, Faerie Tale Theatre, Beyond Westworld, Wonder Woman, Man from Atlantis, The Bionic Woman, King Kong [1976], Brewster McCloud)
Cleavon Little b. 1939 died 22 October 1992 (Tales from the Crypt, ALF, Once Bitten, Once Upon a Brothers Grimm)
Morgan Freeman b. 1937 (Lucy, Transcendence, Oblivion, The Dark Knight, Conan the Barbarian [2011], War of the Worlds, Dreamcatcher, Deep Impact, Outbreak, Twilight Zone[1985])
Glenn Beck (no, not that one) b. 1935 (National Treasure: Book of Secrets, Twilight’s Last Gleaming, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Doctor Who, The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll)
Peter Masterson b. 1934 (The Stepford Wives, The Exorcist)
Edward Woodward b. 1930 died 16 November 2009 (Crusade, Gulliver’s Travels, Arthur the King, 1990, Bloodsuckers)
Andy Griffith b. 1926 died 3 July 2012 (Salvage 1)
Aubrey Morris b. 1926 (Mermaid Chronicles Part 1: She Creature, The Others, Legend of the Mummy, Bordello of Blood, Babylon 5, Alien Nation, Beauty and the Beast, Lifeforce, The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy [TV], Space: 1999, A Clockwork Orange, Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb, The Prisoner)
Richard Erdman b. 1925 (Out of This World, Small Wonder, Trancers, The Amazing Spider-Man, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Bionic Woman, I Dream of Jeannie, Mr. Terrific, The Brass Bottle, Twilight Zone, Aladdin and His Lamp)
John Randolph b. 1915 died 24 February 2004 (Superman 50th Anniversary, Voyagers!, King Kong [1976], Wonder Woman, Topper Returns, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, Escape from the Planet of the Apes, The Invaders, Seconds)
Mike Lally b. 1900 died 15 February 1985 (Coma, Future Cop, The Incredible Mr. Limpet, Twilight Zone, The Adventures of Superman, Mighty Joe Young, The Return of Doctor X)
Frank Morgan b. 1890 died 18 September 1949 (The Wizard of Oz)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. There are a lot of excellent choices for The Picture Slot this fine morning. Frank Morgan from The Wizard of Oz and Rene Auberjonois from Deep Space Nine have already had their turns, but there are still a lot of choices that count as iconic, from as young as Sarah Wayne Callies on The Walking Dead to as old as two still living Oh That Guys, Aubrey Morris and Richard Erdman. Jonathan Pryce got my vote today and I was going to use a picture of him as High Sparrow from this year's cast of Game of Thrones, but I instead went with a picture from Brazil, a movie that still holds a soft spot for me.

2. Spot the Canadians! Four Canucks today, one very spottable and the others, not so much. Patrick Gilmore has the very typical credit list of a hard working Canadian genre actor, but Glenn Beck is a little too old to be typical and Craig Olejnik and Madison Smith haven't had enough roles.

3. Who is Mike Lally? I included Mike Lally on the list today because the movie from his resume that was on the list of birthdays page on imdb.com was Coma, a genre film from the late 1970s. He had an amazing 422 credits, nearly all of them uncredited. He was in big movies like Citizen Kane, Singin' in the Rain and It's a Wonderful Life, all as extras. He's not an Oh That Guy, but he kept a roof over his head from the early 1930s to the late 1970s just showing up and hitting his mark. His biography says he was one of the founders of the Actors Guild with Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Ronald Reagan. I had never heard of him before, but his career was the big surprise of this morning's research.

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

Movies released

Snow White and the Huntsman released, 2012
Star Trek III: The Search For Spock released, 1984

Predictor: The OMNI Future Almanac, published 1982

Prediction: By 2010, fashion designers say light and color will be transmutable elements in fashion fabrics. When one enters a room, one's clothing could change to match the decor. Outdoors, clothes could turn white or even be camouflaged by the local landscape. Some designers even foresee clothes changing color according to the way a person feels at a particular moment, like red for anger or grey for depression. 

Reality: Well, like jetpacks and flying cars, we didn't get clothes that change color depending on our moods. Unlike jetpacks and flying cars, I don't feel bad at all we didn't get clothes that change color depending on our moods.

 

This month's splash illustration: I saw the low budget sci-fi film Ex Machina and I liked it, so I thought I'd give it a little love on the blog this month. It was made for about $15 million, which is actually an awkward number for a budget these days. Small films tend to be made for less than $5 million and "middle budget" films tend to cost at least $30 million. The movie has been out for about two months, so I have no idea how long it will remain in the theaters, but if you can't catch it during its general release, rent it on video.
 
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

More Commie predictions from John Langdon-Davies, Commie.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

26 May 2015

Birthdays
Will Dunn b. 1996 (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2)
Astrid Berges-Frisbey b. 1986 (Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides)
Ashley Bell b. 1986 (The Walking Dead, The Last Exorcism)
Elisabeth Harnois b. 1979 (Charmed, Adventures in Wonderland, Beauty and the Beast [1987])
Will Sanderson b. 1980 (Seed, BloodRayne, The Dead Zone, House of the Dead, Smallville, First Wave)
T.J. Ramini b. 1975 (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Arrow, Batman Begins)
Nicki Aycox b. 1975 (BlackBoxTV, Supernatural, The X Files: I Want to Believe, Momentum, Dark Angel, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Weird Science [TV])
Helena Bonham Carter b. 1966 (Through the Looking Glass [2016], Cinderella [2015], Dark Shadows [2012], Harry Potter, Terminator Salvation, Big Fish, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Planet of the Apes [2001], Merlin [1998], Frankenstein [1994])
Musette Vander b. 1963 (Transylmania, Planet Raptor, Forbidden Warrior, Mansquito, Stargate SG-1, The Cell, Xena, Star Trek: Voyager, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, Babylon 5, Buffy, The Dark Mist, Oblivion, Monolith, Super Force)
Bobcat Goldthwait b. 1962 (Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Tales from the Crypt, Encino Woman, Scrooged)
Tarsem Singh b. 1961 (director, Mirror Mirror, Immortals, The Cell)
Doug Hutchinson b. 1960 (Lost, Punisher: War Zone, The Green Mile, Millennium, Batman & Robin, Space: Above and Beyond, The X-Files, The Lawnmower Man)
Margaret Colin b. 1958 (Gotham, Independence Day)
Lisa Niemi b. 1956 (Super Force, Steel Dawn, Max Headroom)
Donald Losby b. 1951 (Lost in Space, Twilight Zone)
Pam Grier b. 1949 (The Invited, Mars Attacks!, Smallville, The Adventures of Pluto Nash, Ghosts of Mars, Escape from L.A., Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, Class of 1999, Something Wicked This Way Comes, Scream Blacula Scream, The Twilight People)
Dayle Haddon b. 1949 (Cyborg, Max Headroom, Spermula)
Philip Michael Thomas b. 1949 (Superboy, The Wizard of Speed and Time, The Dark, Wonder Woman)
Janet Morris b. 1946 (author, Heroes in Hell, Thieves' World)
Herb Trimpe b. 1939 died 13 April 2015 (writer/artist, Wolverine)
Ingrid Goude b. 1937 (The Killer Shrews)
James Arness b. 1923 died 3 June 2011 (Them!, The Thing from Another World, Two Lost Worlds)
Roy Dotrice b. 1923 (Game of Thrones, Hellboy II, Angel, Alien Hunter, Sliders, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Babylon 5, Earth 2, Beauty and the Beast, Alien Attack, Space: 1999)
Peter Cushing b. 1913 died 11 August 1994 (The Mystery on Monster Island, Star Wars, Land of the Minotaur, At the Earth's Core, Space: 1999, The Ghoul, Legend of the Werewolf, Tender Dracula, The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires, From Beyond the Grave, Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell, The Satanic Rites of Dracula, The Beast Must Die, The Creeping Flash, Horror Express, Dr. Phibes Rises Again, Dracula A.D. 1972, Tales from the Crypt [1972], I, Monster, Twins of Evil, The House That Dripped Blood, The Vampire Lovers, Bloodsuckers, Scream and Scream Again, Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed, The Blood Beast Terror, Island of the Burning Damned, Frankenstein Created Woman, Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D., Island of Terror, Dr. Who and the Daleks, The Skull, She, Dr. Terror's House of Horrors, The Gorgon, The Evil of Frankenstein, The Man Who Finally Died, The Brides of Dracula, The Mummy, The Revenge of Frankenstein, Horror of Dracula, The Abominable Snowman, The Curse of Frankenstein)
Robert Morley b. 1908 died 3 June 1992 (Alice in Wonderland [1985], Theatre of Blood, Scrooge [1935])

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, the Picture Slot celebrated the fun fact that Peter Cushing is nine years and one day older than his very regular co-star Christopher Lee. This year, not wanting to repeat myself, we have a picture of the actor on the list with the most iconic role in the 21st Century, Helena Bonham Carter as Bellatrix Lestrange.

2. Spot the Canadians! It would be very difficult to guess from her credit list alone that Dayle Haddon was born north of the border. Will Sanderson's credits give away his roots a little more, but he isn't glaringly obvious, either.

3. Wait... they did genre? The people I checked on today that I didn't know had genre roles were Robert Morley, Philip Michael Thomas and Bobcat Goldthwait.

4. MST3K. There may be others, but I know The Killer Shrews was the cheesy movie for one episode.

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

Movie released
X-Men: The Last Stand released, 2006

 

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

Prediction: Britain, France, Spain and Russia and the smaller so-called neutral nations will oppose the destroyers of democracy on the right.

Reality: Langdon-Davies gets two solid hits with Britain and Russia, sort of a hit with the quickly subdued French and a complete whiff with Spain, where the fascists won the Civil War, much to the writer's dismay.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Wednesday rolls around again and we discover our sensible pal George Sutherland is actually kind of brilliant.


Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!