13 September 2015

Birthdays
Robbie Kay b. 1995 (Heroes Reborn, Once Upon a Time, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Pinocchio)
Erin Way b. 1987 (Warehouse 13, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Grimm, Alphas, I (Heart) Vampires)
Carol Anne Watts b. 1987 (Ant-Man, Frankenstein [2015])
Trevor Duke-Moretz b. 1986 (Big Bad Wolf)
Sean Brosnan b. 1983 (U.F.O.)
Robin Chalk b. 1981 (Moon)
Ben Savage b. 1980 (Aliens for Breakfast, Little Monsters)
Elizabeth Weinstein b. 1979 (Supernatural, Arrow, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Smallville, Goblin, Stargate SG-1)
Colin Trevorrow b. 1976 (director, Jurassic World, Safety Not Guaranteed)
Louise Lombard b. 1970 (Grimm, SGU Stargate Universe, Tale of the Mummy)
Jonathan Walker b. 1967 (Continuum, Supernatural, Fringe, The Thing [2011], V [2011], Smallville, Flash Gordon, Stargate SG-1, Land of the Dead, Tracker, The X Files, Cyberjack)
Louis Mandylor b. 1966 (616: Paranormal Incident, The Prometheus Project, Charmed)
Joel Beeson b. 1966 (Death Becomes Her)
Laura Stepp b. 1966 (Star Trek: Enterprise, Star Trek: Voyager, Spawn)
Alfonso Freeman b. 1959 (Bad Blood I and II)
Isiah Whitlock Jr. b. 1954 (Europa Report, Enchanted, Gremlins 2: The New Batch)
Ann Dusenberry b. 1953 (Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, The Six Million Dollar Man)
Taryn Power b. 1953 (The Sea Serpent, Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger)
Christine Estabrook b. 1952 (American Horror Story, Spider-Man 2, The X Files)
Raymond O’Connor b. 1952 (Buffy, Babylon 5, Breakfast of Champions, Hard Time on Planet Earth, Dr. Alien, Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers)
Jean Smart b. 1951 (Project X)
Bruce Phillips b. 1951 (Legend of the Seeker, Power Rangers R.P.M., Lord of the Rings, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys)
Clyde Kusatsu b. 1948 (Dollhouse, Charmed, Babylon 5: Thirdspace, Godzilla [1998], Star Trek: The Next Generation, Lois & Clark, ALF, The Powers of Matthew Star, Meteor, Dr. Strange)
Kathleen Lloyd b. 1948 (Babylon 5, Amazing Stories, Twilight Zone [1986], The Incredible Hulk, It Lives Again, The Car, The Sixth Sense)
Frank Marshall b, 1946 (producer, Jurassic World, Indiana Jones, Back to the Future, The Sixth Sense, The Indian in the Cupboard, Amazing Stories, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, The Land Before Time, Arachnophobia, Hook, *batteries not included, Innerspace, Gremlins, Twilight Zone: The Movie, Poltergeist)
Dolly Read b. 1944 (The Kiss of the Vampire)
Richard Kiel b. 1939 died 10 September 2014 (Inspector Gadget, The Princess and the Dwarf, Superboy, Out of this World, Phoenix, Hysterical, Moonraker, The Humanoid, The Incredible Hulk, Land of the Lost, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, My Mother the Car, I Dream of Jeannie, The Human Duplicators, The Twilight Zone, Eegah, The Phantom Planet)
Don Bluth b. 1937 (director, Titan A.E., The Land Before Time, The Secret of NIMH)
Joe E. Tata b. 1936 (Charmed, Wonder Woman, Batman, Batgirl, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Lost in Space, The Time Tunnel, The Outer Limits)
Barbara Bain b. 1931 (Millennium, The Visitor, Space: 1999, My Mother the Car)
Norman Alden b. 1924 died 27 July 2012 (K-PAX, They Live, Small Wonder, Back to the Future, The Greatest American Hero, Electra Woman and Dyna Girl, Planet of the Apes [TV], Batman, My Favorite Martian)
Scott Brady b. 1924 died 16 April 1985 (Gremlins, The Invisible Man [1975], The Mighty Gorga, Journey to the Center of Time, Destination Inner Space)
Maurice Jarre b. 1924 died 29 March 2009 (composer, Solar Crisis, Ghost, Solarbabies, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, Dreamscape, Firefox, The Island at the Top of the World)
Roald Dahl b. 1916 died 23 November 1990 (author, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Witches)
Roy Engel b. 1913 died 29 December 1980 (Kingdom of the Spiders, The Invaders, My Favorite Martian, The Colossus of New York, Not of This Earth, Indestructible Man, It Came From Beneath the Sea, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, Zombies of the Stratosphere, The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Man from Planet X)
Reta Shaw b. 1912 died 8 January 1982 (Escape to Witch Mountain, Bewitched, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, I Dream of Jeannie, Lost in Space, Mary Poppins)
Mae Questel b. 1908 died 4 January 1998 (Who Framed Roger Rabbit)
Ruth McDevitt b. 1895 died 27 May 1976 (Kolchak: The Night Stalker, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, The Birds)
Daniel Defoe b.1660 died24 April 1731 (Memoirs of Sundry Transactions from the World of the Moon)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, the Picture Slot belonged to fabulous babe Barbara Bain and Oh That Guy Clyde Kusatsu. I think Richard Kiel may be more iconic than either, but he died just before his birthday last year, so  didn't want to use his picture twice in so short a span.

2. Spot the Canadian! Usually, the Supernatural/Smallville Daily Double is a good sign someone was born north of the border, but it doesn't work perfectly. Elizabeth Weinstein is Canadian, but Jonathan Walker is British.

3. Nepotism FTW. Taryn Power is the daughter of Tyrone. Alonzo Freeman is the son of Morgan. Sean Brosnan is the son of Pierce.

4. MST3K. Picture Slotter Richard Kiel is in two films, The Human Duplicators and Eegah. We also have Roy Engel in The Indestructible Man. There may be others, I'm not sure.

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

The Weekly Soapbox: Global Warming

Just to be clear, I "believe" in global warming and mankind's part in it, much in the same way I "believe" in gravity. The effect of greenhouse gases is settled science and humans burning fossil fuels creates more greenhouse gases.

We've only had a few predictions on the blog about climate change and many of them have been about rising ocean levels, including a crazy high number from Paul Ehrlich, one of the most inaccurate regular predictors this blog has ever published. (Don't worry, I haven't forgotten Ray Kurzweil and FM-2030. I did write "one of the most", after all.) I wish we could fix the problem, but I'm not optimistic, and here are the reasons why.

1. Rising ocean levels are the least of our worries. There are some places on earth that now have to deal with rising waters, but they are currently far away from where the majority of people live. I expect the first thing we will notice effecting the lives of millions will be ecosystem changes that have nothing to do with the sea levels. We don't live close enough to nature to feel it when it goes bad - it's going bad in California right now, and all we are asked to do is take shorter showers and not water our lawns - but longer droughts and bigger wildfires in some areas, contrasted with heavier rains in other and temperatures not getting cold enough to put pests into their natural hibernation stage, are likely going to change how we live long before low level islands with lots of people flood. More than that, when these things happen, there will be people around to say it has nothing to do with a changing climate.

2. An enormous industry to pay for bullshit, which has already bought an entire political party. Do I need to name names? Okay, the petroleum industry and the Republicans. We've had scientific evidence that forced the government to limit the use of profitable products like aerosols, DDT and  asbestos, but those industries decided to change the way they did business. Petroleum is acting more like the tobacco industry, probably because their best scientists are telling them in private that there is no clean way to stay in business at the current level. The people lying about global warming are not just using the same tactics as the folks who lied for decades about the health risks of tobacco, in some cases they are the exact same people.

3. Humankind. Even a guy like me with no car is still sucking up energy keeping my computer and refrigerator on, and while I am consciously trying to improve the way I live, I'm not interested in going off the grid and only using the electricity I can create with solar panels and a bicycle generator. I think we can scale back, but I don't know if it will be enough. I'm turning 60 this year, so I will likely miss the worst of it. The generation of my grand-nieces and grand-nephews are probably going to have it very bad indeed.

Cheerful bastid, ain't I?

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Taking a look at the predictions for the NFL playoffs from the website fivethirtyeight.com.
  
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
 

8 September 2015

Birthdays
Travis Nelson b. 1990 (Supernatural, Fringe, Meteor Storm, Tucker and Dale vs. Evil)
Justin Bradley b. 1985 (Being Human, Warm Bodies, Beastly)
Christine Weatherup b. 1983 (Star Kid)
Jonathan Taylor Thomas b. 1981 (Smallville)
Miles Jupp b. 1979 (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix)
Nate Corddry b. 1977 (Ghostbusters [2016], The Invention of Lying)
Larenz Tate b. 1975 (The Postman, The Twilight Zone [1985])
Martin Freeman b. 1971 (Captain America: Civil War, The Hobbit, The World’s End, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Shaun of the Dead)
Brooke Burke-Charvet b. 1971 (The Wraith)
David Arquette b. 1971 (The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl, Eight Legged Freaks, Muppets from Space, Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
Brian Huskey b. 1968 (This Is the End, Fright Night [2011], Meet Dave, Land of the Lost [2009])
Brad Silberling b. 1963 (director, Land of the Lost, Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, Casper)
Larry Zerner b. 1963 (Knights of Badassdom, Friday the 13th Part III)
Thomas Kretschmann b. 1962 (Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Dracula [TV], Dracula 3D, FlashForward, Bionic Woman, King Kong, Frankenstein [2004 TV], Resident Evil: Apocalypse, Blade II, Relic Hunter, Total Recall 2070, Total Reality)
David Knell b. 1961 (Grimm, The Invisible Man, Total Recall, ALF, Splash, The Devil and Max Devlin)
Tom Tangen b. 1961 (Monkeybone, Donnie Darko, A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge, Back to the Future)
Sonja Smits b. 1958 (Odyssey 5, TekWar, Videodrome)
Heather Thomas b. 1957 (Swamp Thing [TV], Cyclone, Zapped!)
Julian Richings b. 1955 (The Witch, Hellmouth, Orphan Black, Supernatural, Man of Steel, Todd and the Book of Pure Evil, Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, Survival of the Dead, Saw IV, X-Men: The Last Stand, Skinwalkers, Re-Generation, Prince Charming, My Best Friend is an Alien, Highlander: The Raven, Universal Soldier II: Brothers in Arms, Cube, Mimic, RoboCop [TV], War of the Worlds [TV])
Clayton Norcross b. 1954 (Weird Science [TV], Defending Your Life)
Mark Lindsay Chapman b. 1954 (Charmed, Poltergeist: The Legacy, NightMan, Legend of the Mummy, The Burning Zone, Lois & Clark, Weird Science [TV], The Langoliers, Swamp Thing [TV], Max Headroom)
Willard Huyck b. 1945 (writer/director, Howard the Duck; writer, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom)
Archie Goodwin b. 1937 died 1 March 1988 (writer, Marvel Comics and Warren Publications)
Michael A. Hoey b. 1934 died 17 August 2014 (director, The Navy vs. the Night Monsters)
Joe Kubert b. 1926 died 12 August 2012 (artist)
Peter Sellers b. 1925 died 24 July 1980 (Alice in Wonderland [1972 and 1966])
Harry Harris b. 1922 died 19 March 2009 (director, Alice in Wonderland [1985], Land of the Giants, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Time Tunnel, Lost in Space)
Harry Secombe b. 1921 died 11 April 2001 (Alice Through the Looking Box)
Frank Cady b. 1915 died 8 June 2012 (Monster Squad [TV], 7 Faces of Dr. Lao, The Next Voice You Hear…)
Alexander Mackendrick b. 1912 died 22 December 1993 (writer/director, The Man in the White Suit)
Brian Morrow b. 1911 died 11 May 2006 (Beauty and the Beast, Freddie’s Nightmares, Otherworld, The Greatest American Hero, The Bionic Woman, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, Colossus: The Forbin Project, Star Trek, Bewitched, Lost in Space, The Invaders, Captain Nice, I Dream of Jeannie, Cyborg 2087, Atlantis, the Lost Continent, Twilight Zone)
William Fawcett b. 1894 died 25 January 1974 (I Dream of Jeannie, Mr. Terrific, The Munsters, Jesse James Meets Frankenstein’s Daughter, Twilight Zone, Commando Cody, Captain Video, Atom Man vs. Superman, Batman and Robin [1949])

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, I went Oh That Guy with Brian Morrow and noted the first episode aired of Star Trek. This year, I drag myself into the 21st Century with a picture of Martin Freeman from The Hobbit.

2. Spot the Canadians! Our two youngest on today's list, Travis Nelson and Justin Bradley, are both born north of the border, as is Sonja Smits. Julian Richings was born in Britain but moved to Canada in the 1980s.

3. Nepotism FTW. David Arquette is one of the multi-generational family of actors.

4. The Guy at the Door. On today's list, the cut-off year for the living and the dead is 1945, which is way too recent for my tastes. This means the blog gives special best wishes on his birthday to Willard Huyck, even though he is responsible for Howard the Duck.

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

TV show premieres 
Star Trek first aired, 1966

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

Prediction: The Times came to me by tube each morning, now that I was a solid citizen.

Reality: This scene takes place in 2000 and Heinlein is discussing newspaper delivery by pneumatic tube.

He gets no marks for this, but I do not judge him, because this failed prediction makes me sad.
 
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Another visit from out friend George Sutherland.
  
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

4 September 2015

Birthdays
Ellie Darcey-Alden b. 1999 (Doctor Who, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2)
Peggy Nesbitt b. 197 (The Hobbitt)
Caitlin and Amanda Fein b. 1992 (The X Files, Deep Impact)
Carter Jenkins b. 1991 (Aliens in the Attic, The 4400, Surface)
Charlotte Frogner b. 1981 (Dead Snow 1 & 2)
Max Greenfield b. 1980 (American Horror Story, No Ordinary Family)
Wes Bentley b. 1978 (Interstellar, American Horror Story, The Hunger Games, Underworld: Awakening, Jonah Hex, Ghost Rider)
John Ruby b. 1977 (Touch, The Event)
Rasika Mathur b. 1976 (Rubberhead, Cloverfield)
Kai Owen b. 1975 (Torchwood, Being Human, Rocket Man)
Jason David Frank b. 1973 (Power Rangers, V.R. Troopers)
Francoise Yip b. 1972 (Sanctuary, Fringe, Caprica, Blood Ties, Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem, Flash Gordon [TV], Andromeda, Blade: Trinity, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Smallville, Jeremiah, Mindstorm, RoboCop: Prime Directives, Earth: Final Conflict, Futuresport)
Ione Skye b. 1970 (Haunt, The Dead Zone)
Richard Speight Jr. b. 1970 (Supernatural, Jericho, Big Monster on Campus, Menno’s Mind, Hypernauts, Amanda & the Alien, Freddy’s Nightmares)
Noah Taylor b. 1969 (Edge of Tomorrow, Game of Thrones, Predestination, Pirates of the Caribbean: Secrets of the Dead Man’s Chest, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Lara Croft Tomb Raider, Simon Magus, Vanilla Sky)
Kristen Wilson b. 1969 (Mega Python vs. Gatoroid, Dr. Doolittle, Dungeons & Dragons)
Mo Brings Plenty b. 1969 (Cowboys & Aliens)
John DiMaggio b. 1968 (Futurama, Princess Mononoke, Adventure Time, among many others)
Phill Lewis b. 1968 (Wizards of Waverly Place, What Planet Are You From?, Buffy, Starman [TV])
Michael Bent b. 1965 (Threshold, Firefly)
Todd Sherry b. 1961 (Eastwick, Alien Autopsy, Charmed)
Annabel Schofield b. 1963 (Solar Crisis)
Damon Wayans b. 1960 (Blankman, Earth Girls Are Easy)
Domiziana Giordano b. 1959 (Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles)
Patricia Tallman b. 1957 (InAlienable, Babylon 5, Star Trek: Voyager, Dark Skies, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Army of Darkness, The Flash, Night of the Living Dead [1990], Hard Time on Planet Earth)
Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs b. 1953 (Weird Science, Homeboys in Outer Space, Alien Nation)
Alan Blumenfeld b. 1952 (Touch, Heroes, Stargate: Atlantis, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, The Dark Side of the Moon, The Munsters Today, Beauty and the Beast [1988], Innerspace, Jason Lives, The Twilight Zone [1986], WarGames)
Judith Ivey b. 1951 (Rose Red, The Devil’s Advocate,Frogs!)
Michael Berryman b. 1948 (Apocalypse Kiss, Army of the Damned, Necrosis, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show, Conan, The X-Files, Beastmaster 2: Through the Portal of Time, Wizards of the Demon Sword, Guyver, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Aftershock, ALF, Saturday the 14th Strikes Back, Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Barbarians, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, My Science Project, Weird Science, The Hills Have Eyes, Voyage of the Rock Aliens, Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze)
David St. James b. 1947 (Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Donnie Darko, My Favorite Martian [1999], Alien Avengers II, Alien: Resurrection, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Space: Above and Beyond, The Invaders [1995 TV movie], Lois & Clark, Monolith)
Cynthia Pepper b. 1940 (The Addams Family)
Bob May b. 1939 died 18 January 2009 (Lost in Space, The Time Tunnel)
Leonard Frey b. 1938 died 24 August 1988 (Earthlings)
Nicholas Worth b. 1937 died 7 May 2007 (Star Trek: Voyager, Starforce, The X Files, Sliders, Deep Space Nine, Timelock, Plughead Rewired: Circuitry Man II, Darkman, Hell Comes to Frogtown, Knight Rider, The Greatest American Hero, Swamp Thing, Coma, The Invisible Man [1975], The Six Million Dollar Man, Scream Blacula Scream)
Edward de Souza b. 1932 (The Golden Compass, She-Wolf of London, 1990, Doctor Who, The Kiss of the Vampire)
Dinsdale Landen b. 1932 died 29 December 2003 (Doctor Who, Morons from Outer Space, Out of This World)
Dick York b. 1928 died 20 February 1992 (Bewitched, Twilight Zone)
Howard Morris b. 1919 died 21 May 2005 (It Came from Outer Space II, Transylvania Twist, Splash, The Munsters’ Revenge, Space Academy, Twilight Zone)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. Did you ever wonder if Darren Stephens worked with Don Draper?  Okay... it's just me.

Previous Picture Slotters were Patricia Tallman from Babylon 5 and Michael Berryman from The Hills Have Eyes. Two other actors I considered were John DiMaggio, the voice of Bender, and Bob May, who was the actor inside the robot on Lost in Space, though Dick Tufield did the voice.

2. Wait... they're dead? We have a bunch of actors born in the 1930s who are already dead. The two whose deaths I had quite processed are Leonard Frey and Nicholas Worth.

3. Spot the Canadian! Today we have Francoise Yip.

4. Nepotism FTW. Ione Ske is the daughter of Donovan Leitch.

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

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

Prediction: The Japanese are a people quite abnormal and incalculable, with a touch of romance, a conception of honour, a quality of imagination, and a clearness of intelligence that renders possible for them things inconceivable of any other existing nation. I may be the slave of perspective effects, but when I turn my mind from the pettifogging muddle of the English House of Commons, for example, that magnified vestry that is so proud of itself as a club--when I turn from that to this race of brave and smiling people, abruptly destiny begins drawing with a bolder hand. Suppose the Japanese were to make up their minds to accelerate whatever process of synthesis were possible in China! Suppose, after all, I am not the victim of atmospheric refraction, and they are, indeed, as gallant and bold and intelligent as my baseless conception of them would have them be! They would almost certainly find co-operative elements among the educated Chinese...

Reality: This is about as complimentary as an Englishman of Wells' time can be about another nationality, and it's still incredibly condescending, most notably to the Chinese. We also have the history lesson of the Japanese making up their minds to "improve" the Chinese, and it wasn't quite the wonderful thing Wells had hoped for.
 
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Another Saturday, another Weekly Soapbox.
  
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

28 August 2015

Birthdays
Quvenzhane Wallis b. 2003 (Beasts of the Southern Wild)
Kyle Massey b. 1991 (Gotham)
Katie Findlay b. 1990 (After the Dark, Continuum, Crash Site, SGU Stargate Universe, Fringe)
Armie Hammer b. 1986 (Stan Lee’s Mighty 7, Mirror Mirror, 2081, Reaper)
Sarah Roemer b. 1984 (The Event, The Grudge 2)
Carly Pope b. 1980 (The Tomorrow People, Elysium, Yeti: Curse of the Snow Demon, The 4400, 10.5: Apocalypse, Jake 2.0, NightMan)
Kelly Overton b. 1978 (True Blood, Beauty and the Beast [2012], Tekken, The Ring Two)
Amber Sainsbury b. 1978 (Fairy Tales, 30 Days of Night, Hex, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys)
Nick E. Tarabay b. 1975 (Arrow, Believe, Star Trek Into Darkness)
Eugene Byrd b. 1975 (True Blood, American Horror Story, Eureka, Night Stalker [2006])
Kristin Booth b. 1974 (Orphan Black, Supernatural, ReGenesis, Total Recall 2070)
J. August Richards b. 1973 (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Arrow, Warehouse 13, The 4400, Angel, Sliders, Space: Above and Beyond)
Stephanie Belding b. 1971 (Lost Girl, Eureka, Watchmen, Reaper, Earth: Final Conflict, eXistenZ)
Daniel Goddard b. 1971 (Immortally Yours, Dream Warrior, BeastMaster)
Jack Black b. 1969 (Ghost Ghirls, Gulliver’s Travels, King Kong, The X-Files, Waterworld, The Neverending Story III, Demolition Man)
Jason Priestley b. 1969 (Haven, Day of the Triffids [2009], Termination Point, Jeremiah, Quantum Leap)
Billy Boyd b. 1968 (Space Milkshake, The Witches of Oz, Glenn, the Flying Robot, Lord of the Rings, Seed of Chucky, Urban Ghost Story)
Amanda Tapping b. 1965 (Supernatural, Stargate, Space Milkshake, Sanctuary, Earthsea, The X Files, Flash Forward, Forever Knight)
Dermot Keaney b. 1964 (Atlantis [TV], Game of Thrones, Pirates of the Caribbean, Strange)
Melissa Rosenberg b. 1962 (writer, Twilight)
David Fincher b. 1962 (director, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Alien³)
Jennifer Coolidge b. 1961 (Click, Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, Not of this Earth)
Emma Samms b. 1960 (The Little Unicorn, Humanoids from the Deep, Tales from the Crypt, Lois & Clark, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, Arabian Adventure)
Brian Thompson b. 1959 (Flight of the Living Dead, Star Trek: Enterprise, Epoch: Evolution, Charmed, Birds of Prey, The X Files, Jason and the Argonauts [TV], Buffy, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, DragonHeart, Deep Space Nine, Weird Science, Kindred: The Embraced, Hercules, Star Trek: Generations, Doctor Mordred, Superboy, Alien Nation [TV], Star Trek: The Next Generation, Alien Nation, Fright Night Part 2, Werewolf, Knight Rider, Otherworld, The Terminator)
John Allen Nelson b. 1959 (Knight Rider, Seven Days, Quantum Leap, Killer Klowns from Outer Space)
Daniel Stern b. 1957 (SeaQuest 2032, Little Monsters, Leviathan, C.H.U.D.)
Rick Rossovich b. 1957 (Legend of the Lost Tomb, Black Scorpion, Future Shock, Tales from the Crypt, The Terminator)
Luis Guzman b. 1956 (Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, Rise of the Damned, Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, The Adventures of Pluto Nash, SeaQuest 2032, Innocent Blood, *batteries not included)
Vonda N. McIntyre b. 1948 (won 1979 Hugo and Nebula for Dreamsnake, won 1998 Nebula for The Moon and the Sun)
Alice Playten b. 1947 died 25 June 2011 (Pioneer 12, Legend, Disco Beaver from Outer Space, The Lost Saucer)
David Soul b. 1943 (Doctor Who: Death Comes to Time, Deadly Nightmares, World War III, Salem’s Lot, Star Trek, I Dream of Jeannie)
Ken Jenkins b. 1940 (The X Files, Sliders, Babylon 5, Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Abyss, Hard Time on Planet Earth)
Donald O’Connor b. 1925 died 27 September 2003 (Alice in Wonderland [1985 and 1983], The Bionic Woman, The Wonders of Aladdin)
Nancy Kulp b. 1921 died 3 February 1991 (Quantum Leap, Twilight Zone, Moon Pilot)
Jack Kirby b. 1917 died 6 February 1994 (artist, Marvel and DC comics)
Jack Vance b. 1916 died 23 May 2013 (author, The Dying Earth, Big Planet)
Simon Oakland b. 1915 died 29 August 1983 (Tucker’s Witch, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, The Starlost, Captain Nice, The Satan Bug, The Outer Limits, My Favorite Martian, Twilight Zone)
Morris Ankrum b. 1897 died 2 September 1964 (X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes, From the Earth to the Moon, Giant from the Unknown, Beginning of the End, The Giant Claw, Kronos, Zombies of Mora Tau, Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, Invaders from Mars, Red Planet Mars, Rocketship X-M)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, I used Jack Kirby and J. August Richards. There were several options for today - David Soul from Star Trek, Brian Thompson from any of a number of roles, Billy Boyd from Lord of the Rings, Jack Black from King Kong - but I decided to go with Quvenzhane Wallis facing off with the Auroch from the end of Beasts of the Southern Wild.

2. Spot the Canadians! There are six today: Katie Findlay, Carly Pope, Kristin Booth, Stephanie Belding, Jason Priestley and Amanda Tapping.

3. Wait... she's dead? Alice Playten was a comic actress who did a lot of voice work. I remember her from Martin Mull's first album and from National Lampoon's Lemmings. I still haven't quite processed that she is dead.

4. MST3K. Morris Ankrum spent most of his career in Westerns, but he also made a lot of 1950s sci-fi, so many of them I saw when I was a kid watching TV in the 1960. Two of his movies got the Best Brains treatment, Beginning of the End and Rocketship X-M.

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:  How will the New Republic treat the inferior races? How will it deal with the black? how will it deal with the yellow man? how will it tackle that alleged termite in the civilized woodwork, the Jew? Certainly not as races at all. It will aim to establish, and it will at last, though probably only after a second century has passed, establish a world-state with a common language and a common rule. All over the world its roads, its standards, its laws, and its apparatus of control will run. It will, I have said, make the multiplication of those who fall behind a certain standard of social efficiency unpleasant and difficult, and it will have cast aside any coddling laws to save adult men from themselves. It will tolerate no dark corners where the people of the Abyss may fester, no vast diffused slums of peasant proprietors, no stagnant plague-preserves. Whatever men may come into its efficient citizenship it will let come--white, black, red, or brown; the efficiency will be the test. And the Jew also it will treat as any other man. It is said that the Jew is incurably a parasite on the apparatus of credit. If there are parasites on the apparatus of credit, that is a reason for the legislative cleaning of the apparatus of credit, but it is no reason for the special treatment of the Jew. If the Jew has a certain incurable tendency to social parasitism, and we make social parasitism impossible, we shall abolish the Jew, and if he has not, there is no need to abolish the Jew. We are much more likely to find we have abolished the Caucasian solicitor.

Reality: Wells is listed as a socialist, but this version of race relations sounds a lot like the conservative argument for "color-blindness", which means other races, if lucky, can eventually become honorary white people.

So yet again, we find H.G. Wells is a scumbag.
 
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

This month, I read Brave New World for the first time and I will give a book report. The ghost of Aldous Huxley will not be pleased.
  
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

24 August 2015

Birthdays
Rupert Grint b. 1988 (Harry Potter)
Chad Michael Murray b. 1981 (Agent Carter, Left Behind, The Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghost of Georgia, House of Wax, Megiddo: The Omega Code 2)
Beth Riesgraf b. 1978 (Caper)
Alex O’Loughlin b. 1976 (Moonlight, The Invisible, Man-Thing)
James D’Arcy b. 1975 (Agent Carter, Jupiter Ascending, Cloud Atlas, Them [2007])
Kwesi Ameyaw b. 1975 (Continuum, Supernatural, Man of Steel, Once Upon a Time, Riverworld, Fringe, Stargate, Kyle XY, Fallen, Eureka, Blade: Trinity, Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, Jake 2.0, Battlestar Galactica, Smallville, Dead Like Me, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Jeremiah, Dark Angel, Strange Frequency, The Lone Gunmen, The 6th Day)
Jennifer Lien b. 1974 (Star Trek: Voyager)
Barret Oliver b.1973 (Twilight Zone [1986], Tall Tales & Legends, Cocoon, D.A.R.Y.L., The NeverEnding Story, Jekyll and Hyde… Together Again, Knight Rider, The Incredible Hulk)
Eric Edwards b. 1966 (Blade, Candyman)
Dana Gould b. 1964 (Mystery Men, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch)
Jared Harris b. 1961 (Poltergeist [2015], The Quiet Ones, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, Fringe, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, Lost in Space [1998], Tall Tale)
Mark Protosevich b. 1961 (writer, Thor, I Am Legend, The Cell)
Steve Guttenberg b. 1958 (Lavalantula, Short Circuit, Cocoon 1 and 2, High Spirits, The Day After, The Boys from Brazil)
Stephen Fry b. 1957 (The Hobbit, The Borrowers, Alice in Wonderland [2010], V for Vendetta, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, MirrorMask, Doctor Who: Death Comes to Time, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride)
Kevin Dunn b. 1956 (Transformers, Lost, NYPD 2069, Small Soldiers, Godzilla [1998], Ghostbusters II)
Orson Scott Card b. 1951 (won 1986 Hugo and Nebula for Ender’s Game, won 1987 Hugo and Nebula for Speaker for the Dead)
Charles Rocket b. 1949 died 7 October 2005 (3rd Rock from the Sun, Star Patrol, The X-Files, Star Trek: Voyager, Lois & Clark, Hocus Pocus, Quantum Leap, Earth Girls Are Easy, Max Headroom)
Joe Regalbuto b. 1949 (Amazing Stories, Mork & Mindy)
Anne Archer b. 1947 (Nico the Unicorn, The Sixth Sense [1972])
Ronnie Blakley b. 1945 (A Return to Salem’s Lot, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Beyond Westworld)
Castulo Guerra b. 1945 (The Purge: Anarchy, Touch, Invasion, Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace, Lois & Clark, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Beauty and the Beast [1987], Starman [TV])
Kenny Baker b. 1934 (Star Wars, U.F.O. [1993], Prince Caspian and the Voyage of the Dawn Treader [1989], Willow, Labyrinth, Time Bandits, Flash Gordon)
William Morgan Sheppard b. 1932 (April Apocalypse, Mysterious Island, Doctor Who, Legend of the Seeker, Star Trek [2009], Transformers, The Prestige, Charmed, Star Trek: Voyager, Timecop, American Gothic, Poltergeist: The Legacy, Babylon 5, SeaQuest 2032, Needful Things, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Max Headroom, Werewolf, The Day of the Triffids [1981], Hawk the Slayer)
Jimmy Gardner b. 1924 died 3 May 2010 (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, My Hero, The Company of Wolves, Doctor Who, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe [1967], The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb)
Helena Carter b. 1920 died 11 January 2000 (Invaders from Mars)
James Tiptree, Jr. b 1915 died 19 May 1987 (author, Tales of the Quintana Roo, Up the Walls of the World)
Jorge Luis Borges b. 1899 died 14 June 1986 (author, The Book of Imaginary Beings, Labyrinths)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, I used pictures of Rupert Grint and Barret Oliver. The people I considered today were the authors Orson Scott Card and Jorge Luis Borges, the actress Jennifer Lein and the winner, Kenny Baker, the guy inside R2-D2.

2. Spot the Canadian! I'll give one hint. Today's lone Canadian is less than 50 years old.

3. Nepotism FTW. Jared Harris is the son of Richard Harris.

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

Predictor: OMNI Future Almanac, published 1982

Prediction: Skies crowded by personal planes, along with increased need for corporate material delivery and energy control, will make civilian aircraft carriers a necessity.

Reality: Yikes! This one is awful. But as I have written before, I kind of love the OMNI Future Almanac because they were not afraid to be bold. After last week's really good prediction about the Internet, we get a complete strikeout like this.

Not that it matters. I still love them.
 
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Tuesdays belong to Heinlein and his novel The Door Into Summer.
  
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

22 August 2015

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Movie released
1990: The Bronx Warriors released, 1982

The Weekly Soapbox: Nuclear war

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

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

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

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

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

20 August 2015

Birthdays
Demi Lovato b. 1992 (From Dusk Till Dawn [TV])
Thomas Tulak b. 1984 (Hook)
Andrew Garfield b. 1983 (Amazing Spider-Man, Never Let Me Go, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Doctor Who)
Meghan Ory b. 1982 (Dead Rising: Watchtower, Once Upon a Time, Supernatural, Knight Rider [2008], Flash Gordon [2008], Painkiller Jane, Merlin’s Apprentice, Smallville, Vampire High, Dark Angel, The Crow: Stairway to Heaven)
Ben Barnes b. 1981 (Westworld, The Chronicles of Narnia, Dorian Gray, Stardust)
Ali Liebert b. 1981 (Paranormal Solutions Inc., Strange Empire, Lost Girl, Apollo 18, Fringe, Kyle XY, Fallen [TV mini-series], The 4400, Dead Like Me)
Corey Carrier b. 1980 (The Adventures of Pinocchio,The Witches of Eastwick)
Amy Adams b. 1974 (Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Man of Steel, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, Enchanted, Smallville, Buffy, Charmed, Psycho Beach Party)
Misha Collins b. 1974 (Supernatural, Stonehenge Apocalypse, Charmed)
Chaney Kley b. 1972 died 24 July 2007 (Darkness Falls, Buffy)
Jonathan Ke Quan b. 1971 (Encino Man, Tales from the Crypt, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom)
David Walliams b. 1971 (Doctor Who, Stardust)
Colin Cunningham b. 1966 (Falling Skies, Impact, Stargate, The 4400, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Elektra, Andromeda, Smallville, Dark Angel, Strange Frequency, The 6th Day, The X-Files)
Duncan Bravo b. 1964 (Extant, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra)
James Marsters b. 1962 (Witches of East End, Metal Hurlant Chronicles, Warehouse 13, Three Inches, Supernatural, Smallville, Caprica, Moonshot, Torchwood, Angel, Buffy, Strange Frequency)
Sophie Aldred b. 1962 (Doctor Who)
Ravil Isyanov b. 1962 (The Last Ship, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Fringe, Space Race, Arachnid, Buffy, Seven Days)
Geoffrey Blake b. 1962 (The Man in the High Castle, Beauty and the Beast [2014], The Event, Charmed, Mighty Joe Young, Contact, Apollo 13, Deep Space Nine, Critters 3, Alien Nation [TV], ALF, The Last Starfighter)
Ukee Washington b. 1958 (The Happening, Signs, Unbreakable)
Joan Allen b. 1956 (Death Race, Pleasantville, Twilight Zone [1986])
Jay Acavone b. 1955 (InAlienable, The Hills Have Eyes II, Stargate SG-1, Terminated 3, Charmed, The X Files, The Invisible Man, Sliders, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show, Dark Skies, Independence Day, Beauty and the Beast [1990], Werewolf [TV])
Peter Horton b. 1953 (Thoughtcrimes, Brimstone, From the Earth to the Moon, T-Rex: Back to the Cretaceous, Children of the Corn)
Greg Bear b. 1951 (won 1995 Nebula for Moving Mars and 2001 Nebula for Darwin’s Radio)
Patrick Kilpatrick b. 1949 (The Zombinator, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Minority Report, Roswell, Dark Angel, The X Files, Angel, Star Trek: Voyager, Charmed, Deep Space Nine, Timecop [TV mini-series], Beastmaster III, Babylon 5, The Stand, Lois & Clark, Time Trax, Class of 1999, The Toxic Avenger)
John Noble b. 1948 (Forever, Sleepy Hollow, Fringe, Stargate SG-1, Lord of the Rings, The Lost World, Time Trax)
Ray Wise b. 1947 (Night of the Living Deb, The Lazarus Effect, Agent Carter, Jurassic City, Big Ass Spider!, Nuclear Family, X-Men: First Class, Dollhouse, Pandemic, Reaper, Cyxork 7, Jeepers Creepers II, Charmed, Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: The Next Generation, RoboCop, Cat People, Swamp Thing)
Sylvester McCoy b. 1943 (The Hobbit, Doctor Who, Leapin’ Leprechauns!, Starstrider, Dracula [1979], Roberts Robots)
Anthony Ainley b. 1932 died 3 May 2004 (Doctor Who, The Land Time Forgot, The Blood on Satan’s Claw, The Champions)
Bernard Archard b. 1916 died 1 May 2008 (Krull, Doctor Who, The Horror of Frankenstein, Village of the Damned)
Alan Reed b. 1907 died 14 June 1977 (Batman, The Addams Family, My Favorite Martian, The Flintstones)
H.P. Lovecraft b. 1890 died 15 March 1937 (author, The Call of Cthulhu, The Dunwich Horror)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. Previously, I used pictures of H.P. Lovecraft and Sylvester McCoy as the Doctor. Removing them from the competition still leaves a lot of actors with iconic roles, the top four in my book being Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man, John Noble from Fringe, Jonathan Ke Quan as Short Round and the winner, James Marsters as Spike from Buffy.

2. Spot the Canadians! Meghan Ory and Alie Liebert were born north of the border, Colin Cunningham is one of those shiftless southerners who crossed the border to take work from honest Canadians.

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

Predictor: Morris Enrst in the 1955 book Utopia 1976

Prediction: One great authority estimates that by 1976, 6% of our energy will be produced by the sun.

Reality: One great authority should sit down and shut up. Solar has grown dramatically this decade, but that still means it’s gone from 0.2% to 1.1% in about five years.
 
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Friday means another chance for all of us to think a little less of Herbert George Wells.
  
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

9 August 2015

Birthdays
Bill Skarsgard b. 1990 (Hemlock Grove)
Adelaide Kane b. 1990 (Teen Wolf, The Purge, Power Rangers R.P.M.)
Anna Kendrick b. 1985 (Into the Woods, Twilight Saga)
Ashley Johnson b. 1983 (The Avengers, Dollhouse, Roswell, Lloyd in Space)
Daniel Henshall b. 1982 (The Babadook)
Alexia Fairbrother b. 1980 (Witches of East End, Continuum, Supernatural, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers)
Rhona Mitra b. 1976 (The Last Ship, SGU Stargate Universe, Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, Doomsday, Hollow Man, Beowulf, Ghostbusters of East Finchley)
James Lafazanos b. 1976 (12 Monkeys [TV], The Time Traveler’s Wife, Battlestar Galactica, Supernatural, Stargate: Atlantis)
Jessica Capshaw b. 1976 (Minority Report)
Anjali Jay b. 1975 (The Age of Adaline, Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, Continuum, Supernatural)
Nicola Stapleton b. 1974 (Urban Ghost Story, Simon and the Witch, Snow White, Hansel and Gretel)
Kevin McKidd b. 1973 (Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, Journeyman, The Magical Legend of the Leprechauns)
Liz Vassey b. 1972 (Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, The Tick, The Adventures of Captain Zoom in Outer Space, Quantum Leap, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Superboy)
Ryan Bollman b. 1972 (Star Trek: Voyager, Good vs Evil, The Neverending Story III, Children of the Corn II: The Final Sacrifice, Small Wonder, Starman [TV])
Thomas Lennon b. 1970 (actor, The Dark Knight Rises, Hot Tub Time Machine; writer, Battle of the Smithsonian)
McG b. 1968 (director, Terminator Salvation)
Eric Bana b. 1968 (The Time Traveler’s Wife, Star Trek [2009], Hulk)
Gillian Anderson b. 1968 (Robot Overlords, The X Files)
Josh Cox b. 1965 (Revolution, Thor, A.I. Assault, Babylon 5, Sliders, Quantum Leap, Freddy’s Nightmares)
Amanda Bearse b. 1958 (Here Come the Munsters, Fright Night)
Melanie Griffith b. 1957 (Cherry 2000)
Adam Nimoy b. 1956 (director, The Invisible Man [TV], Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Early Edition, Sliders, Babylon 5, Star Trek: The Next Generation)
John Varley b. 1947 (author, Eight Worlds, Gaean, Slow Apocalypse)
Sam Elliott b. 1944 (Hulk, Frogs, Land of the Giants)
David Steinberg b. 1942 (director, Twilight Zone [1985])
Burton Gilliam b. 1938 (Sliders, Weird Science [TV], The Terror Within II, Back to the Future Part III, Knight Rider, The Girl, the Gold Watch & Dynamite)
Dick Anthony Williams b. 1934 died 16 February 2012 (The X Files, Edward Scissorhands, Space, The Powers of Matthew Star, Omen III: The Final Conflict, Brave New World, Man from Atlantis)
Daniel Keyes b. 1927 died 15 June 2014 (Won 1960 Hugo for the short story Flowers for Algernon and the 1967 Nebula for the novel length version)
John Stevenson b. 1923 died 15 May 2015 (The Six Million Dollar Man, The Invaders)
Robert Aldrich b. 1918 died 5 December 1983 (director, Twilight’s Last Gleaming)
Leo Genn b. 1905 died 26 January 1978 (The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde [TV movie 1968], The Death Ray of Dr. Mabuse)
P.L. Travers b. 1899 died 23 April 1996 (author, Mary Poppins)
Kathleen Lockhart b. 1894 died 17 February 1978 (A Christmas Carol [1938])

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. Today has a fabulous babe vibe for me. Previous Picture Slotters were Gillian Anderson - the most obvious choice - and Liz Vassey from the live action version of The Tick. While there are some recognizable actors on the list, I'm going with Anna Kendrick as Cinderella for two strong reasons, she's fabulous and I'm a huge Sondheim nerd.

2. Spot the Canadians! Knowing David Steinberg is Canadian is trivia knowledge and not spottable from this list. James Lafazanos is more spottable and was born north of the border, while Alexia Fairtbrother and Anjali Jay were born elsewhere and moved to Canada, which seems like a fairly obvious career choice nowadays.

3. Nepotism FTW. There's a lot today. Bill Skarsgard is Stellan's son and Alexander's baby brother, Jessica Capshaw is Kate's daughter and Spielberg's step-daughter, I don't have to tell you who Adam Nimoy's dad is, and Melanie Griffith is Tippi Hedren's daughter. You would think being Tippi's kid would be a really good lesson as to why you did not want to be an actress, but I guess the lesson Melanie learned was that her mom was unlucky to get her career ruined by Hitchcock, which was certainly true.

4. The Guy at the Door. The oldest living person on the list today is Burton Gilliam and everyone younger than him is still alive, so he's The Guy at the Door. He did a lot of westerns and has kind of a goofy grin; his best known role is probably in Blazing Saddles.

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

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

We will hear from Robert A. Heinlein and his guesses about the inventions of the late 20th Century.
  
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

5 August 2015

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

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

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

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

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

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

Predictor: George Sutherland in Twentieth Century Inventions, published 1902

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

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

Never to be Forgotten: Lynn Manning 1955-2015

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

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

Never to be Forgotten: Coleen Gray 1922-2015

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

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

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

1 August 2015

Birthdays
Alakina Mann b. 1990 (The Others)
Sasha Jackson b. 1988 (Dominion, Attack of the 50ft Cheerleader, The Witches of Oz)
Max Carver b. 1988 (The Leftovers, Teen Wolf, Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn)
Monserrat Lombard b. 1982 (The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, Hyperdrive)
Miracle Laurie b. 1981 (100,000 Zombie Heads, Dollhouse)
Jason Momoa b. 1979 (Aquaman, Game of Thrones, Conan the Barbarian [2011], Stargate: Atlantis)
Burton Perez b. 1977 (G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra)
Annett Culp b. 1975 (BloodRayne: The Third Reich, Blubberella, Babylon 5: In the Beginning)
Kris Holden-Ried b. 1973 (The Listener, Lost Girl, Underworld: Awakening, Habitat)
Charles Malik Whitfield b. 1972 (Sleepy Hollow, Warehouse 13, Supernatural, Seven Days)
Jennifer Gareis b. 1970 (The 6th Day)
Cameron Rhodes b. 1967 (Power Rangers, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Xena)
Sam Mendes b. 1965 (producer, Penny Dreadful)
Melanie Shatner b. 1964 (Perversions of Science, TekWar, La Mansion de los Cthulhu, The Alien Within, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Star Trek)
John Carroll Lynch b. 1963 (Ted 2, American Horror Story, Paul, Carnivale, Star Trek: Voyager, From the Earth to the Moon)
Thomas Jay Ryan b. 1962 (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Teknolust)
Mark McCracken b. 1960 (Where the Wild Things Are, Matinee, Swamp Thing)
Adrian Dunbar b. 1958 (The Quatermass Experiment [2005 TV])
Taylor Negron b. 1957 died 10 January 2015 (Vamps, Wizards of Waverly Place, Good vs Evil, Faerie Tale Theatre)
Lewis Smith b. 1956 (Avalon: Beyond the Abyss, Beauty and the Beast, Badlands 2005, The Man Who Fell to Earth [TV], Buckaroo Banzai)
Annabel Jankel b. 1955 (director, Super Mario Bros., Max Headroom)
Suze Lanier-Bramlett b. 1947 (The Hills Have Eyes, Electra Woman and Dyna Girl)
David Calder b. 1946 (Utopia, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, The Mists of Avalon, Jason and the Argonauts [2000 TV], Star Cops, Superman)
Andrew G. Vajna b. 1944 (producer, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Judge Dredd, Jacob’s Ladder, Total Recall)
Giancarlo Giannini b. 1942 (Dracula [2002], Dune [2000 TV], Mimic)
Terry Kiser b. 1939 (The Huntress, Lois & Clark, Tammi and the T-Rex, Incredi-Girl, Mannequin: On the Move, Hard Time on Planet Earth, Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood, The Return of the Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman, Knight Rider, Automan, Manimal, Starflight: The Plane That Couldn’t Land, Looker, Gemini Man, The Invisible Man)
Ian Hogg b. 1937 (Doctor Who)
Dom DeLuise b. 1933 died 4 May 2009 (Stargate SG-1, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, 3rd Rock from the Sun, SeaQuest 2032, Spaceballs, Haunted Honeymoon, Amazing Stories, The Munsters)
Geoffrey Holder b. 1930 died 5 October 2014 (Ghost of a Chance, John Grin’s Christmas, Alice in Wonderland [1983], Doctor Dolittle [1967])
Michael Sinelnikoff b. 1928 (The Lost World, TekWar)
Paul Lambert b. 1922 died 27 April 1997 (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Automan, Planet of the Apes, The Outer Limits, Twilight Zone, Men Into Space)
Arthur Hill b. 1922 died 22 October 2006 (Tales of the Unexpected, Prototype, Tomorrow’s Child, Revenge of the Stepford Wives [TV], Futureworld, The Andromeda Strain, The Invaders, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea)
J. Lee Thompson b. 1914 died 30 August 2002 (director, Battle for the Planet of the Apes, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes)
Henry Jones b. 1912 died 17 May 1999 (Arachnophobia, Project U.F.O., The Six Million Dollar Man, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, The Girl with Something Extra, Project X, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Lost in Space, Bewitched, Twilight Zone)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, I went with my fabulous babe/Whedonverse nerd instincts with Miracle Laurie and showed my Oh That Guy street cred with Henry Jones, who has 206 credits on imdb.com, but it seems like so many more. This year, it's Jason Momoa as Khal Drogo, definitely iconic.

2. Spot the Canadians. Kris Holden-Ried had a featured role on Lost Girl and yes, he is also Canadian. Arthur Hill was born in 1922, so he worked most of his career before the Canadian production boom.

3. Nepotism, obvs. Melanie Shatner. I've already written too much.

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

Movies released
Guardians of the Galaxy released, 2014
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor released, 2008
The Omega Man released 1971

I'm not sure if Marvel knew it had a hit with Guardians of the Galaxy. Releasing a movie in the beginning of August is very late for a summer blockbuster, the biggest of which often open in the spring, from early May to mid-June.

The Weekly Soapbox: Jetpacks
I started this blog because I'm old enough to think of the 21st Century as the future. If you look back forty or fifty years, the changes are really quite stunning, but the cliche complaints are "Hey, where's my flying car?" or "Hey, where's my jetpack?"

In 2011, Neil Gaiman wrote a silly little short story titled And Weep, Like Alexander about a fellow who was an uninventor, looking at the world and realizing some technology didn't make our lives any better, so he would go backwards in time and make sure some gadgets were not invented. The personal jetpack certainly deserves to be uninvented.

Let us stipulate that jetpacks look cool as hell.  There was a guy with the jetpack at Disneyland, there's James Bond, for pity's sake. Both of those very enticing examples give away the problem.

Jetpacks are for show. They are a special effect, not an actual practical mode of transportation. They are loud, they are expensive to buy, to fuel and to maintain, they have numerous safety issues that range in significance from hazardous to fatal. Even more than a flying car, it looks like the ultimate expression of freedom - personal flight - but where you could go is actually very limited, mainly because how how much fuel it burns. More than that, even if it could get you from Point A to Point B and those two places were more than a few hundred yards apart. where it lands it has to be stored, fueled and maintained.

Flying cars have almost all the same problems, but personal jetpacks are in fact much, much worse.
  

This month's splash illustration: BBC produced a seven-part series of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, based on the 2004 novel by Susanna Clarke. I liked both the book and the TV show very much and was sorry to see it get so little attention in the nerd circles I am in. A generally positive review in The New York Times stated that seven hours is not quite enough for a 1,000 page novel, which is certainly true, and because they left so much out the show didn't quite hold together, which I disagree with completely.

If you like long novels, pick up the book. If you like British period pieces, give the TV show a chance. It deserves more recognition than it got.

Never to be Forgotten: Roddy Piper 1954-2015 Canadian born Roddy Piper was a remarkable set of contradictions. He was always the bad guy in his wrestling career - they are known as "heels" - but every story about him was that he was a nice guy and the outpouring of love for him upon his death from a heart attack at 61 is nothing short of remarkable. His time in wrestling is well-known as The Steroid Era, but Piper didn't look the part. Barely six foot and built like a normal, in shape person, he was the foil for a lot of huge over-inflated opponents, most notably Hulk Hogan. He is remembered on this blog for his starring role in John Carpenter's very strange They Live, a low-budget sci-fi film that is a scathing indictment of consumerist culture. Carpenter verifies that Piper's most famous line in the film is an ad-lib, his statement before a massive gunfight, "I came to chew bubblegum and kick ass... and I'm all out of bubblegum." He also starred in Hell Comes to Frogtown - thanks to Zombie Rotten McDonald for jogging my memory on this - and apeared in a few Canadian production genre shows, including Alien Opponent, RoboCop, Highlander and Superboy.

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

Another lazy Sunday with just a birthday list.
  
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

19 July 2015

Birthdays
Steven Anthony Lawrence b. 1990 (Buffy, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, My Favorite Martian)
Kaitlin Doubleday b. 1984 (Dragon Warriors, Witches of East End)
Jared Padalecki b. 1982 (Supernatural, Friday the 13th, House of Wax)
Mark Webber b. 1980 (Goodbye World)
Chiara Zanni b. 1978 (Riverworld, Smallville, Supernatural, Stargate: Atlantis, X-Men 2, The Immortal, NightMan)
Erin Cummings b. 1977 (The Astronaut Wives Club, Dollhouse, Charmed, Threshold, Star Trek: Enterprise)
Benedict Cumberbatch b. 1976 (Dr. Strange, The Hobbit, Star Trek Into Darkness)
Vinessa Shaw b. 1976 (Hocus Pocus)
Patricia Ja Lee b. 1975 (Power Rangers)
Bodhi Elfman b. 1969 (Touch, Charmed, Armageddon, Sliders, Godzilla, 3rd Rock from the Sun)
Nancy Carell b. 1966 (Seeking a Friend for the End of the World)
Anthony Edwards b. 1962 (Zero Hour, Pet Sematary II)
Campbell Scott b. 1961 (The Amazing Spider-Man, Final Days of Planet Earth, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Top of the Food Chain, The Love Letter)
Robbi Morgan b. 1961 (Friday the 13th)
Hideo Nakata b. 1961 (director, Ring [Japanese and American versions])
Terri Treas b. 1957 (Alien Nation [TV], Knight Rider)
K.A. Applegate b. 1956 (author, Animorphs, The One and Only Ivan)
Peter Barton b. 1956 (Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, The Powers of Matthew Star)
Dan Hicks b. 1951 (Oz the Great and Powerful, Paranormal, Burbank, My Name is Bruce, Spider-Man 2, Wishmaster, Ultraman: The Ultimate Hero, Darkman, Evil Dead II)
Tom McLoughlin b. 1950 (writer, She-Wolf of London, They Came from Outer Space, Friday’s Cruse, Amazing Stories, Jason Lives: Friday the 13th Part VI)
Richard Pini b. 1950 (writer, Elfquest)
Martin Stephens b. 1949 (The Witches, The Innocents, Village of the Damned)
George Dzundza b. 1945 (Stargate: SG-1, The Twilight Zone [1986], Faerie Tale Theatre, Salem’s Lot)
Tim McIntire b. 1944 died 15 April 1986 (A Boy and His Dog, The Invaders)
Priscilla Allen b. 1938 died 14 August 2008 (Total Recall)
Richard Jordan b. 1937 died 30 August 1993 (Tales from the Crypt, Solar Babies, Dune, Logan’s Run)
Priscilla Montgomery b. 1929 (The Wizard of Oz)
Arthur Rankin Jr. b 1924 died 30 January 2014 (director, The Wind in the Willows, The Last Unicorn, The Return of the King, The Hobbit, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea)
Pat Hingle b. 1924 died 3 January 2009 (Muppets from Space, Batman, The Shining [TV], Maximum Overdrive, Amazing Stories, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Invaders, Twilight Zone)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In both 2013 and 2014, Benedict Cumberbatch was in the Picture Slot. While I still think he is in the sweet spot of his career, I instead went with a picture of Supernatural star Jared Padalecki. Mr. Padalecki has decided to talk about his battle with depression and the fan reaction, especially at Comic-Con this year, was very heartening. It's a positive thing that people are talking more about mental illness, so good on ya, Mr. Padalecki.

2. Spot the Canadian! Padalecki stars in a Canuck genre TV show, but he was born on this side of the border. The Canuck is Chiara Zanni, who has the almost always telling trifecta of Supernatural, Smallville and Stargate.

3. Nepotism and not. Nancy Carrell and Bodhi Elfman are not as well known as their respective spouses Steve and Jenna, but they have careers of their own and I don't count that as nepotism. The late Tim McIntire was son of the character actor John McIntire, so I would count that.

4. Does she count? Last year, an obit said the last living female Munchkin from The Wizard of Oz was gone. A little known fact is that several Munchkins were kids and not little people, so the "official" Munchkins are the members of the Singer Midget troupe. Priscilla Montgomery was one of the kids and she is still with us. (Betty Ann Bruno, a now retired reporter for KTVU in Oakland, is also an uncounted Munchkin.) Happy birthday to Miss Montgomery. Without her on the list, the Guy at the Door would have been 70 year old George Dzundza, which is way too young for that "honor" in my book.

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

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

Prediction: A lot of little things from 2000 I missed going back to 1970, I had to go back to shaving! I once even caught a cold.

Reality: In this story, the hero goes into suspended animation to get from 1970 to 2000, then time travel to get back. So the end of shaving and the end of the common cold in the 20th Century. That's 0 for 2 for Bob this week.

Never to be Forgotten: Alex Rocco 1936-2015

Veteran character actor Alex Rocco, pictured here in probably his most iconic role as Moe Greene from The Godfather, has died at the age of 79. His biography mentions that he worked hard to get rid of his thick Boston accent, working with well known genre actors Leonard Nimoy and Jeff Corey. While he played gangsters in a lot of his roles, his genre performances include Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Small & Frye, The Entity, Slither and Batman.

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

 

Never to be Forgotten: Alan Kupperberg 1953-2015

Mark Evanier's webpage reports the death of comic book artist (and sometimes writer and letterer) Alan Kupperberg at the age of 62.  As I get older, my definition of "much too young" changes, but younger than my oldest brother has always been much too young in my book.

Kupperberg spent most of his career as a fill-in artist at Marvel, though he worked at other companies as well. The picture included here is the cover of the one-shot Obnoxio the Clown vs. The X-Men, a book where Kupperberg did everything, writing, doing the art and the lettering. That's a rare thing in the comic book industry, though cartoonists do it all the time.

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

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

My old dependable source OMNI Future Almanac gets center stage tomorrow, a Monday tradition on the blog.
  
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

18 July 2015

Birthdays
Brody Nicholas Lee b. 1997 (Cloud Atlas)
Cody Benjamin Lee b. 1997 (Cloud Atlas, The Shiftling, Invasion)
Chace Crawford b. 1985 (The Haunting of Molly Hartley, The Covenant)
Rosalind Halstead b. 1984 (Dominion, Rage of the Yeti, The Day of the Triffids [2009])
Michael Huisman b. 1981 (The Age of Adaline, Orphan Black, Game of Thrones, World War Z)
Kristen Bell b. 1980 (Safety Not Guaranteed, Heroes)
Cathy Shim b. 1980 (Zomboobies, Heebie Jeebies, The Watch, The Revenant)
Kelly Reilly b. 1977 (Puffball: The Devil’s Eyeball, A for Andromeda)
Valerie Cruz b. 1976 (Grimm, Alphas, True Blood, Dollhouse, The Dresden Files, Invasion)
Jed Whedon b. 1975 (writer, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Dollhouse, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog)
Sarah McLeod b. 1971 (The Lord of the Rings)
Patrick J. Dancy b. 1970 (S1m0ne, Brave New World)
Grant Bowler b. 1968 (Defiance, True Blood, Lost, The Lost World, On the Beach [2000], Farscape)
Andre Royo b. 1968 (Agent Carter, Fringe, Hellbenders, Heroes, The Sarah Connor Chronicles)
Vin Diesel b. 1967 (Guardians of the Galaxy, The Last Witch Hunter, Pitch Black, Babylon A.D.)
Elizabeth McGovern b. 1961 (Clash of the Titans, Kick-Ass, Tales from the Crypt, The Handmaid’s Tale, Faerie Tale Theatre)
Lee Arenberg b. 1962 (Once Upon a Time, Pirates of the Caribbean, Star Trek: Enterprise, Charmed, Dungeons & Dragons, Angel, Star Trek: Voyager, The Apocalypse, Lois & Clark, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Freaked, RoboCop 3, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, The Wizard, Martians Go Home)
Travis McKenna b. 1960 (Meego, Batman Returns, Quantum Leap, Twice Dead)
Anne-Marie Johnson b. 1960 (The X Files, Asteroid, Babylon 5, Robot Jox)
Gary Goddard b. 1954 (writer, Skeleton Warriors, Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future, Masters of the Universe)
Margo Martindale b. 1951 (In Dreams, The Rocketeer)
James Faulkner b. 1948 (X-Men: First Class, Relic Hunter, Highlander [TV], The Martian Chronicles)
Tony Azito b. 1948 died 26 May 1995 (Necronomicon: Book of Dead, The Addams Family [1991])
Andy Anderson b. 1947 (Nightmares & Dreamscapes, House of Wax, Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid, Salem’s Lot, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Xena, The Boy from Andromeda)
James Brolin b 1940 (Lost City Raiders, Category 7: The End of the World, Terminal Virus, The Amityville Horror, Capricorn One, Westworld, Batman, Fantastic Voyage, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea)
Hampton Fancher b. 1938 (writer, Blade Runner)
Britt Leach b. 1938 (Quantum Leap, Amazing Stories, Weird Science, Wonder Woman)
Paul Verhoeven b. 1938 (director, Hollow Man, Starship Troopers, Total Recall, RoboCop, Deadly Nightmares)
Burt Kwouk b. 1930 (Spirit Warriors, I Bought a Vampire Motorcycle, Doctor Who, The Tomorrow People, Rollerball, Curse of the Fly)
Syd Mead b. 1933 (artist)
John Glenn b. 1921 (astronaut)
Marvin Miller b. 1913 died 8 February 1985 (Wonder Woman, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, The Green Hornet, Batman, Space Patrol, Red Planet Mars)
Hume Cronyn b. 1911 died 15 June 2003 (Cocoon, *batteries not included)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. The previous Picture Slotters, astronaut John Glenn and visual futurist Syd Mead, are both clearly iconic and both are still with us, bless them. This year, I decided to go for a reference from the 21st Century. I thought about Jed Whedon from Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, Michael Huisman from Game of Thrones and Kirsten Bell from Heroes, but instead I went with Vin Diesel as Riddick.

2.  A Canadian amongst us. There's no way of telling Hume Cronyn is Canadian from his credits, but what good American family would name a boy Hume?

Ya cain't trusts 'em, I tell ya. 


3. Nepotism FTW.  Ken Houghton points out what I failed to mention when I first posted this, that Jed Whedon definitely gets some nepotism points beingthe younger brother of Joss Whedon.


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

Movies released
The Dark Knight released, 2008
Jurassic Park III released , 2001
 

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

Prediction: The plastic domed house with glass walls and plastic panels, plastic floors with ducts for air conditioning, and curtains of light between rooms is on the drawing boards for 1964.

Reality: And the drawing board is pretty much where it stayed. While not made of plastic, Eichler Homes made a big splash in California in the 1960s. They looked great, but no one thought about what a bitch it would be to clean that much glass and the tremendous amount of heat loss.

Just a couple firing neurons away from a really good idea.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Robert A. Heinlein makes another guess about the technology of the late 20th Century.
  
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!