14 February 2014

 Birthdays
Freddie Highmore b. 1992 (Astro Boy, The Spiderwick Chronicles, The Golden Compass, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Jack and the Beanstalk: The Real Story)
Stephanie Leonidas b. 1984 (Defiance, Atlantis: End of the World, Birth of a Legend, Dracula [2006], MirrorMask)
Erica Leerhsen b. 1976 (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre [2003], Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2)
Mark Lutz b. 1970 (Angel, Mutant X, Earth: Final Conflict, Specimen)
Simon Pegg b. 1970 (The World’s End, Star Trek, Paul, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Land of the Dead, Doctor Who, Shaun of the Dead)
Zach Galligan b. 1964 (Infested, Star Trek: Voyager, Gremlins)
Enrico Colantoni b. 1963 (Warehouse 13, Contagion, Stargate SG-1, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Galaxy Quest)
Anton Lesser b. 1952 (Game of Thrones, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Primeval, Jack and the Beanstalk: The Real Story)
Frank Collison b. 1950 (Stargate: Atlantis, Carnivale, The Village, K-PAX, Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Lawnmower Man, Quantum Leap, Alien Nation, The Blob [1988])
Gregory Hines b. 1946 died 9 August 2003 (Eve of Destruction, Wolfen)
Andrew Robinson b. 1942 (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, The X Files, M.A.N.T.I.S., The Puppet Masters, Child’s Play 3, The Twilight Zone [1986], Hellraiser)
Vic Morrow b. 1929 died 23 July 1982 (Twilight Zone: The Movie, 1990: The Bronx Warriors, Humanoids from the Deep, Message from Space)
Jonathan Adams b. 1931 died 13 June 2005 (Star Cops, 1990, The Rocky Horror Picture Show)
Edward Platt b. 1916 died 19 March 1974 (Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Outer Limits, Twilight Zone)

Okay, let's start by stipulating that Simon Pegg got the Picture Slot last year and there are other worthy candidates. A lot of actors with iconic roles on the birthday list today, though guys like Edward Platt (Get Smart), Vic Morrow (Combat!), Gregory Hines (The Cotton Club) and Frank Collison (John Turturro's treacherous cousin in O Brother Where Art Thou?) have their best known roles in non-genre work. If I was younger, I might have had Freddie Highmore in the Picture Slot, since he's one of the premier child actors of this century. I might also have gone quirky and put Johnathan Adams as the wheelchair bound Dr. Scott from Rocky Horror. But instead we are looking at a picture of Andrew Robinson as Garak, the Cardassian tailor/spy from Deep Space Nine. Of all the Star Trek series, Deep Space Nine was the one full of creepy and a lot of the creepy was very well done.

Personal aside: Gregory Hines is one of those actors who I'm always surprised when I recall he's dead. I feel the same way about Raul Julia. The news of their deaths wasn't quite as big a story as other deaths like Phil Hartman or River Phoenix or James Gandolfini, and when I see a picture of Hines or Julia, I think "I haven't seen him in anything recently. Oh, wait... he died."

In any case, many happy returns to the living on the list, and to the dead, thanks for all the memories.

Movies released
Daredevil released, 2003

To my mind, this movie has a Valentine's Day subtext, since this is when Ben Affleck met his wife to be Jennifer Garner. Affleck was still seeing Jennifer Lopez at the time, and to my point of view he made a massive upgrade.

Predictor: Sir Martin Rees, author of Our Final Hour

Prediction: Bioterror or bioerror will lead to 1 million casualties in a single event by 2020.

Reality: His 2003 book Our Final Hour (in the U.K. Our Final Century) is obviously glum, but it doesn't have a lot of specific dates for future catastrophes. This is the only thing I have from him that follows the guidelines for predictions on this blog. I obviously can't say if he's right or wrong yet, but we are 11 years into a 17 year bet and his money is still on the line.  If we get to New Year's Day 2021 without such a huge event, I'm sure Sir Martin won't be that unhappy to be wrong.

Never to be Forgotten: Ralph Waite 1928-2014

Waite is best known for his role on The Waltons. As a trivia buff, he's one of a platoon of familiar faces that make Cool Hand Luke so much fun to watch. He's mentioned here for his roles on Carnivale (pictured here) and Timequest and Time Trax.

Best wishes to the family and friends of Ralph Waite. He is never to be forgotten.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Our standard weekend schedule will be interrupted by predictions from TV shows.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

26 September 2013

Birthdays
David Slade b. 1969 (director, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse)
Jim Caviezel b. 1968 (The Prisoner, Outlander)
Linda Hamilton b. 1956 (Terminator)
Victoria Vetri b. 1944 (Star Trek, When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth, Invasion of the Bee Girls)
Helmut Bakaitis (The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions)
Martine Beswick b. 1941 (One Million Years B.C.)
Winsor McCay b. 1867 died 26 July 1934 (Little Nemo in Slumberland)

In terms of fame in genre films, Linda Hamilton earns the Picture Slot, though I was tempted to use an illustration from Little Nemo in Slumberland, such beautiful stuff.

Many happy returns to the living.
 

Predictor: H. G. Wells from The Shape of Things to Come, published 1933

Prediction: Because of the increasing financial paralysis in 1960 no plants capable of producing material for gas warfare on a sufficiently abundant scale were operating.

Reality: 1933 wasn't as bad economically in Britain as it was in the United States or some other parts of the world, but Wells writes a future history from that year that is really glum. He foresees wars, some of the dates and combatants are incredibly accurate, but he also assumes financial depression for generations and the end of capitalism.

Didn't quite turn out like that. No matter how bad the economy gets, someone somewhere will find the cash to make weapons, usually at a profit.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Friday is still French Postcard day, so we will get yet another whimsical vision of the year 2000, a nice antidote to the grimness that Wells promises every Thursday for the time being.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
 

19 September 2013

 Birthdays
Kevin Zegers b. 1985 (The Colony, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones)
Sanaa Lathan b. 1971 (Alien vs, Predator, Blade)
Tanith Lee b. 1947
Adam West b. 1928 (Batman, Robinson Crusoe on Mars)
Rosemary Harris b. 1927 (Spider-Man)
Damon Knight b. 1922 died 15 April 2002

I started the list of birthdays last year before the blog debuted, but I also go each day to imdb.com for actors and directors I might have missed and the Internet Speculative Fiction Database for names of authors. Keven Zegers is the most popular actor on imdb with this birthday, and it's a sign of how old I am that I had never heard of him.  Again, it may likely be my age that makes me think this, but I put Adam West in the Picture Slot today because I consider him the most recognizable name on the list.

Many happy returns of the day to the living.

Prediction: Kovoet’s invention of the permanent Death Gas in 1934. Use of it cuts off East Prussia in the 1940s and it is uninhabitable until the 1960s.

Predictor: H. G. Wells in The Shape of Things to Come, published 1933

Reality: Is World War I in living memory anymore? It started 99 years ago and ended 95 years ago, so anyone who lived through it wouldn't have been an adult at the time. But in 1933, when Wells was in his sixties, the horrors of the war were still clearly set in people's minds. Countries across Europe sent huge numbers of young men, rich and poor, educated and illiterate, into the service and their collective experience formed the ideas of what should not be allowed even in warfare, humanity's most vicious pastime. It was from the experience in the trenches that poison gas was decided to be an unacceptable method and in World War II, even the German troops didn't use it against the enemy. While Hitler was not often constrained by any international law, this particular law his country obeyed. His own personal experience in the trenches may well have been the reason.

The topic of poison gas is germane today as people make the argument whether Syria broke this law and should be punished. If punishment comes, it will likely be in the form of drone strikes, a new barbarity that no one is discussing making illegal. Unlike one hundred years ago, rich countries don't send the majority of their young into a war and generations don't have that widely shared experience. As war on a world scale fades into the past, one wonders if modern leaders will remember the lessons or slip back into the idea that the largest industrial nations can afford to go into battle with a nation of equal capability.

Looking one day... INTO THE FUTURE!

After this depressing prediction and before we get our Sunday dose of misery from Ray Bradbury, at least Friday will have a French postcard.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

16 June 2013

Birthdays
Sibel Kekilli b. 1980 (Game of Thrones)
Tom Lenk b. 1976 (Buffy, Angel)
John Cho b. 1972 (Star Trek reboot)
Bill Cobbs b. 1934 (Brother From Another Planet, Star Trek: Enterprise, Oz the Great and Powerful, Night at the Museum)

Prediction: 16 June 1990: a disease created by biological warfare experts escapes from a lab. Called the “superflu” by authorities and given the nickname “Captain Trips” by the public, within weeks it kills over 98% of the world’s population.

Predictor: Steven King in The Stand - complete and uncut, published in 1990

Reality: This is not so much a prediction as a plot device. For his many devoted fans, King puts the time period just a few weeks away from the publishing date, so they can get the creepy thrill of thinking the end is just around the corner. The dates in the earlier version are different and had already passed.

Two comments.

1. Damn, this is a big book. I mean, George R.R. Martin looks at this thing and says, "What, they couldn't find you an editor, either?"

2. Captain Trips. Would people give an extinction level plague a jokey nickname? I know it references Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead and King is making a symbolic statement that the dead should be grateful they don't have to live through the crap storm that's coming after, but I just don't buy that people would be in the least bit lighthearted about this.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

It's time for another dip into the great technological paradise those liars at Popular Mechanics promised us.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

3 March 2013

 Birthdays

James Doohan b. 1920 died 7/20/05

Prediction: March 1975: Biological warfare between the USSR and the People’s Republic of China starts a plague killing most of the world’s population.

Predictor:  The Omega Man (1971)

Reality: The interesting twist on this end of the world scenario is that the good old USA is NOT involved in the final conflict, which is instead set off by the damned soulless evil commies fighting one another.

The story is an adaptation of I Am Legend, the 1954 novel by Richard Matheson that has been the source material for several films throughout the years. The book is sometimes referred to as "the first modern vampire novel" and also influenced many people writing zombie apocalypses. The earlier film adaptation The Last Man on Earth (1964) clearly influenced Night of the Living Dead (1968) and several plot devices are found in the modern British zombie films 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE! This month's splash illustration at the top of the page is explained in greater detail.

 Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!  

2 March 2013

Birthdays
Daniel Craig b. 1968
Gates McFadden b. 1949  

Craig gets on the genre list for Cowboys and Aliens and The Golden Compass.  

The picture position goes to an actress better known for her work in the genre, Gates McFadden.

Prediction: February 1982: A plane carrying the deadly MM88 supervirus crashes, releasing the plague into the natural environment. The earth’s population is quickly wiped out, saving only 863 scientists and supporting personnel spending the winter in Antarctica.

Predictor: Virus, a 1980 Japanese film

Reality: Of course, the Japanese blame the Americans and Europeans for this disaster. But this was the most expensive movie ever made in Japan up to that time and you can't even find it on imdb.com. (I looked it up on Wikipedia.) It also had Chuck Connors, Henry Silva, Robert Vaughn and Bo Svenson. None of these actors ever showed up in a bad film just to cash a paycheck.

Okay, maybe one or two of them did.

But the movie also had Sonny Chiba!  How far wrong can you go with Sonny Chiba?

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE! Yet another Star Trek birthday and yet another biological warfare apocalypse.

 Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!