23 August 2013

Birthdays
Ray Park b. 1974 (X-Men, Star Wars, G.I. Joe, Heroes)
Aaron Douglas b. 1971 (Battlestar Galactica, Eureka, I, Robot)
Barbara Eden b. 1931 (I Dream of Jeannie, The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao)

Purists may complain that I Dream of Jeannie and even The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao have no place on a science fiction blog.

Personally, I hope purists like that will not notice, still too upset with yesterday's news that Ben Affleck will be Batman.

Many happy returns of the day to all our actors.

Prediction: August 23, 2000: A massive earthquake hits Southern California, turning an area from Malibu to Anaheim into an island

Predictor: Escape From L.A. released 8/9/1996

Reality: The original Escape From New York put the action sixteen years in the future, released in 1981 about the hellish days to come in 1997. This 1996 puts the bleak cityscape seventeen years in the future, but the prediction of a massive earthquake only four years forward. And of course, you need some disaster to turn L.A. into an island, or escape is not a difficult feat requiring the hiring of Snake Plissken.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

What will we be wearing in the year 2000! Bold designers from 1939 show us the way.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
 

23 March 2013

Birthdays
Michelle Monaghan b. 1976
Kim Stanley Robinson b. 1952
(won the 1993 Nebula for Red Mars)
(won the 1994 Hugo for Green Mars)
(won the 1997 Nebula for Blue Mars)
Elizabeth Ann Scarborough b. 1947 (won the 1990 Nebula for The Healer’s War)

Movies released
The Hunger Games released 2012

Ms. Monaghan's best known work in a genre film is 2011 Source Code.

Prediction: 2013: The President’s daughter steals the launch codes for a doomsday weapon and is taken to Los Angeles Island, now a concentration camp for those who do not follow the laws of the theocracy of the United States.

Predictor: Escape From L.A. 1996

Reality: There hasn't been an earthquake that turned Los Angeles into an island, the United States is not a theocracy, we aren't sending citizens off to concentration camps.

But on the plus side, the president does have a daughter. That part of the prediction is just uncanny.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE! 

Some people in 1988 actually thought Los Angeles would NOT be a post-apocalyptic hellhole. Let's see if they can do better than John Carpenter.

 
Join me then... IN THE FUTURE!

17 March 2013

Birthdays
Mark Boone Junior b. 1955
William Gibson b. 1948 (won 1985 Hugo and Nebula for Neuromancer)

Many happy returns to Mr. Gibson. I remember people made a big deal out of the fact he didn't use a word processor back in the 1980s and accused him of being a Luddite. He's on Twitter now, so I guess he got over it.

Prediction: 1997: Air Force One is hijacked by terrorists and crashes in the penal colony of Manhattan Island. The president escapes, but must be rescued by Snake Plissken.

Predictor: Escape From New York, 1981

Reality: Science fiction has a steady undercurrent of the idea that cities are hellholes. John Carpenter said that Watergate was a major influence on his writing of Escape From New York, that presidential malfeasance would be the seed of a massive crime wave and rise in incarceration.

I like cities. Crime is not out of control, though our justice system might be. In any case, the breakdown of society hasn't happened just yet.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE! 


Every alternate Monday belongs to the Popular Mechanics predictions, and their stuff is about as far away from the apocalypse as you can get. The future is shiny and cool and usually convenient for folks like you and me.

Join me then... IN THE FUTURE!