6 October 2014

Birthdays
Cameron Kennedy b. 1993 (My Babysitter’s a Vampire)
Roshon Fegan b. 1991 (Spider-Man 2)
Scarlett Byrne b. 1990 (Falling Skies, Lake Placid: The Final Chapter, Harry Potter)
Olivia Thirlby b. 1986 (Dredd)
Michael Arden b. 1982 (Source Code)
Jenny Wade b. 1980 (Grimm, American Horror Story, Reaper)
Lex Shrapnel b. 1979 (Captain America: The First Avenger)
Tommy Campbell b. 1978 (Edge of Tomorrow, Supernatural, Doctor Who, The Dark Knight)
Wes Ramsey b. 1977 (The Event, Heroes, Dracula’s Guest, Brotherhood of Blood, Reign of the Gargoyles, Charmed)
Jeremy Sisto b. 1974 (The Returned, Rosencrantz and Guilderstern Are Undead, The Thirst, Nightmares & Dreamscapes)
Ioan Gruffudd b. 1973 (Forever, The Adventurer: The Curse of the Midas Box, Fantastic Four)
Shauna MacDonald b. 1970 (Hemlock Grove, Lost Girl, Warehouse 13, ReGenesis, Earth: Final Conflict)
Amy Jo Johnson b. 1970 (Mighty Morphin Power Rangers)
Jsu Garcia a.k.a. Nick Corri b. 1963 (Babylon 5, Vampire in Brooklyn, Predator 2, A Nightmare on Elm Street)
Elisabeth Shue b. 1963 (Piranha 3D, Hollow Man, Back to the Future II & III)
Cameron Watson b. 1961 (Vanilla Sky)
Wendy Robie b. 1953 (Dark Skies, Deep Space Nine, Vampire in Brooklyn, Ultraman: The Ultimate Hero, Quantum Leap)
David Brin b. 1950 (won 1984 Hugo and Nebula for Startide Rising, won 1988 Hugo for The Uplift War)
Britt Eklund b. 1942 (Lexx, Superboy, The Monster Club, Battlestar Galactica, The Six Million Dollar Man: Wine, Women & War)
Anna Quayle b. 1932 (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang)
Jerome Cowan b. 1897 died 24 January 1972 (The Munsters, My Favorite Martian, Visit to a Small Planet, Twilight Zone)

To be blunt, there's not that many iconic roles on the list today, so we get Ioan Gruffudd as Reed Richards. Both of the Fantastic Four movies made over $100 million, but for movies from comic books, it probably takes $200 million to be considered a hit these days.

Many happy returns to all the living on the list and to the late Jerome Cowan, thanks for all the memories.

Predictor: OMNI Future Almanac

Prediction: Named after a small town in Missouri, the New Madrid quake that struck in the 1830s was one of the most violent quakes to strike North America in the last several centuries, but because the area was so sparsely settled, it left no great impression on history. However, seismologist Otto Nutti recently observed a series of small earthquakes in the area and said "Everything points to something big happening in New Madrid."

Reality: Oopsie. Not only have we gone 32 years since this prediction was published without a major Midwestern quake, the big New Madrid quakes took place in 1811 and 1812. There were four of them from December 1811 to February 1812 and though the Richter scales didn't exist back then and there were no seismographs, geologists approximate the strength of all four to be somewhere in the range of at least 7.0 to possibly 8.0. "No great impression on history" is correct.

Eventually there will be more large quakes in the Midwest, but geologists don't know if these were the kind of thing we can expect every 200 years or every 2,000.

Never to be Forgotten:
Paul Revere 1938-2014

Paul Revere (born Paul Revere Dick) has died at the age of 76. His band Paul Revere and the Raiders had some hits during the 1960s. They were one of two bands from Portland, Oregon to record Richard Berry's Louie Louie in April 1963. The Raiders' version sold well early on, possibly because they had a saxophone, but the rumor that the Kingsmen's version had dirty lyrics helped that single become a hit. As a successful garage band, they became influential during the punk era. Many of their songs were covered by other artists, including David Bowie, Joan Jett, The Who, Pat Benatar, Sammy Hagar and The Sex Pistols.

Revere gets mentioned here because of an appearance on the Batman episode Hizzoner the Penguin. Thanks to Ken Walter for pointing out this genre connection.

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

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

We interrupt our regular schedule of predictions for a prediction from a 1960s best-seller.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

 

31 October 2013

Birthdays
Willow Smith b. 2000 (I am Legend)
Justin Chatwin b. 1982 (War of the Worlds)
Erica Cerra b. 1979 (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Eureka, Blade:Trinity, Smallville, Under the Dome, Battlestar Galactica, The 4400)
Peter Jackson b. 1961 (Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, King Kong)
Neal Stephenson b. 1959 (won the 1996 Hugo for The Diamond Age)
John Candy b.1950 died 31 October 1994 (Spaceballs)
Stephen Rea b. 1946 (V for Vendetta, Underworld: Awakening)
Brian Doyle-Murray b. 1945 (Groundhog Day)
Michael Landon b. 1936 died 1 July 1991 (I was a Teenage Werewolf)

I considered putting up several pictures this morning. Peter Jackson is the biggest name in genre on this list and I've liked the Neal Stephenson books I've read. I could put up a picture of John Candy or Michael Landon in the make-up they wore in their single important roles in genre, but instead I put up a picture of Erica Cerra,who has been in quite a few sci-fi and fantasy productions, mostly on TV, and who easily qualifies for the Pretty Girl = Picture Slot formula.

Many happy returns to all the living on the list.
 

Predictor: Vladimir Keilis-Borok, January 2004

Prediction: A quake of magnitude 6.4 or larger would rock a 12,000-square-mile region east of Los Angeles before Sept. 5, 2004

Reality: There was no such quake. Keilis-Borok, who died earlier this month, worked on earthquake prediction for much of his career, considering it the "holy grail" of his field of geophysics. In 2003, he had two successes, predicting a strong quake in Japan and another in central California, both in a similar time window of somewhat less than a year. As Meat Loaf might say, two out of three ain't bad, but such long lead times and large areas are better at producing anxiety than they are at saving lives or property. Maybe we'll know better some day, but that day appears to be far in the future.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Another scientific prediction from this year, and not very good news.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

8 October 2013

Birthdays
Kristanna Loken b. 1979 (Terminator 3: The Rise of the Machines)
Matt Damon b. 1970 (The Adjustment Bureau, Elysium)
Ian Hart b. 1964 (Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone)
Sigourney Weaver b. 1949 (Alien, Avatar, Ghostbusters)
William Broyles b. 1944 (Writer, Planet of the Apes(reboot))
R.L. Stine b. 1943 (Goosebumps)
Frank Herbert b. 1920 died 2/11/1986 (won 1966 Nebula for Dune)
Kirk Alyn b. 1910 died 14 March 1999 (Superman serial)

Nice birthday group today. Either of our birthday ladies qualifies for the Cute Girl = Picture Slot criterion and Matt Damon is likely the biggest A-List star of the group. Kirk Alyn could get the nod for playing Superman back in the day of ridiculously low budgets and R.L. Stine gets some credit for creating a cottage industry, but I put a picture of a cover of Dune because I loved the first novel so much as a young man. When I heard they were making a movie of it, I thought "That's not going to work. Too much of the book takes place inside people's thoughts." There's been both a major motion picture and a big budget mini-series and... I still think I'm right.

Many happy returns ot the living on the list.

Prediction: 2010: A massive earthquake destroys most of Los Angeles. What remains of the city merges with San Diego to become San Angeles.

Predictor: Demolition Man, released 8 October 1993

Reality: That would be one hell of an earthquake. Right now they are 120 miles apart and if the earthquake reduced that dramatically, there wouldn't be enough of San Diego remaining to merge with.

Look one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Yet another exact year prediction from Demolition Man.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

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!