3 August 2015

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

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

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

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

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


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

Movie released
Total Recall released, 2012

Predictor: The OMNI Future Almanac, published in 1982

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

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

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

20 July 2015

Birthdays
Julianne Hough b. 1988 (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone)
Osric Chau b. 1986 (The 100, Supernatural, Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn, 2012)
Martin McCann b. 1983 (Clash of the Titans)
Rory Jennings b. 1983 (Doctor Who, Frankenstein [1994])
Charlie Korsmo b. 1978 (Hook)
Judy Greer b. 1975 (Ant-Man, Jurassic World, Tomorrowland, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, The Big Bang Theory)
Simon Rex b. 1974 (Rise: Blood Hunter)
Omar Epps b. 1973 (Resurrection, Dracula 2000, Breakfast of Champions)
Roberto Orci b. 1973 (writer, Star Trek 3, Van Helsing, Sleepy Hollow, Amazing Spider-Man 2, Star Trek Into Darkness, Fringe, Cowboys & Aliens, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Transformers, The Island, Xena, Hercules)
Sandra Oh b. 1971 (Blindness, Last Night)
Josh Holloway b. 1969 (Lost, Sabretooth, Angel)
Leighanne Littrell b. 1969 (Mortal Kombat: Conquest)
Carlos Saldanha b. 1968 (director, Rio, Ice Age, Robots)
Julian Rhind-Tutt b. 1968 (Lucy, Merlin, Stardust, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider)
Reed Diamond b. 1967 (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Revolution, Dollhouse, Journeyman, Stargate SG-1, Spider-Man 2, The Huntress)
Rodney Eastman b. 1967 (The X-Files, Millennium, Sliders, Babylon 5, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3 and 4)
Dean Winters b. 1964 (The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Millennium)
Frank Whaley b. 1963 (Under the Dome, Gotham, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Little Monsters)
Adoni Maropis b. 1963 (The Scorpion King, Angel, Mortal Kombat: Conquest)
Jonathon Morris b. 1960 (Full Moon Fright Night, Doctor Who)
Donna Dixon b. 1957 (Twilight Zone: The Movie)
Jeff Rawle b. 1951 (An Adventure in Space and Time, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Doctor Who)
Tantoo Cardinal b. 1950 (Strange Empire, MythQuest)
Naseeruddin Shah b. 1950 (The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen)
Muse Watson b. 1948 (TIMER, Frankenfish, Hollywood Vampyr, The Handmaid’s Tale)
Wendy Richard b. 1943 died 26 February 2009 (No Blade of Grass)
Diana Rigg b. 1938 (Game of Thrones, Doctor Who, Snow White [1987], The Worst Witch, Theatre of Blood)
Natalie Wood b. 1938 died 29 November 1981 (Brainstorm, Meteor)
Cormac McCarthy b. 1933 (author, The Road)
Sally Ann Howes b. 1930 (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Cinderella [1950 TV])
Patricia Cutts b. 1926 died 6 September 1974 (The Tingler)
Lola Albright b. 1925 (The Incredible Hulk, The Monolith Monsters)
Paul Christian a.k.a. Paul Hubschmid b. 1917 died 31 December 2001 (The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms)
John Steadman b. 1909 died 28 January 1993 (The Incredible Hulk, The Hills Have Eyes)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, the Picture Slot went to Josh Holloway from Lost and Diana Rigg. To be blunt, the list is not long on iconic actors, but I decided to go Whedonverse nerd and used Reed Diamond as the villain Daniel Whitehall from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

2. Spot the Canadians.  Not very obvious today. Tantoo Cardinal is a First Nations Canadian, and Osric Chau, Sandra Oh and Rodney Eastman.


3. Exact birthday pair.  Natalie Wood and Diana Rigg. Nowhere near as famous as Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln, but a lot prettier.

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

Movies released
The Dark Knight Rises released, 2012

Predictor: The OMNI Future Almanac, published 1982

Prediction: In the 1990s, children will be diagnosed to find the best times in the day for mental, physical and intellectual activity, based on biological cycles.

Reality: Oooooh, bio-rhythms! I remember when people kinda sorta took this stuff seriously. It's one of those things I'd like to forget to make room for something useful, but I've been using this memory of mine for quite a long time now and I know for sure things don't work like that, sad to say.

Never to be Forgotten: George Coe 1929-2015

Yet another veteran character actor has died, the third in five days. George Coe had a long and interesting career. He was active in the Screen Actors Guild and did a lot of voice-over work. He was listed as one of the Not Ready for Prime Time Players on the very first episode of Saturday Night Live and was used on that show in fake commercials for about a decade. His genre roles include Supernatural, Smallville, The Lone Gunmen, The Omega Code, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Max Headroom, The Entity and The Stepford Wives. While these roles might lead one to believe we have spotted a Canadian, Coe was born south of the border. I wanted to use a picture of him as the leader of the planet on Star Trek: The Next Generation where Riker has screwed up an undercover first contact assignment, but I couldn't find a good quality still.

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

We get another prediction from our resident Commie, John Langdon-Davies.
  
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

13 July 2015

 Birthdays
Leo Howard b. 1997 (Conan the Barbarian [2011], G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra)
Matt Weinberg b. 1990 (FreakyLinks, X-Men)
Colton Haynes b. 1988 (San Andreas, Arrow, Teen Wolf)
Steven R. McQueen b. 1988 (The Vampire Diaries, Piranha 3D, Minutemen, Threshold)
Chris Sheffield b. 1988 (The Last Ship, The Maze Runner, Transformers: Dark of the Moon)
Michael Mando b. 1981 (Orphan Black, The Colony, Lost Girl)
Fran Kranz b. 1981 (Bloodsucking Bastards, The Cabin in the Woods, Dollhouse, The Village, Donnie Darko)
Ashley Scott n. 1977 (Jericho, Lost, Birds of Prey, Dark Angel, A.I. Artificial Intelligence)
Ken Jeong b. 1969 (Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Vampires Suck)
Robert Gant b. 1968 (The Tomorrow People)
Peter Buchman b. 1967 (writer, Eragon, Jurassic Park III)
David X. Cohen b. 1966 (writer/producer, Futurama)
Kenny Johnson b. 1963 (Smallville, The Huntress, Blade, Sliders, The Burning Zone)
Michael Jace b. 1962 (Planet of the Apes [2001], Strange Days, Deep Space Nine)
Lance E. Nichols b. 1955 (The Fantastic Four [2015], Left Behind, American Horror Story, The Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia, Creature, Swamp Shark, Green Lantern, Benjamin Button, Charmed, Buffy, Firestarter 2: Rekindled, The Invisible Man, K-PAX, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Alien Nation [TV], Project X, Amazing Stories, Twilight Zone [1985])
Gil Birmingham b. 1953 (Twilight, NightMan, Buffy, House II)
Rosemary Dunsmore b. 1952 (Orphan Black, Red: Werewolf Hunter, Lost Girl, ReGenesis, Poltergeist: The Legacy, Last Exit to Earth, RoboCop [TV], Total Recall [1990], Beauty and the Beast [1989 TV], Twilight Zone [1988])
Cheech Marin b. 1946 (Lost, Planet Terror, Spy Kids, From Dusk Till Dawn, Ghostbusters II)
Harrison Ford b. 1942 (Star Wars, Indiana Jones, The Age of Adaline, Ender’s Game, Cowboys & Aliens, Blade Runner)
Robert Forster b. 1941 (Heroes, Dragon Wars: D-War, Alligator, The Black Hole)
Sir Patrick Stewart b. 1940 (X-Men, The Wolverine, Ted, Star Trek, Lifeforce, Dune, Excalibur)
David Westburg b. 1940 (The Amazing Captain Nemo, Once Upon a Brothers Grimm, Logan’s Run, Genesis II, Blacula)
Bob Crane b. 1929 died 29 June 1978 (Twilight Zone)
Rene Laloux b. 1929 died 14 March 2004 (director, Gandahar, Time Masters, Fantastic Planet)
Sidney Blackmer b. 1895 died 6 October 1973 (Rosemary’s Baby, The Outer Limits)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot(s). July 13th is one of those fairly easy decisions. You can argue for someone other than Sir Patrick Stewart or Harrison Ford, but I'm not listening. This year, I put them both up. These guys not only represent the two pillars of modern on-screen sci-fi, Star Trek and Star Wars, but they also have other iconic genre roles and successful careers even if you don't count their genre stuff. Nobody else here comes close.

2. Spot the Canadians! Usually, the Supernatural/Smallville daily double tells us we've got Canadians, but today it's the Orphan Black/Lost Girl pairing. Michael Mando and Rosemary Dunsmore are our pals from north of the border.

3. The Guys at the Door. The oldest living guys on the list just turned 75, the aforementioned Sir Patrick Stewart and the hard working David Westburg. While that is way too young to be The Guys at the Door, that's how this randomness works sometimes.

4. Nepotism more of less. Steven R. McQueen is the grandson of Coolest Person Ever Steve McQueen, but he was born eight years after his grand-dad died, so I don't know if it should count as nepotism.

Many happy returns to all the living on the list, especially Sir Patrick Stewart and David Westburg, and to the dead, thanks for all the memories.

Predictor: The OMNI Future Almanac, published in 1982.

Prediction: The most visible educational development of the 1980s will be the widespread introduction of automated teaching devices that marry the medium of the videodisc to the microcomputer. Such systems will permit massive amounts of audio-visual information to be introduced to students at their own rate of learning.

Reality: Picking the laserdisc as the way of the future in 1982 is just as obvious as can be and dead fucking wrong at the same time. If I'm being generous, it's not unlike people thinking the pneumatic tube would be ubiquitous or our sensible friend George Sutherland thinking the internal combustion engine had too many drawbacks to ever be fixed.

But I'm not being generous. I love pneumatic tubes and George Sutherland's mistake are always forgiven, while laserdiscs in particular are complete junk in my book and I have bad memories of Philips deciding (briefly) they were going to enforce the patents they held on the CD-ROM. I'm glad the Internet swept that nonsense away, most especially Philips' blackmail threat.  

Looking on day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

How are you fixed for Commie predictions? Well, even if you are topped off, we get another one tomorrow from John Langdon-Davies, Commie!

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE! 

23 June 2015

Birthdays
Connor Jessup b. 1994 (Falling Skies)
Kate Melton b. 1992 (Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins)
Louisa Connolly-Burnham b. 1992 (Wolfblood, House of Anubis)
Marielle Jaffe b. 1989 (Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief)
Isabella Leong b. 1988 (The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor)
Melissa Rauch b. 1980 (Big Bang Theory, True Blood)
Emmanuelle Vaugier b. 1976 (Lost Girl, Supernatural, Painkiller Jane, Unearthed, Andromeda, Smallville, Charmed, MythQuest, Mindstorm, Level 9, Shapeshifter, Saban’s Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation, Highlander [TV])
Joel Edgerton b.1974 (The Thing [2011], Star Wars: Episodes II and III)
Selma Blair b. 1972 (Hellboy, The Fog, Xena, Amazon High)
Martin Klebba b. 1969 (Ted 2, Pirates of the Caribbean, Monsters on Main Street, Oz the Great and Powerful, Mirror Mirror, Project X, The Cape, Van Helsing, Charmed, Planet of the Apes)
David Dobkin b. 1969 (producer, R.I.P.D., Jack the Giant Slayer)
Terri Ivens b. 1967 (Piranhaconda, They Came from Outer Space, The Munsters Today)
Joss Whedon b. 1964 (writer, Avengers, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., In Your Eyes, The Cabin in the Woods, Dollhouse, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, Commentary! The Musical, Serenity, Angel, Firefly, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Titan A.E., Toy Story)
Billy Wirth b. 1962 (Charmed, Space Marines, Starlight, Body Snatchers, The Lost Boys)
Frances McDormand b. 1957 (Transformers: Dark of the Moon, AEon Flux, Darkman, The Twilight Zone [1986])
Russell Mulcahy b. 1953 (director, Teen Wolf [TV], Resident Evil: Extinction, Mysterious Island [TV], Jeremiah, The Hunger [TV], Tale of the Mummy, Perversions of Science, The Shadow, Highlander I and II)
Lauren Shuler Donner b. 1949 (producer, X-Men, Deadpool, Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant, Constantine, Ladyhawke)
Bryan Brown b. 1947 (On the Beach [TV], Journey to the Center of the Earth [TV], 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea [TV])
Ted Shackelford b. 1946 (Space Precinct, The Twilight Zone [1988], Wonder Woman)
James Marcus b. 1942 (A Clockwork Orange, Doctor Who, UFO)
Miriam Karlin b. 1925 died 3 June 2011 (Children of Men, Jekyll & Hyde [1995 TV], A Clockwork Orange)
Larry Blyden b. 1925 died 6 June 1975 (The Twilight Zone)
Dennis Price b. 1915 died 6 October 1973 (Son of Dracula, Theatre of Blood, The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland [1972], Dracula Contra Frankenstein, Vampyros Lesbos, The Horror of Frankenstein, Voodoo Blood Death, The Earth Dies Screaming, H.G. Wells’ Invisible Man [TV], Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde [TV])
(Paul) Orban b. 1896 died 6 April 1974 (artist)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, the Picture Slot went to Melissa Rauch from The Big Bang Theory and Joss Whedon, a writer who gets his own label on this blog, which runs neck and neck for second place with The Twilight Zone. This year, I decided to feature the artwork of Paul Orban, a very prolific artist from the sci-fi magazines. This particular work looks like it was done on scratchboard, an all black surface where the artist scratches out the area that should be white. It was a very unforgiving medium and I don't know if anyone does it anymore. Since magazine illustrator is nearly an extinct profession, scratchboard magazine illustrator is even more strange and exotic now. (For the record, Orban did use other media.)

2. Spot the Canadians! Two Canadians today, the unspottable Connor Jessup (too few credits) and the completely spottable Emmanuelle Vaugier.

3. The Guy at the Door. It's a short list today with no one born in the 1930s and everyone born in the 1920s already dead. This means British actor James Marcus is the cut-off person between the living and the dead at the tender age of 73. As always when this demographic oddity shows up, the blog extends special best wishes to Mr. Marcus

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

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

Prediction: There will be compulsory education for all until twenty-one.

Reality: Well, ummm... no. As a college instructor, Langdon-Davies' plan would mean more work for me and I'm still against it. One of the things I like about teaching college compared to high school, besides not having to be heard over the raging hormones messing with the kids' brains, is that it is not compulsory, so the majority of the students have actually chosen to be there.

Never to be Forgotten: James Horner 1953-2015

A private plane crash has taken the life of film composer James Horner at the age of 61. As far as my research has been able to discover, the only other film composers of Horner's generation who have as much work in major productions are Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard. (My friend the soundtrack expert Abu Scooter includes Thomas Newman, who is the right age with plenty of hit films he worked on, but not quite as prolific.) Most of his obits mention Titanic first, but his genre credits as conductor or composer include Star Trek New Voyages, The Amazing Spider-Man, Shoestring Space Opera, Avatar, The Spiderwick Chronicles, Bicentennial Man, Mighty Joe Young, Deep Impact, Jumanji, Apollo 13, Casper, The Rocketeer, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, Cocoon, Willow, *batteries not included, Aliens, Amazing Stories, Wizards of the Lost Kingdom, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Brainstorm, Krull, Something Wicked This Way Comes, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Wolfen, The Hand, Battle Beyond the Stars and Humanoids from the Deep.

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

 

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Another Wednesday rolls around and we hear from our sensible pal George Sutherland predicting the inventions of the 20th Century from the year 1901.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
 

9 September 2014

 Birthdays
Kelsey Chow b. 1991 (The Amazing Spider-Man)
Josh Herdman b. 1987 (Harry Potter)
Julie Gonzalo b. 1981 (Vamp U)
Michelle Williams b. 1980 (Oz the Great and Powerful, Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, Timemaster, Species)
Rogelio T. Ramos b. 1976 (Spider-Man 3, Zombie Night)
Goran Visnjic b. 1972 (Extant, The Deep, Elektra, Practical Magic)
Henry Thomas b.1971 (Nightmares & Dreamscapes, Cloak & Dagger, E.T.)
Eric Stonestreet b. 1971 (American Horror Story, The Island)
Julia Sawalha b. 1968 (Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, Comic Relief: Doctor Who – The Curse of Fatal Death)
Adam Sandler b. 1966 (Bedtime Stories, Click, Little Nicky, Coneheads)
David Bennent b. 1966 (Legend)
Michelle Johnson b. 1965 (Specimen, Death Becomes Her, Beaks: The Movie, Werewolf)
Brenda Epperson b. 1965 (Bug Buster)
Charles Esten b. 1965 (The Postman, Lois & Clark, Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: The Next Generation)
Hugh Grant b. 1960 (Cloud Atlas, The Lair of the White Worm)
Bruce Stait b. 1959 (Fringe, Final Destination 5, Supernatural, Tron: Legacy, Stonehenge Apocalypse, Smallville, Blade: The Series, Stargate: Atlantis, The 4400, Battlestar Galactica, Andromeda, First Wave, Poltergeist: The Legacy, The X-Files, Highlander [TV], Omen IV: The Awakening, Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future)
Jeffrey Alan Combs b. 1954 (Elf-Man, Dorothy and the Witches of Oz, The Dunwich Horror, The 4400, Abominable, SharkMan, Star Trek: Enterprise, Star Trek: Voyager, House on Haunted Hill, Deep Space Nine, Time Tracers, Perversions of Science, The Frighteners, Babylon 5, Ultraman: The Ultimate Hero, Doctor Mordrid, Trancers II, The Flash, Guyver, Robot Jox, Re-Animator, Beauty and the Beast, From Beyond, Re-Animator, The Man with Two Brains)
Janet Fielding b. 1953 (Doctor Who)
Angela Cartwright b. 1952 (Lost in Space [1998 and 1965], Logan’s Run [TV])
Tom Wopat b. 1951 (Jonah Hex, Smallville, Meteorites)
Jeffrey Alan Chandler b. 1944 died 19 December 2001 (Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, Twilight Zone [1985], Knight Rider)
Art LaFleur b. 1943 (Speed Racer, The Santa Clause, Angel, Space Rangers, Trancers I & II, The Blob [1988], Zone Troopers, WarGames, Wizards and Warriors, The Invisible Woman, Jekyll and Hyde… Together Again, The Incredible Hulk)
Topol b.1935 (SeaQuest 2032, Flash Gordon)
Margaret Tyzack b. 1931 died 25 June 2011 (Quatermass, 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange)
Nick Ramus b. 1929 died 30 May 2007 (Harry and the Hendersons, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home)
Cliff Robertson b. 1923 died 10 September 2011(Amazing Spider –Man, Escape From L.A., Return to Earth, Charly, Batman, The Outer Limits, Twilight Zone)
Neil Hamilton b. 1899 died 24 September 1984 (Batman, The Munsters, The Outer Limits)

Last year, Henry Thomas got The Picture Slot. This year, it was a wide open field. Regular readers will know that iconic genre roles trump movie and TV stardom, so folks like Adam Sandler, Hugh Grant and Tom Wopat were not in the running this year and unlikely to be used in the future. The main choices were Michelle Williams from the Oz movie, Jeffrey Alan Combs from Deep Space Nine or Re-Animator, Angela Cartwright from Lost in Space, Topol from Flash Gordon, Cliff Robertson from a number of roles or Neil Hamilton from Batman. But this year I have a soft spot for Doctor Who, so we get Janet Fielding as the companion Tegan, sometimes known as "the mouth with legs".

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

Predictor: FM-2030 in UpWing Priorities, published 1981

Prediction: Telespheres: Let us speedup the orbit shift from industrialism to the new age. The world of telespheres is flowing from the confluence of breakthroughs in many areas: limitless energy, interactive telecommunication, ultra intelligent machines, biological and cultural revolutions, space colonization. These and other forces are recontexting life in fundamentally new ways. We are creating electronic environments that integrate all peoples and services. No one need remain waterholed near stationary centralized sources of learning, livelihood or decision making. You connect from wherever you are.

For example, the track beyond school is teleducation which facilitates transmission of continuous updated info to anyone, anywhere, anytime.

Beyond hospital: preventative telemedicine.

Beyond bureaucracy: telemanagement and teleconference.

Beyond vindictive judicial systems: preventative crime telemonitor.

Beyond profit retailing: direct teleshopping from production decenters.

Beyond leadership government: teledemocracy via universal referendums…

Reality: One of the most annoying experiences possible is when someone you believe is an idiot is right, and I have to say FM-2030 gets several things right here. The "electronic environments that integrate all peoples and services" is the thing that lets you read my little musings, the Internet. That wasn't an obvious call in 1981. The "continuous [sic] updated info" describes Wikipedia, that are more people working from home, taking online classes and definitely shopping, but his awful neologism "decenters" as a noun instead of a verb, does a bad job describing the very centralized Amazon.com.

Here's what he gets wrong. He uses the word "waterholed" to talk about an old-fashioned way of doing things, but he misses that people really do need to be near sources of clean water and that's not going to change. Online education has to overcome the fact that most people aren't self-motivating enough to succeed without a lot of supervision. Hospitals aren't going away and preventative telemedicine only goes so far. We have telemonitors everywhere, as Ray Rice learned yesterday to his disadvantage, but we still have a vindictive judicial system, here in the "enlightened" United States more than anywhere if you measure incarceration rates. Just because people shop online, that does nothing to end "profit retailing", it just means people's spending does nothing to improve their own communities. As for teledemocracy and universal referendums, the election system in most democracies has done little to move forward into the 21st Century.

I promise that next week when we see his next prediction, FM-2030 will go back to being a useless prat.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Herman Kahn makes his final prediction from 1972 book. 

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
 

3 June 2014

Birthdays
Brenden Jefferson b. 1986 (Holes, Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century)
Imogen Poots b. 1989 (Fright Night, 28 Weeks Later, V for Vendetta)
Jame Purefoy b. 1964 (John Carter, Solomon Kane, Frankenstein [2007, TV], Resident Evil, The Cloning of Joanna May)
Suzie Plakson b. 1958 (Star Trek: Enterprise, Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Beauty and the Beast, My Stepmother is an Alien)
Scott Valentine b. 1958 (Harpies, Black Scorpion, Fallout, Mars, Carnosaur 3: Primal Species, Lois & Clark, The Unborn II, To Sleep with a Vampire, Deadly Nightmares, My Demon Lover, Knight Rider)
Clive Mantle b. 1957 (Game of Thrones, Alien³)
Erland van Lidth b. 1953 died 23 September 1987 (The Running Man)
Melissa Mathison b, 1950 (writer, The Indian in the Cupboard, Twilight Zone: The Movie, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial)
John Rothman b. 1949 (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Enchanted, Dark Matter, Daredevil, From the Earth to the Moon, The Devil’s Advocate, The Purple Rose of Cairo, Ghostbusters)
John Dykstra b. 1947 (special effects, Godzilla, X-Men: First Class, Hancock, Spider-Man I and II, Batman & Robin, Batman Forever, My Stepmother is an Alien, Invaders from Mars, Alice in Wonderland [1985 – TV], Lifeforce, Firefox, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Battlestar Galactica, Star Wars: Episode IV, Silent Running)
Penelope Wilton b. 1946 (Doctor Who, Shaun of the Dead, Alice Through the Looking Glass [1998, TV], The Borrowers)
Bill Paterson b 1945 (Doctor Who, Sea of Souls, Ghostbusters of East Finchley, The Witches, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen)
Frank McRae b. 1942 (Asteroid [TV], Last Action Hero, Twilight Zone, Wonder Woman)
Edward Winter b. 1937 died 8 March 2001 (Weird Science, Superboy, Misfits of Science, The Greatest American Hero, Project U.F.O.)
Marion Zimmer Bradley b. 1930 died 25 September 1999 (author, The Mists of Avalon, Darkover)
Tony Curtis b. 1925 died 29 September 2010 (Stargames, Lois & Clark, The Mummy Lives, Lobster Man From Mars, BrainWaves, The Manitou)
Maurice Evans b. 1901 died 12 March 1989 (The Canterville Ghost, The Six Million Dollar Man, Bewitched, Beneath the Planet of the Apes, The Body Stealers, Rosemary’s Baby, Planet of the Apes, Batman)

Quite the list today. Last year the Picture Slot went to Suzie Plakson as K'Ehleyr, not a bad choice at any time. I also thought about a cover from a Marion Zimmer Bradley book or Penelope Wilton from Doctor Who or Shaun of the Dead. 

The first name on the imdb.com birthday list was Tony Curtis and my first thought was he hadn't done any genre work, but of course I was wrong. I could have gone with Maurice Evans as Dr. Zaius or Clive Mantle from Game of Thrones. But I bypassed all those great choices for the late Erland van Lidth, here in his costume as Dynamo in The Running Man. Van Lidth was a classically trained singer (he does a beautiful version of Down in the Valley (Birmingham Jail) in the movie Stir Crazy) and studied computer science at MIT, but got into the movies because he was a wrestler.

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

Movies released
X-Men: First Class released, 2011  

Predictor: Geoffrey Hoyle in the 1972 book 2010: Living in the Future
 
Prediction: At nine o’clock it is time for school. Inside a large closet in your bedroom there is a vision phone and vision desk. As soon as you dial your school number, the screen lights up, and there is your teacher.

The vision phone is a telephone that allows you to see the person you are talking to. He or she can see you, too.

School work would be impossible without the vision desk. When the teacher writes a sum on the blackboard, the figures are shown on the desk. To answer the question you take your electronic pen and start writing on the desk. If the teacher sees that you are going wrong, he or she can correct you. All the school work that is done on the vision desk is recorded on a giant school computer.

Reality: I do love the illustration of the giant school computer. We do have some distance learning, of course, but for the most part it's at the college level and the teacher isn't electronically peeking over every student's shoulder. Vision phones, vision desks and electronic pens are real technology, but the whole package didn't quite get put together in this configuration.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

June will be the last month of predictions for our Edwardian pal T. Baron Russell.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
 

6 February 2014

 Birthdays
Dane DeHaan b. 1987 (The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Chronicle, True Blood)
Crystal Reed b. 1985 (Teen Wolf [TV], Skyline)
Alice Eve b. 1982 (Star Trek Into Darkness, Men in Black 3, The Raven)
Kim Poirier b. 1980 (Eureka, Dawn of the Dead)
Josh Stewart b. 1977 (Grimm, The Walking Dead, The Dark Knight Rises, No Ordinary Family)
David Hayter b. 1969 (writer, X-Men, XMen 2, Watchmen, The Scorpion King)
Rip Torn b. 1931 (Men in Black, RoboCop 3, Coma, Murder and the Android)
Mamie Van Doren b. 1931 (Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women, The Navy vs. the Night Monsters)
Patrick Macnee b. 1922 (The Howling, Battlestar Galactica, The Avengers)
Zsa Zsa Gabor b. 1917 (Queen of Outer Space, Batman)

Big generational jump on today's birthday list and - wonder of wonders - everyone is still alive! The younger/older split goes from David Hayter, born when I was in high school, to Rip Torn, who is from my parents' generation. Last year this time, I hadn't done as much research as I have now and Rip Torn was the only birthday on the list, so obviously he got the Picture Slot. I would argue he's still the best known name on the list, but I gave the picture slot to Zsa Zsa Gabor because

1. Fabulous babe.
2. It's a wonder she's still alive with all that happened to her a few years back.
3. She was a Kardashian before we even used that word for "much more famous than talented".

Many happy returns to everyone on the list and here's hoping science can unlock the secrets in Zsa Zsa's DNA. If we can figure out what's keeping her ticking and duplicate it, humans as a species may out-survive the cockroach.

Predictor: Isaac Asimov in 1964, predicting 2014 in honor of the World's Fair in New York

Prediction: Schools will have to be oriented in [the direction of automation]. Part of the General Electric exhibit today consists of a school of the future in which such present realities as closed-circuit TV and programmed tapes aid the teaching process. It is not only the techniques of teaching that will advance, however, but also the subject matter that will change. All the high-school students will be taught the fundamentals of computer technology will become proficient in binary arithmetic and will be trained to perfection in the use of the computer languages that will have developed out of those like the contemporary "Fortran" (from "formula translation").

Reality: Fortran! Just reading the word sent me on a long trip down memory lane. Yes, the damn thing still exists and there are plans for an update in 2015. GO TO 2015!

As for the rest of it, closed-circuit TV and programmed tapes do exist, but getting all high school students hip to the binary has not come to pass yet. Some of New Math was based on this and I even saw a little of that in grade school before the parents brought out the torches and pitchforks and killed the beast. It should be noted that the current "hour of coding" fad is an attempt to play catch up on the world Asimov envisioned. From my point of view, it feels kind of like an update of Shop and Home Ec classes we used to have when I was a lad, though without the sexist split.

It should be noted that this is the next to last prediction of Asimov's, so after next Thursday, the only chance to see muttonchops will be from the 1893 Columbian Exposition predictions.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

The second of the Wired Long Bets.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

11 July 2013

Birthdays
Rachael Taylor b. 1984 (Transformers, The Darkest Hour)
Greg Mottola b. 1964 (director, Paul)
Sela Ward b. 1956 (The Day After Tomorrow)
Stephen Lang b. 1952 (Avatar)

No one on the list is best known for their work in genre films and they all have many credits. Ms. Taylor easily qualifies for the Pretty Girl = Picture Slot criterion, but I chose Ms. Ward who is much closer to my age to mellow out the Dirty Old Man vibe a little.

Many happy returns to all our birthday boys and girls.

Movies released
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix released, 2007
Journey to the Center of the Earth released, 2008

Prediction: The mother of all thought-cities, the World Encyclopedia Establishment, is founded in 2012, during the era of the Air Dictatorship 2010-2030.

Predictor: H.G. Wells, Shape of Things to Come

Reality: A city whose main trade is the gathering and storing of knowledge is an interesting idea. In reality, it's kinda sorta what college towns are, but if I were to describe anything that actually existed in 2012 as a "thought-city", it would probably be the Internet.

Wells never said it had to be a deep thought-city exactly. A dirty thought-city should also qualify.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

It's German chocolate postcard time again. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

24 May 2013

Birthdays
Dash Mihok b. 1974
Greg Berlanti b. 1972
Michael Chabon b. 1963
(won 2008 Hugo and Nebula for The Yiddish Policeman’s Union)
Alfred Molina b. 1953
Jim Broadbent b. 1949
Carmine Infantino b. 1925 died 4 April 2013 

Quite an impressive list of birthday boys today. Mihok is an actor in several genre films including I am Legend and The Day After Tomorrow, Berlanti's work is on the other side of the camera in the Green Lantern movie and the TV show Arrow. Chabon is a writer, of course, and Infantino was a comic book artist. My two favorites are the two actors who are slightly older than I am, and Alfred Molina gets the picture slot for his short role at the beginning of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

In the year 2000!

Prediction: Books will be turned into audio (by grinding?) and the students will listen intently. The teacher will not lecture but instead merely choose the book to be turned into lessons.

Predictor: French postcards produced in 1900

Reality: A lot of the French postcards are on the cruel side and I think they are mostly meant to be funny. This one is obviously whimsical, but in its defense as a prediction, there are audio textbooks now and they didn't exist when this was drawn. Moreover, as a teacher I can say that one hell of a lot of my students wear headphones in class. Getting them to take the headphones off is the real trick.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Predictions from Jack London's The Iron Heel about both war and peace a century ago, which is to say about five years in the future from when he wrote the book.
 

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

24 April 2013

Birthdays

Damon Lindelof b. 1973
Rory McCann b. 1969
Aiden Gillen b. 1968

Many happy returns to the folks on today's birthday list. Lindelof is a writer/producer who works with J.J. Abrams frequently, notably on Lost and the Star Trek reboot. McCann plays the Hound on Game of Thrones and Gillen plays Littlefinger on the same show.

No pretty girl on this list, so the picture slot goes to Gillen, who I loved on The Wire as Tommy Carcetti and is a favorite of my sci-fi buddy Jodi for his work on Queer As Folk.

Also... kitty.

I mean, this is the Internet and I wasn't born yesterday.

In the year 2000!

Prediction: How Children will be Taught. A university education will be free to every man and woman. Several great national universities will have been established. Children will study a simple English grammar adapted to simplified English, and not copied after the Latin. Time will be saved by grouping like studies. Poor students will be given free board, free clothing and free books if ambitious and actually unable to meet their school and college expenses. Medical inspectors regularly visiting the public schools will furnish poor children free eyeglasses, free dentistry and free medical attention of every kind. The very poor will, when necessary, get free rides to and from school and free lunches between sessions. In vacation time poor children will be taken on trips to various parts of the world. Etiquette and housekeeping will be important studies in the public schools.

Predictor: John Elfreth Watkins in The Ladies' Home Journal, published in 1900

Reality: This selection isn't the most prophetic work my man crush has produced, but it is very typical of Victorian era futurism both in the United States and Great Britain. Starting with Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward: 2000-1887, published in 1888, many writers believed deeply in socialism to improve the lot of the poor, especially when it came to education. Watkins is just the first of the turn of the century visionaries I've quoted, but we will hear from many more in the future! Besides Bellamy himself - I'm waiting until we get to exact dates quoted in his most famous work - weekly slots will be given to T. Baron Russell on Wednesdays when I have finally printed the last of Watkins' work. (sniff.) And as Arthur C. Clarke winds down, he will start sharing time with the best known science fiction writer of the era who produced a lot of predictions with dates attached, H.G. Wells.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!
 
Arthur C. Clarke predicts the greatest invention in history. Make sure to have some Earl Grey tea (hot) by your view screen for this one.
 

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

19 February 2013

What life will be like... in the year 2001!

Predictor: Sid Caesar, host of the TV variety hit Your Show of Shows
The Pocket TV will be so common people will take it for granted...
Einstein's theory of relativity will be understood by every schoolchild because he will see it on his pocket TV in the helicopter on his way to school.

Predictor: John Cameron Swayze, anchorman and spokesman*
No major war between 1956 and 2001...
Light-weight low priced private air transport...
Cities disperse, the slums will disappear...
 
Reality: The modern high end cell phone is kinda sorta like a pocket TV, though streaming a TV program is an expensive way to use one. Transistor radios hit the market in 1955, so the idea of miniaturization is definitely in the public mind. Also in the public mind in the mid 1950s was that "Einstein's theory of relativity" was the most difficult concept ever devised by man. It is not yet a concept understood by schoolchildren.

Swayze was right about no major war. The middle part of the century was big on the idea that cities were intolerable and had to be abolished. We kinda got over that.

 And then we have the helicopter school bus and "light-weight low priced private air transport", which are both roundabout ways to say... Flying Cars HELLZ YEAH!

It is the express policy of this blog never to discuss reality and flying cars at the same time. So it is written and so it shall be. Amen.

* Some younger readers might need more explanation of who John Cameron Swayze was. He was one of the original anchormen for evening news broadcasts, but by the time I was growing up, he was the spokesman for Timex watches, the commercials that brought us the deathless tagline "It takes a licking and keeps on ticking". Wikipedia says that John Cameron Swayze was a sixth cousin to the now more famous Patrick Swayze, both deceased. I'm not as close to my cousins as some other people are, but "sixth cousin" seems a polite way of saying "not really related at all".

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE! Sure, we start the week with predictions about TV, war, city life and flying cars, but tomorrow we get to what really matters: fashion and baseball.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!