5 February 2014

Birthdays
David Meunier b. 1973 (Revolution, Jericho, Buffy, Angel, Charmed)
Michael Sheen b. 1969 (Twilight Saga, Doctor Who, TRON: Legacy, Alice in Wonderland [2010], Underworld)
Laura Linney b. 1964 (The Mothman Prophecies, The Truman Show, Congo)
Barbara Hershey b. 1948 (Insidious, Once Upon a Time, Breakfast of Champions, The Invaders[TV])
Robin Sachs b. 1951 died 1 February 2013 (Resident Evil, Torchwood, Buffy, Star Trek: Voyager, Galaxy Quest, Babylon 5, The Lost World: Jurassic Park)
Tom Wilkinson b. 1948 (Batman Begins, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind)
Christopher Guest b. 1948 (actor, The Princess Bride, Night at the Museum : Battle of the Smithsonian, Small Soldiers, Heartbeeps; director, Attack of the 50 Foot Woman)
Charlotte Rampling b. 1946 (Babylon A.D., Angel Heart, Orca, Zardoz, The Avengers [1967])
H.R. Giger b. 1940 (illustrator, Necromicon, Giger’s Alien)
William S. Burroughs b. 1914 died 2 August 1997 (author, The Soft Machine, Naked Lunch, The Wild Boys: A Book of the Dead)
John Carradine b. 1906 died 27 November 1988 (Twilight Zone [1986], The Ice Pirates, Frankenstein Island, The Howling, The Sentinel, Land of the Giants, Lost in Space, The Green Hornet, Billy the Kid vs. Dracula, The Wizard of Mars, Twilight Zone [1960], Invisible Invaders, The Cosmic Man, Half Human)

Good birthday list today, lots of famous faces, but for iconic status, I went with an illustration from H.R. Giger, whose work brought a new twist to horror and science fiction back in the 1970s. I don't know who will get the Picture Slot next year, but John Carradine and his jillions of roles has the inside track at this early date.

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

Movies released
Spy Kids 3D: Game Over released 2003  
 

Prediction: On 5 Feb 1971, Piedmont, New Mexico is infected by a virus brought back from space by a satellite.

Predictor: The Andromeda Strain, released 12 March 1971

Reality: Okay, this is a little bit of a cheat. The date of the infection is actually before the release date of the movie. I've cheated like this once before with H.G. Wells' First Men in the Moon, but my excuse is both stories really count as science fiction. I also have to congratulate the producers for deciding to go with a relatively unknown cast of ordinary looking people, which made the story that much more believable.

As for alien viruses, it's possible, but most viruses are successful because they evolve in the environment, interacting with hosts they infect. Some random virus from outer space would have to get pretty damned lucky to land on a strange planet and fit right in.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

For a few more weeks, Thursday still belongs to Isaac Asimov.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE! 

14 August 2013

Birthdays
Mila Kunis b. 1983 (Oz: The Great and Powerful, Ted, The Book of Eli)
Zack Whedon b. 1979 (writer/singer, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog)
Halle Berry b. 1966 (X-Men, Catwoman, Cloud Atlas)
Brannon Braga b. 1965 (Star Trek: The Next Generation)
Alexei Panshin b. 1940
(winner of 1969 Nebula for Rite of Passage)

I never saw Catwoman but I do like the costume. The consensus is it was the only good thing in the movie. Many happy returns to all.

Movies released
District 9 released, 2009

I did see District 9. "White hot hate" sums up my feelings nicely.
   

Prediction: In 2010, District 9, the camp that has held the aliens known commonly as The Prawns for 28 years, is being forcibly evacuated

Predictor: District 9, released 14 August 2009

Reality: Technically, this is a future from an alternate timeline, since there wasn't a public encounter with aliens in 1981. I disliked the movie for many reasons, not least of which is the Nigerians are cast as the criminal bad guys who control drugs and prostitution in District 9.

To my mind, there are some alien races humans would have sex with voluntarily and some that are out of bounds. The Prawns fall in the second category, like the creatures in Predator and Alien and Mars Attacks! But in Blomkamp's mind, Nigerians would stoop to this level for money. Can you say "white privilege"?

Put together scientifically implausible, dull, derivative and racist and you get one of the worst movies of the century so far in my book.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Another prediction from H.G.Wells' The Shape of Things to Come.


Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

13 June 2013

Birthdays
Kat Dennings b. 1986 (Thor)
Chris Evans b. 1981 (Captain America, Fantastic Four, Marvel's The Avengers)
Mark Correy b. 1965 (Engineer Alex on Enterprise)
Stellan Skarsgård b. 1951 (Thor, Marvel's the Avengers)
Malcolm MacDowell b. 1943 (A Clockwork Orange, Heroes, Tank Girl, Star Trek: Generations)

Kat Dennings = Cute Girl = Picture Slot today. It's hard to find pictures of her that aren't "cleavage forward", which is a shame because she has a lovely face.

Not that I am opposed to cleavage. Oh, no, indeedy.

Other than that, today is very heavily weighted towards the Marvel Universe. Many happy returns to everyone on the list.

Movies released
The Incredible Hulk released, 2008

And yet again, more Marvel Universe. It probably deserves its own label, so fairness dictates a DC Universe label as well. I'll put both of them on my "to do" list.

Prediction: In 2010, we discover life on the Jovian moon Europa.

Predictor: Arthur C. Clarke in 2010: odyssey two, published in 1982


Reality: We haven't gotten this kind of up close and personal on Europa yet, so we can't confirm or deny this. Once again, even with a lot of evidence to the contrary by 1982, sci-fi writers like Clarke are still certain space exploration is going to be as interesting to governments as it is to fanboys.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Because of pre-emptions, it's been about a month since we saw a German chocolate postcard. That oversight will be rectified tomorrow.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE! 

18 April 2013

Birthdays
Rosie Huntington-Whiteley b. 1987
David Tennant b. 1971
Clive Revill b. 1930

If I used my standard rule of Photo Slot = Pretty Girl, it would be hard to find prettier than Ms. Huntington-Whiteley, the Victoria's Secret model who replaced Megan Fox in the Transformers series, but I wanted to give a shout out to fans of The Doctor and use Mr. Tennant's likeness instead. The third name on our list is the original voice of the Emperor in the Star Wars films. Many happy returns to all.

Prediction: 1997: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics publishes Fifty Years of UFOs.

Predictor: Arthur C. Clarke, Odyssey Two, published 1982
 
Reality: The AIAA did some work about UFOs in the late sixties and early seventies. I can’t find evidence of any more recent work, but maybe the grey skinned aliens are just trying to hide it from us using their well-known mind control techniques.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!
 
It's time for another French postcard, so we can assume the French in 1900 will predict the French in 2000 are acting like jerks.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

14 March 2013

Birthdays
Jamie Bell b. 1986
Mercedes McNab b. 1980
Michael Caine b. 1933

Once again, I make the heterosexual male choice for the birthday picture of the cute girl. Ms. McNab is best known as Harmony on Buffy and Angel. She did some very funny stuff on those shows.

Jamie Bell is best known for Billy Elliot, but he was also in in King Kong. Michael Caine has only a few genre films, notably Children of Men and Alfred in the most recent Batman movies.
  

Prediction: We will find no life on other planets in our solar system, except possibly Mars.

Predictor: Arthur C. Clarke on the 1964 BBC-TV show Horizon

Reality: Well, we haven't done as much exploration as the sci-fi writers expected by now, but the temperatures on the planets other than Earth and Mars don't allow for water, either only ice or only vapor. It's possible life exists without water in liquid form, but it would have to be radically different from anything we've ever seen and its environment would be toxic for us and vice versa.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE! This Friday it's the turn for the 1900 German chocolate company's predictions about life ... in the Year 2000!

Join me then... IN THE FUTURE!