30 July 2015

Birthdays
Joey King b. 1999 (Oz the Great and Powerful, The Dark Knight Rises, Battle Los Angeles, Jericho)Aml Ameen b. 1985 (Sense8, The Maze Runer)
Yvonne Strahovski b. 1982 (The Astronaut Wives Club, I, Frankenstein)
Martin Starr b. 1982 (Dead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead, This Is the End, Futurestates, The Last Lovecraft: Relic of Cthulhu, The Incredible Hulk, Roswell, Mysterious Ways, God vs Evil)
Lisa Wilhoit b. 1981 (The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Hook)
Jaime Pressly b. 1977 (Charmed, Mortal Kombat: Conquest, NightMan)
Christopher Ray b. 1977 (director, Blood Lake: Attack of the Killer Lampreys, Mega Shark, Asteroid vs Earth, Almighty Thor, Reptisaurus)
Nikolai Kinski b. 1976 (Aeon Flux)
John Reardon b. 1975 (Continuum, Supernatural, The Philadelphia Experiment [TV], TRON: Legacy, Super Hybrid, Eureka, Painkiller Jane, Merlin’s Apprentice, Andromeda)
Hilary Swank b. 1974 (The Core, Buffy)
Christine Taylor b. 1971 (The Craft, Here Come the Munsters)
Christopher Nolan b. 1970 (director, Interstellar, The Dark Knight Rises, Inception, The Dark Knight, The Prestige, Batman Begins)
Simon Baker b. 1969 (Land of the Dead, The Ring Two, Red Planet)
Terry Crews b. 1968 (Gamer, Terminator Salvation, Idiocracy, Click, The 6th Day)
Jason Watkins b. 1966 (Atlantis, Doctor Who, Psychoville, Being Human, The Golden Compass)
Kevin Blatch b. 1965 (Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, Flash Gordon [TV], Stargate SG-1, Dead Like Me, The Dead Zone, Seven Days, Millennium, Poltergeist: The Legacy, Strange Luck)
Vivica A. Fox b. 1964 (Sharknado 2: The Second One, Ella Enchanted, Tremors [TV], Batman & Robin, Independence Day)
Monique Gabrielle b. 1963 (Munchie, 976-Evil II, Transylvania Twist, The Return of Swamp Thing, Not of This Earth)
Laurence Fishburne b. 1961 (Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Man of Steel, The Signal, The Colony, Predators, The Matrix, Cherry 2000, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors)
Richard Linklater b. 1960 (director, A Scanner Darkly)
Richard Burgi b. 1958 (The Green Inferno, Reaper, Firefly, Mann & Machine, The Flash)
Philip Davis b. 1953 (Being Human, Merlin [2011 TV], Doctor Who, Alien³, Howling V: The Rebirth)
Erwin Leder b. 1951 (Underworld)
Jean Reno b. 1948 (Rollerball [2002], Godzilla [1998], Le Dernier Combat)
Carel Struycken b. 1948 (Charmed, The Addams Family, Men in Black, Star Trek: Voyager, Babylon 5, Journey to the Center of the Earth [TV], Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Witches of Eastwick, Ewoks: The Battle of Endor, The Prey, Bigfoot and Wildboy)
Arnold Schwarzenegger b. 1947 (Terminator, The 6th Day, End of Days, Batman & Robin, Last Action Hero, Total Recall, The Running Man, Red Sonja, Conan, Hercules in New York)
William Atherton b. 1947 (Defiance, Lost, Stargate SG-1, Headspace, Race to Space, The Crow: Salvation, Twilight Zone [1985], Ghostbusters)
Frances de la Tour b. 1944 (Into the Woods, Hugo, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, Alice in Wonderland [2010], The Book of Eli, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire)
Peter Bogdanovich b. 1939 (Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women)
John P. Ryan b. 1936 died 20 March 2007 (Class of 1999, Faerie Tale Theatre, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, It Lives Again, Futureworld, It’s Alive)
Richard Johnson b. 1927 died 6 June 2015 (Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Zombie, Space: 1999, The Haunting)
Victor Wong b. 1927 died 12 September 2001 (Poltergeist: The Legacy, Tremors, Beauty and the Beast, The Golden Child, Big Trouble in Little China)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. A fine list today, full of stars, fabulous babes, household names and folks with iconic roles. In previous years, the Picture Slot went to Arnold Schwarzenegger and Laurence Fishburne, both of them stars and both iconic. Taking them off the list, there are still plenty of choices, but I went with Carel Struycken as Lurch. It's a small coincidence that Ted Cassidy's birthday is tomorrow, but he won't be in The Picture Slot, as he has already had his turn.

2. Spot the Canadians! There are two, they are spottable, so I leave it as an exercise for the reader.

3. Nepotism FTW. Nikolai Kinski is Klaus's son.

4. The Guy at the Door. I did not know until this morning that Peter Bogdanovich had directed a cheap genre film early in his career under and assumed name. He is also the oldest living person on the list and everyone younger than him is still with us, so he is also The Guy at the Door at the tender age of 76. As always, the blog extends special best wishes for a long and happy life.
 
Many happy returns to all the living on the list, especially Peter Bogdanovich, and to the dead, thanks for all the memories.

Predictor: Life Magazine, 1914

Prediction: The fashion trends of 1950

Reality: First things first. This version of Life has nothing to do with the iconic photo journalism magazine that began publishing in the late 1920s. This was a humor magazine from an earlier era.

The time frame is all wrong and men's fashion prediction is pretty bad, but from the 1960s on, there have been women's fashions at least as revealing as what the woman is wearing. The hair is a little outlandish, but only a little. Women smoking pipes in public is the one completely false note on the distaff side.
 
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

H.G. Wells is back for another chance to damage his reputation as a pleasant human being.
  
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

1 June 2015

Birthdays
Willow Shields b. 2000 (The Wonder, The Hunger Games)
Madison Smith b. 1990 (Supernatural, Evangeline, Chupacabra vs. the Alamo)
Taylor Handley b. 1984 (Toxin, Battle Los Angeles)
Craig Olejnik b. 1979 (Haven, Thir13en Ghosts, So Weird)
Sarah Wayne Callies b. 1977 (The Walking Dead)
Danielle Harris b. 1977 (Night of the Living Dead: Origins 3D, Nuclear Family, Chromeskull: Laid to Rest 2, Halloween I and II [21st Century], Charmed, Eerie, Indiana, Halloween 4 and 5 [20th Century])
Patrick Gilmore b. 1976 (Arrow, Continuum, Primeval: New World, Cabin in the Woods, Stargate, Fringe, 2012, Battlestar Galactica, Smallville, Supernatural, Eureka, The Last Mimzy, Final Days of Planet Earth, Stephen King’s Dead Zone)
Kate Magowan b. 1975 (Stardust)
Melissa Sagemiller b. 1974 (Soul Survivors)
Heidi Klum b. 1973 (Ella Enchanted)
Rick Gomez b. 1972 (Transformers, Sin City, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles [1990])
Paul Schrier b. 1970 (Power Rangers)
Teri Polo b. 1969 (The Hole, The Storm, Brimstone, Van Helsing Chronicles, House of Frankenstein, Phantom of the Opera)
Lezlie Dean b. 1964 (Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare, Hard Time on Planet Earth, Girlfriend from Hell, Freddy’s Nightmares, 976-EVIL)
Mark Curry b. 1961 (Armageddon)
Lisa Hartman b. 1956 (Not of this World, Tabitha)
Robin Mattson b. 1956 (The Incredible Hulk, The Six Million Dollar Man, Phantom of the Paradise, Island of the Lost)
Gemma Craven b. 1950 (Cinderella: The Slipper and the Rose)
Michael McDowell b. 1950 died 27 December 1999 (writer, Tales from the Crypt, Beetlejuice, Amazing Stories)
Powers Boothe b. 1948 (Sin City, The Avengers, Mutant Species, Red Dawn)
Jonathan Pryce b. 1947 (Game of Thrones, G.I. Joe, Clone, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Brothers Grimm, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Brazil)
Brian Cox b. 1946 (The Anomaly, An Adventure in Space and Time, Her, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, The Day of the Triffids, Doctor Who, Timewatch, X-Men 2, The Ring, Bug, Red Dwarf, The Cloning of Joanna May, Hammer House of Horror)
Robert Powell b. 1944 (Merlin of the Crystal Cave, Frankenstein [1984 TV], The Asphyx)
Rene Auberjonois b. 1940 (Warehouse 13, Stargate SG-1, Poltergeist: The Legacy, Deep Space Nine, Batman Forever, Eerie, Indiana, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Count, My Best Friend is a Vampire, Faerie Tale Theatre, Beyond Westworld, Wonder Woman, Man from Atlantis, The Bionic Woman, King Kong [1976], Brewster McCloud)
Cleavon Little b. 1939 died 22 October 1992 (Tales from the Crypt, ALF, Once Bitten, Once Upon a Brothers Grimm)
Morgan Freeman b. 1937 (Lucy, Transcendence, Oblivion, The Dark Knight, Conan the Barbarian [2011], War of the Worlds, Dreamcatcher, Deep Impact, Outbreak, Twilight Zone[1985])
Glenn Beck (no, not that one) b. 1935 (National Treasure: Book of Secrets, Twilight’s Last Gleaming, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Doctor Who, The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll)
Peter Masterson b. 1934 (The Stepford Wives, The Exorcist)
Edward Woodward b. 1930 died 16 November 2009 (Crusade, Gulliver’s Travels, Arthur the King, 1990, Bloodsuckers)
Andy Griffith b. 1926 died 3 July 2012 (Salvage 1)
Aubrey Morris b. 1926 (Mermaid Chronicles Part 1: She Creature, The Others, Legend of the Mummy, Bordello of Blood, Babylon 5, Alien Nation, Beauty and the Beast, Lifeforce, The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy [TV], Space: 1999, A Clockwork Orange, Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb, The Prisoner)
Richard Erdman b. 1925 (Out of This World, Small Wonder, Trancers, The Amazing Spider-Man, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Bionic Woman, I Dream of Jeannie, Mr. Terrific, The Brass Bottle, Twilight Zone, Aladdin and His Lamp)
John Randolph b. 1915 died 24 February 2004 (Superman 50th Anniversary, Voyagers!, King Kong [1976], Wonder Woman, Topper Returns, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, Escape from the Planet of the Apes, The Invaders, Seconds)
Mike Lally b. 1900 died 15 February 1985 (Coma, Future Cop, The Incredible Mr. Limpet, Twilight Zone, The Adventures of Superman, Mighty Joe Young, The Return of Doctor X)
Frank Morgan b. 1890 died 18 September 1949 (The Wizard of Oz)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. There are a lot of excellent choices for The Picture Slot this fine morning. Frank Morgan from The Wizard of Oz and Rene Auberjonois from Deep Space Nine have already had their turns, but there are still a lot of choices that count as iconic, from as young as Sarah Wayne Callies on The Walking Dead to as old as two still living Oh That Guys, Aubrey Morris and Richard Erdman. Jonathan Pryce got my vote today and I was going to use a picture of him as High Sparrow from this year's cast of Game of Thrones, but I instead went with a picture from Brazil, a movie that still holds a soft spot for me.

2. Spot the Canadians! Four Canucks today, one very spottable and the others, not so much. Patrick Gilmore has the very typical credit list of a hard working Canadian genre actor, but Glenn Beck is a little too old to be typical and Craig Olejnik and Madison Smith haven't had enough roles.

3. Who is Mike Lally? I included Mike Lally on the list today because the movie from his resume that was on the list of birthdays page on imdb.com was Coma, a genre film from the late 1970s. He had an amazing 422 credits, nearly all of them uncredited. He was in big movies like Citizen Kane, Singin' in the Rain and It's a Wonderful Life, all as extras. He's not an Oh That Guy, but he kept a roof over his head from the early 1930s to the late 1970s just showing up and hitting his mark. His biography says he was one of the founders of the Actors Guild with Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Ronald Reagan. I had never heard of him before, but his career was the big surprise of this morning's research.

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

Movies released

Snow White and the Huntsman released, 2012
Star Trek III: The Search For Spock released, 1984

Predictor: The OMNI Future Almanac, published 1982

Prediction: By 2010, fashion designers say light and color will be transmutable elements in fashion fabrics. When one enters a room, one's clothing could change to match the decor. Outdoors, clothes could turn white or even be camouflaged by the local landscape. Some designers even foresee clothes changing color according to the way a person feels at a particular moment, like red for anger or grey for depression. 

Reality: Well, like jetpacks and flying cars, we didn't get clothes that change color depending on our moods. Unlike jetpacks and flying cars, I don't feel bad at all we didn't get clothes that change color depending on our moods.

 

This month's splash illustration: I saw the low budget sci-fi film Ex Machina and I liked it, so I thought I'd give it a little love on the blog this month. It was made for about $15 million, which is actually an awkward number for a budget these days. Small films tend to be made for less than $5 million and "middle budget" films tend to cost at least $30 million. The movie has been out for about two months, so I have no idea how long it will remain in the theaters, but if you can't catch it during its general release, rent it on video.
 
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

More Commie predictions from John Langdon-Davies, Commie.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

6 September 2014

 Birthdays
Rhys Ward b. 1989 (The Strain, The 100, My Babysitter’s a Vampire)
Lauren Lapkus b. 1985 (Jurassic World)
Tehmina Sunny b. 1980 (Heroes, Children of Men)
Blaze Berdahl b. 1980 (Aliens in the Family, Pet Sematary)
Naomie Harris b. 1976 (Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, Dinotopia, 28 Days Later…, The Tomorrow People)
Idris Elba b. 1972 (Prometheus,Thor, Pacific Rim, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, 28 Weeks Later, Ultraviolet, Space Precinct)
China Miéville b. 1972 (won 2010 Hugo for The City & the City)
Justina Machado b. 1972 (The Purge: Anarchy, Dragonfly, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Angel)
Mark Ivanir b. 1968 (Grimm, Touch, Fringe, Dollhouse, The Sarah Connor Chronicles)
Betsy Russell b. 1963 (Saw, Superboy, The Powers of Matthew Star)
Michael Winslow b. 1958 (Lycanthrope, Harry and the Hendersons, Spaceballs, Gremlins)
Patti Yasutake b. 1953 (FlashForward, Star Trek: The Next Generation)
Tommy Lee Wallace b. 1949 (director, Vampires: Los Muertos, It, Fright Night Part 2, Max Headroom, Twilight Zone [1985], Halloween III: Season of the Witch)
Keone Young b. 1947 (True Blood, Men in Black 3, Star Trek: Enerprise, The Invisible Man, Dude, Where’s My Car?, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids [TV], Deep Space Nine, Small Wonder)
Jane Curtin b. 1947 (The Librarian, Cyberchase, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Coneheads)
Swoosie Kurtz b. 1944 (Heroes, Category 7: The End of the World, Lost, Harvey [TV movie])
Sergio Aragones b. 1937 (writer/artist, Groo the Wanderer)
Paul Naschy b. 1934 died 30 November 2009 (A Werewolf in the Amazon, Night of the Werewolf, Mystery on Monster Island, Night of the Howling Beast, The Mummy’s Revenge, Vengeance of the Zombies, Count Dracula’s Great Love, Curse of the Devil, La furia del Hombre Lobo, The Werewolf Versus the Vampire Woman, Las noches del Hombre Lobo, Frankenstein’s Bloody Terror)
Max Schreck b. 1879 died 20 February 1936 (Nosferatu)

My two favorite actors on the list both had major roles on HBO series. Idris Elba, seen here as Heimdall in Thor, played Stringer Bell on The Wire and Keone Young was Wu on Deadwood. Last year's Picture Slot was held by Max Schreck, still one of the scariest vampires ever and next year's competition is completely wide open, though I admit a fondness for Sergio Aragones' cartoon style.

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

 Predictor: George F. Kunz (1856-1935), geologist and gem expert, predicting the world of 1993 in honor of the 1893 Columbian Exhibition in Chicago

Prediction: My impression is that in the next century, it will be found that in many of the churches of the United States, jewels of rare beauty and great cost will serve the priests for greater adornment of their chancels and their vestments. Precious stones will more and more be utilized for impressive religious ceremonies.


Reality: First things first. Kunz's beard is almost at The Hunger Games level of pointy and fancy and he proudly wears one of those ridiculously uncomfortable collars. If he had a pince nez, he would have full points, but as is, he gets a very high grade indeed.

As for fancier and fancier bejeweled vestments, only a few churches that go in for old fashioned big city cathedrals like the Catholics and Anglicans would have bejeweled vestments and I don't think it is a trend that increased much from 1893 to 1993. The big change in lavish churches would be the mega-churches of vague denomination, and they prefer to impress their parishioners with enormous meeting halls, TV cameras and expensive suits for the pastors instead of jewels in the vestments.

Never to be Forgotten: 
Donatas Banionis (1924-2014)

The Lithuanian actor Donatas Banionis has died at the age of 90 this week. He is remembered here as the star of the 1972 Soviet version of Solaris, adapted from the novel by Stanislaw Lem and directed by Andrei Tarkovsky. In other remembrances around the web, it is noted that Vladimir Putin was influenced to become a spy after seeing the 1968 movie Dead Season, in which Banionis played a Soviet spy with James Bond flair.

Best wishes to family and friends of Donatas Banionis, from a fan. He is never to be forgotten.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

We get another prediction from The Experts Speak. Observant readers will notice they are almost always wrong.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
 

19 May 2014

Birthdays
Elinor Tomlinson b. 1992 (Deadly Code, Jack the Giant Slayer, Alice in Wonderland [2010], The Sarah Jane Adventures)
Lily Cole b. 1988 (Snow White and the Huntsman, Doctor Who)
Claudia Karvan b. 1972 (Star Wars:Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, Farscape, The Lost World [TV], Strange Planet)
Geraldine Somerville b. 1967 (Harry Potter)
Polly Walker b. 1966 (John Carter, Warehouse 13, Caprica, Clash of the Titans [2010])
Grace Jones b. 1946 (Wolf Girl, BeastMaster [TV], Cyber Bandits, Vamp, Conan the Destroyer)
Andre the Giant b. 1946 died 27 January 1993 (The Princess Bride, Conan the Destroyer, The Greatest American Hero, The Six Million Dollar Man)
Peter Mayhew b. 1944 (Star Wars, Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger, Dark Towers)
James Fox b. 1939 (Merlin, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Doctor Who: Shada, Gulliver’s Travels [1996], The Road to 1984)
Pat Roach b. 1937 died 17 July 2004 (Starhunter, Kull the Conqueror, Space Precinct, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Willow, Red Sonja, Conan the Destroyer, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Clash of the Titans, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Unidentified Flying Oddball)
James Greene b. 1931 (Doctor Who, Merlin, Dracula [2006 TV], Dinotopia, From Hell, 1990)
Bruce Bilson b. 1928 (director, The Flash, They Came from Outer Space, The Twilight Zone [1986], The Powers of Matthew Star, Quark, Wonder Woman, The Six Million Dollar Man, Bewitched)

Odd cut-off on the birthdays today. Before 1946, it's all women and fabulous ones at that. In 1946 we have the fabulous Grace Jones and the Picture Slot boy, Andre the Giant, shown here saying one of my favorite lines of his from The Princess Bride, "Hello, Lady!". (For my money, the book is better than the movie and the movie is pretty close to perfect.) By another odd coincidence, besides Andre we have two other male actors best known for being enormous, last year's Picture Slotter Peter Mayhew (a.k.a. Chewbacca) and Pat Roach, who played the first Nazi mechanic Indiana Jones fought in the famous Raiders of the Lost Ark scene at the grounded plane that's leaking gas and has its propellers turning.

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

Movies released
Star Wars: Episode I – The One We Don't Talk About released, 1999
Shrek 2 released 2004
Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith released, 2005
 

 In the Year 2000!

Predictor: The OMNI Future Almanac, publish 1982

Prediction: Clothing designers believe that garments will become more functional and serve as protection against weather extremes. Some clothes in 2000 may be made of year-around computerized fabrics. The wearer will be able to adjust a few dials and a cooling/heating system will be able to change the temperature of the fabric. The concept already exists in the electric blanket.

Another heat source for clothes in 2000, according to fashion designer Will Smith, will be a solar belt pack.

Reality: Eventually, I will open The OMNI Future Almanac to a random page as I have done for over a year now, and I will find that I've used it up, all the cool predictions with years have been mined. On that day, I will be sad. It's certainly not the most accurate source or the most inaccurate, but I always have fun thumbing through it.

Oh yeah, reality. Solar belt packs won't be able to store that much heat and no one is wearing couture electric blankets.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Yet another source I enjoy a lot, Geoffrey Hoyle's 1972 children's book about 2010.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

13 May 2014

Birthdays
Robert Pattinson b. 1986 (Twilight Saga, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire)
Samantha Morton b. 1977 (John Carter, Code 46, Minority Report)
Brian Smith b. 1977 (Big Bang Theory, The Wolfpack of Reseda)
Neil Hopkins b. 1977 (Lost, Witches of East End, Grimm, True Blood, Skyline, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, The 4400, The Net 2.0, The Cabinet of Dr, Caligari [2005], Charmed, Birds of Prey)
Brian Geraghty b. 1975 (True Blood)
Fana Mokoena b. 1971 (World War Z)
Stephen Colbert b. 1964 (Monsters vs. Aliens, Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, The Venture Bros.)
Siobhan Fallon b. 1961 (Holes, Men in Black)
Koji Suzuki b. 1957 (writer, The Ring)
Joe Johnston b. 1950 (director, Captain America: The First Avenger, The Wolfman, Jurassic Park III, Jumanji, The Rocketeer, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids)
Zoe Wanamaker b. 1949 (Doctor Who, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone)
Stephen R. Donaldson b. 1947 (author, Thomas Covenant series)
Mark Heap b. 1947 (The World’s End, Stardust, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory)
Tim Pigott-Smith b. 1946 (Alice in Wonderland [2010], V for Vendetta, Clash of the Titans, Doctor Who)
Marv Wolfman b. 1946 (author, Blade)
Sam Anderson b. 1945 (Grimm, Lost, The Chronicle, Angel, NetForce, The X-Files, From the Earth to the Moon, Millennium, The Puppet Masters, Memoirs of an Invisible Man, Alien Nation, Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Charmings, Critters 2)
Buck Taylor b. 1938 (Cowboys & Aliens, The Mist, Starman [TV], Timestalkers, My Favorite Martian)
Beverly Owen b. 1937 (The Munsters)
Roger Zelazny b. 1937 died 6/14/1995 (won 1966 Hugo for … And Call Me Conrad and the 1968 Hugo for Lord of Light)
Bea Arthur b. 1922 died 25 April 2009 (Futurama, The Star Wars Holiday Special)

Last year, the picture slot was Robert Pattinson, the biggest movie star on the list and best known for a role in genre. Today, I was in an Oh That Guy mood, so I went with Sam Anderson as Holland Manners in Angel. Usually, I skip over voice work in cartoons, but I included Stephen Colbert partly because I love him and partly because he was on The Venture Bros. I put Bea Arthur on the list almost entirely so I could put in a reference to The Star Wars Holiday Special, a famously cheesy piece of work that some nerds of a puckish nature want to make part of the canon. If Jar Jar Binks is canon, I don't see how you exclude Life Day.

And one last mention, Beverly Owen was the original Marilyn Munster, but disliked the role and left the show to get married and never acted on the screen again.

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

Predictor: Geoffrey Hoyle in 2010: Living in the Future

Prediction: In the future, everyone will wear jumpsuits.

Reality: Will they be metallic jumpsuits? Because how can you tell if its the future if they aren't metallic?

I also like how the men have awesome facial hair, not just 19th Century style, more like the Medes in the bas relief profiles. Because if everyone wears jumps suits, men need some kind of sign to show that they are MEN!

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

The weekly routine is interrupted for yet another exact date of a nuclear war.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
 

24 March 2014

 Birthdays
Keisha Castle-Hughes b. 1990 (Vampire, Legend of the Seeker, Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith)
Philip Winchester b. 1981 (Camelot, Fringe, Warehouse 13, Solomon Kane, Thunderbirds [2004])
Alison MacInnis b. 1980 (Power Rangers, Bewitched [movie], Tremors [TV])
Lake Bell b. 1979 (Surface)
Jessica Chastain b. 1977 (Interstellar, Journeyman, Dark Shadows [2004])
Michelle Harrison b. 1975 (The Flash, Continuum, SGU Stargate Universe, Supernatural, Eureka, V, Fringe, The Invisible, Andromeda, Paycheck, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show, Poltergeist: The Legacy)
Alyson Hannigan b. 1974 (Buffy, Angel, Dead Man on Campus, My Stepmother is an Alien)
Jim Parsons b. 1973 (The Big Bang Theory, Eureka, iCarly)
Lara Flynn Boyle b. 1970 (Men in Black II, Amerika)
Kelly LeBrock b. 1960 (The Sorceror’s Apprentice [2002], Weird Science)
Robert Carradine b. 1954 (The Terror Experiment, Attack of the Sabertooth, Ghosts of Mars, Lycanthrope, Scorpio One, Humanoids from the Deep, Escape from L.A., Lois & Clark, The Tommyknockers, The Twilight Zone [1986])
Kim Johnston Ulrich b. 1955 (Supernatural, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Rumplestiltskin, Highlander [TV], Lois and Clark, Werewolf [TV], The Charmings)
Patrick Malahide b. 1945 (Game of Thrones)
R. Lee Ermey b. 1944 (The Watch, Megiddo: The Omega Code 2, Starship Troopers, The Frighteners, The X-Files, Body Snatchers [1993], Toy Soldiers, The Terror Within II, Deathstone, The Rift, Up from the Depths)
William Smith b. 1933 (The Ghost of Frankenstein, The Boy with Green Hair, Atlantis the Lost Continent, Batman, I Dream of Jeannie, Piranha, Invasion of the Bee Girls, The Six Million Dollar Man, Planet of the Apes [TV], Kolchak: The Night Stalker, Twilight’s Last Gleaming, Logan’s Run [TV], Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Conan the Barbarian, Hell Comes to Frogtown… and more third rate crap than you can shake a stick at)
Steve McQueen b. 1930 died 7 November 1980 (The Blob)
Murray Hamilton b. 1923 died 1 September 1986 (The Amityville Horror, The Invaders, Twilight Zone)
Gene Nelson b. 1920 died 16 September 1996 (director, Star Trek, I Dream of Jeannie)

Okay. There's one movie star on this list, Steve McQueen, and he made one genre movie, The Blob. Steve McQueen was so cool, people didn't give him crap about making The Blob.

Last year's Picture Slot was Alyson Hannigan because I'm a Buffy nerd. This year it's Jim Parsons. In terms of iconic, they are hard to beat. But I should say a word about William Smith. He did a few uncredited roles in movies as a kid, became a regular on a couple TV shows in the 1960s, and then he followed the John Carradine algorithm.

1. Take a role.
2. Pay the rent.
3. Dead yet? If not, back to step 1.

If I put in all his genre roles, I would have been typing for an hour. His list of movies has some stuff so bad, Invasion of the Bee Girls and Hell Comes to Frogtown look like Merchant-Ivory productions in comparison.

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

Predictor: The OMNI Future Almanac, published in 1982

Prediction: Fashions for men

1990s
At home: old, loose clothes; jeans, t-shirts
At the office: pin-stripe suits, ties, jackets
On the town: Tuxedos; suits in pastel colors

2000s
At home: one piece body suits
At the office: body suits with ties; sports jackets
On the town: Tight-fitting body suits revealing male body; make-up

2010s
At home: temperature controlled body suits
At the office: body suits with special packs for job (i.e. intercom, tools, pen)
On the town: Body paints; handbags; make-up

Reality: I admit I am not doing my part to consume conspicuously. Being a broke-ass mofo may have something to do with this. But reading this, I feel a little bad I have not been doing my part buying enough body suits.

This prediction gets partial credit for jeans and t-shirts at home. The suits in pastel colors did have their moment in the 1980s when Miami Vice came out, but we got over it before the 1990s. As for the body suits and make-up, hmm... not that common.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Can Ray Kurzweil get something right looking a mere ten years forward? Signs point to...

No spoiler alerts! Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
 

22 March 2014

Birthdays
Tania Raymonde b. 1988 (Big Bang Theory, Texas Chainsaw 3D, Lost)
Katie Stuart b. 1985 (Supernatural, Dead Like Me, A Wrinkle in Time, X-Men 2, The Crow: Stairway to Heaven, Stargate SG-1, The Sentinel, Poltergeist: The Legacy)
Kandyse McClure b. 1980 (Haven, Hemlock Grove, Alphas, Children of the Corn, Battlestar Galactica, Smallville, Andromeda, Jake 2.0, Jeremiah, Dark Angel, Level 9)
Anne Dudek b. 1975 (Grimm, Invasion, Charmed)
Will Yun Lee b. 1971 (The Wolverine, Total Recall [2012], Bionic Woman [2007], Fallen, Elektra, Witchblade, Brimstone)
Matthew Modine b. 1959 (CAT. 8, The Dark Knight Rises, Jack and the Beanstalk: The Real Story)
Lena Olin b. 1955 (Queen of the Damned, The Ninth Gate, Mystery Men)
James Patterson b. 1947 (author, Daniel X, Witch & Wizard)
Carter Wong b. 1947 (Big Trouble in Little China)
M. Emmet Walsh b. 1935 (The X-Files, Wilder Napalm, The Flash, Harry and the Hendersons, Amazing Stories, The Twilight Zone, Blade Runner, Escape from the Planet of the Apes)
William Shatner b. 1931 (Star Trek, 3rd Rock from the Sun, TekWar, SeaQuest 2032, The Six Million Dollar Man, Twilight Zone, Incubus, The Outer Limits)
Stephen Sondheim b. 1930 (composer, Into the Woods)
Ross Martin b. 1920 died 3 July 1981 (Mork & Mindy, Quark, Wonder Woman, The Invisible Man, The Immortal, Twilight Zone, The Colossus of New York, Johnny Jupiter)

All right. Picture Slot decision first. There are other actors on this list that readers would recognize, but this is a sci-fi blog. If I didn't use a picture of Mr. Overacting Under a Toupee, it would look like I was holding some sort of grudge. I don't hold a grudge. He is one of my favorite overactors of all time and no, that isn't sarcasm.

Interesting tidbits I learned while researching this list.
1. James Patterson writes Young Adult novels.
2. Stephen Sondheim and Rev. Pat Robertson were born on the exact same day.
3. Ross Martin was born in Poland! Seemed as American as apple pie to me.

Movies released
The Croods, released 2013
 
 

Predictor: M. Quad (born Charles Bertrand Lewis), 1842-1924 humorist, replying to a request for a prediction in honor of the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago.

Prediction: I regard the present date as the climax of fashion of dress... Man wears too much cloth, and that cloth is cut up into too many shapes. We shall not only restore the dress of our great-grandfathers before we stop, but run the costumes of Adam and Eve a pretty close shave.

Reality: He was making a joke, but this prediction is actually fairly accurate. People did wear a lot less clothing in 1993 than they did in 1893, most notably the hat and vest nearly disappearing from most wardrobes and the tie becoming a sign of certain jobs instead of the standard for all men at all times. And for women, the undergarments of the late 20th Century were a positive boon compared to the instruments of torture they had to endure at the end of the 19th Century.

I'm not an expert in the history of fashion, but thinking about movies, I'd say the big push towards less clothing starts in earnest after World War II, though there were earlier fads like the Flapper Era.  Moreover, what has been considered acceptable swimwear and casual wear for my lifetime would have cause panic and arrests back in 1893.

So in conclusion: M. Quad writes a page and a half of quips and jests and actually correctly foresees a trend of the future. Compare this to Dr. Paul Ehrlich, who writes a serious book and gets nearly everything wrong.

And then there's the facial hair. Not extravagant by the standards of his day, but a moustache that hides the upper lip in pretty old school now.

Looking one day ahead...  INTO THE FUTURE!

Tomorrow's a Sunday, so sleep in late and when you get up, stop on by and enjoy a story of a nucelar war we didn't actually have.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

23 November 2013

Birthdays
Chris Hardwick b. 1971 (host, The Talking Dead)
Oded Fehr b. 1970 (Resident Evil, The Mummy, V, Charmed)
David Rappaport b. 1951 died 2 May 1990 (Time Bandits, The Wizard, The Bride)
Tom Neyman b. 1935 (Manos: The Hands of Fate)
Michael Gough b. 1916 died 17 March 2011 (Batman, Sleepy Hollow, Doctor Who, They Came From Beyond Space, Phantom of the Opera, Horror of Dracula)
John Dehner b. 1915 died 4 February 1992 (The Twilight Zone)
Boris Karloff b. 1887 died 2 February 1969 (Frankenstein, The Mummy)

An all male and all actor list today, with more folks dead than alive. I did have a brief moment of contrariness thinking I might put Tom Neyman from Manos: The Hands of Fate in the Picture Slot, what with Thanksgiving coming up and the Mystery Science Theater 3000 Turkey Day marathon being aired again, but seriously, for this first year,it has to be Karloff. It's an interesting coincidence that the actor Oded Fehr who plays the mummy in the most recent remakes shares a birthday with Karloff.

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

 The Day of the Doctor
This is the 50th anniversary of the first airing of Doctor Who and a special episode is now available, featuring the two most recent Doctors, Matt Smith and David Tennant, and also starring John Hurt as The War Doctor.

I've never been a huge fan of the show. I liked Christopher Eccleston and I like that he really doesn't want to be remembered forever as The Ninth Doctor. Still, my personal feelings aside, it is remarkable how successful this series has been and it's definitely a major part of the genre today.

Congratulations to all concerned.

 

Predictor: Miriam Leslie, author and publisher
A few words about today's predictor. Miriam Leslie had a truly remarkable career for a woman of her era. She married four times, the third time to the publisher Frank Leslie, her employer. She divorced her second husband to marry Leslie in 1874 and on their honeymoon, she met the poet Joaquin Miller and had an affair with him, the main character in his book The One Fair Woman modeled after her.

Frank Leslie went bankrupt in 1877 and died in 1880, and Miriam took over the business and brought it back to profitability, her success much admired by the financial community of the day. When she died in 1914, she willed most of her fortune to the cause of women's suffrage.

Predictions (reality in parentheses):

The world, and more especially the New World, is hastening rapidly toward iconoclasm. Monarchs who used to be worshiped or fear are now only to be laughed at. (Interesting call. It would be another twenty years until the Great War started and five bloody years later, European monarchy would be pretty much over.)

Religion is unfortunately ceasing to be a power in the world. It has become, rather, the recreation of a small portion of the people. (Maybe that was true in the circles Miriam traveled in, but I'd have to rate this a swing and a miss overall.)

Dress, formerly a species of trademark placed by the nations upon their population, is rapidly losing its individuality all over the world. (Gotta count this one as a hit.)

Language is struggling toward universality. Almost anyone can make himself understood almost anywhere. (Sure. If someone pretends they don't speak English, all you have to do is SAY IT LOUDER AND SLOWER.)

In politics the people as a controlling power are coming to the front more or less rapidly in even the oldest empires of earth. And it needs no prophet to foretell that in 1993 the world will have become equalized in every respect, even to dire monotony. (Well, I wouldn't call it monotonous, but the world of 1993 was much more level playing field than it was in 1893.)

The era of woman as a power has commenced. (Not unlike her prediction about the waning of monarchy, it was still more than a generation away, but she certainly saw the direction things were going. You might well say "D'uh!", but you might recall the humorist Bill Nye saying women's suffrage would never happen.)

The "servant problem" is an imminent one, for no one is found to dispute that anarchy in domestic matters is the near result of the present attitude of the domestic official. (Ah, yes, the servant problem. Those lazy, thieving laggards who make life hell for the rich. Not that big a deal now, though I guess it's pretty annoying when they go to the gossip rags and your personal life becomes everybody's bidness.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

On Ray Bradbury's Mars we are up to April 2003, and kids will be kids, having fun, roughhousing and laughing, destroying ancient ruins the Martians left behind.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE! 

24 October 2013

Birthdays
Tim Pocock b. 1985 (X-Men Origins: Wolverine)
Raelee Hill b.1972 (Superman Returns, Farscape)
BD Wong b. 1960 (Jurassic Park)
Martin Campbell b. 1943 (director, Green Lantern)
F. Murray Abraham b. 1939 (BloodMonkey, Shark Swarm, Thir13en Ghosts, Star Trek: Insurrection, Mimic)
John Winston b. 1933 (Star Trek)
Bob Kane b. 1915 died 11/3/1998 (artist, Batman)
Merian C. Cooper b. 1893 died 21 April 1973 (writer, King Kong, Mighty Joe Young)

F. Murray Abraham is the biggest name on the list in front of the camera, and I was surprised going through his list of roles on imdb.com that he didn't make as many low budget stinkers as I thought. The most influential people here are the two dead guys who created Batman and King Kong. But the Picture Slot goes to John Winston as Lt. Kyle on the original Star Trek, the guy who figured out the First Rule of Red Shirt Survival.

Be the red shirt who operates the transporter, not the red shirt who steps onto the transporter.

Many happy returns to all the living on the list.
 

Five fun facts from 2015!

Prediction: Self fitting jackets and shoes

Predictor: Back to the Future: Part II released 22 November 1989

Reality: Cute idea, but it's not in the cards. I wouldn't put it past Nike to make a prototype pair of self fitting shoes for about a jillion dollars just for the sake of advertising.

As a final note, I'm glad they didn't make self fitting jeans. Ain't no computer chips deciding the correct level of snugness in my own personal groinal area.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

If you're keeping track, you know this is only the third fun fact from 2015, so we still have two more to go.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

24 August 2013

Birthdays
Rupert Grint b. 1988 (Harry Potter)
Jennifer Lien b. 1974 (Star Trek: Voyager)
Barret Oliver b. 1973 (The Neverending Story, Cocoon, D.A.R.Y.L, The Twilight Zone)
Stephen Fry b. 1957 (V for Vendetta, Alice in Wonderland)
Orson Scott Card b. 1951
(won 1986 Hugo and Nebula for Ender’s Game)
(won 1987 Hugo and Nebula for Speaker for the Dead)
Kenny Baker b. 1934 (Star Wars)
William Morgan Sheppard b. 1932 (Star Trek, Babylon 5)

A lot of birthdays today and more than enough controversy. Stephen Fry has only a few science fiction and fantasy credits in his long career, but he is known for being openly gay and an avowed atheist. Fry is one of several celebrities now raising awareness of the legal plight of gays and transgender people under Vladimir Putin's rule in Russia.

On the other end of the spectrum, we have Orson Scott Card, whose entire writing career is in science fiction and fantasy. He openly embraces the hatred of homosexuals that is a tenet of his Mormon faith and just as his best known work is being turned into a major motion picture, wrote a short paranoid fantasy deeply popular with right wing shitheads that Obama is going to turn urban street gangs into a national police force.

For the picture slot, Ron Weasley or R2-D2 would have been completely understandable choices or I could have gone with The Cute Girl and had a picture of Jennifer Lien in character from Voyager. Instead, I chose the child actor Barret Oliver, a kid who quit the business not long after puberty hit. Almost all of his best known work was in science fiction or fantasy from the 1980s.

Many happy returns to almost all of our birthday boys and girls.


   

In the Year 2000!

Prediction: Dresses of glass and aluminum, men clothed to look like a cross between Prince Valiant and Batman and a British narrator who knows his job is to make sure the copy is dripping with homoerotic tension.

Predictor: A Pathe newsreel from 1939

Reality: The reality is obvious. The future is fabulous!

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

For the next few months, Sundays will belong chapter by chapter to Ray Bradbury's 1945 classic The Martian Chronicles.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
  

20 February 2013

Birthday
Pierre Boulle b. 1912 died 1/30/1994
 Boulle was credited with the screenplay for The Bridge Over the River Kwai, which was actually written by blacklisted writers Carl Foreman and Michael Wilson, the credit was changed posthumously in 1980. He did write the original novel.

He is mentioned here because of his other best known novel, Planet of the Apes.

   

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

Predictor: Lilly Daché (milliner and fashion expert)
Contra-magnetism will mean fabrics will repel dirt...
Whites and pastels will be worn in all seasons...

Predictor: Herb Score (pitcher, Cleveland Indians)
Plastic domes over stadiums keep out bad weather...
Parking not a problem, fans come in on helicopters...
No vendors in the stands, vending machines on the back of every chair...

Reality: We don't have fabrics that repel dirt quite yet, but Ms. Daché gets some points for predicting the "no white after Labor Day" rule would be largely forgotten.

Herb Score gets a point for domed stadiums, but we still don't use helicopters like buses and there are still vendors at ball games. I, for one, kinda like it that way. Sometimes you miss a play when the popcorn guy walks by, but it's part of the ambiance.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE! Even when I mix things up for the sake of variety, we can't escape Robert A. Heinlein, who made a special batch of predictions for this issue of Amazing Stories, almost all of them amazingly wrong.


Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!