18 July 2015

Birthdays
Brody Nicholas Lee b. 1997 (Cloud Atlas)
Cody Benjamin Lee b. 1997 (Cloud Atlas, The Shiftling, Invasion)
Chace Crawford b. 1985 (The Haunting of Molly Hartley, The Covenant)
Rosalind Halstead b. 1984 (Dominion, Rage of the Yeti, The Day of the Triffids [2009])
Michael Huisman b. 1981 (The Age of Adaline, Orphan Black, Game of Thrones, World War Z)
Kristen Bell b. 1980 (Safety Not Guaranteed, Heroes)
Cathy Shim b. 1980 (Zomboobies, Heebie Jeebies, The Watch, The Revenant)
Kelly Reilly b. 1977 (Puffball: The Devil’s Eyeball, A for Andromeda)
Valerie Cruz b. 1976 (Grimm, Alphas, True Blood, Dollhouse, The Dresden Files, Invasion)
Jed Whedon b. 1975 (writer, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Dollhouse, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog)
Sarah McLeod b. 1971 (The Lord of the Rings)
Patrick J. Dancy b. 1970 (S1m0ne, Brave New World)
Grant Bowler b. 1968 (Defiance, True Blood, Lost, The Lost World, On the Beach [2000], Farscape)
Andre Royo b. 1968 (Agent Carter, Fringe, Hellbenders, Heroes, The Sarah Connor Chronicles)
Vin Diesel b. 1967 (Guardians of the Galaxy, The Last Witch Hunter, Pitch Black, Babylon A.D.)
Elizabeth McGovern b. 1961 (Clash of the Titans, Kick-Ass, Tales from the Crypt, The Handmaid’s Tale, Faerie Tale Theatre)
Lee Arenberg b. 1962 (Once Upon a Time, Pirates of the Caribbean, Star Trek: Enterprise, Charmed, Dungeons & Dragons, Angel, Star Trek: Voyager, The Apocalypse, Lois & Clark, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Freaked, RoboCop 3, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, The Wizard, Martians Go Home)
Travis McKenna b. 1960 (Meego, Batman Returns, Quantum Leap, Twice Dead)
Anne-Marie Johnson b. 1960 (The X Files, Asteroid, Babylon 5, Robot Jox)
Gary Goddard b. 1954 (writer, Skeleton Warriors, Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future, Masters of the Universe)
Margo Martindale b. 1951 (In Dreams, The Rocketeer)
James Faulkner b. 1948 (X-Men: First Class, Relic Hunter, Highlander [TV], The Martian Chronicles)
Tony Azito b. 1948 died 26 May 1995 (Necronomicon: Book of Dead, The Addams Family [1991])
Andy Anderson b. 1947 (Nightmares & Dreamscapes, House of Wax, Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid, Salem’s Lot, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Xena, The Boy from Andromeda)
James Brolin b 1940 (Lost City Raiders, Category 7: The End of the World, Terminal Virus, The Amityville Horror, Capricorn One, Westworld, Batman, Fantastic Voyage, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea)
Hampton Fancher b. 1938 (writer, Blade Runner)
Britt Leach b. 1938 (Quantum Leap, Amazing Stories, Weird Science, Wonder Woman)
Paul Verhoeven b. 1938 (director, Hollow Man, Starship Troopers, Total Recall, RoboCop, Deadly Nightmares)
Burt Kwouk b. 1930 (Spirit Warriors, I Bought a Vampire Motorcycle, Doctor Who, The Tomorrow People, Rollerball, Curse of the Fly)
Syd Mead b. 1933 (artist)
John Glenn b. 1921 (astronaut)
Marvin Miller b. 1913 died 8 February 1985 (Wonder Woman, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, The Green Hornet, Batman, Space Patrol, Red Planet Mars)
Hume Cronyn b. 1911 died 15 June 2003 (Cocoon, *batteries not included)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. The previous Picture Slotters, astronaut John Glenn and visual futurist Syd Mead, are both clearly iconic and both are still with us, bless them. This year, I decided to go for a reference from the 21st Century. I thought about Jed Whedon from Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, Michael Huisman from Game of Thrones and Kirsten Bell from Heroes, but instead I went with Vin Diesel as Riddick.

2.  A Canadian amongst us. There's no way of telling Hume Cronyn is Canadian from his credits, but what good American family would name a boy Hume?

Ya cain't trusts 'em, I tell ya. 


3. Nepotism FTW.  Ken Houghton points out what I failed to mention when I first posted this, that Jed Whedon definitely gets some nepotism points beingthe younger brother of Joss Whedon.


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

Movies released
The Dark Knight released, 2008
Jurassic Park III released , 2001
 

Predictor: Morris L. Ernst in the 1955 book Utopia 1976

Prediction: The plastic domed house with glass walls and plastic panels, plastic floors with ducts for air conditioning, and curtains of light between rooms is on the drawing boards for 1964.

Reality: And the drawing board is pretty much where it stayed. While not made of plastic, Eichler Homes made a big splash in California in the 1960s. They looked great, but no one thought about what a bitch it would be to clean that much glass and the tremendous amount of heat loss.

Just a couple firing neurons away from a really good idea.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Robert A. Heinlein makes another guess about the technology of the late 20th Century.
  
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

12 May 2014

Birthdays
Emily VanCamp b. 1986 (Captain America: The Winter Soldier, The Ring Two, All Souls)
Malin Akerman b. 1978 (Watchmen, The Invasion, Witchblade, Earth: Final Conflict)
Samantha Mathis b. 1970 (Under the Dome, Lost, Nightmares and Dreamscapes, Salem’s Lot, The Punisher, The Mists of Avalon, Super Mario Bros.)
Catherine Tate b. 1968 (Doctor Who, Gulliver’s Travels)
Anthony Brandon Wong b. 1965 (The Matrix, Xena, Spellbinder: Land of the Dragon Lord)
Gavin Hood b. 1963 (director, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Ender’s Game)
Emilio Estevez b. 1962 (Freejack, Repo Man, Maximum Overdrive)
April Grace b. 1962 (I am Legend, Lost, The Lost Room, Constantine, A.I.. Artificial Intelligence, The X-Files, Star Trek: The Next Generation)
Ving Rhames b. 1959 (Piranha 3D & 3DD, Zombie Apocalypse, Day of the Dead, Dawn of the Dead)
Kim Greist b. 1958 (The X-Files, Last Exit to Earth, Duplicates, Brazil, C.H.U.D.)
Jennifer Hetrick b. 1958 (Sliders, Buffy, Perversions of Science, Dark Skies, The X-Files, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine)
Bruce Boxleitner b. 1950 (TRON, TRON: Legacy, Heroes, Babylon 5)
Gabriel Byrne b. 1950 (Vampire Academy, End of Days, Gothic, Excalibur)
Lindsay Crouse b. 1948 (FlashForward, Buffy, Progeny, Millennium, The Indian in the Cupboard, Communion, Iceman)
Richard Riehle b. 1948 (Texas Chainsaw 3D, Chillerama, The Last Lovecraft: Relic of Cthulhu, Halloween II, The Man from Earth, Star Trek: Enterprise, Star Trek: Voyager, Buffy, Tremors [TV], Time Changer, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Mighty Joe Young, Perversions of Science, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Quantum Leap)
George Carlin b. 1937 died 2008 (Dogma, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure)
Susan Hampshire b. 1937 (The Andromeda Breakthrough)
Oscar Beregi Jr. b. 1918 died 1 November 1976 (Young Frankenstein, Batman, The Time Tunnel, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Incredible Mr. Limpet, Twilight Zone)
Wilfred Hyde-White b. 1903 died 6 May 1991 (Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Battlestar Galactica [1978], Twilight Zone)

A whole lotta choices for the Picture Slot today. If I was in an Oh That Guy mood, Richard Riehle (the guy with people skills in Office Space), Oscar Beregi Jr (a go-to Central European bad guy) and Wilfred Hyde-White (he looks like what his name sounds like) would certainly fill the bill. There are movie and TV stars and George Carlin, one of the top three stand-up comics ever. But I was in a fabulous babe mood, so we get Kim Greist from Brazil, a personal favorite of mine. Also, I like to put up pictures of fabulous babes who are about my age so I don't feel like a dirty old man all the time.

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

In the Year 2000!

Predictor: OMNI Future Almanac, published in 1982

Prediction: Average housing costs will decrease from 21.3% in 1982 to 19.1% in 2000.

Reality: Oh, don't we wish! According to a 2012 article in The Atlantic, average housing costs in 2003 (close enough) were 33% because, as we all know and can say together...

THE RENT IS TOO DAMNED HIGH!

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Our new pal Geoffrey Hoyle tells kids from the 1970s what it will be like in 2010.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
 

9 September 2013

 Birthdays
Henry Thomas b.1971 (E.T.)
Jeffrey Alan Combs b. 1954 (Deep Space Nine)Angela Cartwright b. 1952 (Lost in Space)
Topol b. 1935 (Flash Gordon)
Margaret Tyzack b. 1931 died 25 June 2011 (2001, A Clockwork Orange)
Cliff Robertson b.1923 died 10 September 2011(Amazing Spider–Man)
Neil Hamilton b. 1899 died 24 September 1984 (Batman)

Several actors on the list today are best known for their work in genre, and in that group I would include the young man in the picture slot, Henry Thomas who played E.T.'s pal Elliott.

Many happy returns to the living.

Prediction: Homes will have inches deep "lakes" on the roof as a device for air conditioning.

Predictor: Popular Mechanics in 1928

Reality: We never got around to this. If you have 2500 square feet of roof surface, each inch of water adds about 1,000 pounds of weight, not inconsequential but not a deal breaker, either. The major problem I would imagine would be how much  difficulty this would add to the mosquito abatement problem.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

This week we get some exact dates from futurist novels of the 19th Century.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!