7 June 2015

Birthdays
Jordan Fry b. 1993 (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory)
Michael Cera b. 1988 (This is the End, Frequency, My Best Friend is an Alien)
Cathy Baron b. 1982 (In Time, Planet Terror)
Larisa Oleynik b. 1981 (Extant, 3rd Rock from the Sun)
John Edward Lee b. 1981 (Terminator Genisys, Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2)
Virginie Le Brun b. 1980 (I, Frankenstein)
Anna Torv b. 1979 (Fringe, Frankenstein [TV, 2007])
Bill Hader b. 1978 (Her, The Venture Brothers, Men in Black 3, Paul, Night at the Museum: Battle for the Smithsonian)
Eric Weiner b. 1977 (Serenity)
Karl Urban b. 1972 (The Wonder, Almost Human, Walking With Dinosaurs 3D, Riddick, Star Trek, Dredd, Doom, The Chronicles of Riddick, Lord of the Rings, Xena, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys)
Danielle Petty b. 1970 (Zombie Nation)
Dean DeBlois b. 1970 (writer/director, Lilo & Stitch, How to Train Your Dragon)
Anthony Simcoe b. 1969 (Farscape, BeastMaster [TV], The Lost World [TV])
Francis Magee b. 1969 (Outlander, Game of Thrones, Amphibious Creature of the Deep)
Adam Buxton b. 1969 (Stardust)
Sarah Parish b. 1968 (Atlantis, Doctor Who, Merlin)
Judie Aronson b. 1964 (Deep Core, Weird Science, Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, The Powers of Matthew Star)
Simon Day b. 1962 (The Incredible Adventures of Professor Braestawm, Pixelface, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Space Race)
Tarik Ergin b. 1961 (Star Trek: Voyager)
Bill Prady b. 1960 (producer, The Big Bang Theory)
Mark Ryan b. 1956 (Transformers, The Prestige, Conan [TV])
Nancy Spielberg b. 1956 (Horrorween)
William Forsythe b. 1955 (Inkubus, Halloween [2007], SharkMan, MorphMan, Mysterious Ways, Virtuosity)
Robert Trebor b. 1953 (Xena, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Universal Soldier, My Demon Lover, The Purple Rose of Cairo)
Colleen Camp b. 1953 (Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant, Last Action Hero, Tales from the Crypt, Wicked Stepmother, D.A.R.Y.L., Man from Atlantis, Isis, Battle for the Planet of the Apes)
Tammy Marihugh b. 1952 (Twilight Zone, The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm)
Liam Neeson b. 1952 (Ted 2, The Dark Knight Rises, Battleship, Wrath of the Titans, The Chronicles of Narnia, Clash of the Titans, Batman Begins, Star Wars I: The One We Don’t Mention, Darkman, Krull, Excalibur)
Pamela Susan Shoop b. 1948 (Knight Rider, Halloween II [1981], Galactica 1980, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, The Incredible Hulk, Empire of the Ants, Wonder Woman, Gemini Man)
Michael Pennington b. 1943 (Dr. Terrible’s House of Horrible, Return of the Jedi, The Witches of Pendle)
Ronald Pickup b. 1940 (Atlantis, Young Dracula, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Supernova, Doctor Who)
Mike Pratt b. 1931 died 10 July 1976 (Shado, UFO, The Champions, Out of This World)
Reg Park b. 1928 died 22 November 2007 (Hercules the Avenger, Hercules, Prisoner of Evil, Samson in King Solomon’s Mines, Hercules in the Haunted World, Hercules and the Captive Women)
Jessica Tandy b. 1909 died 11 September 1994 (*batteries not included, Cocoon)
Hope Summers b. 1896 died 22 June 1979 (The Girl with Something Extra, Bewitched, Rosemary’s Baby, The Ghost and Mr. Chicken, My Living Doll, The Return of Dracula)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. Previous folks in the Picture Slot were Anthony Simcoe for Farscape and Liam Neeson from Clash of the Titans, one of his many iconic roles in genre. While Neeson is the biggest movie star here, Karl Urban is also an actor with several iconic genre roles and the one I chose was as Bones in the Star Trek reboot.

2. The assimilated Canadians. Our two folk born north of the border today have no roles in Canuck genre, so I would note ask you to spot them. They are actor Michael Cera and writer/director Dean DeBlois.

3. Nepotism FTW. Nancy Spielberg is the sister of Steven Spielberg and definitely counts. There are some folk here married to actors like Liam Neeson to Miranda Richardson and Jessica Tandy to Hume Cronyn, but I don't count marriage among equals as nepotism.

4. The Guy at the Door. It happened again, the odd demographic coincidence that all the dead are listed beneath all the living and in this case, British actor Ronald Pickup is the oldest living person on the list at 75, which is fairly young for this particular and somewhat morbid honor. As always, special birthday wishes go out to he Guy at the Door.

5. MST3K. Reg Park was a bodybuilding actor in the Italian Hercules films, including Hercules and the Captive Women, which was lampooned on MST3K. Park's other claim to fame is as the trainer and mentor of Arnold Schwarzenegger.

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

Predictor: Robert A. Heinlein in the 1957 book The Door into Summer

Prediction: Well, I was paid $21 a day (in 2000) and it kept me eating.

Reality: Our hero goes to sleep in 1970 and wakes up in 2000, where he has a very limited job skill set. Heinlein has admitted he had a problem with understanding cost of living increases, and since this would translate to $2.62 an hour, that is too low compared to the national minimum wage in 2000 of $5.15. (When Heinlein wrote the book, the minimum wage was $1.00 an hour.) If we cut Heinlein some slack and try to turn $2.12 in 1957 money into the roughly equal value in 2000, that would be closer to $16.75 an hour, which is also way off.

No points for Bob this week.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Monday rolls around again and it time for OMNI Future Almanac.

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!
 

30 December 2013

Birthdays
Kristin Kreuk b. 1982 (Smallville, Beauty and the Beast, Earthsea, Snow White: The Fairest of Them All)
Eliza Dushku b. 1980 (The Guild, Torchwood, Big Bang Theory, Dollhouse, Tru Calling, Angel, Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
Tyrese Gibson b. 1978 (Transformers, Death Race)
Lucy Punch b. 1977 (The 10th Kingdom, Dinotopia, Ella Enchanted)
Bryan Burk b. 1968 (producer, Cloverfield, Star Trek, Lost, Super 8, Fringe, Revolution, Almost Human)
Ellen Sandweiss b. 1958 (The Evil Dead, Oz the Great and Powerful)
Patricia Kalember b. 1957 (Signs, Limitless, Jacob’s Ladder, Cat’s Eye)
Fred Ward b. 1942 (10.5, The Crow: Salvation, Invasion: Earth, Tremors, UFOria, Timerider: The Adventure of Lyle Swann)
Russ Tamblyn b. 1934 (Joan of Arcadia, Babylon 5, Quantum Leap, Necromancer, War of the Gargantuas, tom thumb)
Tom Keene b. 1896 died 4 August 1963 (Plan 9 from Outer Space)

Several choices for the Beautiful Young People in the Picture Slot today, and I went with Kristin Kreuk from Smallville and the most recent version of Beauty and the Beast on TV. A couple names I put on the list because they were near the top of the bill in famous cult films, Ellen Sandweiss from The Evil Dead and Tom Keene from Plan 9 from Outer Space. Mr. Keene started in movies in 1923(!) and was credited under the names George Duryea and Richard Powers as well. He made a wagonload of low budget, one hour long Westerns and his character was almost always named Tom. You might think that is a one way ticket to Palookaville, but the one hour Westerns were the start of John Wayne's career started as well. Luck always plays a factor in show business, and for Mr. Keene, he worked steadily but never became a household name.

Many happy returns of the day to all the living on the list, and to Mr. Keene, I hope you are catching better breaks wherever you are now than you did when you were here.
 

Prediction: 30 December 1999: The last moments of the life of a robber shot by the police are recorded on a SQUID, a device that lets people relive the experiences of others.

Predictor: From Strange Days, released 20 October 1995

Reality: It's an interesting premise that has been used many times, but we really don't understand the wiring of the human brain very well, certainly not well enough to record memories. To show that it's "the future", L.A. is a nearly post-apocalyptic and gas sells for the oppressive price of $3.00 a gallon. In reality, gas in 1999 L.A. was actually about $1.55 a gallon.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

We will all have radio frequency chips implanted by the end of 2017. Thanks, Obama!

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE! 

25 November 2013

Birthdays
Kristian Nairn b. 1975 (Game of Thrones)
Stefanie von Pfetten b. 1973 (Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, Eureka, Battlestar Galactica, Andromeda)
Billy Burke b. 1966 (Twilight, Revolution)
Bruce Hopkins b. 1955 (Lord of the Rings, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Xena)
Tracey Walter b. 1947 (Batman, Independence Day, Star Trek: The Next Generation)
Jeffrey Hunter b. 1926 died 5/27/1969 (Star Trek)
Poul Anderson b. 1926 died 31 July 2001 (author, The Technic History series, Hoka, Tales of Known Space)
Noel Neill b. 1920 (Adventures of Superman)
Ricardo Montalban b. 1920 died 14/1/2009 (Star Trek, Spy Kids)
Shelagh Fraser b. 1920 died 29 August 2000 (Star Wars)

I love to find pairs of people who were born on the exact same day, but today we have triplets. Khan, Lois Lane and Aunt Beru! That's pretty cool, and Lois (Noel Neill) is still alive! I guess hanging out with Superman seriously reduces the chance you'll be hit by a bus.

Next year's Picture Slot?

Hodor.

Many happy returns to the living on our list.
 

Predictions: prices of consumer goods and salaries in 2010

Predictor: The OMNI Future Almanac, published 1982

Reality: I seriously love The OMNI Future Almanac. I know I can just open a page and start reading. If I've already used something, just flip pages until there's something new. Today, it's a page about the salaries and prices of consumer goods in 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000 and 2010, and it made the assumption that the inflation seen from 1970 to 1980 was The New Normal. I'm only publishing the 2010 numbers, which as you will see, are bughouse crazy with very few exceptions.

Living on a fixed income? What's that?

Here is the key to the reading the color codes of the prices and salaries.

Red means super crazy high.
Black means in the ballpark.
Green means remarkably low. 

Prices
1 lb. hamburger $22.75
1 lb. bacon $12.00
head of lettuce $5.00
ear of corn $2.50
can of soup $2.75 (Campbell's is usually a buck less, but Progresso, Andersen and other brands can be this expensive.)
1 dozen large eggs $18.00
Loaf of bread $8.00
Quart of milk $5.75
1 lb. coffee $25.00
Cup of coffee $4.50 (Is that a tall or a venti? I don't drink coffee.)
Paperback $22.00 (The only part of the publishing industry that has gone this kind of crazy is the textbook market.)
Newspaper $2.75
Magazine $30.00
Movie ticket $33.00
Gallon of gas $2.00 (Oh, don't we wish?)
Postage stamp $2.25
Candy bar $2.50
12 oz. Coca-Cola $4.75
Subway ride $20.00
Hotel room $1200.00 (I looked it up and found that the Plaza in New York charges $1000 a night, but the Alamanac was talking about a room that would cost $75 in 1980.)
Calculator $50.00 (You can get a calculator good enough to get through statistics for under $20, but the high end TI-83 and TI-89 are closer to $100, and way better than anything available in the 1980s.)
Man's haircut $40.00 (You can get them definitely cheaper, but there are places that charge this much.)
Woman's cut & set $225.00 (Same as goes for men's haircuts.)
Ten speed bike $1,000.00 (Now, 21 speeds are the standard, and if you are on a budget, it's easy to pay about $200, which was the price in 1980, but there are definitely more expensive bikes available, even more than a grand.)
U.S. compact car $70,000.00
3 room apt. rent $10,000.00 a month
3 bedroom house $1,000,000

Salaries
Secretary $95,000 (average: $30,000 to $40,000)
Ad executive $375,000 (average: $170,000)
Factory worker $197,600 (average: $40,000)
High school teacher $110,000 (average: $55,000)
Subway conductor $135,000 (average: $75,000)
Major league ballplayer (average skills) $330,000 (rookie minimum is about $500,000)

So what is today's lesson, boys and girls? Yes, we pay insane amounts for cups of coffee, it's possible to pay a lot for a haircut or a bicycle and pro sports salaries are completely out of whack with the salaries of the people in the stands.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

A really cool invention predicted to come about in 1986.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!