26 August 2014

Birthdays
Dylan O’Brien b. 1991 (The Maze Runner, Teen Wolf)
Jennifer Higham b. 1984 (Metamorphosis, Ella Enchanted)
Nanzeen Contractor b. 1982 (Star Trek Into Darkness, Pegasus vs. Chimera, Relic Hunter, Starhunter)
Chris Pine b. 1980 (Into the Woods, Star Trek, Carriers)
Amanda Schull b. 1978 (12 Monkeys [2014 TV], Grimm)
Mike Colter b. 1976 (American Horror Story, Men in Black 3)
Meredith Eaton b. 1974 (Paranormal Activity)
Oleg Taktarov b. 1967 (Predators, National Treasure, Rollerball [2002])
Brett Cullen b. 1956 (Under the Dome, The Dark Knight Rises, Lost, Pixel Perfect, From the Earth to the Moon, The Omen [1995 TV], Apollo 13, Deep Space Nine, Prehysteria!, V [1985], The Incredible Hulk)
Michael Jeter b. 1952 died 30 March 2003 (Taken, Jurassic Park III, The Green Mile, Waterworld, Zelig)
Jane Merrow b. 1941 (The Greatest American Hero, The Incredible Hulk, The Six Million Dollar Man, UFO, The Prisoner)
Yvette Vickers b. 1928 died 2010 (Attack of the Giant Leeches, Attack of the 50 Foot Woman)
Jim Davis b. 1909 died 26 April 1981 (The Day Time Ended, Project U.F.O., Satan’s Triangle, The Sixth Sense, Dracula vs. Frankenstein [1971], The Time Tunnel, Jesse James Meets Frankenstein’s Daughter, Monster from Green Hell)

To be blunt, there is one movie star on this list and so far, he has one iconic role, though that may change depending on how well Into the Woods is received. Last year, I had Yvette Vickers in the Picture Slot because she's a fabulous babe, she was in one particular movie and the strange and newsworthy events of the discovery of her body in her home long after her death, so no exact date is given. The other surprises in this research: I'd never heard the last name Contractor before and I forgot that Michael Jeter was dead.

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

Predictor: FM-2030 in UpWingPriorities, published 1981

Prediction: Physical Immortality: The most basic and urgent problem facing us is death. All other human constraints are derivative. Death casts a pall over all of life. So long as we are terminal we cannot enhance the basic quality of life. So long as there is death no one is free.

Accelerators: Slow down aging through genetic and cellular intervention. Telemonitor every person for continuous protection from internal and external hazards. Reformat our terminal bodies into versatile telebodies with easy plug in replacement parts. Facilitate freefly to reduce gravitational wear and tear and rapidly break away from natural disasters. Provide universal cryonic suspension in case of unavoidable death. Spread a Psychology of Immortality - the will to live forever.


Reality: Wait... The Affordable Care Act does NOT provide universal cryonic suspension? Thanks, Obama!

We are going to be visited by the frozen ghost of FM-2030 on Tuesdays well into November. (He died in 2000 and is in cryogenic storage, naturally.) He considered his ideas so new and exciting that he had to make up words like telemonitor, telebodies and freefly just to express them. We've had some predictors I didn't care for. Notably, the racist, murderous scumbag Larry Niven comes to mind. But for pure pompous asshattery, FM-2030 is to Ray Kurzweil as Babe Ruth is to Hank Greenberg. They are both pretty stunning, but one of them is in a category by himself.

(Note: I mocked FM-2030 for making up words, but my spell checker doesn't recognize "asshattery". Google, on the other hand, knows it is a common modern slang term. I didn't make it up.)

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Herman Kahn makes yet another shot in the dark prediction about the 1970s and 1980s.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
 

19 August 2014

Birthdays
Tammin Sursok b. 1983 (Airship Dracula, Aquamarine)
Tania Nolan b. 1983 (Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, Legend of the Seeker)
Michelle Borth b. 1978 (Timer, Supernatural, Komodo vs. Cobra)
Callum Blue b. 1977 (Smallville, The Sarah Jane Adventures, Dead Like Me)
Tracie Thomas b. 1975 (Looper, Wonder Woman [2011], Grindhouse, Wonderfalls)
Ahmed Best b. 1973 (The Star Wars prequels)
Kyra Sedgwick b. 1965 (Gamer, Phenomenon, Amazing Stories)
Kevin Dillon b. 1965 (The Blob [1988])
Martin Donovan b. 1957 (The Lottery, The Haunting in Connecticut, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Dark Shadows [2005])
Adam Arkin b. 1956 (Lake Placid, Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, Perversions of Science, The Hidden Room, Hard Time on Planet Earth, The Twilight Zone [1985])
Peter Gallagher b. 1955 (The Gathering, House on Haunted Hill, High Spirits)
Jonathan Frakes b. 1952 (Star Trek, Roswell, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Lois & Clark, Twilight Zone [1985])
Jim Carter b. 1948 (The Golden Compass, The Wind in the Willows [TV], Ella Enchanted, Dinotopia, Jack and the Beanstalk: The Real Story, The Little Vampire, The Witches, The Company of Wolves, Flash Gordon)
Gerald McRaney b. 1947 (Jericho, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Hansel & Gretel, The NeverEnding Story, The Incredible Hulk, The Aliens Are Coming, Logan’s Run [TV], The Brain Machine, The Fantastic Journey, The Six Million Dollar Man)
Christopher Malcolm b. 1946 died 15 February 2014 (Whoops Apocalypse, Labyrinth, Highlander, Superman III, The Empire Strikes Back)
Jill St. John b. 1940 (Batman, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Lost World)
Diana Muldaur b. 1938 (Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Incredible Hulk, Planet Earth, Star Trek, The Invaders)
L. Q. Jones b. 1927 (Timerider: The Adventures of Lyle Swann, The Incredible Hulk, A Boy and His Dog, My Favorite Martian)
Angus Scrimm b. 1926 (Phantasm, The Nightmare Room, FreakyLinks, Munchie, Mindwarp, Subspecies, Transylvania Twist, Chopping Mall, Salvage 1, Project U.F.O.)
William Marshall b. 1924 died 11 June 2003 (Dinosaur Valley Girls, Sorceress, Amazon Women on the Moon, Twilight’s Last Gleaming, Scream Blacula Scream, Blacula, Star Trek)
Gene Roddenberry b. 1921 died 24 October 1991 (creator, Star Trek, Andromeda, Planet Earth, The Questor Tapes, Genesis II)

There are several choices for The Picture Slot today. Last year it was Gene Roddenberry and I could have repeated the selection with a clear conscience. All the people I considered are older than 60, the only iconic genre role played by the young folks being poor Ahmed Best as J**-J** B****, the number one reason to hate the Star Wars prequels. That character will never be in the Picture Slot.

I thought about Angus Scrimm from Phantasm, but this is a very Star Trek day. I went with Jonathan Frakes this year, in part because he had so much more screen time than Diana Muldaur or William Marshall, and partly because I'm enjoying the new Twitter account Riker Googling, which is not being run by the actor, though it uses his likeness. My expectation is I will go with someone else in 2015.

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

Movies released
Spy Kids: All The Time In The World In 4D released, 2011
 

Predictor: FM-2030, born F. M. Esfandiary (1930-2000) from his 1981 magazine article Up-Wing Priorities

Prediction: Around 2010 the world will be at a new orbit in history. We will translive all over this planet and the solar sphere-at home everywhere. We will be hyperfluid: skim on land-swim in the deep oceans-flash across the sky. Family will have given way to Universal life. People will linkup/linkout free of kinship and possessiveness. We will stream ahead propelled by a cornucopia of abundance.

Reality: Okay, here's our new Tuesday regular, FM-2030, who is in the running for the biggest narcissist of any of the futurists who have been our regular contributors. Regular readers will know the competition is formidable to say the least. Cough-cough Heinlein cough Kurzweil. Get used to made-up words like "translive", "hyperfluid" and "linkout".

He changed his name to FM-2030 because he was sure he would live to be 100 by simply refusing to die. In reality, he didn't even make it to the year 2010, the year he predicted in the article I'm going to be using. Nature gave him pancreatic cancer, effectively refusing his refusal to die. He's cryogenically frozen. I'm sure you are shocked by this.

Back to specific realities. We tend to live in one place and we are still pretty much stuck on this planet. Most people live in family units instead of acting like Hugh Hefner. The cornucopia of abundance is getting closer to possible, but the people making huge fortunes based on scarce resources are fighting like starving jackals to keep the status quo in place.

Our previous Tuesday regular Geoffrey Hoyle wasn't particularly accurate, but I still thought his world of 2010 had a certain charm to it. If FM-2030 had any charm, it is clearly lost on me.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Oh wait, I made a short list of most narcissistic regular contributors and I forgot Herman Kahn!

My bad.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

23 January 2014

Birthdays
Sonita Henry b. 1977 (Doctor Who, Star Trek [2009], The Fifth Element)
David Patrick Kelly b. 1951 (K-PAX, The Crow, Dreamscape)
Richard Dean Anderson b. 1950 (Stargate, Legend [TV])
Rutger Hauer b. 1944 (True Blood, Dracula 3D, Salem’s Lot, Smallville, The 10th Kingdom, Merlin, Lexx, Buffy the Vampire Slayer [movie], Ladyhawke, Blade Runner)
Gil Gerard b, 1943 (E.A.R.T.H. Force, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century)
Greg Hildebrandt b. 1939 (Illustrator)
Tim Hildebrandt b. 1939 died 11 June 2006 (Illustrator)
Lou Antonio b. 1934 (Star Trek)
Walter Michael Miller b. 1923 died 1/9/1996
(won 1961 Hugo for A Canticle for Leibowitz)

Last year on this date, I put the cover art for A Canticle for Leibowitz in the Picture Slot. Next year, I'll probably go with Rutger Hauer as Roy Batty in Blade Runner. But this year it's Greg and Tim Hildebrandt's re-imagining of Tom Jung's original Star Wars poster. The models in the Hildebrandt work don't resemble the actors very much, but you can see the  Maxfield Parrish influence in their choices of colors and light. They also did a lot of illustrations of Tolkien characters. Tim died in 2006 from complications due to diabetes.


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

Predictor: Isaac Asimov in 1964, asked to predict life in 2014.

Prediction: Well, the earth's population is now about 3,000,000,000 and is doubling every 40 years. There are only two general ways of preventing this: (1) raise the death rate; (2) lower the birth rate. Undoubtedly, the world of A.D. 2014 will have agreed on the latter method. Indeed, the increasing use of mechanical devices to replace failing hearts and kidneys, and repair stiffening arteries and breaking nerves will have cut the death rate still further and have lifted the life expectancy in some parts of the world to age 85.

There will, therefore, be a worldwide propaganda drive in favor of birth control by rational and humane methods and, by 2014, it will undoubtedly have taken serious effect. The rate of increase of population will have slackened, but, I suspect, not sufficiently. One of the more serious exhibits at the 2014 World's Fair, accordingly, will be a series of lectures, movies and documentary material at the World Population Control Center (adults only; special showings for teen-agers).

Reality: I have often chided the late Mr. Asimov for his predictions, but this one is really good. He says the population doubles every 40 years, and according to Wikipedia, it took 39 years to go from 3 billion to 6 billion, so full points there. Life expectancy of 85 years has been attained for the general population in Monaco and Japan; there are 20 countries where the life span for women is 85 or better. The birth rate and the world population growth rate are decreasing, in large part because reducing the infant mortality rates in developing countries has resulted in women having less children. As for the lectures and documentaries and, I suppose, dirty movies shown at the 2014 World's Fair... actually, the next World's Fair that I've seen advertised in 2015 in Milan. There may be smutty movies there, but they will probably by adverts for cell phones or some other silly gadget.

Still, getting the doubling rate almost exactly, predicting the reduction in birth rate and hitting the best life expectancy rates threshold makes this one of the most accurate predictions I've published yet. We have only a few more predictions left from Asimov's list in 1964, and after a slow start, he has improved dramatically. I for one will be sorry to see him go.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

TED talks! I only have a few left from this list and I honestly will not be sorry to see them go.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE! 

6 December 2013

Birthdays
Tommy Wirkola b. 1979 (director, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, Dead Snow)
Noel Clarke b. 1975 (Star Trek Into Darkness, Doctor Who)
Colin Salmon b. 1962 (Arrow, Resident Evil, Doctor Who, Alien vs. Predator, Dinotopia)
Nick Park b. 1958 (director, A Grand Day Out, Curse of the Were-Rabbit)
Tom Hulce b. 1953 (Jumper, Frankenstein [1994])
JoBeth Williams b. 1948 (Poltergeist, The Day After)
James Naughton b. 1945 (Planet of the Apes [TV series], Warehouse 13)
Patrick Bachau b. 1938 (Big Ass Spider, 2012, Carnivale, Kindred: The Embraced)
Lance Fuller b. 1928 died 22 December 2001 (This Island Earth, Twilight Zone, Voodoo Woman, The She-Creature, The Bride and the Beast)
Wally Cox b. 1924 died 15 February 1973 (Twilight Zone)
Agnes Moorehead b. 1900 died 30 April 1974 (Bewitched, Twilight Zone)

No huge stars on the list today, but Agnes Moorehead is most recognizable to people of a certain age. Other options I considered were Noel Clarke, who played Mickey in the first seasons of the 21st Century version of Doctor Who, or Wallace and Gromit, Nick Park's most beloved creations.

Many happy returns to the living on today's list and thanks for the memories to the dead. 

Movies released
Star Trek VI:The Undiscovered Country released, 1991

The rule that "even numbered Star Trek movies don't suck" is a bit over-stated. But at least The Undiscovered Country could help us forget the horror that was The Final Frontier.
 

Predictor: Stephen Petranek, editor of Discover  magazine, giving a TED Talk in 2002

Predictions (reality):
The populations in industrialized nations are gaining a year in longevity for every year that passes. (No, they aren't. The only country that made strides like this last decade was Monaco, small and wealthy and for some reason had third world level life expectancy and infant mortality in the early 21st Century. Their more recent numbers have made a remarkable turnaround, bringing infant mortality down to the levels expected in Western Europe and an increase in life expectancy that also is now in line with countries like France and Italy and Spain. Other industrialized nations have seen about a one to two year increase over the last decade.)

The price of rocketry in 21st Century will shrink. Each shuttle launch was about $1.5 billion, we have hopes for $500 million launches to Mars by 2012. (The launch alone for Mars Rover was $820 million, the entire project nearer to $2.5 billion, according to Wikipedia.)

We will increasingly face Mutant Staph infections that will be resistant to antibiotics. (This one he gets right.)

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

In 1925, a guy who would later be played by Gary Cooper predicts something like Pearl Harbor. And I mean something very like Pearl Harbor.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

14 September 2013

Birthdays
Mark Wells b. 1980 (Narnia, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow)
Brian Klugman b. 1975 (writer, Tron Legacy)
Christopher McCulloch [a.k.a. Jackson Publick] b. 1971 (Venture Brothers, The Tick)
Robert Ben Garant b. 1970 (writer, Night at the Museum)
Michael Bollner b. 1958 (Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory)
Sam Neill b. 1947 (Jurassic Park)
Rowena Morrill b. 1944 (graphic artist)
Nicol Williamson b. 1936 died 16 December 2011 (Spawn, Excalibur, Return to Oz)
Walter Koenig b. 1936 (Star Trek, Babylon 5)

A great selection of birthdays today. I love a good exact same day pair and Nicol Williamson and Walter Koenig is very good indeed. We also have Sam Neill, so very good in a quiet little Australian comedy The Dish, and Michael Bollner, whose one role in film was as Augustus Gloop. Rowena is a graphic artist whose fantasy covers kind of look like romance novel covers, Klugman and Ben Garant both write and act and to round of the list, young Mr. Wells.

If I was going for best known in the Picture Slot, that's a three way race between Koenig, Williamson and Neill, with Ensign Chekov having the slight advantage given the genre. If I wanted Pretty Girl, I would have put up one of Rowena's many great cheesecake illustrations, but instead I went Full Tilt Nerd and put up a picture from my favorite work of all the ones mentioned on the list.

Go Team Venture!

Many happy returns of the day to all the living. 

Introduction: This Saturday is the inaugural of a list of predictions from the 1893 Columbian Exhibition, a World's Fair held in Chicago commemorating the 400th anniversary of the voyages of Christopher Columbus. A long list of prominent Americans were sent questionnaires about what they foresaw about life in 1993. 

Predictor: The Reverend Thomas De Witt Talmage (1832-1902)

Predictions: Cancer and tuberculosis cured... longevity improved such that 150 years will be no unusual age to reach... peace between capital and labor based on The Golden Rule... prisons with ventilation, sunlight, bathrooms and libraries.

Reality: Talmage gets hits with the cure for TB and the improvement in prison conditions, but curing cancer and peace in labor relations are tougher nuts to crack. The longest confirmed lifespan is the French woman Jeanne Calment who died at 122.

There was a recent National Geographic cover that had a picture of a baby and the prediction that the child would live to be 120. I certainly won't be around to write the Reality comment on that, but I highly doubt it. Men's life expectancy in the U.S. is improving markedly, the average increasing by about two years every decade, and nearly caught up to women's life expectancy. The female rate of improvement is much slower, about a year or less improvement every decade. Unless cancer is cured, my guess would be the upper limit for the average is between 90 and 100.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

The Third Martian Expedition lands in April 2000. It's Bradbury, so I hardly have to add this but I will.

Things don't go well.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

19 March 2013

Birthday
Connor Trinneer b. 1969

Many happy returns to Mr. Trinneer, whose best known work is on Enterprise and Stargate, two sci-fi shows I never got in the habit of watching.
 

Prediction 
1951: Dr. Hugo Pinero puts $10,000 in escrow to pay the first person living past Pinero’s predicted date for that person’s death.

Predictor: Life-Line, by Robert A. Heinlein, published 1939

Reality: To be fair to Ridiculous Bob, this is very early in his career. Some people in "Hard SF" made an effort to really understand science, but Heinlein wasn't one of them. He is more like someone skimming through a textbook and thinking "Time! It's different from what we used to think!  What if it worked in this cool way?"

But it doesn't, Bob, and your story just is like something out of the "gypsy curse" genre made allegedly plausible with impossible science.

 Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE! 



The three words I do not tire of typing... John Elfreth Watkins.

Join me then... IN THE FUTURE!