1 April 2015

Birthdays
Asa Butterfield b. 1997 (Ender’s Game, Hugo, The Wolfman, Merlin [TV], Nanny McPhee Returns)
Matt Lanter b. 1983 (Astronaut’s Wives Club, Star Crossed, Vampires Suck, Heroes)
Sam Huntington b. 1982 (The Throwaways, Being Human, Warehouse 13, Superman Returns)
Taran Killam b. 1982 (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles [2014], Roswell)
Hannah Spearritt b. 1981 (Primeval, Seed of Chucky)
JJ Feild b. 1978 (Captain America: The First Avenger, Blood: The Last Vampire)
Bijou Phillips b. 1980 (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Undead, It’s Alive [2008], Venom)
Yuko Takeuchi b. 1980 (The Ring)
Anamaria Marinca b. 1978 (Europa Report, Doctor Who)
David Oyelowo b. 1976 (Interstellar, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, A Sound of Thunder)
Alan and Albert Hughes b. 1972 (directors, The Book of Eli, From Hell)
Lachy Hulme b. 1971 (The Matrix Revolutions)
Jane Adams b. 1965 (Poltergeist [2015], Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Carnivale)
Thomas Alfredson b. 1965 (director, Let the Right One In)
James Robinson b. 1963 (writer, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Cyber Bandits)
Tony Guma b. 1962 (Star Trek Into Darkness, Super 8, Star Trek)
Jennifer Runyon b. 1960 (Carnosaur, Quantum Leap, Space [TV], Ghostbusters)
Ivan G’Vera b. 1959 (The Village, Terminator: Salvation Alien Nation [TV])
Denise Nickerson b. 1957 (Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, Dark Shadows)
Barry Sonnenfeld b. 1953 (director, Pushing Daisies, Men in Black, The Addams Family, The Tick)
Annette O’Toole b. 1952 (Smallville, It, Superman, Cat People)
Heather Young b. 1945 (Galactica 1980, Land of the Giants, The Time Tunnel, Batman)
Samuel R. Delany b. 1942 (won 1967 Nebula for Babel-17, won 1968 Nebula for The Einstein Connection)
Don Steele b. 1936 died 5 August 1997 (Gremlins, Death Race 2000)
Gordon Jump b. 1932 died 22 September 2003 (Hard Time on Planet Earth, Amazing Stories, The Incredible Hulk, The Fury, The Bionic Woman, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, Bewitched)
Debbie Reynolds b. 1932 (Halloweentown)
George Baker b. 1931 died 7 October 2011 (The Canterville Ghost, Doctor Who, The Prisoner)
Grace Lee Whitney b. 1930 (Star Trek, Batman, Bewitched, The Outer Limits)
Betsy Jones-Moreland b. 1930 died 1 May 2006 (The Outer Limits, My Favorite Martian, Creature from the Haunted Sea, Viking Women and the Sea Serpent)
Jonathan Haze b. 1929 (X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes, The Little Shop of Horrors, The Terror, Viking Women and the Sea Serpent, Not of this Earth, It Conquered the World, The Day the World Ended, Monster from the Ocean Floor)
Michael O’Herlihy b. 1928 died 16 June 1997 (director, Logan’s Run [TV], Star Trek)
George Grizzard b. 1928 died 2 October 2007 (Twilight Zone, 3rd Rock from the Sun)
Anne McCaffrey b. 1926 died 21 November 2011 (author, Dragonriders of Pern series, The Ship Who… series)
Ned Glass b. 1906 died 15 June 1984 (Kolchak: The Night Stalker, I Dream of Jeannie, Mr. Terrific, Bewitched, My Living Doll, Twilight Zone, War of the Worlds)
Lon Chaney b. 1883 died 26 August 1930 (London After Midnight, The Phantom of the Opera)
Edgar Wallace b. 1875 died 10 February 1932 (writer, King Kong)

Notes form the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, the Picture Slot went to writer Samuel R. Delany and Heather Young from Land of the Giants. Even with those two excluded, these plenty of iconic choices. Being a geezer, I'm often not up to date on the work of the youngest actors on the list, but Asa Butterfield was Hugo in Hugo and Ender Wiggins in Ender's Game. On the other end of the age spectrum, a poster of King Kong to honor writer Edgar Wallace or a picture of Lon Chaney (Sr.) as The Phantom of the Opera would still count as iconic. But as luck would have it, we've gone a week without fabulous babes, So Grace Lee Whitney as Yeoman Janice Rand from the original Star Trek gets the nod.

2. Nepotism FTW. Bijou Phillips is the daughter of John Phillips from The Mamas and the Papas and his third wife Genevieve Waite.

3. No nepotism here. George Baker has Doctor Who on his resume, but he is not related to either Tom Baker or Colin Baker, both of whom played The Doctor. (Tom and Colin are not kin, either.) George was one of the Number Two actors in the first episode of The Prisoner. American audiences of a certain age probably know him best as Tiberius in I, Claudius.

4. MST3K. The only two movies I know for sure were on MST3K are Viking Women Versus the Sea Serpent and It Conquered the World.

5. Living Canadian free! Somewhat surprising to have no Canadians on a list this long, but that is the case today.

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

Movie released
The Incredible Shrinking Man released, 1957
 

Predictor: George Sutherland in the 1901 book Twentieth Century Inventions

Prediction: The circular fan, placed in the centre piece of the ceiling and controlled by an electric switch on the wall, is the principal type of apparatus applicable to the purposes of ventilation. As electric lighting of dwelling-houses becomes more common, and ultimately almost universal within cities, the practice will be to arrange for lighting and for ventilation at the same time. But, unfortunately, the current now principally employed for electric lighting and consisting of a series of impulses, first in one direction and then in the opposite, "alternating" with wonderful rapidity, is not well adapted for driving small motors of the types now in use.

Reality: Regular readers will know I am keen on George Sutherland because he is practical and well-informed, which does not guarantee accurate predictions. This prediction is accurate, as fans and lights on the same switch are very common, but there were already patents in place for A/C motors in the 1880s, in the United States by Nicola Tesla and in the U.K. by Elihu Thomson. It's possible not all the bugs had been worked out when Sutherland was writing this, but it was due to lack of intellectual firepower working on the problem.

 

This month's splash illustration: Back when special effects in movies were not all that special, pulp magazines were the prime source for fans who wanted science fiction (or scientifiction, as this magazine called it) and plenty of it. I wanted to use one of the many logos from the magazines back in the middle of the 20th Century and this version of Amazing Stories just beat out the Weird Tales logo.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Another clunker from The Experts Speak.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
  

7 January 2015

 Birthdays
Liam Aiken b. 1990 (Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events)
Robert Sheehan b. 1988 (The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, Demons Never Die, Misfits, Season of the Witch, Ghostwood)
Haley Bennett b. 1988 (The Hole)
Lyndsy Fonseca b. 1987 (Agent Carter, Kick-Ass 1 &2, Hot Tub Time Machine, Heroes, Phil of the Future)
Brett Dalton b. 1983 (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.)
Lauren Cohan b. 1982 (The Walking Dead, The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural)
Tom Harper b. 1980 (director, The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death, The Borrowers, Demons )
Merritt Wever b. 1980 (Birdman, Signs)
Reggie Austin b. 1979 (The Omen [2006])
Dustin Diamond b. 1977 (Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Munsters Today, Purple People Eater)
Tyron Leitso b. 1976 (Wonderfalls, House of the Dead, Dinotopia, Snow White: The Fairest of Them All, Mysterious Ways, First Wave)
Jeremy Renner b. 1971 (The Avengers, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, Thor, 28 Weeks Later, Angel)
David Yost b. 1969 (Mighty Morphin Power Rangers)
Irrfan Khan b. 1967 (Jurassic World, The Amazing Spider-Man)
Nicolas Cage b. 1964 (Left Behind, National Treasure, Kick-Ass, Ghost Rider, Season of the Witch, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Knowing, Vampire’s Kiss)
Lester Speight b. 1963 (Transformers: Dark of the Moon, The Meteor Man)
Mark Allen Shepherd b. 1961 (Deep Space Nine)
Linda Kozlowski b. 1958 (Village of the Damned [1995] )
Robert Longo b. 1953 (director, Johnny Mnemonic)
Erin Gray b. 1950 (Star Trek Continues, The Guild, Ghouls, Nuclear Hurricane, Jason Goes to Hell, Superboy, Deadly Nightmares, The Princess and the Dwarf, Starman [TV], Buck Rogers in the 25th Century)
Anne Schedeen b. 1949 (ALF, The Incredible Hulk, Project U.F.O., Exo-Man, Embryo, The Bionic Woman, The Six Million Dollar Man)
Steven Williams b. 1949 (Jack the Giant Slayer, Supernatural, Stargate SG-1, The X Files, SeaQuest 2032, Twilight Zone: The Movie, Wizards and Warriors)
Terry Moore b. 1929 (Mansion of Blood, Mighty Joe Young [1949 and 1998], Knight Rider, Death Dimension, Batman)
William Peter Blatty b. 1928 (author, The Exorcist)
Gene L. Coon b. 1924 died 8 July 1973 (writer, Star Trek)
Vincent Gardenia b. 1920 died 9 December 1992 (Little Shop of Horrors [1986], The Twilight Zone, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea)
Charles Addams b. 1912 died 29 September 1988 (cartoonist, The Addams Family)
Alan Napier b. 1903 died 8 August 1988 (Batman, Twilight Zone, Premature Burial, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Island of Lost Women, The Mole People, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, Isle of the Dead, The Uninvited, The Invisible Man Returns, Cat People)

Notes on the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, the Picture Slot featured Jeremy Renner from The Avengers and Mark Allen Shepherd as Morn on Deep Space Nine. This year, I could have gone old school with Alan Napier as Alfred from Batman or new school with Brett Dalton, agent Grant Ward from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Instead I split the difference and used a picture of Erin Gray as Wilma Deering from Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. You might ask: Did her fabulous babe-osity have anything to do with the selection process? Let me answer your question with a question.

How long have you been reading the blog?

2. Faux Canadians and Stealth Canadians. Let me say that while there are many Canadian genre TV shows, the Big Four are Stargate, Supernatual, Smallville and The X-Files. Steven Williams shows up on three out of four, including the recurring role of Mr. X on The X-Files, but he was born in the States. He may have moved and established residence, but I don't have any information to back that up. I suspect he became a well-known face through the role as Mr. X and other shows wanted to hire him after that.  Our actual native-born Canadian is Tyron Leitso, though his credits are not as obviously Canadian.

3. The Guy at the Door. It doesn't happen every day, but it is true of this list. William Peter Blatty is alive, as is everyone younger than he is. Everyone older is dead. When this happens and I point it out, which is something of a jinx I suppose, I also send my best wishes for many happy returns.

Many happy returns to all the living on our list, especially William Peter Blatty, and to the dead, thanks for all the memories.

Predictor: Anonymous writer in the New York World, predicting the year 2011 in 1911

Prediction: John Smith, our bachelor, gladly accepts an invitation to dine with friends. This evening he goes out to the house of Mr. Barrett, a widower who lives among the rhododendrons on the southern slope of Slide Mountain, with his centenarian mother and charming daughter.

As soon as he arrives Miss Barrett cooks the dinner with her own dainty fingers. For neither here nor in the palaces of the banker-princes are there servants any more. The fairy electricity has reduced culinary operations to a series of dainty gestures, very similar to those made by typewriters or pianists. All dishes are prepared in the dining-room, right at the table, by means of glittering precision instruments of copper and nickel.

Reality: For those unfamiliar with New York state geography, Slide Mountain is in the Catskills and John Smith can enjoy an evening there and get home to Manhattan because he has a flying car. As for no one having servants, most notably cooks, that isn't exactly true but the servant population has been reduced considerably. Push button cooking? Sounds like a microwave to me, though most people still have the kitchen and dining room separate from one another.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

We interrupt our regular prediction schedule for a frightening dystopia filmed in 2010 about those bleak future days of 2019.


Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

5 December 2014

Birthdays
Ross Bagley b. 1988 (Gnome Alone, Independence Day)
Gregory Tyree Boyce b. 1989 (Twilight)
Frankie Muniz b. 1985 (The Nightmare Room, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch)
Jessica Paré b. 1982 (Possible Worlds, Big Wolf on Campus)
Adan Canto b. 1981 (X-Men: Days of Future Past)
Nick Stahl b. 1979 (Sin City, Carnivale, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines)
Amy Acker b. 1976 (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Warehouse 13, The Cabin in the Woods, Once Upon a Time, Grimm, No Ordinary Family, Dollhouse, Supernatural, Angel)
Shalom Harlow b. 1973 (Vanilla Sky)
Lisa Marie b. 1968 (Dominion, Planet of the Apes, Sleepy Hollow, Mars Attacks!)
Juan Carlos Fresnadillo b. 1967 (director, 28 Weeks Later)
Nivek Ogre b. 1962 (The Devil’s Carnival I and II, Repo! The Genetic Opera)
Julia Khaner b. 1957 (Escape from Mars, Mission Genesis, TekWar, My Secret Identity, War of the Worlds [TV], The Twilight Zone [1988], Videodrome)
Bobby Hosea b. 1955 (Heroes, Supernatural, Gargantua, Independence Day, Xena, M.A.N.T.I.S., The Twilight Zone [1987])
Christopher Guard b. 1953 (Bugs, She-Wolf of London, Doctor Who, Tripods)
Morgan Brittany a.k.a. Suzanne Cupito b. 1951 (Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, The Outer Limits, Twilight Zone)
Jeroen Krabbé b. 1944 (The Punisher [1989], World War III)
Adolph Caesar b. 1933 died 6 March 1986 (Twilight Zone [1986])
Norman Burton b. 1923 died 29 November 2003 (Deep Space, Knight Rider, Project U.F.O., Wonder Woman, Planet of the Apes [1974 TV], The Terminal Man, Escape from the Planet of the Apes, Land of the Giants, Planet of the Apes [1968 movie], I Dream of Jeannie, Bewitched)
Alvy Moore b. 1921 died 4 May 1997 (Project U.F.O., A Boy and His Dog, My Mother the Car, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Munsters, Twilight Zone, The Invisible Boy, The War of the Worlds)
Otto Preminger b. 1905 died 23 April 1986 (Batman)
Walt Disney b. 1901 died 15 December 1966 (producer, 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, The Absent Minded Professor, Son of Flubber)
Fritz Lang b. 1890 died 2 August 1976 (director, Metropolis, Woman in the Moon)

Notes on the birthday list. 
1. The Picture Slot. Last year it was Amy Acker. This year I went old school with Otto Preminger as Mister Freeze on Batman. I also included Dee Hartford as Miss Iceland because... I am a heterosexual male. Preminger was not the best actor to play Mister Freeze (Eli Wallach and George Sanders also played the role), but when I think of this character, I always hear Preminger's voice saying "Vild... simply vild!" Next year, the competition fro Picture Slot is wide open.

2. The guy at the door. Dutch actor Jeroen Krabbé turns 70 today, which I consider entirely too young to be the cut-off between the living and the dead.

3. Acting while Canadian. There are three Canadian lovelies on the list today, but none of them have credit lists that give away their nationality. Jessica Paré is best known as Don Draper's second wife Megan on Mad Men, where she plays a French-Canadian. Shalom Harlow has no Canadian content roles in her 13 films and TV shows, but Julia Khaner does, just not the 21st Century shows we see so often.

4. Fun facts to know and tell. Adolf Caesar might be best known for his role in A Soldier's Story, but in the 1970s his beautiful bass voice was in demand as a narrator on movie trailers like Blacula.  Morgan Brittany, best known playing a fabulous babe on Dallas, started as a child actor under her birth name Suzanne Cupito. Oh That Guy Alvy Moore played Hank Kimball on Green Acres. Oh That Guy Norman Burton doesn't have that one iconic role people will likely remember him for, but he did play a character named Joe Atkinson on 9 episodes of Wonder Woman. When I think about that show, my memories don't go any farther than Lynda Carter in that costume. Hmmm.... costume.

5. Hey... no Star Trek! This is the sixth time in two months there has been a birthday with no Star Trek actors. That means it happens about 10% of days so far. It feels rarer.

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

Predictor: H.G. Wells in the 1902 book Anticipations

Prediction: "Washing up" consists of a tedious cleansing and wiping of each table utensil in turn, whereas it should be possible to immerse all dirty table wear in a suitable solvent for a few minutes and then run that off for the articles to dry.

Reality: This one isn't exact by any means, but the electric dishwasher does take a lot of the tedium out of dishwashing, so I'll young Herbert half credit here.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Back to 1893 and predictions from a woman whose name is still known today.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

27 November 2014

 Birthdays
Alexandra Astin b. 1996 (The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King)
Aubrey Peeples b. 1993 (Sharknado)
Alison Pill b. 1985 (Snowpiercer, The Dinosaur Hunter, Jacob Two Two Meets the Hooded Fang, Poltergeist: The Legacy, PSI Factor: Chronicles of the Paranormal)
Arjay Smith b. 1983 (Charmed, The Day After Tomorrow, The Journey of Allen Strange)
Todd Giebenhain b. 1974 (True Blood, The 4400, Galaxy Quest)
Sharlto Copley b. 1973 (Powers, Maleficent, District 9, Elysium, Europa Report)
Jolene Boland b. 1975 (Lost Girl, Haven, Land of the Dead)
Tadanobu Asano b. 1973 (Thor, Battleship)
Kirk Acevedo b. 1971 (12 Monkeys [TV], Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Grimm, The Walking Dead, Collision Earth, Fringe)
Brooke Langton b. 1970 (Supernatural, Sliders)
Chin Han b. 1969 (Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Arrow, Fringe, Contagion, 2012, The Dark Knight, Blindness)
Michael Vartan b. 1968 (Ring of Fire, The Mists of Avalon)
Robin Givens b. 1964 (Blankman)
Fisher Stevens b. 1963 (Lost, Early Edition, The Hunger, Super Mario Bros., Short Circuit, My Science Project, The Brother From Another Planet)
Steve Oedekerk b. 1961 (screenwriter, Cowboys and Aliens)
Samantha Bond b. 1961 (The Sarah Jane Chronicles)
Michael Rispoli b. 1960 (The Man in the High Castle, Kick-Ass)
Rick Rockwell b. 1956 (writer, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes)
William Fichtner b. 1955 (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Elysium, The Dark Knight , Invasion, Ultraviolet, Equilibrium, Contact, Armageddon, Strange Days, Virtuosity)
Kimmy Robertson b. 1954 (Leprechaun 2, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, My Mom's a Werewolf)
Curtis Armstrong b. 1953 (Supernatural, Reaper, Southland Tales, The Chronicle, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Lois & Clark, M.A.N.T.I.S., Hi, Honey - I'm Dead, The Clan of the Cave Bear)
Kathryn Bigelow b. 1951(director, Strange Days, Near Dark)
Gerrit Graham b. 1949 (Star Trek: Voyager, Weird Science [TV], The Wasp Woman [TV], Lois & Clark, Philadelphia Experiment II, Deep Space Nine, Babylon 5, Child's Play 2, C.H.U.D. II – Bud the Chud, Tales from the Crypt, It's Alive III: Island of the Alive, Twilight Zone [1986], The Creature Wasn't Nice, Demon Seed, Future Cop, Brave New World [TV], Beware! The Blob)
Barbara Anderson b. 1945 (Wonder Woman, The Invisible Man, The Six Million Dollar Man, Star Trek)
James Avery b. 1945 died 31 December 2013 (Star Trek: Enterprise, Charmed, The Nightmare Room, Epoch, Dr, Doolittle 2, Beastmaster 2: Through the Portal of Time, Beauty and the Beast [1988 TV], Timestalkers, Amazing Stories)
Gregory Hoblit b. 1944 (director, NYPD 2069, Frequency, Fallen)
John Alderton b. 1940 (Zardoz)
Bruce Lee b. 1940 died 20 July 1973 (The Green Hornet, Batman)
Marshall Thompson b. 1925 died 18 May 1992 (Around the World Under the Sea, Men Into Space, World of Giants, It! The Terror from Beyond Space, Fiend Without a Face)
Ann Prentiss b. 1939 died 12 January 2010 (My Stepmother Is an Alien, Quark, Captain Nice, Bewitched)
Rodney Bewes b. 1937 (Doctor Who, Unidentified Flying Oddball, Jabberwocky, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland [1972])
Stewart Moss b. 1937 (Beyond Westworld, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Bat People, The Invaders, Star Trek)
L. Sprague de Camp b. 1907 died 6 November 2000 (author, A Gun For Dinosaur, Conan, Gavagan’s Bar, Viagens Interplanetarias)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. Last year, I used Bruce Lee, though to be honest, The Green Hornet was not really sci-fi or fantasy. This year, it's Barbara Anderson and her role from the original Star Trek. Next year, I might go with Oh That Guy Gerrit Graham or maybe Sharlto Copley, who has done a lot of roles since District 9 became a surprise hit.

2. Wait... he's dead? She's dead? She did what? I think I saw James Avery's obit early this year, but I didn't give him a Never To Be Forgotten post, which was an oversight on my part. Ann Prentiss was the younger sister of Paula Prentiss and they looked a lot alike. I remember her from Captain Nice. In 1997, She was convicted of making terrorist threats, assault with a firearm, battery and solicitation to murder her brother-in-law Richard Benjamin and her father. She was sentenced to 19 years in jail for the crimes. She died in prison in 2010. I was completely unaware of that.

3. Two hard to spot Canadians. Allison Pill and Jolene Boland, but neither has been in a lot of Canadian genre productions.

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

IN THE YEAR 2000! 

Predictor: Lee de Forest, "The Father of Radio", predicting the world of 2000 in the 17 January 1960 edition of the Sunday supplement American Weekly.

Prediction: New dirt and grease resistant floor, furniture, and wall coverings will be available. There even will be a bug-killing paint which, year in and year out, will kill any insects that touch it.

Reality: Ah, the world before health regulations. The 3M product Scotch Guard already on the market when he wrote this, but it has been removed from the market due to health concerns. As for a bug-killing paint, I've never heard of one and I expect it wouldn't last long given the health problems it could produce.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

On the day after Turkey Day, we'll hear from H.G. Wells, who will not predict how crazy Americans would get on Black Friday.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

27 September 2014

Birthdays
Lina Leandersson b. 1995 (Let the Right One In)
Thomas Mann b. 1991 (Amityville: The Awakening, Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters)
Anna Camp b.1982 (True Blood)
Kristopher Turner b. 1980 (Beauty and the Beast [2013 TV], A Little Bit Zombie, Lost Girl, 2030 CE)
Zita Görög b. 1979 (Underworld)
Travis Aaron Wade b. 1975 (Touch, Torchwood: Web of Lies, Jekyll, War of the Worlds)
Gwyneth Paltrow b. 1972 (Iron Man, The Avengers, Contagion, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Hook)
John Patrick White b. 1972 (Galaxy Quest, Buffy, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, 3rd Rock from the Sun)
Amanda Detmer b. 1971 (Vampire Diaries)
Tamara Taylor b.1970 (Lost, Serenity)
Patrick Muldoon b. 1968 (Spiders, Ice Spiders, Arrival II, Starship Troopers)
Christopher Cousins b. 1960 (Revolution, Awake, Supernatural, The Grudge 2 Earth vs. the Spider [2001], The Invisible Man [2001], Stargate SG-1, NightMan)
Scott Lawrence b. 1963 (Star Trek Into Darkness, The Host [U.S. 2013], American Horror Story, Avatar, Them [2007], Star Trek: Voyager, Brimstone, Timecop, Quantum Leap)
Shaun Cassidy b. 1958 (producer, Invasion, American Gothic)
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa b. 1950 (The Man in the High Castle, Teen Wolf [2014], Mortal Kombat, Tekken, Heroes, Elektra, Planet of the Apes, Poltergeist: The Legacy, Vampires, Stargate SG-1, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, The Phantom, Babylon 5, Space Rangers, Alien Nation, Superboy, Star Trek: The Next Generation)
Tom Braidwood b. 1948 (Alien Trespass, The X-Files, The Lone Gunmen)
David Kagen b. 1948 (Star Trek: Enterprise, Angle, Freddy’s Nightmares, Jason Lives: Friday the 13th Part VI)
A Martinez b. 1948 (Curse of Chucky, Mega Python vs. Gatoroid, Welcome to Paradox, Not of This World [1991 TV], The Incredible Hulk, Exo-Man, The Sixth Sense [1972 TV])
Meat Loaf b. 1947 (BloodRayne, Wishcraft, Tales from the Crypt, Americathon, Rocky Horror Picture Show)
Liz Torres b. 1947 (Futurestates, Quantum Leap, Alien Nation [TV])
Denis Lawson b. 1947 (Jekyll, Star Wars: Episodes IV, V and VI, Dinosaur)
Wilford Brimley b. 1934 (Progeny, Mutant Species, Cocoon I and II, Ewoks: The Battle for Endor, The Thing [1982])
Greg Morris b. 1933 died 27 August 1996 (Superboy, War of the Worlds [TV series], Wonder Woman, The Six Million Dollar Man, Twilight Zone)
Will Sampson b. 1933 died 3 June 1987 (Poltergeist II: The Other Side)
Roger C. Carmel b. 1932 died 11 November 1986 (Star Trek, My Living Doll, The Munsters)

Notes on the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. Last year it was Gwyneth, the only A list movie star here. If I was going for iconic, Meat Loaf in Rocky Horror, Denis Lawson from Star Wars (Wedge makes it through all three films, rare among the minor characters) or Roger C. Carmel in Star Trek would be my first three choices, but instead of going with movies and TV from my youth, the picture is of Lina Leandersson from the 2008 Swedish vampire movie Let the Right One In. It's not the first Vampire As Good Guy film by a long shot, but it does have a very different look and feel compared to American movies. If you haven't seen it and don't mind some gory scenes, I can recommend it.

2. A Martinez? Shouldn't he be The Martinez by now? A Martinez, no period after the initial was born Adolph Martinez in 1948. He used that name in his first film credit and never again.

Hey, Mr. and Mrs. Martinez in 1948? Too soon.

3. Teen scream Shaun Cassidy? Really? I was not aware Shaun Cassidy made the transition to producer. Good on him.

4. Another Philip K. Dick project? imdb.com lists The Man in the High Castle as pre-production and it should be released in 2015. It's an interesting story and I hope it gets made.

5. Die young much? Wait... he's dead?And a bonus: The Guy at the Door. We have three deceased actors on the list and none of them lived long enough to collect Social Security. It had registered in my mind that Will Sampson and Roger C. Carmel were dead, but somehow I forgot about Greg Morris. Also, while it's not true on every birthday list, all the dead today were born before everybody living. I call the oldest living person on a list like this The Guy (or Gal) at the Door, who in this case is Wilford Brimley, overweight, diabetic and celebrating his 79th birthday today. C'est la vie, said the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell.

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

Movies released
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 released, 2013  
 

Predictor: John J. Ingalls (1833-1900), predicting the world of 1993 in honor of the 1893 Columbian Exhibition in Chicago

Predictions: Man will conquer the atmosphere. Traveling from New York to San Francisco or New York to London will take less take less than twelve hours, making the railway and steamship obsolete. Personal dirigibles will be commonplace. Electricity will be the motive power for these aerial cars and they will be made of aluminum or some other light metal.

The telephone will supplant the telegraph and calling from Boston to Moscow will be done as readily as we now call between neighboring cities. The dwindling power of the telegraph and railroad barons will obviate the need to nationalize these businesses.

Domestic life will become easier with ready access to electricity and women will elevate her political and social status from subordinate to men to equality.

Wealth will accumulate, business will combine and the gulf between rich and poor will be more profound. The attempts to correct this by statue are doomed to fail.

Our greatest city in 1993 will be Chicago, not only the greatest in the nation but the world.

Reality: Okay, the facial hair and clothes, pure 19th Century. If his wire-rims were pince-nez, he would have had the trifecta.

As for the predictions, it was bold in 1893 to say air travel would be so dominant and the telephone was going to be useful worldwide. Of course, we don't have personal dirigibles and electricity is not the motive power of flying machines. But he writes "aerial cars"! Longtime readers will know I give points for that, even though they don't actually... well, you know... exist.

Equality of the sexes is not complete, but women do have the vote and electrically powered modern conveniences do make life much easier than it was in 1893.

As for wealth accumulating, it can be curbed by a progressive tax code and income inequality was much lower for most of the 20th Century than it was in The Gilded Age. But of course, Republicans and their wise stewardship of the economy have made us realize that a prosperous middle class is one of those luxuries we just couldn't afford.

And he ends by sucking up to Chicago. Meh.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Nuclear war! Hunh! Good God, y'all! What is it good for?

Well, it does give me something to write about on Sunday mornings. And we actually haven't had one since WW II ended, so that's another positive point.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

17 September 2014

Birthdays
Ella Purnell b. 1996 (Maleficent, Kick-Ass 2, Intruders)
Augustus Prew b. 1987 (Kick-Ass 2)
Neill Blomkamp b. 1979 (director, Elysium, District 9)
Ian Whyte b. 1971 (Hercules, Game of Thrones, Clash of the Titans, Prometheus, Solomon Kane, Dragonball: Evolution, Aliens vs. Predator 1 & 2, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire)
Malik Yoba b. 1967 (Alphas)
Tracy Dali b. 1966 (Paranormal Movie, Space Girls in Beverly Hills, The Scorpion King, Encino Man, Back to the Future Part II)
Bryan Singer b. 1965 (director, X-Men, Jack the Giant Slayer, Mockingbird Lane, Superman Returns)
Kyle Chandler b. 1965 (Super 8, The Day the Earth Stood Still [2008], King Kong [2005], Freddy’s Nightmares)
James Urbaniak b. 1963 (Teen Wolf [TV], Futuremanity, The Venture Brothers, Futurestates, Wizards of Waverly Place, The Sarah Connor Chronicles)
William Shockley b. 1963 (Quantum Leap, Alien Nation [TV], Freddy’s Nightmares, RoboCop)
Dustin Nguyen b. 1962 (VR.5, SeaQuest 2032, Highlander [TV], Earth Angel)
Paul Feig b. 1962 (Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Zombie High)
Keith Cooke b. 1959 (Mortal Combat: Annihilation)
Aaron Lustig b. 1956 (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, The Day After Tomorrow, Charmed, Star Trek: Enterprise, Bedazzled, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Brimstone, The Relic, Pinocchio’s Revenge, Star Trek: Voyager, The Shadow, Memoirs of an Invisible Man, Quantum Leap, Edward Scissorhands, Darkman, ALF, Alien Nation [TV], Ghostbusters II)
Tim Burd b. 1955 (Saw II through IV, Repo! The Genetic Opera, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, Mutant X, Odyssey 5, TekWar, Deadly Nightmares)
Cassandra Peterson b. 1951 (Elvira)
John Ritter b. 1948 died 11 September 2003 (Terror Tract, It Came From the Sky, Buffy, It)
Bruce Spence b. 1945 (I, Frankenstein, The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Legend of the Seeker, Nightmares & Dreamscapes, Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, Peter Pan [2003], The Matrix Revolutions, Farscape, Queen of the Damned, BeastMaster [TV], Dark City, The Munsters’ Scary Little Christmas, Halfway across the Galaxy and Turn Left, Hercules Returns, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior, The Cars That Eat People)
Paul Benedict b. 1938 died 1 December 2008 (Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman[1993], the Twilight Zone [1987], The Addams Family, The Man With Two Brains)
David Huddleston b. 1930 (Jericho, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Capricorn One, The Sixth Sense [TV], Bewitched)
Roddy McDowall b. 1928 died 3 October 1998 (The Second Jungle Book: Mowgli & Baloo, The Alien Within, Quantum Leap, Earth Angel, Doin’ Time on Planet Earth, Fright Night 1 and 2, The Wizard, Alice in Wonderland [1985 TV], Small& Frye, The Martian Chronicles, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, The Thief of Baghdad [1978 TY], Wonder Woman, The Cat from Outer Space, Laserblast, The Fantastic Journey, Embryo, Planet of the Apes [4 movies and the TV show], Journey to the Unknown, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Topper Returns [TV movie], It!, The Invaders, Batman, Twilight Zone)
Ib Melchoir b. 1917 (writer, Death Race, Planet of the Vampires, The Outer Limits, The Time Travelers, Robinson Crusoe on Mars, Angry Red Planet, Men Into Space, Reptilitcus)

Last year I used James Urbaniak as Doc Venture and this year it came down to three choices: Roddy McDwall, Elvira and Bruce Spence. I chose Bruce Spence because I love Dark City so much.

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

 Predictor: Uncredited writer in The New York World, March 1911 in a piece called One Hundred Years Hence

Prediction:Feb. 1, 2011. Seven o’clock in the morning. The closed shutter prolongs the night. John Smith sleeps peacefully. Suddenly at his bedside the clapper of the phonograph-alarm trembles and produces sweetly harmonious sounds.

John opens his eyes. Reaching out his hand, he presses an electric button. Automatically the shutters open. The Window closes and the sunlight pours into the room.

John Smith’s chamber is furnished with taste and even with a certain amount of luxury, not because he is rich, but that in the 21st Century luxury costs little and no one is poor. The brass bed is no longer that heap of blankets, feathers, wool and hair against which hygienists used to rail. A metal mattress supports pneumatic cushions inflated with air, the temperature of which is regulated at pleasure. All is ready for his toilet and bath.

Through the room the air circulates freely, ceaselessly renewed by ingenious mechanism. Within the walls conduits of water, warmed by a central furnace, distribute everywhere equal heat in the cold season. In summer the same conduits serve to cool the air.

Mr. Smith, who lives on the forty-fifth floor of One Hundred Eighteenth Avenue, New York, has not yet risen. He is talking to the table beside his bed.

“I want a cup of synthetic cocoa, very hot.” he says.

In a few minutes the table opens and the aromatic breakfast appears before the eyes of the hungry man. This is no magic table; no spirit concealed in it. It is simply provided with a microphone by means of which Mr. Smith expresses his wants to the officials of the public alimentation service, which has its branches on the ground floor of every house of any importance.

Why drinking his chemically produced cocoa Mr. Smith listens to the morning papers. Every house with ‘modern conveniences’ communicates with a central information bureau which gives it at all hours the news. Slip a small coin into a slot and a speaking trumpet is uncovered, which at once begins in a sonorous voice to recite the telegrams of the night, the news items, the political news, the stock quotations, literary and dramatic criticisms. When Mr. Smith has heard enough of one article he presses an electric button and the voice tells him something else. This continues until his toilet is through.

Something of a dandy, Mr. Smith is dressed in a full tunic in the Grecian style, which sets off his powerful and youthful figure and allows perfect ease of movement. His shoes are polished by electric buttons.

Reality: Here's our new Wednesday regular and I would say he's pretty darned good. Let's go from beginning to end.

1. Alarm clock radios, not alarm clock phonographs. In 1911, radio is still pretty much wireless telegraphy instead of sound broadcasting.

2. Pneumatic cushion beds. They exist but they aren't the standard.

3. Central air and central heating. Not with water in the walls, but these do exist now.

4. Calling for food from a central kitchen in your apartment building, sent automatically. This is not the case. We don't have a "public alimentation service", though Starbucks seems like it in some cities.

5. Synthetic cocoa. There are a LOT more chemicals in food now than there were in 2011. In later predictions, our new guy will go off the deep end, but there is synthetic cocoa, though many of us wish there wasn't.

6. "Listening" to the morning paper. This is kind of like news radio, right? Notice this is the only section where our newspaper guy thinks about how Mr. Smith will pay for something. We don't get to fast forward through radio, but we can do it online. Once again, he couldn't know the technology, but he's not far off.

7. Guys don't wear tunics. Your legs should be really good to think about wearing a tunic. 

Never to be Forgotten:
Darrell Zwerling 1929-2014

Today we have two obits. Darrell Zwerling is best known as the water commissioner Mulray in Chinatown, but he is remembered here for roles in Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Capricorn One and Doc Savage: Man of Bronze, where he is the not dead guy on the right. He kind of looks like Allan Arbus, the guy who played the psychiatrist on M*A*S*H, but obviously those are two different  guys.

Best wishes to the family and friends of Darrell Zwerling, from a fan. He is never to be forgotten.  
 

Never to be Forgotten:
John Bardon 1939-2014

The other obit is for the British actor John Bardon, best known for East Enders. His genre credits include Polterguests, Gulliver’s Travels [TV] and One of our Dinosaurs is Missing.

Best wishes to the family and friends of John Bardon, from a fan. He is never to be forgotten.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

We interrupt the regular schedule for a prediction from a movie... starring Doug McClure!

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

31 July 2014

Birthdays
Alexis Knapp b. 1989 (Vamp U, Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief)
Sofia Pernas b. 1989 (Age of the Dragons)
Charlie Carver b. 1988 (The Leftovers, Teen Wolf [TV])
Eric Lively b. 1981 (The Butterfly Effect 2)
Harry Potter b. 1980 (fictional wizard)
B.J. Novak b. 1979 (Amazing Spider-Man 2)
James Harvey Ward b. 1978 (The Dark Knight Rises, True Blood, The Vampire Diaries, No Ordinary Family)
Annie Parisse b. 1975 (Fringe, NYPD 2069, National Treasure)
Jodi Ann Paterson b. 1975 (Dude, Where’s My Car?)
Emilia Fox b. 1974 (Merlin, Dorian Gray)
Tami Stronach b. 1972 (The NeverEnding Story)
Christina Cox b. 1971 (Elysium, Stargate: Atlantis, The Chronicles of Riddick, Andromeda, Mutant X, Code Name: Eternity, Earth: Final Conflict, The Crow: Stairway to Heaven, First Wave, Forever Knight)
Ben Chaplin b. 1974 (The Water Horse, Dorian Gray, The Return of the Borrowers [TV])
Dean Cain b. 1966 (Smallville, 10.5: Apocalypse, Lost, Futuresport, Lois & Clark)
Jim True-Frost b. 1966 (666 Park Avenue, Fringe, W.E.I.R.D. World)
Pat Finn b. 1965 (Wizards of Waverly Place, Dude, Where’s My Car?, 3rd Rock from the Sun)
J. K. Rowling b. 1965 (won the 2001 Hugo for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire)
Ian Roberts b. 1965 (Infected, Puppet Master X; Axis Rising, Superman Returns)
Wesley Snipes b. 1962 (Blade, Futuresport, Demolition Man)
Greg Travis b. 1958 (Halloween II [2009], Night of the Living Dead 3D, Starship Troopers, Humanoids from the Deep, American Gothic, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventures [TV])
Dirk Blocker b. 1957 (The X Files, Quantum Leap, Starman, Poltergeist, Beyond Westworld)
Michael Biehn b. 1956 (Metal Hurlant Chronicles, Planet Terror, The Insatiable, Clockstoppers, Megiddo: The Omega Code 2, Asteroid, The Abyss, The Seventh Sign, Aliens, The Terminator, Logan’s Run [TV])
James Read b. 1953 (Charmed, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Star Trek: Voyager, Lois & Clark)
Lane Davies b. 1950 (3rd Rock from the Sun, Babylon 5: In the Beginning, Lois & Clark)
Richard Griffiths b. 1947 died 28 March 2013 (Harry Potter, Hugo, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Whoops Apocalypse, Superman II)
Geraldine Chaplin b. 1944 (Gulliver’s Travels [TV], Z.P.G.)
Sab Shimono b. 1943 (Ben 10: Race Against Time, Southland Tales, Waterworld, The X-Files, The Shadow, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III, Max Headroom, Knight Rider)
France Nuyen b. 1939 (Automan, The Six Million Dollar Man, Battle for the Planet of the Apes, Star Trek, Dimension 5)
Geoffrey Lewis b. 1935 (Odyssey 5, The X-Files, The Lawnmower Man, Annihilator, Amazing Stories, Night of the Comet, The Amazing Spider-Man [TV], Mork & Mindy, Quark, The Six Million Dollar Man)
Ted Cassidy b. 1932 died 16 January 1979 (Man From Atlantis, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Bionic Woman, Planet Earth, Genesis II, I Dream of Jeannie, Mr. Terrific, The Addams Family, Jack and the Beanstalk [TV], Star Trek, Batman, Lost in Space)
Don Murray b. 1929 (The Stepford Children, Radioactive Dreams, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes)
Primo Levi b. 1919 died 11 April 1987 (author, The Periodic Table)
Mario Bava b. 1914 died 27 April 1980 (director, Baron Blood, A Bay of Blood, Blood Brides, Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs, Planet of the Vampires, Caltiki, the Immortal Monster, Lust of the Vampire)

Multiple random thoughts:

Ted Cassidy is the reason I became interested in obits: I had an idea for a genre detective show back in the 1980s and our heroes had colleagues/competitors named The Feather Brothers. In my head, I cast Richard Kiel and Ted Cassidy as The Feather Brothers, guys who mainly do bodyguard work, Keil as the friendly one and Cassidy as the not friendly one. It was my brother who told me Ted Cassidy was dead. After that, I checked the obits in the papers every day.

And, oh yeah, iconic. I could have used Cassidy as Lurch or his one shot role on Star Trek, though there are plenty of other great choices on the list.

Acting is a hard way to make a living: A lot of the laments about the acting profession deal with beautiful women who are forgotten once they reach a certain age and France Nuyen is an example of that. But I'd like to point out a few actors who had their moment in the spotlight and faded as well.

Don Murray starred opposite Marilyn Monroe in Bus Stop. IMDB.com doesn't even have a picture of him.

Dean Cain's post-Lois & Clark career is pretty spotty.

Michael Biehn had good roles in the first Terminator and Aliens, but since then it's a lot more low budget.

Or maybe acting is easy as pie: Geoffrey Lewis, an Oh That Guy of the first order, makes it look easy. Looking at his 218 credits on imdb.com, he might be best known as Clint Eastwood's pal in Every Which Way but Loose, though I'm not sure the general public remembers anyone besides Clint and the orangutan Clyde.

Harry Potter's birthday: On Twitter, I advertise the blog by saying "Birthdays for Captain Picard and Han Solo" when I actually mean Patrick Steward and Harrison Ford, but according to J.K. Rowling's book, she gave Harry Potter her birthday, just fifteen years later.

Who did I forget? Lots of other interesting names on the list, but the unmentioned people who have serious shots at the Picture Slot in 2015 are Wesley Snipes as Blade and Richard Griffiths as Uncle Vernon.

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

In the Year 2000!
 
Predictor: Lee de Forest, "The Father of Radio", predicting the world of 2000 in the 17 January 1960 edition of the Sunday supplement American Weekly.

Prediction: You'll be able to dictate memos and personal letters directly into an electronic typewriter. Already, a rudimentary phonetic typewriter can type a few simple words and phrases as they are spoken into a microphone.

Reality: This technology was certainly not ready for prime time in 2000, though as de Forest points out, prototypes have been kinda working for over 50 years. He's not completely wrong, but he overshot the prediction.

Never to be Forgotten: Robert Halmi, Sr. 1924-2014

Robert Halmi, Sr. died yesterday at the age of 90. His production company, which he ran with his son Robert Jr., is responsible for 137 credits, mostly TV movies and mini-series, going back to 1974. The first genre production was 1997's Gulliver's Travels starring Ted Danson and continued with Riverworld, Flash Gordon, Hogfather, Jason and the Argonauts, Alice in Wonderland and Dinotopia, from which the picture on the left is taken.

Best wishes to the family and friends of Robert Halmi, Sr., from a fan. He is never to be forgotten.

Never to be Forgotten: Dick Smith 1922-2014

Dick Smith started working in film in the 1940s, but his best known work was in masks that either aged actors, notably Dustin Hoffman in Little Big Man and Marlon Brando in The Godfather, or masks that turned characters into monsters, like Jack Palance in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Linda Blair in The Exorcist, pictured here. His other work in genre includes House on Haunted Hill [1999], Death Becomes Her, Monsters [TV], Poltergeist III, Starman, The Hunger, Ghost Story, Scanners, Altered States, The Stepford Wives, Dark Shadows, ‘Way Out, The Alligator People and the 1955 TV version of Alice in Wonderland. It should be noted that another great prosthetic designer Rick Baker revered Dick Smith not unlike the way Ray Harryhausen looked up to Willis O'Brien.

Best wishes to the family and friends of Dick Smith., from a fan. He is never to be forgotten.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

It's the beginning of August and time to look in on the prediction for the playoffs in Major League Baseball.


Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

8 May 2014

Birthdays
Elyes Gabel b. 1983 (World War Z, Game of Thrones)
Stephen Amell b. 1981 (Arrow, The Vampire Diaries, ReGenesis)
Josie Moran b. 1978 (Van Helsing)
Matthew Davis b. 1978 (The Vampire Diaries, S. Darko, Wasting Away, BloodRayne)
Melissa Gilbert b. 1964 (Babylon 5, Faerie Tale Theatre)
Michael Gondry b. 1963 (director, The Green Hornet, The Science of Sleep, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind)
David Winning b. 1961 (director, Lost Girl, Todd and the Book of Pure Evil, Dinosapien, Andromeda, Stargate: Atlantis, Dinotopia, Earth: Final Conflict, NightMan, Merlin [TV], Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie)
Stephen Furst b. 1955 (Basilisk: The Serpent King, Babylon 5, The Day After)
Betsy Baker b. 1985 (Oz the Great and Powerful, 2084, The Evil Dead)
David Keith b. 1954 (Locusts: The 8th Plague, Daredevil, Epoch, Carrie [TV], Anthrax, The Indian in the Cupboard, Firestarter)
Ron Miller b. 1947 (artist)
Abdul Salaam El Razzac b. 1944 (Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Star Trek: The Next Generation)
Peter Benchley b. 1940 died 11 February 2006 (writer, The Beast, Creature)
Moebius [Jean Henri Giraud] b. 1938 died 10 March 2012 (artist)
Thomas Pynchon b. 1937 (author, Gravity’s Rainbow, Vineland)
Salome Jens b. 1935 (The Event, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Superboy, The Outer Limits, Terror from the Year 5000)
John Bennett b. 1928 died 11 April 2005 (Minority Report, The Infinite Worlds of H.G. Wells, Jason and the Argonauts [TV], Bridge of Dragons, The Fifth Element, Alien Nation: Millennium, Merlin of the Crystal Cave [TV], Blakes 7, 1990, Doctor Who)
Don Rickles b. 1926 (Innocent Blood, I Dream of Jeannie, The Munsters, The Addams Family, X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes, Twilight Zone, Pajama Party)
John Archer b. 1915 died 3 December 1999 (Batman, Twilight Zone, Men Into Space, Destination Moon)

While Game of Thrones is airing, actors from the show are trump in the Game of Picture Slot, so we see Elyes Gabel as Rahkaro, one of the Dothraki who remains true to Danerys after the death of Khal Drogo. If it wasn't him, I'd likely go with Stephen Furst as Vir Cotto or one of the artists, Moebius or Ron Miller. A piece of information I wasn't aware of until I was doing research this morning is that Pajama Party counts as science fiction, since Tommy Kirk and Don Rickles play Martians.

You learn something new every day if you are not careful, as my father is fond of saying.

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

Movies released
Star Trek (reboot) released, 2009
 

In the year 2000!

Predictor: Lee de Forest, "The Father of Radio", predicting the world of 2000 in the 17 January 1960 edition of the Sunday supplement American Weekly.

Prediction: Electroluminescence, or "cold light," will revolutionize the appearance of homes, industries, and entire cities. With no heat, shadow, or glare, this lovely "glow" will usher in a new era of comfort and safety in individual rooms, at airports, and on highways. A touch of a button will permit changes of color nuances for entire wall panels.

Reality: We got something like this from Isaac Asimov when he made his predictions for 2014. As for producing light but no heat, LED bulbs fill that bill, but they are still bulbs and not panels and light from a single source produces shadows. Moreover, LED bulbs are crazy expensive, so they aren't exactly an everyday thing even now, and not even close in 2000.

No points for de Forest today.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

At least de Forest got some stuff right. Dr Paul Ehrlich shows up again tomorrow with more pure nonsense from the almost never right book The Population Bomb.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

9 February 2014

Birthdays
Tyson Houseman b. 1990 (Twilight Saga)
Michael B. Jordan b. 1987 (The Fantastic Four [2015], Chronicle)
Rose Leslie b. 1987 (Game of Thrones)
David Gallager b. 1985 (The Vampire Diaries, Super 8, Smallville, Phenomenon)
Tom Hiddleston b. 1981 (Thor, Marvel’s the Avengers)
Charlie Day b. 1976 (Pacific Rim)
Shaun Parkes b. 1973 (Doctor Who, The Mummy Returns)
Julie Warner b. 1965 (Star Trek: The Next Generation)
Ciarán Hinds b. 1953 (Game of Thrones, John Carter, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, Lara Croft: The Cradle of Life, Jason and the Argonauts [2000], Excalibur)
Mia Farrow b. 1945 (Rosemary’s Baby, Supergirl)
Clive Swift b. 1936 (Doctor Who [2007 and 1985], Excalibur, 1990)
Frank Frazetta b. 1928 died 10 May 2010 (illustrator)
Brian Donlevy b. 1901 died 5 April 1972 (The Quatermass Xperiment, Quatermass II: Enemy from Space, Gammera the Invincible, Curse of the Fly)

Tough choice for the Picture Slot today. Last year it was Tom Hiddleston, so I decided to give someone else a shot this year. I am waiting impatiently for the return of Game of Thrones - and also more than a little impatient to read book six of the series - so I was strongly considering both Rose Leslie (Ygritte) and Ciarán Hinds (Mance Rayder). Hinds is still a "Oh, That Guy" in the United States, but he's a bigger star in Great Britain and was excellent as Julius Caesar in HBOs Rome.

But instead you are looking at a self-portrait of Frank Frazetta, the most influential artist in American illustration since Norman Rockwell. The paperback market for science fiction and fantasy in the late 1960s was very much driven by the cover art, and Frazetta's paintings on the covers of the reprints of Robert E. Howard's stories about an adventurer named Conan brought the character more fame than he had ever known when Howard was alive. His artwork also help spark renewed interest in the Edgar Rice Burroughs character John Carter, Warlord of Mars. Apart from his legions of fans and his many imitators in the illustration field, Frazetta's influence can also be felt in events as far afield as the development of Dungeons and Dragons to the film career of Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Many happy returns of the day to all the living on the list and to Brian Donlevy and Frank Frazetta, thanks for all the memories.

Prediction: The sign and swipe credit card transaction will be entirely replaced by October 2015, when the only method will be running the credit card through a reader and entering a PIN number, a method widely used everywhere except the United States.

Predictor: A Wall Street Journal article published 6 February 2014, byline by Tom Gara

Reality: Reading the article, the prediction is actually being made by the credit card companies. They have about twenty months to get every company that now takes credit cards to switch over to the new system, which sounds like a daunting task. This might present an opportunity for Bitcoin to swoop in and take away some business from the credit card industry. It is my current plan to keep this blog going for at least three years, so I should have a chance to check on this prediction at the end of October 2015.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Another dive into the deep well of bold prediction goodness that is the OMNI Future Almanac.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
  

1 February 2014

Birthdays
Lee Thompson Young b. 1984 died 19 August 2013 (Smallville, FlashForward, The Sarah Connor Chronicles)
Sara Malakul Lane b. 1983 (Sharktopus, 100 Degrees Below Zero, 12/12/12)
Rachelle Lefevre b. 1979 (Under the Dome, Twilight)
Rutina Wesley b. 1979 (True Blood)
Michael C. Hall b, 1971 (Gamer, Paycheck)
Brandon Lee b. 1965 died 31 March 1993 (The Crow)
Linus Roache b. 1964 (Batman Begins, The Chronicles of Riddick)
Bill Mumy b. 1954 (Lost in Space, Babylon 5, Twilight Zone, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)
Elisabeth Sladen b. 1946 died 19 April 2011 (Doctor Who, The Sarah Jane Adventures)
Bibi Besch b. 1940 died 7 September 1996 (Tremors, The Day After, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan)
Sherman Hemsley b. 1938 died 24 July 2012 (Lois & Clark, Alice in Wonderland, The Twilight Zone, The Incredible Hulk [TV])
Peter Sallis b. 1921 (Wallace and Gromit)
Andrea King b. 1919 died 22 April 2003 (Red Planet Mars, The Beast with Five Fingers)
George Pal b. 1908 died 2 May 1980 (director, 7 Faces of Dr. Lao, The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm, The Time Machine, tom thumb, Atlantis, the Lost Continent)

This is an unlucky birthday list to be sure. Fourteen names listed and eight are dead, including two actors who never made it to their thirtieth birthdays, Lee Thompson Young and Brandon Lee, and two actresses who died before they were sixty five, Elisabeth Sladen and Bibi Besch.

Last year I had a picture of Bill Mumy from his Lost in Space days and i vowed I'd use a picture of him from Babylon 5 instead.  I make no promise for next year's Picture Slot except that it's someone else's turn.

Predictor: Felix L. Oswald (1845-1906), physician and naturalist, asked to make predictions about 1993 in honor of the 1893 Columbian Exposition held in Chicago.

Predictions (reality): A few years ago, Prime Minister William Gladstone predicted the United States would have 600,000,000 inhabitants. There is no reason to believe the population of our present national territory will exceed 300,000,000. (Good call. The Census listed 280,000,000 in 2000.)

Politically our federation of states will comprise Canada and Mexico. (Um... no.)

North of the Tennessee River, Sambo Africanus will vanish as soon as the increase of population brings him in competition with European immigrants. (Racist much?)

On the Rio Grande, the aborigines and Ethiopians may coalsce against the north. Caucasian races and the struggle for supremacy will involve frequent appeals to the arbitrament of force. (I actually cut some stuff worse than this. The guy was a disgusting bigot.)

To conclude with a few miscellaneous predictions: (Please, please, please don't be about race relations.)

The problem of aerial investigation will be solved within the next 20 years. (I'm guess he means heavier than air flight. He gets this right.)

Transcontinental mails will be forwarded by means of pneumatic tubes. (Wow, he gets the math of population growth right AND he mentions pneumatic tubes. Does this make up for his racist horseshit? Not in my book. He's still a scumbag.)

In 1993 millions of houses will be artificially cooled in summer, as they are now heated in winter. (Another point for Oswald. Geez, how I wish he had kept his views on the races to himself. He did pretty well otherwise.)

This month's splash page: The Aeromobil is yet another prototype of a flying car, this one being made in Slovakia. Of course, what we really want is a contraption as easy to use as George Jetson's. This thing looks like it would be bitch to land and the when the front wheels touched, the pilot would be bounced into the top of the transparent cockpit cover and the fenders could easily damage the front tires.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Yet another story of nuclear war to cheer up our Sunday reading.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

16 January 2014

 Birthdays
Aaliyah b. 1979 died 25 August 2001 (Queen of the Damned)
David Chokachi b. 1968 (Witchblade)
Caroline Munro b. 1949 (Space: 1999, At the Earth’s Core, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, The Abominable Dr. Phibes, Captain Kronos – Vampire Hunter)
John Carpenter b. 1948 (director, Ghosts of Mars, Escape from L.A., Village of the Damned, Memoirs of an Invisible Man, They Live, Prince of Darkness, Big Trouble in Little China, Starman, Christine, The Thing, Escape from New York, The Fog, Halloween, Dark Star)
Kate McMullan b. 1947 (author, Dragon Slayer’s Academy)
Keith Wayne b. 1945 (Night of the Living Dead)
Karl Freund b. 1890 died 3 May 1969 (cinematographer, Metropolis, Dracula, The Golem)

The biggest name in genre on today's birthday list is director John Carpenter, but you will notice he's not in the Picture Slot. Caroline Munro is the all-time crush of my good friend Alan, so we are now looking at her. (As though I need an excuse to put up a picture of a fabulous babe.) I usually only mention writers, directors and producers when listing people behind the camera, but Karl Freund's work as a cinematographer is definitely worth a mention for his work in silent films and early talkies. He is also credited with developing the three camera studio set-up for sitcoms and his name in the credits of all episodes of I Love Lucy.

Many happy returns to all the living on the list, a tip of the hat to Karl Freund, and best wishes to the family and friends of Aaliyah, who died much too young.

Predictor: Isaac Asimov, predicting the world of 2014 in honor of the 1964 Worlds' Fair in New York.

Prediction:Although technology will still keep up with population through 2014, it will be only through a supreme effort and with but partial success. Not all the world's population will enjoy the gadgety world of the future to the full. A larger portion than today will be deprived and although they may be better off, materially, than today, they will be further behind when compared with the advanced portions of the world. They will have moved backward, relatively.

Reality: Let’s take this sentence by sentence.

1. Technological advances have grown like gangbusters since 1964, so full points there.

2. Not all the world has the coolest latest gadgets. Hell, I don’t have the coolest latest gadgets. Undeniably true.

3. A larger portion will be deprived. This one is a swing and a miss. It’s hard to measure gadget inequality since the gadgets have changed so much. In 1964, many of today's favorite gadgets didn't exist yet, like personal computers, video games and cell phones.

One technological marvel that does span the entire era is the television. According to the website nationmaster .com, ownership of a TV around the world has skyrocketed. In 1975, only the U.S. and the U.K. had over 90% ownership of televisions and major industrialized nations like Germany, France and Japan were still under 80%. The most recent numbers from the 21st Century show a completely different situation. There are now 76 countries around the world where television ownership is over 90%, including many countries in regions that are not considered fully industrialized like Latin America and the former Soviet bloc countries. Both India and Bangladesh were listed in 1975 as having less than 1% of the public with a TV, and they have risen now to 32% and 23% respectively.

As an almost middle class American over 50, I would say my dad's generation had it better than we did in a lot of ways, but the upside of globalization is that abject poverty worldwide has shrunk markedly. Take your good news where you can get it.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

We get another prediction from the TED talks, with Gregory Stock in 2003 looking at the brave new world that awaits us by 2013.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

1 January 2014

Birthdays
Verne Troyer b. 1969 (The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Mighty Joe Young, Men in Black)
Stanley Kamel b. 1943 died 8 April 2008 (Dark Skies [1996], Star Trek: The Next Generation)
Frank Langella b. 1938 (Superman Returns, The Ninth Gate, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Masters of the Universe, Dracula [1979])
Dana Andrews b. 1909 died 17 December 1992 (Twilight Zone, Curse of the Demon)
E.M. Forster b. 1879 died 7 June 1970 (author, The Machine Stops)

Welcome to the future, friends! 2014, oh what wonders await us!

The birthday list is short today and The Picture Slot is given to Frank Langella, who gets my vote as the prettiest Dracula of all time. Dana Andrews had a good career in the movies, but did show up in one low budget 1950s monster movie and also had a role on the original Twilight Zone, which is almost always worth a mention on this blog. E.M. Forster is best known for the book that were turned into movies, including A Passage to India, A Room with a View and Howard's End, but he did write some speculative fiction as well, most notably The Machine Stops in 1909, which is a strong metaphor for what the Internet has become in modern life.

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

Prediction: Account books, invoices, and all similar documents will doubtless be written by a convenient and compendious form of combined calculating machine and typewriter, which we may suppose to be called the numeroscriptor. It will, of course, be capable of writing anywhere on a book or on a loose sheet, on a flat surface or on an irregular one. It will make any kind of calculation required. Even such operations as the weighing and measurement of goods will all be done by automatic machinery, capable of recording without any possibility of error the quantity and values of goods submitted to its operation.

Predictor: T. Baron Russell in A Hundred Years Hence, published in 1905

Reality: Before the Internet showed up, a "combined calculating machine and typewriter" was a very good description of a personal computer, and he's right about the automation of weighing and measuring goods. I'll give him 9.5 of 10 on this one, docking a half point for the awful coined word "numeroscriptor".

This month's splash illustration: Bruno Delussu designs concept cars that definitely have the retrofuture feeling to them. This one is the Bugatti Stratos, a completely impractical contraption that looks so damn cool, I don't even care that you could probably do about $20,000 body damage hitting a pothole. It's just so pretty, isn't it?

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

A double dose of our favorite 20th Century muttonchops.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
  

23 December 2013

Birthdays
Conor Carroll b. 1998 (Ender’s Game)
Estella Warren b. 1978 (Planet of the Apes)
Corey Haim b. 1971 died 10 March 2010 (Silver Bullet, The Lost Boys)
Stefan Arngrim b. 1955 (Land of the Giants, Fear No Evil, Strange Days, The X Files, Battlestar Galactica:Razor, V, Caprica, Fringe, Arrow)
Charles Herbert b. 1948 (The Fly, Men Into Space, 13 Ghosts, Twilight Zone)
Robert McCall b. 1919 died 26 February 2010 (artist, LIFE magazine, 2001: A Space Odyssey)

Odd coincidence today. Four of our six birthday folk got their start as child actors. Stefan Arngrim was on Land of the Giants, did a little work in the 1970s and 1980s, but from the mid 1990s on has worked very steadily. He lost his baby fat and is not recognizable from his childhood pictures. I'm not sure he even qualifies as an "Oh, that guy" actor, despite a lot of roles. The late Corey Haim is the best known face of the four child stars, Estella Warren easily qualifies for the Pretty Girl = Picture Slot criterion, but for a change the picture is an illustration, Robert McCall's poster painting from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Like Syd Mead and others, McCall drew a bright shiny future, very unlike the dystopias that are depicted as the probable future today.
 

Predictor: OMNI Future Almanac, published 1982

Prediction (score): The Office of the Future! Here are ten innovations that OMNI thought would be in effect by the end of the century.

1. Electronic Mail. (1 for 1.)
2. Data Banking. (They mean large data storage systems. 2 for 2.)
3. Teleconferencing. (3 for 3.)
4. Supergraphics! (Well, they don't leap tall buildings in a single bound, but compared to what was available in 1982, this has to count as a hit as well. 4 for 4.)
5. Automatic translation of speech. (This is still not practical, so I'll count it as the first miss. 4 for 5.)
6. Voice activated typewriter. (Again, this wasn't available by 2000 and is still in the early phase, so let's call it 4 of 6.)
7. Programmable sound silencer for open office space. (Things started out so well, didn't they? 4 of 7.)
8. Electronic blackboards that store images for later use. (5 of 8.)
9. Faxes will reproduce tens of thousands of pages a second. (Umm... no. 5 of 9. Also, at that speed, can you imagine how often the machine would jam?)
10. Videodisc storage of data. (Well, kind of. CD-ROM is the same idea as videodisc, and for a while that was a popular data storage device for big stuff until flash drives became so tiny and cheap. If we count 2000 as the cut-off date, I'm going to give this one a full point, bringing the whole prediction up to 6 of 10.)

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Looking backward, I pick my five favorite predictions of the year and put them up in our Year End review. Tomorrow, my man crush returns. Longtime readers need no further explanation.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

15 November 2013

Birthdays
Jessica Stevenson Hynes b. 1972 (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Doctor Who, Shaun of the Dead)
Kevin J. O’Connor b. 1963 (G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, Van Helsing, The Mummy)
Bob Gunton b. 1945 (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Demolition Man)
Yaphet Kotto b. 1939 (The Puppet Masters, SeaQuest 2032, The Running Man, Alien)
Gloria Foster b. 1933 died 29 September 2001 (The Matrix)
J.G. Ballard b. 1930 died 19 April 2009 (writer, The Drowned World, The Burning World, Crash)

No A-List stars today, but I go with Yaphet Kotto from Alien in the Picture Slot. While Star Wars and Star Trek are the franchises that made Hollywood change the way they looked at science fiction, there also needed to be other financial success stories to make the genre work, and Alien certainly qualifies.

Many happy returns to all the living on the list.

Movies released
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets released 2002

Prediction: In 2007, 65 million compact flourescent light bulbs were purchased, and in 2008 this will rise to 100 million.

Predictor: John Doerr, venture capitalist at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, speaking at a TED talk in 2007

Reality: Welcome to TED Talks predictions! Exciting, dynamic, important people will give you twenty minutes of their valuable time and your mind will be B-L-O-W-N! (No dinner and a movie first.)

This first one is a bust. According to EnergyStar, 2007 was a peak year and this guy was predicting a 50% increase, which is hard to accomplish even when things are going great. Not being a regular consumer of right wing news, I don't know when the "CFB bad! Evil librul plot!" stories started to be circulated, but in any case, these things are still selling. As of 2012, they are mandated in Europe and Australia, but the big increase Doerr predicted for 2008 failed to materialize.

Is your mind feeling kind of... unblown? Yeah, get used to it on Fridays.

Source: On Netflix, I found a video called TED Talks: Humanity's Future, so I felt I had to watch it.

Understand, I watched it SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO! That's the basic premise of the blog, though you are welcome to read or watch any of the stuff I use as prediction material or even watch some movie or read a book because one of the birthdays made you think something would be cool. A lot of them are cool.

This one. Not cool. Four hours of your life that won't be coming back.

The things I do for this hobby. Oi! Still, it's better than keeping track of the supermarket gossip rags. There are a lot more chances for finding out interesting things looking at sci-fi and predictions than there are reading about the Kardashians and Teen Mom week after week.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Another trip back to 1893, with a former Commissioner of Indian Affairs predicting the fate of the native Americans in the 20th Century.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!