10 May 2015

Birthdays
Halston Sage b. 1993 (Scouts vs. Zombies)
Erika Fong b. 1986 (Transformers: Age of Extinction, Power Rangers Samurai)
Odette Annable b. 1985 (Astronaut Wives Club, The Unborn, Cloverfield, Transformers)
Kenan Thompson b. 1978 (Stan Helsing, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch)
Andrea Anders b. 1975 (The Stepford Wives [2004])
Cary Guffey b. 1972 (Close Encounters of the Third Kind)
Emma Ridley b. 1972 (Return to Oz)
Leslie Stefanson b. 1971 (Alien Hunter, Unbreakable, Flubber [1997])
Dallas Roberts b. 1970 (The Walking Dead, Shadow People)
Gina Philips b. 1970 (Jeepers Creepers, Seven Days, Sliders, Dark Skies, Deep Space Nine)
John Scalzi b. 1969 (won 2013 Hugo for Redshirts)
Eric Palladino b. 1968 (666 Park Avenue, Fringe, Reaper, Strange Frequency)
Jason Brooks b. 1966 (Blood Lake: Attack of the Killer Lampreys, Asteroid vs Earth, Revolution, Torchwood, Super 8, No Ordinary Family, Star Trek [2009], Charmed, Flying Virus)
Tracy Tweed b. 1965 (Johnny Mnemonic, Harry and the Hendersons [TV])
Victoria Rowell b. 1959 (The Fright Night Files, Leonard Part 6)
Paige O'Hara b. 1956 (Enchanted, Beauty and the Beast [1991 voice work])
Meg Foster b. 1948 (The Originals, Xena, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Sliders, Space Marines, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Oblivion, Quantum Leap, Leviathan, The Twilight Zone, Masters of the Universe, They Live, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Sixth Sense [TV])
David Clennon b. 1943 (Ghost Phone: Phone Calls from the Dead, Star Trek: Voyager, From the Earth to the Moon, Beauty and the Beast, The Right Stuff, The Thing [1982])
Jonathan Hales b. 1937 (screenwriter, Star Wars , Episode II: Attack of the Clones, The Scorpion King)
Gary Owens b. 1934 died 12 February 2015 (Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Batman, The Green Hornet, The Munsters)
George Coe b. 1929 (Supernatural, Smallville, The Lone Gunmen, The Omega Code, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Max Headroom, The Entity, The Stepford Wives)
Margaret Field b. 1922 died 6 November 2011 (Twilight Zone, The Man from Planet X)
Margo b. 1917 died 17 July 1985 (Lost Horizon)
Charles McGraw b. 1914 died 30 July 1980 (Twilight’s Last Gleaming, A Boy and his Dog, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea)
Fred Astaire b. 1899 died 22 June 1987 (Ghost Story, Battlestar Galactica, On the Beach)
Thurston Hall b. 1882 died 20 February 1958 (Topper)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, the Picture Slot went to screenwriter Jonathan Hales and actress Meg Foster. This year, I want to recommend the writer John Scalzi, who not only wrote the Hugo winning Redshirts, but a good series of space opera books, including Old Man's War, The Ghost Brigades and The Last Colony. I follow Scalzi on Twitter and he has thrown himself headlong into the GamerGate controversy and this year's attempted takeover of the Hugo awards. For my money, I see way too many topics in today's world that instead of being discussed are more like two factions screaming across a canyon. That said, if forced to choose one side of the canyon, I'm almost always on Scalzi's side.

2. One Canadian, hard to spot, with trace levels of nepotism. Tracy Tweed doesn't have enough credits to be easily spotted as Canadian. Tracy Tweed is the sister of Shannon Tweed, and both women got their starts in their careers due to the fact they look good naked. Shannon's connection likely helped Tracy, but the looking good naked part probably helped a lot more.

3. Never to be Forgotten, if a little late: Gary Owens 1934-2015. When Gary Owens died, I think I took a quick look at his credit list and decided not to include him, due to my decision to be selective about voice work, which saves me a lot of typing each morning. But Owens actually got enough work in front of the camera in genre TV shows that he deserves a mention. He had a great voice and excellent comic timing.

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

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

Predictor: Robert A. Heinlein in his 1956 book The Door Into Summer

Prediction: I had two five-dollar pieces, mint new, the pretty green plastic hexagonals issued just last year.

Reality: Oh hell to the no. People, especially Americans, are fussy about having their money messed with. There wasn't that much fuss when I was a kid about getting rid of silver in the dimes, quarters and half dollars, and the changes in the bills we've seen in the last decade haven't caused riots, but going from dollar bills to dollar coins has been largely rejected by the public and to switch from metal to plastic would make the inflation conspiracy theorists absolutely crazy.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

A break in the regular schedule for a movie prediction that warns of robot teachers. That would sure mess the unions up, wouldn't it?

Join us then. IN THE FUTURE!

21 February 2015

Birthdays
Sophie Turner b. 1996 (X-Men: Apocalypse, Mary Shelley’s Monster, Game of Thrones)
Corbin Bleu b. 1989 (Galaxy Quest, Mystery Men)
Scout Taylor-Compton b. 1989 (Halloween I & II [2007 & 2009], Charmed)
Ashley Greene b. 1987 (Twilight Saga, Radio Free Albemuth)
Ellen Page b. 1987 (X-Men: Days of Future Past, Inception, X-Men: The Last Stand, ReGenesis)
Burgess Abernethy b. 1987 (H2O: Just Add Water, BeastMaster)
Tuppence Middleton b. 198 7 (Jupiter Ascending, Sense8, Sinbad [TV])
Jennifer Love Hewitt b. 1979 (A Christmas Carol: A Musical, Munchie)
Travis Schiffner b. 1976 (Jeepers Creepers II)
Christopher Yost b. 1973 (writer, Thor: The Dark World, Max Steel)
William Baldwin b. 1963 (Virus, Flatliners)
Christopher Atkins b. 1961 (Dark Realm, Dracula Rising)
Kim Coates b. 1958 (Mutant World, Robosapien: Rebooted, Resident Evil: Afterlife, Smallville, The Dresden Files, Skinwalkers, Thoughtcrimes, Earth: Final Conflict, Battlefield Earth, NightMan, Total Recall 2070, Poltergeist: The Legacy, Waterworld, RoboCop [TV], Innocent Blood, Dracula: the Series, Red Blooded American Girl, War of the Worlds [TV])
Kelsey Grammer b. 1955 (Transformers: Age of Extinction, X-Men, A Christmas Carol: The Musical, Star Trek: The Next Generation)
William Petersen b. 1953 (Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, Twilight Zone [1986])
Christine Ebersole b. 1953 (American Horror Story, My Favorite Martian [1999], Ghost Dad, Mac and Me)
Mimi Kuzyk b. 1952 (The Day After Tomorrow, The Time Shifters, Total Recall 2070, Poltergeist: The Legacy, Seaquest 2032, The Ray Bradbury Theatre, Quantum Leap)
Larry Drake b. 1950 (Gryphon, Firefly, Stargate SG-1, Timequest, Star Trek: Voyager, Prey, Darkman I and II)
Frank Brunner b. 1949 (illustrator)
Anthony Daniels b. 1946 (Star Wars, I Bought a Vampire Motorcycle)
Alan Rickman b. 1946 (Harry Potter, Galaxy Quest, Alice in Wonderland [2010], The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Dogma, Truly Madly Deeply)
Kitty Winn b. 1944 (The Exorcist I and II)
Richard Beymer b. 1939 (The X-Files, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)
Gary Lockwood b. 1937 (2001: A Space Odyssey, Star Trek, Dark Skies, Superboy, The Bionic Woman, The Six Million Dollar Man, Earth II, The Magic Sword)
Rue McClanahan b. 1934 died 3 June 2010 (Wonderfalls, Starship Troopers, The Wickedest Witch, Small & Frye, Topper [TV movie])
George Mitchell b. 1905 died 18 January 1972 (The Andromeda Strain, Land of the Giants, The Time Tunnel, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Twilight Zone, Invasion of the Animal People)
Celia Lovsky b. 1897 died 12 October 1979 (Soylent Green, Star Trek, Twilight Zone)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. This is a very good birthday list. I didn't know about that careers of everyone listed here before I did my morning research, but I did know a heck of a lot of them. Previous Picture Slotters are Celia Lovsky as T'Pau and Alan Rickman as Snape, though I might have used Rickman as Alexander Dane instead and it would still be iconic. That still leaves a bunch of great choices, including Gary Lockwood from 2001: A Space Odyssey, Ellen Page from X-Men and of course Anthony Daniels as C-3P0. I'm somewhat embarrassed for not choosing Mr. Daniels, but instead we have a picture of Sophie Turner as Sansa Stark because I am jonesing for new Game of Thrones this time of year and I am a huge sucker for tall redheads with high cheekbones.

Sue me. (Seriously, if Mr. Daniels wants to sue, I'm willing to come to a settlement.)

2. The Canadians amongst us. You might have been able to guess Kim Coates, a scary looking Oh That Guy, was Canadian, but there's a lot of work in movies and not all of them produced in Canada. The other two Canucks are much harder to spot. Mimi Kuzyk is mainly a TV actress and got her first big break on Hill Street Blues, though some might say her first big break was getting out of the frozen hellhole known as Winnipeg. Ellen Page is a movie star and good on her, so she's not waiting around for a guest shot on Supernatural.

3. Nepotism... not so much. Tuppence Middleton. Strange first name, oddly familiar last name. She is British, but not related to Kate Middleton. Corbin Bleu is a working actor, as is his dad David Reivers. I would venture to say he is not trading off his father's fame because his father isn't a household name.

4. The Guy at the Door and MST3K. Regular readers will know I feel a little awkward pointing it out when a list has an age cut-off between the living and the dead, but it just means that no one died particularly young or no one alive is remarkably old. Today, it means Gary Lockwood is The Guy at the Door, the oldest living person on this somewhat random list of artists and everyone younger than him is still with us. I feel bad when the person who has this designation is iconic and I don't use them, but yet again, let me point out a tall redhead with high cheekbones as my defense. Mr. Lockwood was also in The Magic Sword, which means we get to use the MST3K label today.

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

Predictor: Ignatius Donnelly (1831-1901), politician and author, making predictions about 1993 in honor of the 1893 Columbian Exhibition in Chicago.

Prediction: It is very evident that the time is not far distant when the people will repossess themselves of the iron highways... If the state is justified in taking charge of the mails, it is equally justified in taking change of the this aerial communication carried on the wings of the lightning... Gold and silver will be overthrown by an international paper money which all the wealth of the world would back up and sustain legal tender among all nations. This paper money would be increased in precise ratio to the increase in population or wealth of the world. 

Reality: We have already been introduced to Mr. Donnelly through his novel Caesar's Column, a racist rip-off of Edward Bellamy's big speculative hit Looking Backward: 2000-1888. In that, Donnelly advances the picture of a future ruined by rich Jews and a revolution just as bad because Jews run that, too.

I just gleaned the predictions from Donnelly's very long four pages of puffery. Honestly, this guy takes five minutes to clear his throat. He is wrong about the government takeover of the railroads and telegraphs. They were allowed to grow, but they have been overtaken and their monopolies brought down to earth by other technologies that would have been very hard to guess in 1893. As for going off the gold and silver standards, he gets that right, but we don't truly have a single international money system just yet. As for his "increase by precise ratio", is it tied to wealth or population? This reminds me John Von Neumann's great quote "There is no point in being precise when you don't know what you are talking about."

Looking one day ahead...  INTO THE FUTURE!

Another futuristic guess from our pal Robert A. Heinlein.


Join us then...  IN THE FUTURE!

31 December 2014

Birthdays
Bronson Pelletier b. 1986 (Twilight Saga, Dinosapien)
G. Michael Gray b. 1979 (Fringe, Smallville, Stargate: Atlantis, Supernatural, Painkiller Jane, Blade: The Series, Terminal City, Fantastic Four, A Wrinkle in Time, Jeremiah, Dark Angel)
Steve Byers b. 1976 (Alphas, Total Recall [2012], Immortals, Smallville, The Dresden Files, Mutant X, House of the Dead, Carrie [2002 TV])
Kenny Morrison b. 1974 (Star Trek: Voyager, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze, The Neverending Story II: The Next Chapter, The Wizard)
Jennifer Hill b. 1973 (Mutant X, Relic Hunter)
Chandra West b. 1970 (Universal Soldier II and III, Earth: Final Conflict, Kindred: The Embraced, Highlander [TV], Forever Knight, My Secret Identity, Deadly Nightmares)
Claire Lautier b. 1969 (The Beach Party at the Threshold of Hell, Elf)
Bruce Ramsay b. 1966 (Continuum, Riverworld, Supernatural, Babylon 5: The Lost Tales, Island of the Dead, The Hunger [TV], Hellraiser: Bloodline, Deadly Nightmares)
Li Gong b. 1965 (2046)
Geoff Meed b. 1965 (Awake, Wonder Woman [2011 TV Movie], The Day the Earth Stood Still [2008], Resident Evil: Extinction, Star Trek: Enterprise, Buffy, Charmed, Babylon 5)
Michael McDonald b. 1964 (Invader ZIM, Carnosaur II and III, The Unborn II, Leprechaun 2)
Roberto Lombardi b. 1963 (Perfect: Android Rising, Deadpool [TV], Zombie eXs, Ghost Blunders, The Last Airbender, The Happening)
Amelia Kinkade b. 1963 (Night of the Demons I, II & III, My Best Friend Is a Vampire, Misfits of Science, Knight Rider)
Katy Karrenbauer b. 1962 (Cloud Atlas)
Val Kilmer b. 1959 (The Thaw, George and the Dragon, Red Planet, The Island of Dr. Moreau [1996], Batman Forever, Willow, Real Genius)
Bebe Neuwirth b. 1958 (Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, The Adventures of Pinocchio, Jumanji, Star Trek: The Next Generation)
Peter Williams b. 1957 (Fallen, Stargate: SG-1, Earthsea, Dead Like Me, Catwoman, The Chronicles of Riddick, Dark Angel, Relic Hunter, NightMan, The X-Files)
James Remar b. 1953 (From Dusk Till Dawn [TV], Horns, All Superheroes Must Die, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, X-Men: First Class, The Vampire Diaries, FlashForward, The Unborn, Jericho, Battlestar Galactica, The X-Files, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, Robo Warrior, The Phantom, Blade: Trinity, Judge Dredd, Tales form the Crypt [TV], Tales from the Darkside: The Movie, Deadly Nightmares, The Clan of the Cave Bear)
Jane Badler b. 1953 (V [1983 and 2011], The Lost World [2002 TV])
Elizabeth Norment b. 1952 died 13 October 2014 (Twilight Zone [1985], Runaway)
Tim Matheson b. 1947 (A Very Unlucky Leprechaun, Sometimes They Come Back, Drop Dead Fred, Solar Crisis, Bay Coven)
Barbara Carrera b. 1945 (Wicked Stepmother, Condorman, Embryo, The Island of Dr. Moreau [1977])
Connie Willis b. 1945 (won 1993 Hugo and Nebula for Doomsday Book, won 1999 Hugo for To Say Nothing of the Dog, won 2011 Hugo and Nebula for Blackout/All Clear)
Vernon Wells b. 1945 (Alien Hunger, Jurassic City, The Dead Undead, World’s End, Silent Night, Zombie Night, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde [2006], Saurian, Power Rangers, The Education of a Vampire, Beneath Loch Ness, Billy Frankenstein, Conan [1997 TV], 2002: The Rape of Eden, Manosaurus, Circuitry Man I and II, Innerspace, Knight Rider, Weird Science, Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior)
Taylor Hackford b. 1944 (director, Devil’s Advocate)
Ben Kingsley b. 1943 (Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, Robot Overlords, Ender’s Game, Iron Man 3, Hugo, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, A Sound of Thunder, Tuck Everlasting, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Alice in Wonderland [1999 TV], Species, Slipstream)
Sean S. Cunningham b. 1941 (director, Terminal Invasion, DeepStar Six, Friday the 13th)
Sarah Miles b. 1941 (Venom)
Rosalind Cash b. 1938 died 31 October 1995 (Tales from the Hood, Lois & Clark, Knight Rider, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, Dr. Black, Mr. Hyde, The Omega Man)
Anthony Hopkins b. 1937 (Westworld [2015 TV], Thor, The Wolfman, Beowulf, Slipstream, Meet Joe Black, Dracula [1992], Freejack)
Richard Hamilton b. 1920 died 21 December 2004 (The Visitor [1997 TV], Men in Black, Resurrection)
Theresa Harris b. 1906 died 8 October 1985 (I Walked with a Zombie, Cat People [1942])
Rhys Williams b. 1897 died 28 May 1969 (The Invaders, Topper [1953 TV], Adventures of Superman, The Son of Dr. Jekyll)

Notes on the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. Last year, I used a picture of Bebe Neuwirth from Star Trek: The Next Pajamas because... reasons. This year, it's the honest to Odin A-list movie star Anthony Hopkins as, well, Odin. Next year I might go with another of the stars like Val Kilmer or Ben Kingsley, I might go fabulous babe with Rosalind Cash or Jane Badler, or if I'm in and Oh That Guy mood, top of the list is James Remar.

2. Canadians spotted. There are a lot of native born Canadians today and not all the credit lists are telltale. The are Bronson Pelletier, G. Michael Gray, Steve Byers, Jennifer Hill, Chandra West and Bruce Ramsay. Peter Williams has a Canadian looking resume and may very well live there, but he was born in Jamaica.

3. Fun facts to know and tell. Producer/director Taylor Hackford is married to Helen Mirren, the lucky bastid. Connie Willis has more major sci-fi awards than Asimov.

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

Predictor: Barry Silbert in The Wall Street Journal, 9 March 2014

Prediction:"I can say with confidence that 2014 will be the year of bitcoin on Wall Street.”

Reality: Umm... no. No in a big, big way. There may be some guys on Wall Street that use Bitcoin for their hookers and blow purchases, but as an investment it's had a very bad year, most notably with the huge theft of Bitcoins from the website Mt. Gox, an event that already happened when Silbert made his "prediction". I put the word in quotes because Silbert is really a salesman of financial products, an occupation I trust only slightly more than the occupation of Bill Cosby's lawyer.

Never to be Forgotten: Christine Cavanaugh 1963-2014
I usually don't list voice actors, though I do make exceptions. Christine Cavanaugh deserves to be an exception and sadly, she died on the 22nd of December at the age of 51. On screen, she had a guest role on The X-Files, but as a voice actor she got a lot of work, notably as the voice of the sheep pig in Babe and as Dexter in Dexter's Laboratory. She quit working about ten years ago and moved back to Utah to be closer to her family. The cause of death is not given.

Best wishes to the family and friends of Christine Cavanaugh, from a fan. She is never to be forgotten.



Looking one day ahead...  INTO THE FUTURE!

It's a new year and more importantly to the blog, a new month, so we will get a new splash illustration at the top. Fun!

Join us then...  IN THE FUTURE!

19 April 2014

 Birthdays
Jai Courtney b. 1986 (Divergent, I, Frankenstein)
Hayden Christensen b. 1981 (Star Wars, Jumper, Harrison Bergeron)
James Franco b. 1978 (This is the End, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, The Green Hornet, Spider-Man, The X-Files)
Alexis Thorpe b. 1980 (Nightmare City 2035, The Man from Earth)
Ashley Judd b. 1968 (Divergent, Tooth Fairy, Bug, Star Trek: The Next Generation)
Patricia Charbonneau b. 1959 (Strange World, SeaQuest 2032, RoboCop 2, Brain Dead)
Moira Sinise b. 1954 (Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines)
Dennis Dun b. 1952 (Charmed, Prince of Darkness, Big Trouble in Little China, Beauty and the Beast)
Tim Curry b. 1946 (Alice [2009], The Secret of Moonacre, Wolf Girl, Addams Family Reunion, Doom Runners, Lexx, Congo, Earth 2, The Shadow, It, The Worst Witch, Legend, The Rocky Horror Picture Show)
Rhodes Reason b. 1930 (Star Trek, King Kong Escapes, The Time Tunnel)
Dick Sargent b. 1930 died 8 July 1994 (Harry and the Hendersons, Teen Witch, The Six Million Dollar Man, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, The Beast with a Million Eyes)
Hugh O’Brian b. 1925 (Doin’ Time on Planet Earth, Rocketship X-M)

Last year I went with Hayden Christensen in the Picture Slot because he has the most iconic role in the biggest budget film. This year I went with Tim Curry because I love Tim Curry, as do all sentient beings. There are certainly other excellent choices, but you can be pretty sure I'm not going to use James Franco any time in the future. I've just never warmed up to the guy.

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

Predictor: Congressman Michael D. Harter (1846-1896) in honor of the Columbian Exposition of 1893

Prediction: The doctrine that the government which governs least governs best will, much earlier than 1993, be the unwritten but fundamental law.

Reality: Nice try, congressman. This guy might as well be an ancestor of Ron and Rand Paul. He is sold on the entire modern libertarian bill of goods, including the gold standard. But what really happened in the 20th Century was the growth of government, for good and for ill, a lot for good. It is still in doubt whether the idea of "promoting the general welfare" remains part of focus of government in this country, or if the preamble of the Constitution will be revised to "Fuck you, I've got mine."

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

The weekly schedule is interrupted for a repeat consideration of list of predictions from the early 1990s that is pretty strong.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

9 March 2014

Birthdays
Niamh Wilson b. 1997 (Hemlock Grove, Warehouse 13. My Babysitter’s a Vampire, Falling Skies, Saw III though VI)
Brenna O’Brien b. 1991 (Supernatural, Kyle XY, Tin Man, Stargate SG-1, X-Men: The Last Stand, Merlin’s Apprentice, Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, Stephen King’s Dead Zone)
Oscar Isaac b. 1980 (Ex Machina, Sucker Punch)
Chaske Spencer b. 1975 (Twilight)
Juliette Binoche b. 1964 (Godzilla [2014])
Kirk B.R. Woller b. 1962 (The Event, Resident Evil: Extinction, Charmed, Hulk, Minority Report, The X-Files, Sliders, Mercury Rising, Dark Skies)
Finn Carter b. 1960 (FreakyLinks, Tremors)
Rodney A. Grant b. 1959 (Ghosts of Mars, Stargate SG-1)
Linda Fiorentino b. 1958 (What Planet are You From, Dogma, Men in Black)
Pat Murphy b. 1955 (won 1988 Nebula for The Falling Woman)
Ornella Muti b. 1955 (Flash Gordon)
Raul Julia b. 1940 died 24 October 1994 (Street Fighter, The Addams Family, Frankenstein Unbound, Overdrawn at the Memory Bank)

A small secret about the birthday lists. You may see some unfamiliar names of young people like Niamh Wilson and Brenna O'Brien, people born after 1990 or so. Right now, it's a big advantage for young actors in sci-fi and fantasy to be born in Canada. A heck of a lot of production work is done up there and the Canadian government requires a quota of jobs on these projects are staffed by Canadians.

As for the Picture Slot, last year it was the author Pat Murphy, and this year it was a contest between Linda Fiorentino, Ornella Muti, Raul Julia and the winner Finn Carter. She was the plucky grad student in Tremors, a movie made in 1990 though I still think of it as a 1950s monster movie done right. As for the runners-up, Fiorentino and Muti both qualify for the Pretty Girl = Picture Slot criterion, and I really miss Raul Julia, who will be gone 20 years come this October. Odds are one of those three will be in the Picture Slot next March 9.
 
Movies released
John Carter escaped, 2012  
 

Predictor: Barry Silbert, founder of Bitcoin Investment Trust

Prediction: "I can say with confidence that 2014 will be the year of Bitcoin on Wall Street."

Reality: There is some guy whose job is to blog about Bitcoin for the Wall Street Journal. There may be less honorable ways to keep food on the table, though not one springs to mind just now. If you have this bullshit job, of course you have to quote bullshit sources.

I guess I feel a little sorry for this reporter Paul Vigna.

...

Okay. I just took a breath and I'm over it.

I'm impressed with the algorithm behind Bitcoin, but I'm not convinced about its future as a reliable payment method. This is not because I deeply distrust the libertarian ideals (which I do), but because the stories about Bitcoin that bubble up to become headline news are about massive thefts and websites being shut down and crazy fluctuations in value.

Wall Street is not above theft and fraud. In fact, those are two of the great pillars of modern finance since deregulation. But there are other pillars, and one of them is discretion. I don't see what positive news story can counterbalance the collapse of Mt. Gox in February.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Another interruption of the regular schedule for a report on a mission to Mars.

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!
  

21 April 2013

Birthdays
James McAvoy b. 1979
Kate Vernon b. 1961

Mr. McAvoy was in the first Narnia film and played a young Charles Xavier in X-Men: First Class. Ms. Vernon was on Lost and Battlestar Galactica.

Many happy returns to them both.

Predictor: Los Angeles Times Magazine, published 3 April 1988

Predictions (reality): Here is what they thought would happen concerning the international financial situation.

Automatic language translation with our Japanese bosses. (See yesterday's post about the AT&T ads. This hasn't happened yet, but it could.)

Students learn Japanese in school. (They can at some schools. Few do. Fear of Japanese domination of our economy was at its peak about 25 years ago. Now we fear China, a country that wasn't even on the financial radar when this article was written.)

Los Angeles – along with New York and Tokyo – is one of the three major financial cities in the world. (According to the Telegraph, this isn't even close to right. They list San Francisco and Chicago in the worldwide top ten, but do not mention L.A.)

It costs $25 extra to talk to a personal teller. (How can this possibly make financial sense? Who would pay such a ridiculous premium?)

Money has bar codes that show to whom they have been issued. (Somewhere, Alex Jones is having a conniption fit just because he senses someone is even typing these words. The "mark of the Beast" freaks would explode.)

India surpasses the United States in cigarette production. (True, but the U.S. is fourth behind China, India and Brazil.)

Large companies have moved smaller scale offices to the suburbs to be closer to their employees. (Making life easier for employees? That's commie talk, my friend. People should think they are lucky to have jobs. If large groups of people start thinking companies are lucky people are willing to sell their time so cheaply, well... then the revolution comes.)

(Audible shudder.)

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

This Monday we get a prediction from Popular Mechanics, so no matter how far off base it is, the illustration will be cool.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!