21 May 2015

 Birthdays

Fallon Brooking b. 1996 (My Super Ex-Girlfriend, The Stepford Wives)Sarah Ramos b. 1991 (Wizards of Waverly Place)
Scotty Leavenworth b. 1990 (Donnie Darko, The Green Mile, Meego)
Deena Trudy b. 1986 (Android Cop, Iron Man 3, Zombie Killer)
Russell Balogh b. 1981 (Jack the Giant Slayer, Captain America: The First Avenger)
Fairuza Balk b. 1974 (The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Worst Witch, Return to Oz, The Craft)
Eduardo Verastegui b. 1974 (Charmed)
Paolo Montalban b. 1973 (Mortal Kombat: Conquest, Cinderella [1997 TV])
Brett Tucker b. 1972 (Thor: The Dark World, Legend of the Seeker, The Lost World, Thunderstone)
Russell Durham Comegys b. 1972 (The Walking Dead, Coma [2012 TV], The Vampire Diaries, The Vampire Diaries, The Punisher)
Nick Cassavetes b. 1959 (The Astronaut’s Wife, Quantum Leap, The Wraith)
Alan Gelfant b. 1957 (Monkeybone, Team Knight Rider, Dark Skies, The Crow: City of Angels)
Kyle T. Heffner b. 1957 (The Burning Dead, Hellborn, Mutant on the Bounty)
Judge Reinhold b. 1957 (The Dead Zone [TV], Betaville, Mindstorm, Big Monster on Campus, Puss in Boots, NetForce, Special Report: Journey to Mars, Adventures in Wonderland, Vice Versa, Gremlins, Wonder Woman)
Al Franken b. 1951 (From the Earth to the Moon, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Superman 50th Anniversary)
Jonathan Hyde b. 1948 (The Strain, Dinotopia, Jack and the Beanstalk: The Real Story, The Mummy, Anaconda, Jumanji, Supernatural [1977])
Richard Hatch b. 1945 (Alien Hunger, After Hell, The Guild, Battlestar Galactica, InAlienable, Prisoners of the Lost Universe, The Sixth Sense)
Booker Bradshaw b. 1940 died 1 April 2003 (Skullduggery, Star Trek)
David Groh b. 1939 died 12 February 2008 (Evilution, Black Scorpion, The X-Files, Last Exit to Earth, M.A.N.T.I.S., Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Dark Shadows [TV])
Ross Hagen b. 1938 died 7 May 2011 (Attack of the 60 Foot Centerfolds, Dinosaur Island, Droid Gunner, Time Wars, Alienator, Night Creature, The Invaders, Captain Nice)
Richard Libertini b. 1933 (Supernatural, House of Frankenstein [1997], Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Lois & Clark, The Twilight Zone [1986], Popeye, Tabitha, The Bionic Woman)
Alice Drummond b. 1928 (Tales from the Darkside: The Movie, Ghostbusters, Dark Shadows [1967])
Rick Jason b. 1923 died 16 October 2000 (Automan, Manimal, Wonder Woman)
Raymond Burr b. 1917 died 12 September 1993 (Godzilla 1985, The Return, Godzilla [1977], Godzilla, King of the Monsters! [1956])

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. Earlier Picture Slotters were Raymond Burr from Godzilla and Richard Hatch from Battlestar Galactica. In my opinion, iconic in genre other than those two guys would be Fairuza Balk in the Oz movie and the late Booker Bradshaw as Dr. M'Benga from Star Trek.

2. Wait... they're dead? I wasn't completely aware of the deaths of Bradshaw, David Groh or Ross Hagen.


2. Nepotism and not. Nick Cassavetes counts as nepotism. Kyle T. Heffner isn't related to Hugh Hefner and Paolo Montalban is not related to Ricardo Montalban.

3. One unspottable Canadian. Deena Trudy was born north of the border, but her credit list is not filled with genre TV shows.

4. MST3K. Ross Hagen was in the biker flick The Hellcats.

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

Movies released
Shrek Forever After released, 2010
Terminator Salvation released, 2009
Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back released, 1980
   

Predictor: Articles from last year

Prediction: Matter will be created from light within a year

Reality:  If you Google "light into matter", there were a bunch of story in May of 2014 that the technology to turn light into matter was just around the corner. I haven't found any more recent articles actually trumpeting the success of the Breit-Wheeler pair production experiments. The question mark after 2014 is still there as far as I can ascertain.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

H.G. Wells will look at war in the 20th Century and show that he still thinks like a guy from the 19th Century.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

 

25 August 2013

Birthdays
Blake Lively b. 1987 (Green Lantern)
Alexander Skarsgård b. 1976 (True Blood, Battleship)
Tim Burton b. 1958 (Beetlejuice, Alice in Wonderland, Planet of the Apes)
Tom Skerritt b. 1933 (Alien)
Sean Connery b. 1930 (Zardoz, Outland, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade)
Michael Rennie b. 1909 died 10 June 1971 (The Day the Earth Stood Still)

Yet another all Hollywood list of birthdays today. For me, the biggest surprise is that Tom Skerritt is only three years younger than Sean Connery and just turned 80(!). By any reasonable yardstick, Ms. Lively's career is the shortest on the list and has the least to do with science fiction or fantasy but... she's purdy.

It also gives me a chance to repeat something I tweeted yesterday that is somewhat on topic.

"I don't remember the Internet pissing itself when Ryan Reynolds was announced as Green Lantern, because THAT would have been useful."

Many happy returns of the day for the living.
 

Prediction: In January 1999, a rocket takes off from Ohio on the way to Mars. The heat from the blast melts the snow and icicles all over town and the locals call it "rocket summer".

Predictor: Ray Bradbury in The Martian Chronicles, a collection of short stories published in 1950

Reality: Rockets produce a heat blast, but it is contained in a relatively small area and dissipates quickly as the rocket climbs. As we know from bitter experience, the heat blast of take-off was not enough to warm up the O-rings on the rocket carrying the space shuttle Challenger. At low temperatures, the rings were brittle instead of flexible and failed catastrophically.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Let's get another prediction about nuclear powered vehicles, because that can't possibly screw up.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!