8 September 2015

Birthdays
Travis Nelson b. 1990 (Supernatural, Fringe, Meteor Storm, Tucker and Dale vs. Evil)
Justin Bradley b. 1985 (Being Human, Warm Bodies, Beastly)
Christine Weatherup b. 1983 (Star Kid)
Jonathan Taylor Thomas b. 1981 (Smallville)
Miles Jupp b. 1979 (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix)
Nate Corddry b. 1977 (Ghostbusters [2016], The Invention of Lying)
Larenz Tate b. 1975 (The Postman, The Twilight Zone [1985])
Martin Freeman b. 1971 (Captain America: Civil War, The Hobbit, The World’s End, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Shaun of the Dead)
Brooke Burke-Charvet b. 1971 (The Wraith)
David Arquette b. 1971 (The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl, Eight Legged Freaks, Muppets from Space, Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
Brian Huskey b. 1968 (This Is the End, Fright Night [2011], Meet Dave, Land of the Lost [2009])
Brad Silberling b. 1963 (director, Land of the Lost, Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, Casper)
Larry Zerner b. 1963 (Knights of Badassdom, Friday the 13th Part III)
Thomas Kretschmann b. 1962 (Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Dracula [TV], Dracula 3D, FlashForward, Bionic Woman, King Kong, Frankenstein [2004 TV], Resident Evil: Apocalypse, Blade II, Relic Hunter, Total Recall 2070, Total Reality)
David Knell b. 1961 (Grimm, The Invisible Man, Total Recall, ALF, Splash, The Devil and Max Devlin)
Tom Tangen b. 1961 (Monkeybone, Donnie Darko, A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge, Back to the Future)
Sonja Smits b. 1958 (Odyssey 5, TekWar, Videodrome)
Heather Thomas b. 1957 (Swamp Thing [TV], Cyclone, Zapped!)
Julian Richings b. 1955 (The Witch, Hellmouth, Orphan Black, Supernatural, Man of Steel, Todd and the Book of Pure Evil, Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, Survival of the Dead, Saw IV, X-Men: The Last Stand, Skinwalkers, Re-Generation, Prince Charming, My Best Friend is an Alien, Highlander: The Raven, Universal Soldier II: Brothers in Arms, Cube, Mimic, RoboCop [TV], War of the Worlds [TV])
Clayton Norcross b. 1954 (Weird Science [TV], Defending Your Life)
Mark Lindsay Chapman b. 1954 (Charmed, Poltergeist: The Legacy, NightMan, Legend of the Mummy, The Burning Zone, Lois & Clark, Weird Science [TV], The Langoliers, Swamp Thing [TV], Max Headroom)
Willard Huyck b. 1945 (writer/director, Howard the Duck; writer, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom)
Archie Goodwin b. 1937 died 1 March 1988 (writer, Marvel Comics and Warren Publications)
Michael A. Hoey b. 1934 died 17 August 2014 (director, The Navy vs. the Night Monsters)
Joe Kubert b. 1926 died 12 August 2012 (artist)
Peter Sellers b. 1925 died 24 July 1980 (Alice in Wonderland [1972 and 1966])
Harry Harris b. 1922 died 19 March 2009 (director, Alice in Wonderland [1985], Land of the Giants, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Time Tunnel, Lost in Space)
Harry Secombe b. 1921 died 11 April 2001 (Alice Through the Looking Box)
Frank Cady b. 1915 died 8 June 2012 (Monster Squad [TV], 7 Faces of Dr. Lao, The Next Voice You Hear…)
Alexander Mackendrick b. 1912 died 22 December 1993 (writer/director, The Man in the White Suit)
Brian Morrow b. 1911 died 11 May 2006 (Beauty and the Beast, Freddie’s Nightmares, Otherworld, The Greatest American Hero, The Bionic Woman, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, Colossus: The Forbin Project, Star Trek, Bewitched, Lost in Space, The Invaders, Captain Nice, I Dream of Jeannie, Cyborg 2087, Atlantis, the Lost Continent, Twilight Zone)
William Fawcett b. 1894 died 25 January 1974 (I Dream of Jeannie, Mr. Terrific, The Munsters, Jesse James Meets Frankenstein’s Daughter, Twilight Zone, Commando Cody, Captain Video, Atom Man vs. Superman, Batman and Robin [1949])

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, I went Oh That Guy with Brian Morrow and noted the first episode aired of Star Trek. This year, I drag myself into the 21st Century with a picture of Martin Freeman from The Hobbit.

2. Spot the Canadians! Our two youngest on today's list, Travis Nelson and Justin Bradley, are both born north of the border, as is Sonja Smits. Julian Richings was born in Britain but moved to Canada in the 1980s.

3. Nepotism FTW. David Arquette is one of the multi-generational family of actors.

4. The Guy at the Door. On today's list, the cut-off year for the living and the dead is 1945, which is way too recent for my tastes. This means the blog gives special best wishes on his birthday to Willard Huyck, even though he is responsible for Howard the Duck.

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

TV show premieres 
Star Trek first aired, 1966

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

Prediction: The Times came to me by tube each morning, now that I was a solid citizen.

Reality: This scene takes place in 2000 and Heinlein is discussing newspaper delivery by pneumatic tube.

He gets no marks for this, but I do not judge him, because this failed prediction makes me sad.
 
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Another visit from out friend George Sutherland.
  
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

8 August 2014

Birthdays
Shavon Kirksey b. 1989 (Dragonball: Evolution)
Laura Wiggins b. 1988 (The Tomorrow People, Dance of the Dead)
Jake Goldsbie b. 1988 (Prince Charming, Jacob Two Two and the Hooded Fang)
Katie Leung b. 1987 (Harry Potter)
Jenn Proske b. 1987 (Beauty and the Beast [TV], Vampires Suck)
Peyton List b. 1986 (The Flash, The Tomorrow People, Smallville, FlashForward)
Meagan Good b. 1981 (Minority Report [2015])
Tobias Santelmann b. 1980 (Hercules)
Lindsay Sloane b. 1977 (Strange Frequency, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch)
Enzo Cilenti b. 1974 (Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Game of Thrones, Guardians of the Galaxy, The Fourth Kind)
Anne Wheaton b. 1969 (Sharknado 2: The Second One, Big Bang Theory)
Jon Turtletaub b. 1963 (director, National Treasure I, II and III, Jericho, From the Earth to the Moon, Phenomenon)
Suzee Pai b. 1962 (Big Trouble in Little China)
Harry Crosby b. 1958 (Friday the 13th)
Branscombe Richmond b. 1955 (Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, Charmed, Tremors [TV], Power Rangers Wild Force, Batman Returns, Alien Nation, Beauty and the Beast [TV], The Greatest American Hero, Misfits of Science, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Automan, The Bionic Woman, The Six Million Dollar Man)
Don Most b. 1953 (Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Star Trek: Voyager, The Crow: Stairway to Heaven, Dark Skies, Sliders, The Munsters Today)
Martin Brest b. 1951 (director, Meet Joe Black)
Keith Carradine b. 1949 (Cowboys & Aliens, The Big Bang Theory, Dollhouse, Star Trek: Enterprise, Perversions of Science, Special Report: Journey to Mars)
Connie Stevens b. 1938 (Way, Way Out)
Dustin Hoffman b. 1937 (The Cobbler, Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium, Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, Sphere, Outbreak, Hook)
Adam Roarke b. 1937 died 27 April 1996 (Star Trek, Return from Witch Mountain, The Six Million Dollar Man, Frogs, Women of the Prehistoric Planet)
Roger Penrose b. 1931 (Physicist, author, White Mars, or, The Mind Set Free)
Terry Nation b. 1930 died 9 March 1977 (writer, Doctor Who, Blake’s 7)
Nina Talbot b. 1930 (Bewitched)
Tom Reese b. 1928 (Wonder Woman, The Six Million Dollar Man, Land of the Giants, Twilight Zone)
Richard Anderson b. 1926 (The Stepford Children, Automan, Knight Rider, The Bionic Woman, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Astronaut, Land of the Giants, The Invaders, The Green Hornet, Forbidden Planet, Captain Midnight)
Rory Calhoun b. 1922 died 28 April 1999 (Tales from the Crypt, Hell Comes to Frogtown, The Revenge of Bigfoot, Night of the Lepus)
William Asher b. 1921 died 16 July 2012 (director, I Dream of Jeannie… Fifteen Years Later, Tabitha, Bewitched, Twilight Zone)
Harry Turner b. 1920 died 11 January 2009 (artist)
Dino De Laurentiis b. 1919 died 10 Nov 2010 (producer, Army of Darkness, King Kong Lives, Maximum Overdrive, Silver Bullet, Cat’s Eye, Dune, Conan the Destroyer, The Dead Zone, Halloween I, II and III, Amityville II, Conan the Barbarian, Flash Gordon, King Kong)
Earl Cameron b. 1917 (Inception, Neverwhere, The Prisoner, Battle Beneath the Earth, Doctor Who, The Andromeda Breakthrough)
Sylvia Sidney b. 1910 died 1 July 1999 (Mars Attacks!, Beetlejuice, Damien: Omen II)
Ford Rainey b. 1908 died 25 July 2005 (Amerika, Halloween II, The Bionic Woman, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Invaders, The Time Tunnel, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Lost in Space, The Outer Limits)
Robert Siodmak b. 1900 died 10 March 1973 (director, Son of Dracula)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, the picture slot went to Terry Nation and to Alfre Woodard because i got her birthday wrong. (Oops.) I had several choices today and very nearly went with Enzo Cilenti as Childermass from Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, but as much as I wish the show was popular enough to be iconic, I have to say Richard Anderson as Oscar Goldman from the bionic shows actually is iconic.

2. Spot the Canadians! We have two young Canadians today, Jake Goldsbie and Jenn Proskie.

3. Nepotism FTW. Keith Carradine has a long and successful career, but I would have to say his last name opened doors at the beginning. Anne Wheaton doesn't do much acting, but she is often in project her husband Wil works on. Harry Crosby was Bing Crosby's kid, just did a little acting.

4. And a happy 98th birthday to...  Earl Cameron, the British actor born in Bermuda. He started working in the 1950s and his most recent credit is 2013. He's not a household name on this side of the Atlantic, but he has had a long and honourable Oh That Guy career in Britain. Many happy returns, Mr. Cameron.

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

The Weekly Soapbox: Pneumatic tubes

There are a lot of predicted things from sci-fi that never quite took off, some of them literally: we don't have personal jetpacks or flying cars, moving sidewalks are rare outside of airports and food in pill form hasn't become the standard, thank goodness. But if I could make a decree to bring one paleo-futuristic thing back into common usage, it would be the pneumatic tube.

There are two times in my life I thought "OMG, this is the future!" One was in the 1970s when I was typing on a computer screen as part of a network that connected state colleges all over California - and score one point for me, I was right about that - and the other was when I was a kid visiting my dad's office and he got a message through a pneumatic tube.

I don't know how expensive pneumatic tube systems are to install or maintain, but I wish more buildings had them. I am resigned to the fact that the modern "futuristic" way to move small packages are drones, but they creep me out. I still love pneumatic tubes and I wish there were more around.

Okay, I am now off the soapbox for another week.
 
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Sundays are just birthdays now, but we will get a slew of fabulous babes, including one of my favorite Cinderellas.
  
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

12 December 2014

Birthdays
Daniel Magder b. 1991 (The Good Witch’s Garden, Mee-Shee: The Water Giant, X-Men, Earth: Final Conflict)
Dyllan Christopher b. 1991 (Phil of the Future, Armageddon)
Kate Todd b. 1987 (Lost Girl, My Babysitter’s a Vampire)
Fabrizio Santino b. 1982 (Gangsters, Guns & Zombies, Captain America: The First Avenger)
Gbenga Akinnagbe b. 1978 (Fringe)
Josh Heald b. 1977 (writer, Hot Tub Time Machine)
Mayim Bialik b. 1975 (The Big Bang Theory, Pumpkinhead, Beauty and the Beast [1987])
Jennifer Connelly b. 1970 (Inkheart, The Day The Earth Stood Still, Hulk, Dark City, The Rocketeer, Labyrinth, Phenomena)
Madchen Amick b. 1970 (Witches of East End, Beauty and the Beast [2012], Star Trek: The Next Generation, Sleepwalkers)
Romano Orzari b. 1964 (The Colony, Punisher: War Zone, Mutant X, Level 9, Nosferatu [1990])
Ana Alicia b. 1956 (Halloween II, Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century)
Sarah Douglas b. 1952 (Strippers vs Werewolves, Witchville, The Stepford Husbands, Monster Mash: The Movie, Stargate SG-1, Babylon 5, Return of the Living Dead III, Beastmaster 2, The Return of Swamp Thing, Solarbabies, Conan the Destroyer, V: The Final Battle, Superman I and II, The People That Time Forgot, Space: 1999, Rollerball [1975], The Last Days of Man on Earth)
Cathy Rigby b. 1952 (Peter Pan [2000], The Six Million Dollar Man)
Bill Nighy b. 1949 (I, Frankenstein, About Time, Jack the Giant Slayer, Total Recall [2012], Wrath of the Titans, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Doctor Who, Underworld, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy [2005], Shaun of the Dead, Phantom of the Opera)
Wings Hauser b. 1947 (Tales from the Hood, Space Rangers, Beastmaster 2: Through the Portal of Time, Freddy’s Nightmares)
Kenneth Cranham b. 1944 (Maleficent, The Legend of Hercules, Merlin [TV 2008], Hellbound: Hellraiser II, Old Drac)
Phyllis Somerville b. 1943 (Fringe, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
Leslie Schofield b. 1938 (Blakes 7, Star Wars: A New Hope, Doctor Who)
Gordon Hessler b. 1925 died 19 January 2014 (director, Wonder Woman, KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, Cry of the Banshee)
Eugene Burdick b. 1918 died 26 July 1965 (author, Fail-Safe, The 480)
Edward G. Robinson b. 1893 died 26 January 1973 (Soylent Green, Batman)

Notes on the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. Last year it was Sarah Douglas from Superman II. This year, it's Jennifer Connelly from Dark City, the wonderfully ominous sci-fi film from 1998. Next year it's hard to say, but the top three choices remaining are Mayim Bialik, Bill Nighy and Edward G. Robinson.

2. Canadians incognito. Three Canadian actors on the list, but none of them worked on the best known of the Canadian genre shows, Stargate, Smallville and The X Files. Instead of asking people to guess, I'll just out them myself. They are Daniel Magder, Kate Tood and Romano Orzari.

3. The Guy at the Door. British actor Leslie Schofield is the oldest living person on the list today and he turns 76. Everyone born before him is already gone, so we give him our special best wishes.

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

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

Prediction: (T)he whole of Great Britain south of the Highlands seems destined to become such an urban region, laced all together not only by railway and telegraph, but by novel roads such as we forecast in the former chapter, and by a dense network of telephones and parcels delivery tubes.

Reality: Young Herb doesn't use the word "pneumatic", but we know that's what he means. There are still plenty of small towns in England and Wales and the pneumatic tube had its heyday and faded away, sad to say.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

We head back to 1893 to hear from a man with no facial hair (boo!) but a remarkably clear view of the advances that electricity will bring (yay!)

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!

5 December 2013

 Birthdays
Nick Stahl b. 1979 (Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, Sin City, Carnivale)
Amy Acker b. 1976 (Angel, Cabin in the Woods, Supernatural, Dollhouse, Grimm, Warehouse 13)
Lisa Marie b. 1968 (Sleepy Hollow, Mars Attacks!, Planet of the Apes, Dominion)
Juan Carlos Fresnadillo b. 1967 (director, 28 Weeks Later)
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)

Only six names today, all from movies or TV. I was tempted to put a poster from Metropolis in the Picture Slot, but instead it's Amy Acker because I'm such a Whedonverse fanboy, a reminder that with Joss Whedon, sometimes characters die and they come back, but not quite all the way.

Predictor: Isaac Asimov, asked for predictions about 2014 in honor of the 1964 World's Fair

Prediction: For short-range travel, moving sidewalks (with benches on either side, standing room in the center) will be making their appearance in downtown sections. They will be raised above the traffic. Traffic will continue (on several levels in some places) only because all parking will be off-street and because at least 80 per cent of truck deliveries will be to certain fixed centers at the city's rim. Compressed air tubes will carry goods and materials over local stretches, and the switching devices that will place specific shipments in specific destinations will be one of the city's marvels.

Reality: After a pretty good showing last week, Asimov goes back to some sci-fi cliches that never really took off, moving sidewalks and pneumatic tubes. I'm fond of pneumatic tubes, but long distance moving sidewalks outside of airports are just another reason not to exercise and I'm not a fan.

 

Though in this case, I'm willing to make an exception. In Trondheim, Norway, there is a "bicycle lift" installed on a steep hill which has been in operation for about 20 years now. Based on ski lift technology, a single trolley track is operated with a key card. When activated, a small metal plate appears and the bike rider puts his or her right foot on it and is propelled pleasantly up the hill.

As an old fat guy who rides a bike, usually on level ground or very modest hills at the most around Oakland and the East Bay, I think this is a great idea. Bike riding hasn't quite reached the critical mass in my neck of the woods for this to be something city planners would think of, but I could see this idea catch on.

Good on ya, Trondheim!

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Friday means TED Talks predictions. If you are one of those people excited and impressed by TED Talks, I think if you stop by every Friday for just a few weeks, I can cure you of that.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

19 October 2013

Birthdays
Jon Favreau b. 1966 (producer, Iron Man, Revolution)
Roger R. Cross b. 1966 (Continuum, Arrow, Eureka, The X Files)
Ken Stott b. 1954 (The Hobbit)
John Lithgow b. 1945 (Shrek, Third Rock from the Sun, Buckaroo Banzai, Twilight Zone: The Movie, The Day After)
Jim Starlin b. 1949
Michael Gambon b. 1940 (Harry Potter)
Tor Johnson b. 1903 died 12 May 1971 (Plan 9 From Outer Space, Bride of the Monster)

While Michael Gambon as Dumbledore would be the most recognizable face to put in the Picture Slot, I was very tempted to go with Tor Johnson. In the end, my comic book loving inner child got the final say and we have a picture of artist Jim Starlin's greatest contribution to the Marvel Universe, the cosmic villian Thanos.

Many happy returns of the day to all the living on the list.
 

Predictor: Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850-1919) poet and author, asked for her predictions of 1983 on the occasion of the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago.

Predictions in italics (realities in parentheses):
In 1993, the government will have grown more simple... railroads and telegraphs will belong to the state, thus lessening the dangerous power of large monopolies and vast corporations. Otherwise, in less than a century, our boasted American freedom would cease to exist.

(Tee hee. It's funny to read "freedom", the worship word of the Tea Party, used to promote the thing they hate the most.)

Instead of prohibition, the control of alcohol and crime will be achieved by forbidding the offenders to propagate.

(Oh, yeah, because that will be so much easier to enforce. Welcome to the 21st Century, Mrs. Wilcox. What I just used is sarcasm. It has gained great popularity in the modern age.)

The Western United States will be irrigated and fertilized, furnishing food for all our population... Airships will facilitate travel, and the pneumatic tube will be the means of transporting goods.

(Okay, Mrs. Wilcox gets a few hits at last. The West doesn't produce all the food for the whole country, but it certainly produces a lot. By airships, she meant blimps, but let's still give her a point there. And, of course, any mention of pneumatic tubes scores a point in my book, regardless of their rarity today.)

America shall produce the greatest authors who shall be living in 1993. In musical achievement it will still be behind older countries.

(This is a matter of opinion and hard to judge. No one can say what Mrs. Wilcox would think about jazz, Broadway musicals and rock 'n' roll, but all of them are distinctly American in origin and have enjoyed worldwide popularity.)


(Except for jazz. Nobody likes jazz.)

The occult sixth sense will be the predominant element in medicine and theology...

(Okay, stopping you right there. Let's just say NO and move along.)

Woman will be financially independent of man, and this will materially lessen crime.

(Compared to 1893, this is certainly true in 1993.)


Men will learn the importance of proper prenatal conditions, and children will be reared with the same care now given colts, calves and dogs.

(Girl! Oh no, you didn't. I thought I had to introduce you to sarcasm. My bad.)


Government will establish colleges for the training of servants...

(Hmmmmmm... no. Next.)


If our men keep with our women in athletic development and in clean morals,the race will be larger and handsomer. Otherwise we shall produce splendid Amazons and pygmy men.

(The book I am getting these predictions from, Today Then, compiled by Dave Walter in 1992, used the phrase "Splendid Amazons and Pygmy Men" as the title for Ms. Wilcox's predictions. Nice to know I'm not alone in thinking that is a striking image.)

Chicago will be our greatest city because she knows she is not, and desires to be, and has the energy and zeal to become so.

(I think the denizens New York City would respectfully disagree. I might be wrong about the "respectfully" part.)

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Sundays mean Ray Bradbury, giving us updates on the progress of the colonization of Mars.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

6 October 2013

Birthdays
Ioan Gruffudd b. 1973 (Fantastic Four)
Elisabeth Shue b. 1963 (Back to the Future II and III, Piranha 3-D)
David Brin b. 1950
(won 1984 Hugo and Nebula for Startide Rising)
(won 1988 Hugo for The Uplift War)

The sentence structure that does the best job of making me feel old is "You know who just turned 50?" In this case, it's the cute little star of Adventures in Babysitting. Tempus fugit, bitchez.

Besides the big awards, Brin also had one of his stories The Postman turned into a major motion picture. If you are having a hard time remembering it, that may be because it starred Kevin Costner.

Many happy returns of the day to everyone on our list today.
 

Predictor: T.V. Powderly, labor leader, asked for predictions about 1993 on the occasion of the 1893 Columbian Exhibition.

Predictions (and reality): The population will grow from 63,000,000 to 300,000,000. (actual in 1993: 258,000,000, not a bad guess.)

All children educated to use tools. (Shop class. Do we still have mandatory shop class?)

On government, initiative and referendum will prevail. (Definitely more than in 1893, but this once progressive system will be hijacked by the interests of corporations and the rich.)

Labor organizations will have disappeared, for they will no longer be necessary. (You can't fool me, I'm working for the union. Actually, he's right about unions dwindling and wrong about them being unnecessary.)

Railroads, water courses, telegraphs, telephones and pneumatic tubes will all be owned by the government. (Obviously a commie who wants to round us up and shoot us. I know because some guy on Twitter told me that's what all commies want. Still, he mentioned pneumatic tubes.Yay!)

Cremation will take the place of burying the dead. Living will be healthier, for the earth will not be poisoned by the internment of infection. (Hmm, not so much. We are healthier by far, but not because we gave up burying the dead. We actually started curing diseases, most notably tuberculosis, which was the number two killer just behind influenza, which we have contained remarkably with vaccines. In 1893, "curing disease" was crazy talk, only claimed by charlatans.)

The contents of the sewers will no longer flow into rivers and streams. (This is true in some places. Others, not so much.)

There will be no very rich or very poor. Under such conditions, prisons and poorhouses will decline and divorces will not be considered necessary. (That's a big zero for five. We no longer call them poor houses, but low income housing does still exist.) 

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Moving the weekly schedule around due to a couple of predictions from movies this week, Isaac Asimov's 1964 predictions get the Monday slot instead of the Tuesday this week.


Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

25 September 2013

Birthdays
Joel David Moore b. 1977 (Avatar)
Clea DuVall b. 1977 (Buffy, The Faculty, American Horror Story)
Will Smith b. 1968 (Men in Black, I,Robot, I am Legend)
Christopher Reeve b, 1952 died 10 October 2004 (Superman)
Colin Friels b. 1952 (Dark City, Darkman)
Marc Hamill b. 1951 (Star Wars)

Today's birthday list is strong on star power. Putting either Reeve, Smith or Hamill in the Picture Slot is completely defensible, but I chose Reeve for three reasons.
1. He was so damn pretty.
2. Respect for the dead.
3. His first two Superman movies are the last two movies made about characters from the DC Universe that really felt optimistic.

Many happy returns to the living.
 

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

Prediction: That impatient age will certainly not tolerate the inconvenience of having to send out to post its letters and parcels, or the tardiness of having these articles sorted and passed on for delivery only at intervals of half an hour or so. We may take it for granted that every well-equipped business office will be in direct communication, by means of large-calibred pneumatic tubes, with the nearest post-office.

Reality: As we know, our impatient age is not run on the convenience of pneumatic tubes, but I still remember the first time I saw one as a kid and thought, "Wow, that's the future!" We've opted instead for the Internet, which the late Senator Ted Stevens explained to us back in 2006 was "not a truck, but a series of tubes".  So, kinda the same thing.

Or not.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Thursday is H.G. Wells' day, most of his predictions taken from him glum 1933 book The Shape of Things to Come. Last week his prediction was about a particularly grim use of poison gas, but tomorrow he gives us a ray of hope about the end of the use of such weapons, though even that is wrapped in a glum package.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
 

1 July 2013

Liv Tyler b. 1977
 Dominic Keating b. 1962 (Enterprise, Heroes)
Andre Braugher b. 1962 (Andromeda Strain, Fantastic Four)
David Prowse b. 1935 (Star Wars)

Liv Tyler gets the Picture Slot all dolled up as an elf, though next year I might very well go with Darth Vader. Andre Braugher has a long career with very little work in genre films, but I do love a same day/same year pair, and he shares that exact birthday with Mr. Keating, whose career is not quite as illustrious but with more work in sci-fi/fantasy.

Movies released
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs released, 2009
The Last Airbender escaped, 2010

Prediction: In 2016, our cars will be transported in pneumatic tubes.

Predictor: Popular Mechanics in 1957

Reality: What the what?!? I fully understand the coolness of pneumatic tubes, but for transporting cars? This would be a ridiculous waste of space and energy.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

I've been hunting through the Heinlein predictions, and I think I found one that isn't completely ridiculous.


I know, it's like the Museum of the Hard to Believe.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

19 June 2013

Birthdays
Paul Dano b. 1984 (Looper, Cowboys and Aliens)
Aidan Turner b. 1983 (Kili in The Hobbit)
Zoe Saldana b. 1978 (Avatar, Star Trek)

Is there any chance Mr. Dano or Mr. Turner will get a shot at the Picture Slot the next time June 19th rolls around?

No. Not one chance in Hell. Many happy returns of the day to all three of these actors.

 

Movies released
Jason and the Argonauts released, 1963

Fifty years ago, I saw this movie on the big screen at the Grand Lake theater in Oakland, California. It is still one of the most memorable movie going experiences of my life. By today's special effects standards, it doesn't look real, but to my mind that is actually the point. It looks magical. Lots of scenes of giant gods and puny mortals, battles with a giant bronze statue, the skeleton army and several other magical beasts.

Great pacing, great visuals and wonderful music by Bernard Herrmann are just a few of the treats in this movie. Fifty years ago, this was a movie "made for kids" and Serious Film People wouldn't even consider discussing it as they would A Serious Film.

Simply put, they are wrong. Jason and the Argonauts was an important step forward in the history of cinema and still a hell of a lot of fun to watch.

Here's to Ray Harryhausen, who died earlier this year. He will never be forgotten.

In the year 2000!

Prediction:Ready-cooked meals will be bought from establishments similar to our bakeries of today. They will purchase materials in tremendous wholesale quantities and sell the cooked foods at a price much lower than the cost of individual cooking. Food will be served hot or cold to private houses in pneumatic tubes or automobile wagons. The meal being over, the dishes used will be packed and returned to the cooking establishments where they will be washed. Such wholesale cookery will be done in electric laboratories rather than in kitchens. These laboratories will be equipped with electric stoves, and all sorts of electric devices, such as coffee-grinders, egg-beaters, stirrers, shakers, parers, meat-choppers, meat-saws, potato-mashers, lemon-squeezers, dish-washers, dish-dryers and the like. All such utensils will be washed in chemicals fatal to disease microbes. Having one’s own cook and purchasing one’s own food will be an extravagance.

Predictor: John Elfreth Watkins in a 1900 issue of The Ladies' Home Journal

Reality: Watkins loses a point or two, but he gets a lot right as well. His love for pneumatic tubes can be compared to the Hard SF's love for space travel, but the basic idea of delivery food is exactly true and the size of the kitchens is at least somewhat true. Having a cook is an extravagance, purchasing one's own food isn't. You can't eat out every night.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!


It's H.G. Wells' turn at bat tomorrow, predicting the future of gambling.


I've got five bucks that says he's wrong. (Add General Ackbar's favorite line here.)

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

5 June 2013

Birthday
Mark Wahlberg b. 1971 

Wahlberg's career has only a few genre films in it, including Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes, M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening and you could kinda sorta say Seth McFarlane's Ted.

It would be hard to choose a trio of directors who have done a better job of getting on my nerves.

But it's not their birthday, it's Mr. Wahlberg's, and the blog wishes him many happy returns.  

Prediction: Store Purchases by Tube. Pneumatic tubes, instead of store wagons, will deliver packages and bundles. These tubes will collect, deliver and transport mail over certain distances, perhaps for hundreds of miles. They will at first connect with the private houses of the wealthy; then with all homes. Great business establishments will extend them to stations, similar to our branch post-offices of today, whence fast automobile vehicles will distribute purchases from house to house.

Predictor: John Elfreth Watkins in The Ladies' Home Journal, published in 1900

Reality: Futurists were keen on pneumatic tubes. I can understand it. They made a cool noise and felt like watching a magic trick. I remember being in an office when I was a kid that had pneumatic tubes. They were big at drive-through banks back in the 1970s before automated tellers took over.

Watkins can be forgiven for thinking this was the wave of the future because both New York and Philadelphia had installed large scale pneumatic tube systems in the 1890s. According to the linked article, the cost was considered prohibitive by 1918 and the cities replaced the systems with auto delivery only. Watkins does get partial credit for assuming the automobile would make horse carts obsolete. Autos weren't rare in 1900 by any means, but they did have to share the road with horses everywhere and trolleys in most major cities.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Another prediction from H.G. Wells, this time about the future of war and architecture.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

7 April 2013

Birthday
Heath Ledger b. 1979 died 22 Jan 2008

Mr. Ledger's best known work in the genre is The Dark Knight, and he was also in The Brothers Grimm and Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, his last film.

Prediction:  As soon as Winston had dealt with each of the messages, he clipped his speakwritten corrections to the appropriate copy of the Times and pushed them into the pneumatic tube. Then, with a movement which was as nearly as possible unconscious, he crumpled up the original message and any notes that he himself had made, and dropped them in the memory hole to be devoured by the flames.

Predictor:  George Orwell in 1984, published 1949

Reality:  So much stuff this little paragraph brings up. 

First off: Pneumatic tubes!  A while back, I joked that The Holy Trinity of Mid Century Futurism were flying cars, moving sidewalks and food in pill form. Well, I have to lose that trinity bit because pneumatic tubes are just as important. I might very well stumble on some other thing that is just as iconic.

The main part of the prediction is the memory hole, a place where facts go to die. Winston Smith's job was re-writing old sources of information so that it all agreed with whatever the current official version of the truth was.

Needless to say, we don't live in the future Orwell predicted. This map of Oceania, Eurasia, Eastasia and the Disputed Territories is not the way the world is split up. We don't have a state run by a single party that always needs to rewrite the past to show they are infallible in the present.

This does not stop some people from believing the past has been doctored, that some unnamed soul is doing the same kind of work that Winston Smith did in the novel. If you believe that Obama was not born in Hawaii, you have to believe his various birth certificates and this announcement in the Honolulu newspaper are frauds perpetrated recently to re-write the past and all copies of the "original" papers have been sent down the memory hole.

Which brings us to the world we actually live in.  Friend of the blog Leo Lincourt tweeted a link to the Smithsonian's Paleofuture website.  In it, the late Internet pioneer Paul Baran made a remarkable prediction in 1969 that more TV stations could create a media environment where people could find news outlets that would cater to the things they believed were true. Baran mentions the John Birchers and left wing student groups as possible consumers of such media  It's stunningly accurate but I have to sneak it in sideways onto this blog because it did not give a date as to when this would happen.

Thanks to Leo Lincourt for finding this gem.

So we have this split world, mainly cleaved along the lines of conservatives and liberals but actually much more fractured than that. Instead of erasing the past completely, both sides assume in a manner "as nearly as possible unconscious" that the other side is filled with lying scumbags. There are competing versions of the truth on more topics than I can count, and each side is convinced what they read, hear and see through their media outlets is the real truth.

Like a lot of liberals, I have come to hate the "both sides do it" argument. Some recent research suggests conservatives buy into conspiracy theories more than liberals do, but that doesn't mean our side is simon pure. As I study more about climate change, it's obvious both sides completely discount the other. The thing is, there is some data that casts doubt on the idea of man made climate change. A strong example is that the rise in CO2 is undeniable and unprecedented but the temperature increases have not moved in lockstep. Because such questions are often raised by people who think the science community is a money-making scam (another conspiracy theory I can't begin to understand much less accept) questions that should be answered are largely ignored instead.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

A look at Newspeak, the language that will replace English.

Join me then... IN THE FUTURE!