6 March 2015

Birthdays

Aryana Engineer b. 2001 (Resident Evil: Retribution)
Dylan Schmid b. 1999 (Once Upon a Time, Horns, Stonados, Falling Skies, Fringe)
Alisha Bow b. 1997 (Extant, Paranormal Activity 4)
Elise Eberle b. 1993 (Salem, The Astronaut Farmer)
Samantha Potter b. 1990 (Big Bang Theory)
Eli Marienthal b. 1986 (Jack Frost)
Joel Palmer b. 1986 (Dreamcatcher, First Wave, Poltergeist: The Legacy, The X Files)
Ellen Muth b. 1981 (Dead Like Me)Shaquille O’Neal b. 1972 (Steel, Kazaam)
Dwayne Boyd b. 1972 (Under the Dome, Resurrection, Sleepy Hollow [2013], The Walking Dead, The Hunger Games)
Shane Brolly b. 1970 (Underworld, Deadly Swarm, NightMan)
Moira Kelly b. 1968 (Heroes)
Connie Britton b. 1967 (American Horror Story, A Nightmare on Elm Street)
Shuler Hensley b. 1967 (Odd Thomas, After.Life, Van Helsing)
Jonathan Scott-Taylor b. 1962 (Damien: Omen II, 1990)
Tom Arnold b. 1959 (Homo Erectus, Coneheads, Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare)
Michael Carmine b. 1959 died 14 October 1989 (*batteries not included)
Richard Schenkman b. 1958 (director, Mischief Night, Abraham Lincoln vs. Zombies, The Man from Earth)
Eddie Deezen b. 1957 (Lloyd in Space, Teenage Exorcist, Critter 2, A Polish Vampire in Burbank, WarGames, Zapped!)
Larry Cedar b. 1955 (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, National Treasure: Book of Secrets, Charmed, Stargate SG-1, Star Trek: Enterprise, Honey, I Shrunk the Kid [TV], Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Philadelphia Experiment II, C.H.U.D. II, The Hidden, Amazing Stories, Otherworld, Dreamscape, Twilight Zone: The Movie, Battlestar Galactica [1978])
John David Carson b. 1952 died 27 October 2009 (Empire of the Ants, Creature from Black Lake, Day of the Dolphin)
Anna Maria Horsford b. 1948 (Minority Report, The Chronicle)
Rob Reiner b. 1947 (actor, Batman, director, The Princess Bride)
Martin Kove b. 1946 (Alien Lockdown, The Black Scorpion, Timelock, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Future Shock, Hard Time on Planet Earth, Twilight Zone, Beyond Westworld, The Incredible Hulk, Death Race 2000)
Ben Murphy b. 1942 (The Genesis Code, Seven Days, The Twilight Zone [1989], Time Walker, Gemini Man)
Allison Hayes b. 1930 died 27 Feb. 1977 (The Hypnotic Eye, Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, The Unearthly, The Undead, Zombies of Mora Tau)
William F. Nolan b. 1928 (author, Logan’s Run)
Gordon Cooper b. 1927 died 4 October 2004 (astronaut)
Will Eisner b. 1917 died 3 January 2005 (author and illustrator, The Spirit)
Virginia Gregg b. 1916 died 15 September 1986 (Project U.F.O., Man From Atlantis, The Six Million Dollar Man, Bewitched, The Addams Family, My Favorite Martian, Twilight Zone, Kiss of the Vampire)
Lou Costello b. 1906 died 3 March 1959 (The Thirty Foot Bride of Candy Rock, Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy, Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Jack and the Beanstalk, Abbott and Costello Go to Mars, Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man)
Frank Hoban b. 1870 died 12 June 1943 (illustrator)
Cyrano de Bergerac b. 1619 died 28 July 1655 (author, The Comical History of the States and Empires of the Moon and Sun)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, The Picture Slot was given to astronaut Gordon Cooper and Allison Hayes, start of the original Attack of the 50 Foot Woman. Not wanting to repeat myself, there were a few choices I considered iconic, but how many people on the list have an award named after them? If that's the second criterion, Will Eisner stands alone.

2. Baby Canadians, hard to spot. The two youngest people on our list, Aryanna Engineer and Dylan Schmid, were both born north of the border, but their credit lists don't make that obvious. Joel Palmer is also Canadian. Ellen Muth, star of the Canadian production Dead Like Me, was born in the states. 

3. Nepotism FTW. Rob Reiner was first an actor and then a very successful director, but even before that he was Carl Reiner's son. His successes are certainly his own doing, but his dad's name probably opened a few doors early.

4. Not to be confused with... John David Carson started his career in his teens in the 1970 and I though he might be related to Johnny Carson, but that was not the case. Jonathan Scott-Taylor is a British actor who played Damien in The Omen II, not to be confused with Jonathan Taylor Thomas, the child actor who played Randy on Home Improvement  many years later.

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

Movie released 
Watchmen released, 2009

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

Prediction: The telephone will almost certainly prove a very potent auxiliary indeed to the forces making for diffusion. At present that convenience is still needlessly expensive in Great Britain, but even under these disadvantages the thing is becoming a factor in of ordinary life. Consider all that lies within its possibilities. Take first the domestic and social side; almost all the labour of ordinary shopping can be avoided--goods nowadays can be ordered and sent either as sold outright, or on approval, to any place within a hundred miles of London, and in one day they can be examined, discussed, and returned--at any rate, in theory. The mistress of the house has all her local tradesmen, all the great London shops, the circulating library, the theatre box-office, the post-office and cab-rank, the nurses' institute and the doctor, within reach of her hand. The instrument we may confidently expect to improve, but even now speech is perfectly clear and distinct over several hundred miles of wire. Appointments and invitations can be made; and at a cost varying from a penny to two shillings any one within two hundred miles of home may speak day or night into the ear of his or her household. It will be possible soon to send urgent messages at any hour of the day or night to any part of the world; and even our sacred institution of the Civil Service can scarcely prevent this desirable consummation for many years more. The business man may then sit at home in his library and bargain, discuss, promise, hint, threaten, tell such lies as he dare not write, and, in fact, do everything that once demanded a personal encounter.

Reality: Okay, here is Wells at his best. The telephone at the turn of the century is something akin to a toy for the rich, but he knows it's going to get cheaper and better and it will change the way we live in unimaginable ways. Good on ya, Herbert.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Back to 1893 with great facial hair and a very dim view of all this socialism stuff.

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!

20 March 2014

 Birthdays
Bianca Lawson b. 1979 (Teen Wolf [TV], The Vampire Diaries, Big Monster on Campus, Buffy)
Jane March b. 1973 (Jack the Giant Killer, Clash of the Titans, Blood of Beasts, Dark Prince: The True Story of Dracula , Dark Realm, Relic Hunter)
Michael Rapaport b. 1970 (The 6th Day, Deep Blue Sea)
Lawrence Makoare b. 1968 (The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, Xena)
Marc Warren b. 1967 (Dreams1997, Dracula [2006], Hogfather, Doctor Who, Alice Through the Looking Glass [1998], Highlander [TV])
David Thewlis b. 1963 (Harry Potter, The Zero Theorem, The Omen [2006], Timeline, Dinotopia, The Island of Dr. Moreau [1996], DragonHeart)
Stephen Sommers b. 1963 (director, G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra, Van Helsing, The Mummy, The Mummy Returns, Deep Rising)
Kathy Ireland b. 1963 (Journey to the Center of the Earth [1988], Alien from L.A.)
Theresa Russell b. 1957 (The Legends of Nethiah, Fringe, Spider-Man 3, Earth vs. the Spider [2001], Good vs Evil, A Young Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court)
Chris Wedge b. 1957 (director, Ice Age, Robots, Epic)
Tom Towles b. 1950 (Halloween [2007], House of 1000 Corpses, Firefly, Star Trek: Voyager, 3rd Rock from the Sun, VR.5, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Night of the Living Dead [1990], The Pit and the Pendulum)
William Hurt b. 1950 (The Host, Hellgate, The Incredible Hulk, Nightmares & Dreamscapes, Neverwas, Frankenstein [TV], The Village, Tuck Everlasting, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Dune [TV], Lost in Space [movie], Dark City, Michael, Until the End of the World, Altered States)
John De Lancie b. 1948 (Zombie Hamlet, Cloned: The Recreator Chronicles, Torchwood, Gamer, My Apocalypse, Invader ZIM, Charmed, Andromeda, Stargate SG-1, Star Trek, Multiplicity, Legend, Time Trax, The Twilight Zone, Battlestar Galactica [1979], The Six Million Dollar Man)
Chip Zien b. 1947 (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Undead, Breakfast of Champions, Into the Woods, Howard the Duck)
Hal Linden b. 1931 (Supernatural, Light Years Away, Time Changer)
Karen Steele b. 1931 died 12 March 1988 (Star Trek, Cyborg 2087, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea)
Jack Kruschen b. 1922 died 2 April 2002 (Lois and Clark, The Time Machine [TV], The Incredible Hulk, Batman, The Angry Red Planet, The War of the Worlds)
Wendell Corey b. 1914 died 8 November 1968 (The Astro Zombies, Cyborg 2087, Women of the Prehistoric Planet)
B.F. Skinner b. 1904 died 18 August 1990 (author, Walden Two)
Fredric Wertham b. 1895 died 18 November 1981 (author, Seduction of the Innocent, The World of Fanzines)

The Picture Slot choice wasn't easy today, which is often the case. We have some star power with William Hurt, an iconic role with John De Lancie as Q (last years' Picture Slot) and plenty of fabulous babes. But the two names that got me thinking the most were the two dead guys from the very bottom of the list, Frederic Wertham and B.F. Skinner. Both did what they could to bring controversy to the psychological fields, Wertham with his sadly successful crusade to get rid of "disturbing" comic books with his book Seduction of the Innocent and Skinner with his weird behaviorist stuff. In Wertham's defense, his later book about fanzines was a very favorable treatment of the communities formed by fandom, which is a reasonable description of this blog.

Many happy returns to 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:  When you phone a foreign country, electronic translating equipment, built on the principle of today's computers, will translate your conversation instantaneously. If, for example, you are calling Japan, answers will come back translated from Japanese.

Reality: For the first time, Dr. de Forest overshoots by quite a bit. He gets a tiny amount of partial credit for explaining to his readers that such technology would be "built on the principle of today's computers", but instantaneous translation is still future technology even today.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Dr. de Forest shouldn't feel too bad, because he gets a lot right. The guy who should consider changing his name and what he does for a living is tomorrow's predictor Dr. Paul Ehrlich, as we pull out some more numbers from his not at all prophetic 1968 book The Population Bomb.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
 

6 March 2014

 Birthdays
Elise Eberle b. 1993 (Salem, The Astronaut Farmer)
Dwayne Boyd b. 1972 (Resurrection, Sleepy Hollow, The Walking Dead, The Hunger Games, Surface)
Connie Britton b. 1967 (American Horror Story, A Nightmare on Elm Street)
Shuler Hensley b. 1967 (Odd Thomas, After.Life, Van Helsing)
Jonathan Scott-Taylor b. 1962 (Damien: Omen II, 1990)
Richard Schenkman b. 1958 (director, Abraham Lincoln vs. Zombies, The Man from Earth)
Larry Cedar b. 1955 (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, National Treasure: Book of Secrets, Charmed, Stargate SG-1, Star Trek: Enterprise, Honey, I Shrunk the Kid [TV], Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, C.H.U.D. II, Dreamscape, Battlestar Galactica [1978])
Anna Maria Horsford b. 1948 (Minority Report, The Chronicle)
Rob Reiner b. 1947 (director, The Princess Bride)
Martin Kove b. 1946 (Alien Lockdown, The Black Scorpion, Timelock, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Future Shock, Hard Time on Planet Earth, Twilight Zone, Beyond Westworld, The Incredible Hulk, Death Race 2000)
Ben Murphy b. 1942 (The Genesis Code, The Twilight Zone, Time Walker, Gemini Man)
Allison Hayes b. 1930 died 27 Feb. 1977 (The Hypnotic Eye, Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, The Unearthly, The Undead, Zombies of Mora Tau)
William F. Nolan b. 1928 (author, Logan’s Run)
Gordon Cooper b. 1927 died 4 October 2004 (astronaut)
Will Eisner b. 1917 died 3 January 2005 (author and illustrator, The Spirit)
Virginia Gregg b. 1916 died 15 September 1986 (Project U.F.O., Man From Atlantis, The Six Million Dollar Man, Bewitched, The Addams Family, My Favorite Martian, Twilight Zone, Kiss of the Vampire)
Lou Costello b. 1906 died 3 March 1959 (The Thirty Foot Bride of Candy Rock, Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy, Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Jack and the Beanstalk, Abbott and Costello Go to Mars, Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man)
Frank Hoban b. 1870 died 12 June 1943 (illustrator)
Cyrano de Bergerac b. 1619 died 28 July 1655 (author, The Comical History of the States and Empires of the Moon and Sun)

Last year, when I hadn't done as much research, Allison Hayes from The Attack of the 50 Foot Woman was in the Picture Slot for several reasons, but as much as possible I try to mix things up. The illustrators Frank Hoban and Will Eisner are certainly iconic and so is Jonathan Scott-Taylor was Damien in the second installment of the Omen series. But this year I'm going to honor the astronauts when I can, so we get a publicity photo of Gordon Cooper, one of the original Mercury Seven. Space travel still exists but the newness has worn off long ago, which is a shame. There are still places to explore and challenging technical problems to be overcome.

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

Movies released
Watchmen released, 2009

I saw on Facebook that Zach Snyder and Terry Gilliam are in a pissing contest. That's too bad, I like them both.

Predictor: Lee de Forest, the self-proclaimed "father of radio", predicting the world of 2000 in the 17 January 1960 edition of the Sunday supplement American Weekly.

Prediction: You will have portable telephones no larger than a king-size cigarette pack (transistor radios of that size already are being built). Walking down a street in Boston, you can call your family at home, or phone a friend in Los Angeles or even abroad.

Reality: De Forest gets full marks for this one. While he mentions transistor radios, the big step forward in miniaturization comes in the 1970s with microprocessor chips. This means he is predicting something where basic technology necessary is still several advances away, both with phone size and worldwide wireless telecommunication.

No snark here. This is an extremely accurate description of the state of the art in 2000.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

The first prediction from Paul Ehrlich, author of The Population Bomb. 

You know all that snark I didn't use today? I'm storing it up for tomorrow. Ehrlich's stuff is pretty bad.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
  

12 December 2013

 Birthdays
Mayim Bialik b. 1975 (The Big Bang Theory, Pumpkinhead)
Jennifer Connelly b. 1970 (Hulk, The Day The Earth Stood Still, Inkheart, Labyrinth, Phenomena)
Madchen Amick b. 1970 (Witches of East End, Fantasy Island[reboot], Star Trek: The Next Generation, Sleepwalkers)
Sarah Douglas b. 1952 (Superman II, Conan the Destroyer, Stargate SG-1, Babylon 5, Beastmaster 2, V: The Final Battle, Space: 1999, The Last Days of Man on Earth)
Bill Nighy b. 1949 (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Jack the Giant Slayer, Wrath of the Titans, Doctor Who, Total Recall [reboot], Underworld, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Shaun of the Dead, Phantom of the Opera)
Leslie Schofield b. 1938 (Star Wars: A New Hope, Doctor Who)
Eugene Burdick b. 1918 died 26 July 1965 (author, Fail-Safe, The 480)

I'm assuming people do not need the first five names on the list "explained". I always love a same day birth pair, and with Ms. Amick and Ms. Connelly, that's a whole lot of pretty. You could argue that Sarah Douglas in Superman II is not the most iconic genre role on the list, but then, you'd be arguing with me and... it's my blog.

Leslie Schofield played a Death Star officer who told Grand Moff Tarkin the stolen plans could present a problem, only to be on the receiving end of serious Moff scoff.

Eugene Burdick, the only dead guy on today's list. wrote Fail-Safe and The 480, a political thriller that warns of people predicting the future using... computer simulations!

Yes, this is back in the punch card days. Scary!

Many happy returns of the day to all the living on the list, and thanks to Mr. Burdick for all the memories.

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

Predictions, (interrupted with reality): Communications will become sight-sound and you will see as well as hear the person you telephone. The screen can be used not only to see the people you call but also for studying documents and photographs and reading passages from books. Synchronous satellites, hovering in space will make it possible for you to direct-dial any spot on earth, including the weather stations in Antarctica, shown in chill splendor as part of the '64 General Motors exhibit.

(Okay, let's just stop here for a moment. This is a tape measure home run. Not just picture phones but documents on the Internet and large scale com-sat networks. Very nice work, Mr. Asimov, really tip-top.)

(What could go wrong now? Well, Isaac gets a little space happy.)

For that matter, you will be able to reach someone at the moon colonies, concerning which General Motors puts on a display of impressive vehicles in model form with large soft tires intended to negotiate the uneven terrain that may exist on our natural satellite.

(Would soft tires make the most sense? Fixing a flat in a vacuum sounds like a major pain in the butt.)

Any number of simultaneous conversations between earth and moon can be handled by modulated laser beams, which are easy to manipulate in space. On earth, however, laser beams will have to be led through plastic pipes, to avoid material and atmospheric interference. Engineers will still be playing with that problem in 2014.

Conversations with the moon will be a trifle uncomfortable, by the way, in that 2.5 seconds must elapse between statement and answer (it takes light that long to make the round trip). Similar conversations with Mars will experience a 3.5-minute delay even when Mars is at its closest. However, by 2014, only unmanned ships will have landed on Mars, though a manned expedition will be in the works and in the 2014 Futurama will show a model of an elaborate Martian colony.

(Okay, space happy but not space crazy. No one stepping foot on Mars by 2014. Recall that Heinlein and Clarke had us all over the galaxy by the turn of the century. Isaac steals a point from Bob and ACC by being sensible.)

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

TED Talks! Movers! Shakers! Game Changers! Clueless dorks!

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

21 September 2013

Birthdays
Christian Serratos b. 1990 (Twilight)
Maggie Grace b. 1981 (Lost)
David Wenham b. 1965 (Lord of the Rings)
Bill Murray b. 1950 (Ghostbusters, Groundhog Day, Zombieland)
Stephen King b. 1947 (Carrie, The Stand, The Shining, Under the Dome)
Jerry Bruckheimer b. 1943 (Armageddon, Pirates of the Caribbean)
Tracy Reed b. 1942 died 2 May 2012 (Dr. Strangelove)
Larry Hagman b.1931 died 23 November 2012 (I Dream of Jeannie)
H. G. Wells b. 1866 died 13 August 1946 (War of the Worlds, The Time Machine)

If the Picture Slot was chosen today based on influence in the genre, I'd have to give the nod to Wells, but we see his picture regularly enough, so I put up the picture of Stephen King instead. Any of the women on the list - Serratos, Grace or Reed - easily qualifies for the Pretty Girl = Picture Slot criteria. Maybe next year.

Many happy returns to the living on today's list. 
 

Predictor: James William Sullivan, American labor leader, making his predictions on the occasion of the 1893 Columbian Exhibition in Chicago.

Predictions: The future is a fancyland palace whose portals I cannot enter... yet, let us listen to today's visionaries and dreamers. For they are pleasing fellows.

One cent mail delivery across the country and free within counties... cheap national telegraph and telephone service... all the electors across the country will vote on the tariff, silver coinage, a national banking system and restriction of immigration... All railroads under a single management... the consolidation of all the coal industry, from extraction to delivery... national distribution of meat and oil... efficient public markets reducing the prices to the consumer by 20%.

Reality: For a labor leader, old Sully sure took the side of the vulture capitalists of his day way too often. I'd give him no points for the mail delivery or the election predictions, and industry consolidation didn't go quite as far as he predicted. Also, in 1893 he would have to be slightly askew to predict the telegraph would be on its way to obscurity within 100 years.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Sundays belong to Ray Bradbury's Martian Chronicles, his famous but depressing work. The Fourth Martian Expedition is the one that finally survives, but even the reason for that is pretty grim.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

5 August 2013

Birthdays
Alan Howard b. 1937
Mars Curiosity landed 2012

Mr. Howard has had a long career on stage and screen in Britain, and his one important role in a sci-fi or fantasy film is as the voice of the One Ring in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. I've always loved trivia like this, such as Clive Revill being the voice of the emperor in The Empire Strikes Back before the role was taken over by Ian McDiarmid.

Many happy returns of the day to Mr. Howard.

Regular readers will know I make fun of sci-fi at least as often as I commend it, but it was one year ago today that Curiosity landed on Mars and began to send back data. This is a lot of amazing technical achievements rolled into one small package and I inaugurate a new label "real science fiction". Congratulations to all the people who made this happen. This is what the future was supposed to look like.
  

Movie released
Rise of the Planet of the Apes released 2011

Prediction: "Still far from practical realization, the apparatus combines a portable television transmitter with a push button telephone. When the receiver is lifted, the image of the person making the call flashes on the screen. Fantastic as it may appear today, engineers believe that television telephones may become commonplace with a generation."

Predictor: Popular Mechanics in 1940, one of the many from the book The Future That Never Was, available on Amazon.

Reality: As you can see in the picture, they count this prediction as true because by 1960, TV phone technology worked, though they admit TV phones cannot be called commonplace even today.

Modern readers will also note two other unrealistic details. The woman is holding a receiver and she isn't naked.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

We get the last prediction from Larry Niven. It's about space, it's wrong and it's more than a little boring, one of the main reasons he is being given the heave ho.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!  

17 June 2013

Birthdays
Louis Leterrier b. 1973 (director Hulk re-boot)
Thomas Haden Church b. 1960 (Spider Man 3, John Carter)

Church is better known for work in comedies, notably Sideways, but like most actors nowadays, he does have work in genre films. Many happy returns to both gentlemen.
 

Prediction and predictor: In 1942, Popular Mechanics predicts that dials on phones will be replaced by push buttons.

Reality: The public gets the first view of push button phones at the 1963 Seattle World's Fair. I can't give an exact date for the death of the dial phone, but that's one extinct technology I do not miss at all.

Apology: Yesterday in the preview, I called the folks who made the Popular Mechanics future book "those liars", which is meant as a joke but is not a fair representation. They didn't lie about anything, they just got some stuff wrong and as we see here, they also got some stuff completely correct.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Larry Niven gets another turn at bat. I'm going to assume it's about outer space and it isn't even close to correct.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

8 May 2013

 Birthdays
Michael Gondry b. 1963
Stephen Furst b. 1955
Theodore Sturgeon b. 1918 died 5/8/1985

Gondry is the writer and director of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Furst played Vir on Babylon 5, but the Picture Slot goes to Ted Sturgeon, who makes nearly everyone's short list of important SF writers in the 20th Century.

Many happy returns to Gondry and Furst.


Movies released
Star Trek (reboot) released, 2009

In the year 2000!

Prediction: Grand Opera will be telephoned to private homes, and will sound as harmonious as though enjoyed from a theatre box. Automatic instruments reproducing original airs exactly will bring the best music to the families of the untalented. Great musicians gathered in one enclosure in New York will, by manipulating electric keys, produce at the same time music from instruments arranged in theatres or halls in San Francisco or New Orleans, for instance. Thus will great bands and orchestras give long-distance concerts. In great cities there will be public opera-houses whose singers and musicians are paid from funds endowed by philanthropists and by the government. The piano will be capable of changing its tone from cheerful to sad. Many devices will add to the emotional effect of music.

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

Reality: I love the phrase "families of the untalented". In 1900, people were expected to make their own entertainment. The idea of music broadcast over telephones is a popular idea from the futurists of this era. Recall that the first radio broadcasts happen in the 1920s, so even though it had been invented, no one in this era saw how big Marconi's gadget was going to be, not unlike the SF writers from the 1950s and 1960s failing to guess what will happen when computers get smaller and cheaper starting in the 1970s. Public opera houses and their endowments are certainly true.

Watkins gets no points for the prediction of a device that changes the tone of a piano from cheerful to sad, since that device already existed in his day. It's called "a good pianist".

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Alternate Thursdays means Arthur C. Clarke. Knowing his work, I'm guessing it's about exploration of the solar system and I'm guessing it will turn out wrong.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

1 May 2013

Birthdays
Julie Benz b. 1972
John Diehl b. 1950

Ms. Benz's best known role in the genre is as Darla on Buffy and Angel. Mr. Diehl's long successful career has only a view roles in big sci-fi hits, including Jurassic Park III and the original move version of Stargate. Many happy returns to them both.

Movies released
X-Men Origins: Wolverine released 2009  
 

In the year 2000!

Prediction:Telephones Around the World. Wireless telephone and telegraph circuits will span the world. A husband in the middle of the Atlantic will be able to converse with his wife sitting in her boudoir in Chicago. We will be able to telephone to China quite as readily as we now talk from New York to Brooklyn. By an automatic signal they will connect with any circuit in their locality without the intervention of a “hello girl”.

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

Reality: This is why I love John Elfreth Watkins. Sure, sometimes he gets all goofy about Big Fruit, but sometimes he hits one out of the park like this. Futurists from the turn of the century are very big on the telephone and expect it to become even more important as time goes on, but he correctly predicts a direct dial system, intercontinental calls and mobile phone, since he talks about a call from Chicago to a ship in the Atlantic, mobile phones.

In the last week of the year between Christmas and New Years, I'm going to go with a Best Of list. This one is certainly in the running.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

We are starting to run low on Arthur C. Clarke predictions, so he will now share the Thursday slot for a few months with another Englishman who will become our Thursday regular for the rest of the year, Herbert G. Wells.

 
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

26 April 2013

Birthday
Andy Secombe b. 1953

Many happy returns of the day to Mr. Secombe, best known to genre fans as the voice of Watto in the Star Wars films.
 

In the Year 2000!

Prediction: People will be able to watch entertainers in the privacy of their own homes, seeing their image projected on a wall and listening to the audio over the telephone.

Predictor: Postcards produced by Hildebrands German Chocolate Company in 1900.

Reality: While this is the first time I've presented a prediction of this kind on the blog, it is not the first time this was predicted. We will see this idea recur several times as we get more of the Victorian futurists checking in. I haven't presented any of the work of Edward Bellamy yet - just waiting for exact dates he predicted to roll around - but he has a very similar prediction in his book Looking Backward:2000-1887. The only addition is the projection of the image.

It should be noted that radio did exist in 1900, several people having patents for working wireless transmission, the best known names among many today being Marconi and Tesla. On the other hand,  the telephone was then being used by the public, while radio broadcasts were still a few years off.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

A very different look at the Year 2000, this time in a prediction from the 1970s. Are you on Team Frankenstein or Team Machine Gun Joe?

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!