6 August 2015

Birthdays
Romola Garai b. 1982 (The Last Days on Mars)
Karl Davies b. 1982 (Game of Thrones)
Adrianne Curry b. 1982 (Light Years Away)
Marisa Miller b. 1978 (R.I.P.D.)
Jennifer Lyons b. 1977 (Professor Creepy’s Scream Party, The Amazing Spider-Man, Return of the Killer Shrews, Jack Frost 2: Revenge of the Mutant Killer Snowman)
Melissa George b. 1976 (Gothica [TV], 30 Days of Night, The Amityville Horror, Charmed, Dark City)
Soleil Moon Frye b. 1976 (Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Piranhas)
Jason Rogel b. 1976 (Swamp Shark, The Quick and the Undead)
Ever Carradine b. 1974 (Supernatural, Eureka, 3rd Rock from the Sun)
Vera Farmiga b. 1973 (Source Code, Neverwas, Snow White: The Fairest of Them All)
Paolo Bacigalupi b. 1972 (won 2010 Hugo and Nebula for The Windup Girl)
Jason O’Mara b. 1972 (Terra Nova, Resident Evil: Extinction, Eastwick, Space Truckers)
Merrin Dungey b. 1971 (Once Upon a Time, Beyond, Good vs Evil, Deep Impact, Babylon 5)
M Night Shyamalan b. 1970 (director, After Earth, The Last Airbender, The Happening, The Lady in the Water, The Village, Signs, Unbreakable, The Sixth Sense)
Alan Cox b. 1970 (The Odyssey)
Michelle Yeoh b. 1962 (Babylon A.D., The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor)
Leland Orser b.1960 (Revolution, Touch, Star Trek: Enterprise, Daredevil, Alien: Resurrection, Star Trek: Voyager, Invader, Escape from L. A., Deep Space Nine, The X Files, Eerie, Indiana)
Ian R. MacLeod b. 1956 (author, The Great Wheel, The Summer Isles)
Stepfanie Kramer b. 1956 (The Man with Two Brains, The Secret Empire)
Kevin Jarre b. 1954 died 3 April 2001 (writer, The Mummy)
Catherine Hicks b. 1951 (Child’s Play, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Tucker’s Witch)
Jack Klaff b. 1951 (Red Dwarf, Whoops Apocalypse, Space: 1999, Star Wars)
Dorian Harewood b. 1950 (The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Kyle XY, Stargate SG-1, Earth: Final Conflict, Time Trax, Solar Crisis, Amerika, Desire, the Vampire, Looker)
Michael Anderson Jr. b. 1943 (Highlander [TV], The Martian Chronicles, Logan’s Run, Land of the Giants)
Louise Sorel b. 1940 (Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, The Incredible Hulk, The Curse of Dracula, Star Trek)
Paul Bartel b. 1938 died 13 May 2000 (Good vs Evil, Escape from L.A., Gremlins 2: The New Batch, Amazing Stories, Munchies, Heartbeeps, Death Race 2000)
Peter Bonerz b. 1938 (director, ALF; actor The Addams Family)
Barbara Windsor b. 1937 (Alice in Wonderland [2010], Doctor Who, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang)
Piers Anthony b. 1934 (author, Xanth)
Norman Barthold b. 1928 died 28 May 1994 (Capricorn One, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Westworld, My Favorite Martian)
Frank Finlay b. 1926 (Merlin [2008], The Magical Legend of the Leprechauns, Lifeforce, A Christmas Carol, The Thief of Baghdad [1978 TV], Count Dracula, The Deadly Bees, Target Luna)
Robert Mitchum b. 1917 died 1 July 1997 (Scrooged)
Lucille Ball b. 1911 died 26 April 1989 (The Magic Carpet)
Charles Crichton b. 1910 died 14 September 1999 (director, Alien Attack, Space: 1999, The Day After Tomorrow [1976 TV movie])

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, I went with fabulous babes who fell for Capt. Kirk, Louise Sorel and Catherine Hicks, and this year I go with Paolo Bacigalupi's The Windup Girl, a novel I read earlier this year.

2. Nepotism FTW. As you might guess, Ever Carradine is from the Carradine clan, daughter of Robert.

3. MST3K. The one I know for sure is The Deadly Bees with Frank Finlay

4. Today's surprises. I checked on Lucille Ball and Robert Mitchum expecting nothing, but she had one early in her career and he had one late.


5. Living Canadian free! One of those strange days.

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

Predictor: Morris L. Ernst in Utopia 1976, published in 1955

Prediction: As for water usage, with weather and rain control, the amount of water we need for irrigation will be what we make of it.

Reality: Controlling the weather is not quite as popular a prediction as flying cars or moving sidewalks, but this is definitely not the first prediction.

It doesn't make the prediction correct, but Mr. Ernst might be happy to know he's got company in his mistaken view.

Never to be Forgotten: George Cole 1925-2015
British actor George Cole, known best in his country as the star of a TV show Minder, has died at the age of 90. He is pictured here as the young Ebenezer Scrooge in the 1951 version of A Christmas Carol. His other genre credits include Mary Reilly, UFO and The Vampire Lovers.

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

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Once again, I will the writings of the young H.G. Wells to ruin that charming view some of us had of him when Malcolm McDowell played Wells all those years ago.
  
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

4 December 2014

Birthdays
Hilary Cruz b. 1988 (Sand Sharks)
Orlando Brown b. 1987 (Phil of the Future)
Grant Pierce Myers b. 1981 (writer, The Maze Runner)
James Francis Ginty b. 1980 (Supernatural)
Victor Garcia b. 1974 (director, Hellraiser: Revelations, Frost Giant, 30 Days of Night: Blood Trails)
Kevin Sussman b. 1970 (Big Bang Theory, A.I. Artificial Intelligence)
John L. Adams b. 1970 (Stephen King’s The Dead Zone)
Tony Todd b. 1954 (The Man From Earth, Stargate SG-1, Andromeda, Smallville, Angel, Candyman, Babylon 5, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Star Trek: Voyager, Xena, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, The X-Files, The Crow, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Night of the Living Dead[1990])
Mick Garris b. 1951 (writer, Fear Itself, Masters of Horror, Hocus-Pocus, She-Wolf of London, The Fly 2, Critters 2, *batteries not included, Amazing Stories)
Pamela Stephenson b. 1949 (Superman III, Space: 1999)
Jeff Bridges b. 1949 (R.I.P.D., TRON and TRON: Legacy, Iron Man, K-PAX, Starman, Faerie Tale Theatre, King Kong [1976])
Gemma Jones b. 1942 (Atlantis [2013], Harry Potter, Merlin, Return of the Borrowers, The Jim Henson Hour)
Jimmy Hunt b. 1939 (Invaders from Mars [1986 and 1953])
Donnelly Rhodes b. 1937 (Supernatural, TRON: Legacy, Battlestar Galactica, Smallville, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Roswell: The Aliens Attack, The Crow: Stairway to Heaven, The X-Files, Sliders, Deadly Nightmares, Wonder Woman)
Victor French b. 1934 died 15 June 1989 (Captain Nice, Batman, My Favorite Martian)
Michael Bates b. 1920 died 11 January 1978 (A Clockwork Orange)
Samuel Butler b. 1835 died 18 June 1902 (author, Erewhon)

A short list today and a short set of notes.

Jeff Bridges gets the Picture Slot, Tony Todd got it last year. As for 2015, the top three candidates are Kevin Sussman as the comic book shop owner from The Big Bang Theory, Gemma Jones as Madam Pomfrey from the Harry Potter films and Jimmy Hunt as the little kid in the original Invaders From Mars.

Donnelly Rhodes is The Guy at the Door today, everyone born before him is dead and everyone after him is alive, as is he. Always extra best wishes to The Guy at the Door.

 There are two credit lists that look Canadian, but only one actual Canuck. Take your best shot.

Many happy returns to all the living on the list, most especially Donnelly Rhodes, 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: Thanks to data furnished by satellites, as well as the electronic analysis of land, atmosphere, and oceans, climate control will be within man's reach. We will know how to dissipate storms of hurricane intensity or divert them from their destructive course. We will unfreeze ports which are now icebound. We will be able to predict weather precisely for months and years ahead.

Reality: Scoring this one is easy. One goose egg, both big and fat. The one thing that is close is the satellite data has improved weather prediction. Five day forecasts in the 21st Century are WAY better than they were in 1960, but we also understand more about chaotic systems and the limits of predicting them. Five days good, seven days not so good, two weeks even worse and the longer the prediction time, the more chance the prediction will fall apart. Not unlike this prediction.

This is the last prediction of Lee de Forest from the 1960 Sunday supplement. I have one more prediction from him from another source, so next Thursday we will say farewell. He was pretty good in his area of expertise, radio and communications in general, and on other stuff he was hit or miss. He's no John Elfreth Watkins (sniff.), but I for one will miss him.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

It's another look into crystal ball with a young H.G. Wells from his 1902 book Anticipations.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

17 May 2013

Birthday
Nikki Reed b. 1988

Ms. Reed's best known role in genre is as Rosalie Hale in the Twilight Saga films. Many happy returns to her.
 

In the year 2000!

Prediction: Cities will have enormous transparent roofs to keep out the rain.


Predictor: A series of postcards from Hildebrands German Chocolate, published in 1900

Reality: The authors of the German chocolate postcards missed a whole lot of stuff. As you can see, people are still riding horses as regular transportation in this picture and we don't see any skyscrapers, so this roof might only be about 100 feet up. Even with today's technology, a transparent roof strong enough to hold tons of water would be a challenge and of course, eventually the water would have to drain somewhere. Keeping the roof clean so the light coming in wouldn't become hazy and depressing is no small task either. While I love the artwork on these cards, the ability to predict the future is not at the level of John Elfreth Watkins, whose work is contemporary with this.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Another prediction from Jack London's The Iron Heel, a novel in which people with jobs do not think the corporations running the economy have the workers' best interests at heart. What a strange idea!

 
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

 

12 April 2013

Birthdays

Nicholas Brendon b. 1971
Kelly Donovan b. 1971

The actor who played Xander Harris on Buffy has a twin who did stunt work for him. There's an episode where he splits in half and Kelly has several scenes but only a few lines. Many happy returns to both.

In the year 2000!

Prediction: Enormous portable fans will be able to push weather systems around.

Predictor: Postcards printed by Hildebrands German Chocolate Company, circa 1900

Reality: This giant fan isn't anywhere near big enough to push clouds around. There are plenty of smokestacks on factories in the real world this big or bigger, and they can't break up weather systems.

 Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!
 
What will London be like in 1950? A popular novel of the 1930s hazards several guesses, possibly the most incongruous piece of speculative fiction ever. 
 

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!