Kirsten Prout b. 1990 (Elektra, Twilight)
Naomi Watts b. 1968 (King Kong, The Ring)
Mira Sorvino b. 1967 (Mimic)
John Sayles b. 1950 (Brother From Another Planet, The Secret of Roan Inish)
Jeffrey Jones b. 1946 (Sleepy Hollow, Invader ZIM, The Twilight Zone, Beetlejuice, Howard the Duck)
J.T. Walsh b. 1943 died 27 Feb. 1998 (Pleasantville)
Marshall Bell b. 1942 (Total Recall, Starship Troopers)
Ronald Lacey b. 1935 died 15 May 1991 (Raiders of the Lost Ark, Red Sonja, Buckaroo Banzai)
Janet Munro b. 1934 Died 6 December 1972 (Darby O’Gill and the Little People, The Day the Earth Caught Fire)
William Windom b.1923 died 16 August 2012 (Star Trek, The Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman (remake))
Prosper Mérimée b. 1803 died 23 September 1870 (Le Venus d’Ille, Lokis, La Chambre bleue)
Wow, that's a long list of birthdays. Any of the actresses are easily pretty enough for the Pretty Girl = Picture Slot formula and if we were going with my favorite artist it would likely be the writer and director John Sayles, one of the true independent filmmakers working. Heck, William Windom in Star Trek wouldn't be such a bad choice, either, but instead I went with Ronald Lacey from Raiders of the Lost Ark because, if I can spoil a massive hit from thirty two years ago, the guy's a frickin' Nazi and his frickin' face melts, easily the most satisfying face melt in cinema history.
And then there's Prosper Mérimée, most famous for the story Carmen which became an iconic opera, but who also wrote horror stories and was involved in hoaxes, not unlike Edgar Allan Poe.
Many happy returns to all those still living.
Movies released
Looper released, 2012
Predictor: W.R. Grace, capitalist, answering a questionnaire sent out from the organizers of the 1893 Columbian Exhibition, the world's fair held in Chicago.
Predictions: American farmers must find new places to grow wheat or we will be an importer instead of an exporter of wheat... American genius is going to show Europe how nutritive and desirable American corn is when properly cooked... but the greatest commercial developments will be in the relations between this country and the South American continent... in the next century, it may be possible to enter a palace car in New York City and ride it to Lima, Santiago, Rio de Janiero or Buenos Aires.
Reality: Grace was a big shot in the import/export business and one of his major concerns was imports from Peru, where he grew up when his father moved the family from Ireland. He was also the first Catholic mayor of New York City.
He's on the money about the growing of wheat. We found new lands for cultivation and we are not an importer. It's a little odd to read someone get defensive about the tastiness of corn, but it is originally a New World crop and the Portuguese introduced it to Africa before they brought it to Europe, though that was many centuries ago.
As for the Intercontinental Railroad, not so much, and certainly not staying in the luxurious comfort of a single palace car. Grace made his fortune trading between the Americas, but it wasn't the blueprint for most wealth in the 20th Century.
Looking on day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!
We interrupt our regular weekly schedule of predictions to tell you of an exact date for the end of the despotic reign of Barack Hussein Obama, the usurper who will be made to face the rule of law before the end of the year, oh, happy day!
(Seriously, there's some goofball who got quoted in an article who believes this.)
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
Work had indeed started on the Panama Canal, but the French had just stopped it, with little sign that they would resume later. Under those conditions, Grace's notion of a pan-American rail line might not have sounded so crazy.
ReplyDeleteBut then, Grace's fellow Americans took over a decade later, eventually rendering his notion moot.
If this Wikipedia map can be trusted, it's hard to get much farther south than Mexico City by rail.
Deletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ferromex-map.png
Jeffrey Jones was also in Howard the Duck.
ReplyDeleteThanks, ZRMcD, I'll add it. Those who forget Howard the Duck are doomed to repeat it.
ReplyDeleteAnd that's a damned doom I want to avoid.