Wednesday, October 23, 2013

23 October 2013

Birthdays
Amandia Stenberg b. 1998 (The Hunger Games)
Ryan Reynolds b. 1976 (R.I.P.D., Green Lantern, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Blade: Trinity)
Eric Shanower b. 1963 (Artist and author, the Oz universe)
Sam Raimi b. 1959 (producer, Evil Dead, Spider-Man, Xena, Legend of the Seeker, Darkman)
Graeme Revell b. 1955 (composer, Sin City, Pitch Black, Grindhouse, Daredevil, Lara Croft, Red Planet, Dune)
Ang Lee b. 1954 (director, Hulk)
Ira Steven Behr b. 1953 (producer, Alphas, Twilight Zone, Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: The Next Genenration)
Michael Crichton b. 1942 died 4 November 2008 (Jurassic Park, The Andromeda Strain, Westworld)
Philip Kaufman (director, Invasion of the Body Snatchers[1978], writer, Raiders of the Lost Ark)
Larry Ward b. 1924 died 2/15/1985 (voice of Jabba the Hutt and Greedo, both uncredited)
James Daly b. 1918 died 3 July 1978 (Star Trek, Planet of the Apes)
Hayden Rorke b.1910 died 19 August 1987 (I Dream of Jeannie)

A lot of folks on the list today are famous behind the camera instead of in front of it and one writer/artist, Eric Shanower, whose claim to fame is writing stories in L. Frank Baum's Oz universe once the original copyright expired. The biggest movie star is Ryan Reynolds, though he is one of those "stars" who has never been in a hit movie where you would say he is the reason for the success. So instead the Picture Slot goes to unsung and departed Larry Ward, the voice behind Greedo and Jabba the Hutt in the original Star Wars movies. I'm a fan of the original movies, but there are two phenomena from that trilogy I have never understood. One is why fanboys went nuts over Boba Fett and the other is why George Lucas decided as an after thought that "Greedo shot first".

Greedo ran his mouth. Han shot first and only once. Greedo died. Han was sorry about the mess.

End of scene.

Many happy returns to all the living on our list.
 

Five fun facts from 2015!

Predictor: Back to the Future, Part II, released 22 November 1989

Prediction: Hover boards!

Reality: I assume hover boards work on something like the same principle that makes the flying cars possible. Can you imagine how much juice these things suck up re-charging? It's gotta be way worse than even cell phones.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Back to the Future week continues.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

6 comments:

  1. As Buddy knew in The INcredibles, when a bad guy starts monologuing, things don't turn out well for him.

    Did you see this: http://mockpaperscissors.com/2013/10/22/bad-packaging-cont-13/

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  2. It makes no sense that Greedo shoots first, unless he was an abysmal marksman; unlikely for a bounty hunter.

    Trying to retcon Solo's reputation was just an idiotic decision.

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    Replies
    1. That's true, Han was a realist, like Doc Holliday in Tombstone.. That scene is as good as the one where Indiana Jones shoots the sword wielding bad guy in Raiders. Ford's expression as he draws, shoots and holsters is excellent in both scenes.

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    2. There's also Wild Bill Hickok in the first season of Deadwood, killing a man in a saloon and getting away with it because of the completely correct excuse "He meant me harm".

      Val Kilmer has done a lot of great stuff, but if I'm going to quote him, nine times out of ten, it's from Tombstone.

      The tenth time is from Spartan.

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  3. Sam Raimi also did "Drag Me To Hell", although that is more straight up horror than science fiction.

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