Jake Gyllenhaal b. 1980 (Prince of Persia, Source Code, The Day After Tomorrow, Donnie Darko)
Blake Lindsley b. 1973 (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Starship Troopers)
Alyssa Milano b. 1972 (Charmed, Commando)
Kristy Swanson b. 1969 (Buffy the Vampire Slayer [movie], Dude, Where’s My Car?, Deadly Friend)
Robert MacNaughton b. 1966 (E.T., The Electric Grandmother)
Jessica Steen b. 1965 (Charmed, Stargate SG-1, Armageddon, Earth 2, Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future)
Jennifer Beals b. 1963 (The Book of Eli, The Grudge 2, The Bride)
Sir Ralph Richardson b. 1902 died 10 October 1983 (Things to Come, Rollerball, Dragonslayer, Time Bandits)
Not to be rude, but when comparing the star power of yesterday's birthday list with today's, I wish I could make a few trades to even things out. Jennifer Beals turns 50, the first "Jeez, I'm old!" moment of the day for me. Jake Gyllenhall is the one "name above the title" movie star here, but the person best known for her work in genre is Alyssa Milano for Charmed, one of the many fabulous babes on the list. Just out of a goofy sense of "You're not the boss of me!", I chose Sir Ralph Richardson for the Picture Slot in his role as The Boss in the 1936 film Things to Come, taken from the H.G. Wells book The Shape of Things to Come, source for a lot of depressing and inaccurate predictions about the 20th Century. Richardson did this one genre role very early in his career, became one of the most respected film and stage actors of his era, then returned to genre for a few short roles at the end of his career, for which I can only assume he was paid handsomely, and well did he deserve it.
Many happy returns of the day to all the living on the list and to the late Sir Ralph Richardson, thanks for all the memories.
Movies released
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring released 2001
Predictor: Isaac Asimov, predicting the world of 2014 in honor of the 1964 World's Fair
Prediction: As for television, wall screens will have replaced the ordinary set; but transparent cubes will be making their appearance in which three-dimensional viewing will be possible. In fact, one popular exhibit at the 2014 World's Fair will be such a 3-D TV, built life-size, in which ballet performances will be seen. The cube will slowly revolve for viewing from all angles.
Reality: Wall screens, check.
3-D cube TV... umm, not so much. Huge technical problems with this in terms of projection, especially if it can be viewed from any possible angle above ground level.
So our pal Isaac gets a 50% score on this one. To Asimov's credit, he was one of the few grown ass men trying to bring back 19th Century facial hair back in the 1960s, which I am sure our regular reader Zombie Rotten McDonald appreciates.
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!
Because Saturday's regular prediction will be preempted by Winter Solstice stuff, we move the 1893 predictions to Friday for one week only.
Teaser: 19th Century facial hair at its most awesome.
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
I think Sir Ralph might have done Time Bandits just because it was kind of a hoot.
ReplyDeleteI think the pitch for Time Bandits went something like this.
DeleteGilliam (or Palin): You play the Supreme Being.
Richardson: Not Olivier? Not Gielgud?
Gilliam (or Palin): No, Sir Ralph. You were our first choice.
Richardson: Oh, jolly good. I'll do it.
He probably did Dragonslayer for the same reason. His facial expressions and his marvelous Shakespearean voice were the best parts of the movie.
Delete