5 January 2014

Birthdays
Oscar Isaac b. 1980 (Sucker Punch)
Paul Jarrett b. 1979 (Continuum, Fringe, Twilight: Eclipse, Smallville, Stargate, The Grudge 2, Dead Like Me, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Millennium, The X-Files, Sliders)
January Jones b. 1978 (X-Men: First Class)
Bradley Cooper b. 1975 (Limitless)
Paul McGillion b. 1969 (Once Upon a Time, Fringe, Sanctuary, V [2010], Star Trek, Stargate: Atlantis, Smallville, The X-Files)
Vinnie Jones b. 1965 (X-Men: The Last Stand, Mysterious Island [2005])
Clancy Brown b. 1959 (Sleepy Hollow, John Dies at the End, Cowboys & Aliens, A Nightmare on Elm Street [2010], The Burrowers, Lost, Carnivale, Star Trek: Enterprise, Starship Troopers, The Outer Limits [1996], Earth 2, Highlander, The Bride, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai)
Jeep Swenson b. 1957 died 18 August 1997 (Batman and Robin)
Robert Catrini b. 1950 (G.I. Joe: Retaliation, True Blood, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, SeaQuest 2032)
Roger Spottiswode b. 1945 (director, The Sixth Day)
Cliff Potts b. 1942 (Silent Running, Star Trek: The Next Generation)
Hayao Miyazaki b. 1941 (Ponyo, Howl’s Moving Castle, Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, Kiki’s Delivery Service, My Neighbor Totoro, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind)
Robert Duvall b. 1931 (Deep Impact, The Sixth Day, The Handmaid’s Tale, THX 1138, The Time Tunnel, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Outer Limits, Twilight Zone)
George Reeves b. 1914 died 16 June 1959 (The Adventures of Superman)
Stella Gibbons b. 1902 died 19 December 1989 (Cold Comfort Farm)

A very long list today, and I had to break a three way tie for the Picture Slot. It was either going to be:

a) Hayao Miyazaki, my favorite artist on the list
b) Robert Duvall, an honest to Odin movie star who did a lot of genre early in his career or
c) Clancy Brown, the guy glaring out at you. We have a lot of "oh, THAT guy" actors here, and Mr. Brown is the most recognizable of that group.

Many happy returns of the day to all our living birthday boys and girls, and a brief mention for the three on the list who are dead.

Stella Gibbons' Cold Comfort Farm is a very unlikely book to be called genre, but she did set it in the future (written in the 1930s, takes place in the 1950s) and there are a few futuristic touches in the few scenes set in London, but much of the story takes place on a farm that could be set in the 19th Century.

George Reeves played Superman on TV and died of a gunshot wound. There are several competing theories as to exactly what happened. The under-rated movie Hollywoodland, starring Ben Affleck and Adrian Brody, does a good job explaining the three most popular theories.

Jeep Swenson was a professional wrestler. He was listed as 6'4" and 405 lbs. (1m93 and 184 kg for readers more comfortable with the metric measurements), and that weight was mostly muscle. He played Bane in Batman and Robin, the movie credited with finally killing the 20th Century Batman franchise. Swenson died of a heart attack at the age of 40.
 

Predictor: Ray Bradbury in The Martian Chronicles, published 1950

Prediction: In September 2005, The LaFarges, an old couple that have moved to Mars, are visited by their son Tom, who died years earlier on Eath.

Reality: As has been written many times, Bradbury is really a fantasy storyteller rather than a science fiction author. The Martians have magical abilities and no scientific explanations are ever given. Bradbury killed the Martians off in an early chapter, but they keep popping up through unexplained time warps or unexplained lone survivors.

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