12 April 2014

 Birthdays
Saoirse Ronan b. 1994 (How to Catch a Monster, The Host)
Brooklyn Decker b. 1987 (Battleship)
Jennifer Morrison b. 1979 (Once Upon a Time, Star Trek [reboot], The Chronicle)
Claire Danes b. 1979 (Stardust, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, Princess Mononoke)
Marley Shelton b. 1974 (The Lottery, Dark Shadows [TV movie], Sin City, Pleasantville, Warriors of Virtue, Hercules in the Underworld)
Shannen Doherty b. 1971 (Charmed, Category 7: The End of the World)
Nicholas Brendon b. 1971 (Buffy, Demon Island, Psycho Beach Party)
Kelly Donovan b. 1971 (Buffy)
Michael Wiseman b. 1967 (The X-Files, Planet of the Apes, Star Trek: Voyager, Perversions of Science, Predator 2)
Tracy Torme b. 1959 (writer, Carnivale, Odyssey 5, Sliders, Star Trek: the Next Generation)
Tom Noonan b. 1951 (The Astronaut’s Wife The X-Files, Last Action Hero, RoboCop 2, The Monster Squad, Wolfen)
Tom Clancy b. 1947 died 1 Oct 2013 (author, Tom Clancy’s Net Source, The Sum of All Fears)
Ed O’Neill b, 1946 (The 10th Kingdom, W.E.I.R.D. World)
Charles Napier b. 1936 died 5 October 2011 (One Eyed Monster, The 4400, Dinocroc, Alien Species, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Lois & Clark, Frogtown II, Future Zone, Alien from the Deep, The Incredible Hulk, Deep Space, Star Trek)
Alvin Sargent b. 1927 (screenwriter, Spider-Man 2 and 3)

Last year in the Picture Slot it was Nicholas Brendon and his twin brother Kelly Donovan. Nick was Xander on Buffy and Kelly was sometimes his double. But this year I went with Oh That Guy actor Charles Napier, with a picture of him from the "Planet O' Hippies" episode of Star Trek. (Regular watchers will remember the "Planet o'" episodes: Planet O' Gangsters, Planet O' Hippies, Planet O' Cowboys, Planet O' Nazis, etc.) I didn't know that Charles Napier was in a mess of Russ Meyer movies, which I found out doing research on imdb.com. Later in his career he plays a lot of gruff cops and military men. The other surprise was Alvin Sargent working on the Spider-Man movies. He is best known for his screenplays from the 1960s and 1970s, none of them genre, including The Sterile Cuckoo, Paper Moon, Bobby Deerfield and Ordinary People.

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

Predictor: William Eleroy Curtis, writer, asked to comment on the 20th Century in honor of the 1893 Columbian Exhibition held in Chicago.

Prediction: The manifest destiny of the United States is to dominate the American hemisphere. This will  be accomplished not by political intrigue, not by diplomatic negotiations, not by force of arms, not by the annexation of territory and not by the establishment of protectorates, but by the influence of example and by commercial relations.

Reality: First things first. Lovely beard.

And then there's the prediction. The United States does dominate the hemisphere and quite a bit of the other hemisphere as well.

If he had stopped at that first sentence, it would have been a big win. But all those things we weren't gonna have to do to accomplish the feat? We did all of them.

A lot.

Sorry, Mr. Curtis, influence and commerce are all well and good, but sometimes you have to cut corners, hit somebody upside their head and take their shit.

You know, just to speed things along.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

It's gonna be Sunday already, the day to sleep in, make a nice breakfast and get on the computer to read about nuclear war.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!