Sunday, April 20, 2014

20 April 2014

Birthdays
Matt Sadowski-Austin b. 1978 (Dawn of the Dead, Power Rangers)
Viv Leacock b. 1974 (Almost Human, Continuum, Eureka, Smallville, Fringe, Hot Tub Time Machine, 2012, Supernatural)
William deVry b. 1968 (Hemlock Grove, Beauty and the Beast [2013], Stargate SG-1, Earth: Final Conflict, The Lost World [TV], Poltergeist: The Legacy, SeaQuest 2032)
Andy Serkis b. 1964 (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Godzilla [2014], The Hobbit, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Inkheart, Lord of the Rings, The Prestige, King Kong [2005])
Crispin Glover b. 1964 (Hot Tub Time Machine, Alice in Wonderland, Freezer Burn: The Invasion of Laxdale, Beowulf, The Wizard of Gore, Back to the Future)
Paris Vaughan b. 1961 (Buffy the Vampire Slayer [movie])
Mike Pniewski b, 1961 (Resurrection, Coma, From the Earth to the Moon, Superboy, Beauty and the Beast [1989], Spaceballs, The Twilight Zone [1986])
Clint Howard b. 1959 (Life with Zombies, Blood Reign: The Third Reich, Night at the Museum: Battle for the Smithsonian, Halloween, Star Trek: Enterprise, Total Recall 2070, From the Earth to the Moon, Apollo 13, Deep Space Nine, Leprechaun 2, Space Rangers, Carnosaur, The Rocketeer, Cocoon, Splash, Star Trek)
Geraint Wyn Davies b. 1957 (ReGenesis, Cube2: Hypercube, RoboCop: Prime Directives, Forever, Knight, Highlander, Dracula: The Series, Bionic Showdown)
Jessica Lange b. 1949 (American Horror Story, Neverwas, King Kong [1976])
Veronica Cartwright b. 1949 (Resurrection, Eastwick, The Invasion, Invasion [TV], The X-Files, Sliders, Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh, The Witches of Eastwick, Alien, Invasion of the Body Snatchers [1978], Twilight Zone)
Michael Brandon b. 1945 (Captain America: The First Avenger, Doctor Who, Dinotopia)
Judith O’Dea b. 1945 (Night of the Living Dead)
Ian Watson b. 1943 (writer and editor)
George Takei b. 1937 (Star Trek, Lost Girl, The Big Bang Theory, Heroes, The Chronicle, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Oblivion 1 and 2, Beyond Westworld, The Six Million Dollar Man, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Twilight Zone, Rodan, Godzilla Raids Again)
Gary Raymond b. 1935 (UFO, Jason and the Argonauts, H.G. Wells’ Invisible Man)
Robert DoQui b. 1934 died 9 February 2008 (Deep Space Nine, RoboCop 1, 2, and 3, Starman [TV], My Science Project, The Six Million Dollar Man, Kolchack: The Night Stalker, I Dream of Jeannie, The Outer Limits)
Nina Foch b. 1924 died 5 December 2008 (Alien Nation: Dark Horizon, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, The Outer Limits)
Leslie Phillips b. 1924 (Harry Potter, H.G. Wells’ Invisible Man [TV], The Gamma People)
Terry Maloney b. 1917 died 16 March 2008 (artist, New Worlds)
Bruce Cabot b. 1904 died 3 May 1972 (King Kong [1933])

Nice long list today. Here are some of my thoughts while compiling.

Jeez, I'm old moments: The lovely Jessica Lange is 65 and the goofball Crispin Glover is 50.

The list is kind of old, too: So much sci-fi is being done these days, there's usually several actors under 30 celebrating birthdays, but today the youngest person is turning 36.

Who should get the Picture Slot: Last year it was George Takei and I could have given him a repeat. I was thinking about Clint Howard, but sometimes I worry about over-using original Star Trek actors. I thought about Bruce Cabot from the original King Kong and Judith O'Dea from Night of the Living Dead, but as you can see, it's Jessica Lange for the 1970s King Kong.

Whole lotta big monkeys!  Bruce Cabot was the hero/adventurer from the original King Kong, Jessica Lange was the damsel in distress in the big budget 1970s remake and Andy Serkis did some motion capture and voice work as Kong in Peter Jackson's version.

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


Predictor: The AT&T ad campaign from 1993 known as "You Will".

Disclaimer: I did this list last year, and you can find the full list and the video through this link. The amount of stuff they got right is pretty remarkable and I want to make a correction to my "reality" statements. Last year, I said "made a phone call from your wrist" was Close But No Cigar, and this year I would move it up to the Right On The Money category.

We live with technology constantly making small changes, so sometimes it's hard to see how much has happened in the last twenty years. No jetpacks or flying cars, but technology has made some amazing changes nevertheless.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

OMNI Future Almanac, always something to look forward to on Mondays.

Join me then... IN THE FUTURE!
  

4 comments:

  1. Realizing that the Beaver's classmate Violet is now 65 has me feeling old. I find the reality of child actors entering the Medicare years more disconcerting than seeing it happen to actors I've known only through adult roles.

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    1. Hi, Nan. Thanks for stopping by! Everybody has their own pop culture and historical reference signals for the passing of time. For example, when I teach a class dealing with logarithms, I always bring up the Richter scale. My students who are the regular age for college students now have no recollection of the Loma Prieta quake of 1989.

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  2. "... but technology has made some amazing changes nevertheless." When I read a list of only the major technologies Bell Labs has developed it's overwhelming. I still have a dislike for the business side though. The MBA's treated a lot of my engineer friends like dirt from the "70s on as AT&T and Lucent and Alcatel.

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    Replies
    1. I worked at several high tech companies where the guys in suits thought they were the geniuses that made the business profitable.

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Traveler! Have you news... FROM THE FUTURE?