Esme Bianco b. 1982 (Game of Thrones, Chemical Wedding)
Brandy Kopp b. 1982 (Goblin, Smallville, Supernatural, Stargate: Atlantis, The 4400, The Butterfly Effect, Strange Frequency)
Cillian Murphy b. 1976 (Transcendence, Batman [Christopher Nolan series], In Time, TRON: Legacy, Inception, 28 Days Later...)
Eli Craig b. 1972 (director, Zombieland [TV], Tucker & Dale vs. Evil)
Olivia Spencer b. 1970 (Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, Halloween II, Dollhouse, Big Bang Theory, Wizards of Waverly Place, Spider-Man, The Chronicle, What Planet Are You From?, Being John Malcovich, The X-Files)
Neil Marshall b. 1970 (director, Game of Thrones, Constantine, Doomsday)
Anne Heche b. 1969 (Toxic Skies, Volcano)
Poppy Z. Brite b. 1967 (writer, The Crow, Lost Souls)
Ray Stevenson b. 1964 (Divergent, Thor, The Book of Eli, Punisher: War Zone, G.I. Joe: Retaliation)
Bob Gale b. 1951 (writer, Back to the Future, Kolchak: The Night Stalker)
Barry Windsor-Smith b. 1949 (artist, Dr. Strange, Conan the Barbarian)
Frank Oz b. 1944 (Star Wars, Zathura: A Space Adventure, Muppets from Space, Labyrinth, director, The Dark Crystal, Little Shop of Horrors, The Indian in the Cupboard, The Stepford Wives [2004])
Sir Ian McKellen b. 1939 (The Hobbit, X-Men, Lord of the Rings, The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot, Doctor Who, The Prisoner (reboot), The Golden Compass, Stardust, Neverwas, The Shadow, Last Action Hero, The Keep)
Ann Robinson b. 1935 (War of the Worlds [2005], War of the Worlds (TV), Rocky Jones: Space Ranger, The War of the Worlds [1953])
Sarah Marshall b. 1933 died 18 January 2014 (Twilight Zone, Star Trek)
Claude Akins b. 1926 died 27 January 1994 (Eerie, Indiana, Monster in the Closet, Tarantulas: The Deadly Cargo, Tentacles, Battle for the Planet of the Apes, Twilight Zone, Adventures of Superman)
For the past few weeks, I've given the Picture Slot to actors from Game of Thrones, but the lovely Esme Bianco had the slot last year and I understand Sir Ian has a new movie coming out. My other top choices that might get a chance next year are Barry Windsor-Smith, my favorite comic book artist when I was a teen, and Yoda, who is voiced by Frank Oz.
Many happy returns to the living on the list and to the dead, thanks for all the memories.
Movies released
MIB 3 released, 2012
Back to the Future: Part III released, 1990
Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi released, 1983
Star Wars released, 1977 (before we knew it was Episode IV)
Can you imagine what it would have been like if Star Wars had been released as Episode IV? We would have been so excited to see the first three. At least we avoided that future disappointment for a short while.
TOWEL DAY! Have you considered recently how useful a towel can be? Today is officially the day to do so.
Predictor: Philip K Dick in To Serve the Master, published in 1956
Prediction: The first robot is built in 1979. By 2000, all routine work was done by robots.
Reality: Well, with PKD, reality is always a little trickier than it looks. We've had things we've called robots for a while now, but they don't do all routine work. In the story, these dates and fact are spoken by an android in the far future who might not be the most reliable witness. Damn sneaky androids!
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!
OMNI Future Almanac.
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
Almost forgot today was Towel Day. At least I know where my towel is.
ReplyDeleteAs I recall, after the unexpected success of Star Wars, Lucas did in fact lay out a plan for three trilogies, and a rough schedule for the next sets of three. At the time, he expected to get to all of them before 2000. Bloom County even did a series on it.
ReplyDeleteAfter the negative reactions to episodes 1-3, the whole idea was apparently kind of memory-holed, at least until Disney took the franchise off his hands.
I guess he just found it easier and more lucrative to continually digitally re-master the existing films and re-release them on new formats.
Yeah, it was only a few months of innocence.
DeleteI think we can say in 20-20 hindsight that with Spielberg and Coppola, making film really was an obsession. Lucas is a lot more lazy than those two, or their other main contemporary Scorsese. He also had a lot less good ideas than any of those other guys.