Friday, June 20, 2014

20 June 2014

 Birthdays
Jadin Gould b. 1998 (Man of Steel, Battle Los Angeles)
Shefali Chowdhury b. 1988 (Harry Potter)
Claudia Lee b. 1996 (Kick-Ass 2)
Christopher Mintz-Plasse b. 1989 (Kick-Ass, This is the End, Fright Night)
Ronnie Gene Blevins b. 1977 (True Blood, The Dark Knight Rises, A.I. Artificial Intelligence)
Josh Lucas b. 1971 (Space Warriors, Hulk)
Robert Rodriguez b. 1968 (director, Sin City, From Dusk Till Dawn, Planet Terror, The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl 3D, Spy Kids, The Faculty)
Nicole Kidman b. 1967 (The Golden Compass, The Invasion, Bewitched [2005 movie], The Stepford Wives, The Others, Practical Magic, Batman Forever)
Chuck Wagner b. 1958 (Into the Woods, The Sisterhood, America 3000, Automan)
Miles O’Keefe b. 1954 (Waxwork, Sword of the Valiant: The Legend of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Ator the Fighting Eagle)
John Goodman b. 1952 (Speed Racer, The Borrowers, Fallen, C.H.U.D.)
Candy Clark b. 1947 (Buffy the Vampire Slayer [movie], The Blob [1988], Starman [TV], Amityville 3D, Q, The Man Who Fell to Earth)
Oliver Cotton b. 1944 (The Dark Knight Rises, Beowulf [1999], Space Precinct, Space: 1999)
John Mahoney b. 1940 (3rd Rock from the Sun, The Manhattan Project)
James Tolkan b. 1931 (Robo Warriors, Back to the Future, Masters of the Universe, Iceman, WarGames, Wolfen, The Amityville Horror, The Werewolf of Washington)
Martin Landau b. 1928 (Sleepy Hollow [1999 movie], The Adventures of Pinocchio, The X-Files, The Return of the Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman, The Twilight Zone [1985, 1964, 1959], The Return, Meteor, The Fall of the House of Usher, Space: 1999, The Outer Limits)
Robb White b. 1909 died 24 November 1990 (writer, Thirteen Ghosts, House on Haunted Hill, The Tingler)

We were so close to an all living list today! The name of Robb White on imdb.com was #94 on the birthday list and I usually don't check past #100, but the movies he wrote earned him a spot. My first choice for the Picture Slot was Oh That Guy James Tolkan, the principal in Back to the Future, but I'll wait for 2015, the year Back to the Future II is supposed to take place. Two actors I love, John Goodman and John Mahoney, were not in contention as far as I was concerned because they are so much better known for non-genre stuff. Instead I went with Nicole Kidman from The Golden Compass. There was a temptation to have Martin Landau from Space:1999 in the Picture Slot, because in my geezerhood I think of the show as iconic, but to be blunt, I always hated the show.

Many happy returns to all the living on the list and to the late Robb White, scary stuff, dude! 


Movies released
Hulk released 2003

Predictor: James Axler in the Death Lands series of novels, first published in 1988

Prediction: The 20th of June 2001 is the war known as Doomsday

Reality: This is taken from a remarkably successful series of books set 100 years after the apocalypse. Yet again, we avoided an apocalyptic nuclear confrontation in 2001, but it's been a popular form of entertainment for much longer than I have been alive, and I'm old enough to remember Space:1999.

I know... scary.

As usual with all but the most popular nuclear war fiction, I know about it because I found it on Paul Brian's very useful website.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

1893 beckons once again.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

5 comments:

  1. Another fine picture choice.

    Also, it is probably an indicator of how bad a person I am, but I liked the remakes of 13 Ghosts and House on Haunted Hill better than the originals. The house design for 13 Ghosts was particularly well done.

    And as a minor note, the exterior house closeups on the original HOHH were of a Frank Lloyd Wright house, one of his "Textile Block" concrete masonry houses that were done in California. Although I was unable to identify it from the movie, but WikiWakiWoo tells me it was the Ennis House. I was most disturbed, though that the interiors were standard Victorian. The Ennis House was also used in Blade Runner.

    Finally, the Rifftones (ex-MST3K) also did a song about the House on Haunted Hill that applies well to both versions.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Space: 1999 - a newbie as far as I'm concerned. Do you remember "Alas Babylon?" Heck, you've probably written about it but I think it came out when I was in high school. That was during the Cuban missle crisis and I lived in Florida. You can imagine the discussions.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Addenda/Question:
    What kinds of movies *don't* make your list? I ask because John Goodman did a bunch of other things which might qualify, depending on your standards, including:
    The Borrowers (tiny people living in the walls)
    Fallen (demon moves from body to body, killing people)
    The Flintstones (people living with dinosaurs)
    The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle (cartoons escape into real world)
    (I didn't say they were all *good*movies.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't love live action versions of cartoons, so the last two are iffy. The first two are just things I overlooked and I'll add them.

      Delete
    2. The Flintstones (people living with dinosaurs)

      That's a documentary, I am told by Ken Ham.

      Delete

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