31 August 2014

Birthdays
Holly Earl b. 1992 (Dracula: The Dark Prince, Doctor Who, My Hero, Red Dwarf)
Ryan Kelley b. 1986 (Teen Wolf, Ben 10:Alien Swarm, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Smallville)
Leo Bill b. 1980 (Doctor Who, Alice in Wonderland, Jekyll, 28 Days Later…)
Mike Erwin b. 1978 (The Vampire Diaries, Hulk)
Marc Webb b. 1974 (director, The Amazing Spider-Man 1 and 2)
Chris Tucker b. 1972 (The Fifth Element, The Meteor Man)
Zack Ward b. 1970 (Save the Supers, Warehouse 13, Dollhouse, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Transformers, Lost, Charmed, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, Freddy vs. Jason, Sliders, Forever Knight, Maniac Mansion)
Daniel Bernhardt b. 1965 (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Creature, The Matrix Reloaded, Mortal Kombat: Conquest)
Todd Carty b. 1963 (Krull)
Julie Brown b. 1954 (Wizards of Waverly Place, Alien Avengers II, The Addams Family [1993], Quantum Leap, Earth Girls Are Easy, The Incredible Shrinking Woman)
Lowell Ganz b. 1948 (screenwriter, Robots, Splash)
Roger Dean b. 1944 (artist)
Larry Hankin b. 1940 (Weird Science, Star Trek: Voyager, Lois & Clark, Star Trek: The Next Generation, ALF, Amazing Stories, Faerie Tale Theatre, Doctor Dracula)
Jack Thompson b. 1940 (Man-Thing, Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones)
Noble Willingham b. 1931 died 17 January 2004 (Quantum Leap, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Tucker’s Witch, The Howling, Man from Atlantis)
James Coburn b.1928 died 18 November 2002 (Faerie Tale Theatre, Looker, Twilight Zone)
Richard Basehart b. 1914 died 17 September 1984 (Mr. Merlin, The Island of Dr, Moreau, Time Travelers, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Stan Bug, Twilight Zone)
Frederic March b. 1897 died 14 April 1975 (I Married a Witch, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde)

There are some well known names on the list, though not all have iconic genre roles. I was having difficulty picking a face, so I decided to go with an illustration from Roger Dean, best known for his albums covers for Yes. Dean is currently suing James Cameron, claiming the director copied ideas from his paintings for the look of Avatar. Cameron has already won several lawsuits in relation to his big hit movie. I'm not a lawyer, but I think Dean has a point. For me, the real crime is that Cameron is talking about making three sequels, slated to be released 2016, 2017 and 2018. Unfortunately, there is no legal recourse against this travesty.

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

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

Predictor: Daventry, Leonard. A Man of Double Deed. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1965. New York: Berkley, 1967.

Prediction: A century after the Atomic Disaster of 1990, a cruel, technically sophisticated culture is deteriorating, as young people commit murders, seemingly at random. Games patterned after the ancient Roman model are popular, and actual war games for violent citizens are being arranged. A typical old-fashioned dystopia, with loveless free sex, synthetic food, and casual interplanetary travel. Unusual in depicting homosexuality as common. The author is British.

Reality: As usual, when the prediction looks like a plot summary, I'm lifting info from Professor Paul Brians' nuclear fiction website. I have to say I love the one-two punch of the last two sentences.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

A new month begins and we get a return visit from an old friend.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

 

30 August 2014

Birthdays
Jessica Henwick b. 1992 (Game of Thrones)
Johanna Braddy b. 1987 (Video Game High School, Paranormal Activity 3, The Grudge 3)
Emily Montague b. 1984 (Fright Night)
Max Hoffman b. 1984 (Hook)
Angel Coulby b. 1980 (Merlin, Doctor Who)
Elden Hanson b. 1977 (Daredevil [TV], The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Rise: Blood Hunter, The Butterfly Effect, Evil Alien Conquerors, Idle Hands, Amazing Stories)
Cameron Diaz b. 1972 (Shrek, The Green Hornet, Minority Report, Vanilla Sky, Being John Malkovich, The Mask)
Michael Chiklis b. 1963 (American Horror Story, Fantastic Four, No Ordinary Family, Rise: Blood Hunter, Soldier)
Nelson Ascencio b. 1964 (The Hunger Games, Paul, Birds of Prey)
Frank Conniff b. 1958 (Space Hospital, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Mystery Science Theater 3000, Invader ZIM)
David Paymer b. 1954 (Drag Me to Hell, Mighty Joe Young, Night of the Creeps, Howard the Duck, The Powers of Matthew Star, The Greatest American Hero)
Timothy Bottoms b. 1951 (Realm of the Mole Men, Vampire Bats, The Boy with the X-Ray Eyes, Land of the Lost [1991-2], Freddy’s Nightmares, The Twilight Zone [1988], Mio in the Land of the Faraway, Deadly Nightmares, Invaders From Mars [1986])
Peggy Lipton b. 1946 (The Postman, Deadly Nightmares, Purple People Eater, The Invaders, Bewitched)
Elizabeth Ashley b. 1939 (Vampire’s Kiss, Deadly Nightmares, A Fire in the Sky, Coma, The Six Million Dollar Man: Solid Gold Kidnapping)
Don Pedro Colley b. 1938 (Piranha, Space Academy, The Bionic Woman, THX 1138, Beneath the Planet of the Apes)
Peter Cartwright b. 1935 died 18 November 2013 (Doctor Who, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Hammer House of Horror)
Bill Daily b. 1927 (Horrorween, Alligator II: The Mutation, The Munsters Today, ALF, Small & Frye, The Powers of Matthew Star, I Dream of Jeannie, My Mother the Car, Bewitched)
Fred MacMurray b. 1908 died 5 November 1991 (The Swarm, Beyond the Bermuda Triangle, Son of Flubber, The Absent-Minded Professor, The Shaggy Dog)
Joan Blondell b. 1906 died 25 December 1979 (The Twilight Zone)
Mary Shelley b. 1797 died 1 February 1851 (author, Frankenstein)

Last year, the Picture Slot belonged to Frank Conniff because I'm a big MST3K fan. This year it's a picture of Mary Shelley, whose novel has inspired hundreds of adaptations and variations on the theme on film and TV. Next year is anyone's guess, though Jessica Henwick is an early front runner. She plays one of the Sand Snakes, characters who will be introduced in the next season of Game of Thrones.

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

Predictor: Past Tense, episode from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, first aired 2 January 1995

Prediction: Capt. Sisko and other crew members travel back in time to San Francisco August 30, 2024. In the next few days, the riots in the Sanctuary district - the place in the city where the homeless are warehoused - will have widespread political repercussions. The events are named the Bell Riots, for Gabriel Bell, the leader who was able to minimize violence and guarantee the safety of the hostages.

Reality: This story line was pushed about thirty years into the future and we are now about two thirds of the way to 2024. We don't "warehouse" the homeless yet, and in San Francisco, I can't imagine the city could talk real estate developers anywhere inside the city limits to agree to give up their valuable property for such a scheme.

Thanks to my friend and reader Art Velasquez for reminding me about this story line.
 

Never to be Forgotten: 
Norma McCarty 1920-2014
Once again, the news travels slowly about some obituaries, and such is the case for Norma McCarty, the widow of Ed Wood Jr. Ms. McCarty died in June of this year but I only saw her obituary this week.

She has a total of three roles listed on imdb.com. She was an extra on several episodes of The Adventures of Superman and Perry Mason, and she played the stewardess Edith in her husband's best known work, Plan 9 From Outer Space. In the 1980s, Michael and Harry Medved declared it was "the worst movie ever made" and it became notorious. As a fan of Mystery Science Theatre 3000, I can think of plenty of low budget films just as inept and some that are much harder to watch, Red Zone Cuba, Tormented and Manos: The Hands of Fate to name just three. There are also many very bad movies made with budgets hundreds if not thousands of times greater. But if it were not for the Medved's pompous claim, Ed Wood could easily have stayed as obscure as many other low budget auteurs from the 1950s and 1960s, and the name of his widow would not be worth a mention.

Best wishes to the family and friends of Norma McCarty, from a fan. She is never to be forgotten.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

You know what we haven't had in ever so long? A good old nuclear holocaust. 

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

29 August 2014

Birthdays
Jay Ryan b. 1981 (Beauty and the Beast, Terra Nova, Legend of the Seeker, Xena, Young Hercules)
Emily Hampshire b. 1981 (Earthsea, Mutant X, MythQuest, PSI Factor: Chronicles of the Paranormal, Earth: Final Conflict)
Dan Harris b. 1979 (writer, Superman Returns, X-Men 2)
John Hensley b. 1977 (Teeth, Witchblade)
Dante Basco b. 1975 (The Chronicle, Sinbad: The Battle of the Dark Knights, Alien Nation: Body and Soul, Hook)
Carla Gugino b. 1971 (Sucker Punch, Race to Witch Mountain, Watchmen, Night at the Museum, Threshold, Sin City, Spy Kids, The One, Mermaid Chronicles Part 1: She Creature, Quantum Leap, ALF)
Rebecca De Mornay b. 1959 (The Shining [1997 TV], Beauty and the Beast [1987], Testament)
Lenny Henry b. 1958 (MirrorMask, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Bernard and the Genie)
Deborah Van Valkenburgh b. 1952 (Touch, The Event, Firestarter 2: Rekindled, Sorcerers, Deep Space Nine, Quantum Leap)
Ellen Geer b. 1941 (Supernatural, Charmed, Carnivale, Practical Magic, Phenomenon, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Beauty and the Beast, Creator, Something Wicked This Way Comes, The Bionic Woman)
Joel Schumacher b. 1939 (director, Batman & Robin, Batman Forever, Flatliners, The Lost Boys, The Incredible Shrinking Woman)
Elliot Gould b. 1938 (Contagion, The Shining [1997 TV], Lois & Clark, Frogs!, Frog, The Twilight Zone [1986], Faerie Tale Theatre, The Devil and Max Devlin)
William Friedkin b. 1935 (director, Bug, Twilight Zone [1985], The Exorcist)
Charles Gray b. 1928 died 7 March 2000 (Firestar: First Contact, Tall Tales & Legends, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, The Beast Must Die, H.G. Wells’ Invisible Man)
Dick O’Neill b. 1928 died 17 November 1998 (Timecop, The Incredible Hulk, Wolfen, Wonder Woman, The UFO Incident, Gammera the Invincible)
Richard Attenborough b. 1923 died 24 August 2014 (Jack and the Beanstalk: The Real Story, Jurassic Park, Doctor Doolittle)
Lane Bradford b. 1922 died 7 June 1973 (Land of the Giants, Batman, Lost in Space, My Favorite Martian, The Adventures of Superman, Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe, Rocky Jones, Space Ranger, Zombies of the Stratosphere)
Barry Sullivan b. 1912 died 6 June 1994 (The Bionic Woman, The Invisible Man [1975], The Sixth Sense, The Immortal, Planet of the Vampires, Pyro… The Thing Without a Face)
Lurene Tuttle b. 1907 died 28 May 1986 (Amazing Stories, Testament, The Clonus Horror, I Dream of Jeannie, My Favorite Martian, My Living Doll, The Munsters, Twilight Zone)
George Macready b. 1899 died 2 July 1973 (The Return of Count Yorga, The Outer Limits, Twilight Zone, The Alligator People, The Monster and the Ape)

Last year, the Picture Slot went to Carla Gugino from Watchmen, a selection most heterosexual males would be happy to see me repeat. Not wanting to repeat, I would say Richard Attenborough in Jurassic Park would be the next most iconic, but he died earlier this week, so that would also feel like a repeat. My choice for next most iconic is Charles Gray in... oh, please, don't tell me you don't recognize the film.

Seriously, don't tell me. I've always thought so highly of you and this would spoil it.

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

Predictor: Terminator 2, released 1991

Prediction: On 29 August 1997, Skynet becomes self-aware.

Reality: I used both Skynet predictions last year, the launch and the self awareness. I'm not keen on repeating predictions, but I make an exception in this case. I'm of the opinion that the great fear of the late 20th Century, all out nuclear war, has receded from the public's consciousness and the two fears that have replaced it are the fear of pandemics like Ebola or SARS and the fear of what will happen when computers surpass us and we work for them. Personally, I think the fear of what the climate will become is more realistic, but there is a lot of money spent trying to convince people that isn't real and a lot of people have bought into the idea that climate change isn't a big deal.

Looking one day ahead ... INTO THE FUTURE!

Another interruption in the regular schedule for an exact date, this time from a TV show.

Join us then ... IN THE FUTURE!
 

28 August 2014

 Birthdays
Quvenzhane Wallis b. 2003 (Beasts of the Southern Wild)
Katie Findlay b. 1990 (After the Dark, Continuum, Crash Site, SGU Stargate Universe, Fringe)
Armie Hammer b. 1986 (Stan Lee’s Mighty 7, Mirror Mirror, 2081, Reaper)
Sarah Roemer b. 1984 (The Event, The Grudge 2)
Carly Pope b. 1980 (The Tomorrow People, Elysium, Yeti: Curse of the Snow Demon, The 4400, 10.5: Apocalypse, Jake 2.0, NightMan)
Kelly Overton b. 1978 (True Blood, Beauty and the Beast [2012], Tekken, The Ring Two)
Nick Tarabay b. 1975 (Believe, Star Trek Into Darkness)
Eugene Byrd b. 1975 (True Blood, American Horror Story, Eureka, Night Stalker [2006])
Kristin Booth b. 1974 (Orphan Black, Supernatural, ReGenesis, Total Recall 2070)
J. August Richards b. 1973 (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Arrow, Warehouse 13, The 4400, Angel, Sliders, Space: Above and Beyond)
Stephanie Belding b. 1971 (Lost Girl, Eureka, Watchmen, Reaper, Earth: Final Conflict, eXistenZ)
Jack Black b. 1969 (Ghost Ghirls, Gulliver’s Travels, King Kong, The X-Files, Waterworld, The Neverending Story III, Demolition Man)
Jason Priestley b. 1969 (Day of the Triffids [2009], Termination Point, Jeremiah, Quantum Leap)
Billy Boyd b. 1968 (The Witches of Oz, Glenn, the Flying Robot, Lord of the Rings, Seed of Chucky)
Amanda Tapping b. 1965 (Supernatural, Stargate, Space Milkshake, Sanctuary, Earthsea, The X Files, Flash Forward, Forever Knight)
Melissa Rosenberg b. 1962 (writer, Twilight)
David Fincher b. 1962 (director, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Alien³)
Jennifer Coolidge b. 1961 (Click, Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, Not of this Earth)
Brian Thompson b. 1959 (Flight of the Living Dead, Star Trek: Enterprise, Epoch: Evolution, Charmed, Birds of Prey, The X Files, Jason and the Argonauts [TV], Buffy, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, DragonHeart, Deep Space Nine, Weird Science, Kindred: The Embraced, Hercules, Star Trek: Generations, Doctor Mordred, Superboy, Alien Nation [TV], Star Trek: The Next Generation, Alien Nation, Fright Night Part 2, Werewolf, Knight Rider, Otherworld, The Terminator)
Daniel Stern b. 1957 (SeaQuest 2032, Little Monsters, Leviathan, C.H.U.D.)
Luis Guzman b. 1956 (Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, Rise of the Damned, Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, The Adventures of Pluto Nash, SeaQuest 2032, Innocent Blood. *batteries not included)
Vonda N. McIntyre b. 1948 (won 1979 Hugo and Nebula for Dreamsnake, won 1998 Nebula for The Moon and the Sun)
Alice Playten b. 1947 died 25 June 2011 (Pioneer 12, Legend, Disco Beaver from Outer Space, The Lost Saucer)
David Soul b. 1943 (Doctor Who: Death Comes to Time, Deadly Nightmares, World War III, Salem’s Lot, Star Trek, I Dream of Jeannie)
Ken Jenkins b. 1940 (The X Files, Sliders, Babylon 5, Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Abyss, Hard Time on Planet Earth)
Donald O’Connor b. 1925 died 27 September 2003 (Alice in Wonderland [1985 and 1983], The Bionic Woman, The Wonders of Aladdin)
Nancy Kulp b. 1921 (Quantum Leap, Twilight Zone, Moon Pilot)
Jack Kirby b. 1917 died 6 February 1994 (artist, Marvel and DC comics)
Jack Vance b. 1916 died 23 May 2013 (author, The Dying Earth, Big Planet)
Simon Oakland b. 1915 died 29 August 1983 (Tucker’s Witch, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, The Starlost, Captain Nice, The Satan Bug, The Outer Limits, My Favorite Martian, Twilight Zone)
Morris Ankrum b. 1897 died 2 September 1964 (X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes, From the Earth to the Moon, Giant from the Unknown, Beginning of the End, The Giant Claw, Kronos, Zombies of Mora Tau, Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, Invaders from Mars, Red Planet Mars, Rocketship X-M)

Now, THAT's a list. Last year, I had Jack Kirby in the Picture Slot, an excellent choice if I say so myself. This year, I was in a Whedonverse nerd mood, so it's J. August Richards as Gunn from Angel. Next year, it's wide open, but if I get in an Oh That Guy mood, my goodness, it's a smorgasbord of wonderfulness. The enormous Brian Thompson, the hilarious Luis Guzman, Ken Jenkins (best known from  Scrubs), Nancy Kulp (all original Twilight Zone actors get deep respect), Simon Oakland and Morris Ankrum with 271(!) credits on imdb.com. Ankrum was a judge on Perry Mason 22 times and showed up in 11 1950s sci-fi films. Can't go wrong there.

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

Predictor: 2005 Badlands, released 29 August 1988

Prediction: In 1995 a severe drought forces Americans to leave the West for the cities Water becomes more precious than gold.

Reality: Umm... this movie may just have been 20 years too early. We are in the middle of a scary damn drought right now, with before and after pictures of reservoirs as scary as before and after pictures of glaciers, with the difference being the reservoir pictures are three years apart and the glacier pictures are fifty years apart.

The odds are you did not see this movie. This is one of those movies Sharon Stone made before Total Recall, one in a long string of low budget productions she was in before she hit it big.

Never to be Forgotten: 
Stephen Lee 1955-2014

News of deaths can move very slowly, and that's the case with character actor Stephen Lee, who died two weeks ago. In some ways, it's a blessing the news wasn't released then, because that was in the middle of the Robin Williams/ Lauren Bacall/ Ed Nelson days of unpleasantness. Mr. Lee is definitely an Oh That Guy with 106 credits on imdb.com, including genre roles in Threshold, Invasion, Dark Angel, Black Scorpion I and II, Carnosaur 3: Primal Species, Babylon 5, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Prehysteria!, Quantum Leap, The Pit and the Pendulum, RoboCop 2, Hard Time on Planet Earth, Dolls, Amazing Stories and WarGames.

I don't want to make this All About Me, but Mr. Lee is about a month and a half older than I am. It's certainly makes one stop and think. I have to say that Stopping and Thinking are not my long suits.

Best wishes to the family and friends of Stephen Lee, from a fan his age. He is never to be forgotten.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Yet another interruption in the weekly schedule, this one from a movie you probably did see.

Join us then... INTO THE FUTURE!

27 August 2014

 Birthdays
Cainan Wiebe b. 1995 (Once Upon a Time, Falling Skies, Sucker Punch, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, Supernatural, Tin Man, Sanctuary, The 4400, Dead Like Me)
Alexa Vega b. 1988 (The Tomorrow People, The Devil’s Carnival, Spy Kids, Repo! The Genetic Opera, NetForce)
Patrick J. Adams b. 1981 (Orphan Black, Rosemary’s Baby [2014], FlashForward, Lost)
Aaron Paul b. 1979 (Birds of Prey, The X Files, K-PAX, 3rd Rock from the Sun)
Diana Scarwid b. 1955 (Heroes, Lost, Wonderfalls, From the Earth to the Moon, The X Files, Strange Invaders)
Reece Shearsmith b. 1969 (An Adventure in Space and Time, The First Men in the Moon [2010 TV], Shaun of the Dead)
Clare Stansfield b. 1964 (Xena, Steel, The X Files, The Flash)
Dean Devlin b. 1962 (producer, The Librarian, Eight Legged Freaks, Godzilla [1998], Independence Day, Stargate)
Peter Stormare b. 1953 (Arrow, The Zero Theorem, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, The Brothers Grimm, The Tuxedo, Armageddon, Minority Report, The Lost World: Jurassic Park)
Paul Rubens b. 1952 (Area 57, Mystery Men, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Batman Returns, Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, Faerie Tale Theatre)
Gary Imhoff b. 1952 (Carnivale, The Green Mile, Buffy, The Powers of Matthew Star)
Charles Fleischer b. 1950 (Black Scorpion, Lois & Clark, Back to the Future Part II, Hard Time on Planet Earth, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Knight Rider, A Nightmare on Elm Street)
Captain Kidd Brewer Jr. b. 1948 died 22 May 1990 (The Abyss, Piranha Part Two: The Spawning)
Barbara Bach b. 1947 (Caveman, The Great Alligator, The Humanoid, Screamers)
G. W. Bailey b. 1944 (Mannequin, Short Circuit, Runaway)
Ira Levin b. 1929 died 12 November 2007 (writer, Rosemary’s Baby, The Stepford Wives, The Boys from Brazil)
Hoke Howell b. 1929 died 9 May 1997 (Alien Species, Wizards of the Demon Sword, Alienator, The Greatest American Hero, Humanoids from the Deep, Project U.F.O., Kingdom of the Spiders, Bewitched, Lost in Space, The Munsters, My Living Doll)

Some good actors on the list, but few who are best known for genre. I think the most iconic from genre would be Roger Rabbit or Pee-Wee Herman if we stretch a little bit, but I was in a fabulous babe mood and went with Barbara Bach from Caveman. Complaints can be logged in the comments section.

Logged, noted and ignored.

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

Predictor: Herman Kahn in the 1972 book Things to Come, published by the Hudson Institute.


Prediction: In 1985, the political system will still be a system of nations with little political unity.

Reality: In the era Kahn is predicting, NATO and the Soviet bloc certainly show political unity. More than that, OPEC made its power felt in the 1970s in a big way, but it is never mentioned in his book. In his defense, Kahn might argue that the first two show military unity and the last economic unity, but he can't because he's dead, so the grade stands. Not mentioning OPEC is a big goose egg.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

The weekly schedule is interrupted for a prediction from a movie

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

26 August 2014

Birthdays
Dylan O’Brien b. 1991 (The Maze Runner, Teen Wolf)
Jennifer Higham b. 1984 (Metamorphosis, Ella Enchanted)
Nanzeen Contractor b. 1982 (Star Trek Into Darkness, Pegasus vs. Chimera, Relic Hunter, Starhunter)
Chris Pine b. 1980 (Into the Woods, Star Trek, Carriers)
Amanda Schull b. 1978 (12 Monkeys [2014 TV], Grimm)
Mike Colter b. 1976 (American Horror Story, Men in Black 3)
Meredith Eaton b. 1974 (Paranormal Activity)
Oleg Taktarov b. 1967 (Predators, National Treasure, Rollerball [2002])
Brett Cullen b. 1956 (Under the Dome, The Dark Knight Rises, Lost, Pixel Perfect, From the Earth to the Moon, The Omen [1995 TV], Apollo 13, Deep Space Nine, Prehysteria!, V [1985], The Incredible Hulk)
Michael Jeter b. 1952 died 30 March 2003 (Taken, Jurassic Park III, The Green Mile, Waterworld, Zelig)
Jane Merrow b. 1941 (The Greatest American Hero, The Incredible Hulk, The Six Million Dollar Man, UFO, The Prisoner)
Yvette Vickers b. 1928 died 2010 (Attack of the Giant Leeches, Attack of the 50 Foot Woman)
Jim Davis b. 1909 died 26 April 1981 (The Day Time Ended, Project U.F.O., Satan’s Triangle, The Sixth Sense, Dracula vs. Frankenstein [1971], The Time Tunnel, Jesse James Meets Frankenstein’s Daughter, Monster from Green Hell)

To be blunt, there is one movie star on this list and so far, he has one iconic role, though that may change depending on how well Into the Woods is received. Last year, I had Yvette Vickers in the Picture Slot because she's a fabulous babe, she was in one particular movie and the strange and newsworthy events of the discovery of her body in her home long after her death, so no exact date is given. The other surprises in this research: I'd never heard the last name Contractor before and I forgot that Michael Jeter was dead.

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

Predictor: FM-2030 in UpWingPriorities, published 1981

Prediction: Physical Immortality: The most basic and urgent problem facing us is death. All other human constraints are derivative. Death casts a pall over all of life. So long as we are terminal we cannot enhance the basic quality of life. So long as there is death no one is free.

Accelerators: Slow down aging through genetic and cellular intervention. Telemonitor every person for continuous protection from internal and external hazards. Reformat our terminal bodies into versatile telebodies with easy plug in replacement parts. Facilitate freefly to reduce gravitational wear and tear and rapidly break away from natural disasters. Provide universal cryonic suspension in case of unavoidable death. Spread a Psychology of Immortality - the will to live forever.


Reality: Wait... The Affordable Care Act does NOT provide universal cryonic suspension? Thanks, Obama!

We are going to be visited by the frozen ghost of FM-2030 on Tuesdays well into November. (He died in 2000 and is in cryogenic storage, naturally.) He considered his ideas so new and exciting that he had to make up words like telemonitor, telebodies and freefly just to express them. We've had some predictors I didn't care for. Notably, the racist, murderous scumbag Larry Niven comes to mind. But for pure pompous asshattery, FM-2030 is to Ray Kurzweil as Babe Ruth is to Hank Greenberg. They are both pretty stunning, but one of them is in a category by himself.

(Note: I mocked FM-2030 for making up words, but my spell checker doesn't recognize "asshattery". Google, on the other hand, knows it is a common modern slang term. I didn't make it up.)

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Herman Kahn makes yet another shot in the dark prediction about the 1970s and 1980s.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
 

25 August 2014

Birthdays
Angelica Mandy b. 1992 (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire)
Blake Lively b. 1987 (Green Lantern)
Rachel Bilson b. 1981 (Jumper, Buffy)
Toni Wynne b. 1980 (Oz the Great and Powerful, American Horror Story, Zombie Roadkill, Spider-Man 3, 2095, The Spirithunter, Blood Feast 2: All U Can Eat)
Kel Mitchell b. 1978 (Mystery Men, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch)
Alexander Skarsgård b. 1976 (Hidden [2014], True Blood, Battleship, Melancholia)
Donavon Stinson b. 1976 (Mighty Mighty Monsters, Snowmageddon, Eureka, Reaper, The X Files: I Want to Believe, Fantastic Four, Dark Angel)
David Alan Basche b. 1968 (Real Steel, The Adjustment Bureau, War of the Worlds [2005])
Tom Hollander b. 1967 (The Invisible Woman, About Time, Pirates of the Caribbean)
Brad Dryborough b. 1967 (Falling Skies, The Cabin in the Woods, Fringe, Supernatural, Battlestar Galactica, Alien Trespass, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Stargate: Atlantis, Smallville, Alien Incursion)
Marti Noxon b. 1964 (writer/actor, Dr. Horrible Sing-Along Blog, Fright Night, I Am Number Four, Angel, Buffy)
Blair Underwood b. 1964 (The Event, Deep Impact, Gattaca, Knight Rider)
Joanne Whalley b. 1961 (Willow)
Billy Ray Cyrus b. 1961 (Sharknado 2)
Ally Walker b. 1961 (Kazaam, Witches of Eastwick [TV], Universal Soldier)
Ashley Crow b. 1960 (Supernatural, Heroes, Minority Report, Probe)
Tim Burton b. 1958 (director, Frankenweenie, Dark Shadows [2012], Alice in Wonderland, Corpse Bride, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Big Fish, Planet of the Apes, Sleepy Hollow [1999], Mars Attacks, Batman Returns, Edward Scissorhands, Batman, Beetlejuice, Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure)
Simon McBurney b. 1957 (Utopia, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, The Golden Compass)
Gene Simmons b. 1949 (Runaway, KISS Meets the Phantom in the Park)
John Savage b. 1949 (Demon Legacy, Bermuda Tentacles, Alien Rising, Dreamkiller, Fringe, Carnivale, Alien Lockdown, Dark Angel, They Nest, Star Trek: Voyager, Lost Souls, Firestorm, The X-Files, Carnosaur 2, Red Scorpion 2, Beauty and the Beast [1987 musical])
Michael Kaluta b. 1947 (artist, Bill the Galactic Hero)
John Badham b. 1939 (director, Supernatural, Heroes, Short Circuit, WarGames, Dracula [1979], The Sixth Sense)
Tom Skerritt b. 1933 (Ted, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde [TV 2008], Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Fallen 2006 TV], Category 7: The End of the World, Aftershock: Earthquake in New York, Contact, Poltergeist III, The Twilight Zone [1986], SpaceCamp, The Dead Zone, Alien, The Devil’s Rain, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, The Time Tunnel, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, My Favorite Martian)
Peter Gilmore b. 1981 died 3 February 2013 (Doctor Who, Warlords of the Deep, The Abominable Dr. Phibes)
Sean Connery b. 1930 (The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, DragonHeart, Highlander I & II, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Sword of the Valiant: The Legend of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Time Bandits, Outland, Meteor, Zardoz, Darby O’Gill and the Little People)
Graham Jarvis b. 1930 died 16 April 203 (Strange World, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids [TV], The X Files, Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Munsters Today)
Bruce Allpress b. 1930 (Power Rangers Jungle Fury, The Water Horse, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys)
Mel Ferrer b. 1917 died 2 June 2008 (Nightmare City, Eaten Alive, The Great Alligator, The Visitor, Screamers, The Amazing Captain Nemo, Logan’s Run, Wonder Woman, The World, The Flesh and the Devil)
Van Johnson b. 1916 died 12 December 2008 (Killer Crocodile, The Purple Rose of Cairo, Batman, The Pied Piper of Hamelin, Brigadoon)
Michael Rennie b. 1909 died 10 June 1971 (The Invaders, Batman, Cyborg 2087, The Time Tunnel, Lost in Space, The Lost World, The Day the Earth Stood Still)

Last year, the Picture Slot went to Blake Lively because... she's purdy. This year, looking for the iconic roles, the competition was between Alexander Skarsgård, Tim Burton, Tom Skerritt, Sean Connery (easily the biggest movie star on the list) and the winner, Michael Rennie from the original The Day the Earth Stood Still. He wins because he follows the important sci-fi rule, "You can tell they are from an advanced civilization because they are wearing aluminum."

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

Predictor: OMNI Future Almanac, published 1982

Prediction: The five fastest growing economies 1980 to 2000
Brazil
Nigeria
South Korea
China
Mexico

Reality: According to the World Bank data, the greatest GDP growth in that era belongs to
Guinea-Bissau
Bolivia
Mexico
Paraguay
St. Vincent and the Grenadines

To be fair, OMNI was looking at big countries, so the top five for larger populations would be
Mexico (3rd overall)
Indonesia (14th)
Pakistan (15th)
United States (28th)
South Korea (29th)

By these numbers, Brazil was the 36th fastest growing economy overall, China was 74th and Nigeria 107th. Nigeria's GDP actually shrunk in that time period.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Our second visit from fm-2030. The more I read this guy, the more I think the competition for biggest jerk among the futurists is really no competition at all.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

Never to be Forgotten:Lord Richard Attenborough 1923-2014

Lord Richard Attenborough, one of Britain's most celebrated actors and directors over the past fifty years, has died at the age of 90. Both he and his wife had been in a nursing home for several years. The cause of death has not been released.

American audiences are most likely to recall his role in The Great Escape from early in his career. His greatest directorial successes were the biopics Gandhi, Cry Freedom and Chaplin. But of course, he is mentioned here for being in the first two Jurassic Park movies. He was also in Jack and the Beanstalk: The Real Story.

On a personal note, in these pictures when he is older, he looks like a morphing stage between my dad and my dad's older brother Bill. From a distance, he could be either one of them.

Best wishes to the family and friends of Lord Richard Attenborough, from a fan. He is never to be forgotten.

24 October 2014

Birthdays
Rupert Grint b. 1988 (Harry Potter)
Chad Michael Murray b. 1981 (Left Behind, The Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghost of Georgia, House of Wax, Megiddo: The Omega Code 2)
Beth Riesgraf b. 1978 (Caper)
Alex O’Loughlin b. 1976 (Moonlight, The Invisible, Man-Thing)
James D’Arcy b. 1975 (Jupiter Ascending, Cloud Atlas, Them [2007])
Kwesi Ameyaw b. 1975 (Continuum, Supernatural, Man of Steel, Once Upon a Time, Riverworld, Fringe, Stargate, Kyle XY, Fallen, Eureka, Blade: Trinity, Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, Jake 2.0, Battlestar Galactica, Smallville, Dead Like Me, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Jeremiah, Dark Angel, Strange Frequency, The Lone Gunmen, The 6th Day)
Jennifer Lien b. 1974 (Star Trek: Voyager)
Barret Oliver b.1973 (Twilight Zone [1986], Tall Tales & Legends, Cocoon, D.A.R.Y.L., The NeverEnding Story, Jekyll and Hyde… Together Again, Knight Rider, The Incredible Hulk)
Eric Edwards b. 1966 (Blade, Candyman)
Jared Harris b. 1961 (The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, Fringe, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, Lost in Space [1998], Tall Tale)
Mark Protosevich b. 1961 (writer, Thor, I Am Legend, The Cell)
Steve Guttenberg b. 1958 (Short Circuit, Cocoon 1 and 2, High Spirits, The Day After, The Boys from Brazil)
Stephen Fry b. 1957 (The Hobbit, The Borrowers, Alice in Wonderland [2010], V for Vendetta, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, MirrorMask, Doctor Who: Death Comes to Time, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride)
Kevin Dunn b. 1956 (Transformers, Lost, NYPD 2069, Small Soldiers, Godzilla [1998], Ghostbusters II)
Orson Scott Card b. 1951 (won 1986 Hugo and Nebula for Ender’s Game, won 1987 Hugo and Nebula for Speaker for the Dead)
Charles Rocket b. 1949 died 7 October 2005 (3rd Rock from the Sun, Star Patrol, The X-Files, Star Trek: Voyager, Lois & Clark, Hocus Pocus, Quantum Leap, Earth Girls Are Easy, Max Headroom)
Ronnie Blakley b. 1945 (A Return to Salem’s Lot, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Beyond Westworld)
Castulo Guerra b. 1945 (The Purge: Anarchy, Touch, Invasion, Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace, Lois & Clark, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Beauty and the Beast [1987], Starman [TV])
Kenny Baker b. 1934 (Star Wars, U.F.O. [1993], Prince Caspian and the Voyage of the Dawn Treader [1989], Willow, Labyrinth, Time Bandits, Flash Gordon)
William Morgan Sheppard b. 1932 (Mysterious Island, Doctor Who, Legend of the Seeker, Star Trek [2009], Transformers, The Prestige, Charmed, Star Trek: Voyager, Timecop, American Gothic, Poltergeist: The Legacy, Babylon 5, SeaQuest 2032, Needful Things, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Max Headroom, Werewolf, The Day of the Triffids [1981], Hawk the Slayer)
Jimmy Gardner b. 1924 died 3 May 2010 (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, My Hero, The Company of Wolves, Doctor Who, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe [1967], The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb)
Helena Carter b. 1920 died 11 January 2000 (Invaders from Mars)
James Tiptree, Jr. b 1915 died 19 May 1987 (author, Tales of the Quintana Roo, Up the Walls of the World)
Jorge Luis Borges b. 1899 died 14 June 1986 (author, The Book of Imaginary Beings, Labyrinths)

So here's my take on who would be in the Picture Slot depending on the main criterion.

Iconic: Today's actual criterion, and Rupert Grint edges out Kenny Baker because I had used a Star Wars picture more recently than I have used a Harry Potter picture.

Fabulous babe: Here it would be a battle between Beth Riesgraf, Jennifer Lien and Helena Carter.

Oh That Guy: I would say William Morgan Sheppard edges out Castulo Guerra, Kevin Dunn and Kwesi Ameyaw. Odd little non-genre coincidence: Sheppard played the father of fellow birthday boy Jared Harris on Mad Men.

Writer: Borges. No contest in my book.

My favorite performer on the list: Stephen Fry, also no contest.

The biggest surprise in the research: I completely forgot Charles Rocket was dead. It was assumed by the police he slit his own throat.

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

Predictor: General Motors in 1969

Prediction: “The Wankel will … dwarf such major post-war technological developments as xerography, the Polaroid camera and color television.”

Reality: Ha! Wankel rotary engines! It's actually a damned clever idea, but it's still internal combustion, so it's no solution to the problems we face concerning the use of the world's resources. The reason it didn't take off was if a seal wore out or if a radiator hose busted, these things could overheat very quickly. The overheating flaw can be overcome, but it got bad press for being unreliable and General Motors stopped cheerleading the Wankel.

It's also a little quaint the Polaroid camera gets to be in the major post-war technological developments list, since we now think of that as being obsolete. If I could go back 45 years and make a suggestion, the transistor is a better choice. The microprocessor is another huge leap forward, but that's the early 1970s, so you couldn't use it in 1969.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

OMNI Future Almanac day! Yay! (Also known colloquially as Monday.)

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

23 August 2014

 Birthdays
Alana Mansour b. 2003 (Terra Nova)
Annie Ilonzeh b. 1983 (Beauty and the Beast, Arrow, Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief)
Clare Grant b. 1979 (Team Unicorn, The Guild)
Ray Park b. 1974 (Jinn, G.I. Joe, Heroes, Slayer, X-Men, Star Wars; Episode I – He’s Like the Only Cool Thing in It, Mortal Combat: Annihilation)
Aaron Douglas b. 1971 (The Strain, Falling Skies, Hemlock Grove, Eureka, Battlestar Galactica, Smallville, Reaper, Bionic Woman [2007], Catwoman, I, Robot, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, The Chronicles of Riddick, Andromeda, 10.5, Paycheck, Jeremiah, X-Men 2, Taken, Stargate SG-1, Dark Angel)
River Phoenix b. 1970 died 31 October 1993 (Dark Blood, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Explorers)
Jay Mohr b. 1970 (S1mOne, The Adventures of Pluto Nash, Small Soldiers, From the Earth to the Moon)
Roger Avary b. 1965 (writer, Beowulf)
Ed Gale b. 1963 (The Polar Express, Fairie, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Weird Science, Lifepod, Land of the Lost, Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey, Child’s Play, Phantasm II, Spaceballs, Howard the Duck)
Deron McBee b. 1961 (The Invisible Man, Roswell, Conan [TV], Sliders, Batman Forever, M.A.N.T.I.S., Immortal Combat, Time Barbarians)
Jennifer Holmes b. 1955 (Misfits of Science, Knight Rider, Voyagers!, The Incredible Hulk)
Charles Busch b. 1954 (writer, Psycho Beach Party)
Mark Vann b. 1954 (Torchwood, Lost, Spider-Man 3, Angel, Early Edition)
Shelley Long b. 1949 (Zombie Hamlet, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Lois & Clark, Freaky Friday [TV], Hello Again, Caveman)
Bob Peck b. 1944 died 4 April 1999 (Smilla’s Feeling for Snow, Jurassic Park, Slipstream)
Bobby Diamond b. 1943 (Twilight Zone)
Barbara Eden b. 1931 (Sabrina, The Teenage Witch, The Stepford Children, I Dream of Jeannie, 7 Faces of Dr. Lao, The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea)
Vera Miles b. 1929 (BrainWaves, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, The Outer Limits, Twilight Zone, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms)
James Millhollin b. 1915 died 23 May 1993 (Lost in Space, Bewitched, Batman, My Favorite Martian, My Living Doll, Twilight Zone, Zotz!)

Last year, the picture slot was Barbara Eden and no heterosexual male could fault me on that choice. Early my research this morning, I was leaning towards Aaron Douglas, a Canadian actor who has done a heck of a lot of genre shot in Canada and is likely best known for Battlestar Galactica. I also considered Ray Park as Darth Maul, but I had already used his picture celebrating the birthday of Peter Serafinowicz, the actor who did Darth Maul's voice. (I'll rectify that mistake next year.) But late in the game I stumbled upon the name James Millhollin. It's been about two weeks since I had an Oh That Guy in the Picture Slot, and for those who clamor for fabulous babes, we have a double dose of Anne Francis, so that base is also covered. This is a production still from a Twilight Zone episode. Longtime readers will know how much respect I show to the original Twilight Zone.

In descriptions of James Millhollin, the words nervous, fidgety and fussy show up regularly. He is compared to other character actors from earlier generations, including Edward Everett Horton and Franklin Pangborn. One source I found came right out and said it: Sissyman. In the excellent documentary The Celluloid Closet, they have a segment about sissymen in films and on TV, a regularly used comic foil long before any character could express an interest in the same gender. I still remember Harvey Fierstein's comment in the movie. "I love sissymen. I AM a sissyman!"

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

Predictor: Abram Dittenhoefer (1836-1919), lawyer, predicting the 20th Century in honor of the 1893 Columbian Exhibition held in Chicago.

Prediction: "Since I have been at the bar, I have noticed the growth of the tendency to divide the law into specialties. It is not so very long ago that every lawyer accepted all sorts of practice... I think, early in the next century, the majority of lawyers will become specialists."

Reality: Okay, let's start with fashion. The bushy mustache, the pince-nez, the uncomfortable collar. He's got the whole 19th Century thing down pat.

His prediction is very specific and as far as i can find, completely correct. Browsing around the web, I found a Wisconsin law journal that gave the percentage of general practice lawyers in that state at about 10% in the 1990s and shrinking. I don't know that Mr. Dittenhoefer is correct in saying every lawyer was a general practitioner when he was young, but let's agree that the category has shrunk from a vast majority to a small minority in the 100 years after his prediction. Good on ya, Abram!

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

We get another prediction from The Experts Speak.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

22 August 2014

Birthdays
Dakota Goyo b. 1999 (Dark Skies, Real Steel, Thor, Ultra)
Jorge Diaz b. 1983 (Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones, True Blood)
Jennifer Finnigan b. 1979 (Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Big Wolf on Campus)
Brandon Quintin Adams b. 1979 (The Burning Zone, Ghost in the Machine, Quantum Leap)
James Corden b. 1978 (Into the Woods, Doctor Who, Gulliver’s Travels, Vampire Killers, Jack and the Beanstalk: The Real Story)
Rodrigo Santoro b. 1975 (Lost)
Kristen Wiig b. 1973 (Paul)
Heidi Lenhart b. 1973 (Crocodile 2: Death Swamp, The Burning Zone)
Richard Armitage b. 1971 (The Hobbit, Captain America: The First Avenger, Star Wars: Episode I – Yes, Yes That One Again)
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje b. 1967 (Thor: The Dark World, The Thing [2011], G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, Lost, The Mummy Returns, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea [2001])
Ty Burrell b. 1967 (The Incredible Hulk [2008], National Treasure: Book of Secrets, Dawn of the Dead, Evolution)
Pamella D’Pella b. 1967 (Alien Nation: Millennium, Beauty and the Beast, ALF)
Courtney Gains b. 1965 (Mimesis, Alien Encounter, Halloween [2007], Charmed, Superboy, Starman [TV], Misfits of Science, Back to the Future, Children of the Corn)
Andrew Wilson b. 1964 (Idiocracy, Merlin: The Return)
Lara Harris b. 1962 (American Horror Story, Demolition Man, Monsters)
Mark Williams b. 1959 (Doctor Who, Being Human, Harry Potter, Frankenstein’s Wedding… Live in Leeds, Stardust, The Borrowers, Red Dwarf)
Holly Hawkins b. 1959 (True Blood, Alice in Wonderland)
Colm Feore b. 1958 (The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Beauty and the Beast [2014 TV], Revolution, Thor, Battlestar Galactica, The Chronicles of Riddick, Storm of the Century, Creature [1998 TV], Forever Knight, Beyond Reality, War of the Worlds [TV])
Honor Blackman b. 1925 (Cockneys vs Zombies, Dr. Terrible’s House of Horrible, Jack and the Beanstalk: The Real Story, Tale of the Mummy, Doctor Who, Jason and the Argonauts, H. G. Wells’ Invisible Man)
Ray Bradbury b. 1920 died 5 June 2012 (author, Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles)
Cecil Kellaway b. 1893 died 28 February 1973 (Bewitched, My Favorite Martian, Twilight Zone, Zotz!, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, Harvey, The Luck of the Irish, I Married a Witch, The Invisible Man Returns)

Last year the Picture Slot belonged to Ray Bradbury, and when it comes to genre, he bestrides this list like a colossus. I would be completely justified to give him the Picture Slot every 22nd of August. But if we want to talk about bestriding and colossi, we also have Honor Blackman as Hera in Jason and the Argonauts. In 1963 I saw this movie at the Grand Lake Theater in Oakland on a Saturday. The special effects were state of the art at the time and a lot of scenes made a deep impression, the one in the Picture Slot more than most. It's still one of the most memorable times at the movies for me to this day.

Next year is still unclear, but Mark Williams as Arthur Weasley in the Harry Potter series is an early front runner.

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

Movies released
1990: The Bronx Warriors released, 1982
 

Predictor: Edgar Cayce

Prediction: The time of great upheaval will begin in 1958 with the eruption of Mt. Etna.

Reality: Wikipedia lists 1928 as the biggest eruption for Mt. Etna in the 20th Century, with other notable eruptions in 1949 and 1971, no mention of 1958.

Next week is Edgar Cayce's swan song and (spoiler alert) it will be as bad as the rest of his stuff. When I had the idea of putting him on the list, I knew he'd be hit or miss, but I was still surprised by how few hits he had, given that he once had a reputation.


Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

It's Saturday, so we return to 1893 for bold predictions and bolder facial hair.
 
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

21 August 2014

 Birthdays
Maxim Knight b. 1999 (Falling Skies)
Hayden Panettiere b. 1989 (Heroes)
Robert Knox b. 1989 died 24 May 2008 (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince)
Laura Haddock b. 1985 (Guardians of the Galaxy, Rage of the Yeti, Captain America: The First Avenger)
Nathan Jones b. 1969 (Mad Max: Fury Road, Conan the Barbarian [2011], Doom Runners)
Carrie-Anne Moss b. 1967 (The Matrix, Red Planet, Forever Knight)
Kim Catrall b. 1956 (Modern Vampires, Invasion, Split Second, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Big Trouble in Little China, City Limits, Mannequin, Tucker’s Witch, The Incredible Hulk, Logan’s Run [TV])
Walter Williamson b. 1946 (The Omega Code, Babylon 5)
Basil Poledouris b. 1945 died 8 November 2006 (composer, Starship Troopers, RoboCop 3, RoboCop, Cherry 2000, Amerika, Twilight Zone [1985], Conan the Barbarian, Tintorera: Killer Shark)
Loretta Devine b. 1949 (Supernatural)
Peter Weir b. 1944 (director, The Truman Show, The Cars That Eat People)
Clarence Williams III b. 1939 (Deep Space Nine)
Wilt Chamberlain b. 1936 died 12 October 1999 (Conan the Destroyer)
Tony Steedman b. 1927 died 4 February 2001 (Babylon 5, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Beauty and the Beast, The Charmings)
Anthony Boucher b. 1911 died 29 April 1968 (editor, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction)

A list of random thoughts about today's list.

1. Last year it was Carrie-Anne Moss from The Matrix, this year it's Kim Catrall from Big Trouble in Little China. Long before Kim Catrall was mocked mercilessly for her role on Sex and the City, she was mocked mercilessly on Mystery Science Theater 3000.  Dr. Forester introduced City Limits with the line "This week's experiment is City Limits, with James Earl Jones in one of the worst movies he ever made and Kim Catrall in one of the best movies she ever made." That still makes me laugh.

2. The people with just one role. All the reasons are different. Maxim Knight is just a kid and who knows where his career will go. Hayden Panettiere hasn't gone back to genre since Heroes. Poor Robert Knox was killed in a bar brawl four days after his last scene was shot. Wilt Chamberlain only played a role other than himself in one movie. And then there's Loretta Devine and Clarence Williams III, each of them with over 100 credits and only one in sci-fi, not counting voice work. A lot of hard working black actors don't get cast in sci-fi or fantasy and they aren't the only ethnic group treated this way. If an Italian-American actor gets cast as a mobster, that's pretty much how his or her entire career will go. It's much the same for Hispanic actors who play gang members.

3. Die young much? Of the deceased on today's list, Only Tony Steedman (Socrates in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure) lived to see 70. When I was hunting names on isfdb.org this morning, I saw the illustrator Aubrey Beardsley was on their list, but I didn't include him. He died at 25. To think of the accomplishments of people dying that young is both impressive and depressing.

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

In the Year 2000!
 
Predictor: Lee de Forest, "The Father of Radio", predicting the world of 2000 in the 17 January 1960 edition of the Sunday supplement American Weekly.


Prediction: The atom and electron will be your doctor's servants. Electronic ""brains,"" for instance, will store knowledge of every symptom of every disease, making instantly available to physicians everywhere up-to-the-minute scientific findings which they could never hope to keep abreast of.

Reality: This is some good thinking on de Forest's part and it is 100% accurate. He couldn't be expected to know that computers would be most used for storing pictures of adorable cats and porn, but to grade him down for that would be completely unfair.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

The Picture Slot will be a tip of the hat to My People and Our Agenda, he wrote somewhat cryptically. 

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

20 August 2014

 Birthdays
Andrew Garfield b. 1983 (Amazing Spider-Man, Never Let Me Go, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Doctor Who)
Ben Barnes b. 1981 (The Chronicles of Narnia, Dorian Gray, Stardust)
Ali Liebert b. 1981 (Lost Girl, Apollo 18, Fringe, Kyle XY, Fallen [TV mini-series], The 4400, Dead Like Me)
Amy Adams b. 1974 (Man of Steel, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, Enchanted, Smallville, Buffy, Charmed, Psycho Beach Party)
Chaney Kley b. 1972 died 24 July 2007 (Darkness Falls, Buffy)
Jonathan Ke Quan b. 1971 (Encino Man, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom)
David Walliams b. 1971 (Doctor Who, Stardust)
Colin Cunningham b. 1966 (Falling Skies, Impact, Stargate, The 4400, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Elektra, Andromeda, Smallville, Dark Angel, Strange Frequency, The 6th Day, The X-Files)
James Marsters b. 1962 (Metal Hurlant Chronicles, Warehouse 13, Three Inches, Supernatural, Smallville, Caprica, Moonshot, Torchwood, Angel, Buffy, Strange Frequency)
Sophie Aldred b. 1962 (Doctor Who)
Geoffrey Blake b. 1962 (Beauty and the Beast [2014], The Event, Charmed, Mighty Joe Young, Contact, Apollo 13, Deep Space Nine, Critters 3, Alien Nation [TV], ALF, The Last Starfighter)
Joan Allen b. 1956 (Pleasantville, Twilight Zone [1986])
Jay Acavone b. 1955 (InAlienable, The Hills Have Eyes II, Stargate SG-1, Terminated 3, Charmed, The X Files, The Invisible Man, Sliders, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show, Dark Skies, Independence Day, Beauty and the Beast [1990], Werewolf [TV])
Peter Horton b. 1953 (Thoughtcrimes, Brimstone, From the Earth to the Moon, T-Rex: Back to the Cretaceous, Children of the Corn)
Greg Bear b. 1951 (won 1995 Nebula for Moving Mars and 2001 Nebula for Darwin’s Radio)
Patrick Kilpatrick b. 1949 (The Zombinator, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Minority Report, Roswell, Dark Angel, The X Files, Angel, Star Trek: Voyager, Charmed, Deep Space Nine, Timecop [TV mini-series], Beastmaster III, Babylon 5, The Stand, Lois & Clark, Time Trax, Class of 1999, The Toxic Avenger)
John Noble b. 1948 (Sleepy Hollow, Fringe, Stargate SG-1, Lord of the Rings, The Lost World, Time Trax)
Ray Wise b. 1947 (Big Ass Spider!, Nuclear Family, X-Men: First Class, Dollhouse, Pandemic, Reaper, Cyxork 7, Jeepers Creepers II, Charmed, Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: The Next Generation, RoboCop, Cat People, Swamp Thing)
Sylvester McCoy b. 1943 (The Hobbit, Doctor Who. Leapin’ Leprechauns!, Starstrider, Dracula [1979], Roberts Robots)
Anthony Ainley b. 1932 died 3 May 2004 (Doctor Who, The Land Time Forgot, The Blood on Satan’s Claw, The Champions)
Bernard Archard b. 1916 died 1 May 2008 (Krull, Doctor Who, The Horror of Frankenstein, Village of the Damned)
H.P. Lovecraft b. 1890 died 15 March 1937 (author, The Call of Cthulhu, The Dunwich Horror)

This year, I decided to give special status to actors who starred in Doctor Who, which saves me from a very tough Picture Slot choice based solely on the merits. Last year it was H. P. Lovecraft and next year I have no idea who I'll choose, because there are a lot of actors with iconic roles on the list. Will it be Short Round or Spike or Dr. Bishop? Heck, I might choose a role from Ray Wise, just because he's one of my favorite Oh That Guy actors.

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

Predictor: Herman Kahn in the 1972 book Things to Come, published by the Hudson Institute.

Prediction: The chronic confrontations will continue at least through 1985.
1. US vs. USSR
2. USSR vs. China
3. China vs. US
4. The Germanies
5. China-Taiwan
6. Korea
7. Vietnam
8, Arab-Israeli
9. India-Pakistan
10. Japan-China


Reality: Kahn gets at least 8.5 of 10 on this one. He gets a complete whiff on Vietnam, missing that the United States would give up on that one, not such a hard prediction in 1972. In my opinion, Japan-China wasn't at the level of belligerence as the other nine in the early 1970s and the United Kingdom vs. IRA would have been a more apt replacement. East vs. West Germany vanished as well, but since that happened after Kahn's 1985 cut-off date, he gets full credit for listing them.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Thursday means Lee de Forest, the "father of radio" and a hit or miss predictor looks at the year 2000.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

19 August 2014

Birthdays
Tammin Sursok b. 1983 (Airship Dracula, Aquamarine)
Tania Nolan b. 1983 (Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, Legend of the Seeker)
Michelle Borth b. 1978 (Timer, Supernatural, Komodo vs. Cobra)
Callum Blue b. 1977 (Smallville, The Sarah Jane Adventures, Dead Like Me)
Tracie Thomas b. 1975 (Looper, Wonder Woman [2011], Grindhouse, Wonderfalls)
Ahmed Best b. 1973 (The Star Wars prequels)
Kyra Sedgwick b. 1965 (Gamer, Phenomenon, Amazing Stories)
Kevin Dillon b. 1965 (The Blob [1988])
Martin Donovan b. 1957 (The Lottery, The Haunting in Connecticut, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Dark Shadows [2005])
Adam Arkin b. 1956 (Lake Placid, Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, Perversions of Science, The Hidden Room, Hard Time on Planet Earth, The Twilight Zone [1985])
Peter Gallagher b. 1955 (The Gathering, House on Haunted Hill, High Spirits)
Jonathan Frakes b. 1952 (Star Trek, Roswell, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Lois & Clark, Twilight Zone [1985])
Jim Carter b. 1948 (The Golden Compass, The Wind in the Willows [TV], Ella Enchanted, Dinotopia, Jack and the Beanstalk: The Real Story, The Little Vampire, The Witches, The Company of Wolves, Flash Gordon)
Gerald McRaney b. 1947 (Jericho, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Hansel & Gretel, The NeverEnding Story, The Incredible Hulk, The Aliens Are Coming, Logan’s Run [TV], The Brain Machine, The Fantastic Journey, The Six Million Dollar Man)
Christopher Malcolm b. 1946 died 15 February 2014 (Whoops Apocalypse, Labyrinth, Highlander, Superman III, The Empire Strikes Back)
Jill St. John b. 1940 (Batman, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Lost World)
Diana Muldaur b. 1938 (Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Incredible Hulk, Planet Earth, Star Trek, The Invaders)
L. Q. Jones b. 1927 (Timerider: The Adventures of Lyle Swann, The Incredible Hulk, A Boy and His Dog, My Favorite Martian)
Angus Scrimm b. 1926 (Phantasm, The Nightmare Room, FreakyLinks, Munchie, Mindwarp, Subspecies, Transylvania Twist, Chopping Mall, Salvage 1, Project U.F.O.)
William Marshall b. 1924 died 11 June 2003 (Dinosaur Valley Girls, Sorceress, Amazon Women on the Moon, Twilight’s Last Gleaming, Scream Blacula Scream, Blacula, Star Trek)
Gene Roddenberry b. 1921 died 24 October 1991 (creator, Star Trek, Andromeda, Planet Earth, The Questor Tapes, Genesis II)

There are several choices for The Picture Slot today. Last year it was Gene Roddenberry and I could have repeated the selection with a clear conscience. All the people I considered are older than 60, the only iconic genre role played by the young folks being poor Ahmed Best as J**-J** B****, the number one reason to hate the Star Wars prequels. That character will never be in the Picture Slot.

I thought about Angus Scrimm from Phantasm, but this is a very Star Trek day. I went with Jonathan Frakes this year, in part because he had so much more screen time than Diana Muldaur or William Marshall, and partly because I'm enjoying the new Twitter account Riker Googling, which is not being run by the actor, though it uses his likeness. My expectation is I will go with someone else in 2015.

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

Movies released
Spy Kids: All The Time In The World In 4D released, 2011
 

Predictor: FM-2030, born F. M. Esfandiary (1930-2000) from his 1981 magazine article Up-Wing Priorities

Prediction: Around 2010 the world will be at a new orbit in history. We will translive all over this planet and the solar sphere-at home everywhere. We will be hyperfluid: skim on land-swim in the deep oceans-flash across the sky. Family will have given way to Universal life. People will linkup/linkout free of kinship and possessiveness. We will stream ahead propelled by a cornucopia of abundance.

Reality: Okay, here's our new Tuesday regular, FM-2030, who is in the running for the biggest narcissist of any of the futurists who have been our regular contributors. Regular readers will know the competition is formidable to say the least. Cough-cough Heinlein cough Kurzweil. Get used to made-up words like "translive", "hyperfluid" and "linkout".

He changed his name to FM-2030 because he was sure he would live to be 100 by simply refusing to die. In reality, he didn't even make it to the year 2010, the year he predicted in the article I'm going to be using. Nature gave him pancreatic cancer, effectively refusing his refusal to die. He's cryogenically frozen. I'm sure you are shocked by this.

Back to specific realities. We tend to live in one place and we are still pretty much stuck on this planet. Most people live in family units instead of acting like Hugh Hefner. The cornucopia of abundance is getting closer to possible, but the people making huge fortunes based on scarce resources are fighting like starving jackals to keep the status quo in place.

Our previous Tuesday regular Geoffrey Hoyle wasn't particularly accurate, but I still thought his world of 2010 had a certain charm to it. If FM-2030 had any charm, it is clearly lost on me.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Oh wait, I made a short list of most narcissistic regular contributors and I forgot Herman Kahn!

My bad.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

18 August 2014

Birthdays
Max Charles b. 2003 (White Space, The Amazing Spider-Man 1 & 2, True Blood)
Maia Mitchell b. 1993 (After the Dark)
Richard Harmon b. 1991 (Continuum, The 100, Fringe, Caprica, Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, Smallville, Flash Gordon [TV], Jeremiah)
Mika Boorem b. 1987 (Mighty Joe Young, Jack Frost, Sabrina, The Teenage Witch)
Mizuo Peck b. 1977 (Night at the Museum, Witchblade)
Malcolm-Jamal Warner b. 1970 (Jeremiah, Sliders)
Edward Norton b. 1969 (The Incredible Hulk)
Christian Slater b. 1969 (Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Tales from the Darkside: The Movie, Beyond the Stars)
Sarita Choudhury b. 1966 (Midnight’s Children, Lady in the Water)
Craig Bierko b. 1964 (The Thirteenth Floor, Red Dwarf [TV Movie])
Adam Storke b. 1962 (The Invisible Man [TV], Prey, Death Becomes Her, Lifepod)
Glenn Plummer b. 1961 (Monsters in the Woods, Vegas Vampires, Saw II, The Day After Tomorrow, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Strange Days, Beauty and the Beast [TV])
Madeleine Stowe b. 1958 (Impostor, Twelve Monkeys, The Amazing Spider-Man)
Dennis Leary b. 1957 (Amazing Spider-Man 1 and 2, Small Soldiers, Demolition Man)
Sergio Castellitto b. 1953 (The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian)
Patrick Swayze b. 1952 died 14 September 2009 (George and the Dragon, Donnie Darko, Tall Tale, Ghost, Amazing Stories)
Teri McMinn b. 1951 (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre)
Shirley Prestia b. 1947 died 6 October 2011 (Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Charmed, Babylon 5, Species, ALF)
Martin Mull b. 1943 (Eastwick, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Lois & Clark, Wonder Woman)
Robert Redford b. 1936 (Captain America: The Winter Soldier, The Twilight Zone)
Roman Polanski b. 1933 (director, Rosemary’s Baby, The Fearless Vampire Killers)
Grant Williams b. 1931 died 28 July 1985 (Brain of Blood, The Outer Limits, The Munsters, The Monolith Monsters, The Incredible Shrinking Man)
Joan Taylor b. 1929 died 4 March 2012 (Men Into Space, 20 Million Miles to Earth, Earth vs. Flying Saucers)
Brian W. Aldiss b. 1925 (author, The Year Before Yesterday, Enigma, screenwriter, Brothers of the Head, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Frankenstein Unbound)
Shelley Winters b. 1920 died 14 January 2006 (Purple People Eater, Alice in Wonderland [1985], Pete’s Dragon, Batman) 

A few simple declarative statements about the Picture Slot choice.

1. Robert Redford is the biggest movie star on this list. There are other people I count as movie stars - Edward Norton, Christian Slater, Patrick Swayze, even Shelley Winters - but Redford is more famous than they are.

2. Some big stars have avoided genre films almost completely. Horror, sci-fi and fantasy were small budget affairs for the most part until Star Wars. Even then, fantasy and sci-fi films could be big hits without big stars in the cast. A lot of very popular sci-fi films did not make the actors in them household names,  the huge counterexample being Harrison Ford. Still, a lot of big names have clearly avoided sci-fi and fantasy, even now when the genre rules the roost in terms of big box office for films and popularity among TV shows. Redford is one of those people, but even he has succumbed now, appearing in the second Captain America movie.

3. While most sci-fi and fantasy of the 1950s and 1960s was considered slumming, The Twilight Zone was not. A long standing character actor like Burgess Meredith is the prototypical Twilight Zone protagonist, but a lot of young actors and actresses on their way to being stars had roles as well, and that includes Robert Redford pictured here.

4. My, oh my, by the names of Odin, Vishnu and the little baby Jebus, Robert Redford was so, so pretty when he was a young man. Regular readers can correctly assume from my reliance on fabulous babes in the Picture Slot my heterosexual tendencies, but I'm not blind to good looking guys, especially when the good looking is off the scale like this guy.

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

Predictor: OMNI Future Almanac, published 1982

Prediction: With a combination of x-ray treatments and immune system enhancements, the age-old scourge of malaria will be as good as eradicated by the year 2000.

Reality: Umm, no. About half the world's population is still at risk and in 2012 alone, there were somewhere between 150 and 300 million cases with slightly more than a half a million deaths.

As with many diseases, the numbers are going down over time and the reduction in this century is encouraging, but we can hardly say it's eradicated.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Tomorrow will be the first prediction of our new Tuesday regular.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE! 

17 August 2014

Birthdays
Taissa Farmiga b. 1994 (American Horror Story)
Austin Butler b. 1991 (Wizards of Waverly Place, Aliens in the Attic)
Rachel Hurd-Wood b. 1990 (Solomon Kane, Dorian Gray, Peter Pan)
Brady Corbett b. 1988 (Melancholia, Thunderbirds)
Donnie Wahlberg b. 1969 (Saw II, III & IV, The Sixth Sense)
Helen McCrory b. 1968 (Penny Dreadful, Hugo, Harry Potter, Doctor Who, Frankenstein [1994], Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles)
Andrew Koenig b. 1968 died 14 February 2010 (InAlienable, Deep Space Nine)
Don McKeller b. 1963 (Blindness, eXistenZ, RoboCop [Tv])
Larry B. Scott b. 1961 (Super Force, Hard Time on Planet Earth, SpaceCamp)
Nicholas Bell b. 1958 (I, Frankenstein, Wicked Science, Attack of the Sabertooth, The Lost World, Chameleon, The Genie from Down Under 2, Dark City, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie, Sky Trackers)
Tim Bagley b. 1957 (Zombieland [TV], Grimm, The Day After Tomorrow, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, The X Files, 3rd Rock from the Sun)
Robert Joy b. 1951 (Superhero Movie, Alien vs. Predator: Requiem, The Hills Have Eyes [2006], Land of the Dead, Star Trek: Voyager, Fallen, The Dark Half, Maniac Mansion, Millenium, Amityville: 3-D)
Jennifer Rhodes b. 1947 (Charmed, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Night of the Demons 2, Quantum Leap)
Shane Briant b. 1946 (Farscape, The Lost World, Chameleon 2 and 3, Time Trax, Hawk the Slayer, Captain Kronos - Vampire Hunter, Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell, The Picture of Dorian Gray [1973])
Robert De Niro b. 1943 (Stardust, Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle, Frankenstein [1994], Brazil)
Franco Columbu b. 1941 (The Running Man, The Terminator, Conan the Barbarian)
Floyd 'Red Crow' Westerman b. 1936 died 13 December 2007 (The X Files)
Glenn Corbett b. 1933 died 16 January 1993 (Automan, Land of the Giants, Star Trek)
Harve Bennett b. 1930 (writer, Time Trax, Star Trek II, III, IV and V, The Bionic Woman, The Invisble Man)
Ted Hughes b. 1930 died 29 October 1998 (author, The Iron Giant)
Julius Harris b. 1923 died 17 October 2004 (Eerie, Indiana, Darkman, Amazing Stories, The Incredible Hulk, King Kong [1976])
Evelyn Ankers b. 1918 died 29 August 1985 (The Invisible Man's Revenge, Son of Dracula, The Ghost of Frankenstein, The Wolf Man)

Robert De Niro is the biggest star on the list, but not for his work in genre, so no Picture Slot. I thought about Evelyn Ankers, arguably the first scream queen, but in the end I went with a picture from Star Trek, the late Glenn Corbett as Zephram Cochran. I understand the idea of reboots, but the casting of James Cromwell as Cochran in First Contact completely spoiled the movie for me. I like Cromwell as an actor, but somehow he's supposed to morph into Glenn Corbett at some point and that's just not possible.

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


Moies released
ParaNorman released, 2012
The Time Machine released, 1960

Predictor: Tiger’s Claw, published by Dale Brown in 2012

Prediction: In the Summer of 2014, cash rich China pushes the United States Navy out of the dominant position in the Pacific.

Reality: There's plenty of ridiculous saber rattling actually happening in 2014 from the Ukraine to Gaza to Ferguson, but none of it involves the American Navy being pushed out of the Pacific.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Is it going to be Monday already again? Another OMNI Future Almanac prediction! Oh, goody!

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

16 August 2014

 Birthdays
Cameron Monaghan b. 1993 (Amityville, Vampire Academy, Fringe, Click, Threshold)
Evanna Lynch b. 1991 (Sinbad, Harry Potter)
Kevin G. Schmidt b. 1988 (The Butterfly Effect, Taken)
Arden Cho b. 1985 (Teen Wolf, Mega Python vs. Gatoroid)
Todd Haberkorn b. 1982 (Star Trek Continues, Warehouse 13)
Cam Gigandet b. 1982 (Priest, Pandorum, The Unborn, Twilight)
George Stults b. 1975 (Hydra, Night Skies)
Andy Milder b. 1965 (Transformers, Star Trek: Voyager, Good vs Evil, Armageddon, From the Earth to the Moon, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Apollo 13)
Steve Carell b. 1962 (Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, Bewitched [2005])
Elpidia Carillo b. 1961 (Solaris, Predator 1 and 2)
Timothy Hutton b. 1960 (Iceman)
Angela Bassett b. 1958 (American Horror Story, Green Lantern, Supernova, Contact, Strange Days, Vampire in Brooklyn, Innocent Blood, Critters 4, The Flash, Alien Nation [TV])
Laura Innes b. 1957 (Warehouse 13, Awake, The Event, Deep Impact, The Fury)
Jeff Perry b. 1955 (Fringe, Invasion, Lost, American Gothic, The Flash)
James Cameron b. 1954 (director, Avatar, Dark Angel, Terminator 2:Judgment Day, The Abyss, Aliens, The Terminator, Piranha Part Two: The Spawning)
Reginald VelJohnson b. 1952 (Ghostbusters, Wolfen)
Marshall Manesh b. 1950 (Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, The X Files, Kazaam)
Lesley Ann Warren b. 1946 (Wolf Girl, Faerie Tale Theatre, It’s a Bird… It’s a Plane… It’s Superman!)
Bob Balaban b. 1945 (Lady in the Water, Amazing Stories, 2010, Close Encounters of the Third Kind)
Sir John Standing b. 1934 (Game of Thrones, V for Vendetta, Lexx, Gulliver’s Travels, Eerie, Indiana, Space: 1999)
Julie Newmar b. 1933 (Oblivion 1 and 2, Deep Space, The Powers of Matthew Star, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Jason of Star Command, The Bionic Woman, Monster Squad, Bewitched, Star Trek, Batman, My Living Doll, Twilight Zone)
Robert Culp b. 1930 died 24 March 2010 (Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Conan [TV], Lois & Clark, The Greatest American Hero, The Outer Limits, Now is Tomorrow)
Ann Blyth b. 1928 (Twilight Zone, Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid)
Lois Nettleton b. 1927 died 18 January 2008 (Babylon 5, The Flash, The Munsters Today, The Bamboo Saucer, Twilight Zone, Captain Video)
Fess Parker b. 1924 died 18 March 2010 (Them!)
Mae Clarke b. 1910 died 29 April 1992 (Batman, Frankenstein)
Glenn Strange b. 1899 died 20 September 1973 (Space Patrol, Master Minds, Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein, House of Dracula, House of Frankenstein, The Monster Maker, The Mummy’s Tomb, The Mad Monster, Flash Gordon)
Hugo Gernsback b. 1884 died 19 August 1967 (editor, Amazing Stories, Wonder Stories)

Last year, the Picture Slot was Julie Newmar. I thought no power on earth could convince me to change, but this is also the birthday of Hugo Gernsback, the creepy thief who was massively influential at the beginning of the sci-fi era and for whom the famous award is named. Don't be surprised if next year the impossibly long stems of Ms. Newmar are once again featured prominently.

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

Predictor: Rafael Joseffy, pianist (1852-1915) predicting what the 20th Century would look like in honor of the 1893 Columbian Exhibition in Chicago.


Prediction: I do not believe that in the next century, any greater pianists will be heard than some of those who have lived in the Nineteenth Century. I shall not be surprised if, in the next century, the united States stands in the same relation to music which Germany has had for the past 200 years. There will be great composers, artists and singers who will receive generous support from the people.

Yes, I think that the United States in the next century will be the greatest music-loving and music-producing nation on earth.


Reality: This prediction is a little hard to grade. I'm pretty sure Mr. Joseffy would not give the United States much credit for producing Cole Porter, Duke Ellington, Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Frank Sinatra, Bob Dylan or Jimi Hendrix. He was interested in classical music and in terms of public interest, the 20th Century was a step backwards compared to the 19th Century. The core of the classical repertoire starts at about the time of Johann Sebastian Bach and stretches to the time of Igor Stravinsky or so, with a strong emphasis on a handful of composers, all of them long dead.

As for no better pianists in the 20th Century vs. the 19th, there wasn't much in the way of recording equipment in the 1800s that can give us a benchmark, so I have to leave the grade for that part of the prediction blank.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

America's predominant military status vanishes in the summer of 2014, and I'm pretty sure Dale Brown will decide what we need is steely nerved pilots flying awesome hardware that is just fantastic at blowing big shit up.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!