23 September 2014

Birthdays
Anneliese van der Pol b. 1984 (Vampires Suck)
Keri Lynn Pratt b. 1978 (Smallville, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch)
Anthony Mackie b 1978 (Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Real Steel, The Adjustment Bureau, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter)
Warren Kole b. 1977 (Game of Assassins, The Avengers)
Faune A. Chambers b. 1976 (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
Jaime Bergman b. 1975 (Angel, Soulkeeper)
Christopher Miller b. 1975 (writer, The Lego Movie, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Clone High)
Mateo Gil b. 1972 (writer, Vanilla Sky)
Crispin Bonham-Carter b. 1969 (Relic Hunter, Highlander [TV])
Christopher Peters b. 1968 (Zombie High, The Lost Boys)
Beatrice Ring b. 1965 (Zombie Flesh Eaters 2, Interzone)
Erik Dellums b. 1964 (Doctor Doolittle)
Alex Proyas b. 1963 (director, Knowing, I, Robot, Dark City, The Crow)
Janelle Brady b. 1962 (Teen Wolf Too, Class of Nuke ‘Em High)
Elizabeth Pena b. 1961 (Strangeland, It Came from Outer Space II, The Invaders, Jacob’s Ladder, *batteries not included)
Chi McBride b. 1961 (I, Robot, The Frighteners)
Jason Carter b. 1960 (Starship II: Rendezvous with Ramses, Vampire, Angel, Charmed, Good vs Evil, Babylon 5, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Lois & Clark, She-Wolf of London)
Jason Alexander b. 1959 (The Voyages of Young Doctor Doolittle, Meteor, Star Trek: Voyager, Coneheads, Jacob’s Ladder)
Rosalind Chao b. 1957 (Forever, The Event, Freaky Friday, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Brimstone, What Dreams May Come, Memoirs of an Invisible Man, Beauty and the Beast, Max Headroom, The Amazing Spider-Man [1979], The Incredible Hulk)
Maren Jensen b. 1956 (Deadly Blessing, Battlestar Galactica [1979])
Peter David b. 1956 (writer, Star Trek, Babylon 5, Marvel Comics)
David Jensen b. 1952 (Salem, This is the End, The Last Exorcism Part II, Looper, Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning, Battleship, Creature, Battle Los Angeles, Jonah Hex, Journey to Promethea, Wolvesbayne, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Mist, Frankenstein [2004 TV])
Mary Kay Place b. 1947 (Being John Malkovich)
John Woo b. 1946 (director, Paycheck, The Robinsons: Lost in Space)
Paul Petersen b. 1945 (In the Year 2889, The Monolith Monsters)
Louise Latham b. 1922 (The X-Files, Earth 2, The Philadelphia Experiment, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Sixth Sense [1972 TV], The Invaders)
Mickey Rooney b. 1920 died 6 April 2014 (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde [2015], Night at the Museum, Sinbad: The Battle of the Dark Knights, Conan [TV], Eric the Viking, Twilight Zone, The Atomic Kid)
Walter Pidgeon b. 1897 died 25 September 1984 (The Neptune Factor, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Forbidden Planet)

Jason Carter as the Ranger Marcus from Babylon 5 is in the Picture Slot this year and the late Walter Pidgeon from Forbidden Planet was last year's choice. While there are some well-known actors like Jason Alexander and Mickey Rooney, for iconic roles in sci-fi, I'll probably go with Maren Jensen from Battlestar Galactica, Rosalind Chao from Star Trek or Anthony Mackie from The Winter Soldier. Thankfully, there are no "Wait... (s)he's Dead?" candidates While Mickey Rooney's death was just this year, it was a big news story and he lived to teh ripe old age of 93, so it's not a surprise typing it up. Everyone younger Rooney is still with us, including Louise Latham, who turns 92. Good on ya, Ms. Latham.

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

Predictor: FM-2030 in Upwing Priorities, published 1981

Prediction: Universal Life: We need to hasten the transition to universal telegenesis universal parenting universal life. Mating is no longer necessary to perpetuate the species. We can now reproduce through insemination - inovulation - telegenesis - in vitro births - in vitro cloning. As mating loses biological function family - marriage - coupling phase out. Humanity is decoupling. In our rapidly converging worlds we need to grow fluid and universal - able to connect with more and more people without getting blackholed in exclusive commitments.

Accelerators: Fertilize only those screened sex cells most likely to spawn healthy wholesome new lives. (Later we will mix most desirable elements of many people's cells.) Identities of those whose sex cells are selected for reproduction are never disclosed. Therefore the newborn belong to no specific parents. They lift off in mobilias - with many trans parents. Shared parenthood eases burdens on parents and reduces the child's early programming to lifelong painful traumas of imprinting and possessiveness.

As coupling phases out people flow within a global network of linkups. By 2010 exclusivity will have phased out. Whose child are you? Whose parents? Whose sister or brother? Who are you involved with? All these will be flashbacks from our tribal past. People will connect openly freely universally.


Reality: As I said before, I hate this guy's punctuation almost as much as I hate his arrogant ideas and neologisms. For some reason, he hated commas and decided the dash was a superior symbol.

As to his ideas on childbirth and child raising, I'm sure there are a few communes somewhere that practice his recommendations, but the vast majority of the planet still does that whole "kids raised by the biological parents whenever possible" thing. Then there's his eugenics creepiness and his "I want lots of commitment free sex" creepiness.

There's pretty much nothing I like about this guy.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

It's Wednesday and we get another installment of the optimistic view of 2011 from an anonymous writer in 1911 working for The New York World.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!