17 October 2014

Birthdays
Dora Madison Burge b. 1991 (Star-Crossed, Humans versus Zombies)
Bianca Bree b. 1990 (Paranormal Activity Security Squad, U.F.O.)
Dee Jay Daniels b. 1988 (Sky High)
Max Irons b. 1985 (The Host [2013], Red Riding Hood [2011], Dorian Gray)
Felicity Jones b. 1983 (The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Doctor Who, Weirdsister College, The Worst Witch)
Deanna Russo b. 1979 (Being Human, Knight Rider [2009], Charmed)
Erin Karpluk b. 1978 (Supernatural, Delete, Captain Starship, Being Erica, Wyvern, Flash Gordon, Bionic Woman, Earthsea, 10.5, Battlestar Galactica, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Dark Angel, Taken, Jeremiah, Seven Days)
Bruce Mackinnon b. 1978 (Guardians of the Galaxy, Utopia, M.I. High, Jekyll, My Hero)
Alimi Ballard b. 1977 (Dark Angel, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Deep Impact)
Rizwan Manji b. 1974 (Touch, FlashForward, Transformers)
Tiffany Lyndall-Knight b. 1972 (Battlestar Galactica, Flash Gordon, Supernatural, Zixx: Level Two, Dead Like Me, I, Robot, Stargate SG-1, Smallville, Dark Angel)
Sharon Leal b. 1972 (Grimm)
Andy Whitfield b. 1971 died 11 September 2011 (Gabriel)
Wood Harris b. 1969 (Ant-Man, Dredd, Southland Tales)
Mark Gatiss b. 1966 (Frankenstein [2015], Being Human, Game of Thrones, Doctor Who, First Men in the Moon, Psychoville, Clone, Jekyll, Wind in the Willows, The League of Gentlemen’s Apocalypse, The Quatermass Experiment, Dr. Terrible’s House of Horrible)
Andrea Powell b. 1965 (Ender’s Game, The Originals, Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2, Surface, Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever, Super Mario Bros., American Gothic)
Cynthia Bain b. 1963 (Spontaneous Combustion, Pumpkinhead, Quantum Leap)
Mike Judge b. 1962 (Spy Kids, Idiocracy)
Stuart Quan b. 1962 died 9 January 2006 (The Shadow, Big Trouble in Little China)
Rob Marshall b. 1960 (director, Into the Woods, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides)
Guy Henry b. 1960 (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, V for Vendetta)
John Neilsen b. 1958 (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, NYPD 2069, Race to Space, End of Days)
Vincent Van Patten b. 1957 (Wonder Woman, The Six Million Dollar Man)
Sam Bottoms b. 1955 died 16 December 2008 (Shadow Fury, The X-Files)
Margot Kidder b. 1948 (Halloween II, Smallville, Earth: Final Conflict, Tribulation, Nightmare Man, Shadow Zone: The Teacher Ate My Homework, Beanstalk, Tales from the Crypt, Deadly Nightmares, Superman, The Amityville Horror)
George Wendt b. 1948 (Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Alice in Wonderland [1999 TV], Alien Avengers, Space Truckers, Twilight Zone [1986], House [1986], Dreamscape, Jekyll and Hyde… Together Again, Somewhere in Time)
Michael McKean b. 1947 (Smallville, The X-Files, The Lone Gunmen, Star Trek: Voyager, Lois & Clark, Coneheads, Earth Girls are Easy, Short Circuit 2, Tall Tales & Legends, D.A.R.Y.L.)
Thomas Kopache b. 1945 (666 Park Avenue, Star Trek: Enterprise, Carnivale, Stargate SG-1, Angel, Deep Space Nine, The Burning Zone, Star Trek: Voyager, The X-Files, Star Trek: Generations, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Babylon 5, Strange Invaders)
Michael Reeves b. 1943 died 11 February 1969 (director, Witchfinder General, The Sorcerers, She Beast, Castle of the Living Dead)
Sabrina Scharf b. 1943 (I Dream of Jeannie, Star Trek, Captain Nice)
Paxton Whitehead b. 1937 (RocketMan, 3rd Rock from the Sun)
Julie Adams b. 1926 (Lost, Sliders, The Incredible Hulk, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, Creature From the Black Lagoon)
Beverly Garland b. 1926 died 5 December 2008 (If [2003], Lois & Clark, The Six Million Dollar Man, Planet of the Apes [TV], Twilight Zone, The Alligator People, Not of This Earth, Curucu, Beast of the Amazon, It Conquered the World)
Tom Poston b. 1921 died 30 April 2007 (The Lone Gunmen, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Harry and the Hendersons [TV], Mork & Mindy, The Girl, the Gold Watch & Dynamite, Zotz!, Tom Corbett, Space Cadet)
Marsha Hunt b. 1917 (Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits)
Jerry Siegel b. 1914 died 28 January 1996 (writer, Superman)
Robert Lowery b. 1913 died 26 December 1971 (Batman and Robin [1948])
John Marley b. 1907 died 22 May 1984 (Threshold, The Incredible Hulk, It Lives Again, The Car, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, The Dead Are Alive, Twilight Zone, Land of the Giants)

Notes of the Birthday list
1. The Picture Slot. Last year in a fabulous babe mood, I chose Julie Adams in her white bathing suit from The Creature from the Black Lagoon. This year, yet another fabulous babe, Margot Kidder from Superman. There are a lot of other choices here, but if I want to go 21st Century, Mark Gatiss is both in front of the camera and behind it on Doctor Who and Sherlock (not actually genre, but a strong nerd following) and he was an official of The Iron Bank on Game of Thrones. Guys like George Wendt and Michael McKean did a lot more genre than I would have thought, but their iconic roles are not in genre. (Going to imdb.com, it's amazing how many times McKean has played David St. Hubbins, his role from Spinal Tap.)

2. Wait... he's dead? There are several people who died relatively young, but I remembered the reports of Andy Whitfield from Spartacus dying and I didn't actually know the name of director Michael Reeves or the actor Stuart Quan until I looked them up today. The guy whose name I knew that I completely forgot was dead was Sam Bottoms, who died six years ago. Besides not knowing he was dead, he was born about ten weeks before I was, so that adds to the shock.

3. And the good news. With as many names here dying young, let us note the prolific actress Marsha Hunt turns 97 today. Many happy returns of the day, Miss Hunt.


4. Spot the Canadians. Today is tricky. There are several folks from The Great White North on the list and some people who show up in several Canadian shows who were born in the U.S.A. Answers in the comments.

5. Sometimes the memory works. On my research on imdb.com, once I get the "big stars", a name has to jump out at me, usually because the one credit given is some genre production. But the credit given for Sabrina Scharf was Easy Rider. I was pretty sure she was on one of the big 1960s genre shows and I was right. She was on the Planet O' Native Americans episode of Star Trek as love interest for that horn dog Kirk. Also, while scrolling through Paxton Whitehead's credit, there was no mention of Beyond the Fringe. I thought I might be misremembering his credits, but checking on Wikipedia, I was right. Whitehead replaced Jonathan Miller from the original cast.

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

Predictor: H.G. Wells from his 1902 book, Anticipations

Prediction: My imagination refuses to see any sort of submarine doing anything but suffocate its crew and founder at sea.

Reality: Yay! I first found this quote in the book The Experts Speak, and as you can see, this is from a volume much earlier than Wells' The Shape of Things to Come, published in the 1930s. I did a very quick check online and this book is in Project Gutenberg, which means I have a new source of predictions. I am so happy with this I am putting H.G. Wells back in the regular line-up in the Friday slot. It does mean we will have a preponderance of Victorian/Edwardian sources (1893 Columbian Exhibition and the 1911 New York World), but I find this era interesting, not least of all for its general optimism.

Oh, and by the way, Herb, the inventors of submarines did a lot better than you imagination did. They aren't just awful death traps.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

The next last update on the expert's Major League Baseball predictions for the playoffs. Since the World Series pits two wild card teams against one another, you might expect the predictions to be bad and you would be correct.

Join us then... INTO THE FUTURE!