Wednesday, December 17, 2014

17 December 2014

 Birthdays
Thomas Law b. 1992 (The World’s End)
Daniel Tay b. 1991 (Elf)
Emma Bell b. 1986 (The Walking Dead, Arrow, Supernatural, Dollhouse)
Shannon Woodward b. 1984 (Westworld [2015], The Haunting of Molly Hartley)
Brittany Gray b. 1985 (Reign, Lost Girl)
Douglas Tait b. 1978 (Alien Outpost, Grimm, Knights of Badassdom, Thor, Land of the Lost, Star Trek [2009], Zathura: A Space Adventure, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)
Katheryn Winnick b. 1977 (Radio Free Albemuth, Biohazardous, Relic Hunter, PSI Factor: Chronicles of the Unknown)
Kate Hewlett b. 1976 (Debug, Stargate: Atlantis, Dark Water)
Milla Jovovich b. 1975 (Resident Evil, The Fourth Kind, Ultraviolet, The Fifth Element)
Steve Zissis b. 1975 (Her, Prototype)
Giovanni Ribisi b. 1974 (Ted, Avatar, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, The X-Files, Twilight Zone [1985])
Marissa Ribisi b. 1974 (Pleasantville)
Sarah Paulson b. 1974 (American Horror Story, Serenity, American Gothic)
Rian Johnson b. 1973 (director, Star Wars: Episodes VIII and IX, Looper)
Claire Forlani b. 1971 (Camelot [2011], Nightmares & Dreamscapes, Mystery Men, Meet Joe Black)
Sean Patrick Thomas b. 1970 (American Horror Story, Reaper, The Burrowers, Halloween: Resurrection, Dracula 2000)
Laurie Holden b. 1969 (The Walking Dead, The Mist, Fantastic Four, The X Files, Poltergeist: The Legacy, Highlander [TV], TekWar: TekLab, Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future, The Martian Chronicles)
Matthew Harrison b. 1968 (Night at the Museum, Continuum, Almost Human, Chupacabra vs. the Alamo, Reaper, Watchmen, The 4400, Stargate: Atlantis, Smallville, Jake 2.0, Alienated, Thir13n Ghosts, Stargate SG-1, Mysterious Ways, Seven Days)
Leah Lail b. 1965 (Little Nicky, She-Wolf of London, They Came from Outer Space)
Hattie Hayridge b. 1959 (SuperBob, Lexx, Red Dwarf)
Bill Pullman b. 1953 (Torchwood, Alien Autopsy, Lake Placid, Independence Day, Casper, Brain Dead, Spaceballs)
Barry Livingston b. 1953 (The Sara Connor Chronicles, Roswell, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Sliders, Lois & Clark, Masters of the Universe)
Joel Brooks b. 1949 (The Big Bang Theory, Phil of the Future, Dark Realm, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Babylon 5: The River of Souls, Homeboys in Outer Space, Lois & Clark, Here Come the Munsters, Deep Space Nine, The Twilight Zone, The Powers of Matthew Star)
Wes Studi b. 1947 (Avatar, Mystery Men, Ice Planet, Deep Rising, Highlander [TV], The Flash [1990 TV])
Jayne Eastwood b. 1946 (Haven, Annedroids, Lost Girl, Dawn of the Dead, Code Name: Eternity, Videodrome, Harrison Bergeron, Maniac Mansion, Back to the Beanstalk, War of the Worlds)
Eugene Levy b. 1946 (Repli-Kate, Multiplicity, Harrison Bergeron, Maniac Mansion, The Ray Bradbury Theatre, Splash)
Ernie Hudson b. 1945 (Wizardream, Torchwood, Heroes, Meteor, Stargate SG-1, Interceptor Force, The Crow, Tales from the Crypt, Ghostbusters, Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone, The Incredible Hulk, Man from Atlantis)
Bernard Hill b. 1944 (Outpost 11, Fairy Tales, Lord of the Rings, The Scorpion King)
Christopher Cazenove b. 1943 died 7 April 2010 (Charmed, Hammer House of Horror)
Marilyn Eastman b. 1943 (Living Dead, Night of the Living Dead)
Dave Madden b. 1931 died 16 January 2014 (Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Bewitched)
Armin Mueller-Stahl b. 1930 (Mission to Mars, The Thirteenth Floor, The X Files, Amerika)
Jacqueline Hill b. 1929 died 18 February 1993 (Tales of the Unexpected, Doctor Who, Out of This World)
Richard Long b. 1927 died 21 December 1974 (Twilight Zone, House on Haunted Hill)
Joan Woodbury b. 1915 died 22 February 1989 (The Time Travelers, King of the Zombies, The Bride of Frankenstein)

Notes from the birthday list. 

1. The Picture Slot. Last year, Milla Jovovich, this year Ernie Hudson. Using my usual "iconic" criterion, next year's contenders are Richard Long on the original Twilight Zone, Wes Studi from Mystery Men (yes, I'm the guy who liked that movie), Bill Pullman from Spaceballs or Independence Day and Giovanni Ribisi from Avatar.

2. Canadians walk amongst us.  We are hip deep in Canadians today and I don't expect anyone could get all eight. Matthew Harrison has the most typical C.V. from the 21st Century. Jayne Eastwood and Laurie Holden have resumes that include shows from last century as well. It's not hard trivia to know that SCTV was a Canadian show, so Eugene Levy should be no surprise. Three young actresses with short credit lists have tell-tale roles - Brittany Gray, Kate Hewlitt and Katheryn Winnick - are Canadian, Emma Bell is not.

3. Wait... he's dead? Wait... he's Canadian? I completely forgot that Dave Madden died this year, and I don't think I ever knew he was Canadian.

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


Movies released
TRON: Legacy released, 2010  
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King released, 2003

Predictor: Anonymous writer in the New York World, predicting the year 2011 in 1911

Prediction: New York, which was once a tiny city bounded by Yonkers and the ocean. has swallowed its suburbs, eaten up the adjacent counties. It is no longer a city - it is an urban region. Around the monstrous nucleus, the centre of business and pleasure, wherein no one lives outside working hours, extends in every direction the garden city which the ancient hygenists used to preach. In this smiling city, filled with parks and gardens, the New Yorker lives, if he has a family. There are a few bachelors, like John Smith, who prefer to dwell on the upper floors of skyscrapers on the edge of the business centre, but all others must have their own houses. There is no home so humble that it is not tied to the universe by telegraph and telephone, wireless of course. The moving sidewalks and subterranean railroads take them to and fro, to say nothing of the aerobuses and aerotrains. All these pretty homes are heated, cooled and lighted by electricity and provided with automatic apparatus that relieve their inhabitants from work.  

Reality: Our writer is repeating himself to some extent in this paragraph, so I will repeat how much his view of the future has in common with The Jetsons, which would come along about fifty years later. His view of New York City could be debated. Most folks still think it's The Four Boroughs and Staten Island, a.k.a. The Land That Time Forgot, but there definitely has been urban sprawl. In the rest of his vision, the things he gets wrong are the business-only borough of Manhattan, the scarcity of bachelors and those staples of predictions, moving sidewalks, flying cars and robot servants. What he gets right is almost all homes with wireless telephones and if we change the telegraph to the Internet, the near universal connection there. In 1911, it would have been very hard to see how big a deal radio would become, and television is an even bigger leap of faith.


 Never to be Forgotten: Booth Colman 1923-2014

This Monday, veteran character actor Booth Colman died. His best known genre role was as Dr. Zauis in the TV version of Planet of the Apes, but he had many other roles on TV and in film, including Star Trek: Voyager, Galactica 1980, Project U.F.O., Time Travelers, The Invaders, I Dream of Jeannie, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Outer Limits, Moonfleet and Them! He was never a regular on a long running TV show, but instead one of those Oh That Guy actors who made a living one role at a time from the 1950s through the first decade of this century, 176 credits in all.

Best wishes to the family and friends of Booth Colman, from a fan. He is never to be forgotten.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Our new Thursday regular is actually a source we have already seen but not completely exhausted. My only promise is that most of the predictions will be wrong.


Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

 

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