Never to be forgotten:Betsy Palmer 1926-2015

Betsy Palmer, whose career started in the 1950s in big budget films like Mister Roberts, continued in the 1960s on TV as a regular panelist on I've Got a Secret, died on Friday at the age of 88. She is mentioned here because of what is now the role mentioned in the first paragraph in her obituary, her part as the camp cook in Friday the 13th and the first sequel. (Spoiler alert for a 35 year old movie: She's the killer's mom.)

She made no genre films or TV shows before Friday the 13th, but took other fantasy roles after, including parts in Bell Witch: The Movie, FreakyLinks, Still Not Quite Human, Goddess of Love and Out of This World. Often asked about her part in one of the first hugely successful slasher films, she admitted that she needed money for a new car. (She was paid $10,000 for ten days work.)

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

31 May 2015

 Birthdays
Shaun Fleming b. 1987 (Jeepers Creepers II, Cyberkidz)
Richard Riddell b. 1984 (Penny Dreadful, Jabberwock, The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, Krod Mandoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire, Merlin)
Jonathan Tucker b. 1982 (High Moon, Early Edition)
Lee Majdoub b. 1982 (Supernatural, Arrow, Soldiers of the Apocalypse, Underworld: Awakening, Fringe, Bionic Woman [2007])
Eric Christian Olsen b. 1977 (The Thing [2011], Smallville, Arthur’s Quest)
Mary Alexandra Stiefvater b. 1977 (The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Supergator)
Colin Farrell b. 1976 (Total Recall [2012], The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Fright Night, Minority Report, Daredevil)
Catherine Bruhier b. 1972 (Highlander: The Raven, Forever Knight)
Brooke Shields b. 1965 (The Boy Who Cried Werewolf, Tales from the Crypt, Quantum Leap)
Lea Thompson b. 1961 (Adventures of a Teenage Dragonslayer, Left Behind, Back to the Future, SpaceCamp, Howard the Duck)
Chris Elliott b. 1960 (Ramsey Has a Time Machine, Sabrina, The Teenage Witch, Groundhog Day, The Abyss, Hyperspace)
Tommy Hinkley b. 1960 (Angel, The Little Vampire, Star Trek: Generations, Watchers II, Something is Out There, The Terror Within)
Kyle Secor b. 1957 (Resurrection, American Horror Story, A Wrinkle in Time [TV], Eerie, Indiana)
Nikolai Sotirov b. 1956 (The Legend of Hercules [2014], Annihilation Earth, Star Runners, Boogeyman 3, Shark Attack 3: Megalodon, Dracula Rising)
Jack Gilpin b. 1951 (Forever, From the Earth to the Moon, Aliens in the Family)
Gregory Harrison b. 1950 (Galaxy Beat, Duplicates, Logan’s Run [TV], Wonder Woman)
Tom Berenger b. 1949 (Inception, Nightmares & Dreamscapes)
Lynda Bellingham b. 1948 died 19 October 2014 (Doctor Who, Blakes 7)
Jim Hutton b. 1934 died 2 June 1979 (Twilight Zone)
Clint Eastwood b. 1930 (Space Cowboys, Firefox, Tarantula, Revenge of the Creature)
Menahem Golan b. 1929 died 8 August 2014 (producer, American Cyborg: Steel Warrior, Prison Planet, Captain America [1990], Night of the Living Dead [1990], Cyborg, Doin’ Time on Planet Earth, Journey to the Center of the Earth [1988], Alien from L.A., Masters of the Universe, Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, Beauty and the Beast, Invaders from Mars, America 3000, Lifeforce)
Julian Beck b. 1925 died 14 September 1985 (Poltergeist II: The Other Side)
Martha Hyer b. 1924 died 31 May 2014 (House of 1,000 Dolls, Bewitched, First Men in the Moon, Mistress of the World, Riders to the Stars, Abbott and Costello Go to Mars)
Denholm Elliot b. 1922 died 6 October 1992 (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Underworld [1985], Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Boys from Brazil, The House That Dripped Blood, Mystery and Imagination [TV], The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde)
Don Ameche b. 1908 died 6 December 1993 (Cocoon, Harry and the Hendersons)
Madge Blake b. 1899 died 19 February 1969 (Batman, Bewitched, The Addams Family)
George R. Stewart b. 1895 died 22 August 1980 (author, Earth Abides)
Jack Holt b. 1888 died 18 January 1951 (Cat People)

Notes on the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. Previous Picture Slotters were Colin Farrell in 2013 and Madge Blake in 2014. While we have an A-list movie star in Clint Eastwood, I think the most iconic role on the list who hasn't been utilized is Lee Thompson from the first Back to the Future, which is a particularly creepy plot line if you give it any thought.

2. Canadian spotted! Catherine Bruhier was born in Belize but raised in Canada and her credits include two genre shows from last century.

3. MST3K. While I did not consider Clint Eastwood for the Picture Slot, he is the reason we have MST3K as a label today, for his small role in Revenge of the Creature.

4. Wait... he's dead? Denholm Elliot died 23 years ago, but I feel like I should have seen him in something made more recently. It may just be that he is a certain type of British Oh That Guy actor, very good, not particularly pretty, always a good choice when a role needs some dignity. In any case, I did not remember that he was gone and I miss him.

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

Predictor: Robert A. Heinlein in his 1957 book The Door Into Summer

Prediction: Finding people from thirty years ago was no job for an amateur. But I didn’t know their Social Security numbers. My Country ‘Tis of Thee had never succumbed to police-state nonsense, so there was no bureau certain to have a dossier on every citizen, nor was I in a position to tap such a file even if there had been.

Reality: Sorry, Bob, the good old U.S.A. has gone police state in a big, big way in 2015, and even in 2000, your sleeper dude from 1970 would have found out about something called the Internet and had a fair shot in finding someone from info gleaned from thirty years in the past.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

A new month and a new splash illustration, getting rid of the creepy giant rat spider. Yeesh!

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
 

30 May 2015

Birthdays
Jared Gilmore b. 2000 (Once Upon a Time)
Jake Short b. 1997 (Mighty Med, Jack and Janet Save the Planet)
Kevin Covais b. 1989 (Transformers: Age of Extinction, Men in Black 3)
Will Peltz b. 1986 (In Time)
Adam Bond b. 1981 (Victor Frankenstein, Kick-Ass 2, Maleficent)
Blake Bashoff b. 1981 (Lost, Charmed, Minority Report)
Rachel Stirling b. 1977 (Doctor Who, Snow White and the Huntsman)
Omri Katz b. 1976 (Hocus Pocus, Matinee, Eerie, Indiana, Adventures in Dinosaur City)
Minae Noji b. 1973 (Star vs. The Forces of Evil, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Power Rangers Time Force)
Darren E. Scott b. 1972 (The Tomorrow People, Almost Human, Smallville, The 4400, Andromeda, Jeremiah, Dark Angel)
Duncan Jones b. 1971 (director, Source Code, Moon)
John Ross Bowie b. 1971 (The Big Bang Theory, Dark Minions, Heroes, Charmed)
Idina Menzel b. 1971 (Frozen, Enchanted)
David Dukas b. 1970 (District 9, Merlin: The Return)
Tammy Parks b. 1965 (Attack of the 60 Foot Centerfolds, Droid Gunner)
Mark Sheppard b. 1964 (Supernatural, Warehouse 13, Mysterious Island, Doctor Who, Xtinction: Predator X, Dollhouse, Battlestar Galactica, The Middleman, Bionic Woman [2007]. Jake 2.0, Deep Shock, Firelfly, Charmed, Megalodon, Lost Voyage, The Chronicle, Star Trek: Voyager, Sliders, M.A.N.T.I.S., The X-Files)
Cynthia Gouw b. 1963 (Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Freddy’s Nightmares)
Lynda Wiesmeier b. 1963 died 16 December 2012 (Teen Wolf)
Tonya Pinkins b. 1962 (Enchanted)
Kevin Eastman b. 1962 (writer, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)
James McGowan b. 1960 (Bitten, Total Recall [2012], Warriors of Terra, Mutant X)
Ted McGinley b. 1958 (Wizards of Waverly Place, Space Case)
Carrie Dobro b. 1957 (Crusade, Babylon 5, Hypernauts)
Colm Meaney b. 1953 (Childhood’s End, Alice, Stargate: Atlantis, Zenon: Z3, The Magical Legend of the Leprechauns, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: The Next Generation)
Stephen Toblowsky b. 1951 (The Time Traveler’s Wife, Heroes, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Lloyd in Space, The Day the World Ended, Roswell, Dead Last, Buffy, Groundhog Day, Memoirs of an Invisible Man, Spaceballs, The Philadelphia Experiment)
Michael Piller b. 1948 died 1 November 2005 (writer, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Star Trek, Hard Time on Planet Earth)
Meredith MacRae b. 1944 died 14 July 2000 (Eathbound)
David Ackroyd b. 1940 (Xena, Swamp Thing [TV], Exo-Man)
Joshua Bryant b. 1939 (The Lost Room, Starman [TV], The Powers of Matthew Star, Salem’s Lot, Man from Atlantis)
Michael J. Pollard b. 1939 (Tales from the Crypt, Eerie, Indiana, Superboy, Scrooged, Star Trek, Lost in Space)
Deanna Lund b. 1937 (Transylvania Twist, Superstition 2, Elves, The Incredible Hulk, Land of the Giants, Batman, Dimension 5)
Keir Dullea b. 1936 (Space Station 76, Alien Hunter, Witchblade, 2010, The Next One, Brain Waves, Brave New World, The Starlost, 2001: A Space Odyssey)
Ruta Lee b. 1935 (Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue, Pterodactyl Woman from Beverly Hills, Mork & Mindy, Doomsday Machine, Twilight Zone, Adventures of Superman)
Clint Walker b. 1927 (The Serpent Warriors, Deadly Harvest, Snowbeast, Killdozer, Scream of the Wolf)
Hal Clement b. 1922 died 29 October 2003 (writer, Mission of Gravity, Star Light)
Franklin J. Schaffner b. 1920 died 2 July 1989 (director, The Boys from Brazil, Planet of the Apes)
Peter Leeds b. 1917 died 12 November 1996 (The Six Million Dollar Man, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, Land of the Giants, Mr. Terrific, Batman, I Dream of Jeannie, My Mother the Car, The Addams Family, The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock, The Atomic Kid, I Married a Witch)
Hugh Griffith b. 1912 died 14 May 1980 (Legend of the Werewolf, The Last Days of Man on Earth, Dr. Phibes Rises Again, The Abominable Dr. Phibes)
Mel Blanc b. 1908 died 10 July 1989 (over 1,000 credits, almost all voice work, most notable genre work, The Jetsons, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Duck Dodgers in the 24½ th Century, The Phantom Tollbooth)
Howard Hawks b. 1896 died 26 December 1977 (director [uncredited], The Thing from Another World)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. The previous Picture Slotters are Keir Dullea from 2001: A Space Odyssey and Colm Meaney from Star Trek. There were still several other candidates today, including Omri Katz from Eerie, Indiana, John Ross Bowie from The Big Bang Theory and Deanna Lund from Land of the Giants, but I was in an Oh That Guy mood and chose Steven Toblowsky as Ned Ryerson from Groundhog Day.

2. Canadians, true and false. If I made Canadian detection a game today and the only hint was that there are three, many might choose Mark Sheppard, but that would be wrong. He was born in England and lives in Los Angeles, according to imdb.com. The correct answers are Darren E. Scott, James McGowan and Ruta Lee. The two guys are guessable, Ms. Lee is not.

3. Nepotism FTW. Mark Sheppard is the son of British Oh That Guy William Morgan Sheppard. Meredith MacRae was the daughter of Gordon MacRae. 

4. Wait... she's dead? We have several people on the list who died young. The name that is best known to me of those people is Meredith MacRae from Petticoat Junction. I was not aware at all that she was dead.

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

Movies released
Maleficent released, 2014
Dark Side of the Moon released, 1990

Predictor: Dark Side of the Moon released, 1990

Prediction: In 2022, the crew of a spaceship must survive after a mysterious systems failure.

Reality: In 1990, 2022 seemed like a long way away and regular space travel was just going to happen somehow. In 2015, it's not as far away anymore and having any space exploration outside of Earth orbit doesn't seem to be in the cards for a while.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Another peek into the late 20th Century with Robert A. Heinlein in The Door Into Summer.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
 

29 May 2015

Birthdays
Paloma Kwiatowski b. 1994 (Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters)
Maika Monroe b. 1993 (The Fifth Wave, It Follows, Flying Monkeys, Bad Blood)
Gregg Sulkin b. 1992 (Wizards of Waverly Place, Avalon High, The Sarah Jane Adventures, Man on the Moon [TV])
Riley Keough b. 1989 (Mad Max: Fury Road)
Matthew Waters b. 1989 (Peter Pan [2003])
Dylan Postl b. 1986 (Leprechaun: Origins)
Ben Mansfield b. 1983 (Primeval, Mr. Nobody)
Anita Briem b. 1982 (Journey to the Center of the Earth, Doctor Who)
Mark Hapka b. 1982 (Parallels, Altergeist)
Elyas M’Barek b. 1982 (The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones)
Justin Chon b. 1981 (Twilight, Innocent Blood, Detention of the Dead)
Chris Violette b. 1981 (Bitten, Lost Girl, My Babysitter’s a Vampire, Diary of the Dead, Power Rangers S.P.D.)
Adam Brown b. 1980 (The Hobbit)
Yusuke Iseya b. 1976 (Blindness)
Steve Cardenas b. 1974 (Mighty Morphin Power Rangers)
Carlton Wilborn b. 1964 (Demolition Man)
John D. LeMay b. 1962 (Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday, Friday’s Curse, The Twilight Zone [1986])
Neil Crone b. 1960 (The Strain, Warehouse 13, Cube³: Hypercube, Eerie, Indiana: The Other Dimension, RoboCop[TV], Mt Secret identity)
Adrian Paul b. 1959 (Alien Outpost, Abominable Snowman, Eyeborgs, Highlander, Charmed, Relic Hunter, The Breed, Dark Shadows [1991], War of the Worlds [TV], Masque of the Red Death, Beauty and the Beast)
Rupert Everett b. 1959 (Stardust, Inspector Gadget, Arthur the King )
Wayne Duvall b. 1958 (Gotham, The Leftovers, Threshold, Evolution, Seven Days, Timecop, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Apollo 13, The X-Files)
Annette Bening b. 1958 (What Planet Are You From?, In Dreams, Mars Attacks!)
Ted Levine b. 1957 (Banshee Chapter, The Hills Have Eyes, Evolution, From the Earth to the Moon)
Tony Randel b. 1956 (director, Hybrids, Power Rangers in Space, Ticks, Hellbound: Hellraiser II)
Cotter Smith b. 1949 (Forever, Revolution, 666 Park Avenue, Invasion, X-Men 2, Invader [1996], The Twilight Zone [1986])
Robert Axelrod b. 1949 (Bite Me, Power Rangers Time Force, The Blob [1988], Alien Private Eye, Alice in Wonderland [1985])
Nick Mancuso b. 1948 (The Entity, Rise of the Gargoyles, Saurian, Mutant X, Total Recall 2070, Eerie, Indiana: The Other Dimension)
Anthony Geary b. 1947 (Project U.F.O., The Amazing Captain Nemo, The Six Million Dollar Man)
Julie Cobb b. 1947 (Lois & Clark, Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde, Defending Your Life, Starman [TV], Tucker’s Witch, Brave New World [TV], Salem’s Lot, The Incredible Hulk, Star Trek)
Helmut Berger b. 1944 (Dorian Gray, The Witches)
Kevin Conway b. 1942 (Black Knight, Dark Angel, Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace, Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Lathe of Heaven, Slaughterhouse-Five)
Nanette Newman b. 1934 (The Stepford Wives, Captain Nemo and the Underwater City)
Paul R. Ehrlich b. 1932 (author, The Population Bomb)
Frederick Jaeger b. 1928 died 18 June 2004 (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Doctor Who, One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing)
Clifton James b. 1921 (Monsters, Superman II, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Werewolf of Washington)
Iris Adrian b. 1912 died 17 September 1994 (Alice Through the Looking Glass [1966 TV], The Munsters, Mighty Joe Young)
Sebastian Shaw b. 1905 died 23 December 1994 (Return of the Jedi)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In 2013, I used a picture of Sebastian Shaw, the original ghost of Anakin Skywalker in Return of the Jedi, somewhat iconic as a reminder of how George Lucas messed with his own creation. In 2014, I used Paul R Ehrlich, only iconic for being revealed as a jackass on this blog with his wildly incorrect The Population Bomb. As for the rest of the list, we have a few folks who are stars (Anthony Geary on the soaps, Rupert Everett and Annette Bening on film), but when it comes to iconic, I have to fall back on my favorite Star Trek guest role, so the Picture Slot goes to Kevin Conway as Kahless the Unforgettable.

2. Canadians, pre-spotted for your convenience. There are four Canadians today. Young Paloma Kwiatowski is unspottable from her single credit. Chris Violette, Neil Crone and Nick Mancuso have a few credits in Canuck genre each, but their nation of origin is not completely obvious, so I spotted them for you.

3. Wait... he's alive? Clifton James turns 94 today and good on him. He's played Southerners, usually lawmen, since I was in knee pants, best known for Cool Hand Luke and The Man with the Golden Gun. He's got a few genre credits, so he's on today's list.

4. Nepotism FTW. Julie Cobb is the daughter of Lee J. Cobb.

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

Movie released 
Up released, 2009

Predictor: H.G. Wells in his book Anticipations, published 1901

Prediction: In our imaginary twentieth century State, organized primarily for war, this tendency to differentiate a non-combatant mass in the fighting State will certainly not be respected, the State will be organized as a whole to fight as a whole, it will have triumphantly asserted the universal duty of its citizens. The military force will be a much ampler organization than the "army" of to-day, it will be not simply the fists but the body and brain of the land. The whole apparatus, the whole staff engaged in internal communication, for example, may conceivably not be State property and a State service, but if it is not it will assuredly be as a whole organized as a volunteer force, that may instantly become a part of the machinery of defense or aggression at the outbreak of war.

Reality: This is not a bad description of the nations up through the Second World War. As for "organized primarily for war", that description now only best fits the United States, with our defense budget dwarfing the rest of the world. It's not a sustainable position and it is not pleasant to think of what will happen when the unsustainable finally collapses.

I know. I'm a right cheery bastard.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

The regular schedule is interrupted for a prediction from a movie released twenty five years ago.


Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
 

28 May 2015

Birthdays

Cameron Boyce b. 1999 (Mirrors)
Jacob Kogan b. 1995 (The Tomorrow People, Star Trek [reboot])
Carey Mulligan b. 1985 (Never Let Me Go, Doctor Who)
Megalyn Echikunwoke b. 1983 (The 4400, Supernatural, Buffy, Creature)
Alexa Davalos b. 1982 (The Man in the High Castle, Clash of the Titans, The Mist, The Chronicles of Riddick, Angel)
Monica Keena b. 1979 (Night of the Demons, Freddy vs. Jason, The Devil’s Advocate, Snow White: A Tale of Terror)
Jesse Bradford b. 1979 (Clockstoppers)
Jake Johnson b. 1978 (Jurassic World, Safety Not Guaranteed, Flashforward)
Christian Alvart b. 1974 (director, Pandorum)
Kate Ashfield b. 1972 (Shaun of the Dead)
Glenn Quinn b. 1970 died 3 December 2002 (Angel)
Kylie Minogue b. 1968 (Doctor Who, Street Fighter)
Ashley Laurence b. 1966 (Hellraiser, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys)
Alon Aboutboul b. 1965 (The Dark Knight Rises, Fringe)
Christa Miller b. 1964 (The Andromeda Strain [2008], Clone High)
Brandon Cruz b. 1962 (The Incredible Hulk)
Julie T. Wallace b. 1961 (Speed Racer, Dr. Terrible’s House of Horrible, The Fifth Element, Time Riders)
Townsend Coleman b. 1954 (The Tick)
Kevin Van Hentenryck b. 1953 (Basket Case)
Sandy Helberg b. 1949 (Mortal Kombat, Spaceballs, Knight Rider, Terror in the Wax Museum)
Patricia Quinn b. 1944 (Doctor Who, The Box of Delights, Shock Treatment, Hawk the Slayer, Hammer House of Horror, Beauty and the Beast [TV], The Rocky Horror Picture Show)
Sondra Locke b. 1944 (Amazing Stories, Planet of the Apes [TV], Willard)
Zelda Rubenstein b. 1943 died 27 January 2010 (Southland Tales, Wishcraft, Sinbad: The Battle of the Dark Knights, Little Witches, Timemaster, Tales from the Crypt, Teen Witch, Poltergeist)
Robert Biheller b. 1938 (Fire in the Sky, The Invaders, Batman, Twilight Zone)
Shane Rimmer b. 1932 (Dark Shadows [2012], Alien Autopsy, Mee-Shee: The Water Giant, Batman Begins, The War of the Starfighters, Space Truckers, A Kid in King Arthur’s Court, Year of the Comet, Space Police, Morons from Outer Space, Space, The Hunger, Superman II, Warlords of the Deep, Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, Space: 1999, Twilight’s Last Gleaming, Rollerball, UFO, Doctor Who)
Thora Hird b. 1911 died 15 March 2003 (The Quatermass Experiment)
Ian Fleming b. 1908 died 12 August 1964 (author, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang)

Notes on the birthday list1. The Picture Slot. Today's list doesn't have a lot of big stars, Carey Mulligan is probably the biggest, but they are more than a few I consider iconic. In previous years I used Zelda Rubenstein from Poltergeist and Alexa Davalos from Angel. For 2015, I had to choose between two of my nerdy enthusiasms, either going with Glenn Quinn from the first season of Angel, satisfying my Whedonverse nerdiness, or go with the winner, a picture from the early 1990s cartoon The Tick, which was voiced by Townsend Coleman. In a blending of my nerdy loves, The Tick's creator Ben Edlund later worked for Joss Whedon.

2. A Canadian walks amongst us. Shane Rimmer was born north of the border, but his credit list begins long before the existence of the Canadian genre film and TV industry.

3. Not really nepotism. Sandy Helberg is the father of Simon Helberg. The elder Helberg is not a big star, but it's easy to speculate that his kids could see a career in show business was possible since Dad did it for a living.

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


Movie released
The Day After Tomorrow released 2004

Predictor:  Wilbur Wright to his brother Orville, 1901, quoted in The Experts Speak

Prediction: “Man will not fly for 50 years.”

Reality: A few weeks back, there was a prediction for H.G. Wells that put practical heavier-than-air travel existing around 1950, making him look like a twit. This prediction shows that he was in pretty good company, though there is no chance Wells knew anything about these guys. (Orville's the one with the mustache; if they had their hats off, you'd see Wilbur was the balder of the two.) Instead of 50 years, Wilbur and Orville would have a plane flying (sort of) by the end of 1903 and made important progress towards making flight practical in the years that followed.


Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

While today's prediction helped make H.G. Wells look less silly, he gets another prediction published tomorrow, so there's a good chance he will make himself look more silly once again. 

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

 

27 May 2015

 Birthdays
Bella Heathcote b. 1987 (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Dark Shadows [2012], In Time)
Ben Feldman b. 1980 (Cloverfield, Them [2007])
Shanola Hampton b. 1977 (Suburban Gothic)
Jack McBrayer b. 1973 (The Brass Teapot, Early Edition)
Paul Bettany b. 1971 (The Avengers: Age of Ultron, Transcendence, Priest, Iron Man, Legion, Inkheart)
Joseph Fiennes b. 1970 (Hercules [2014], American Horror Story, Camelot [2011], FlashForward)
Eddie McClintock b. 1967 (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Warehouse 13, Boogeyman)
Steven Brill b. 1962 (director, Little Nicky; actor, Batman Returns, Edward Scissorhands)
Cathy Silvers b. 1961 (Encino Woman)
Candice Silvers b. 1961 (My Science Project)
Linnea Quigley b. 1958 (A whole mess of low-budget stuff. Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama and Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers are typical examples. Not gonna type it all up.)
Richard Schiff b. 1955 (Ted 2, Man of Steel, Once Upon a Time, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Roswell, Doctor Dolittle, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Volcano, The Arrival, Special Report: Journey to Mars, Tank Girl)
Greg Hicks b. 1953 (Snow White and the Huntsman, Jason and the Argonauts [2000 TV movie], Bugs)
Michelan Sisti b. 1949 (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Star Trek: The Next Generation)
Ken Lerner b. 1948 (The Big Bang Theory, They Crawl, Godzilla [1998], Buffy, The Exorcist III, RoboCop2, Project X, Twilight Zone, The Greatest American Hero)
Bruce Weitz b. 1943 (My Apocalypse, Dinocroc, Deep Impact, The X-Files, Lois & Clark, Highlander, The Twilight Zone [1989])
Louis Gossett Jr. b. 1936 (Extant, Stargate SG-1, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Legend of the Mummy, The Punisher, Enemy Mine, The Powers of Matthew Star, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Invaders)
Lee Meriwether b. 1935 (Wizards of Waverly Place, The Munsters Today, Time Express, The Immortal, Land of the Giants, Star Trek, The Time Tunnel, Batman, Batman: The Movie, 4D Man)
Harlan Ellison b. 1934 (writer, Babylon 5, Twilight Zone [1980s], The Starlost, A Boy and His Dog, Star Trek, The Outer Limits, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea)
John Miranda b. 1926 died 3 February 2015 (The Invisible Kid, ALF, Innerspace, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, The Greatest American Hero, Mork & Mindy, Dark Shadows [1969])
Sir Christopher Lee b. 1922 (The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, Dark Shadows [2012], Hugo, The Season of the Witch, Alice in Wonderland, Star Wars, The Golden Compass, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Sleepy Hollow [movie], Tale of the Mummy, The Odyssey [TV], The Tomorrow People, Curse III: Blood Sacrifice, Gremlins 2: The New Batch, Howling II:… Your Sister is a Werewolf, The Return of Captain Invincible, Captain America II: Death Too Soon, Return from Witch Mountain, Starship Invasions, The End of the World, Dracula and Son, To the Devil a Daughter, Space: 1999, The Wicker Man, The Satanic Rites of Dracula, Poor Devil, The Creeping Flesh, Dark Places, Horror Express, Dracula A.D. 1972, I Monster, The House that Dripped Blood, Scars of Dracula, Taste the Blood of Dracula, Count Dracula, Scream and Scream Again, Dracula Has Risen from the Grave, Blood Fiend, Island of the Burning Damned, Psycho-Circus, Dracula: Prince of Darkness, The Skull, She, Dr. Terror's House of Horrors, The Gorgon, Castle of the Living Dead, Crypt of the Vampire, Hercules in the Haunted World, Scream of Fear, The Hands of Orlac, The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll, The Mummy, Horror of Dracula, The Curse of Frankenstein)
Vincent Price b. 1911 died 25 October 1993 (Edward Scissorhands, The Offspring, Bloodbath at the House of Death, Thriller [narrator], House of the Long Shadows, Hansel and Gretel [TV], The Monster Club, Time Express, The Bionic Woman, Journey Into Fear, Theatre of Blood, The Aries Computer, Dr. Phibes Rises Again, The Abominable Dr. Phibes, The Cry of the Banshee, An Evening of Edgar Allan Poe, Scream and Scream Again, The Oblong Box, More Dead Than Alive, Witchfinder General, Batman, House of 1,000 Dolls, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine, The Tomb of Ligeia, The Masque of the Red Death, The Last Man on Earth, The Comedy of Terrors, Twice Told Tales, The Haunted Palace, Diary of a Madman, The Raven Pit and the Pendulum, Master of the World, House of Usher, The Bat, The Tingler, Return of the Fly, House on Haunted Hill, The Fly, House of Wax, Son of Sinbad, The Invisible Man Returns)


Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. For the past two years, I gave the Picture Slot to Sir Christopher Lee, in large part because of the one-two punch of Sir Peter Cushing's birthday yesterday. But a desire not to repeat myself this year unless absolutely necessary means someone else gets the honor, and no one deserves it more than Vincent Price. Off the top of my head, I cannot think of another genre villain actor I love as much as Sir Christopher Lee or Vincent Price. They are so wonderful.

2. Not sexist, just elitist. I lovingly typed in every genre credit I could find for Lee and Price, but I did not do the same for Linnea Quigley, a low-budget scream queen who worked a lot in the 1970s and 1980s. As the title of this paragraph states, I can be accused of elitism her, but not sexism.

3. Nepotism FTW. The Silvers twins born in 1961 are the daughters of Phil Silvers. Paul Bettany comes from a family of actors, but none are nearly as famous as he is. Joseph Fiennes is the younger brother of Ralph, but they are both famous enough that I don't count that as nepotism.

4. Living Canadian free. Did not find anyone born north of the border in today's research.

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

Predictor: George Sutherland in his 1901 book Twentieth Century Inventions

Prediction: Wireless telegraphy systems will be used for checking the enterprises of the burglar. The best protected safes of the future will be enmeshed in networks of wires encased in some material which will render it impossible to determine their positions from the outside. These wires will be so related to an electric circuit that the breaking of any one of them, at any part of its course, will have the effect of ringing a bell and giving warning at the police station, as well as at other places where potential thief-catchers may be on hand.

Reality: Wireless telegraphy is the term Sutherland uses for radio, and since nearly no one saw how it might be used as wireless telephony in 1901, Sutherland is forgiven for missing just how huge a boon it would be. That said, he has some extremely clever ideas for how to use it as telegraphy instead of telephony and many of them came to pass, though some took much longer than they should have. He doesn't always get the mechanism exact, but over the next few weeks I think our sensible friend Mr. Sutherland will rise in the estimation of regular readers.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!


Another clunker from The Experts Speak.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

Never to be Forgotten: Tanith Lee 1947-2015

Tanith Lee, the British writer who published both novels and shorter works in science fiction, fantasy and horror, died on Sunday at the age of 67 after a long illness. Her best received work was in fantasy, her novel Death's Master winning the British Fantasy Award in 1980 and her short story The Gorgon won the World Fantasy Award in 1983. Her story Nunc Dimittis was turned into an episode of the British horror anthology The Hunger in 1999 and she wrote two episodes of the British sci-fi series Blakes 7 in the late 1970s. She wrote lesbian fiction under the pseudonym Esther Garber. In her personal life, she was married to fellow writer John Kaiine from 1992 until she died.

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

26 May 2015

Birthdays
Will Dunn b. 1996 (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2)
Astrid Berges-Frisbey b. 1986 (Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides)
Ashley Bell b. 1986 (The Walking Dead, The Last Exorcism)
Elisabeth Harnois b. 1979 (Charmed, Adventures in Wonderland, Beauty and the Beast [1987])
Will Sanderson b. 1980 (Seed, BloodRayne, The Dead Zone, House of the Dead, Smallville, First Wave)
T.J. Ramini b. 1975 (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Arrow, Batman Begins)
Nicki Aycox b. 1975 (BlackBoxTV, Supernatural, The X Files: I Want to Believe, Momentum, Dark Angel, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Weird Science [TV])
Helena Bonham Carter b. 1966 (Through the Looking Glass [2016], Cinderella [2015], Dark Shadows [2012], Harry Potter, Terminator Salvation, Big Fish, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Planet of the Apes [2001], Merlin [1998], Frankenstein [1994])
Musette Vander b. 1963 (Transylmania, Planet Raptor, Forbidden Warrior, Mansquito, Stargate SG-1, The Cell, Xena, Star Trek: Voyager, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, Babylon 5, Buffy, The Dark Mist, Oblivion, Monolith, Super Force)
Bobcat Goldthwait b. 1962 (Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Tales from the Crypt, Encino Woman, Scrooged)
Tarsem Singh b. 1961 (director, Mirror Mirror, Immortals, The Cell)
Doug Hutchinson b. 1960 (Lost, Punisher: War Zone, The Green Mile, Millennium, Batman & Robin, Space: Above and Beyond, The X-Files, The Lawnmower Man)
Margaret Colin b. 1958 (Gotham, Independence Day)
Lisa Niemi b. 1956 (Super Force, Steel Dawn, Max Headroom)
Donald Losby b. 1951 (Lost in Space, Twilight Zone)
Pam Grier b. 1949 (The Invited, Mars Attacks!, Smallville, The Adventures of Pluto Nash, Ghosts of Mars, Escape from L.A., Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, Class of 1999, Something Wicked This Way Comes, Scream Blacula Scream, The Twilight People)
Dayle Haddon b. 1949 (Cyborg, Max Headroom, Spermula)
Philip Michael Thomas b. 1949 (Superboy, The Wizard of Speed and Time, The Dark, Wonder Woman)
Janet Morris b. 1946 (author, Heroes in Hell, Thieves' World)
Herb Trimpe b. 1939 died 13 April 2015 (writer/artist, Wolverine)
Ingrid Goude b. 1937 (The Killer Shrews)
James Arness b. 1923 died 3 June 2011 (Them!, The Thing from Another World, Two Lost Worlds)
Roy Dotrice b. 1923 (Game of Thrones, Hellboy II, Angel, Alien Hunter, Sliders, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Babylon 5, Earth 2, Beauty and the Beast, Alien Attack, Space: 1999)
Peter Cushing b. 1913 died 11 August 1994 (The Mystery on Monster Island, Star Wars, Land of the Minotaur, At the Earth's Core, Space: 1999, The Ghoul, Legend of the Werewolf, Tender Dracula, The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires, From Beyond the Grave, Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell, The Satanic Rites of Dracula, The Beast Must Die, The Creeping Flash, Horror Express, Dr. Phibes Rises Again, Dracula A.D. 1972, Tales from the Crypt [1972], I, Monster, Twins of Evil, The House That Dripped Blood, The Vampire Lovers, Bloodsuckers, Scream and Scream Again, Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed, The Blood Beast Terror, Island of the Burning Damned, Frankenstein Created Woman, Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D., Island of Terror, Dr. Who and the Daleks, The Skull, She, Dr. Terror's House of Horrors, The Gorgon, The Evil of Frankenstein, The Man Who Finally Died, The Brides of Dracula, The Mummy, The Revenge of Frankenstein, Horror of Dracula, The Abominable Snowman, The Curse of Frankenstein)
Robert Morley b. 1908 died 3 June 1992 (Alice in Wonderland [1985], Theatre of Blood, Scrooge [1935])

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, the Picture Slot celebrated the fun fact that Peter Cushing is nine years and one day older than his very regular co-star Christopher Lee. This year, not wanting to repeat myself, we have a picture of the actor on the list with the most iconic role in the 21st Century, Helena Bonham Carter as Bellatrix Lestrange.

2. Spot the Canadians! It would be very difficult to guess from her credit list alone that Dayle Haddon was born north of the border. Will Sanderson's credits give away his roots a little more, but he isn't glaringly obvious, either.

3. Wait... they did genre? The people I checked on today that I didn't know had genre roles were Robert Morley, Philip Michael Thomas and Bobcat Goldthwait.

4. MST3K. There may be others, but I know The Killer Shrews was the cheesy movie for one episode.

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

Movie released
X-Men: The Last Stand released, 2006

 

Predictor: John Langdon-Davies in his 1936 book A Short History of the Future

Prediction: Britain, France, Spain and Russia and the smaller so-called neutral nations will oppose the destroyers of democracy on the right.

Reality: Langdon-Davies gets two solid hits with Britain and Russia, sort of a hit with the quickly subdued French and a complete whiff with Spain, where the fascists won the Civil War, much to the writer's dismay.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Wednesday rolls around again and we discover our sensible pal George Sutherland is actually kind of brilliant.


Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

25 May 2015

Birthdays
Markiss McFadden b. 1986 (Transformers: Dark of the Moon)
Esme Bianco b. 1982 (Game of Thrones, Chemical Wedding)
Brandy Kopp b. 1982 (Goblin, Smallville, Supernatural, Stargate: Atlantis, The 4400, The Butterfly Effect, Strange Frequency)
Kick Gurry b. 1978 (Jupiter Ascending, Edge of Tomorrow, Cybergeddon, Speed Racer)
Cillian Murphy b. 1976 (Transcendence, Batman, In Time, TRON: Legacy, Inception, 28 Days Later...)
Ethan Suplee b. 1976 (Rise of the Zombies, No Ordinary Family, The Butterfly Effect, Evolution, Tales from the Crypt)
Erinn Hayes b. 1976 (The Watch)
Eli Craig b. 1972 (director, Zombieland [TV], Tucker & Dale vs. Evil)
Olivia Spencer b. 1970 (Insurgent, Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, Halloween II, Dollhouse, Big Bang Theory, Wizards of Waverly Place, Spider-Man, The Chronicle, What Planet Are You From?, Being John Malkovich, The X-Files)
Neil Marshall b. 1970 (director, Game of Thrones, Constantine, Doomsday, The Descent)
Michael Benyaer b. 1970 (The Flash [2014], The Polterguys, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, Transformer: Revenge of the Fallen, Bionic Woman [2007], Eureka, Smallville, Dark Angel, Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan)
Jamie Kennedy b. 1970 (Bermuda Tentacles, Eureka, Reaper, Son of the Mask, Strange Frequency, Perversions of Science, V. R. Troopers)
Anne Heche b. 1969 (Toxic Skies, Volcano)
Matthew Borlenghi b. 1967 (A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child, Cannibal Hookers)
Poppy Z. Brite b. 1967 (writer, The Crow, Lost Souls)
Andrew Fiscella b. 1966 (A Nightmare on Elm Street [2010], Quarantine)
Ray Stevenson b. 1964 (Insurgent, Divergent, Thor, The Book of Eli, Punisher: War Zone, G.I. Joe: Retaliation)
Connie Sellecca b. 1955 (Doomsday Rock, The Greatest American Hero, Beyond Westworld, Captain America II: Death Too Soon)
Bob Gale b. 1951 (writer, Back to the Future, Bordello of Blood, Tales from the Crypt, Kolchak: The Night Stalker)
Joe Unger b. 1949 (Carnivale, Night of the Scarecrow, Twilight Zone [1987], UFOria, A Nightmare on Elm Street)
Barry Windsor-Smith b. 1949 (artist, Dr. Strange, Conan the Barbarian)
Karen Valentine b.1947 (Twilight Zone [1989], America 2100, It’s About Time)
Hersha Parady b. 1945 (Hyper Sapien: People from Another Star)
Frank Oz b. 1944 (actor, Star Wars, Zathura: A Space Adventure, Muppets from Space, Labyrinth; director, The Dark Crystal, Little Shop of Horrors, The Indian in the Cupboard, The Stepford Wives [2004])
Sir Ian McKellen b. 1939 (Beauty and the Beast, The Hobbit, X-Men, Lord of the Rings, The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot, Doctor Who, The Prisoner (reboot), The Golden Compass, Stardust, Neverwas, The Shadow, Last Action Hero, The Keep)
Dixie Carter b. 1939 died 10 April 2010 (The Greatest American Hero)
David Burke b. 1934 (Space Precinct, The Champions)Sarah Marshall b. 1933 died 18 January 2014 (Twilight Zone, Star Trek)
Roger Bowen b. 1932 died 16 February 1996 (Zapped!)
Ann Robinson b. 1929 (War of the Worlds [2005], War of the Worlds (TV), Rocky Jones: Space Ranger, The War of the Worlds [1953])
Claude Akins b. 1926 died 27 January 1994 (Eerie, Indiana, Monster in the Closet, Tarantulas: The Deadly Cargo, Tentacles, Battle for the Planet of the Apes, Twilight Zone, Adventures of Superman)
Syd Heylen b. 1922 died 4 December 1996 (Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior)
Henry Calvin b. 1918 died 6 October 1975 (Babes in Toyland)
Miles Malleson b. 1888 died 15 March 1969 (First Men in the Moon, The Brides of Dracula, Horror of Dracula, A Christmas Carol [1951], The Man in the White Suit, The Thief of Bagdad)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, the Picture Slot went to Sir Ian McKellan and the fabulous Esme Bianco. Not wanting to repeat myself, my top choices were the artist Barry Windsor-Smith, the actor Cillian Murphy and the winner, Frank Oz, the great puppeteer who makes us believe Yoda isn't just a goofy rubber mask with a guy's hand stuck in it. Besides being Mr. Oz's birthday, you'll see a movie was released 32 years ago that also makes this a very fitting choice.

2. Spot the Canadians! There are two Canadians on the list today. The only clue I will give is that both are under 50 years old. Knock yourself out.

3. Wait... they were in genre? The actors whose names I clicked on today without knowing they had genre roles were Roger Bowen from the movie version of MASH, Dixie Carter from Designing Women and Karen Valentine from Room 222.

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

Movies released
MIB 3 released, 2012
Back to the Future: Part III released, 1990
Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi released, 1983
Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope released, 1977
 

Predictor: OMNI Future Almanac, published 1982

Prediction: Before the close of the century, baseballs will be dyed orange or yellow to increase visibility. Aluminum bats will be allowed in major league baseball.

Reality: It's hard to strike out on just two swings at two pitches, but these predictions did just that. Charlie O. Finley was big on changing the color of the ball, but he never got any other owners to agree. As for aluminum bats, the speed of a solid line drive hit off of one of these bats can be lethal to infielders, especially for first basemen, third basemen and pitchers. The aluminum bat is being phased out of college ball for just this reason.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Another pessimistic guess from John Langdon-Davies in 1936.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
 

Never to be Forgotten:Anne Meara 1929-2015

Anne Meara, comedienne, actress and writer, died this weekend at the age of 85. She is survived by her comedy partner Jerry Stiller, to whom she was married for 61 years, and her daughter Amy and her son, actor and writer Ben Stiller.

Stiller and Meara started in improv comedy with the Compass Players, which later became known as Second City. Their act gained national attention largely due to performances on the  The Ed Sullivan Show. Later in their career, they made ads for Blue Nun wine and both took acting jobs separate from the act.

Ms. Meara is remembered her for roles in comedy genre like ALF and Night at the Museum, not the only movie starring her son Ben where she was cast, and non-comedy genre including the TV show Time Express and the movie The Boys from Brazil.

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

24 May 2015

Birthdays
Gina Sarno b. 1989 (The Avengers)
Ricky Mabe b. 1983 (Ghost Ghirls, This Is the End, Nightmare Man, Big Wolf on Campus, Frankenstein and Me)
Naomi Ryan b. 1977 (Guardians of the Galaxy, Doctor Who)
Will Sasso b. 1975 (Southland Tales, The X Files, Sliders, Doctor Who, The Odyssey [1994 TV])
Dash Mihok b. 1974 (Gotham, Punisher: War Zone, I Am Legend, The Day After Tomorrow)
Greg Berlanti b. 1972 (writer, The Flash, Arrow, The Tomorrow People, Wrath of the Titans, Green Lantern, No Ordinary Family)
Garett Maggart b. 1969 (Vampire)
Dana Ashbrook b, 1967 (Welcome to Paradox, Charmed, W.E.I.R.D. World, The Hidden Room, Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat, Ghost Dad, Return of the Living Dead II, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes!)
John C. Reilly b. 1965 (Guardians of the Galaxy, Dark Water)
Michael Chabon b. 1963 (won 2008 Hugo and Nebula for The Yiddish Policeman’s Union)
Kristin Scott Thomas b. 1960 (The Golden Compass, Code 46, Gulliver’s Travels)
Doug Jones b. 1960 (The Flash [2015], Arrow [2015], Hellboy, The Strain, Teen Wolf [TV], Falling Skies, The Watch, Dragon Age: Redemption, Fallout: Nuka Break, The Guild, Legion, Super Capers: The Origins of Ed and the Missing Bullion, Quarantine, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Lady in the Water, Pan’s Labyrinth, Doom, Men in Black II, The Time Machine, Side Effects, Alien Hunter, Monkeybone, Buffy, Mystery Men, Bug Buster, Mimic, Tank Girl, Batman Returns, Warriors of Virtue, Galgameth)
Alfred Molina b. 1953 (The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Spider-Man 2, Species, Ladyhawke, Raiders of the Lost Ark)
Nell Campbell b. 1953 (Shock Treatment, The Rocky Horror Picture Show)
Jim Broadbent b. 1949 (Cloud Atlas, Harry Potter, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, The Chronicles of Narnia, Comic Relief: Doctor Who – The Curse of Fatal Death, Smilla’s Feeling for Snow, Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, Brazil, Time Bandits, Erik the Viking)
James Cosmo b. 1948 (Game of Thrones, Flashforward, The Color of Magic, The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrome, The 10th Kingdom, Super Gran, Highlander)
Sybill Danning b. 1947 (Virus X, The Lair, Grindhouse, Superboy, The Phantom Empire, Amazon Women on the Moon, Warrior Queen, Howling II: … Your Sister is a Werewolf, V, Hercules [1983], Battle Beyond the Stars, Meteor)
Gary Burghoff b. 1943 (Wonder Woman)
Tommy Chong b. 1938 (Evil Bong, Sliders)
Mai Zetterling b. 1925 died 17 March 1994 (The Witches, H.G. Wells’ Invisible Man)
Carmine Infantino b. 1925 died 4 April 2013 (illustrator, DC Comics)
Lilli Palmer b. 1914 died 27 January 1986 (The Boys from Brazil)
Willis Bouchey b. 1907 died 27 September 1977 (The Munsters, My Mother the Car, Twilight Zone, Panic in Year Zero!, Them!, Red Planet Mars)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, the Picture Slot went to Doug Jones from Hellboy and Alfred Molina from Raiders of the Lost Ark. This year, I decided on Nell Campbell as Columbia from The Rocky Horror Picture Show, one of several excellent possible choices.

2. The hard to spot Canadians. No one has one of those obvious resumes today, but we do have three people born north of the border, Tommy Chong, Will Sasso and Ricky Mabe.

3. Sorry, sweetie, I'm going with last year's numbers. Last year when I was compiling the list I added both Sybill Danning and Jim Broadbent and I remarked to a friend that Ms. Danning was two years older than Mr. Broadbent. Ms. Danning was never a star, but I lusted after her back in the 1980s. (As much as I enjoy his work, I must admit I have never lusted after Mr. Broadbent.) This year on both imdb.com and Wikipedia, Ms. Danning's year of birth is list as 1952, magically trimming five years off her age. Her first role was in a German soft porn film in 1968. It possible that she lied about her age, making herself 21 instead of 16 when that was filmed and now she is correcting that fib. The other possibility is that she'd rather be 63 now instead of 68. Whichever it is, I'm going with last year's numbers.

4. The Guy at the Bong... I mean, Door. This is one of those lists with major gaps in ages. The oldest living person is Tommy Chong at 77. The next people on the list were born 13 years before him and both are dead. This makes Tommy Chong the Guy at the Door, the cutoff between the living and the dead on today's list. As always, special birthday wishes to the person who has this random demographic distinction.

5. Wait... they did genre? I clicked on Gary Burghoff's name on imdb.com because I recognized it, not knowing he had a guest starring role on Wonder Woman. I was likewise unaware of Tommy Chong's roles in Evil Bong and Sliders.

6. Hey... no Star Trek! In April, every day had a birthday of someone who was on one of the many incarnations of Star Trek. In May, there have now been four days without any Trek reference. Go figure.

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

Movie released
Epic released, 2013

 

Predictor: Robert A. Heinlein in The Door Into Summer, serialized in 1956, published in hardcover in 1957.

Prediction: I was surprised as anyone when it turned out we had divisions stashed away at Thule and other places no one suspected. It has been known since the ‘30s that the human body could be chilled until it slowed down to almost nothing. But it had been a parlor trick or a last-resort therapy, until the Six Weeks War.

Reality: A few "predictions" here and a change of what was supposed to have happened in the past from Heinlein's point of view in the late 1950s. Let's take them separately.

1. People can be frozen and thawed and the technology has been around since the 1930s.  Umm... no. It's vital to the plot of Heinlein's exciting adventure, but there isn't any technology like this even today.

2. There was a big nuclear war sometime between 1956 and 1970. Also, no, thank goodness. As I have written many times, fear of nuclear war was a huge part of life in the late 20th Century, but this years marks the 70th anniversary of the last time a nuke was used during warfare. Nukes were used twice, three days apart in August of 1945. That means the "no nuclear war" streak is currently at 25,490 days and counting. I do not say this to claim that there will never be another nuclear weapon used as a weapon of war, but when measured on a human scale, seventy years is a long time.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Is tomorrow Monday already? This means another dip into The OMNI Future Almanac. (I'll also give you the heads up that it's Towel Day, just in case you forgot.)

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

23 May 2015

Birthdays
Devin Douglas Drewitz b. 1989 (Smallville, X-Men 2, Taken, Jeremiah, Dark Angel)
D.J. Cotrona b. 1980 (From Dusk Till Dawn [TV], G.I. Joe: Retaliation)
Lane Garrison b. 1980 (From Dusk Till Dawn, The Event)
Kelly Monaco b. 1976 (Idle Hands)
Sebastina Cordero b. 1972 (director, Europa Report)
John Ortiz b. 1968 (Aliens vs. Predator:Requiem)
H. Jon Benjamin b. 1966 (The Venture Bros, Lucy: Daughter of the Devil)
Melissa McBride b. 1965 (The Walking Dead, The Mist, American Gothic, Mutant Species)
Karen Duffy b. 1961 (Last Action Hero)
Linden Ashby b. 1960 (Teen Wolf [TV], Iron Man 3, Anacondas: Trail of Blood, Resident Evil: Extinction, Mortal Kombat, Werewolf [TV])
Drew Carey b. 1958 (Lois & Clark, Coneheads)
Mark Arnold b. 1957 (Chronicles of Syntax, Alien Encounter, Teen Wolf)
Patricia and Cyb Barnstable b. 1951 (Quark)
O-Lan Jones b. 1950 (Mars Attacks!, The X Files, Edward Scissorhands, Martians Go Home, The Right Stuff)
Andrew Burt b. 1945 (Super Gran, Doctor Who, Gulliver in Lilliput, Blakes 7)
Joan Collins b. 1933 (Star Trek, Faerie Tale Theatre, Future Cop, The Fantastic Journey, Space: 1999, Batman)
Barbara Barrie b. 1931 (Dead Like Me, Tucker’s Witch, The Invaders, Twilight Zone)
Laura Devon b. 1931 died 19 July 2007 (The Invaders, Twilight Zone)
Ted Jordan b. 1924 died 30 March 2005 (Land of the Giants, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea)
Bill McCutcheon b. 1924 died 9 January 2002 (Mr. Destiny, Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, Johnny Jupiter)
James Blish b. 1921 died 29 July 1975 (won 1959 Hugo for A Case Of Conscience)
Betty Garrett b. 1919 died 12 February 2011 (Trail of the Screaming Forehead, Mr. Merlin)
Scatman Crothers b. 1910 died 22 November 1986 (Twilight Zone: The Movie, Deadly Eyes, Zapped!, The Shining, The Incredible Hulk, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, Bewitched)
Herbert Marshall b. 1890 died 22 January 1966 (The Fly, Gog)
Douglas Fairbanks b. 1883 died 12 December 1939 (The Thief of Bagdad)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, the Picture Slot was given to Joan Collins from Star Trek and James Blish. This year, the Picture Slot moves into the 21st Century with Melissa McBride in her best known role as Carol from The Walking Dead.

2. A Canadian to Spot. There is just one Canadian on the list today. It is left as an exercise for the reader to spot this individual.

3. The Gal at the Door. The cutoff year for today is 1931. Laura Devon was born that year and is already gone as is everyone older. Barbara Barrie was also born 84 years ago today and is still with us, and the same can be said for everyone born after 1931. As always when we have this demographic split, special birthday wishes to Ms. Barrie.

4. MST3K. Comic actor Bill McCutcheon was in Santa Claus Conquers the Martians and his career survived it.

5. Wait... he (or she) made genre? Sometimes when researching, I click on an actor's imdb.com homepage because I recognize the name, not because I know some specific role in sci-fi or fantasy. The actors who surprised me with qualifying roles today are Herbert Marshall, Betty Garrett, Drew Carey and Kelly Monaco.

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

Movie released
X-Men: Days of Future Past released, 2014

Predictor: Morris L. Ernst in his 1955 book Utopia 1976

Prediction: In 1929, the purchase of pets was $25 million and stayed steady through the next decade. By 1952, it had climbed to $60 million. By 1976, this substitute outlet for affection, domination or company is likely to diminish as loneliness declines.

Reality: Let me give Mr. Ernst a little credit. He did a lot of research in 1955 that wasn't easy before the Internet and Google.

And now let me hit him with the Big Ugly Stick. According to the Humane Society, pet ownership has grown steadily and outpaced the growth in the population. He has his strong opinions on what constitutes Good Things and Bad Things and has put pets in the Bad Things category. I don't own a pet and haven't for several decades, but I would never disparage someone for having a pet. (Too many pets is a different situation.)

He got this one wrong and insulting many readers in the process. If I gave negative points, I would give it for this clumsy and condescending attempt.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Another guess about the future of technology from Robert A. Heinlein's The Door Into Summer. 

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

22 May 2015

Birthdays
Molly Ephraim b. 1986 (Paranormal Activity)
Tao Okamoto b. 1985 (Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, The Wolverine)
Lucy Gordon b. 1980 died 20 May 2009 (Spider-Man 3)
Maggie Q b. 1979 (Insurgent, Divergent, Priest)
Ginnifer Goodwin b. 1978 (Once Upon a Time)
Noa Tisby b. 1977 (Charmed, The Island, The 4400, Star Trek: Enterprise)
A. J. Langer b. 1974 (Poltergeist: The Legacy, Escape from L.A., And You Thought Your Parents Were Weird, The People Under the Stairs)
Sean Gunn b. 1974 (Guardians of the Galaxy, H+, 3rd Rock from the Sun, The Specials, Angel, Tromeo and Juliet)
Max Brooks b. 1972 (author, World War Z)
Alison Eastwood b. 1972 (Breakfast of Champions)
Michael Kelly b. 1969 (Man of Steel, Chronicle, The Adjustment Bureau, Fringe, Level 9)
David Holcomb b. 1967 (Spider-Man)
Brooke Smith b. 1967 (American Horror Story)
Mark Christopher Lawrence b. 1964 (Blood Lake: Attack of the Killer Lampreys, Halloween II, Heroes, The Island, K-PAX, Planet of the Apes, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Terminator 2: Judgment Day)
James Lorinz b. 1964 (RoboCop 3, Frankenhooker)
David Schneider b. 1963 (28 Days Later…)
Ann Cusack b. 1961 (The Lost Room, Charmed, Star Trek: Enterprise, What Planet Are You From?, From the Earth to the Moon, Multiplicity, Tank Girl)
Gary Kasper b. 1958 (Bigfoot, My Demon Within, Star Trek: Enterprise, Conan, Batman Forever, Harry and the Hendersons [TV], Space, J.O.E. and the Colonel)
Gary Sweet b. 1957 (The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader)
Mike Muscat b. 1952 (Horrorween, Shamelessly She-Hulk, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Last Action Hero, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Starman [TV], The Clan of the Cave Bear)
Thomas Schlamme b. 1950 (director, Invasion)
Cheryl Campbell b. 1949 (The Sarah Jane Adventures)
John Lazar b. 1946 (Attack of the 60 Foot Centerfolds)
Jack Kehler b. 1946 (The Man in the High Castle, Angel, Men in Black II, The Mating Habits of the Earthbound Human, Sliders, Babylon 5, Waterworld, Deep Space Nine, Tales form the Crypt, Mann & Machine, Strange Invaders)
Michael Sarrazin b. 1940 died 17 April 2011 (Feardotcom, Arrival II, Earthquake in New York, Poltergeist: The Legacy, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Frankenstein: The True Story)
Paul Winfield b. 1939 died 7 March 2004 (Mars Attacks!, White Dwarf, Babylon 5, Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Charmings, The Terminator, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Twilight’s Last Gleaming)
Richard Benjamin b. 1938 (actor, The Ray Bradbury Theatre, Saturday the 14th, Love at First Bite, Quark, Westworld; director, My Stepmother is an Alien)
John Nolan b. 1938 (Batman Begins, The Dark Knight Rises, 1990, Doomwatch, The Prisoner)
Frank Converse b. 1938 (VR.5, The Bionic Woman, The Starlost, The Sixth Sense [1972])
Merry Anders b. 1932 died 28 October 2012 (Women of the Prehistoric Planet, The Time Travelers, The Addams Family, Beauty and the Beast [1962])
Michael Constantine b. 1927 (WW 3, Free Spirit, The Powers of Matthew Star, Electra Woman and Dyna Girl, The Invaders, My Favorite Martian, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Outer Limits, Twilight Zone)
Quinn Martin b. 1922 died 5 September 1987 (producer, The Aliens Are Coming, The Mephisto Waltz, The Invaders)
Laurence Olivier b. 1907 died 11 July 1989 (Clash of the Titans, Dracula [1979], The Boys from Brazil)
Arthur Conan Doyle b. 1859 died 7 July 1930 (author, The Lost World)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, the Picture Slot went to Paul Winfied from Star Trek: The Next Generation and a poster from the Indiana Jones movie released in 2008. This year I go with Laurence Olivier as Zeus in Clash of the Titans. I want to be clear that putting someone in the Picture Slot is not a sign of approval for their work. Olivier was very pretty when he was young and may have been great on stage, but on film I thought he was way too hammy. I am much keener on his contemporaries like John Gielgud and Ralph Richardson.

2. Nepotism FTW. Allison Eastwood is the most obvious case of nepotism on the list, but imdb.com made a special point to note that Brooke Smith is the daughter of powerful publicist Lois Smith. While not that well known to the general public, it probably helped her get started. Ann Cusack is John Cusack's sister, Richard Benjamin is married to Paula Prentiss and I don't consider either relationship nepotistic.

3. One unspottable Canadian from the Wait... he's dead category. Michael Sarrazin was born north of the border, but his career took off long before the Canadian genre TV industry came into existence. I also have to admit I wasn't completely aware he was gone when I clicked on his imdb.com web page this morning.

4. MST3K. Merry Anders was in Women of the Prehistoric Planet.

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


Movies released 
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull released, 2008
Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian released, 2009

Predictor: H.G. Wells in his 1901 book Anticipations

Prediction: The struggle on the high seas between any two naval powers (except, perhaps, the English and American, who have both quite unparalleled opportunities for coaling) will not last more than a week or so.

Reality: Not even close. Naval struggles in both world wars lasted throughout the duration and the Germans and Japanese held their own for a long time against the British and Americans. While coal was used well into the 20th Century, many vessels ran on gasoline and coaling stations became obsolete.

Big fat goose egg, Herb.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

More incautious optimism from the 1955 book Utopia 1976.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
 

21 May 2015

 Birthdays

Fallon Brooking b. 1996 (My Super Ex-Girlfriend, The Stepford Wives)Sarah Ramos b. 1991 (Wizards of Waverly Place)
Scotty Leavenworth b. 1990 (Donnie Darko, The Green Mile, Meego)
Deena Trudy b. 1986 (Android Cop, Iron Man 3, Zombie Killer)
Russell Balogh b. 1981 (Jack the Giant Slayer, Captain America: The First Avenger)
Fairuza Balk b. 1974 (The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Worst Witch, Return to Oz, The Craft)
Eduardo Verastegui b. 1974 (Charmed)
Paolo Montalban b. 1973 (Mortal Kombat: Conquest, Cinderella [1997 TV])
Brett Tucker b. 1972 (Thor: The Dark World, Legend of the Seeker, The Lost World, Thunderstone)
Russell Durham Comegys b. 1972 (The Walking Dead, Coma [2012 TV], The Vampire Diaries, The Vampire Diaries, The Punisher)
Nick Cassavetes b. 1959 (The Astronaut’s Wife, Quantum Leap, The Wraith)
Alan Gelfant b. 1957 (Monkeybone, Team Knight Rider, Dark Skies, The Crow: City of Angels)
Kyle T. Heffner b. 1957 (The Burning Dead, Hellborn, Mutant on the Bounty)
Judge Reinhold b. 1957 (The Dead Zone [TV], Betaville, Mindstorm, Big Monster on Campus, Puss in Boots, NetForce, Special Report: Journey to Mars, Adventures in Wonderland, Vice Versa, Gremlins, Wonder Woman)
Al Franken b. 1951 (From the Earth to the Moon, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Superman 50th Anniversary)
Jonathan Hyde b. 1948 (The Strain, Dinotopia, Jack and the Beanstalk: The Real Story, The Mummy, Anaconda, Jumanji, Supernatural [1977])
Richard Hatch b. 1945 (Alien Hunger, After Hell, The Guild, Battlestar Galactica, InAlienable, Prisoners of the Lost Universe, The Sixth Sense)
Booker Bradshaw b. 1940 died 1 April 2003 (Skullduggery, Star Trek)
David Groh b. 1939 died 12 February 2008 (Evilution, Black Scorpion, The X-Files, Last Exit to Earth, M.A.N.T.I.S., Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Dark Shadows [TV])
Ross Hagen b. 1938 died 7 May 2011 (Attack of the 60 Foot Centerfolds, Dinosaur Island, Droid Gunner, Time Wars, Alienator, Night Creature, The Invaders, Captain Nice)
Richard Libertini b. 1933 (Supernatural, House of Frankenstein [1997], Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Lois & Clark, The Twilight Zone [1986], Popeye, Tabitha, The Bionic Woman)
Alice Drummond b. 1928 (Tales from the Darkside: The Movie, Ghostbusters, Dark Shadows [1967])
Rick Jason b. 1923 died 16 October 2000 (Automan, Manimal, Wonder Woman)
Raymond Burr b. 1917 died 12 September 1993 (Godzilla 1985, The Return, Godzilla [1977], Godzilla, King of the Monsters! [1956])

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. Earlier Picture Slotters were Raymond Burr from Godzilla and Richard Hatch from Battlestar Galactica. In my opinion, iconic in genre other than those two guys would be Fairuza Balk in the Oz movie and the late Booker Bradshaw as Dr. M'Benga from Star Trek.

2. Wait... they're dead? I wasn't completely aware of the deaths of Bradshaw, David Groh or Ross Hagen.


2. Nepotism and not. Nick Cassavetes counts as nepotism. Kyle T. Heffner isn't related to Hugh Hefner and Paolo Montalban is not related to Ricardo Montalban.

3. One unspottable Canadian. Deena Trudy was born north of the border, but her credit list is not filled with genre TV shows.

4. MST3K. Ross Hagen was in the biker flick The Hellcats.

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

Movies released
Shrek Forever After released, 2010
Terminator Salvation released, 2009
Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back released, 1980
   

Predictor: Articles from last year

Prediction: Matter will be created from light within a year

Reality:  If you Google "light into matter", there were a bunch of story in May of 2014 that the technology to turn light into matter was just around the corner. I haven't found any more recent articles actually trumpeting the success of the Breit-Wheeler pair production experiments. The question mark after 2014 is still there as far as I can ascertain.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

H.G. Wells will look at war in the 20th Century and show that he still thinks like a guy from the 19th Century.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

 

20 May 2015

Birthdays
Jack Gleeson b. 1992 (Game of Thrones, Batman Begins, Reign of Fire)
Nathaniel Brown b. 1988 (Enter the Void)
Chad Connell b. 1983 (Beauty and the Beast, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, Lost Girl, Warehouse 13, ReGenesis)
Michaela McManus b. 1983 (Awake, The Vampire Diaries)
Matt Czuchry b. 1977 (Dark Shadows [2005 TV], Jake 2.0, Eight Legged Freaks)
Jason Cermak b. 1977 (Mutant World, Supernatural, Once Upon a Time)
Tahmoh Penikett b. 1975 (Strange Empire, Supernatural, Continuum, Man of Steel, Arrow, Haven, Jabberwock, Mortal Combat, Riverworld, Dollhouse, Battlestar Galactica, Smallville, Stargate SG-1, Dark Angel)
Timothy Olyphant b. 1968 (I am Number Four, Dreamcatcher)
Stephanie Niznik b. 1967 (Lost, Star Trek: Enterprise, Spiders II: Breeding Ground, Star Trek: Insurrection, Sliders, Apollo 11)
Owen Teale b. 1961 (Game of Thrones, Torchwood, Doctor Who)
John Billingsley b. 1960 (True Blood, 2012, The Man from Earth, Star Trek: Enterprise, Angel, Stargate SG-1, The X-Files)
Tony Goldwyn b. 1960 (Insurgent, Divergent, The 6th Day, From the Earth to the Moon, Vault of Horror I, Tales from the Crypt, Ghost, Jason Lives: Friday the 13th Part VI)
Bronson Pinchot b. 1959 (Meego, 3rd Rock From the Sun)
Matt McCoy b. 1958 (Touch, Abominable, Carnivale, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Little Bigfoot, The Apocalypse, Bigfoot: The Unforgettable Encounter, Star Trek: The Next Generation, DeepStar Six)
Frank Medrano b. 1958 (Torchwood, Fallen)
Dean Butler b. 1956 (Buffy)
Dave Thomas b. 1949 (Coneheads)
Jon Amiel b. 1948 (director, Once Upon a Time, The Core)
Cher b. 1946 (The Witches of Eastwick)
David Proval b. 1942 (Brimstone, The Relic, The Phantom, Innocent Blood, Quantum Leap, The Monster Squad, Knight Rider)
Joan Staley b. 1940 (Batman, The Munsters, Valley of the Dragons)
Anthony Zerbe b. 1936 (Veritas, Prince of Truth, Matrix Reloaded, Matrix Revolutions, Total Recall 2070, Star Trek: Insurrection, Asteroid [TV], The Dead Zone, KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park, The Omega Man)
James McEachin b. 1930 (2010, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Bionic Woman, The Invisible Man, The Sixth Sense)
David Hedison b. 1927 (Megiddo: The Omega Code 2, Knight Rider, Project U.F.O., Wonder Woman, The Cat Creature, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Lost World, The Fly)
George Gobel b. 1919 died 24 February 1991 (Alice in Wonderland [1985 TV], The Invisible Woman, The Day It Came to Earth)
Peter Copley b. 1915 died 7 October 2008 (The Color of Magic, Doctor Who, Gawain and the Green Knight, Five Million Miles to Earth, The Cosmic Monster)
Gardner Fox b. 1911 died 24 December 1986 (writer, DC Comics)
James Stewart b. 1908 died 2 July 1997 (Bell Book and Candle, Harvey)
Virginia Sale b. 1899 died 23 August 1997 (Slither, Topper [1937])

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. For both of the past two years, I've had pictures of Jack Gleeson from Game of Thrones. Not wanting to repeat myself, there are a slew of actors with iconic roles here, including Tahmoh Penikett for Dollhouse or Battlestar Galactica, John Billingsley on Enterprise, Owen Teale from Game of Thrones, Cher from The Witches of Eastwick, Anthony Zerbe from The Omega Man and David Hedison from Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, but I decided to go with the biggest movie star on the list, Jimmy Stewart from Harvey.

2. Spot the Canadians! If you don't know Dave Thomas is Canadian, you are a hoser, eh? Dean Butler had the just barely recurring role of Buffy's dad and he was born north of the border as well. He's by far the hardest to spot. Our younger Canucks, Chad Connell, Jason Cermak and Tahmoh Penikett, all have credit lists that either hint at their country of origin or shout it from the rooftops.

3. The Guy at the Door. This is one of those lists where we have no one who died young. We have people in their 70s and 80s and David Hedison turns 88 this year and good on him. I have to say, he has this nicely trimmed white beard now and he still looks like a million bucks. The blog is glad to give him special birthday wishes today.

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


Movie released 
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides released, 2011

Predictor: George Sutherland in his 1901 book Twentieth Century Inventions

Prediction: Just as wheaten bread from being a luxury reserved for the rich has become the staple of food for all grades of society, so fruits which are now commonly regarded as an indulgence, although a very desirable addition to the food of the well-to-do, must, in a short time, become practically a necessity to the great mass of the people generally.

Reality: This is a great reminder of how much life changed in little ways as well as momentous ways during the 20th Century. Sutherland gets full points here and maybe a little bonus for reminding me of John Elfreth Watkins, still my favorite predictor, and his strange obsession with huge fruit.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Checking in on a prediction from 2014 that said "within a year..." I could say more, but that would be telling.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

19 May 2015

 Birthdays
Elinor Tomlinson b. 1992 (Deadly Code, Jack the Giant Slayer, The Lost Future, Alice in Wonderland [2010], The Sarah Jane Adventures)
Lily Cole b. 1988 (The Zero Theorem, Snow White and the Huntsman, Doctor Who)
Catherine Haena Kim b. 1984 (Voodoo Possession)
Erika Jordan a.k.a. Yasmin Yeganeh b. 1982 (Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!, Avalance Sharks, Piranhaconda )
Drew Fuller b. 1980 (Charmed, Vampire Clan)
Terence Yin b. 1975 (Zombie Fight Club, Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life)
Claudia Karvan b. 1972 (Daybreakers, Aquamarine, Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, Farscape, The Lost World [TV], Strange Planet)
Amanda De Cadenet b. 1972 (The Hunger [TV])
Geraldine Somerville b. 1967 (Automata, Harry Potter)
Polly Walker b. 1966 (John Carter, Warehouse 13, Caprica, Clash of the Titans [2010])
Sean Whalen b. 1964 (Constantine, All Superheroes Must Die, Lost, Wizards of Waverly Place, Halloween II [2009], Star Trek: Enterprise, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Men in Black, Lois & Clark, Waterworld, Tammy and the T-Rex, Batman Returns)
Gregory Poirier b. 1961 (writer, National Treasure: Book of Secrets)
Dave Florek b. 1953 (Priest, Ghostbusters II)
Robert Harper b. 1951 (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Creepshow)
Bruce Jarchow b. 1948 (Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show, Weird Science [TV], Meego, Outbreak, The Puppet Masters, Time Trax, Ghost, Scrooged, Big, Somewhere in Time)
Grace Jones b. 1946 (Wolf Girl, BeastMaster [TV], Cyber Bandits, Vamp, Conan the Destroyer)
Andre the Giant b. 1946 died 27 January 1993 (The Princess Bride, Conan the Destroyer, The Greatest American Hero, The Six Million Dollar Man)
Peter Mayhew b. 1944 (Star Wars, Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger, Dark Towers)
Nora Ephron b. 1941 died 26 June 2012 (writer/director, Bewitched [2005])
James Fox b. 1939 (Utopia [2013], Merlin, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Doctor Who: Shada, Gulliver’s Travels [1996], The Road to 1984)
Pat Roach b. 1937 died 17 July 2004 (Starhunter, Kull the Conqueror, Space Precinct, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Willow, Red Sonja, Conan the Destroyer, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Clash of the Titans, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Unidentified Flying Oddball)
David Hartman b. 1935 (The Island at the Top of the World)
James Greene b. 1931 (Doctor Who, Merlin, Dracula [2006 TV], Dinotopia, From Hell, 1990)
Bruce Bilson b. 1928 (director, The Flash [1991], They Came from Outer Space, The Twilight Zone [1986], The Powers of Matthew Star, Quark, Wonder Woman, The Six Million Dollar Man, Bewitched)
David McLean b. 1922 died 12 October 1995 (Deathsport, Kingdom of the Spiders, The Andromeda Strain, I Dream of Jeannie, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea)
Renee Asherson b. 1915 died 30 October 2014 (The Others, Theatre of Blood, The Day the Earth Caught Fire)
Bruce Bennett b. 1906 died 25 February 2007 (The Clones, The Alligator People, The Cosmic Man)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. This may have something to do with me being a geezer, but I consider three people born in the 1940s as the actors with iconic roles and I have already used two of them. They are Peter Mayhew as Chewbacca, Andre the Giant as Fezzik and this year's Picture Slotter, Grace Jones as Zula. Stories from the set say she didn't really understand the idea of pulling punches and seriously messed up some of the stuntmen.

2. Not really nepotism. James Fox is the brother of Edward Fox. Dave Florek is the brother of Dann Florek. Neither of these situations is comparable to Sly Stallone/Frank Stallone or Ron Howard/Clint Howard.

3. Centenarians famous for something else. Herman Brix was a silver medalist in shot put at the 1928 Olympics. He became an actor under contract with Warner Bros. and changed his name to Bruce Bennett. He was in several of Humphrey Bogart's movies, including The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and played Tarzan in the serials before Johnny Weissmuller took over the role and became a star. He also lived to be 100. Good on ya, Mr. Bennett.

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


Movies released
Star Wars: Episode I – The One We Don’t Like Much released, 1999  
Shrek 2 released 2004
Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith released, 2005

Predictors: The panel of basketball experts at ESPN

Predictions, results and new predictions:
Second round predictions (actual results in parentheses)
Hawks in 7 (Hawks in 6)
Cavaliers in 7 (Cavaliers in 6)
Warriors in 5 (Warriors in 6)
Clippers in 6 (Rockets in 7)

The points scored here, 27 of a possible 40, brings the overall grade to 85 of a possible 120 or 70.8%. If this were a math class, that would be just barely passing, but in predicting supposedly 50-50 events, 70% is actually pretty good. The predictions for the next two series are the Cavaliers in six and the Warriors in five.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Back to the weekly schedule and our sensible pal George Sutherland.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!