1 June 2015

Birthdays
Willow Shields b. 2000 (The Wonder, The Hunger Games)
Madison Smith b. 1990 (Supernatural, Evangeline, Chupacabra vs. the Alamo)
Taylor Handley b. 1984 (Toxin, Battle Los Angeles)
Craig Olejnik b. 1979 (Haven, Thir13en Ghosts, So Weird)
Sarah Wayne Callies b. 1977 (The Walking Dead)
Danielle Harris b. 1977 (Night of the Living Dead: Origins 3D, Nuclear Family, Chromeskull: Laid to Rest 2, Halloween I and II [21st Century], Charmed, Eerie, Indiana, Halloween 4 and 5 [20th Century])
Patrick Gilmore b. 1976 (Arrow, Continuum, Primeval: New World, Cabin in the Woods, Stargate, Fringe, 2012, Battlestar Galactica, Smallville, Supernatural, Eureka, The Last Mimzy, Final Days of Planet Earth, Stephen King’s Dead Zone)
Kate Magowan b. 1975 (Stardust)
Melissa Sagemiller b. 1974 (Soul Survivors)
Heidi Klum b. 1973 (Ella Enchanted)
Rick Gomez b. 1972 (Transformers, Sin City, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles [1990])
Paul Schrier b. 1970 (Power Rangers)
Teri Polo b. 1969 (The Hole, The Storm, Brimstone, Van Helsing Chronicles, House of Frankenstein, Phantom of the Opera)
Lezlie Dean b. 1964 (Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare, Hard Time on Planet Earth, Girlfriend from Hell, Freddy’s Nightmares, 976-EVIL)
Mark Curry b. 1961 (Armageddon)
Lisa Hartman b. 1956 (Not of this World, Tabitha)
Robin Mattson b. 1956 (The Incredible Hulk, The Six Million Dollar Man, Phantom of the Paradise, Island of the Lost)
Gemma Craven b. 1950 (Cinderella: The Slipper and the Rose)
Michael McDowell b. 1950 died 27 December 1999 (writer, Tales from the Crypt, Beetlejuice, Amazing Stories)
Powers Boothe b. 1948 (Sin City, The Avengers, Mutant Species, Red Dawn)
Jonathan Pryce b. 1947 (Game of Thrones, G.I. Joe, Clone, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Brothers Grimm, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Brazil)
Brian Cox b. 1946 (The Anomaly, An Adventure in Space and Time, Her, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, The Day of the Triffids, Doctor Who, Timewatch, X-Men 2, The Ring, Bug, Red Dwarf, The Cloning of Joanna May, Hammer House of Horror)
Robert Powell b. 1944 (Merlin of the Crystal Cave, Frankenstein [1984 TV], The Asphyx)
Rene Auberjonois b. 1940 (Warehouse 13, Stargate SG-1, Poltergeist: The Legacy, Deep Space Nine, Batman Forever, Eerie, Indiana, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Count, My Best Friend is a Vampire, Faerie Tale Theatre, Beyond Westworld, Wonder Woman, Man from Atlantis, The Bionic Woman, King Kong [1976], Brewster McCloud)
Cleavon Little b. 1939 died 22 October 1992 (Tales from the Crypt, ALF, Once Bitten, Once Upon a Brothers Grimm)
Morgan Freeman b. 1937 (Lucy, Transcendence, Oblivion, The Dark Knight, Conan the Barbarian [2011], War of the Worlds, Dreamcatcher, Deep Impact, Outbreak, Twilight Zone[1985])
Glenn Beck (no, not that one) b. 1935 (National Treasure: Book of Secrets, Twilight’s Last Gleaming, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Doctor Who, The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll)
Peter Masterson b. 1934 (The Stepford Wives, The Exorcist)
Edward Woodward b. 1930 died 16 November 2009 (Crusade, Gulliver’s Travels, Arthur the King, 1990, Bloodsuckers)
Andy Griffith b. 1926 died 3 July 2012 (Salvage 1)
Aubrey Morris b. 1926 (Mermaid Chronicles Part 1: She Creature, The Others, Legend of the Mummy, Bordello of Blood, Babylon 5, Alien Nation, Beauty and the Beast, Lifeforce, The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy [TV], Space: 1999, A Clockwork Orange, Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb, The Prisoner)
Richard Erdman b. 1925 (Out of This World, Small Wonder, Trancers, The Amazing Spider-Man, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Bionic Woman, I Dream of Jeannie, Mr. Terrific, The Brass Bottle, Twilight Zone, Aladdin and His Lamp)
John Randolph b. 1915 died 24 February 2004 (Superman 50th Anniversary, Voyagers!, King Kong [1976], Wonder Woman, Topper Returns, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, Escape from the Planet of the Apes, The Invaders, Seconds)
Mike Lally b. 1900 died 15 February 1985 (Coma, Future Cop, The Incredible Mr. Limpet, Twilight Zone, The Adventures of Superman, Mighty Joe Young, The Return of Doctor X)
Frank Morgan b. 1890 died 18 September 1949 (The Wizard of Oz)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. There are a lot of excellent choices for The Picture Slot this fine morning. Frank Morgan from The Wizard of Oz and Rene Auberjonois from Deep Space Nine have already had their turns, but there are still a lot of choices that count as iconic, from as young as Sarah Wayne Callies on The Walking Dead to as old as two still living Oh That Guys, Aubrey Morris and Richard Erdman. Jonathan Pryce got my vote today and I was going to use a picture of him as High Sparrow from this year's cast of Game of Thrones, but I instead went with a picture from Brazil, a movie that still holds a soft spot for me.

2. Spot the Canadians! Four Canucks today, one very spottable and the others, not so much. Patrick Gilmore has the very typical credit list of a hard working Canadian genre actor, but Glenn Beck is a little too old to be typical and Craig Olejnik and Madison Smith haven't had enough roles.

3. Who is Mike Lally? I included Mike Lally on the list today because the movie from his resume that was on the list of birthdays page on imdb.com was Coma, a genre film from the late 1970s. He had an amazing 422 credits, nearly all of them uncredited. He was in big movies like Citizen Kane, Singin' in the Rain and It's a Wonderful Life, all as extras. He's not an Oh That Guy, but he kept a roof over his head from the early 1930s to the late 1970s just showing up and hitting his mark. His biography says he was one of the founders of the Actors Guild with Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Ronald Reagan. I had never heard of him before, but his career was the big surprise of this morning's research.

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

Movies released

Snow White and the Huntsman released, 2012
Star Trek III: The Search For Spock released, 1984

Predictor: The OMNI Future Almanac, published 1982

Prediction: By 2010, fashion designers say light and color will be transmutable elements in fashion fabrics. When one enters a room, one's clothing could change to match the decor. Outdoors, clothes could turn white or even be camouflaged by the local landscape. Some designers even foresee clothes changing color according to the way a person feels at a particular moment, like red for anger or grey for depression. 

Reality: Well, like jetpacks and flying cars, we didn't get clothes that change color depending on our moods. Unlike jetpacks and flying cars, I don't feel bad at all we didn't get clothes that change color depending on our moods.

 

This month's splash illustration: I saw the low budget sci-fi film Ex Machina and I liked it, so I thought I'd give it a little love on the blog this month. It was made for about $15 million, which is actually an awkward number for a budget these days. Small films tend to be made for less than $5 million and "middle budget" films tend to cost at least $30 million. The movie has been out for about two months, so I have no idea how long it will remain in the theaters, but if you can't catch it during its general release, rent it on video.
 
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

More Commie predictions from John Langdon-Davies, Commie.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!