Saturday, June 6, 2015

6 June 2015

Birthdays
Ellie Kendrick b. 1990 (Game of Thrones, Being Human)
Paula Brancati b. 1989 (The Good Witch’s Wonder, Painkiller Jane)
Daniel Logan b. 1987 (Star Trek Continues, Star Wars: Attack of the Clones, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys)
Helena-Alexis Seymour b. 1985 (Beauty and the Beast [2015], Birdman, Warehouse 13, Being Human)
Antonia Prebble b. 1984 (Salem, The Cure, The Almighty Johnsons, Power Rangers)
Lyndie Greenwood b. 1983 (Sleepy Hollow, Lost Girl)
Cassie Shea Watson b. 1983 (Tekken, Living/Dead)
Philip McGinley b. 1981 (Game of Thrones, Prometheus)
Judith Barsi b. 1978 died 25 July 1988 (The Twilight Zone 1985])
Jonathan Nolan b. 1976 (writer, Westworld [2015], Interstellar, The Dark Knight Rises, The Dark Knight)
Stacy Keenan b. 1975 (Lois and Clark)
Danny Strong b. 1974 (actor, Buffy, Pleasantville, 3rd Rock from the Sun; writer, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay)
Sonya Walger b. 1974 (FlashForward, Lost, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, The Librarian: Quest for the Spear)
Scott Peat b. 1974 (Dead Season, Transformers)
Paul Giamatti b. 1967 (San Andreas, Amazing Spider-Man 2, John Dies at the End, Lady in the Water, Paycheck, Planet of the Apes, Doctor Doolittle)
Jason Isaacs b. 1963 (Harry Potter, Awake, Elektra, Peter Pan, Resident Evil, Soldier, Armageddon, Event Horizon, DragonHeart, Highlander [TV])
Wes Johnson b. 1961 (The Invasion)
Lisabeth Shatner b. 1961 (writer, TekWar )
Amanda Pays b. 1959 (Spacejacked, The X-Files, The Flash [2015 and 1990], Leviathan, Max Headroom, The Kindred)
Danny Webb b. 1958 (Humans, Being Human, Doctor Who, Space Precinct, Alien³)
Cheryl “Rainbeaux” Smith b. 1955 died 25 October 2002 (Independence Day, Parasite, Laserblast, The Incredible Melting Man, Phantom of the Paradise, Lemora: A Child’s Tale of the Supernatural)
Sandra Bernhard b. 1955 (The Apocalypse, Highlander, Tales from the Crypt)
William Armstrong b. 1954 (The Dark Knight, A Sound of Thunder)
Harvey Fierstein b. 1954 (Kull the Conqueror, Independence Day)
Gary Graham b. 1950 (Star Trek: Renegades, Star Trek: Axanar, Universal Dead, InAlienable, Star Trek: Enterprise, Alien Nation, Star Trek: Voyager, M.A.N.T.I.S., Necromicon: Book of Dead, Robot Jox, The Incredible Hulk)
Robert Englund b. 1947 (Lake Placid vs. Anaconda, Zombie Mutation, Lake Placid: The Final Chapter, Strippers vs Werewolves, Supernatural, Zombie Strippers!, Heart Stopper 2001 Maniacs, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Freddy vs. Jason, Charmed, Python, Urban Legend, Wishmaster, The Vampyre Wars, Sliders, Babylon 5, Knight Rider, V, Manimal, Galaxy of Terror)
Erica Hagen b. 1946 (Wonder Woman, Land of the Lost, Soylent Green)
David Dukes b. 1945 died 9 October 2000 (Sliders, Time Trax, The Handmaid’s Tale, The Twilight Zone)
Richard Paul b. 1940 died 25 December 1998 (Beanstalk, Robo Cop [TV], Out of This World, Amazing Stories, Space Force, Exorcist II: The Heretic, Holmes and Yo-Yo)
Billie Whitelaw b. 1932 died 21 December 2014 (Merlin [1998 TV], The Cloning of Joanna May, Supernatural [1977], Space: 1999, The Omen, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde [TV, 1968])
Walter Abel b. 1898 died 26 March 1987 (The Human Duplicators)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, the Picture Slot went to Ellie Kendrick (no relation to Anna Kendrick) from Game of Thrones and Alex Doig, whose birthday I transcribed incorrectly in 2013. If I gave the slot based on fame and my favorite actor here, Paul Giamatti would win on both counts, but I don't think he has an iconic role in genre yet. There are two great villains born today, Robert Englund as Freddy and Jason Isaacs as Lucius Malfoy, but instead I went with Danny Strong from Buffy, who has had a very successful career in the 21st Century as a screenwriter, and good on him.

2. Spot the Canadians! William Armstrong was born north of the border, but his credit list shows a lot of work on British shows. We also have three women born in the 1980s, Paula Brancati, Helena-Alexis Seymour and Lyndie Greenwood.

3. Nepotism FTW. Writer Jonathan Nolan often works with his better known brother, the director Christopher Nolan, but I'm not sure this kind of situation actually counts as nepotism. As for Lisabeth Shatner... definitely nepotism.

4. The premature dead. I wasn't aware of child actor Judith Barsi's work. The poor girl was killed by her father, who also killed her mother and then himself. My brain has processed the death of Cheryl "Rainbeaux" Smith, but for Oh Those Guys David Dukes and Richard Paul, not so much.

5. MST3K. The Best Brains gang did give the business to The Human Duplicators.

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

Movie released
Edge of Tomorrow released, 2014

Predictor: Morris Ernst in the 1955 book Utopia 1976

Prediction: Our fossil-fuel supply may last until 1976, but scarcely beyond that date if our desires are to be for material things that require energy for creation.

Reality: I usually chide Mr. Ernst for his optimism or his fussy opinions about what is uplifting and what isn't, but this time he loses points for pessimism. We've had plenty of predictions of The End of Oil and The End of Coal, but they aren't here yet and I for one would be hard pressed to even guess what decade will see them fall into minority status compared to other energy sources. The only prediction I would make in this regard is that coal will fade before crude oil, at least in the United States where the environmental costs are beginning to be factored in.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

We dip into the technological wonderland of the late 20th Century envisioned by Robert A. Heinlein in The Door Into Summer


Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
 

1 comment:

  1. Is Edge of Tomorrow the one they retitled as Lather, Rinse, Repeat for its DVD release?

    And, geez, that's a brutal biography for Judy Barsi--think Joanne Katherine Rowling with added abuse and an unhappy ending. Should make a movie about it...

    ReplyDelete

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