17 July 2015

Birthdays
Perla Haney-Jardine b. 1997 (Spider-Man 3)
Austin Macdonald b. 1995 (Mr. Magorum’s Wonder Emporium, Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer, ReGenesis)
Jessica Amlee b. 1994 (Absolute Zero, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Stargate: Atlantis, Jeremiah, Andromeda, Smallville, Dark Angel)
Cazi Greene b. 1993 (The Maze Runner)
Billie Lourd b. 1992 (Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens)
Tom Cullen b. 1985 (Last Days on Mars)
Daniel Berge Halversen b. 1982 (Dead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead)
Melanie Thierry b. 1981 (The Zero Theorem, Babylon A.D.)
Mike Vogel b. 1979 (Under the Dome, Cloverfield)
Eric Winter b. 1976 (Witches of East End, Charmed)
Dagmara Dominczyk b. 1976 (They)
Cory Doctorow b. 1971 (writer, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom)
Jason Clarke b. 1969 (Terminator: Genisys [2015], Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Death Race, Farscape)
Alex Winter b. 1965 (The Borrowers, Freaked, Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, The Lost Boys)
Santiago Segura b. 1965 (Pacific Rim, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Hellboy, Blade II)
Heather Langenkamp b. 1964 (American Horror Story, Star Trek Into Darkness, Perversions of Science, Shocker, Nightmare on Elm Street)
John Ventimiglia b. 1963 (Rosenkrantz and Guilderstern are Undead)
Robin Shou b. 1960 (Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, Mortal Kombat)
Tim Rose b. 1956 (Wizards vs. Aliens, Prince Caspian and the Voyage of the Dawn Treader [TV], Howard the Duck, Return to Oz, Return of the Jedi, The Dark Crystal)
Margot Rose b. 1956 (Hollow Man, Deep Space Nine, Lois & Clark, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Freddy’s Nightmares)
J. Michael Straczynski b. 1954 (writer, Sense8, World War Z, Thor, Babylon 5, Jeremiah, The Twilight Zone [1980s], Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future, She-Ra, He-Man)
David Hasselhoff b. 1952 (Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!, Anaconda III, Knight Rider, Click, 3rd Rock from the Sun, NightMan, Starcrash)
P.J. Soles b. 1950 (Mil Mascaras vs. the Aztec Mummy, Little Bigfoot, Alienator, Knight Rider, Halloween, Carrie)
Catherine Schell b. 1944 (Doctor Who, Space: 1999, Moon Zero Two)
Donald Sutherland b. 1935 (The Hunger Games, Frankenstein [2004], Salem’s Lot, Space Cowboys, Virus, Fallen, The Puppet Masters, The Lifeforce Experiment, Buffy the Vampire Slayer [movie], Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors, Castle of the Living Dead)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, the Picture Slot went to Donald Sutherland, kind of a hybrid movie star/character actor and Tim Rose, the poor baster who was stuck in teh Howard the Duck suit. I think the best known name not yet used is David Hasselhoff, but seriously, I just couldn't. So instead we have J. Michael Straczynski, who is currently tweeting about his new series Sense8, which he made with teh Wachowskis and is available on Netflix.

2. Spot the Canadians. It's not a tough bit of trivia to know Donald Sutherland was born in Canada. You might be able to spot Jessica Amlee by her credit list, but writer Cory Doctorow and young actor Austin Macdonald are doing their best to blend in.

3. Tempus fugit and the horse you rode in on. The other guy from Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure turns 50 today. I don't remember whether he was Bill or Ted and I would like not being reminded, thank you very much. When I see a milestone like this, I get one of those "Jesus! How old am I then?" moments. I mean, I know how old I am, but just makes it sink in a little deeper.

4. MST3K. Two episodes of Space:1999 were turned into Cosmic Princess and mercilessly mocked by Joel and the bots.

Many happy returns to all the living on the list and to the... wait a tick! Everyone's alive! Yay!

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

Prediction: If deterrent punishments are used at all in the code of the future, the deterrent will neither be death, nor mutilation of the body, nor mutilation of the life by imprisonment, nor any horrible things like that, but good scientifically caused pain, that will leave nothing but a memory.

Reality:I can't read this without thinking of the dialog.

"The booth for this one, Captain?"

"Yes... the booth."

And, oh yeah, the young H.G. Wells was not the lovable, wide eyed fellow played by Malcolm McDowell in Time After Time. Not to put too fine a point on it, he was an asshole.

Never to be Forgotten: "Diamond" Dave Somerville 1931-2015 I'm old enough to have been on newsgroups back when the Internet was all text. One of my favorite newsgroups,  alt.obituaries, still has a presence on Facebook. Ray Arthur, one of the regulars, pointed me in the direction of the passing of Dave Somerville, the original lead singer with The Diamonds, whose big hit was Little Darling. Besides that claim to fame, Somerville took acting classes and one of this fellow students was Leonard Nimoy. Somerville appeared on the Star Trek episode The Conscience of the King and was also on the 1970s TV show The Amazing Spier-Man, back when special effects barely deserved the description "special".

Best wishes to the family and friends of "Diamond" Dave Somerville, from a fan. He is never to be forgotten.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Another prediction from the very optimistic 1955 book Utopia 1976.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!