6 July 2015

Birthdays
Robert Naylor b. 1996 (Helix, Being Human, Immortals, Stephen King's Dead Zone, Race to Mars)
Gregory Smith b. 1983 (The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising, A Wrinkle in Time, Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century, Small Soldiers, Meego, M.A.N.T.I.S., Spellbreaker: Secret of the Leprechauns, Leapin' Leprechauns, Highlander [TV])
Paula LaBaredas b. 1982 (Attack of the 50ft Cheerleader, Camel Spiders, Paul)
Eva Green b. 1980 (Penny Dreadful, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, Dark Shadows, Camelot, Perfect Sense, Clone, The Golden Compass)
Kevin Hart b. 1979 (This is the End, Krod Mandoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire)
Adam Busch b. 1978 (The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Point Pleasant, Buffy)
Symba b. 1970 (The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Deep Space Nine, Sliders, Star Trek: Voyager)
Brian Van Holt b. 1969 (Ascension, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Threshold)
Brian Posehn b. 1966 (The Big Bang Theory, Knights of Badassdom, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Undead or Alive: A Zombedy)
Mark Mitchinson b. 1966 (The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Power Rangers, Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, Legend of the Seeker)
Casey Sander b. 1956 (The Big Bang Theory, Buffy, Quantum Leap, Predator II, Spaced Invaders, V)
Allyce Beasley b. 1954 (Gotham, Rumplestiltskin, The Tommyknockers, Superboy, ALF)
Jennifer Savidge b. 1952 (Evolution, FreakyLinks, Deep Space Nine, House of Frankenstein [TV], Lois & Clark)
Geoffrey Rush b. 1951 (Pirates of the Caribbean, House on Haunted Hill [1999], Mystery Men)
Geraldine James b. 1950 ( Robot Overlords, Alice in Wonderland [2010], Fairy Tales, Hex)
John Byrne b. 1950 (writer/artist, Marvel Comics, DC Comics)
Shelley Hack b. 1947 (Tales from the Crypt, Troll, SeaQuest 2032, Time After Time)
Gloria Gifford b. 1946 (Halloween II, The Incredible Hulk)
Sylvester Stallone b. 1946 (Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over, Judge Dredd, Demolition Man, Death Race 2000)
Fred Dryer b. 1946 (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Relic Hunter)
Burt Ward b. 1945 (Star Quest, Homeboys in Outer Space, Beach Babes from Beyond, Cyber-C.H.I.C., Batman)
Ahna Capri b. 1944 died 19 August 2010 (Man from Atlantis, Piranha, The Ivaders)
Rosemary Forsyth b. 1943 (Ghosts of Mars, Star Trek: Voyager, The Incredible Hulk)
Ned Beatty b. 1937 (Gulliver's Travels [1996], Replikator, Purple People Eater, The Incredible Shrinking Woman, Superman I and II, Exorcist II: The Heretic)
Janet Leigh b. 1927 died 3 October 2004 (Halloween H20, The Twilight Zone [1989], Starman, The Fog, Night of the Lepus, Hello Down There)
Merv Griffin b. 1925 died 12 August 2007 (Alice in Wonderland [1985 TV], Slapstick (of Another Kind), The Man with Two Brains, The Girl with Something Extra, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms)
William Schallert b. 1922 (True Blood, Lois and Clark, Deep Space Nine, Matinee, Quantum Leap, Innerspace, The Twilight Zone [1986 and 1960], Gremlins, Twilight Zone: The Movie, Hangar 18, Legends of the Superheroes, The Bionic Woman, The Six Million Dollar Man, Colossus: The Forbin Project, Land of the Giants, Bewitched, Star Trek, Men Into Space, The Monolith Monsters, The Incredible Shrinking Man, Commando Cody, Tobor the Great, Them!, Invasion U.S.A., The Man from Planet X, Mighty Joe Young)
Nancy Reagan b. 1921 (Donovan's Brain, The Next Voice You Hear)
Sebastian Cabot b. 1918 died 22 August 1977 (Miracle on 34th Street [1973 TV Movie], The Time Machine, The Twilight Zone)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. Previously, the Picture Slot went to Oh That Guy extraordinary William Schallert, who turns 93 today and good on him. When it comes to movie stars, Geoffrey Rush and Sly Stallone are the biggest names here and for TV stars iconic in genre, Burt Ward as Robin is an excellent choice. But I was in a fabulous babe mood and selected Eva Green, the star of the current show Penny Dreadful.

2. Spot the Canadians! The younger Canadians are spottable, Robert Naylor and Gregory Smith, have Canadian looking credit lists. Rosemary Forsyth, the oldest Canadian celebrating a birthday today, is not spottable.

3. Yes, they're still alive. I'm not surprised about our two nonagenarians today. I saw William Schallert on True Blood  a few years back and I knew I hadn't seen his obit yet and I hope that is true for some time to come. I had my tabloid blog years ago and they always had Nancy Reagan on death's door, but she is still with us as well.

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

Predictor: The ESPN panel of baseball experts predict the playoff teams for major league baseball before the season starts.

Predictions (reality):
A.L East: Boston (5th in division)
A.L. Central: Cleveland (4th in division)
Detroit for wild card (3rd in division 6th in wild card race)
A.L. West: Seattle (4th in division)
Anaheim for wild card (currently top wild card team)

N.L East: Washington (1st)
Miami for wild card (4th in division, 9th in wild card race)
N.L. Central: St. Louis (1st)
Pittsburgh for wild card (currently top wild card team)
N.L. West: Los Angeles (1st)
  
Comments: Halfway through the season, the National League is much more predictable than the American. The only oversold team in the National are the wild card Marlins, who are well under .500 right now, while in the American, every prediction division winner is under .500 with lots of teams to climb over to get to the playoffs. We will of course check in again when the season is over and let the experts pick the playoffs, which they sucked at last year because two wild card teams played for the World Series, a hard outcome to predict. 

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

John Langdon-Davies is back, getting lots of stuff wrong.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!