8 August 2014

Birthdays
Shavon Kirksey b. 1989 (Dragonball: Evolution)
Laura Wiggins b. 1988 (The Tomorrow People, Dance of the Dead)
Jake Goldsbie b. 1988 (Prince Charming, Jacob Two Two and the Hooded Fang)
Katie Leung b. 1987 (Harry Potter)
Jenn Proske b. 1987 (Beauty and the Beast [TV], Vampires Suck)
Peyton List b. 1986 (The Flash, The Tomorrow People, Smallville, FlashForward)
Meagan Good b. 1981 (Minority Report [2015])
Tobias Santelmann b. 1980 (Hercules)
Lindsay Sloane b. 1977 (Strange Frequency, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch)
Enzo Cilenti b. 1974 (Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Game of Thrones, Guardians of the Galaxy, The Fourth Kind)
Anne Wheaton b. 1969 (Sharknado 2: The Second One, Big Bang Theory)
Jon Turtletaub b. 1963 (director, National Treasure I, II and III, Jericho, From the Earth to the Moon, Phenomenon)
Suzee Pai b. 1962 (Big Trouble in Little China)
Harry Crosby b. 1958 (Friday the 13th)
Branscombe Richmond b. 1955 (Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, Charmed, Tremors [TV], Power Rangers Wild Force, Batman Returns, Alien Nation, Beauty and the Beast [TV], The Greatest American Hero, Misfits of Science, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Automan, The Bionic Woman, The Six Million Dollar Man)
Don Most b. 1953 (Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Star Trek: Voyager, The Crow: Stairway to Heaven, Dark Skies, Sliders, The Munsters Today)
Martin Brest b. 1951 (director, Meet Joe Black)
Keith Carradine b. 1949 (Cowboys & Aliens, The Big Bang Theory, Dollhouse, Star Trek: Enterprise, Perversions of Science, Special Report: Journey to Mars)
Connie Stevens b. 1938 (Way, Way Out)
Dustin Hoffman b. 1937 (The Cobbler, Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium, Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, Sphere, Outbreak, Hook)
Adam Roarke b. 1937 died 27 April 1996 (Star Trek, Return from Witch Mountain, The Six Million Dollar Man, Frogs, Women of the Prehistoric Planet)
Roger Penrose b. 1931 (Physicist, author, White Mars, or, The Mind Set Free)
Terry Nation b. 1930 died 9 March 1977 (writer, Doctor Who, Blake’s 7)
Nina Talbot b. 1930 (Bewitched)
Tom Reese b. 1928 (Wonder Woman, The Six Million Dollar Man, Land of the Giants, Twilight Zone)
Richard Anderson b. 1926 (The Stepford Children, Automan, Knight Rider, The Bionic Woman, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Astronaut, Land of the Giants, The Invaders, The Green Hornet, Forbidden Planet, Captain Midnight)
Rory Calhoun b. 1922 died 28 April 1999 (Tales from the Crypt, Hell Comes to Frogtown, The Revenge of Bigfoot, Night of the Lepus)
William Asher b. 1921 died 16 July 2012 (director, I Dream of Jeannie… Fifteen Years Later, Tabitha, Bewitched, Twilight Zone)
Harry Turner b. 1920 died 11 January 2009 (artist)
Dino De Laurentiis b. 1919 died 10 Nov 2010 (producer, Army of Darkness, King Kong Lives, Maximum Overdrive, Silver Bullet, Cat’s Eye, Dune, Conan the Destroyer, The Dead Zone, Halloween I, II and III, Amityville II, Conan the Barbarian, Flash Gordon, King Kong)
Earl Cameron b. 1917 (Inception, Neverwhere, The Prisoner, Battle Beneath the Earth, Doctor Who, The Andromeda Breakthrough)
Sylvia Sidney b. 1910 died 1 July 1999 (Mars Attacks!, Beetlejuice, Damien: Omen II)
Ford Rainey b. 1908 died 25 July 2005 (Amerika, Halloween II, The Bionic Woman, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Invaders, The Time Tunnel, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Lost in Space, The Outer Limits)
Robert Siodmak b. 1900 died 10 March 1973 (director, Son of Dracula)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, the picture slot went to Terry Nation and to Alfre Woodard because i got her birthday wrong. (Oops.) I had several choices today and very nearly went with Enzo Cilenti as Childermass from Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, but as much as I wish the show was popular enough to be iconic, I have to say Richard Anderson as Oscar Goldman from the bionic shows actually is iconic.

2. Spot the Canadians! We have two young Canadians today, Jake Goldsbie and Jenn Proskie.

3. Nepotism FTW. Keith Carradine has a long and successful career, but I would have to say his last name opened doors at the beginning. Anne Wheaton doesn't do much acting, but she is often in project her husband Wil works on. Harry Crosby was Bing Crosby's kid, just did a little acting.

4. And a happy 98th birthday to...  Earl Cameron, the British actor born in Bermuda. He started working in the 1950s and his most recent credit is 2013. He's not a household name on this side of the Atlantic, but he has had a long and honourable Oh That Guy career in Britain. Many happy returns, Mr. Cameron.

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

The Weekly Soapbox: Pneumatic tubes

There are a lot of predicted things from sci-fi that never quite took off, some of them literally: we don't have personal jetpacks or flying cars, moving sidewalks are rare outside of airports and food in pill form hasn't become the standard, thank goodness. But if I could make a decree to bring one paleo-futuristic thing back into common usage, it would be the pneumatic tube.

There are two times in my life I thought "OMG, this is the future!" One was in the 1970s when I was typing on a computer screen as part of a network that connected state colleges all over California - and score one point for me, I was right about that - and the other was when I was a kid visiting my dad's office and he got a message through a pneumatic tube.

I don't know how expensive pneumatic tube systems are to install or maintain, but I wish more buildings had them. I am resigned to the fact that the modern "futuristic" way to move small packages are drones, but they creep me out. I still love pneumatic tubes and I wish there were more around.

Okay, I am now off the soapbox for another week.
 
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Sundays are just birthdays now, but we will get a slew of fabulous babes, including one of my favorite Cinderellas.
  
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!