6 September 2015

Birthdays
Rhys Ward b. 1989 (The Strain, The 100, My Babysitter’s a Vampire)
Lauren Lapkus b. 1985 (Jurassic World)
Tehmina Sunny b. 1980 (Extant, Heroes, Children of Men)
Blaze Berdahl b. 1980 (Aliens in the Family, Pet Sematary)
Matthew Horne b. 1978 (Sinbad, Vampire Killers, Fairy Tales)
Naomie Harris b. 1976 (National Theatre Live: Frankenstien, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, Dinotopia, 28 Days Later…, The Tomorrow People)
Sarah Strange b. 1974 (ReGenesis, Stargate SG-1, Jeremiah, Dark Angel, First Wave, Poltergeist: The Legacy, Millennium, Sliders, The Adventures of Captain Zoom in Outer Space, The X Files, Neon Rider)
Idris Elba b. 1972 (Avengers: Age of Ultron, Prometheus, Thor, Pacific Rim, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, 28 Weeks Later, Ultraviolet, Space Precinct)
China Miéville b. 1972 (won 2010 Hugo for The City & the City)
Justina Machado b. 1972 (The Purge: Anarchy, Dragonfly, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Angel)
Dylan Bruno b. 1972 (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., The Dead Zone, The Rage: Carrie 2)
Betsy Russell b, 1963 (Saw III throught VI, Superboy, The Powers of Matthew Star)
Michael Winslow b. 1958 (Lavalantula, Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!, Robodoc, Lycanthrope, Harry and the Hendersons, Spaceballs, Gremlins)
Patti Yasutake b. 1953 (FlashForward, Star Trek: The Next Generation)
Katherine Cannon b. 1953 (Seven Days, Hard Time on Planet Earth, The Hidden, The Incredible Hulk, Battlestar Galactica, Future Cop)
Anne Lockhart b. 1953 (Surrogates, Bug Buster, Bionic Ever After, Quantum Leap, Freddy's Nightmares, Troll, AutoMan, Knight Rider, Voyagers!, E.T., The Incredible Hulk, Earthbound, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Battlestar Galactica, Project U.F.O., The Sixth Sense [1972])
Tommy Lee Wallace b. 1949 (director, Vampires: Los Muertos, It, Fright Night Part 2, Max Headroom, Twilight Zone [1985], Halloween III: Season of the Witch)
Keone Young b. 1947 (True Blood, Men in Black 3, Star Trek: Enterprise, The Invisible Man, Dude, Where’s My Car?, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids [TV], Deep Space Nine, Small Wonder )
Jane Curtin b. 1947 (The Librarians, Cyberchase, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Coneheads)
Swoosie Kurtz b. 1944 (Heroes, Category 7: The End of the World, Lost, Harvey [TV movie])
Carol Wayne b. 1942 died 13 January 1985 (The Girl with Something Extra, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie)
Jo Anne Worley b. 1937 (Wizards of Waverly Place, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, The Six Million Dollar Man, Captain Nice)
Sergio Aragones b. 1937 (writer/artist, Groo the Wanderer)
Jody McCrea b. 1934 died 4 April 2009 (The Monster That Challenged the World)
Paul Naschy b. 1934 died 30 November 2009 (A Werewolf in the Amazon, Night of the Werewolf, Mystery on Monster Island, Night of the Howling Beast, The Mummy’s Revenge, Vengeance of the Zombies, Count Dracula’s Great Love, Curse of the Devil, La Furia del Hombre Lobo, The Werewolf Versus the Vampire Woman, Las Noches del Hombre Lobo, Frankenstein’s Bloody Terror)
Max Schreck b. 1879 died 20 February 1936 (Nosferatu)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, I used pictures of Max Schreck and Idris Elba. This year, I had several options, including Sergio Aragones and Naomie Harris, but I decided to go all Star Trek nerd and use Patti Yasutake from her regular role as Nurse Ogawa.

2. Spot the Canadian! Sarah Strange was born north of the border.

3. Nepotism FTW. Anne Lockhart is the daughter of June Lockhart and grand-daughter of Gene Lockhart. Jody McCrea is Joel McCrea's son.

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

The Weekly Soapbox: Computers and Artificial Intelligence

Science fiction is often given credit for being prophetic, but the truth is not quite as flattering. Sci-fi is about telling stories, exciting adventures of imagination. Long before rockets were good enough to get us into orbit, science fiction stories had us traveling to other star systems, ignoring the problems of time and distance involved. On the other hand, the trajectory of computers and how quickly they would change, getting smaller, faster, cheaper and more practical, is a major technological advance of the past fifty years that sci-fi didn't quite get. An argument against my major theme might point to Asimov's robots or Frank Herbert's idea of mentats, people who can do what computers did after letting a computer think is made illegal, on the idea that we reached the Singularity and decided to walk away from it. But most of Asimov's robot stories as well as Herbert's Dune universe are set thousands or even tens of thousands of years in the future. Computers are a major part of our lives right now.

Here are my awards in different categories for the predictions about computer we have had on the blog.

Most paranoid
Arthur C. Clarke gets points for seeing how fast the computerized future would come, but nearly everything he wrote is a warning against it. Here I would single out the short story Dial F for Frankenstein and his screenplay for 2001: A Space Odyssey. Besides Clarke, the most paranoid depictions of computers come from movies like Colossus: The Forbin Project, the Terminator series and WarGames.

Most accurate or most prescient
Regular readers will know how I love to mock Robert A. Heinlein, but he got a few things right out of many, many speculations in his story The Door Into Summer, serialized in 1956 and turned into a novel in 1957. Most notable is Computer Aided Design or CAD, which he assumed would exist by the early 1970s.

Another very good prediction is from Lee De Forest in 1960, who forecast the development of computers used as medical diagnostic aides. OMNI Future Almanac will get a few mentions in overly-optimistic section, but one of their predictions published a few weeks ago about the computers of writer being connected by some wire over telephone lines to publishers was a very good guess in 1982.

But I give the last spot in this most complimentary category to T. Baron Russell in 1905, who predicted a combined typewriter/calculating machine that could create completely accurate ledgers. I'm sure Russell must have seen it a deluxe calculator, unable to envision computers or screens or spreadsheets or laser jet printers, but no one else from his era has an idea anything quite like this.

Most overly-optimistic
OMNI Future Almanac really went off the deep end sometimes with their computer predictions, falling in love with a fad like bio-rhythms to assume we might well have chips inside out heads by now. At a TED talk last decade, Bill Joy said high end computers would cost $10 in 2020, and while I can't say with complete confidence there won't be some crazy advances in the next five years, I don't hear anyone talking about what a wonderful prophet Bill Joy was these days.

As for the top spot in overly optimistic, Ray Kurzweil is the easy winner with his 1999 book The Age of Spiritual Machines, which made a number of very specific advances that would come to pass by 2009. Kurzweil is tech-savvy enough that almost nothing he predicted is actually impossible, though we are still very far away from reverse engineering the brain, his boldest prediction by far. His best calls are about "worn technology", self-driving cars and voice recognition technology, his worst are reverse engineering the brain and the popularity of 3-D chips, which are hard to build and have bad error rates.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Speaking of OMNI Future Almanac, Monday is their regular turn for predictions.

Join is then... IN THE FUTURE!

24 August 2015

Birthdays
Rupert Grint b. 1988 (Harry Potter)
Chad Michael Murray b. 1981 (Agent Carter, Left Behind, The Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghost of Georgia, House of Wax, Megiddo: The Omega Code 2)
Beth Riesgraf b. 1978 (Caper)
Alex O’Loughlin b. 1976 (Moonlight, The Invisible, Man-Thing)
James D’Arcy b. 1975 (Agent Carter, Jupiter Ascending, Cloud Atlas, Them [2007])
Kwesi Ameyaw b. 1975 (Continuum, Supernatural, Man of Steel, Once Upon a Time, Riverworld, Fringe, Stargate, Kyle XY, Fallen, Eureka, Blade: Trinity, Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, Jake 2.0, Battlestar Galactica, Smallville, Dead Like Me, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Jeremiah, Dark Angel, Strange Frequency, The Lone Gunmen, The 6th Day)
Jennifer Lien b. 1974 (Star Trek: Voyager)
Barret Oliver b.1973 (Twilight Zone [1986], Tall Tales & Legends, Cocoon, D.A.R.Y.L., The NeverEnding Story, Jekyll and Hyde… Together Again, Knight Rider, The Incredible Hulk)
Eric Edwards b. 1966 (Blade, Candyman)
Dana Gould b. 1964 (Mystery Men, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch)
Jared Harris b. 1961 (Poltergeist [2015], The Quiet Ones, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, Fringe, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, Lost in Space [1998], Tall Tale)
Mark Protosevich b. 1961 (writer, Thor, I Am Legend, The Cell)
Steve Guttenberg b. 1958 (Lavalantula, Short Circuit, Cocoon 1 and 2, High Spirits, The Day After, The Boys from Brazil)
Stephen Fry b. 1957 (The Hobbit, The Borrowers, Alice in Wonderland [2010], V for Vendetta, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, MirrorMask, Doctor Who: Death Comes to Time, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride)
Kevin Dunn b. 1956 (Transformers, Lost, NYPD 2069, Small Soldiers, Godzilla [1998], Ghostbusters II)
Orson Scott Card b. 1951 (won 1986 Hugo and Nebula for Ender’s Game, won 1987 Hugo and Nebula for Speaker for the Dead)
Charles Rocket b. 1949 died 7 October 2005 (3rd Rock from the Sun, Star Patrol, The X-Files, Star Trek: Voyager, Lois & Clark, Hocus Pocus, Quantum Leap, Earth Girls Are Easy, Max Headroom)
Joe Regalbuto b. 1949 (Amazing Stories, Mork & Mindy)
Anne Archer b. 1947 (Nico the Unicorn, The Sixth Sense [1972])
Ronnie Blakley b. 1945 (A Return to Salem’s Lot, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Beyond Westworld)
Castulo Guerra b. 1945 (The Purge: Anarchy, Touch, Invasion, Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace, Lois & Clark, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Beauty and the Beast [1987], Starman [TV])
Kenny Baker b. 1934 (Star Wars, U.F.O. [1993], Prince Caspian and the Voyage of the Dawn Treader [1989], Willow, Labyrinth, Time Bandits, Flash Gordon)
William Morgan Sheppard b. 1932 (April Apocalypse, Mysterious Island, Doctor Who, Legend of the Seeker, Star Trek [2009], Transformers, The Prestige, Charmed, Star Trek: Voyager, Timecop, American Gothic, Poltergeist: The Legacy, Babylon 5, SeaQuest 2032, Needful Things, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Max Headroom, Werewolf, The Day of the Triffids [1981], Hawk the Slayer)
Jimmy Gardner b. 1924 died 3 May 2010 (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, My Hero, The Company of Wolves, Doctor Who, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe [1967], The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb)
Helena Carter b. 1920 died 11 January 2000 (Invaders from Mars)
James Tiptree, Jr. b 1915 died 19 May 1987 (author, Tales of the Quintana Roo, Up the Walls of the World)
Jorge Luis Borges b. 1899 died 14 June 1986 (author, The Book of Imaginary Beings, Labyrinths)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, I used pictures of Rupert Grint and Barret Oliver. The people I considered today were the authors Orson Scott Card and Jorge Luis Borges, the actress Jennifer Lein and the winner, Kenny Baker, the guy inside R2-D2.

2. Spot the Canadian! I'll give one hint. Today's lone Canadian is less than 50 years old.

3. Nepotism FTW. Jared Harris is the son of Richard Harris.

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

Predictor: OMNI Future Almanac, published 1982

Prediction: Skies crowded by personal planes, along with increased need for corporate material delivery and energy control, will make civilian aircraft carriers a necessity.

Reality: Yikes! This one is awful. But as I have written before, I kind of love the OMNI Future Almanac because they were not afraid to be bold. After last week's really good prediction about the Internet, we get a complete strikeout like this.

Not that it matters. I still love them.
 
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Tuesdays belong to Heinlein and his novel The Door Into Summer.
  
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

6 August 2015

Birthdays
Romola Garai b. 1982 (The Last Days on Mars)
Karl Davies b. 1982 (Game of Thrones)
Adrianne Curry b. 1982 (Light Years Away)
Marisa Miller b. 1978 (R.I.P.D.)
Jennifer Lyons b. 1977 (Professor Creepy’s Scream Party, The Amazing Spider-Man, Return of the Killer Shrews, Jack Frost 2: Revenge of the Mutant Killer Snowman)
Melissa George b. 1976 (Gothica [TV], 30 Days of Night, The Amityville Horror, Charmed, Dark City)
Soleil Moon Frye b. 1976 (Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Piranhas)
Jason Rogel b. 1976 (Swamp Shark, The Quick and the Undead)
Ever Carradine b. 1974 (Supernatural, Eureka, 3rd Rock from the Sun)
Vera Farmiga b. 1973 (Source Code, Neverwas, Snow White: The Fairest of Them All)
Paolo Bacigalupi b. 1972 (won 2010 Hugo and Nebula for The Windup Girl)
Jason O’Mara b. 1972 (Terra Nova, Resident Evil: Extinction, Eastwick, Space Truckers)
Merrin Dungey b. 1971 (Once Upon a Time, Beyond, Good vs Evil, Deep Impact, Babylon 5)
M Night Shyamalan b. 1970 (director, After Earth, The Last Airbender, The Happening, The Lady in the Water, The Village, Signs, Unbreakable, The Sixth Sense)
Alan Cox b. 1970 (The Odyssey)
Michelle Yeoh b. 1962 (Babylon A.D., The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor)
Leland Orser b.1960 (Revolution, Touch, Star Trek: Enterprise, Daredevil, Alien: Resurrection, Star Trek: Voyager, Invader, Escape from L. A., Deep Space Nine, The X Files, Eerie, Indiana)
Ian R. MacLeod b. 1956 (author, The Great Wheel, The Summer Isles)
Stepfanie Kramer b. 1956 (The Man with Two Brains, The Secret Empire)
Kevin Jarre b. 1954 died 3 April 2001 (writer, The Mummy)
Catherine Hicks b. 1951 (Child’s Play, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Tucker’s Witch)
Jack Klaff b. 1951 (Red Dwarf, Whoops Apocalypse, Space: 1999, Star Wars)
Dorian Harewood b. 1950 (The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Kyle XY, Stargate SG-1, Earth: Final Conflict, Time Trax, Solar Crisis, Amerika, Desire, the Vampire, Looker)
Michael Anderson Jr. b. 1943 (Highlander [TV], The Martian Chronicles, Logan’s Run, Land of the Giants)
Louise Sorel b. 1940 (Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, The Incredible Hulk, The Curse of Dracula, Star Trek)
Paul Bartel b. 1938 died 13 May 2000 (Good vs Evil, Escape from L.A., Gremlins 2: The New Batch, Amazing Stories, Munchies, Heartbeeps, Death Race 2000)
Peter Bonerz b. 1938 (director, ALF; actor The Addams Family)
Barbara Windsor b. 1937 (Alice in Wonderland [2010], Doctor Who, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang)
Piers Anthony b. 1934 (author, Xanth)
Norman Barthold b. 1928 died 28 May 1994 (Capricorn One, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Westworld, My Favorite Martian)
Frank Finlay b. 1926 (Merlin [2008], The Magical Legend of the Leprechauns, Lifeforce, A Christmas Carol, The Thief of Baghdad [1978 TV], Count Dracula, The Deadly Bees, Target Luna)
Robert Mitchum b. 1917 died 1 July 1997 (Scrooged)
Lucille Ball b. 1911 died 26 April 1989 (The Magic Carpet)
Charles Crichton b. 1910 died 14 September 1999 (director, Alien Attack, Space: 1999, The Day After Tomorrow [1976 TV movie])

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, I went with fabulous babes who fell for Capt. Kirk, Louise Sorel and Catherine Hicks, and this year I go with Paolo Bacigalupi's The Windup Girl, a novel I read earlier this year.

2. Nepotism FTW. As you might guess, Ever Carradine is from the Carradine clan, daughter of Robert.

3. MST3K. The one I know for sure is The Deadly Bees with Frank Finlay

4. Today's surprises. I checked on Lucille Ball and Robert Mitchum expecting nothing, but she had one early in her career and he had one late.


5. Living Canadian free! One of those strange days.

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

Predictor: Morris L. Ernst in Utopia 1976, published in 1955

Prediction: As for water usage, with weather and rain control, the amount of water we need for irrigation will be what we make of it.

Reality: Controlling the weather is not quite as popular a prediction as flying cars or moving sidewalks, but this is definitely not the first prediction.

It doesn't make the prediction correct, but Mr. Ernst might be happy to know he's got company in his mistaken view.

Never to be Forgotten: George Cole 1925-2015
British actor George Cole, known best in his country as the star of a TV show Minder, has died at the age of 90. He is pictured here as the young Ebenezer Scrooge in the 1951 version of A Christmas Carol. His other genre credits include Mary Reilly, UFO and The Vampire Lovers.

Best wishes to the family and friends of George Cole, from a fan. He is never to be forgotten. 

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Once again, I will the writings of the young H.G. Wells to ruin that charming view some of us had of him when Malcolm McDowell played Wells all those years ago.
  
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

3 August 2015

Birthdays
Georgina Haig b. 1985 (Once Upon a Time, Fringe)
Max Landis b. 1985 (writer, Victor Frankenstein, Chronicle)
Emily Baldoni b. 1984 (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Coherence, Legend of the Seeker)
Jon Foster b. 1984 (Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines)
Kyle Schmid b. 1984 (Being Human, Lost Girl, Arrow, Dead Before Dawn 3D, Smallville, The Covenant, Odyssey 5, My Best Friend is an Alien, Virus)
Evangeline Lilly b. 1979 (Ant-Man, The Hobbit, Real Steel, Lost, Smallville, Freddy vs. Jason)
Tomas Lemarquis b. 1977 (Snowpiercer, Errors of the Human Body)
Franco Castan b. 1977 (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Revolution, Coma [TV mini-series])
Michael Ealy b. 1973 (Almost Human, Underworld: Awakening, FlashForward)
Stephen Graham b. 1973 (Pirates of the Caribbean, Season of the Witch, Inkheart)
Melissa Ponzio b. 1972 (Teen Wolf, The Walking Dead, Touch, The Vampire Diaries)
Brigid Brannagh b. 1972 (Star Trek: Enterprise, Angel, Early Edition, Charmed, Kindred: The Embraced, American Gothic)
Elizabeth Berrington b. 1970 (Doctor Who, Psychoville, Nanny McPhee, The Little Vampire)
Anne Marie DeLuise b. 1969 (Smallville, Sanctuary, The Thaw, Painkiller Jane, Stargate SG-1, Supernatural, Dead Like Me, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Mysterious Ways, Code Name: Eternity, First Wave, Total Recall 2070, Earth: Final Conflict, Highlander: The Raven, Eerie, Indiana: The Other Dimension, Side Effects, Darkman II: The Return of Durant)
Asante Jones b. 1968 (Zombie Strippers!, Journeyman)
Luke Massy b. 1966 (Thor, Charmed)
Isaiah Washington b. 1963 (The 100, Bionic Woman [2007], Ghost Ship)
Lisa Ann Walter b. 1963 (War of the Worlds, Bruce Almighty)
Molly Hagan b. 1961 (Navy Seals vs. Zombies, iZombie, Charmed, The Invisible Man, Early Edition, Deep Space Nine, ALF)
John C. McGinley b. 1959 (The Nightmare Room, Target Earth, Highlander II: The Quickening)

John Landis b. 1950 (director, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show, Innocent Blood, Twilight Zone: The Movie, American Werewolf in London)
Philip Casnoff b. 1949 (Dollhouse, Message from Space)
Phil Rubenstein b. 1940 died 26 June 1992 (RoboCop 2, My Mom’s a Werewolf, ALF, Mannequin, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Knight Rider)
Martin Sheen b. 1940 (The Amazing Spider-Man 1 and 2, Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, The Time Shifters, Total Recall 2070, Babylon 5: River of Souls, Alchemy, Crystal Cave, Project: ALF, Captain Nuke and the Bomber Boys, Roswell [TV Movie], Beyond the Stars, Firestarter, The Dead Zone, The Outer Limits)
Stephen Berkoff b. 1937 (The Frankenstein Chronicles, Witches of East End, Doctor Who, Children of Dune, Deep Space Nine, Space Precinct, Metamorphosis [TV movie], Outland, A Clockwork Orange, UFO, Prehistoric Women)
Gordon Scott b. 1926 died 30 April 2007 (Hercules and the Princess of Troy, Goliath and the Vampires)
Rona Anderson b. 1926 died 23 July 2013 (A Christmas Carol)
James Komack b. 1924 died 24 December 1977 (writer, My Favorite Martian)
Jean Hagen b. 1923 died 29 August 1977 (Panic in Year Zero!)
P.D. James b. 1920 died 27 November 2014 (author, Children of Men)
Alex McCrindle b. 1911 died 20 April 1990 (Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope)
Clifford D. Simak b. 1904 died 25 April1988 (Won 1964 Hugo for Here Gather the Stars)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, the Picture Slot went to Evangeline Lilly from Lost and Michael Ealy from Almost Human. Having used two 21st Century productions, I feel free to go a little more old school with Alex McCrindle as General Dodonna from Star Wars.

2. Spot the Canadians! There are three today: Kyle Schmid, Evangeline Lilly and Anne-Marie DeLuise.

3. Nepotism and not. Anne-Marie DeLuise is married to Peter DeLuise and I don't consider that nepotism except in extreme cases. Max Landis is the son of John Landis, that absolutely counts. Brigid Branagh is from San Francisco and is no blood relation to Kenneth Brannagh.


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

Movie released
Total Recall released, 2012

Predictor: The OMNI Future Almanac, published in 1982

Prediction: During the 21st Century, many of the responsibilities of traditional schooling will be transferred to parents. The mass availability of video and computer hardware will bring the classroom into the home. The chief purpose of schools and classrooms will be to socialize young people and to introduce them to one another. By necessity, and even without long classroom hours, the worldwide literacy rate will rise.

Reality: They get this right for the wrong reasons today. The increase in home schooling comes from parents who don't want their little angels to learn about evolution, not so much from the technological end. And then there's the rise in literacy, which is completely accurate by all estimates, rising from about 60% to 80% since the early 1980s. 
 
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

We are running out of predictions from our regular Tuesday source, John Langdon-Davies. It's the commie's penultimate guess tomorrow.
  
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

31 July 2015

Birthdays
Alexis Knapp b. 1989 (Vamp U, Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief)
Sofia Pernas b. 1989 (Age of the Dragons)
Jessica Williams b. 1989 (Hot Tub Time Machine 2)
Charlie Carver b. 1988 (The Leftovers, Teen Wolf [TV])
Raymond Pickard b. 1982 (The Borrowers, The Canterville Ghost)
Eric Lively b. 1981 (The Butterfly Effect 2)
Harry Potter b. 1980 (wizard)
B.J. Novak b. 1979 (Amazing Spider-Man 2)
Andrea Drepaul b. 1979 (Damien, Beauty and the Beast, Warehouse 13)
James Harvey Ward b. 1978 (The Dark Knight Rises, True Blood, The Vampire Diaries, No Ordinary Family)
Tressa Thomas b. 1978 (Flatliners)
Jayce Bartok b. 1975 (Spider-Man, Aliens in the Family)
Annie Parisse b. 1975 (Fringe, NYPD 2069, National Treasure)
Michael Klesic b. 1975 (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Children of Men, Space Cadets, Multiplicity, Weird Science)
Jodi Ann Paterson b. 1975 (Dude, Where’s My Car?)
Emilia Fox b. 1974 (Merlin, Dorian Gray)
Tami Stronach b. 1972 (The NeverEnding Story)
Allison Barron b. 1972 (Harry and the Hendersons, Quantum Leap, Out of This World, Night of the Demons, A Nightmare of Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge)
Christina Cox b. 1971 (Arrow, Elysium, Stargate: Atlantis, The Chronicles of Riddick, Andromeda, Mutant X, Code Name: Eternity, Earth: Final Conflict, The Crow: Stairway to Heaven, First Wave, Forever Knight)
Ben Chaplin b. 1970 (Cinderella, The Water Horse, Dorian Gray, The Return of the Borrowers [TV])
Dean Cain b. 1966 (Supergirl, The Black Hole [2015], Smallville, 10.5: Apocalypse, Lost, Futuresport, Lois & Clark)
Jim True-Frost b. 1966 (666 Park Avenue, Fringe, W.E.I.R.D. World)
Pat Finn b. 1965 (Wizards of Waverly Place, Dude, Where’s My Car?, 3rd Rock from the Sun)
J. K. Rowling b. 1965 (won the 2001 Hugo for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire)
Ian Roberts b. 1965 (Infected, Puppet Master X; Axis Rising, Superman Returns)
Kym Malin b. 1962 (Weird Science)
Wesley Snipes b. 1962 (Blade, Futuresport, Demolition Man)
Greg Travis b. 1958 (Halloween II [2009], Night of the Living Dead 3D, Starship Troopers, Humanoids from the Deep, American Gothic, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventures [TV])
Dirk Blocker b. 1957 (The X Files, Quantum Leap, Starman, Poltergeist, Beyond Westworld)
Michael Biehn b. 1956 (Metal Hurlant Chronicles, Planet Terror, The Insatiable, Clockstoppers, Megiddo: The Omega Code 2, Asteroid, The Abyss, The Seventh Sign, Aliens, The Terminator, Logan’s Run [TV])
Al Sapienza b. 1956 (Gotham, The Flash [2014], Godzilla [2014 and 1998], The Tomorrow People, Arrow, Fringe, NightMan, Dark Skies, Judge Dredd)
James Read b. 1953 (Charmed, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Star Trek: Voyager, Lois & Clark)
Barry Van Dyke b. 1951 (Light Years Away, She-Wolf of London, The Canterville Ghost, The Powers of Matthew Star, Galactica 1980, Mork & Mindy, Tabitha, Wonder Woman, Gemini Man)
Lane Davies b. 1950 (3rd Rock from the Sun, Babylon 5: In the Beginning, Lois & Clark)
Richard Griffiths b. 1947 died 28 March 2013 (Harry Potter, Hugo, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Whoops Apocalypse, Superman II)
Geraldine Chaplin b. 1944 (The Forbidden Room, Gulliver’s Travels [TV], Z.P.G.)
Sab Shimono b. 1943 (Ben 10: Race Against Time, Southland Tales, Waterworld, The X-Files, The Shadow, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III, Max Headroom, Knight Rider)
France Nuyen b. 1939 (Automan, The Six Million Dollar Man, Battle for the Planet of the Apes, Star Trek, Dimension 5)
Geoffrey Lewis b. 1935 died 7 April 2015 (Odyssey 5, The X-Files, The Lawnmower Man, Annihilator, Amazing Stories, Night of the Comet, The Amazing Spider-Man [TV], Salem’s Lot, Mork & Mindy, Quark, The Six Million Dollar Man, Ark II)
Ted Cassidy b. 1932 died 16 January 1979 (Man From Atlantis, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Bionic Woman, Planet Earth, Genesis II, I Dream of Jeannie, Mr. Terrific, The Addams Family, Jack and the Beanstalk [TV], Star Trek, Batman, Lost in Space)
Don Murray b. 1929 (The Stepford Children, Radioactive Dreams, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes)
Primo Levi b. 1919 died 11 April 1987 (author, The Periodic Table)
Mario Bava b. 1914 died 27 April 1980 (director, Baron Blood, A Bay of Blood, Blood Brides, Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs, Planet of the Vampires, Caltiki, the Immortal Monster, Lust of the Vampire)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, the Picture Slot belonged to J.K. Rowling and Ted Cassidy, both easily defended on iconic status. If I was going modern, both Dean Cain and Wesley Snipes are iconic, but both are also jerks in their own way, Cain one of those Fox News jackasses and Snipes a tax evader. So instead it's the lovely France Nuyen from the original Star Trek and I expect very few complaints from heterosexual males.

2. Spot the Canadians! Andrea Drepaul and Christina Cox are today's northern contingent.

3. Nepotism and Not. Folks who know 1960s America TV will know that Dirk Blocker and Barry Van Dyke count as nepotism, Van Dyke a little more than Blocker. Geraldine Chaplin also counts, but Ben Chaplin is not related to Charlie, just to be clear.

4. Harry Potter turns 35 today. I wonder what model of mini-van he drives.


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

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

Prediction:But I believe that these prevailing men of the future, like many of the saner men of to-day, having so formulated their fundamental belief, will presume to no knowledge whatever, will presume to no possibility of knowledge of the real being of God. They will have no positive definition of God at all.

Reality: A lot of science fiction writers got it in their heads that the world would become more like the the folks they hang out with and religion would dwindle away.

Mmmm... not so much.
 
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

A new splash illustration goes up tomorrow for the month of August and a few thoughts about those jetpacks and flying cars we were promised.
  
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

7 July 2015

Birthdays
Dylan Sprayberry b. 1998 (Teen Wolf, Man of Steel, Land of the Lost)
Juliana Guill b. 1987 (The Apparition, Altitude, Friday the 13th [2009])
Zoe Anderson b. 1983 (The X Files)
Marika Dominczyk b. 1980 (Witchblade)
Hamish Linklater b. 1976 (Battleship, The Future, Fantastic Four)
Kirsten Vangsness b. 1972 (Agent Carter, Shelf Life, Vampire Mob, Phil of the Future)
Heather Kafka b. 1972 (Idiocracy, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre)
Tanya Newbould b. 1971 (Skyline, X-Men: The Last Stand, Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey)
Robia LaMorte b. 1970 (Buffy, Spawn, Earth Girls Are Easy)
Robin Weigert b. 1969 (Once Upon a Time, Gods Behaving Badly, American Horror Story, Lost)
Jorja Fox b. 1968 (House of Frankenstein [1997 TV movie])
Steven Schub b. 1967 (Brave New World, The Thirteenth Floor)
Tracy Reiner b. 1964 (Apollo 13, Masque of the Red Death)
Akiva Goldsman b. 1962 (writer, Allegiant: Part 1, Insurgent, Fringe, I am Legend, I, Robot, Lost in Space [1999], Batman & Robin, Batman Forever)
Billy Campbell b. 1959 (Helix, Revolution [2009 TV movie], Eureka, Meteor, The 4400, Dracula [1991], The Rocketeer, Star Trek: The Next Generation)
Catherine Carlen b. 1953 (Fallout: Red Star, They Came from Outer Space [TV], Chopper Chicks in Zombietown)
Shelley Duvall b. 1949 (Big Monster on Campus, Tales of the Mummy, Twilight of the Ice Nymphs, Frogs!, The Twilight Zone, Faerie Tale Theatre, Time Bandits, The Shining, Brewster McCloud)
Michael Herring b. 1947 (artist)
Joe Spano b. 1946 (The Invisible Man, From the Earth to the Moon, The X-Files, Apollo 13, The Incredible Shrinking Woman)
Ringo Starr b. 1940 (Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Alice in Wonderland, Caveman, Son of Dracula)
Richard Garland b. 1927 died 24 May 1969 (Mutiny in Outer Space, Panic in Year Zero!, Attack of the Crab Monsters, Adventures of Superman)
Jon Pertwee b. 1919 died 20 May 1996 (Doctor Who, One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing)
Robert A. Heinlein b 1907 died 8 May 1988 (won 1956 Hugo for Double Star, 1960 Hugo for Starship Troopers, 1962 Hugo for Stranger In A Strange Land, 1967 Hugo for The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress)
George Cukor b. 1899 died 24 January 1983 (director/designer [uncredited], The Wizard of Oz)

Notes from the birthday list. 
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, I went with Robia LaMorte because I'm a Whedonverse nerd and Robert A. Heinlein because, well, this is a science fiction blog. Even with those two removed, I'd still say there are three good iconic choices, Shelley Duvall from The Shining, Ringo Star from Caveman and the winner, Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor.

2. Nepotism FTW. Tracy Reiner is the daughter of Penny Marshall and took the last name of her stepfather Rob Reiner. Zoe Anderson is the younger sister of Gillian Anderson.

3. Living Canadian free! No Canadians today. That happens occasionally.

4. The Guy at the Door. No one older than Ringo Starr is alive and no one younger than he is has died yet. I can't tell you how old this makes me feel.

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

Predictor: John Langdon-Davies in hsi 1936 book A Short History of the Future

Prediction: Power will be supplied to all on the same terms as water and drainage today. Abundant new raw materials will make food, clothing and other necessities universally obtainable.

Reality: Being charitable, there is abundance in the world today compared even to the 20th Century, but not surprisingly, the people who own it want to be paid for it. A Commie like Langdon-Hughes might have thought that was only passing fancy, but we in the future can laugh at his naivete.

Though we might have to laugh through tears.

Never to be Forgotten: Amanda Peterson 1971-2015

For what I think is the first time, there are three genre obits today. The youngest, actress Amanda Peterson, had her heyday during the Brat Pack era and her genre movies are Windrunner and Explorers.

Best wishes to the family and friends of Amanda Peterson. She is never to be forgotten.
 

Never to be Forgotten: Daniel Quinn 1956-2015

The next oldest on our obit list is Daniel Quinn who died a month short of his 59th birthday. He also has just two genre credits, Spiders II: Breeding Ground and The X-Files.

Best wishes to the family and friends of Daniel Quinn. He is never to be forgotten.

Never to be Forgotten: Jerry Weintraub 1927-2015

The oldest of our freshly dead trio, producer Jerry Weintraub, is also the best known of the three. He worked both in the film and music industry and his three genre credits are the 2015 TV version of Westworld and the movies Soldier and My Stepmother Is an Alien.

Best wishes to the family and friends of Jerry Weintraub. He is never to be forgotten.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

It's Wednesday already and we hear from our sensible pal George Sutherland from his 1901 book Twentieth Century Inventions.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
 

9 June 2015

Birthdays
Danielle Chuchran b. 1993 (SAGA: Curse of the Shadow, Snow Beast)
Lauren Socha b. 1990 (Misfits)
Logan Browning b. 1989 (Powers)
Mae Whitman b. 1988 (Boogeyman 2, Bionic Woman, Phil of the Future, Independence Day)
Colin Theys b. 1985 (director, Banshee, Alien Opponent, Remains, Dead Souls)
Natalie Portman b. 1981 (Thor, Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium, V for Vendetta, Star Wars, Mars Attacks!)
Michaela Conlin b. 1978 (Enchanted)
Katharine Cullen b. 1975 (Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, The Girl from Tomorrow)
Haley Peterson b. 1968 (Cyborg)
Gloria Reuben b. 1964 (Mr. Robot, Falling Skies, Timecop, The Flash [1991])
Johnny Depp b. 1963 (Pirates of the Caribbean, Into the Woods, Alice in Wonderland, Transcendence, Dark Shadows [2012], The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, From Hell, Sleepy Hollow, The Astronaut’s Wife, Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare, Edward Scissorhands, A Nightmare on Elm Street)
David Koepp b. 1963 (writer, Snow White and the Huntsman 2, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Zathura: A Space Adventure, War of the Worlds, Spider-Man, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Jurassic Park, Death Becomes Her, The Shadow)
Megan Edwards b. 1963 (Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Rings, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys)
Rodman Flender b. 1962 (director, Idle Hands, Millennium, Dark Skies, Tales from the Crypt, Leprechaun 2, The Unborn)
Michael J. Fox b. 1961 (Clone High, Mars Attacks!, Shelley Duvall’s Bedtime Stories, Tales from the Crypt, Back to the Future, Teen Wolf)
Kelly Connell b. 1956 (Spider-Man 2, K-PAX, Early Edition, Sliders, Buffy, Star Trek: Voyager, Eerie, Indiana)
Mark Jeffrey Miller b. 1953 (The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2, Constantine, Sleepy Hollow, Revolution, Black Knight, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles )
James Newton Howard b. 1951 (composer/orchestrator, Maleficent, The Hunger Games, After Earth, Snow White and the Huntsman, Green Lantern, The Dark Knight, Signs, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Unbreakable, The Sixth Sense, The Devil’s Advocate, Waterworld, Outbreak, Twilight Zone: The Movie)
David Troughton b. 1950 (The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot, Doctor Who)
Joe Haldeman b. 1943 (author, won 1976 Hugo and Nebula for The Forever War, won 1990 Nebula for the novella The Hemingway Hoax, won 1993 Nebula for the short story Graves, won 1999 Hugo and Nebula for Forever Peace, won 2006 Nebula for Camouflage)
Joe Santos b. 1931 (The Postman, Quantum Leap, Twilight Zone [1986], The Greatest American Hero)
Joan Marshall b. 1931 died 28 June 1992 (Star Trek, Twilight Zone, Men Into Space)
Lin Carter b. 1930 died 7 February 1988 (author, Callisto, Conan)
Leo Summers b. 1925 died 1 April 1985 (artist)
Keith Laumer b. 1925 died 23 January 1993 (author, Imperium, Retief)
Gerd Oswald b. 1919 died 22 May 1989 (director, Twilight Zone [1985], Star Trek, Out Limits, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea)
Robert Cummings b. 1919 died 2 December 1990 (Bewitched, My Living Doll, Twilight Zone)
Rosa Turich b. 1903 died 20 November 1998 (Jesse James Meets Frankenstein’s Daughter)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, the Picture Slot went to Keith Laumer because I loved his character Retief and Natalie Portman because I am a heterosexual male. Not wanting to repeat myself, the two best choices remaining are Johnny Depp and the winner, Michael J. Fox from Back to the Future.

2. Spot the Canadians. Neither Canadian on our list stayed in Canada long. One is our Picture Slotter Mr. Fox and the other is Gloria Reuben.

3. Nepotism FTW. David Troughton has had a very successful career, but it is worth noting his first big break was on Doctor Who in 1972, after his dad's tenure as The Doctor.

4. The Guy at the Door. Regular readers know the drill. On today's list, 1931 is the year that separates the living from the dead. While Joan Marshal was born on this day in 1931 and is dead, Oh That Guy actor Joe Santos is the oldest living person on our list and everyone younger than him is still alive. This is more like a demographic fluke than it is an ominous portent, but in any case, I like to wish the person in this situation a special wish for many more happy birthdays to come.


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

Movie released
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier released, 1989  

Predictor: Oxford University researcher Tipu Aziz, quoted in 2008

Prediction: By 2015, micro-computers in the brain with a range of applications could be self-powered and controlled by hand-held transmitters.

Reality: As of 2015, this is still Ray Kurzweil level stuff, which means it hasn't happened yet and it's possible it never will.

Never to be Forgotten: Mary Ellen Trainor 1950-2015

The actress Mary Ellen Trainor, who was for a time married to director Robert Zemeckis, has died at the age of 64. Seen here in a still from one of the Die Hard films (she was in all of them), her genre credits include Roswell, Congo, Death Becomes Her, Back to the Future II, Ghostbusters 2, Tales from the Crypt, Scrooged, The Monster Squad and Amazing Stories.

Best wishes to the family and friends of Mary Ellen Trainor, from a fan. She is never to be forgotten. 
 
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Wednesdays belong to our sensible pal George Sutherland, predicting 20th Century inventions in 1901.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

8 June 2015

Birthdays
Melanie Tonello b. 1992 (My Babysitter’s a Vampire, Resident Evil: Apocalypse)
Torrey DeVitto b. 1984 (The Vampire Diaries)
Maria Menounos v. 1978 (Paranormal Movie, Knight Rider [2009], Fantastic Four, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch)
Nate Dushku b. 1977 (Dollhouse, Angel, Wolf Girl, Vampire Clan)
Eion Bailey b. 1976 (Once Upon a Time, Nightmares & Dreamscapes, Mindhunters, Buffy)
Lexa Doig b.1973 (Continuum, Primeval: New World, Smallville, V, Supernatural, Eureka, Stargate SG-1, The 4400, Andromeda, Jason X, Earth: Final Conflict, TekWar)
Mark Feuerstein b. 1971 (In Your Eyes, Practical Magic)
Matt Kaminsky b. 1971 (Wizards of Waverly Place, Star Trek: Enterprise)
Kelli Williams b. 1970 (Earth 2, Quantum Leap, Beauty and the Beast)
David Sutcliffe b. 1969 (Mega Cyclone, Mutant X, Forever Knight)
Juliana Margulies b. 1966 (The Lost Room, The Mists of Avalon)
Kevin P. Farley b. 1965 (Roswell FM, Project Bigfoot, Paranormal Movie, 3rd Rock from the Sun)
Frank Grillo b. 1963 (A Conspiracy on Jekyll Island, The Purge: Anarchy, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Minority Report. Poltergeist: The Legacy)
Anthony Cistaro b. 1963 (Charmed, Witchblade, Angel, The Runestone)
Gary Trousdale b. 1960 (director, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Beauty and the Beast)
Bernard White b. 1959 (Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Touch, Quarantine, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, The Matrix Revolutions, The Matrix Reloaded, The Scorpion King, The X-Files, Knight Rider)
Scott Adams b. 1957 (creator, Dilbert; actor, Babylon 5)
Griffin Dunne b. 1955 (The Android Affair, Amazing Stories, An American Werewolf in London)
Sonia Braga b. 1950 (Warehouse 13, Tales from the Crypt)
Kathy Baker b. 1950 (Edward Scissorhands, Amazing Stories, The Right Stuff)
Jack Sholder b. 1945 (director, Tremors [TV], Arachnid, Mortal Kombat: Conquest [TV], Generation X, The Omen [TV], Tales from the Crypt [TV], 12:01, The Hidden, Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge)
Colin Baker b. 1943 ( Star Trek Continues, Doctor Who, Blake’s 7)
Jessie Lawrence Ferguson b. 1941 (Swamp Thing [TV], Darkman, Prince of Darkness, Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Supernaturals, Buckaroo Banzai, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century)
Bernie Casey b. 1939 (Vegas Vampires, Babylon 5, Deep Space Nine, Time Trax, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, The Martian Chronicles, Ants, The Man Who Fell to Earth, Dr Black, Mr. Hyde)
James Darren b. 1936 (Deep Space Nine, The Time Tunnel, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea)
Millicent Martin b. 1934 (Return to Halloweentown, Max Headroom)
Joan Rivers b. 1933 died 4 September 2014 (Iron Man 3, Spaceballs)
Dana Wynter b. 1931 died 5 May 2011 (The Questor Tapes, Invasion of the Body Snatchers)
Kate Wilhelm b. 1928 (won 1977 Hugo for Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang)
Charles Tyner b. 1925 (Space, The Incredible Hulk, Evilspeak, Pete’s Dragon)
Myron Healey b. 1923 died 21 December 2005 (RoboCop [TV], Knight Rider, V, The Amazing Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, The Incredible Melting Man, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, Land of the Giants, Varan the Unbelievable, Men Into Space, Adventures of Superman, Batman and Robin [1949])
Robert Preston b. 1918 died 21 March 1987 (The Last Starfighter)
George D. Wallace b. 1917 died 22 July 2005 (Minority Report, Buffy, The X-Files, Multiplicity, Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Bionic Woman, Planet of the Apes, The Six Million Dollar Man, Forbidden Planet)
Robert F. Young b. 1915 died 22 June 1986 (author, Jonathan and the Space Whale)
John W. Campbell b. 1910 died 11 July 1971 (author, Who Goes There?; editor, Astounding Science Fiction, Analog)
C.C. Beck b. 1910 (creator, Captain Marvel)

Notes from the birthday list.

1. The Picture Slot. Three of the people on this list have already had the Picture Slot. Colin Baker got it for being The Doctor, George D. Wallace got it for being future Xander on Buffy and to distinguish him from other better known George Wallaces and Lexa Doig from Andromeda got it when I misread her birthday in 2013. While several of the writers on the list can be considered iconic, I decided to give the slot to the fabulous Dana Wynter from Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

2. Canadians spotted. We have three Canadians on the list, the most obvious being the lovely Lexa Doig. Melanie Tonello and David Sutcliffe are not quite as obvious.

3. Nepotism FTW. We have two lesser known siblings who have appeared in movies and TV shows where their better known kin were the stars, Nate Dushku and Kevin P. Farley. Griffin Dunne is the son of writer Dominick Dunne, but I can't tell if that was a boon for him early in his career.

4. MST3K. I know The Incredible Melting Man got the treatment, there may be others on the list.

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

Movie released
Prometheus released, 2012

Predictor: OMNI Future Almanac, published 1982

Prediction: Highly-specialized security officers will actively try to prevent computer crime, which could become a well-developed criminal art.

Reality: There were already hackers in the early 1980s, so this prediction wasn't a huge stretch, but that does not change the fact this prediction deserves full marks.

Never to be Forgotten: Richard Johnson 1927-2015

British actor Richard Johnson has died at the age of 87. He claims that he was offered the role of James Bond in Dr. No but turned it down. When asked of his opinion of Sean Connery, he felt the Scotsman was miscast, but it worked because the scripts played up the humor. Hard to argue with either of those points. Johnson worked steadily up until last year, much of the work on British television shows.


Mr. Johnson gets the nod on this blog for his roles in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Tales from the Crypt, Zombie, Space: 1999 and The Haunting.

Best wishes to the family and friends of Richard Johnson, from a fan. He is never to be forgotten.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

A prediction was made last year about 2015 and we are going to check in on it.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
 

24 May 2015

Birthdays
Gina Sarno b. 1989 (The Avengers)
Ricky Mabe b. 1983 (Ghost Ghirls, This Is the End, Nightmare Man, Big Wolf on Campus, Frankenstein and Me)
Naomi Ryan b. 1977 (Guardians of the Galaxy, Doctor Who)
Will Sasso b. 1975 (Southland Tales, The X Files, Sliders, Doctor Who, The Odyssey [1994 TV])
Dash Mihok b. 1974 (Gotham, Punisher: War Zone, I Am Legend, The Day After Tomorrow)
Greg Berlanti b. 1972 (writer, The Flash, Arrow, The Tomorrow People, Wrath of the Titans, Green Lantern, No Ordinary Family)
Garett Maggart b. 1969 (Vampire)
Dana Ashbrook b, 1967 (Welcome to Paradox, Charmed, W.E.I.R.D. World, The Hidden Room, Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat, Ghost Dad, Return of the Living Dead II, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes!)
John C. Reilly b. 1965 (Guardians of the Galaxy, Dark Water)
Michael Chabon b. 1963 (won 2008 Hugo and Nebula for The Yiddish Policeman’s Union)
Kristin Scott Thomas b. 1960 (The Golden Compass, Code 46, Gulliver’s Travels)
Doug Jones b. 1960 (The Flash [2015], Arrow [2015], Hellboy, The Strain, Teen Wolf [TV], Falling Skies, The Watch, Dragon Age: Redemption, Fallout: Nuka Break, The Guild, Legion, Super Capers: The Origins of Ed and the Missing Bullion, Quarantine, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Lady in the Water, Pan’s Labyrinth, Doom, Men in Black II, The Time Machine, Side Effects, Alien Hunter, Monkeybone, Buffy, Mystery Men, Bug Buster, Mimic, Tank Girl, Batman Returns, Warriors of Virtue, Galgameth)
Alfred Molina b. 1953 (The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Spider-Man 2, Species, Ladyhawke, Raiders of the Lost Ark)
Nell Campbell b. 1953 (Shock Treatment, The Rocky Horror Picture Show)
Jim Broadbent b. 1949 (Cloud Atlas, Harry Potter, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, The Chronicles of Narnia, Comic Relief: Doctor Who – The Curse of Fatal Death, Smilla’s Feeling for Snow, Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, Brazil, Time Bandits, Erik the Viking)
James Cosmo b. 1948 (Game of Thrones, Flashforward, The Color of Magic, The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrome, The 10th Kingdom, Super Gran, Highlander)
Sybill Danning b. 1947 (Virus X, The Lair, Grindhouse, Superboy, The Phantom Empire, Amazon Women on the Moon, Warrior Queen, Howling II: … Your Sister is a Werewolf, V, Hercules [1983], Battle Beyond the Stars, Meteor)
Gary Burghoff b. 1943 (Wonder Woman)
Tommy Chong b. 1938 (Evil Bong, Sliders)
Mai Zetterling b. 1925 died 17 March 1994 (The Witches, H.G. Wells’ Invisible Man)
Carmine Infantino b. 1925 died 4 April 2013 (illustrator, DC Comics)
Lilli Palmer b. 1914 died 27 January 1986 (The Boys from Brazil)
Willis Bouchey b. 1907 died 27 September 1977 (The Munsters, My Mother the Car, Twilight Zone, Panic in Year Zero!, Them!, Red Planet Mars)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, the Picture Slot went to Doug Jones from Hellboy and Alfred Molina from Raiders of the Lost Ark. This year, I decided on Nell Campbell as Columbia from The Rocky Horror Picture Show, one of several excellent possible choices.

2. The hard to spot Canadians. No one has one of those obvious resumes today, but we do have three people born north of the border, Tommy Chong, Will Sasso and Ricky Mabe.

3. Sorry, sweetie, I'm going with last year's numbers. Last year when I was compiling the list I added both Sybill Danning and Jim Broadbent and I remarked to a friend that Ms. Danning was two years older than Mr. Broadbent. Ms. Danning was never a star, but I lusted after her back in the 1980s. (As much as I enjoy his work, I must admit I have never lusted after Mr. Broadbent.) This year on both imdb.com and Wikipedia, Ms. Danning's year of birth is list as 1952, magically trimming five years off her age. Her first role was in a German soft porn film in 1968. It possible that she lied about her age, making herself 21 instead of 16 when that was filmed and now she is correcting that fib. The other possibility is that she'd rather be 63 now instead of 68. Whichever it is, I'm going with last year's numbers.

4. The Guy at the Bong... I mean, Door. This is one of those lists with major gaps in ages. The oldest living person is Tommy Chong at 77. The next people on the list were born 13 years before him and both are dead. This makes Tommy Chong the Guy at the Door, the cutoff between the living and the dead on today's list. As always, special birthday wishes to the person who has this random demographic distinction.

5. Wait... they did genre? I clicked on Gary Burghoff's name on imdb.com because I recognized it, not knowing he had a guest starring role on Wonder Woman. I was likewise unaware of Tommy Chong's roles in Evil Bong and Sliders.

6. Hey... no Star Trek! In April, every day had a birthday of someone who was on one of the many incarnations of Star Trek. In May, there have now been four days without any Trek reference. Go figure.

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

Movie released
Epic released, 2013

 

Predictor: Robert A. Heinlein in The Door Into Summer, serialized in 1956, published in hardcover in 1957.

Prediction: I was surprised as anyone when it turned out we had divisions stashed away at Thule and other places no one suspected. It has been known since the ‘30s that the human body could be chilled until it slowed down to almost nothing. But it had been a parlor trick or a last-resort therapy, until the Six Weeks War.

Reality: A few "predictions" here and a change of what was supposed to have happened in the past from Heinlein's point of view in the late 1950s. Let's take them separately.

1. People can be frozen and thawed and the technology has been around since the 1930s.  Umm... no. It's vital to the plot of Heinlein's exciting adventure, but there isn't any technology like this even today.

2. There was a big nuclear war sometime between 1956 and 1970. Also, no, thank goodness. As I have written many times, fear of nuclear war was a huge part of life in the late 20th Century, but this years marks the 70th anniversary of the last time a nuke was used during warfare. Nukes were used twice, three days apart in August of 1945. That means the "no nuclear war" streak is currently at 25,490 days and counting. I do not say this to claim that there will never be another nuclear weapon used as a weapon of war, but when measured on a human scale, seventy years is a long time.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Is tomorrow Monday already? This means another dip into The OMNI Future Almanac. (I'll also give you the heads up that it's Towel Day, just in case you forgot.)

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

23 May 2015

Birthdays
Devin Douglas Drewitz b. 1989 (Smallville, X-Men 2, Taken, Jeremiah, Dark Angel)
D.J. Cotrona b. 1980 (From Dusk Till Dawn [TV], G.I. Joe: Retaliation)
Lane Garrison b. 1980 (From Dusk Till Dawn, The Event)
Kelly Monaco b. 1976 (Idle Hands)
Sebastina Cordero b. 1972 (director, Europa Report)
John Ortiz b. 1968 (Aliens vs. Predator:Requiem)
H. Jon Benjamin b. 1966 (The Venture Bros, Lucy: Daughter of the Devil)
Melissa McBride b. 1965 (The Walking Dead, The Mist, American Gothic, Mutant Species)
Karen Duffy b. 1961 (Last Action Hero)
Linden Ashby b. 1960 (Teen Wolf [TV], Iron Man 3, Anacondas: Trail of Blood, Resident Evil: Extinction, Mortal Kombat, Werewolf [TV])
Drew Carey b. 1958 (Lois & Clark, Coneheads)
Mark Arnold b. 1957 (Chronicles of Syntax, Alien Encounter, Teen Wolf)
Patricia and Cyb Barnstable b. 1951 (Quark)
O-Lan Jones b. 1950 (Mars Attacks!, The X Files, Edward Scissorhands, Martians Go Home, The Right Stuff)
Andrew Burt b. 1945 (Super Gran, Doctor Who, Gulliver in Lilliput, Blakes 7)
Joan Collins b. 1933 (Star Trek, Faerie Tale Theatre, Future Cop, The Fantastic Journey, Space: 1999, Batman)
Barbara Barrie b. 1931 (Dead Like Me, Tucker’s Witch, The Invaders, Twilight Zone)
Laura Devon b. 1931 died 19 July 2007 (The Invaders, Twilight Zone)
Ted Jordan b. 1924 died 30 March 2005 (Land of the Giants, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea)
Bill McCutcheon b. 1924 died 9 January 2002 (Mr. Destiny, Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, Johnny Jupiter)
James Blish b. 1921 died 29 July 1975 (won 1959 Hugo for A Case Of Conscience)
Betty Garrett b. 1919 died 12 February 2011 (Trail of the Screaming Forehead, Mr. Merlin)
Scatman Crothers b. 1910 died 22 November 1986 (Twilight Zone: The Movie, Deadly Eyes, Zapped!, The Shining, The Incredible Hulk, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, Bewitched)
Herbert Marshall b. 1890 died 22 January 1966 (The Fly, Gog)
Douglas Fairbanks b. 1883 died 12 December 1939 (The Thief of Bagdad)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, the Picture Slot was given to Joan Collins from Star Trek and James Blish. This year, the Picture Slot moves into the 21st Century with Melissa McBride in her best known role as Carol from The Walking Dead.

2. A Canadian to Spot. There is just one Canadian on the list today. It is left as an exercise for the reader to spot this individual.

3. The Gal at the Door. The cutoff year for today is 1931. Laura Devon was born that year and is already gone as is everyone older. Barbara Barrie was also born 84 years ago today and is still with us, and the same can be said for everyone born after 1931. As always when we have this demographic split, special birthday wishes to Ms. Barrie.

4. MST3K. Comic actor Bill McCutcheon was in Santa Claus Conquers the Martians and his career survived it.

5. Wait... he (or she) made genre? Sometimes when researching, I click on an actor's imdb.com homepage because I recognize the name, not because I know some specific role in sci-fi or fantasy. The actors who surprised me with qualifying roles today are Herbert Marshall, Betty Garrett, Drew Carey and Kelly Monaco.

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

Movie released
X-Men: Days of Future Past released, 2014

Predictor: Morris L. Ernst in his 1955 book Utopia 1976

Prediction: In 1929, the purchase of pets was $25 million and stayed steady through the next decade. By 1952, it had climbed to $60 million. By 1976, this substitute outlet for affection, domination or company is likely to diminish as loneliness declines.

Reality: Let me give Mr. Ernst a little credit. He did a lot of research in 1955 that wasn't easy before the Internet and Google.

And now let me hit him with the Big Ugly Stick. According to the Humane Society, pet ownership has grown steadily and outpaced the growth in the population. He has his strong opinions on what constitutes Good Things and Bad Things and has put pets in the Bad Things category. I don't own a pet and haven't for several decades, but I would never disparage someone for having a pet. (Too many pets is a different situation.)

He got this one wrong and insulting many readers in the process. If I gave negative points, I would give it for this clumsy and condescending attempt.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Another guess about the future of technology from Robert A. Heinlein's The Door Into Summer. 

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

13 May 2015

Birthdays
Debby Ryan b. 1993 (Wizards of Waverly Place)
Candace Accola b. 1987 (The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural, Deadgirl)
Robert Pattinson b. 1986 (Twilight Saga, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire)
Iwan Rheon b. 1985 (Game of Thrones, Misfits)
Samantha Morton b. 1977 (John Carter, Code 46, Minority Report)
Brian Smith b. 1977 (Big Bang Theory, The Wolfpack of Reseda)
Neil Hopkins b. 1977 (Lost, Witches of East End, Grimm, True Blood, Skyline, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, The 4400, The Net 2.0, The Cabinet of Dr, Caligari [2005], Charmed, Birds of Prey)
Christopher Ralph b. 1977 (Warehouse 13)
Brian Geraghty b. 1975 (True Blood)
Bridgett Riley b. 1973 (Space Truckers, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers)
Fana Mokoena b. 1971 (World War Z)
Imogen Boorman b. 1971 (Hellbound: Hellraiser II, Dreamchild, The Tripods)
Shon Greenblatt b. 1967 (Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare, Chopper Chicks in Zombietown)
Wanda Acuna b. 1966 (House of Frankenstein [1997 TV], Encino Man)
Stephen Colbert b. 1964 (Monsters vs. Aliens, Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, The Venture Bros.)
Siobhan Fallon b. 1961 (Men in Black)
Anthony Ray Parker b. 1958 (Xena, The Matrix, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys)
Koji Suzuki b. 1957 (writer, The Ring)
Mark Heap b. 1957 (The World’s End, Misfits, Stardust, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory)
Zlatko Buric b. 1953 (2012)
Joe Johnston b. 1950 (director, Captain America: The First Avenger, The Wolfman, Jurassic Park III, Jumanji, The Rocketeer, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids)
Zoe Wanamaker b. 1949 (Doctor Who, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone)
Franklyn Ajaye b. 1949 (The Bionic Woman)
Stephen R. Donaldson b. 1947 (author, Thomas Covenant series)
Tim Pigott-Smith b. 1946 (Alice in Wonderland [2010], V for Vendetta, Clash of the Titans, Doctor Who)
Marv Wolfman b. 1946 (author, Blade)
Sam Anderson b. 1945 (Grimm, Lost, The Chronicle, Angel, NetForce, The X-Files, From the Earth to the Moon, Millennium, The Puppet Masters, Memoirs of an Invisible Man, Alien Nation, Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Charmings, Critters 2)
Senta Berger b. 1941 (When Women Had Tails)
Harvey Keitel b. 1939 (National Treasure, Little Nicky, From Dusk Till Dawn, Saturn 3, Dark Shadows)
Buck Taylor b. 1938 (Cowboys & Aliens, The Mist, Starman [TV], Timestalkers, My Favorite Martian)
Milton Johns b. 1938 (Knight School, The X Files, Stanley’s Dragon, Super Gran, The Empire Strikes Back, Doctor Who)
Zohra Lampert b. 1937 (The Exorcist III, Knight Rider, The Girl, The Gold Watch & Everything, The Girl with Something Extra)
Beverly Owen b. 1937 (The Munsters)
Roger Zelazny b. 1937 died 6/14/1995 (won 1966 Hugo for … And Call Me Conrad and1968 Hugo for Lord of Light)
Bea Arthur b. 1922 died 25 April 2009 (Futurama, The Star Wars Holiday Special)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In earlier years, The Picture slot went to Roger Zelazny and Robert Pattinson. This year it goes to Iwan Rheon as the dreadful Ramsay Snow, later Ramsay Bolton.

2. The Gals at the Door. The cutoff year between life and death on this list is 1937. Roger Zelazny is gone, but Beverly Owen and Zohra Lampert are still alive. As always when this quirk of the lists occurs, a special wish for many happy returns to both women.

3. One Canadian with one genre credit. Christopher Ralph's Canadian identity is impossible to spot just because he was on Warehouse 13.

Many happy returns to all the living on the list, notably Beverly Owen and Zohra Lampert, and to the dead, thanks for all the memories.

Predictor:Seven Days in May by Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey, published 1962

Prediction: In 1971, The United States goes to war in Iran.

Reality: Notice it reads "in Iran" and not "with Iran". In 1962, most people thought that if we would have a war, it would be with the Russkies. Of course, they did not invade Iran and if they had when the Shah was alive, we probably would have tried to drive them out.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Back to the usual weekly schedule and a prediction from The Experts Speak. 

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

10 May 2015

Birthdays
Halston Sage b. 1993 (Scouts vs. Zombies)
Erika Fong b. 1986 (Transformers: Age of Extinction, Power Rangers Samurai)
Odette Annable b. 1985 (Astronaut Wives Club, The Unborn, Cloverfield, Transformers)
Kenan Thompson b. 1978 (Stan Helsing, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch)
Andrea Anders b. 1975 (The Stepford Wives [2004])
Cary Guffey b. 1972 (Close Encounters of the Third Kind)
Emma Ridley b. 1972 (Return to Oz)
Leslie Stefanson b. 1971 (Alien Hunter, Unbreakable, Flubber [1997])
Dallas Roberts b. 1970 (The Walking Dead, Shadow People)
Gina Philips b. 1970 (Jeepers Creepers, Seven Days, Sliders, Dark Skies, Deep Space Nine)
John Scalzi b. 1969 (won 2013 Hugo for Redshirts)
Eric Palladino b. 1968 (666 Park Avenue, Fringe, Reaper, Strange Frequency)
Jason Brooks b. 1966 (Blood Lake: Attack of the Killer Lampreys, Asteroid vs Earth, Revolution, Torchwood, Super 8, No Ordinary Family, Star Trek [2009], Charmed, Flying Virus)
Tracy Tweed b. 1965 (Johnny Mnemonic, Harry and the Hendersons [TV])
Victoria Rowell b. 1959 (The Fright Night Files, Leonard Part 6)
Paige O'Hara b. 1956 (Enchanted, Beauty and the Beast [1991 voice work])
Meg Foster b. 1948 (The Originals, Xena, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Sliders, Space Marines, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Oblivion, Quantum Leap, Leviathan, The Twilight Zone, Masters of the Universe, They Live, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Sixth Sense [TV])
David Clennon b. 1943 (Ghost Phone: Phone Calls from the Dead, Star Trek: Voyager, From the Earth to the Moon, Beauty and the Beast, The Right Stuff, The Thing [1982])
Jonathan Hales b. 1937 (screenwriter, Star Wars , Episode II: Attack of the Clones, The Scorpion King)
Gary Owens b. 1934 died 12 February 2015 (Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Batman, The Green Hornet, The Munsters)
George Coe b. 1929 (Supernatural, Smallville, The Lone Gunmen, The Omega Code, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Max Headroom, The Entity, The Stepford Wives)
Margaret Field b. 1922 died 6 November 2011 (Twilight Zone, The Man from Planet X)
Margo b. 1917 died 17 July 1985 (Lost Horizon)
Charles McGraw b. 1914 died 30 July 1980 (Twilight’s Last Gleaming, A Boy and his Dog, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea)
Fred Astaire b. 1899 died 22 June 1987 (Ghost Story, Battlestar Galactica, On the Beach)
Thurston Hall b. 1882 died 20 February 1958 (Topper)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, the Picture Slot went to screenwriter Jonathan Hales and actress Meg Foster. This year, I want to recommend the writer John Scalzi, who not only wrote the Hugo winning Redshirts, but a good series of space opera books, including Old Man's War, The Ghost Brigades and The Last Colony. I follow Scalzi on Twitter and he has thrown himself headlong into the GamerGate controversy and this year's attempted takeover of the Hugo awards. For my money, I see way too many topics in today's world that instead of being discussed are more like two factions screaming across a canyon. That said, if forced to choose one side of the canyon, I'm almost always on Scalzi's side.

2. One Canadian, hard to spot, with trace levels of nepotism. Tracy Tweed doesn't have enough credits to be easily spotted as Canadian. Tracy Tweed is the sister of Shannon Tweed, and both women got their starts in their careers due to the fact they look good naked. Shannon's connection likely helped Tracy, but the looking good naked part probably helped a lot more.

3. Never to be Forgotten, if a little late: Gary Owens 1934-2015. When Gary Owens died, I think I took a quick look at his credit list and decided not to include him, due to my decision to be selective about voice work, which saves me a lot of typing each morning. But Owens actually got enough work in front of the camera in genre TV shows that he deserves a mention. He had a great voice and excellent comic timing.

Best wishes to the family and friends of Gary Owens, from a fan. He is never to be forgotten.

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

Predictor: Robert A. Heinlein in his 1956 book The Door Into Summer

Prediction: I had two five-dollar pieces, mint new, the pretty green plastic hexagonals issued just last year.

Reality: Oh hell to the no. People, especially Americans, are fussy about having their money messed with. There wasn't that much fuss when I was a kid about getting rid of silver in the dimes, quarters and half dollars, and the changes in the bills we've seen in the last decade haven't caused riots, but going from dollar bills to dollar coins has been largely rejected by the public and to switch from metal to plastic would make the inflation conspiracy theorists absolutely crazy.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

A break in the regular schedule for a movie prediction that warns of robot teachers. That would sure mess the unions up, wouldn't it?

Join us then. IN THE FUTURE!

30 April 2015

Birthdays
Dianna Agron b. 1986 (I am Number Four, Heroes)
Gal Gadot b. 1985 (Justice League, Wonder Woman, Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice)
Drew Seeley b. 1982 (I Kissed a Vampire, Locusts)
Kirsten Dunst b. 1982 (Melancholia, Spider-Man, The Crow: Salvation, Small Soldiers, Jumanji, Interview with the Vampire, Star Trek: The Next Generation)
Kunal Nayyar b. 1981 (The Big Bang Theory)
Sam Heughan b. 1980 (Outlander)
Alexandra Holden b. 1977 (Wishcraft)
Johnny Galecki b. 1975 (The Big Bang Theory, In Time, Hancock, Vanilla Sky)
Michael Chaturantabut b. 1975 (Charmed, The Time Machine, Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue)
Kevin Sizemore b. 1972 (Resurrection, Under the Dome, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Dollhouse, Supernova)
Ralph Lister b. 1971 (Oz the Great and Powerful)
Allison Serofim b. 1968 (The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe)
Steven Mackintosh b. 1967 (Robot Overlords, Kick-Ass 2, Underworld, The Muppet Christmas Carol, Doctor Who)
Adrian Pasdar b. 1965 (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Heroes, House of Frankenstein [1997 TV], Near Dark, Solarbabies)
Paul Gross b. 1959 (Eastwick, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea [1997 TV], The Ray Bradbury Theatre)
Lars von Trier b. 1956 (director, Melancholia, The Kingdom)
Thom Bray b. 1954 (The Horror Show, DeepStar Six, Prince of Darkness)
Perry King b. 1948 (The Day After Tomorrow, Tales from the Crypt, Slaughterhouse-Five)
Allan Arkush b. 1948 (director, Salem, Witched of East End, Defiance, Heroes, Timecop, Mann & Machine, Twilight Zone [1986], Heartbeeps)
Bertrand Cadart b. 1948 (Mad Max)
Jill Clayburgh b. 1944 died 5 November 2010 (Phenomenon II, The Terminal Man)
Antonia Ellis b. 1944 (UFO)
Burt Young b. 1940 (The Adventures of Pluto Nash, Tales from the Crypt, Twilight’s Last Gleaming, Carnival of Blood)
Gary Collins b. 1938 died 13 October 2012 (Watcher Reborn, The Fantastic Journey, The Bionic Woman, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Sixth Sense [TV], King Kong vs. Godzilla)
Larry Niven b. 1938 (winner of 1971 Hugo and Nebula for Ringworld)
Cloris Leachman b. 1926 (Lake Placid 2, My Boyfriend’s Back, Hansel and Gretel [1987], Wonder Woman [1975], Young Frankenstein, Twilight Zone)
Al Lewis b. 1923 died 3 February 2006 (The Munsters, Lost in Space)
Phil Brown b. 1916 died 9 February 2006 (Superman, Star Wars: A New Hope, Twilight’s Last Gleaming, Journey to the Unknown)
Eve Arden b. 1908 died 12 November 1990 (Amazing Stories, Faerie Tale Theatre, The Girl with Something Extra, Bewitched)
David Manners b. 1901 died 23 December 1998 (The Mummy [1932], Dracula [1931])

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, we had the two birthday boys from Big Bang Theory and Gal Gadot, the actress who will be Wonder Woman in several films over the next few years. If I want to stay with 21st Century stuff, Adrian Pasdar in Heroes or Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. would count as iconic, but I decided to go old school with the great Cloris Leachman as Frau Blucher.

Wait... was that a horse?

2. Spot the Canadians! No way to spot David Manners as a Canadian, but he was. It's not obvious that Paul Gross and Drew Seeley were born north of the border, but they were, too.

3. I'm used to it, I don't have to like it. When I clicked on Jill Clayburgh's page on imdb.com today, I remembered she had died, but it was a shock five years ago and it still makes me sad.

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

Predictor: Dalek, and episode of Doctor Who aired first in the U.K. on 30 April 2005.

Prediction: In 2012, a Dalek is reawakened in a bunker in Utah and kills 200 people before the Doctor is able to deactivate it.

Reality: There were a lot of Doctor Who episodes that were set in the not too distant future, which for people like us moving in time in our boring linear way is now the not too distant past.

Still no Daleks, so we've got that going for us.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

A new month, a new splash photo, and the regular prediction schedule is interrupted for a stunning tale of suspended animation.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!