12 April 2015

Birthdays
Peter DaCunha b. 2003 (The Listener, Alphas) Saoirse Ronan b. 1994 ( The Host [2013])
Brooklyn Decker b. 1987 (Battleship)
Diana Marshall-Green b. 1980 (Infestation) Jennifer Morrison b. 1979 (Once Upon a Time, Star Trek Into Darkness, Star Trek [2009], The Chronicle, The Zeros)
Claire Danes b. 1979 (Stardust, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, Princess Mononoke)
Amy Kerr b. 1979 (Haven, Outlander, Lexx)
Jared Turner b. 1978 (The Almighty Johnsons, Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, 30 Days of Night) Jade Calegory b. 1976 (Alien Nation, Mac and Me)
Marley Shelton b. 1974 (The Lottery, Grindhouse, Dark Shadows [2005 TV], Sin City, Pleasantville, Warriors of Virtue, Hercules in the Underworld)
Christina Moore b. 1973 (True Blood, The Burning Zone)
Amr Waked b. 1973 (Lucy)
Shannen Doherty b. 1971 (Blood Lake: Attack of the Killer Lampreys, Witchslayer Gretl, Charmed, Category 7: The End of the World, Voyagers!)
Nicholas Brendon b. 1971 (Coherence, Robot Ninja and Gay Guy, Buffy, Demon Island, Psycho Beach Party, Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest)
Kelly Donovan b. 1971 (Buffy)
Tracy Vilar b. 1968 (K-PAX)
Michael Wiseman b. 1967 (The X-Files, Planet of the Apes, Star Trek: Voyager, Perversions of Science, Predator 2)
Mark Camacho b. 1964 (X-Men: Days of Future Past, Punisher: War Zone, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, 10.5: Apocalypse, The Adventures of Pluto Nash, The Hunger, Space Cases, Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde)
Magda Szubanski b. 1961 (The Golden Compass, Son of the Mask, Farscape, Babe, The Genie from Down Under)
Jay Baker b. 1961 (Deep Space Nine, The Incredible Hulk Returns)
Tracy Torme b. 1959 (writer, Carnivale, Odyssey 5, Sliders, Star Trek: the Next Generation)
Tom Noonan b. 1951 (12 Monkeys [2015], The Leftovers, Eight Legged Freaks, The Astronaut’s Wife, The X-Files, Early Edition, Last Action Hero, RoboCop 2, The Monster Squad, Wolfen)
David Cassidy b. 1950 (The Flash)
Tom Clancy b. 1947 died 1 Oct 2013 (author, Tom Clancy’s Net Force, The Sum of All Fears)
Ed O’Neill b, 1946 (The 10th Kingdom, W.E.I.R.D. World)
Charles Napier b. 1936 died 5 October 2011 (One Eyed Monster, The 4400, Dinocroc, Alien Species, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Lois & Clark, Frogtown II, Future Zone, Alien from the Deep, The Incredible Hulk, Deep Space, Star Trek)
Alvin Sargent b. 1927 (screenwriter, Spider-Man 2 and 3)
Walt Gorney b. 1912 died 5 March 2004 (Friday the 13th 1 & 2, Day of the Animals, King Kong [1976])

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, the Slot has been filled by Charles Napier in his role from Star Trek and Nicholas Brendon and his twin Brendon Donovan. If those two are removed, I'd say the next most iconic is Shannen Doherty from Charmed, but I do not care for the woman for many reasons, including the rumors of her nastiness on the set, her unfortunate politics and my view that she's not a very good actress. So instead we get Claire Danes from Stardust because I invoke the The First Rule of Blogging, which is You're Not the Boss of Me.

2. Canadians spotted! Not that easy to find on one's own, Peter daCunha, Amy Kerr and Mark Camacho were all born North of the Border.

3. Nepotism FTW. David Cassidy is the son of Jack Cassidy, but Shirley Jones is his stepmother, not his biological mother. As commenter James Marshall VI kindly pointed out, Tracy Torme is the son of singer Mel Torme, so he has to count as well.

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: The torturing clang of an alarm clock went off. I shut the sadistic thing off and thanked God they had got rid of such horrible devices by 2001.

Reality: Some people still wake up to an alarm that has to be turned off, whether a buzz or a beep. To give Heinlein some credit, very few alarm clocks in the 21st Century actually have the old fashioned clanging bells that were standard before digital clocks became the norm.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Another Monday rolls around and that means another dip into the OMNI Future Almanac.

Join us then... INTO THE FUTURE!
  

20 January 2015

Birthdays
Ciara Hanna b. 1991 (Power Rangers MegaForce, Blood Lake: The Attack of the Killer Lampreys)
Evan Peters b. 1987 (X-Men: Apocalypse, X-Men: Days of Future Past, American Horror Story, Kick-Ass, Invasion [TV], Phil of the Future)
Pete Ploszek b. 1987 (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles [2014])
Olivia Hallinan b. 1985 (Torchwood, Julia Jekyll and Harriet Hyde)
Rukiya Bernard b. 1983 (Witches of East End, Primeval: New World, The Cabin in the Woods, Supernatural, SGU Stargate Universe, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Eureka, Supervolcano, Relic Hunter)
Daniel Cudmore b. 1981 (Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn, Fringe, Twilight, X-Men, Revolution [2009 TV movie], Merlin and the Book of Beasts, Stargate SG-1)
Crystal Lowe b. 1981 (Primeval: New World, Almost Human, A Little Bit Zombie, Smallville, Hot Tub Time Machine, Supernatural, Yeti: Curse of the Snow Demon, Stargate: Atlantis, Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Stargate: Sg-1)
Ray Panthaki b. 1979 (World War Dead: Rise of the Fallen, It’s a Wonderful Afterlife, 28 Days Later…)
Omar Sy b. 1978 (Jurassic World, X-Men: Days of Future Past)
Skeet Ulrich b. 1970 (Jericho, The Craft, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles [1990])
Reno Wilson b. 1969 (The Chronicle, FreakyLinks, Good vs Evil, Sliders, Mighty Joe Young, Fallen)
Rainn Wilson b. 1966 (Robodog, Transformer: Revenge of the Fallen, The Last Mimzy, My Super Ex-Girlfriend, Dominion, Dark Angel, Charmed, Galaxy Quest)
Francesca Buller b. 1964 (Farscape)
James Denton b. 1963 (The Good Witch, Undead or Alive: A Zombedy, Dark Skies, Sliders)
R. A. Salvatore b. 1959 (author, Forgotten Realms series)
Lorenzo Lamas b. 1958 ( Atomic Eden, Ghost Ghirls, Raptor Ranch, Sci-Fighter, Raptor Island, Deep Evil, The Immortal [2001 TV])
Ken Page b. 1954 (Charmed, Adventures in Wonderland)
Paul Stanley b. 1952 (Millennium, KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park)
Daniel Benzali b. 1950 (Jericho, The X-Files, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Beauty and the Beast [1989], Whoops Apocalypse, Star Cops)
David Lynch b. 1946 (director, Dune, Eraserhead)
Dorothy Provine b. 1935 died 25 April 2010 (The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock)
Tom Baker b. 1934 (Doctor Who, The Wind in the Willows [2006 TV], Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased), Dungeons and Dragons, The Mutations, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, Frankenstein: The True Story)
Buzz Aldrin b. 1930 (astronaut)
Peter Donat b. 1928 (The X-Files, Time Trax, Earth Star Voyager, Voyagers, Salvage 1, Future Cop, The Invisible Man [1975 TV)
Patricia Neal b. 1926 died 8 August 2010 (Ghost Story, The Day the Earth Stood Still)
DeForest Kelley b. 1920, died 11 June 1999 (Star Trek, Night of the Lepus)
Federico Fellini b. 1920 died 31 October 1993 (director, The Temptation of Dr. Antonio)
Michael Higgins b. 1920 died 5 November 2008 (Death Becomes Her, Angel Heart, The Stepford Wives, The Outer Limits)
Leon Ames b, 1902 died 12 October 1993 (Testament, Bewitched, The Misadventures of Merlin Jones, Son of Flubber, The Absent-Minded Professor)
Colin Clive b. 1900 died 25 June 1937 (Mad Love, Bride of Frankenstein, Frankenstein)
A. Merritt b. 1884 died 21 August 1943 (author, The Moon Pool, Burn Witch Burn!)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. I may be chided for being a geezer, but I am of the opinion that this list is chock full of truly iconic folk and all of them were born more than eighty years ago. In 2013, I used DeForest Kelley, in 2014 it was Buzz Aldrin. If they are out of contention, I'm happy to go to the other side of The Pond with Tom Baker, who wins the Favorite Doctor polls consistently if the competition is restricted to the 20th Century incarnations. If I were picking fourth place, I would go super geezer with Colin Clive, Dr. Frankenstein in the most famous 1930s versions of the story. If I was in a fabulous babe mood, Patricia Neal or (ahem) Dorothy Provine would get the Picture Slot, but even someone with my peculiar interests can't argue they are as iconic as the four guys mentioned first.

2. Spot the Canadians! Let's go opposite of geezer with our young Canuck friends. There are three of them, all born after 1980. Good luck! There is an older one, Peter Donat, who I thought of as American because he worked at ACT in San Francisco many decades ago. Thanks to James Marshall VI for pointing out Donat.

3. I love a good exact same day pair. Ignoring identical twins, I love to find out that two very famous people share a birthday on the exact same day and year. My personal favorite is 12 February 1809, when Lincoln and Darwin were both born. Our best pair today is DeForest Kelley and Federico Fellini, both born in 1920. A character actor named Michael Higgins was also born 95 years ago, but he's not quite an Oh That Guy for me. The role I know him in is as Doc Wilson in State and Main.

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

Movie released
Underworld Awakening released, 2012
 

Predictor: W. Warren Wagar in the 1991 edition of his book A Short History of the Future.

Prediction: By the turn of the millennium, everyone used the phrase “the world revolution of 1989”. Comparisons to the French Revolution of 1789 were commonplace.

Reality: Wagar's day job was as a history professor and the changes of 1989 really threw him for a loop. He published his first version just as communism fell and figured that he had to re-write the whole thing, so the predictions here are from his 1991 version, which has as its over-riding theme the complete victory of capitalism until a catastrophe in the 2040s. (The catastrophe itself is too far in the future to be a topic on this blog.) While it certainly made a difference in global politics, Americans don't generally lump together the Berlin Wall falling and the Tienanmen Square protests. I went online to find comparisons of 1989 to 1789 and found one paper by a Northeastern history professor named Patrick Manning. I would not call the comparisons "commonplace".

Looking one day ahead...  INTO THE FUTURE!

A new source of predictions joins the line-up tomorrow.


Join us then...  IN THE FUTURE!