14 August 2013

Birthdays
Mila Kunis b. 1983 (Oz: The Great and Powerful, Ted, The Book of Eli)
Zack Whedon b. 1979 (writer/singer, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog)
Halle Berry b. 1966 (X-Men, Catwoman, Cloud Atlas)
Brannon Braga b. 1965 (Star Trek: The Next Generation)
Alexei Panshin b. 1940
(winner of 1969 Nebula for Rite of Passage)

I never saw Catwoman but I do like the costume. The consensus is it was the only good thing in the movie. Many happy returns to all.

Movies released
District 9 released, 2009

I did see District 9. "White hot hate" sums up my feelings nicely.
   

Prediction: In 2010, District 9, the camp that has held the aliens known commonly as The Prawns for 28 years, is being forcibly evacuated

Predictor: District 9, released 14 August 2009

Reality: Technically, this is a future from an alternate timeline, since there wasn't a public encounter with aliens in 1981. I disliked the movie for many reasons, not least of which is the Nigerians are cast as the criminal bad guys who control drugs and prostitution in District 9.

To my mind, there are some alien races humans would have sex with voluntarily and some that are out of bounds. The Prawns fall in the second category, like the creatures in Predator and Alien and Mars Attacks! But in Blomkamp's mind, Nigerians would stoop to this level for money. Can you say "white privilege"?

Put together scientifically implausible, dull, derivative and racist and you get one of the worst movies of the century so far in my book.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Another prediction from H.G.Wells' The Shape of Things to Come.


Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

30 July 2013

Birthdays
Christopher Nolan b. 1970 (Inception, Batman trilogy)
Laurence Fishburne b. 1961 (The Matrix, Man of Steel)
Richard Linklater b. 1960 (A Scanner Darkly)
Arnold Schwarzenegger b. 1947 (Conan, Terminator, Predator, Total Recall, etc.)

If I was going to give the Picture Slot to my favorite work on the list, I would either go with Fishburne for The Matrix or Linklater for A Scanner Darkly, my favorite film adaptation of any Philip K. Dick work so far, but even though I hated Governor Schwarzenegger - his first act was to slash the community college budget and throw me out of work for a semester - on this list he is the most important person in the genre.

Many happy returns to the first three guys on the list. Governor, if I survive you, I promise to piss on your grave.

 

In the Year 2000!
 
Prediction: Intelligent life will be found on Mars.

Predictor: Robert A. Heinlein in a series of predictions made in 1950 about the year 2000.

Reality: I remember the hope when I was a kid. We were taught there were canals on Mars. Everything else we learned about canals was that they were man made, some of them engineering feats as great as anything in the history of mankind. Naturally but incorrectly, I added two apple and two oranges and got intelligent life on Mars.

In my defense, I was probably eight at the time. Ridiculous Bob has no such excuse.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Regular readers will already know that John Elfreth Watkins no longer holds down the Wednesday slot, so tomorrow will be the first predictions from his contemporary T. Baron Russell.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

23 July 2013

Birthdays
Daniel Radcliffe b. 1989 (Harry Potter)
Charisma Carpenter b. 1970 (Angel, Buffy)
Woody Harrelson b. 1961 (The Hunger Games, Zombieland, A Scanner Darkly)

A nice selection of birthdays today. Charisma Carpenter certainly qualifies for the Cute Girl = Picture Slot criterion, but I decided instead to have a picture of young Daniel instead, here dressed up for his role in the Broadway revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying instead of his more famous role on film. I'm always happy when an actor with a career defining role can get a chance to do something else.

Many happy returns of the day to all.
  
 

Prediction: 7/20/1996: First manned landing on Mars (Harry Bedrosian, Christopher Luden, Abe Cooper) finds the remains of a Martian.

Predictor: The Eye of the Octopus, Larry Niven, published 1966

Reality: As little regard as I have for Niven, the small benefit of the doubt I will give him is that this was written in the late 1960s, the most optimistic era for the general concept of space travel before or since. In 1966, we hadn't reached the moon yet but it was on a real life "to do"list and it got done. In the minds of sci-fi folk, a moon base and then further exploration were the obvious and inevitable next steps, but the reality of budgets and lack of profitability got in the way.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

  Our time is finite, all things must pass and several other completely true cliches cannot change the sad fact we face tomorrow.

The last of the predictions of John Elfreth Watkins.
 
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

12 June 2013

Prediction: 12 June 1983: An atmospheric disturbance captures the small commercial spacecraft Spindrift when coming back from low earth orbit on a trip to London.

Predictor: Land of the Giants, debuted 1968

Reality: All four of the Irwin Allen sci-fi shows - Lost In Space, Land of the Giants, The Time Tunnel and Voayage to the Bottom of the Sea - were supposed to take place in the 20th Century. I will admit that I was only a regular viewer of Land of the Giants. The reason for this less than optimal use of my time can be found through this link to page on my first blog.

Colour me disappointed.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Another prediction from Arthur C. Clarke. There's only a few left from him and almost all about about space exploration. It's no secret he was keen on space exploration.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!