11July 2015

Birthdays
Kelsey Sanders b. 1990 (10,000 Days, Wizards of Waverly Place)
David Henrie b. 1989 (Wizards of Waverly Place, Monster Makers)
Rachael Taylor b. 1984 (666 Park Avenue, Transformers, Man-Thing)
Serinda Swan b. 1984 (The Tomorrow People, Creature, TRON: Legacy, Supernatural, Smallville, Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, Reaper, Beyond Loch Ness)
Hailey Dawn Birnie b. 1982 (Supernatural, Level Up, Smallville, Monster Warriors, Ultra)
Jonjo O’Neill b. 1978 (Constantine, Doctor Who)
Michael Rosenbaum b. 1972 (Smallville)
Greg Grunberg b. 1966 (Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens, Big Ass Spider!, End of the World, Super 8, Heroes, Lost, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Hollow Man, Frankenstein: The College Years)
Greg Mottola b. 1964 (director, Paul)
Lisa Rinna b. 1963 (Nick Fury: Agent of Shield [TV movie 1998], Robot Wars)
Mark Lester b. 1958 (Farhenheit 451, Spaceflight IC-1: An Adventure in Space)
Sela Ward b. 1956 (The Day After Tomorrow)
Mindy Sterling b. 1953 (UFOria)
Stephen Lang b. 1952 (Avatar, Salem, Terra Nova, Conan the Barbarian [2011], Project X)
Tim De Zam b. 1952 (The Cabin in the Woods, Lost, Spider-Man, Star Trek: Voyager, Deep Space Nine, Alien Nation: The Udara Legacy, Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Quantum Leap)
Bruce McGill b. 1950 (No Ordinary Family, Deep Core. Area 57, Star Trek: Voyager, Babylon 5, Timecop, Quantum Leap, Tales from the Crypt, The Man Who Fell to Earth [TV])
Tom Holland b. 1943 (director, Twisted Tales [TV], Thinner, The Langoliers, Amazing Stories, Fright Night)
John Stride b. 1936 (The Omen, Once Upon a Time)
Tab Hunter b. 1931 (The Six Million Dollar Man, Damn Yankees!)
David Kelly b. 1929 died 12 February 2012 (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Merlin of the Crystal Cave, Stardust, Whoops Apocalypse)
Yul Brynner b. 1920 died 10 October 1985 (Futureworld, Westworld, The Ultimate Warrior)
Cordwainer Smith b. 1913 died 6 August 1966 (Author, The Instrumentality of Mankind)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, Michael Rosenbaum from Smallville was used in the Picture Slot because a good Lex Luthor is always iconic and Sela Ward from The Day After Tomorrow, not quite so iconic but I do feel somewhat virtuous lusting after women my own age. This year it's the late Yul Brynner, who was definitely iconic in Westworld, playing a rip-off of his iconic character in The Magnificent Seven. As you can see, the big selling point on almost all the posters was a picture that made it clear "Yul Brynner is a freaking robot!"

And oh yeah, that font they use for WESTWORLD. Back in the 1960s and 1970s, that font just screamed "This is the future!". It is the extension of the MICR e13b font used for numbers on checks and my copy of Word doesn't have it available at all.

Sorry, people from the 1970s. This is the future calling and we like you to take your font back.


2. Spot the Canadians! As a tell-tale sign, showing up on both Smallville  and Supernatural is a pretty indication of Canadian birth, and that is true for our two young Canadians today, Serinda Swan and Hailey Dawn Birnie. On the other hand, being a regular on one of the Canuck sci-fi series is not a proof of Canadian origin, and Michael Rosenbaum was born in New York City.

3. The Guy at the Door. Yul Brynner died at 65 thirty years ago, which was not all that young at the time, though fairly young by today's standards. In any case, we have one of those lists where everyone younger the the oldest living person on the list is also still alive, which means 84 year old dreamy dreamboat Tab Hunter is the Guy at the Door. It is the standard operating procedure of the blog to send special birthday wishes to anyone who is in this random demographic position.

Many happy returns to all the living on the list, most especially dreamy dreamboat Tab Hunter, and to the dead, thanks for all the memories.

Movies released
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes released, 2014
Journey to the Center of the Earth released, 2008
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix released, 2007
 
 

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

Prediction: The matrix of our communal existence by 1976 will have shifted from elected officials to many millions of people united in a common purpose for the better park, playground, sewer system or art gallery of their city.

Reality: Or maybe even forcing the states to stop giving formal approval to the racist symbols of America's darkest era.

Oh, wait, that's 2015, not 1976. My bad.

Regular readers know that I chide Mr. Ernst almost always, but let me say that his view that Americans would have more leisure was noble, unlike Jeb Bush's idea that American workers should show some pride and work longer hours to sustain 4% growth rate. It would be nice if the American government would show some pride and give us a health care system that brought our life expectancy and infant mortality numbers in line with all the rest of the industrialized world, but we haven't and if we elect Republicans, we never will.

I say this to apologize to Mr. Enrst and hope that no Republican becomes president in 2016.

 

Never to be Forgotten: Roger Rees 1944-2015 Welsh actor Roger Rees has died at the age of 71 after a brief illness. His first big break was in the lead role of The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickelby, an eight hour play based on one of Dickens' lesser known novels. Theatergoers had to go to the theater for two nights to see the whole play and it became a huge hit in both London and New York. On the strength of that performance, Rees was cast in his first genre film, the 1984 version of A Christmas Carol starring George C. Scott as Scrooge. Rees played the nephew Fred Holywell (pictured here) and was also the narrator. Appearance in other genre productions include Forever, Warehouse 13, The Invasion, The Prestige, Veritas: The Quest, The Scorpion King and M.A.N.T.I.S. His best known role in the U.S. is probably playing Robin Colcord on Cheers.

As a math guy, I really hate the myth of the Rule of Threes about celebrity obits, but there is not question that sometimes obituaries come in flurries. Rees is the sixth person to get a Never to be Forgotten mention on the blog this week. I certainly hope he is the last for a while, but there are no promises.

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

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

 We get another guess for Robert A. Heinlein about the state of ate 20th Century technology.


Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

9 July 2015

Birthdays
Georgie Henley b. 1995 (The Chronicles of Narnia)
Toby Kebbell b. 1982 (The Fantastic Four [2015], Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Wrath of the Titans, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time)
Jamie King b. 1981 (Lost City Raiders, Vampire Diary)
Linda Park b. 1978 (Infestation, Star Trek: Enterprise, Jurassic Park III, Spectres)
Fred Savage b. 1976 (The Wizard, Little Monsters, The Princess Bride, The Twilight Zone [1986], The Boy Who Could Fly)
Enrique Murciano b. 1973 (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, 666 Park Avenue, Star Trek: Enterprise)
Scott Grimes b. 1971 (DreamKeeper, Frogs!, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Critters 1 & 2, Frog, Twilight Zone [1985])
David O’Hara b. 1965 (Cowboys & Aliens, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, Wanted, Doomsday)
K. Todd Freeman b. 1965 (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles [2014], The Dark Knight, Buffy)
Kevin Nash b. 1959 (Almighty Thor [TV], Genesis [TV movie]. The Punisher, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Swamp Thing [TV], Super Force, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze)
Tim Kring b. 1957 (writer/producer, Touch, Heroes)
Kelly McGillis b. 1957 (Z Nation)
Philip Martin Brown b. 1956 (Sleepy Hollow [movie])
Tom Hanks b. 1956 (Cloud Atlas, The Polar Express, The Green Mile, From the Earth to the Moon, Apollo 13, Big, Splash, Mazes and Monsters)
Jimmy Smits b. 1955 (Revenge of the Sith, Attack of the Clones, The Tommyknockers)
Kim Hector b. 1953 (The Outer Limits, Twilight Zone)
Chris Cooper b. 1951 (The Amazing Spider-Man 2)
Ray Baker b. 1948 (Heroes, Path of Destruction, Alien Siege, Holes, Area 52, 3rd Rock from the Sun, The Tomorrow Man, Freaked, Total Recall [1990], C.H.U.D.)
O.J. Simpson b. 1947 (Capricorn One)
Dean R. Koontz b. 1945 (author, Dean Koontz’s Frankenstein, Odd Thomas)
Soledad Miranda b. 1943 died 18 August 1970 (Vampiros Lesbos, Count Dracula [1970], Pyro… The Thing Without a Face)
Edy Williams b. 1942 (Bad Girls from Mars, Dr. Alien, Lost in Space, Batman, The Brass Bottle, Twilight Zone)
Richard Roundtree b. 1942 (Knight Rider [2009], Speed Racer, Heroes, Vegas Vampires, Blade: The Series, Painkiller Jane, Theodore Rex, Beauty and the Beast [1989])
Brian Dennehy b. 1938 (The 4400, Category 6: Day of Destruction, NetForce, Cocoon, Ants)
James Hampton b. 1936 (Superboy, Teen Wolf 1 and 2, Otherworld, The Greatest American Hero, World War III, The Cat from Outer Space)
Vince Edwards b. 1928 died 11 March 1996 (Andy Colby’s Incredible Adventure, Return to Horror High, Tales from the Darkside, Space Raiders, Knight Rider)
Martin Garner b. 1927 died 28 September 2001 (Alien Nation [TV], Tales from the Crypt, Beauty and the Beast, Twilight Zone: The Movie)
Ed Ames b. 1927 (The Starlost)
Susan Cabot b. 1927 died 10 December 1986 (The Wasp Woman, The War of the Satellites, Viking Women and the Sea Serpent)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot.The previous folk in the Picture Sot were Linda Park, the double threat of being fabulous and a regular on a Star Trek series, even if it was Enterprise, and K.Todd Freeman, Mr. Trick on Buffy. Regular readers will know that being a movie star is not the quickest way into The Picture Slot, and the biggest star here is Tom Hanks. I like Tom Hanks and he is a local boy. A friend of mine from my Atari days went to high school with Hanks. Hanks saw Jason and the Argonauts at the Grand Lake Theatre in Oakland and he loved it and so did I. We may have been in the same audience. I would even say his roles in The Green Mile and Apollo 13 are iconic.

But I ask you: In any of his genre films, did he have a line as good as "Is this a kissing book?" No, he did not so the Picture Slot goes to Fred Savage.

I am willing to listen to counter-arguments for Hanks or any of several others, but you should recall the First Rule of Blogging ("You aren't the boss of me!") may be invoked.

2. O.J. Simpson? Really? Yeah, I had to. I saw his name and already knew he was in Capricorn One, so he was a shoo-in.

3. Living Canadian free! No Canadians found today, the second time this week.

4. MST3K. I know The Viking Women vs. the Sea Serpent for sure and I think that's all we've got. 


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

Movies released 
Predators released, 2010
Despicable Me released, 2010

Predictor: Alexander Hamilton in 1787, commenting on the newly finished Constitution of the United States, quoted in The Experts Speak.

Prediction: “A shilly-shally thing of milk and water, which could not last.”

Reality: Treasury secretary Jack Lew has his heart set on putting a woman on the $10 instead of the $20, so I thought I'd give Hamilton a little blog love. It's easy to say he's wrong and the Constitution did last, but it only lasted because we say it's lasted. If some bold racist from the South said they were going to count black folks as 3/5 of people when redistricting, strict constructionists would have to take their side if they really meant what they said, but they won't because their alleged reasons are so much jiggery-pokery.

And if you want to mark the murder of the Constitution, though we decided not to bury the corpse, leaving us with some sort of zombie founding document, consider when the Supreme Court told asshole Andrew Jackson (lionized by the Democratic Party) he couldn't mess with the Cherokee but he did anyway, citing the fact the Supreme Court didn't have an army to back up what it wrote.

So I'm giving Hamilton half credit here. Yes, it lasted, but he's right that it was shilly-shally.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Can H.G. Wells ever get full marks on a prediction ever again from this blog? Well, even a broken clock is right twice a day.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
 

21 March 2015

Birthdays
Scott Eastwood b. 1986 (Texas Chainsaw 3D)
Sonequa Martin-Green b. 1985 (The Walking Dead, Once Upon a Time)
Honorine Bell b. 1981 (A Guy, A Girl, A Space Helmet, The Thirst: Blood War, )
Sam Troughton b. 1977 (AVP: Alien vs. Predator)
Joseph Mawle b. 1974 (Sense8, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, The Awakening, Game of Thrones, Merlin[2009])
Laura Allen b. 1974 (Clown, Ravenswood, Awake, From Within, The 4400)
Vanessa Branch b. 1973 (Pirates of the Caribbean, Lost, The Invisible Man [TV], Star Trek: Voyager, The Cell)
Jaye Davidson b. 1968 (Stargate)
Karyn Kusama b. 1968 (director, Jennifer’s Body, Aeon Flux)
Greg Ellis b. 1968 (The Hobbit, Touch, Pirates of the Caribbean, Star Trek [2009], Knight Rider [2008], Beowulf, Megiddo: The Omega Code 2, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Brimstone, The X-Files)
Lara Lamberti b. 1967 (Aenigma, Red Sonja)
Phillip Troy Linger b. 1964 (The Hunger Games)
Matthew Broderick b. 1962 (The Stepford Wives [2004], Inspector Gadget, Godzilla [1998], Project X, Faerie Tale Theatre, WarGames, Ladyhawke)
Kathryn Greenwood b. 1962 (Wonderfalls, Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy, RoboCop [TV], Maniac Mansion)
Kassie Wesley DePaiva b. 1961 (Time Trax, Evil Dead II)
Sabrina Le Beauf b. 1958 (Star Trek: The Next Generation)
Gary Oldman b. 1958 (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, RoboCop, The Dark Knight Rises, Harry Potter, The Dark Knight, Batman Begins, Lost in Space [movie], The Fifth Element, Dracula)
Timothy Dalton b. 1944 (Penny Dreadful, Doctor Who, Hercules [2005 TV], Tales from the Crypt, Flash Gordon)
Lorene Yarnell Jansson b. 1944 died 29 July 2010 (Spaceballs, Wonder Woman)
Alex Courtney b. 1940 (Programmed to Kill, The Bionic Woman)
Kathleen Widdoes b. 1939 (The Invaders, Way Out)
Roger Hammond b. 1936 died 8 November 2012 (Bedazzled [2000], A Christmas Carol [1999], Ghostbusters of East Finchley, Morons from Outer Space, Doctor Who, Queen Kong)
Al Williamson b. 1931 died 12 June 2010 (illustrator, Flash Gordon)
James Coco b. 1930 died 25 February 1987 (The Stepford Children, Twilight Zone [1985], The Ray Bradbury Theatre, Alice in Wonderland [1983])
Cliff Norton b. 1918 died 25 January 2003 (Tabitha, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, Mr. Terrific, It’s About Time, The Munsters, My Favorite Martian, My Living Doll)
Peter Bull b. 1912 died 20 May 1984 (Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland [1972], The 3 Worlds of Gulliver, A Christmas Carol [1951], The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus [1947])
Gustav Frohlich b. 1902 died 22 December 1987 (Metropolis)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, the Picture Slot went to Joseph Mawle as Benjen Stark from Game of Thrones and Gary Oldman from Harry Potter. Even with these two removed, there are plenty of good choices for iconic, including Timothy Dalton from Flash Gordon, Matthew Broderick from WarGames, Jaye Davidson from Stargate, or an illustration by the late great Al Williamson. But I decided on the late Lorene Yarnell, the woman who was inside the Dot Matrix robot in Spaceballs. I was not aware she was dead.

2. Spot the Canadian! If you know your 20th Century Canadian genre productions, today's solo Canuck should not be tough to find.

3. Nepotism FTW. Scott Eastwood started his career using his mother's name Reeves, but he's pretty much got his dad's face. He's Clint Eastwood's son.

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

Movie released
Divergent released, 2014  
 

Predictor: Hempstead Washburne 1852-1918, mayor of Chicago, asked to predict the world of 1993 in honor of the 1893 Columbian Exhibition

Prediction: The political condition of the United States in 1993 will be very similar to that of the present. Railroads and telegraphs will be under public control. We will still be on the gold standard. Corporations will tend towards more perfect centralization, until the monopolies become so obnoxious that they will be regulated by federal and local statutes. The accumulation of wealth will continue, but laws will be enacted to regulate the amount of wealth that can be inherited. The laboring classes shall organize and become a large part of the middle class. It is not improbable that women will obtain the franchise in many states.

Reality: Washburne starts by saying it's business as usual, then proceeds to predict a much more liberal form of government than the one that was in place in 1893, with women's suffrage, successful labor unions, trust busting government and taxes that discourage a permanent class of inherited wealth. It is interesting to note that besides the gold standard and women's suffrage, Washburne's topics are still a big part of the liberal-conservative debate even 122 years later.

As for facial hair, it's a bold mustache, but the rest is pretty tame. He kind of looks like the actor Bruce McGill, doesn't he?

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

I'm not keen on repeating myself this year on choices for the Picture Slot, but tomorrow looks like one of those days.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
 

28 February 2015

Birthdays (28 February)
Quinn Shephard b. 1995 (Believe, From Other Worlds)
Sarah Bolger b. 1991 (Once Upon a Time, The Lazarus Effect, The Spiderwick Chronicles)
Georgina Leonidas b. 1990 (Harry Potter, Wizards vs. Aliens)
Alex Arsenault b. 1985 (Caprica, Supernatural, Tucker & Dale vs. Evil)
Karolina Kurkova b. 1984 (G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra)
Natalia Vodianova b. 1982 (Clash of the Titans)
Lena Carwell b. 1982 (Jeepers Creepers II, The Nightmare Room, Power Rangers Wild Force)
Ali Larter b. 1976 (Heroes, Resident Evil, Final Destination I and II, House on Haunted Hill [1999])
Amanda Abbington b. 1974 (Being Human)
Rory Cochrane b. 1972 (Oculus, A Scanner Darkly)
Lemony Snicket b. 1970 (author, Lemony Snicket’s Series of Unfortunate Events)
Robert Sean Leonard b. 1969 (Falling Skies, My Friend Is a Vampire, The Manhattan Project)
Cecelia Specht b. 1967 (No Ordinary Family, Star Trek: Enterprise)
Rae Dawn Chong b. 1961 (Pegasus vs. Chimera, Deadly Skies, Poltergeist: The Legacy, Highland [TV], Time Runner, Deadly Nightmares, Tales from the Darkside: The Movie, Quest for Fire)
Mark Ferguson b. 1961 (Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings, Xena, Hercules, Cleopatra 2525)
Dorothy Stratten b. 1960 died 14 August 1980 (Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Galaxina, Americathon)
John Turturro b. 1957 (Transformers)
Gilbert Gottfried b. 1955 (Jack and the Beanstalk [2010], Funky Monkey, Superboy)
Bernadette Peters b. 1948 (Cinderella [1997 TV], The Odyssey, Into the Woods [1991 TV], Faerie Tale Theatre, Heartbeeps, The Martian Chronicles)
Mercedes Ruehl b. 1948 (Last Action Hero, Big)
Bubba Smith b. 1945 died 3 August 2011 (Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Escape from DS-3, Wonder Woman)
Gil Peterson b. 1936 (The Brain Machine)
Don Francks b. 1932 (Hemlock Grove, Puppets Who Kill, Zixx Level One, Earth: Final Conflict, Relic Hunter, Johnny Mnemonic, Eerie, Indiana: The Other Dimension, The Hidden Room, 984: Prisoner of the Future, Rock and Rule, The Star Wars Holiday Special. Mr. Scrooge)
Gavin MacLeod b. 1931 (Time Changer, Wonder Woman, My Favorite Martian, The Munsters, Men Into Space, World of Giants)
Walter Tevis b. 1928 died 8 August 1984 (author, The Man Who Fell to Earth)
Tom Aldredge b. 1928 died 22 July 2011 (The American Astronaut, *batteries not included, Into the Woods [1991 TV], The Mouse on the Moon)
John Carson b. 1927 (Doomsday, Doctor Who, 1990, Captain Kronos – Vampire Hunter, Taste the Blood of Dracula, The Plague of the Zombies, Blood Beast from Outer Space)
Harry H. Corbett b. 1925 died 21 March 1982 (Jabberwocky)
Jean Carson b. 1923 died 2 November 2005 (Twilight Zone, I Married a Monster from Outer Space)
Charles Durning b. 1922 died 24 December 2012 (Fatal Sky, Solarbabies, Amazing Stories, The Fury, Twilight’s Last Gleaming)
Alfred Burke b. 1918 died 16 February 2011 (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Blood Beast from Outer Space, Children of the Damned)
Billie Bird b. 1908 died 27 November 2002 (Werewolf, The Charmings, Max Headroom, Starman [TV])
Sir John Tenniel b. 1820 died 1914 (illustrator, Alice in Wonderland)

Birthdays (29 February)
Peter Scanavino b. 1980 (The Leftovers)
Antonio Sabato Jr. b. 1972 (Charmed, Lois & Clark, Earth 2)
Eamonn Roche b. 1968 (The Event, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Babylon 5, The Mask)
Dallas Barnett b. 1964 (The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug)
Ken Foree b. 1948 (Zone of the Dead, Halloween [2007], Dawn of the Dead [2004 and 1978], The Nightmare Room, The X-Files, Babylon 5, M.A.N.T.I.S., The Flash, Quantum leap, Beauty and the Beast [1989], From Beyond, Knight Rider)
Harvey Jason b. 1940 (The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Alien Nation [TV], Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Wizard, Knight Rider, Wonder Woman, Man From Atlantis, Genesis II, Necromancy)
Alex Rocco b. 1936 (Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Small & Frye, The Entity, Slither, Batman)
Joss Ackland b. 1928 (Pinocchio [2010 TV], A Kid in King Arthur’s Court, Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey, One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing, The Little Prince)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, I used an illustration by Sir John Tenniel in the Picture Slot - certainly iconic, and a still from Transformers with John Turturro, not so iconic. This year I go with Ali Larter from Heroes, arguably the most iconic person on the list other than Tenniel, and unarguably a fabulous babe. Funny how often that works out.

2. Leap day babies. Let me address the elephant in the room. Hello. Mr. Elephant, how are you? For me, the short resource in keeping this blog alive is predictions with dates assigned to them. I'm going to do everything I can to keep going until at least the end of 2015, but I can't be sure about stretching it into 2016, which is a leap year. Given that situation, I decided to list the folks born on leap day since I might not get the chance 366 days from now.

3. The Canadians and Nepotism. Looking at resumes, you might be able to suss out that Alex Arsenault and Don Franks were born in Canada. Poor Dorothy Stratten was killed before the Canadian sci-fi boom began. For me, the surprise was Rae Dawn Chong is Canadian, as well as being the daughter of Tommy Chong, who was also born in Canada.  I did not know their places of birth until this morning.

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


 

Predictor: William Jennings Bryan (1860-1925), Democratic politician and Secretary of State under Woodrow Wilson, predicting the future of the United States in honor of the 1893 Columbian Exhibition in Chicago.

Prediction: The government may grow larger in scope, but it will grow more simple in purpose. Changed conditions will compel the government to guard the weak from the aggressions of the strong.

Much of the increasing inequality in wealth is due to laws absolutely unjust and to the absence of necessary restraining laws. We may not be able to destroy the natural disparity between men, but we must avoid exaggerating it by legislation.

General education among the masses and improved facilities for spreading information have prepared the people for more complete participation in the work of self-government. We have outgrown the present method of electing senators by legislatures.

Reality: Okay. Wow.

The Bryan we know today is best characterized by his Cross of Gold speech when he ran for president in 1896. (He was 36! The Constitution says he has to be at least 35, so he was definitely in a big damned hurry.) We also have his late in life defense of the state in the Scopes Monkey Trial, not his finest hour. But the "simpler government" line is often the preamble to libertarian principles that translate to Fuck the Poor, and he's 180 degrees away from that. For a while, the government did what it could to stem the tide of inequality with progressive taxation, but that's been taking a beating for a couple generations now. And he's completely on the money about direct election of senators. Good on ya, Mr. Bryan.

Never to be Forgotten: Maurice Hurley 1939-2015 The big news in Star Trek obits is of course Leonard Nimoy, but earlier this week writer and producer Maurice Hurley of the Next Generation era passed away. He is given credit for several story lines, including re-introducing the Romulans and having the general idea of an unbeatable foe which became the Borg. Moreover, he added the personal touches of Riker playing the trombone, Picard's favorite holodeck program being the private detective Dixon Hill and the introduction of Data's "brother" Lore. He is also given the blame for Gates McFadden leaving the show and her return when he left the show himself in season three.

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


Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

More guesses from Heinlein about what gadgets will be made in the future, which for him is 1970 or 2000.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

5 January 2015

Birthdays
Franz Drameh b. 1993 (Edge of Tomorrow, Hereafter)
Garette Ratliff Henson b. 1980 (Three Wishes, Captain America [1990], Arachnophobia, The Charmings)
Paul Jarrett b. 1979 (Continuum, Fringe, Twilight: Eclipse, Smallville, Stargate, The Grudge 2, Dead Like Me, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Millennium, The X-Files, Sliders)
January Jones b. 1978 (Last Man on Earth, X-Men: First Class)
America Olivo b. 1978 (Defiance, Warehouse 13, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Friday the 13th [2009], The Thirst: Blood War)
Olunike Adeliyi b. 1977 (Being Human [U.S./Canada] )
Bradley Cooper b. 1975 (Guardians of the Galaxy, Limitless)
Michelle Parylak b. 1975 (Star Trek [2009])
Daisy Bates b. 1974 (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets)
Derek Cecil b. 1973 (Men in Black II)
Jason Miller b. 1972 (The Guild, Battle Planet, Day of the Dead)
Paul McGillion b. 1969 (Tomorrowland, Delete, Once Upon a Time, Fringe, Witchslayer Gretl, Captain Starship, Iron Golem, Sanctuary, V [2010], Supernatural, Star Trek [2009], Stargate: Atlantis, Preview to Atlantis, Jake 2.0, Replicant, First Wave, Smallville, Seven Days, The X-Files, Sliders)
Shea Whigham b. 1969 (Agent Carter, Radio Free Albemuth )
Ross Mullan b. 1967 (Doctor Who, Game of Thrones, Clash of the Titans)
Vinnie Jones b. 1965 (Arrow, Age of the Dragons, X-Men: The Last Stand, Mysterious Island [2005 TV])
Clancy Brown b. 1959 (The Flash, Sleepy Hollow, John Dies at the End, Cowboys & Aliens, A Nightmare on Elm Street [2010], The Burrowers, Lost, Carnivale, Star Trek: Enterprise, Lloyd in Space, Flubber, Starship Troopers, Earth 2, Tales from the Crypt, Pet Sematary II, Highlander, The Bride, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai)
Jeep Swenson b. 1957 died 18 August 1997 (Batman and Robin)
Cisse Cameron b. 1954 (Space Mutiny)
Pamela Sue Martin b. 1953 (Soupernatural)
Robert Catrini b. 1950 (Star-Crossed, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, True Blood, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, From the Earth to the Moon, SeaQuest 2032)
Polly Williams b. 1950 died 24 June 2004 (The Slipper and the Rose: The Story of Cinderella)
Diane Keaton b. 1946 (Sleeper)
Roger Spottiswode b. 1945 (director, The Sixth Day)
Cliff Potts b. 1942 (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Starman [TV], Silent Running)
Hayao Miyazaki b. 1941 (writer/director, Ponyo, Howl’s Moving Castle, Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, Kiki’s Delivery Service, My Neighbor Totoro, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind)
Michael O’Donoghue b. 1940 died 8 November 1994 (writer, Scrooged)
David Ryall b. 1935 died 25 December 2014 (Automata, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, Witchcraft [1992 TV], The Borrowers [1992 TV], Truly Madly Deeply, Blakes 7, Once Upon a Time [1973 TV])
Robert Duvall b. 1931 (The 6th Day, Deep Impact, Phenomenon, The Handmaid’s Tale, Invasion of the Body Snatchers [1978], THX 1138, The Time Tunnel, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Outer Limits, Twilight Zone)
George Reeves b. 1914 died 16 June 1959 (The Adventures of Superman)
Stella Gibbons b. 1902 died 19 December 1989 (author, Cold Comfort Farm)

Notes from the birthday list
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, January Jones from X-Men: First Class and Clancy Brown from Lost have graced the Picture Slot. Even with those two worthies removed, there are plenty of other good choices and this year I went with George Reeves in his most famous role as Superman. My other possible choices were Diane Keaton from Sleeper, Robert Duvall from THX-1138 or a still from a Miyazaki film.

2. Canadians, natural and otherwise. There are Canadian looking resumes on the list today and a Canadian whose credit list don't give them away. Paul Jarrett has the Canadian look and it's because he was born there. Paul McGillion was born in Scotland and his family moved to Canada. Olunike Adeliyi has only one credit and it's a Canadian show, and yes, she was born there. The odd man out is Ross Mullan, born in Canada but moved to Great Britain, with a credit list that looks like a Brit's. Go figure. 

3. Die young much? George Reeves was 45 when he committed suicide. Michael O'Donoghue was 54 when he died of a cerebral hemorrhage. Polly Williams was also 54 when she died of cancer. The wrestler/actor/stuntman Jeep Swenson died of heart failure at 40. There are numbers thrown around claiming pro football takes decades off the lives of the players and those numbers are incorrect when you look at the full data set. On the other hand, a disturbing and statistically significant number of pro wrestlers from the steroid era - the 1980s continuing on until today - have died young.

4. Cold Comfort Farm is sci-fi? Cold Comfort Farm was Stella Gibbons' most popular work and she grew to rue it. It was making fun of a genre nearly forgotten today, known at the time as the "loam and lovechild" books, stories of the English countryside with plenty of illicit sex thrown in, of which only D.H. Lawrence's novels are still well known. Gibbons wrote the story in 1932 but set it in the 1950s. While the action takes place mostly on the farm in the title and seems stuck in the early 20th Century, London has flying cars and several other trappings of popular futuristic novels of the time. 

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

Predictors: Right wing doomsayers

Predictions (reality): Here are a few of the things that should have happened by 2015 if Obama was re-elected in 2012.

1. Mike Lee (R-Utah) said gas would be $5.50 by the beginning of 2015 and would rise five cents a gallon every month after that. Newt Gingrich predicted $10 a gallon. (The president has very little to do with the price of gas. Right now it is crazy low, but the surplus is running out and it will likely rise again soon to about $4.00 a gallon.)

2. Mitt Romney predicted chronic unemployment rates over 8% for the rest of Obama's term. (The unemployment rate is currently 5.8%.)

3. Donald Trump, Charles Bilderman and Marc Faber all predicted the stock market would crash. (There are still two years left in the Obama Administration, but since November 2012, the Dow is up about 35%, near 18,000.)

4. Rush Limbaugh predicted the collapse of the entire economy when California declares bankruptcy and the rest of the nation has to bail it out. (Umm... no. California currently has a $4 billion dollar surplus.)

Editorial note: Government policies really don't make a gigantic difference in the economy in normal circumstances, but the public has certainly bought into the idea. I agree with Paul Krugman that the main way government policy can make things worse is to force austerity after a crash. If the economy turns bad in these next two years, the most likely culprits are the Republicans throttling public spending or another crash based on Wall Street's gambling addiction, an ongoing problem that neither party has shown any interest in fixing.


Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

How did ESPNs football experts do predicting the wild card match-ups?

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

28 October 2014

 Birthdays
Sierra McCormick b. 1997 (Land of the Lost, Supernatural)
Devon Murray b.1988 (Harry Potter)
Matt Smith b. 1982 (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Terminator: Genisys, Doctor Who, The Sarah Jane Adventures, Clone)
Michael Stahl-David b. 1982 (In Your Eyes, The Congress, Cloverfield)
Dwayne Cameron b. 1981 (Legend of the Seeker, Power Rangers, Dark Knight, Amazon High)
Joaquin Phoenix b. 1974 (Her, The Village, Signs, Superboy, SpaceCamp)
Michael Dougherty b. 1974 (writer, Superman Returns, X2)
Greg Eagles b. 1970 (Teeth and Blood, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Black Scorpion, The Burning Zone)
Julia Roberts b. 1967 (Mirror Mirror, Mart Reilly, Hook, Flatliners)
Stephen Hunter b. 1968 (The Hobbit)
Chris Bauer b. 1966 (Tomorrowland, True Blood, Fringe, The Lost Room, Devil’s Advocate, Snow White: A Tale of Terror)
Jami Gertz b. 1965 (The Neighbors, The Lost Boys, Solarbabies)
Lauren Holly b. 1963 (Alphas, Lost Girl, Living with the Dead)
Daphne Zuniga (Spaceballs, The Fly II)
Jonathan Mostow b. 1961 (director, Terminator 3)
Annie Potts b. 1952 (Ghostbusters I & II, The Man Who Fell to Earth [TV movie], Amazing Stories, Twilight Zone [1985])
Joe R. Lansdale b. 1951 (writer, Bubba Ho-Tep, Batman, Jonah Hex)
Ian Marter b. 1944 died 28 October 1986 (Doctor Who, The Abominable Dr. Phibes)
Dennis Franz b. 1944 (City of Angels, The Fury)
George ‘Buck’ Flower b. 1937 died 18 June 2004 (Power Rangers, Wishmaster, Village of the Damned, Plughead Rewired: Circuitry Man II, Warlock: The Armageddon, Mirror Images, Waxwork II: Lost in Time, Dragonflight, They Came from Outer Space [TV], Back to the Future Parts I & II, They Live, Mac and Me, Pumpkinhead, Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama, Berserker, The Night Stalker, Starman, Escape from New York, The Fog, The Time Machine [TV movie], The Invisible Man [1975 TV])
Jane Alexander b. 1939 (Terminator Salvation, The Ring, Testament)
Suzy Parker b. 1932 died 3 May 2003 (Twilight Zone)
Joan Plowright b. 1929 (The Spiderwick Chronicles, George and the Dragon, Last Action Hero)
Elsa Lanchester b. 1902 died 26 December 1986 (Off to See the Wizard, Mary Poppins, Bell Book and Candle, Alice in Wonderland [1955 TV], Bride of Frankenstein)
John Boles b. 1985 died 27 February 1969 (Frankenstein [1931])

Notes on the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. Last year, it was Matt Smith as the Doctor. This year, I went with the biggest movie star and her poster picture from Mirror Mirror. Next year, there are lots of possibilities, including Elsa Lanchester from The Bride of Frankenstein, Suzy Parker from the original Twilight Zone series (a model/actress, in her day possibly prettier than Julia Roberts), Annie Potts from Ghostbusters or Daphne Zuniga from Spaceballs. The only male who is even in the running is Joaquin Phoenix from Her.

2. We got plenty of nothing! Not only is today's birthday list Star Trek free, we are also devoid of Canadians. I expect this is going to be rare.

3. Oh That Bum. The busiest beaver among our birthday boys and girls today is George 'Buck' Flower, who started his career in 1970s soft porn but later became a character actor specializing in beggars, bums, winos and homeless men. Seriously, over 10% of his 158 roles are nameless, credited only as Drunk, Homeless Man, Wino, etc. You might think I am mocking him, but I always show respect to guys who make a living one role at a time. The only thing he had that was close to a regular paycheck was playing a character named Roy on the short-lived TV sitcom Flo. That's a hard way to keep food on the table and may he be blessed by Odin, Vishnu and the little Baby Jebus.

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

Movies released
In Time released 2011  

Predictor: FM-2030 in Upwing Priorities, published 1981

Prediction: Teledemocracy: All forms of leadership are intrinsically authoritarian - the differences are in degrees. Voting for leaders and representatives (who then make unilateral decisions for the people) is not democracy. Let us stop deluding ourselves. In our times democracy means direct participation in all decision making. This means voting not for leaders - but voting directly on issues.

Accelerators: Every week every month - or as often as necessary - people deploy their tranceivers to vote directly on issues. All sides of every issue are regularly telecast. Computer flashforwards of probable consequences of each scenario are simultaneously aired. (Because there are no struggles for leadership issues are depoliticized. The focus is on the merits of each plan.) Temporary committees (picked at random every month) supervise the referendums and implementation of decisions. In the age of two-way interactive telespheres leaders and representatives are as superfluous as scribes. By the first decade of the new century government will exist mainly in name as power will shift to the people via direct consensing.


Reality: Time to bring The Big Ugly Stick out of its burlap bag and give old FM-2030 a few well placed and well deserved whacks. I'm pretty sure FM stands for Frozen Moron, but I'd have to look that up. Just in case I got it right, I'm going to start using the nickname FroMo for this goofball.

Yet again, I have typed his stuff verbatim. I continue to be amazed the lengths to which he went to avoid using commas. But let us not be blinded by his bad punctuation and pompous neologisms. The real problems here are his incredibly bad ideas. Let's start with the first sentence about all leadership being authoritarian. Can you imagine what it must have been like inside his cult? I imagine a fascist dictatorship, don't you?

I live in California and the proposition system, first instituted in the days when the oil and railroad trusts owned the legislature, was meant to allow direct participation. Now, it is often a way for moneyed interests to get their way using a method cheaper than the outright bribery used so often today. In FM-2030's scenario, the problems we have now would be even worse. The rich would do everything they could to make sure their interests were protected, most notably by monopolizing the airwaves so their view would always be available. The temporary committee idea is a good way to make sure nearly no project taking a year or more to complete would ever be completed. As for the computer "flashforwards", who programs the computers? If some programmer's work in prediction is consistently wrong, who is the person who decides if he or she is sacked or not? If decisions were made by consensus, we'd probably have Ebola quarantine zones in every state and not a penny being spent to combat climate change.

Old FroMo has been steadily wrong time after time, but these two paragraphs are like the distilled essence of his arrogant bullshit.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Like with FroMo, I type the predictions from the 1911 New York World article verbatim. Unlike FroMo, I rarely want to bring the anonymous writer back to life and beat him senseless.


Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

9 September 2014

 Birthdays
Kelsey Chow b. 1991 (The Amazing Spider-Man)
Josh Herdman b. 1987 (Harry Potter)
Julie Gonzalo b. 1981 (Vamp U)
Michelle Williams b. 1980 (Oz the Great and Powerful, Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, Timemaster, Species)
Rogelio T. Ramos b. 1976 (Spider-Man 3, Zombie Night)
Goran Visnjic b. 1972 (Extant, The Deep, Elektra, Practical Magic)
Henry Thomas b.1971 (Nightmares & Dreamscapes, Cloak & Dagger, E.T.)
Eric Stonestreet b. 1971 (American Horror Story, The Island)
Julia Sawalha b. 1968 (Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, Comic Relief: Doctor Who – The Curse of Fatal Death)
Adam Sandler b. 1966 (Bedtime Stories, Click, Little Nicky, Coneheads)
David Bennent b. 1966 (Legend)
Michelle Johnson b. 1965 (Specimen, Death Becomes Her, Beaks: The Movie, Werewolf)
Brenda Epperson b. 1965 (Bug Buster)
Charles Esten b. 1965 (The Postman, Lois & Clark, Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: The Next Generation)
Hugh Grant b. 1960 (Cloud Atlas, The Lair of the White Worm)
Bruce Stait b. 1959 (Fringe, Final Destination 5, Supernatural, Tron: Legacy, Stonehenge Apocalypse, Smallville, Blade: The Series, Stargate: Atlantis, The 4400, Battlestar Galactica, Andromeda, First Wave, Poltergeist: The Legacy, The X-Files, Highlander [TV], Omen IV: The Awakening, Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future)
Jeffrey Alan Combs b. 1954 (Elf-Man, Dorothy and the Witches of Oz, The Dunwich Horror, The 4400, Abominable, SharkMan, Star Trek: Enterprise, Star Trek: Voyager, House on Haunted Hill, Deep Space Nine, Time Tracers, Perversions of Science, The Frighteners, Babylon 5, Ultraman: The Ultimate Hero, Doctor Mordrid, Trancers II, The Flash, Guyver, Robot Jox, Re-Animator, Beauty and the Beast, From Beyond, Re-Animator, The Man with Two Brains)
Janet Fielding b. 1953 (Doctor Who)
Angela Cartwright b. 1952 (Lost in Space [1998 and 1965], Logan’s Run [TV])
Tom Wopat b. 1951 (Jonah Hex, Smallville, Meteorites)
Jeffrey Alan Chandler b. 1944 died 19 December 2001 (Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, Twilight Zone [1985], Knight Rider)
Art LaFleur b. 1943 (Speed Racer, The Santa Clause, Angel, Space Rangers, Trancers I & II, The Blob [1988], Zone Troopers, WarGames, Wizards and Warriors, The Invisible Woman, Jekyll and Hyde… Together Again, The Incredible Hulk)
Topol b.1935 (SeaQuest 2032, Flash Gordon)
Margaret Tyzack b. 1931 died 25 June 2011 (Quatermass, 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange)
Nick Ramus b. 1929 died 30 May 2007 (Harry and the Hendersons, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home)
Cliff Robertson b. 1923 died 10 September 2011(Amazing Spider –Man, Escape From L.A., Return to Earth, Charly, Batman, The Outer Limits, Twilight Zone)
Neil Hamilton b. 1899 died 24 September 1984 (Batman, The Munsters, The Outer Limits)

Last year, Henry Thomas got The Picture Slot. This year, it was a wide open field. Regular readers will know that iconic genre roles trump movie and TV stardom, so folks like Adam Sandler, Hugh Grant and Tom Wopat were not in the running this year and unlikely to be used in the future. The main choices were Michelle Williams from the Oz movie, Jeffrey Alan Combs from Deep Space Nine or Re-Animator, Angela Cartwright from Lost in Space, Topol from Flash Gordon, Cliff Robertson from a number of roles or Neil Hamilton from Batman. But this year I have a soft spot for Doctor Who, so we get Janet Fielding as the companion Tegan, sometimes known as "the mouth with legs".

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

Predictor: FM-2030 in UpWing Priorities, published 1981

Prediction: Telespheres: Let us speedup the orbit shift from industrialism to the new age. The world of telespheres is flowing from the confluence of breakthroughs in many areas: limitless energy, interactive telecommunication, ultra intelligent machines, biological and cultural revolutions, space colonization. These and other forces are recontexting life in fundamentally new ways. We are creating electronic environments that integrate all peoples and services. No one need remain waterholed near stationary centralized sources of learning, livelihood or decision making. You connect from wherever you are.

For example, the track beyond school is teleducation which facilitates transmission of continuous updated info to anyone, anywhere, anytime.

Beyond hospital: preventative telemedicine.

Beyond bureaucracy: telemanagement and teleconference.

Beyond vindictive judicial systems: preventative crime telemonitor.

Beyond profit retailing: direct teleshopping from production decenters.

Beyond leadership government: teledemocracy via universal referendums…

Reality: One of the most annoying experiences possible is when someone you believe is an idiot is right, and I have to say FM-2030 gets several things right here. The "electronic environments that integrate all peoples and services" is the thing that lets you read my little musings, the Internet. That wasn't an obvious call in 1981. The "continuous [sic] updated info" describes Wikipedia, that are more people working from home, taking online classes and definitely shopping, but his awful neologism "decenters" as a noun instead of a verb, does a bad job describing the very centralized Amazon.com.

Here's what he gets wrong. He uses the word "waterholed" to talk about an old-fashioned way of doing things, but he misses that people really do need to be near sources of clean water and that's not going to change. Online education has to overcome the fact that most people aren't self-motivating enough to succeed without a lot of supervision. Hospitals aren't going away and preventative telemedicine only goes so far. We have telemonitors everywhere, as Ray Rice learned yesterday to his disadvantage, but we still have a vindictive judicial system, here in the "enlightened" United States more than anywhere if you measure incarceration rates. Just because people shop online, that does nothing to end "profit retailing", it just means people's spending does nothing to improve their own communities. As for teledemocracy and universal referendums, the election system in most democracies has done little to move forward into the 21st Century.

I promise that next week when we see his next prediction, FM-2030 will go back to being a useless prat.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Herman Kahn makes his final prediction from 1972 book. 

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
 

11 May 2014

 Birthdays
Cory Monteith b. 1982 died 13 July 2013 (Flash Gordon [TV], Kyle XY [TV], Kraken: Tentacles of the Deep, Stargate SG-1, Smallville, Supernatural)
Jonathan Jackson b. 1982 (The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Tuck Everlasting)
Brian Caspe b. 1975 (Wanted, Hellboy, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen)
Nicky Katt b. 1970 (Grindhouse, Sin City, Batman & Robin, Kindred: The Embraced, Strange Days, Knight Rider 2010, Martians Go Home, V, Gremlins, Voyagers!)
Jeffrey Donovan b. 1968 (Threshold, Witchblade, Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2, Millennium)
Tim Blake Nelson b. 1964 (The Fantastic Four [2015], The Incredible Hulk, The Astronaut Farmer, Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, Minority Report)
Natasha Richardson b. 1963 died 18 March 2009 (The Handmaid’s Tale, Gothic)
Vince Grant b. 1961 (Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, Touch, Star Trek: Enterprise, Timequest, Brave New World, Dracula: Dead and Loving It)
Shohreh Aghdashloo b. 1952 (Grimm, FlashForward, X-Men: The Last Stand)
Frances Fisher b. 1952 (Resurrection, Touch, Torchwood, Eureka, The X-Files, Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman [1993])
Pam Ferris b. 1948 (Children of Men, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban)
Doug McClure b. 1935 died 5 February 1995 (Out of this World, Superboy, Automan, Manimal, Firebird 2015 AD, Humanoids from the Deep, Warlords of the Deep, At the Earth’s Core, Twilight Zone)
Bernard Fox b. 1927 (The Mummy, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie)
Denver Pyle b. 1920 died 25 December 1997 (Escape from Witch Mountain, Return to Witch Mountain, The Twilight Zone, Commando Cody)
Doodles Weaver b. 1911 died 17 January 1983 (Earthbound, Bigfoot, Land of the Giants, Batman, The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock, Superman [1948])

The thing that jumps out at me on this is how many people died young on this list, most notably Cory Monteith and Natasha Richardson, but also Doug McClure, not to be confused with Troy McClure, the voice of infomercials on The Simpsons, voiced originally by the late Phil Hartman. With all this random death wandering around, I decided to give the Picture Slot to Bernard Fox, best known in genre as Dr. Bombay from Bewitched. Yes, Dr. Bombay is still alive! Yay! (Bewitched is yet another show where nearly everyone is gone.)

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

Predictor: Thomas Dixon Jr., minister, actor, legislator and author, asked to predict the 20th Century in honor of the 1893 Columbian Exhibition in 1893.

Predictions: There will be no crowned head of the civilized world at the end of the next century... "the less government the better" is the motto of an infantile republic... the railroads and telegraphs will be owned by the state... within the next century, the saloon is certain to be outlawed... the punishment of criminals will be based more and more on the effort to reform... Our divorce laws must become more uniform... The tendency for the accumulation of wealth must continue to increase until overturned by a social revolution... Corporations will continue to grow until they dispute the authority of the state, then they shall be absorbed by the state... the condition of the laboring classes is certain to become more independent as they grow better educated... medicine will attain the dignity of a science... Woman will attain her status of equality before the law.

Reality: I am picking and choosing from a whole bunch of predictions made by Dixon over four pages of text, but I'm not distorting his message, which is very progressive. Even outlawing saloons, which seems like a bad idea now, went arm in arm with the suffrage movement. (As a history teacher I know puts it, Prohibition was an attempt to outlaw bad husbands.) He's hit or miss on his predictions: on the minus side,  there are still kings and the railroads are not owned by the government. On the positive side, medicine has improved significantly and women have many more legal rights.

All of this is prelude to the big reveal. Dixon is best known now for his 1905 book The Klansman, a pro-KKK novel that was turned into the 1915 movie Birth of a Nation. I am sure conservative writers today would love to find this guy, a bigot who in nearly all other respects toes the liberal line almost completely.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

OMNI Future Almanac, mostly optimistic and largely full of crap.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
  

19 April 2014

 Birthdays
Jai Courtney b. 1986 (Divergent, I, Frankenstein)
Hayden Christensen b. 1981 (Star Wars, Jumper, Harrison Bergeron)
James Franco b. 1978 (This is the End, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, The Green Hornet, Spider-Man, The X-Files)
Alexis Thorpe b. 1980 (Nightmare City 2035, The Man from Earth)
Ashley Judd b. 1968 (Divergent, Tooth Fairy, Bug, Star Trek: The Next Generation)
Patricia Charbonneau b. 1959 (Strange World, SeaQuest 2032, RoboCop 2, Brain Dead)
Moira Sinise b. 1954 (Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines)
Dennis Dun b. 1952 (Charmed, Prince of Darkness, Big Trouble in Little China, Beauty and the Beast)
Tim Curry b. 1946 (Alice [2009], The Secret of Moonacre, Wolf Girl, Addams Family Reunion, Doom Runners, Lexx, Congo, Earth 2, The Shadow, It, The Worst Witch, Legend, The Rocky Horror Picture Show)
Rhodes Reason b. 1930 (Star Trek, King Kong Escapes, The Time Tunnel)
Dick Sargent b. 1930 died 8 July 1994 (Harry and the Hendersons, Teen Witch, The Six Million Dollar Man, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, The Beast with a Million Eyes)
Hugh O’Brian b. 1925 (Doin’ Time on Planet Earth, Rocketship X-M)

Last year I went with Hayden Christensen in the Picture Slot because he has the most iconic role in the biggest budget film. This year I went with Tim Curry because I love Tim Curry, as do all sentient beings. There are certainly other excellent choices, but you can be pretty sure I'm not going to use James Franco any time in the future. I've just never warmed up to the guy.

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

Predictor: Congressman Michael D. Harter (1846-1896) in honor of the Columbian Exposition of 1893

Prediction: The doctrine that the government which governs least governs best will, much earlier than 1993, be the unwritten but fundamental law.

Reality: Nice try, congressman. This guy might as well be an ancestor of Ron and Rand Paul. He is sold on the entire modern libertarian bill of goods, including the gold standard. But what really happened in the 20th Century was the growth of government, for good and for ill, a lot for good. It is still in doubt whether the idea of "promoting the general welfare" remains part of focus of government in this country, or if the preamble of the Constitution will be revised to "Fuck you, I've got mine."

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

The weekly schedule is interrupted for a repeat consideration of list of predictions from the early 1990s that is pretty strong.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!