17 June 2015

Birthdays
Manish Dayall b. 1983 (The Sorcerer’s Apprentice)
Arthur Darvill b. 1982 (Legends of Tomorrow, Doctor Who)
Scott Adkins b. 1976 (Metal Hurlant Chronicles, The Legend of Hercules, Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Mutant X)
Heather Mazur b. 1976 (Journeyman, Night of the Living Dead [1990])
Joshua Leonard b. 1975 (Touch, Shark Night 3D, Dead in Love, The Shaggy Dog, The Blair Witch Project)
Joe Camareno b. 1974 (director, Revenge of the Bimbot Zombie Killers)
Matthew Senreich b. 1974 (writer, Robot Chicken)
Louis Leterrier b. 1973 (director, Clash of the Titans [2010], The Incredible Hulk)
Michael Showalter b. 1970 (Signs)
Will Forte b. 1970 (The Last Man on Earth)
Jason Patric b. 1966 (Powers, Frankenstein Unbound, The Lost Boys, Solarbabies)
Erin and Diane Murphy b. 1964 (Bewitched)
Greg Kinnear b. 1963 (What Planet Are You From?, Mystery Men, Blankman)
Thomas Haden Church b. 1960 (John Carter, Spider-Man 3, Zombie Roadkill, Idiocracy, Monkeybone, Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight)
Jon Gries b. 1957 (Skinwalker Ranch, Supernatural, Lost, The Astronaut Farmer, Carnivale, Men in Black, The X-Files, Quantum Leap, The Twilight Zone, The Powers of Matthew Star)
Mark Linn-Baker b. 1954 (Alice at the Palace)
Joe Piscopo b. 1951 (Star Trek: The Next Generation)
Peter Lupus b. 1932 (Giant of the Evil Island, Challenge of the Gladiator, Hercules and the Tyrants of Babylon, The Brass Bottle, Muscle Beach Party, Goliath and the Conquest of Damascus)
James Shigeta b. 1929 died 28 July 2014 (Space Marines, Babylon 5, SeaQuest 2032, Deadly Nightmares, Tomorrow’s Child, The Greatest American Hero, The Questor Tapes, The Outer Limits )
Wally Wood b. 1927 died 2 November 1981 (artist)
Beryl Reid b. 1919 died 13 October 1996 (Doctor Who, Dr. Phibes Rises Again)
Ralph Bellamy b. 1904 died 29 November 1991 (Amazon Women on the Moon, Twilight Zone, Space, Search for the Gods, Rosemary’s Baby, The Invaders)
M.C. Escher b. 1898 died 27 March 1972 (artist)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, the Picture Slot went to Arthur Darvill as Rory Williams from Doctor Who and Thomas Haden Church as the Sandman from Spider-Man 3. While there are some well-known names on the list from TV like Peter Lupus, Joe Piscopo and Mark Linn-Baker, there best known work wasn't in genre, so the Picture Slot goes to Erin Murphy (or perhaps her twin Diane) as Tabitha on Bewitched.

2. Living Canadian free. Nobody born north of the border today.

3. The Guy at the Door. When I first found James Shigeta's credits, his birth year was listed as 1934, but his obituary last year said he was born in 1929 and he was 85 at the time of his death. This means he was older than the oldest living person on today's list, Peter Lupus from Mission: Impossible and a whole lot of gladiator movies. As always when this demographic fluke happens on a list, special birthday wishes for The Guy at the Door.

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

Predictor: George Sutherland in his 1901 book Twentieth Century Inventions

Prediction: Drawings will also be dispatched by telegraph. For such purposes as the transmission of sketches from the scene of any stirring event, the first really practical application of drawing by telegraph will probably depend upon the use of a large number of code words divided into two groups, each of which, on the principles of co-ordinate geometry, will indicate a different degree of distance from the base line and from the side line respectively, so that from any sketch a correct message in code may be made up and the drawing may be reconstructed at the receiving end. Illustrated newspapers will in this way obtain drawings exactly at the same time as their other messages, and distant occurrences will be brought before the public eye much more vividly and more correctly than has ever hitherto been practicable. For special objects, also, photographs can be sent by telegraph through the use of the photo-relief in plaster of Paris, or other suitable material, which travels backwards and forwards underneath a pointer, the rising and falling of which is accurately represented by thick and thin lines--or by the darker and lighter photographic printing of a beam of light of varying intensity--at the other end, so that a shaded reproduction of the photograph is produced. Relief at the sending end is in this way translated into darkness of shade at the receiving end.

Reality: Sutherland comes up with a couple of clever ideas for picture transmission, but the winning technology was the grid of dots that go from light to dark known as halftone, which was already in use as of 1880.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Now that the NBA championships are over, we give the experts their final grade.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
 

17 April 2015

Birthdays
Paulie Litt b. 1995 (Wizards of Waverly Place, Speed Racer, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind)
Jacqueline MacInnes Wood b. 1987 (Arrow, Final Destination 5)
Luke Mitchell b. 1985 (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., The Tomorrow People, H2O: Just Add Water, Cryptopticon)
Rooney Mara b. 1985 (Pan, Her, A Nightmare on Elm Street)
Jorgelina Guadalupe Airaldi b. 1984 (Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides)
Susie Amy b. 1981 (Vampire Killers, Dark Realm)
Nicholas D’Agosto b. 1980 (Gotham, Final Destination 5, Heroes, Supernatural, Psycho Beach Party)
Travis Young b. 1979 (Resurrection, The Walking Dead, Remnants, The Vampire Diaries, Monster Beach Party)
Alex Nesic b. 1976 (Angel)
Monet Mazur b. 1976 (Mystery Men, Addams Family Values)
Jennifer Garner b. 1972 (Elektra, Daredevil [2003], Dude, Where’s My Car?)
Michael Teh b. 1969 (Sleepy Hollow [2013], Sharknado, Alien Rising, Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus)
Henry Ian Cusick b. 1967 (The 100, Fringe, Lost)
William Mapother b. 1965 (Constantine, American Horror Story, Another Earth, I (heart) Vampires, Lost, Threshold, Minority Report, Vanilla Sky)
Lela Rochon b. 1964 (Meteor Man)
Joel Murray b. 1963 (Bloodsucking Bastards, Encino Woman, Scrooged)
Don Michael Paul b. 1963 (The Island, Robot Wars)
Carlo Rota b. 1961 (Grimm, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Pegasus vs. Chimera, SGU Stargate Universe, Relic Hunter, Mission to Mars, Earth: Final Conflict, Total Recall 2070, Highlander: The Raven, Forever Knight, TekWar: TekLab)
Sean Bean b. 1959 (The Martian, The Frankenstein Chronicles, Jupiter Ascending, Mirror Mirror, Percy Jackson, Game of Thrones, The Island, Lord of the Rings)
Kristine Sutherland b. 1955 (Buffy, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids)
Roddy Piper b. 1954 (They Live, RoboCop [TV], Highlander, Superboy, Hell Comes to Frogtown)
Olivia Hussey b. 1951 (It, Escape 2000)
Diane Fletcher b. 1944 (A.I. Artificial Intelligence)
David Bradley b. 1942 (Harry Potter, The World’s End, Game of Thrones, The Strain, An Adventure in Space and Time, Doctor Who, Captain America: The First Avenger, The Sarah Jane Chronicles)
Ron Miller b. 1933 (producer, TRON, The Watcher in the Woods, The Black Hole, The Cat from Outer Space, Escape to Witch Mountain, Son of Flubber)
Michael Forest b. 1929 (Seven Days, King Kong Lives, Star Trek, Twilight Zone, Viking Women and the Sea Serpent, The Deadly Mantis)
Gordon Rollings b. 1926 died 7 June 1985 (Superman II and III, Jabberwocky, Night Creatures)
William Holden b. 1918 died 16 November 1981 (Damien: Omen II)
Paul Langton b. 1913 died 15 April 1980 (The Immortal, Twilight Zone, The Incredible Shrinking Man, Invisible Invaders, The Cosmic Man)
Arthur Lake b. 1906 died 9 January 1987 (Topper [1937])

Note on the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. The previous Picture Slotters were Sean Bean and Jennifer Garner. Removing them from consideration, the top candidates to my mind are Kristine Sutherland from Buffy, Roddy Piper from They Live and the winner, Michael Forest as Apollo from Star Trek. Mr. Forest gets the nod because he is also The Guy at the Door, the oldest living person on the list and no one younger than him is dead. As is the custom of the blog, we give special best birthday wishes to anyone in that particular situation.

2. Degrees of nepotism. Joel Murray has a career of his own, likely best known as Freddy Rumson on Mad Men. but you'll notice he was in Scrooged, which starred his big brother Bill Murray. William Mapother also has a career that stands on its own, but you'll notice roles early in Minority Report and Vanilla Sky, which starred his more famous cousin Tom Cruise. Rooney Mara is from the family that owns the New York Giants football team, but I doubt that pulled many strings in Hollywood. The producer Ron Miller was married for a time to Walt Disney's daughter.

3. Canadians real and faux. Carlo Rota was born in England, moved to Canada for a while and is now working out of Los Angeles. The one person actually born north of the border is Jacqueline MacInnes Wood, though it's hard to tell from her credit list.

4. MST3K. Our Guy at the Door also showed up in two movies that got the MST3K treatment, The Deadly Mantis and Viking Women and the Sea Serpent.

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

Predictor: H.G. Wells in his 1902 book Anticipations

Prediction: One will subscribe to a news agency which will wire all the stuff one cares to have so violently fresh, into a phonographic recorder perhaps, in some convenient corner. There the thing will be in every house, beside the barometer, to hear or ignore.

With the separation of that function what is left of the newspaper will revert to one daily edition--daily, I think, because of the power of habit to make the newspaper the specific business of some definite moments in the day; the breakfast hour, I suppose, or the "up-to-town" journey with most Englishmen now. Quite possibly some one will discover some day that there is now machinery for folding and fastening a paper into a form that will not inevitably get into the butter, or lead to bitterness in a railway carriage. This pitch of development reached, I incline to anticipate daily papers much more like the _Spectator_ in form than these present mainsails of our public life. They will probably not contain fiction at all, and poetry only rarely, because no one but a partial imbecile wants these things in punctual daily doses, and we are anticipating an escape from a period of partial imbecility.

Reality: News you can hear of course did happen and used the technology of radio, already invented by the time Wells wrote this, though next to no one saw how big it would become.

As for the newspaper being devoid of fiction, here Wells is deriding the comics section, which was a mainstay of newspapers throughout the 20th Century. For that reason alone, I have a compulsion to revive Wells from the dead just long enough to smack him one upside his head.


Looking one day ahead...  INTO THE FUTURE!

The introduction of a new regular set of predictions from 1955, good news about the paradise to come in 1976.


Join us then...  IN THE FUTURE!

3 April 2015

 Birthdays
Jackson Bond b. 1996 (The Invasion)
Hayley Kiyoko b. 1991 (The Vampire Diaries, Scooby Doo! [TV movies], Wizards of Waverly Place)
Jerry Messing b. 1986 (Addams Family Reunion)
Rebekah Kennedy b. 1984 (Season of the Witch)
Cobie Smulders b. 1982 (Avengers, Captain America, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Andromeda, Jeremiah, Smallville)
Alessandro Juliani b. 1978 (The 100, Almost Human, Man of Steel, Continuum, Eve of Destruction, Fringe, Smallville, Dinosaur Train, Riverworld, Alice [TV], Reaper, Battlestar Galactica, The Time Tunnel [2006], Stargate SG-1, Earthsea, Jeremiah, Welcome to Paradox)
Matthew Goode b. 1978 (Watchmen)
Philip Brodie b. 1975 (Dawn of the Dragonslayer, Zombie Diaries 2, Merlin [2010 TV], Young Dracula, My Hero)
Jacky Wu b. 1974 (The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor)
Jamie Bamber b. 1973 (Star Trek Continues, Dollhouse, Battlestar Galactica, The Devil’s Tattoo)
Adam Scott b. 1973 (Hot Tub Time Machine 2, Piranha 3D, Wonderfalls, Star Trek: First Contact)
Catherine McCormack b. 1972 (28 Weeks Later, Shadow of the Vampire)
Ben Mendelsohn b. 1969 (The Dark Knight Rises, Farscape)
Jennifer Rubin b. 1962 (Amazons and Gladiators, The Wasp Woman, Screamers, Tales from the Crypt, The Twilight Zone [1987], A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors)
Eddie Murphy b. 1961 (Meet Dave, The Haunted Mansion, The Adventures of Pluto Nash, Doctor Dolittle, Vampire in Brooklyn)
Elizabeth Gracen b. 1961 (Coherence, Charmed, Highlander [TV], Time Trax, The Flash [1991], The Death of the Incredible Hulk, Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat)
David Hyde Pierce b. 1959 (Hellboy, Addams Family Values, Vampire’s Kiss, The Terminator)
Vanna Bonta b. 1958 died 8 July 2014 (Time Walker, The Beastmaster)
Alec Baldwin b. 1958 (Dr. Suess’ The Cat in the Hat, The Adventures of Pluto Nash, Thomas and the Magic Railroad, The Shadow, Beetlejuice)
Robin Mossley b. 1955 (Sanctuary, Reaper, Painkiller Jane, Stargate SG-1, Andromeda, The 4400, Alienated, Jeremiah, Elf, Dead Like Me, The X Files, Highlander [TV])
Uri Gavriel b. 1955 (The Dark Knight Rises, The Mummy Lives)
Pat Proft b. 1947 (writer, The Star Wars Holiday Special)
Lamberto Bava b. 1944 (director, Demons 1 and 2, Devilfish)
Wayne Newton b. 1942 (Kingdom Hospital, Tales from the Crypt)
Eric Braeden b. 1941 (The Aliens Are Coming, Wonder Woman, Project U.F.O., The Six Million Dollar Man, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, Escape from the Planet of the Apes, Colossus: The Forbin Project)
Wolf Kahler b. 1940 (Cockneys vs Zombies, Loch Ness, Space, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Boys from Brazil)
Lawrence Dane b. 1937 (Phenomenon II, MythQuest, Stargate SG-1, The Time Shifters, Highlander: The Raven, Bride of Chucky, Poltergeist: The Legacy, Darkman II, Millennium, Bionic Showdown, Scanners, The Invaders)
Kevin Hagen b. 1928 died 9 July 2005 (Land of the Giants, The Time Tunnel, Lost in Space, Twilight Zone)
Timothy Bateson b. 1926 died 16 September 2009 (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Hogfather, My Hero, Relic Hunter, Merlin, Neverwhere, Doctor Who, The Evil of Frankenstein, The Day the Earth Caught Fire)
Marlon Brando b. 1924 died 1 July 2004 (Superman, The Island of Dr. Moreau)
Harry Landers b. 1921 (Star Trek, World of Giants)
Jan Sterling b. 1921 died 26 March 2004 (The Incredible Hulk, 1984 [1956])
Washington Irving b. 1783 died 28 November 1859 (author, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, the Picture Slot was held by folks best known for their roles in the 21st Century, the lovely Cobie Smulders and the handsome Jamie Bamber. With them removed from the list, my top two choices were Alec Baldwin from Beetlejuice and today's winner, Marlon Brando as Jor-El in Superman. Casting him was a big damn deal, but he really didn't have much to do.

2. Spot the Canadians! There are four today. Cobie Smulders did the TV circuit before she was cast as Maria Hill in the Marvel movies, Alessandro Jiuliani also has an easy to spot resume. The two others are older than our usual Canadian actors, Robin Mossley turning 60 and Lawrence Dane now 78.

3. Nepotism FTW. I'm not going to count Alec Baldwin as nepotism, since he's the most successful of the brothers. On the other hand, Lamberto Bava is Mario Bava's son, so he definitely deserves a mention.

4. Things I didn't know. I love to check movies for early roles from actors who became much better known, but I don't remember David Hyde Pierce in The Terminator. I may have to go back and watch the movie again. The second thing I didn't know was Vanna Bonta died last year. Because of her role in The Beastmaster, she should have clearly been given a Never to be Forgotten post, but I didn't know she was gone.

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

Predictor: H.G. Wells in his 1902 book Anticipations

Prediction: Many people, with their minds inspired by the number of editions which evening papers pretend to publish and do not, incline to believe that daily papers may presently give place to hourly papers, each with the last news of the last sixty minutes photographically displayed. As a matter of fact no human being wants that, and very few are so foolish as to think they do; the only kind of news that any sort of people clamours for hot and hot is financial and betting fluctuations, lottery lists and examination results; and the elaborated and cheapened telegraphic and telephonic system of the coming days, with tapes (or phonograph to replace them) in every post-office and nearly every private house, so far from expanding this department, will probably sweep it out of the papers altogether.

Reality: I'm going to give Wells a strong grade for this one. Instead of hourly different versions of newspapers, he was predicting the hottest news would be sent by telegraph or telephone. The earliest experiments with radio had happened in the 1890s, many years before Wells wrote this, but nearly everyone in the field saw the drawbacks overwhelming the advantages. By the 1920s, it was one of the most important and practical modern inventions, but I am hard pressed to find anyone at the turn of the century who was predicting this. Our friend Sutherland has an idea for the use of wireless telegraphy that didn't come to pass, though it is rather clever, and his predictions for wireless telephony are very limited.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

It had to happen eventually and the day is growing nigh. There are only two prophecies left from our pals from 1893.
 
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

13 October 2014

 Birthdays
Noah Crawford b. 1994 (Land of the Lost)
Bailey Noble b. 1990 (True Blood)
Ashley Newbrough b. 1987 (Kaw, The Coven)
Katia Winter b. 1983 (Sleepy Hollow, Luna)
Felicity Jones b. 1983 (The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Doctor Who, The Worst Witch)
Nicole Garza b. 1982 (Transylmania, Invasion)
Vanesa Tomasino b. 1981 (Chupacabra vs. the Alamo, Defying Gravity, The X Files: I Want to Believe, Kyle XY, Fallen [TV Mini-Series], Absolute Zero, Smallville)
Ashanti b. 1980 (Mutant World, Resident Evil:Extinction, Buffy)
Kiele Sanchez b. 1977 (The Purge: Anarchy, Lost)
Katie Walder b. 1976 (Grimm, Supernatural)
Jennifer Sky b. 1976 (The Helix… Loaded, Charmed, Buffy, Xena, Cleopatra 2525, SeaQuest 2032)
Branden Williams b. 1974 (The X-Files, Dark Angel, Mystery Men, Halloween H20: 20 Years Later)
Nanako Matsushima b. 1973 (Ghost [2010], Ring)
Sacha Baron Cohen b. 1971 (Alice in Wonderland: Through the Looking Glass, Hugo)
Tushka Bergen b. 1969 (FreakyLinks, The Others, Angel, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Invisible Child, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome)
Tisha Campbell-Martin b. 1968 (Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Little Shop of Horrors [1986])
Kate Walsh b. 1967 (Legion, Bewitched [2005])
Christopher Judge b. 1964 (Doomed Planet, Mega Shark vs. Mecha Shark, Paradox, Stargate, The Dark Knight Rises, Andromeda, First Wave)
Alan Covert b. 1964 (Bedtime Stories, Little Nicky)
Matt Walsh b. 1964 (The Brass Teapot, Ted)
Hiro Kanagawa b. 1963 (The 100, Godzilla [2014], Almost Human, The Tomorrow People, Grave Halloween, Arrow, Continuum, Earth’s Final Hours, Caprica, Fringe, Supernatural, Reaper, The Last Mimzy, Blade: The Series, The 4400, Andromeda, Stargate SG-1, Elektra, Replicant, The Lone Gunman, Seven Days, The 6th Day, Dark Angel, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Smallville, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show, The X Files, Cyberjack, M.A.N.T.I.S., Highlander [TV])
Kelly Preston b. 1962 (Sky High, Battlefield Earth, From Dusk Till Dawn, Tales from the Crypt, SpaceCamp, Christine, Metalstorm: The Destruction of Jared-Syn)
T’Keyah Crystal Keymah b. 1962 (The Creature of the Sunny Side Up Trailer Park, Quantum Leap)
Wayne Pygram b. 1959 (Lost, Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, Farscape, The Lost World, Time Trax, The Girl from Tomorrow)
Chris Carter b. 1956 (writer, The After, The Lone Gunmen, Harsh Realm, The X-Files)
John Lone b. 1952 (The Shadow, Iceman, Americathon, King Kong [1976])
Beverly Johnson b. 1952 (3rd Rock from the Sun, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Lois & Clark, The Meteor Man)
William Zappa b. 1948 (Man-Thing, Farscape, Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior)
Susan Blommaert b. 1947 (Angel, The X-Files, Edward Scissorhands, Tales from the Crypt, Pet Sematary)
Melinda Dillon b. 1939 (The Effects of Magic, Captain America, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Harry and the Hendersons, The Twilight Zone [1985], Space)
Jim McMullan b. 1936 (Batman & Robin, Virus, Deadly Nightmares, The Incredible Shrinking Woman, Beyond Westworld, The Bionic Woman, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Sixth Sense)
Judi Meredith b. 1936 died 30 April 2014 (Queen of Blood, Jack the Giant Killer)
Jack Colvin b. 1934 died 1 December 2005 (Child’s Play, The Incredible Hulk, The Six Million Dollar Man, Exo-Man, The Bionic Woman, The Invisible Man [1975 TV], The Terminal Man)
Albert Hague b. 1920 died 12 November 2001 (Space Jam, Beauty and the Beast, Faerie Tale Theatre, Tales from the Darkside, Amazing Stories, Nightmares)
Jack MacGowran b. 1918 died 30 January 1973 (The Exorcist, My Partner the Ghost, The Fearless Vampire Killers, The Brain, Darby O’Gill and the Little People, The Giant Behemoth)
Jane Dulo b. 1917 died 22 May 1994 (The Lost Saucer, Soylent Green, Pufnstuf, I Dream of Jeannie)
Cornel Wilde b. 1912 died 16 October 1989 (Gargoyles, A Thousand and One Nights)
Douglass Dumbrille b. 1889 died 2 April 1974 (Batman, Twilight Zone)

Notes on the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. Wayne Pygram as Scorpius from Farscape. Christopher Judge from Stargate may actually be more iconic, but I liked Farscape better. I chose Jennifer Sky as Cleopatra last year because she had written an interesting piece in the New York Times and also, she's purdy. No shortage of attractive women on the list, but for iconic, I'd say Melinda Dillon in Close Encounters.

2. Hey, no Star Trek! More than thirty actors with birthdays today and not one Star Trek credit. That's hard to do.

3. Spot the Canadians? Pretty easy today, Vanesa Tomasino and Hiro Kanagawa. Both of them are based in Vancouver, but they were born in El Salvador and Japan, respectively.

4. The Guy at the door. Jim McMullan was born in 1936 and he's still kicking. Judi Meredith, born the same day, died earlier this year and everyone older than her is gone as well. Special best wishes for Mr McMullan.

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

Movies released
Strange Days released 1995

Predictor: OMNI Future Almanac, published 1982

Prediction: Daily newspapers, unfortunately, will continue to vanish during the rest of the century. The coming years will see smaller newspapers go out of business in many medium-sized cities, forcing their readers to rely on the remaining city papers for regional news. Even the largest of city tabloids will not avoid financial crises.

Reality: Absolutely right. The trend that was already visible in the early 1980s only got worse.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

He's been pre-empted a few times, but tomorrow we get to kick around the frozen corpse of FM-2030 yet again. Fun!

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

9 August 2014

Birthdays
Bill Skarsgard b. 1990 (Hemlock Grove)
Adelaide Kane b. 1990 (Teen Wolf, The Purge, Power Rangers R.P.M.)
Anna Kendrick b. 1985 (Into the Woods, Twilight Saga)
Ashley Johnson b. 1983 (The Avengers, Dollhouse, Roswell, Lloyd in Space)
Rhona Mitra b. 1976 (SGU Stargate Universe, Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, Doomsday, Hollow Man, Beowulf, Ghostbusters of East Finchley)
Jessica Capshaw b. 1976 (Minority Report)
Kevin McKidd b. 1973 (Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, Journeyman, The Magical Legend of the Leprechauns)
Liz Vassey b. 1972 (Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, The Tick, The Adventures of Captain Zoom in Outer Space, Quantum Leap, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Superboy)
Ryan Bollman b. 1972 (Star Trek: Voyager, Good vs Evil, The Neverending Story III, Children of the Corn II: The Final Sacrifice, Small Wonder, Starman [TV])
Thomas Lennon b. 1970 (writer, Battle of the Smithsonian)
McG b. 1968 (director, Terminator Salvation)
Eric Bana b. 1968 (The Time Traveler’s Wife, Star Trek [2009], Hulk)
Gillian Anderson b. 1968 (Robot Overlords, The X Files)
Josh Cox b. 1965 (Revolution, Thor, A.I. Assault, Babylon 5, Sliders, Quantum Leap, Freddy’s Nightmares)
Amanda Bearse b. 1958 (Here Come the Munsters, Fright Night)
Melanie Griffith b. 1957 (Cherry 2000)
Adam Nimoy b. 1956 (director, The Invisible Man [TV], Hercules: The legendary Journeys, Early Edition, Sliders, Babylon 5, Star Trek: The Next Generation)
John Varley b. 1947 (author, Eight Worlds, Gaean, Slow Apocalypse)
Sam Elliott b. 1944 (Hulk, Frogs, Land of the Giants)
Burton Gilliam b. 1938 (Sliders, Weird Science [TV], The Terror Within II, Back to the Future Part III, Knight Rider, The Girl, the Gold Watch & Dynamite)
Dick Anthony Williams b. 1934 died 16 February 2012 (The X Files, Edward Scissorhands, Space, The Powers of Matthew Star, Omen III: The Final Conflict, Brave New World, Man from Atlantis)
Daniel Keyes b. 1927 died 15 June 2014 (author, Won 1960 Hugo for the short story Flowers for Algernon and the 1967 Nebula for the novel length version)
Robert Aldrich b. 1918 died 5 December 1983 (director, Twilight’s Last Gleaming)
Leo Genn b. 1905 died 26 January 1978 (The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde [TV movie 1968])
P.L. Travers b. 1899 died 23 April 1996 (author, Mary Poppins)

Good list today. Last year the Picture Slot belonged to Gillian Anderson and she's a perfect fit. The best known role of her career is iconic and in genre and she's a fabulous babe. This year I went with Liz Vessey, here in her Captain Liberty costume from the live action version of The Tick. She's clearly fabulous, but the show didn't take off, sad to say. I have loved every incarnation of The Tick from the comic books to the cartoon to the live action. Heck, I even follow The Tick on Twitter. He once called me chum! (I'm sure he meant "pal" and not "large mass of cut up bait".)
 

 Predictor: Joseph Howard Jr. (1833-1908), predicting what the 20th Century would look like in honor of the 1893 Columbian Exhibition in Chicago.

Prediction: This is the age of electricity. Before another decade has passed, electricity will be the prime motor directing the great mechanisms of the world. As for changes in journalism, I fail to see the signs.

Reality: Okay, first the look. He's got the facial hair, the uncomfortable collar, the glasses mounted on the nose with a wire hanging from one side. Thank you, 19th Century fashion.

As for predictions... I sliced away three and half pages of blather about the history of journalism and how the enterprise ran in his day before his first prediction. Even when he gets to the predictions, I trimmed mercilessly. This guy writes like he was paid by the word. He was right about electricity, of course, but in 1893 that was not tough to predict. As for his field of expertise, all that overture and no actual show. Pretty sad, Mr. Howard.

Never to be Forgotten: Menahem Golan 1929-2014
Menahem Golan, producer who formed The Cannon Group with his partner Yoram Globus, has died at the age of 85. His company mainly produced action films, many of them sci-fi or fantasy. among those films are American Cyborg: Steel Warrior, Prison Planet, Captain America [1990], Night of the Living Dead [1990], Cyborg, Doin’ Time on Planet Earth, Journey to the Center of the Earth [1988], Alien from L.A., Masters of the Universe, Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, Beauty and the Beast, Invaders from Mars, America 3000 and Lifeforce.

Many producers who make as many low to medium budget action films eventually get the urge to make something that will be considered award worthy. Golan and Globus never did. Their movies were about fights and explosions and guys with large biceps and the occasional naked woman. I respect him for staying true to his code, no matter how tack that code was.

Best wishes to the family and friends of Menahem Golan. He is never to be forgotten.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

What, another nuclear conflagration? Yep, it's an alternate Sunday and those are the rules around here.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

22 January 2014

 Birthdays
Sami Gayle b. 1996 (Vampire Academy)
Matthew Newton b. 1977 (Queen of the Damned, Farscape, The Lost World[TV])
Balthazar Getty b. 1975 (Feast, Charmed, Judge Dredd)
Olivia d’Abo b. 1969 (Invader ZIM, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Eureka, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Conan the Destroyer) Diane Lane b. 1965 (Man of Steel, Judge Dredd, Jumper)
Linda Blair b. 1959 (The Exorcist, Supernatural, Scream, Repossesed)
Michael Kospa b. 1956 (Arrow, Supernatural, Fringe, Apollo 18, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Watchmen, Eureka, The 4400, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Fantastic Four, Dark Angel, Stargate SG-1, The Outer Limits [1996], The X-Files, Highlander [TV])
John Hurt b. 1940 (Alien, Doctor Who, Harry Potter, Outlander, Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull, V for Vendetta, Hellboy, Nineteen Eighty-Four)
Bill Bixby b. 1934 died 21 November 1993 (The Incredible Hulk, My Favorite Martian, Twilight Zone)
Piper Laurie b. 1932 (Bad Blood, Dead Like Me, The Faculty, The Twilight Zone, Return to Oz, Carrie)
Robert Halmi Sr. (producer, Riverworld, Flash Gordon [TV], Hogfather, Dinotopia, Jason and the Argonauts [TV], Alice in Wonderland [TV], Gulliver’s Travels [TV])
Robert E. Howard b. 1906 died 11 June 1936 (author, Conan, Kull, Bran Mak Morn, Solomon Kane)

If I was looking for the best known face on the list, it would depend on the age of the reader. People my age might well choose Bill Bixby, but he's now been dead for 21 years, so younger audiences might only dimly recognize him. John Hurt is another excellent choice for the Picture Slot based on fame, and Linda Blair in her iconic role is another. Any of the actresses qualify using the Pretty Girl = Picture Slot criterion, but after all that, you are now looking at a picture of Robert E. Howard, the pulp fiction writer from the 1920s and 1930s, a man who died at the age of 30 who produced an astonishing number of stories. A lot of his fame now is attributable to a resurgence of interest in his most famous character Conan the Barbarian in the 1960s, some thirty years after he died, when some clever paperback publisher commissioned Frank Frazetta to paint the cover art for Conan and the books flew off of the shelves.

Many happy returns to the living on the list, and to Robert E. Howard and Bill Bixby, thanks for all the memories.
 

Predictor: T. Baron Russell in A Hundred Years Hence, published 1905

Prediction: Although, in some of their characteristics, they will be greatly ameliorated, advertisements may very likely still constitute one ground of discontent with the newspaper of the future.

Reality: Yeah, they are a ground of discontent because they barely exist anymore, especially the classifieds. It would be too much to ask for someone from 1905 to predict the effect of the Internet on daily life 100 years into the future, though E.M. Forster's 1909 science fiction story The Machine Stops has an entity that is at least metaphorically a lot like the Internet today.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Once again, Isaac Asimov is back to tell us about 2014 from his vantage point in 1964.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!