22 January 2015

Birthdays
Sami Gayle b. 1996 (Vampire Academy)
Beverly Mitchell b. 1981 (Toxin, The Crow: City of Angels, White Dwarf, Quantum Leap)
Willa Ford b. 1981 (Friday the 13th [2009])
Christopher Masterson b. 1980 (Haven, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Strange Frequency, Millennium)
Matthew Newton b. 1977 (Queen of the Damned, Farscape, The Lost World [TV])
Jennifer Spence b. 1977 (Continuum, Supernatural, SGU Stargate Universe, Eureka, The 4400, The Core)
Balthazar Getty b. 1975 (Feast, Charmed, The Hunger [TV], Habitat, Judge Dredd)
Rebekah Elmalogou b. 1974 (Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome)
Gabriel Macht b. 1972 (The Spirit)
Karen Finneran b. 1971 (Bewitched [2005], Wonderfalls, Night of the Living Dead [1990])
Olivia d’Abo b. 1969 (Sleeping Beauty [2014], Nuclear Family, Eureka, Invader ZIM, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Conan the Destroyer)
Qing Xu b. 1969 (Looper)
Diane Lane b. 1965 (Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Man of Steel, Jumper, Judge Dredd)
Linda Blair b. 1959 (The Green Fairy, Supernatural, Monster Makers, PSI Factor: Chronicles of the Paranormal, Sorceress, Repossessed, The Exorcist)
Tyrone Power Jr. 1959 (Mansion of Blood, Lorelei: Witch of the Pacific Ocean, Cocoon)
Michael Kospa b. 1956 (Arrow, Supernatural, Fringe, Apollo 18, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Earth’s Final Hours, Stonehenge Apocalypse, Impact, Watchmen, Flash Gordon [2007 TV], Eureka, The 4400, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Final Days of Planet Earth, Fantastic Four [2005], Dead Like Me, Carrie [2002 TV], Smallville, Jeremiah, The Immortal [2001], Seven Days, Dark Angel, Stargate SG-1, Poltergeist: The Legacy, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show, The X-Files, Highlander [TV], Sliders)
John Wesley Shipp b. 1955 (The Flash [2015 and 1991], Teen Wolf [2012], The Neverending Story II)
Jim Jarmusch b. 1953 (director, Only Lovers Left Alive)
John Hurt b. 1940 (Hercules [2014], Doctor Who, Snowpiercer, Only Lovers Left Alive, Labyrinth [2012], Harry Potter, Melancholia, Outlander, Hellboy, Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull, V for Vendetta, Roger Corman’s Frankenstein Unbound, The Story Teller, Spaceballs, Nineteen Eighty-Four, Alien, The Ghoul)
Seymour Cassel b. 1935 (Wicked Stepmother, Star Trek The Next Generation, Tales from the Darkside [TV], Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Invaders, Batman, Twilight Zone)
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, Beauty and the Beast, The Twilight Zone [1985], Return to Oz, Carrie)
Jon Cedar b. 1931 died 14 April 2001 (Asteroid, Tales from the Darkside, The Greatest American Hero, The Incredible Hulk, Capricorn One, The Manitou, Day of the Animals, Time Travelers, The Invisible Man [1975])
Robert Halmi Sr. b. 1922 died 30 July 2014 (producer, Riverworld, Flash Gordon [TV], Hogfather, Dinotopia, Jason and the Argonauts [TV], Alice in Wonderland [TV], Gulliver’s Travels [TV])
Ann Sothern b. 1909 died 15 March 2001 (The Manitou, My Mother the Car)
Robert E. Howard b. 1906 died 11 June 1936 (author, Conan, Kull, Bran Mak Morn, Solomon Kane)
Conrad Veidt b. 1893 died 3 April 1943 (The Thief of Bagdad [1940], The Man who Laughs, The Hands of Orlac, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari)

Notes on the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. Previously, I had Robert E. Howard in the Picture Slot, the pulp writer from Texas who died very young but more or less started the sword and sorcery genre which would become popular in the 1960s when Frank Frazetta's paintings were used as the paperback covers. There are plenty of iconic choices here, with Bill Bixby, John Hurt and Linda Blair best-known to American audiences, but instead we have Conrad Veidt from the 1928 silent film The Man Who Laughs, taken from a story by Victor Hugo. Very few people today have seen this film, but writer Bill Finger did and it was his suggestion that this should be the look for The Joker, and that makes it iconic in genre. If Americans know Veidt at all, it's from Casablanca or The Thief of Bagdad or possibly the other silent horror films he made. For my money, no actor playing The Joker looks half as scary as Veidt does here.

2. Spot the Canadians, I dare you! There are three credit lists that have That Canadian Feeling, but only two are from the Great White North. Instead of giving the answer later, I will grade the work of anyone who puts up a guess. I'm back teaching classes and I have to get back into the swing of grading.

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

 

Predictor: Fulgencio Batistia, former dictator of Cuba, speaking from exile in Spain, 1960, quoted in The Experts Speak by Christopher Cerf and Victor Navasky

Prediction:“I give Castro a year. No longer.”

Reality: Well, here we are 55 years later, Castro is still alive and in power and more than that, the United States is finally getting around to re-establishing diplomatic ties with Cuba. I was thinking of saving this prediction until after Fidel died, but I'm not sure I'll be writing the blog that long.

Looking one day ahead...  INTO THE FUTURE!

It's time to get to the creepy stuff from Anticipations that made H.G. Wells an "important voice" in the politics of Edwardian England.


Join us then...  IN THE FUTURE!

26 December 2014

Birthdays
Zach Mills b. 1995 (Super 8, Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium)
Kit Harington b. 1986 (Game of Thrones, Silent Hill: Revelation 3D)
Roxanne Pallett b. 1982 (Devil’s Tower, Crystal Skull, Lake Placid 3)
Eugene Khumbanyiwa b. 1976 (District 9)
Joshua John Miller b. 1974 (Class of 1999, Teen Witch, Halloween III: Season of the Witch, The Greatest American Hero)
Josie Ho b. 1974 (Contagion)
Micha Hauptman b. 1973 (Supernatural, Iron Man)
Jared Leto b. 1971 (Mr. Nobody)
Danielle Cormack b. 1970 (Legend of the Seeker, Xena, Cleopatra 2525, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Amazon High)
Graham Shiels b. 1970 (Guardians of the Galaxy, Arrow, Thor: The Dark World, Hydra, True Blood, Charmed)
Tricia Leigh Fisher b. 1968 (No Ordinary Family, C.H.U.D. II – Bud the Chud)
Steve Le Marquand b. 1967 (Farscape)
Sandra Taylor b. 1966 (Batman & Robin)
John Lynch b. 1961 (Merlin [2012], Night Wolf, Black Death, Alien Hunter, The Secret of Roan Inish, Chimera)
Tahnee Welch b. 1961 (Johnny 2.0, Cocoon 1 & 2)
Temuera Morrison b. 1960 (Green Lantern, Star Wars: Episodes II & III, The Island of Dr. Moreau)
Fred Schepisi b. 1939 (director, Iceman)
Robert V. Barron b. 1932 died 1 December 2000 (Quantum Leap, Frankenstein: The College Years, Alien Nation [TV], Out of This World, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, The Supernaturals, Amazing Stories)
Donald Moffat b. 1930 (Twilight Zone [1985], The Right Stuff, The Thing [1982], Popeye, Logan’s Run [TV], Exo-Man, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Terminal Man)
Denis Quilley b. 1927 died 5 October 2003 (Timeslip)
Akihiko Hirata b. 1927 died 25 July 1984 (Godzilla, Rodan, The Mysterians, The H-Man, Mothra, King Kong vs. Godzilla, Atragon, Ghidorah, Ultraman, Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster, Son of Godzilla, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla)
Shirley Patterson (aka Shawn Smith) b. 1922 died 4 April 1995 (It! The Terror from Beyond Space, World Without End, The Land Unknown, Batman [1943])
Sean Sullivan b. 1921 died 3 June 1985 (The Dead Zone, The Starlost, Dr. Frankenstein on Campus, 2001: A Space Odyssey)
Richard Widmark b. 1914 died 24 March 2008 (Coma [1978], Twilight’s Last Gleaming)
Elisha Cook Jr. b. 1903 died 18 May 1995 (ALF, Twilight Zone [1986], Salem’s Lot, The Bionic Woman, Blacula, Rosemary’s Baby, Star Trek, Batman [1966], House on Haunted Hill, Adventures of Superman)
Vladimir Sokoloff b. 1889 died 15 February 1962 (Twilight Zone, Beyond the Time Barrier, Sabu and the Magic Ring, I Was a Teenage Werewolf, Monster from Green Hell, Queen of Atlantis)

Notes on the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. Last year, I went with Akihiko Hirata from the original Godzilla movie, and this year it's Kit Harington from Game of Thrones. During the last hockey season, Mr. Harington was in the stands at a Maple Leafs. A cameraman spotted him and this caption was put under his picture.

JON SNOW
Ned Stark's bastard, knows nothing

Well, I laughed anyway.

Next year, I'll probably use Oh That Guy Elisha Cook Jr. in his role from the original Star Trek.

2. Hard to spot Canadians. Graham Shiels is Canadian, but the resume doesn't give it away. Sean Sullivan was Canadian, but he died in 1985, which is a little before the Canadian genre TV trend became a full fledged industry.

Try spotting the Kiwis instead! There are two and I think they can be sussed out.

3. Fun fact to know and tell. I haven't trained my Word or Blogger spell-checkers, so they will ask about the spelling of Battlestar and Galactica and Farscape and Stargate and many other words that often show up here. In the case of Akihiko Hirata's credits, the spellchecker completely accepts Godzilla as a word, but the other Japanese monster names are marked as unknown. From this I surmise that Godzilla has truly become an icon, while Ghidorah and Mothra are still in the realm of nerd knowledge.

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

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

Prediction: It is improbable that ever again will any flushed undignified man with a vast voice, a muscular face in incessant operation, collar crumpled, hair disordered, and arms in wild activity, talking, talking, talking, talking copiously out of the windows of railway carriages, talking on railway platforms, talking from hotel balconies, talking on tubs, barrels, scaffoldings, pulpits--tireless and undammable--rise to be the most powerful thing in any democratic state in the world.

Reality: The description doesn't match them exactly, I'd say Lenin, Hitler and Castro fit the description of this improbable person fairly well.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Around the holidays, I have to check the calendar to tell what day it is, but tomorrow is Saturday and we go back to 1893, for modest facial hair and a modest prediction.


Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
 

3 November 2014

Birthdays
Gemma Ward b. 1987 (Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides)
Antonia Thomas b. 1986 (The Hybrid, The Misfits)
Daniele Watts b. 1985 (The Bloody Indulgent)
Gino Anthony Pesi b. 1980 (Grimm, The Vampire Diaries, Battle Los Angeles)
Adam Faraizl b. 1977 (It, RoboCop 2)
Dylan Moran b. 1971 (Shaun of the Dead)
Debbie Rochon b. 1968 (239 credits, every last one of them low budget crap)
Marjean Holden b. 1964 (BeastMaster [TV], Ghosts of Mars, Crusade, Babylon 5: A Call to Arms, Vampires, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, Deep Space Nine, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Tales from the Crypt, Philadelphia Experiment II, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure)
Dolph Lundgren b. 1957 (Battle of the Damned, In the Name of the King 2: Two Worlds, Universal Soldier, Retrograde, Bridge of Dragons, Johnny Mnemonic, The Punisher, Masters of the Universe)
Gary Ross b. 1956 (director, The Hunger Games, Pleasantville)
Kevin Murphy b. 1956 (Mystery Science Theater 3000)
Kathy Kinney b. 1954 (Lois & Clark, Arachnophobia, Scrooged)
Kate Capshaw b. 1953 (SpaceCamp, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Dreamscape)
Dennis Miller b. 1953 (Bordello of Blood)
Roseanne Barr b. 1952 (3rd Rock from the Sun, Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare)
Mike Evans b. 1949 died 14 December 2006 (Far Out Space Nuts)
Tom Savini b. 1946 (Inhuman Resources, The Dead Matter, Diary of the Dead, Planet Terror, Forest of the Damned, Land of the Dead, Unearthed, Dawn of the Dead, Sheena, From Dusk Till Dawn, Innocent Blood, Heartstopper, Creepshow 2, The Boy Who Loved Trolls, Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, Creepshow, Knightriders, Friday the 13th, Dawn of the Dead)
Aneta Corsaut b. 1933 died 6 November 1995 (The Blob)
Jeremy Brett b. 1933 died 12 September 1995 (Galactica 1980, The Incredible Hulk, Supernatural [1977 TV], The Champions, Beauty and the Beast [1961 TV])
Ken Berry b. 1933 (Small Wonder, The Cat from Outer Space, Hello Down There)
Lois Smith b. 1930 (True Blood, Minority Report, ‘Way Out)
Larry Gelman b. 1930 (Weird Science [TV], Amazing Stories, Dreamscape, Mork & Mindy, Batman, I Dream of Jeannie)
Claudia Barrett b. 1929 (Robot Monster)
Osamu Tezuka b. 1928 died 9 February 1989 (writer, Astro Boy, Metropolis)
Robert Quarry b. 1925 died 20 February 2009 (Droid Gunner, Mind Twister, Teenage Exorcist, Evil Spirits, Spirits, Alienator, Beverly Hills Vamp, Warlords, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, The Lost Saucer, Far Out Space Nuts, Dr. Phibes Rises Again, The Return of Count Yorga, Count Yorga, Vampire)
Leonard Stone b. 1923 died 2 November 2011 (The Invisible Man [2001 TV], Bigfoot and Wildboy, The Next Step Beyond, Gemini Man, The Six Million Dollar Man, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Soylent Green, Land of the Giants, Lost in Space, The Invaders, The Outer Limits)
Charles Bronson b. 1921 died 30 August 2003 (Twilight Zone, House of Wax)
Bert Freed b. 1919 died 2 August 1994 (Knight Rider, Salvage 1, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, The Sixth Sense [1972 TV], The Green Hornet, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Munsters, The Outer Limits, Invaders from Mars)
Ignatius Donnelly b. 1831 died 1 January 1901 (author, Caesar’s Column, Atlantis: The Antediluvian World)

Notes on the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. Okay. Charles Bronson is the movie star and he was on the original Twilight Zone series, Dolph Lundrgen is the genre star, Leonard Stone is my favorite Oh That Guy here and if I was in a mood for a fabulous babe, Kate Capshaw in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is the most iconic. But last year I went with Astro Boy, Osamu Tezuka's famous creation and this year I chose Kevin Murphy from MST3K, because... that's how I roll.
 
2. Oy, Debbie Rochon. It is my curse that I recognized her name immediately on imdb.com. My memory may be slipping, but in this case it is not slipping fast enough. If I was presenting proof there is a terrible drug epidemic in the United States, my first argument would be that Troma Films is still in business, which means there must be enough idiot stoners still watching this crap that they can keep filming it. Debbie Rochon is in fact Canadian, the only one on the list today, but she makes her living in this cut rate junk made in the U.S.A. When I'm on imdb.com, I don't count short films or direct to video, and even with that, Debbie Rochon probably still has about 100 credits. There was no way I was going to type them all in.  

There, I said it and I'm not taking it back.

Many happy returns to all the living on the list, even Debbie Rochon and Dennis Miller, and to the dead, thanks for all the memories.

 

Predictor: Sinclair Lewis in It Can’t Happen Here, published 1935

Prediction: November 3, 1936: Senator Berzelius “Buzz” Windrip is elected President of the United States and quickly institutes an oppressive regime.

Reality: So many people believe they are being oppressed now, it doesn't really matter who is president, does it? There have always been the goofball libertarians who believe any tax is theft, but now they get elected regularly. Likewise the climate change deniers who are certain global warming is a socialist hoax. On the left, you have the people afraid of government spying, corporate control of the food supply, America at constant war... the list of ways people are being oppressed is almost as long as the list of people who think they are oppressed.

Oy, such a headache.

Looking one day... INTO THE FUTURE!

Enough whining about current events! It's time to mock FM-2030 again!   

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

26 September 2014

 Birthdays
Emma Rigby b. 1989 (Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, Becoming Human)
Ashley Leggat b. 1986 (The Good Witch’s Charm/Destiny/Wonder, My Best Friend Is an Alien)
Talulah Riley b. 1985 (Thor: The Dark World, Inception, Doctor Who)
Christina Milian b. 1981 (Smallville, Charmed)
Mark Famiglietti b. 1979 (FlashForward, Premonition, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines)
Daniel Buran b. 1974 (True Blood)
Sheri Moon Zombie b. 1970 (Halloween I & II [2007 and 2009])
David Slade b. 1969 (director, Powers, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse)
Jim Caviezel b. 1968 (The Prisoner [2006], Outlander, Frequency)
Marc Gilpin b. 1966 (Earthbound, Jaws 2)
Lysette Anthony b. 1963 (Dark Realm, Highlander: The Return, Tale of the Mummy, NightMan, Dracula: Dead and Loving It, Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde, Dark Shadows [1991], Krull, Beauty and the Beast [1982 TV movie])
Melissa Sue Anderson b. 1962 (10.5:Apocalypse, Bewitched)
Patrick Bristow b. 1962 (Transformers: Age of Extinction, Elvira’s Movie Macabre, Charmed, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Black Scorpion)
Linda Hamilton b. 1956 (Defiance, Lost Girl, Bermuda Tentacles, Beauty and the Beast [1989], King Kong Lives, Black Moon Rising, Terminator, Children of the Corn, Wishman)
Olivia Newton John b. 1948 (Xanadu)
Mary Beth Hurt b. 1948 (Lady in the Water, D.A.R.Y.L.)
Togo Igawa b. 1946 (Street Fighter: Assassin’s Fist, Speed Racer, Primeval, Torchwood, Code 46, Lexx)
Victoria Vetri b. 1944 (Invasion of the Bee Girls, When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth, Land of the Giants, Rosemary’s Baby, Star Trek, Batman)
Helmut Bakaitis b. 1944 (The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions, Shirley Thompson vs. the Aliens)
Kent McCord b. 1942 (Farscape, Megiddo: The Omega Code 2, Dark Skies, SeaQuest 2032, Return of the Living Dead III, Predator 2, Galactica 1980)
Martine Beswick b. 1941 (Trancers II, The Powers of Matthew Star, The Six Million Dollar Man, Strange New World, Dr Jekyll & Sister Hyde, Prehistoric Women, One Million Years B.C.)
Jonathan Goldsmith b. 1938 (Knight Rider, Space, Manimal, Shadow on the Land, The Invaders)
Donna Douglas b. 1933 (Project U.F.O., The Twilight Zone)
Richard Herd b. 1932 (Star Trek: Renegades, InAlienable, Star Trek: Voyager, I Married a Monster, Buffy, SeaQuest 2032, Quantum Leap, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Beauty and the Beast [1987], Knight Rider, Trancers, V, The Powers of Matthew Star, The Greatest American Hero)
Patrick O’Neal b. 1927 died 9 September 1994 (The Stuff, The Stepford Wives, The Outer Limits, Twilight Zone)
Charles Macaulay b. 1927 died 13 August 1999 (V, Splash, The Munster’s Revenge, Blacula, The Twilight People, Star Trek)
Joyce Jameson b. 1927 died 16 January 1987 (Project U.F.O., Death Race 2000, Mr. Terrific, The Munsters, My Favorite Martian, Twilight Zone, The Son of Dr. Jekyll)
Shug Fisher b. 1907 died 16 March 1984 (Kolchak: The Night Stalker, The Giant Gila Monster)
Edmund Gwenn b. 1877 died 6 September 1959 (Them!, The Walking Dead [1936])
Winsor McCay b. 1867 died 26 July 1934 (writer/illustrator, Little Nemo in Slumberland)

Notes on the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. Last year it was Linda Hamilton, both a fabulous babe and several iconic roles in genre. Not wanting to repeat myself, we get this climatic shot from Eye of the Beholder, a very famous Twilight Zone episode. (Do I have to warn SPOILER ALERT for a show over fifty years old? I hope not.) She only had a little screen time, but that is in fact Donna Douglas, who would soon be famous as Ellie Mae on The Beverly Hillbillies. Next year, I can't be sure, but Charles Macaulay was Landru on an original Star Trek episode and Richard Herd has played a heck of a lot of admirals. If I want to throw the change-up, I might go with an illustration by Winsor McCay.

2. You might remember me from... We have some people with iconic work that isn't genre. From oldest to youngest, Edmund Gwenn was Santa in Miracle on 34th Street, Jonathan Goldsmith is The Most Interesting Man in the World, Martine Beswick was a Bond girl, Kent McCord was on Adam-12 and Jim Caviezel played Jesus in the torture porn classic Passion of the Christ.

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

Predictor: Economic statistician Roger Babson, September 1928, quoted gleaned from The Experts Speak, compiled by Christopher Cerf and Victor Navasky

Prediction: The election of Hoover in 1928 should result in continued prosperity in 1929.

Reality: We've heard from Babson before. He thought half the country would be living in trailers by 1955 and we would subsist on food in pill form by the late 1970s. It should be noted that a year later in September 1929, he was confident the market would crash. You could call it hedging his bets, but I'm going to be generous and say he correctly changed his mind when confronted with convincing data.

So that would make him 1 out of 4 correct, better than a lot of our predictors. But he failed to rock that beard type like John Elfreth Watkins did and food in pill form is my least favorite of all the cliche future predictions.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

A forward looking fellow from 1893 with much better facial hair than Babson's.


Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

13 September 2014

 Birthdays
Erin Way b. 1987 (Warehouse 13, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Grimm, Alphas, I <3 Vampires)
Sean Brosnan b. 1983 (U.F.O.)
Ben Savage b. 1980 (Aliens for Breakfast, Little Monsters)
Elizabeth Weinstein b. 1979 (Supernatural, Arrow, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Smallville, Goblin, Stargate SG-1)
Colin Trevorrow b. 1976 (Jurassic World, Safety Not Guaranteed)
Jonathan Walker b. 1967 (Continuum, Supernatural, Fringe, The Thing [2011], V [2011], Smallville, Flash Gordon, Stargate SG-1, Land of the Dead, Tracker, The X Files, Cyberjack)
Laura Stepp b. 1966 (Star Trek: Enterprise, Star Trek: Voyager, Spawn)
Isiah Whitlock Jr. b. 1954 (Europa Report, Enchanted, Gremlins 2: The New Batch)
Ann Dusenberry b. 1953 (Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, The Six Million Dollar Man)
Taryn Power b. 1953 (The Sea Serpent, Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger)
Christine Estabrook b. 1952 (American Horror Story, Spider-Man 2, The X Files)
Raymond O’Connor b. 1952 (Buffy, Babylon 5, Breakfast of Champions, Hard Time on Planet Earth, Dr. Alien, Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers)
Bruce Phillips b. 1951 (Legend of the Seeker, Power Rangers R.P.M., Lord of the Rings, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys)
Clyde Kusatsu b. 1948 (Dollhouse, Charmed, Babylon 5: Thirdspace, Godzilla [1998], Star Trek: The Next Generation, Lois & Clark, ALF, The Powers of Matthew Star, Meteor, Dr. Strange)
Frank Marshall b, 1946 (producer, Jurassic World, Indiana Jones, Back to the Future, The Sixth Sense, The Indian in the Cupboard, Amazing Stories, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, The Land Before Time, Arachnophobia, Hook, *batteries not included, Innerspace, Gremlins, Twilight Zone: The Movie, Poltergeist)
Richard Kiel b. 1939 died 10 September 2014 (Inspector Gadget, The Princess and the Dwarf, Superboy, Out of this World, Phoenix, Hysterical, Moonraker, The Humanoid, The Incredible Hulk, Land of the Lost, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, My Mother the Car, I Dream of Jeannie, The Human Duplicators, The Twilight Zone, Eegah, The Phantom Planet)
Don Bluth b. 1937 (Director, Titan A.E., The Land Before Time, The Secret of NIMH)
Joe E. Tata b. 1936 (Charmed, Wonder Woman, Batman, Batgirl, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Lost in Space, The Time Tunnel, The Outer Limits)
Barbara Bain b. 1931 (The Visitor, Space: 1999, My Mother the Car)
Norman Alden b. 1924 died 27 July 2012 (K-PAX, They Live, Small Wonder, Back to the Future, The Greatest American Hero, Electra Woman and Dyna Girl, Planet of the Apes [TV], Batman, My Favorite Martian)
Scott Brady b. 1924 died 16 April 1985 (Gremlins, The Invisible Man [1975], The Mighty Gorga, Journey to the Center of Time, Destination Inner Space)
Maurice Jarre b. 1924 died 29 March 2009 (composer, Solar Crisis, Ghost, Solarbabies, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, Dreamscape, Firefox, The Island at the Top of the World)
Roald Dahl b. 1916 died 23 November 1990 (author, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Witches)
Roy Engel b. 1913 died 29 December 1980 (Kingdom of the Spiders, The Invaders, My Favorite Martian, The Colossus of New York, Not of This Earth, Indestructible Man, It Came From Beneath the Sea, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, Zombies of the Stratosphere, The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Man from Planet X)
Reta Shaw b. 1912 died 8 January 1982 (Escape to Witch Mountain, Bewitched, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, I Dream of Jeannie, Lost in Space, Mary Poppins)
Mae Questel b. 1908 died 4 January 1998 (Who Framed Roger Rabbit)
Ruth McDevitt b. 1895 died 27 May 1976 (Kolchak: The Night Stalker, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, The Birds)
Daniel Defoe b. 1660 died 24 April 1731 (Memoirs of Sundry Transactions from the World of the Moon)

Notes on the birthday list.

1. The Picture Slot. I used Barbara Bain last year and it's only been a few days since Richard Kiel died, so those two were out of the the running. It definitely felt like an Oh That Guy type of list, so I picked Clyde Kusatsu in a role from Star Trek: The Next Generation.

2. Speaking of Oh That Guys, both Joe E. Tata and Norman Alden played minions on the 1960s TV version of Batman, the guys who hang around in odd costumes behind the even odder costumed villains and get the stuffing beat out of them by the Caped Crusader and Boy Wonder.

3. Oh That Gals. Both Reta Shaw and Ruth McDevitt are best known for playing little old ladies, McDevitt as the pet shop clerk in The Birds and Shaw played Aunt Hagatha on Bewitched.

4. My fickle respect for voice actors. I only rarely list the voice work for actors in the credits and ignore some people doing voice work altogether, but Mae Questel is a special case. She did the original voice for Betty Boop and voiced Olive Oyl for several decades, so she is clearly a Big Damn Deal and gets a mention.

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

Predictor: Daniel W, Voorhees (1827-1897), Indiana politician, predicting the world of 1993 in honor of the 1893 Columbian Exhibition in Chicago

Prediction: In my judgment the next 100 years will show but slight changes in the form of out government. Some minor changes, however, are altogether probable. I should think there would be a limit of the Presidential term to a single six year term with no re-election. I believe the American people have decided there shall be no federal control of elections within the states. Tariffs will still exist, but they will be greatly reduced to something near free trade. The system of taxation will see major changes, including taxes on income and property, taxing the prosperity, but not the necessities.

Reality: Points for Voorhees.

1. Facial hair and fashion. That beard is more severe than nearly any in Major League Baseball today, and that's saying something. He appears to be avoiding the uncomfortable collar here, though I've seen other pictures where he is a slave to fashion.

2. Predictions. Some hits and some misses. There were limits put on the presidential term, though not his exact recommendation. The Civil Rights Act certainly counted as federal control of elections, but our wise Supreme Court has gotten rid of that, now that racism is clearly a thing of the past. Tariffs are greatly reduced and there are both income and property taxes, but sales taxes hit both the prosperity and the necessities.

As for the big changes he missed, he didn't mention more states, but that's not such a big change from his lifetime when several states were added. Women getting the vote would likely be the biggest surprise for him.

(Note: one sentence in the reality section is meant to be sarcastic. Did you spot it? Yes, I knew you would.)

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

We are made wise to the plans of the dirty filthy commies by the Earl of Halsbury!

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

30 July 2014

Birthdays
Joey King b. 1999 (Oz the Great and Powerful, The Dark Knight Rises, Battle Los Angeles, Jericho)
Yvonne Strahovski b. 1982 (I, Frankenstein)
Hilary Swank b. 1974 (The Core, Buffy)
Christopher Nolan b. 1970 (director, Interstellar, The Dark Knight Rises, Inception, The Dark Knight, The Prestige, Batman Begins)
Simon Baker b. 1969 (Land of the Dead, The Ring Two, Red Planet)
Terry Crews b. 1968 (Gamer, Terminator Salvation, Idiocracy, Click, The 6th Day)
Jason Watkins b. 1966 (Atlantis, Doctor Who, Psychoville, Being Human, The Golden Compass)
Vivica A. Fox b. 1964 (Sharknado 2: The Second One, Ella Enchanted, Tremors [TV], Batman & Robin, Independence Day)
Laurence Fishburne b. 1961 (Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Man of Steel, The Signal, The Colony, Predators, The Matrix, Cherry 2000, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors)
Richard Linklater b. 1960 (director, A Scanner Darkly)
Richard Burgi b. 1958 (The Green Inferno, Reaper, Firefly, Mann & Machine, The Flash)
Philip Davis b. 1953 (Being Human, Merlin [2011 TV], Doctor Who, Alien³, Howling V: The Rebirth)
Jean Reno b. 1948 (Rollerball [2002], Godzilla [1998], Le Dernier Combat)
Carel Struycken b. 1948 (Charmed, The Addams Family, Men in Black, Star Trek: Voyager, Babylon 5, Journey to the Center of the Earth [TV], Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Witches of Eastwick, Ewoks: The Battle of Endor, The Prey, Bigfoot and Wildboy)
Arnold Schwarzenegger b. 1947 (Terminator, The 6th Day, End of Days, Batman & Robin, Last Action Hero, Total Recall, The Running Man, Red Sonja, Conan, Hercules in New York)
William Atherton b. 1947 (Defiance, Lost, Stargate SG-1, Headspace, Race to Space, The Crow: Salvation, Twilight Zone [1985], Ghostbusters)
Frances de la Tour b. 1944 (Into the Woods, Hugo, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, Alice in Wonderland [2010], The Book of Eli, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire)
John P. Ryan b. 1936 died 20 March 2007 (Class of 1999, Faerie Tale Theatre, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, It Lives Again, Futureworld, It’s Alive)
Richard Johnson b. 1927 (Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Zombie, Space: 1999, The Haunting)
Victor Wong b. 1927 died 12 September 2001 (Poltergeist: The Legacy, Tremors, Beauty and the Beast, The Golden Child, Big Trouble in Little China)


Last year's Picture Slot was Ahhhnold, and this year I went with an actor I actually like. There are some fabulous babes and Oh That Guys who might get the nod next year, notably Carel Struycken, Lurch in the re-boot of The Addams Family and Victor Wong, either from Tremors or Big Trouble in Little China, two of my favorite non-blockbuster genre films of all time.

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

 

Predictor: Herman Kahn in the 1972 book Things to Come, published by the Hudson Institute

Prediction: It will increasingly difficult for the West to maintain East Germany is merely a puppet of the Soviet Union.

Reality: Umm... no, not that difficult at all. East Germany was a puppet state until it collapsed.

Kahn was a conservative and a hard line Cold Warrior and he didn't see what was going to happen in our relations with Soviets and very nearly ignored the People's Republic of China. Other than predicting big growth in Japan, he is usually wrong or very vague, not unlike our Friday regular Edgar Cayce.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

We get another prediction from Lee de Forest, predicting the year 2000 from 1960. Except for seeing the communications world pretty well, de Forest isn't that much better than Kahn or Cayce, but at least he isn't wishy-washy.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

25 July 2014

Birthdays
Mason Cook b. 2000 (Mockingbird Lane, Spy Kids: All the Time in the World in 4D)
Preston Bailey b. 2000 (Children of the Corn [2009])
Linsey Godfrey b. 1988 (Altergeist, Wizards of Waverly Place, Surface)
Michael Welch b. 1987 (Twilight, Grimm, Day of the Dead, Stargate SG-1, Birds of Prey, The Invisible Man, The X-Files, Star Trek: Insurrection)
Shantel VanSanten b. 1985 (The Messengers, Beauty and the Beast [2013])
James Lafferty b. 1985 (Oculus, S. Darko)
Jay R. Ferguson b. 1974 (No Ordinary Family, Surface)
Jason Marin b. 1974 (Back to the Future)
Aaron Craven b. 1974 (100,000 Zombie Heads, Supernatural, Continuum, Fringe, Smallville, Alien Trespass, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Stargate: Atlantis, Kyle XY, The 4400, Stephen King’s Dead Zone)
Michael C. Williams b. 1973 (The Objective, Altered, The Blair Witch Project)
David Denman b. 1973 (After Earth, Angel, The X-Files)
Miriam Shor b. 1971 (Bedazzled)
D.B. Woodside b. 1969 (Buffy)
Matt LeBlanc b. 1967 (Lost in Space [1998])
Illeana Douglas b. 1965 (The Coven, The Adventures of Pluto Nash, Strange Frequency)
Iman b. 1955 (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country)
Lynne Frederick b. 1954 died 27 April 1994 (Space: 1999, The Canterville Ghost, Phase IV, Vampire Circus, No Blade of Grass)
Janet Margolin b. 1943 died 17 December 1993 (Ghostbusters II, Planet Earth)
Ken Swofford b. 1933 (Max Headroom, Knight Rider, The Incredible Hulk, Captain America II: Death Too Soon, Battlestar Galactica, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Girl with Something Extra, The Andromeda Strain, The Intruders, Shadow on the Land)
Woody Strode b. 1914 died 31 December 1994 (Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Kingdom of the Spiders, Batman)
Jack Gilford b. 1908 died 2 June 1990 (Cocoon, Anna to the Infinite Power, Caveman)

Yesterday, there were a bunch of excellent iconic choices for the Picture Slot, many of them fabulous babes, but today the star power in genre productions is not that great. Even the Oh That Guy actors aren't all that recognizable, with the exception of Woody Strode who was in a jillion Westerns and the comic actor Jack Gilford. And so, I make the Whedonverse Nerd move and go with a picture of David Denman as the demon Skip from Angel.

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

 

Predictor: Edgar Cayce in 1932

Prediction: In 1936, political upheavals will see the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the United States and Japan.

Reality: Wow. That's really specific and predicting very large changes to happen in a very short time period.

He's completely wrong, of course, but you have to admire the boldness.

I can understand how the Soviet Union or the U.K. or even the U.S. might break apart, but it's hard to imagine Japan becoming more than one political entity. Maybe he assumed they would be kicked out of Manchuria, which they invaded in 1931 so he should have known about that when he made the prediction. Even that didn't happen by 1936, so another big strikeout for Mr. Prophecy Guy.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Is Saturday just around the corner again. Then it's back to 1893. (Spoiler alert: no cool facial hair, but some clothing choices no one would make today.)

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!


 

22 June 2014

Birthdays
Portia Doubleday b. 1988 (Her, Carrie [2013], Legend of the Mummy)
Joe Dempsie b. 1987 (Game of Thrones, Merlin, Doctor Who)
Douglas Smith b. 1985 (Antiviral, Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, The X-Files)
Lindsay Ridgeway b. 1985 (Star Trek: Voyager)
Stephanie Jacobsen b. 1980 (Star-Crossed, Quantum Apocalypse, The Devil’s Tomb, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Battlestar Galactica, Farscape)
Donald Faison b. 1974 (Kick-Ass 2, Skyline, Clone High, Sabrina, The Teenage Witch)
Mary Lynn Rajskub b. 1971 (Safety Not Guaranteed, Dude, Where’s My Car?)
Michael Trucco b. 1970 (V [2010], Meteor Storm, Battlestar Galactica, The Big Bang Theory, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Charmed)
James McCauley b. 1966 (The Amazing Spider-Man 2, True Blood, I am Legend)
J.J. Cohen b. 1965 (3rd Rock from the Sun, Back to the Future, V [1985])
Bruce Campbell b. 1958 (Spider-Man, Alien Apocalypse, Sky High, Man with the Screaming Brain, Terminal Invasion, Bubba Ho-Tep, Timequest, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Xena, The X-Files, Weird Science [TV], Assault on Dome 4, Escape from L.A., American Gothic, Lois & Clark, Congo, Army of Darkness, Mindwarp, Waxwork II: Lost in Time, Darkman, Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat, Moontrap, The Evil Dead I and II)
Tim Russ b. 1956 (Star Trek: Voyager, Asteroid vs. Earth, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari [2006], Star Trek: Generations, SeaQuest2032, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Journey to the Center of the Earth [1993], Eve of Destruction, Alien Nation, Beauty and the Beast, The Twilight Zone, Spaceballs, Timestalkers, Starman [TV], Amazing Stories)
Graham Greene b. 1952 (Twilight Saga, Phil the Alien, Big Wolf on Campus, The Green Mile, Poltergeist: The Legacy)
Meryl Streep b. 1949 (Into the Woods, Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, Defending Your Life, Death Becomes Her, Alice at the Palace)
Lindsay Wagner b. 1949 (Warehouse 13, Alphas, A Light in the Forest, The Bionic Woman, The Six Million Dollar Man)
David L. Lander b. 1947 (Zoom, Black Scorpion, Sabrina, The Teenage Witch, The Tick, Homeboys in Outer Space, Freddy’s Nightmares, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Who Framed Roger Rabbit)
Octavia E. Butler b. 1947 died 2/24/2006 (won 2000 Nebula for Parable of the Talents)
Michael Lerner b. 1941 (X-Men: Days of Future Past, Tale of the Mummy, Godzilla [1998], Omen IV: The Awakening, Amazing Stories, Strange Invaders, Wonder Woman)
Kris Kristofferson b. 1936 (Blade, Planet of the Apes, NetForce, Millennium)
Amrish Puri b. 1932 died 12 January 2005 (Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom)
Ralph Waite b. 1928 died 13 February 2014 (Carnivale, Timequest, Time Trax)
H. Rider Haggard b. 1856 died 14 May 1925 (author, She)

I love a good same day birthday pair and Meryl Streep and Lindsay Wagner certainly qualify. (David L. Lander and Octavia Butler... not so much. People with fond memories of Squiggy who read black feminist sci-fi are few and far between.) On this blog, Wagner would trump Streep because Lindsay's most famous role is genre and iconic, though Meryl is easily the biggest movie star on this list. She has made and still makes a lot of "Oscar bait" films, and the Academy voters have not shown a lot of love for genre over the years, with a few exceptions like Cliff Robertson in Charly and Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight Returns.

After all that, it's Bruce Campbell and his BOOMSTICK in the Picture Slot because... reasons.

One last comment on the birthday list today. I'm embarrassed that I only know Tim Russ from Star Trek: Voyager, because he has a long Oh That Guy career before that role.

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

Predictor: Margaret Thatcher, October 26, 1969

Prediction: "No woman will be Prime Minister or Chancellor or Foreign Secretary – not the top jobs. Anyway, I wouldn’t want to be Prime minister; you have to give yourself 100 per cent."

Reality: The blog welcomes our new prediction source, The Experts Speak by Christopher Cerf and Victor Navasky. As you might expect, the short answer for the Reality section is going to be "nope", but I did find one about prices that could almost be counted as true if the Consumer Price Index is factored in. Today's prediction, while it does not have the usually required date attached, gets the nod because of the added dimension of irony.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Monday's a fun day for me, because I get to open up the OMNI Future Almanac to some random page and see what they thought would happen by some date that's usually already passed by now.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
 

7 June 2014

Birthdays
Jordan Fry b. 1993 (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory)
Michael Cera b. 1988 (This is the End, Frequency, My Best Friend is an Alien)
Virigie Le Brun (I, Frankenstein)
Anna Torv b. 1979 (Fringe, Frankenstein [TV, 2007])
Bill Hader b. 1978 (The Venture Brothers, Men in Black 3, Paul, Night at the Museum: Battle for the Smithsonian)
Karl Urban b. 1972 (The Wonder, Almost Human, Walking With Dinosaurs 3D, Riddick, Star Trek Into Darkness, Star Trek, Dredd, Doom, The Chronicles of Riddick, Lord of the Rings, Xena, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys)
Anthony Simcoe b. 1969 (Farscape)
Judie Aronson b. 1964 (Deep Core, Weird Science, Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, The Powers of Matthew Star)
Tarik Ergin b. 1961 (Star Trek: Voyager)
Bill Prady b. 1960 (producer, The Big Bang Theory)
Mark Ryan b. 1956 (Transformers, The Prestige, Conan [TV])
Robert Trebor b. 1953 (Xena, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Universal Soldier, My Demon Lover, The Purple Rose of Cairo)
Liam Neeson b. 1952 (The Dark Knight Rises, Battleship, Wrath of the Titans, The Chronicles of Narnia, Clash of the Titans, Batman Begins, Star Wars I: The One We Don’t Mention, Darkman, Krull, Excalibur)
Michael Pennington b. 1943 (Return of the Jedi)
Reg Park b. 1928 died 22 November 2007 (Hercules the Avenger, Hercules, Prisoner of Evil, Samson in King Solomon’s Mines, Hercules in the Haunted World, Hercules and the Captive Women)
Jessica Tandy b. 1909 died 11 September 1994 (*batteries not included, Cocoon)

Last year's Picture Slot was Liam Neeson, easily the biggest movie star on the list. This year it's Anthony Simcoe under all that make-up and prosthetics from the TV show Farscape. Next year, who knows? Karl Urban is certainly a possibility, I might go with Anna Torv from Fringe or if I'm in an odd mood, Reg Park from an Italian muscleman flick.

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

Predictor: Kate Field, giving her vision of the future in honor of the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago.

Predictions: (reality in parentheses)

The greatest American city in 1993 will be Chicago. (Suck up.)

The American now living who will be the most honored is Grover Cleveland. (Umm... no. This is actually a tricky question. I'd say Teddy Roosevelt is the most honored American politician alive in 1893, but his career up to that point was not impressive. Other good choices who were famous by 1893 would be Mark Twain and Thomas Edison.)

Fashion will change drastically. Trains will be reserved for the house, corsets and high heels will be done away with and the waist line will begin just below the bosom as in ancient Greek apparel. (She gets a point for predicting the demise of the corset. Trains exist on wedding gowns, high heels are still in use and even higher now and the waist line is just above the hips and below the belly button.)

It is interesting to note that though she was in favor of temperance, she did not believe it should be legislated. She did not make any prediction about women getting the vote.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

The regular schedule is interrupted for an exact date prediction from Dale Brown.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
 

6 April 2014

Birthdays
Peyton List b. 1998 (The Sorceror’s Apprentice, Spider-Man 2)
Zach Braff b. 1975 (Oz the Great and Powerful, Clone High)
Jason Hervey b. 1972 (The Monster Squad, Back to the Future)
Paul Rudd b. 1969 (Ant-Man, This is the End, Gen-X Cops 2: Metal Mayhem, Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers)
Michael Rooker b. 1955 (Guardians of the Galaxy, The Walking Dead, Atlantis Down, Meteor, Jumper, Slither, Repo! The Genetic Opera, Stargate SG-1, Tremors [TV], Jeremiah, The 6th Day)
Judi Bowker b. 1954 (Clash of the Titans, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde [1973])
Patrick Doyle b. 1953 (composer, Brave, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Thor, Eragon, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Nanny McPhee, Frankenstein [1994])
John Ratzenberger b. 1947 (Almost all Pixar movies, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, House II; The Second Story, Timestalkers, Wizards and Warriors, Outland, The Empire Strikes Back, Superman, Warlords of the Deep, Twilight’s Last Gleaming)
Barry Levinson b. 1942 (director, Sphere)
Roy Thinnes b. 1938 (Spectropia, The X-Files, Poltergeist: The Legacy, The Invaders, Dark Shadows, War of the Worlds, Battlestar Galactica)
Billy Dee Williams b. 1937 (Star Wars, Epoch: Evolution, Code Name: Eternity, Alien Intruder, Batman)
Ivan Dixon b. 1931 died 16 March 2008 (Amerika, The Outer Limits, Twilight Zone)
Gil Kane b. 1926 died 31 January 2000 (artist, DC and Marvel Comics)
Phil Leeds b. 1916 died 16 August 1998 (Ghost, Alf, Frankenstein’s Great Aunt Tillie, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, Rosemary’s Baby)

Oopsie! I put up the birthday list and forgot to write abut it. Last year, it was Billy Dee Williams as the ever suave Lando C., and it would have been a completely understandable choice to have him in a repeat situation. But given the popularity of The Walking Dead, instead it's Michael Rooker this year. The other options are Judi Bowker in Clash of the Titans, so pretty as Andromeda, Roy Thinnes from The Invaders, because I'm old, or an illustration of Gil Kane's, which more often than not is looking up someone's nostrils.

Many happy returns to the living (or undead) on the list, and to the truly dead, thanks for all the memories.

 

Predictor: Chauncey M. Depew, lawyer and U.S. senator, predicting the 20th Century in honor of the 1893 Columbian Exhibition

Prediction: Those who think as I do will call it "the party of progress". It is the aggressive force in the national government. It takes a broad view of the powers and responsibilities of the government. It sees in the Constitution not only permission but also command to do those things which are essential for the general welfare of the people.

This underlying principle will influence the Republican Party's relation to all new questions - social, economic and commercial - which may arise.

Reality: Ah, the old switcheroo. Back in the 1890s the Republican held the "liberal" position and the Dems believed in "limited government". I have to say Depew talks a good game, but he was also legal counsel to Cornelius Vanderbilt, so he wasn't exactly a "man of the people".

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

I actually look forward to Monday mornings, odd as that may sound, because I know I'll get to thumb through my dog-eared copy of OMNI Future Almanac for bold and often goofy predictions from the early 1980s.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
  
 

15 February 2014

 Birthdays
Brendon Small b. 1975 (The Venture Brothers)
Sara Wynter b. 1973 (Stephen King’s Dead Zone [TV], The 6th Day, Species II)
Renee O’Connor b. 1971 (Ark, Alien Apocalypse, Xena, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Boogeyman 2, Darkman II)
Michael Easton b. 1967 (Mutant X, Total Recall 2070, VR.5)
Christopher McDonald b. 1955 (Stargate Universe, Spy Kids 2, The Iron Giant, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Twilight Zone [1986])
Matt Groening b. 1954 (writer, Futurama)
Jane Seymour b. 1951 (Smallville, Battlestar Galactica, Somewhere in Time)
Sherry Jackson b. 1942 (Star Trek, Lost in Space, Batman, Twilight Zone)
Harvey Korman b. 1927 died 29 May 2008 (Munchies, The Invisible Woman, The Star Wars Holiday Special)
Herman Kahn b. 1922 died 7 July 1983 (author, The Next 200 Years)
Meg Wyllie b. 1917 died 1 January 2002 (Star Trek, Twilight Zone)
Kevin McCarthy b. 1914 died 11 September 2010 (Ghoulies III, Eve of Destruction, Innerspace, Twilight Zone: The Movie, The Howling, Invasion of the Body Snatchers [1978 and 1956], Piranha, Between Time and Timbuktu, The Invaders, Twilight Zone [1960])
Cesar Romero b. 1907 died 1 January 1994 (Batman, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century)

My defense for the selection of the Picture Slot boils down to one word.

Iconic.

There are plenty of other choices that make sense. Kevin McCarthy in Invasion of the Body Snatchers is also iconic and so is Renee O'Connor in Xena. A still from Futurama isn't a bad choice, either. Both Sherry Jackson and Meg Wyllie were on the two shows from the 1960s which matter most, Star Trek and The Twilight Zone.

The only thing I can say with confidence is that next 15 February, it will not be a picture of Harvey Korman from The Star Wars Holiday Special.

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

Prediction: 1988: The United States is divided into multiple administrative areas in 1988, one year after the Soviet takeover.

Predictor: Amerika mini-series, first aired 15 February 1987

Reality: This was one of the first times whining by conservatives turned into a TV show. The Day After mini-series in 1983 really bothered a lot of right wingers with its implicit anti-nuke position and they wanted a "pro-nuke" mini-series to balance it out. The best they got is this thing which posited that the Russkis could take over the US without a shot if we went all "ban the bomb".

The mini-series did all right in its first few nights, but it lasted a week and ended up with a 19 rating and a 29 share, compared to The Day After's of a 46 rating and a 62 share. As usual, when conservatives try to be entertaining, the result doesn't appeal to a wide audience.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Another prediction of war in the late 20th Century, this one with genetic supermen.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

8 January 2014

Birthdays
Freddie Stroma b. 1987 (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince)
Rachel Nichols b. 1980 (Continuum, Conan the Barbarian, Star Trek, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, The Amityville Horror)
Sarah Polley b. 1979 (The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, eXistenZ, Dawn of the Dead, Mr. Nobody)
Amber Benson b. 1977 (Buffy, Gryphon, Supernatural)
Michelle Forbes b. 1965 (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Escape from L.A., Battlestar Galactica, True Blood)
John McTiernan b. 1951 (Director, Predator, Last Action Hero, Rollerball [2002])
David Bowie b. 1947 (The Man Who Fell to Earth, Labyrinth, The Hunger)
Terry Brooks b. 1944 (Shannara series)
Yvette Mimieux b. 1942 (The Time Machine, The Black Hole, The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm)
Joan Freeman b. 1942 (Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, Death Moon, Project U.F.O., Land of the Giants, The Outer Limits, Panic in the Year Zero!)
Boris Vallejo b. 1941 (graphic artist)
Roy Kinnear b. 1934 died 20 September 1988 (The Avengers[TV], Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland[1972], Blakes 7)
Kerwin Mathews b. 1926 died 5 July 2007 (The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, The 3 Worlds of Gulliver, Jack the Giant Killer, Octaman, Battle Beneath the Earth, The Boy who Cried Werewolf, Nightmare in Blood)
Jose Ferrer b. 1912 died 26 January 1992 (Dune, The Swarm, Dracula’s Dog, The Amazing Captain Nemo, Exo-Man, The Sentinel)
William Hartnell b. 1908 died 23 April 1975 (Doctor Who)
Gene Roth b. 1903 died 19 July 1976 (Twilight Zone, Attack of the Giant Leeches, Earth vs. the Spider, She Demons, Zombies of Mora Tau, Red Planet Mars, Mysterious Island [1951])

This is a heck of a birthday list. Sci-fi and fantasy from the 1950s to the 2010s is represented. We have the first Doctor Who, one of Ray Harryhausen's favorite leading men, a bona fide rock star, a great comic actor in Roy Kinnear and a whole of actresses younger than I am who qualify for Pretty Girl = Picture Slot. In Jose Ferrer, we have a respected actor whose later career took a turn into the cheese, not unlike the beloved Vincent Price. Our "Oh, That Guy!" representative is Gene Roth, a tall actor who lasted a long time in the business and in later years played cops, military officers and judges a lot. But the slot goes to the lovely Yvette Mimieux, best known in genre for he work in The Time Machine.

To the living, many happy returns of the day and to the dead, thanks for all the memories.
 

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

Prediction: And one thing which the intelligently-elected Parliaments of the new age will assuredly discover is this principle : that it is not good for the State that any one man, or any one associated body of men, should possess an inordinate amount of wealth.

Reality: Well, this presents a problem. It isn't good for the state to have plutocrats, but since Russell specifically requires "intelligently-elected Parliaments", we are very unlikely to see this prediction tested in our lifetimes.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Another visit from Isaac Asimov making his forecast for 2014 from 1964.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

22 November 2013

Birthdays
Scarlett Johansson b. 1984 (Iron Man, The Avengers, Eight Legged Freaks)
Mark Ruffalo b. 1967 (The Avengers, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Blindness)
Jamie Lee Curtis b. 1958 (Halloween, Virus)
Roy Thomas b. 1940 (Marvel Comics)
Terry Gilliam b. 1940 (director, Brazil, Time Bandits, 12 Monkeys)
Robert Vaughn b, 1932 (Battle Beyond the Stars, Superman III)

A lot of star power on the birthday list today. For people about my age, the only name that might need even a little explaining is Roy Thomas, who was the second in command as a writer and editor at Marvel Comics in the 1960s and 1970s.

Regular readers will not need any explanation as to who got the Picture Slot.

Many happy returns to all our birthday boys and girls.

Movies released 
Star Trek: First Contact released, 1996
Back to the Future: Part II released, 1989

Back to the Future: Part II is full of predictions, but I use them near the anniversary of the date when Marty and Doc go to 2015, which is October 21.

Accept no substitutes.

Prediction: “Anyone who thinks the ANC is going to run South Africa is living in cloud cuckoo land.”

Predictor: Margaret Thatcher, 1987

Reality: TED Talks have been around since 1984, but Margaret Thatcher was never invited. Instead, this quote went up on the board during a 2009 talk by Ian Goldin about globalization that had no useful predictions of his own, but instead had a quote by the Iron Lady that served two purposes.

1) Reminding us that predictions about big changes are hard and

2) Anyone with a functioning brain stem can remember that conservatives may say they aren't racist, but they never have a problem with it when there's a buck to be made.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Saturday means a return to 1893, and this week it means we will hear from a feminist titan of industry.

Bet you thought they didn't exist in the 19th Century. I was a little surprised myself.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
 

20 November 2013

 Birthdays
Laura Harris b. 1976 (The X-Files, Dead Like Me, Warehouse 13, Stargate:Atlantis)
Joel McHale b. 1971 (Spider-Man 2, Ted, Spy Kids 4)
Ming-Na Wen b. 1963 (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, Spawn, Final Fanatasy, Stargate-SG1, Eureka)
Sean Young b. 1959 (Blade Runner, Dune)
Richard Masur b. 1948 (The Thing, It)
Don DeLillo b. 1936 (Libra, Underworld)
Richard Dawson b, 1932 died 2 June 2012 (The Running Man)
Phyllis Thaxter b. 1919 died 14 August 2012 (Superman, The Twilight Zone)
Robert Armstrong b. 1890 died 20 April 1973 (King Kong, Son of Kong)

Several choices for the Picture Slot today. Because I'm a Whedonverse fanboy, I could have gone with Ming-Na Wen, who turns 50, my first big "Hey, buddy! You are really old!" moment of the day. Richard Dawson in The Running Man is a choice, but he got his picture up when The Running Man had a prediction a few weeks back. Robert Armstrong is one of the hammy actors in the original King Kong, but that was just the style of the early 1930s. He had a long career and he wasn't always chewing scenery. But instead it's a picture of Sean Young, back when she was young and pretty and not being a serial stalker.

Many happy returns to the living on this list.

Movies released
First Men In The Moon released 1964
The Twilight Saga: New Moon released 2009

First Men In The Moon was not a huge hit, but it does have a prediction in it, which we will get to tomorrow.

Prediction: Barack Obama will be overthrown on October 19, 2013, arrested on charges of producing a fake birth certificate in an attempt to hide the fact his presidency is illegal.

Predictor: Judicial Watch founder Larry Klayman, after his September 2013 "citizen's grand jury indictment" of Obama.

Reality: Of course, the "citizen's grand jury" has no real legal authority, but Klayman was nice enough to give an exact date, and that's what this blog lives for. Klayman is one of those right wing types that I only hear about because left wing news sites like to publish the "look at the crazy people" stories. I don't have the time to figure out how many of these people are small time operators that the press can't stop covering, like Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist congregation, or people who create an actual money making operation feeding off the crazy, like Joseph Farah of World Net Daily.

In either case, Barack Obama remains defiantly out of jail.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

The first expedition to the moon in 1964 discovers somebody beat them to it.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

2 November 2013

Birthdays
Brandon Soo Hoo b. 1995 (G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, Ender’s Game)
Jon M. Chu b. 1979 (director, G.I. Joe: Retaliation)
Whit Hertford b. 1978 (Twilight Zone, Poltergiest II, Jurassic Park)
Michael Bailey Smith b. 1957 (The Hills Have Eyes, Men in Black II, Charmed, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The X-Files, Star Trek: Voyager, The Fantastic Four)
Dale Brown b. 1956 (writer, Sky Masters, Day of the Cheetah, Shadow Command)
Lois McMaster Bujold b. 1949
(won 1989 Nebula for Falling Free)
(won 1991 Hugo for The Vor Game)
(won 1992 Hugo for Barrayar)
(won 1995 Hugo for Mirror Dance)
(won 2004 Hugo and Nebula for Paladin of Souls)
Jerry Wasserman b. 1945 (I, Robot, Watchmen, Supernatural, Dark Angel, The X-Files)
Steve Ditko b. 1927 (artist, Spider-Man, Dr, Strange)
Warren Stevens b. 1919 died 27 March 2012 (Forbidden Planet, Star Trek, Land of the Giants, The Outer Limits, Twilight Zone)

The writers and graphic artist on today's birthday list are better known than the actors in general. Dale Brown writes military techno-thrillers, often setting the action in the near future, Steve Ditko was an important artist from the very beginning of Marvel Comics and Lois McMaster Bujold has more Nebulas and Hugos for novels than Heinlein got in his career.

As for the actors, Brandon Soo Hoo and Whit Hertford started as child actors, Michael Bailey Smith often plays monsters under a lot of make-up, Jerry Wasserman has a very long career guest starring on TV shows, a tough way to make a living, which also describes most of the late Warren Stevens' career, who gets the Picture Slot for the role of the alien Rojan on the original Star Trek series.

Many happy returns of the birthday to all the living on our list.

Movies released
Wreck-It Ralph released, 2012
Monsters, Inc. released, 2001
 

Predictor: Edgar Wilson "Bill" Nye, comic writer, founder of the Laramie Boomerang, columnist for the New York World, making predictions about the 20th Century in honor of the 1893 Columbian Exhibition held in Chicago.

Predictions (realities in parentheses):

Politically, there will be a lot less money expended in electing officials. (Strike one, Mr. Nye.)

The government should own both railways and telegraphs. (Some railways, no telegraphs.)

I see no reason to hope that money will not accumulate in the hands of a few in the future, even more than in the past. (A tough sentence to diagram, but he gets the modern situation right. Wealth accumulation is getting to be more uneven, though in the middle of the 20th Century, this prediction would have to be considered incorrect.)

The laboring classes will always be oppressed. (Things definitely got better for workers after 1893, with the end of child labor, the 40 hour work week, workplace safety laws, etc. That said, there are a lot of working people who are getting stiffed, as the whole debate about fast food workers shows today.)

Our soil, with improved agricultural methods, should grow enough for an increased population. (Good call. Of course, in 1893, Mr. Nye would have been hard pressed to see how much population growth was coming.)

American literature, I hope, will be more realistic in 100 years. (Once again, Mr. Nye gets it right.)

Music and drama will have grown rapidly. (Another good call.)

Women will never want the right of suffrage. (Oooh, and things were going so well.)

I look to the perfection of the flying machine. (In 1893, this is a bold prediction.)

Our greatest city will be on the present site of Chicago. (Sucking up to the hosts doesn't make this one right.)

As for the most honored American in 1993, the people will not have forgotten George Washington. (Not a bad call, though Lincoln and Jefferson give him a run for his money.)

And I am also putting up a delicate little tribute to myself in the way of a mausoleum, which will keep me as green in the memory of those from whom I am liable to be snatched away at any moment. (Nye died in 1896 from meningitis at the age of 45. Dying so young, his catalog of books is not extensive and no book of his is as well remembered as Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn or Ambrose Bierce's The Devil's Dictionary, humorists who were his contemporaries. Sorry, Mr. Nye.)

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Ray Bradbury tells us how things are progressing up on Mars in 2002.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

29 September 2013

Birthdays
Zachary Levi b. 1980 (Thor: The Dark World)
Alexis Cruz b. 1974 (Stargate)
Mackenzie Crook b. 1971 (Pirates of the Caribbean, Game of Thrones)
Luke Goss b. 1968 (Hellboy II, Blade II)
Ken Weatherwax b. 1955 (The Addams Family)
Cindy Morgan b. 1954 (Tron)
Martin Ferrero b. 1947 (Jurassic Park)
Ian McShane b. 1942 (Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Snow White and the Huntsman)
Madeline Kahn b. 1942 died 3 December 1999 (Young Frankenstein)

Another all actor day on the birthday list. If I was going with my favorite artist, that would be a toss-up between the two born in 1942, Ian McShane and Madeline Kahn, but they are both much better known for their work outside of genre than inside. The person who is best known for a genre role has to be Ken Weatherwax as Puggsley, but I used the Pretty Girl = Picture Slot rule and put up a still of Cindy Morgan from the original Tron.

Many happy returns of the day to the living.
 

Prediction: President Barack Obama will be overthrown on November 19, 2013 for defrauding voters with a fake birth certificate.

Predictor: Larry Klayman, founder of Judicial Watch

Reality: Kinda hard to use the word "reality" when talking about guys like this. A "citizen's grand jury" brought the charges, a "citizen judge" presided - and I'm sure he was completely impartial - and a bunch of people who have turned their psychotic breaks from reality into a full-time hobby think an uprising will occur seven weeks and two days from now because the whole world is going to wake up and believe the flimsy nonsense on which they have based their pathetic lives.

I mean seriously, the birth certificate? Haven't most of the loons moved onto BENGHAZI!!!1!! by now?

While this doesn't count as science fiction, I loves me an exact date in the foreseeable future, so Larry Klayman gets added to the list of predictors, and he joins our not very exclusive list of proud bigots and knuckle draggers under the catch-all label "scumbags".

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

An exact date prediction from Stephen King interrupts our regular schedule.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

2 September 2013

Birthdays
Salma Hayek b. 1966 (Spy Kids:Game Over, From Dusk Till Dawn, Dogma)
Keanu Reeves b. 1964 (The Matrix, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure)
Samuel A. Peeples b. 1917 died 27 August1997 (writer, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan)Mel Stuart b. 1928 died 9 August 2012 (director, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory)

When a fabulous babe is in the Picture Slot, I often look for somewhat modest photos that are not Cleavage Forward. I did not do this with Ms. Hayek because... reasons.

It's hard for me to believe Keanu Reeves will be 50 next year. I still think of him as a not very bright twenty something. I could be kind and say that's a testament to his acting skills, but you and I know that isn't true.

Many happy returns of the day to the living.

Prediction: In late summer, Hate Week begins.

Predictor: Nineteen Eighty Four, written by George Orwell in 1948

Reality: We haven't turned it into a special week's holiday every year, but a lot of politics today reminds me of Orwell's Two Minutes Hate. Right now we are being told why we should hate Syria, right wingers have Fox News and talk radio beating a constant drum of hatred towards Obama and the Democrats and websites like Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos and Media Matters are always digging up disgusting behavior from right wingers and Republicans, either media figures or politicians.

It gets exhausting.

Looking ahead one day... INTO THE FUTURE!

A prediction about 1999 from a 1989 TV show.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

20 August 2013

Birthdays
Andrew Garfield b. 1983 (Spider-Man)
Ben Barnes b. 1981 (Narnia)
Moon Bloodgood b. 1975 (Terminator Salvation)
Amy Adams b. 1974 (Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, Man of Steel)
James Marsters b. 1962 (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel)
Greg Bear b. 1951
(won 1995 Nebula for Moving Mars)
(won 2001 Nebula for Darwin’s Radio)
Sylvester McCoy (7th Doctor) b. 1943
Frank Herbert b. 1920 died 2/11/1986
(won 1966 Hugo for Dune)
H.P. Lovecraft b. 1890 died 15 March 1937

Quite often, the birthday list is all actors, but today there are three significant writers, and I have decided to use H.P. Lovecraft in the Picture Slot. Of course, Lovecraft is better known for a certain type of horror dealing with ancient powers instead of science fiction, but it's pretty remarkable when a person's name becomes an adjective, like Orwellian or Kafkaesque or Lovecraftian. Another thing these three 20th Century writers have in common is that all of them died before they were fifty.

Many happy returns to the living, and may the dead remain dead, their graves undisturbed by foolish mortals, their souls protected from the Old Ones.
 

Prediction: 1969 headline: N.Y. YOUTH MEET DEMANDS UPPER LIMIT ON FRANCHISE

Predictor: Robert A. Heinlein from Methuselah’s Children, started 1941, compiled and expanded into a novel 1958

Reality: Regular readers know that I have two Heinlein photos and I have labeled them Sensible Bob and Ridiculous Bob. The picture used today is the latter, but I only use it because I don't have a photo called Fucking Evil Bob.

Throughout my lifetime, conservatives have worked hard to deny the vote to people they disagree with, whether it's the southern Democrats of the Jim Crow era or the Republicans of Arizona during the Goldwater era where future Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist made his name getting Hispanics of the voting rolls or today when conservatives around the country work hard to take the vote away from the poor, women, college students, anyone who is unlikely to support their nasty nihilistic policies.

If one of the Old Ones decides to fuck with the immortal soul of Robert A. Heinlein, well... it's no skin off my nose. I say to him what he often said to his readers.

You're on your own.

Looking one day ahead...INTO THE FUTURE!

Our new pal from 1905 T. Baron Russell gets another go, this time a prediction that isn't quite as accurate as his first two.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!