9 December 2013

Birthdays
Simon Helberg b. 1980 (Big Bang Theory, Dr, Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, The Guild)
Reiko Aylesworth b. 1972 (SGU Stargate Universe, Lost, Aliens vs. Predator:Requiem)
Toby Huss b. 1966 (The Venture Brothers, R.I.P.D., Cowboys & Aliens, Harvey Birdman:Attorney at Law, Carnivale, Bedazzled)
Felicity Huffman b. 1962 (The X-Files)
Richard Brooks b. 1962 (The Crow: City of Angels, Firefly, Good vs Evil)
John Malkovich b. 1953 (Being John Malkovich, Warm Bodies, Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon, The Mutant Chronicles, Eragon, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Shadow of the Vampire, Mary Reilly)
Michael Dorn b. 1952 (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Heroes)
Beau Bridges b. 1941 (Stargate, 10.5 Apocalypse, Amazing Stories, Alice In Wonderland, Space, Village of the Giants)
Dame Judi Dench b. 1934 (Chronicles of Riddick, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides)
John Cassavetes b. 1929 died 3 February 1989 (Rosemary’s Baby, The Fury, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea)
Dick Van Patten b. 1928 (Spaceballs, Westworld, Lois & Clark, The Six Million Dollar Man, Wonder Woman, Soylent Green)
Kirk Douglas b. 1916 (20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, The Final Countdown, Saturn 3, Holocaust 2000, The Fury, Dr, Jekyll and Mr. Hyde)
Margaret Hamilton b. 1902 died 16 May 1985 (The Wizard of Oz)

Nice long list of birthdays today with plenty of honest to Odin movie stars, including Kirk Douglas, Dame Judi Dench and John Malkovich. When I saw Dick Van Patten's name, I thought I should include him for Spaceballs, forgetting how many other genre movies and TV shows he was in. For genre icons, I went with Worf from Star Trek, though next year it will either be Simon Helberg if I go New School or Margaret Hamilton if I go Old School.

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

Movies released
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe released, 2005

Prediction: 9 December 2012: Two filmmakers start their investigation into a conspiracy theory that claims people from the moon are controlling all events on earth since at least 1947.

Predictor: Lunopolis released direct to video 2009

Reality: Well, not so much, but I do have a soft spot for the modern micro-budget sci-fi movies, probably because I grew up watching all those silly 1950s sci-fi films on TV in the 1960s.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

You know who we haven't heard from in, like, forever? Grumpy old H.G. Wells!

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
 

8 December 2013

 Birthdays
AnnaSophia Robb b. 1993 (Bridge to Terabithia, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Jumper, Race to Witch Mountain)
Ian Somerhalder b. 1978 (The Vampire Diaries, Lost, Smallville)
Dominic Monaghan b. 1976 (Lord of the Rings, FlashForward, Lost, X-Men Origins: Wolverine)
Tyler Mane b. 1966 (X-Men, Halloween[2007])
Matt Adler b. 1966 (Chronicle, Smallville)
Teri Hatcher b. 1968 (Smallville, Spy Kids, Lois & Clark, Star Trek: The Next Generation)
Kevin McNulty b. 1955 (Fantastic Four, Battlestar Galactica, Stargate: Atlantis, Smallville, Andromeda, Dark Angel, Millenium[TV], The X-Files, Timecop)
Kim Basinger b. 1953 (Batman, Cool World, My Stepmother is an Alien)
Rick Baker b. 1950 (Make-Up and special effects, Men in Black, Tron: Legacy, X-Men: The Last Stand, Hellboy, Planet of the Apes, Escape From L.A., Starman, An American Werewolf in London, Star Wars, King Kong)
Belinda Belaski b. 1947 (Gremlins, The Howling)
John Rubenstein b. 1946 (Star Trek: Enterprise, Charmed, Angel, Star Trek: Voyager, The Boys From Brazil)
Mary Woronov b. 1943 (Death Race 2000, Buck Rogers in the 21st Century, Night of the Comet, Babylon 5)
David Carradine b. 1936 died 3 June 2009 (Dinocroc vs. Supergator, Death Race 2000, Nightfall, Charmed, Q)
Maximilian Schell b. 1930 (Deep Impact, The Black Hole)
Dewey Martin b. 1923 (The Thing From Another World, The Outer Limits, Twilight Zone)
Richard Fleischer b. 1916 died 25 March 2006 (director, Red Sonja, Conan the Destroyer, Soylent Green, Fantastic Voyage, Doctor Doolittle, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea)
Georges Méliès b. 1861 died 21 January 1938 (director, A Trip to the Moon, The Hallucinated Alchemist, Gulliver’s Travels, 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea)

A long list today, all movies and TV. A few well-known stars, more than enough fabulous babes to choose from, but I would like to note the people behind the scenes. Rick Baker has done some great make-up and special effects, as well as a lot of on-screen time dressed as a gorilla. Richard Fleischer directed a lot of well-known genre films, notably the 1954 Walt Disney produced 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, one of the first big budget sci-fi hits, finishing second in the year's box office to White Christmas and just ahead of Rear Window. But it is the first born on our list, Georges Méliès, who gets the Picture Slot, making the first special effects in films back when films were still brand new. It is no surprise that a fellow who decided to put such things on film started his career as a magician.

Many happy returns of the day to all the living on the list, and to the dead, we give thanks for their work as pioneers.

Prediction: By 2010, seven million people in South Africa will have died from AIDS/HIV.

Predictor: 2002 report by NMG-Levy, South African Labor relations organization, reported in Our Final Hour by Martin Rees

Reality: Rees is a glum bastard, I'll give him that. Looking at the chart, the blue line is the best estimate of deaths, the red line is the high threshold and the green the low for the 95% confidence interval. The black line at 7,000,000 is at the very top of the graph, and as we can see even the high estimate is nowhere near it. In 2002, the total number of death crossed one million, but in 2010, around four million people have died of the disease since 1990 when numbers were first tracked. This looks like exponential growth, but in fact the numbers are slowing down. It's hard to be proud or optimistic when there are still 300,000 people dying a year from the disease in this country, but according the numbers from the World Health Organization, it looks like the epidemic is on the wane after two decades of steady growth.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Strange events on the moon are uncovered by filmmakers in 2012. Could lunar beings control life on Earth?

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!  

7 December 2013

Birthdays
Emily Browning b. 1988 (Sucker Punch, Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events)
Nicolas Hoult b. 1989 (Warm Bodies, Jack the Giant Slayer, X-Men: First Class, Clash of the Titans)
Jack Huston b. 1982 (Outlander, Twilight: Eclipse, Eastwick)
Jennifer Carpenter b. 1979 (Quarantine, The Exorcism of Emily Rose)
Shiri Appleby b. 1978 (Roswell, Xena)
C. Thomas Howell b. 1966 (E.T., Alphas, Torchwood, Kindred: The Embraced)
Jeffrey Wright b. 1965 (Source Code, The Invasion)
Tom Waits b. 1949 (The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Mystery Men, Dracula)
W.D. Richter b. 1945 (screenwriter, Invasion of the Body Snatchers[1978], Dracula[1979], Big Trouble in Little China, Needful Things)
Kenneth Colley b. 1937 (The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, The Avengers)
Johnny Duncan b. 1923 (Batman and Robin [1949])
Leigh Brackett b. 1915 died 3/17/1978 (screenwriter, The Empire Strikes Back)

A lot of interesting names on the birthday list today.  Jeffrey Wright is one of my favorite actors, so good in Boycott and Angels in America among other roles. Tom Waits is one of my favorite songwriters. In terms of film history, Leigh Brackett is the most important person here, a woman who wrote mysteries, westerns and science fiction, famous for her snappy dialogue and independent female characters. Besides The Empire Strikes Back, her writing credits include The Big Sleep with Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall and Rio Bravo with John Wayne, Ricky Nelson, Dean Martin, Walter Brennan and Angie Dickinson. Those are three damn good movies.

But in a quirky mood this morning, I decided the Picture Slot should go to two guys looking uncomfortable in tights, including birthday boy Johnny Duncan as Robin in the 1949 serial. (Batman was played by Robert Lowery.)  This picture is included to remind young people that back in the day, the budgets for comic book movies were microscopic.

Many happy returns to all the living on the list, and to late Ms. Brackett, thanks for all the memories.

Movies released
Star Trek: The Motion Picture released, 1979  

Yes, I saw this movie more than once and no, it wasn't much good. Still, it was an important milestone in science fiction history on film, showing the industry how much pent up demand there was for a TV show that had been cancelled ten years earlier. I was in college when Star Wars and Star Trek: The Motion Picture came out, and they were a huge step up from the low budget movies of the 1950s, the precursor to the movie industry of today where the biggest hits are almost all special effects extravaganzas. (Supporting evidence: The last #1 movie of the year that wasn't sci-fi, fantasy or a cartoon was Saving Private Ryan in 1998.)
 

Predictor: Brigadier General Billy Mitchell in 1925

Prediction: “Japan may unleash a war in the Pacific. She could attack America by striking first at Hawaii, some fine Sunday morning.”

Reality: Unlike Jack London's prediction with an exact date for the attack on Hawaii by Germany, Mitchell gets the attacker right and also the day of the week. An early proponent of air power, he flew with Eddie Rickenbacker's squadron in World War I and showed in 1921 that bombers could take out a battleship. In a test run against an undefended captured German battleship the Ostfriedland, a flight of bombers sent the ship to the bottom with 1,000 and 2,000 pound bombs. Mitchell's support of air power put him at odds with many of the Navy brass, and when he excoriated the Navy upper command for the loss of a dirigible and several biplanes, inadvisedly using the word "treasonous" in his condemnation, he was given a court martial, found guilty and put on half-pay for five years.

Being right is one thing. Being tactful is quite another. I've learned that lesson a few times in my life as well.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

World AIDS Day was last Sunday, but I found a prediction about the progress of the disease in South Africa while researching yesterday, so I'll report it a week late tomorrow.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE! 

6 December 2013

Birthdays
Tommy Wirkola b. 1979 (director, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, Dead Snow)
Noel Clarke b. 1975 (Star Trek Into Darkness, Doctor Who)
Colin Salmon b. 1962 (Arrow, Resident Evil, Doctor Who, Alien vs. Predator, Dinotopia)
Nick Park b. 1958 (director, A Grand Day Out, Curse of the Were-Rabbit)
Tom Hulce b. 1953 (Jumper, Frankenstein [1994])
JoBeth Williams b. 1948 (Poltergeist, The Day After)
James Naughton b. 1945 (Planet of the Apes [TV series], Warehouse 13)
Patrick Bachau b. 1938 (Big Ass Spider, 2012, Carnivale, Kindred: The Embraced)
Lance Fuller b. 1928 died 22 December 2001 (This Island Earth, Twilight Zone, Voodoo Woman, The She-Creature, The Bride and the Beast)
Wally Cox b. 1924 died 15 February 1973 (Twilight Zone)
Agnes Moorehead b. 1900 died 30 April 1974 (Bewitched, Twilight Zone)

No huge stars on the list today, but Agnes Moorehead is most recognizable to people of a certain age. Other options I considered were Noel Clarke, who played Mickey in the first seasons of the 21st Century version of Doctor Who, or Wallace and Gromit, Nick Park's most beloved creations.

Many happy returns to the living on today's list and thanks for the memories to the dead. 

Movies released
Star Trek VI:The Undiscovered Country released, 1991

The rule that "even numbered Star Trek movies don't suck" is a bit over-stated. But at least The Undiscovered Country could help us forget the horror that was The Final Frontier.
 

Predictor: Stephen Petranek, editor of Discover  magazine, giving a TED Talk in 2002

Predictions (reality):
The populations in industrialized nations are gaining a year in longevity for every year that passes. (No, they aren't. The only country that made strides like this last decade was Monaco, small and wealthy and for some reason had third world level life expectancy and infant mortality in the early 21st Century. Their more recent numbers have made a remarkable turnaround, bringing infant mortality down to the levels expected in Western Europe and an increase in life expectancy that also is now in line with countries like France and Italy and Spain. Other industrialized nations have seen about a one to two year increase over the last decade.)

The price of rocketry in 21st Century will shrink. Each shuttle launch was about $1.5 billion, we have hopes for $500 million launches to Mars by 2012. (The launch alone for Mars Rover was $820 million, the entire project nearer to $2.5 billion, according to Wikipedia.)

We will increasingly face Mutant Staph infections that will be resistant to antibiotics. (This one he gets right.)

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

In 1925, a guy who would later be played by Gary Cooper predicts something like Pearl Harbor. And I mean something very like Pearl Harbor.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

5 December 2013

 Birthdays
Nick Stahl b. 1979 (Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, Sin City, Carnivale)
Amy Acker b. 1976 (Angel, Cabin in the Woods, Supernatural, Dollhouse, Grimm, Warehouse 13)
Lisa Marie b. 1968 (Sleepy Hollow, Mars Attacks!, Planet of the Apes, Dominion)
Juan Carlos Fresnadillo b. 1967 (director, 28 Weeks Later)
Walt Disney b. 1901 died 15 December 1966 (producer, 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, The Absent Minded Professor, Son of Flubber)
Fritz Lang b. 1890 died 2 August 1976 (director, Metropolis, Woman in the Moon)

Only six names today, all from movies or TV. I was tempted to put a poster from Metropolis in the Picture Slot, but instead it's Amy Acker because I'm such a Whedonverse fanboy, a reminder that with Joss Whedon, sometimes characters die and they come back, but not quite all the way.

Predictor: Isaac Asimov, asked for predictions about 2014 in honor of the 1964 World's Fair

Prediction: For short-range travel, moving sidewalks (with benches on either side, standing room in the center) will be making their appearance in downtown sections. They will be raised above the traffic. Traffic will continue (on several levels in some places) only because all parking will be off-street and because at least 80 per cent of truck deliveries will be to certain fixed centers at the city's rim. Compressed air tubes will carry goods and materials over local stretches, and the switching devices that will place specific shipments in specific destinations will be one of the city's marvels.

Reality: After a pretty good showing last week, Asimov goes back to some sci-fi cliches that never really took off, moving sidewalks and pneumatic tubes. I'm fond of pneumatic tubes, but long distance moving sidewalks outside of airports are just another reason not to exercise and I'm not a fan.

 

Though in this case, I'm willing to make an exception. In Trondheim, Norway, there is a "bicycle lift" installed on a steep hill which has been in operation for about 20 years now. Based on ski lift technology, a single trolley track is operated with a key card. When activated, a small metal plate appears and the bike rider puts his or her right foot on it and is propelled pleasantly up the hill.

As an old fat guy who rides a bike, usually on level ground or very modest hills at the most around Oakland and the East Bay, I think this is a great idea. Bike riding hasn't quite reached the critical mass in my neck of the woods for this to be something city planners would think of, but I could see this idea catch on.

Good on ya, Trondheim!

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Friday means TED Talks predictions. If you are one of those people excited and impressed by TED Talks, I think if you stop by every Friday for just a few weeks, I can cure you of that.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

4 December 2013

Birthdays
Kevin Sussman b. 1970 (A.I., Big Bang Theory)
Tony Todd b. 1954 (The Man From Earth, Stargate SG-1, Andromeda, Smallville, Angel, Candyman, Babylon 5, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Star Trek: Voyager, Xena, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, The X-Files, The Crow, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Night of the Living Dead[1990])
Pamela Stephenson b. 1949 (Superman III, Space: 1999)
Jeff Bridges b. 1949 (Tron, Birdman, Iron Man, R.I.P.D., King Kong[1976])
Gemma Jones b. 1942 (Harry Potter)
Samuel Butler b. 1935 died 18 June 1902 (author, Erewhon)

The only honest to Odin, name above the title of major motion pictures movie star here is Jeff Bridges,and given how many roles he's had recently playing old coots, I'm a little surprised he's only 64 and also surprised he is the exact same age as Pamela Stephenson. But the Picture Slot goes to Tony Todd, who has a long career mostly doing guest shots on TV, which is a tough way to make a living. Whoopi Goldberg has a quote that she loved the original Star Trek because it was the first time on TV that there was evidence there would be black people in the future. What she didn't realize then was that 30% of the black people in the future would be played by Tony Todd.

I kid. I'm a kidder.

Many happy returns to all the living on the list.
 

Prediction:December 4, 1912: Germany attacks the United States, sinking three cruisers and a revenue cutter in Honolulu, also bombarding the city.

Predictor: Jack London in The Iron Heel, published 1907

Reality: I am going to call this one eerily incorrect. A lot of writers thought war was coming in the early 1900s, but most thought it would be held in Europe, which it was from 1914 to 1918. But to guess a war would start (eventually) by an attack on Hawaii in December and that the U.S. would be at war with Germany does make one go "hmm".

Let me be clear. London doesn't get full credit or even half credit on this one. Monty Python had a horoscope sketch featuring two of their middle-aged ladies that explains my feelings here.

Mrs O, reading the horoscope for Mrs Trepidatious, whose astrological sign is Nesbitt: You have green, scaly skin, and a soft yellow underbelly with a series of fin-like ridges running down your spine and tail. Although lizardlike in shape, you can grow anything up to thirty feet in length with huge teeth that can bite off great rocks and trees. You inhabit arid sub-tropical zones and wear spectacles.

Mrs Trepidatious: It's very good about the spectacles.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Back to the regular weekly schedule, so it's another Asimov prediction from 1964 speculating about the wonders of 2014.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
 

3 December 2013

Birthdays
Amanda Seyfried b. 1985 (In Time, Solstice)
Joseph Gatt b. 1974 (Thor, Star Trek Into Darkness)
Brendan Fraser b. 1968 (The Mummy, Inkheart, Monkeybone)
Steve Harris b. 1965 (Minority Report)
Julianne Moore b. 1960 (Children of Men, Blindness, The Lost World: Jurassic Park)
Daryl Hannah b. 1960 (Blade Runner, Clan of the Cave Bear, Splash, Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman, High Spirits, Memoirs of an Invisible Man, Jack and the Beanstalk: The Real Story)
Melody Anderson b. 1955 (Flash Gordon, Manimal, Battlestar Galactica)
Mel Smith b. 1952 (The Princess Bride, Morons From Outer Space)
Mary Alice b. 1941 (The Matrix Revolutions)

An all actor list today, everybody is still alive and there are a few honest to Odin movie stars on the list, though several have only a handful of appearances in genre films. The Picture Slot goes to Daryl Hannah in her role as Pris in Blade Runner. Readers familiar with my work may note that I have shown uncharacteristic restraint here.

Many happy returns to all our birthday boys and girls.
 

Prediction: NASA plans to grow turnips on the moon in 2015

Predictor: Scientists at NASA Ames Research Center

Reality: This is from a news story last Friday. The Google Lunar X-Prize mission will also bring cress and basil in a temporary lunar "greenhouse" supplied with five days worth of air and a small water reservoir. It isn't made clear if the "five days worth of air" is measured in the use of oxygen by humans or plants. Compared to science fiction,  this is not bold or exciting, but it is an important step if we ever are going to make permanent extra-terrestrial bases. I'm pretty sure there have already been a lot of plant experiments on the various space stations.

This month's splash photo
This is a picture of the Martin P-12 Jetpack. Much bulkier than our standard mental image of a jetpack, it nevertheless actually exists and is in the process of being tested. I expect it is noisy as hell and hard to land.

Still... JETPACK! 


Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Jack London returns with the exact date when war will begin between the United States and Germany.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!