8 February 2015

Birthdays
Anna Hutchinson b. 1986 (The Cabin in the Woods, Legend of the Seeker, Power Rangers Jungle Fury)
Ashley Mulheron b. 1983 (The Task, Vampire Killers, Primeval)
Liam McIntyre b. 1982 (The Flash, The Legend of Hercules)
Dawn Olivieri b. 1981 (The Last Witch Hunter, The Vampire Diaries, True Blood, Heroes, Knight Rider [2009], Stargate: Atlantis)
Jim Parrack b. 1981 (Resurrection, True Blood, Battle Los Angeles, Supernatural)
Marc Wooton b. 1975 (Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel)
Seth Green b. 1974 (Buffy, The Venture Brothers, Greg the Bunny, Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, Delete, Iron Man 2, Heroes, Angel, Idle Hands, Weird Science [TV], Seaquest 2032, The X Files, Free Spirit, My Stepmother Is an Alien, Amazing Stories, Tales from the Darkside)
Brendan Wayne b. 1972 (Cowboys and Aliens, Angel)
Susan Misner b. 1971 (Gotham, Fringe, Night Stalker)
Stephanie Courtney b. 1970 (Angel)
Mary McCormack b. 1969 (K-PAX, Deep Impact)
Gary Coleman b. 1968 died 28 May 2010 (Homeboys in Outer Space, Amazing Stories, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century)
Ladislav Beran b. 1967 (Hellboy, Blade II)
Larry Clarke b. 1964 (Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Lost, Buffy)
Ethan Phillips b. 1955 (True Blood, The Island, Star Trek: Enterprise, Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: First Contact, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Werewolf [TV], The Twilight Zone [1986], Critters)
Mary Steenburgen b. 1953 (Elf, Gulliver’s Travels, Back to the Future Part III, Time After Time)
Carolyn Pickles b. 1952 (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, Through the Dragon’s Eye)
Brooke Adams b. 1949 (The Dead Zone, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Song of the Succubus)
Alex Diakun b. 1946 (Intruders, Supernatural, The Boy Who Cried Werewolf, Reaper, The X Files, Eureka, Andromeda, EarthSea, Stargate SG-1, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, MythQuest, NightMan, Millennium, Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan, Deadly Nightmares, Firebird 2015 AD)
Roger Lloyd Pack b. 1944 died 15 January 2014 (Doctor Who, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Interview with the Vampire, U.F.O., The Magus)
Nick Nolte b. 1941 (The Spiderwick Chronicles, Neverwas, Hulk, Breakfast of Champions)
John Williams b. 1932 (composer, Star Wars, Minority Report, Harry Potter, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones, E.T., Dracula [1979], Superman, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Land of the Giants, The Time Tunnel, Lost in Space)
Jack Larson b. 1928 (Superman Returns, Lois & Clark, Superboy, Adventures of Superman)
Jack Lemmon b. 1925 died 27 June 2001 (Bell Book and Candle)
Lana Turner b. 1921 died 29 June 1995 (Witches Brew, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde [1941], Topper [1937])
Bengt Ekerot b. 1920 died 26 November 1971 (The Seventh Seal)
Bill Finger b. 1914 died 18 January 1974 (writer, Batman, Green Lantern)
Myron McCormick b. 1908 died 30 July 1962 (Way Out)
Ray Middleton b. 1907 died 10 April 1984 (Damn Yankees [1967 TV], A Christmas Carol [1954 TV])
Lyle Talbot b. 1902 died 2 March 1996 (Plan 9 From Outer Space, Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe, Tobor the Great)
King Vidor b. 1894 died 1 November 1982 (director, The Wizard of Oz [Kansas scenes, uncredited])
Jules Verne b. 1828 died 24 March 1905 (author, From the Earth to the Moon, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Journey to the Center of the Earth, In the Year 2889)


Notes on the birthday list
1. The Picture Slot. Previous awards of the Picture Slot have gone to Jules Verne and Seth Green. Today's list has some major movie stars and iconic actors, mainly from American TV, I decided to go with Bengt Ekerot in his most famous role in international cinema as Death in The Seventh Seal. If there actually is a personification of death, he (or she) does not seem to have been pleased with Mr. Ekerot's portrayal, since he died at the age of 51. That's not the youngest person to die on today's birthday list, since Gary Coleman was only 42.

2. Things I learned this morning. When I go to imdb.com, I don't click on every actor in the top 100. I do click on all the names in the top 10, though some of them come up empty. Today I found out that Gary Coleman and Lana Turner both had roles in genre, though I knew nothing of those parts until I saw them this morning.

I also didn't know King Vidor directed the Kansas scenes in The Wizard of Oz. I knew George Cukor had been given the director's gig, but was replaced. The movie has five directors listed on imdb.com, the guy who gets full credit Victor Fleming and also Cukor, Vidor, Norman Taurog and Mervyn LeRoy. Usually a movie with that many directors signals a production in serious trouble, not one of the greatest films ever made.

I also didn't know the name of Stephanie Courtney, the actress who plays Flo on those annoying insurance ads. I'm sure the job pays well, but that sort of type casting has to be the worst of all.

3. Spot the Canadian! Our lone Canuck is older than our usual suspects, but his credit list makes him an obvious candidate. Those are all the clues I will give.

4. MST3K. The movie is not one of his genre credits, but John Williams did the score for Daddy-O. One of the bots commented when his name was in the credits, "Johnny Williams! That's John Williams before he heard Stravinsky." 

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


Movies released
Gertie the Dinosaur released, 1914  
 

Predictor: Robert A. Heinlein in his 1956 book The Door Into Summer

Prediction: Here is where the Thorsen memory tubes came in… No need to go into theory of an electronic tube that even Bell Labs doesn’t understand too well, the point is that you can hook a Thorsen tube into a control circuit, direct the machine through an operation by manual control, and the tube will “remember” what was done and can direct the operation without a human supervisor a second time, or any number of times. For an automated machine tool this is enough. For a guided missile or Flexible Frank you add side circuits that give the machine “judgment”. Actually it isn’t judgment (in my opinion a machine can never have judgment); the side circuit is a hunting circuit, the programming of which says “look for so-and-so within such-and-such limits; when you find it, carry out your basic instruction.”

Reality: Heinlein predicts a type of programming that would be relatively simple compared to the real ones and zeros method used by the people in charge of making modern robotics work. I'd also like to comment on his parenthetical aside about machines and "judgment". The most famous definition of "Is a machine thinking?" is the Turing Test, where a machine that can fool a human into thinking it's human must be counted as intelligent. I prefer the less subjective definition of Frank Harary, a mathematician who worked at Los Alamos after the Manhattan Project. His definition of when a machine can be said to be thinking is when it solves a problem without checking a list of every possible answer.

Looking one day ahead...  INTO THE FUTURE!

Is tomorrow Monday again already? Time for more fun with the OMNI Future Almanac! Yay!

Join us then...  IN THE FUTURE!

7 February 2015

Birthdays
Jerrad Vunovich b. 1994 (Fantastic Four [2015], American Horror Story, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, The Walking Dead)
Philip Wiegratz b. 1993 (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory)
Deborah Ann Woll b. 1985 (Daredevil, True Blood)
Tina Majorino b. 1985 (True Blood, Alice in Wonderland [1999 TV], Waterworld)
Cerina Vincent b. 1979 (The Walking Dead, Zombie Family, Sasquatch Mountain, Power Rangers Lost Galaxy)
Ashton Kutcher b. 1978 (The Butterfly Effect, Dude, Where’s My Car?)
Brent Chalem b. 1975 died 9 December 1997 (Quantum Leap, The Monster Squad, Small Wonder)
Victor Webster b. 1973 (Continuum, Surrogates, Charmed, Mutant X)
Essence Atkins b. 1972 (A Haunted House, Nite Tales: The Series, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch)
Robyn Lively b. 1972 (The X Files, Early Edition, Quantum Leap, Teen Witch, Not Quite Human, Amazing Stories, Starman [TV], Knight Rider)
David Murray b. 1970 (G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, Batman Begins)
Chris Rock b. 1965 (A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Down to Earth, Dogma)
Jason Gedrick b. 1965 (Grimm, Supernatural, Strange Frequency, Deadly Nightmares, )
Dona Speir b. 1964 (Knight Rider, Automan)
Ash Adams b. 1963 (A Nightmare on Elm Street)
Eddie Izzard b. 1962 (Mockingbird Lane, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, My Super Ex-Girlfriend, The Shadow of the Vampire, The Day of the Triffids [2009], Mystery Men, Tales from the Crypt)
James Spader b. 1960 (The Avengers: Age of Ultron, Alien Hunter, Supernova, Stargate, Wolf, Mannequin)
Robert Smigel b. 1960 (writer, Hotel Transylvania, Superman 50th Anniversary)
John Posey b. 1956 (Teen Wolf [2014 TV], From the Earth to the Moon, Seven Days, RoboCop 3)
Bhasker Patel b. 1956 (Demon Baby, Doctor Who, Thunderbirds, Arabian Nights, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom)
Emo Phillips b. 1956 (Journey to the Center of the Earth [1998])
Miguel Ferrer b. 1955 (Iron Man 3, Bionic Woman [2007], 3rd Rock from the Sun, Brave New World, Project: ALF, Tales from the Crypt [TV], The Stand, DeepStar Six, RoboCop, Badlands 2005, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock)
Michael McGreevey b. 1948 (The Invaders)
Pete Postlethwaite b. 1946 died 2 January 2011 (Inception, Clash of the Titans, Solomon Kane, The Omen [2006], Aeon Flux, Alice in Wonderland [1999], The Lost World: Jurassic Park, James and the Giant Peach, Alien³)
Alejandro Jodorowsky b. 1929 (Jodorowsky’s Dune)
Fiona Hale b. 1921 (Toxin, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Minority Report)
Jock Mahoney b. 1919 died 14 December 1989 (Batman, The Land Unknown)
Buster Crabbe b. 1908 died 23 April 1983 (The Alien Dead, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Flash Gordon)
Sinclair Lewis b. 1885 died 10 January 1951 (author, It Can’t Happen Here)
Charles Dickens b. 1812 died 9 June 1870 (author, A Christmas Carol)

Notes on the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. The only actor who got a Picture Slot before this on February 7th is Buster Crabbe from Flash Gordon. There are several actors here with well known faces in big budget genre movies - Miguel Ferrer, James Spader, Eddie Izzard, Chris Rock, Ashton Kutcher and the late Pete Postlethwaite -I decided to go with Deborah Ann Woll as Jessica on True Blood, for the reasons that this is her best known role - not true of the genre roles for the other actors mentioned - and she's a fabulous babe.

2. A Canadian stands alone. Victor Webster is Canadian, but it isn't competely clear from his credit list.

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


Movie released
The Lego Movie released 2014  

Predictor: Samuel Barton (1827-1895), financier


Prediction: It is my opinion that there is to be a wonderful development of the resources of the state of Florida in the next century. It will not only become a great sanitarium for the invalids of the East, but a rival with the Mediterranean districts for those who seek comfort in Winter travel. Transportation facilities will be so increased that the orange district, especially along the east coast, will practically furnish the United States all the oranges the market requires.

Reality: Sorry I couldn't find a picture of this Samuel Barton. His father was a politician and more famous in his day. His predictions for Florida are so close to exactly right, I only can quibble that California also has a large percentage of the orange market in the U.S.A. His is not the only prediction from the 1893 set that is a capitalist proclaiming his favorite investment will change the world - just a couple weeks ago, a guy was predicting Buffalo would be a huge metropolis - but as far as I can recall, his is the most accurate of that collection. Nice work, Mr. Barton.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

More guesses from Robert A. Heinlein in his 1956 book, The Door Into Summer.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
  

6 February 2015

Birthdays
Sophie Bennett b. 1989 (Odyssey 5, Code Name: Eternity, Universal Soldier: Brothers in Arms)
Brittany Drisdelle b. 1988 (Being Human, Tales from the Neverending Story)
Dane DeHaan b. 1986 (The Amazing Spider-Man 2 & 3, Chronicle, True Blood)
Alice Greczyn b. 1986 (Phil of the Future)
Crystal Reed b. 1985 (Teen Wolf [TV], Skyline)
Brandon Hammond b. 1984 (Mars Attacks!, Space Jam, Strange Days)
Alice Eve b. 1982 (Star Trek Into Darkness, Men in Black 3, The Raven)
Whitney Able b. 1982 (Monsters [2010])
Kim Poirier b. 1980 (Eureka, Dawn of the Dead, PSI Factor: Chronicles of the Paranormal)
Ben Lawson b. 1980 (Sabrina, Down Under, Chameleon II: Death Match, Time Trax)
Josh Stewart b. 1977 (Interstellar, Transcendence, Grimm, The Walking Dead, The Dark Knight Rises, No Ordinary Family, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Jekyll)
Brain Stepanek b. 1971 (Haunted Hathaways, Dark Skies, Monster Mutt, Transformers, The Island, Early Edition)
David Hayter b. 1969 (writer, World War III [2015], Black Widow, X-Men, X-Men 2, Watchmen, The Scorpion King)
Adam Simon b. 1962 (writer, Salem, The Haunting in Connecticut, Bones [2001 Movie], Carnosaur, Brain Dead)
Megan Gallagher b. 1960 (Warehouse 13, Contagion, Star Trek: Voyager, Millennium, Deep Space Nine)
Kathy Najimy b. 1957 (Cinderelmo, Bride of Chucky, Early Edition, Hocus Pocus)
Robert Townsend b. 1957 (I Was a Teenage Faust, The Meteor Man, Amazing Stories)
Tiffany Bolling b. 1947 (Kingdom of the Spiders, Man from Atlantis, Electra Woman and Dyna Girl, The Sixth Sense [1972])
Gayle Hunnicut b. 1943 (Tales from the Crypt, Tales of the Unexpected, The Martian Chronicles, The Legend of Hell House )
Gigi Perreau b. 1941 (Journey to the Center of Time)
Mike Farrell b. 1939 (Supernatural, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Questor Tapes, The Sixth Sense [1972], Doomsday Machine, I Dream of Jeannie)
Rip Torn b. 1931 (Men in Black, Zoom, RoboCop 3, Defending Your Life, The Beastmaster, Coma, The Man Who Fell to Earth, Murder and the Android)
Mamie Van Doren b. 1931 (Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women, The Navy vs. the Night Monsters)
Pamela Curran b. 1930 (The Invaders, The Green Hornet, I Dream of Jeannie, Mutiny in Outer Space, My Favorite Martian, The Blob [1958])
Walker Edmiston b. 1925 died 15 February 2007 (Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Land of the Lost, Shazam!, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Lost Saucer, Star Trek, Batman, The Beach Girls and the Monster)
Patrick Macnee b. 1922 (Low Budget Time Machine, NightMan, Waxwork II: Lost in Time, Super Force, The Ray Bradbury Theatre, Lobster Man from Mars, War of the Worlds [1989 TV], Waxwork, Automan, The Creature Wasn’t Nice, The Howling, Battlestar Galactica, Twilight Zone [1959], A Christmas Carol [1951], The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde)
Zsa Zsa Gabor b. 1917 (Frankenstein’s Great Aunt Tillie, Queen of Outer Space, Batman)

Notes on the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. Previous folk in the Picture Slot are Zsa Zsa Gabor for Queen of Outer Space and Rip Torn from Men in Black. While I admit my geezerhood, that isn't the only reason I am hard pressed to find an actor with an iconic role on this list who is younger than 80, though maybe Kathy Najimy in Hocus Pocus might count. In any case, the final choice was between Patrick Macnee from Battlestar Galactica and Mamie Van Doren from a glamour still.

I chose the fabulous babe. Shocking, I know. Happy birthday to both of them, they are both still with us.

2. The dead is one guy! It wasn't until I stumbled across the name of Walker Edmiston that I found even one person today who was already dead, and we have two folks in their 90s. Walker Edmiston didn't quite make it to the level of Oh That Guy as far as I'm concerned; he worked for many decades and split his time between in front of the camera and voice work. Remember the Star Trek episode where Clint Howard played the creepy alien who drank "tranya"? Walker Edmiston did the voice.

3. Canadians spotted! Not easy to tell the Canadians from the rest today. All of them are actresses born in the 1980s, Sophie Bennett, Brittany Drisdelle and Kim Poirier.


4. No MST3K, strangely enough. There are plenty of films cheesy enough to have been watched by a janitor and two robots, - Lobster Man from Mars, Queen of Outer Space, The Blob, everything Mamie Van Doren did - but none made the cut. Mutiny in Outer Space is not Space Mutiny. Close, but no cigar.

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

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

Prediction: I really do not understand the exceptional attitude people take up against the Jews. There is something very ugly about many Jewish faces, but there are Gentile faces just as coarse and gross. The Jew asserts himself in relation to his nationality with a singular tactlessness, but it is hardly for the English to blame that. Many Jews are intensely vulgar in dress and bearing, materialistic in thought, and cunning and base in method, but no more so than many Gentiles. The Jew is mentally and physically precocious, and he ages and dies sooner than the average European, but in that and in a certain disingenuousness he is simply on all fours with the short, dark Welsh. He forgathers with those of his own nation, and favors them against the stranger, but so do the Scotch. I see nothing in his curious, dispersed nationality to dread or dislike.

Reality: Okay, this isn't actually a prediction, but a prelude to one, where Wells shows what a swell guy he is. C'mon, folks! The Jews are no worse than the Welsh or the Scots, and we aren't talking about wiping them out! Well, at least not recently.

This is not the last creepy passage from the book by any means.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Back to 1893 once more, with a guy not famous enough now to rate a picture on the Internet. 

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

5 February 2015

Birthdays
Anthony Ingruber b. 1990 (Avalon High, Avatar)
Jeremy Sumpter b. 1989 (The Sasquatch Gang, Peter Pan [2003])
Brittany Allen b. 1986 (Warehouse 13, Extraterrestrial, Lost Girl, Virtual Mom)
Jamie Brewer b. 1985 (American Horror Story)
Myndy Crist b. 1975 (Dark Skies, The Time Machine [2002])
David Meunier b. 1973 (Revolution, Jericho, Buffy, Angel, Charmed)
Rod Roddenberry b. 1974 (producer, Star Trek New Voyages: Phase II, Trek Nation)
Danielle Koenig b. 1973 (InAlienable, Invader ZIM, The Craft)
Markus Redmond b. 1971 (Angel, The Mating Habits of the Earthbound Human, Project: ALF)
Michael Sheen b. 1969 (The Adventurer: Curse of the Midas Box, Twilight Saga, Doctor Who, TRON: Legacy, Alice in Wonderland [2010], Underworld, Mary Reilly)
Leslie Zemeckis b. 1969 (A Christmas Carol [2009], Beowulf, I Married a Monster)
Chris Parnell b. 1967 (Evil Alien Conquerors)
Eric Michael Zee b. 1966 (How to Make a Monster, Independence Day)
Arabella Field b. 1965 (American Horror Story, Bug, Godzilla [1998])
Laura Linney b. 1964 (The Exorcism of Emily Rose, The Mothman Prophecies, The Truman Show, Congo)
Jennifer Jason Leigh b. 1962 (eXistenZ )
Tim Meadows b. 1961 (The Venture Bros., Aliens in the Attic, Coneheads)
Debra Jo Fondren b. 1955 (Mork & Mindy)
Robin Sachs b. 1951 died 1 February 2013 (Resident Evil, Torchwood, Buffy, Star Trek: Voyager, Galaxy Quest, Babylon 5, The Lost World: Jurassic Park)
O’Neal Compton b. 1951 (Deep Impact, Lois & Clark, The Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman, Quantum Leap, Brother Future)
Barbara Hershey b. 1948 (Insidious, Once Upon a Time, Breakfast of Champions, Faerie Tale Theatre, The Invaders [TV])
Tom Wilkinson b. 1948 (The Green Hornet [2011], Batman Begins, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind)
Christopher Guest b. 1948 (actor, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, The Princess Bride, Heartbeeps; director, Attack of the 50 Foot Woman)
Charlotte Rampling b. 1946 (Melacholia, Babylon A.D., Angel Heart, Zardoz)
Roy ‘Chubby’ Brown b. 1945 (writer, U.F.O. [1993])
Susan Hill b. 1942 (writer, The Woman in Black)
David Selby b. 1941 (Dark Shadows [2012 and 1966], The Black Hole [2006], MorphMan, Doctor Franken)
Stephen J. Cannell b. 1941 died 30 September 2010 (creator, The Greatest American Hero)
H.R. Giger b. 1940 (illustrator, Necromicon, Giger’s Alien)
Stuart Damon b. 1937 (Space: 1999, UFO, The Champions, Cinderella [1965])
Stefan Gierasch b. 1926 died 6 September 2014 (Brimstone, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Dark Shadows [1991], Megaville, Werewolf, The Twilight Zone [1986], The Greatest American Hero, The Incredible Hulk, Blood Beach, Carrie, Holmes and Yo-Yo, Return to Earth)
Tim Holt b. 1919 died 15 February 1973 (The Yesterday Machine, The Monster That Challenged the World)
Red Buttons b. 1919 died 13 July 2006 (Early Edition, Alice in Wonderland [1985], C.H.O.M.P.S., Pete’s Dragon, Wonder Woman )
William S. Burroughs b. 1914 died 2 August 1997 (author, The Soft Machine, Naked Lunch, The Wild Boys: A Book of the Dead)
Willard Parker b. 1912 died 4 December 1996 (The Earth Dies Screaming)
John Carradine b. 1906 died 27 November 1988 (Twilight Zone [1986], The Ice Pirates, Frankenstein Island, The Howling, The Sentinel, Land of the Giants, Lost in Space, The Green Hornet, Billy the Kid vs. Dracula, The Wizard of Mars, Twilight Zone [1960], Invisible Invaders, The Cosmic Man, Half Human)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In 2014, I had a picture of H.R. Giger and in 2013, I used a poster from Spy Kids 3D: Game Over, which had been released ten years before. There were several interesting choices still available - Charlotte Rampling from Zardoz, Christopher Guest from The Princess Bride, Laura Linney from The Truman Show - but instead I went with the oldest guy on the list, the great character actor John Carradine, father to a whole passel of actors. He played vampires, mad scientists, aliens, you name it. He had 347 film and TV credits. He worked until he died. He was also in a movie that got the MST3K treatment, The Unearthly.

2. Nepotism FTW. Rod Roddenberry is Gene Roddenberry's son. Leslie Zemeckis was an actress in Cinemax style soft porn until she married Robert Zemeckis.

3. A Canadian stands alone. Brittany Allen has a few credits in Canuck sci-fi, but not enough to make her country of origin screamingly obvious.

4. Wait... he's dead? Robin Sachs. I typed in his death date last year and it still hasn't quite registered. I remember him best as Ethan Rayne, a recurring bad guy on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He was also Sarris in Galaxy Quest, but that was under a lot of mask and make-up.

Many happy returns to all the living on the list and to the dead, thanks for all the memories.
 
Movies released
Spy Kids 3: Game Over, released 2003 

Predictor: Lewis Douglass, U.S. Budget director, in remarks after the U.S. went off the gold standard in 1933

Prediction: This is the end of Western civilization.

Reality: People believe a lot of nonsense, but belief in the gold standard is one of those things I find particularly silly. Wealth is created by humans, most by changing raw materials, some of it by a concept alone. Some is disposable and some lasts. Gold is a finite resource, nowhere near as valuable as iron or aluminum in terms of utility, but it was decided it was precious because it is pretty and fairly rare. It can't be the definition of the money supply. People who think things were better when the economy was defined by the gold standard are extremely ignorant of history. And yet this jackassery continues, like belief in astrology or the idea that being a Cubs fan is a sign of character instead of dull and masochistic tendencies.

Never to be Forgotten: Mary Healey 1918-2015
Singer and actress Mary Healey died last Tuesday. She worked in film and TV almost exclusively with her husband Peter Lind Hayes as a musical act. She is remembered here for her role in The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T., a fantasy film from 1953 written by Dr. Seuss about a child who fantasizes his piano teacher is a mad genius. When I was a kid, this was a lot scarier than most 1950s monster movies. Healy played the kid's mom.

Best wishes to the family and friend of Mary Healey, from a fan. She is never to be forgotten.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

More treasures from the charm offensive of H.G. Wells, bigot and scumbag.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE! 

4 February 2015

 Birthdays
Bug Hall b. 1985 (Revolution, Arachnoquake, Charmed, The Munsters’ Scary Little Christmas)
Dina Rosenmeir b. 1976 (The Gene Generation, Daredevil)
Sahar Knite b. 1975 (Game of Thrones)
Vincent Walsh b. 1972 (Lost Girl, ReGenesis, Mutant X, Space Truckers)
Rob Corddry b. 1971 (Hot Tub Time Machine, Rapture-Palooza, Seeking a Friend for the End of the World)
Gabrielle Anwar b. 1970 (The Librarian: Return to King Solomon’s Mine, Mysterious Island, Flying Virus, Body Snatchers, Prince Caspian and the Voyage of the Dawn Treader [1989], The Storyteller)
Brandy Ledford b. 1969 (Stargate, Andromeda, Smallville, The Invisible Man, Poltergeist: The Legacy, Welcome to Paradox, First Wave, Demolition Man)
Stig Henrik Hoff b. 1965 (The Thing [2011])
Jim O’Heir b. 1962 (Helen Keller vs Werewolves, Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, Star Trek: Voyager, 3rd Rock from the Sun)
John Gordon Sinclair b. 1962 (World War Z, Erik the Viking)
Jenette Goldstein b. 1960 (Star Trek: Generations, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Max Headroom, Aliens)
Adrienne King b. 1960 (Friday the 13th 1 & 2)
Mitchell Kosterman b. 1958 (Stargate SG-1, Smallville, Dark Angel, The X-Files, Sliders)
Michael Simkins b. 1958 (V for Vendetta)
Lisa Eichorn b. 1952 (About Time, Jericho, Swamp Thing [1992 TV], Moon 44)
Richard Lineback b. 1952 (Star Trek: Enterprise, The Stand, Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Max Headroom, Friday the 13th: A New Beginning, Death Ray 2000)
Patrick Bergin b. 1951 (Berserker: Hell’s Warrior, Ella Enchanted, Smallville, Dracula [2002 TV], Amazons and Gladiators, Beneath Loch Ness, Merlin: The Return, The Lost World [1998], Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace, Frankenstein [1992 TV])
Michael Beck b. 1949 (Crusade, Babylon 5, Megaforce)
John Schuck b. 1940 (Star Trek: Enterprise, Star Trek: Voyager, Babylon 5, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek VI, Star Trek IV, Holmes and Yoyo)
George A. Romero b, 1940 (director, Survival of the Dead, Diary of the Dead, Land of the Dead, Day of the Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Night of the Living Dead)
Gary Conway b. 1936 (Land of the Giants, I was a Teenage Frankenstein, The Viking Women and the Sea Serpent)
Collin Wilcox Paxton b. 1935 died 14 October 2009 (American Gothic, The Immortal [1970], Twilight Zone)
Jerry Adler b. 1929 (Quantum Leap)
Russell Hoban b. 1925 died 13 December 2011 (author, Riddley Walker)
Conrad Bain b. 1923 died 14 January 2013 (C.H.O.M.P.S., Dark Shadows [1969])
William Phipps b. 1922 (Tucker’s Witch, Time Express, Space Force, The Green Hornet, Batman, The Munsters, The Evil of Frankenstein, Twilight Zone, Men Into Space, The Snow Creature, The Twonky, Cat-Women of the Moon, War of the Worlds[1953], Invaders from Mars)
Ida Lupino b. 1918 died 3 August 1995 (The Food of the Gods, The Devil’s Rain, Batman, Twilight Zone)
William Talman b. 1915 died 30 August 1968 (The Invaders)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In 2014, the Picture Slot was given to Jenette Goldstein as the body building Marine in Aliens, her first screen credit. This year it's Gary Conway from the Irwin Allen show Land of the Giants. Conway was also a bodybuilder and posed tastefully naked in some Body Beautiful magazines early in his career. Fans of Galaxy Quest will remember the cast members joked about how long it took before Tim Allen's character was not wearing a shirt on their adventure. I don't recall the people in charge of Land of the Giants figuring out how to get Conway naked from the waist up, but he was still in very good shape when the show was filmed. It should be noted that in his day, bodybuilders were trying to look like Jack LaLanne, not Arnold Schwarzenegger.It should also be noted that Conway was in The Viking Women and the Sea Serpent, a movie that got the MST3K treatment.

Were I not going for a bodybuilding theme, other good choices here would be a poster of one of George A. Romero's many zombie films or the cover of Russell Hoban's excellent book Riddley Walker.

2. Spot the Canadians, two hint edition. There are three actors on today's list holding Canadian citizenship. You would have to be a Diff'rent Strokes trivia fiend to know Conrad Bain was born north of the border, so I'm giving his name away for free. That leaves two Canucks to be spotted. The other hint is that we have a faux Canadian lurking as well, plenty of credits but born in the U.S.A.  See if you can find the real and reject the fake.

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

 Predictor: George Sutherland in his 1901 book Twentieth Century Inventions

Prediction: The asphalt and macadam tracks which are now being laid down along the sides of roads for the convenience of cyclists, are the significant forerunners of an improvement destined to produce a revolution in road traffic during the twentieth century. When automobiles have become very much more numerous, and local authorities find that the settlement of wealthy or comparatively well-to-do families in their neighborhoods may depend very largely upon the question whether light road-motor traffic may be conveniently conducted to and from the nearest city, an immense impetus will be administered to the reasonable efforts made for catering for the demand for tracks for the accommodation of automobiles, both private and public.

Reality: I found out about this book because H.G. Wells gave it a tip of the hat in Anticipations. Both Wells and Sutherland predicted more paved roads, but Wells thought it would take a long time and mostly be privately funded. Sutherland doesn't give a time frame, but he does speculate the development will be publicly funded. Paved roads are so ubiquitous now it's a little strange for me to realize how recent a development they were.

Never to be Forgotten: Bridget Turner 1939-2014. Some obituaries I hear about in the main news, but others come to me from a group of obit fans on Facebook. The British actress Bridget Turner died back in December, but I first saw her death notice only yesterday. She had a long career on the stage and on British TV, but only appeared in genre productions in this century, once on Doctor Who and in two movies based on Terry Pratchett's works The Hogfather and The Color of Magic. I didn't see any of her early work. The first production on TV I saw with her in it was the 1995 version of Pride and Predjudice, where she played one of Mr. Darcy's domestic servants, Mrs. Reynolds.

Best wishes to the family and friends of Bridget Turner, from a fan. She is never to be forgotten.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Another corker from that treasure trove of bad predictions, The Experts Speak.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
   

3 February 2015

Birthdays
Abigail Hargrove b. 1999 (World War Z)
Rebel Wilson b. 1986 (Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, Ghost Rider)
Bridget Regan b. 1982 (Agent Carter, Beauty and the Beast [2013], Legend of the Seeker)
Adrian R’Mante b. 1978 (S1m0ne)
Kelly Sullivan b. 1978 (Found in Time)
Isla Fisher b. 1976 (Scooby-Doo, BeastMaster [2002])
Terry Chen b. 1975 (The Returned, Elysium, Continuum, Godzilla, The 100, Arrow, Battlestar Galactica, Cabin in the Woods, Matty Hanson and the Invisibility Ray, Riverworld, V [2010], I, Robot, The 4400, The Chronicles of Riddick, Smallville, Jake 2.0, Dark Angel, Paranormal Girl, Taken, Stargate SG-1, Mythquest)
Elisa Donovan b. 1971 (Shark Swarm, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Justice League of America, Encino Woman)
Warwick Davis b. 1970 (Dwarves Assemble, The Day They Came to Suck Out Our Brains, Doctor Who, Jack the Giant Slayer, Merlin [2010], Harry Potter, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, M.I. High, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Star Wars, Leprechaun, Dr. Terrible’s House of Horrible, Snow White: The Fairest of them All, The Tenth Kingdom, Gulliver’s Travels [TV], Willow, Labyrinth)
Frank Coraci b. 1966 (director, Click)
Keith Gordon b. 1961 (director, The Strain; actor, Christine)
Frederic Lehne b. 1959 (American Horror Story, The Dark Knight Rises, Supernatural, Lost, Night Stalker, Supernova, Firefly, The X-Files, From the Earth to the Moon, Men in Black, Sliders, Babylon 5, Time Trax, Amityville: The Evil Escapes)
Thomas Calabro b. 1959 (They Nest)
Nathan Lane b. 1956 (Mirror Mirror, Addams Family Values)
Morgan Fairchild b. 1950 (I Was a Teenage Faust, Roswell, The New Addams Family, Venus Rising, Test Tube Teens from the Year 2000, Lois & Clark, Sleeping Beauty [1987], The Girl, The Gold Watch & Dynamite, Time Express, Mork & Mindy, The Amazing Spider-Man)
Pamela Franklin b. 1950 (Project U.F.O., Gemini Man, Food of the Gods, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Sixth Sense [1972 TV], Necromancy, The Innocents)
Susanne Benton b. 1948 (A Boy and his Dog)
Stephen McHattie b. 1947 (The Strain, Haunter, A Little Bit Zombie, Immortals, Haven, Red: Werewolf Hunter, 2012, Fringe, Reaper, Watchmen, The 4400, Star Trek: Enterprise, Mutant X, Lexx, Poltergeist: The Legacy, Deep Space Nine, The Hunger, Pterodactyl Woman from Beverly Hills, The X-Files, M.A.N.T.I.S., Highlander [TV], Quantum Leap, Beauty and the Beast, Twilight Zone [1989], Tales from the Darkside, Deadly Nightmares, Look What’s Happened to Rosemary’s Baby)
Paul Auster b. 1947 (author, Travels in the Scriptorium, Moon Palace)
Trisha Noble b. 1944 (Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century)
Blythe Danner b. 1943 (The X Files, Tales from the Crypt, Futureworld, The Scarecrow)
Bridget Hanley b. 1941 (Bell, Book and Candle [1976 TV], I Dream of Jeannie, Bewitched)
Marshall Efron b. 1938 (THX 1138)
Victor Buono b. 1938 died 1 January 1982 (Man From Atlantis, Beneath the Planet of the Apes, Batman, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea)
Shelley Berman b. 1925 (Dead Like Me, The Munsters Today, Knight Rider, Beware! The Blob, Bewitched, Twilight Zone)
John Fiedler b. 1925 died 2005 (They Came from Outer Space, The Munsters [1987 and 1964], Tales from the Darkside, Amazing Stories, Tabitha, Ark II, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, The Lost Saucer, Mystery in Dracula’s Castle, Star Trek, Bewitched, My Favorite Martian, Twilight Zone, Tom Corbett, Space Cadet)
James Michener b. 1907 died 16 October 1997 (author, Space)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. Previous choices were Victor Buono as King Tut and Warwick Davis, one of the hardest working little people in show business. I was very tempted to use John Fiedler, a classic Oh That Guy actor whose best known role is probably as the therapy patient Mr. Peterson from The Bob Newhart Show. But as you can see, instead there is a picture of Bridget Regan from a very cheesy 21st Century show called Legend of the Seeker, which I watched incessantly, mostly to see her in that dress.

2. Spot the Canadians. Stephen McHattie and Terry Chen do have true patriot love for their home and native land, while Frederic Lehne just goes up there to cash paychecks.

3. Wait... he's alive? Shelley Berman turns 90. I had no idea he was still with us. Good on ya, Mr. Berman.

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

Predictor: W. Warren Wagar in the 1991 book A Short History of the Future

Prediction: Excerpt of a letter from Jens Otto Jensen to Robert Luczicki, dated 9 March 2016:
Damn the Democrats! They have the whole country bleeding its heart dry for The New Poor, and meanwhile the New Poor are living high (oh, literally!) and stealing the paint off our walls. We have to bring back the death penalty for crack and pop. It worked pretty well, and now things are worse than they were in the 1990s.

Reality: Umm... we never got rid of the death penalty and as bad as the hysteria could rise for any "new drug" like crack, we never used the death penalty for drug use or drug dealing. Wagar's basic premise of the victory of capitalism and rising inequality are true, but his specifics are usually way off. Crime rates have been decreasing generally since a peak in the 1990s, but fear of crime is always a good way to get elected.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

More from George Sutherland's technologically savvy 1901 book 20th Century Inventions.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

2 February 2014

Birthdays
Sydni Beaudoin b. 1990 (Spawn)
Amadou Ly b. 1988 (The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2)
Gemma Arterton b. 1986 (Clash of the Titans [2010], Hansel & Gretel – Witch Hunters, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time)
Emily Rose b. 1981 (Haven, Jericho)
Rich Sommer b. 1978 (Radio Free Albemuth, Vamped Out, The Storm)
Oz Perkins b. 1974 (Star Trek [2009], Wolf)
Tanya Clarke b. 1972 (Supernatural, American Horror Story, Repo Men)
Brittaney Bennett b. 1969 (Smallville, Earth: Final Conflict, Forever Knight, Highlander)
Doc Hammer b. 1966 (The Venture Bros.)
D.C. Douglas b. 1966 (Haunted Hathaways, Sharknado 2: The Second One, Star Trek: Enterprise, Future Force)
Michael T. Weiss b. 1962 (Bones [2001], Dark Shadows [1991])
Michael Talbot b. 1955 (Space [1985], Carrie)
Carol Ann Susi b. 1952 died 11 November 2014 (Big Bang Theory, Journeyman, Cats & Dogs, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Death Becomes Her. Kolchak: The Night Stalker)
Barbara Sukowa b. 1950 (12 Monkeys [2015], Johnny Mnemonic, Space [1985])
Brent Spiner b. 1949 (Warehouse 13, The Big Bang Theory, Alphas, The Guild, Superhero Movie, Threshold, Star Trek, Dude, Where’s My Car?, Independence Day, Phenomenon, Twilight Zone [1986], Tales from the Darkside)
Farrah Fawcett b. 1947 died 25 June 2009 (Saturn 3, The Six Million Dollar Man, Logan’s Run, The Girl with Something Extra, I Dream of Jeannie)
Blake Clark b. 1946 (Rise of the Damned, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Little Nicky, The Mask, Tales from the Crypt, The Greatest American Hero)
Geoffrey Hughes b. 1944 died 27 July 2012 (Polterguests, Doctor Who)
Bo Hopkins b. 1942 (Phantoms, Deadly Nightmares, Tentacles)
David Jason b. 1940 (Hogfather, Danger Mouse)
Thomas M Disch b. 1940 died 4 July 2008 (author, Supernatural Minnesota, Camp Concentration, The Brave Little Toaster, My Life as a Child)
Jackie Burroughs b. 1939 (Into the Labyrinth, Re-Generation, Dead Like Me, Smallville, Food of the Gods II, Twilight Zone [1989], The Dead Zone [1983])
Duane Jones b. 1936 died 22 July 1988 (Night of the Living Dead)
Tony Jay b. 1933 died 13 August 2006 (The Burning Zone, Lois & Clark, Eerie, Indiana, Beauty and the Beast [1989], My Stepmother is an Alien, Whoops Apocalypse)
Robert Mandan b. 1932 (Weird Science [1998 TV], Deep Space Nine, Zapped!, Mr. Merlin)
Sheila Allen b. 1929 died 15 November 2013 (Alice in Wonderland [1985 TV], Land of the Giants, Lost in Space, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea)
Elaine Stritch b. 1925 died 17 July 2014 (3rd Rock from the Sun, Cocoon: The Return)
Ayn Rand b. 1905 died 6 March 1982 (author, Anthem, Atlas Shrugged)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. For iconic roles in genre, Brent Spiner is the big name on this list and he was in the Picture Slot previously. I also used Duane Jones, the African-American actor from the original Night of the Living Dead. With those two retired from the competition, the field becomes less iconic to be sure. I was thinking of going with one of the characters voiced by Doc Hammer from The Venture Bros. because I'm a huge fan, but instead I went with Gemma Arterton (and her co-star Jeremy Renner) from the poster of Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters because, well, she looks great.

2. Three Canadians, one native and two transplants. Jackie Burroughs and Tanya Clarke weren't born in Canada, but the emigrated there. Brittaney Bennett was born there.

3. Nepotism FTW. Commenter James Marshall VI suggested a new label dealing with nepotism when someone on the list has a much more famous family member and gets work because of the connection.  I like this idea and I'm calling it Nepotism FTW. There will be some cases in the gray area, but not this first one. Sheila Allen was Irwin Allen's wife. Take a look at her credits. Nepotism FTW.

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

Predictors: The pro football experts at ESPN

Prediction: The New England Patriots were favored by a consensus of 10-4 over the Seattle Seahawks.

Reality: It was a strange game and a close one at the end, but the Patriots pulled it out thanks to an interception on a play call that will be second guessed for years. (Actually, this is first guessing. Marshawn Lynch up the middle. If it fails on 2nd down, do it again on 3rd down, and 4th down if necessary.) Getting ten right and four wrong gives the expert panel a final score of 102-52 over the eleven playoff games, which rounds 66.2% correct. That might sound not very expert. But if you assume the games are tossups before they are played (not a great assumption, but an easy one) This score is in the 99.99th percentile in terms of lucky guessing. Trying to give a weighting which takes into account how well home teams do, if we said that average is about 60% right, getting 66% right is still in the 94th percentile on the bell curve. In other words, the experts deserved to be called experts in this case.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Another prediction of the early 21st Century from W. Warren Wagar's 1991 book A Short History of the Future.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!