7 August 2015

Birthdays
Liam James b. 1996 (Fringe, 2012, Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem)
Francesca Eastwood b. 1993 (Kids vs Monsters, Heroes Reborn)
Katherine Press b. 1988 (Captain America: The First Avenger)
Abbie Cornish b. 1982 (RoboCop, Sucker Punch, Limitless)
Brit Marling b. 1982 (I Origins, Another Earth)
Cirroc Lofton b. 1978 (Invasion, Deep Space Nine)
Alexandre Aja b. 1978 (director, Horns, Piranha 3D, The Hills Have Eyes [2006])
Charlize Theron b. 1975 (Mad Max: Fury Road, Prometheus, The Road, Hancock, Aeon Flux, The Astronaut’s Wife, The Devil’s Advocate, Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest)
Hans Matheson b. 1975 (Clash of the Titans, The Mists of Avalon)
Michael Shannon b. 1974 (Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice, Man of Steel, Jonah Hex, Bug, Vanilla Sky, Early Edition, Chain Reaction, Groundhog Day)
Greg Serano b. 1972 (Agent Carter, LA Apocalypse, Doomed Planet, Terminator Salvation, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, The Postman)
Sydney Penny b. 1971 (Hyper Sapiens: People from Another Star, Twilight Zone [1986])
Paula Jean Hixson b. 1968 (Being Human, Source Code)
Charlotte Lewis b. 1967 (Highlander: The Raven, Embrace of the Vampire, The Golden Child)
Harold Perrineau b. 1963 (Constantine, Lost, Demons, 28 Weeks Later, The Matrix Revolutions, The Matrix Reloaded)
Ramon Estevez b. 1963 (Alligator II: The Mutation, The Dead Zone)
Brian Conley b. 1961 (Equilibrium, Cinderella: The Shoe Must Go On)
David Duchovny b. 1960 (The X Files, Evolution, Space: Above and Beyond)
Shannon Cochran b. 1958 (Fringe, Star Trek: Nemesis, The Ring, Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: The Next Generation)
Paul Dini b. 1957 (writer, a whole lot of TV cartoon shows)
Wayne Knight b. 1955 (Torchwood, Punisher: War Zone, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Space Jam, Jurassic Park, The Day After)
Caroline Aaron b. 1952 (What Planet Are You From?, Edward Scissorhands, The Brother from Another Planet)
Alexei Sayle b. 1952 (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Solarbabies, Doctor Who, Whoops Apocalypse)
Graeme Blundell b. 1945 (Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith)
David Rasche b. 1944 (Men in Black 3, Bigfoot: The Unforgettable Encounter, Wicked Stepmother)
John Glover b. 1944 (Agent Carter, Smallville, Heroes, Brimstone, Batman & Robin, Deep Space Nine, The Ray Bradbury Theatre, RoboCop 2, Scrooged, Twilight Zone [1986], The Incredible Shrinking Woman)
Tobin Bell b. 1942 (Saw, Revelations, Charmed, The X Files, Strange World, Stargate SG-1, Mann & Machine, Alien Nation)
Sue Lloyd b. 1939 died 20 October 2011 (U.F.O., Super Gran)
Steve Ihnat b. 1934 died 12 May 1972 (Star Trek, Countdown, I Dream of Jeannie, The Outer Limits, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea)
Jerry Pournelle b. 1933 (author, The Mote in God’s Eye, The Man-Kzin Wars, Lucifer’s Hammer)
Edward Hardwicke b. 1932 died 16 May 2011 (She [2001], Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend, Venom, Supernatural [1977 TV mini-series], H.G. Wells’ Invisible Man)
Michael Masters b. 1929 died 2 December 2003 (Knight Rider, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Sixth Sense [1972], The Immortal)
Adrian Ricard b. 1924 (I, Robot, Lois & Clark, The Man with Two Brains, Gemini Man)
Jane Adams b. 1918 died 21 May 2014 (Adventures of Superman, Batman and Robin [1949], The Brute Man, House of Dracula)
Billie Burke b. 1884 died 14 May 1970 (The Wizard of Oz, Topper [1937])

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, I went fabulous with Charlize Theron and Billie Burke. We have some good Oh That Guy actors and some regulars from genre TV as well as important guest stars, but I decided to go with David Duchovny, who was actually a star of a show I think is important enough to have its own label, The X Files.

2. Spot the Canadian! The youngest person on the list - Liam James - was born north of the border. Hard to tell that just looking at his credits.

3. Nepotism FTW. I will not hem and haw about Francesca Eastwood or Ramon Estevez. Classic nepotism careers.

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

Movie released
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra released, 2009

Predictor: H.G. Wells in his 1901 book Anticipations

Prediction: And for the rest, those swarms of black, and brown, and dirty-white, and yellow people, who do not come into the new needs of efficiency? Well, the world is a world, not a charitable institution, and I take it they will have to go. The whole tenor and meaning of the world, as I see it, is that they have to go. So far as they fail to develop sane, vigorous, and distinctive personalities for the great world of the future, it is their portion to die out and disappear.

Reality: Well obviously, if the people in those lands the British rape and pillage can't learn to steal everything not nailed down and act like it's God's plan, there is no place for them in the shiny new future.

Many commenters including myself have a soft spot for Time After Time, the 1979 movie where Malcolm McDowell plays young H.G.Wells as an adorable nerd with a time machine who falls in love with the equally adorable Mary Steenburgen. Reading Anticipations has put a damper on my love for that movie not unlike the steady stream of news over the past few months has made it hard to enjoy The Cosby Show.

Would I rather go back to happy ignorance or be stuck with the messy, ugly truth? What I'd rather do is live in a world when H.G. Wells and Bill Cosby aren't scumbags, but since that's not an option, I'd rather know the truth because I'm a grown-up.
 
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Up on the soapbox on Saturday, feeling bad about part of the future we didn't get, or rather, we had for a while but let it slip away.
  
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
 

6 August 2015

Birthdays
Romola Garai b. 1982 (The Last Days on Mars)
Karl Davies b. 1982 (Game of Thrones)
Adrianne Curry b. 1982 (Light Years Away)
Marisa Miller b. 1978 (R.I.P.D.)
Jennifer Lyons b. 1977 (Professor Creepy’s Scream Party, The Amazing Spider-Man, Return of the Killer Shrews, Jack Frost 2: Revenge of the Mutant Killer Snowman)
Melissa George b. 1976 (Gothica [TV], 30 Days of Night, The Amityville Horror, Charmed, Dark City)
Soleil Moon Frye b. 1976 (Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Piranhas)
Jason Rogel b. 1976 (Swamp Shark, The Quick and the Undead)
Ever Carradine b. 1974 (Supernatural, Eureka, 3rd Rock from the Sun)
Vera Farmiga b. 1973 (Source Code, Neverwas, Snow White: The Fairest of Them All)
Paolo Bacigalupi b. 1972 (won 2010 Hugo and Nebula for The Windup Girl)
Jason O’Mara b. 1972 (Terra Nova, Resident Evil: Extinction, Eastwick, Space Truckers)
Merrin Dungey b. 1971 (Once Upon a Time, Beyond, Good vs Evil, Deep Impact, Babylon 5)
M Night Shyamalan b. 1970 (director, After Earth, The Last Airbender, The Happening, The Lady in the Water, The Village, Signs, Unbreakable, The Sixth Sense)
Alan Cox b. 1970 (The Odyssey)
Michelle Yeoh b. 1962 (Babylon A.D., The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor)
Leland Orser b.1960 (Revolution, Touch, Star Trek: Enterprise, Daredevil, Alien: Resurrection, Star Trek: Voyager, Invader, Escape from L. A., Deep Space Nine, The X Files, Eerie, Indiana)
Ian R. MacLeod b. 1956 (author, The Great Wheel, The Summer Isles)
Stepfanie Kramer b. 1956 (The Man with Two Brains, The Secret Empire)
Kevin Jarre b. 1954 died 3 April 2001 (writer, The Mummy)
Catherine Hicks b. 1951 (Child’s Play, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Tucker’s Witch)
Jack Klaff b. 1951 (Red Dwarf, Whoops Apocalypse, Space: 1999, Star Wars)
Dorian Harewood b. 1950 (The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Kyle XY, Stargate SG-1, Earth: Final Conflict, Time Trax, Solar Crisis, Amerika, Desire, the Vampire, Looker)
Michael Anderson Jr. b. 1943 (Highlander [TV], The Martian Chronicles, Logan’s Run, Land of the Giants)
Louise Sorel b. 1940 (Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, The Incredible Hulk, The Curse of Dracula, Star Trek)
Paul Bartel b. 1938 died 13 May 2000 (Good vs Evil, Escape from L.A., Gremlins 2: The New Batch, Amazing Stories, Munchies, Heartbeeps, Death Race 2000)
Peter Bonerz b. 1938 (director, ALF; actor The Addams Family)
Barbara Windsor b. 1937 (Alice in Wonderland [2010], Doctor Who, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang)
Piers Anthony b. 1934 (author, Xanth)
Norman Barthold b. 1928 died 28 May 1994 (Capricorn One, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Westworld, My Favorite Martian)
Frank Finlay b. 1926 (Merlin [2008], The Magical Legend of the Leprechauns, Lifeforce, A Christmas Carol, The Thief of Baghdad [1978 TV], Count Dracula, The Deadly Bees, Target Luna)
Robert Mitchum b. 1917 died 1 July 1997 (Scrooged)
Lucille Ball b. 1911 died 26 April 1989 (The Magic Carpet)
Charles Crichton b. 1910 died 14 September 1999 (director, Alien Attack, Space: 1999, The Day After Tomorrow [1976 TV movie])

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, I went with fabulous babes who fell for Capt. Kirk, Louise Sorel and Catherine Hicks, and this year I go with Paolo Bacigalupi's The Windup Girl, a novel I read earlier this year.

2. Nepotism FTW. As you might guess, Ever Carradine is from the Carradine clan, daughter of Robert.

3. MST3K. The one I know for sure is The Deadly Bees with Frank Finlay

4. Today's surprises. I checked on Lucille Ball and Robert Mitchum expecting nothing, but she had one early in her career and he had one late.


5. Living Canadian free! One of those strange days.

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

Predictor: Morris L. Ernst in Utopia 1976, published in 1955

Prediction: As for water usage, with weather and rain control, the amount of water we need for irrigation will be what we make of it.

Reality: Controlling the weather is not quite as popular a prediction as flying cars or moving sidewalks, but this is definitely not the first prediction.

It doesn't make the prediction correct, but Mr. Ernst might be happy to know he's got company in his mistaken view.

Never to be Forgotten: George Cole 1925-2015
British actor George Cole, known best in his country as the star of a TV show Minder, has died at the age of 90. He is pictured here as the young Ebenezer Scrooge in the 1951 version of A Christmas Carol. His other genre credits include Mary Reilly, UFO and The Vampire Lovers.

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

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Once again, I will the writings of the young H.G. Wells to ruin that charming view some of us had of him when Malcolm McDowell played Wells all those years ago.
  
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

5 August 2015

Birthdays
Mars Curiosity landed 2012
Maddox Jolie-Pitt b. 2001 (World War Z)
Olivia Holt b. 1997 (Girl vs. Monster)
Ryan McDonald b. 1984 (Warehouse 13, Fringe, 2012, ReGenesis, Halloween: Resurrection)
Jesse Williams b. 1981 (The Cabin in the Woods)
Sophia Winkleman b. 1980 (Red Dwarf, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe)
Victor Cruz b. 1980 (Gotham, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Fringe)
Iddo Goldberg b. 1975 (Salem)
Lori Bagley b. 1973 (The Stepford Wives [2004])
Paul Kasey b. 1973 (Doctor Who, Being Human, The Sarah Jane Chronicles, Inkheart, Torchwood, 28 Days Later…, Blade II)
Darren Shahlavi b. 1972 died 14 January 2015 (Tomorrowland, Once Upon a Time on Wonderland, Continuum, Arrow, Aladdin and the Death Lamp, Mortal Kombat, Red Riding Hood, Watchmen, Bionic Woman [2007], Reaper, Slither, Merlin’s Apprentice, Legion of the Dead)
James Gunn b. 1970 (director, Guardians of the Galaxy, Slither [2006])
Chuck Campbell b. 1969 (Sanctuary, Stargate: Atlantis, Painkiller Jane, Stargate SG-1, Jason X, Earth: Final Conflict)
Jonathan Silverman b. 1966 (Inkubus, Jekyll, 12:01, Death Becomes Her)
Mark Strong b. 1963 (Nosferatu in Love, John Carter, Green Lantern, Kick-Ass, Babylon A.D., Stardust)
Tawny Kitaen b. 1961 (Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, They Came from Outer Space, Witchboard)
Vivian Kubrick b. 1960 (The Shining, 2001: A Space Odyssey)
Janet McTeer b. 1961 (Insurgent)
Maureen McCormick b. 1956 (I Dream of Jeannie, Bewitched)
Holly Palance b. 1950 (The Omen)
Loni Anderson b. 1945 (Sabrina, The Teenage Witch, Munchie, Amazing Stories, The Incredible Hulk, The Invisible Man [1975])
Natalie Trundy b. 1940 (Battle for the Planet of the Apes, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, Escape from the Planet of the Apes, Beneath the Planet of the Apes, Twilight Zone)
Larry Elmore b. 1948 (artist)
Jan Francis b. 1947 (Ghostbusters of East Finchley, Aladdin and the Forty Thieves, Dracula [1979])
Alan Howard b. 1937 died 14 February 2015 (Lord of the Rings)
John Saxon b. 1935 (Lancelot: Guardian of Time, From Dusk Till Dawn, Hellmaster, My Mom’s a Werewolf, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Prisoners of the Lost Universe, Battle Beyond the Stars, Wonder Woman, The Bionic Woman, The Six Million Dollar Man, Strange New World, Planet Earth, The Time Tunnel, Queen of Blood, Blood Beast from Outer Space)
Zakes Mokae b. 1934 died 11 September 2009 (The X Files, Waterworld, Outbreak, Vampire in Brooklyn, Knight Rider)
Joan Weldon b. 1933 (Them!)
Neil Armstrong b. 1930 died 25 August 2012 (first man to walk on the moon)
Don Matheson b.1929 died 29 June 2014 (Dragonflight, Alice in Wonderland [1985], Land of the Giants, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Lost in Space)
Mickey Shaughnessy b. 1920 died 23 July 1985 (Conquest of Space)
Selma Diamond b. 1920 died 13 May 1985 (Twilight Zone: The Movie)
Parley Baer b. 1914 died 22 November 2002 (Star Trek: Voyager, Roswell, Quantum Leap, Time Trackers, Twilight Zone [1986], The Incredible Hulk, Project U.F.O., Bewitched, Land of the Giants, I Dream of Jeannie, The Addams Family, My Favorite Martian, My Living Doll, The Outer Limits, The Brass Bottle)
John Huston b. 1906 died 28 August 1987 (Battle for the Planet of the Apes)
Reginald Owen b. 1887 died 5 November 1972 (Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Bewitched, Mary Poppins, A Christmas Carol [1938])

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, the Picture Slot was given to Neil Armstrong and The One Ring, voiced by Alan Howard. If I was in the mood to put up an actor, Reginald Owen as Scrooge is the most iconic, and putting up Mark Strong from Green Lantern would just be cruel, but I decided to celebrate the third anniversary of Mars Curiosity, one of the most science fiction-like real events in the past decade.

2. Spot the Canadians! Ryan McDonald and Chuck Campbell are Canadians and their credit lists look Canadian. The late Darren Shahlavi's credits look a little Canadian, but he was born in the U.K. (He also deserved his own Never to be Forgotten, but I didn't see his obit last January.) The unspottable Canadian is Selma Diamond. If I had to guess, I would have assumed she was a Jewish girl from New York.

3. Nepotism FTW. Vivian Kubrick and Maddox Jolie-Pitt are classic cases of nepotism.

4. Stuff didn't expect. Sometimes I see a name on imdb.com that I know and I click through to their credit page just to check, not knowing any genre credits and not expecting anything. That's what I did today with John Huston, Mickey Shaughnessy, Selma Diamond and Loni Anderson. That's a lot of surprises. 

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

Predictor: George Sutherland in Twentieth Century Inventions, published 1902

Prediction: But in electrical house-warming, for which a white heat is not required and in which the necessary protection from the air can be secured by embedding the conveying medium in opaque solid material, the problem becomes much simpler, because strong metallic wires can be used, and they may be enclosed in any kind of cement which does not corrode them and which distributes the heat while refusing to conduct the electric current. A network of wire, crossing and recrossing but always carrying the same current, may be embedded in plaster and a gentle heat may be imparted to the whole mass through the resistance of the wires to the electricity and their contact with the non-conducting material.

Reality: I don't know if this method was ever used, but it seems to me it would be hard pressed to produced enough heat to warm a house in the dead of winter in any cold climate unless the wall would become dangerously hot to the touch. Our undead architect friend would certainly know more than I on this subject.
 

Never to be Forgotten: Lynn Manning 1955-2015

 Los Angeles based actor and playwright Lynn Manning died from liver cancer last week. Manning had a very tough life even before dying so young. His young home life was very chaotic, living in multiple foster homes after his mother nearly killed his stepfather. He was blinded by a gunshot wound when he was 23. He established himself in the Los Angeles theater community and also acted on screen as well. He is mentioned here for a role in the sitcom the Vamps Next Door.

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

Never to be Forgotten: Coleen Gray 1922-2015

Actress Coleen Gray began he film career in the 1940s and was featured in big budget films like Kiss of Death, The Killing and Red River. Later in her career, she got bigger roles in smaller genre productions, most notably The Leech Woman, a film which got the MST3K treatment. Other genre roles include  Tales from the Darkside, The Sixth Sense, The Phantom Planet and The Vampire.

Best wishes to the family and friends of Coleen Gray, from a fan. She is never to be forgotten. 
 
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Thursday now belongs to our very optimistic pal Morris Ernst in his 1955 book Utopia 1976.
  
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

4 August 2015

Birthdays
Cole and Dylan Sprouse b. 1992 (Wizards of Waverly Place, The Nightmare Room, The Astronaut’s Wife)
Lucinda Dryzek b. 1991 (Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Doctor Who)
Chet Hanks b. 1990 (Fantastic Four, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull)
David Kaye b. 1988 (Paranormal Solutions Inc., Arrow, Edge of Tomorrow, Supernatural, Dark Angel, So Weird)
Alex Williamson b. 1988 (Me and My Mates vs. the Zombie Apocalypse, #7DaysLater)
Lily Costner b. 1986 (The Postman)
Meghan Markle b. 1981 (Fringe, Knight Rider [2009])
Abigail Spencer b. 1981 (Oz the Great and Powerful, Cowboys & Aliens)
David Lewis b. 1976 (Man of Steel, Supernatural, Fringe, Seeds of Destruction, Stonehenge Apocalypse, Zombie Punch, Wyvern, The Day the Earth Stood Still [2008], Smallville, Ba’al, Beyond Loch Ness, Eureka, The Butterfly Effect 2, Kyle XY, Alien Incursion, Stargate SG-1, Alienated, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Dead Like Me, Halloween: Resurrection, Level 9, Lake Placid, Lexx, The New Addams Family, The X-Files)
Andy Hallett b. 1975 died 29 March 2009 (Angel, Buffy)
Ron Lester b. 1970 (Sabrina, the Teenage Witch)
John August b. 1970 (writer, Frankenweenie, Dark Shadows, Corpse Bride, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Titan a.e.)
Thomas J. Churchill b. 1970 (Lazarus: Day of the Living Dead)
Michael DeLuise b. 1969 (Bloodsuckers, Lost, Stargate SG-1, 3rd Rock from the Sun, SeaQuest 2032, Tales from the Crypt, Encino Man, Amazing Stories)
Daniel Dae Kim b. 1968 (Insurgent, Once Upon a Time, Lost, The Andromeda Strain, Spider-Man 2, Star Trek: Enterprise, Hulk, Momentum, Angel, Charmed, Crusade, Brave New World [TV movie], NightMan)
James Tupper b. 1965 (Resurrection, Toxic Skies)
Sebastian Roche b. 1964 (The Originals, Once Upon a Time, Pegasus vs. Chimera, Grimm, The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural, Fringe, Vamped Out, Beowulf, Charmed, Odyssey 5)
Lauren Tom b. 1961 (Supernatural, Threshold, Quantum Leap)
Bernard Rose b. 1960 (director, Frankenstein [2015], Candyman)
Billy Bob Thornton b. 1955 (The Big Bang Theory, The Astronaut Farmer, Armageddon, Chopper Chicks in Zombietown)
Lori Lethin b. 1955 (Werewolf, Starman [TV], The Day After)
Donald Gibb b. 1954 (Hancock, Black Scorpion, Homeboys in Outer Space, Breakfast of Aliens, The X-Files, Harry and the Hendersons [TV], Quantum Leap, They Came from Outer Space, Transylvania 6-5000, Otherworld, Knight Rider, Conan the Barbarian)
Kristoffer Tabori b. 1952 (Sliders, SeaQuest 2032, Quantum Leap, The Twilight Zone [1985], Small and Frye, Brave New World [TV movie])
Sara Botsford b. 1951 (Matty Hanson and the Invisibility Ray, Three Moons Over Milford, The Fog, Tremors 4: The Legend Begins, Total Recall 2070, Sliders )
William Frankfather b. 1944 died 28 December 1998 (Dark Skies, Deep Space Nine, Death Becomes Her, Cool World, Tales from the Crypt, Alien Nation, Freddy’s Nightmares, Harry and the Hendersons, Twilight Zone [1987], Invaders from Mars, Amazing Stories, The Greatest American Hero)
Richard Belzer b. 1944 (3rd Rock from the Sun, Species II, The X-Files, The Invaders, Not of This Earth, The Puppet Masters, Lois & Clark, The Flash)
Georgina Hale b. 1943 (Cockneys vs Zombies, Doctor Who, Hammer House of Horror, The Watcher in the Woods)
Don S. Davis b. 1942 died 29 June 2008 (Stargate, Flash Gordon, Supernatural, Beyond Loch Ness, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Andromeda, Atomic Train, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show, Poltergeist: The Legacy, The X-Files, M.A.N.T.I.S., Highlander [TV], Needful Things, Hook, Omen IV: The Awakening)
Martin Jarvis b. 1941 (Neander-Jin: The Return of the Neanderthal Man, Stargate: Atlantis, Space Island One, Space: Above and Beyond, Doctor Who, Taste the Blood of Dracula)
Frank Vincent b. 1939 (Stargate: Atlantis)
Jeanne Carmen b. 1930 died 20 December 2007 (The Naked Monster, The Monster of Piedras Blancas)
Tom Hennesy b. 1923 died 23 May 2011 (Revenge of the Creature)
Wesley Addy b. 1913 died 31 December 1996 (The Invaders, The Outer Limits)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot and MST3K. In previous years, the Picture Slot went to the late Andy Hallett from Angel and Daniel Dae Kim from Lost. The biggest movie star on the list is Billy Bob Thornton, but I don't think of him as iconic in genre. That leaves us with Oh That Guy actors for the most part, and I considered Sebastian Roche and Don S. Davis before deciding on Tom Hennesy, a cowboy actor who was in the monster suit for the non-underwater scenes of Revenge of the Creature, which also means we have an MST3K movie on the list.

2. Spot the Canadians. Today it's David Kaye, David Lewis and Sara Botsford.

3. Nepotism FTW. Some names here should give it away, like Michael DeLuise, Lily Costner and Chet Hanks. There are two other cases, one I count and one I don't. Georgina Hale married Ken Russell, but she had a career before meeting him and worked in plenty of projects he didn't direct. The other is Kristoffer Tabori, son of director Don Siegel and actress Viveca Lindfors. That I would count as nepotism.

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

Predictor: John Langdon-Davies in A Short History of the Future, published in 1936

Prediction: Human beings will become standardized for a time but eventually the state will encourage individuality again along certain carefully controlled lines.

Reality: Langdon-Davies had some very odd ideas, but state encouraged limited individuality is just plain goofy.
 

BONUS!

Predictor: Terminator 2, released 3 July 1991

Prediction: 8/4/1997 Skynet launched

Reality: Skynet turns 18 today! That means it can vote, but you can't take it out for a drink afterward, which is just cruel as far as I'm concerned.
 
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

We hear again from our sensible pal George Sutherland about the inventions he predicts will exist by the year 2000.
  
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

3 August 2015

Birthdays
Georgina Haig b. 1985 (Once Upon a Time, Fringe)
Max Landis b. 1985 (writer, Victor Frankenstein, Chronicle)
Emily Baldoni b. 1984 (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Coherence, Legend of the Seeker)
Jon Foster b. 1984 (Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines)
Kyle Schmid b. 1984 (Being Human, Lost Girl, Arrow, Dead Before Dawn 3D, Smallville, The Covenant, Odyssey 5, My Best Friend is an Alien, Virus)
Evangeline Lilly b. 1979 (Ant-Man, The Hobbit, Real Steel, Lost, Smallville, Freddy vs. Jason)
Tomas Lemarquis b. 1977 (Snowpiercer, Errors of the Human Body)
Franco Castan b. 1977 (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Revolution, Coma [TV mini-series])
Michael Ealy b. 1973 (Almost Human, Underworld: Awakening, FlashForward)
Stephen Graham b. 1973 (Pirates of the Caribbean, Season of the Witch, Inkheart)
Melissa Ponzio b. 1972 (Teen Wolf, The Walking Dead, Touch, The Vampire Diaries)
Brigid Brannagh b. 1972 (Star Trek: Enterprise, Angel, Early Edition, Charmed, Kindred: The Embraced, American Gothic)
Elizabeth Berrington b. 1970 (Doctor Who, Psychoville, Nanny McPhee, The Little Vampire)
Anne Marie DeLuise b. 1969 (Smallville, Sanctuary, The Thaw, Painkiller Jane, Stargate SG-1, Supernatural, Dead Like Me, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Mysterious Ways, Code Name: Eternity, First Wave, Total Recall 2070, Earth: Final Conflict, Highlander: The Raven, Eerie, Indiana: The Other Dimension, Side Effects, Darkman II: The Return of Durant)
Asante Jones b. 1968 (Zombie Strippers!, Journeyman)
Luke Massy b. 1966 (Thor, Charmed)
Isaiah Washington b. 1963 (The 100, Bionic Woman [2007], Ghost Ship)
Lisa Ann Walter b. 1963 (War of the Worlds, Bruce Almighty)
Molly Hagan b. 1961 (Navy Seals vs. Zombies, iZombie, Charmed, The Invisible Man, Early Edition, Deep Space Nine, ALF)
John C. McGinley b. 1959 (The Nightmare Room, Target Earth, Highlander II: The Quickening)

John Landis b. 1950 (director, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show, Innocent Blood, Twilight Zone: The Movie, American Werewolf in London)
Philip Casnoff b. 1949 (Dollhouse, Message from Space)
Phil Rubenstein b. 1940 died 26 June 1992 (RoboCop 2, My Mom’s a Werewolf, ALF, Mannequin, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Knight Rider)
Martin Sheen b. 1940 (The Amazing Spider-Man 1 and 2, Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, The Time Shifters, Total Recall 2070, Babylon 5: River of Souls, Alchemy, Crystal Cave, Project: ALF, Captain Nuke and the Bomber Boys, Roswell [TV Movie], Beyond the Stars, Firestarter, The Dead Zone, The Outer Limits)
Stephen Berkoff b. 1937 (The Frankenstein Chronicles, Witches of East End, Doctor Who, Children of Dune, Deep Space Nine, Space Precinct, Metamorphosis [TV movie], Outland, A Clockwork Orange, UFO, Prehistoric Women)
Gordon Scott b. 1926 died 30 April 2007 (Hercules and the Princess of Troy, Goliath and the Vampires)
Rona Anderson b. 1926 died 23 July 2013 (A Christmas Carol)
James Komack b. 1924 died 24 December 1977 (writer, My Favorite Martian)
Jean Hagen b. 1923 died 29 August 1977 (Panic in Year Zero!)
P.D. James b. 1920 died 27 November 2014 (author, Children of Men)
Alex McCrindle b. 1911 died 20 April 1990 (Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope)
Clifford D. Simak b. 1904 died 25 April1988 (Won 1964 Hugo for Here Gather the Stars)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, the Picture Slot went to Evangeline Lilly from Lost and Michael Ealy from Almost Human. Having used two 21st Century productions, I feel free to go a little more old school with Alex McCrindle as General Dodonna from Star Wars.

2. Spot the Canadians! There are three today: Kyle Schmid, Evangeline Lilly and Anne-Marie DeLuise.

3. Nepotism and not. Anne-Marie DeLuise is married to Peter DeLuise and I don't consider that nepotism except in extreme cases. Max Landis is the son of John Landis, that absolutely counts. Brigid Branagh is from San Francisco and is no blood relation to Kenneth Brannagh.


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

Movie released
Total Recall released, 2012

Predictor: The OMNI Future Almanac, published in 1982

Prediction: During the 21st Century, many of the responsibilities of traditional schooling will be transferred to parents. The mass availability of video and computer hardware will bring the classroom into the home. The chief purpose of schools and classrooms will be to socialize young people and to introduce them to one another. By necessity, and even without long classroom hours, the worldwide literacy rate will rise.

Reality: They get this right for the wrong reasons today. The increase in home schooling comes from parents who don't want their little angels to learn about evolution, not so much from the technological end. And then there's the rise in literacy, which is completely accurate by all estimates, rising from about 60% to 80% since the early 1980s. 
 
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

We are running out of predictions from our regular Tuesday source, John Langdon-Davies. It's the commie's penultimate guess tomorrow.
  
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

2 August 2015

Birthdays
Kara and Shelby Hoffman b. 2002(Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events)
Hallie Kate Eisenberg b. 1992 (Bicentennial Man)
Zuleyka Silver b. 1991 (In Time, Touch)
Kerry James b. 1986 (The Boy Who Cried Werewolf, SGU Stargate Universe)
Donna Air b. 1979 (The Mummy Returns)
Ty O’Neal b. 1978 (The Postman)
Sam Worthington b. 1976 (Avatar, Wrath of the Titans, Clash of the Titans, Terminator Salvation)
Edward Furlong b. 1977 (Star Trek: Renegades, The Zombie King, Arachnoquake, The Green Hornet, Night of the Demons, Dark Reel, Warriors of Terra, The Crow - Wicked Prayer, Brainscan, Pet Sematary II, Terminator 2: Judgment Day)
Jacinda Barrett b. 1972 (NightMan, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys)
James Preston Rogers b. 1972 (Pixels, Alphas, Lost Girl, Death Warrior, Outlander)
Matthew Del Negro b. 1972 (Teen Wolf, Witches of East End, Eastwick, Stargate: Atlantis)
Alice Evans b. 1971 (The Originals, Grimm, The Vampire Diaries, Lost, Highlander [TV])
Tristan Tait b. 1971 (The Dark Knight, 28 Weeks Later, Quantum Leap)
Kevin Smith b. 1970 (writer/director, Moose Jaws, Tusk, Reaper, Dogma)
Regina Russell b. 1965 (The Mummy’s Kiss, Hook)
Mary-Louise Parker b. 1964 (R.I.P.D., The Spiderwyck Chronicles)
Cynthia Stevenson b. 1962 (Sleepy Hollow, Dead Like Me, Neverwas, From the Earth to the Moon, Max Headroom)
Olivier Gruner b. 1960 (Sector 4: Extraction, Re-Generator, One Night, Interceptor Force 1 and 2, Velocity Trap, Mars, Automatic)
Apollonia Kotero b. 1959 (Black Magic Woman, Knight Rider)
Victoria Jackson b. 1959 (Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, The X Files)
Tim Dunigan b. 1955 (They Came from Outer Space, Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future, Hard Time on Planet Earth, Wizards and Warriors)
Ken McLeod b. 1954 (author, The Fall Revolution)
Butch Patrick b. 1953 (Zombie Dream, Young Blood: Evil Intentions, The Munsters, Shazam!, Lidsville, The Phantom Tollbooth, I Dream of Jeannie, My Favorite Martian)
Joanna Cassidy b. 1945 (Heroes, Ghosts of Mars, Vampire in Brooklyn, The Tommyknockers, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Blade Runner)
Susan Denberg b. 1944 (Frankenstein Created Woman, Star Trek)
Max Wright b. 1943 (Early Edition, The Stand, From the Earth to the Moon, Quantum Leap, ALF, Misfits of Science, Faerie Tale Theatre)
Isabel Allende b. 1942 (author, The City of the Beasts, The Infinite Plan)
Sandra Ellis Lafferty b. 1940 (Resurrection, The Hunger Games, The Vampire Diaries, The Prophecy 3, Conan [TV], Dark Skies, The Prophecy)
Wes Craven b.1939 (director, Vampire in Brooklyn, New Nightmare, The People Under the Stairs, Shocker, The Serpent and the Rainbow, The Twilight Zone [1985-6], Deadly Friend, Nightmare on Elm Street, The Hills Have Eyes I and II, Swamp Thing)
Peter O’Toole b. 1932 died 15 Dec 2013 (Phantoms, Supergirl, Stardust, Creator, High Spirits, Gulliver’s Travels, Ray Bradbury Theatre)
Bernard L. Kowalski b. 1929 died 26 October 2007 (director, Knight Rider, Sssssss, Attack of the Giant Leeches, Night of the Blood Beast)
Carroll O’Connor b. 1924 died 21 June 2001 (Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Outer Limits)
Theo Marcuse b. 1920 died 29 November 1967 (Star Trek, The Invaders, The Time Tunnel, Batman, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Outer Limits, Twilight Zone)
Nehemiah Persoff b. 1919 (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Battlestar Galactica, The Bionic Woman, Logan’s Run, Wonder Woman, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Invisible Man, Dracula, Land of the Giants, The Power, The Time Tunnel, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Twilight Zone)
Gary Merrill b. 1915 died 5 March 1990 (Earth II, The Time Tunnel, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Outer Limits, Twilight Zone, Mysterious Island [1961])
Beatrice Straight b. 1914 died 7 April 2001 (Faerie Tale Theatre, Poltergeist, Wonder Woman)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, the Picture Slot went to Edward Furlong and Wes Craven. Several good candidates presented themselves today, including Bruce Patrick and Sam Worthington, but I decided to go fabulous and choose Joanna Cassidy from Blade Runner. This is as good a time as any to remind folks that we are only four years away from sex robots according to this film, and while two out of three sex robots want to kill you, early adopters of technology should expect some glitches along the way. As a friend of mine from the old days of programming said, the first Christians get the best lions.

2. Spot the Canadian! Just one today, James Preston Rogers.

3. Not really nepotism. Hallie Kate Eisenberg is the baby sister of Jesse Eisenberg. I only count siblings in very rare circumstances

4. MST3K. I know Attack of the Giant Leeches and Night of the Blood Beast got the Best Brains treatment, not sure about anything else.

5. Wait... he's alive? I didn't know Nehemiah Persoff was still with us. Special birthday best wishes to you, sir.


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


Movie released

Signs released, 2002
  
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

OMNI Future Almanac starts off another week.
  
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

1 August 2015

Birthdays
Alakina Mann b. 1990 (The Others)
Sasha Jackson b. 1988 (Dominion, Attack of the 50ft Cheerleader, The Witches of Oz)
Max Carver b. 1988 (The Leftovers, Teen Wolf, Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn)
Monserrat Lombard b. 1982 (The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, Hyperdrive)
Miracle Laurie b. 1981 (100,000 Zombie Heads, Dollhouse)
Jason Momoa b. 1979 (Aquaman, Game of Thrones, Conan the Barbarian [2011], Stargate: Atlantis)
Burton Perez b. 1977 (G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra)
Annett Culp b. 1975 (BloodRayne: The Third Reich, Blubberella, Babylon 5: In the Beginning)
Kris Holden-Ried b. 1973 (The Listener, Lost Girl, Underworld: Awakening, Habitat)
Charles Malik Whitfield b. 1972 (Sleepy Hollow, Warehouse 13, Supernatural, Seven Days)
Jennifer Gareis b. 1970 (The 6th Day)
Cameron Rhodes b. 1967 (Power Rangers, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Xena)
Sam Mendes b. 1965 (producer, Penny Dreadful)
Melanie Shatner b. 1964 (Perversions of Science, TekWar, La Mansion de los Cthulhu, The Alien Within, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Star Trek)
John Carroll Lynch b. 1963 (Ted 2, American Horror Story, Paul, Carnivale, Star Trek: Voyager, From the Earth to the Moon)
Thomas Jay Ryan b. 1962 (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Teknolust)
Mark McCracken b. 1960 (Where the Wild Things Are, Matinee, Swamp Thing)
Adrian Dunbar b. 1958 (The Quatermass Experiment [2005 TV])
Taylor Negron b. 1957 died 10 January 2015 (Vamps, Wizards of Waverly Place, Good vs Evil, Faerie Tale Theatre)
Lewis Smith b. 1956 (Avalon: Beyond the Abyss, Beauty and the Beast, Badlands 2005, The Man Who Fell to Earth [TV], Buckaroo Banzai)
Annabel Jankel b. 1955 (director, Super Mario Bros., Max Headroom)
Suze Lanier-Bramlett b. 1947 (The Hills Have Eyes, Electra Woman and Dyna Girl)
David Calder b. 1946 (Utopia, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, The Mists of Avalon, Jason and the Argonauts [2000 TV], Star Cops, Superman)
Andrew G. Vajna b. 1944 (producer, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Judge Dredd, Jacob’s Ladder, Total Recall)
Giancarlo Giannini b. 1942 (Dracula [2002], Dune [2000 TV], Mimic)
Terry Kiser b. 1939 (The Huntress, Lois & Clark, Tammi and the T-Rex, Incredi-Girl, Mannequin: On the Move, Hard Time on Planet Earth, Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood, The Return of the Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman, Knight Rider, Automan, Manimal, Starflight: The Plane That Couldn’t Land, Looker, Gemini Man, The Invisible Man)
Ian Hogg b. 1937 (Doctor Who)
Dom DeLuise b. 1933 died 4 May 2009 (Stargate SG-1, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, 3rd Rock from the Sun, SeaQuest 2032, Spaceballs, Haunted Honeymoon, Amazing Stories, The Munsters)
Geoffrey Holder b. 1930 died 5 October 2014 (Ghost of a Chance, John Grin’s Christmas, Alice in Wonderland [1983], Doctor Dolittle [1967])
Michael Sinelnikoff b. 1928 (The Lost World, TekWar)
Paul Lambert b. 1922 died 27 April 1997 (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Automan, Planet of the Apes, The Outer Limits, Twilight Zone, Men Into Space)
Arthur Hill b. 1922 died 22 October 2006 (Tales of the Unexpected, Prototype, Tomorrow’s Child, Revenge of the Stepford Wives [TV], Futureworld, The Andromeda Strain, The Invaders, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea)
J. Lee Thompson b. 1914 died 30 August 2002 (director, Battle for the Planet of the Apes, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes)
Henry Jones b. 1912 died 17 May 1999 (Arachnophobia, Project U.F.O., The Six Million Dollar Man, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, The Girl with Something Extra, Project X, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Lost in Space, Bewitched, Twilight Zone)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, I went with my fabulous babe/Whedonverse nerd instincts with Miracle Laurie and showed my Oh That Guy street cred with Henry Jones, who has 206 credits on imdb.com, but it seems like so many more. This year, it's Jason Momoa as Khal Drogo, definitely iconic.

2. Spot the Canadians. Kris Holden-Ried had a featured role on Lost Girl and yes, he is also Canadian. Arthur Hill was born in 1922, so he worked most of his career before the Canadian production boom.

3. Nepotism, obvs. Melanie Shatner. I've already written too much.

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

Movies released
Guardians of the Galaxy released, 2014
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor released, 2008
The Omega Man released 1971

I'm not sure if Marvel knew it had a hit with Guardians of the Galaxy. Releasing a movie in the beginning of August is very late for a summer blockbuster, the biggest of which often open in the spring, from early May to mid-June.

The Weekly Soapbox: Jetpacks
I started this blog because I'm old enough to think of the 21st Century as the future. If you look back forty or fifty years, the changes are really quite stunning, but the cliche complaints are "Hey, where's my flying car?" or "Hey, where's my jetpack?"

In 2011, Neil Gaiman wrote a silly little short story titled And Weep, Like Alexander about a fellow who was an uninventor, looking at the world and realizing some technology didn't make our lives any better, so he would go backwards in time and make sure some gadgets were not invented. The personal jetpack certainly deserves to be uninvented.

Let us stipulate that jetpacks look cool as hell.  There was a guy with the jetpack at Disneyland, there's James Bond, for pity's sake. Both of those very enticing examples give away the problem.

Jetpacks are for show. They are a special effect, not an actual practical mode of transportation. They are loud, they are expensive to buy, to fuel and to maintain, they have numerous safety issues that range in significance from hazardous to fatal. Even more than a flying car, it looks like the ultimate expression of freedom - personal flight - but where you could go is actually very limited, mainly because how how much fuel it burns. More than that, even if it could get you from Point A to Point B and those two places were more than a few hundred yards apart. where it lands it has to be stored, fueled and maintained.

Flying cars have almost all the same problems, but personal jetpacks are in fact much, much worse.
  

This month's splash illustration: BBC produced a seven-part series of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, based on the 2004 novel by Susanna Clarke. I liked both the book and the TV show very much and was sorry to see it get so little attention in the nerd circles I am in. A generally positive review in The New York Times stated that seven hours is not quite enough for a 1,000 page novel, which is certainly true, and because they left so much out the show didn't quite hold together, which I disagree with completely.

If you like long novels, pick up the book. If you like British period pieces, give the TV show a chance. It deserves more recognition than it got.

Never to be Forgotten: Roddy Piper 1954-2015 Canadian born Roddy Piper was a remarkable set of contradictions. He was always the bad guy in his wrestling career - they are known as "heels" - but every story about him was that he was a nice guy and the outpouring of love for him upon his death from a heart attack at 61 is nothing short of remarkable. His time in wrestling is well-known as The Steroid Era, but Piper didn't look the part. Barely six foot and built like a normal, in shape person, he was the foil for a lot of huge over-inflated opponents, most notably Hulk Hogan. He is remembered on this blog for his starring role in John Carpenter's very strange They Live, a low-budget sci-fi film that is a scathing indictment of consumerist culture. Carpenter verifies that Piper's most famous line in the film is an ad-lib, his statement before a massive gunfight, "I came to chew bubblegum and kick ass... and I'm all out of bubblegum." He also starred in Hell Comes to Frogtown - thanks to Zombie Rotten McDonald for jogging my memory on this - and apeared in a few Canadian production genre shows, including Alien Opponent, RoboCop, Highlander and Superboy.

Best wishes to the family and friends of Roddy Piper, from a fan. He is never to be forgotten.
 
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Another lazy Sunday with just a birthday list.
  
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!