Interesting tidbits: Today is Tabletop Day for all the gamers out there. 1722 - Jacob Roggeveen, Dutch explorer who was sent to find Terra Australis, but instead came across Easter Island. Jacob Roggeveen also encountered Bora Bora and Maupiti of the Society Islands. 1815 - Eruption of Tambora volcano. After a large magma chamber inside the mountain filled over the course of several decades, volcanic activity reached a historic climax in the eruption of 10 April 1815. The eruption caused global climate anomalies that included the phenomenon known as volcanic winter. 1816 became known as the Year Without a Summer because of the effect on North American and European weather. Crops failed and livestock died in much of the Northern Hemisphere, resulting in the worst famine of the 19th century. 1804 – High Possil Meteorite: The first recorded meteorite in Scotland falls in Possil. 2063 - Earths first contact with the extra-terrestrial Vulcan species in the Star Trek universe. Todays birthday crew: 1917 – Robert Bloch, American author primarily of crime, horror, fantasy and science fiction. He is best known as the writer of Psycho, the basis for the film of the same name by Alfred Hitchcock. He wrote that Despite my ghoulish reputation, I really have the heart of a small boy. I keep it in a jar on my desk, (a quote borrowed by Stephen King and often misattributed to him). His fondness for a pun is evident in the titles of his story collections such as Tales in a Jugular Vein, Such Stuff as Screams Are Made Of and Out of the Mouths of Graves. Bloch was one of the youngest members of the Lovecraft Circle. H.P. Lovecraft was Blochs mentor and one of the first to seriously encourage his talent. He won the Hugo Award (for his story That Hell-Bound Train), the Bram Stoker Award, and the World Fantasy Award. He served a term as president of the Mystery Writers of America (1970) and was a member of that organisation and of Science Fiction Writers of America, the Writers Guild of America, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Count Dracula Society. 1926 – Roger Corman. What can one possibly say about the King of the B movies except that if you dont already know who he is, youve probably missed some of the best B movies in existance. Much of Cormans work has an established critical reputation, such as his cycle of films adapted from the tales of Edgar Allan Poe. Admired by members of the French New Wave and Cahiers Du Cinema, Corman was the youngest filmmaker to have a retrospective at the Cinémathèque Française, as well as the British Film Institute and the Museum of Modern Art. In 2009, he was awarded an Honorary Academy Award. Corman mentored and gave a start to many young film directors such as Ron Howard, Martin Scorsese, and Peter Bogdanovich. He helped launch the careers of actors Peter Fonda and Jack Nicholson. 1933 – Frank Gorshin, American actor who played the Riddler in the Batman TV show and Commissioner Bele in the original Star Trek. 1950 – Ann C. Crispin, American science fiction writer, the author of twenty-three published novels. Her writing career began in 1983. She wrote several Star Trek novels, and created her own original science fiction series called Starbridge. 1952 – Mitch Pileggi. American actor known for his roles as Walter Skinner in X-Files and Colonel Steven Caldwell in Stargate Atlantis! 1955 – Akira Toriyama, Japanese manga artist and game artist. He is best known for his manga series Dr. Slump (1980–1984) and Dragon Ball (1984–1995), as well as for being the character designer for the Dragon Quest series of video games. Toriyama is regarded as one of the artists that changed the history of manga, as his works are highly influential and popular, particularly Dragon Ball, which many manga artists cite as a source of inspiration. 1962 – Lana Clarkson, American actress and fashion model. During the 1980s she rose to prominence in several sword-and-sorcery films. In February 2003, Clarkson was fatally shot in the mansion of songwriter and producer Phil Spector, who was charged and convicted of second degree murder on 13 April 2009. Clarksons best known films may be her work with Roger Corman, appearing first in his fantasy film Deathstalker, as a female warrior/love interest to the title character played by Richard Hill. Clarksons next film was Barbarian Queen, a role Corman referred to as the original Xena because of the parallel in featuring a strong female leading character in an action-oriented sword-swinging role. The film gained cult status, in part due to an infamous scene where Clarkson is bound topless to a torture rack, interrogated, and raped. In 1987, Clarkson appeared in the John Landis spoof Amazon Women on the Moon. Following that, Clarkson starred in Barbarian Queen II: The Empress Strikes Back. Filmed in Mexico, the movie featured mud-wrestling Amazon women, magic sceptres, and (in homage to its predecessor) Clarksons character slowly tortured to death naked on a stretching rack by a villain. In 1990, she starred as a supporting character in the period horror film Haunting of Morella as the evil attendant to a young woman played by Nicole Eggert. In the film, Clarkson played a dominating lesbian character who tries to resurrect the spirit of a witch burned at the stake during the Salem witch trials. Clarksons work in the B movie sci-fi genre inspired a cult following, making her a favorite at comic book conventions, where she made some promotional appearances signing autographs for her fans. 1982 – Hayley Atwell. English actress know for her role as agent Peggy Carter in Captain America: The First Avenger and the Captain America video game! Happy birthday guys!
Posted on: Sat, 05 Apr 2014 09:31:32 +0000