May 17, 2013
Youppi! is the official mascot for the NHL’s Montreal Canadiens and former longtime mascot of the MLB’s Montreal Expos (now the Washington Nationals). Youppi! was commissioned by the Montreal Expos and originally leased by the team. In 1979, the mascot was purchased by the Expos baseball team and represented them until they moved to Washington, D.C., after the 2004 season. The orange, hairy giant was one of the most popular figures among everyone at Olympic Stadium, where he was often seen running around with his arms waving wildly during baseball games.
P.S. Youppi! was designed by Bonnie Erickson, formerly a designer for Jim Henson, and the designer of Miss Piggy, Statler and Waldorf and other Muppets characters. Youppi! is one of only three mascots inducted to the Baseball Hall of Fame. The other two are the Phillie Phanatic, another Erickson design, and the Famous San Diego Chicken.
May 16, 2013
The Phillie Phanatic is the official mascot of the Philadelphia Phillies Major League Baseball (MLB) team. He is a large, furry, green bipedal creature with an extendable tongue. According to his official biography, the Phanatic is originally from the Galápagos Islands and is the Phillies’ biggest fan. He entertains fans during baseball games and makes public appearances for the Phillies. The Phanatic is usually acknowledged as one of the best ballpark mascots.
P.S. The Phillie Phanatic was designed by Bonnie Erickson, formerly a designer for Jim Henson, and the designer of Miss Piggy, Statler and Waldorf and other Muppets characters. The Phillie Phanatic is one of only three mascots inducted to the Baseball Hall of Fame. The other two are the Famous San Diego Chicken and Montreal’s Youppi!, another Erickson design.
May 15, 2013
The San Diego Chicken, also known as the Famous Chicken, is an advertising mascot played by Ted Giannoulas. The character, created by writer-cartoonist Brian Narelle, originated as an animated TV commercial for KGB-FM in San Diego. In March 1974, Giannoulas was hired to wear the first suit for a promotion to distribute Easter eggs to children at the San Diego Zoo. The Famous Chicken then moved on to features at concerts and sporting events, including appearing at more than 520 San Diego Padres games in a row. The success of the Famous Chicken helped lead to mascots becoming widespread throughout professional sports, particularly Major League Baseball (MLB).
May 14, 2013
Benny the Bull is the mascot of the Chicago Bulls, a role he has filled since 1969. He has become just as popular as some of the franchise’s most notable figures, such as players Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman and head coach Phil Jackson. Benny is one of the longest-tenured mascots in the NBA and in all of professional sports.
May 13, 2013
Dennis Rodman is a former NBA player, most famously with the Detroit Pistons and Chicago Bulls. Nicknamed “The Worm,” he was known for his fierce defensive and rebounding abilities. He led the NBA in rebounds per game for a record seven consecutive years (1991-98) and won five NBA championships (1989-1990, 1996-1998). In 1993, Rodman reinvented himself as a “bad boy” and became notorious for his brightly colored hair, piercings, tattoos and controversial, disruptive antics. He famously wore a wedding dress to promote his 1996 autobiography Bad As I Wanna Be and pursued a high-profile affair with singer Madonna. He was born on this day in 1961.
Note: On February 26, 2013, Rodman made a trip to North Korea to host basketball exhibitions featuring the Harlem Globetrotters. He met North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong-un and later called Kim “his friend” and suggested that President Barack Obama “should pick up the phone and call” Kim since the two leaders are basketball fans. On May 7, self-appointed North Korean ambassador Rodman called on Kim Jong-un to release Kenneth Bae, a U.S. citizen imprisoned in North Korea. Almost equally strangely, in March 2013, Rodman arrived at Vatican City during voting in the papal conclave, which elected Pope Francis I.
May 10, 2013
Jason Collins is an American professional basketball center, most recently playing for the NBA’s Washington Wizards. He attended Stanford University and was selected in the first round of the 2001 NBA Draft. Collins has played for six teams in 12 NBA seasons and is now a free agent. On April 29, 2013, Collins became the first active male professional athlete in a major North American team sport to publicly come out as gay. According to ESPN’s Rick Reilly, “Collins is now the Jackie Robinson of gay athletes and, like Robinson, strong enough for the job. He’s universally loved in the NBA.”
P.S. Collins has said that he chose to wear jersey number 98 in honor of Matthew Shepard, the victim of a gay hate crime in 1998.
May 8, 2013
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States (1945-1953). As a senator in the early 1940s, he gained national prominence as head of the wartime Truman Committee, which exposed waste, fraud and corruption in wartime contracts. Truman was the final running mate of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1944 and succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when Roosevelt died after months of declining health. Under Truman, the U.S. successfully concluded World War II through the controversial use of atomic bombs against Japan (at Hiroshima and Nagasaki). In the aftermath of the conflict, tensions with the Soviet Union increased, marking the start of the Cold War. Truman was born on this day in 1884.
Note: This is 8-bit U.S. president #16 of 43.
May 6, 2013
George Orson Welles was an American actor, director, writer and producer who worked extensively in theater, radio and film. He is best remembered for his innovative work in all three media, most notably Caesar (1937), a groundbreaking Broadway adaption of Julius Caesar and the debut of the Mercury Theatre; The War of the Worlds (1938), one of the most famous broadcasts in the history of radio and supposed cause of widespread panic; and Citizen Kane (1941), which is consistently ranked as one of the all-time greatest films. Welles is regularly voted the greatest film director of all time in surveys of directors and critics alike. He was born on this day in 1915.
May 3, 2013
Karl Marx was a Prussian-German philosopher and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the establishment of the social sciences and the development of the socialist movement. Marx’s work in economics laid the basis for our understanding of labor and its relation to capital, and has influenced much of subsequent economic thought. He published numerous books during his lifetime, the most notable being The Communist Manifesto (1848) and Capital (1867). Marx called capitalism the “dictatorship of the bourgeoisie,” believing it to be run by the wealthy classes for their own benefit, and advocated for socialism, which would inevitably lead to a stateless, classless society called communism. Theoretical variants of Marxism include Leninism, Stalinism, Trotskyism and Maoism. Marx was born on May 5, 1818.
P.S. Karl was not one of the Marx Brothers.
May 1, 2013
Groucho Marx was an American comedian and film and television star. He was known for his quick wit and is widely considered one of the best comedians of the modern era. His distinctive appearance, carried over from his days in vaudeville, included slapstick quirks such as an exaggerated stooped posture, glasses, cigar, and a thick greasepaint mustache and eyebrows. Marx made 13 feature films with his siblings the Marx Brothers. He also had a successful solo career, most notably as the host of the radio and television game show You Bet Your Life. The famous “Groucho glasses” are a one-piece novelty disguise consisting of horn-rimmed glasses, large plastic nose, bushy eyebrows and mustache.
April 29, 2013
Ming the Merciless is a character who first appeared in the Flash Gordon comic strip in 1934. When the heroic Flash Gordon and his friends land on the planet Mongo, they find it ruled by the evil Emperor Ming, a despot who quickly becomes their enemy. Ming has since been the main villain of the strip and its related movie serials, television series and film adaptation.
April 26, 2013
Magda Gerber was an early childhood educator born in Hungary who immigrated with her family to the United States in 1957. She co-founded Resources for Infant Educarers (RIE) in 1978, incorporating many theories of pediatrician Emmi Pikler into her philosophy. RIE is an international, non-profit organization dedicated to raising the standards of infant care and education through parent and caregiver education. The RIE philosophy is based on respecting infants and toddlers as fully functioning humans by learning their individual ways of communicating, allowing them to try to solve problems without adult interference and not treating them like objects. Gerber died on April 27, 2007.
P.S. “Many awful things have been done in the name of love, but nothing awful can be done in the name of respect.” – Magda Gerber
April 16, 2013
Charlie Chaplin was a British comic actor and filmmaker who rose to fame in the silent era. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona “the Tramp.” A legendary figure in film history, Chaplin’s career spanned more than 75 years, from a child in the Victorian era to close to his death at the age of 88. Raised in London, his childhood was defined by poverty and hardship. At 19, Chaplin was signed to the prestigious Fred Karno company, which took him to America. By 1918, he was one of the most famous men in the world. In 1919, Chaplin co-founded the distribution company United Artists, giving him complete control over his films, which included The Gold Rush (1925), City Lights (1931), Modern Times (1936) and The Great Dictator (1940). He was born on this day in 1889.
April 15, 2013
The Saint Louis Billikens mascot has appeared in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament each of the past two years, only to be eliminated in the Round of 32. What is a Billiken anyway? A white Grinch? It’s actually a charm doll invented by an art teacher. This is NCAA Division I pixel art mascot #62 of 348. (View reference images.)
April 12, 2013
The La Salle Explorers mascot had its biggest Cinderella moment in 2013 when the 13th-seeded La Salle men’s basketball team advanced to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA tournament. This is NCAA Division I pixel art mascot #61 of 348. (View reference images.)
Christopher Columbus – No. 621
Italian explorer and colonizer Christopher Columbus is today’s pixel art character, in honor of his demise on May 20, 1506. If we were to apply ethical standards to his life’s work, Columbus should be wanted for grand theft of the lands populated by the indigenous peoples; for initiating the systematic genocide of 98% of the original Americans; and for crimes against humanity, including the rape, torture, mutilation and enslavement of American Indians.
I previously wrote about the great lie of Columbus when I posted my Sitting Bull pixel art on Columbus Day in 2011. Even though Columbus was a wretched human being and wrong about everything, he was lucky enough to survive his catastrophic miscalculations and find uncharted land before his crews starved to death. No portrait of Columbus drawn or painted from life is known to exist, but I prefer to imagine him with a stupid hat for his stupid face.