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 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 1, 2013
Fauja Singh is a British centenarian marathon runner of Punjabi Sikh descent. Born in India, he did not develop the ability to walk until he was five years old. He immigrated to England in the 1990s and ran his first marathon at age 89. Now 102 years old, Singh is a world record holder in his age bracket. His marathon record for age 90-plus, recorded in 2003 at age 92, is 5 hours 40 minutes. In 2004, Singh was featured in an Adidas advertising campaign alongside David Beckham and Muhammad Ali. On February 24, 2013 (just five weeks shy of his 102nd birthday), Singh retired from competitive running after completing the 10-kilometer Hong Kong marathon. He was born on this day in 1911.
Note: ESPN published a compelling Outside the Lines feature on Singh called “The Runner” on February 22, 2013. Happy April Fools’ Day!
March 29, 2013
Cy Young was a Major League Baseball (MLB) player. During his 22-year career (1890-1911), he pitched for five different teams, most notably the Boston franchise (Americans/Red Sox). Young established numerous pitching records, some of which have stood for a century. He still holds the MLB records for most wins (511), career innings pitched (7,355), career games started (815) and complete games (749). One year after Young’s death in 1955, the Cy Young Award was created to honor the previous season’s best pitcher. He was born on this day in 1867.
March 27, 2013
Quentin Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer and actor. He is best known for Pulp Fiction (1994), a neo-noir crime film widely regarded as one of the greatest films of all time. Tarantino’s work, which often employs nonlinear storylines and satirical violence, includes Reservoir Dogs (1992), Kill Bill (2003, 2004) and Inglourious Basterds (2009). His most recent and highest grossing film is Django Unchained (2012). Tarantino has received many industry awards, including two Academy Awards, two Golden Globes and two BAFTAs. He was born on this day in 1963.
March 22, 2013
Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese film director, screenwriter, producer and editor. Regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema, Kurosawa directed 30 films in a career spanning 57 years. Throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, Kurosawa directed approximately one film per year, including a number of highly regarded films such as Rashomon (1950), Ikiru (1952), Seven Samurai (1954) and Yojimbo (1961). In 1990, he accepted the Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement. He was born on March 23, 1910.
March 20, 2013
Spike Lee is an American film director, producer, writer and actor. His production company, 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks, has produced over 35 films since 1983. As a director, he is best known for Do the Right Thing (1989). Lee’s movies have examined race relations, colorism in the black community, urban crime and poverty. He has won an Emmy Award and received two Academy Award nominations. As a superfan of the New York Knicks (and the Yankees), Lee is often seen courtside at Madison Square Garden. He was born on this day in 1957.
P.S. Happy Spring Equinox!
Prester John – No. 622
Prester John is one of my favorite historical/mythological figures. The legends of Prester John were popular in Europe from the 12th through the 17th centuries, and told of a Christian patriarch and king said to rule over a Christian nation lost amidst the Muslims and pagans in the Orient. Prester John was reportedly a descendant of one of the Three Wise Men and presided over a realm full of riches and strange creatures, including unicorns. His kingdom contained such marvels as the Gates of Alexander and the Fountain of Youth, and even bordered the Garden of Eden. Prester John was first imagined to reside in India, as tales of the Nestorian Christians’ evangelistic success probably provided the first seeds of the legend. After the coming of the Mongols to the Western world, accounts placed the king in Central Asia. But as the Mongol Empire collapsed, Europeans began to shift away from the idea that Prester John had ever really been a Central Asian king. Eventually, Portuguese explorers convinced themselves that they had found him in Ethiopia. The legend of Prester John affected several hundred years of European and world history by encouraging generations of Europe’s explorers, missionaries, scholars and treasure hunters to venture into India, Asia and Africa.
Prester John, the fabled king/priest invented by Crusader kingdoms, is basically the Forrest Gump of the Middle Ages (1100s-1500s). Dude was everywhere. For example, during the Mongol Empire, Prester John was identified as both Genghis Khan and a Nestorian Christian monarch defeated by Khan. The myth of Prester John was a comforting (if ethnocentric) symbol to European Christians of their religion’s universality, transcending culture and geography to encompass all humanity. Even the boneheaded Christopher Columbus cited the discovery of Prester John’s kingdom among the goals of his travels. Despite centuries of European exploration in search of treasure—and evangelizing the locals—the quest for the fictitious kingdom remained unfulfilled. But the legend served many medieval Christian kingdoms, and the Catholic Church, handsomely.