Eddie Vedder is an American musician and singer-songwriter best known for being the lead singer and one of three guitarists of the alternative rock band Pearl Jam. He is widely considered an icon of alternative rock and Seattle grunge. Vedder was originally invited to Seattle in 1990 by former Mother Love Bone members to audition for the Temple of the Dog tribute project and their new band Mookie Blaylock (renamed Pearl Jam in 1991).
Katsushika Hokusai was a Japanese artist, ukiyo-e painter and printmaker of the Edo period. Born in Edo (now Tokyo), he is best known as author of the woodblock print series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, which includes the internationally recognized print The Great Wave off Kanagawa, created during the 1820s. Hokusai died on this day in 1849.
Trugernanner, often referred to as Truganini, is widely considered the last “full blood” Palawa (Aboriginal Tasmanian). Between 1803 and 1876, the black aborigines of the Australian island of Tasmania were completely destroyed by invading European settlers. The Black War, a period of conflict between British colonists and Aboriginal Tasmanians, is one of the earliest recorded modern genocides. All indigenous Tasmanian languages have been lost. Truganini died on this day in 1876.
In March 2012, our 10″ garden gnome disappeared from the front yard. On the morning of Friday, May 4, he mysteriously reappeared on the front porch with a Mexican flag in his hand, a letter and a photo album of his travels. We learned that our gnome’s name is Dingledodger VonFefferhedge and he is 900 years old. He had been adventuring in Redding, California and Ensenada, Mexico to escape Oregon’s cold, boring winter. His journey included visits with Brunhilde the forest witch and two mariachi statues. (The bottom of Dingledodger’s plastic shoes—which reads “© 1994 Art Line Inc. ® Model No. 4030″—marks the date of his enslavement in China, not his birth.)
P.S. Having a traveling gnome prank played on us was great fun. The pranksters went all out, even giving Dingledodger his own Facebook and Google+ pages. According to Facebook, his birthday is October 12. Everyone needs more weird, random acts of kindness like this.
Mr. Clutch is a former NBA player with the Los Angeles Lakers from 1960-1974. He played the guard position and is one of the greatest NBA players of all time. West’s silhouette serves as the current NBA logo.
Note: This is 8-bit character #8 of the 13 greatest NBA players of all time.
The Big O is a former NBA player with the Cincinnati Royals and Milwaukee Bucks, from 1960-1974. He played the shooting guard/point guard position and is one of the greatest NBA players of all time. He is the only player in NBA history to average a triple-double for a season.
Note: This is 8-bit character #7 of the 13 greatest NBA players of all time.
Wilt Chamberlain is a former NBA player with the Philadelphia/San Francisco Warriors, the Philadelphia 76ers and the Los Angeles Lakers. He played the center position from 1959-1973 and is one of the greatest NBA players of all time. Chamberlain is the only player to score 100 points in a single NBA game or average more than 40 and 50 points in a season.
Note: This is 8-bit character #6 of the 13 greatest NBA players of all time.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (born Lew Alcindor) is a former NBA player with the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers, from 1969-1989. Known for his legendary skyhook, he played the center position and is one of the greatest NBA players of all time. Abdul-Jabbar is the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, with 38,387 points.
Note: This is 8-bit character #5 of the 13 greatest NBA players of all time.
Bill Russell is a former NBA player with the Boston Celtics from 1956-1969. He played the center position and is one of the greatest NBA players of all time. Russell was the centerpiece of the Celtics dynasty that won 11 NBA Championships during his 13-year career.
Note: This is 8-bit character #4 of the 13 greatest NBA players of all time.
Monchhichi is a line of Japanese stuffed toy monkeys that Mattel introduced to the U.S. in the late 1970s. The Hanna-Barbera cartoon series Monchhichis debuted in 1983. Monchhichis are monkey-like creatures who live in the forest land of Monchia at the tops of very tall trees, high above the clouds. As a child, one of my favorite stuffed animals was a Monchhichi. I believe the character was the thumb-sucking Thumkii.
After additional, very important research, I have identified both of my beloved thumb-sucking monkey dolls from childhood. One was a tan, 11″ monkey from Atlanta Novelty, a division of Gerber Products. And the other was the banana-holding Thumkey, a 7″ Russ Berrie knockoff of the Monchhichi line. Both had plush bodies with plastic faces and hands.
Tiny Ivo is a stuffed animal that resides on our bed. He is a brown woolen unicorn made in Oregon by Krystal and Mark Sharp, also known as The Roaming Peddlers. This magical unicorn, which my girlfriend Heidi bought in 2011, is embroidered with flowers and stuffed with about 1 1/2 pounds of organic herbs and flax seeds. He is a Magical Forest Friends creature. He was given the name “Derwin the Unicorn” by his makers. His tag explains that Derwin means “friend to the animals” in Teutonic. Tiny Ivo’s body is stuffed with chamomile flowers, calendula flowers, white willow bark, horsetail herb, juniper berries, dandelion root and flax seeds.
P.S. The name Heidi gave him was inspired by Golden the Pony Boy in The Science of Sleep, a favorite film in our house.
Today I am celebrating 404 days of pixel art (and, of course, the HTTP 404 error message that lets you know what you’re looking for was not found). Instead of yet another genocidal dictator, religious icon or superhero, today’s character is my girlfriend. Heidi is a native Oregonian who lives in Corvallis with Ian Cavalier, Eli, Tanuki and The King. She is likely to be found with her teacup, camera and bicycle. Attempting to locate other items she owns will usually result in a 404 error (and much digging through heaps of clothes, sketches and books).
P.S. Heidi calls my 8-bit characters “the tinies.” Now she is a “tiny” herself.
Update: Heidi and I were married on 11/11/12, so now her last name is Cavalier.
The 37th President of the United States and the only president to resign the office, due to the Watergate scandal. Although Nixon initially escalated the war in Vietnam in 1969 and 1970, he subsequently ended U.S. involvement in 1973. He was responsible for the deaths of 70,000 Vietnamese and Cambodian civilians during the Vietnam War. He died on April 22, 1994.
Note: This is 8-bit U.S. president #12 of 43.
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language. He is often called England’s national poet and the “Bard of Avon.” His surviving works include about 38 plays and 154 sonnets. He wrote many tragedies, including Hamlet, King Lear, Othello and Macbeth. He died on this day in 1616.
Vladimir Lenin was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and communist politician who led the October Revolution of 1917. As leader of the Bolsheviks, he headed the Soviet state during its initial years (1917-1924), as it fought to establish control of Russia in the Russian Civil War and worked to create a socialist economic system. He was born on April 22, 1870.
Note: Happy Earth Day on Sunday! In Soviet Russia, Earth Day celebrates you.
Charles Darwin was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestors, and proposed the scientific theory that evolution resulted from a process called natural selection. Darwin published his theory with compelling evidence for evolution in his 1859 book On the Origin of Species. He died on this day in 1882.
Boba Fett is a character in the Star Wars franchise. He first appeared in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back in 1980. Boba Fett is a clone of Jango Fett, who raises him as a son. In the original trilogy, Boba is a bounty hunter hired by Darth Vader to find the Millennium Falcon.
Chewbacca is a character in the Star Wars franchise. He first appeared in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope in 1977. Chewbacca, a Wookiee, became Han Solo’s first mate and companion after Solo, then an Imperial Captain, refused an order to kill him while Chewbacca was a slave of the Empire.
Note: The Chewbacca defense is an amusing legal strategy from South Park that satirized attorney Johnnie Cochran’s defense of O.J. Simpson in his murder trial. In essence, “if Chewbacca lives on Endor, you must acquit.” Look at the silly monkey!
Astronaut Jesus was conceived in 2004 by Argentine design collective Doma. A limited edition, five-color silkscreen poster exclusive to Andr8id was printed in 2004 and a matching vinyl toy was manufactured by adFunture in 2005. The visually striking toy is a 9.5″ (24 cm) figure with a removable helmet and a swiveling right arm. Doma is best known for their visual designs and installation arts. According to the Astronaut Jesus collectible packaging, “[AstroChrist] is an elite member of the astronaut gods that have come to our planet since the beginning of time to shape our civilization and the world as we know it.”
I am amused by the concept that Jesus has been in outer space overseeing the world and will one day return to fix our problems. It would be fun to have my own Astronaut Jesus figure, but only a few hundred exist in the world, so I’m not holding my breath. After the original run of 500 Astronaut Jesus figures, six small limited edition runs were manufactured in different colors during 2005 and 2006, including a hot-pink flocked Wooster Collective Edition.
Oscar the Dog – No. 414
Oscar is a stray orange and white dog who lives in the fortress of Sacsayhuamán, a walled complex on the northern outskirts of the city of Cusco, Peru. Sacsayhuamán is the former capital of the Inca Empire. The complex is made of large polished dry-stone walls, each boulder carefully cut to fit together tightly without mortar.
When we visited Sacsayhuamán in December 2011, this dog followed/led Heidi and me around for hours, ignoring all other tourists (and even following us dangerously close to a herd of alpacas, which chased him). I named Oscar after our charming room—which was named after an orphan boy—at the Niños Hotel in Cusco, which supports disadvantaged children. I like to think of Oscar as my canine spirit guide and the best dog in the world.