Saint Francis of Assisi (born Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone) was an Italian Roman Catholic friar and preacher who renounced a wealthy lifestyle to embrace a life of poverty and aid the poor. He is one of the most beloved religious figures in history. Francis founded the men’s Order of Friars Minor, the women’s Order of Saint Clare, the Third Order of Saint Francis and the Custody of the Holy Land. Pope Gregory IX canonized Francis in 1228. Along with Saint Catherine of Siena, he was designated the patron saint of Italy. Francis is also known as the patron saint of animals and ecology (or natural environment). It is customary for Catholic and Anglican churches to hold ceremonies blessing animals on his feast day of October 4. Francis was born in 1181/1182 and died on October 3, 1226.
Pope Francis, who has turned out to be a remarkably progressive and humane leader, was the first pope to take Saint Francis of Assisi as his namesake. From my perspective, it was a very appealing and revealing choice, and Pope Francis is representing the name well. In our backyard garden, we have two statues. One is of Saint Francis holding a small bowl/birdbath; it’s a 20″ white stone/resin sculpture that was in the yard when we bought our house. The other sculpture, Jizō Bodhisattva, is one I purchased as a gift for my wife, Heidi. Jizō is a 15.5″ figure made of volcanic stone with an antique brown finish. Alongside these two sculptures is our 10″ plastic garden gnome of many travels, Dingledodger VonFefferhedge. Together they preside over our backyard cat cemetery, which includes the recently deceased The King.
Note: The 8-bit blue unicorn/rainbow creature I’ve drawn to represent Scott C. is based on some of the smiling entities he painted for his Tender Times show in 2012. Almost everything he creates is smiling. Here’s a fun 8-bit showdown: Scott Campbell vs. Don Hertzfeldt.
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, artist and writer. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when songs such as “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “The Times They Are a-Changin’” became anthems for the American civil rights and anti-war movements. Dylan’s songs defied existing pop music conventions and appealed to the burgeoning counterculture. His recording career, spanning 50 years, has explored the traditions in American song, including folk, blues, country and rock and roll. Dylan performs with guitar, keyboards and harmonica. He has sold more than 100 million records, making him one of the best-selling artists of all time; he has received numerous awards including Grammy, Golden Globe and Academy Award. Dylan was born on May 24, 1941.
P.S. Over the past five years, I’m not sure how I ended up making 8-bit versions of 944 other random characters before I got around to making Bob Dylan. Strange. Though perhaps not as strange as a disheveled 68-year-old Bob Dylan being escorted from a New Jersey shore community by police. Merry Christmas!
Jean‑Michel Basquiat was one of the most important American artists of the 20th century. He first achieved notoriety as part of SAMO, an informal graffiti duo who wrote enigmatic epigrams in the cultural hotbed of the Lower East Side of Manhattan during the late 1970s where the hip-hop, post-punk and street art movements had coalesced. By the 1980s, Basquiat was exhibiting his neo-expressionist paintings in galleries and museums internationally. His art appropriated poetry, drawing and painting. Basquiat was born on December 22, 1960 and died of a heroin overdose at his art studio at age 27, on August 12, 1988.
Franz Ferdinand was an Archduke of Austria-Este and the heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Initially he was only third in line to the throne, but after his cousin’s suicide and his father’s unexpected death due to illness, Ferdinand was made the heir to the throne. His assassination in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia, precipitated Austria-Hungary’s declaration of war against Serbia. This caused the Central Powers (including Germany and Austria-Hungary) and Serbia’s allies to declare war on each other, starting World War I. Ferdinand was born on December 18, 1863 and died on June 28, 1914.
Grace Hopper was an American computer scientist and United States Navy Rear Admiral. She was one of the first programmers of the Harvard Mark I computer in 1944. In the 1950s, Hopper invented the first compiler for a computer programming language and helped popularize the idea of machine-independent programming languages—which led to the development of COBOL, one of the first high-level programming languages. She is credited with popularizing the term “debugging” for fixing computer glitches (in one instance, removing a moth from a computer). Owing to her accomplishments and her naval rank, Hopper is sometimes referred to as “Amazing Grace.” She was born on December 9, 1906 and died on January 1, 1992.
Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, political commentator, social justice activist and anarcho-syndicalist advocate. Sometimes described as the “father of modern linguistics,” Chomsky is also a major figure in analytic philosophy. He has spent most of his career at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and is the author of more than 100 books. In 1967, Chomsky entered public consciousness through his vocal opposition to U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War and came to be associated with the New Left. He was arrested multiple times for his anti-war activism. Following his retirement from active teaching, he has continued his vocal public activism, including opposition to the Iraq War and support for the Occupy movement. Chomsky remains a leading critic of U.S. foreign policy, neoliberal capitalism and mainstream news media. He was born December 7, 1928.
Barney Rubble is the secondary main character of The Flintstones, an animated, prime-time American television sitcom that was broadcast from 1960 to 1966 on ABC. The show, produced by Hanna-Barbera, fancifully depicted the lives of a working-class Stone Age man, his family, and his next-door neighbor and best friend. The show’s continuing popularity rested heavily on its juxtaposition of modern everyday concerns in the Stone Age setting. The Flintstones was the most financially successful network animated franchise for three decades, until The Simpsons debuted. In 2013, TV Guide Magazine ranked The Flintstones as the second greatest TV cartoon of all time (after The Simpsons). Barney Rubble and other characters from The Flintstones have been mascots of Fruity Pebbles and Cocoa Pebbles breakfast cereal since 1969.
Fred Flintstone is the main character of The Flintstones, an animated, prime-time American television sitcom that was broadcast from 1960 to 1966 on ABC. The show, produced by Hanna-Barbera, fancifully depicted the lives of a working-class Stone Age man, his family, and his next-door neighbor and best friend. The show’s continuing popularity rested heavily on its juxtaposition of modern everyday concerns in the Stone Age setting. The Flintstones was the most financially successful network animated franchise for three decades, until The Simpsons debuted. In 2013, TV Guide Magazine ranked The Flintstones as the second greatest TV cartoon of all time (after The Simpsons). Fred Flintstone and other characters from The Flintstones have been mascots of Fruity Pebbles and Cocoa Pebbles breakfast cereal since 1969.
Sojourner Truth (born Isabella “Bell” Baumfree) was an African-American abolitionist and women’s rights activist. Truth was born into slavery in New York, but escaped with her infant daughter to freedom in 1826. After going to court to recover her son, in 1828 she became the first black woman to win such a case against a white man. She gave herself the name Sojourner Truth in 1843. Her best-known speech was delivered extemporaneously, in 1851, at the Ohio Women’s Rights Convention. The speech became widely known during the Civil War by the title “Ain’t I a Woman?” During the Civil War, Truth helped recruit black troops for the Union Army; after the war, she tried unsuccessfully to secure land grants from the federal government for former slaves. She died on November 26, 1883 at the age of 86.
Marjane Satrapi is an Iranian-born French graphic novelist, illustrator, film director and children’s book author. She became famous worldwide because of her critically acclaimed autobiographical graphic novels, Persepolis and Persepolis 2. The series describes her childhood in Iran, during and after the Islamic Revolution, and her adolescence in Europe. Satrapi and comic artist Vincent Paronnaud co-directed an animated adaptation, also called Persepolis (2007). Satrapi was born on November 22, 1969.
Hobbes is the sardonic stuffed tiger owned by Calvin, a precocious, mischievous and adventurous six-year-old boy. Calvin and Hobbes is a daily comic strip by American cartoonist Bill Watterson that was syndicated from 1985 to 1995. The strip depicts Calvin’s humorous antics, his flights of fancy and his friendship with Hobbes. To Calvin, Hobbes is a live anthropomorphic tiger, but all the other characters see him as an inanimate stuffed toy. The pair is named after John Calvin, a 16th-century French Reformation theologian, and Thomas Hobbes, a 17th-century English political philosopher. At the height of its popularity, Calvin and Hobbes was featured in over 2,400 newspapers worldwide. Reruns of the strip still appear in more than 50 countries. There are 20 Calvin and Hobbes books, which encompass all newspaper strips plus extra content.
P.S. It was exactly 30 years ago today (November 18, 1985) that we first met a boy and his tiger. Happy birthday!
Calvin is a precocious, mischievous and adventurous six-year-old boy. Calvin and Hobbes is a daily comic strip by American cartoonist Bill Watterson that was syndicated from 1985 to 1995. The strip follows Calvin’s humorous antics, his flights of fancy and his friendship with Hobbes, a sardonic stuffed tiger. To Calvin, Hobbes is a live anthropomorphic tiger, but all the other characters see him as an inanimate stuffed toy. The pair is named after John Calvin, a 16th-century French Reformation theologian, and Thomas Hobbes, a 17th-century English political philosopher. At the height of its popularity, Calvin and Hobbes was featured in over 2,400 newspapers worldwide. Reruns of the strip still appear in more than 50 countries. There are 20 Calvin and Hobbes books, which encompass all newspaper strips plus extra content.
I’m excited for the day when my daughter is old enough to appreciate the humor of Calvin and Hobbes, especially the relationship of Calvin and his dad. I plan to read all of Watterson’s books to her just like my dad did for my sister and me. When I was in junior high school in the early 1990s, I expressed my fondness for Calvin and Hobbes by meticulously shaping and painting a papier-mâché head of Calvin (spiked hair and all) for a Mardi Gras art project. My second Mardi Gras head was of the Fat Kid from The Far Side by Gary Larson. Those were my two favorite newspaper comics. It was exactly 30 years ago tomorrow (November 18, 1985) that we first met a boy and his tiger.
Scorpion is a recurring player character and occasional boss character from the Mortal Kombat fighting game franchise created by Ed Boon and John Tobias. Making his debut as one of the original seven playable characters in Mortal Kombat in 1992, he is an undead ninja specter seeking revenge for his own death at the hands of Sub-Zero. Arguably the series’ most iconic character, Scorpion has been playable in nearly every Mortal Kombat game. Scorpion yells one of two taunts at his opponents when he hits them with his spear. His most notable catchphrase is “Get over here!”
Sub-Zero is a video game character from the Mortal Kombat fighting game franchise and one of the original characters in the first Mortal Kombat game in 1992. A mainstay of the series, Sub-Zero is the only character who has appeared in every main Mortal Kombat game. The character is a formidable fighter possessing the innate ability to control ice in many forms. In his first return appearance in Mortal Kombat II, it was revealed that the original Sub-Zero had died during the events of the first game and was replaced by his younger brother. In subsequent games, the younger brother remained as Sub-Zero, while the elder brother became Noob Saibot. The most defining trait of the character is his fierce rivalry with his archnemesis Scorpion.
Happy Veterans Day! This week I’ve had my 14-year anniversary as an Oregon resident, my 11-year anniversary as lead web developer/designer at Oregon State University, and my five-year anniversary (three years married) with my wife Heidi. These major life events all happened within three days of each other (November 8-11) in different years.
Stimpy is a good-natured, dimwitted cat. He is one of the title characters of The Ren & Stimpy Show, an American animated television series created by John Kricfalusi for Nickelodeon. The series follows the adventures of Stimpy and his pal Ren, an emotionally unstable chihuahua. Ren & Stimpy premiered in 1991 as one of the “original three” Nicktoons, along with Rugrats and Doug. Throughout its run, the TV show was controversial for its off-color humor, sexual innuendo and violence. Ren & Stimpy received critical acclaim, and has developed a cult following. It is often credited, along with The Simpsons, for paving the way for satirical animated shows like Beavis and Butt-head, South Park and Family Guy, and for helping revive television animation in the 1990s.
Last night our oldest cat, The King, passed away. I’ll miss that scruffy guy. With his orange and white fur, in cartoon form he’d actually look a bit like Stimpy. The King is dead, long live The King.
Ren, an emotionally unstable chihuahua, is one of the title characters of The Ren & Stimpy Show, an American animated television series created by John Kricfalusi for Nickelodeon. The series follows the adventures of Ren and his pal Stimpy, a good-natured, dimwitted cat. Ren & Stimpy premiered in 1991 as one of the “original three” Nicktoons, along with Rugrats and Doug. Throughout its run, the TV show was controversial for its off-color humor, sexual innuendo and violence. Ren & Stimpy received critical acclaim, and has developed a cult following. It is often credited, along with The Simpsons, for paving the way for satirical animated shows like Beavis and Butt-head, South Park and Family Guy, and for helping revive television animation in the 1990s.
Beavis is one of the title characters of Beavis and Butt-head, an American animated sitcom created and designed by Mike Judge. The series originated from Frog Baseball, a 1992 short film by Judge. After seeing the short, MTV signed Judge to develop the concept. Beavis and Butt-head first ran on MTV from 1993 to 1997. In 1996, the series was adapted into the animated feature film Beavis and Butt-head Do America. In 1997, Daria, a spin-off show based on their classmate Daria Morgendorffer, was created. During a short-lived revival in 2011, new episodes of Beavis and Butt-head aired on MTV.
Butt-head is one of the title characters of Beavis and Butt-head, an American animated sitcom created and designed by Mike Judge. The series originated from Frog Baseball, a 1992 short film by Judge. After seeing the short, MTV signed Judge to develop the concept. Beavis and Butt-head first ran on MTV from 1993 to 1997. In 1996, the series was adapted into the animated feature film Beavis and Butt-head Do America. In 1997, Daria, a spin-off show based on their classmate Daria Morgendorffer, was created. During a short-lived revival in 2011, new episodes of Beavis and Butt-head aired on MTV.
Saint Francis of Assisi – No. 947
Saint Francis of Assisi (born Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone) was an Italian Roman Catholic friar and preacher who renounced a wealthy lifestyle to embrace a life of poverty and aid the poor. He is one of the most beloved religious figures in history. Francis founded the men’s Order of Friars Minor, the women’s Order of Saint Clare, the Third Order of Saint Francis and the Custody of the Holy Land. Pope Gregory IX canonized Francis in 1228. Along with Saint Catherine of Siena, he was designated the patron saint of Italy. Francis is also known as the patron saint of animals and ecology (or natural environment). It is customary for Catholic and Anglican churches to hold ceremonies blessing animals on his feast day of October 4. Francis was born in 1181/1182 and died on October 3, 1226.
Pope Francis, who has turned out to be a remarkably progressive and humane leader, was the first pope to take Saint Francis of Assisi as his namesake. From my perspective, it was a very appealing and revealing choice, and Pope Francis is representing the name well. In our backyard garden, we have two statues. One is of Saint Francis holding a small bowl/birdbath; it’s a 20″ white stone/resin sculpture that was in the yard when we bought our house. The other sculpture, Jizō Bodhisattva, is one I purchased as a gift for my wife, Heidi. Jizō is a 15.5″ figure made of volcanic stone with an antique brown finish. Alongside these two sculptures is our 10″ plastic garden gnome of many travels, Dingledodger VonFefferhedge. Together they preside over our backyard cat cemetery, which includes the recently deceased The King.