Jeff Koons is an American artist known for his reproductions of banal objects—such as balloon animals produced in stainless steel with mirror-finish surfaces. He lives and works in both New York City and his hometown of York, Pennsylvania. Some critics view his work as pioneering and of major art-historical importance, while others dismiss his work as kitsch: crass and based on cynical self-merchandising. Koons has stated that there are no hidden meanings in his works, nor any critiques. In 2013, Koons’s Balloon Dog (Orange) sold for $58.4 million, becoming the most expensive work by a living artist sold at auction. Koons was born on January 21, 1955.
Note: It seemed fitting to model 8-bit Koons after his famous stainless steel Rabbit (1986), now owned by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. A balloon replica of Rabbit (which itself was an enlarged cast of an inflatable plastic toy) floated through Times Square during the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on November 22, 2007.
Betty White is an American actress, comedian, singer, author producer and television personality. She is best known for her television roles on The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1973-77) and The Golden Girls (1985-92). In a career that has spanned more than 70 years, White has won six Emmy Awards (five for acting) and received 23 Emmy nominations. She is the only woman to have won an Emmy in all performing comedic categories. In May 2010, White became the oldest person to guest-host Saturday Night Live, for which she received a Primetime Emmy Award. She also holds the record for longest span between Emmy nominations for performances—her first was in 1951 and her most recent was in 2011, a span of 60 years—and became the oldest nominee overall as of 2014, at age 92. She is also the oldest winner of a competitive Grammy Award, which she won in 2012 for a spoken word recording. Due to her pioneering efforts in early TV and her acting legacy, pretty much everyone has given White a lifetime achievement award. She was born on January 17, 1922.
Haruki Murakami is a contemporary Japanese writer. Murakami has been translated into 50 languages and his best-selling books have sold millions of copies. His most notable works include A Wild Sheep Chase (1982), Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World (1985), Norwegian Wood (1987), The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (1994-1995), Kafka on the Shore (2002) and 1Q84 (2009-2010). He has also translated a number of English works into Japanese, from Raymond Carver to J. D. Salinger. Murakami’s fiction, still criticized by Japan’s literary establishment as un-Japanese, was influenced by Western writers from Chandler to Vonnegut by way of Brautigan. It is frequently surrealistic and melancholic or fatalistic, marked by a Kafkaesque rendition of the “recurrent themes of alienation and loneliness” he weaves into his narratives. Murakami was born on January 12, 1949.
Kim Jong-un is the supreme leader of the ironically named Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea). He is the son of Kim Jong-il (1941-2011) and the grandson of Kim Il-sung (1912-1994). He was officially declared the supreme leader following the state funeral for his father on December 28, 2011. He is the third and youngest son of Kim Jong-il and his consort Ko Yong-hui. From late 2010, Kim Jong-un was viewed as heir apparent to the leadership of the nation, and following his father’s death, he was announced as the “Great Successor” by North Korean state television. Kim was born on January 8, 1983. At 32 years of age, he is the first North Korean leader born after the country’s founding and the world’s youngest head of state.
Nicolas Coppola, known professionally as Nicolas Cage, is an American actor and filmmaker. Notable films from early in his acting career include Raising Arizona (1987) and Wild at Heart (1990). Cage received an Academy Award for his performance as an alcoholic Hollywood writer in Leaving Las Vegas (1995) before coming to the attention of wider audiences with mainstream films such as The Rock (1996), Face/Off (1997), Con Air (1997) and City of Angels (1998). He earned his second Academy Award nomination for his performance as Charlie and Donald Kaufman in Adaptation. (2002). Since then, he’s been in a lot of bad movies, but recent highlights include Kick-Ass (2010) and Joe (2014). Cage was born on January 7, 1964.
Big Bunny is a 20-foot-tall, fuzzy pink rabbit with a dubious appetite. A group of three “tasty” children—Lulu, Suzy and Sam—and their “crunchy” dog Muffin meet Big Bunny in the forest. Created in 2001, Big Bunny was the second web series by Amy Winfrey, with Peter Merryman as the voice of Big Bunny. Winfrey is the creator of the Nickelodeon show Making Fiends, as well as the web series Muffin Films. Her most recent animation series include Squid and Frog and Fun with Cobra. Delicious.
P.S. Happy New Year! Christmas is over, but you can still play with the holiday characters.