Don Hertzfeldt is an American writer, animator and independent filmmaker. He is the creator of many animated films, including World of Tomorrow (2015), It’s Such a Beautiful Day (2012), The Meaning of Life (2005) and the Academy Award-nominated Rejected (2000). His films have received over 200 awards and have been presented around the world. Seven of Hertzfeldt’s films have competed at the Sundance Film Festival, a festival record. He is also the only filmmaker to have won the Sundance Film Festival’s Grand Jury Prize for Short Film twice. Hertzfeldt primarily supports his work through self-distribution and has refused all advertising work. He lives in Austin, Texas, and was born on August 1, 1976.
The 8-bit representation I have selected for Don Hertzfeldt is the fluffy guy from his short Rejected (you know, the “My anus is bleeding!” character). I wouldn’t celebrate my 900th pixel art character of this project (and Hertzfeldt’s birthday) any other way. If you haven’t yet done so, you should definitely rent World of Tomorrow for $3.99 from Vimeo On Demand; it’s only 16 minutes long. I watched World of Tomorrow almost every day in April. It’s that good. Hertzfeldt also recently launched a Kickstarter campaign to release a limited edition collection of his works on Blu-ray, so you can pick that up too until August 15.
Jennifer Lopez, also known as J. Lo, is an American actress, author, fashion designer, dancer, producer and singer. Her first regular high-profile job was as a Fly Girl dancer on In Living Color in 1991. She received her first leading acting role in the Selena biopic in 1997. Lopez became the first Latina actress to earn over $1 million for a role the following year, with the film Out of Sight. She ventured into the music industry in 1999 with her debut studio album, On the 6. With current record sales of over 60 million and a cumulative film gross of over $2 billion, Lopez is regarded as the most influential Hispanic performer in the United States, as well as its highest paid Latin entertainer. Beyond entertainment, Lopez has enjoyed a highly successful business career, consisting of various clothing lines, accessories, fragrances, a production company, television shows and a charitable foundation. She was born on July 24, 1969.
Note: Deciding on Lopez’s most iconic outfit was easy, since not many dresses have their own Wikipedia page. Her 8-bit clothing is based on the plunging, sheer green Versace dress she wore to the 42nd Grammy Awards ceremony in 2000, alongside then-boyfriend Sean “Diddy” Combs.
Ida Bell Wells-Barnett, more commonly known as Ida B. Wells, was an African-American journalist, newspaper editor, suffragist, sociologist, Georgist and an early leader in the Civil Rights Movement. She documented lynching in the United States, showing that it was often used as a way to control or punish blacks who competed with whites, rather than being based on criminal acts by blacks, as was usually claimed by white mobs. She was active in women’s rights and the women’s suffrage movement, establishing several notable women’s organizations. Wells was a skilled and persuasive rhetorician and traveled internationally on lecture tours. She was born on July 16, 1862 and died on March 25, 1931.
Since Ida B. Wells is a hero of Canadian cartoonist Kate Beaton, there’s an excellent series of Hark! A Vagrant comics about Wells. Also, the Ida B. Wells Commemorative Art Committee is working to develop a monument in Chicago to honor the life and times of Ida B. Wells. Lastly, in unrelated news, with this week’s flyby of Pluto by NASA’s New Horizons space probe, all I can think of is “Bring Back Pluto.”
Arthur Ashe was an American professional tennis player. He won three Grand Slam titles and was ranked world No. 1. Ashe, an African-American, was the first black player selected to the United States Davis Cup team and the only black man ever to win the singles title at Wimbledon, the U.S. Open or the Australian Open. He retired in 1980. In the early 1980s, Ashe is believed to have contracted HIV from a blood transfusion he received during heart bypass surgery. Ashe publicly announced his illness in 1992 and began working to educate others about HIV and AIDS through two Arthur Ashe Foundations. Ashe was born on July 10, 1943 and died from AIDS-related pneumonia on February 6, 1993. He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by U.S. President Bill Clinton.
Bernie Sanders is an American politician and the junior United States Senator from Vermont. He has announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination in the 2016 presidential election. Sanders is the longest-serving independent in U.S. congressional history. A self-described democratic socialist, he favors policies similar to those of social democratic parties in Europe, particularly those of Scandinavia. Since his election to the Senate, Sanders has emerged as a leading progressive voice on issues like income inequality, climate change and campaign finance reform. He rose to national prominence on the heels of his 2010 filibuster of the proposed extension of the Bush-era tax rates for the wealthy. Sanders is also outspoken on civil liberties issues, and has been particularly critical of mass surveillance policies such as the Patriot Act. His presidential campaign was officially launched on May 26, 2015. Sanders was born on September 8, 1941.
I really like Bernie Sanders, which is unusual to say about a politician, and I have been enjoying watching his presidential campaign gain momentum. I also appreciated this enthusiastic headline from last week: “Why Bernie Sanders Will Become the Democratic Nominee and Defeat Any Republican in 2016.” I’d been hoping that Elizabeth Warren might be in the competitive position Sanders is currently enjoying versus Hillary Clinton, but I have no complaints. Sanders is great, and I agree with almost every principle of his political views. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a democratic socialist too, you know. Socialism without capitalism leads to communism, but capitalism without socialism leads to fascism. Sanders understands this important balance. And with Bernie’s wild, Doc Brown hair, I deem him suitable for my 888th character.
Debbie Harry is an American singer-songwriter and actress, best known as the lead singer of the new wave and punk rock band Blondie. She recorded several No.1 singles with Blondie and is sometimes considered the first rapper to chart at number one in the United States as well, due to her vocals on “Rapture.” She has also had success as a solo artist, and in the mid-1990s she recorded and performed with The Jazz Passengers. Her acting career spans over 30 film roles and numerous television appearances. She was born on July 1, 1945.
Elon Musk is a South African-born, Canadian-American business magnate, engineer, inventor and investor. He is the CEO and CTO of SpaceX, CEO and product architect of Tesla Motors and chairman of SolarCity. Musk is the founder of SpaceX and a cofounder of Zip2, PayPal and Tesla Motors. He has also envisioned a conceptual high-speed transportation system known as the Hyperloop and has proposed a VTOL supersonic jet aircraft with electric fan propulsion. Musk was born on June 28, 1971.
“Pistol Pete” Maravich was an American professional basketball player. Born and raised in Pennsylvania, Maravich starred in college at Louisiana State University (LSU) and played for three NBA teams (Atlanta Hawks, New Orleans/Utah Jazz and Boston Celtics) until injuries forced his retirement in 1980. He is still the all-time leading NCAA Division I scorer with 3,667 points scored (in only three seasons) and an average of 44.2 points per game. All of his accomplishments were achieved before the three-point line and shot clock were introduced to NCAA basketball. Often celebrated as one of the best ball-handlers and offensive creators of all time, Maravich was born on June 22, 1947 and died while playing pickup basketball on January 5, 1988 of a rare congenital heart defect.
Nicole Kidman is an Australian actress and film producer. Kidman’s breakthrough film role was in the 1989 thriller Dead Calm. After appearing in several films in the early 1990s, she came to worldwide recognition for her performances in the auto-racing film Days of Thunder (1990), the romance Far and Away (1992) and the superhero film Batman Forever (1995). Other acclaimed performances include her work in the erotic Kubrick thriller Eyes Wide Shut(1999), the musical Moulin Rouge! (2001), the horror-thriller The Others (2001) and The Hours (2002). Kidman was married to Tom Cruise from 1990 to 2001. She was born to Australian parents in Hawai’i on June 20, 1967.
Note: In my search for Nicole Kidman’s most iconic outfit, I found this lime-green or chartreuse dress she wore to the 69th Academy Awards in 1997.
Jacques-Yves Cousteau was a French naval officer, explorer, conservationist, filmmaker, innovator, scientist, photographer, author and researcher who studied the sea and all forms of life in water. He co-developed the Aqua-Lung, pioneered marine conservation and was a member of the French Academy. Cousteau described his underwater world research in series of books, perhaps most successful being his first book, The Silent World: A Story of Undersea Discovery and Adventure, published in 1953. He also directed films, most notably the documentary adaptation of the book, The Silent World, which won a Palme d’or at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival. Cousteau was born on June 11, 1910 and died on June 25, 1997.
Nancy Sinatra is an American singer and actress. She is the daughter of Frank Sinatra and is widely known for her 1966 signature hit “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’.” Other defining recordings include the title song from the James Bond film You Only Live Twice, several collaborations with Lee Hazlewood and her cover of Cher’s “Bang Bang,” which was used in the opening sequence of the 2003 Tarantino film Kill Bill: Vol. One. The promo clip for “These Boots Are Made for Walkin'” popularized and made her synonymous with go-go boots. The song was written by Lee Hazlewood, who wrote and produced most of her hits and sang with her on several duets, including the critical and cult favorite “Some Velvet Morning.” Sinatra also had a brief acting career in the mid-1960s, including a costarring role with Elvis Presley in the movie Speedway, and with Peter Fonda in The Wild Angels. She was born on June 8, 1940.
I have a framed print of “Escape,” a 1962 portrait by artist Margaret Keane, in my living room; the woman depicted has always reminded me of an idealized version of Nancy Sinatra. I don’t care for most of Keane’s big-eyed art, but I specifically love that painting. Also, this dubstep mashup of “Bang Bang” by Fytch is fantastic. I’ve listened to it dozens of times over the past three years. It features samples from four songs—by Nancy Sinatra, Cas One, Biggie and Ella Fitzgerald. You can download it for free.
Ian Bavitz, better known by his stage name Aesop Rock, is an American hip-hop recording artist and producer residing in Portland, Oregon. He was at the forefront of the new wave of underground and alternative hip-hop acts that emerged during the late 1990s and early 2000s. Aesop Rock was signed to Definitive Jux until El-P put the label on hiatus in 2010. Aesop Rock’s solo discography includes Labor Days (2001), Bazooka Tooth (2003) and None Shall Pass (2007). An analysis of Aesop Rock’s lyrics found that he has the largest vocabulary in hip-hop music. He is a member of the groups The Weathermen, Hail Mary Mallon (with Rob Sonic & DJ Big Wiz), The Uncluded (with Kimya Dawson) and Two of Every Animal (with Cage). Aesop Rock was born on June 5, 1976.
Allen Ginsberg was an American poet and one of the leading figures of both the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the counterculture that soon would follow. He vigorously opposed militarism, economic materialism and sexual repression. Ginsberg is best known for his epic poem “Howl,” in which he denounced what he saw as the destructive forces of capitalism and conformity in the United States. In 1957, “Howl” attracted widespread publicity when it became the subject of an obscenity trial for depicting heterosexual and homosexual sex. Ginsberg was a practicing Buddhist who studied Eastern religious disciplines extensively. He took part in decades of nonviolent political protest against everything from the Vietnam War to the War on Drugs. Ginsberg was born on June 3, 1926 and died on April 5, 1997.
Jeff Buckley, raised as Scott Moorhead, was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. After a decade as a session guitarist in Los Angeles, Buckley amassed a following in the early 1990s by playing cover songs at venues in Manhattan’s East Village, such as Sin-é. In 1994, he recorded what would be his only studio album, Grace. Over the following two years, Buckley toured widely to promote the album, including concerts in the U.S., Europe, Japan and Australia. In 1997, he moved to Memphis, Tennessee, to resume work on his second album, to be titled My Sweetheart the Drunk, recording many four-track demos while also playing weekly solo shows at a local venue. On May 29, 1997, while awaiting the arrival of his band from New York, Buckley drowned during a spontaneous evening swim, fully clothed, in the Mississippi River when he was caught in the wake of a passing boat; his body was found on June 4. He was born on November 17, 1966.
It’s been 18 years now. Jeff Buckley’s death occurred four days after my high school graduation. So many young musicians that mattered to me were lost while I was in high school (1993-1997): Kurt Cobain (Nirvana), Eazy-E (N.W.A), Jack Vigliatura (For Squirrels), Shannon Hoon (Blind Melon), Tupac Shakur, The Notorious B.I.G., Jeff Buckley. There were probably more that I’m forgetting. The deaths of Vigliatura and Buckley were maybe the saddest to me because they were such freak accidents. I’ll always remember the story that Radiohead’s Thom Yorke recorded the final version of “Fake Plastic Trees“—a song that holds a lot of meaning for me personally—immediately after seeing a Jeff Buckley performance in London. Apparently Radiohead was finding it difficult to nail the song and decided to take a break and catch a Buckley gig at Highbury in 1994. When they returned to the studio mesmerized by Buckley’s set, Yorke recorded the song and broke down into tears. Since Buckley’s death, numerous artists have recorded tributes. And, well, now I feel a little sad. Rest in peace, everybody.
Miles Davis was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Davis was, together with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz, hard bop, modal jazz and jazz fusion. His 1959 album Kind of Blue, widely considered his magnum opus, has sold over four million copies in the United States. This makes it the bestselling album in jazz history. In 2009, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a symbolic resolution recognizing and commemorating the album Kind of Blue on its 50th anniversary, “honoring the masterpiece and reaffirming jazz as a national treasure.” Davis was born on May 26, 1926 and died on September 28, 1991.
P.S. In 2009, Andy Baio released Kind of Bloop, an 8-bit tribute to Miles Davis. Have a listen.
Andy Murray is a Scottish professional tennis player, currently ranked world No. 3. He started playing tennis at the age of three, entered his first competitive tournament at age five and was playing league tennis by the time he was eight. Murray won the junior U.S. Open in 2004 and turned professional the following year. He has since won the 2012 U.S. Open and the 2013 Wimbledon Championships in men’s singles. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, Murray won a gold medal in singles, defeating Roger Federer. From 2008 to 2015, Murray was the runner-up in six Grand Slam finals, losing three each to Federer and Novak Djokovic. Murray was born on May 15, 1987.
Tony Hawk, nicknamed “The Birdman,” is an American professional skateboarder and actor. Hawk is well-known for completing the first documented 900 and is widely considered one of the most successful and influential pioneers of modern vert skateboarding. His series of licensed video game titles have been published by Activision since 1999. In 2002, Hawk created the Boom Boom HuckJam, an extreme sports exhibition and tour that was launched in Las Vegas. Throughout his career, Hawk has made numerous appearances in films, other media and his own series of video games. He has also been involved in various philanthropic activities, including his own Tony Hawk Foundation that helps to build skateparks in underprivileged areas. Hawk was born on May 12, 1968.
Josip Broz Tito was a Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman, serving in various roles from 1943 until his death in 1980. During World War II he was the leader of the Partisans, often regarded as the most effective resistance movement in occupied Europe. While his presidency has been criticized as authoritarian, Tito was seen by most as a benevolent dictator due to his economic and diplomatic policies. He was a popular public figure both in Yugoslavia and abroad. Viewed as a unifying symbol, Tito’s internal policies maintained the peaceful coexistence of the nations of the Yugoslav federation. From 1943 until his death, he held the rank of Marshal of Yugoslavia, serving as the supreme commander of the Yugoslav military, the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA). Tito was the chief architect of the second Yugoslavia, a socialist federation that lasted from 1943 to 1991-92. Despite being one of the founders of Cominform, soon he became the first Cominform member to defy Soviet hegemony and the only one to manage to leave Cominform and begin with its own socialist program. Tito was born on May 7, 1892 and died on May 4, 1980.
One detail from Tito’s life that particularly fascinates me is his top-secret underground nuclear bunker in present-day Bosnia. I am a sucker for subterranean lairs, bomb shelters and the like. And this guy was way into them. According to The Telegraph: “In the early 1950s, Josip Broz Tito, the late leader of the former Yugoslavia, ordered the building of a secret bunker that would safeguard the country’s ruling class in case of a nuclear attack. Located 900 feet (270 m) underground, near the Bosnian town of Konjic, the 26-year project was only completed in 1979, the year before Tito died, and it was built at a cost equivalent to just under £3 billion ($4.6 billion). According to AP, if restocked with supplies it would still serve its purpose – allowing 350 people to live and work for six months without ever coming outside.”
Sugar Ray Robinson was an American professional boxer. Frequently cited as the greatest boxer of all time, Robinson’s performances in the welterweight and middleweight divisions prompted sportswriters to create “pound for pound” rankings, where they compared fighters regardless of weight. Robinson was 85-0 as an amateur with 69 of those victories coming by way of knockout, 40 in the first round. He turned professional in 1940 at the age of 19 and by 1951 had a professional record of 128-1-2 with 84 knockouts. From 1943 to 1951 Robinson went on a 91-fight unbeaten streak, the third longest in professional boxing history. Renowned for his flamboyant lifestyle outside the ring, Robinson is credited with being the originator of the modern sports “entourage.” After his boxing career ended, Robinson attempted a career as an entertainer, but struggled, and was challenged financially until his death. Robinson was born on May 3, 1921 and died on April 12, 1989. In 2006, he was featured on a United States Postal Service commemorative stamp.
Lars von Trier is a Danish film director and screenwriter. He is closely associated with the Dogme 95 collective, an avant-garde filmmaking movement, although his own films have taken a variety of approaches. Known as a provocateur, he is widely regarded as one of the most accomplished and influential directors in world cinema. Von Trier suffers periodically from depression, and also from various fears and phobias, including an intense fear of flying. As he quipped in an interview, “basically, I’m afraid of everything in life, except filmmaking.” His first feature was The Element of Crime (1984). Von Trier’s filmography also includes Breaking the Waves (1996); Dancer in the Dark (2000), starring Björk as Selma; Antichrist (2009) and Melancholia (2011). He was born on April 30, 1956.
Don Hertzfeldt – No. 900
Don Hertzfeldt is an American writer, animator and independent filmmaker. He is the creator of many animated films, including World of Tomorrow (2015), It’s Such a Beautiful Day (2012), The Meaning of Life (2005) and the Academy Award-nominated Rejected (2000). His films have received over 200 awards and have been presented around the world. Seven of Hertzfeldt’s films have competed at the Sundance Film Festival, a festival record. He is also the only filmmaker to have won the Sundance Film Festival’s Grand Jury Prize for Short Film twice. Hertzfeldt primarily supports his work through self-distribution and has refused all advertising work. He lives in Austin, Texas, and was born on August 1, 1976.
The 8-bit representation I have selected for Don Hertzfeldt is the fluffy guy from his short Rejected (you know, the “My anus is bleeding!” character). I wouldn’t celebrate my 900th pixel art character of this project (and Hertzfeldt’s birthday) any other way. If you haven’t yet done so, you should definitely rent World of Tomorrow for $3.99 from Vimeo On Demand; it’s only 16 minutes long. I watched World of Tomorrow almost every day in April. It’s that good. Hertzfeldt also recently launched a Kickstarter campaign to release a limited edition collection of his works on Blu-ray, so you can pick that up too until August 15.