Gabriel García Márquez is a Colombian novelist, short-story writer and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo throughout Latin America. Considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th century, he was awarded the 1982 Nobel Prize in Literature. García Márquez started as a journalist, but is best known for his novels, including One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967), Autumn of the Patriarch (1975) and Love in the Time of Cholera (1985). His works have helped popularize magic realism as a literary style. García Márquez was born on this day in 1927.
The nonlinear, multi-generational One Hundred Years of Solitude is my wife Heidi’s very favorite book and Gabriel García Márquez is her favorite author. I love magic realism and I agree that García Márquez is a pretty fantastic craftsman of richly detailed run-on sentences. But I was stunned that nearly every character in his famous century-spanning book is named José Arcadio or Aureliano. I am not exaggerating when I state that there are 22 characters named Aureliano in One Hundred Years of Solitude. Twenty-two. If you put this novel down for a few days, you too can share the farcical experience of having to cross-reference a family tree to remember which members of which generation are being talking about in a given chapter—even when you know that history repeating is the point and it almost doesn’t matter. I do like to experience how the world feels from García Márquez’s unique perspective.
Alexander Graham Bell was a scientist, inventor and engineer credited with inventing the first practical telephone. Both his mother and wife were deaf, which led him to research hearing and speech. His experiments with hearing devices culminated with the first U.S. patent for the telephone in 1876. Many other inventions marked Bell’s later life, including groundbreaking work in optical telecommunications, hydrofoils and aeronautics. In 1888, Bell became a founding member of the National Geographic Society. He was born on March 3, 1847.
In retrospect, Bell considered his most famous invention an intrusion on his real work as a scientist and refused to have a telephone in his study. Over 100 years later, I agree with his assessment. I do not like talking on the phone, or hearing it ring/vibrate/sing pop songs. Bell and I have the same birthday, so perhaps we would agree on many things.
Luis Buñuel was a Spanish filmmaker who worked in Spain, Mexico and France. When Buñuel died at age 83, his obituary in The New York Times called him “an iconoclast, moralist and revolutionary who was a leader of avant-garde surrealism in his youth and a dominant international movie director half a century later.” Often associated with the Surrealist movement of the 1920s, Buñuel created acclaimed films in six decades, from the 1920s through the 1970s. Still, he is perhaps best known for his first film, Un Chien Andalou (1929), a 16-minute silent short made with Salvador Dalí. Buñuel was born on this day in 1900.
Alejandro Jodorowsky is a Chilean-French filmmaker, playwright, actor, author and comics writer. A hero of the underground film circuit, he is best known for his violently surreal avant-garde films, including cult classics Fando y Lis (1967), the acid western El Topo (1970) and The Holy Mountain (1973). Jodorowsky’s “psychoshamanism” spiritual system borrows from his interests in alchemy, the tarot, Zen Buddhism and shamanism. He was born on this day in 1929.
Hans Rudolf Giger is a Swiss surrealist painter, sculptor and set designer. He was part of the special effects team that won an Academy Award for Best Achievement for Visual Effects for their design work on the 1979 film Alien. Giger suffers from night terrors, a sleep disorder that has inspired his “biomechanical” work. One of Giger’s main influences was Salvador Dalí and he was a personal friend of Timothy Leary. He was born on this day in 1940.
In October 2012, while train-hopping across Europe, Heidi and I toured the Museum H.R. Giger in Château St. Germain in Gruyères, Switzerland. We also had lunch at the otherworldly, skeletal H.R. Giger Bar, where we ate Margherita pizza and I drank a flaming glass of absinthe. It’s an incredible place set in a stunning Swiss Alps landscape.
Jacques Dominique Wilkins is a retired American professional basketball player (born in France) who primarily played for the Atlanta Hawks of the NBA. Wilkins was a nine-time NBA All-Star, and one of the best dunkers in NBA history, earning the nickname “The Human Highlight Film.” Wilkins participated in five slam dunk contests (1984, 1985, 1986, 1988 and 1990), winning two. In 1985, he beat rookie Michael Jordan in the finals. In 1986, Wilkins was defeated by his 5′ 7″ teammate, Spud Webb. In 1988, the highly anticipated rematch of Wilkins vs. Jordan resulted in Jordan winning 147 to 145, controversially.
As a kid, I tried to imitate the 1988 NBA Slam Dunk Contest dunks on the NERF basketball hoop attached above my bedroom door. Or, even better, on the metal basketball hoop mounted in my late grandparents’ basement that my dad built from Erector Set pieces in the late 1950s. These dunks were essentially the practice of accidentally slamming my nine-year-old extremities into the door frame or doorknob as I contorted my body to get a foam ball to pass through an orange plastic hoop. And the crowd goes wild.
Mike Iuzzolino is a retired American professional basketball player who played for the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks for two seasons (1991-93). After his NBA career, Iuzzolino played professionally in Italy and Spain until 2003. While unknown to many, Iuzzolino was featured in the 1993 arcade edition of the popular two-on-two basketball video game NBA Jam. He was born on this day in 1968.
As a 14-year-old basketball fan, I was surprised that Mike Iuzzolino was one of the 54 NBA players selected for the 27 NBA Jam teams. The 1992-93 Dallas Mavericks roster was pretty weak, aside from teammate Derek Harper, but still. I thought getting to play as Iuzzolino in a video game was awesome—and play as him I did, whenever I grew tired of collecting Mortal Kombat fatalities at the old coin-op arcade. As a skinny little white kid who wanted to be good at basketball, I looked to my Mike Iuzzolino basketball card for inspiration. Because somehow this thin, 5′ 10″ Italian-American point guard from Altoona, Pennsylvania (just 40 miles from my dad’s house) had made it to the NBA. I dreamed, “As soon as I get my growth spurt, I’ll be right there with him.” Coincidentally, Iuzzolino also played basketball at Penn State, which was the university I planned to attend (and I did, from 1997-2001). So, what happened to the two of us? Iuzzolino is now Director of Basketball Operations at Canisius College in New York, and I didn’t play competitive basketball beyond 10th grade. Though I did finally hit 5′ 10″, which is really important in the fields of graphic design and web development.
Saint Nicholas was a 4th-century saint and Greek bishop in Myra (modern-day Turkey). Because of the many miracles attributed to his intercession, he is also known as Nikolaos the Wonderworker. He had a reputation for secret gift-giving, such as putting coins in the shoes of those who left them out for him, and thus became the model for Santa Claus (whose modern name comes from the Dutch Sinterklaas).
Krampus is a demonic beast-like creature from the folklore of Alpine countries thought to punish bad children during the Yule season, in contrast with Saint Nicholas, who rewards nice ones with gifts. Described as half-goat, half-demon, Krampus is said to capture particularly naughty children in his sack and carry them away to his underworld lair. He beats people into behaving with a bundle of birch sticks. According to folklore, Krampus shows up in towns on the night before December 6, known as Krampusnacht, or Krampus Night. The history of the Krampus figure stretches back to pre-Christian Germanic folklore.
Note: Happy Christmas Eve! Hopefully Krampus the holiday devil doesn’t show up on your street dragging rusty chains and bells.
Nostradamus was a French apothecary and reputed seer who published collections of prophecies that have since become famous worldwide. He is best known for his book Les Propheties, the first edition of which appeared in 1555. Despite loads of academic whining about popular misinterpretations and deliberate mistranslations of his vague quatrains, Nostradamus has still been credited with predicting many major world events. He was also a famous plague doctor who gave medical advice about preventive measures.
Note: Nostradamus was born on December 14 or 21, 1503. This means his birthday is either today or next week, which precisely coincides with the so-called end of the Maya calendar. So, Happy 509th Birthday, Dr. Apocalypse.
Ismail Enver Pasha was an Ottoman military officer and a leader of the Young Turk Revolution. He was the main leader of the Ottoman Empire in both Balkan Wars and World War I. Enver was considered the most powerful figure of the government of Ottoman Turkey or “the number one man in Istanbul.” He played a major role in the Armenian Genocide, in which over two million were killed during 1915-20. Enver was born on this day in 1881.
Note: Happy Thanksgiving! Be thankful you didn’t know this guy.
Leeloo is the perfect, supreme being in The Fifth Element, a 1997 French science fiction film directed by Luc Besson. In the 23rd century, Korben Dallas (Bruce Willis), a taxicab driver and retired military officer, teams up with Leeloo (Milla Jovovich) to defend the world from an evil presence that enters the galaxy every 5,000 years. They must overcome the evil Zorg and locate four ancient stones representing the four basic elements of earth, air, fire and water. Positioning the stones around the Fifth Element will create a legendary cosmic weapon. Leeloo’s ancient language and strange customs are entertaining.
Marie Curie was a French-Polish physicist and chemist, famous for her pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize and the only person to win in multiple sciences (1903 in Physics and 1911 in Chemistry). She studied at Warsaw’s clandestine Flying University before moving to Paris. Her achievements include a theory of radioactivity, techniques for isolating radioactive isotopes and the discovery of polonium and radium. Curie was born on this day in 1867 and died in 1934 of aplastic anemia from years of exposure to radiation.
Note: After more than 100 years, all of Curie’s papers are still incredibly radioactive. Opening the lead-lined boxes that contain her manuscripts requires radiation gear.
V for Vendetta is a 10-issue comic book series written by Alan Moore, set in a dystopian future United Kingdom imagined from the 1980s to about the 1990s. A mysterious anarchist revolutionary who wears a Guy Fawkes mask and calls himself “V” works to destroy the totalitarian government. Warner Bros. released a film adaptation of V for Vendetta in 2006.
Harry Houdini was an Austrian-Hungarian-born American stunt performer, noted for his sensational escape acts in the early 1900s. For most of his career, Houdini was a headline act in vaudeville. His career began with handcuff-escape gimmicks and expanded to include shackles, chains, ropes slung from skyscrapers and underwater straitjackets. Houdini was keen to uphold professional standards and expose fraudulent magicians who gave practitioners a bad name. He was also quick to sue anyone who pirated his own escape stunts. He died, somewhat mysteriously, of a ruptured appendix on this day in 1926.
Aleister Crowley was an English occultist, mystic and ceremonial magician, who was responsible for founding the religious philosophy of Thelema. He came to see himself as the prophet entrusted with informing humanity that it was entering the new Æon of Horus in the early 20th century. Crowley was also pansexual, a recreational drug experimenter and a social critic. He gained widespread notoriety during his lifetime, and was denounced in the popular press of the day as “the wickedest man in the world.” Crowley was born on this day in 1875.
Sedna is the mermaid goddess of the sea and marine animals in Inuit mythology. The creation myth of Sedna describes how she came to rule over Adlivun, the Inuit underworld. As the sea-mother and provider of food for the Inuit people, she is the patron of fisherman and hunters. Sedna is known by other names in Greenland and Canada, including Arnakuagsak, Arnapkapfaaluk and Nerrivik.
Heidi and I are currently in beautiful Reykjavík, Iceland. This is the third day of our vacation in Europe.
Sophia Loren is an Italian actress. In 1962, she won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Two Women, becoming the first actress to win an Academy Award for a non-English-speaking performance. Loren has won several international awards, including a Golden Globe, a Grammy, a BAFTA Award and a Laurel Award. She was born on this day in 1934.
Note: The risqué negligee worn by 8-bit Sophia Loren is from an iconic photograph by Alfred Eisenstaedt. The controversial shot appeared on the cover of Life magazine in 1966. It caused many Life readers to cancel their subscriptions. See more beautiful Eisenstaedt photos of Loren from 1961.
Kim Clijsters is a Belgian tennis player. She won four Grand Slam singles titles and two Grand Slam doubles titles. Clijsters retired in 2007 to have a child, but returned to tennis in 2009. In only her third tournament back, she won her second U.S. Open title, becoming the first unseeded player and wildcard to win the tournament, and the first mother to win a major since Evonne Goolagong in 1980. At age 29, Clijsters just retired to have a second child. The U.S. Open in 2012 was her final tournament. I guess I need to choose a new favorite WTA player.
Note: This is 8-bit tennis character #8 of 8 in celebration of the U.S. Open.
Justine Henin is a Belgian former tennis player. She won seven Grand Slam singles titles from 2001-2007. Henin also won the singles gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics. She is a very gifted athlete with the best one-handed backhand in the women’s game (and probably the men’s game too, unless you think the Federer backhand is better).
Note: This is 8-bit tennis character #7 of 8 in celebration of the U.S. Open.
Gabriel García Márquez – No. 584
Gabriel García Márquez is a Colombian novelist, short-story writer and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo throughout Latin America. Considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th century, he was awarded the 1982 Nobel Prize in Literature. García Márquez started as a journalist, but is best known for his novels, including One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967), Autumn of the Patriarch (1975) and Love in the Time of Cholera (1985). His works have helped popularize magic realism as a literary style. García Márquez was born on this day in 1927.
The nonlinear, multi-generational One Hundred Years of Solitude is my wife Heidi’s very favorite book and Gabriel García Márquez is her favorite author. I love magic realism and I agree that García Márquez is a pretty fantastic craftsman of richly detailed run-on sentences. But I was stunned that nearly every character in his famous century-spanning book is named José Arcadio or Aureliano. I am not exaggerating when I state that there are 22 characters named Aureliano in One Hundred Years of Solitude. Twenty-two. If you put this novel down for a few days, you too can share the farcical experience of having to cross-reference a family tree to remember which members of which generation are being talking about in a given chapter—even when you know that history repeating is the point and it almost doesn’t matter. I do like to experience how the world feels from García Márquez’s unique perspective.