The garden gnome from the 2001 French film Amélie. This character/prop helped popularize the traveling gnome prank that began in the 1980s. In the film, Amélie’s father finds that the gnome from his lawn shrine has gone missing. Later, he receives unmarked photographs of the gnome visiting exotic landmarks. Je ne comprends pas!
The main character of the Spanish animated television series, which is based on the children’s book The Secret Book of Gnomes by Dutch author Wil Huygen and illustrator Rien Poortvliet. David the Gnome first came to U.S. television in 1987 on the Nickelodeon cable channel.
A kindly old character of Scandinavian folklore featured in two 1960s children’s books by Astrid Lindgren. One story is called The Tomten and the other is The Tomten and the Fox, in which moonlit scenes of the farmyard under snow show Reynard the fox prowling near the henhouse. He’s hungry, but the tomten guards the henhouse at night.
A Scottish knight and landowner who became a rebel leader during the Wars of Scottish Independence. On this day in 1305, a captured William Wallace was hanged, drawn and quartered for high treason by King Edward I of England. I can’t help but think of Mel Gibson’s Braveheart speech. “They may take our lives, but they’ll never take our freedom!”
A French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution. As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815. His legal reform, the Napoleonic Code, influenced civil law jurisdictions worldwide. He is considered one of the greatest military commanders (see the Napoleonic Wars). He was born on this day in 1769.
P.S. Napoleon had problems, but being short wasn’t really one of them. He was 5′ 6″ or 5′ 7″ tall, which is average for an 18th-century Frenchman (but shorter than most Imperial Guards). Still, he gets the Napoleon complex named after him.
A Dutch post-Impressionist painter whose vivid work had a far-reaching influence on 20th century art. He is also famous for his mental illness. In 1888, he famously cut off part of his left ear after a confrontation with his friend Paul Gauguin. He died on this day in 1890, largely unknown, from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Now his paintings sell for $100 million.
The Statue of Liberty is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, designed by French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and dedicated in 1886. The robed female figure represents Libertas, a Roman goddess and embodiment of liberty. The statue, a gift from France, has become an icon of freedom and of the United States. Happy Fourth of July!
P.S. From the mouth of the sculptor himself: “America is an adorable woman chewing tobacco.” – Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi
A culturally influential German-language novelist born on this day in 1883. Kafka is most famous his 1915 novella “The Metamorphosis” featuring Gregor Samsa, who wakes up to find that he has been transformed into a giant insect-like creature. This 8-bit Kafka character is based on Samsa, who was the fictional alter ego of Kafka.
An English musician and actor who has created a number of alter egos for himself, such as Ziggy Stardust and The Thin White Duke. This 8-bit version of him is based on the cover of his 1973 album Aladdin Sane, which Bowie described as “Ziggy goes to America.” This is character #5 of my eight-day Music Week.
An English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame with The Beatles and later married Yoko Ono. Lennon was murdered in New York City in 1980. I have depicted him in his Abbey Road suit from 1969 (which recently sold for $46,000). This is character #3 of my eight-day Music Week. Yes, I work on this 8-bit character project eight days a week.
P.S. Happy Summer Solstice!
A fictional character in Anthony Burgess’ novel A Clockwork Orange and the film adaptation by Stanley Kubrick. Alex DeLarge is a sociopath whose greatest pleasures are Beethoven and ultraviolence. He leads a gang of rebellious “droogs” to rob, rape and murder for their own amusement. Watch the first two minutes of the film.
Edward Teach was a notorious English pirate with a thick black beard who operated around the West Indies and the eastern coast of the American colonies. He was killed in 1718 after two legendary years of plundering.
To maintain the delicate balance of the Internet, I had to post a pirate today after yesterday’s 8-bit ninja character.
For Pentecost Sunday, here’s the pope. A native of Germany, Pope Benedict XVI is the 265th and current pope. His papacy began in 2005 following the death of Pope John Paul II. During his reign in Vatican City, he has restored the use of red leather papal shoes and other fancy papal fashions.
Roman general who played a critical role in building the Roman Empire. He had a long-term relationship with Cleopatra but could not marry her under Roman law. He was assassinated by a group of senators, led by Brutus, on the Ides of March. Et tu, Brute?
The last pharaoh of Ancient Egypt. She was a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty, a family of Greek origin that ruled Egypt after Alexander the Great’s death. She had a long-term relationship with Julius Caesar and represented herself as the reincarnation of the Egyptian goddess Isis.
A glamorously elfin British actress and UNICEF humanitarian. She was a film and fashion icon of the 20th century and possibly the loveliest actress to ever grace the silver screen.
A peasant girl who became a national heroine of France and a Catholic saint. Claiming divine guidance, she led the French army to important victories during the Hundred Years’ War. She was burned at the stake on this day in 1431.
I loved this floating, sharpshooting robot from the 1979 Disney film The Black Hole when I was a kid. In the year 2130, V.I.N.CENT. is aboard an exploratory spaceship, the USS Palomino, when the crew discovers a black hole with a lost ship just outside its event horizon.
This is my third and last day at WebVisions 2011 in Portland, Oregon.
Imagined in the 1860s by Lewis Carroll, this young girl from Victorian-era Britain falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures. I love the 1951 animated film and prefer to believe that the 2010 Tim Burton remake never happened. Remix!
Sinéad O’Connor – No. 158
An Irish singer-songwriter who rose to fame in the late 1980s and achieved worldwide success in 1990 with a cover of the song “Nothing Compares 2 U” by Prince. In 1992, she controversially tore a photo of Pope John Paul II to pieces on Saturday Night Live to protest sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church and was vilified by the media.
Today MTV is celebrating its 30th birthday. Remember when MTV mattered? You can watch the first 20 minutes of the original August 1, 1981 broadcast.