Emily Dickinson was an American poet who lived a mostly introverted and reclusive life. While Dickinson was a prolific private poet, fewer than a dozen of her nearly 1,800 poems were published during her lifetime. Dickinson’s poems are unique for the era in which she wrote; they contain short lines, typically lack titles, and often use slant rhyme as well as unconventional capitalization and punctuation. She was born on this day in 1830.
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.
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.
Rita Hayworth was an American film actress and dancer who garnered fame during the 1940s as one of the era’s top stars. Appearing first as Rita Cansino, she agreed to change her name and dye her hair dark red to attract a greater range of roles. She was featured on the cover of Life magazine five times, beginning in 1940. Hayworth appeared in a total of 61 films over 37 years.
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.
Serena Williams is an American tennis player. She has won 14 Grand Slam singles titles, 13 Grand Slam women’s doubles titles (with her older sister Venus) and two Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. She has also won four Olympic gold medals, one in singles (2012) and three in women’s doubles (2000, 2008 and 2012). Serena’s complete domination (6-0, 6-1) of Maria Sharapova in the gold medal match at the 2012 Olympic Games last month was remarkable. She is one of the greatest tennis players of all time, but can also act appallingly classless and disrespectful.
Note: This is 8-bit tennis character #6 of 8 in celebration of the U.S. Open.
Venus Williams is an American tennis player. In 2002, she became the first African-American woman to achieve a world No. 1 ranking in the Open Era. Venus has won seven Grand Slam singles titles, 13 Grand Slam women’s doubles titles (with her younger sister Serena) and two Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. She has also won four Olympic gold medals, one in singles (2000) and three in women’s doubles (2000, 2008 and 2012).
Note: Venus wore this controversial lacy corset dress at the French Open in 2010. This is 8-bit tennis character #5 of 8 in celebration of the U.S. Open.
Martina Hingis is a Swiss former tennis player. She won five Grand Slam singles titles, nine Grand Slam women’s doubles titles (including all four in 1998) and one Grand Slam mixed doubles title. Hingis spent a total of 209 weeks as world No. 1. Ankle ligament injuries forced her to withdraw from tennis in 2002 at the age of 22. Hingis returned to the WTA Tour in 2006, but announced her retirement after testing positive for cocaine during Wimbledon in 2007.
Note: This is 8-bit tennis character #4 of 8 in celebration of the U.S. Open.
Monica Seles is a former tennis player born and raised in the Socialist Republic of Serbia to Hungarian parents. She became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1994. Known for her aggressive game and for introducing the grunt to women’s tennis, Seles won nine Grand Slam singles titles. In 1990, at the age of 16, she became the youngest-ever French Open champion. Seles won eight Grand Slam singles titles before her 20th birthday and seemed utterly unstoppable. However, in April 1993, she was stabbed on a court in Hamburg by a maniac who adored Steffi Graf. Seles did not return to tennis until 1995. Her game was never the same.
Note: This is 8-bit tennis character #3 of 8 in celebration of the U.S. Open.
Arantxa Sánchez Vicario is a Spanish former tennis player. She won four Grand Slam singles titles, six Grand Slam women’s doubles titles and four Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. Sánchez Vicario participated in a record five Olympics and won four Olympic medals (two silver and two bronze). I mainly remember her tenacity and determination, and how I would root against her when she played Steffi Graf.
Note: This is 8-bit tennis character #2 of 8 in celebration of the U.S. Open.
Steffi Graf is a German former tennis player. She won 22 Grand Slam singles titles, the most of any tennis player in the Open Era. In 1988, she became the only player to achieve a Golden Slam by winning all four Grand Slam singles titles and the Olympic gold medal in the same calendar year. Graf was ranked world No. 1 for a record 377 total weeks. Many consider her the greatest women’s tennis player of all time. Graf retired in 1999 and married Andre Agassi in 2001.
Note: This is 8-bit tennis character #1 of 8 in celebration of the U.S. Open.
Diana, Princess of Wales, was the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, and member of the British Royal Family. She was also known for her fundraising work for international charities. Lady Di remained the object of worldwide media scrutiny during and after her marriage, which ended in divorce in 1996. Media attention and public mourning were considerable after her death in a car crash in Paris on August 31, 1997.
Note: Diana’s 8-bit outfit is her iconic “Elvis” dress, made by Catherine Walker for her 1989 trip to Hong Kong. The silk dress had a standup collar and was embellished with pearls and sequins.
Mae West was a controversial American actress, playwright, screenwriter and sex symbol whose entertainment career spanned seven decades. Known for her bawdy double entendres, she made a name for herself in burlesque and vaudeville, and on the stage in New York, before moving to Hollywood in 1932. The American Film Institute named West 15th among the greatest female stars of all time. She was born on this day in 1893.
Nadia Comăneci is a Romanian gymnast who won three Olympic gold medals at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. She was also the first female gymnast to be awarded a perfect score of 10 in an Olympic gymnastic event. She won two more gold medals at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow and collected nine Olympic medals in total. She is one of the best-known gymnasts in the world.
Florence Griffith-Joyner, also known as Flo-Jo, was an American track and field athlete. She is the fastest woman of all time, still holding the world record in the 100 meters (10.49 seconds) and 200 meters (21.34 seconds)—both set in 1988 and never seriously challenged. She was also known for her trademark one-legged track suits and her long, colorful fingernails that matched her outfits. She died of epilepsy in 1998 at the age of 38.
Note: Flo-Jo was the wife of Olympic champion triple jumper Al Joyner and the sister-in-law of heptathlete and long jumper Jackie Joyner-Kersee.
Jackie Joyner-Kersee is a retired American athlete, ranked among the all-time greatest athletes in the women’s heptathlon and the women’s long jump. She won three gold, one silver and two bronze Olympic medals at four different Olympic Games (1984, 1988, 1992 and 1996). Sports Illustrated for Women magazine voted Joyner-Kersee the Greatest Female Athlete of the 20th Century.
Note: Jackie was the sister-in-law of the late Florence Griffith-Joyner, the “fastest woman of all time.” Flo-Jo married Jackie’s brother Al Joyner, an Olympic champion triple jumper.
Elizabeth Warren – No. 536
Elizabeth Warren is an American bankruptcy law expert, Harvard Law School professor, and the U.S. Senator-elect for the state of Massachusetts, having defeated incumbent Senator Scott Brown in the 2012 election last week. Her work as a national policy advocate led to the conception and establishment of the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in 2011. She is a frequent subject of media interviews regarding the American economy and middle-class personal finance.
I suspect Warren may be a leading Democratic presidential candidate in the 2016 election (though she may wait until the 2020 election because Hillary Clinton will surely be running in 2016). This feisty, good-hearted advocate for middle-class consumers won her Senate seat by defiantly campaigning against the big banks and lobbyists “who wrecked our economy and destroyed millions of jobs.”