Martha Stewart is an American business magnate, bestselling author, magazine publisher and TV personality. She is the founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, publisher of Martha Stewart Living magazine and star of the syndicated talk show Martha. Starting in 2004, Stewart served a five-month prison sentence following ImClone insider trading convictions, but her media empire simply cannot be destroyed. She was born on this day in 1941.
Barbarella is a 41st-century astronaut in the 1968 French-Italian science fiction film based on Jean-Claude Forest’s French Barbarella comics. The tongue-in-cheek movie was directed by Roger Vadim and stars Jane Fonda, who was Vadim’s wife at the time. Barbarella is noted for the coy nudity of its title sequence, which features Fonda undressing in zero-gravity.
Note: The source of her torn 8-bit outfit is this Barbarella scene with a guy named Dildano.
Billie Holiday was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed “Lady Day,” she pioneered a new vocal style, strongly inspired by jazz instrumentalists. Holiday is perhaps most celebrated for singing “Strange Fruit,” a protest song that became one of her standards and was made famous with her 1939 recording. She died on this day in 1959.
Björk Guðmundsdóttir is an Icelandic singer-songwriter with an eclectic musical style and seven acclaimed studio albums. Three of her 1990s singles from Post charted in the UK Top 10. Björk wore her celebrated “swan dress” to the 2001 Oscars for her Selmasongs duet with Thom Yorke of Radiohead, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song.
Michelle Obama is the wife of President Barack Obama, and is the first African-American First Lady of the United States. Raised in Chicago, she is the mother of two daughters, and is the sister of Craig Robinson, men’s basketball coach at Oregon State University. She is an advocate for poverty awareness, nutrition and healthy eating.
First Lady Michelle Obama will provide the commencement address at Oregon State University in Corvallis on Sunday, June 17, 2012.
Hillary Rodham Clinton is the 67th U.S. Secretary of State, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama. She was a U.S. Senator for New York from 2001-2009. As the wife of President Bill Clinton, she was the First Lady of the United States from 1993-2001. In the 2008 election, Clinton was a leading candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Note: Remember Hillary Clinton’s Rainbow Coalition of Pantsuits?
Martina Navratilova is a former tennis player who won 18 Grand Slam singles titles and 41 Grand Slam doubles titles during her career. Originally from Czechoslovakia, Navratilova became a U.S. citizen in 1981. She holds the Open Era record for most singles titles (167) and doubles titles (177). Navratilova is one of the greatest women’s tennis players of all time, if not the greatest.
Note: This is 8-bit tennis character #5 of 5 for French Open week.
Chris Evert is an American former tennis player who won 18 Grand Slam singles titles during her career in the 1970s and 1980s. Her career win-loss record in singles matches of 1,309-146 (89.96%) is the best of any professional player, man or woman, in the Open Era. She is one of the greatest women’s tennis players of all time.
Note: This is 8-bit tennis character #4 of 5 for French Open week.
Evonne Goolagong is a former tennis player who won seven Grand Slam singles titles and seven Grand Slam doubles titles during her career in the 1970s and early 1980s. As a child of an Aboriginal Australian family, she faced widespread discrimination in rural Australia during her youth. She’s one of the greatest women’s tennis players of all time.
Note: This is 8-bit tennis character #3 of 5 for French Open week.
Billie Jean King is an American former tennis player who won 12 Grand Slam singles titles and 27 Grand Slam doubles titles during her career. She has been an advocate against sexism in sports and society. King won “The Battle of the Sexes” in 1973, in which she defeated Bobby Riggs, a former Wimbledon men’s singles champion, for $100,000. She’s one of the greatest women’s tennis players of all time.
Note: This is 8-bit tennis character #2 of 5 for French Open week.
Margaret Court is an Australian former tennis player who won 24 Grand Slam singles titles, including 11 Australian Open titles, during her career in the 1960s and 1970s. She’s one of the greatest women’s tennis players of all time. Court is also a Pentecostal minister famous for abrasive, bigoted statements against gay marriage and homosexuality, which she recently called an “abomination” in an interview.
Note: This is 8-bit tennis character #1 of 5 for French Open week.
Rachel Carson was an American marine biologist whose writings are credited with advancing the global environmental movement. Her book Silent Spring (1962) documented detrimental effects of pesticides on the environment, particularly on birds. This led to a nationwide ban on DDT, and inspired a grassroots environmental movement that resulted in the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. She was born on May 27, 1907.
Queen Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 1837 until her death in 1901. She also used the title of Empress of India. Her nine children (and 26 of her 34 grandchildren who survived childhood) married into royal and noble families across the continent, earning her the nickname “the grandmother of Europe.” She was born on this day in 1819.
Indira Gandhi was an Indian politician who served as the third Prime Minister of India for three consecutive terms (1966-77) and a fourth term (1980-84). Gandhi was the second female head of government in the world. She was the first woman to become prime minister in India. She was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards in 1984 in retaliation for ordering Operation Blue Star.
Note: “I am here today, I may not be here tomorrow. I shall continue to serve till my last breath, and when I die every drop of my blood will strengthen India and keep a united India alive.” – Indira Gandhi’s last speech
Trugernanner, often referred to as Truganini, is widely considered the last “full blood” Palawa (Aboriginal Tasmanian). Between 1803 and 1876, the black aborigines of the Australian island of Tasmania were completely destroyed by invading European settlers. The Black War, a period of conflict between British colonists and Aboriginal Tasmanians, is one of the earliest recorded modern genocides. All indigenous Tasmanian languages have been lost. Truganini died on this day in 1876.
Today I am celebrating 404 days of pixel art (and, of course, the HTTP 404 error message that lets you know what you’re looking for was not found). Instead of yet another genocidal dictator, religious icon or superhero, today’s character is my girlfriend. Heidi is a native Oregonian who lives in Corvallis with Ian Cavalier, Eli, Tanuki and The King. She is likely to be found with her teacup, camera and bicycle. Attempting to locate other items she owns will usually result in a 404 error (and much digging through heaps of clothes, sketches and books).
P.S. Heidi calls my 8-bit characters “the tinies.” Now she is a “tiny” herself.
Update: Heidi and I were married on 11/11/12, so now her last name is Cavalier.
Mary Magdalene was one of Jesus’s most celebrated disciples, and the most important woman disciple in the movement of Jesus. Mary’s presence at the crucifixion and tomb of Jesus is consistent with her role as grieving wife and widow. But we’re pretty sure she was just a trusted disciple. Unless she totally was his wife, or a concubine, or prostitute or some other appropriated mythological archetype.
Happy Zombie Jesus Day on Sunday. Or, rather, Happy Lich King Day!
The evil robot seductress from Metropolis, a 1927 German expressionist science-fiction film by Fritz Lang. Metropolis is set in a futuristic urban dystopia, and follows the attempts of activists Freder and Maria (Brigitte Helm) to overcome the class divide separating the wealthy intellectuals and working class. In this bizarre labor-relations parable, Rotwang the scientist creates a robotic double of Maria to generate chaos and discredit her.
Note: Maria is basically the great-grandmother of C-3PO.
Princess Leia Organa is a main character in the original Star Wars trilogy, portrayed by Carrie Fisher. She first appeared in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope in 1977. Leia is the daughter of Padmé Amidala and her husband, Anakin Skywalker, a fallen Jedi also known as Darth Vader. She is also the twin sister of Luke Skywalker.
I know 8-bit Leia is missing her classic cinnamon-bun hairdo, but I couldn’t resist the iconic slave girl costume. Behold her metal bikini from Jabba the Hutt’s palace at the beginning of Return of the Jedi.
Fiona Apple – No. 470
Fiona Apple is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. She has released four albums, all critically acclaimed: Tidal (1996), When the Pawn… (1999), Extraordinary Machine (2005) and The Idler Wheel… (2012). Apple’s vocal range is contralto and her musical style contains elements of jazz and alternative rock.
Fiona Apple is one of my favorites. Tonight Heidi and I will see her in concert at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in Portland, Oregon. Blake Mills opens. By the way, in case you’ve forgotten, Fiona’s stunning live cover of Elvis Costello’s “I Want You” still exists.