Steve Kerr (born September 27, 1965) is an American retired professional basketball player and the current head coach of the Golden State Warriors. Kerr is a six-time NBA champion, winning three with the Chicago Bulls and two with the San Antonio Spurs as a player, and one with the Warriors as a head coach. Kerr has the highest career three-point percentage (45.4%) for any player with at least 2,000 shot attempts in NBA history. On May 14, 2014, the Golden State Warriors named Kerr the team’s head coach. The Warriors went on to win the 2015 NBA Finals, making Kerr the first rookie coach to win a championship since 1982. On April 13, 2016, the Warriors broke the record for the most wins in an NBA season.
Polly Jean Harvey, known as PJ Harvey, is an English musician and singer-songwriter. Primarily known as a vocalist and guitarist, she is also proficient with a wide range of instruments. Harvey began her career in 1988 when she joined local band Automatic Dlamini. In 1991, she formed an eponymous trio and released two studio albums, Dry (1992) and Rid of Me (1993) before the trio disbanded. As a solo artist Harvey has released six studio albums, including To Bring You My Love (1995), Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea (2000) and Let England Shake (2011). She began recording her ninth studio album earlier this year. Harvey was born on October 9, 1969.
Maya Lin is an American designer and artist who is known for her work in sculpture and landscape art. She first came to fame at the age of 21 as the designer of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial (1982) in Washington, D.C. Her minimalist design aroused controversy but has become very popular with the public over the years. Lin is one of just 13 “groundbreaking Americans” featured in Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters, a children’s book by United States President Barack Obama. She was born on October 5, 1959.
Note: After checking the list of people featured in Obama’s children’s book, I realized that Maya Lin is character #13 of 13, thus completing my Of Thee I Sing 8-bit series. Mission accomplished.
Faheem Najm, better known by his stage name T-Pain, is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, record producer and actor. His discography includes Rappa Ternt Sanga (2005), Epiphany (2007) and Thr33 Ringz (2008). T-Pain has earned two Grammy Awards alongside artists Kanye West and Jamie Foxx. T-Pain is the founder of the record label Nappy Boy Entertainment, established in 2005. He is known for using and popularizing the Auto-Tune pitch shift effect. From 2006 to 2010, T-Pain was featured on more than 50 chart-topping singles, including Flo Rida’s “Low” and The Lonely Island’s “I’m on a Boat.” T-Pain was born on September 30, 1985.
Brigitte Bardot is a French former actress, singer and fashion model. She was one of the best known sex symbols of the 1950s and 1960s and was widely referred to by her initials. During her career in show business, she starred in 47 films, performed in several musical shows and recorded over 60 songs. Bardot started her acting career in 1952 and became world-famous in 1957 with the controversial film And God Created Woman. She later starred in the 1963 film Contempt by Jean-Luc Godard. French photographer Sam Lévin was instrumental in creating Bardot’s image, particularly with The Towel Session shoot in 1959. Bardot caught the attention of French intellectuals and was the subject of a famous essay, Brigitte Bardot and the Lolita Syndrome by Simone de Beauvoir. Bardot retired from the entertainment industry in 1973. After her retirement, she established herself as an animal rights activist. During the 1990s, she generated controversy by criticizing immigration and Islam in France and has been fined five times for inciting racial hatred. Bardot was born on September 28, 1934.
F. Scott Fitzgerald was an American author of novels and short stories, whose works are the paradigmatic writings of the Jazz Age. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. Fitzgerald is considered a member of the “Lost Generation” of the 1920s. He finished four novels: This Side of Paradise, The Beautiful and Damned, The Great Gatsby (his best known) and Tender Is the Night. A fifth, unfinished novel, The Love of the Last Tycoon, was published posthumously. Fitzgerald also wrote many short stories that treat themes of youth and promise along with age and despair. He was born on September 24, 1896 and died on December 21, 1940.
Carson Ellis is an artist and illustrator of children’s books. Born in Canada on October 5, 1975, her illustration work includes bestsellers The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart, The Composer Is Dead by Lemony Snicket and The Wildwood Chronicles by Colin Meloy (her husband). Ellis recently finished work on Home, a whimsical picture book she wrote. Her editorial illustrations have appeared in The New York Times and The New Yorker, and her fine art is exhibited at Nationale in Portland, Oregon. Ellis is also the illustrator-in-residence for the band The Decemberists. She lives on a farm in Portland with Meloy and their two sons.
P.S.Home is due out on February 24, 2015. That is today. Check it out. Also, here’s a playable Portland family feud: Carson Ellis vs. Colin Meloy.
Calvin Broadus, Jr., known by his stage names Snoop Doggy Dogg, Snoop Dogg, and later Snoop Lion, is an American rapper, singer-songwriter and actor. Snoop’s music career began in 1992 when he was discovered by Dr. Dre. He collaborated on Dre’s solo debut The Chronic (1992). Snoop’s debut album, Doggystyle (1993), and second album Tha Doggfather (1996) were released under Death Row Records. Snoop Dogg has starred in motion pictures and hosted several television shows. He also coaches a youth football league and high school football team. In 2012, after a trip to Jamaica, Snoop announced a conversion to the Rastafari movement and a new alias, Snoop Lion. Under the new moniker, he released a reggae album, Reincarnated, and a documentary film of the same name, of his Jamaican experience, in early 2013. Snoop was born on this day in 1971.
Marshall Mathers, better known by his stage name Eminem and by his alter ego Slim Shady, is an American rapper, record producer, songwriter and actor. In addition to his solo career, Eminem is a member of the group D12, as well as one half of the hip-hop duo Bad Meets Evil, alongside Royce da 5’9″. Eminem is the best-selling artist of the 2000s in the United States. Eminem has sold more than 155 million albums and singles, making him one of the world’s best-selling artists of all time. Eminem rose to mainstream popularity in 1999 with his second album The Slim Shady LP. His next two releases, The Marshall Mathers LP (2000) and The Eminem Show (2002), were worldwide successes. He won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album for three consecutive (and five total) LPs, and has won a total of 13 Grammys in his career. Eminem was born on this day in 1972.
Vladimir Putin is the current President of Russia. He won a third term in 2012 amid an unprecedented wave of street protests stemming from allegations of widespread vote-rigging in the parliamentary election. Putin previously served as President (2000-2008) and Prime Minister (1999-2000, 2008-2012) of Russia. He served as an officer in the KGB for 16 years, rising to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel before retiring to enter politics. Putin joined the administration of President Boris Yeltsin in 1996, and was named Acting President in 1999 when Yeltsin unexpectedly resigned. Many of Putin’s actions are regarded by the domestic opposition and foreign observers as undemocratic. He has cultivated a strongman image (including black belts in Taekwondo and judo) and is a pop icon in Russia with many commercial products named after him. Putin was born on this day in 1952.
Note: In 2014, Russia was excluded from the G8 group as a result of its annexation of Crimea, Ukraine. Earlier in the year, the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, proved to be the most expensive Olympic Games ever, with a wildly overrun budget of $51 billion. The lead-up to the Olympics was marked by controversies over Russia’s problems, including organized crime, state corruption, embezzlement, kickbacks, Putin’s anti-gay campaign, and terrorist threats tied to the insurgency in the North Caucasus. Thank goodness for Putinka vodka, I guess.
Calvin Johnson, nicknamed “Megatron,” is an American football wide receiver for the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL). Johnson’s nickname “Megatron” was given to him by former Lions wide receiver Roy Williams. In March 2012, Johnson signed an eight-year, $132 million contract extension with the Lions, one of the largest contracts ever. In December 2012, Johnson broke the single-season record for receiving yards with 1,964. (The previous record of 1,848 yards was set by Jerry Rice in 1995.) At 6′ 5″ with great hands and quickness, Johnson can catch almost anything. He was born on this day in 1985.
Note: Despite near-superhuman skills, Johnson is not to be confused with the sentient robotic lifeform from the planet Cybertron (nor is he the archangel Metatron). NBA forwards LeBron James and Kevin Durant recently tweeted their appreciation of what Johnson is able to do on the field, with LeBron calling Megatron his favorite athlete.
Bill Simmons is an American sports columnist, analyst, author and Boston sports fan. Now living in Los Angeles, he is the editor-in-chief for Grantland.com, which is affiliated with ESPN.com. Simmons also contributes columns and podcasts to the website. He is a former writer for ESPN The Magazine and Jimmy Kimmel Live!. Nicknamed The Sports Guy, formerly The Boston Sports Guy, Simmons gained the attention of ESPN with his website, BostonSportsGuy.com, which earned him a job offer in 2001. Since joining ESPN, he has also hosted his own podcast on ESPN.com titled The B.S. Report, appeared as a special contributor on the TV series E:60, and serves as an executive producer of ESPN’s documentary project, 30 for 30. He also has written two books, Now I Can Die in Peace (2005) and The Book of Basketball (2009). Simmons was born on this day in 1969.
Coincidentally, yesterday ESPN suspended Bill Simmons for three weeks for repeatedly calling NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell a liar on his Grantland.com podcast. Simmons condemned Goodell’s handling of the Ray Rice domestic violence case, particularly his claim that he had not seen the elevator video of Rice punching his fiancée. And so, for those who think the NFL (and ESPN) is a joke, here’s a Twitter hashtag: #FreeSimmons. On another topic, I generally agree with the Bill Simmons Hall of Fame Pyramid, a five-level Egyptian-style pyramid of the 96 greatest NBA players ever, last published in the revised 2010 edition of The Book of Basketball. Though, at this point, the rankings are four years out of date. According to a 2014 interview with Simmons, Lebron James has now ascended to sixth greatest in his Hall of Fame Pyramid, while Dirk Nowitzki has jumped into the top 20 and Kevin Durant has cracked the top 50. To date, I have created 8-bit pixel art of 20 of the top 25 NBA players of all time, including the top 14.
Matthew Inman, who often goes by the nickname “the Oatmeal,” created the website The Oatmeal in 2009. The website features comics drawn by Inman, quizzes and occasional articles. Previously he built Mingle2, a dating website. Inman is also responsible for raising $211K for charity via his 2012 “Bearlove Good. Cancer Bad.” crowdfunding campaign, which was his brilliant response to FunnyJunk’s lawsuit threat. Inman has four published collections of comics, including How to Tell if Your Cat is Plotting to Kill You and Why Grizzly Bears Should Wear Underpants. He lives in the Fremont area of Seattle and was born on September 24, 1982.
For this 8-bit pixel art of Matthew Inman, I did my best to distort his face into the horrifying, exaggerated style of one of his characters from The Oatmeal. And, of course, I gave 8-bit Inman bottles of his beloved Sriracha Rooster Sauce to throw in my Gorillas game. I should also mention that today is the birthday of Nikola Tesla. This is relevant because in August 2012, Matthew Inman launched the “Let’s Build a Goddamn Tesla Museum” fundraising campaign to support the nonprofit organization Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe. The idea was to purchase Nikola Tesla’s old laboratory in Long Island—known as the Wardenclyffe Tower, which was built to provide wireless energy for the entire Earth—and turn it into a museum. Ultimately, the campaign succeeded, raising over $2.1 million. Thus, Inman became a Tesla champion. (Related: Matthew Inman vs. Thomas Edison.) My closest encounter with Inman was watching him present about his Internet career at SearchFest 2010 at the Governor Hotel in Portland, Oregon. It was fun to see the Oatmeal speak—and get a free copy of his first book, 5 Very Good Reasons to Punch a Dolphin in the Mouth—at a work conference.
Oscar Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most successful playwrights of late Victorian London in the early 1890s. Notorious for his biting wit, flamboyant dress and glittering conversation, Wilde was one of the best-known personalities of his day. Today he is remembered for his epigrams, his only novel (The Picture of Dorian Gray), his plays, and the circumstances of his imprisonment and early death. At the height of his fame and success, while his masterpiece, The Importance of Being Earnest (1895), was still on stage in London, Wilde had the Marquess of Queensberry (the father of Wilde’s lover) prosecuted for libel. The trial unearthed evidence that caused Wilde to drop his charges and led to his own arrest and trial for the “gross indecency” of having had sex with another man. Wilde was ultimately convicted and served a two-year prison sentence with hard labor in England. After his release, he lived the remainder of his life in self-imposed exile in Paris. Wilde was born on this day in 1854. He died destitute in Paris at the age of 46.
I find it interesting that on Wilde’s 1882 trip to San Francisco, the Irishman declared the city “where I belong.” Wilde sometimes mused about relocating to the American West. In October 2012, my wife Heidi and I visited Wilde’s tomb in the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris during our trip to Europe. The modernist angel depicted as a relief on his tomb was originally complete with male genitalia that have since been vandalized. In 2011, Wilde’s tomb was cleaned of the many lipstick marks left there by admirers, and a glass barrier was installed to prevent further marks or damage.
Thom Yorke is an English musician and artist who is the lead vocalist, principal songwriter, guitarist and pianist of the rock band Radiohead. Radiohead has released eight studio albums: Pablo Honey (1993), The Bends (1995), OK Computer (1997), Kid A (2000), Amnesiac (2001), Hail to the Thief (2003), In Rainbows (2007) and The King of Limbs (2011). Yorke mainly plays guitar and piano, but has also played drums and bass guitar (notably during the Kid A and Amnesiac sessions). In July 2006, he released his debut solo album, The Eraser, to critical acclaim. Yorke is also the lead singer of Atoms for Peace. He was born on this day in 1968.
I’ve been to a few Radiohead shows over the years. Having survived high school in the 1990s with the help of Radiohead CDs, their music will always be dear to my heart (particularly The Bends and OK Computer). I last saw Thom Yorke perform about a year ago. My wife Heidi and I were lucky to attend a Radiohead show at the Zénith de Strasbourg in France on October 16, 2012 during our 40 days in Europe. It was an amazing time.
Colin Meloy is the lead singer and songwriter for the indie folk rock band The Decemberists from Portland, Oregon. The most recent Decemberists studio album, The King Is Dead (2011), was the band’s sixth. In addition to vocals, Meloy performs with an acoustic guitar, 12-string acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bouzouki, harmonica and percussion. Meloy made his debut as a children’s writer in 2011 with Wildwood, illustrated by his wife, Carson Ellis. The second novel in the series is Under Wildwood (2012). Meloy was born on this day in 1974.
Once my two-month-old daughter Ramona gets a little older, my wife Heidi plans to introduce Portland’s Forest Park to her as Wildwood. The Decemberists are one of our favorite bands. It’s nice to be able to see them play with some frequency, since we live in Oregon.
Derrick Rose is an American professional basketball point guard for the NBA’s Chicago Bulls. Born in Chicago and drafted first overall by his hometown Bulls, Rose was voted NBA Rookie of the Year in 2009. In 2011, he received the NBA Most Valuable Player Award, becoming the youngest player to win this award (age 22). He joined Michael Jordan as the only Chicago Bulls players to win the honor. Rose is a three-time NBA All-Star (2010-2012) and has led the Bulls to the NBA Playoffs each year. In May 2012, Rose tore the ACL in his left knee, causing him to miss the entire 2012-13 season. He was born on this day in 1988.
Kevin Durant is an American professional basketball forward who plays for the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder, formerly the Seattle SuperSonics. Standing at 6′ 9″, Durant has won three NBA scoring titles, the NBA Rookie of the Year Award and an Olympic gold medal. At age 24, Durant became the youngest player in NBA history to join the 50-40-90 club, the ultimate standard for shooters. At the University of Texas, he became the first ever freshman to be named Naismith College Player of the Year. In the 2007 NBA Draft, Durant was selected second overall by the Sonics. After his rookie season, the team moved to Oklahoma City and became the Thunder. Behind his play, the Thunder reached the 2012 NBA Finals. In 2010, 2012, and 2013, Durant finished second in voting for NBA MVP. He was born on this day in 1988.
Kublai Khan was the fifth Khagan (Great Khan) of the Mongol Empire, reigning from 1260 to 1294. He was the grandson of Genghis Khan. If one counts the Mongol Empire at that time as a whole, Kublai’s realm reached from the Pacific Ocean to the Black Sea, from Siberia to modern-day Afghanistan – one-fifth of the world’s inhabited land area. However, Kublai’s real power was limited to China and Mongolia. In 1271, he founded the Yuan Dynasty, which ruled over present-day Mongolia, China and Korea, and assumed the role of Emperor of China. Kublai was born on this day in 1215.
Note: Due to incredibly unlucky timing, Kublai failed to gain power over Japan, despite two Mongol invasion attempts. In 1268, Kublai demanded tribute from Japan, but Kyoto refused. The Mongols invaded Japan in 1274 with 700-800 ships, but a typhoon destroyed their armada. An even larger invasion was attempted in 1281, with a fleet of more than 4,000 ships and 140,000 troops. Stunningly, they met the same disastrous fate, losing up to 75% of their troops and supplies both times. The failed invasions marked the first use of the Japanese word kamikaze (“divine wind”). The massive typhoons also helped perpetuate the Japanese belief that they could not be defeated, which persisted until the end of World War II.
Groucho Marx was an American comedian and film and television star. He was known for his quick wit and is widely considered one of the best comedians of the modern era. His distinctive appearance, carried over from his days in vaudeville, included slapstick quirks such as an exaggerated stooped posture, glasses, cigar, and a thick greasepaint mustache and eyebrows. Marx made 13 feature films with his siblings the Marx Brothers. He also had a successful solo career, most notably as the host of the radio and television game show You Bet Your Life. The famous “Groucho glasses” are a one-piece novelty disguise consisting of horn-rimmed glasses, large plastic nose, bushy eyebrows and mustache.
Bill Simmons – No. 787
Bill Simmons is an American sports columnist, analyst, author and Boston sports fan. Now living in Los Angeles, he is the editor-in-chief for Grantland.com, which is affiliated with ESPN.com. Simmons also contributes columns and podcasts to the website. He is a former writer for ESPN The Magazine and Jimmy Kimmel Live!. Nicknamed The Sports Guy, formerly The Boston Sports Guy, Simmons gained the attention of ESPN with his website, BostonSportsGuy.com, which earned him a job offer in 2001. Since joining ESPN, he has also hosted his own podcast on ESPN.com titled The B.S. Report, appeared as a special contributor on the TV series E:60, and serves as an executive producer of ESPN’s documentary project, 30 for 30. He also has written two books, Now I Can Die in Peace (2005) and The Book of Basketball (2009). Simmons was born on this day in 1969.
Coincidentally, yesterday ESPN suspended Bill Simmons for three weeks for repeatedly calling NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell a liar on his Grantland.com podcast. Simmons condemned Goodell’s handling of the Ray Rice domestic violence case, particularly his claim that he had not seen the elevator video of Rice punching his fiancée. And so, for those who think the NFL (and ESPN) is a joke, here’s a Twitter hashtag: #FreeSimmons. On another topic, I generally agree with the Bill Simmons Hall of Fame Pyramid, a five-level Egyptian-style pyramid of the 96 greatest NBA players ever, last published in the revised 2010 edition of The Book of Basketball. Though, at this point, the rankings are four years out of date. According to a 2014 interview with Simmons, Lebron James has now ascended to sixth greatest in his Hall of Fame Pyramid, while Dirk Nowitzki has jumped into the top 20 and Kevin Durant has cracked the top 50. To date, I have created 8-bit pixel art of 20 of the top 25 NBA players of all time, including the top 14.