Gary Coleman (February 8, 1968 – May 28, 2010) was an American actor, voice artist and comedian, best known for his role as Arnold Jackson in Diff’rent Strokes (1978-1986) and for his small stature as an adult. He became the most popular fixture of Diff’rent Strokes, enhanced by his character’s catchphrase “What’chu talkin’ ’bout, Willis?” Coleman was described in the 1980s as “one of television’s most promising stars.” After a successful childhood acting career, Coleman struggled financially later in life. In 1989, he successfully sued his parents and business adviser over misappropriation of his assets, only to declare bankruptcy a decade later. Coleman died of epidural hematoma at age 42.
Oompa-Loompas are knee-high beings who originate from Loompaland and work in Willy Wonka’s factory. They appear as characters in Roald Dahl’s 1964 children’s novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, its sequel Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, and the film adaptations of these books that followed. In the 1971 film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, the Oompa-Loompas were written to be played by actors with dwarfism and are portrayed as orange-skinned, green-haired men in striped shirts and baggy lederhosen-like pants. However, in the book, the Oompa-Loompas insist on maintaining their native clothing: men wear skins, women wear leaves, and children wear nothing.
Note: Perhaps you’d like to play Oompa-Loompa vs. Willy Wonka. The Oompa-Loompa throws golden eggs. It’s a pity they don’t throw miniature Veruca Salts. I want it now.
P.S. Having a traveling gnome prank played on us was great fun. The pranksters went all out, even giving Dingledodger his own Facebook and Google+ pages. According to Facebook, his birthday is October 12. Everyone needs more weird, random acts of kindness like this.
The Great Gazoo is a tiny, green, floating alien who first appeared in The Flintstones animated series in 1965. He was banished to prehistoric Earth from his home planet Zetox in 2000 AD, as punishment for having invented a doomsday machine. He can materialize and dematerialize objects, teleport and manipulate time. The only people able to see him are Fred, Barney, and the children, because they believe in him; animals can also see him.
Note:Gazoo was introduced midway through the show’s final season and is often cited as an example of The Flintstones having “jumped the shark.” In all, Gazoo appeared in 11 episodes, and was basically the nail in the show’s coffin. “Toodle-loo, dumb-dumbs!”
Yoda is a major character in the Star Wars saga, appearing in five of the six films (all except the original). He made his first appearance in The Empire Strikes Back in 1980. A renowned Jedi master, Yoda was responsible for training Luke Skywalker in the ways of the Jedi. In Return of the Jedi, he dies peacefully at the age of 900.
A sprite-like character with roots in Viking lore. Jack is a variant of Old Man Winter and is held responsible for frosty weather, autumn colors and fern-like patterns on cold windows. Though unconnected to Christianity, he is sometimes hijacked for modern secular Christmas entertainment, such as Frosty’s Winter Wonderland, a 1976 Rankin/Bass production.
Welcome to the winter solstice (the original reason for this holiday season). Today is the shortest day of year.
Hermey is a character from the stop-motion children’s Christmas special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, produced by Rankin/Bass in 1964. Hermey the Misfit Elf prefers studying dentistry to making toys, making him a social outcast among the other elves.
The cartoon leprechaun mascot of Lucky Charms breakfast cereal. This General Mills product first appeared in stores in 1964. The cereal consists of sugar-coated, toasted oat-based pieces and multicolored marshmallow bits in various shapes. “They’re magically delicious!” he exclaims in an Irish accent.
A fictional character known in Japan as Kinopio who belongs to an anthropomorphic mushroom-like species of the same name in Nintendo’s Mario series. As a citizen of the Mushroom Kingdom, Toad is one of Princess Peach’s most loyal attendants. He was created by the great Shigeru Miyamoto.
The star of the Where is my Gnome? series of viral marketing ads used by Travelocity in early 2004. The ads consisted of a man looking for his garden gnome. The concept was inspired by the traveling gnome prank that began in the 1980s and was popularized by the 2001 film Amélie. The Roaming Gnome is now the de facto mascot of Travelocity.
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 lonely gnome sets out to learn how to avoid being cold “from the inside out” and finds a friend in a sea otter. He is the main character of the 1974 children’s book The Gnome from Nome, written by Stephen Cosgrove and illustrated by Robin James. Watch an illustrated reading of the story.
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.
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish mascot is NCAA Division I pixel art mascot #49 of 347. Tomorrow is the start of the NCAA Division IA football schedule, so here is a leprechaun to kick off another short series of 8-bit college mascots. This is FBS independent schools mascot #1 of 4. (View reference images.)
A fairy character from J. M. Barrie’s 1904 play and 1911 novel Peter and Wendy. Tinker Bell has appeared in multiple film and television adaptations of the Peter Pan stories, including the 1953 animated Walt Disney picture Peter Pan. She is one of Disney’s most important branding icons.
Dingledodger VonFefferhedge – No. 412
In March 2012, our 10″ garden gnome disappeared from the front yard. On the morning of Friday, May 4, he mysteriously reappeared on the front porch with a Mexican flag in his hand, a letter and a photo album of his travels. We learned that our gnome’s name is Dingledodger VonFefferhedge and he is 900 years old. He had been adventuring in Redding, California and Ensenada, Mexico to escape Oregon’s cold, boring winter. His journey included visits with Brunhilde the forest witch and two mariachi statues. (The bottom of Dingledodger’s plastic shoes—which reads “© 1994 Art Line Inc. ® Model No. 4030″—marks the date of his enslavement in China, not his birth.)
P.S. Having a traveling gnome prank played on us was great fun. The pranksters went all out, even giving Dingledodger his own Facebook and Google+ pages. According to Facebook, his birthday is October 12. Everyone needs more weird, random acts of kindness like this.