Mr. Owl is a character first introduced in an animated Tootsie Pops commercial which debuted on U.S. television in 1969. Tootsie Pops are hard candy lollipops filled with chocolate-flavored chewy Tootsie Roll. After the commercial, Mr. Owl became the mascot for Tootsie Pops, appearing in marketing campaigns and on the packaging. How many licks does it take to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop?
Marshawn Lynch is an American football running back for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL). Lynch played college football for the California Golden Bears, where he became the school’s second all-time career rusher. In the NFL, he has been named to the Pro Bowl four times and most recently helped the Seahawks win Super Bowl XLVIII. Nicknamed “Beast Mode,” Lynch is perhaps most famous for his 67-yard “Beast Quake” touchdown run during the NFC wild-card game in 2011 in which he broke nine tackles and threw a Saints cornerback to the ground with one arm. Lynch was born on this day in 1986.
Maynard James Keenan is an American progressive metal singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, winemaker and actor. He is best known as the lead singer of the multi-platinum rock bands Tool and A Perfect Circle. Keenan has released four studio albums with Tool, and three with A Perfect Circle. In 2003, he created Puscifer as a side project and has subsequently released two studio albums. He has also performed improvisational stand-up comedy and ventured into acting. Keenan currently owns Merkin Vineyards and the associated winery, Caduceus Cellars, and also partly owns Stronghold Vineyards, all of which are located in Arizona. He was born on this day in 1964.
Warrior (born James Brian Hellwig) was an American professional wrestler, who wrestled most famously under the ring name the Ultimate Warrior. He was best known for his appearances in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) from 1987 to 1996, as well as his stint in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1998. Warrior died last week, on April 8, 2014, at the age of 54. Over the preceding three days he had been inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, appeared at WrestleMania XXX and made his final public appearance on Raw.
Note: I never followed the WWF closely, but I do remember junior-high classmates discussing rumors of how the Ultimate Warrior had died in 1991, and was secretly being portrayed by a new wrestler—thus the drastic change in his appearance (shorter, blonder hair and a smaller physique). It seems he was always Hellwig though. Shrug.
Jackie Chan is a Hong Kong actor, action choreographer, comedian, martial artist, singer and stunt performer. In his movies, he is known for his acrobatic fighting style, comic timing, use of improvised weapons and innovative stunts. He is one of the few actors to have performed all of his film stunts. Chan has been acting since the 1960s and has appeared in over 150 films. An operatically trained vocalist, Chan is also a Cantopop and Mandopop star, having released a number of albums and sung many of the theme songs for the films in which he has starred. He was born on this day in 1954.
Note: Chan was the only child of Charles and Lee-Lee Chan and reportedly spent 12 months in the womb before being removed surgically at 12 pounds in weight. This can’t be true, unless it somehow is.
Stephen Curry is an American professional basketball point guard for the NBA’s Golden State Warriors. Curry, who is known for his exceptional shooting skills, played college basketball for the Davidson Wildcats. As a junior in 2008-09, he was the NCAA scoring leader with 28.6 points per game and was a consensus first-team All-American. Curry led Davidson to two consecutive NCAA tournament appearances, including a trip to the Elite Eight in 2008 (in which eventual national champion Kansas snapped Davidson’s 25-game winning streak). He was selected seventh overall in the 2009 NBA Draft. In the 2012-13 NBA regular season, Curry set the record for three-pointers made with 272. In 2014, he was named to his first NBA All-Star team. Curry, the son of former NBA player Dell Curry, was born on this day in 1988.
Dock Ellis was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher. He played most of his 12-year career for the Pittsburgh Pirates (1968-1975, 1979). Ellis threw a no-hitter against the San Diego Padres on June 12, 1970. He later stated that he accomplished the feat under the influence of LSD. In 1971, Ellis was a starting pitcher in the All-Star Game and his Pirates won the 1971 World Series. Five years later, he helped lead the Yankees to the 1976 World Series and was named the American League Comeback Player of the Year in the process. Ellis was an outspoken individual who advocated for the rights of players and African Americans. He also had a substance abuse problem, and he acknowledged after his retirement that he never pitched without the use of drugs. Ellis was born on this day in 1945 and died in 2008 at the age of 63.
Note: Watch the charming animated short by No Mas and artist James Blagden about Dock Ellis’ legendary LSD no-hitter. It’s worth four minutes of your time.
Zach Weinersmith (born Zach Weiner) is the author and illustrator of the webcomic Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal (SMBC). He is the writer of two other webcomics, the completed Captain Stupendous with artist Chris Jones, and Snowflakes, co-written by James Ashby and also illustrated by Jones. He also founded the sketch comedy group SMBC Theater with James Ashby and Marty Weiner. Weinersmith’s SMBC webcomic was recognized in 2006 and 2007 with the Web Cartoonists’ Choice Award for Outstanding Single Panel Comic. He has published three SMBC collections and a Choose Your Own Adventure-style gamebook, and he put on the hilarious BAHFest in 2013. Most recently, he published Polystate: A Thought Experiment in Distributed Government and the children’s book Twins in Time. Weinersmith is married to Kelly Weinersmith, a parasitologist. He was born on this day in 1982.
No comic artist is funnier and more thoughtful on a daily basis than Zach Weinersmith with SMBC, which is why I have supported his Kickstarter projects (like Trial of the Clone: A Choosable Path Gamebook and SCIENCE: Ruining Everything Since 1543) and sponsor him on Patreon. This is also why Zach is now an 8-bit character in my retro artillery game. If you squint, you’ll notice that Zach is wearing a Breadpig shirt. And he throws light bulbs.
Lou Reed was an American musician, singer and songwriter. After serving as guitarist, vocalist and principal songwriter of the Velvet Underground, his solo career spanned several decades. The Velvet Underground was a commercial failure in the late 1960s, but the group gained a considerable cult following and has become one of the most widely cited and influential bands of the era. After his departure from the group, Reed began a solo career in 1972. He had a hit the following year with “Walk on the Wild Side,” a song describing fixtures at The Factory, the New York studio of Andy Warhol, in the 1960s. Reed was known for his distinctive deadpan voice, poetic lyrics and for pioneering ostrich guitar tuning. He was born on this day in 1942 and died on October 27, 2013.
Since I wasn’t able to create pixel art of Lou Reed in a timely fashion after his death last year, I figured I’d wait until his birthday. He would have turned 72 years old today. I am currently staying at the Georgetown Inn in Seattle, my favorite city, with my wife and almost-seven-month-old daughter. We have been visiting friends. Tomorrow is my 35th birthday. It seems like only yesterday that I created myself and my wife as pixel art characters.
Marshall Faulk is a retired National Football League (NFL) player who played as a running back for 12 seasons (1994-2005). In college he played for San Diego State University, and was a three-time All-American. In the NFL, he played for the Indianapolis Colts and the St. Louis Rams, winning Super Bowl XXXIV with the Rams in 2000. Faulk is one of only three NFL players to reach at least 10,000 rushing yards and 5,000 receiving yards; he is the only one to amass 12,000 yards rushing and 6,000 yards receiving. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2011. Faulk was born on this day in 1973.
Julius Erving, commonly known by the nickname Dr. J, is a retired American basketball player who helped launch a modern style of play that emphasizes leaping and play above the rim. Erving helped legitimize the American Basketball Association (ABA), and was the best-known player in that league when it merged with the NBA after the 1975-76 season. Erving won three championships, four MVP awards, and three scoring titles with the ABA’s Virginia Squires and New York Nets (now the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets) and the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers. He is the sixth-highest scorer in ABA/NBA history. He was well known for slam dunking from the free throw line in Slam Dunk Contests and was the only player voted MVP in both the ABA and the NBA. Erving was born on this day in 1950.
Born in Seattle, Apolo Anton Ohno is a retired American short track speedskater and an eight-time medalist (two gold, two silver, four bronze) in the Winter Olympics (2002, 2006, 2010). At the age of 14, he became the youngest U.S. national champion in 1997 and was the reigning champion from 2001-2009, winning the title a total of 12 times. Ohno retired from speed skating in 2013 and now works as a commentator, TV host and motivational speaker.
William S. Burroughs was an American novelist, short story writer and essayist. A major postmodernist author, Burroughs wrote 18 novels and novellas, six collections of short stories and four collections of essays. In 1943 while living in New York City, he befriended Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac, the mutually influential foundation of what became the countercultural movement of the Beat Generation. Much of Burroughs’s work is semi-autobiographical, primarily drawn from his experiences as a heroin addict, as he lived throughout Mexico City, London, Paris, Berlin, the South American Amazon and Tangier in Morocco. Finding success with his confessional first novel, Junkie (1953), Burroughs is perhaps best known for his third novel Naked Lunch (1959). He was born on this day in 1914 and died on August 2, 1997.
Jim Jarmusch is an American independent filmmaker, script writer and composer. He has been a major proponent of independent cinema since the 1980s. Jarmusch’s filmography includes 11 feature films, a documentary (Year of the Horse), six music videos and four short films. His feature films include Stranger Than Paradise (1984), Night on Earth (1991), Dead Man (1995), Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999), Coffee and Cigarettes (2003) and Broken Flowers (2005). Jarmusch was born on this day in 1953.
Dwyane Wade is an American professional basketball guard for the NBA’s Miami Heat. Named the 2006 Sportsman of the Year by Sports Illustrated, Wade is one of the league’s most popular players. He was named to the All-Rookie team in 2004 and the All-Star team the following nine seasons (2005-2013). In his third season, Wade led the Miami Heat to its first NBA championship and was named the 2006 NBA Finals MVP. At the 2008 Summer Olympics, Wade won a gold medal and led the “Redeem Team” in scoring. In 2009, he led the league in scoring and earned his first NBA scoring title. After LeBron James joined the Heat in 2010, Wade and James led Miami to back-to-back NBA championships (2012 and 2013). Wade was born on this day in 1982.
Jerome David Salinger was an American writer who won acclaim early in life. In 1948, his critically acclaimed story “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” appeared in The New Yorker magazine, which became home to much of his later work. In 1951, his novel The Catcher in the Rye was an immediate popular success, which led to public attention and scrutiny. Salinger became reclusive, publishing new work less frequently. He followed The Catcher in the Rye with a short story collection, Nine Stories (1953); a volume containing a novella and a short story, Franny and Zooey (1961); and a volume containing two novellas, Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction (1963). He led a very private life for more than a half-century. Salinger published his final original work in 1965 and gave his last interview in 1980. He was born on this day in 1919 and died of natural causes on January 27, 2010.
P.S. Happy New Year! In November 2013, three unpublished Salinger stories from the 1940s were scanned into PDF form and leaked online. One of the stories, “The Ocean Full of Bowling Balls,” is about the Caulfield boys and is sort of a prequel to The Catcher in the Rye. It is stipulated in Salinger’s will that these stories are not to be published until 50 years after his death, but the Internet made other plans. If you miss the Glass family and Holden Caulfield and you’re eager for more rare Salinger stories, you may also want to track down an unauthorized compilation of Salinger’s 22 uncollected stories. These “lost” stories were all from the 1940s, just like the three leaked stories, with one exception (“Hapworth 16, 1924” was published in 1965). This lovely quote is from one of his early stories: “She wasn’t doing a thing that I could see, except standing there, leaning on the balcony railing, holding the universe together.” – J. D. Salinger, “A Girl I Knew“
King Moonracer is a character from the stop-motion children’s Christmas special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, produced by Rankin/Bass in 1964. He is a winged lion who rules the Island of Misfit Toys. His appearance is similar to a griffin, the legendary creature who is part lion and part eagle.
P.S. Merry Christmas! I enjoyed this forum thread, which addresses King Moonracer’s possible villain status: “Was King Moonracer a fraud?” Indeed. Why was King Moonracer holding the misfit toys hostage for so long? Since he regularly flies around the world collecting unwanted toys, why wasn’t he already collaborating with Santa to find new homes for those toys? Moonracer only thought to contact Santa after Rudolph, Hermey, and Yukon showed up? Really? King Moonracer is very possibly a manipulative cult leader with megalomaniac tendencies who hoards rare, emotionally damaged toys. It seems like the unexpected arrival of visitors to his remote island shamed him into doing the right thing with his sad toy collection.
Quincy Magoo (or simply Mr. Magoo) is a cartoon character created at the UPA animation studio in 1949. Voiced by Jim Backus, Quincy Magoo is a wealthy, short-statured retiree who gets into a series of comical situations as a result of his nearsightedness, compounded by his stubborn refusal to admit the problem. However, through uncanny streaks of luck, the situation always seems to work itself out for him, leaving him no worse than before. Mr. Magoo was born on February 25, 1858.
P.S. Merry Christmas Eve! Mister Magoo’s Christmas Carol (1962), a musical adaptation of the famous Charles Dickens short story, was one of the first animated holiday program ever produced for television.
Shawn Carter, known by his stage name Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer and entrepreneur. He is one of the most financially successful hip-hop artists and entrepreneurs in America. He has sold approximately 50 million albums worldwide, while receiving 17 Grammys for his musical work. Three of his albums, Reasonable Doubt (1996), The Blueprint (2001) and The Black Album (2003), are considered landmarks in the genre. As an artist, he holds the record for most number one albums by a solo artist on the Billboard 200 with 13. As an entrepreneur and investor, Jay-Z is the former CEO of Def Jam Recordings and the founder of Roc-A-Fella Records, Roc Nation, Rocawear and Roc Nation Sports. He also co-owns the sports bar chain 40/40 Club and is a certified NBA and MLB sports agent. Jay-Z is married to American R&B singer Beyoncé Knowles. He was born on this day in 1969, unless you believe he is immortal, or Illuminati.
Over the past four months, I have played my baby daughter Ramona a wide variety of music to see what she likes. Azure Ray’s “Don’t Leave My Mind” was an early comfort, as were some Simon & Garfunkel classics. But to the surprise of my wife and me, no song has been received with greater enthusiasm and joy than Jay-Z’s 1998 hit “Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem).” Ramona loves that song so much and breaks into a big smile each time. We’ve listened to it dozens, if not hundreds, of times at this point. The great bassline and high-pitched voices sampled from the Broadway musical Annie apparently elevate “Hard Knock Life” to perfect children’s song (well, aside from the lyrics).
Jason Lytle – No. 728
Jason Lytle is an American musician best known for his work in the indie rock group Grandaddy between 1992 and 2005. Since the group split, he has continued to release music as a solo artist and in collaboration with other musicians. Grandaddy reformed in 2012 for a series of live shows. In 2013 Lytle moved from Montana to Portland, Oregon. He was born on this day in 1969.
One of my very favorite albums is Grandaddy’s The Sophtware Slump (2000). It was an especially important album to me during my post-college cross-country road trip in the summer of 2001. I last saw Jason Lytle perform at a show at the Doug Fir Lounge in Portland, Oregon on June 6, 2009. (Video of that entire show is available on YouTube, by the way.) I’m past due to see him/Grandaddy again.