Dennis Rodman is a former NBA player, most famously with the Detroit Pistons and Chicago Bulls. Nicknamed “The Worm,” he was known for his fierce defensive and rebounding abilities. He led the NBA in rebounds per game for a record seven consecutive years (1991-98) and won five NBA championships (1989-1990, 1996-1998). In 1993, Rodman reinvented himself as a “bad boy” and became notorious for his brightly colored hair, piercings, tattoos and controversial, disruptive antics. He famously wore a wedding dress to promote his 1996 autobiography Bad As I Wanna Be and pursued a high-profile affair with singer Madonna. He was born on this day in 1961.
Note: On February 26, 2013, Rodman made a trip to North Korea to host basketball exhibitions featuring the Harlem Globetrotters. He met North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong-un and later called Kim “his friend” and suggested that President Barack Obama “should pick up the phone and call” Kim since the two leaders are basketball fans. On May 7, self-appointed North Korean ambassador Rodman called on Kim Jong-un to release Kenneth Bae, a U.S. citizen imprisoned in North Korea. Almost equally strangely, in March 2013, Rodman arrived at Vatican City during voting in the papal conclave, which elected Pope Francis I.
Ming the Merciless is a character who first appeared in the Flash Gordon comic strip in 1934. When the heroic Flash Gordon and his friends land on the planet Mongo, they find it ruled by the evil Emperor Ming, a despot who quickly becomes their enemy. Ming has since been the main villain of the strip and its related movie serials, television series and film adaptation.
Thomas Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He helped develop many influential devices, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera and the electric light bulb. However, to quote the hilarious Nikola Tesla comic by The Oatmeal, “Edison did not invent the light bulb. Edison simply figured out how to sell the light bulb. Edison was not a geek; he was a CEO.” And he was a terrible human being. For example, as a developer of direct current (DC) electricity, Edison put live “dogs and cats on display and publicly electrocuted them using Tesla’s alternating current (AC). His goal was to publicly smear Tesla’s AC and convince the public that it was too dangerous for home use. The only thing Edison truly pioneered was douchebaggery.” Edison was born on this day in 1847.
I will also reiterate what I wrote for my 8-bit Nikola Tesla character last year. I love this Funny or Die episode about Tesla and the evil Thomas Edison: “This is awful. I am inventing electricity and you look like an asshole.”
Brian Hugh Warner, better known by his stage name Marilyn Manson, is an American rock musician and former music journalist known for his controversial stage persona and image as the lead singer of the eponymous band Marilyn Manson. His stage name was formed from juxtaposing the names of two American cultural icons – actress Marilyn Monroe and murderer Charles Manson. Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor produced Marilyn Manson’s debut album in 1994. Manson, now with his own brand of absinthe, was born on January 5, 1969.
Ty Cobb was a Major League Baseball (MLB) outfielder who spent 22 seasons with the Detroit Tigers, the last six as the team’s player-manager, and finished his career with the Philadelphia Athletics. Cobb is widely credited with setting 90 MLB records during his career. He still holds several records as of 2012, including the highest career batting average (.367). Cobb’s legacy as an athlete has sometimes been overshadowed by his surly temperament and aggressive playing style. He was born on this day in 1886.
Ismail Enver Pasha was an Ottoman military officer and a leader of the Young Turk Revolution. He was the main leader of the Ottoman Empire in both Balkan Wars and World War I. Enver was considered the most powerful figure of the government of Ottoman Turkey or “the number one man in Istanbul.” He played a major role in the Armenian Genocide, in which over two million were killed during 1915-20. Enver was born on this day in 1881.
Note: Happy Thanksgiving! Be thankful you didn’t know this guy.
Aleister Crowley was an English occultist, mystic and ceremonial magician, who was responsible for founding the religious philosophy of Thelema. He came to see himself as the prophet entrusted with informing humanity that it was entering the new Æon of Horus in the early 20th century. Crowley was also pansexual, a recreational drug experimenter and a social critic. He gained widespread notoriety during his lifetime, and was denounced in the popular press of the day as “the wickedest man in the world.” Crowley was born on this day in 1875.
Lance Armstrong is an American former professional road racing cyclist who won the Tour de France a record seven consecutive times (1999-2005) after having survived testicular cancer. He is also the founder and chairman of the Lance Armstrong Foundation for cancer support. He was born on this day in 1971.
On August 23, 2012, Armstrong announced he will stop fighting allegations that he used banned substances during his stellar career. The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency said it will ban Armstrong for life and recommend he be stripped of his record seven Tour de France titles. Jim Caple said it best: “As far as I can tell no one actually won the Tour de France from 1996 to 2007” due to the rampant use of performance enhancers. “Going after athletes for something they might have done seven to 13 years ago […] does far more harm than good. USADA should have let this one go. The agency exists to police sports, not destroy them.” You don’t have to be an Armstrong apologist to believe in the principle of “innocent until proven guilty.” Throwing your hands up after years of defending yourself doesn’t prove guilt, does it? Though it does suggest evidence against Armstrong.
Augusto Pinochet was a Chilean dictator whose government killed up to 3,200 people and tortured up to 30,000 during his repressive 17-year rule. Pinochet assumed power on September 11, 1973, in a bloody coup supported by the U.S. that toppled the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende, a Marxist who had pledged to lead his country “down the democratic road to socialism.” Pinochet returned Chile to democracy in 1990.
Some Chileans view Pinochet as their savior and others view him as an evil dictator. Pinochet’s CIA-backed military coup in 1973 is why some Chileans actually celebrated in response to the 9/11 attacks in 2001. They thought it was symbolic retaliation on the U.S., exactly 28 years later, for the devastating legacy of Pinochet. For more information, see Chile: The Other September 11.
Lyndon B. Johnson was the 36th President of the United States. John F. Kennedy asked him to be his running mate for the 1960 presidential election. Johnson succeeded to the presidency following the assassination of JFK in 1963 and was elected President in 1964. He was responsible for Great Society social reforms designed to eliminate poverty and racial injustice. Johnson also escalated U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, which stimulated a large antiwar movement.
Slobodan Milošević was the President of Serbia from 1989-1997 and President of Yugoslavia from 1997-2000. His presidency was marked by the breakup of Yugoslavia and the subsequent Yugoslav Wars. In the midst of the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, Milošević was charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity in connection with the wars in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo. He was born on this day in 1941 and died in prison in 2006.
Hồ Chí Minh was a Vietnamese Marxist-Leninist revolutionary leader who was prime minister (1945-1955) and president (1945-1969) of the communist-governed Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam). He was a key figure in the People’s Army of Vietnam and the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War. He was born on this day in 1890.
“Ho Chi Minh” is a phrase my dad and his brothers use as an exclamation of fatigue or surprise (or after a particularly violent sneeze). The phrase “L.A.” (which is derived from “Lord Almighty,” I believe) has a similar connotation in their vernacular.
The 37th President of the United States and the only president to resign the office, due to the Watergate scandal. Although Nixon initially escalated the war in Vietnam in 1969 and 1970, he subsequently ended U.S. involvement in 1973. He was responsible for the deaths of 70,000 Vietnamese and Cambodian civilians during the Vietnam War. He died on April 22, 1994.
Vladimir Lenin was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and communist politician who led the October Revolution of 1917. As leader of the Bolsheviks, he headed the Soviet state during its initial years (1917-1924), as it fought to establish control of Russia in the Russian Civil War and worked to create a socialist economic system. He was born on April 22, 1870.
Note: Happy Earth Day on Sunday! In Soviet Russia, Earth Day celebrates you.
Leopold II was the king of the Belgians. Born in Brussels, Leopold is remembered as the founder and sole owner of the Congo Free State, a large, privately controlled colonial region in Central Africa. He extracted a fortune from the Congo during the late 1800s, through the collection of ivory, and by forcing the population to collect sap from rubber plants. His harsh regime was responsible for the deaths of 10 million people. He was born on this day in 1835.
Roy Batty is the main antagonist of the 1982 American science-fiction film Blade Runner. The film is loosely based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick. Batty, portrayed by Rutger Hauer, is the leader of the renegade Nexus-6 replicants. He is intelligent, fast and skilled at combat, but still learning how to deal with developing emotions.
P.S. “All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.” – Roy Batty
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.
The Joker is a DC Comics supervillain with a clown-like appearance. He is the archenemy of Batman, having been directly responsible for numerous tragedies in Batman’s life. Generally portrayed as a highly intelligent but sadistic psychopath, he is one of the most iconic and recognized villains in popular media.
Joseph Kony is the head of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a Ugandan guerrilla group operating in several African nations. While initially enjoying strong public support, the LRA turned on its own supporters, supposedly to “purify” the Acholi people and turn Uganda into a theocracy. Kony proclaims himself the spokesperson of God and a spirit medium. He has ordered the abduction of over 66,000 children to become soldiers and sex slaves.
Kony was recently popularized by the manipulative Kony 2012 viral campaign from the controversial group Invisible Children. See the Visible Children blog for a critical view of Kony 2012.
Darth Vader (born Anakin Skywalker) is a central character in the Star Wars saga, appearing as one of the main antagonists of the original trilogy and as the main protagonist of the prequel trilogy. This dark cyborg character was created by George Lucas and first appeared in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope in 1977.
After successfully completing a full year’s worth of other 8-bit characters on Mascot Mashup, I have lifted my self-imposed ban on Star Wars characters. Many iconic Star Wars personalities are inevitably coming soon, because, as we all know, the Internet is in desperate need of more Star Wars remixes and fan art.
Thomas Edison – No. 574
Thomas Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He helped develop many influential devices, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera and the electric light bulb. However, to quote the hilarious Nikola Tesla comic by The Oatmeal, “Edison did not invent the light bulb. Edison simply figured out how to sell the light bulb. Edison was not a geek; he was a CEO.” And he was a terrible human being. For example, as a developer of direct current (DC) electricity, Edison put live “dogs and cats on display and publicly electrocuted them using Tesla’s alternating current (AC). His goal was to publicly smear Tesla’s AC and convince the public that it was too dangerous for home use. The only thing Edison truly pioneered was douchebaggery.” Edison was born on this day in 1847.
I will also reiterate what I wrote for my 8-bit Nikola Tesla character last year. I love this Funny or Die episode about Tesla and the evil Thomas Edison: “This is awful. I am inventing electricity and you look like an asshole.”