1. Filmmaker Paul Greengrass, for keeping Bourne alive. Greengrass has signed up to direct Matt Damon in The Bourne Ultimatum–the third installment of the action franchise after director Doug Liman pulled out.
2. BlackBerry devices, for their usefulness. Songstress Mariah Carey wrote her Soul Train acceptance speeches on her BlackBerry mobile and read them from her handheld device on stage.
3. Star Wars creator George Lucas, for invading the small screen. Lucas has agreed to write a 100-episode TV series of the classic sci-fi epic, which will focus on the missing years between Revenge of the Sith and the original Star Wars movie, released in 1977.
4. Hip-hop star Kanye West, for invading movie screens. West will star in the untitled film that will feature a series of short stories from 10 to 12 directors, linked by a central narrative.
5. Into the Blue director John Stockwell, for stirring the pot. The filmmaker has signed to helm Kid Cannabis, about middle class Idaho teenagers who mastermind a seedy drug empire, in a bid to subvert social stereotypes. He tells British movie Web site EmpireOnline.com, “I had been looking to do something in this realm that didn’t involve minorities or urban drug dealers.”
6. Republican Senator John Douglas, for not forgiving and forgetting “Hanoi Jane.” The Georgian Senator blocked a move to honor Jane Fonda for her charity work because of her opposition to the 1970s war in Vietnam. Fonda, who is a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations, admits it was the “largest lapse of judgment that I can even imagine.”
7. Actress Kelly Preston, for making history in a positive way. Preston hosted the largest sit down dinner at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. The charity eat and greet was staged to raise awareness of America’s poverty problem.
8. Bosses at trailer firm Airstream, for sensitivity. The Airstream folk pulled out of a TV show prank after learning producers planned to blow up Matthew McConaughey‘s trailer. “The idea was to take Matthew‘s trailer into the desert, switch it for a similar looking one and blow it up as he flew over it in a helicopter,” an Airstream spokesman said. “It was a very mean idea. We know Matthew loves his Airstream and he would have been devastated.”
9. South Park co-creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, for staying true to their series. Soul legend and Scientologist Isaac Hayes, who voices Chef on the animated TV series, quit the show because he says it promotes intolerance and bigotry. Parker responded, “We just had to tell Isaac, ‘Dude, we totally love working with you, and this is nothing personal, it’s just we’re South Park, and, if we don’t do this, we’re belittling everything else we’ve ripped on.”
10. Tupac Shakur, for his everlastingness. The rap legend is to be immortalized in wax in Las Vegas, where he was shot dead a decade ago. The new Venetian Hotel sculpture, which will be unveiled next month will be part of a new Tupac Eternal exhibition.
