As noted in a previous blog entry, this was a year in which some truly horrible and death-worthy people died. But it was also a year in which some great and visionary people died.
| 5 | REM
I’m not going to apologize for their being the significant college band of my college days. Yes, they are mostly a parody of themselves now. But back before MTV would show them, they were greatness. RIP World Leader Pretend. |
| 4 | Peter Falk
Columbo is one of my all-time favorite shows of all time forever, always. And that would not be the case without the greatest of Peter Falk. And try to find a funnier movie in the 70s than The InLaws. |
| 3 | Christopher Hitchens
One of the great thinkers of the last half century. His writings in The Nation, Slate and The Atlantic were go to articles for me the past decade. I wish I was 1/10th as literate as he. |
| 2 | Steven Jobs
There were personal computers before the Mac, There were MP3 players before the iPod. There were smart phones before the iPhone. There were tablet computers before the iPad. But, through his leadership and guidance, the gold standard for all of those products were set. If only more tech companies would follow his ethic of “we’re not going to sell crap that’s barely usable”. |
| 1 | Valcav Havel
There certainly is something romantic about a writer leading his country against socialist totalitarians and into freedom and democracy. It doesn’t hurt that I’ve personally seen the greatest that is the modern Czech Republic. Mmmmmm beer and pork knuckle. What??? |