Times 100 Most Influential People in The World 2008

Finally, out of internet deprivation. Hm.. wanted to post this up for quite some time, but somehow there's always something else that cropped up.

A May issue of Time magazine featured 100 most influential people in the world. And yes, we have a Malaysian out there. Anwar Ibrahim. *ahem* Not everyone's favorite huh. Known for his highly controversial trial in 1999, Anwar is now 60 years old and still kicking ass. He's the one and only who made it to the list as a Malaysian.

*evil grin*

1. Under 'Leaders & Revolutionaries' includes Hu Jintao from China, the Dalai Lama, Bartholomew I (the eastern orthodox leader), and of course Bush, Clinton, Obama, McCain etc etc...



2. Not to forget, Brad Pitt and Angie are surprisingly, under the category of 'Heroes & Pioneers' instead of 'Artists & Entertainers'.

"There are hundreds of people who could be honored for their good works, but I've seen Brad and Angeline first hand, and their commitment together is truly impressive."
- George Clooney

I wonder what charity work or how many orphans Brad adopted before Angie? Some other familiar names in this category include Oprah, Andre Agassi, Lance Amstrong and Tony Blair.



Oprah Winfrey
Do you know that Oprah was raped at 9 and was pregnant by the age of 14? I'm not really a huge fan of the Oprah Winfrey show, but clearly, this women had indeed revolutionized the confession culture. She's the only person who were listed 6 times in the list.

3. Some names that I find quite interesting under 'Scientists & Thinkers' are Michael Bloomberg, J. Craig Venter, Mark Zuckerberg, and Michael Griffin.

J. Craig Venter
Ok, biotech people, you should really hear what this guys has done. He built an entire synthetic genome! In other words, he literally invented a new (only single celled at this stage) organism out of scratch. How cool is that. Maybe Spiderman or Batman will turn into a reality after all. Remember the shotgun approach in DNA sequencing we studied in PBI111? Yes, he's the brainchild behind it. Venter also appeared in May's issue of Reader's Digest for those of you who hasn't notice.

J. Craig Venter

Michael Griffin
Those of you who were from Austin Spring 08, remember the presentation I did on the moon landings? This guy is serious about having footprints back on moon by 2020; not only moon - but Mars. Well there's no Vietnam War or Space Race now, so I hope it's gonna leave no doubts this time. Hah.

Mark Zuckerberg


Hearts Facebook? Hearts him. The CEO and founder of the oh-so-popular Facebook, Zuckerberg is a self-made billionaire at the age of 23. What will I be doing at the age of 23? Probably working for the government. :( The original idea was to connect people campuswide, and guess what, he launched Facebook from his dorm in Harvard. Someone, please do something in Cemara Akasia.

4. 'Builders & Titans' - Indra Nooyi (Pepsi's CEO), Karl Lagerfeld (Chanel! yum..), Ali al-Naimi (Saudi Arabia's Oil Minister), Michael Arrington, etc etc...

Michael Arrington

Michael Arrington
A mega/international version of Kenny Sia. Except that Kenny Sia is not a billionaire. YET. This guy was a former attorney who decided to go serious in blogging and later ventured into Web entrepreneurship. His blog, TechCrunch is now one of the most influential sites on the web, reeling in over



Karl Lagerfeld
Gosh. I didn't know he's 74 until I googled.



5. Finally, the long awaited 'Artists & Entertainers'. Among the list were Robert Downey Jr., Mariah Carey, George Clooney, Chris Rock, Judd Apatow etc etc...



Robert Downey Jr.
*swoons* Iron man is on the list! His commentary was written by Ben Stiller, and Stiller even even went to the extend of calling him a genius. Indeed, Iron Man and Actor Man all in one. In Stiller's self-directed film Tropic Thunder, Downey plays an African-American Soldier in the Vietnam War. Well, he don't look African-American to me. Nevertheless, reallllly looking forward to it.

"I have had a chance to work with one of the greats, and he constantly tricked me into actually thinking I was keeping up."
- Ben Stiller

p/s : Happy Birthday to fellow Satlaiser Chow Zhen Ru a.k.a Ah Ru! You're getting older!
p/p/s : I got the invitations! Credits to beloved cy *evil grin* 8 course meal here I come!