born 12 August 1970

Anthony Swofford, Fairfield, California, writer/veteran

Charles Mesure, Somerset, England, actor

Ellory Elkayem, Christchurch, New Zealand, writer/director

Garrett Honn, Los Angeles, California, visual effects supervisor

Heidi Van Lier, birthplace unspecified, American writer/director

Hidetaka Yoshioka, Saitama, Japan, actor

Jacqueline Axton, Paris, France, actress

Kim De Lury, birthplace unspecified, Australian actor

Kirsten Smith, Port Ludlow, Washington, writer

Kristopher Schau, Oslo, Norway, musician

Krzysztof Zawadzki, Kraków, Poland, actor

Manuel De Peppe, Milan, Italy, musician/public transportation enthusiast

Mark Booth (died 29 September 2007), county of Yorkshire, England, animator

Salvador Calvo, Madrid, Spain, director

This is actually a surprisingly accomplished group.

You have the writer/director of a movie I never saw, and almost forgot about, but that I almost went to see at the drive in. I still hope to someday.

You have the woman who wrote 10 Things I Hate About You, Legally Blonde, The House Bunny, Ella Enchanted, and The Ugly Truth. That pretty well covers the waterfront of the chickiest chick flicks of the last ten years.

You have this one Italian who makes a very big deal of his love of subways and trolleys, which I have to give props to.

You have this creepy sci-fi TV villain guy.

But the winner has to be the guy that wrote Jarhead. I suspect that’s going to be a pretty tough act to follow, career-wise. But will stand as a valuable contribution to US war literature, imparting the timeless lesson: the more things change, the more they continue to suck.