Come December, those in the media struggle mightily to come up with end-of-year lists that people usually love and hate equally. You know it's the holiday season when you spend considerable time arguing with colleagues as to whether Michael Richards' slur fiasco took place in 2007 or 2006.

While lists are fun and provide easy ways to catalogue the year, they often times cannot truly get at the heart of the change afoot. Some celebrity is always going to stumble ...