The top 100 PFA figures of all time

The self-aware PFAs that we are, we took a step back from our category and tried to think of the 100 public figures you've just GOT to know if you want to be a pretentious fuck. These can be artists, writers, musicians, filmmakers, actors, thinkers, politicians, whatever.

I even went so far, tonight, as to rank them in a top 100, VH1-style countdown. Since Emily and I thought of way more than 100 last night, I had to cut a bunch, and of course I didn't remember them all. So consider this a prelimarily list. Here's where you come in: Check the list out, enjoy it, and e-mail me back with your suggestions of who we left out. Feel free to gripe about the order too, though I think it's pretty impossible to contest #1.

100. Arianna Huffington
99. Robert Pollard
98. Henri Langlois
97. Laurie David
96. John Kerry
95. Stephen Colbert
94. John Darnielle
93. Barack Obama
92. Edward R. Murrow
91. Cole Porter
90. Colin Meloy
89. Sofia Coppola
88. Bill Maher
87. Gary Trudeau
86. Michael Azzerad
85. Neil Gaiman
84. Arthur Miller
83. Irvine Welsh
82. Voltaire
81. Steven Sondheim
80. Janeane Garafalo

79. Frank Miller
78. Valerie Solanas
77. John Linnell and John Flansburgh
76. Emo Phillips
75. Robert Altman
74. Calvin Johnson
73. David Cross
72. Henry Rollins
71. Oscar Wilde
70. David Lynch
69. Stan Brakhage
68. John Lennon
67. Nick Hornby
66. Camille Paglia
65. Garrison Keillor
64. Abbie Hoffman
63. Richard Linklater
62. Marcel Duchamp
61. Yoko Ono
60. Pier Paolo Pasolini

59. Allen Ginsburg
58. Eve Ensler
57. Gore Vidal
56. Steve Buscemi
55. Jackson Pollack
54. Robert Smith
53. John Lydon
52. Roland Barthes
51. George Orwell
50. Bob Dylan
49. Charles Bukowski
48. Julian Schnabel
47. David Bowie
46. Jello Biafra
45. Steven Wright
44. Tom Wolfe
43. Stanley Kubrick
42. Albert Camus
41. Patti Smith
40. Susan Sontag

39. Chuck Paluhnick
38. Michelangelo Antonioni
37. Stephin Merritt
36. Ira Glass and Sarah Vowell
35. Ingmar Bergman
34. Brian Eno
33. William S. Burroughs
32. Matthew Barney
31. Laurie Anderson
30. Truman Capote
29. Lester Bangs
28. Howard Zinn
27. Sylvia Plath
26. Salvador Dali
25. Woody Allen
24. Soren Kierkegaard
23. Chuck Klosterman
22. Hal Hartey
21. Leonard Cohen

...And the top 20 all-stars!...

20. David Sedaris
19. Salmon Rushdie
18. Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon
17. Jean-Michel Basquiat
16. David Byrne
15. Jean-Paul Sartre
14. Jim Jarmusch
13. Lou Reed
12. Jack Kerouac
11. Morrissey
10. John Zorn
9. John Cage
8. Hunter S. Thompson
7. Kurt Vonnegut
6. Bertolt Brecht
5. Tom Waits
4. Frederick Nietschze
3. Jean-Luc Godard
2. Noam Chomsky
1. Andy Warhol