Three Fifteen-Minute-of-Famers for 2010

According to Andy Warhol, everyone at some point in their lives will experience ’15 minutes of fame.’ As we approach the end of the year Nifty Threads asks “Who were those lucky personalities in 2010 that received their 15 minutes of fame?”

1. Ever heard of Steven Slater? He experienced his 15 minutes when, as a JetBlue flight attendant, he lost his temper and deplaned only after first grabbing a beer and then deploying the emergency slide, his preferred way to exit the scene. After becoming an instant star as a ‘working class hero’ he was fired from his job and was summoned to court to explain his bizarre behavior. Now he has dreams of becoming a rap star.

2. Anna Chapman, ‘sex-symbol-for a day’ was accused back in June of working for the Russian’s as a spy while she dated New York’s pre-powerful crowd and held parties as a “foreign hostess with the mostest.” The media lavished some cute nicknames on her, including, “femme fatale,” “the modern day Bond girl” and “the stunning SoHo spy.”

3. My personal favorite momentarily famous person is not a person at all, but an octopus. Paul the Octopus, that is. This magical German mollusk was able to predict the winners of eight of the World Cup matches. How so? The competitors of each match offered the eight legged oracle a tidbit of food, and whichever snack he ate first was his pick to win. Quite amazing, but if you think you can get him to predict the upcoming winners in your own favorite competitive sport, or the stock market, you are out of luck. Poor Paul died this past October, of natural causes. He nevertheless has his place in history through T-shirts and a fun iPhone app.