Rowling was in a class of her own on the magazine’s list of the year’s top entertainers, which was separated by editors into five other categories that evoke school cliques: prodigies, class clowns, most popular, most buzzed-about and valedictorians.

The magazine named actor, director and activist George Clooney a valedictorian because he has "deftly balanced box-office viability with personal responsibility". Will Smith, Angelina Jolie and the cast of The Sopranos also made the grade, among others.

Matt Damon made the list of most popular, as did Carrie Underwood, Katherine Heigl, Johnny Depp and Kanye West.

The prodigies were Zac Efron, Shia LaBeouf, Rihanna and Miley Cyrus.

Tina Fey, creator and co-star of 30 Rock, was recognised as a class clown for her hilariously cringe-inducing portrayal of comedy-show producer Liz Lemon on the NBC sitcom.

"I love going to those uncomfortable places," she tells the magazine. "I’ll go down any weird avenue."

Other clowns were Vanessa Williams, The Simpsons and director Judd Apatow and his gang of actor buddies including Seth Rogen and Paul Rudd. Apatow cast his pals in the acclaimed comedies The 40-Year-Old Virgin and this year’s Knocked Up.

Amy Winehouse, Gerard Butler, Tyler Perry and the A&E series Mad Men were named the most buzz-worthy.

Rowling sues Potter book publisher - Nov 12 2007
The publication of a Harry Potter encyclopaedia will be delayed after author JK Rowling sued the book’s publisher, a judge has ruled.

The Harry Potter Lexicon, based on the internet fan site of the same name, will be delayed until a federal judge in New York rules on whether the reference book is a violation of Rowling’s intellectual property rights, or the copyright on her novels held by Warner Bros.

The book, by Steve Vander Ark, was originally set to be published by RDR Books on November 28.

In a statement released on her website, Rowling said she took "no pleasure" in the prevention of the Lexicon’s publication.

"On the contrary, I feel massively disappointed that this matter had to come to court at all," she said.

"Given my past good relations with the Lexicon fan site, I can only feel sad and disillusioned that this is where we have ended up."

Federal judge Robert Patterson issued an order barring completion, distribution, marketing or advance sales of the book until further notice.

Publisher Roger Rapoport said he had given a copy of the book to Warner Bros lawyers, in the hope that they would read it and decide it did not amount to copyright infringement.

"I think they should drop it. I’m hopeful that they will," he said. "We will continue to defend our author and the Lexicon in this David and Goliath battle with an eye toward protecting the rights of readers and writers everywhere."

Rowling’s lawsuit, filed on October 31, sought an injunction blocking publication of the book by Steve Vander Ark on the grounds that it was likely to borrow too heavily from her work, and interfere with her plans to eventually publish her own version of an encyclopaedia on the boy wizard’s world.


JK Rowling launches claim over book - Nov 1 2007
Harry Potter author JK Rowling has accused the publisher of an upcoming reference book on the boy wizard series of infringing her intellectual property rights.

Rowling and Warner Bros, the distributor of the films, launched a claim in the Southern District of New York federal court against RDR books over the forthcoming Harry Potter Lexicon book.

The book, due out in the UK next month, is written by Steve Vander Ark, a librarian who created an online encyclopaedia of the Harry Potter series.