Another day, another "Best Of" list

I just had to post something about this list, because it a)includes three of my favorite characters and b) speaks up in defense of my favorite pilot, who, I find, is sometimes unfairly maligned by those who don't know better.

The list in question names the Best Characters of the Decade, and on at least three counts, the makers of the list were spot on. Here are the ones I totally agreed with and what the list writer had to say about them:

• #3. Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter. Loony Lovegood arrived late in the Potterverse: she made her first real appearance in 2003 in Order of the Phoenix. What makes her work as a character is that she's mad the way Hamlet is: merely north-north-west. There are things about the world, and about Harry, that only she can understand.

• #4. Wash from Firefly. In a show full of vivid characters, Wash was perhaps the vivid-est. He wasn't conventionally heroic -- he was never slow to point out the imminence and inevitability of the entire crew's destruction -- but when the chips were down, he was as brave as any man, or woman, on board. Except maybe his wife.

• #8. Dr. Horrible from Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. The great thing about Dr. Horrible is that in a comic book world, he defies the conventional categories. He's neither a hero nor a villain. He's just a human being who wants to be loved. And who wears goggles and carries a freeze ray. And who periodically breaks into song.