Shigeru Miyamoto

Super Mario Galaxy will be released soon. As always, Miyamoto is behind it. The man is almost single-handedly responsible for Nintendo's success. Zelda, Donkey Kong, Wave Race, Pikmin and Mario (just think of all that has come of Mario: Mario Kart, Mario Party, Super Smash Bros., Warioware, many great and iconic characters) are among his creations.
His games are exciting fantasies, textbook examples of how to make something that appeals to children and the inner child in all of us (we never stop dreaming). Many of the events and characters of his games are inspired by events of his childhood. Zelda is inspired by his explorations into the wilderness around his home. These are things that we can all relate to.
It'd be easy to dismiss his work (being video games), but video games have become as much art as film and literature. And in this field, Miyamoto reigns supreme.
Funnily enough, the man himself doesn't much play video games, preferring to play guitar.

Russ Meyer

It's easy to dismiss Russ Meyer as a sleazy director of softcore sexploitation. But to do so would show a closed mind on your part. True, he did direct sexploitation films mostly. However, I firmly believe that no genre is less artistic than any other. Just because Russ chose to use sexploitation as the canvas with which he painted his masterpieces, doesn't mean his films are any less than say Jim Jarmusch. Furthermore, it's easy to see him as the typical male. His films parade around his big breast obsession. But look closer and you will see that his female characters are the powerful ones in his stories. The women are buxom (in the same way that a man's belly can be a symbol of wealth, can't a full bosom be a symbol of the powerful female) and strong. The men are stupid and incompetent. His films are mostly watched by males, yet they have a strong grasp of feminism. RIP Russell Albion Meyer 1922 - 2004.

William S. Burroughs & Naked Lunch

Only one other author (and that is Hunter S. Thompson) has influenced me as much as William S. Burroughs. Such an extraordinary man who lived an extraordinary life. His masterpiece, Naked Lunch, remains and will remain for years to come, one of my favourite novels. Although, whether it is a novel in the strict sense of the word, I do not know. How anyone could think that such a wonderful, groundbreaking novel is obscene absolutely puzzles me. If one is not able to see past the "explicit" nature of the book, then I genuinely pity him. Censorship is in my opinion an evil. Sure, I agree that some people use swearing, violence and sex for purely exploitative reasons and I do not always find that admirable. But art is art. Burroughs was an accomplished, talented and profound author. Never mind the fact that Naked Lunch is filled with predictions and prophecies which in the time since it was published have become entirely true. RIP William Seward Burroughs II 1914-1997.

Stan Brakhage's "Dog Star Man"

A dark room. Dead silence save for slight coughs at regular intervals. On the screen colours and lines flicker and dance to no rhythm. Anyone who has not yet experienced Dog Star Man would be forgiven for thinking that a film that this silent experimental film that consists almost entirely of flickering colours and lines is the height of tedium. But I found it to be quite the opposite. Sitting there in that theatre, I felt vulnerable, all too human. Its images were powerful. They spoke to me in ways that narrative film often can't. As it went on, I was bombarded with new patterns and images, yet it was more of the same. I looked further into it. There was no music, no sound, just the image. A pure image. What does it all mean, I asked myself. Well, I still don't have a real answer as to what I think it means. But I will say that I know how it made me feel and I will remember it for years to come. RIP Stan Brakhage 1933-2003.