So it’s finally 2008 and we all know what that means: New Year’s resolutions, winter vacation winding down, the college and NFL football seasons at an apex…and, of course, the prerequisite “Top 10” lists of what to expect in the new year. Forget "Best Of" and "Worst Of 2007," it’s officially ’08 and we couldn’t be kvelling more. And with that, we give you the JVibe Hot List ’08: our picks for the best and brightest of the New Year, and those we think have a chance to make the leap from “star” to “megastar” before this leap year is through.   

10. Ryan Braun

Our countdown starts with the athlete fresh off being named the National League Rookie of the Year for the 2007 season. The Milwaukee Brewers third baseman looks to improve upon his .324 average, 34 home runs and .634 slugging percentage, which broke the major league rookie record set by Mark McGuire in 1987. This Mission Hills, Calif. native will be one of the cornerstones in 2008 for a Brewers franchise looking to make the playoffs for the first time in 16 years. JVibe will be watching, will you?

9. Evan Rachel Wood

This actress received widespread acclaim with her dramatic role in the Beatles-laden Across the Universe last fall, and she will look to capitalize in 2008 as a rumored star in Marilyn Manson’s directorial debut, Phantasmagoria: The Visions of Lewis Carroll. The Raleigh, North Carolina native said that her character in Across the Universe was an "old soul, street smart and ahead of her time" and is close to her real-life personality. We think that personality could lead her straight to the big-time in 2008.   

8. Amanda Peet

Following the disappointment of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip not being renewed by NBC last spring, Peet is looking toward a very busy 2008 schedule, which includes the South Boston-centered Real Men Cry with Ethan Hawke and Mark Ruffalo, and the yet-to-be titled X-Files sequel, co-starring David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson. Her anticipated comeback earns her number eight on our countdown.   

7. Kevin Youkilis

Since JVibe is based in Newton, a suburb right outside of Boston, we would be remiss without adding a shout-out to our favorite localite Jewish Red Sox, Mr. Kevin Youkilis, commonly known around these parts as just plain old “YOUK!” Coming off a World Series title (Boston’s second in four seasons) and engaged to former Ben Affleck fling Enza Sambataro, Youkilis has not only become a staple on the field but also in the Boston community, where he founded Hits for Kids (www.youkskids.org), a fledgling foundation that benefits community-based children’s charities and medical research programs in New England and Cincinnati, Youkilis’ hometown. With the Red Sox heavy early season favorites to repeat, Youkilis will once again be in the spotlight in 2008.  

6. Jason Schwartzman

As a follow up to a hugely successful 2007, which saw him in roles such as The Darjeeling Limited and Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, Schwartzman will co-star with Ben Stiller in 2008’s The Marc Pease Experience, a comedy about a former high school musical star. Schwartzman is also in talks to have a voice in the animated version of Roald Dahl’s timeless children’s novel, The Fantastic Mr. Fox, starring other notables such as George Clooney and Bill Murray. 

5. David Wain

The acclaimed director of Wet Hot American Summer could have another cult comedy hit on his hands with last summer’s The Ten, a short-story spoof of the 10 commandments, which he directed and co-wrote. Most recently, Wain has created an online series for MyDamnChannel.com called Wainy Days, in which he plays himself as the lead character. Each episode of this web series mixes Wain’s abstract, random and hysterically outlandish sense of humor with tales of a normal guy searching for love and meaning in everyday life…sort of. But the show’s recent success suggests that much larger things are in store for Wain in 2008. When he hits the pages of JVibe in the March/April issue, his fate will be sealed.

4. Sacha Baron Cohen

Cohen has been somewhat quiet since his riotous and outrageous comedy Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan left audiences in shocked hysterics, but after a small(ish) turn in this winter’s Tim Burton flick Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Cohen will be back next year reprising his popular character of Bruno, straight from the scripts of Da Ali G Show, with the flamboyant Austrian fashionista taking his show to America. We’re practically peeing in our pants in anticipation.

3. Jonah Hill/Seth Rogen

They’re almost like one person with their inappropriate humor and Jew-fros, so we figured they could share number three on our countdown. Our favorite Superbad comedians are teaming up once again as voices in the animated screen version of the Dr. Seuss classic, Horton Hears a Who!, set to be released on March 14. And beyond that, you have to figure it’s only a matter of time before Judd Apatow snags both of them (with a little Paul Rudd sprinkled in between) to try and top the hundreds of millions of dollars they grossed in theaters last summer. 

2. Zac Efron

He may not be willing to plaster his Jewish roots across the pages of JVibe just yet, but Mr. High School Musical is already in pre-production talks to make a third installment of the smash sensation. Okay, so Zac had a pretty great 2007 already, but fresh off his supporting role in the hit movie Hairspray, where he worked with John Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer, Amanda Bynes and Christopher Walken, this pretty face isn’t looking to slow down anytime soon. We think 2008 will be the year Zac goes from teen pop stardom to world domination. Or maybe just some roles in films that an audience above the age of 14 will watch.

1. Shia LaBeouf

Yeah, we know, Shia is already pretty huge, what with his 2007 line-up of blockbuster films that included starring roles in the smash summer hits Transformers and Disturbia. But in May, Shia REALLY hits the big time with a major role in perhaps the most anticipated movie of the year: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, co-starring noted big-screen regulars Harrison Ford and Cate Blanchett, and directed by the patriarch himself, Steven Spielberg. If any young actor is going to make the leap from plain “star” to “megastar” in the course of a year, Shia is our guy. We also know that you’re gunning for him to appear on a cover of JVibe in 2008, and don’t worry, we’re working on it.

Adam Marks is the Senior Marketing Associate for JVibe's publisher, JFL Media. His Hollywood crush is Natalie Portman and he's an unabashed fan of Josh Schwartz's new TV sensation Gossip Girl.