Literary Influences

After perusing For the Love of Books: 115 Celebrated Writers on the Books They Love Most, in which writers list their literary influences and favorite books, I've decided to list the literary influences on my, uh, blog. Seriously:

• The Late Night with David Letterman Book of Top Ten Lists


• Thank You for the Giant Sea Tortoise/Son of Giant Sea Tortoise/Maybe He's Dead


• The Portable Dorothy Parker


• Gertrude the Governess: or, Simple Seventeen


• Christgau's Consumer Guides


• 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die


• 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die


• Reading Lyrics


• The Tummy Trilogy


• Three Men in a Boat


• La Dolce Musto
  

Things I ALWAYS say

• I had this really weird dream last night
• I couldn't sleep last night
• I don't know why I can't wake up today
• I probably shouldn't be telling you this, but...
• Seriously, you're the only one who knows about this
• You didn't say anything, did you?
• "With a song in my heart..." (sung to the tune of "With a Song in My Heart")
• The glass is half-full, dammit!
• Back to you, Chet
• Thank God it's Friday (usually said on Wednesday)
  

Living with the undead

After finally finishing the novel Dracula, I realize that my cat may actually be a vampire. Here's why:

• She sleeps all day, is up all night
• Avoids mirrors AND garlic
• Has fangs and likes to draw blood

....spooky...

Favorite Reference Sources

OLD SCHOOL:
1) Consumer Reports
2) The Encyclopedia of Associations
3) Current Biography
4) Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory
5) The New York Times Index
6) Physicians' Desk Reference
7) Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature
8) McKinney's Consolidated Laws of New York, Annotated
9) Best's Insurance Reports
10) N.A.D.A. Official Used Car Guide

NEW SCHOOL:
1) Consumer Reports
2) Google
3) Google
4) Google
5) Google
6) Google
7) Google
8) Google
9) ReferenceUSA
10) Google

The magical, meta, musical tour

I took a break from my latest crisis Saturday, and met a friend for lunch at Lidia Bastianich's midtown restaurant Becco, and then hit the Lyceum theatre to see the latest B'way extravaganza, [Title of Show]. Cleverly self-referential, the plot concerns two wanna-be Broadway hitmakers attempting to write and cast a Broadway show. Even the songs are very show-within-a-show, with titles like "Two Nobodies in New York," and "Secondary Characters." So go see it, you'll laugh, you'll cry, or, actually, you'll just laugh.

Unsurprising Headline of the Year

"Memoir says Madonna's true love is herself."