The Shoulders of Giants

Before I begin posting in earnest, a word about my influences in writing this column (and requisite reading if you are to study in my lab). First and foremost, David Poland’s exceptional Hot Button site. I’ve been a faithful daily reader since his Roughcut days in 1997. If there’s a more forthright, insightful and evenly opinionated daily analysis of the movie biz out there, I haven’t found it.
More recently I’ve become infatuated with TV Gal – my imaginary girlfriend whom I imagine looks like Tina Fey (whom I’m also imaginarily in love with, and continue to grow more so in spite of Weekend Update’s declining quality). I often doodle the name “Mr. TV Gal” over and over in my diary while dreaming of our Trista & Ryan-esque nuptials and thinking about how well our TiVo’s will play (and pause) together.
Finally, I must acknowledge a stylistic debt to my glossy bible of the last eleven years, Entertainment Weekly. It has molded my voice in the discourse on popular culture.
I absorb many other outlets, on-line, on-the-tube and on-the-page, however these three are my primary sources of tonal inspiration at the moment (that I can think of).