The First Echo

And suddenly, it's as if I've been transported back to 1997, standing outside a Burger King at the Cross County Shopping Center on a chilly December evening with my two best friends before getting in line at the multiplex to see Scream 2 on opening night. One of the highlights of my senior year of high school. Seeing this teaser poster debut today has brought me back. April 15, 2011 cannot come any faster.

Invoking the classic bitchery the original Melrose had mastered so beautifully, the final two minutes of the reboot's first season finale (really, CW, make a renewal decision any day now) was clearly the best two minutes of the show thus far - miniskirts, misdirects, and one mother of a mischievous smile. Observe: As you can see, the torch has officially been passed.

Long before the Auto-Tune debacle that is Ke$ha (I really hesitated to include that dollar sign in her name), there was Verbalicious , a one-girl rappin' force from the UK who unfortunately became a one-hit wonder with "Don't Play Nice," a hard-hitting jam from 2004 that's meant to be played with the volume turned up. There had only been one club in L.A. that played Verbalicious back then, Tigerheat - back when it was housed at the Hollywood Athletic Club on Sunset (now known as Social) - and its thunderous bass always managed to bring people to their feet. The nifty rhythms and rhymes of this hot track puts those current singles by the aforementioned hot mess to shame. *NOTE: Verb recently reinvented herself and now goes by Natalia Kills . "Zombie" is the name of her current single which can be found on the UK charts.

Robbie Williams's live rendition of "I Will Talk and Hollywood Will Listen" at Royal Albert Hall is a near match to the studio recording, and it practically gave me goosebumps. From his album Swing When You're Winning , the daydreamy tune is a thrilling anthem of hope for anyone trying to make it in this business we call Show.

It's what I've become. And with the kind of industry I work in, I can't divulge any details. Only that I've come up with an idea for...a documentary. Lips are sealed. That is all. Let the notetaking and research begin.

My future publisher would probably find someone to design a better cover, but I'm guessing my first novel would look something like this...This, of course, being the paperback edition. I just hope Entertainment Weekly is still around to give me a glowing review. That would be the icing on the cake, to be mentioned in the pages of what has basically been my bible for the past two decades. H.P.M.

Although I've only seen maybe 3 full episodes in the 4 years its been on the air, I happened to catch the final 15 minutes of the series finale of Ugly Betty last night and felt as if I had been a regular viewer. I tend to do this with the final episode of any television show. Even though I have no idea what the hell is going on, I am somewhat familiar with the premise and curious to see how producers will wrap up years of storytelling, what final image they'll leave with fans. 3 things about last night's final moment: That on-location shot in London's Trafalgar Square was certainly impressive. That Macy Gray track was a great song choice (props to the music supervision team). And that end-title change was both poignant and fitting: Perhaps I'll have to Netflix the complete series soon.

Tom Perotta is to popular literature just as Alan Ball is to television. I'm starting to like this guy's style more and more. Perotta's follow-up to Little Children (loved the book and the movie) returns to the suburbs for a little more satirizing. I believe I bought this book nearly three years ago, and I regret not reading it sooner. Plot: Liberal mom/sex-ed teacher Ruth gets herself in trouble with the conservative Right when she inadvertently gives a lesson on oral sex to her class of teens. To make matters more complicated, soccer coach/Christian fundamentalist Tim enters the picture, and opposites soon attract amidst a culture war in picturesque suburbia. I plan on using my Borders gift card to buy Perotta's other books. Consider this the thinking person's beach read.

BEFORE THE CELEBRATION... By now it would sound trite if I were to say "Oh, it's just a number," because it's more than that. It's so...for lack of a better summarizing word, adult . Actually, scratch that. I don't really know what it is because I'm just starting out on this new frontier of an age. Am I excited to see what it will bring? Definitely. Am I sad to leave my 20s behind? Not so much. The first decade of my life is a bit fuzzy for me, and I'm afraid it will get fuzzier as more candles pile up on my cake every year. The 80s were a blur of Catholic school uniforms, brown bag lunches, Hot Wheels and a soundtrack provided in part by the mesmerizing tunes of Tears for Fears and Culture Club. The 90s were much more vivid, my adolescent era, a time of my life documented by several photo albums chock-full of memories. Most of this decade was spent with my nose buried in paperback novels about serial killers and the supernatural. Needless to