Two men in the last two weeks have guiltily confessed to me that they like the new Britney Spears song ("Toxic"). Hey, it's a neat song.

Yesterday I went to the Happy Ending reading series to hear Kyle Smith ("Love Monkey") and two other readers. Smith's book excerpt was very funny. The big surprise was a great band that kicked it off, The M Word, which has a drummer who plays a garbage can and cymbals with energy that no mere mortal should possess. I was very impressed. And they did all early-'80s songs, which was great.