The American Adjustment And Adaptation Package request response has been extremely encouraging.
So far, you guys have suggested:
Books
~ The Intrepid New Yorker: A Guide to Turning New York City into a Manageable Small Town (Some kind of shrinking solution?)
~ Low Life: Lures and Snares of Old New York (Ah. To know my way around. Excellent.)
~ 'Speak American : A Survival Guide to the Language and Culture of the U.S.A.' by Dileri Borunda Johnston (To avoid those hilarious cross-culture misunderstandings. Ah well. I was rather looking forward to those)
~ How to Lose Friends & Alienate People (Um.)
~ Notes from a Big Country - Bill Bryson (I've read this, but I'll give it a re-read, given my current situation is rather...different)
~ Gotham: A History of New York City (This looks pretty interesting)
~ 'Ragtime' by EL Doctorow
~ 'Tepper Isn't Going Out' - Calvin Trillin
~ 'The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay' - Michael Chabon (I left New York with a copy of this book in my pocket, with a penned note from my fiancée inside the front cover. It's brilliant)
~ 'Dave Gorman's Googlewhack Adventure' (Um, Adrian, what?)
Films, or "Movies" as they are sometimes called
~ Gone With The Wind (Never seen it, although from all the parodies, I have a pretty good idea what happens)
~ To Kill A Mockingbird (Brilliant film, love it)
~ Mickey Blue Eyes (I've seen bits of this film...how does this help? Also, I plan not to have to use my secret weapon very often if I can help it - going into Incredibly Polite and Inoffensive Stuttering Englishman Mode)
~ Bull Durham (Never heard of it, will look it up)
~ Field of Dreams (Um. Do you mind if I skip this one?)
~Annie Hall / Manhattan (Watched the first with Krissa last weekend...definitely bears a re-watch...I'm curious about the B/W and Gershwin I've heard of about Manhattan.)
~Office Space (Again seen only bits -oh, the curse of the compulsive channel surfer! - but I think this is one of the staple cult sources for images for fark.com photoshop competitions..?)
As this is purely about me wanting to get my mind into America before the rest of my body follows suit, I'll leave out the recommendations for stuff to do once I arrive, but be sure I'll be checking out pretty much everything people suggested!
Thanks people...
Trust me it will get your mind into America.
Trust me.
Okaa-ay...I'll get it out from the library.
I doubt the library will have it. It's under £8 from Amazon. Less if you want a used copy.
I've seen it in the library. I have a memory of sorts.
I don't know if your compulsive channel surfing brings you American TV, but if it does, "Law & Order" (the original series or any of the spins-off) gives a good feel for the city. It actually is filmed in NYC, unlike "NYPD Blue" which only does exterior shots here with the rest filmed in LA. Bastards.
You should also read "On Green Dolphin Street" by Sebastian Faulks.
I could *see* New York when I was reading this, and it made me want to go even more than I already did.
Also, start reading Gawker.com. :)
Oh, don't you dare skip Field of Dreams. It's the one film which American males are allowed to get all teary-eyed at.
I agree on the "Field of Dreams" issue...must see and I HATE baseball and I'm not all that fond of Keven Costner. But truly you must see it, also read the book it was based on "Shoeless Joe". The book is actually better but the big speech by James Earl Jones near the end of the film should not be missed! I would also recommend some entertainment reading by Lawrence Block the Mathew Scudder detective novels. Very, very New York. It's best if you can read them in order, but not mandatory.
Damnit.
All right.
But ONLY if it's cheap to rent in Blockbuster.