LDM100: LA

October 14, 2010 — Before a packed Mountain Bar house in LA's Chinatown, Seth Greenland's winning memory was the final checked box on a memorable night, as he out-scored co-finalist Jennine Capó Crucet by a score of 9-5 in a hotly contested battle of Literary Memory to win the LDM100: LA crown. 

But well before the finale, the night kicked off with co-host Sabrina Howells introducing The Nervous Breakdown's reader-rep D.R. Haney (Banned for Life), who read a racially captivating excerpt from his new book, followed by Greenland (a writer on Big Love) whose own excerpt centered around a sex-toy egg that garnered endless titters.  

The mic was then handed over to the cast of all-star judges — Jesse Thorn, the host of The Sound of Young America, actress Maria Thayer (Forgetting Sarah Marshall), and Sit 'N' Spin producer Maggie Rowe. Thorn appreciated Haney's outfit, which he described as "burglar," but the idea of stumbling towards orgasm won the round, as Greenland was selected as the night's first finalist. 

After a booze-fueled intermission, co-host Summer Block introduced round two, which started with playwright/actress Sasha Higgins, and an accompanying reader, trade lines from a play about meeting Michael Cera. Then up stepped Vermin on the Mount's own Jennine Capó Crucet (author of How to Leave Hialeah) who blew the doors off with an advice column's responses that had the audience in throes. 

Again the judges were leaned on, and after a few fun-time barbs, they made the difficult decision of announcing Capó Crucet as the night's second finalist. 

Then the finale began, as LDM creator Todd Zuniga, introduced the game of Literary Memory, in which 16 crowd members were invited on stage, to hold pictures of fantastic LA writers. Greenland broke out to an early 4-0 lead by picking Snoop Dogg and Aaron Sorkin, but Crucet fired back with a pair of her own with Aimee Bender. With his lead threatened, Greenland caught fire, scoring five out of the next seven points to win not only the Literary Death Match crown, but literary immortality.