Loreena McKennitt, Disturbed, Sarah Brightman, Dresden Dolls, Melissa Etheridge, Nine Inch Nails, Seven Nations...etc. etc. ad infinitum, ad naseum....
The Dark Crystal, The Last Unicorn, and Secret of Nimh.
Mind of Mencia, Monster House, Who's Line is it Anyway?, Animaniacs, Xialion Showdown, Futurama, The Simpsons, Sex and the City
Rafael Sabatini, Rosalind Miles, Brian Froud, Clive Cussler, Marjane Satrapi, Martin Espada to name a few authors; Noir, pulp, turn of the century adventure stories, non-American literature, fairy tales in any form (even Rapunzel Meets Santa Claus in Hell)....ad infinitum, ad naseum.....
The woman in Mexico who performed a Cesaerian on herself to save her life and her child's. She definitely gets mother of the century as far as I'm concerned.