10 for 10 (8th Entry): The First Line of a Hip Novel............The H-Bomb and The Jesus Rock

Greetings to our blog readers in Slovenia, Greece, and Lebanon..........sorry, we don't have the score of the Indianapolis Colts-New York Jets football, but we will name-drop Frank Gore and Geno Smith in the hopes that will yield us more hits!

Today is actually the 10th anniversary of our blog, and let's go ahead and do this before we run into technical problems for a third consecutive time............?!

A few years ago we had fun posting entries with the first lines of novels like "Moby Dick" by Herman Melville or "1984" by George Orwell, so we are going a bit retro tonight.

Here is the first line of "The H-Bomb and The Jesus Rock," a 2010 gem of a novel by John Manderino from a small publishing house:

"First of all the name is Toby, not Tubs. You want to call me Tubs? Go somewhere else for your cards. I'm talking about baseball cards."

Quote of the Week- Herman Melville

The web site zazzle.com is actually offering "Moby Dick" ties, and we thought we'd dedicate some blog entries as part of our series to famous novelists today to famous writers known for writing 'doorstop books." Today's writer is Herman Melville (1819-1891), his famous book inspired the mega coffee chain Starabucks as there is a character called Starbuck, who is a shipmate of Captain Ahab's, in the novel.

At 822 pages, Melville's 1851 classic might make the perfect companion for anyone who has to go to a business conference in Topeka, Kansas, or if you have taken after "the Facebook Burglar" and robbed a home in Chevy Chase, Maryland, gotten caught, and now facing the prospect of going to the big house.

We do love this quote by the way, and it seems very timely:

"Better to sleep with a sober cannibal than a drunken Christian."

SIDEBAR: We want to give a shout out to our friends in Norway, which is perhaps my favorite country that I've never been to. According to mentalfloss.com, today is Norwegian Constitution Day. The site had a tribute to Norwegian black metal bands for the occasion. "Until the Light Takes Us," a documentary about these headbangers airs on The Sundance Channel on May 31 at 1:45 p.m., New York time.

SIDEBAR: Earlier tonight we asked Google why Donald Duck was a trending topic on Twitter today. We didn't get a response!

50 Beers Around the World- Tui Beer (New Zealand)

Long day. Long commute. Aching feet. Nagging headache. It's time for a Tui Beer from New Zealand, but ahhhh wait- I'm blogging from a public library in Graham, NC*, and there is not a single bar in Alamance County that carries this brand!

(*Not really where I am at; btw, we fixed the glitch with the photo of Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri)

But, if one is in Wellington or Auckland, they can indeed have a Tui. The beer is produced by DB Breweries and it is promoted through clever ads which according to Wikipedia use sterotypes, heavy irony and the phrase "Yeah, right."

The Tui brand also has kitschy models actually called The Brewery Girls, and an online New Zealand web site called The Changing Room offers (we kid you not!) Tui-brand Cheekie knickers.

SIDEBAR: While I was lying about being at a public library in Graham, NC, where I may have been debating about which version of Herman Melville's "Moby Dick" that I want to check out, I am in fact actually drinking an Amstel Light (they didn't have Tui) at the Double Down Saloon in Las Vegas (home of the bacon martini!) with arch conservative, Tea Party favorite Sharron Angle who is trying to rob Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev) of his seat. She actually seems to have a good sense of humor, especially when it comes to making fun of Mexicans, but of course, I'd have to be awfully drunk to vote for her.