Okay, breathless homies, we have our usual bunch of hot links coming right up. But first, don't forget to vote.

As we were talking about great first lines last week, here's The Guardian's John Sutherland "pondering the enigma of beginnings". It's Call me Ishmael vs Call me, Ishmael.

Mark likes the four word film review. Like you know for Snakes on a Plane: "Boeing constrictors". He also points to Christopher Hitchens on the hypocrisy of Günter Grass:

For all this, one was never able to suppress the slight feeling that the author of The Tin Drum was something of a bigmouth and a fraud, and also something of a hypocrite. He was one of those whom Gore Vidal might have had in mind when he referred to the high horse, always tethered conveniently nearby...

And this on the dreaded baby boomers. Hey, man, talking 'bout my generation.

Chris reckons it's hardly suprising the second most popular blog in the UK is the sex diary ‘Girl With a One Track Mind’ written by Zoë Margolis under the pseudonym Abby Lee, according to HitWise's Top 10 category covering "blogs created by an individual".

What's next for the stars of the very good comedy Peep Show, screened in New Zealand on Prime? Find out here.

Anyone who cares about Britain, “or indeed about the survival of Judeo-Christian civilisation”, should read Melanie Phillips’s brave and disturbing book Londonistan, claims Daniel Johnson in this piece in Commentary, "America's premier monthly magazine of opinion".

From lil ol me, while some rail at the New York Times' liberal bent, could there be a closet conservative calling the shots? And as the November Congressional Elections loom, the fighting Democrats emerge.

Ciao.

This just in from Stephen: Polar bear genitals are shrinking. It's George Bush's fault.