In honor of my first post, rather than stolidly introducing myself, the author, to you, the you, I thought I’d honor some of my favorite firsts: specifically, the first lines of ten of my favorite books and films. I won’t include titles, so feel free to guess in comments, or to name your own.

Movies:

1. “General Ripper, sir.”
2. “I believe in America.”
3. “For God’s sake, it’s two o’clock in the morning.”
4. “The Hovitos are near. Poison’s still fresh, three days. They’re following us.”
5. “Forget it. Too risky. I’m through doing that shit.”
6. “Captain’s Log: Stardate 8130.3. Starship Enterprise on training mission to Gamma Hydra, section 14. Coordinates 22.87.4.”
7. “Here you are, sir, main level D.”
8. “I’m gonna play it again.”
9. “The fuck is that?”
10. “I never knew the old Vienna before the war, with its Strauss music, its glamour and easy charm–Constantinople suited me better.”

Books:

1. “Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself.”
2. “Sir Walter Elliot, of Kellynch Hall, in Somersetshire, was a man who, for his own amusement, never took up any book but the Baronetage; there he found occupation for an  idle hour, and consolation in a distressed one…”
3. “My name is Howard W. Campbell, Jr.”
4. “Why is the measure of love loss?”
5. “The doctor has just left me.”
6. “Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins.”
7. “Someone must have been telling lies about Joseph K., for without having done anything wrong he was arrested one fine morning.”
8. “rivverrun, past Eve and Adam’s, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodious virus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs.”
9. “Limp, the body of Gorrester hung from the pink palette; unsupported–hanging high above us in the computer chamber; and it did not shiver in the chill, oily breeze that blew eternally in the main cavern.”
10.  “All in the golden afternoon/Full leisurely we glide…”