OOH! BANNER!

shiny...

(for those reading this on multiply, clicky the linky:

http://skinnyblogcladdink2-0.blogspot.com)

i tried to get it to say 'i am a weird' but alas, i couldn't, it wouldn't. so it doesn't.

Nova Swing takes PKD!

or 'sends', according to Uncle Zip:

http://uzwi.wordpress.com/2008/03/22/nova-swing-sends-pkd/

(as of this posting, the PKD awards site still has the 2007 winners up front.)

meanwhile, the Hugo nominees are up:

http://www.thehugoawards.org/?p=142

and the nominees for the Arthur C Clarke:

http://www.clarkeaward.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=1&Itemid=50

i dunno, there's just been this rash of lists lately, so i thought, what the hell.

also, i strongly encourage anyone and everyone interested in books to get into the Tournament of Books:

http://www.themorningnews.org/tob/

To be clear, the point of the Rooster is not to eliminate bias from book awards. If we’re doing anything (and I’m not sure we are), it’s showing how these biases are not only epidemic, they are unavoidable. Appreciation of literature is all about subjective bias. But when most book awards are announced, you don’t have any idea what standards are being applied or what books are taught in what classes by the individuals forging the crown. The only thing we do differently is tell you who these people are.

- Kevin Guilfoile, from the Booth

fun fun stuff.

on the spinner: Kismet, Jesca Hoop

i wish i had time to say more, but, as it's already too late, this will have to do:

RIP:
Alain Robbe-Grillet
Arthur C Clarke
Anthony Minghella

(although i did put something up a couple hours ago on Anthony Minghella here, over at the other life. those reading this on Multiply may be baffled by the necessity for this parenthetical statement.)

i'm sure i've forgotten something, but that will do for now. good night.

Arvin & Claire got married

twice now, i expect.

yes, i'm horrible. i still owe them the second part of their story. (you can read the first part here.)

admittedly, part two isn't coming along very well and it helps not at all that it's already much too late. on the plus side, it makes it easier to not be there right now, as it would just be plain embarrassing for me not having delivered.

(edit to add: this is why i don't make promises. i might say i'll go do something, but i will never promise i will.)

anyway, congratulations again, Arvin & Claire. sorry about your story.

Arvin & Claire are getting married

actually, they're already married. they exchanged vows in June 2006 in their Boston, Massachusetts home wearing their 'pambahay slippers'. they candidly admit they had both forgotten to put shoes on for the civil ceremonies.

they'll be having the big church wedding on 9 March 2008.

i've known them a good 20 years now but, except for the occasional reunion, blog update and chat conversation, i'd pretty much lost touch with them since high school. writing their story has been a great way to catch up on their lives. the experience so far has been the most challenging, rewarding and personally satisfying writing i've yet done.

you can read the first part of their story in the About Us section of their wedding website, here:

http://arvinandclairetake2.weddingannouncer.com/

the first part of the story stands on its own but is grossly, criminally incomplete. i hope to rectify the matter in the second part. check back regularly for updates. there's so much left to tell; it's a story worth telling, though the writing itself hasn't been nearly as much fun as learning about the lives of my friends has been.

as Claire says in her rather generous introduction, this story is meant to be told as a tryptych: the current installment narrates the first part of their story with a bias towards Claire's prespective; the next will continue with a slant towards Arvin's; both parts i have decided to inform with my own, not entirely detached but just close enough to provide a (hopefully) noninvasive intermediary between the intimacy of their personal stories and the reader--ie, a way for the reader to access their story, to engage with it in a way that will speak intimately to them without desecrating the ultimately personal nature of the material.

that i will not be present to witness the conclusion of the tryptych, the Church Wedding, is regrettable for me, but seems nonetheless entirely appropriate: i was not there to witness the first two parts unfold either. these installments, the one you'll find through the link above and the one i'm currently working on, are meant to be mere preparation for that conclusion and readers fortunate enough to attend the wedding will ideally be able to engage with the story of Arvin & Claire without the need for my imagined intermediary.

right. enough of my hamhackery. congratulations, Arvin & Claire, and i don't just mean next week's wedding; as these things go, the life you've led so far has been inspired.