Blurred Line

The city was in a pretty good mood last night, after this. I, of course, was planted in front of the TV, watching the game (which was pretty exciting, by the way). Now that the Sens have taken out the defending Stanley Cup champs, they'll move on to play either Montreal (if the Habs can come back in their series) or New Jersey (which seems more likely). The Devils would be a tough second round matchup, so it'd make for a good series.

Anyhow, I ended up thinking about sports and fiction. Generally, especially in SF, sports end up being a pretty cheesy affair (Rollerball, anyone?). I remember reading one of Arthur C. Clarke's Rama books as a kid and one of the characters was always going on about the Lunar Olympics, which I thought sounded terrible silly. That said, though, Rowling managed to pull off things pretty well in the HP series - I found the Quidditch matches to be a fairly interesting addition to the book.

Still, it seems that sports in fiction is on the outs these days. All you have to do is look at the sports movies that have come out recently: Glory Road, Miracle, Friday Night Lights, Coach Carter. All of them are based on real events.

Has it become the case, then, that fictional portrayal of sports are entirely irrelevant in today's fiction? Have you ever written about any sports in your fiction?

I've just wrapped up "Learning Magic From Mint". It's still pretty rough, though, so if anyone wants to have a read and offer their opinion, that'd be great. Just fire me an email.

In other news, my congratulations to the Clarion Class of 2006. I've seen a number of these names before, so that takes a little of the sting out of my own rejection. And extra special props to Alex Wilson, who used to run a very cool webcomic called "Undersweet" that I read all the time.

And also, for the gamers out there, comes this interesting bit of news. Finally, now everything will blow up just like it would in real life.

You might remember that Blurred Line was being offered in a giveaway a short while ago. Well, I didn't want the contest winner to have a copy of the old PageFree version, so I put in an order to my printer for some copies of the new version.

Unfortunately, three of them arrived with some bad scuffing on the top and bottom of the spine. Since it's not worth the hassle to return three books to the printer for a refund, I've decided to give them away here, completely free of charge (I'll even pay the shipping) and signed by yours truly. So, if you're interested drop me an email or leave a comment. Remember, there are only three copies available, so it's first come, first serve (provided that, you know, three people are actually interested).

Over at BL Reviews, I recently handed out the first A+ I've given since I started the whole thing. The movie I gave it to was A History of Violence, a film which seems to have had something of a polarizing effect on people who watch it. Some, like me, think it's one of the most brilliant, incredible movies to come along in some time. Others think it's one of the worst movies they've ever seen.

Now, a part of me wants to suggest that the people who hate it might've been going to see it because they thought it'd be more of a thriller, but that would probably be the easy way out, because there are a vast number of highly intelligent movie watchers out there who've graded it quite lowly. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure what the polarizing factor is in this case - usually its a political or moral position, and though this film does indeed have its position, they're never really stated overtly enough to be the sole reason between this polarization.

Anyhow, the reason I bring this up is because (thanks to a number of completely opposite reviews on a couple of albums and books I've picked up lately, in addition to the movie) I've been thinking about my own ego as an author. Personally, if something I wrote produced these love/hate opinions, I'd be ecstatic (not quite so much as if it were universally loved, but the chances of anyone doing that these days are pretty slim). Obviously, that means that people are reacting strongly to it and that, of course, is the point of producing art. In the long run, it doesn't matter whether people like it or not, only if people remember it, since it seems to take so much these days to move your average person out of apathy (at least, it seems that way for my age group, but maybe that's just because it's cool to be disaffected).

As far as reaction to my own writing goes, I'd say that it is pretty important to me, despite what I've just said. Maybe in the larger philosophical sense of things it doesn't matter much, but hey, I'm not in it for philosophy. I actually have a relatively fragile ego, in that I often need reassurance that what I'm doing is halfway decent. This isn't to say that I can't take criticism - I actually thrive on it - but if there's no positives there, I end up feeling a little bit hopeless. At the same time, outright positive reactions don't really do much for me either, unless they're coming from someone who I think knows their stuff.

How do you react to other people's opinions on your work?

...is my general assessment of the 2005-06 school year, now that it's passed into memory.

I celebrated by turning my $150 worth of Chapters gift cards into a bunch of books and CDs that'll arrive here in early May, so that was a nice way to kick off the summer. Anyway, I'm off to celebrate with much alcohol and the making of many poor life choices.

Oh, wait. Scratch that. I have to get up early for work tomorrow morning.

Ever since I started writing on a consistent basis, way back in my early teens, I've been a part of some writing group or another. The first one, I remember, was an online group specific to SF&F that I was an active member of for a number of years. However, most of the people who posted were intellectual types and, at my age, a lot of what they were saying was going clear over my head. Later on I was part of another that wasn't specific to any genre and, as a result, had a massive amount of members. While it was a great community, not much in the way of improved writing came out of it. Instead, it felt a lot more like a support group, with members commiserating about rejections and filling their posts with happy-faced emoticons when someone else got an acceptance. By last year, the only place I visited on any regular basis was OWW, to lend a hand in critiquing (a place I highly recommend, by the way). However, a couple of months ago I let my membership expire, so now, for the first time, I'm a writer without a group.

And, frankly, it doesn't feel like much of a loss.

I've always maintained that it's important for any aspiring writer to put themselves in a situation where they can interact with other writers, and I stick to that statement. The only difference for me is that, thanks to blogging, all of the writer's groups I've been a part of have been replaced. When I click around to the latest posts of my favourite blogs for today, here's a selection of what I get: discussions on fanfic and copyright violation, discussion on the MacMillan New Writing initiative, an exploration of why one would write SF, some book recommendations from a published writer, a discussion on writer's depression upon finishing a novel, the crappiness of first drafts and, well....I could go on, but I think you get the idea. On top of all of this, I currently have the pleasure of critiquing the latest manuscript from Ali Al Saeed, who I met back in our BraveJournal days (you know, before he became a hot-shot, award-winning writer).

The point of this is that I couldn't imagine what my writing life would be like if I didn't have all of this constant literary stimulation. Being isolated, I think, would suck. And yet I've heard people who claim that participating in any sort of writing community is only something that hinders you from actually writing. Obviously, that's true to an extent, but there is a balance to be found.

So, my question to all is this: Provided you were cut off from all of this interaction regarding literature, how do you think your writing would be affected? Would it be improved, or would it suffer? Now, I understand you're all a biased bunch, being bloggers and all, but I seem to remember seeing a few people relinquish the role of blogger in favour of committing themselves to their writing for a time. I'm also curious, if you've ever had to do that, did you cut yourself off from reading blogs as well? Anyway, discuss.

My final exams are coming up on Saturday and Tuesday, so I'm devoting today entirely to studying (since tomorrow is Game One of the Ottawa Senators first round playoff series). In the meantime, please enjoy this excerpt from "Learning Magic From Mint", which is almost complete. If you think it might be something you'd like to do some beta reading/critiquing for, leave a comment or fire me an email saying so.

She is at the edge of the park again, one foot on the grass, one foot on the cement. She does not notice me until I am standing beside her.

"Hi."

When she looks down this time, I can tell that she is surprised. "Magic man," she says. "Where's your Mom?"

"At home. She dropped me off at school, but I came here instead."

"Yeah? Why's that?"

"I want to learn magic," I say.

Her face is doing a lot of little moves and I can tell that this means that she is thinking her head into all sorts of different shapes. She is probably deciding if I am good enough to become her apprentice, so I stand up very straight to look taller. "Come on," she says. I follow her to one of the cardboard booths, where she sits down. She hoists me onto the stool beside her. She talks to the man behind the booth, who pushes a bowl across to her. It is filled with something hot. I can tell because there is a lot of steam rising from it.

"Mother says you're different," I say.

She looks at me through the steam and I think that maybe she has to read my fortune in the bowl and that is why there is so much steam. "Your Mom's right."

Mint puts the stuff in the bowl into her mouth. I cannot do this. It would hurt me. She can do it because she's different. She knows magic.

"I know you're different," I say. "You have a different face. Your eyes look like someone stretched them out."

Mint laughs. A happy laugh. "My grandparents were from Japan."

I think about what this means. I know all about Japan.

"Are you a Toshiba?"

Mint laughs again.

So, if you don't read Blogography, you're a bad person. Well, maybe I shouldn't go that far, but to be perfectly honest, that blog rocks that casbah just as hard as any other site out there in the blogosphere.

And, as if daily entertainment wasn't enough to give to the world, Dave (the man behind Blogography) is giving away a ton of free stuff ($1000 worth) for his site's third year anniversary. Today, he's giving away some excellent book prizes, including a totally hip signed copy of Blurred Line (yes, you too can own a copy and amaze your friends and impress women). In fact, here's a glimpse of what's on order for this first giveaway of the week:

P.S. Don't worry Dave, I'm not stealing bandwidth. Because only bad people do that. And I read Blogography, which makes me a good person.

Everyone else, go over and join in the fun.

Another disturbingly cheap order of books from bookcloseouts.com today:

Microserfs - Douglas Coupland
Deafening - Frances Itani
Let's Put the Future Behind Us - Jack Womack
China Mountain Zhang - Maureen McHugh
Beggars In Spain - Nancy Kress
Hey Nostradamus! - Douglas Coupland
Nekropolis - Maureen McHugh
Sewer, Gas and Electric: The Public Works Trilogy - Matt Ruff

OK. No more buying books for a while. I promise. Well, until I get that big Chapters gift card.

I've been informed that there are some pop-ups coming up when people try to access the site. However, it's working fine for me and it's been clear sailing for a couple of other people I asked. Is anyone else seeing pop-ups when they come here?

Somehow, I forgot to mention that "Smoke and Mirrors" and "Between Eternities" will appear in the Writers Blog Alliance anthology, Naked Tales. The book will be released by UK publisher Humdrumming.

I'm not sure what the ETA on publication is, but I'll be sure to keep you all informed.

I'm back from Easter holidays, and rather pleased that I managed to make it through three separate holiday dinner without having to eat any turkey, which I'm not much of a fan of. Part of the whole holiday dinner routine is, of course, to catch up with those around you. For me, this means fielding questions about what I plan to do with the rest of my life. These conversations go a litte like this:

Relative: What are you taking in school?
Me: An English degree.
Relative: So, are you going to teach?
Me: Well, probably not.
Relative: What do you plan on doing, then? What else is there to do?
Me: Actually, after graduation I plan on getting myself a completely non-descript, anonymous white collar job where I spend my time waiting for the clock to hit five so I can go home.
Relative: Then why bother even taking an English degree?
Me: Well, these days you need a university education to get a job and I enjoy studying literature.
Relative: So...you're not going to teach?
Me: No. I'm not sure I'm really cut out for it.
Relative (with disapproving frown): Oh...well, I guess that's your choice, then.

Now, if this was specific to one or two relatives, I could deal with it. However, pretty much all of them seem to have the notion that, if I don't end up teaching or going into journalism, I'm wasting all that I've learned.

Am I? Well, maybe. Thing is, though, that I don't particularly want to teach, nor do I want to go into journalism. Furthmore, I don't really have any ambition for any job that's out there. I want something that isn't going to be too onerous and something that'll pay me just enough to support my writing habit. Becoming a full-time writer is the real goal. Unfortunately, as we all know, writing fiction doesn't exactly pay the bills, even if you've had a couple of novels published.

Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with teaching or journalism - it's just that they seem like something you need to be emotionally invested in to do well. And, frankly, I'd rather be flipping burgers at McDonald's than making a living as a teacher who doesn't really care about what he's doing. It seems to me that, if what I truly care about is writing (and that's the truth, for better or worse), then I'd be better off doing a job that's just there to pay the bills while I make a go at trying to make it as a writer.

So, maybe in a few years I'll be explaining to all of my relatives why my civil service job really is the job that's best suited to my studies in literature. We'll see.

The sharp-eyed reader will notice that my alternate history story is gone from the sidebar. It was going nowhere, so I was forced to kill it. Sad, but necessary. Anyhow, as so often happens, something new rose out of the ashes of that story.

The new story, which I'm calling "Learning Magic From Mint", is something of a departure from the norm for me. Generally, my lead characters/narrators are disaffected loners. This time around, it's a little kid. Obviously, this means that my narrative voice (which I think is one of my strong points as a writer) is a far cry from what it has been in my other stories.

Over the past two days I've written roughly a third of the story and chances are I'll have it completed within a week's time.

In the meantime: Is anyone else sick of David Blaine? I mean, the guy's card tricks are among the coolest things I've ever seen. But what's with all these stunts? He should stick to the cards, frankly.

I eat a lot of frozen foods. It's part of being a lazy university student. However, in my quest to come across new and fantastic frozen dinners, I uncovered that the good people at Kraft have a new kind of Delissio Rising Crust pizza that you can stick right in the microwave.

Now, I'm the kind of person who thinks that microwave and crispy crust are mutually exclusive terms. I was expecting a soggy mass of dough and cheese. Still, it was on sale, so I tried one anyway.

Let me just say that these things are amazing. Kraft, thanks to a number of paper doohickies that come in the package (like the crisping ring and the silver coated cooking plate), has manage to come up with the impossible - a frozen pizza that tastes just as good from the microwave as it does from the oven.

Unrelated tangent: I found a very good way to combat the Clarion rejection blues. I have one of those credit cards where you get points and, having never redeemed any of my points before, I had quite a lot. When my Visa bill came it also bore the good news that Chapters (the Canadian version of B&N for those south of the border) had joined the Rewards program. Result: I will soon have $150 worth of Chapters gift certificates on hand. And no, I don't share.

I was up early this morning to do a bit of last minute studying before my exam, which was being held at 9:30. So, what should pop into my email inbox (20 minutes before I had to catch my bus, no less) but a letter from Clarion.

The verdict: Good work, but we'll pass.

After reading that Clarion had a record setting number of submissions this year, this is pretty much what I was expecting. Still, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't upset at all by it. I'd really had my heart set on going. Oh well, such is life. I'll try not to hang out in the self-help section and wallow in self-pity. Well, not for too long, anyway.

Anyhow, the reason I'm unable to brush it off as easily as, say, any other rejection I've gotten is that I probably won't have the money to be able to go at anytime in the foreseeable future. There's a small chance I'll still have access to my student loan money at this time next year, so I'll apply for the 2007 workshop, but I definitely won't be holding my breath.

So, back to writing it is.

This novel contains all of the typical elements of a literary fiction novel: alternate realities, unicorns, subterranean monsters, talking shadows, and so on. Ummm....right. Obviously, this isn't quite Oprah Book Club fare. The story is actual a dual one (split-brained, if you like), alternating between the two storylines every chapter. The first follows a "data shuffler" who gets tangled up in some top secret research and has to find out what his role in it is. The second is about a man newly arrived at a town called End of the World, a place where people exist in utter tranquility at the price of having surrendered their minds. Sound like techno-thriller mixed with fantasy? Well, it is and it isn't. One blurb on the back cover describes Murakami's style like this: "hip, cynical and highly stylized, set at the juncture of cyberpunk, postmodernism, and hard-boiled detective fiction". Basically, Murakami has done something I love, which is the merging of the genre and the literary. His story, with all its examinations into what it is that makes life important, is fascinating as well as entertaining throughout. The only complaint I have is that, every so often, there seems to be something lost in translation from the original Japanese. Also, Murakami, when he's forced to infodump, doesn't do it very elegantly, so that there are a number of passages in the book that come off as clunky. However, it wasn't enough to make me stop turning the pages.

I'll leave you with another comment from the book's cover that's particularly on the mark: "Simultaneously cooler than zero and unaffectedly affecting, a hilariously funny and deeply serious meditation on the nature and uses of the mind."

I highly recommend this one. Check it out.

Tuesday's Mailbox Watch - Notta

Still working on my essay, which is due at five, meaning that I have about three hours to wrap things up before I have to catch the bus downtown to school. It's not a particularly good essay, but it'll be enough to pass the class, which is generally what I'm aiming for when I'm down to a three hour deadline. Anyhow, back to work...

Monday's Mailbox Watch

Bank Statements: 1
David Lynch Movies: 1
Letters From Clarion: 0

Edit 5:19 PM: Essay is done and handed in. I honestly can't remember the last time I've felt this stress-free. Of course, in a day or two I'll have to start studying pretty hard for my final two exams, which are going to be very tough. For the moment, though, I'm relaxing.

I was asked yesterday, by someone who has been accepted into this year's Clarion Workshop, if I had received an email confirmation from Clarion, acknowledging receipt of my application. Err...no. So, now it looks like there might be a possibility that they never even received my application. Rejection would suck, but this would suck even more. As you can imagine, I'll be watching my mailbox more closely than ever this week and, if I don't have a response by the end of the week, I suppose I'll email them to see if they ever got my app.

In the meantime: Essay! It's not going very well at the moment, given my level of distraction. Oh well, I'll have something ready to turn in tomorrow afternoon. It might not be any good, but it'll get me a passing grade.

Also in the meantime: Obviously, my writing is on hiatus for the moment until I get my schoolwork out of the way, but my alternate history story is coming together nicely. I'll leave you with this little bit...

In our teacher-guided orientations in eleventh grade, we all got to go back and punch Hitler in the face. We got to sit in front of Gandhi and eat lunch. We got to tell the Pilgrims that atheism and casual sex were all people were into anymore. Talk about making history fun, right?

Eventually, though, someone has to lose an eye.

Bookslut has a good interview with Steve Aylett, whose novel Slaughtermatic has been on my to-read list for far, far too long. This article makes me want to go out and grab it even more, since he manages to reference PKD, Octavia Butler, and Carlton Mellick III in a relatively short timespan.

I enjoy reading a good interview, so here are a few others:

Cory Doctorow interviews William Gibson
Max Barry Interview
SF Site Interview with Ursula K. LeGuin
SF Site Interview with Pat Cadigan

I was really hoping to get my acceptance/rejection letter today from Clarion (since it's now been eight weeks, which they're quoting as their response time) so that I'd have one less thing on my mind while writing my massive essay this weekend. No such luck. Personally, waiting for a letter from them has been making me way more anxious than I ever was while waiting for letters from universities I'd applied to. Probably because with school I knew I'd get in somewhere. Anyhow, my fingers have been crossed for so long that they've become grotesquely fused. If nothing else comes of my Clarion application, at least I can scare small children with my deformed hand.

Other things I'm waiting for: NHL playoffs. I was at the Sens game on last night (they lost, unfortunately - and even worse they lost to Montreal, so half the crowd was made up of Habs fans) and the atmosphere at the rink that night has me really looking forward to the playoffs, which roll around in about two weeks. Looks like the Sens will end up taking on one of Montreal, New Jersey or Tampa in the first round, all of which would be entertaining matchups.

A Scanner Darkly: Reputedly the most faithful adaptation of a PKD novel ever made, this flick's opening up on July 7. And the groovy animation looks fantastic:

And, of course, the end of school. Coming 10:00 PM on April 25th. I'll be relieved, exhausted, and probably a little bit depressed about spectacularly failing my final exam.

A couple of days ago, I mentioned how easy registration was at my school. So, this morning was registration. The program you need to download to register went online at nine in the morning. I was at work, so I requested a long lunch and came home at noon to do it. Unfortunately, by that time, some of the classes were already full.

So, now I'm put in the rather awkward position of being successfully registered for all the courses I need to complete my degree, save for one. There are three different courses I can slot in here but, of course, they're all full. As a result, I'll be spending the next five months desperately hoping that someone drops out of one so that I don't have to go back to school in September of 2007 for one stinkin' course.

Anyhow, here's what next year will look like for me, academically speaking:

September 2006 - January 2007: Romantic Literature, 16th Century Literature, The Canadian Short Story, and a seminar course in Modern British Literature. (This semester will also be host to the Mondays from hell, with class from 11:30 - 2:30, and from 4:00 - 8:30. Argh!)

January 2007 - April 2007: Old English, Medieval Literature, and a seminar course in Canadian Literature (plus one more seminar course, pending that dropout).

Over at All Kinds of Writing, there was a rather interesting discussion on this topic, with the general consensus being: Who cares about a writer's race or gender? As long as they're writing a good story, it doesn't matter.

Well, on one count, that's probably accurate. If you're the kind of writer who cares about nothing more than a good story with some decently put together sentences, you probably shouldn't care. After all, in that sense, the novel is nothing more than a piece of entertainment, so the author's background isn't of too much importance. If you're one of these readers, the following probably doesn't concern you.

I'm the type of person who thinks that literature is far more than simple entertainment. The writer is generally (more often in the case of literary fiction and SF as opposed to, say, thrillers or romance) making some sort of statement, even if it's an unconscious one. The fact of the matter is, whether you care or not, the writer's race or gender does have an important bearing on a novel. Now, I'm not saying that every writer goes out there with their own agenda to push on the world. That said, everyone has their own views and opinions about that which they see in society. These opinions almost always make their way into fiction, sometimes in obvious ways (like being part of a story's plot or theme), and sometimes in subtle ways (like the occasional throwaway remark or piece of dialogue).

Do you have to be aware of a writer's background to enjoy a book? Of course not - and this is why it seems that so many people don't care. But by not caring, these readers are losing out on some of the fascinating parts of stories.

For example, you can enjoy Ender's Game without having any notion that Orson Scott Card is an anti-gay, anti-abortion conservative. I read the book when I was sixteen and had no notion of Card's politics, and didn't much care, either. I still loved the book. However, when you read the book knowing that Card, being pro-life, is writing about a society where it's illegal (except in government-approved cases) to have more than two children, portions of the book provide fascinating insights into what Card has to say about the world we're living in.

Likewise, Octavia Butler is a woman. She's also gay. She's also black. You can read the Xenogenesis trilogy having no notion of this and still enjoy it. I did. But if you do, you're missing some of the poignancy in the things Butler has to say about prejudice, sexuality and gender.

I think it's important that I mention what I think the hallmark of a good novel is. Sure, there should be an interesting plot, good characters and good dialogue and all that. But, essentially, this is the most important thing: What makes a good novel is the portrayal of a truth; a personal truth, an emotional truth, or a social truth. It is a novelist's job to capture the truth of a situation.

This truth is not absolute. As it pertains to a certain situation, it can be different for each person. If, in a novel, a writer can make me come to understand the truths of a character who's vastly different than I am, then that novelist has done something special.

I mention this because it's writer who are different than we are who are most apt to depict characters with truths different than ours. My goal, when I read a novel, beyond simply being entertained, is to grasp some sort of understanding of the people who inhabit this world and the different social constructs each of our cultures has set up. If we, as readers, decide that we just don't care about a writer's background, then I don't think we can ever fully grasp what these writers might be trying to say about the world we live in.

The school year is drawing to a close and I'm starting to crash. I took some classes last summer so, for all intents and purposes, I've been taking classes for twenty consecutive months. As a result, I've been pretty burned out lately and haven't been working as hard at school as I have in the past. Frankly, I need a break. So, I'm going to take one. Originally, I'd planned to do more classes this summer and finish up my degree by January 2007, but now I think I'll take some time off from school this summer and finish things up by April 2007. I don't mind waiting for an extra four months if it means I might be able to stave off the nervous breakdown I keep seeing on the horizon.

I bring this up because registration for summer courses and for next year opens up tomorrow morning. Unlike most of the other things at my school, this is the one process that hasn't been cluttered with red tape. Last year, I managed to register my summer courses and my courses for the 2005-06 school year inside of thirty minutes, via a groovy little program the university has set up to guide students through their registration.

Heaven forbid, though, that you should try to do something that should be simple, like buying a photocopy card. Then you're in real trouble.

From Liz Zernechel's blog (she's the Director of Clarion this year), on the number of applications submitted: I suppose I can also say that I think this year broke all recorded numbers.

Gulp.

Other stuff: Submitted the flash story to a primarily non-fiction market the generally publishes stuff regarding activism and consumerism, which is just another way of saying that probably no one who cares about SF will ever read it. On the plus side, their pay rate (even for a 750 word story) would pay most of my rent for the month, so I guess the two things even each other out.

A couple of brand new things around here, since I'm trying to stave off complete and total dejection after having to move this blog. Anyhow, first up is that I've changed Cavan Radio to Battle of the Bands radio. Press ZAP, listen to the two songs, vote for your favourite and maybe discover some new artists while you're at it. Also, I've added some new blogs to my link list and removed a few that no longer appeared to be updating.

Writing Stuff: There are now some links to my published short fiction on the left sidebar, so for those of you who were waiting for some quick and easy linkage to those stories - and I know you're out there, right? right?? - this should help out. Also, it seems Chapters now has Blurred Line in its database. So, if you're a fellow Canadian who'd been postponing your purchase of the book because you didn't want to get it online - and I know you're out there, right? right?? - you should now able to request a copy at your local Chapters, Coles, or Indigo branch.

Started work on a new short story today and I'm confident enough about it to list it in my progress section, so here's hoping this one gets done. In case you're wondering, I'm taking a shot at alternate history this time around.

Here's why I'm on Blogspot: As some of you know, there was an extended period of time where I didn't have full functionality on my blog, which I was hosting myself. Comments didn't get emailed to me, the RSS feed wasn't updated and new posts never appeared on the main page, necessitating some cut and paste work from the archives. When I'd finally become too frustrated to deal with it anymore, I wrote up a post that I was leaving the blog world. That, of course, published perfectly, and my blog has been fully functional ever since.

Until last night. Same issues as before. This time, instead of waiting for things to work themselves out (because who knows how long that will take), I've just decided to move things over to Blogspot. Sure, I'll probably have to deal with Blogger's notorious downtimes, but at least I won't have to deal with all the external hosting issues, and since I'm not moving to a different platform, I can still keep my groovy template.

Anyhow, I'm hoping to move my archives over to this site as well, since it'd be nice not to have to start from scratch, but I'm not exactly sure how to do that. In the meantime, since I just cut and pasted my template from the externally-hosted blog to this one, let me know if you find any functionality issues (ie. broken links and that kind of stuff).

And don't forget to update your links/bookmarks.