Well, the blog awards shortlist results are in…and fustar.info has done not too badly at all. Thanks to all who voted.
Like last year I'm up for the best Arts/Culture prize along with two other category veterans: Sinéad (inaugural winner) and Jett. The final two places go to the lovely lads at infactah and the mighty (blogging old-timer) Dave Walsh of Blather. Very happy to be sharing the Arts/Culture space with such notables as a) they are all top-quality blogs, and, b) I’d be happy for any of 'em to win.
Also got the nod in the "Sport & Recreation" section (for World of World Cup Wonders) which I'm pretty chuffed about. It was a tough and time-consuming project to take on (particularly with the sun beating down outside) but I was quite pleased with the results. If both I and the blog are still around in 3 year's time I'll probably have another crack at it. Once again I find myself joined by infactah here. Are they becoming category stalkers?
The final nomination is one that I take absolutely no credit at all for. Thanks, entirely, to Jess's determination to make fustar.info a cleaner, leaner blog we've made the cut in "Best Design". Hats off to my darling wife. She managed to transform my not particularly helpful grunts, nods, shakes of the head, doodles (etc) into a very handsome, uncluttered home for my scribblings. Thanks honey. You're a genius.
Brief period of reflection follows:
As I suggested last year, the effect of being a nominee at an awards ceremony (even one as low-key & informal as this) can be both encouraging and debilitative. Encouraging because it makes you feel that this curious/muddled thing you're doing is worth pursuing. Debilitative because the loss of privacy involved can lead to feelings of self-consciousness and inhibition - two things that stifle any kind of creativity with a vice-like chokehold.
On top of that there's the nagging, insistent, and embarrassing inner-child that hopes you win. This, incidentally, is the same inner-child that feels uplifted and elated by the last few minutes of Star Wars (when the medals are being handed out) and wishes that 'he' could up there with Han, Chewie, Luke et al. Happily I’ve managed to repress said child (and his grubby yearning for approval) to the extent that my adult self finds it hard to watch said scene without feeling physically ill…but the little bastard is persistent, and is probably still there in all of us.
I've never really defined what exactly the blog is supposed to be (or offered a definitive mission statement), but I've tried to keep it as close to my original (vague) intentions as possible - i.e. to maintain a distance from the topical & the trendy, to avoid the facile & the obvious, and to make the posts as honest & "me" as I could (given the limited blogging time I have on my hands). 'Tis a great hobby and, when a post comes out "just right" (as Goldilocks might put it), it gives me no small amount of pleasure. Ultimately this pleasure - and not Awards/Prizes/Bags of Sweets - is what keeps me keeping on…though it's not unpleasant to know that someone digs what you do.
Anyway, enough of all that and back to business. There'll (probably) be no "Manky Toy Monday" tomorrow as a) My niece & nephew were visiting and I only had time to go shopping for quality toys, and, b) I fancy taking a breather. Some other nonsense will (probably) take its place.
Tags: Irish Blog Awards, Star Wars, World Cup
Game on :-)
February 18th, 2007 at 11:16 pmIt’s the only category where there’ll be compulsory drug testing Colm, so make sure you’re clean. Also, in the event of a tie the award will go to the person who can throw their shoe over the hotel.
February 18th, 2007 at 11:21 pmBest of luck, and well done
February 18th, 2007 at 11:37 pmCheers Bock. And to yourself.
Perhaps we could get Denis Allen to drive the Limerick contingent up to Dublin in a mini-bus?
We could sing the full range of school trip classics along the way:
“People always ask us…”
“You’re all a shower of wankers…”
“Stop the bus I want to wee wee.”
…and so on…
February 18th, 2007 at 11:46 pmCongrats on getting on so many of the shortlists. Looking forward to meeting up on the third.
February 19th, 2007 at 9:06 amWell done Sir, no better man for arts/sports awards, great to see you doing so well in so many categories and best of luck to your good lady.
See you there for that mineral? The peanuts are on you. :)
February 19th, 2007 at 9:52 amMr McAwilliams,
Thanks very much. See you on the turd.
Sinéad,
Ta. I’m sneaking in my own minerals (as I’m awful cheap and don’t want to part with any coppers) so I’ll pour you a nice big glass of flat TK red.
We’ll have to see about the peanuts. I’m not made of money y’know. ;)
February 19th, 2007 at 2:25 pmYou well deserved to make the final cut. Congrats.
“You’re all a shower of wankers..”
Isn’t that “Yizz are all a shower…”?
February 19th, 2007 at 5:40 pmCongratulations. Won’t be readiing your blog for a couple of weeks as I am off to the US and A.
February 19th, 2007 at 7:26 pmThanks chaps.
Nobody says “Yizz” down this part of the country, Paul. “Ye’re” possibly, but ne’er a “Yizz” you’ll hear.
Just remembered that on my (all-Irish) primary school trips the immortal “Stad an bhus, tá pidil agam anois!” was frequently heard.
February 19th, 2007 at 11:54 pmA very cool design indeed, congratulations to Jess!
Only discovered the blog recently so can’t comment on the other categories, but best of luck in all three of them! I’ll be returning to take a closer look, seems to be well worth it. :)
February 20th, 2007 at 12:27 amFústar,
congrats and best of luck.
maybe your parents will let you go this year.
February 20th, 2007 at 11:34 amlauranen,
Glad you like the “container”. Hopefully the contents aren’t too bad either.
foolhardy,
They’ve already said I can go! Yay! I’ll be sent off on the morning train from Colbert Station with well-combed hair and a packed lunch from the ma.
February 20th, 2007 at 2:35 pmYou’d better pack a spare pair of pants (long) as the excitement of being on the “choo choo” again might bring about another, as you say, “accident”.
The BIG shmoke hah? Class.
I hear Dublin is the greatest city in the whole world these days. Granted, the movie Titanic was also enormously popular and it’s shite.
Again, best of luck.
February 20th, 2007 at 4:33 pmCongrats! Do we get to vote from the short lists now? When does that commence?
February 21st, 2007 at 2:45 pmHi Curt,
Nice of you to pop in. The short lists now pass into the hands of a shadowy cabal of judges who will use arcane alchemical practises to decide on the winners. If you feel like helping, though, try using the power of your mind to remotely influence their decisions.
February 21st, 2007 at 2:52 pmThe Power of Our Minds? That’s how it’s done?
I’m stuffed.
February 22nd, 2007 at 6:44 pmYou should spend more time honing your telepathic powers of persuasion and less getting tarted up for daytime TV appearances. Just watched you now on YouTube. What happened to the “fustar.org soooo Rocks!” T-shirt I sent you? Did it get lost in the post?
February 22nd, 2007 at 9:40 pm