Harold Pinter

...and the Nobel Prize in Literature 2005 goes to Harold Pinter - “who in his plays uncovers the precipice under everyday prattle and forces entry into oppression’s closed rooms” - and is an author that is already famous :-). An oldie. I remember we once saw the Birthday Party in Sheffield some years ago in the Studio - never been attracted to the theatre, usually reality is fascinating enough, but I enjoy the absurdist plays. However, I cannot really see it as literature and especially not awarded literature. This is closer than Dario Fo, but when are they going to take a closer look at literary qualities? Tomas Tranströmer, it's written in the sky.

John Banville

Lastly, the author named to receive the Booker Prize 2005 was John Banville, Ireland, for his novel The Sea ... "a masterly study of grief, memory and love recollected". And now we await the announcement from the Swedish Academy on the Nobel Prize in literature.

Virtual Society

In the latest issue of Axess, an essay brings up the socialisation on the internet by online role playing games such as World of Warcraft. It gives an interesting introduction for those of us that didn't yet take part in these games, but the essay turns more around the rules and the codes to follow than the fun and the feeling of creating something together.

World Summit on the Information Society

I just got the accreditation for the UN WSIS phase 2 coming up in November. "In the second phase of WSIS efforts are being made to put the Plan of Action into motion and working groups have been set up to find solutions and reach agreements in the fields of Internet governance and financing mechanisms." Looking forward to that. Carl Bildt made some comments on his blog. Will be interesting to go there.