September 15: 5000 Views, Nobel Prize Speculation, Hello Out There

It officially happened.  Sometime in the last twelve hours, Saint Marty crossed the threshold of 5000 pageviews.  That needs to be celebrated in some way.  I may have a drink tonight to kick off the festivities.  For you, the disciples of Saint Marty, you know what it means.  Another contest.  I'm going to have to put a little thought into this one, since it commemorates my rising popularity in the blogosphere (or my imagined rising popularity in the blogopsphere).  Stay tuned this weekend for more details.

For those faithful, long-term followers of Saint Marty (I'm talking to you Wonder Twin), you may be wondering why I haven't even mentioned the upcoming announcement of the winner of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Literature at the beginning of October.  No, I haven't forgotten about it.  No, I haven't given up my shallow, deluded fantasies of winning the prize.  No, I don't think a write-in campaign to the Swedish Academy will make a difference this year.  That being said, I have been following different blogs and discussions on the Internet about the possible winners.  All the usual suspects are present.  The Americans most-mentioned are (again) Cormac McCarthy, Philip Roth, Joyce Carol Oates, and Thomas Pynchon.  Frankly, I think the Swedes should give it to Pynchon just so that he'll come out of hiding and let a decent picture of himself be taken.  But, if I were a betting man, and I'm not, I'd be betting on someone obscure to win this year.  Mario Vargas Llosa was a big name in 2010.  Therefore, by following current trends in the Nobel World, this year the prize will go to someone completely (or nearly completely) unknown in the English-speaking world.  Perhaps I should start publishing in ancient Sumerian.  I could write on cuneiform tablets.

As you can tell, I have not changed my ways.  I'm still nursing a secret hope of being able to add those letters after my name:  FNPW.  Famous Nobel Prize Winner.  Let me know what you think my chances are.  (Be kind about it.  I have a fragile ego.)

By the way, I haven't gotten any comments in a long while.  I'm feeling a little lonely.  Is anyone out there?  Hello?  Drop me a comment, please.  Let me know what you like, don't like, absolutely hate about Saint Marty.  I can take just about any kind of nastiness, as long as you tell me I'm the best writer in the world and you can't live without your daily doses of my blog.  Other than that, feel free to say anything you like.

Saint Marty is waiting.

My new poem.  Hope you can read cuneiform.