Launching with a bang on this momentous Monday, with posts already on the imminent demise of the novel, the situation in East Timor, an obituary on the French philosopher Roger Saint-Douche, and more - much more - any minute now - is Australia's own group litblog, Sarsaparilla.

Get thee hence, culture vultures, and check it out. It's sure to be a most interesting addition to our indigenous literary conversation. And, yes, among the 14 contributors is one Alison Croggon. I didn't quite make the starting gate, but I will get there, and am delighted to find myself in such good company...invisible on the contributor's list, but also apparently on board, is our very own Chris Boyd, so theatre will be well represented in this new parliament of letters. The gorgeous design is by Laura Carroll, who conceived the idea and then cajoled us all into joining up.

I didn't get to blog because I was busy at the Malthouse, being forced to read the "I am an animal" speech from Marat/Sade in the company of Robert Menzies and Lindy Davies. Now, that's the definition of intimidating. I think I passed the audition, and the reading (aside from my speech) was excellent, reminding me, anyway, how powerful language can be in the mouths of great performers.

On a less cheerful note, George Hunka has announced that he is hanging up his board over at Superfluities. One of you New Yorkers take that man for a drink and convince him of the error of his ways. Always thoughtful and literate, sometimes inspiring, Superfluities sets a standard for theatre blogging that will be sorely missed if he sticks to his resolution to leave the cyberworld behind. So I'm crossing my fingers and hoping he changes his mind.

And finally, I expect those who scour every inch of this blog will notice that I have a new email address - alisoncroggon at aapt dot net dot au. I have been having an interesting time lately with technology, and in the process have exhausted the resources of at least four tech help people at Apple, not to mention Aapt. But I will desist from boring you further. Normal transmission - and for those who have mentioned to me that they miss my missives, normal email updates - will resume very soon.