'ONLY CONNECT...'

News & announcements

News

Who is Forster?

Works
 ~ by Forster
 ~ about Forster
 ~ inspired by Forster

Selected quotes

Film adaptations

Why Forsterites are Forsterites

About this site & its maintainer

Shop

Support 'Only Connect'

Links to other sites

29 April 2006, 18:03 PDT

Well, it was bound to happen. Spammers took over some of the contact pages. You can still contact me, but the Tributes page is offline for now. Not to worry, because it'll be back -- ideally after I've transferred everything over to a different platform.

I know the content is due for a major update, and I need to do a link-audit especially. Again, ideally, all of that will be done by the time this site's upgrades are in place.

23 November 2006, 02:30 PST

"Quaint" is how I think of this site now. It's been over a decade since I started it, and it still surprises me when I get a nice message now and then, even though it's true I haven't been great about replying to the ones that ask for homework help.

It's been a long hiatus, I know, but I still hope to convert this to an easier CMS. I've made some small internal changes to the site, and the old page addresses will all still work. I don't promise bells and whistles, because this site has never been about that, but I hope to incorporate a system that allows the site news better organization and easier updates. Rest assured that I'm still here and I hope to be here to see this project transferred and upgraded as I originally planned. Thanks as always for your patience. And if you haven't already, go read The Longest Journey.

Happy Thanksgiving.

25 May 2005, 16:57 PDT

A few hours ago, I read about the passing of Ismail Merchant, the producer of so many films, including Howards End, A Room with a View, and Maurice. He died today at the age of 68.

I will try to put together an essay, but my feelings are a muddle right now. Look for it here in the future.

A lot has been going on in my life this calendar year. I think this is the longest span of no updates to this site in...at least four years. I am sorry that my latest update happens under the sad event of Mr Merchant's death -- actually, I had planned to return with a report of my experience meeting James Ivory last month at a book signing. That will have to wait until later.

I will be updating this site more frequently again -- I am already in the process of a major renovation regarding the technical side of things (moving the site to a WordPress engine), so we'll see how that goes. In the meantime, I have updated the outdated links and DVD images on the Film adaptations page. DVDs of all of the E. M. Forster films are now available. The Merchant Ivory DVDs now have been superceded by special editions. Even Maurice is on DVD in the U.S., with special bonus features! Where Angels Fear to Tread will be available on DVD soon. So far, only the A Passage to India DVD lacks any bonus features, if I recall correctly.

I haven't changed the Quote of the Month on the front page.

Be well.

5 January 2005, 00:52 PST

Happy birthday to Forster, who would have turned 126 on 1st January. There's a new Quote of the Month (again, sorry for the delay). For only the second time in the nine+ years of the history of this site, it's a repeated QOTM, but I felt strongly about starting the new year with this quote. It was last featured on the front page in July 2000.

I've had many messages sent to me since the last update -- many more than usual. Fear not, your notes have not been lost. I've just been completely occupied somehow in the meantime. If you wanted a response and it's not too late, I'll definitely reply. Thanks for writing, and for some excellent suggestions.

Year 2004 was an interesting one, and I hope 2005 will afford me the time to make some changes to the site -- changes I've wanted to incorporate for a while now.

By the way, this is not Forster-related or related to this site, but over on my personal blog, I am giving away Gmail invitations to people who donate money to a disaster-relief charity involved in aiding victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami. Please participate if you can!

Best of wishes to you this year. Hoping things will get better for everyone.

25 October 2004, 22:22 PST

There's a new Quote of the Month (sorry for the delay) and its subsequent addition to the Selected Quotes page. I've also added a quotation from Where Angels Fear to Tread, submitted by E. I. Jenson, as well as two new entries to the "Why I Appreciate Forster" tribute, this time from Amar Talwar and Angelo Casertano. Thanks to all of you! Please keep those tributes coming, especially since in a few days, this site will turn nine years old! In any case, I love reading the tributes. Thanks also to those of you who sent e-mail. After I upload this update, I'll be off to reply to those of you who wanted an answer (unless you asked for help on an assignment...).

As you can guess, my time has just been vacuumed up by Life and I truly am incredulous that it's been three months since the last update.

As I keep updating the site, I really recognize the need to upgrade the structure of the pages to something more dynamic. My goal is to transfer this news page to XML by the end of the year. It shouldn't take long to set it up, but it will take a while to test everything and make sure there are no broken links, etc.

28 July 2004, 23:42 PST

Yet another new Quote of the Month and an update to the Selected Quotes page. The quote is timely, I think, especially when changing around some of the subjects...

Development news: ideally, I'd like to start restructuring the site -- it'll happen gradually, and one of the first goals is to offer these updates in an RSS feed. Target date: I have no idea. Perhaps within the next 3-4 months, when I have some spare time to devote to importing all of the older entries. Other goals include adding more sections of content, and rehauling the shop page and Amazon links. Since this site is, as always, a work-in-progress, I hope you'll stick around and experience and offer feedback on future changes.

29 June 2004, 15:35 PST

Another new Quote of the Month and its subsequent addition to the Selected Quotes page. I've added three, count 'em, three, new submissions to the "Why I Appreciate Forster" tribute, from Izumi Okuyama, Jennifer Stevenson, and Gillian Booth. Thanks, and keep sending 'em. If you sent in a tribute but it hasn't shown up on the site, or you never received a reply from me, it's likely because the tribute didn't have the minimum requirement of 100 words.

28 May 2004, 00:32 PST

Skipped another month. Oops. Once again, the Quote of the Month is new to this site, and it's now in the Selected Quotes page. I've received a couple of new entries for the "Why I Appreciate Forster" tribute; they should be up in time for next month's update, once I get a chance to edit them a little.

Take care--JYW

27 March 2004, 15:27 PST

The Quote of the Month is new to this site, and I've added it (from Two Cheers for Democracy) to the Selected Quotes page. Since the last update, Harry Pandolfino sent in an entry for the "Why I Appreciate Forster" tribute, so please have a look to see why he appreciates Forster. Thanks to Harry, and if anyone else is interested in sending something in, please feel free to do so.

Until next time --JYW

6 March 2004, 20:35 PST

What the heck happened to February? I seem to blink and it's already March. Well, to make up for it, the new Quote of the Month is especially long. It's from Howards End and one of my favorites.

Also, I've added an entry from Jessica (no surname given) on the "Why I Appreciate Forster" tribute page. Please check it out! Thanks Jessica and please keep those contributions coming!

Happy spring --JYW

21 January 2004, 01:55 PST

The 1st January 2004 was Forster's 125th birthday!

I'm delighted to report that I received an e-mail from Scott Sickles recently, telling me that his play about Forster's later years, called Shepherd's Bush, was read in New York City earlier this month. I hadn't heard from him in almost seven years, so it was great to hear from him.

The Quote of the Month is new. Aside from that, not much else to report.

Thanks to those of you who sent in messages commenting on the Only Connect site since the last update. I know I haven't responded yet to those of you who wanted a reply, and I hope to attend to them soon. To those of you who sent kind notes but didn't want a reply: thanks very much for taking the time to write.

Happy new year! --JYW

17 December 2003, 16:43 PST

I was tidying up my room and happened to pick up Howards End, with the intention of replacing it on the bookshelf. Instead I got lost in it for about half an hour. Every time I read through it, I am amazed and delighted by its power.

I've changed the Quote of the Month. Not surprisingly it is from Howards End, since I was just reading it a few minutes ago.

In any case, happy Christmas to you and happy Hanukkah as well. I still can't get over how quickly the year slipped by. --JYW

18 November 2003, 16:47 PST

Added a few selections to the Selected Quotes page. That thing is getting unwieldy. I'm thinking of making it database-driven, and searchable. Don't know when I'll have the time to work on it, though. The Quote of the Month is new, as well, and it's one of the ones I've added to the Quotes page.

Thanks for the kind messages since the last update. I know you didn't expect a reply but I hope to write some personal thanks soon.

Getting cold. Less than two months until 2004! Unbelievable. This site turned 8 years old on 6 Nov.

Take care. --JYW

17 October 2003, 02:31 PDT

Quote of the Month is new. Sorry if you tried to access the site and couldn't a few weeks ago: I had to migrate it to another server. In other news, I'm in the beginning stages of tweaking the site a bit to take advantage of the more common, wider screen widths since I first began designing the current design about five years ago. --JYW

15 September 2003, 14:24 PDT

The first time in quite a while where I've missed the monthly update! The reason: I am a student again, so I've had my hours fairly preoccupied for the past few weeks.

For now I've changed the Quote of the Month -- thanks very much to Roy Sargeant, who sent it in. I hope to pry out some time to update more on the site.

I received some wonderful e-mail messages in July and August -- apologies for not answering if you wanted one before now (which I presume you did!), but I hope to get to them, especially if you asked a question or two. I've also received some nice entries for the ongoing "Why I Appreciate Forster" tribute, but all of them were very short -- averaging at around 30-60 words. Please be sure to meet the minimum 100 words before sending an entry. -- if you want to just contact me with some comments, you can use the general query page and not the tribute submission page.

It's hard to believe that there are only about three months left until the next of the year. I hope you're doing well.

Ta --JYW

24 July 2003, 01:16 PDT

A little late with the update, but I've got the Quote of the Month changed finally.

The plans for a site remodel are on hold for now, unfortunately. If it happens, the remodel will be gradual. Time constraints and all that. Looks like I'm to be a student again...

Take care, and I'll be back in a day or two with a new entry for the Tribute page. --JYW

16 June 2003, 23:36 PDT

It's looking more and more like a site redesign is in order. I've done two 'remodels' during the entire course of this site's life, and this current one has served me well since its debut -- but I think it's about time for a change and some updating to XHTML while I'm at it. With more content I've noticed more difficult navigation, especially with the Selected Quotes page. I'll have to think about a new model, so a new design won't be immediate. Just thought I'd share...

In any case, I've changed the Quote of the Month for now. Best to you --JYW

19 May 2003, 19:25 PDT

I've changed the Quote of the Month and added it to the Selected Quotes page.

Thanks for the correspondence sent in the past month...pardon me if I haven't replied (yet). I will get to the unanswered ones...

Thanks again for your patience --JYW

21 April 2003, 23:51 PDT

The monthly update arrives a bit late this time...but finally it's here. The Quote of the Month is new, and I'm back to using never-before-featured quotes again...for the time being, in any case.

Cheers for now --JYW

16 March 2003, 23:07 PST

First of all, I want to thank whoever it was who anonymously sent a donation during the last week of February. Thank you very much for your generous support of this site!

The Quote of the Month has been changed. If you've visited this site for a long time, you may recognize it. It's the very first time that I have reused a past QOTM. This one, from Two Cheers for Democracy, initially appeared as the QOTM for August 2000.

Thanks to Octavia Randolph for suggesting a quote from Aspects of the Novel, which gives Forster's definition of a plot. It's now on the "Selected Quotes" page.

Until next time, take care --JYW

19 February 2003, 13:49 PST

Thanks to Sarah Whittaker for the Quote of the Month, from Howards End. And be sure to check out Charles Michener's entry on the "Why I Appreciate Forster" tribute page.

I also have some more contributions to incorporate, including another quote. That'll all get rolled into the next update, if plans work out. Thanks to everyone for contributing!

If you sent me e-mail in the past few weeks, I'll be sending out replies shortly. Thanks for your patience! --JYW

18 January 2003, 23:56 PST

Wow, more helpful messages in the past month! 2003 begins on a good note.

The Quote of the Month from Aspects of the Novel is new on the front page (thanks to Daniel Levy for bringing it to my attention). It's also now on the "Selected Quotes" page, along with one in the Howards End section from Sarah Whittaker. Also new to the site is Rae Rutherford's essay on the "Why I Appreciate Forster" tribute page. Thanks to everyone for your suggestions. :-)

Also, David Spanswick sent me an e-mail recommending Judi Dench's reading of A Room with a View on tape. I actually have been working on getting links to buying audio versions of Forster works integrated into the site, but I wanted to reveal Mr Spanswick's rec before then. Thanks David!

If you wrote a message but haven't heard back from me, please re-send it. It may have gotten shuffled around during a mail server blip. Until next time --JYW

16 December 2002, 20:36 PST

Happy holidays!

A few new things to report: the Quote of the Month on the front page has been updated. This month's quote was suggested by Partholon MacPharlain, who also contributed an essay to the ongoing "Why I Appreciate Forster" tribute page -- thanks again!

India on stage, redux: Also thanks to Ian Whitaker, who revealed that the Shared Experience theater company will be staging Martin Sherman's adaptation of A Passage to India again in about a month. So if you missed it this past fall, you can catch the production at London's Riverside Studios from 22 January to 22 February 2003, and even book your tickets online. From what I can tell, ticket prices range from £12.50 to £25, depending on the date and time. See the Shared Experience site for details. (If you have a sack of cash to spare, maybe you'd consider donating roundtrip airfare so I could see the show on my birthday, 28 Jan.?) ;-)

Take care...I wish everyone a safe and positive holiday season and new year. And as I always say: in your New Year's celebration on 1 January, remember to toast Forster's birthday as well... --JYW


Site disclaimer

'Only Connect': The Unofficial E. M. Forster Site <http://www.musicandmeaning.com/forster/sitenews.html>