National Book Critics Circle Awards attendees congregate at the crossroads of two dying industries (books, news, what have you) on Thursday night at the New School. Friendly yet unsolicited advice to NBCC: the ceremony should have been about 15 minutes shorter. Unexpected development: Ron Charles, the nerdy senior editor at the Washington Post's Book World is actually the funniest bastard in the whole world. Charles took home an award for criticism and encouraged his fellow scribes to think and write in reader-friendly modes rather than acting like jerks.