I’ve spent the past few hours reading about HTML5. I was also able to convert my current blog design to HTML5 and CSS3. It’s interesting, and was actually rather fast – but I think I’ll stick with XHTML 1.0 and CSS 2.1 at the moment. I was able to find a fix to make the new HTML5 elements work in IE, but when I tried using CSS3, things started to get messy in IE.
Reading about it was interesting, though. The new elements like <nav> and <time> can make the markup easier to understand – especially for beginners. It was a little confusing at the beginning, though. I also think the <header> element is a bit unnecessary, especially when used with <hgroup> . Aren’t all the headings – h1 to h6 – already semantic?
I guess the only thing stopping me from using HTML5 and CSS3 is the fact that about 40% of my blog’s viewers still use IE6 (switch to Firefox or Opera, people!). I guess it’s enough that I’ve learned about it, like reading about best diet pills. Maybe we’ll be able to use HTML5 and CSS3 in 3-4 years – but we’ll probably still hate IE (cross browser compatibility, you are the bane of my – blogging and professional – existence). 
If you want to know more about HTML5, here are some useful links:
lol I have the -same- issues about xhtml 2/html 5. I can’t wait for css3 though; I hear firefox already has some in use
but then there’s the cross-browser thing as you said. My friend put it as “screw IE” lol, but you do have to be indiscriminate. it’ll be hard to adjust to the new additions though. and the W3 has been saying “it’ll be here next year” for ages 
This is pretty ironic, as I was just reading a book on XHTML that said there would never be an HTML 5. Guess it was wrong.