now i now how to use "lastn"... but...
say I have a constant growing number of entries.... how would I get MT to build pages with 10 entries at a time and be able to navigate through them with nxt and prev buttons... so basically say you have 35 entries... MT would generate 3 pages with 10 entries... and one with 5.... and they would all be linked together sequentially... am i dreaming?

There's this thread:

I used the php/mysql method most recently here and also blogstyle here (little >next on the page bottom)

That thread should give you some ideas?