Trouble with pagination

Hey guys,

I’m having massive trouble getting pagination to work in my Thematic child theme. It kinda works… partly, but not as desired. On my site I’m calling a custom loop:

<?php
				if ( get_query_var('paged') ) { $paged = get_query_var('paged'); }
				elseif ( get_query_var('page') ) { $paged = get_query_var('page'); }
				else { $paged = 1; }
				$my_query = new WP_Query('cat=33&paged='.$paged);
					while ($my_query->have_posts()) : $my_query->the_post();
					$do_not_duplicate = $post->ID;
					?>

I didn’t include the whole loop when I call CSS code and the like to reduce confusion…

I also added a function in my functions.php. It’s where I tell WP to include a pagination in my childtheme:

<?php
function absolutip_custom_pagination() {
	if(is_front_page() || is_page('blog') ) { ?>
		<div class="pagination">
			<?php posts_nav_link(); ?>
			<?php
				global $my_query;

				$big = 999999999;
				echo paginate_links( array(
				'base' => str_replace( $big, '%#%', esc_url( get_pagenum_link( $big ) ) ),
				'format' => '?paged=%#%',
				'total' => $my_query->max_num_pages,
				'prev_next' => $my_query->True,
				'prev_text' => __( $big, '? Previous'),
				'next_text' => __( $big, 'Next ?')
			) ) ?>
			<?php
				if (have_posts()) : while (have_posts()) : the_post();
				if( $post->ID == $do_not_duplicate ) continue; update_post_caches($posts);
			?>
			<?php endwhile; endif; ?>
		</div>
	<?php
	}
}
add_action( 'thematic_belowcontent', 'absolutip_custom_pagination' );
?>

Somehow pagination never shows the << Previous Next >> link. It does show up however, if I add 'current' => 1, to my absolutip_custom_pagination function. However, then Page 1 can’t be clicked anymore…

Can anyone help me, and could it be that my pagination doesn’t know what page it’s on?

Thanks so much

[Moderator Note: No bumping, thank you.]