Pop Culture Convention a Success With Richie Rich

I went to do my panel at the PCA/ACA National Conference in San Francisco. Dr. Kathy Merlock Jackson and I did a presentation on Richie Rich. Our presentation was called "Dollars and Dandy Devices: Richie Rich as Prototype for Gadget-Oriented Baby Boomers".



At first I thought it was going to be a disaster as my dad and I created a DVD slide show of selected Richie Rich drawings and covers, but when I got to the Marriott hotel to test it out on their equipment, it didn't work! Another speaker who was discussing Oprah Winfrey put in his DVD that he burned, and it worked fine.



Kathy and I had a backup plan that I would hold up the comics books, as she fortunately brought them with her. Luckily Dr. Harold Dorton brought his laptop and that saved the day. Before that, we were told that the Marriott could rent a laptop to us for only $250!!



The presentation went without a hitch and a few questions were asked. I should have taken photos, but for some reason, the thought didn't even cross my mind.



The PCA/ACA National Conference isn't a conference I normally attend, but this was my second time, as it was in San Diego in 2005 and San Francisco this year. Next year, it will be in New Orleans and plans to be in California again won't be until after 2014.



Hopefully, greater things will happen due to this and other papers and presentations Kathy and I are doing. See http://www.english.ufl.edu/imagetext/archives/v3_3/jackson/
for another example of our collaborations.

Harvey Comics Classics Series

The "Harvey Comics Classics" series continues with a book about Hot Stuff, the Little Devil. The most important aspect (to me that is) of this book is that I write the Foreword to the book. It just came out last Wednesday, and I give it my highest recommendation.



You can find it online or at better comic book stores.

Another Day, Another Sausage

If you are a hardcore fan of Frank Zappa, or just happen to have the album "Broadway the Hard Way", you'll know the reference above. Anyway, I don't have anything really to say today, but I'm trying to submit more regularly to my blog.



That said, I will say how much I miss Frank Zappa and his music and always regret that the 1988 tour never made it to the West Coast, where I most assuredly would have seen him.



Fortunately, the tour in memorialized in three different album sets: "Broadway the Hard Way", "The Best Band You Never Heard in Your Life", and "Make a Jazz Noise Here".



All well worth picking up for both the casual and hard core fan as they have all of the "hits" as well as many decent covers and on "Broadway" a certain Mr. Sting is lurking about and actually sings on "Murder By Numbers".



Take that, Police fans!!

Texting

Is it just me or am I the only one who finds texting on a cell phone annoying? I recently upgraded my service on Verizon, and they had to send me a text message to implement the new service.



They said that they had to unblock the texting to send me this, so I said all right. All of sudden I get bombarded (well ok, 3) with text messages. Look, I have a number of email addresses and check them frequently. I also have a voicemail.



I know people are not always in a position to leave a voicemail, but guess what? If you call, and don't leave a message, I usually will call you back, unless you have your number blocked.



I haven't gone on a blog tirade for awhile. I'm not pinpointing anyone, just the concept of texting. When the Verizon guy asked me if I wanted texting on my new service and I said, "no", he replied, "Oh, you must be over 30!" I thought that was particularly funny.



Anyway, anyone reading this, email or voicemail will do. If you have an incessant need to text, well go ahead, I just won't receive it...