John Hodgman plays his ukulele in his MaxFunCon keynote address
Photo by Nicole Lee (More photos here)

When I said I was going to MaxFunCon last week, many people did not know what I meant. Even after I pasted the link, or after I tried describing it, I was met mostly with incredulity and laughter. I don’t blame them. It’s hard to comprehend how something like this can even happen. Matt, Adam, and Katie probably explained it better than I can, but here goes anyway.

Perhaps some background is in order. Jesse Thorn is a professional podcaster and public radio broadcaster who has somehow turned his college radio show into an audio podcast heard and loved the world over. The show that started it all was and is The Sound of Young America, which specializes in in-depth interviews with pop culture icons (ie. Brian Michael Bendis, Jeffrey Tambor, Neil Gaiman, Scott McCloud, etc.), many with a rather nerdy or comedic bent. TSOYA, as it’s called, has since been syndicated on PRI (Public Radio International) and is broadcasted on select public radio stations across the world. Since then, he’s produced many more podcasts under the Maximum Fun umbrella, like Jordan, Jesse, Go!, a light-hearted podcast co-hosted with his long-time buddy Jordan Morris, and The Kasper Hauser Podcast, a comedy podcast starring the members of Kasper Hauser, the San Franciscan comedy sketch group. All his podcasts are recorded and produced in his modest Los Angeles apartment.

Some time last year, Jesse had the idea of creating a convention called MaxFunCon. Not only would the conference bring together fans of his podcasts, but he also planned to invite his comedian and performer friends as entertainment. They include the You Look Nice Today crew (whom I consider friends), comedy rock duo Hard N’ Phirm, nerd rockstar Jonathan Coulton, and none other than the deranged millionaire himself, John Hodgman. When I heard this list of performers, I threw down my money faster than you could say “I’m a PC.”

And what did that money buy me? Three days and two nights in a mountain cabin, all meals included. The weekend’s itinerary included activity sessions like cooking, crafting, hiking, and learning the ins and outs of improv comedy. We were also treated to a creativity seminar by the super-inspiring Merlin Mann and a humorous slideshow by Improv Everywhere‘s Charlie Todd. If that wasn’t enough, we also saw comedians Jimmy Pardo, Tig Notarro, the aforementioned Hard N’ Phirm, and Maria Bamford send us all into fits of laughter as we sat shivering in an open-air amphitheater. Add in the late-night s’mores by the fire pit, John Hodgman passing around Crystalhead vodka and Jeppson’s Malort for us to sip right out of the bottle, meeting old friends and making new ones, and it was truly the most magical weekend I’ve had in years.

There was one key ingredient in this weekend of awesome: The incredibly nice people that Jesse somehow managed to attract to his fold. Maybe it’s just the inherent nature of people who listen to nerd comedy podcasts; that we’re all just really nice and easy-going. Or maybe it was the chilly mountain air, or that there were only 150 of us, or that the presenters were guests enjoying the conference just like the rest of us, or the fact that we had to brave thick debilitating fog to get to where we were. It was a treat, and I will not hesitate to do this again.

Sign me up for MaxFunCon 2010.

As a journalist with a keen and intense specialization on all things gadget-related, I have constant communication with people who call public relations their life’s calling (although to be honest most of them are just Journalism graduates who got sick of the poor pay). In any case, I like to think I have a healthy relationship with the PR people. I call them up to get information, they send me products to review, they get publicity (even if it’s bad), I send them the stuff back, and everyone’s all hunky dory in happy gadget wonder fairy land. However, I also have a lot of random PR people emailing me press releases and stuff that aren’t remotely related to my field, which I tend to skip by, but sometimes I humor them and I read them and sometimes I’m even so nice as to reply to them. It depends.

But sometimes.. just sometimes.. I come across a PR email that’s so inane, and ridiculous, and.. well.. just DUMB, that I can’t believe someone actually took their time to write it. Here’s one that I received recently, and I’ll leave it up to you to decide if I’m just being oversensitive here:

Dear Nicole,

[Insert introduction of said person plus the company he or she represents. It is a public relations and media firm specializing in technology. They have lots of cool clients.]

You have been in our database for some time now, listed as a writer for the CNET.com. That said, and to be entirely honest, we are not aware of your areas of interest. (Emphasis mine).

In better streamlining our communications with you, it would be great to understand your interest areas. That way we will ensure our communications with you are both targeted and appropriate.

Thanks for your help,
[Insert name of PR person]

So wait. They have me in their database (How?) and then they email me to ask me my areas of interest… Wow. How lazy can they be? Is this standard practice, to email journalists to ask them what their “areas of interests” are? Haven’t they ever heard of, oh I don’t know, web search? Maybe they could bother going to CNET.com and look for my name? Maybe they shouldn’t just chuck any ol journalists’ name into their “database” without appropriate information? What is this bullshit?

Well kudos to you, public relations person, for being honest. For that, I salute you. But.. boy, next time, do a little research instead of sending off the email, huh?

PS. Also, “the” CNET.com? That is totally a form letter. Boy they ARE lazy.