It's Convention time...

Every two years (give or take a year) I help a friend of mine put together a convention.  It's a Soap Opera Convention, for two of the soap operas that are still on TV (you have a 50-50 chance of correctly guessing which two).  The announcement of Soap Opera Weekend signifies the start of my slow descent into the depths of despair.   It starts out innocently enough....  

• Can you help me pick a good weekend? 
• Sure. 
• Can you help write a flyer? 
• No problem.   
• Can you help me pick a Hotel?
• Well...   I'm not a good judge of Hotels, but OK...
• Can you create an Excel spreadsheet?    
• Not really, Excel isn't my specialty, but I guess I..
• Can you start stuffing folders full of pictures?
• Well, no, I have plans, so I really...
• Can you do them RIGHT NOW?
• ok...
• Can you re-do them?   You can't put (name of actor playing a butler) on the top.  The (name of actor playing the town harlot) will complain.
• Really?   No one will even notice -
• Can you do them RIGHT NOW?
• ok...
• Can you do another 200 folders?   We are selling more tickets than I thought.
• ok...
• Can you seal and stamp 1000 invitations?
• ok...
• Can you write the show? And make it funny...
• thlrp...  (can't move my tongue after sealing 1000 envelopes)

And so it goes, deeper and deeper until the actual event arrives.  By that time, I am a mere drone, a slave to the cause, one of the army of helpers that gives up a weekend to help the fans have that once-in-a lifetime experience, yes, wait for it...    Their seventh meeting with (excruciating good looking actor who just happens to be the harlot's lawyer / lover).  Yes, the same people come to this event EVERY YEAR to get the same autograph they got the last seven years, and get the same picture with the actor or actress they most admire.   The only difference is while the fans get older in each picture, year after year, the star looks the same.   They never change.   It's like posing with Dorian Gray. 

The big event is this weekend, so you may not hear from me for a few days.   But think of me whenever you hear a shriek of girlish delight.   That will be me, happy the weekend is over.

On the Road with Joe #1

I'm starting a new feature.   It needs a better name, but for now, I am calling it "On the Road with Joe."  It will feature pictures and stories from the various odd places I have visited throughout the United States.   Here's today's photo, taken with my trusty Olympiad camera:

This was at an amusement park in Panama City, Florida that is sadly no longer in existence.   Its name was Miracle Strip Amusement Park and was on Florida's Gold Coast, across the street from the Gulf.   While the park was quite popular throughout the years, the land become so valuable that the owners, in the midst of a post 9-11 slump in tourism, decided to sell.   I visited the park in 2003 and was very impressed by the whole place.   The Park had various buildings like this, with huge facades that had to be seen to be believed.   This one is was probably the oddest.   My personal opinion:   Don't walk under any snowman in that particular position.

Saturday Morning Cartoon: Blooper Bunny

Sorry for the recent sparseness of postings.  
In Los Angeles there are occassional screenings of classic cartoons.  I love going to those and try to get to them all. However, life sometimes interferes with my scheduling (couldn't someone else have donated blood to...  well, never mind) and I miss the occasional show.   Whenever this happens, I get the inevitable call from a certain friend of mine, asking me if I made it to the show.   When I say no, he immediately tells me what a shame it was that I missed it, because THAT NIGHT ONLY they showed the rarest Bugs Bunny cartoon that ever existed.   The pulled it out of the vaults for that one night, showed it, then set fire to the negative in front of the entire audience.  They then erased everyone's memory before they allowed them to leave the theater.
He may well have been talking about today's Saturday Morning Cartoon:  Blooper Bunny.   This cartoon was produced in 1991, then shelved for several years.   No one is quite sure why the cartoon was never released, but some speculate that Daffy's ranting about Warner Bros. executives at the beginning of the cartoon may have been a part of the problem.   It was also felt that the humor may have been a little too edgy and inside to appeal to regular audiences.   Either way, the cartoon sat in the vaults unknown and forgotten until 1997, when Cartoon Network spotted it sitting in the vault.   They aired it, and since then, it has gained a small cult following.  I had seen a small mention of it here and there throughout the years, but never saw it until the Internet made all things possible.   Here it is, one of the rarest Bugs Bunny cartoons of all time: Blooper Bunny.