SCMS-less!

We’re going into spring break this weekend, and normally I would already be attending the annual Society for Cinema and Media Studies conference. After both of my proposals (one panel and workshop) were not accepted, I decided to pass on this year’s gathering, so that I could better juggle matters at home. It’s weird not being there; I haven’t missed one since 1997.

Apparently, I’m not the only one. Jason Mittell has had an even more grueling (and maybe cursed?) semester, and he’s sitting this one out due to some surgery he had last week. Jason and I would normally be presenting papers, making smarty-pants comments at other panels, showing off pictures of the kids, drinking a few beers, and, as he put it, doing some “awkward academic schmoozing.” He’s got the details of his predicaments over on his excellent blog. While you’re over there, check out his insider take on the great Middlebury College Wikipedia Debate of Ought-Seven, as well as loads of other media goodies.

Thankfully, some people are at SCMS, and some of them are even liveblogging, or quasi-liveblogging, given the not-particularly-generous state of the WiFi at the conference hotel. My buddy Tim Anderson is a blogging machine at each panel he takes in, but you can also expect some coverage over at chutry, Dr. Mabuse, and zigzigger, provided they find a decent net connection.