| Monday, May 18, 2009 |
| MaxFunCon Activity Signups |
Activity Signups are now available for MaxFunCon.
Each attendee should sign up for *one* activity in Session A and a second activity in Session B. Please sign up for an activity in each session, and please only sign up for one activity in each session.
Advance signups are now closed. If you haven't yet signed up for activities, don't worry, you'll have the opportunity to do so when you check in at the conference center.Labels: Education, Entertainment |
posted by Jesse Thorn @ 12:34 PM  |
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| Thursday, May 14, 2009 |
| MaxFunCon Activity Signups! |
Much of the schedule at MaxFunCon will include all attendees. Everyone will be at our comedy shows and podcast tapings, our keynote talks, parties and of course meals.
On Saturday, however, we'll have two schedule blocks with elective activities. These include outdoor fun, seminars, classes and workshops.
Space is and will be limited for these classes, so we're offering signups, starting Monday the 18th of May. Signups will be on a first come, first served basis, so if you have strong preferences, plan to sign up on the 18th.
Here's what we've got on tap:
Cooking with Julia Crookston
Crafting with Jenny Ryan
Dr. Cocktail on 10 Things You Didn't Know About Cocktails
Lake shore hike with Nick White
Improv with Jordan Morris
Group Creativity with Kasper Hauser
Relax & Enjoy - Unstructured time by the pool or lake
& Ultimate Frisbee game with Casey
All activities will be offered in both time blocks, with the exception of Jordan's improv class. Jordan will be offering a class for novice improvisers in the first block, and folks with improv experience in the second.
Come the 18th, we'll offer a link to signups, and ask that you sign up for one activity in Session A and one activity in Session B.
If you don't sign up in advance, you will of course be able to sign up upon arrival, but due to space restrictions, some activities are likely to be full.Labels: Education |
| posted by Jesse Thorn @ 6:02 PM |
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| Monday, February 2, 2009 |
| Entertainment & Education |
MaxFunCon is about being more awesome, and we've put together a comprehensive program of delightful entertainments and fascinating education. We'll add more to the list as they are confirmed (and of course the lineup is subject to change).
Keynote Address:
Thrill as John Hodgman (above), author of "The Areas of My Expertise" and "More Information Than You Require," resident expert on The Daily Show, and pseudo-actor in film and television offers his wit and wisdom to the gathered masses.
Podcasts:
Over the weekend, enjoy live tapings of some of the world's best comedy podcasts:
Never Not Funny
You Look Nice Today: A Journal of Emotional Hygiene
Jordan, Jesse GO!
Standup:
Saturday night, enjoy a blowout standup comedy spectacular, with some of the best standup comics in the country:
Maria Bamford
Tig Notaro
Jasper Redd
Chris Hardwick
Kasper Hauser
& More
Funny Music:
Who knew that funny music doesn't have to be awful? Join us Friday night at the mountain amphitheater for an evening of music that makes you laugh, with
Jonathan Coulton
& Hard & Phirm
and your host: Jimmy Pardo
Socializing:
Join your fellow MaxFunsters for a welcome reception Friday afternoon, with beer, wine, soft drinks and special punch prepared by Dr. Cocktail. Saturday night, frolic, dance and enjoy beer, wine, soft drinks and five historical cocktails hand-selected by the good doctor.
Educational:
You could spend all your time swimming or playing volleyball, but why not learn to be more awesome instead? Authors, thinkers and doers will help you learn stuff to impress your friends and win smartness contests. Also, how to make marshmallows.
Doing Creative Work with Merlin Mann
Wonderful Things with Mark Frauenfelder & Xeni Jardin
Improv Everywhere with Charlie Todd
Working Creatively in a Group with Kasper Hauser
Improvising with Jordan Morris
Cooking with Julia Crookston
10 Things You Didn't Know About Cocktails with Dr. Cocktail
& MoreLabels: Education, Entertainment |
| posted by Jesse Thorn @ 2:00 PM |
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| Sunday, September 21, 2008 |
| Preliminary Schedule |
Scroll to June 12-14th, 2009 to check out the preliminary schedule for MaxFunCon!
Please note that this is entirely preliminary and subject to change.Labels: Education, Entertainment |
| posted by Jesse Thorn @ 4:12 PM |
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| Tuesday, July 29, 2008 |
| Your Host: Jesse Thorn of MaximumFun.org |
 Thorn (right) interviews Stephen Colbert in 2007
Jesse Thorn is the host and curator of MaxFunCon, and the proprietor of maximumfun.org, a website about things that are awesome. The site is the home of Thorn's nationally syndicated public radio program, The Sound of Young America, as well as the podcasts Jordan, Jesse Go!, The Kasper Hauser Comedy Podcast, Coyle & Sharpe: The Imposters and more.
Thorn, 27, is the youngest nationally syndicated public radio host in history, and can be heard on the airwaves of major public radio stations like WNYC in New York and WHYY in Philadelphia. The Sound of Young America was the first public radio show west of the Mississippi to podcast, and is widely seen as a trailblazer in the convergence of public and new media.
Thorn and The Sound of Young America have been featured in Time Magazine, Salon.com, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and even the Santa Cruz Good Times.Labels: Education, Entertainment |
| posted by Jesse Thorn @ 1:24 PM |
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| Thursday, July 24, 2008 |
| Education: Merlin Mann |
Merlin Mann is the founding editor of 43folders.com, a family of websites about personal productivity, “life hacks” and simple ways to make your life a little better. In addition to performing with You Look Nice Today, Merlin will address MaxFunCon on the subject of farting into a jar and keeping it forever.
Merlin was born in Cincinnati, Ohio and raised on Florida’s humid Suncoast. In his senior year of high school, Merlin dropped his 1st period BASIC class so he could strum Major7 chords in the school’s stage band. Somewhere in this is a story that should tell you much of what you need to know about him. In 1990 -- despite turning in a wildly mediocre thesis on the ideological hegemony of television -- Merlin was kindly awarded a B.A. from the prestigious New College of Florida. Past lives have found Merlin toiling as a web developer, project manager, waiter, hardware store remodeler, court room exhibit designer, reluctant telemarketer, and enthusiastic but unprofitable indie rock musician. Merlin's writing has been carried in fine periodicals like WIRED, Make, Popular Science, and MacWorld, while 43 Folders has been featured favorably in The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post, Time, and The Wall Street Journal, to name a few. 43 Folders is currently enjoyed by over 2,500,000 unique (and very good-looking) visitors each year, with an oddly popular RSS feed that apparently gets loaded over 100,000 times every day. There’s just no accounting for taste, is there? Aside from writing for 43 Folders, Merlin is also the creator of The Merlin Show, 5ives, and 30 Seconds with Phone Guy. And, in addition to doing an occasional podcast for 43 Folders, Merlin is a host on the popular MacBreak video podcast as well as appearing as a regular guest on the MacBreak Weekly audio roundtable. More recently, Merlin's become a sought-after speaker and presenter, who's received rave reviews for delivering his energetic productivity talks at Apple, Google, Yahoo!, Adobe, Xerox PARC, as well as many other esteemed companies and organizations. Merlin currently does most of what he does in front of a Mac in the western third of San Francisco, California, where the climate is foggy, the pork xiu mai is plentiful, and his gorgeous wife and daughter are within arm’s reach. Labels: Education |
| posted by Jesse Thorn @ 1:22 AM |
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| Tuesday, July 22, 2008 |
| Education: Jenny Ryan |
Jenny Ryan will be leading the craft portion of our education offerings. Jenny is a writer, crafter, and event thrower based in Silver Lake, CA. She is a contributing writer and blogger for CRAFT magazine and is the author of a new how-to book called SewDarnCute: 30 Sweet & Simple Projects to Sew & Embellish (St. Martin's). Her handmade accessories and housewares have been featured in BUST, Knit.1 and Crochet Today magazines. She has appeared on two episodes of the DIY Network's needlecrafts show "Uncommon Threads" as well as on KNBC's "Your LA" morning show. Jenny also moonlights as the organizer of LA's popular indie craft fair Felt Club, and is the co-owner of Home Ec, a hands-on crafting workshop opening in the Silverlake area of Los Angeles in January 2009. Labels: Education |
| posted by Jesse Thorn @ 7:42 PM |
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| Monday, July 21, 2008 |
| Education: Charlie Todd of Improv Everywhere |
 Charlie Todd will be giving a talk on his comedy cum performance art group Improv Everywhere.
Charlie Todd is the founder of Improv Everywhere, producing, directing, performing, and documenting the group's work for over seven years. He is also a teacher and performer of improv comedy at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. New York Magazine called him "One of the 10 funniest people you haven't heard of." Now that you've heard of him that doesn't mean much.Labels: Education |
| posted by Jesse Thorn @ 12:23 PM |
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| Saturday, July 19, 2008 |
| Entertainment & Education: Kasper Hauser |
Kasper Hauser, one of the country's most acclaimed sketch comedy groups, will be performing as part of our Saturday night comedy showcase. They'll also be leading a workshop on being creative as part of a team.
Kasper Hauser has headlined many of the best comedy clubs and festivals in the U.S. and won the Herald Angel award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. They cowrote and starred in the feature films "Fishing with Gandhi" and "Cow Monkey," and have appeared on Comedy Central. Their podcast was nominated for a Rooftop Comedy award for "Best Comedy Podcast," and was chosen as one of the "Best of iTunes" by the iTunes staff. Their book, "SkyMaul: Happy Crap You Can Buy From A Plane," was probably the only book ever to be lauded by both Dave Barry and the late David Foster Wallace.
Time Out New York called the group's work "inspired lunacy," adding "this quartet is one of the few comedy teams which has rightfully earned the description 'Pythonesque.'"Labels: Education, Entertainment |
| posted by Jesse Thorn @ 9:41 PM |
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| Tuesday, July 15, 2008 |
| Education: Ted Haigh, aka Dr. Cocktail |
Ted Haigh, better known as Dr. Cocktail, is one of the world's foremost experts on the history, lore and preparation of mixed drinks. Dr. Cocktail will be preparing libations for our welcome reception and Saturday night celebration. He'll also be offering a seminar on "10 Things You Didn't Know About Cocktails."
When Mr. Haigh slips the surly bonds of the workaday world, he transforms into Dr. Cocktail, a sort of super hero whose secret powers include Dewey Decimal System mastery, old bookstore/antique shop/flea market/yard sale/auction/liquor store/bar search prowess, bookworm magnifying glass wielding, and a muscular liver. He (meaning I) first revealed this heroic persona as the cocktails & spirits maven for America Online and later as co-proprietor of CocktailDB.com, The Internet Cocktail Database, a comprehensive online encyclopedia of mixed drink recipes, reference work, barware, and ingredients; catalogued, defined, and depicted. He is also the author of the book "Vintage Spirits & Forgotten Cocktails."
In 2004, he was profiled by MaxFunCon speaker John Hodgman for the New York Times Magazine. Said profile is available here.Labels: Education |
| posted by Jesse Thorn @ 11:12 AM |
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| Thursday, July 10, 2008 |
| Education: Jordan Morris |
 Jordan Morris is an actor, writer, television and podcast personality based in Los Angeles. He's seen regularly on Fuel TV's The Daily Habit, and heard weekly on the award-winning podcast Jordan, Jesse GO!. He's also an experienced improviser, and an improv instructor, certified by The Upright Citizens' Brigade Theater in Los Angeles.
Morris will be sharing his improv expertise for both experienced improvisers, and those who've never improvised before.Labels: Education |
| posted by Jesse Thorn @ 7:42 PM |
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| Saturday, July 5, 2008 |
| Education: Mark Frauenfelder & Xeni Jardin |
Mark Frauenfelder and Xeni Jardin are editors of Boing Boing, a directory of wonderful things. The site is one of the world's most renowned blogs.
 Frauenfelder founded Boing Boing as a print zine, bOING bOING, in 1988. He's an accomplished writer and illustrator, and has published a number of books on technology and culture.
 Jardin is a tech journalist, whose work outside of the BoingBoing Blog includes reporting for National Public Radio, hosting Boing Boing TV, and writing for Wired magazine.Labels: Education |
| posted by Jesse Thorn @ 10:43 AM |
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| Tuesday, June 10, 2008 |
| Education: Julia Crookston |
Cooking instructor Julia Crookston will bring her unique verve to cooking instruction at MaxFunCon.
Julia Crookston began her culinary career in the Bay Area working with Joyce Goldstein at Chez Panisse Cafe in Berkeley , and at the Washington Square Bar and Grill , Stars Restaurant , and Little City Anti Pasti Bar in San Francisco. Chef Crookston was Executive Dining Room Chef for Sony Pictures , Chef/Manager of Pharmacia , and Executive Chef for Woodbury University. Most recently , she worked as Executive Chef and General Manger of Bon Appetit Management Company at California Institute of the Arts in Valencia , CA. She also taught at the California School of Culinary Arts. She is a member of the American Culinary Federation.Labels: Education |
| posted by Jesse Thorn @ 10:19 AM |
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