studying popular culture: May 10-12 in Niagara Falls

If you want to find me over the next couple of days, you're going to have to come to the Sheraton on the Falls. I'll be there from Thursday to Saturday, attending the second (going on annual) conference of the Popular Culture Association of Canada.

Last year's conference was impressive enough for the association's first gathering, but this year may turn out to be even better. Panels begin Thursday afternoon with discussions of speculative fiction, tourism, and masculinity, and continue through Friday and Saturday, covering topics like popular music, celebrity, dance, bodies, fandom, and many and much more. And our keynote talk takes us into the world of goth, thanks to Liisa Ladouceur, author of Encyclopedia Gothica.

In addition to presenting my own paper, I'm excited to be coordinating the exhibition of some pop culture-related art for the conference. Concept artist Rachel Kahn and photographer Adam Wills have generously made some of their amazing digital paintings and concert photos available for display, and I'm thrilled to have had a hand in making this happen. 

So I'm off to the Falls again (with or without a barrel)!

(Check out the National Post's art section tomorrow for a profile of the Association and the conference.)

Update: Toronto Star coverage of the conference: http://www.toronto.com/article/727525.