A Brief Hummer of Thanks (Updated):
The Rude Pundit returned from Philadelphia once again without Benjamin Franklin's skull, perfect for soup and fun with ocular cavities. However, he does have fond memories of EschaCon08, a sort of Star Trek convention for Left Blogsylvania. Hell, it even featured a panel with our Shatner, Paul Krugman.

The whole thing was way more informative and insightful than it had any right to be. As for the shit he was involved in, the Rude Pundit enjoyed the kind of Dueling Banjos of snark that his panel on comedy and politics became, throwing down with fuck-you cartoonist Ted Rall and bloggers TRex of IamTRex and Watertiger of Dependable Renegade, moderated by Thers of Whiskey Fire. (Yeah, there's a sense where this begins to feel like one's writing about really badly nicknamed gangbangers.)

As for the Rude Pundit's evening performance, the two kindest compliments he received were the doors to the Marriott ballroom being shut by laughing hotel security and the free beer he was handed by the bartender. And the Rude Pundit's Ann Coulter blow-up doll was passed around the room like Jennifer Jason Leigh in Last Exit to Brooklyn. The Rude Pundit last saw it leaving with some guy who said, "Ann's been naughty." Dude, seriously, just keep it.

Otherwise, in short order, Hamell on Trial rocked, Spocko got the most deserved ovation on a panel, Digby didn't talk enough (Jesus, this really is like writing geeky spy code names), Jane Hamsher of Firedoglake and Eric Boehlert of Media Matters are really fuckin' hot in person, and Molly Ivors and everyone involved knows how to throw a helluva weekend. For those who wish to learn from Molly and the rest, the secret is to start the weekend with free booze.

So major thanks to Atrios and big, wet kisses to the organizers.

Finally, thanks to everyone who tossed into the tip jar over on the side there a couple of weeks ago for helping to ease the burden of the journey. (And, well, the tip jar is always open...)

As promised, podcasts of segments of the Philadelphia performance will be available in the next week or so.

Update: The Rude Pundit was interviewed by the Philadelphia Daily News for a podcast on the at the paper's site.

It's always goddamn funny to be interviewed by people in the mainstream press because they expect the Rude Pundit to be unable to speak without Tourette's-like outbursts of profanity. Hey, the Rude Pundit's a fuckin' grown-up. He knows how to read an audience.

Oh, and late real posting today.