Crunch Time...

Well peeps...this is it. I've given myself a self-imposed deadline of tomorrow, which means that I need to make my final decisions and stand by them. It's a daunting process, but even I can see that I'm dragging my feet and if it absolutely came down to it, I can change a film or reading without horrible, horrible consequences.

At the same time, the syllabus is delaying my ability to go beyond and actually start working on the course. If there's one thing I learned last time, it was to put less focus on the films/readings and make sure the rest of the course is taken care of. It's like focusing on your outline instead of your report...there's still a lot of wiggle room between the proposal and the end result!

And so I need to make two final decisions:

1) I've scrapped the slasher week in favour of the more specific (and enjoyable) giallo week. I now have to find a giallo that embodies all the typical characteristics, but which is also comprehensible (this can be a problem).

I'm tempted to show Argento's Deep Red, but the narrative literally makes no sense, which can make it a difficult viewing experience. The Bird with the Crystal Plummage was good, but not spectacular, leaving me with Tenebrae or Opera, although I haven't watched the latter).

2) I can't decide which film to program first. Rocky Horror works best as a second class film when I can properly put it in context (aka preface the musical numbers, the reception of the film, the midnight revivals, the dress-ups). So what to show for the first week? I'm still considering Donnie Darko because it's recognizable but not that many people have seen it.

At the same time, part of me wants to go in a completely new direction and program something really off-kilter like Liquid Sky (an alien drug/sex movie)...

3) I also can't decide which film to end on. I'm going to do a recent film to demonstrate how new cult films riff on previous ones using a collage/homage style method (ex: any Tarantino or Rodriguez film, but I was specifically thinking of Planet Terror from Grindhouse) OR a film that may become a cult film or is an example of a failed cult film (ex: so bad it may be good "hot mess" Southland Tales)

Decisions, decisions!

The Make-Up, Break-Up Test

Sorry for not posting yesterday - it turns out that I finally stumbled upon a productive day (I know!), so I used my time wisely and tried to work my ass off.

The final result? I managed to emerge from a long weekend (of beautiful weather!) unscathed and with a working, preliminary syllabus. Tres excitant!

Of course it's not all sunshine and daisies. Now comes the true hard part, or what I call the make-up, break-up test. It's like after a while of being content with someone, you come to the point of no return and have to make a decision about whether to stick with them long term or kick them to the curb.

The truth of the matter is that I have to submit my syllabus to the department for approval / photopcopying. Doing that is akin to sending a nasty e-mail or letter: once you've done it, there's no taking it back. So I now have to decide whether I want to make-up with these films / readings and go the distance with them for the course, or give them the keys to the streets and find suitable replacements.

Mentally there's definitely some juggling going on, but (in case you're interested) here is the working 'preliminary' list:

Class 1 - Introduction: Rocky Horror Picture Show

Class 2 - Introduction: Donnie Darko

Class 3 - Paracinema: Pink Flamingos

Class 4 - Slasher: Friday the 13th - Part 7 (The New Blood)

Class 5 - Splatstick: Braindead aka Dead/Alive

Class 6 - Women in Prison: Caged Heat

Class 7 - Sexploitation: Showgirls

Class 8 - Controversy 1 (Sex): Crash (1996)

Class 9 - Controversy 2 (Violence): Battle Royale

Class 10 - Textual Poaching (TV 1): The Prisoner

Class 11 - Seriality (TV 2): Twin Peaks

Class 12 - Why isn't this Cult?: Strange Days

What do you guys think? I'm unsure about Donnie Darko and Friday the 13th.

Films that didn't make the cu(l)t: Mad Max/Tank Girl (Dystopian), Coffy/Foxy Brown (Blaxploitation), Black Christmas (Slasher/National Cinema), Audition/Ichi the Killer (Excess/National Cinema), Blue Velvet/Lost Highway (Lynch!)

Narrowing the List

As I come to the end of day 2 of my intensive reading/writing process, I can definitely say that I am not as far ahead as I'd like, but I can feel things starting to come together

It's been an unusual day, marked by some detours (late start to the gym, then groceries, then a late lunch) which sort of threw off my game. Add in my ability to procrastinate online (what other resources are available at Amazon.com?!) AND get sleepy, and all of the sudden the day seems to have taken a wrong turn.

But as Frank'n'Furter suggests to both Brad and Janet in The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) "it's not all bad, is it?" The answer is, of course, no: by staying in and trying to read as much as possible, I've managed to nail down three readings and I'm starting to get an idea how to organize my incredibly short 6 weeks with students.

I think the summer session is one of my big stumbling blocks at this point. I'm a bit of an overachiever, and I'm zealous to boot, so the idea of scaling back my readings, and as a result my results (!) isn't all that appealing. Unfortunately you can't assign two 50 page readings two days apart - it's not feasible. It might have flown back when I was teaching in the Winter semester and had one class a week, but this summer that is most definitely not going to work.

Unfortunately that forces me to select all my materials much more carefully. Sure it's good because it boils everything down and forces me to get the heart of the course. It also doesn't allow much wiggle room. Something tells me this will be an ongoing struggle as the course continues to develop.

As it stands though, I have for sure decided to include screenings of Rocky Horror (to kick off the course), as well as episodes of Twin Peaks and The Prisoner somewhere along the line (subject to moving around status). But I feel better than where I was when I woke up this morning, so that's good!

And now I'm off to celebrate with a few drinks with friends, which hopefully won't be a disaster (I'm forcing said friends to go to a different bar than they originally wanted, so if it's not a good idea I'm sure I'll have plenty to blog about tomorrow). Until then...adieu!