The Waiting Game sucks, let's play Hungry Hungry Hippos

ARGGH - two full days of student conferences, where at least 75% of people haven't even started their 10 page Research Essay yet. It was assigned prior to Spring Break, I've been giving them constant pre-writing and outlining exercises, and the First Draft is due tomorrow.

I'm starting to get swamped by my own work (3 30+ pagers, all due within 24 hours of each other), but it's good to have the light at the end of the tunnel that represents never having to teach GSW again. Ever. No, really, I'm running like hell after I turn in my portfolios.

I watched perhaps the oddest collections of films the last few days. The first was Lake of Fire, a 3-hour long documentary on the abortion debate; while it remains objective throughout, it's really just depressing, since both sides of the argument are both absolutely right and absolutely wrong. Yesterday, in a discussion about comparing theoretical lenses of world cinema with American cinema, we watched Xica de Silva, possibly the strangest thing I have ever seen, involving gratuitous nudity and at least one orgy, along with some awesome 70s haristyles - I think the movie is a criticism of racism, but I'm not entirely sure. After 2+ hours of Portuguese-language sexfest, I got to (finally, as it's been scheduled on the syllabus for each class since week 3) watch Battle of Algiers; I had worked on getting this screened at the Neon several years ago, but came down with a flu bug the day it was showing, and missed it. But you know, watching a bootleg VHS copy on a small screen in an uncomfortable chair still didn't make the movie any less awesome. The instructor failing to plan properly (nothing new there; despite having 3.5 hours to work with, she can't schedule a 90-min screening) and having to stop the movie prematurely, before the climactic riot scene - that's what ruined the movie. Finally, I get back to my room and watch Blades of Glory while grading papers. I challenge anyone to top that combo of viewing!

I got some more feedback on my conference presentation this morning, as well as reassurance that my paper didn't completely bite. So I got that going for me.