Best Ides Ever

Sure I'm still moling my way through the piles of letters of recommendation and papers that need grading on my desk and in my apartment... but BUT, at least so far, March 15 is kicking its bad karmic habit:

1) My students can really write, and they have interesting ideas! Yay!

2) David Cronenberg, one of my absolute favorite directors, turns 63 today. I've been interested in his movies since being seriously freaked out by my uncle's VHS copy of Dead Ringers when I was 13. I have loved them since seeing Crash in the theater in 1997, and trying to convince my friend Bill that it was terrific. Dead Ringers, Crash, Naked Lunch, The Brood, and The Fly are all enormous favorites, as is eXistenZ, which seems finally to be building the vociferous cult following it always deserved. I wasn't totally wild about about Cronenberg's last two movies, Spider and the new-to-DVD A History of Violence, despite their stunning and controlled technical realizations. Then again, lots of people think these are his peak works, and that's one of my favorite things about the DPC: he's a totally different director in the eyes of almost everybody, and his work is always exciting.

3) Tim R's countdown of his personal canon hits an excitingly distinctive K2 today, with the Everest announcement to follow shortly. (If you've been tracking, you already know what it is.) More on this list later, but it's already my favorite canon out there, and the Comments sections have been a blast.

4) I'm being taken out to a free dinner by a colleague—one of those situations where she thinks she owes me, and I absolutely disagree, but I couldn't talk her out of it, and hey, why not gnosh?

5) It's been a great teaching week: Paris Is Burning. Billy Budd. Eve Sedgwick. Beau travail. Marat/Sade. Antonin Artaud. Jean Genet. Bliss, all of it. (If occasionally funky or scary-ass bliss.)

Last but certainly not least...

6) Today was D(elivery)-Day for Girl Scout Cookies in our department, c/o the daughter of our beloved office assistant. Is there anyone alive who doesn't effervesce at the sight of Girl Scout Cookies? Is there anything you can't tell from a person based on their preferred delectable? For all of you caloric astrologers, I am a Do-Si-Do man myself, with a house in Thin Mint, and strong Rising Signs in Tagalong and Trefoil. Seriously, putting a sleeve of Do-Si-Do's in front of me is like putting dust bunnies in front of a vacuum hose. Of course, I've probably spoiled my appetite for my free dinner. But that's not bad, as far as Ides go.

Now back to this grading, before my students quite justifiably tie me to the mast.