Assignment Zero - Introduction

So, ahem... I'm Brendan.  I'm finishing my doctorate in Comparative Literature here at the University of Minnesota.  I enjoy my job here , where I think, discuss, and work with  with students and with colleagues about issues concerning politics, ethics, aesthetics, literature, music - also sports, food, fashion, travel and lots of other things.  I grew up in Massachusetts.

(As you'll see) I like movies from many different genres, periods, styles, traditions, but if I was forced to pick a favorite... the low budget sci-fi/punk movie Repo Man - 1984, Alex Cox - is very close to my heart.  It's Emilio Estevez's first film and also features Harry Dean Stanton, as repo men (barely legal car thieves) driving across Los Angeles in pursuit of a Chevy Malibu... a special car, with something very unusual stashed in the trunk... I love this movie.  It's witty, trashy, and completely brilliant.  My friends think it is a good bad movie - I think it is a good good movie, even a great good movie.  And I will defend this opinion to the death.

What about you?  Tell us a little about yourself, and what brings you to this class.  What are your favorite films?  Or your least favorite?  What are you hoping/expecting to work on in Cinema and Ideology this summer? 

Thanks for posting, and I'll see you on Tuesday.