Spring 2004: First Impressions

ENG 384: Great Film Directors

The first day of class, we were handed a questionnaire whose last question was, "What do you hope to get out of this class?" I responded, "A better way to describe movies than 'It was awesome' or 'It sucked.'"

The four directors we're covering this semester are Alfred Hitchcock, Luis Buñuel, Robert Altman, and the Coen Brothers. In addition, we need to write a paper on one of either Tim Burton, M. Night Shyamalan, Steven Soderbergh, or Jean-Pierre Jeunet. The professor seems like he could be a laid-back kind of guy, informing us on the first day that, due to a declaration from On High, he would kill us if we brought any food or drink into class (big laughs). Taking this class with Amanda, and movie viewings Tuesday night with Amanda, Dan, and a cadre of his friends. Should be extremely awesome.

GEOL 200: Evolutionary Systems

Described by one of the professors (there are two) as the most iconoclastic class on campus, they're out to show us that everything we think we know about evolution is wrong. Lots of computer modelling and discussion in this class. If nothing else, it should be very thought-provoking, and I've been told by someone who's taken it before that it's one of the top three classes on campus.

The one professor has already described Richard Dawkins as "entirely full of shit." I can't wait to see where this goes.

SMAD 330: Multimedia Law

"Taught like a law school class, graded like an undergraduate class," said the professor on the first day. She also said, "I want to keep you here long enough to respect me, but I want to let you out early enough that you'll like me." I do already.

The first month or so is all copyright, patent, trademark and contract law; we spend the rest of the semester applying it. I'm really looking forward to this one.

SMAD 498: One Nation Under Television

If I stick with this class, it will be the hardest I've ever taken in my life. About 80 pages of reading a week, a massive 15-page, semester-long research project, and only one meeting a week for two and a half hours on Wednesday nights. On one hand, I can hardly justify doing this to myself during my last semester of college; on the other, I genuinely care about the subject matter and I know the right thing to do is to stick it out and just work my ass off.

I think my mind is already made up.

TSC 210: Introduction to Technical and Scientific Communication

Bleh bleh bleh.

This is another One Of Those Things that CS majors just need to suffer through. The instructor has said that she really likes to keep it informal and base classes around discussion. She also said that she's terrified of ice and snow, so we can expect several class cancellations, and that she'll never keep us longer than an hour. Could be worse.

January 15, 2004 - 11:13 AM

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