Whoosh!

I feel like I've finally got a moment to catch my breath. Its been a crazy, busy past few days! This weekend I didn't get much homework done because I was so busy. Saturday morning was the Hike for Life, where they raised over $40,000 and I got slightly sunburned, but I did find out that there are bea-ut-iful walking paths along the river near downtown.

That took me into the afternoon, where I furtively tried to read Howards End, but kept falling asleep (not because its boring, I love the book) until I left for Katie's. We went and saw The Brothers Grimm, which is phenomenal. Its over the top campy in places because its playing with the convention of the fairy tale genre, but subtly, so I can understand why the unwashed masses didn't get it. The special effects were wonderful; Monica Belluci was creepy; and Heath Ledger and Matt Damon were playing unusual roles (okay, they're both used to playing the hero, but Damon as an arrogant jerk, not sweet and sensitive and Ledger as bookish, unsure, and squirrelly, not brooding and confident). I loved it!

We also saw Red Eye, which was fine. I was entertained for my time and money. I do wish they would have let Cillian Murphy use his real, Irish accent--that would have kept me awake at night.

Then Sunday an odd assortment of us (Katie, Elaine and Joe, two of my friends from school, and myself) went to see the Toulouse-Lautrec exhibit at the Art Institute. It was fantastic! Rather crowded, but still very neat. I love all the poster art that leads into the art deco, Mucha, era of art. I learned some interesting things like: Picasso and Degas were involved in the Monmarte sect of artists and interacted with/were influenced by/were influential to Toulouse-Lautrec. I cleverly decided that if I ever had a black cat for a pet, I would name him Steinlen.

The first part of this week has been a race to finish all the reading I didn't do over the weekend, and figure out what to do in my class. I think I'm squared away for Friday, so all I have to do is work, work today on my stuff. I'm giving a presentation next week on Jack Maggs and Peter Carey, which I'm excited about because I have a burgeoning interest in Australian literature (well, the interest has been there a long time, the burgeoning part is trying to figure out how to fit it into my research agenda).

I'm off to [hopefully] have the most productive day of my life!