Summer teaching, have me a bla-ast...

I got approached to teacha course next summer for the Literature Department and hey, who am I to say no to more money? I decided I should teach an upper-level (advanced undergrad-grad) film class. Since the course is abridges -- two block classes per week for six weeks, I think -- my usual suspects of national cinemas, genre and theory are not really ideal. I have been thinking for some time now, however, about possible courses that I could teach in an abridged format. Here are my two favorites that I'm toying around with:

• An auteur class on Pedro Almodóvar. AU hasn't offered a class on a particular auteur for a little while now (and when they did, I'm not sure it was done well). I've thought that a full 15 weeks on one director, however, would drive me nuts. This might be a good chance to do it -- and who better than Almodóvar, who has just enough films to make the course interesting?
• A short class about short films. Sounds strange, but I'm actually very curious to explore the concept of short films as an entirely separate genre, related to the feature film much as the short story is to the novel. There is very little theoretical written about short film (as I discovered when writing my chapter on Peruvian shorts) and I'm thinking this might be my next book project. Thus, an advantage here would be to try it out. But it would be in the beginning stages. Perhaps I should wait a little while on this? But I'm fascinated by it! (Plus: with shorts, there would be fewer screenings...)

What say the hoi polloi, some of you I know which have taken some of my upper-level courses? Do either of these sound interesting? Or might something else be better?

In other news, my son is adorable as all hell. And who needs TV when we have a porch swing on a main road? Watching traffic is not only fascinating (more so than listening to me read García Márquez) but it also usually gives some people a smile on the ride home when they see him stare and turn his head. (This is particularly true about the passengers on the buses.)