Drowning in Schoolwork, Something Weird, and Movies

i'm a tad stressed at the moment.  i've got piles of schoolwork to complete now that there's not even two weeks left in the the semester.  So i'll just say that i probably need to take another break from blogging.  But like i said, i have a dozen or more draft blogs just waiting to be written.  Can't wait for xmas break though--i'm going to play video games with my son until our eyeballs fall out. 

Here's something weird--certain things trigger all sorts of associations for me that don't make sense.  i got on an elevator today at school and a man walked out.  He was dressed rather nicely, a brown leather jacket, a yellow sweater -vest, he had a button up shirt underneath that, slacks, and some sort of nice brown dress shoe.  i got in the elevator as he was getting out.  i immediately breathed in the strong fragrance from his aftershave.  It smelled very, i don't know.  Sort of musky.  Very standard middle-aged "dad" sort of smell.  And all the sudden i had a flash of being in an airport.  For some reason i immediately associated this guy with the kind of person i would see in an airport.  i have no rhyme or reason for it.  Do you have any weird associations like that?

i really like movies!  i find myself, though, hunting for obscure movies that might not have been blockbusters but were deep or intellectually stimulating or present a dilemma that even the viewer feels faced with.  i like movies that really challenge me to think about a situation.  Blood Diamond was very good i thought.  i recently watched In The Name Of The Father and was really blown away by Northern Ireland in the 70's--i really didn't know it was that bad over there.  i watched The Brothers Karamazov (a pre-Star Trek appearance of William Shatner in which he was actually a good actor!).  Anyway, what i'm really looking for are recommendations.  What films have challenged you or made a lasting impression on you and why?  What do you recommend checking out?