house improvements and media intake

So I’m done with House. I’ll probably finish out the season, but after that I’ll probably find something else to watch. Moving into the fifth season, the formula of being wrong, commercial, being wrong, commercial, being wrong, commercial, moment of clarity and miraculous save, has grown tiresome. How much of a genius can he and his team be, if they nearly kill a person 2-4 times before “saving” them?

The dynamic of Wilson and the P.I. has been a fun change for this season, but it hasn’t been enough to save the show. Last week’s episode re: the sexuality and issues of 13 was interesting but got lost in the confusion of the patient’s condition and the firing, rogue work by 13, rehire.

Next week looks ridiculous. The woman having the baby that Cuddy is adopting has a medical emergency and only House can save her? Really? Is that the direction you want to go?

Obviously I’m fed up with the show, however, I think it could be saved with the following suggestions (ie, mandatory changes):

They need to work in House being involved in clinic duty. It worked so well in the early seasons. He gets to wow normal patients and have interesting dialogue with them that can reveal more about his character. Remember that’s how he found his underage, psycho stalker with the red thong.

How about solving the case on the first try? Now that wouldn’t make it that much of a medical mystery, but for all the times they are wrong, who is to say they wouldn’t get it right out of the gate? You know if a billion monkeys had a billion typewriters . . . .

How about a road trip to some infectious disease conference? New environment, let the hair down (except in the case of Taub) and have real personal interaction.

And if all else fails, have a Road Rules/Amazing Race type event between the old team and the new team. Face it, reality TV is here to say and you had might as well accept it

In short, I would move away from the medical mystery aspect of the show. Based on what I’ve read on politedissent.com, most of the diagnoses and treatments vary from a little outrageous to absolutely wrong. This show is about the characters. Focus on that.



Moving on . . .


I read the first trade of a comic series called “The Losers.” Quite good. Sort of a darkly comic A-Team if you can imagine that. Based on the first story arc, I could easily see this being made into a movie. There’s revenge, backstabbing, ridiculous action scenes. I wonder if anyone in Hollywood has picked this up.



Over the weekend I watched The Science of Sleep. If you haven’t seen it, I can’t even describe it. I’ll just say that the beginning was very interesting as you saw a person’s dreamworld and reality blend together, but then it got sort of weird, as if Terry Gilliam took over as director, and I sorta fell asleep, didn’t care. I don’t even know if I can recommend it.



Last night I started the British mini-series Jekyll, which I guess My Own Worst Enemy is trying to copy. The first show was AMAZING!! Super intense and I have no idea how they are going to wrap it up in 6 episodes, but I can’t wait to finish.



Finally, I have caught up with The Mentalist. It is quite fun to watch him toy with people. I really enjoy the show and if they got rid of ‘roided up agent and the tight ass lead agent, I think I would enjoy it even more. Hopefully they keep the cases interesting (even though are they are completely absurd from a jurisdiction perspective) and keep digging into Jane’s background, motivations and history.

Holmes ripoff, hitman crisis, international soccer, and an international conspiracy

So this weekend I had a little free time and watched several shows/movies.

First off was the season premiere of The Mentalist. As a House fan, I was expecting a House like character who was a FBI agent or CSI guy. While there are similarities to House, Patrick Jane is closer to Fitz on the British series Cracker rather than Gregory House. Observant and arrogant to be sure, but not such a prick.

I will say the opening sequence is quite powerful. He meets a mother who has just lost her daughter, and the scene ends with a violent moment that I don’t want to spoil that much for those who haven’t seen it.

Jane’s back story is very interesting. I like the scheming psychic angle and how this led to him losing everything. The closing sequence is quite telling and I hope they explore this over time and don’t resolve it halfway through season one.

His “team” is quite annoying and just there for filler. They are not nearly as interesting as 13, Taub and Kutner. To be fair this was only the pilot so maybe they will get better. Robin Tunney has never impressed me so it will take a lot for her not to detract from the show a la Moira Kelly in the first season of West Wing.

So all in all, I’ll probably catch up over the internet since the gang is watching West Wing on Tuesdays at 9pm.



Next was the film, In Bruges.

Not sure what I was expecting, but what I got was an interesting exploration of the existentialist angst of hitmen. It took me a while to realize that Ray had screwed up on only his first job, and clearly he took it very hard. Ken was a nice philosophical balance and his genuine interest in the sights of Bruges was a enjoyable foil to Ray’s desire to avoid boredom, get drunk and date the blonde.

Although the movie was a little slow, the tempo made sense considering the circumstances. Of course Ray was never far from the action and his moments broke up the segments of dialogue nicely. The introduction of Ralph Fiennes was extraordinary. Only word can describe his character: intense. That performance should be bottled and saved for the next comic movie. I’ll be interested if any directors or producers pick up on this or if Fiennes would be interested. Anyway, the buildup to the finale was tremendous as all of the threads of the movie came together in a moment of extreme tension and surrealism.


Stop reading if you don’t want to be swayed one way or the other re: this film or have the ending spoiled in any way.


The ending is when the movie absolutely fell apart for me. Make it to the last minute and you’ll know what I’m talking about. How Ray survives long enough to crawl to the decapitated midget, much less living long enough for medical support is beyond me. He was shot in the gut, ran a substantial distance through the city, and was then shot 3-4 times at close range with the dum-dums (which expand upon contact) and yet still had consciousness. No fucking way. The movie ends with him dying next to the midget, while Harry blows his head off. Credits. Thanks for coming and have a good night.

When Ray’s monologue began, I started screaming at the TV. I was so angry. Maybe I’m in the wrong, but I doubt it.



Saturday afternoon I had a couple of pints at the Dublin Square while watching Sweden v Portugal. Thank God for the alcohol. Johan Elmander, you’re a “top level” forward? Not quite. He could have really opened up the game if he had made even one of the three good opportunities that fell to him. I thought Portugal looked quite poor. Meireles was shocking. First touch and simple possession were lacking for an international player. Deco was a big miss for this team. The biggest problem for Portugal is the shortage of quality strikers. They currently produce amazing midfielders, especially wingers at the moment, but up top, YIKES!! Then Quieroz did the same thing as Big Phil: sticking CR7 up top by himself. Good luck with that. They will probably scrape through to South Africa, may even make it to the knockout stage, but probably no farther. Goals will be hard to find for this team against top flight opposition.



Finally, the FBI has caught on to my illegal activity with imposters of the Nigerian government. I haven’t received my “payment” yet, but no worries. The FBI has taken care of everything. All will be forgotten and I can get $800,000 put on an ATM card if I send them 300 bucks. How great is that?