Reviews and More

I was flipping through my cable channels tonight and landed on The Golf Channel. I don’t think I’ve ever watched (or even noticed) this channel before, so I hope I’m not paying extra for it.

Anyway, I stuck around long enough to see some old Ryder Cup highlights that showed Englishman Luke Donald, who is sponsored by Mizuno golf, squaring off against Chad Campbell from Texas in a singles match. Donald easily took the win to help the European team secure the cup, but I couldn’t really focus on the match. That’s because during one of the interview clips I saw, I couldn’t help but think of how much he looked like a younger Mackenzie Astin!

That in turn got me thinking about The Facts of Life, then his brother Sean Astin, and then the movie Rudy — at which point I popped my Rudy DVD in to watch the last 15 minutes or so.

Well, obviously I’m not a golf fan, so there’s no sense in having this channel. I’ve got to remember to check my Comcast package and make sure I’m not paying for this stuff!

Last night’s episode of House was called “Ugly”, and unfortunately brought us no closer to knowing who the lucky winners of the fellowship positions are. I am seriously getting sick of the way this whole thing is being dragged out for so long… when will the show get rid of all these unnecessary bodies? This is very frustrating, to say the least! Anyway, enough whining.

Patient of the Week: The PotW is a young man named Kenny who has a huge, abnormal growth jutting out of his forehead. He was on his way to PPTH for plastic surgery to have the growth removed, and was followed by a documentary film crew recording the action. Before Chase could actually start the surgery, however, Kenny goes into V-fib on the table due to some other complications. No one can figure out the root of the problem, so the case gets kicked to House.

Since the film crew is paying for Kenny’s surgery and since Cuddy believes the final product could result in good press for the hospital, she grants them all access to House’s diagnostic process. House and his team then go through their regular routine of trying to come up with reasonable explanations for what’s happening to Kenny.

Taub, the job candidate who was formerly a plastic surgeon, was the only one of the Numbers to really do anything noteworthy this week. He defied House, went behind House’s back to undermine his treatment strategy with the patient’s father, and was pretty much wrong the entire way. But House doesn’t fire him because at least Taub was “interesting.”

In the end, 13 figures out that Kenny has Lyme disease, with the target rash being partially hidden by the patient’s hair and the ginormous growth on his forehead. The kid gets treated, has his surgery, and thanks House for everything.

The final scene shows Cuddy and House watching the final cut of the documentary. The filmmakers edited everything to make House out to be a caring doctor, which of course embarrasses him to no end.

My Reaction: I checked some fan message boards this morning and was surprised to see how many people liked this episode. Yes, I thought parts of it were funny and thought that the PotW case was more interesting than the last few have been, but overall, I was bored with the show. I think I’m just so sick of having all of House’s job candidates still hanging around that I can’t enjoy the program at the moment. Seriously.

I totally didn’t get the point of House firing the CIA doctor after one freakin’ ep. Why even bring that character on to the show at all? I want to see one of the other Numbers get canned, not someone who had no good reason being there in the first place! Plus, I ended up feeling bad for the woman because, as she said, she left a career to join House’s team. He just came off as more of an ass than usual with this stunt.

I try to stay unspoiled for the most part, but earlier in the season I read that the job competition goes through episode 8. That’s the next one, which means that if the early spoiler is correct, House has to fire 3 or 4 people at once. I can’t wait!

I like action films as much as the next person, but I can’t say that I actually remember particular scenes as vividly as other fans do. For instance, I can’t believe how many Top 10 lists there are regarding things like best car chases, best fights, best love scenes, best triumphs, best deaths, best revenge moments, and so forth. How do people even remember, let alone rank, stuff like that?

I do not watch movies that closely at all. For example, if there’s a chase scene, I barely even pay attention to what the drivers are actually doing because I’m more likely to be looking at the vehicles they’re in. I spend the entire time checking out the wheels, the car spoilers, the paint jobs, things like that. The driving itself doesn’t interest me because it all feels the same from one film to the next.

Does this somehow make me less of a movie fan than others? I hope not!