Motivation on Vacation

Airwave Analysis: House S07E08 Small Sacrifices

noreply@blogger.com (Elise De Los Santos) — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 09:13:00 +0000

A breath of fresh air. If anything good comes out of this season, it’s Masters. Every other character on the show has learned to play the game by House’s rules, but her refusal to do so gives the show a whole new vibe. She sees everything in black and white, while everyone else (characters, audience and even this jaded viewer) has learned to see things in shades of grey.

It’s like prom. A hospital heavyweight is getting married to a much younger trophy wife, and the whole hospital is invited. Cuddy strong-arms House into going with her, using the fact that she’s still pissed at him for lying to her two episodes ago as leverage. House even dresses up for the occasion with a tie that matches Cuddy’s dress, quite a cute touch despite the fact that there's just something off about seeing House in a tie and we’re talking about Huddy here. Eight episodes in, still not a fan.

The life and lies of Lisa Cuddy. To get himself out the doghouse (ha), House tries to catch Cuddy in a lie so that he can forgive her. He wears a tie to work to force her into lying that he looks good, but she honestly tells him he looks weird (he does). He points out that she lied to HR about her age, but it turns out she’s just keeping it consistent with when she lied 14 years ago to make herself older and more hireable. The biggest lie that he uncovers is that Cuddy was married for six days in 1987, reinforcing my belief that we really know nothing about Cuddy. House “forgives” her for lying about this, but she still doesn’t let him off. Interestingly, House doesn’t go track down her ex, which would be exactly what the House of old would have done.

The fourth, technically first, Mrs. Wilson. Everyone has marriage on the mind, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that Wilson wants to get married … again. He decides he’s going to pop the question — again — to Sam at the wedding. As he helps review her files for her new boss, he discovers that her treatment on some cases doesn't add up (too much radiation), but she denies any wrongdoing. He is troubled enough to ask House about it, and House says she must have lied to give her patients a last-ditch attempt at survival, earning her extra points in Wilson's book. He decides to include this in his proposal, making her angry that he didn't believe her, and she leaves him down and out on one knee. He comes home to find her packing, he accuses her of quitting on them AGAIN and she leaves seemingly forever. The whole argument plays out a like a silly and completely transparent way to get Sam out of the picture just so the show can get to a watershed moment (see last point).

Taub and his wife. Rounding out the trio of miserable couples are Chris (yeah, I forget that’s his name) and Rachel (yeah, I guess the writers couldn’t come up with another name for Cuddy’s daughter) Taub. Rachel has gotten close to someone she met in her infidelity support group, and Taub doesn’t like it. He somehow has the gall to accuse her of cheating emotionally on him when he actually cheated on her multiple times. All I could think about during their scenes is how much I really don’t care about their relationship. They should have divorced in Season 4 and stopped wasting our time for the last three years.

The reinvention of Robert Chase. Only one person seems to be having a good time — make that a really, really, really good time — at the wedding, and that’s our resident pretty boy. From episode 2, House and the others have been commenting on Chase’s new-found philandering ways, but this is the first time we get to see Chase in action. He tries to play wingman for Foreman and ends up sneaking off with three girls … at the same time. This is such a far cry from Season 3 Chase who cheerfully and faithfully told Cameron every Tuesday that he liked her, yet it somehow makes sense that he’s suddenly sleeping with anything with boobs. It hints that he's still hurting over Cameron without bashing us over the head with the idea. If only Huddy could take a hint.

The turning of the tables. For the first time in, well, ever, House is in a relatively stable relationship while the shit has hit the fan for Wilson. This reversal of roles is made most apparent in the last scene, when Wilson comes over for a night of commiseration with House, only to be told that Cuddy is coming over because House apologized about lying to her and all is right in Huddyland again. House admits he didn't really mean it but said it anyway to fix things, for which Wilson commends him and which also means Huddy fights to live another day.

Video Vault: A Playlist on Repeat for November

noreply@blogger.com (Elise De Los Santos) — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 01:25:00 +0000

This was my playlist for the last two weeks of November. There's no reason at all for the overall depressing tone, but it's just good music. Especially if it's 2 a.m. with no one else is on the road, and you sing along at the top of your lungs.

Adele is an absolute goddess. The video, though simple, features some interesting camera work. Most of the video is basically just one long shot with some cool 360-degree turns that show off the Parisian setting in black and white and allows you to focus on the power and depth of her song instead of being distracted by fancy editing work. Also, I want Adele's coat. And hair. And voice.

I've been in Florida since September, so whenever I heard this song, the lyrics have always said "Florida." Little did I know the real state should be "Nebraska." (I tried to see how "Illinois" would fit in. It doesn't.) I have no idea what the video is about, but what I took away from it was that Gaga was some sort of mermaid and her boyfriend is some sort of Dr. Frankenstein experimenting on her in the middle of the Nebraskan cornfields. Just like every other Gaga song, the weirdness of the video doesn't take away from the awesomeness of the song.

Bruno had me with the first line of this song. And while I may not be a fan of his choice of hairstyle (or girl) in this video, what bothers me the most about it are the "Breaking Dawn" clips oh so subtly inserted throughout the video. At least they seem to have learned from "Neutron Star Collision," which was quite overwhelmed by the Twilight tie-ins.

Quite frankly, I could have done with much less 75-year-old Katy Perry and much more Diego Luna, but this song/video reinforces my belief that Katy Perry is gorgeous and so much more than a pop princess.

Wardrobe Wishes: ModCloth Shoes, October 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Elise De Los Santos) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 12:13:00 +0000

Wardrobe Wishes: ModCloth Tops, October 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Elise De Los Santos) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 12:10:00 +0000

Wardrobe Wishes: ModCloth Skirts, October 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Elise De Los Santos) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 12:05:00 +0000

Wardrobe Wishes: ModCloth Evening Dresses, October 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Elise De Los Santos) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 12:00:00 +0000

Wardrobe Wishes: ModCloth Daytime Dresses, October 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Elise De Los Santos) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 11:37:00 +0000

Wardrobe Wishes: ModCloth Business Dresses, October 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Elise De Los Santos) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 11:20:00 +0000

Wardrobe Wishes: ModCloth Blazers and Sweaters, October 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Elise De Los Santos) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 10:58:00 +0000

Blazers

Sweaters

Wardrobe Wishes: ModCloth Accessories, October 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Elise De Los Santos) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 04:19:00 +0000

Airwave Analysis: House S07E07 A Pox on our House

noreply@blogger.com (Elise De Los Santos) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 04:05:00 +0000

Rockin’ the boat. We get another non-run-of-the-mill lead-in this week with a depressing Pirates of the Caribbean meets Amistad setting that quickly fast forwards to a present-day family scuba diving over the same waters. As always, the show shuns the idea of the “normal” family and gives us a mini Brady Bunch situation (two adults dating, each with an adolescent child). The daughter of the woman comes up with a jar from the ship, which breaks and cuts her hand. Turns out the jar contained smallpox scabs. Oops.

Sam and Wilson cuteness. As House and his team treat the patient, (House entertains the idea of smallpox, everyone else is convinced the disease couldn’t survive all that time) we get one of those too few glimpses of Wilson in doctor mode. His patient is a young girl who refuses to have chemo without her favorite stuffed animal. Wilson agrees to delay the treatment so that her mom can run home to get the bunny, but the CDC locks down the hospital before she can get back (yep, it’s smallpox). He and Sam attempt to trick her with a gift store-bought replacement, but she figures out the truth. With Wilson eavesdropping, Sam apologizes for lying and has a heart-to-heart with the young patient, convincing her to have her treatment. Sam ruefully reflects that she should practice being a mother by getting a puppy. Wilson suggests she should practice by getting pregnant. Zing!

We’ve done this before. The CDC storms PPTH in all their isolation suit glory, including Dr. Broda, who seems to be competing with House on who can be more right and more of an ass about it. Broda takes over the case, but of course House won’t let him and he ends up breaking quarantine, earning him a stay in the isolation chamber too. Unfortunately, despite all this drama, all I could think about was how this has been done before, only with Foreman instead of House in isolation (Season 2, I think). And honestly, we all know that House isn’t going to die, so it’s not really as exciting as it all sounds.

Complications in Huddyland. Cuddy finds out that House lied to her with last week’s case, but his possible death by smallpox puts that argument on hold. It becomes clear, however, that they are having difficulty defining the boundaries — if any even exist — between their work and their personal lives. It’s an interesting question that will be brought up constantly during the next rash (pun sort of intended) of episodes, one that takes the sunniness out of Huddyness and ends this almost painfully happy honeymoon phase. House thrives under adversity. It’s how he runs his differentials, which essentially encourages his fellows to out-diagnose each other. He is at his most brilliant when trying to prove somebody wrong. For the last six years, Cuddy’s attempts to make him walk the straight and narrow only encourage him to try the craziest treatments he can come up with … treatments that almost invariably work. Now that they’re together, she’s reluctant to say ‘no’ to him, and he’s not only reluctant to go against her but is *guilty* about it. With this episode, we see the beginnings of House’s dilemma: Does he sacrifice his definitive gift of saving people for Cuddy and happiness?

Masters ftw. Even though the rest of the team and even House are convinced it’s smallpox, Masters persists in trying to re-diagnose the patient. She ends up being right that it isn’t smallpox, House doesn’t end up dying (though the dad of the Brady Bunch family does) and House and Cuddy’s relationship lives to fight another day.

Airwave Analysis: House S07E06 Office Politics

noreply@blogger.com (Elise De Los Santos) — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 00:07:00 +0000

Meet Martha M. Masters. The alliterative third-year med student played by “Joan of Arcadia” and “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” actress Amber Tamblyn makes her debut in this episode as the long-sought female fellow. Masters is a painfully earnest genius whose determination to do right is reminiscent of a grade-school goody-two-shoes, but in a cute, responsible sort of way that reminds the viewer someone still has a moral compass at Princeton-Plainsborough. She settles in as the other fellows’ conscience, constantly pointing out that most of their practices are wildly unethical … and probably would result in their being banned from ever practicing medicine again in the real world. Ah, the beauty of television.

Masters vs. Cameron. I expected Masters to be a Cameron clone and was pleasantly surprised by how refreshing her character is as it bursts into House’s world. Still, there are certain aspects to Masters that look like a direct response to Cameron. Her awkward social skills (she entered college at 13 and already earned doctorates in math and art history) seem like a nod to the over-sympathetic Cameron who connected with her patients too much. Masters’ high morals serve as an unshakable foil to House’s complete lack of them, much like season 1-3 Cameron. But she proves unwilling to compromise her beliefs even to win his approval, unlike the former Mrs. Chase.

Cuddy vs. House. Cuddy hires Masters since House has failed to keep a girl on his team in the last four episodes. Throughout the episode, House repeatedly fires and hires Masters, and Masters even wants to quit at one point, but Cuddy insists on her staying, saying Masters is going to be a star and she wants her at PPTH. It doesn’t help that Masters tattles to Cuddy over House’s methods, pitting girlfriend vs. boyfriend over the patient’s treatment. For the first time in their relationship, House is tempted to fudge some results so that Cuddy will let him treat the patient the way he wants to, and he moans and groans over this decision to the ever-patient Wilson. He does it in the end.

Cuddy vs. Masters. When Masters wants to quit, Cuddy convinces her to stay in a conversation that seems to be as much about Cuddy as it is about Masters. It would have been interesting if they had explored that parallel a little more. We know, thanks to a revealing conversation during the Stacy arc years ago, that Cuddy graduated med school at 25 (Masters is 25 now) and was dean of medicine at 32. It was also revealed in the second episode of this season that Cuddy added two years to her age when applying for the job so that she’d have a better chance to be hired. It’s becoming more apparent as the season progresses how little we actually know about Cuddy’s character and her motivations.

Taub vs. Foreman. Foreman needles Taub over his instant dislike of Masters, deciding her youth makes Taub feel old. Taub’s response? Meet at the court after work for some one-on-one basketball. Though Foreman eventually wins, Taub shows off some mad skillz (yeah, who knew?). And it is in the midst of scenes like these that you find yourself wondering wtf happened to this show. Foreman continues to insist something happened between Masters and Taub in the past and won’t let it rest. In the end, we find out that Taub’s feelings are hurt that Masters doesn’t seem to remember him when he interviewed her for Johns Hopkins. She does in the end.

Past vs. Present. The patient of the week is the campaign manager for a Jersey senator. If we don’t already get ethics overload from Masters, the adviser and the senator are arguing over whether or not to run a dirty ad over his opponent. While the adviser is in the hospital, the ad leaks and the senator scapegoats the patient, who has Hep C because he got it from said senator. My header for this section is due to the fact that this is not the first time House has accused a prominent politician of having gay, unprotected sex (though the advisor claims they transmitted through cocaine needles). Granted, last time it was an Obama-esque presidential candidate whom House thought had AIDS, but still, it gets no creativity points in my book.

Airwave Analysis: House S07E05 Unplanned Parenthood

noreply@blogger.com (Elise De Los Santos) — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 19:32:00 +0000

Rachel Cuddy. Cuddy has the brilliant idea of letting House watch her daughter, and the result is a full episode of House vs. Rachel in all her toddler glory. Why any responsible adult would trust House with their child is a mystery to me, but since the result is quite comical, I’ll let it slide. Besides, Rachel knows how to rock a cute onesie like none other.

The best babysitting team ever. Wilson ends up bringing House dinner while he’s on babysitting duty, and House attempts to run for it (haha, joke unintentional). Wilson threatens to leave too, though we all know the responsible boy wonder is never going to do that, and they face off outside the house, both threatening to drive away. The bffs sweetly decide to weather the storm together, but when they go back inside, they find Rachel has swallowed some coins. What follows is the glimpse of the good old days: House and Wilson working together to hide something from Cuddy. They even smuggle Rachel into the hospital to give her an ultrasound when she doesn’t poop out the coin. This includes Wilson’s priceless impersonation of “the friendly moose who lives outside your bedroom," complete with funny voice and antler hands.

House the paranoid parent. House’s decision not to tell Cuddy about the accident and his subsequent over-compensation by jumping up every time Rachel makes a sound over the baby monitor is something every sitcom has done before (minus the ultrasound part, perhaps). Even though it’s very realistic, I find myself rebelling against the idea that under these circumstances, House would be just like any other paranoid parent who screwed up with the kid and doesn’t want to admit it to his significant other. He should have done something more drastic, like surgery or something. Though I guess it would have been more difficult to hide and put quite a damper on his and Cuddy’s relationship. Damn.

Foreman’s fired hire and Taub’s turn. After Chase’s major fail last week, House passes the baton to Foreman and then promptly fires his choice before she can even say a word, all for the sake of teaching Foreman a lesson. Taub then gets his chance, and he agonizes over the decision, knowing either way he’s probably going to lose. He settles on Dr. Cheng, a pediatric surgeon who’s helping on their case. Cheng seems like a good fit (and she’s Asian, which if you’re in a hospital...) but ultimately declines Taub’s offer. So we’re female fellow-less again.

Patient. We get another brilliant, highly improbable family dilemma with this week’s patients. A newborn baby’s sick and no one knows why. House and Co. do the usual: guess, treat, patient gets better, patient gets worse, rinse and repeat. As always, there’s weird family politics involved; the mother has an adult daughter with whom she has a strained relationship that is never really explained. Anyway, it turns out the mother gave her baby skin cancer. BUT since the cancer has metastasized to the mother’s lungs, her lung cancer is in effect treating the skin cancer. She postpones surgery so she can keep giving her baby transfusions to treat the baby, but the mother ends up dying. Bright side: now they can harvest the mother’s blood to treat the baby, whom the adult daughter will take care of. A very House-ian sorta-happy ending.

Airwave Analysis: House S07E04 Massage Therapy

noreply@blogger.com (Elise De Los Santos) — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 07:20:00 +0000

Cool horror film intro. Finally, an interesting intro. The opening scenes of most House episodes consist of people doing everyday things and then suddenly passing out, freaking out or breaking out. But once in a while there’s a really brilliant, almost theatrical intro that breaks the mold, and we get that with a cheesy, cliche faux horror film lead-in.

House’s masseuse. The Huddy problem of the week, since the show’s once glorified patient of the week seems to have devolved to this, is that House’s masseuse is a prostitute he used to hire. Of course, Cuddy isn’t very happy about it and threatens to withhold sex (much to the relief of the Huddy sex saturated viewer), so House gets back at her by hiring a masseuse to give her a massage in her office. Turns out the masseuse is actually a male prostitute, something Cuddy is not happy about, yet something tells me the Cuddy of old who didn’t see House through rose-colored glasses would have seen right through this trick.

Foreman’s jealousy. At the end of last episode, House throws the team a curveball by telling Chase to hire a new female fellow. Foreman’s feeling’s are hurt because for some reason he’s considered the most senior of the fellows (I consider him the most boring). If I remember correctly Chase has technically been with House the longest, see the excellent Season 2 episode when they have a black-tie benefit at the hospital, and Chase has to explain to Foreman and Cameron why House is obsessed with a patient. But I guess Foreman has acted as House’s supervisor from time to time to time, so fine.

Chase’s hire. Pretty boy dutifully goes and brings in Dr. Kelly Benedict, a blonde who acts, well, blonde. They try to make it painfully obvious she doesn’t quite have the qualifications of the rest of the team, but what makes it clear to me that she’s just a one-episode-wonder is House’s complete lack of curiosity about her. Every one of House’s fellows was hired because they intrigued him in some way. It turns out House’s only interest in her is why Chase hired her, re: to sleep with her. Cameron’s ex has been quite the man whore since his divorce.

Cameron references. Benedict’s appearance instantly brings up comparisons to Cameron by the team, but it feels forced at best, an odd justification for removing her from the show at worst. First, they look nothing alike. Yes, Cameron was blonde for the second half of her career at PPTH, but she always had almost annoyingly long hair while Benedict’s is decidedly shoulder-length. Secondly, they act nothing alike. Cameron’s always had an odd, flirty relationship with House and constantly challenged him. Benedict’s just scared of the old man with the cane. The only thing they end up having in common is dating Chase because, yes, in the end, as she’s cleaning out her locker, he asks her out to dinner.

Oh, yes, the patient. I almost forgot. The patient is the young wife who was doing her best impression of “When a Stranger Calls” at the beginning of the episode. At first they think she’s being poisoned by a stalker ex-lover, but it just turns out she was just doing her best impression of “A Beautiful Mind” (she has schizophrenia and made the whole thing up). For some reason, her husband feels compelled to ask House for relationship advice. House’s words of wisdom: Relationships are hard. Well, thanks, House. We didn’t need the white board for that one. I know he’s the expert now on all things relationship, but the House of old would have told him to leave her. Just sayin’.

Celebrity Crushing: Christian Bale Coffee Run in NYC

noreply@blogger.com (Elise De Los Santos) — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 04:19:00 +0000

Well, hello, gorgeous.

The Dark Knight Rises has started filming in New York City, so the pics of C. Bale were inevitable. Obviously a lot is going on in the city right now, with the Occupy Wall Street protest taking place a few blocks away from where they are filming. Rumors swirled that Christopher Nolan was going to film some of it for the movie. Would the protestors want to be in a movie that's going to make more money for him and Warner Bros. than your average hedge fund? Regardless of what the 99 percent thinks, it's no doubt that Baley is 100 percent hotness on and off the set.

Because of my determination not to look at any spoilerific shots of actual filming, when this came up on my newsfeed, I debated about clicking on it for about 10 minutes (no joke), but I'm SO happy I did. Click if you want to see double the hotness.

Airwave Analysis: House S07E03 Unwritten

noreply@blogger.com (Elise De Los Santos) — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 23:52:00 +0000

Oh, Sam is still around? Wilson’s ex-wife turned girlfriend suddenly shows up in this episode after ZERO mention of her in the previous two, and apparently, she and the Boy Wonder Oncologist are still going very strong. Thanks for the news flash, show producers. But aside from the surprise, her reappearance means this show is going somewhere it has never gone before: House and Wilson in relatively stable relationships at the same time.

Go karts!!!!!! And what better way to mark this momentous ocassion than by having the two adult couples go on a double date... at a go-kart racetrack. And they all brilliantly stay in character during the race, Wilson timid and inexperienced, forced to go along with House’s whims; Cuddy reluctant but then pushed to go all in thanks to Sam and House’s competitiveness; House cheating to cross the finish line first, but with a chivalric motive to avenge Cuddy behind his dirty moves. And we get some insight on Sam’s character - she has a petty, competitive streak... just like House. Hmm, Amber was just like House too.

Cuddy’s outfits. Cuddy has definitely taken the turn for the sexy this season. Coupled with the boys club House is running in Diagnostics, her ass-hugging, neckline-plunging wardrobe raises some eyebrows and questions about the image of women the show is projecting. As dean of medicine, Cuddy has always been a very powerful, positive female image for the show, an image only strengthened by the fact she’s the only woman left on the show. Yet her tailored business suits have devolved into skin-tight dresses that make her look more like House’s former “girlfriends” than a doctor. But I guess you could argue that the male side isn’t teaming with role models either.

House the fanboy. The patient of the week is a famous children’s author who tries to commit suicide, and House takes her case because he happens to be a huge fan (Sam is too, surprise). And I totally connected with House on his crazy fanboy-ness. He desperately wants to read the next book, eventually stealing her typewriter ribbon and using the MRI to read the manuscript by the imprint of the keys left on the tape (genius! Oh, and Sam helps too.) This also marks the first time I can remember guessing the “big secret” the patient is hiding before House’s customary big reveal. I couldn’t decide if I should be proud of myself or if this was a sign of how transparent the cover-up was.

Airwave Analysis: House S07E02 Selfish

noreply@blogger.com (Elise De Los Santos) — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 23:46:00 +0000

Too much testosterone. Without Thirteen, it becomes painfully obvious how male-dominated the show is (and another reason they should have kept Cameron around!). Aside from angering the feminist inside me, there’s simply no chemistry between Chase, Foreman and Taub, and again, you can’t help but wonder how realistic it is that three talented doctors nowhere near retiring age are willing to stick to a job that offers no opportunities for upward movement. They do represent diversity, however, so yay?

Too much sex makes the baby go blind. God, we get that House and Cuddy are a couple, but can we please do with a little less of the kissing and the nakedness? I think they’ve been undressed more often in this one episode than in all six previous seasons. and perhaps part of the reason House has stood out was for its relatively limited sexy airtime, unlock other medical dramas (coughGreysAnatomycough).

Sparks of old genius. However, Cuddy’s grabbing House’s crotch in order to prove to Wilson that they are together, after holding hands and kissing failed, might have redeemed this couple just a teeny, tiny bit. Even more so, House’s parting words of, “I think you might have straightened out my limp a little.”

Whatever happened to the white board? As if to add insult to injury, the show’s focus on the medicine seems to have been lost amid all of the relationship fluff. *What* happened to the brilliance of the differential diagnosis? *What* happened to writing symptoms on the beloved white board? Now it’s basically the Three Stoges each offer their opinion, House shoots each of them down and decides on a treatment, and they go off to do his bidding unchallenged.

Maybe this show is getting some of its heart back. The patient of the week redeemed the episode at the very end. Squeezed into the last 10 minutes, we have a great family ethical dilemma: Two parents must decide if they should let their terminally ill son donate a lung to save his dying sister, probably cutting his already short life shorter. The daughter refuses to do that to her brother, who convinces her in a tear-jerking moment to take one of his lungs since the only way he can do things is to live vicariously through her. The power of the patient story is a throw-back to the old House seasons where the episodes were defined by that week’s case, not by whatever doctor drama is going on.

Airwave Analysis: House S07E01 Now What?

noreply@blogger.com (Elise De Los Santos) — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 23:42:00 +0000

The neediest new boyfriend ever. The season picks up literally right after the end of the last season, with the first scene a continuation of Season 6’s last scene, which means we get hit with a huge dose of Huddy right from the start. There’s Huddy sex, of course, then we get the morning-after scene, and House takes on the role of needy new girlfriend that seems extremely out of character. Do they go public? Do they keep it secret? What are they anyway? My question: What happened to the *secretly* caring bastard we all know and love?

Huddy’s day off. One thing that hit the right spot, however, was how he tells Cuddy he loves her via Boggle cubes. At House’s insistence, Cuddy calls in and she and House spend the entire day playing board games, hiding from Wilson, and House tries to open a champagne bottle with a sword (Why does it not surprise me that he has a sword?). It’s a refreshing change of pace from the usual hospital scene, but the drawback is how annoying cute and couple-y House and Cuddy are being.

Foreman + Chase + Thirteen + Taub = boring. Speaking of the hospital, House’s trusty team shows just how whipped they are by their leader. When the hospital’s only neurosurgeon calls in sick, threatening a forced closure of several departments and the ER, House tells his team to fix the problem so Cuddy won’t have to come in, and of course they do just this. It begs the question why these four extremely talented doctors cling to House when he wastes so much of their time.

Duh, Thirteen isn’t going to Rome. As they try to fix the neurosurgeon, the three men try to get the truth out of why Thirteen is asking for a leave of absence to go to Rome. Of course, everyone knows that Olivia Wilde is actually leaving to film “Cowboys and Aliens” with Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig, making the whole premise rather shallow despite its necessity. The excuse is saved only by the way Thirteen actually makes her exit: Chase, Taub and Foreman wait for her at the end of the day with a going-away bar mitzvah cake, and she never shows up.

Wilson and the kitchen window. A very worried Wilson goes to great lengths to make sure House is all right, and that includes climbing through his kitchen window. It was in that moment that Wilson first appears on screen that I remembered why I loved this show so much. The House-Wilson relationship has still got to be one of the best on television.

This is going to be great. So says Cuddy as she leaves to go home at the end of the day/episode, and I can’t help but disagree. It’s so obvious this will only work in their self-imposed limbo, not in the “real world,” and there are hints of a doomed relationship before it’s even begun. Why put these characters in this position in the first place? Is this something that simply has to run its course so we can put it behind us?

Airwave Analysis: House Season 7

noreply@blogger.com (Elise De Los Santos) — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 16:32:00 +0000

House got me through my first year of college via a five-season binge, and I tried to play faithful viewer more or less successfully during Season 6. But things didn’t go so well for House and me during the show’s seventh season. In other words, until a month ago ago, I hadn’t seen a single minute of it.

We already had a contentious relationship by the second half of Season 6 because of the seemingly unnecessary removal of Cameron, my absolute favorite character on the show. Though I had clung to hope that it was just the rumor mill turning and all would be well, by the middle of the season it was all confirmed and I began to tune out. I never even got around to watching the season finale.

I heard things about Season 7, of course, but nothing that made me want to come back. Many articles talked about the once-great show jumping the shark and about a sickening descent into Huddyland, and I definitely didn’t want to be there for the fall. But by the summer, two interesting developments caught the attention of all those waiting to see if Season 8 was going to be the last: 1) Lisa Edelstein announced she wasn’t returning to House, thereby ending future prospects of Huddy and 2) Season 8 was to take place an entire year after the end of Season 7, thereby putting Huddy far behind us.

But I knew I simply couldn’t just start watching the again without putting in the time to watch Season 7, so I grit my teeth and got to work … and rediscovered my love for this show. Don’t get me wrong, there was still a lot of teeth-gritting, eye-rolling and Dear-God-when-is-it-going-to-end?-asking, but it certainly wasn’t as bad as I expected. What follows are my thoughts on the season. The subheads are my thoughts in real time, so I apologize in advance for the excessive use of exclamation points, question marks and drawn-out spellings of certain words.

(links coming later)

S07E01. Now What?

S07E02. Selfish

S07E03. Unwritten

S07E04. Massage Therapy

S07E05. Unplanned Parenthood

S07E06. Office Politics

S07E07. A Pox on Our House

S07E08. Small Sacrifices

S07E09. Larger than Life

S07E10. Carrot or Stick

S07E11. Family Practice

S07E12. You Must Remember This

S07E13. Two Stories

S07E14. Recession Proof

S07E15. Bombshells

S07E16. Out of the Chute

S07E17. Fall from Grace

S07E18. The Dig

S07E19. Last Temptation

S07E20. Changes

S07E21. The Fix

S07E22. After Hours

S07E23. Moving On

Video Vault: "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows" trailer

noreply@blogger.com (Elise De Los Santos) — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 19:07:00 +0000

Much of this trailer is simply a rehashing of the scenes they had used in the first trailer, which is quite fine with me because, since turning over a new leaf, I’ve come to realize that seeing half of a movie before it’s even released quite cuts into the movie experience. I was ridiculously happy, however, to see they included a couple new shots of Rachel McAdams as Irene Adler, including a little smooch between her and Holmes (squee!). According to rumors, her role is supposed to be more on the cameo side, but at least it won’t be an inconsequential one.

Yet in all honesty, the couple I can’t wait to see light up the screen is the duo that makes up the bromance to end all bromances. RDJ and Jude Law as Holmes and Watson has got to be one of the most brilliant casting choices ever made in modern cinema history. You just don’t get that chemistry every day, and I’m talking in terms of any on-screen pairing — romantic, platonic, you-name-ic, er, it.

70 Most Powerful People in the World 2011 - Forbes

noreply@blogger.com (Elise De Los Santos) — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 18:05:00 +0000

Forbes recently released their ranking of the world's most powerful people. It was based on four factors: 1) how many people the person has power over, 2) financial resources controlled by each candidate, 3) number of spheres of influence and 4) how actively the person wields his or her power. The total list comes out to 70 people, about one for every 100 million people. The most powerful is President Barack Obama, the youngest is Facebook founder Mark Zuckerburg, the oldest is Saudi Arabian king Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al Saud and the highest-ranking female is Geraman Chancellor Angela Merkel. Below is the rest of the list, including each person's age and position. Read the original article by Forbes here.

Barack Obama, 50, president of the United States
Vladimir Putin, 59, prime minister of Russia
Hu Jintao, 68, president of the People's Republic of China
Angela Merkel, 57, chancellor of Germany
Bill Gates, 56, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al Saud, 87, king of Saudi Arabia
Pope Benedict XVI, 84, pope of the Roman Catholic Church
Ben Bernanke, 57, chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve
Mark Zuckerberg, 27, founder of Facebook
David Cameron, 45, prime minister of the United Kingdom
Sonia Gandhi, 64, president of the Indian National Congress
Mario Draghi, 64, president of the European Central Bank
Nicolas Sarkozy, 56, president of France
Wen Jiabao, 69, premier of the People's Republic of China
Zhou Xiaochuan, 63, governor of the People's Bank of China
Hillary Clinton, 64, secretary of state of the United States
Michael Bloomberg, 69, mayor of New York City
Timothy Geithner, 50, secretary of the U.S. treasury
Manmohan Singh, 79, prime minister of India
Warren Buffett, 81, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway
Silvio Berlusconi and family, 75, prime minister of Italy
Dilma Fousseff, 63, president of brazil
Carlos Slim Helu and family, 71, chairman of Telmex
Rupert Murdoch, 80, CEO of News Corp.
Benjamin Betanyahu, 62, prime minister of Israel
Ali Hoseini-Khamenei, 72, grand ayatollah of Iran
Michael Duke, 61, CEO of Wal-Mart
Jeffrey Immelt, 55, CEO of General Electric
Zhou Yongkang, 68, secretary of the Commission for Political and Legislative Affairs of the People's Republic of China
Sergey Brin and Larry Page, both 38, co-founders of Google
Ali Al-Naimi, 76, oil minister of Saudi Arabia
Rostam Ghasemi, 47, president of OPEC
Lou Jiwei, 60, chairman of the China Investment Corporation
Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, 59, chief of army staff of Pakistan
Mukesh Ambani, 54, chairman of Reliance Industries
Masaaki Shirakawa, 62, governor of the Bank of Japan
Kim Jong-il, 69, supreme leader of North Korea
Ban Ki-moon, 67, secretary-general of the United Nations
Christine Lagarde, 55, managing director of the International Monetary Fund
Jeff Bezos, 47, CEO of Amazon
Jamie Dimon, 55, CEO of JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Robin Li, 42, CEO of Baidu
Lloyd Blankfein, 57, CEO of Goldman Sachs
Li Ka-shing, 83, chairman of Hutchinson Whampoa Limited
Charles Koch, 76, CEO of Koch Industries
Rex Tillerson, 59, CEO of ExxonMobil
Lakshmi Mittal, 61, chairman of ArcelorMittal
Recep Erdogan, 57, prime minister of Turkey
Robert Zoellick, 58, president of World Bank Group
Bill Clinton, 65, former president of the United States
Dalai Lama, 76, dalai lama of Tibet
Larry Fink, 59, CEO of BlackRock
Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan, 63, president of the United Arab Emirates
Bill Gross, 67, co-founder of PIMCO
Joaquin Guzman Loera, 54, drug trafficker of the Sinaloa Cartel
Ahmed Shuja Pasha, 59, director-general of Inter-Services Intelligence of Pakistan
Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar, 55, leader of D-Company
Tim Cook, 51, CEO of Apple
Dmitry Medvedev, 46, president of Russia
Masayoshi Son, 54, CEO of SoftBank
Azim Premji, 66, chairman of Wipro Limited
Yoshihiko Noda, 54, prime minister of Japan
Joseph Blatter, 75, president of FIFA
Jill Abramson, 57, executive editor of The New York Times
Bernard Arnault, 62, chairman of LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy)
Sebastian Pinera, 61, president of Chile
John Boehner, 61, speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives
Jacques Rogge, 69, president of the International Olympic Committee
Xi Jinping, 58, first secretary of the Secretariat of the Communist Party of the People's Republic of China
Alisher Usmanov, 58, oligarch

10 Shoes Every Woman Should Own — Glamour

noreply@blogger.com (Elise De Los Santos) — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 18:02:00 +0000

I have more than 10 pairs of shoes. I have more than 20. Thirty might be pushing it, but it's not out of the realm of possibility.

I used to hate shoe-shopping until I was in middle to high school, then, oh, how thing's changed. This isn't a story of blossoming womanhood, and from my experience men can be as fussy over shoes as women. No, I discovered my love of shoes for a very practical reason: The sudden appearance of flats as the go-to shoe made owning multiple pairs of everyday shoes a possibility, and my shoe collection just seemed to multiply from there. Shoes definitely make up the heaviest and bulkiest of my moving problems when I move in or out of school.

Glamour magazine has come up with the 10 pairs every woman needs to avoid ever having a what-to-wear crisis. Read the original article here.While I have yet to come up with an occasion where none of their choices would work, I can't help but feel it's a little heavy on the sandal side. But that may be just the effect of living with Chicago weather for my entire life. I guess rain and snow aren't options in the fashion world.

Below is the list, along with a report on how I make the grade. Scroll down to the end to see if I got an A. Keep in mind I've never paid more than $50 for a pair of shoes (at least I think so. No more than a $100 for sure), so we're not talking designer duds or anything.

Nude peep toe pumps: No, but there was a cute pair I saw at JC Penney a couple months ago that I should have snapped up.
Black city boots: Yes, courtesy of Target, but they've endured three years of Evanston snow, so they're a bit the worse for wear and there's some metal poking through the worn-out soles
Ballet flats: Yes, dozens have come and gone, thanks to a constant supply from Target and Old Navy. They've been all colors of the rainbow (red, blue, green, gold, black, the list goes on.)
Wooden platform sandals: Yes, two identical pairs in different colors, courtesy of Lane Bryant because they were on sale for $3, but I've only worn them once and nearly died climbing the stairs, so they've been in the garage ever since.
Canvas sneakers: Yes, two pairs, one's a pair of black, sequined sneakers I bought on a whim at JC Penney, and the other's a pair of beige Converses I found on clearance at Urban Outfitters, both for $10. The beige ones made it through Lollapalooza this year.
Black pumps: Yes, three: one with a 2 1/2-inch heel from Target, another one with a 3-inch heel and an ankle strap, also from Target (not sure if mary janes technically count, but it works), and a peep-toe Steve Madden with a 4-inch heel (again, not sure if peep toes count). None are patent leather, so it is my goal to find one that is.
Metallic sandals: From the picture, it seems they're talking more about the formal, strappy kind of sandal, so no. My formal strappies are the ones I've worn since my eighth grade graduation banquet (yeah, really), and they're black
Suede booties: No, but I almost bought a pair from Charlotte Russe last spring. I don't think the whole booties look works for me, though
Flat leather sandals: I'm pretty sure my gladiator sandals count, even if they're not genuine leather. Got them from Shoe Carnival over the summer. I love them and realized I went way too long without buying gladiators.
Gorgeous work-of-art shoes that make you happy: I buy shoes that make me happy when I look at them in the store, which is part of the reason I have so many shoes I haven't worn. I do have two shoes that I absolutely adore. One is a pair of silver Nina slippers from DSW that I wore to my cousin's wedding this September. They hurt like hell and I could barely walk in them, but they're gorgeous. The other is a pair of red patent leather pumps from Target that I have yet to have the courage to wear anywhere.

Grade: 7/10, if you don't count doubles or triples. Too bad there's no extra credit!

Celebrity Crushing: Christian Bale filming with Haley Bennett

noreply@blogger.com (Elise De Los Santos) — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 08:45:00 +0000

“WHO’S THIS LUCKY BITCH?” were the words that accompanied this picture when I posted it to my sister’s Facebook wall. Answer: Haley Bennett, a young American actress who I think looks quite lovely with her peaches-and-cream complexion and the rather spiritual-looking expression as she relaxes in Batman’s embrace (after all, I would be in heaven). Bennett has the enviable task of cozying up to Christian Bale as they film Terrence Malick’s new, mysterious, probably music-related project. Despite the Titanic-esque rigging and the Kate Winslet-Leonardo DiCaprio hold, I believe they are up in the wings of a stage, perhaps a backstage VIP section. As much as it pains me, it’s nice to see Baley getting in on some leading lady action, since usually he’s too busy being a crack addict or saving the world to get with it.

Actually, this is not the most flattering pic of Baley, so torture yourself away with these other ones, courtesy of christian-bale.org.

Video Vault: "This Means War" Trailer

noreply@blogger.com (Elise De Los Santos) — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 01:45:00 +0000

Ah, finally, the rom-com/spy/action movie we’ve all been waiting for. For years, I have been looking for a movie to try for that genius mix of laughs, romance and serious ass-kicking that “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” attained more than six (what?!) years ago. That void in my life has only been filled by an over-watched DVD that’s pulled off the shelf every time it’s family movie night. I pin my and my poor family’s hope on “This Means War” as a worthy successor to the film that made Brangelina.

Chris Pine and Tom Hardy look like they have a great on-screen bromance/frenemy chemistry, and obvs that will be key to the success of the film. Not sure if they can reach the same smoldering intensity of Brad and Angelina, since their chemistry went so far as to make it off-screen as well, but I’ll take my chances with this hunky duo. Reese Witherspoon makes for a cute prize to fight over, but I hope there’s some sort of a twist involving her. Too much like “Mr. and Mrs. Smith,” you say? Is there even such a thing?

Kate Middleton: In Kind Direct Charity Dinner 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Elise De Los Santos) — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 07:34:00 +0000

Event: In Kind Direct charity dinner
Location: Clarence House, London
Date: Oct. 26, 2011
Dress: Amanda Wakeley (Fall/Winter 2006-07 wedding gown)

Two weeks is almost too long to go without seeing Kate Middleton in the news, and again she looks so flawless I can’t even begin to feel jealous of her. In her first solo event, she hosted a charity dinner at Clarence House, taking the place of Prince Charles.

I wonder how many dresses the Duchess of Cambridge tries on before she finds the right one. When I was looking for dresses to wear to my cousin’s wedding last month, I must have tried on dozens before I found one that suited me. Maybe it’s just physically impossible for her to look bad in something? And even though she kind of sticks to the same colors and style (I’m thinking the lilac Alexander McQueen she wore to the BAFTA gala in Los Angeles and the pale pink Jenny Packham she wore to the ARK dinner in London in June), she somehow never looks boring or “safe.” Critics can deride her for not taking risks, but my God, if you’re under the same media scrutiny as Kate, she takes a risk every time she steps in front of a camera because everyone is just waiting for her to take a fashion misstep. I, for one, am not. Keep being perfect, Kate!