House
5x09 Last Resort
5x10 Let Them Eat Cake
5x11 Joy to the World
It's funny seeing House do clinic duty in Joy to the World -- his enforced clinic hours used to be such a major part of the show, and one of its best sources of humour, that putting him back there for a bit this episode just reminds you what's lost. These days, I suppose, it's been replaced by the detailed story arcs afforded to almost every regular character.
Also nice to see was the criticism of America's wealth-based healthcare system in Last Resort, which is also one of the best House episodes ever for reasons far too numerous to list.
(For those interested (but also somehow missed it...), season six started on Sky1 tonight. At my current rate I should be caught up in time for episode two, as planned.)
How I Met Your Mother
1x20 Best Prom Ever
Last Chance to See
Part 3 Aye-Aye
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]
Sunday, 4 October 2009
Films
Shadow of the Vampire (2000)
[#56 in 100 Films in a Year 2009]
Recorded from BBC Four, who appear to have cut seven minutes out of the middle -- it was that much shorter than the listed PAL running time and the ending didn't make much sense. That said, the only detailed plot description I could find didn't mention anything I hadn't seen, so who knows?
[#56 in 100 Films in a Year 2009]
Recorded from BBC Four, who appear to have cut seven minutes out of the middle -- it was that much shorter than the listed PAL running time and the ending didn't make much sense. That said, the only detailed plot description I could find didn't mention anything I hadn't seen, so who knows?
Fiction
Dean Koontz's Frankenstein - Book Three: Dead and Alive by Dean Koontz
Chapters 12 - 18
Asides and little details are all well and good for fleshing out a world and its characters, but you do have to wonder if the reader really needs whole chapters like the one describing an obscure, little-known restaurant and what two characters eat there while waiting around for something to happen. Of course, said restaurant and/or said food may be of importance later, rendering this as important foreshadowing or set-up rather than time-wasting, pointless detail, but unfortunately I don't think such usefulness is guaranteed.
Presumably such unrelated asides spring from Koontz feeling the need to regularly remind his reader about each of the half-dozen (or so) plot threads he has running currently, even if there's nothing to report from that particular thread yet. But perhaps he'd be better off trusting the reader to remember the characters until they actually have a role to play, rather than merely reminding us of their continued existence through an unnecessary bit of nothing, especially when there are several other characters and situations where interesting -- and relevant -- events no doubt continue to unfold.
Chapters 12 - 18
Asides and little details are all well and good for fleshing out a world and its characters, but you do have to wonder if the reader really needs whole chapters like the one describing an obscure, little-known restaurant and what two characters eat there while waiting around for something to happen. Of course, said restaurant and/or said food may be of importance later, rendering this as important foreshadowing or set-up rather than time-wasting, pointless detail, but unfortunately I don't think such usefulness is guaranteed.
Presumably such unrelated asides spring from Koontz feeling the need to regularly remind his reader about each of the half-dozen (or so) plot threads he has running currently, even if there's nothing to report from that particular thread yet. But perhaps he'd be better off trusting the reader to remember the characters until they actually have a role to play, rather than merely reminding us of their continued existence through an unnecessary bit of nothing, especially when there are several other characters and situations where interesting -- and relevant -- events no doubt continue to unfold.
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