overheard from house.

house: "trans-tracheal aspiration."
foreman: "that's practically waterboarding!"
wilson: "that's pretty radical."
hallucination-amber: "that's a great idea."
house, ignores amber: "is it regular radical, me radical or me-out-of-my-mind radical?"
wilson: "somewhere between regular and you."
house: "so what's the problem?"

haha i love such dialogue in House. hugh laurie is really a genius at playing House, and wilson (robert sean leonard). my guy from dead poet's society. love them both.

anyways it's a sneaky way to get waterboarding into the dialogue. especially now condi rice is under fire for the bush's administration actions and policies. and i'm getting lots of such storylines. grey's this week featured an anti-deforestation activist who was flung off the tree she was staying in when they cut down that tree.

and i applaud the writers of House for not blowing the whole amber-in-house's-head hallucination out of proportion, like what grey's anatomy did with denny and izzie. i never appreciated the whole making-love-to-a-hallucinated-person, even when battlestar galactica did it. but the sci-fi nature of BSG and the subsequent ending kind of accounts for that possibility.

but grey's was just stuck in a rut. i'm glad it's getting better now. :)

but Lost ranks at the top with House now. it better not kill of daniel faraday for good. i know with time travel, everything is possible now. faraday's my favorite character from the huge ensemble cast.

a little thing called tempting fate.

[The office staff watches the Senate start to vote on Mendoza's confirmation to the Supreme Court and begin celebrating. Bonnie starts handing around a bottle of champagne]

Toby: Put it down! Put it down!"

Bonnie: Toby!

Toby: No champagne.

Bonnie: We're just getting--

Toby: Put it down. Everyone in this room, let me have your attention! Please. The law of our land mandates that Presidential appointees be confirmed by a majority of the Senate, a majority being a total of half plus one for a total of what, Ginger?

Ginger: Fifty-one.

Toby: Fifty-one 'yea' votes is what we see on these screens BEFORE a drop of wine is swallowed! Because there's a little thing called what, Bonnie?

Bonnie: 'Tempting fate'?

Toby: 'Tempting fate' is what it's called. In the three months that this man has been on my radar screen, I have aged forty-eight years. This is MY day of jubilee, I will not have it screwed up by what, Bonnie?

Bonnie: By tempting fate.

Toby: By tempting fate! These things take patience. These things take skill. These things take luck. In the fifteen months we've been in office, what kind of luck have we had? Ginger?

Ginger: Bad luck.

Toby: [clears his throat and raises his eyebrows] What kind of luck?

Ginger: Very bad luck.

Toby: We've had very bad luck.

- The West Wing Season 1 "Six Meetings Before Lunch"

***

Here's hoping democrats do not get complacent, make voting errors and tempt fate before the election is called. and VOTE! whether you have to brave the snow, winds, rain, or sun.

I've been meaning to write something about the uncanny resemblance of the west wing's seasons 6-7 plots to the US presidential race 08 now reaching its climax and inevitable end. but the new york times beat me to it. and so did the sunday times, which published the NYT article on 2nd nov. well i'm glad people have noticed!!

in a manner of not tempting fate deliberately, in the west wing, the hispanic, democrat nominee won by just a few thousand votes in nevada, at 4am the day after election day. in the above scene, hispanic judge mendoza (also admiral adama in battlestar galactica) got his senate majority and was put on the supreme court. well, maybe, just maybe, fact will follow fiction.

no i'm not tempting fate.

postcards from london.

london didn't live up to my lofty expectations. but thinking back, i think it was still quite enjoyable, save for the rain that fell lightly and continuously for 2 whole days. i'll always remember london for its vintage finds, prince william, the british accent, way too expensive tube tickets, musicals at west end and jamie bamber. (:

early morning rush hour at a king's cross platform.

blue skies and white fluffy clouds.

the grand and old atrium of the museum of natural history.

a cool afternoon for a stroll at hyde park/kensington gardens.

beach chairs dotting the greenery around the lake.

swans-a-gather at hyde park.

smile for Piccadilly circus! those yellow lots on the monopoly board.

somewhere around leicester square. home of west end.

saturday morning at portobello market. my kind of saturday. (:

home-made quiche, anyone?

tulips, my favorite flower. other than daisies.

the colors of portobello.

am currently in the middle of a battlestar galactica marathon. another smart and witty series, because i'm a geek, this is sci-fi and i love it. the show reached cult status, much like star trek (which i cannot appreciate) and lost (which i find so intriguing). within 2 weeks, i'm at the home stretch of its 4th and final season, with the 2nd half of the season airing next year. there's much to think about the issues raised by the show - politics, war, existentialism, religion, race, genocide, sexuality, violence and morality.