Today, I have been honored with some amazingly creative, well written and thought provoking pieces offered for posting on this site by some of House‘ biggest fans. I have laughed with our guest bloggers and I have been made to see some things a bit differently than before. Personally, I have enjoyed every one of the articles contributed by these dedicated and talented people.

I want to thank each and every one of you who took the time out of your busy schedules to write and contribute articles to help support our Charity Blog-Off.

So what do the rest of you think of the guest posts we’ve received today? Should I plan to do another marathon blogging day sometime in the future? I’d love to know what you think!

The purpose of this 24-hour Blog-a-thon is to bring in support for the Actors’ Fund. You can help by making a donation here.

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Lauren J. Walter is a lawyer, writer, novelist & blogger who works in Garden City, NY. She uses Vicodin tablets to represent the beginnings of her paragraphs — very clever! You can read more of her writings on her personal blog, www.ljwwrites.wordpress.com.

icodin. That’s really what it all comes down to: House and Vicodin. As House needs the buzz to take away the noise of the everyday, the mutterings of the stupid and the malcontent. Without that noise, he can focus on the things that matter - the case at hand and House himself.

t would appear to some that House cares only about House But that’s misleading. House actually cares about the puzzle and more importantly, about solving the puzzle. It’s the puzzle that makes him tick (well, that and the vicodin with the scotch chaser).

aring is limited. For Greg House, medicine isn’t about care, it’s about solutions. House cares for only a few things - his stash, his scotch, his BFF Wilson and to a lesser extent Cuddy and his cases. Nothing else really matters - without those five things, there’s little else that impacts his world.

ccasionally, just occasionally, there is a glimpse into a man who might have some shred of compassion deep within. A man who before the pain, might have been whole. But those glimpses are few and far between.

reams. Maybe in his dreams, House is whole. Free from pain, free from the foolishness of those around him. More likely, his dreams are nightmares.

nstead, House copes. As best he knows how - self-medicating, self-loathing, and selfish. It really is all about him. And we are so much luckier for that fact. House is different from the reality of tv heros. House’s misanthropic behavior, his inability to edit his verbal process, his way or no way, all add up to an anti-hero we all hate loving, but love anyway.

ever would I have imagined that a show like House would work. But it does. For that I am grateful.

The purpose of this 24-hour Blog-a-thon is to bring in support for the Actors’ Fund. You can help by making a donation here.

Here are some photos taken of Olivia Wilde at the Grand Opening of the new luxury boutique Beckley in Los Angeles.

I think she looks cute, but can’t figure out what the red and white stars banner over her shoulder is all about. Is it a half suspenders? Does anyone know?

[Photo: courtesy of newscom.com]

(click on “Read More” for more photos)
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Cindy Eales is a statistics wizard and fan of House who lives with her two adorable “kitty-boys,” Max & Fritz in St. Louis, Missouri.

I’ve been a fan of House for years; and I’m always on the fence as to whether Dr. House is a sheep in wolf’s clothing or a genuine wolf. Just when I think that he’s an unfeeling jerk; he shows a surprising amount of compassion as in the episode with Dr. Kate Milton, the psychiatrist trapped in the South Pole who was forced to operate on herself.

Or, when totally alone with a patient, if you look really close and don‘t blink, you might catch a look of sympathy cross briefly across House’s features.

But then he leaves a thermometer in a patient’s “ahem” for hours. Jerk. Of course the patient, Detective Tritter, was a bit of a jerk himself.

And House has been known to run horrifically painful and or dangerous tests on patients just to prove a point. Or was it to save a life or teach his residents a lesson?

You have to wonder if this damaged, brilliant character who loves soap operas and his guitar, has a soft spot buried deep within for his patients. For if you don’t really care if your patient lives or dies; then what point would there be in “solving” the case? He might as well work in the morgue.

So we continue watching and wondering what exactly makes the great Dr. House tick; besides his drugs, of course!

The purpose of this 24-hour Blog-a-thon is to bring in support for the Actors’ Fund. You can help by making a donation here.

Mim is a French fan of House and wanted to contribute to our Blog-Off effort today. So she created this video of the stars she saw at the festival and sent me the translation into English. It’s even more impressive when you realize that English is not her first language. Thanks, Mim!

This video and translation from French to English gives us a look at many of the TV stars at the 2008 Monte Carlo TV Festival last week. Among the stars she captured were Lisa Edelstein, along with David Boreanaz of Bones, George Eads of CSI: Vegas & Adam Rodriguez of CSI: Miami. Here’s the video, but if you are an English-only speaker be sure to read the translation after the video:

48th Monte Carlo TV Festival Awards Ceremony

Welcome to the journal of Monte Carlo TV Festival. The festival ended yesterday under the chairmanship of its president His Serenissim Highness prince Albert II. Like all the Stars present the whole week, he couldn’t avoid the red carpet ritual. Tuxedos and evening dresses were recommended, all sported their best smiles.

You can watch the glamorous “pop video” of the week.

Then background music and you see: Adam Rodriguez, George Eads, Lisa Edelstein and many stars…

So, who finally got their “Nymphe”?

International TV Audience Awards

• Comedy TV Series category: Desperate Housewives
• Drama TV Series category: CSI: Las Vegas
• Telenovelas/Soap category: The Bold & the Beautiful

On the French side…

A summary of the 48th Monte Carlo TV Festival

Bonjour and welcome to Monacoscope.

This week is a special edition entirely dedicated to the 48th Monte Carlo TV Festival. The festival started last Sunday with the traditional visit of its president His Serenissim Highness Prince Albert II who came to orchestrate the opening ceremony.

Prince AlbertII: “It’s with great pleasure that I declare opened the 48th Monte Carlo TV Festival.”

Among the members of the jury, Laure Adler (Author and Director of France Culture radio station) who presides this year over the URTI (Université Radiophonique et Télévisuelle Internationale) competition which rewards the best documentaries.

Laure Adler: “I do believe in the documentaries, in the documentary type and I think the credibility and appeal of that sort (documentary) will continue to increase.”

The festival first event: the public projection of an unaired episode of the successful series “Plus Belle La Vie” in the presence of its comedians followed by a dedication session.

Then the American stars turn up in force, lead by Eric Close one of the “Without a Trace” actors. For him, his visit to Monaco was a good opportunity to take the measure of the series’ international success.

Eric Close: … interview in English …

Another star, another style, David Boreanaz of “Bones” series, a rather playful nature, he will soon be one of the major attractions of the festival.

David Boreanaz: … interview in english …

But it’s the photographers who benefited the most (from his presence). David B. taking photos of them…and the photographers saying “tremendous!”

Commentator: “Enorme (in French)” They found (his playful mood) “huge”.

The irresistible Adam Rodriguez of CSI: Miami was also present, as well as George Eads of CSI: Vegas, because he deserves it.

David Krumholtz, the mathematician of “Numbers” is…rather small.

The blossoming Lisa Edelstein of “House” is very highly “appreciated/valued”.

The accomplices of “Lost” Naveen Andrews and Jorge Garcia are not complex.

Tuesday evening, the soirée not to be missed took place at the Government Hotel, Jean-Paul Proust accompanied by his wife entertained the comedians, another occasion for David Boreanaz to attract the audience’s attention.

For this 48th edition, the festival also receives/greets a future star of “The Desperate Housewives” Dana Delany: … interview in english …

Thursday evening, it’s awards time, sequins and costumes/formal dress, all wore their best outfits for the last red carpet of the week. Then, comes the closing ceremony.

The awards:

International TV Audience Awards

• Comedy TV Series category: Desperate Housewives
• Drama TV Series category: CSI: Las Vegas
• Telenovelas/Soap category: The Bold & the Beautiful

“Law & Order” creator and executive producer Dick Wolf receives his award from the hands of His Serenissim Highness Prince Albert II. It is an Honorary Gold Nymph Award for his work and leadership in the television industry.

The prince also awards His Serenissim Highness PRINCE RAINIER III a SPECIAL PRIZE for the best news program defending the nature, the environment, the endangered species or fighting against the pollution: “Climatic Change II”.

The AMADE PRIZE (The World Association of Friends of Children Awarded under the patronage of UNESCO) goes this year to the Portuguese program “Infanzia Trafiqada: Trafficked Childhood.”

Voila, with these images the Monacoscope closes, see you next week.

~~ Mim

The purpose of this 24-hour Blog-a-thon is to bring in support for the Actors’ Fund. You can help by making a donation here.

I don’t know if I’ve seen Jennifer Morrison looking any more beautiful than she did when she attended the Women In Film Crystal + Lucy Awards, “A Black and White Gala” at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on June 17.

But, bless her heart, if you look really close at the one photo, you can tell she had a shoe mishap just like so many of us “regular people” have had. It looks like the heel of her shoe was about to fall off. I’m sorry she had the problem, but its sometimes a bit comforting to know that those things can happen to anyone.

[Photo: courtesy of newscom.com]

(click on “Read More” for more photos of Jennifer at the event)
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Ok, you’re right, Jesse Spencer would look good in a cardboard box too, but you know what I mean.

Here’s a couple of photos of him on June 14 at an event where Kira Plastinina hosted her US launch party. And, doggone it! Doesn’t he look so much better when he smiles!?

[Photo: courtesy of newscom.com]

(click on “Read More” for another photo of Jesse at the event)
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Phil Thompson lives in Avondale, Arizona and offers us up this great article about the show House. Hang on, because this one is extremely well researched and written! He is on MySpace too.

“…Teardrop on the fire, feathers on my breath…”

If the title credits theme song (Massive Attack’s “Teardrop”) should include any lyrics, it should be these few. A teardrop on a fire represents not only an insignificant effort to fix a problem, but the frustration of your futility (hence the tears) Also, there’s a medical reference there: Before the great advances of medical technology, doctors would place a feather over the mouth of a patient to see if they were still alive. If the feather did not move, it was determined that the patient was dead. (Side note: the vocals were recorded after the singer learned that her boyfriend, Jeff Buckley, had drowned. Jeff Buckley’s “Hallelujah” was used in the Season 2 premiere.) Also, if you really read into the title credits (as a genius would) you would notice the pictures of anatomy accompanying each actor/actress, Jennifer Morrison being the exception. This may also be a statement about her character being inconsistent–the writers admit that they have trouble with her character.

It’s no wonder that Mensa places House, M.D. among the top 10 smartest shows of all time. But I have to disagree with their reasoning for doing so: “…it’s high level type of show; it’s the personality that makes it a winner, plus it deals with science.”

Of course, the writers seem to love being subtle in their genius, placing references and one-liners deep in the context of each episode for those fans of a higher intellect to understand. There have been many bloggers uncovering some of the more obvious references (Stacy’s reference to Oscar Wilde and Noel Coward, among many others). A self-proclaimed elitist among House fans as well as a self-proclaimed genius, I wanted to share a few of the treasures I’ve uncovered… All without mentioning Sherlock Holmes.

Consider the episode titles. Yes, some of them are simple and basic. “Humpty Dumpty” was about a patient who fell and could not be completely fixed. “Skin Deep” is about a patient who is not what (s)he appears to be. “Insensitive” is about a patient who can’t feel pain. The list goes on, but consider all of the other titles catered to the higher IQ: “The Socratic Method” and “Occam’s Razor” are obvious choices; “TB or Not TB” is a plain-as-day reference to Shakespear’s “Hamlet” (the actual line is from dialogue in which Hamlet contemplates suicide, but decides that the “dread of something after death” is unknown and not worth the risk, and he’d rather “suffer the slings and arrows” of the living life.) But how about “Cane and Able?” I wonder how many fans understood the second meaning to the double entendre–the patient living with two sets of DNA in different parts of his body, one killing the other. (Speaking of titles, I think “Human Error” could have easily been called, “House vs. God: The Re-match.”)

Let’s take a look into some of the episodes and the possible historical references:

• “Needle in a Haystack” could have easily originated from the story of Sherwood Anderson (author of Winesburg, Ohio), who died in 1931 after swallowing a toothpick.
• In “97 Seconds,” House has a near-death experience. In a conversation about the afterlife, House says, “Misery is better than nothing.” While some may have simply passed this on as an existential thing to say, I was reminded of a similar quote from Nobel Prize winner William Faulkner: “Between grief and nothing I will take grief.” That Hamlet reference makes even more sense now!
• In “You Don’t Want To Know,” the patient had lupus. In this episode, we got the first big hint that Thirteen may have Huntington’s Disease, since her mother had it. Consider Flannery O’Connor, author of A Good Man is Hard to Find, who, like the patient, had lupus. Similar to Thirteen, she got it from her father. (I do suppose this is a reach, but a reach worth mentioning, at least.)
• “Half Wit” is the episode faturing Dave Matthews, playing Patrick, a 35-year old piano-playing savant. His character is much like the late great “Blind” Tom Wiggins, who could play any song after only hearing it once, and after hearing the beginning of a song would finish playing it. (House and Patrick play “I Don’t Like Mondays” together, which feature these interesting lyrics: “And the lesson today is how to die/And then the bullhorn crackles/And the captain crackles/With the problems and the how’s and why’s/And he can see no reasons/’Cause there are no reasons What reason do you need to die?”)

Of course, it should be said that House himself is to be considered a genius. This may seem obvious to some of you (it takes one to know one,) but it wasn’t obvious to one patient, who didn’t seem to understand that real genuises (from Van Gogh to Mark Twain To Einstein) don’t often care for his appearance. When he berated House for this, House replied, “I’m wearing a rumpled shirt, and forgot to brush my hair this week. You’ve got athlete’s foot in your nose… I’m ready to be judged.”

Richard Feyman, one of the 20th century’s greatest physicists, had such a simple approach solving problems. It was once said that he invented the “Feynman Problem Solving Algorithm,” which goes like this: 1–Write down the problem. 2–Think really hard. 3–Write down the solution. Hmm… Differential diagnosis, anyone?

The Princteon-Plainsborough Teaching Hospital is set in Princton, New Jersey. Interesting choise of setting, considering the fact that Einstein moved to Princeton when he moved to America and lived there until he died. Also interesting: The view of the hospital that we see in the show isn’t an actual hospital, but a part of the Princeton University campus–where Scott Fitzgerald, author of The Great Gatsby, went to school.

Well, folks, I hope I’ve helped you increase your IQ a few points. I hope that you can join the ranks of those who take time to appreciate your education and use it to catch more than just the funny quips. And of course, when shopping for DVDs this August 19th, I hope you do what a genius does when choosing a car: Go green!

The purpose of this 24-hour Blog-a-thon is to bring in support for the Actors’ Fund. You can help by making a donation here.

Grace is a huge fan of House and a wonderful correspondent. She often sends me the most amazing tips, and this one is no different! Thanks so much, Grace!!

These are photos taken of Hugh Laurie & Robert Sean Leonard shooting on location for an upcoming episode entitled Birthmarks. A friend of Grace’s was there to get the shots!

(click on “Read More” for a lot more great candid shots!)
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Recently, the b5media Channel Editor, Arieanna visited the Banff World Television Festival in Alberta. Among the speakers at the event was David Hoselton, Producer & Writer for House (recently promoted from co-producer.) She covered his talk in great detail over on our MediaScribbler blog, so I strongly suggest you head over there to read all about what he had to say.

But one thing that I was delighted to find out was that he says that he does go to the various House fan communities after each episode to see what the fans think of it. And one of the ones he checks out is HouseIsRight.com! So after future episodes, be sure to leave comments for him!!

Arieanna asked him to give a quick “shout-out” to us and here it is:

And she also gives us this great clip of David telling us how the creative process works for House. Amazingly, they seem to have a different approach. Instead of what we would expect, the daily writer’s room meeting, they have lunch together every day and chat about the show and meetings are rarely scheduled.

He also reaveals a “deep, dark secreat” about David Shore! And he tells us the worst story line idea he ever pitched for the show.

The purpose of this 24-hour Blog-a-thon is to bring in support for the Actors’ Fund. You can help by making a donation here.

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