Brain Degeneration
Am in the process of analyzing a course on diagnosing hypertension (complete with a narror who sounds like a much-too serious Eric Idle) today. It's a huge collection of flash files, audio, and some ghastly boring graphics occasionally interspersed with moving pie charts. I've made PowerPoint presentations that were more interesting to watch. After the twenty-fifth module, even Almost Eric Idle (who henceforth will be referred to as AEI) sounded like he was teetering on the brink of narcolepsy.
Module...eh...five billion something later, as AEI droned on about creatinine clearance rates --
"This chart shows that a significant rise in serum levels of creatinine, to more than 1.5 milligrams per decilitre or 132.6 micromoles per litre), indicates that the kidneys are not adequately filtering it from the blood..."
--I began idly wondering if the patient had leg pain. If his urine was tea-colored. Infarction? Muscle death? Dead muscle secreting myoglobin, hence the toxic level of creatinine in the kidneys and subsequent failure?
Apparently, I have way too much House on the brain.
I've been see-sawing back and forth between writing House/Stacy and House/Wilson dialogue. There's an undercurrent of hostility that's somehow managed to creep into House/Stacy conversations, even the civil ones. He asks her for a favor and still manages to be a dick about it.
Poor Stacy. I really like her, and she's really not the monster so many folks make her out to be.
I like writing House & Wilson's dialogue; it's the fun, comfortable banter, and in contrast to House & Stacy, there's always that layer of affection between them - even when House is being his prickish, avoidant self and Wilson's being a Jewish mother.
House & Cameron converse like two Venn diagrams. They each have their own little idiosyncracies of circular dialogue that occasionally intersect, and when they do, they don't actually converge -at least not at the same level. It's that tendency to talk at rather than to each other that's one of the primary sources of conflict between them, not to mention the constant push/pull nature of their interactions. Several instances where I've written dialogue for them, looked at it afterwards, only to wonder, WTF did they just say?
And wow, did I ramble on. When I first starting writing House stuff, I hadn't really planned all this out. Plots and main themes, yes; the beginning, the end, certain scenes, and dialogue snippets. Then, it just sort of grew from there. Funny that.
Module...eh...five billion something later, as AEI droned on about creatinine clearance rates --
"This chart shows that a significant rise in serum levels of creatinine, to more than 1.5 milligrams per decilitre or 132.6 micromoles per litre), indicates that the kidneys are not adequately filtering it from the blood..."
--I began idly wondering if the patient had leg pain. If his urine was tea-colored. Infarction? Muscle death? Dead muscle secreting myoglobin, hence the toxic level of creatinine in the kidneys and subsequent failure?
Apparently, I have way too much House on the brain.
I've been see-sawing back and forth between writing House/Stacy and House/Wilson dialogue. There's an undercurrent of hostility that's somehow managed to creep into House/Stacy conversations, even the civil ones. He asks her for a favor and still manages to be a dick about it.
"Still have those friends at the DA's?"
"Of course. Why?"
"I'd like you to run a background check run on someone. See if there's any history of family disturbances, child abuse, alcoholism. If he's set fire to any kittens. That sort of thing."
Eyebrows lift. "Profiling a potential serial killer?"
With a click of his tongue, he shoots her a lopsided grin. "You've been watching those CSI reruns again, haven't you? I'd like to think of this as more of a precautionary measure."
"For who?" And...there's the look of thinly-veiled dubiousness staring back at him. How he's missed it so.
"Oh, come on. What good are exes for if not committing questionable ethical breaches? I'm not asking you to do do anything illegal." And quickly amends, "This time." The smile drifts into something subtly unfriendly. "You owe me one, Stacy."
"Ah, yes, and here I was wondering when you would to get to this part. How long do you plan to use that against me?"
"For as long as it works." Resentment, bubbles, thick and ugly, before settling back into familiar, usual insouciance. "Think of all the kittens you could be saving."
Poor Stacy. I really like her, and she's really not the monster so many folks make her out to be.
I like writing House & Wilson's dialogue; it's the fun, comfortable banter, and in contrast to House & Stacy, there's always that layer of affection between them - even when House is being his prickish, avoidant self and Wilson's being a Jewish mother.
"Why do you do this to yourself?"
His mouth curls mulishly. "I didn't do anything."
"You're absolutely right." Disgusted. "You don't ever do anything."
"Why should I need to? Everyone apparently feels qualified to make decisions for me whether I have any say in them or not."
"It happened eight years ago."
"Wow! It's been a while, then, huh? You think maybe they just accidentally lost my replacement leg at the rebate center?"
"Eight years," Wilson reiterates. "And all you've ever done is use that as an excuse."
"Yeah. That's gotta be it. I enjoy constant, debilitating pain."
"I'm beginning to think maybe you do. Maybe you like having it as your excuse to be miserable. God knows you seem to wallow in it enough. You like having someone, some --thing-- to blame for the fact that you'd rather isolate yourself from the real world?"
"Ding ding! You've nailed it, Jimmy-boy. That heart-rendering speech has made me see the light." The bottle of Bushmills Black, teeters precariously in his hands as he stares lovingly into its amber depths. "Bottle of mine, it's you I've always wanted!"
House & Cameron converse like two Venn diagrams. They each have their own little idiosyncracies of circular dialogue that occasionally intersect, and when they do, they don't actually converge -at least not at the same level. It's that tendency to talk at rather than to each other that's one of the primary sources of conflict between them, not to mention the constant push/pull nature of their interactions. Several instances where I've written dialogue for them, looked at it afterwards, only to wonder, WTF did they just say?
And wow, did I ramble on. When I first starting writing House stuff, I hadn't really planned all this out. Plots and main themes, yes; the beginning, the end, certain scenes, and dialogue snippets. Then, it just sort of grew from there. Funny that.