One long day, three short points:

1 Yesterday I watched my first, and maybe last episode of House. It was pretty entertaining, but I've a horrible feeling it could get formulaic. But the most striking thing about it was that it wasn't a hospital drama. It was a police procedural. House is the Dirty Harry of doctors - the hardcase maverick who gets results. Foreman is the equivalent of the "rival team". At the start there is a mystery - so OK, it's an illness not a murder, but the formula is the same. Red herrings. Close calls. At one point, the head hospital honcho practically gives him twenty-four hours to solve the case before demanding his gun and his badge. Makes me wonder what other great genre crosses one could come up with.

2 Something interesting I forgot to mention about Incredible Hulk. Somewhere in between "No big green monsters were harmed in the making of this film" and "not based on any real green monsters iving or dead" was an anti-smoking notice. Something along the lines of "any portrayals of smoking are not meant to promote it; it was for artistic reasons only". It's the first time I've ever seen anything like it, and probably the first sign of the MPAA crackdown on smoking. Fascinating! And nice to see some movies keeping the humble cigarette despite their threats. A few weels ago I despaired of the state of the industry if its use was, pardon the pun, stamped out.

3 I'm not yet out of exammode. Two more to go! I am, however, flagging terribly; which means its time to pull out my three moodlifter movies. I feel ill going too long without fiction; I feel rejuvenated by watching something brilliant. But Apocalypse Now, Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Fight Club are more than just good films; they're also movies about how much the world SUCKS. And when the world sucks, there's nothing like giving it a good kick back. Maybe they're not the most conventional excercises in feel good. But they're good for a boost.