the young pope

the young pope is now in my all time top 5 of tv series.  i almost said it's my number 2 series of all time, of course DEADWOOD is the all time number 1 series in my world.  i would have made the young pope number 2 but there 's a good chance that i've watched some really good stuff that i can't remember.

the funny thing is that i almost gave up on the young pope 20 minutes into episode one but i was too lazy to get up and remove the disc.  or maybe god made me keep watching. the more i thought about it, the more i thought that the young pope closely resembled deadwood and the sopranos.

in deadwood, the series revolved around al swearengen and his crew. in the sopranos, the series revolved around tony soprano and his crew.  in the young pope, the series revolved around pope lenny and his crew of cardinals.  and the young pope had the hbo attention to little details along with extremely clever dialogue. i'll definitely be watching the young pope again this winter and just like deadwood and the sopranos, i'll be entranced with the characters so much that the plot will become secondary.

6 feet under had the best final 10 minutes of any series i've watched but the young pope is a close second and who knows, it might climb to number one.  the final 10 minutes of the young pope got me a little verkclempt and final 60 seconds were nothing short of exquisite. in contrast, deadwood and the sopranos had pretty weak final scenes.

as for religion, i found the series to be very critical of the vatican at the beginning but by the final episode, i was warming up to the vatican.  it was pretty cool watching the pope continually shaking his disposable lighter trying to spark his cigarettes. the young pope enjoyed his cherry cokes and cigarettes.

and of course like all hbo series, it has excellent opening credits.  you really need a dark room with good sound to appreciate just how cool this is.

billy loves you sons of bitches.

tomatoes

after taking a year off, i've jumped back into the tomato game. last year my excuse for not planting tomatoes was ripper fatigue. when she sees freshly turned soil, she starts digging. i don't mind filling in holes but i don't like when she trots into the house with muddy feet. the other thing that makes me reluctant to plant tomatoes is her fascination with bees. she'll stand in front of the tomatoes and snap at any poor unsuspecting bee.

since the rip does her best to keep the garden free from bees, pollination can be a problem. this year i planted 2 patio tomato plants and 2 "pineapple" tomato plants. the patio tomatoes seem to be self pollinating:

the "pineapple" tomatoes are  probably just ordinary old tomatoes that someone decided to label "pineapple" because it sounded cool and would probably attract a few lunatics who thought they were going to get pineapples rather than tomatoes. i have to admit that i'm curious to see what kind of tomatoes i end up putting on a burger.

when watching several you tube videos on how to hand pollinate tomatoes, i learned that standard good old tomato plants are called "indeterminates".  that's because they can grow to an indeterminate height. apparently they can reach 50 feet in height under the right conditions. so far the patio tomato plants are a lot easier to look after, minimal pruning.

and here's the bee slayer:

billy says he loves you sons of bitches.

bikes

wow, it'been a while since i've posted anything.

i've had countless topics but out of respect for my sophisticated international readership, i've deemed these topics unworthy of their valuable time. but what the fuck, who doesn't enjoy a good bicycle story?

a few months ago i bought myself a new bike. a lovely little street/hybrid that was a pleasure to ride, small and lightweight, great for short commutes.

i generously offered the iron maiden to my daughter as she had told me that she wanted a bike but she wasn't interested.  when she dropped by and and i offered to give her the new cute little white bike, she immediately snapped it up. those darn millennials are quite choosy. so  i was back to square one and had to go find another bike.

a few days ago i noticed a neat little bike for sale and quickly pulled the trigger. so far i love the new bike. it's small and light for those short commutes and it also can hop over curbs and go down a few stairs. i might be old, but i still ride like a kid. but what really stands out is the gear ratio.  the middle front sprocket is just right, not to big and not to small.

it lacks the curb appeal of the white bike but that's something i can live with. now i have to come up with good nickname for the little beauty.

the blue meanie?
baby blue?
the rock? (it's a rocky mountain)

billy says he loves you sons of bitches.  and he thinks i should go with "the rock"