Rick's List
My wife Eileen left earlier this week for a family reunion in Texas, leaving the hound Virgil and me with hedges to trim and a cellar to organize and, more importantly, a huge backlog of television programming that’s we’ve held in abeyance for ages. After dropping E off at Bradley and returning home, the following things happened within four minutes: 1 Greeted and fed Virgil less than his normal portion because next ... 2 Ordered a truly large bacon double cheeseburger pizza that I’ll share with Virgil 3 Opened a beer and read the first four chapters of a biography of William James 4 Well, not so much the William James. What we did do, though, was crank up “American Sniper.”
And so it began. There’s been rain, so the hedges continue to grow. I’ve got a few days. I did venture down to the cellar but — wait! “That’s not a centipede or a millipede! What the word for a 10,000-pede?” Whatever, this freakin’ insect set a new record for elongated metameric creatures that, by the way, are known to be highly venomous. No basement work till winter!
As such, I haven’t moved from the couch. Here’s what we “accessed” on the big screen: 1 An episode from the Netflix series “Occult Crimes” about Adolfo de Jesús Constanzo, best known for his status in Matamoros, Mexico, as a human sacrifice-enthusiast and dark sorcerer in service to the Palo Mayombe religion. 2 “Exeter” — a horror film about a group of youngsters partying on the grounds of an old insane asylum where ghosts of the late tortured inmates have been awakened. A novel plot! 3 Two Red Sox games and part of one Yankees game 4 Excerpts from “After Porn Ends,” parts I and II — and, before you gasp, there’s more sexual chicanery in the average episode of “Modern Family” than in these documentaries. I was hoping some of these folks ended up as neurosurgeons or perhaps a biographer of William James. Not so much, although one-time XXX star Raylene is now a real estate agent. 5 Periodic check-ins on the NBA draft. These kids are about to be really rich and, to a one, they each say they look forward to massive tax cuts when the new Republican health care plan gets passed 6 “Cardinal,” a new Hulu series based on the crime novels by Canadian author Giles Blunt. Hmm, this looks good so we’ll wait on E to get back. 7 Started a documentary on Journey. But why? I don’t like Journey. Instead, I watched the complete “Anesthetize” and “Arriving Somewhere” in-concert DVDs capturing successive Porcupine Tree tours. Virgil loves this band!