Today's Tids Issue
4.027
For Keeping NYE in Perspective:
Well
everybody, it is the last Tids’ issue of the year. That
doesn’t mean it will be better or more informative than usual. It will lie
there like always, and occasionally rise up to suck you in. I’d write a poem
about what has been or what may yet come. Perhaps it would touch your heart.
Maybe it would bring some light. But in reality, nothing changes as years go
by, because we are we. And, that is the best part
One
of this era’s most annoying expressions to me is, “It’s so
fun.” It doesn’t even sound grammatically correct, even to this grammar
challenged ear, but I hear it from successful professionals to giddy teen
girls. And, I hear it much too often.
The
most panicked human being I ever saw was a guy who on the
day before New Year’s Eve day ran into a restaurant where I had just finished a
lunch with a customer. He proceeded to cajole, plead, cry and offer bribes for
a New Year’s Eve reservation. His wife had told him where she wanted to
celebrate and he had totally forgotten. It was sad. Really, how important is
overpaying for crowded New Year’s Eve venue. I can imagine you see more fear in the eyes of
soldiers in Viet Nam or Iraq, but not that much more than I saw that afternoon.
Ah yes, the pressures we bring upon ourselves.
The
Question:
What are considered the Best Party Cities for new
Year’s Eve?
The
Headlines:
--Stocks To End Year On A Roll; Goldman To Pay One
Time $5 Billion As result Of New Tax Law.
--Massive Apartment Fire In New York’s Bronx Kills
At Least 12; Mumbai India Rooftop Restaurant Fire Kills 24.
--Hong Kong Flagged Vessel Said To Have Secretly
Transferred Oil To NK Ship.
--Gunmen Attack Coptic Christian Church In Egypt
Killing At least 9.
--Liberia Soccer Legend George Weah Romps To Victory
In presidential Election.
--Trump Expected To Be First President Since
Eisenhower To Skip First Year Visit To California
--Many Consumers Not Impressed With Apple’s Apology
For Slowing Down IPhones.
I
think one of the great technological competitive races
just around the corner will be among the big tech giants trying to get their
own “Personal Assistants” as the major spokesperson in your automobiles. Drive
a Chevy, get Siri to guide you. Drive an Altima and have Alexa by your side.
Google’s “Home” and Microsoft’s “Cortana” will also be vying to find your
music, give you directions and tell you there is a police car hidden in the
bushes around the corner. It’s just a matter of time. And I always thought a drive
in a car was a way to get away from it all.
Personally,
I would like my personal assistant to be named Martha. It has a nice old Early
American ring to it.
I
read several opinions on whether or not “It’s so Fun”
is grammatically correct. The answers range from “Absolutely Not”, to “If used
in context of today’s informal speaking, it could be” – “Although I would ever
use it.” So, we see yet another selfie interpretation of rules for ones own
sake.
I
personally think that President Trump is protesting too much
about the Mueller investigation. I don’t think that so far there has been
anything that sounds like illegal collusion with the Russians. Lot’s of
innuendo. And as you must have heard, the President repeats that often. But
yesterday he said that he “Was thinking that Mueller would be fair.” Now that
sounds a little suspicious…fair? Fair because The President knows there is
something that appears out of the ordinary and is looking for fairness to let
it slide? Why else would he use the word fair? Like what most lawyers say to their
clients – don’t say anything about the case. The Dems are just looking for
slipups to use against him and the Repubs in the 2018 elections.
Last
night I saw the opening for the TV program “Matchgame”.
But when Alec Baldwin, grim-faced, walked out as MC, I had second thoughts.
Isn’t sad that now-a-days when we watch an actor or actress performing, we can
bedriven to think of the other side, their unscripted public personality. That
other side has been obvious in many excellent actors like Spacey, Fonda,
Baldwin, Streep or even the delightful Jennifer Lawrence. It’s a side that
professes a bitterness towards what seems like nearly one half of the American public.
Maybe I’m exaggerating. But years ago when a game show host took the stage, he
or she was just funny or nice. Now you wonder what they are thinking of you and
how they will cloud enjoyment with opinions.
BTW,
little of what I have seen tells me that the Repubs are in deep trouble for
2018. The media loved the overexuberance
of the Jones Alabama victory over an entirely flawed candidate. That just
doesn’t project to a national trouncing, especially if you look at district by
district. A lot of Repubs and Indies like where the country is going.
On
a similar note, I don’t see the Dems jumping over to
support the Admin on the infrastructure legislation. If passed, it would be a
victory for Repubs which would be felt by millions of voters getting good construction
jobs. Do you think the Dems want that kind of happiness just before the polling
places open? On the other hand, if the Dems are the obstacle to the creation of
those jobs, then the Repubs can push that in the Fall of 2018 battles. There’s a
lot of strategy developing, and it is just getting started.
In
case you missed it – the Dems want a $1 Trillion infrastructure
package, and the Repubs are at about $200 Billion. And a lot of conservative
Repubs are seeing no room for negotiation.
Reading
Between the Lines Movie Reviews:
--I didn’t review “Father Figures”. It doesn’t
appeal to me, and one reviewer said it could easily be the worst movie of the
year, maybe a couple of years.
--If you haven’t seen a trailer for All the Money In
the World you are under a rock. This is the true story film about the abduction
of Billionaire J. Paul Getty’s grandson. Christopher Plummer is powerful in the
Getty role originally filmed with the now booted Kevin Spacey. JPG refuses to
pay ransom so Mom (Micelle Williams) and JPG advisor (Mark Wahlberg) join
forces in the proverbial dramatic race against time. How will it end?
--I think another true-life movie, Molly’s Game
starring Jessica Chastain, looks pretty good. It’s about a former Olympic skier
now running an exclusive High stakes poker games being arrested in a 17 member
FBI assault. Her clients are celebs and sports figures and unbeknownst to her, the
Russian Mob. Her only ally in the end is her defense attorney. It is a good
one.
--A highly rated film is Phantom Threads about famous
London designer Reynolds Woodstock at the top of his and his sister Cyril’s
game dressing royalty, debutants and Dames. His controlled life is a whirl until
a woman comes into it and changes his carefully orchestrated life.
--In the Fade looks like a good possibility. A woman
is devastated when her husband and son are killed in a bomb blast. First the search
for the killers and then the trial, is tense as she does everting possibly to
find guilty the accused couple form the neo-Nazi scene.
The
Answer:
Number one is New York. Next is Las Vegas followed
by Paris, New Orleans, London (Ontario Canada), Sidney, Honolulu, Miami, LA,
Amsterdam, Orlando, Rio de Janeiro, Rome, Tokyo and #15 San Fran. Other American cities in the Top 25 are Key
West, DC, Boston and San Diego.
I
wish President Trump had gone to California like most other
presidents -- just to see to see my friend who is a great admirer of his
bravado and his agenda. She is near her final days and she would have given him
a laugh or two, and probably some good advice too. That’s the problem when
politicians look at only statistics, they miss the people.
Well,
have great New Year everybody. But then, I wish you
well every day.
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