Melodious, or not.

Today's Tids Issue 4,350.

Good Ole' Gronk:

When that Mueller Report was delivered, I don’t believe I heard the Fat Lady Sing.

But were were tears in the eyes of the fat lady when “Gronk” sang his tune of retirement. New Englanders of all genders, races and ages, and everything else under the sun, stopped for a frozen minute. “God”. “Bummer”. “Loved that man”. And from what I have heard from the people, “smart”, he did it the right way, getting out before he was too hobbled to move outside of the stadium. He was on top and the last memory was his catch against the Rams, the big catch! And, to top it off, this lovable big guy who was known for fun and teammate support, this giant, in addition to ferocious blocking and magical catches, also wrote the perfect good-bye note. He started with the line “I thank Bob Kraft and Bill Belechick for drafting my silliness.” Sorry non-New Englanders, Gronk was quite the guy and deserving of a good Tidlet. Quite the excellent player. The Washington talking heads will go on forever, but a great payer only retirees once. Hey fat lady, do you have your voice back yet.

Cathy Griffith and Barbra Streisand are just the latest two of the glitterati world running fast and hard with P/R to overcome stupidity -- crass, rude, irreverent, insulting-to-many remarks and actions – which, btw, they entirely meant in the first place. God, is Hollywood a disturbing place.

This is that time of year when I reach into my CD stash of choral works for beautiful meaningful music like Bach’s “Saint Matthews Passion”, Dvorak’s “Stabat Mater”, Stainer’s “The Crucifixion”, and of course, Handel’s “Messiah”. All culminating with Mahler’s magnificent 2^nd Symphony – “The Resurrection”. Yes, music written by the masters to remind us of the power and the glory. Of reverence and humility, and love. And goodness. And caring. And sacrifice.

Critics, who see through different eyes, can easily lead astray people who are only looking for decent entertainment.

The Question:

What are the movies that have won the most Oscars? Bonus: The wife of Percy Bysshe Shelly wrote a novel. What was it?

The Headlines:

--Stocks Fall After Mueller Report; Street “Looking For Removal Of Impeachment Cloud, Exoneration Of Any Criminal Doing”.

--WS Expectations Are High As Announcement For Apple Video Streaming Service Looms.

--Dens Expected To Ask Mueller To Testify As Circus Continues.

--Rocket Attack Firm Gaza Injures Seven Intel Aviv; Netanyahu Cuts Short US Visit, Mobilizes Military.

--PM May Resignation May Be Only Solution To Brexit Dilemma.

--Mueller Had Everybody on Edge For Most Of The Weekend; Produced Many Inane Opinions; Democrats Say It is Far from Over; Will Proceed With Investigations Until Election Time.

--Chaffetz: Dems Have To Answer To American People For Disingenuous Dissembling of Russia Probe Info.

--Floundering Cruise Ship Heads Back Into Swedish Port; 20 Injured, 420 Saved Off Engineless Ship Tossed In 25 Foot Waves.

Few companies have done a better job of merchandising their product than Oreo.

Sorry, folks, it was typo city in the Tids last Friday. If Typos were dollars, Tids City’s streets would be paved with gold.

What kind of name is “Bysshe”, anyhow?

In case you are interested, Bysshe is the 1,892180^th most popular surname in the world. There are 94 people named Bysshe, mostly all in either the US or South Africa. It means, “Dweller in the thicket or brushwood.” It came to prominence at the Battle of Hastings in 1055. A Norman Noble, Aluric Byshe attended William the Conqueror at the transformative battle.

On Friday, lots of legislators and commentators immediately made plenty of comments about the Mueller report, about which they knew absolutely nothing at the time. But, judging from the tears of the anti-Trump cable news network’s heads that evening, they had to have perceived it must have been good for the President. But, guess what. There isn’t going to be a liberal movement to change the negative narrative about the president. It’s election time. Nice and understanding is out…as if it was ever in.

The new campaign promises are basically based on the nothing more than the word “Free”. It makes me think of free throws in basketball. Except you don’t get free points. You get free opportunities to make extra points. But, let’s think this through. Is it really free if the cost is getting pounded by an opposing player? Free sounds great until you realize how much you have to pay for it. No, the American way is protecting Free Speech. Not accepting the word, “Free”, in a speech.

Maybe the newest event for the Olympics could be Hollywood backtracking

McDonald’s has been pushing the Quarter Pounder with “Fresh Meat”. I thought it tasted much better with the old frozen patty.

Alyssa Milano missed a good chance for enlightening alliteration when she described her distaste for the Georgia “Heartbeat Bill” as stripping women of their Bodily Autonomy”, instead of a more lyrical Anatomy Autonomy.

People will be surprised to learn that old Microsoft is way ahead of Apple’s Mac in new technology for Desktop’s. Especially in graphic design techniques, the profession that launched the love affair for Mac’s over PC’s. Apple still has the aura, but it seems the more I read, the more I learn that it has a lot of catching up to do.

And, If Apple’s new strategy going forward is to move away from creating innovative leadership hardware, then their soft product’s must be whiz-bangers to meet the aspirations of investors.

How many times over the past two decades have whiny NFL owners and GM’s asked for rule changes because they lost an important game. It’s sad when grown men don’t realize that their organizational ineptitude was most likely the cause for defeat. KC’s plea about over time sis LOL funny. Ad actually quiet sad. They must come from the trophies for all society. (When you have time look u the story of Coach John Scolinos and the 17-inch home plate.)

The Answer:

He most Oscars won is 11. The winners were Ben Hur, Titanic and Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. West Side Story won 10. Four Films won nine – Gone with the Wind, Gigi, The Emperor and The English (Snoozerville) Patient. 8 Oscars were taken home by The Best Years of Our Lives, From Here To Eternity, My Fair Lady, Cabaret, Gandhi, Amadeus and Slumdog Millionaire. Bonus: Mary Shelly, the Poet’s wife, wrote Frankenstein. It happened during a gloomy period of history known as the “Year without a Summer”. In 1815, the Indonesian volcano Mount Tambora erupted and the resultant ash blurred the sun for over three months during the summer. It resulted in a massive food shortage. 10,000 died from the eruption and 0ver 70,000 from famine. New England farmers moved west for better growing conditions. And, because there were less oats grown for horses, a German inventor, Karl Drais, invented the Bicycle to get around! The ole’ necessity thing.

“A frog in a stovetop pot will complacently boil to death if you turn up the temperature slowly”. This old saying is pretty relevant today in a society where too many people don’t understand what is going on just below the surface.