The little engine that could, derailed.

Today's Tids Issue 3,494

Opening Stuff: 

Happy Interlude Week, Everybody. The societal induced pressure of Christmas is dissipating. If you’re working, this week between is the best time to be in the office because so many people who interrupt your day, aren’t. The major task creeping into your dulled mind, demanding just a little bit more from your overfed body will be planning on how to get through New Year’s Eve, which becomes more of a burden each year. But as much as we think we’re renegades, we somehow seem to join in on celebrating with the madness even though it is generally meaningless in the grand scheme of things important in life. Not to mention the high cost of dining out in crowded places with limited menus. So enjoy the peaceful solitude of the next few days. Whoop it up with dear friends on Thursday night..and enter into a serious state of vegetation before Monday Jan 4 jars you back into the reality of country on the wrong track…when the Journalists return and the Politicians start hawking their attributes again. Otr tghan that, I’m feeling pretty positive today.

The big news about streaming all of the Beetles music looks like a big yawner to me. The main streaming advocates don’t know anything about the Beatles, and their rabid older fans think streaming is a canoe trip. (Take the “O out of canoe and you get “Cane”. Ouch!)

A truly bright guy, cantankerous at times, a really early adaptor and innovator of the Internet, a friend, a caring man, died last night after a long painful fight against you know what. I have received a lot of tears in my email. I still remember that day he said to me, check out Google – It looks like a better than average search engine.

I doubt if I will, or want to ever see the day when I will ride in a driverless car. Google and Ford are putting something together as are Apple and other auto experts, but I get nervous now when people I trust implicitly are driving. The big question for me is, will the Auto companies, Google and Apple buy the Liability and collision insurance?

The Question:

Who was the first black World Heavyweight Boxing Champion, and when did it occur – 1888, 1908, 1928, 1948 or 1968? Bonus: From where or what event did the phrase “Hail Mary Pass” originate?

The Headlines:

--Iraq Says They Have Taken Back Ramadi From ISIS; Military Leaders Say They Are Now In Process Of Cleaning Up And Disarming Bombs.

--Southern USA Wracked By severe Storms; At Least 43 Dead In Seven State Region From High Rushing Water And Tornadoes.

--Texas Gears Up For New Open Carry Handgun Law.

--Congressman Peter King Proposes Laws Authorizing Heightened Mosque Surveillance.

--Trump Said To be Readying Huge Media Blitz To Seal GOP Dominant Position; Hairman Says Bill Clinton Antics Fair Game In 2016 Election Campaign; Bernie Sanders Forces Trump To recant “Wages Too High” Stance.

--Star Wars Hits $1 Billion At Warp Speed.

--Japan, Korea Seal Deal To Compensate WWII Sex Slaves.

--Peyton Manning Uses Several Choice Adjectives To Describe Authenticity Of HGH Usage Accusation.

In an effort to appeal to the lowest common denominator, Movie trailers often do a disservice to many films. This is especially true of comedies and adventure films that feature outrageous antics in previews, but give little evidence of decent plots that may linger beneath the ear bursting noise of Dolby surround sound and flaming explosions.

NBA 1/3 Over, Department:

I’m keeping an eye on the NBA as I see the NFL entering the last days of the regular season. The NBA is shaping up already as a test between a few very good teams, Golden State, Cleveland and San Antonio, with Oklahoma City putting back together. –Kyle Irving back with Cleveland makes them more formidable. –The Cavs may be better with Irving, but GS showed the nation Christmas night that it is a deep, deep team with a very resourceful superstar in Steph. –Old Man Tim Duncan, a truly quality guy, keeps on rolling. --The Celtics are getting into the hearts of New Englanders again with great team play, but if the season ended today they’d be out of the playoffs. Many say they need a go-to-scorer at crunch time. –Somewhere out in basketville, there is one team maturing which will put it together during the last 20 games or so -- Dallas, Knicks, Orlando, Miami, Chicago, Houston, LA Clips?

Forced Diversity, Department:

While watching a movie named The Woman of Gold, I got confused about the time line and who was who, so I Googled “woman in gold cast”. Immediately 13 photos showed up. Since this film was focused on Nazi Vienna and a 1990’s LA Jewish community, it was necessarily an all-white cast. Yet a black actress named Chrystal Clark appeared as one of the 13 cast photos among over fifty actors in the movie. She was listed as playing the “Cashier”, which, it turns out, was a 4 to 5 second appearance in the 2 hour movie. I think they are over doing this diversity thing. When credibility is unnecessarily stretched beyond belief, everything else on the same subject has the possibility of being questionable.

The odds makers have made “Spotlight” the Oscar favorite. Why, says I. It’s a nice little newspaper movie but like so many of the recent winners, it is just so-so for me. Maybe it was all of the Huzzahs! going in that had me looking for more. Or maybe I’m just on my own wrong track.

The newspaper had a feature story entitled: “The Highly Evolved Martini”. I would have titled it, “The Incredibly Bastardized Martini”.

Actually, I hate me when I‘m negative about the progress in the present. Just because the real martini was perfect, I shouldn’t begrudge the new era of revelers their favorite elixirs which bear little resemblance to the original gin and vermouth classic. So I did a little research to see what cocktails are most popular in bars around the world these days (Note: Bartenders these days raid the pantry to invent new drink “Sensations”, so, I have no room for ingredients.): #10’ Kir Royale 9. Caipirinha  8. Mint Julep  7. Long Island Iced Tea  6. Margarita  5. Mimosa  4. Apple Martini 3. Bellini  2. Cosmopolitan and #1 – Mojito. What ever happened to Vodka on the rocks? (Recipes for all drinks here: http://www.themost10.com/10-most-popular-cocktail-drinks/

Rapidly becoming most annoying new phrase is: “Fur Babies”.

Forbes has new list of most overpaid actors which is based on the yearly returns to studios versus actor’s salary. Johnny Depp only returned $1.20 for every dollar paid and is number one. The rest of the top ten most overpaid are, Denzel Washington, Will Ferrell, Liam Neeson, Will Smith, Christian Bale, Channing Tatum, Brad Pitt, Ben Affleck and Tom Cruise.

It’s always nice when there are a couple of really good bakers in a family. 

The Parking Lot:  Chapter 36 Continues…

   Their patience was finally rewarded when the thug Jerry, not looking quite as intimidating nor as confident, pushed open the big wooden door and walked out. He looked up and down the road. He then walked, briskly for a guy still nursing some injuries from the cabin blast, up the sidewalk away from Nancy and Jared. “It’s tough to kill those assholes,” said Nancy. Jared smiled inside, which it seems he has been doing a lot lately when ever Nancy says or does anything.

   The familiar black SUV driven by the increasingly nervous appearing Jerry pulled around the corner and parked in front of the big entrance. It took a half second for Rackovic to open the door and move into the rear seat.

   “There’s our man,” Jared said.

   “Good observation,” Nancy smiled. Jared turned a bit red.

   She waited patiently until the black vehicle turned right down a street on the far side of the building. She, started the engine rolled down the hill and turned right before the building onto a street that parallels the one where the SUV was traveling. “There aren’t many cars around,” said Nancy, “so we will be super careful until we get out of this city maze.” Jared nodded. Nancy also mused to herself that Rackovic was being pretty cautious for a tough bigwig. Did he expect they might be near. Or have his bosses made threats. She looked into the rear view mirror but saw nothing but bleak Fall River pavement and weed grown parking lots.

    Jared felt comfortable with Nancy in charge. Neither of them saw a garage door in the big building open and close and the small BMW pull out onto a side street behind them.

Reading Between the Lines Movie Reviews:

--Everybody has been waiting for Joy, but alas the critics don’t seem to like it very much at all. And, consumer reactions are tepid. Some even dislike it intensely. It’s about a woman who invents a mop and becomes a popular celeb on QVC and leader in a family. It’s about business and 4 generations of family emotions; adversaries becoming allies, and vice versa. Good cast is best part. I’ll probably go out of curiosity.

--The Danish Girl is a film for the times probably capitalizing the popularity of Caitlyn Jenner. It‘s about a happy marriage between two artists when all of a sudden the husband becomes fascinated about being a woman. And then we find it wasn’t so all-of-a-sudden after all. Good actors

--The Big Short, reviewed several weeks ago is now out beyond limited screen showings, and had become one of the more popular new offerings among critics and movie goers. This highly rated film is funny, and a very accurate detailing of the shenanigans that surrounded the housing debacle of 2007. Great cast.

--Daddy’s Home is better than the deplorable trailer, but that isn’t saying much. Not really very funny, but sometimes emotionally pleasant. A good proportion of Ferrell/Wahlberg lovers will go and love it. It’s about a man Wahlberg trying to gain the love his new Step Children when the real dad Ferrell returns home...and the competition begins

--You have probably read about Concussion or heard it talked about on Spots Shows. It focuses on the doctor who illuminated the effects of head hits in football and fought the NFL to make things better. It’s pretty good from a filmmaking point of view, but probably mostly interesting to sports fans.

Speaking of The Big Short, If you take the “U” out of housing, it is “Hosing”! How appropriate.

Yorkshire Pudding is great tradition, and even better tasting, but definitely not on Michelle’s pyramid.

The Answer:

Jack Johnson won the World Heavyweight Title in 1908, hwen he displayed his own “affirmative action”. Bonus: In 1975 Roger Staubach of the Cowboys hurled a 50 yard pass with 24 seconds remaining which was caught by Drew Pearson to beat the Vikings ina ey playoff game. In a post game interview, Roger, a Roman Catholic, said “I just closed my eyes and said a Hail Mary.” Sports reporters and announcers ran with that and it is common today as a term representing a last minute long pass. But. the real origins of the Hail Mary play may go back to the 1930’s and Elmer Laden and Jim Crowley of Notre Dame’s “Four Horsemen” who first said it publicly. It was used for forty years by ND and other catholic schools to describe any desperation play.

Rock and Roll is Hard to find:

How about a little old fashioned rock to get the inert week vibrating. I listened to over 250 so called greatest rock hits, and never found the song I heard Saturday on the radio labeled as one of the all time greatest rock hits. (Note: I found an all time top “500” list, but the tids wouldn’t be out til Wednesday!) Among the consensus best for 1 and 2 were Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven and Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody. Other consistent top songs on several lists were Light My Fire, Layla, Hotel California and Dream On. Several by Rolling Stones, Queen, Pink Floyd, Jimmie Hendrix, AC/DC, Black Sabbath and Guns And Roses were noticeably repeated among the top 25 on many lists. But, alas, I never found the song I planned for today. I thought it had lyrics like “I just can’t stop loving you” (which I can’t), but it wasn’t similar sounding songs like one  by Michael Jackson or “I can’t stop loving you” by several performers. So, I’m just going to play Janis Joplin who I always thought was pretty damn talented, but frankly didn’t show up much on lists. But, what do I know – I come from the “Shrimp Boats are Coming” music Era! https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-006&ei=utf-8&fr=ytff1-tyc&p=you%20tube%20jains%20joblin&type=