Saturday, September 07, 2019

Fast takes

*  This Jackie Trad so-called scandal has always seemed to me to be a storm in a teacup.   Politics in Queensland has always been stupid, and there are no signs of it letting up.

* Isn't there something off with the claim that Labor is now the dregs of the middle class who shoot themselves in the foot by being too Green when the Unions that are pro-coal represent mine workers who probably all earn well over $100,000 a year?   In other words, it's not the middle class lording it over the working class - it's a fight within the middle class.

* Anti-coal protesters, if they were serious, would be making plans to superglue themselves to certain central Queensland rail lines, rather than to Brisbane streets.   Superglue 10 people at 200 m intervals to a coal train line, and see how long it takes to remove them would be an interesting start.

* Peter Dutton is now disturbingly weird looking.  Buy a hairpiece, for God's sake.  Some guys' heads can carry off bald:  yours doesn't.

* Donald Trump and the hurricane:  this is so weird, I don't think it is any exaggeration now to say he is mentally unwell.   And to anyone who doubts that - wait until he is gone and we get the true story from people within the White House as to his behaviour.     

* Speaking of which, this piece in Slate a few days ago was good, and accurate:

Governing by Owning the Libs:  When a president’s entire motivation is to antagonize the people who didn’t vote for him.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood has just about topped out at making about $132 million in the US - not that big a hit, I would have thought, even allowing for another $150 million overseas.  For a (apparently) $90 million budget, it's barely making much money for the studio (if the rule of thumb that you have to make 3 times the budget to start turning a profit still applies.)   He's a director whose attraction to critics is not much reflected in actual bucks at the box office anymore.   (Interestingly, I see that Pulp Fiction made about $213 million, but on a claimed $8 million budget.)

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