McCarthy Out -- Back To These Stories Later -- October 3, 2023

Locator: 45636HEADLINES.

I'll get to these stories later, but in the queue:

• first world problem; how good do we have it in America? Charmin is making first change in its toilet paper in 100 years; and, this is a headline story;
• the existential threats to STLA, GM, and F are much worse than folks realize; he UAW strike is much worse than folks realize; Exhibit A in one graph; IBD update; we'll sort this out later;
• GM / F laying off more workers. It is hard to see this playing out with something other than a full nationwide strike. Who blinks first? It’s an existential threat for both sides. 
• JOLTS: absolutely a yawner; but we'll get headlines for half a day;
• Tesla miss: a photograph in time, can be thrown in the trash; means nothing -- especially in light of the UAW strike;
• if I said this, I would be laughed out of the room;

Charmin: is this a parody? Did Someone hack Charmin's site? Was this really necessary? Apparently Charmin will also air a YouTube tutorial on how to tear tissue paper for directed to  the iGen, ZGen and AlphaGen. Apparently some folks are having trouble tearing "squares" from the roll.

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For The Archives

In reply to a reader in a sidebar e-mail with nothing to do with the Bakken.

My books right now:

• Age of Innocence, Edith Wharton; so much better than I expected; got her start in books on interior decorating houses.
• Hermione Lee's biography of Edith Wharton (done, but now a reference book)
• The Maniac, Benjamin Labatut -- just started, this is going to be good; very good
• Lexington (just finished; will donate to local library if they want it)
• Pterosaurs, Mark Witten;

Movies:

• I'm back in my Asteroid City phase. This is a movie on the level of Citizen Kane. I don't particularly enjoy watching Citizen Kane, but Asteroid City is cinematically incredible -- no CGI.
• first -- and perhaps, only -- Covid-19 movie -- Asteroid City.
• by the way, the movie is a metaphor for the totally dysfunctional US House of Representative  (specifically) and the US government (in general).
• Asteroid City: huge, huge homage to Shakespeare, specifically MacBeth and Hamlet.

"Music":

• I'm fascinated with Taylor Swift -- have never heard her sing, but her "business model" is incredible. Her tie-in with the NFL was brilliant. Refused to perform for Super Bowl -- very, very smart decision.
• NFL is not happy. NFL runs a "Bud Lite" risk. Or at least the networks that air Taylor Swift footage during the game.  If the NFL is not careful, NFL fans could boycott watching KC Chiefs games. NFL is already addressing that concern.
• some irony that Taylor Swift, Oppenheimer, Asteroid City, and Barbie all peaked about the same time.

Disclaimer: the note above was not proofread -- probably has typographical and content errors.