$88 million

I think I have internet fatigue a little bit. My postings have been down all week. Meanwhile the mysterious bot that keeps asking for "other.html" on my site has been getting plenty of views of the home page, i.e. the blogger page. I won't whine or say I'm taking a break. I am going to Portland from Friday noon to Sunday noon, though, to visit Mom.

Here's something: a NYT piece on a film studio's angst over the poor showing of one of its products. The two important data points are $88 million -- the amount the picture cost to make -- and $34 million -- the amount it pulled in in the first 10 days. The way these things work, at this rate it'll barely clear $50 mill. So they'll all second-guessing themselves. But I'm still stuck at the $88 million figure. That's about a third the budget of the SF school district. Or, closer to home for Hollywood types: a recent survey revealed there are 90,000 homeless people in L.A. County.

So a Martian would be forgiven in thinking that we as a society choose what is essentially a gamble over the success of a film over, say, educating working-class kids. Not that any more kids get educated if the movie is a hit. Oh, never mind, here's the latest news on Angelina Jolie.

Cinderella Man, movie flops, education budget, Angelina Jolie