2026 Off-Topic Chat Thread

[cats_09]

Had to go to the Melbourne office today as I needed to replace my laptop.

Caught the 17.12 train home from Southern Cross. Just walked in the door about 10 minutes ago.

Had to stop just before Little River Station with reports of a track fault at Lara. There was a train in front of us which had stopped at Little River. They decided to empty that train and get it moving back to Melbourne and we picked up the passengers from that train. We were then stuck at Little River ourselves for another half an hour or so and there was talk we might need to get on a replacement coach.

While we were waiting several people must've called for family to pick them up (or perhaps an Uber). They eventually announced we could get going again, and slowly left while there were still about a dozen or so people still standing in the Little River carpark waiting for a ride.

Then when we were leaving North Geelong station, they decided that the train which was originally meant to travel through to Waurn Ponds would instead terminate at Geelong since it was so delayed.

What fun....not.

My fav Vline delay was long enough ago that we were still using the Werribee route - I would catch a train around 5:40pm home and generally walk though the front door around 7pm

This one particular night we've departed from Werribee and about halfway to Little River we come to a slow stop without any explanation. And then we sit there without moving, then we get to half an hour of no movement though an apology for the delay

Turns out that signal cabling near Little River had been damaged which meant no Vline trains could proceed - there was already a train at Little River and I believe a train at Werribee station, so we were the train the middle that was stopped at no station with no external lights which wasn't great when it got dark

We were stuck in the middle of no where for at least 3 hours, unable to get off as there was no platform - all the more fun when sitting on the floor. The conductor spent a bit of time in the area I was in as we were apparently the most chill about things with others expressing their frustration in what sounded like an unnecessary aggressive manner directed at someone who couldn't do anything and was also stuck

I had a crappy smart phone at the time, so no videos or internet scrolling for me but it did make for a good laugh as you could tell when phones were dying as people went from faces in phones to having to actually talk as batteries died. I was also a little lucky as I had bought some hot cross buns that day as it was nearly Easter so I also had snacks


Walked through my door sometime after 10pm

 

[winty]

LOL

This was one of the replies to the above tweet. Pure gold.

 

[winty]

 

[winty]

 

[cats_09]

 

[cats_09]

 

[winty]

 

[cats_09]

 

[cats_09]

 

[Geelong_Sicko]

View attachment 2517678

Hmmm...

Tax Write-Off Movies Are Becoming a Problem in Hollywood

An emerging trend in Hollywood is for studios to use underperforming movies as tax write-offs. We'll take a closer look at this trend.

www.shortform.com

Jan 16, 2025

Movies As Tax Write-Offs​

...Francis Ford Coppola’s $120 million self-funded epic Megalopolis flopped at the box office, but the legendary director hinted at a silver lining: the potential for a significant tax write-off—highlighting a controversial financial strategy increasingly employed by Hollywood studios. In this article, we’ll cover how tax write-off movies work and why they matter.

History of Hollywood Tax Advantages​

The practice of Hollywood manipulating film assets for tax benefits dates back to 1933, when Charlie Chaplin reportedly burned the negatives of his film A Woman of the Sea in front of witnesses to claim it as a tax loss. While methods have evolved since then, the underlying principle of sacrificing art for tax advantages remains.

Increasingly, Hollywood studios are prioritizing financial engineering—using complex financial instruments and strategies to optimize profits and minimize tax liabilities—over content creation and distribution. Critics argue that these practices favor immediate financial gains over artistic merit and cultural value, jeopardizing the future of filmmaking, fair compensation of creative talent, and the health of the entertainment industry...

 

[Braklet]

Hmmm...

"Hollywood Accounting," been a thing for many years.

 

[cats_09]

 

[Play it Sam]

 

[cats_09]