Getting schooled at the show
' See Bubbles Take a Bath was also a feature at sideshow alley at the Wagga Wagga Regional Show in 1959,' recalls Tony Slattery of Heathcote. 'My cousins and I, attracted by the implied naked portrayal on the banners outside, paid our hard-earned to find Bubbles was in a two-piece swimsuit in a clear cylinder of frothy water. Definitely a disappointing misdescription.'
Martin Field of Noosa Heads (Qld) writes: 'The other evening our nine-year-old grandson asked why people often said 'passed' when they meant someone had died. 'Maybe they think died is too blunt,' we said. After a bit of thought he replied, 'I think 'gone on eternity leave' would be better.' So do we.'
'As it appears, I'm the sole Port Macquarie member of Mary Poirriers' (C8) very exclusive, left-indicating club,' claims Dave Williams. 'At $196 per transgression, if the plod enforced this traffic regulation they could clear the state debt almost overnight.'
'Swearing or swerving?' asks Joy Everett of Valla Beach. 'If you swerve out of your lane without using your indicator, some German cars automatically swerve you back. It would be a nice idea, unless you have swerved to give room to a cyclist, only to surprise both you and the cyclist as the car tries to run them off the road.'
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Disney+ has a docuseries from producer Ryan Coogler (known for Black Panther, Sinners) called Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time, looking back at the devastating natural disaster of 2005 in New Orleans. Also on Disney+ is a true crime docuseries, Her Last Broadcast: The Abduction of Jodi Huisentruit. Over on Prime Video you'll find another season of docuseries Shiny Happy People, this time focusing on Teen Mania, an evangelical Christian youth organisation out of Texas. While Netflix has some happier documentary fare with Hitmakers, a series focusing on the songwriters and producers behind some of the world's biggest musical artists. There's also, of course, Netflix's huge film release of recent times: Happy Gilmore 2. When 30-year-old journalist Edward arrives on a small Greek island to spend some time with his distant mum Julie, he finds himself thrown into a world he never knew existed and ends up running for his life. That's because Julie is an assassin, and she's forced out of retirement when other professionals are sent to take her out. This leads to a massacre at a wedding in the village, and some very awkward conversations between the pair. Edward had no idea his mother was a trained killer and now he's got to go on the run with her. The duo are played by Freddie Highmore (The Good Doctor, Bates Motel) and Keeley Hawes (Bodyguard, Line of Duty), each straddling the line between drama and dark comedy. While Hawes owns the role and brings a great energy, Highmore seems a little out of his depth and never quite matches his co-star's tone. The six-episode series is a British-Australian co-production with action taking place all over Europe. There's conspiracies, blackmail, pursuits, you name it. But as the series progresses you find yourself increasingly wondering if The Assassin knows where it's going. It teases so many different story threads that you'd hope would have a solid payoff, but ultimately just fizzle out. By the time the finale rolls around, it seems that teenagers have taken over the writing tasks because this train goes completely off the rails. You might be tempted to finish the show just to solve the mysteries, but The Assassin is really not worth the trouble. That said, Aussie Devon Terrell (Totally Completely Fine) gives a spirited performance as the shallow, drug-taking son of an Aussie billionaire played by Alan Dale. Based on the novel by Esi Edugyan, Washington Black is a historical fiction series, following the titular George Washington Black across two timelines. In one, the young 'Wash' as he's known is a slave on a plantation in Barbados, looked after by another enslaved person with no knowledge of his birth family. The brother of the English slave-owner rolls into town in a fancy steam-powered vehicle - a shocking sight in the 1800s - and takes an interest in young Wash's astute mind. The pair end up setting out on an adventure together, but the dynamic is always awkward being that Wash is technically still owned by this man's family. The second timeline sees a now older Wash going by the name 'Jack Crawford' and living in Nova Scotia, Canada, in a city at the end of the famous Underground Railroad. He meets an English woman with mixed ancestry and is immediately taken with her, despite their differences in circumstances. The show is sprawling and beautifully costumed, but the reliance on CGI and weirdly juvenile storytelling is a drawback. In the grand tradition of RPA or 24 Hours in A&E, Netflix's Critical: Between Life and Death, takes viewers behind the scenes of series medical emergencies. Set in London, the docuseries focuses on significant trauma cases, and the paramedics, dispatchers, helicopter pilots, doctors, surgeons, nurses and coordinators who make these cases run as smoothly as possible. What's remarkable is how calmly and quietly these medical professionals go about their jobs - a far cry from the chaos people who religiously watched ER would come to expect from such occasions. The show also catches up with the people and their families involved in the accidents and incidents that led them to needing serious medical attention. There's plenty of documentary action to be found on your streaming services this week. On Stan you'll find The Accidental President, a fascinating feature documentary about the remarkable story of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who challenged the Belarusian dictator by running for president against him. Disney+ has a docuseries from producer Ryan Coogler (known for Black Panther, Sinners) called Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time, looking back at the devastating natural disaster of 2005 in New Orleans. Also on Disney+ is a true crime docuseries, Her Last Broadcast: The Abduction of Jodi Huisentruit. Over on Prime Video you'll find another season of docuseries Shiny Happy People, this time focusing on Teen Mania, an evangelical Christian youth organisation out of Texas. While Netflix has some happier documentary fare with Hitmakers, a series focusing on the songwriters and producers behind some of the world's biggest musical artists. There's also, of course, Netflix's huge film release of recent times: Happy Gilmore 2. When 30-year-old journalist Edward arrives on a small Greek island to spend some time with his distant mum Julie, he finds himself thrown into a world he never knew existed and ends up running for his life. That's because Julie is an assassin, and she's forced out of retirement when other professionals are sent to take her out. This leads to a massacre at a wedding in the village, and some very awkward conversations between the pair. Edward had no idea his mother was a trained killer and now he's got to go on the run with her. The duo are played by Freddie Highmore (The Good Doctor, Bates Motel) and Keeley Hawes (Bodyguard, Line of Duty), each straddling the line between drama and dark comedy. While Hawes owns the role and brings a great energy, Highmore seems a little out of his depth and never quite matches his co-star's tone. The six-episode series is a British-Australian co-production with action taking place all over Europe. There's conspiracies, blackmail, pursuits, you name it. But as the series progresses you find yourself increasingly wondering if The Assassin knows where it's going. It teases so many different story threads that you'd hope would have a solid payoff, but ultimately just fizzle out. By the time the finale rolls around, it seems that teenagers have taken over the writing tasks because this train goes completely off the rails. You might be tempted to finish the show just to solve the mysteries, but The Assassin is really not worth the trouble. That said, Aussie Devon Terrell (Totally Completely Fine) gives a spirited performance as the shallow, drug-taking son of an Aussie billionaire played by Alan Dale. Based on the novel by Esi Edugyan, Washington Black is a historical fiction series, following the titular George Washington Black across two timelines. In one, the young 'Wash' as he's known is a slave on a plantation in Barbados, looked after by another enslaved person with no knowledge of his birth family. The brother of the English slave-owner rolls into town in a fancy steam-powered vehicle - a shocking sight in the 1800s - and takes an interest in young Wash's astute mind. The pair end up setting out on an adventure together, but the dynamic is always awkward being that Wash is technically still owned by this man's family. The second timeline sees a now older Wash going by the name 'Jack Crawford' and living in Nova Scotia, Canada, in a city at the end of the famous Underground Railroad. He meets an English woman with mixed ancestry and is immediately taken with her, despite their differences in circumstances. The show is sprawling and beautifully costumed, but the reliance on CGI and weirdly juvenile storytelling is a drawback. In the grand tradition of RPA or 24 Hours in A&E, Netflix's Critical: Between Life and Death, takes viewers behind the scenes of series medical emergencies. Set in London, the docuseries focuses on significant trauma cases, and the paramedics, dispatchers, helicopter pilots, doctors, surgeons, nurses and coordinators who make these cases run as smoothly as possible. What's remarkable is how calmly and quietly these medical professionals go about their jobs - a far cry from the chaos people who religiously watched ER would come to expect from such occasions. The show also catches up with the people and their families involved in the accidents and incidents that led them to needing serious medical attention. There's plenty of documentary action to be found on your streaming services this week. On Stan you'll find The Accidental President, a fascinating feature documentary about the remarkable story of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who challenged the Belarusian dictator by running for president against him. Disney+ has a docuseries from producer Ryan Coogler (known for Black Panther, Sinners) called Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time, looking back at the devastating natural disaster of 2005 in New Orleans. Also on Disney+ is a true crime docuseries, Her Last Broadcast: The Abduction of Jodi Huisentruit. Over on Prime Video you'll find another season of docuseries Shiny Happy People, this time focusing on Teen Mania, an evangelical Christian youth organisation out of Texas. While Netflix has some happier documentary fare with Hitmakers, a series focusing on the songwriters and producers behind some of the world's biggest musical artists. There's also, of course, Netflix's huge film release of recent times: Happy Gilmore 2.
