BUG: matplotlib.__version__ is unicode #8502
Description
see here: https://ci.appveyor.com/project/jreback/pandas/build/1.0.455/job/2avadnw54tpv3lob
so it appears that matplotlib changed the version string in 1.4.0 to be unicode (and not a string).
(to be honest I would call that a bug, separate issue).
BUT our tests now fail because of this, I guess
str(matploblib.__version__) > LooseVersion('1.4.0') is now necessary
weird