Ferris Bueller's Layoff

I've been negligent with my blogging duties...shameful, really. But my excuse is that things have been a bit crazy since I returned from New York...and also, I'm still trying to figure out this blog's intent. Is it an open forum for anyone to see (meaning that I would allow it to be "searchable," which it currently is not) or is it basically an online journal that can be read only by those who know where to find it? I tend to gravitate towards the latter, mainly because I don't want to cater my thoughts to a mass audience (not that it would be "mass," but you know) and because I want to discuss certain things without fear that someone I talk about would stumble upon it. But on the other hand, it is nice to get feedback and know that my thoughts aren't just disappearing into the abyss of the internet....

Whatever. For now, I'm content to use this as my "diary" and write what I want. And what I want to write about right now is the crazy week I just had and the crazy week that I expect to have. But first: Watchmen. Before this aforementioned "craziness" took place, I was going to sit down and delve further into my feelings on the movie. For indeed, it seems to warrant more than a basic paragraph or two about whether I liked it or not...it's not right that I discussed He's Just Not That Into You as much as I did Watchmen.

But sadly, it seems that few people are watching the Watchmen...with only $18M in box office this weekend (a pretty damn steep drop-off from its opening weekend of around $55M), it seems that the movie is destined to be a relative box office failure. And that's a damn shame...if not for the movie itself, then for similar productions. Interestingly enough, one of the film's screenwriters wrote an open letter to Ain't It Cool News (and other sites, I think) basically pleading with people to see the movie this weekend. Apparently, Hollywood is (was) keeping a close eye on the box office for this 161-minute R-rated slavishly-faithful adaptation to see how this sort of risk would pay off. Unfortunately, Hollywood has its answer.

In the Talkbacks for that particular open letter, people alternated between agreeing with the idea of supporting such a "difficult" film in the hopes of showing Hollywood that this kind of complex adult entertainment can make money and flaying the writer alive for pimping his half-assed movie, saying that it should fail because a) the movie sucks, b) he sucks, and/or c) WAAAHHHHH THE SQUID!!!!!!! Part of the latter argument was also that, yes, hardcore nerd-friendly epics should still be made, but not like Watchmen because director Zack Snyder did a bad job and they don't want more of this specifically.

My opinion? I wanted to see Watchmen succeed. Is the movie perfect? Absolutely not. By staying strictly bound to the book's visuals, Snyder ignored opportunities to make the overall end product more...cinematic in a way. That sounds weird, but I think that, while there are absolute benefits to doing exactly what the comic did (for the most part), it denies the film from doing anything different or unique. When the movie was done, I basically said to my friend: "Yep, that's Watchmen." I didn't go on an emotional journey, I wasn't surprised or wowed...I just saw the graphic novel on screen. Which is cool and commendable, but....

I still like the movie and my rating doesn't change, but I do get the criticism. And indeed, I absolutely respect the amount of effort and struggle Snyder went through to make the movie what it is. To that end, I wanted to see it succeed. That's not to say that, for instance, Iron Man 2 should be R-rated and three hours long, but once in a while, it would be nice to see something more hardcore and risky come out of Hollywood (not Hostel hardcore, though...just not compromised for a PG-13 audience, like Live Free or Die Hard and Terminator: Salvation). Unfortunately, the lesson that Hollywood learned here is that audiences want PG-13 and accessible entertainment...sigh. Whether Watchmen was perfect or not, it should have succeeded for the greater good. Shame.

But as for real life: as I was sitting at LaGuardia Airport last Tuesday on my way home from New York, my boss called me to let me know that my co-worker had been laid off. This is notable when you have a team of only three people to start and now one of them is gone. The news was pretty damn shocking...my co-worker had often been difficult when it came to working together, but she was always good at her job and very smart about messaging and everything (and I liked her personally). And now, she was being escorted out of the building. Holy shit.

I won't go through every thought that came to mind as I flew home that day, but basically, I was both shocked and intimidated: with my co-worker gone, I was now in line for a) a lot of opportunities and b) a lot of new work (and/or c] WAAAAAHHHH THE SQUID!!!). And lo, when I went back to work on Wednesday, both were waiting for me. Everyone has said that this is an excellent opportunity for me, and they're right: if I do well, it's been semi-explicitly said that I'll get a promotion in the next few months (along with the requisite raise) and possibly even my co-worker's office. I'm already having any and all lame administrative duties taken off of my shoulders immediately (and put on to a nearby assistant...sucks for her).

Of course, there's also the fear of doing badly. I mean, my ex-co-worker was smart and did her job well, and I felt like I was still learning quite a bit from her (and my boss) in the ways of Marketing. But now, I'm being thrown into the deep end and everyone assumes that I'll swim, but I fear that I'll drown. Um...but that's just a fear. I'm sure it'll be fine. I'm just a bit tense at the moment while I wrap my head around everything that my ex-co-worker did and everything that I do. This past week was a little tricky as I started to gauge the scope of my new responsibilities and this coming week will be equally hectic.

So it's a good thing I went on vacation when I did, because I'm apparently not going anywhere for quite some time (and I also missed the day of layoffs, thankfully...). So that's that for now...though I have to say, with everything that's going on, blogging from work may not be as frequent an occurrence. But then, my boss will be out of the office for two weeks at the end of the month for his wedding, so maybe I'll have some time then...or maybe I won't, as I'll be the only person on our team (team now = me and my boss) in the office. Neat!