The I Feel Down Topic.

[NuttySquirrel]

Feeling furious counts as feeling down, right?

Because I'm sure feeling that way towards Warner Bros executives and CEO David Zaslav for their terrible decision to tax write off the completed Coyote vs. Acme film at the end of this month.

I haven't been this distraught since I learnt Disney canned Henry Selick's The Shadow King, which was in pre-production, but at least Selick has reacquired the rights.

That does sound incredibly frustrating - and a colossal waste of talent and resources if the film is never going to see the light of day.

At the end of the day, everything boils down to money. Forget creativity and entertainment, these corporations only care about the bottom line.

I'm still seething about the cancellation by Netflix of The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance after one - brilliant - first series.

 

[The_bup]

Feeling furious counts as feeling down, right?

Because I'm sure feeling that way towards Warner Bros executives and CEO David Zaslav for their terrible decision to tax write off the completed Coyote vs. Acme film at the end of this month.

I haven't been this distraught since I learnt Disney canned Henry Selick's The Shadow King, which was in pre-production, but at least Selick has reacquired the rights.

Why’d they choose that as a tax right off? That movie sounds awesome I’d go see it.

 

[Rowe]

Well, here's the thing: I've found no good reason why it's being shelved and deleted at all!

Coyote vs. Acme was being produced under two previous regimes prior to Warner Bros. Discovery's merger* and had been in the works since 2018. It received positive test screenings even scoring up to 14 points above the family film norm, with high praise across the board and was even due for release in July 2023. Until April 2022, where it was replaced with Barbie. Then WBD, with their execs not having seen the final product themselves, announced they'd write it off in November 2023. They 'seemed' to backtrack from the backlash, screening and shopping it to other studios such as Amazon, Netflix and Paramount (inc theatrical release plans) who did put in bids but WBD rejected them all, refusing any counter offers, on anything that didn't match '$75-80 million'. There are mixed reports as to whether WBD even clarified to the other studios that was the figure they wanted.

There are other factors too. Warner Bros. hasn't known what to do with Looney Tunes for some time (Patrick Willems' great What Do The Looney Tunes Mean in 2023? video breaks down why) and it hasn't helped Space Jam 2 barely recouped its budget so it's not entirely surprising WBD has little faith in the franchise. But if Coyote vs. Acme was successfully sold to another studio for distribution, the success the film would likely have under said studio would publicly humiliate WBD and studio leadership*.

Spoiler: *WBD History

Warner Bros. Discovery has been slashing costs across all assets since April 2022, when the WB and AT&T merger finished, in an attempt to save $3 billion. This has included removing countless media on HBO Max, including Sesame Street and Looney Tunes, the latter of which done to avoid residual payments to use as tax write offs, as well as cancelling the nearly completed Batgirl and Scoob! Holiday Haunt films. Batgirl ($90 million budget) was cancelled due to negative test screenings and DCEU's disappointing run and Scoob! Holiday Haunt ($40 million budget) had a was cancelled due to Scoob!'s poor box office during the pandemic, both being due for release on HBO Max. Ironically, this has meant WBD is worth $20 billion less than when Zaslav began the cuts.

So, yeah. Great. Meep meep.



Sources: Rolling Stone, Medium, Gizmodo and The Verge.

 

[Matt N]

I’ll admit I’m feeling a bit down after having attended an industry outreach event today with university and presented my dissertation and its findings.

I’ll digress that I do not like public speaking and it does not come at all naturally to me, so I was already nervous to begin with. This is probably going to sound pathetic, but I’d prepared myself a very prescriptive script for my presentation and rehearsed it quite a few times so that I “learned my lines”, if you like. I have absolutely no ad-lib or improv ability or any general ability to think things like that up on the spot, so I felt more comfortable knowing exactly what I was going to say beforehand.

The basic premise of my role in the event was that I was one of 6 students “pitching” their dissertation, and there was a competition for the best “pitch”. The theme of the event was building bridges between academia and industry and finding investment opportunities from academic ideas. I had discussed my presentation beforehand with the lecturer who was taking us, and I was under the impression that I simply needed to show off my dissertation, its findings and the implications within a 3-4 minute pitch. The lecturer taking us had indicated that my presentation was fine.

However, when we got to the pitch part of the day, the first student came on… and they presented some absolutely beautiful, Dragon’s Den calibre business pitch, with full suggestions of what they’d done to commercialise their project, what stage they were at, how they were going to develop it, full costings, and a presentation full of enthusiasm, charisma and riffing with the audience. Some of the other ones weren’t quite so advanced, but they still had a fair degree of business emphasis and were fairly schmultzy. Whereas mine was very academic and went quite technical in terms of discussing my methodology, my results and such; it was pretty much purely discussing my dissertation and its implications. I have never had any intent of commercialising my dissertation or being entrepreneurial and making any kind of business venture with it; I only did the event because the faculty felt that I had one of my cohort’s strongest dissertation ideas, so I’d been asked if I’d do it to help raise the university’s profile. To tell you the truth, I didn’t really want to do it, but felt like I should.

When it came to my actual delivery, I also felt that I was really wooden and awkward, whereas everyone else oozed charisma and looked so natural up there. I was incredibly anxious and found the presentation utterly excruciating, and I had to look at my slides a fair bit more than I’d have liked.

While I was able to answer the questions I was given by the panel at the end, and the accompanying lecturer said that I “spoke like I really knew my stuff” and that I hadn’t done my presentation wrong at all, I still feel embarrassed and like I completely messed up. For starters, I feel like I completely misunderstood the assignment by not really incorporating a business angle into my presentation; I think I went much too academic and technical compared to everyone else. I’m also a bit embarrassed by how wooden and nervous my delivery was compared to everyone else’s.

I don’t know… I just feel like a complete fool.

 

[GooseOnTheLoose]

I’ll admit I’m feeling a bit down after having attended an industry outreach event today with university and presented my dissertation and its findings.

I’ll digress that I do not like public speaking and it does not come at all naturally to me, so I was already nervous to begin with. This is probably going to sound pathetic, but I’d prepared myself a very prescriptive script for my presentation and rehearsed it quite a few times so that I “learned my lines”, if you like. I have absolutely no ad-lib or improv ability or any general ability to think things like that up on the spot, so I felt more comfortable knowing exactly what I was going to say beforehand.

The basic premise of my role in the event was that I was one of 6 students “pitching” their dissertation, and there was a competition for the best “pitch”. The theme of the event was building bridges between academia and industry and finding investment opportunities from academic ideas. I had discussed my presentation beforehand with the lecturer who was taking us, and I was under the impression that I simply needed to show off my dissertation, its findings and the implications within a 3-4 minute pitch. The lecturer taking us had indicated that my presentation was fine.

However, when we got to the pitch part of the day, the first student came on… and they presented some absolutely beautiful, Dragon’s Den calibre business pitch, with full suggestions of what they’d done to commercialise their project, what stage they were at, how they were going to develop it, full costings, and a presentation full of enthusiasm, charisma and riffing with the audience. Some of the other ones weren’t quite so advanced, but they still had a fair degree of business emphasis and were fairly schmultzy. Whereas mine was very academic and went quite technical in terms of discussing my methodology, my results and such; it was pretty much purely discussing my dissertation and its implications. I have never had any intent of commercialising my dissertation or being entrepreneurial and making any kind of business venture with it; I only did the event because the faculty felt that I had one of my cohort’s strongest dissertation ideas, so I’d been asked if I’d do it to help raise the university’s profile. To tell you the truth, I didn’t really want to do it, but felt like I should.

When it came to my actual delivery, I also felt that I was really wooden and awkward, whereas everyone else oozed charisma and looked so natural up there. I was incredibly anxious and found the presentation utterly excruciating, and I had to look at my slides a fair bit more than I’d have liked.

While I was able to answer the questions I was given by the panel at the end, and the accompanying lecturer said that I “spoke like I really knew my stuff” and that I hadn’t done my presentation wrong at all, I still feel embarrassed and like I completely messed up. For starters, I feel like I completely misunderstood the assignment by not really incorporating a business angle into my presentation; I think I went much too academic and technical compared to everyone else. I’m also a bit embarrassed by how wooden and nervous my delivery was compared to everyone else’s.

I don’t know… I just feel like a complete fool.

Public oration is tricky. It's a talent in its own right. I've spent a career helping people in some of society's darkest places realise that they have the potential and ability to present confidently and eloquently. It comes naturally more to some than it does to others.

It's entirely possible that you got the wrong end of the stick when it came to the presentation. It's also entirely possible that your peers got the wrong end of the stick, when it came to the presentation, choosing style and cliche over actual substance.

Matt, I hate seeing you doubt yourself on here. You're brilliant. You're wonderful. You're bright and you have excellent written communicative skills. I can't speak for your presentation abilities, but if you put half as much effort into it as you do some of your posts on here, then I have every faith in your ability.

I'm really sorry that you feel down. Nothing I, or others, say will take away that feeling. I want you to know though that many great people are awful at presentations, and that's ok. Cast your mind back to 2020. During television broadcasts you had one Muppet, who was considered a great presenter, flagged by two scientists with awful delivery skills. In such a scenario we all knew who we trusted more.

That you didn't realise your dissertation had potential commercial applications is my favourite part of your post. I absolutely love that you came at this from a purely theoretical, academic and potentially utopian angle. I feel that too much emphasis on good work is given on whether it's going to generate money or a profit. The greatest invention we've ever known, the World Wide Web, only exists purely because its creator didn't realise, didn't care and didn't think about the potential commercial applications of what he'd created. He just wanted to share it with the world.

Presentations are entirely about effectively communicating your message. It's about making your intentions known. You're imparting wisdom and knowledge to someone else. You can do this in a myriad of ways, but as long as it's succint and well paced, it doesn't matter how much pizzaz you throw at it. A turd is a turd, you can't polish it.

I wasn't there for your presentation and I'm sort of sorry I wasn't. I expect that was delivered with great understanding of the subject, enthusiasm for the project and passion for the topic. I expect that it was delivered in such a way that anyone coming away from your presentation knew exactly what you were talking about.

Please don't second guess yourself. Well done for today. You did a difficult thing. You need to be proud of what you accomplished. I'm proud of you. I'm sure we all are.

Keep up the good work. 🪿

 

[Matt N]

Public oration is tricky. It's a talent in its own right. I've spent a career helping people in some of society's darkest places realise that they have the potential and ability to present confidently and eloquently. It comes naturally more to some than it does to others.

It's entirely possible that you got the wrong end of the stick when it came to the presentation. It's also entirely possible that your peers got the wrong end of the stick, when it came to the presentation, choosing style and cliche over actual substance.

Matt, I hate seeing you doubt yourself on here. You're brilliant. You're wonderful. You're bright and you have excellent written communicative skills. I can't speak for your presentation abilities, but if you put half as much effort into it as you do some of your posts on here, then I have every faith in your ability.

I'm really sorry that you feel down. Nothing I, or others, say will take away that feeling. I want you to know though that many great people are awful at presentations, and that's ok. Cast your mind back to 2020. During television broadcasts you had one Muppet, who was considered a great presenter, flagged by two scientists with awful delivery skills. In such a scenario we all knew who we trusted more.

That you didn't realise your dissertation had potential commercial applications is my favourite part of your post. I absolutely love that you came at this from a purely theoretical, academic and potentially utopian angle. I feel that too much emphasis on good work is given on whether it's going to generate money or a profit. The greatest invention we've ever known, the World Wide Web, only exists purely because its creator didn't realise, didn't care and didn't think about the potential commercial applications of what he'd created. He just wanted to share it with the world.

Presentations are entirely about effectively communicating your message. It's about making your intentions known. You're imparting wisdom and knowledge to someone else. You can do this in a myriad of ways, but as long as it's succint and well paced, it doesn't matter how much pizzaz you throw at it. A turd is a turd, you can't polish it.

I wasn't there for your presentation and I'm sort of sorry I wasn't. I expect that was delivered with great understanding of the subject, enthusiasm for the project and passion for the topic. I expect that it was delivered in such a way that anyone coming away from your presentation knew exactly what you were talking about.

Please don't second guess yourself. Well done for today. You did a difficult thing. You need to be proud of what you accomplished. I'm proud of you. I'm sure we all are.

Keep up the good work. 🪿

Thanks for the post @GooseOnTheLoose; I thoroughly appreciate it.

I feel it’s more likely that I got the wrong end of the stick. Put it this way; some of the questions asked by the panel asked me to clarify and explain in more detail the more technical aspects of my presentation to clear up some confusion, and I did not win the pitch competition either. I did have two different industry people approach me afterwards to discuss the presentation and ask further questions, though, so perhaps going technical wasn’t necessarily entirely bad…

I know for a fact that public speaking does not come naturally to me, and it isn’t something I like at all. I always hated performing and public speaking when I was in school, and it’s always made me very anxious. Whenever I do it, it doesn’t feel at all natural, and I’d quite happily have had the floor open up and swallow me whole at times in that presentation. I don’t know if it actually comes across that way, but to me, I always think my nerves make me a very wooden, awkward orator when it comes to presentations.

In terms of the commercial potential of my dissertation; I’d never even thought of commercialising it. I simply viewed it as an interesting piece of research I did to get my degree qualification, and I didn’t really have any intentions of taking it forward and turning it into a legitimate business venture. I’m not particularly entrepreneurial; I know that it would be some people’s idea of hell, but I am perfectly fine being a small cog within a bigger machine. When I leave academia and get a job, I have no problem with going into industry and working as a small employee within a big company. I’ve never even pondered things like making my own startup, as I simply don’t have that kind of mindset.

I think it doesn’t help that the whole event wasn’t really my thing. Despite how I may come across on here, I’m definitely somewhat introverted in real life. There were large portions of the event dedicated to “networking”, which to me basically seemed like an industry term for having a good old chat with friends. While some people were there “working the room”, if you like, and looked like they were having the time of their lives, I felt completely out of my depth and didn’t feel comfortable in that kind of environment at all. That kind of thing is designed for extroverts, and I’m simply not an extrovert.

On the plus side, I guess this was a relatively low-stakes presentation; the presentation had no real consequence for me. The dissertation viva I have to do in a month’s time is very different… although I’m hoping that the academic, technical approach might land better when my audience is academics!

 

[Burbs]

There were large portions of the event dedicated to “networking”, which to me basically seemed like an industry term for having a good old chat with friends.

Oh God, “networking” events. Horrible things, I tend to only agree to go for the free refreshments, champagne, or swag depending on the type of event! No need to second-guess yourself Matt, it was probably quite refreshing for the audience to hear something of a passion project rather than a business pitch.

 

[Matt N]

I’m sorry to be the one posting in this thread again today, but I’m feeling unexpectedly down, slightly conflicted and in a bit of a tailspin after an event that happened today and I’d like to vent a little.

After a whole academic year of it being hyped up as some hugely important event, I was today told, completely out of the blue, that my dissertation viva has been cancelled. I was informed by email that dissertation vivas have been cancelled for our entire cohort and will not happen. This was completely unexpected, no justification for this was given, and no alternative information about when our dissertation grades will be made available has been given other than “they’re available when they’re available”. The viva was due to happen next week, and I had already prepared a presentation and started rehearsing it.

I won’t lie, I’m somewhat relieved to not have to do a viva, as I hate presentations and was absolutely dreading it… but I don’t feel nearly as jubilant as I thought I would about my viva being cancelled. In theory, “exams are cancelled” is every student’s dream, but in reality, my emotions are very mixed, and I feel a bit strange about it all. I feel surprisingly out of sorts.

The key horrible aspect, though, is that my viva being cancelled has suddenly sent me into a complete tailspin about my dissertation. It’s just made me start ruminating about all the things I could have done differently, and made me worry that it’s absolutely awful. When I read through it to prepare my viva presentation, I kept noticing potential mistakes and things I could have done differently, and now that the viva is gone, I can’t clarify any parts that they find confusing or parts that they want to question me on and I worry that they’ll think it’s awful and it will lower my grade…

I know it sounds irrational, but I’m just a bit anxious about it all…

 

[rob666]

We all get stressed over sudden changes in our lives that we have no control over Matt, very natural, very normal, and very frustrating when we have no "right to reply".
Accept the change, there is probably nothing sinister in the decision, just too much stuff to be done in too limited a timescale.

I got quite worked up over mine...it ended up as a ten minute chat with one of my lecturers, to prove I knew my stuff, argue my case, and have an ability to extend what I wrote by a couple of further questions.
There was another bloke from the exams authority in the background, who never said a thing, just smiling and nodding away.

That was it, and all I could think was...
"Why did I get so worked up?"

But then again, I knew I was only heading for a Desmond.

 

[Matt N]

We all get stressed over sudden changes in our lives that we have no control over Matt, very natural, very normal, and very frustrating when we have no "right to reply".
Accept the change, there is probably nothing sinister in the decision, just too much stuff to be done in too limited a timescale.

I got quite worked up over mine...it ended up as a ten minute chat with one of my lecturers, to prove I knew my stuff, argue my case, and have an ability to extend what I wrote by a couple of further questions.
There was another bloke from the exams authority in the background, who never said a thing, just smiling and nodding away.

That was it, and all I could think was...
"Why did I get so worked up?"

But then again, I knew I was only heading for a Desmond.

I wouldn’t like to pontificate too much over why they got cancelled. I was tempted to ask why, but I didn’t want to seem rude in case it was a sensitive reason (e.g. a bereavement or something).

Some people on my course are quite angry, and are moaning in the course Discord about how “unprofessional” they think cancelling them a week before they were due to happen without any justification is. I can’t get too bent out of shape over that side of things; I figure that they must have a very good reason that was out of their control, so I can’t get angry at my faculty for that. We were doing mock vivas as recently as the start of this month, so I think that it must have been an incredibly recent and incredibly sudden decision…

I’m wondering why on Earth they might have been cancelled, though; they even ran vivas during the COVID lockdown. I know this because were told an anecdote about someone who did their remote viva while half asleep in bed…

It must be said that I was absolutely dreading it, though, so I guess I’m mildly relieved in that sense. The dissertation module leader seemed like he was trying his very best to terrify us whenever he talked about the viva; he said a lot about how it was a “make or break day” and “the most important day of your academic career”, he repeatedly said about how the viva is “literal torture”, and he also boasted about how the dissertation module had “one of the university’s highest fail rates” due to the viva showing people’s true competence…

I think I’m just floored by the suddenness of the cancellation after spending ages preparing for it and having it hyped up for months, and a bit stressed about the potential implications for my mark…

 

[rob666]

Matt, I'm just about to have a minor op...covid testing has restarted at the hospital, ...I have been told to isolate to make sure I get m,y op, and the number of infections (mild, and no threat apart from to the vulnerable) has gone through the roof in the last few weeks..."flirt" is the new variety...spreading fast and hard, often completely undetected.
It is easy to manage the issue if you know the virus is about and you have time for planning, but sudden flare ups, with education rules on attending when you have covid often enforced strictly...means that management is far harder.
Not great, but I'm sure it won't affect your (excellent I'm sure) results.

And student satisfaction levels with their department have traditionally been a little difficult...lord only knows how bad now with instant communications and social media.

Worry about important things...will Hyperia hit the button!
FDistract yourself!

 

[The_bup]

Very minor, but I’ve spent so long on this little gargoyle sculpture, only to stick it in the oven and have it fall over when I took it out.
Spent all morning today fixing it, put it in the oven, take it out, put it on a shelf to cool.

Then, as if by magic, an hour later it mysteriously becomes front-heavy and shatters all over the floor.

Oh my god. It must be cursed.

 

[Zeock]

Very minor, but I’ve spent so long on this little gargoyle sculpture, only to stick it in the oven and have it fall over when I took it out.
Spent all motioning today fixing it, put it in the oven, take it out, put it on a shelf to cool.

Then, as if by magic, an hour later it mysteriously becomes front-heavy and shatters all over the floor.

Oh my god. It must be cursed.

That must be frustrating for you. That sculpture looks like a lot of effort was put into it. Despite one of the arms shattering, it still looks really good, especially the face.

 

[DiogoJ42]

Damn, buddy. That looks like it was going to be sweet! My sympathies.

 

[BarryZola]

Yeah, that looks pretty good mate. You should get that fixed and finished

 

[The_bup]

Very minor, but I’ve spent so long on this little gargoyle sculpture, only to stick it in the oven and have it fall over when I took it out.
Spent all morning today fixing it, put it in the oven, take it out, put it on a shelf to cool.

Then, as if by magic, an hour later it mysteriously becomes front-heavy and shatters all over the floor.

Oh my god. It must be cursed.

Anywho, in the midst of my Phantom Manor - Keygen Church listening, I made another face thing. I like this one a bit more. Also, keep in mind I have really small hands, to give you some scale.

 

[DiogoJ42]

As mentioned in Pet Hates, my plans to go flying again tomorrow have been scuppered, and I turned down over a grand's worth of work for it, at a time when I need every penny I can get.
M'lady was carrying her nan's coffin two days ago, and I couldn't be there for her, because work.
And last night Murray, one of the most affectionate rats we've ever owned, passed away in my arms.

Gonna get very drunk tonight with my best mate... who was told via phone yesterday that he's lost his job.

Not been a good week so far.

 

[BarryZola]

Hope things start looking up for you soon

 

[NuttySquirrel]

As mentioned in Pet Hates, my plans to go flying again tomorrow have been scuppered, and I turned down over a grand's worth of work for it, at a time when I need every penny I can get.
M'lady was carrying her nan's coffin two days ago, and I couldn't be there for her, because work.
And last night Murray, one of the most affectionate rats we've ever owned, passed away in my arms.

Gonna get very drunk tonight with my best mate... who was told via phone yesterday that he's lost his job.

Not been a good week so far.

Sorry to hear that @DjogoJ42, sounds like it's been a rubbish week! Losing ratties sucks, feels like such a waste to give a creature with so much personality and enthusiasm for life only a few short years. One of the reasons I couldn't bring myself to get any more after losing our three lovely* boys in 2020. I'm sure you gave Murray the best life possible though

*except Billy. Billy was a d*ckhead.

 

[Slugjc]

Been feeling a little glum recently. I've tried a few things to get myself out of this rut but nothing seems to be getting through.

In February I passed my HGV level 2. I was told the industry was desperate for drivers. I've applied for countless jobs, but for an industry that is desperate. It appears that it's only desperate for experienced drivers more than new. To pass this took some effort. I've spoken before about my dyslexia, so anything that requires taking tests such as a theory is genuinely hard for me. The stress I had revising and doing the theory was a massive concern. Especially when involved was huge amounts of texts, like the HGV theory does.But I did it and I flew the practical. But nothing. Unless I take a massive pay reduction. They tell to work weekends to gain Experience. Sound. I will see the wife in a few years.

Usually when Im doen I hyper focus on one thing. As i type. That would be the Disney parks. When I'm this focussed on something I know I'm in trouble I am blaming myself for failing to get new job and being unable to do anything for myself. I can't Write emails and Job application forms by myself because of my poor written skills. I have to Rely on others to help me. They are not always available. I struggle learning new tasks and getting flustered easily with manual tasks such as DIY. Because I can't shake the paranoia of fucking something up.

I've reached 40 and feel a failure. I've never loved any job I've had and get pissed off because grammatical errors, for some reason, is essential for applying for a job that involves no writing.

Needed to get that off my chest.