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Sony Reversal: "The Interview" Will Be Released Xmas Day

Sony has changed its position and will offer screenings of "The Interview" after all on Christmas Day. It won't be in a huge number of theaters, maybe 200 to 300 around the country.

Here's Sony's tweet making the announcement.

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    Sony has always made me mad. (5.00 / 1) (#6)
    by fishcamp on Tue Dec 23, 2014 at 02:16:24 PM EST
    When all the networks went from film to video, both Sony and Panasonic were wooing the big boys to use their cameras.  They were not compatible, and for a few years we had both brands going, which caused a total logjam.  Finally the big Sony cameras won out, but they still will not play nice with any other cameras.  Once while shooting in Paris, one of the eyepieces on a big Betacam went down.  The eyepieces are really a miniature TV set.  So I sent an assistant over to Sony of France.  He got it fixed, but said they only spoke French and Japanese.  Glad I didn't go on that adventure.

    Variety has the story... (5.00 / 2) (#13)
    by unitron on Tue Dec 23, 2014 at 05:05:51 PM EST
    I don't think it was an inside job. (5.00 / 1) (#20)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Wed Dec 24, 2014 at 01:29:47 AM EST
    That said, if provoking an international incident is all part of a devious marketing ploy to attract a maximum number of eyeballs for what's likely to be an excruciatingly awful film -- unless, of course, you're a 12 to 14 year old male -- then studio executives have truly transcended stupid and have entered a realm of criminality.

    Parent
    My congratulations on (none / 0) (#1)
    by jimakaPPJ on Tue Dec 23, 2014 at 01:34:10 PM EST
    this display of, belated but great, display of courage by a corporation.

    Imagine... (5.00 / 3) (#2)
    by kdog on Tue Dec 23, 2014 at 01:47:26 PM EST
    is this was all just an elaborate marketing hoax???  So hard to tell these days....

    I don't know how courageous the decision is...Sony is just showing a total lack of spine/conviction, and a willingness to do whatever today's winds of opinion dictate. They might change their mind again before Rudolph takes flight....this is not an outfit that inspires confidence or displays fortitude.  Or competence, for that matter.

    Regardless, I'll wait till it's on cable to see what all the fuss was about, and surely be disappointed at a later date;)

    Parent

    While I don't think it is a marketing hoax (none / 0) (#3)
    by nycstray on Tue Dec 23, 2014 at 02:04:52 PM EST
    (more like how not to handle a hack 101), I do wonder if the movie might come off as funnier than it is after all of this. Have you read the official NK statement?

    Parent
    oh man (none / 0) (#5)
    by CST on Tue Dec 23, 2014 at 02:14:27 PM EST
    "It is said that the movie was conceived and produced according to the "guidelines" of the U.S. authorities who contended that such movies hurting the dignity of the DPRK supreme leadership and inciting terrorism against it would be used in an effective way as "propaganda against north Korea".

    The U.S. Department of State's special human rights envoy went the lengths of urging the movie makers to keep all scenes insulting the dignity of the DPRK supreme leadership in the movie, saying it is needed to "vex the north Korean government"."

    I never knew that Seth Rogen was so well connected :)

    Parent

    Art imitates life? (5.00 / 1) (#7)
    by kdog on Tue Dec 23, 2014 at 02:18:31 PM EST
    Maybe Seth really is CIA Black Ops/Media Division....similar to his character in the film.

     

    Parent

    His photo was on the cover of a magazine (5.00 / 1) (#12)
    by Mr Natural on Tue Dec 23, 2014 at 04:38:40 PM EST
    I noticed today in Krogers.  He was doing the bug-eye mugging for the camera thing.

    My ten year old nephew does that.  That's how lame these two Hollywood geniuses are.

    I recommend saving your viewing time for the narco dramas.

    Parent

    Rogen has laid some eggs... (none / 0) (#25)
    by kdog on Wed Dec 24, 2014 at 08:51:57 AM EST
    no doubt...but I really enjoy some of his work..."Knocked Up" ,"Pineapple Express", "This Is The End" are all hysterical.

    Even if Danny McBride steals the show in the latter two films...he's the funniest motherf8cker in that crew.  "Eastbound & Down" was my sh*t.  

    Parent

    Ever see the movie (none / 0) (#17)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Dec 23, 2014 at 09:30:41 PM EST
    Confessions of a Dangerous Mind

    Seth Rogan working for the CIA would be no stranger that Chuck Barris working fir the CIA.   Also a great movie.  Sam Rockwell as Chuck.  Directed by George Clooney written by Barris and Charlie Kaufman.

    Apparently he may actually have been for real working for the CIA.  While doing The Gong Show.

    Parent

    Yeah good flick... (5.00 / 1) (#24)
    by kdog on Wed Dec 24, 2014 at 08:45:57 AM EST
    and I have no reason to doubt Barris was CIA.  

    Sh*t I half suspect Dennis Rodman is CIA...I put nothing past them.  Nothing.

    Parent

    I had a granduncle who was in the CIA (5.00 / 1) (#26)
    by Mordiggian 88 on Wed Dec 24, 2014 at 09:23:23 AM EST
    because of his Chinese-Anglo heritage, he could pass for Japanese without any surgery or makeup, and he learned Japanese at the Defense Institute of Languages.

    He use his training by working undercover against the Commies in Japan in the 1950s.  His brothers in the service(as in the Korean War) were jealous of the fact that being undercover he could stay out late and sing unlike American soldiers, who had to keep an early curfew while they were serving in Japan.

    Parent

    I won't hold it against you... (none / 0) (#31)
    by kdog on Wed Dec 24, 2014 at 10:08:39 AM EST
    My line has had it's share of criminals too Mordi;)

    Parent
    He was involved in Laos in the 60s (none / 0) (#35)
    by Mordiggian 88 on Wed Dec 24, 2014 at 11:04:40 AM EST
    And he ended his career being a handler for a Red Chinese General who defected to the US in the early 70s.  Even after he retired, he was paid on a per diem basis to work with the guy, which in practice meant getting him booze and women(prostitutes) for his unbearable needs.

    My fathers' family has a more striaght-forward record, my great-grandfather had a reward of 500$ in the early part of the last century for horse-stealing and theft.  He even left Texas to the Oklahoma Territory because of a saddle he acquired under dubious circumstances.

    Parent

    My grandfather was an OSS man ... (none / 0) (#41)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Wed Dec 24, 2014 at 07:11:15 PM EST
    ... during the Second World War. They recruited him while he was serving as the base commander for the U.S. Army Air Forces training facility at Gardner Field near Taft, CA. He was then redeployed to England for the duration of the war in Europe, where he was assigned to work closely with British counterintelligence and local authorities in an effort to ferret out local German agents who regularly tracked aircraft movements at major American bases in East Anglia.

    He still maintained his active rank of major in the USAAF and worked out of Montfichet Field in Essex, which is located halfway between London and Cambridge. Montfichet Field is one of the very few WWII-era aerodromes to have survived to the present day, although clearly not in its original layout. It's presently known as Stansted Airport, and it's a busy modern facility used primarily by locals for travel within the British Isles and to / from the European continent, as well as air freight carriers such as UPS and its European counterparts.

    We've only learned the extent of my grandfather's wartime intelligence activities in England since August 2008, some 12 years after his passing, when most all OSS personnel files were fully declassified by the National Archives. My uncle and I were curious about what he actually did, since he never liked to talk about it to his wife or children (or was perhaps forbidden from doing so by federal law), so we filed an FOIA application and checked it out.

    Well, much to our disappointment, it was hardly James Bond-style work. It actually consisted mostly of humdrum rote duty, traveling an assigned circuit between various USAAF bases in East Anglia and central England, debriefing local English law enforcement officials on a regular basis regarding any suspicious activities occurring nearby those facilities, and then reporting his findings to his superiors in London. Boring! (Then again, serving in wartime England was no doubt way more exciting than being stuck for three years at a large but remote airfield near Taft, CA.)

    But when considered in total, this cloak and dagger business is rather fascinating stuff. But how successful (or otherwise) any of it really is, we're likely to never know in our own lifetimes, except through the occasional leaks.

    Aloha.

    Parent

    Taft, CA (none / 0) (#42)
    by Mordiggian 88 on Wed Dec 24, 2014 at 07:18:48 PM EST
    As someone who lives about 90 minutes drive from Taft, CA,
    I can tell you it's still boring, airfield or no airfield.

    Parent
    I went out there one time ... (none / 0) (#47)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Dec 25, 2014 at 02:28:40 AM EST
    ... when I was driving up to the Bay Area, since the site of Gardner Field is about 15 miles west of the junction of I-5 and Hwy. 99 south of Bakersfield.

    It was actually pretty easy to find. You take the Maricopa Hwy. exit off I-5 and head west to Basic School Road, then north until you reach Gardner Field Road. There's an official plaque at the junction of the two roads, which marks the former base entrance and commemorates those USAAF cadets who went through pilot training there.

    The airfield's old ramp is still in place, likely because the cement is so thick that the effort to remove it was cost prohibitive. It can easily been found on Google Earth, because it's so huge. But it's eroding and sinking in several spots, and everything else has since been torn out. The former base's 980 acres is mostly all walnut trees now.

    My grandfather joined the USAAF in July 1941, and was given the rank of captain. A few months before Pearl Harbor, when he was first assigned to Gardner Field as commandant of cadets (later promoted to major and given command of the base itself), my grandmother used to drive up there from Pasadena every weekend with their children to visit -- until the U.S. formally entered the war that December and gasoline rationing kicked in, then it was only once a month.

    My mother said that as an eight-year-old she loathed making that trip, although she did look forward to seeing her father. Since there was no I-5 back then, it took them four to five hours each way, sometimes more if the weather was lousy.

    Aloha.

    Parent

    O.M.G. (none / 0) (#50)
    by nycstray on Thu Dec 25, 2014 at 12:25:46 PM EST
    I spent part of my childhood in Taft. Second through 7th grade. Tumbleweeds . . . .

    Parent
    they will not make nearly (none / 0) (#4)
    by CST on Tue Dec 23, 2014 at 02:10:35 PM EST
    as much money with a limited release.

    If it is all just a marketing hoax, they're even stupider than their e-mails.

    Parent

    Yeah I guess... (5.00 / 1) (#8)
    by kdog on Tue Dec 23, 2014 at 02:21:03 PM EST
    though if they were expecting box office floppage, this could have been a ruse to generate buzz for DVD sales.  

    "Own the movie that almost started a nuclear war...with the deleted Kim Jong Un head melting scenes and foreign policy expert commentary.  Only 19.99!"

    Parent

    Yeah, but if sucker-- er, I mean, patrons ... (none / 0) (#9)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Tue Dec 23, 2014 at 02:57:46 PM EST
    ... fill the theatres where it's playing, you don't think other theatre chains will clamor to do the same?

    Parent
    Not gonna lie (none / 0) (#11)
    by CST on Tue Dec 23, 2014 at 03:16:39 PM EST
    I'll watch it.

    But like kdog I'll wait for the DVD.

    The only movies I see in the theaters these days are the ones I think will really benefit from the "theater" environment.  Otherwise, I prefer my couch.

    Parent

    Well, I certainly won't. (none / 0) (#19)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Wed Dec 24, 2014 at 01:17:53 AM EST
    I cashed in all my bad movie mulligans this month with Ridley Scott's "Exodus: Gods and Kings." That's 2 hours and 30 minutes of my life which I'll never get back. I refuse to make the same mistake twice -- especially when Variety specifically forewarned prospective viewers of "The Interview" that unless one is a diehard fan of Seth Rogen's sense of humor, "an evening of cinematic waterboarding awaits."

    Parent
    ... and more likely nothing more than an opportunistic attempt to capitalize on the film's notoriety.

    Parent
    Despite Mr Romney's pronouncement (5.00 / 1) (#14)
    by Mordiggian 88 on Tue Dec 23, 2014 at 05:12:47 PM EST
    two years ago, corporations are not people, my friends.  To ascribe courage to a financial calculation is to make a big mistake.  

    Parent
    I'm (none / 0) (#15)
    by lentinel on Tue Dec 23, 2014 at 05:27:19 PM EST
    so excited.

    Can't wait to see it...

    Obama is about to start a war over it.
    Must be real good.

    Oh, for crying out loud! (none / 0) (#18)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Wed Dec 24, 2014 at 12:59:43 AM EST
    Must you always blame Obama for everything? Your M.O. here is very monotonous.

    Parent
    Oh me oh my!!!! (none / 0) (#21)
    by lentinel on Wed Dec 24, 2014 at 06:53:07 AM EST
    What Obama announced to the world re Sony is worthy of satire.

    Obama has been talking about putting North Korea back on the terror watch list - or whatever the fk it's called - because of Sony. Because of hacking Sony for heaven's sake.

    And, I would also note, that there appears to be a sincere disinterest in the offer by the North Koreans to have a joint investigation of the source of the hacking - which it has denied doing.

    Check this out from The Atlantic.

    A missed opportunity, in my opinion.

    I remember when the late Mr. Hussein invited the CIA in to Iraq to look for the weapons of mass destruction that Mr. Bush et al had claimed were there. The offer was ridiculed.

    But, as usual, you are on the attack - calling me out for criticizing the president - which has long been regarded as an American right and even a virtue. This, rather than expressing your own point of view that you might or might not have on this subject.

    I think Obama's reaction was over the top.
    He tells Sony that they can just give him a call.
    North Korea is back to the axis of evil.
    Please.

    And even what you write makes no sense whatsoever.

    Blame Obama for everything?
    Blame him for what exactly?
    I fault him to overreacting and perhaps igniting more tensions with that little guy with the nukes than is necessary.

    Is that so distressing?

    Parent

    There is a lot of evidence (5.00 / 1) (#23)
    by Mordiggian 88 on Wed Dec 24, 2014 at 07:31:05 AM EST
    That it wasn't a NK attack, and that the so called clues may have been deliberately left by the real hackers in order to keep their own traces obscure.

    Parent
    Doesn't it seem (5.00 / 2) (#28)
    by lentinel on Wed Dec 24, 2014 at 09:50:33 AM EST
    at least curious that the North Koreans would propose a joint investigation with the United States to discover the source of the hacking - and that the United States has completely ignored it?

    As Jack said.....

    It really is Bush redux.

    It just confirms my assumption that the US needs enemies in order to function. And if we can't find any, we'll make some goddamit.

    Iran - Iraq - ISIS - Cuba - Russia - Pakistan - North Korea... it is a virtual revolving door of enemies who come and go in the headlines as needed - so that we can call on all of these wonderful institutions, CIA, NSA you-name-it-A to protect and defend us.

    It's like a carnival shooting gallery.

    Parent

    The war machine needs someone to fight (none / 0) (#29)
    by Mordiggian 88 on Wed Dec 24, 2014 at 09:56:40 AM EST
    and NK is a convenient target.

    Parent
    This is paranoid nonsense (none / 0) (#32)
    by CaptHowdy on Wed Dec 24, 2014 at 10:41:46 AM EST
    and so is the comment you responded to.
    Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

    Parent
    Merry Christmas, Captain. (5.00 / 1) (#33)
    by KeysDan on Wed Dec 24, 2014 at 10:51:58 AM EST
    Appreciate your comments on Sony and the perspective of the creative arts and freedom of expression. And, your comments throughout the year, as well.

    Parent
    You as well Dan (none / 0) (#36)
    by CaptHowdy on Wed Dec 24, 2014 at 11:05:22 AM EST
    same to you

    Parent
    If you really believe, based on the facts (none / 0) (#34)
    by Mordiggian 88 on Wed Dec 24, 2014 at 10:56:52 AM EST
    available now, that NK was undoubtably behind the hack attack, then you are displaying paranoia by going along with the Administration in the first place.

    Parent
    Read this... (none / 0) (#38)
    by lentinel on Wed Dec 24, 2014 at 02:04:59 PM EST
    It was not written by a paranoid fellow - just someone posing some questions that I think deserve an answer.

    It is not about cigars...

    THE ATLANTIC

    And, Howdy, I do think that if anyone should be described as paranoid it might be our commander-in-chief.... with his terror lists... over SONY yet. That really got him going....

    Worthy of the Marx Brothers.

    Parent

    Well (none / 0) (#39)
    by CaptHowdy on Wed Dec 24, 2014 at 03:14:28 PM EST
    i didn't need to read far-

    In reality, there are several possibilities to consider:

    This is an official North Korean military operation. We know that North Korea has extensive cyberattack capabilities.

    There is a reason that was the first option.  You have been on a paranoid tear from the first day of this.   The screed about "how many other CEO can just call the president"  was hardly believable.  Even for you.
    The president made a strong statement because the timing of the two announcements - that the movie was pulled and the NKs were behind it - left the impression they were related.  I even remarked on it in a comment.   He clearly wanted to make it clear they were not connected.
    Look
    I really don't care what you believe.  But the fact is it looks like it was NK.  And it's not the first time they have done this.  Or even the second.  Which supplies some of the reasons for naming them.  Their finger prints are all over it.  Could it possibly NOT be them.  Sure, I suppose.  But the president, just like the rest of us, is trying t figure out who did it.
    Why on earth would Obama or anyone else want or for that matter need to "make NK into a bad guy"  

    Fyi - they are a bad guy.   Most people picked that up a while ago.  

    Parent

    Wow, Howdy... (5.00 / 1) (#40)
    by lentinel on Wed Dec 24, 2014 at 05:49:28 PM EST
    I was paraphrasing Jeralyn...

    Obama said he wished Sony called him before making the decision. Good to know that Sony can just pick up a phone and get put through to the President. Can any other corporations do that?
    Link

    That's what I asked as well.

    And there's this from NBC news:

    President Obama is deciding whether to add North Korea to a list of countries that sponsor terrorism following Sony's hacking.

    I don't know what you make of this...

    But from my point of view, it is theatre at best. And a bit paranoid at worst. And we're the audience.

    The issue, by the way, is not whether North Korea is good or bad. The issue is whether or not they launched the attack on Sony... I think the joint investigation by our two countries would be a good thing -- with the world watching. The administration ain't interested - and I, as a concerned citizen, would like to know why.

    As for whether or not the military-industrial- legislative complex needs a bad guy du jour to survive... well, I'm inclined to believe they do. Perpetual war is good for business, unfortunately.

    Maybe you see things differently.
    That's OK by me.

    Parent

    I don't buy the "extensive cyberattack (5.00 / 1) (#44)
    by Mr Natural on Wed Dec 24, 2014 at 11:56:51 PM EST
    capabilities" meme.

    According to this New York Times article,

    The country has only 1,024 official Internet protocol addresses, though the actual number may be a little higher. That is fewer than many city blocks in New York have. The United States, by comparison, has billions of addresses.

    And all of those connections go through China.

    Parent

    I'm sorry (none / 0) (#48)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Dec 25, 2014 at 08:16:39 AM EST
    but you really don't understand.  

    According to Richard A. Clarke's book "Cyber War: The Next Threat to National Security and What to do about It" (excellent book by the way), North Korea, one of the least connected countries in the world has one of the most advanced cyber war programs.

    So how can this be?

    North Korea has four known cyber warfare units and Clarke states that the cyber forces are broken down as follows:

    Unit 110 - Also known as the "Technology Reconnaissance Team" was most likely responsible for the July 2009 DDoS attacks against the US and South Korea.
    Unit 35 - Also known as the "Central Party's Investigations Department" is the smallest group but is responsible for both internal defense and offensive capabilities.
    Unit 204 - Also known as the "Enemy Secret Department Cyber Psychological Warfare Unit" has about 100 hackers.
    Unit 121 - Also known as the "Korean People's Army (KPA) Joint Chiefs Cyber Warfare Unit" has over 600 hackers and would be responsible for disabling South Korea's C3 functions (Command, Control and Communications) in case of armed conflict.
    North Korean Students that show aptitude are selected from elementary schools and are groomed in cyber warfare throughout their college years. They constantly hone their skills and even attend foreign colleges to learn the latest security techniques.

    But if North Korea is so unconnected, it would seem to be very easy to detect attacks coming from these specialized units and shut them down. This would be the case, but many of these units are not even stationed in North Korea. They operate out of China!

    The fact that the populations are not connected has exactly nothing to do with the state capabilities

    Parent

    An alt.view of the NK Cyber Hordes threat (none / 0) (#51)
    by Mr Natural on Thu Dec 25, 2014 at 03:27:06 PM EST
    here, Ask a Korean
    I asked if there were several thousand North Korean cyber warriors in China. He said that there are around 10 teams that each has less five members; they somewhat know each other. But he added that they receive almost no assistance from the North Korean regime, because the "old men" (the decision makers) did not grasp the concept. I heard this a few years ago. Even though the young Kim Jong-Un's leadership began to grasp the concept, it is an unwarranted exaggeration to say that there are several thousands of North Korean hackers in China.

    FWIW:

    Inside the `Surprisingly Great' North Korean Hacker Hotel, the Chilbosan Hotel in Shenyang, China.

    Photos of the Chilbosan.  Check out the band.

    My takeaway? It was buried in the 'Ask a Korean' piece.  "The cyber warriors who live outside of North Korea have not a shred of loyalty for the Labor Party."

    Their families or loved ones are held hostage.  Absent that, they'd be gone in a heartbeat.

    Parent

    Did some be say there was (none / 0) (#52)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Dec 25, 2014 at 03:42:09 PM EST
    several thousand?  I didn't and my link didn't.  Not sure what the point is but I think I will believe specialists in the field as opposed to "a Korean".  

    Parent
    I'm as interested in the view of a Korean (none / 0) (#58)
    by Mr Natural on Thu Dec 25, 2014 at 06:05:42 PM EST
    who's apparently got contacts there as I am in the sales pitch of Richard Clarke, pimping for the security-industrial complex.

    North Korea has a crap economy and has to allocate its scarcest resource, money, like anyone else.  

    Parent

    Btw (none / 0) (#53)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Dec 25, 2014 at 03:51:24 PM EST
    that quote is from 2012.   Believe it or not it's actually quite well known that lil Kim is very into this and has stepped it up recently.

    Parent
    Interesting article (none / 0) (#54)
    by Mordiggian 88 on Thu Dec 25, 2014 at 05:00:39 PM EST
    About that and a recent cyber-attack credited to ISIS and the possibilities of others being involved.

    Other security experts remain skeptical of North Korea's reported ties to the attack. Unlike a physical weapon, which reveals itself by its design or the materials used to create it, cyber weapons can be made to look like they came from anywhere. That's true whether investigators are looking into something like the Sony hack -- which is thought to be the costliest hack ever -- or into efforts to locate and possibly silence activists reporting human rights issues to the world.

    Which isn't to say reports about either North Korea's or the Islamic State's involvement with these hacks are false. They could very well be responsible for the attacks. But it's worth considering that we're experiencing confirmation bias: people wanted the Sony Pictures hack to have some relation to "The Interview" (myself included) so they believe North Korea is behind the attack, even though security experts aren't convinced by the available evidence.




    Parent
    I am completely open (none / 0) (#55)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Dec 25, 2014 at 05:38:40 PM EST
    to the possibility that NK was not behind the attack on Sony.  The fact is I have seen several articles and many FB posts questioning it.   There are several things that suggest they were.  Can those things be faked?  I would say yes I imagine they could.  
    Personally it's sort of an Occam's Razor thing.  Razors may vary.

    We will probably know eventually.

    Parent

    FWIW, Clarke's book was published in 2010 (none / 0) (#56)
    by Mr Natural on Thu Dec 25, 2014 at 05:55:29 PM EST
    Little Kim want to spin up an elite hacker corps but with no culture and resources, for instance, vast numbers of mom's basements, to support it, he's never going to go far with his crap command economy.

    Parent
    The blog post quoting it (none / 0) (#57)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Dec 25, 2014 at 06:00:15 PM EST
    was from 2012.  And the FWIW the North Korean military has all the money it needs.

    Parent
    If they had all the money they needed, (none / 0) (#59)
    by Mr Natural on Thu Dec 25, 2014 at 06:19:50 PM EST
    they'd roll south and take over Samsung, Hyundai, LG, and a thousand other modern industrial companies.  As it is, they don't.  They sit around behind their barbed wire and gun emplacements and listen to the empty threats of Little Kim and pretend to believe them.  In their spare time they pin cheap medals on each other.

    The core reason I don't believe in the vastness of Little Kim's Cyber Hordes is that he cannot afford to have very many people exposed to the truth, viewable on any browser, that North Korea has reached the bottom of the barrel.

    Parent

    I couldn't agree with you more. (none / 0) (#43)
    by NYShooter on Wed Dec 24, 2014 at 08:24:08 PM EST
    It's not surprising that when the North Korean involvement was announced by the F,B,I, and the President, the actions taken by Sony, Obama, et al, seemed a little confused, tentative, or, whatever else you want to call them. Why would we expect that the "plot" would be uncovered, and every detail verified, and exposed instantly?

    And, because it was a work in progress the conspiracy theorists popped out right on cue, and we were bombarded with every weirdo theory under the sun. The idea that the facts were close to what we were told they were, somehow, made those of us who believed what the President was telling us was the best information available at the time, feel like naïve suckers, or worse.

    From Pearl Harbor, to J.F.K, and, 9-11, the smoke hadn't even been cleared before a million conspiracy "scoops" were filling the tabloids.

    We know that North Korea is about as sadistic and miserable a regime as exists on the planet. We, also, know that pathological murderous groups like ISIS, Hezbollah, and, Boko Haram (just to name a few) exist, are real, and are proliferating around the globe. So, what's wrong for those in power to go a little slow in the beginning? I don't think Sony, or the President were cowards, or lacked "spine" for being a little cautious while trying to sort things out.

    And, of course, the very people who so roundly criticize our intelligence gathering outfits, now criticize that we didn't know every detail the instant this incident happened.

    There's plenty of legitimate criticism to go around, I'm sure. I just wish we'd until we know the facts before we start labeling people with every pejorative one can think of.

    Parent

    It Is frustrating (none / 0) (#49)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Dec 25, 2014 at 08:18:27 AM EST
    im fine with a good conspiracy theory.  But it needs to make at least a little sense.

    Parent
    You need a vacation (none / 0) (#22)
    by CoralGables on Wed Dec 24, 2014 at 07:14:26 AM EST
    I don't know to whom (none / 0) (#27)
    by lentinel on Wed Dec 24, 2014 at 09:40:38 AM EST
    you have addressed this pronouncement, or to what is might be a response, but in my case it is certainly true that I need a vacation.

    Doesn't everyone?

    Parent

    Damn right lentinel! (none / 0) (#30)
    by kdog on Wed Dec 24, 2014 at 09:59:18 AM EST
    I could use a permanent one myself...but a 5 day Christmas weekend will have to do!

    Parent
    Have (none / 0) (#37)
    by lentinel on Wed Dec 24, 2014 at 01:59:32 PM EST
    a great weekend and a great holiday, kdog!

    Parent
    "Interview: behind the scenes," (none / 0) (#16)
    by KeysDan on Tue Dec 23, 2014 at 05:55:57 PM EST
    this sequel might be worth seeing.  I expect the teenage boy reviews of the original to be at least four rotten tomatoes.  

    "The grapefruits are fake!" (none / 0) (#45)
    by Mr Natural on Thu Dec 25, 2014 at 01:49:34 AM EST
    "I spent two hours this Christmas Eve watching James Franco shift his eyebrows into overdrive, grappling for the true meaning of sophomoric comedy."

    Another review: (none / 0) (#46)
    by Mr Natural on Thu Dec 25, 2014 at 02:03:44 AM EST
    First of all, the movie is terrible. I wasn't expecting a masterpiece, but for a guy as funny as Seth Rogen, it's pretty bad. Lots of fart jokes and gratuitous swearing. You shouldn't feel some sort of nationalistic obligation to watch "The Interview." It's that bad.

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    North Korea farce packs US theatres (none / 0) (#60)
    by Mr Natural on Thu Dec 25, 2014 at 09:36:43 PM EST
    "We are expressing the freedom to see, read, and look, at what we want to," Lee Petersen, Cinema Village manager, told the audience to applause as he welcomed the crowd to the 3:05pm show, one of six screenings on Thursday at the independent art deco theatre in the east village. "I think this a very historic moment. And enjoy the movie. It's funny."



    So in other words... (none / 0) (#61)
    by unitron on Sun Dec 28, 2014 at 06:45:40 AM EST
    ...North Korea could have done the US a lot more damage by doing everything possible to get this movie into as many theaters as possible and as many of us as possible into those seats?

    That's funny (none / 0) (#62)
    by CaptHowdy on Sun Dec 28, 2014 at 08:28:46 AM EST
    but also I think essentially true.  Not only for us but them.  Who doubts that without all "this" this dumb movie would have come and gone quickly.

    Major boomerang.  Karma.  The road to hell is paved with good intentions.  Or in this case bad ones.

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