North Korea declares war....on balloons.

Courtesy of The Straits Times: 

North Korea's military on Sunday threatened to blow up balloons that South Korean activists plan to send over the heavily militarised border carrying 10,000 DVDs of the satirical Hollywood film The Interview. 

Activists plan to launch copies of the film - a comedy about a fictional United States Central Intelligence Agency plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un - as well as 500,000 propaganda leaflets across the border on or around March 26. 

"All the firepower strike means of the frontline units of the (Korean People's Army) will launch without prior warning... to blow up balloons," the North's frontline military units said in a notice to the South. 

You know I've seen a couple of North Korean weapons tests, and  my money's on the balloons.

I have little doubt that hours after the activists launch their "assault" that there will be thousands of copies of "The Interview" in the hands of the North Koreans.

The only question is how many military fatalities will North Korea suffer as their bullets invariably strike each other or soldiers choke to death on deflated balloons.

Hey, there's a reason we don't let toddlers play with them you know.

Apparently the White House has no doubt who was behind the Sony hack as President announces new sanctions against North Korea.

I'm coming for you Kim Jong Un. I'm coming for you.

Courtesy of HuffPo:  

Today, the President issued an Executive Order (E.O.) authorizing additional sanctions on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. This E.O. is a response to the Government of North Korea’s ongoing provocative, destabilizing, and repressive actions and policies, particularly its destructive and coercive cyber attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment. 

The E.O. authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to impose sanctions on individuals and entities associated with the Government of North Korea. We take seriously North Korea’s attack that aimed to create destructive financial effects on a U.S. company and to threaten artists and other individuals with the goal of restricting their right to free expression. 

As the President has said, our response to North Korea's attack against Sony Pictures Entertainment will be proportional, and will take place at a time and in a manner of our choosing. Today's actions are the first aspect of our response.

Okay well that's that then. 

At this point I guess it really does not matter if others doubt that North Korea was behind the hack, they are the ones getting knee capped over it.

Damn that Seth Rogen is such a trouble maker.

I watched The Interview so that you don't have to. Assuming you are too un-American to sit through an hour and fifty two minutes of red, white, and blue awesomeness!

(Warning, title might be a tad hyperbolic.)

So I kind of accidentally found a Google video link online. (I am not sure it will work for long, but until it doesn't it is a free way to see the entire movie.) And I thought, what the hell?

So I sat down and watched the movie. It took some time as it takes a butt load of bandwidth and I kept getting that still loading spiral that I hate so much.  But eventually I made it to the end.

By the time I saw the credits start to roll I had an epiphany which seemed to have escaped many of the reviewers who trashed the film.

This is a Seth Rogen movie. No seriously, it is.

So if you liked "Knocked Up," "Superbad," and "Pineapple Express" you are going to LOVE this movie.

If you don't like those movies, then no you are not going to like this one either.

And if you have never seen a Seth Rogen comedy before, then well you probably ought to start off with "Knocked Up" or "Neighbors" first. Those are movies that have a wider appeal than the straight up stoner Rogen vehicles, like "This is the End" or "Zack and Miri Make a Porno."

As for "The Interview" itself it had some really good laughs in it, and a whole lot of over the top stuff that kind of makes you cringe, and absolutely tons of toilet humor.

In other words it is a Seth Rogen film.

Now I love movies so I have seen a whole lot of bad ones, as well as a whole lot of buried gems that I am glad that I discovered. If I had to categorize "The Interview" I would put it somewhere in between.

In my most humble opinion if you like comedies, and you are not easily offended, then yes you should probably take the time to watch this.

However if you are a Fundamentalist Christian, an old prude, or a person under the age of sixteen or seventeen, then no this is not the movie for you.

P.S. By the way as we are still trying to make sure we know who the real culprits were behind the Sony hack, does anybody remember what the big news was BEFORE the hack?

Well SOMEBODY sure had a great Christmas.

Courtesy of USA Today: 

For a movie that wasn't even coming out at the beginning of the week, The Interview is ending it in style. 

 The Seth Rogen/James Franco comedy at the heart of the controversy involving Sony hackers racked up nearly $1 million on Christmas Day in 300 independent movie theaters around the country, according to Variety. The Alamo Drafthouse Cinema chain, one of the staunchest supporters of screening the film, sold out all of its Christmas screenings in its 17 locations. 

It's a decent haul for a movie that, due to threats of terrorism, was pulled by major theater chains such as AMC and Regal. 

The Interview has also done well on video-on-demand platforms since its Wednesday release. While none of the sites has disclosed download or streaming numbers, Variety reports The Interview is the best-selling film on Google Play and YouTube Movies. And according to CNN, there were also 750,000 illegal downloads of the film on Thursday. 

"The audience reaction was fantastic — the limited release, in under 10% of the amount of theaters originally planned, featured numerous sell-outs and a first-day gross over $1 million," said Rory Bruer, president of worldwide distribution for Sony, in a statement to CNN.

You know every once in awhile you recognize that you are in the middle of a pivotal moment in history. 

And we have had a lot of them recently. The first black president. The Affordable Care Act. The Climate Change agreement with China. The reopening of diplomatic relations with Cuba. The newly released Senate torture report. I could go on.

And this is another one.

It is the first time that we have seen hackers impact a major studio, or ANY large corporation, in such a dramatic fashion.

Even yesterday there was still disagreement over who exactly hacked Sony, and there was yet another hack on online gaming platforms yesterday as well.

So while The Interview may have ultimately benefited from all of the attention and goodwill that resulted from the Sony hack, it is unlikely that this is the last time this is going to happen.

I have no idea what this ultimately means going forward, but I am willing to bet that it will result in increased security and less internet freedom down the road.

The Interview is coming to Alaska!

Courtesy of Alaska Dispatch:

In the wake of controversy surrounding "The Interview," a comedy about the assassination of North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un starring Seth Rogen and James Franco, the Bear Tooth Theatrepub in Anchorage has announced it will begin screening the film Jan. 2. 

The independent, second-run theater will not publicize show times for the film until Monday evening, according to Rand Thornsley, film buyer for the Bear Tooth. Tickets will go on sale the following day, he said. 

“This was the only opportunity for (Sony Pictures) to have an opening in Anchorage theatrically, so they are allowing the Bear Tooth to run the film within our normal programming,” Thornsley said. 

Thornsley said he confirmed Tuesday evening that “The Interview” would play on the Bear Tooth's single screen. 

He said theater managers expected to arrange “extra security measures” for its showings, though he did not have specifics. 

“Since we don’t have the issue with having a multiplex, we will only be running ‘The Interview’ at one particular time,” Thornsley said. “That makes it a little bit easier. People can make their choice, whether or not they want to see it. It won’t be hurting other films.”

Somehow I doubt that Alaskans will be terribly intimidated by any threats from hackers or North Koreans. 

After all we survived Sarah Palin. What could Kim Jong Un do to us that was worse than that?

By the way the movie might also be coming to Netflix a few days after Christmas and that is most likely how I will end up watching it. 

Well guess what Kim Jong Un is getting for Christmas. A big middle finger from Sony.

Courtesy of Yahoo News:  

After a month of leaks, embarrassment, and terrorist threats — not to mention an admonishment from President Obama himself — Sony has reversed course and will release The Interview on Christmas Day in a limited number of theaters. 

The Alamo Drafthouse, an independent theater chain based in Austin, confirmed to Yahoo Movies that it will screen the Seth Rogen-James Franco comedy about assassinating North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un. The Plaza theater chain in Georgia also tweeted that it would be showing the film. 

According to The Wrap, Sony will also release the film on video on demand systems. 

"We have never given up on releasing The Interview and we’re excited our movie will be in a number of theaters on Christmas day,” Sony Entertainment chair and CEO Michael Lynton said in a statement. “At the same time, we are continuing our efforts to secure more platforms and more theaters so that this movie reaches the largest possible audience. I want to thank our talent on The Interview and our employees, who have worked tirelessly through the many challenges we have all faced over the last month. While we hope this is only the first step of the film’s release, we are proud to make it available to the public and to have stood up to those who attempted to suppress free speech.”

Here is a tweet from Seth Rogen after learning the news.

 Of course this has to happen.

I mean it is one thing to be a little bitch and cave in to threats, but it is altogether different to be Kim Jong Un's little bitch.

I mean come on!

Sony decides to release "The Interview" after all. Online.

Courtesy of The New York Post: 

Sony’s current plan for “The Interview’’ is to release the controversial comedy for free on Crackle, the streaming service it owns, sources said Sunday. 

Following Sony’s decision to pull the James Franco-Seth Rogan movie after hackers working for North Korean threatened violence, President Obama criticized the studio for being “intimidated by these kind of criminal attacks.’’

I have to admit that I had no idea that Crackle even existed since I really don't like to watch movies on my computer.  (It actually has quite a lot of content. And it's all free.)

However I feel that at this point it is almost my patriotic duty to watch this film which might explain why Reince Priebus, Chairman of the RNC, has been pushing for its release as well.

As for whether or not this movie is even worth watching, well as least one film critic thinks that it is:'

He also is bewildered as to what the North Koreans found so objectionable:

As Skylark's (James Franco) interview nears, their assassination attempts fail and ethical quandaries mount. Skylark and Kim ("a cool guy," pleads Skylark) become fast friends, palling around together and shooting off tanks. If anything, the film, written by Dan Sterling from the story by Goldberg and Rogen (their second time directing after the better "This Is the End"), verges on making Kim too likable. 

And while the movie leads to a fiery end and a slow reveal of the famine Kim inflicts on his people, most who see "The Interview" will say to themselves: THIS is what prompted an international incident? There's nothing scandalous about "The Interview," unless you happen to believe Kim is a god who rides around on unicorns.

Sounds potentially entertaining,  I for one am going to watch it.

So just in case the North Koreans are planning to hack the computer of every single person who watches the film online, I have placed all my nude selfies and scandalous e-mails in a folder on my desktop entitled "Kim Jong Un lease don't look in here."

What can I say, I like to be neat and tidy.

Hackers may have stopped the Christmas release of "The Interview" but human rights activists are going to make sure that North Koreans still get a chance to see it. Using balloons even.

Courtesy The Hollywood Reporter:

 Whether or not North Korea is behind the Sony hack, Kim Jong Un better brace himself because The Interview is headed to his country. Human rights activists are planning to airlift DVDs of the Seth Rogen comedy into the country via hydrogen balloons. 

Fighters for a Free North Korea, run by Park Sang Hak, a former government propagandist who escaped to South Korea, has for years used balloons to get transistor radios, DVDs and other items into North Korea — not to entertain the deprived masses, but to introduce them to the outside world.

Of course at this point there is no telling when the DVD will be released, but I have a feeling that once it has been that this will be the most popular item on the North Koreans "gifts from the sky" wish list.

Today cable news, newspapers, and websites are all over this news about the Sony hack and the decision to pull The Interview from theaters. In fact it has even knocked the Senate torture report off of the front pages.

I personally do not think this is quite as important, but it IS very important and potentially problematic moving forward.

The idea that a bunch of hackers sitting on their couch eating Cheetos can frighten a wealthy movie studio into stopping the release of a major motion picture  should give all of us pause.

And whether you thought the movie should have been made or not, or that it went too far, is really beside the point. After all how many world leaders, and racial stereotypes, have we killed in American movies over the years.

In the James Bod film "Die Another Day" the bad guys were North Koreans, The same is true for the remake of "Red Dawn," Angelina Jolie's "Salt," and "Olympus Has Fallen."

In that last film by the way the filmmakers also shot the White House full of holes.

Hell in "Independence Day" the filmmakers blew up the White House altogether, as well as most of the rest of the world, and (Spoiler alert.) even killed the President's wife. (There even exists a "fakeumentary" about the killing of George W. Bush, made in 2006.)

If a movie goes too far, or is in bad taste, that should be reflected in poor sales and bad reviews. And it should not result in threats of terrorist attack or the hacking computers and releasing private information to the public.

Bowing to this kind of pressure is setting a very, very dangerous precedent.

For those who have wondered what all of the fuss is about, here is the scene where Kim Jong-Un is killed.