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  1. #41
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Quote Originally Posted by Edouble View Post
    Seth Rogen and James Franco have rubbed me the wrong way for a while. The head-in-the-clouds, yet completely smug stoner routine doesn't do it for me. A comedy about killing a world leader is in poor taste to begin with (as are most of their movies). When you rub one of the most powerful men in the world the wrong way, you gotta pay the piper. Bummer, guys.

    I would be pretty mad if someone made a movie about wanting to kill the real flesh and blood president. Not cool.
    Someone did. It was mostly ignored.

  2. #42
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    New Orleans, Louisiana
    Quote Originally Posted by Edouble View Post
    Seth Rogen and James Franco have rubbed me the wrong way for a while. The head-in-the-clouds, yet completely smug stoner routine doesn't do it for me. A comedy about killing a world leader is in poor taste to begin with (as are most of their movies). When you rub one of the most powerful men in the world the wrong way, you gotta pay the piper. Bummer, guys.

    I would be pretty mad if someone made a movie about wanting to kill the real flesh and blood president. Not cool.
    I wasn't going to comment on this thread until I read this.

    The silly premise of the movie is based on a serious idea I've contemplated for a long time, and it goes something like this: there was a period of time before 9/11 when Osama bin Laden had already committed terrorist acts but was still granting interviews to U.S. journalists. Didn't these journalists have an obligation for the greater good to ignore their professional responsibilities and kill the guy outright? The obvious answer is that journalists, like most civilians, are too career-minded (and life-minded) to make that kind of sacrifice. But knowing what we know now, that kind of sacrifice should start to cross our minds.

    Not every interesting and morally complex idea should be made into a movie, but I have to say I was looking forward to this one. The idea has been diluted some -- let's make it a comedy, and give the journalists CIA support -- but it was being explored to some extent. The reasons the movie failed this idea -- which it has, at least until people get to see it -- is due to 2 main factors:

    1. Using a real-life target with no known sense of humor.
    2. Having a major studio finance the film.

    You can see how an independent film that used a fictional but analogous target would have worked better. But people wanted to make money, and now they have none.

  3. #43
    Quote Originally Posted by Edouble View Post
    Seth Rogen and James Franco have rubbed me the wrong way for a while. The head-in-the-clouds, yet completely smug stoner routine doesn't do it for me. A comedy about killing a world leader is in poor taste to begin with (as are most of their movies). When you rub one of the most powerful men in the world the wrong way, you gotta pay the piper. Bummer, guys.

    I would be pretty mad if someone made a movie about wanting to kill the real flesh and blood president. Not cool.
    I thought it was a pretty stupid idea and would never have paid to go see it.


    Quote Originally Posted by The Gordog View Post
    Absolute, unconcionable cowardice. I would have paid to see this movie just to screw with NKorea.
    Exactly! I'm sure the NK file on me has long since been lost so supporting this movie probably wouldn't have been added to it. And if it was - oh, well!

  4. #44
    alteran is offline All-American, Honorable Mention
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Durham-- 2 miles from Cameron, baby!
    Quote Originally Posted by bjornolf View Post
    I realize this probably doesn't protect me all that much, but that's why I have always bought gift cards to cover all my purchases and memberships on itunes, sony playstation network, nintendo e-shop, microsoft live gold, etc. and I use paypal whenever I can to make purchases. Basically, I just try to limit my exposure. Like I said, it probably doesn't do much good, but I figure the worst they can do if they hack that account is get the amount left on the gift card.
    That's a great strategy. As much as I harp on security, I'm too lazy to do this.

    Do note, though, that if you use the same password for Sony that you do for say, gmail or yahoo mail or whatever, Sony's (or whoever's) compromising your password can allow hackers to log into accounts that may be much more damaging to you.

  5. #45
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Quote Originally Posted by brevity View Post
    Didn't these journalists have an obligation for the greater good to ignore their professional responsibilities and kill the guy outright?
    Uhhh... no?

  6. #46
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    New Bern, NC unless it's a home football game then I'm grilling on Devil's Alley
    Kim Jong-Un's fiery death.

    Q "Why do you like Duke, you didn't even go there." A "Because my art school didn't have a basketball team."

  7. #47
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Quote Originally Posted by brevity View Post
    The silly premise of the movie is based on a serious idea I've contemplated for a long time, and it goes something like this: there was a period of time before 9/11 when Osama bin Laden had already committed terrorist acts but was still granting interviews to U.S. journalists. Didn't these journalists have an obligation for the greater good to ignore their professional responsibilities and kill the guy outright? The obvious answer is that journalists, like most civilians, are too career-minded (and life-minded) to make that kind of sacrifice. But knowing what we know now, that kind of sacrifice should start to cross our minds.
    I'm not comfortable with the idea that anyone is *obliged* to become a suicidal assassin. But even if you put that aside, I think you may be significantly overestimating the impact of killing a mostly symbolic leader and massively underestimating the impact such an act would have on the ability of journalists to operate anywhere.

  8. #48
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Quote Originally Posted by Duvall View Post
    I'm not comfortable with the idea that anyone is *obliged* to become a suicidal assassin. But even if you put that aside, I think you may be significantly overestimating the impact of killing a mostly symbolic leader and massively underestimating the impact such an act would have on the ability of journalists to operate anywhere.
    Indeed -- KSM, currently held in Guatanamo, and his nephew Ramzi Yousef (currently serving a life sentence at a supermax in Colorado) are the architects of the 9/11 plot. UBL provided financing and human capital. Having a journalist execute UBL in a highly unlikely suicide mission wouldn't have changed that.

  9. #49
    Quote Originally Posted by alteran View Post
    That's a great strategy. As much as I harp on security, I'm too lazy to do this.

    Do note, though, that if you use the same password for Sony that you do for say, gmail or yahoo mail or whatever, Sony's (or whoever's) compromising your password can allow hackers to log into accounts that may be much more damaging to you.
    That's a great point. Luckily, I don't.

  10. #50
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Quote Originally Posted by bjornolf View Post
    That's a great point. Luckily, I don't.
    My password is hunter2 for everything. It hasn't let me down yet.

  11. #51
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Steamboat Springs, CO
    This afternoon some of the yakkers on NPR attributed the pulling of the movie to decisions made in Japan. The supposed "independent" action of five movie chains to announce they would not screen The Interview apparently occurred simultaneously, followed immediately thereafter by the Sony announcement. In other words, Sony got its minions in Hollywood to get the movie chains to take the first step and create cover. All I will say as a possible excuse for the execs in Japan is that they know the North Koreans a lot better than we do. Otherwise, they are totally spineless.
    Sage Grouse

    ---------------------------------------
    'When I got on the bus for my first road game at Duke, I saw that every player was carrying textbooks or laptops. I coached in the SEC for 25 years, and I had never seen that before, not even once.' - David Cutcliffe to Duke alumni in Washington, DC, June 2013

  12. #52
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Washington, DC area
    My theory: Base extortion. I suspect there's a significant amount of stolen data not yet released, and Sony's capitulation keeps the data offline. If that's the case, the movie doesn't get released ever. The details are just obfuscation.

    -jk

  13. #53
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Austin, TX
    Quote Originally Posted by -jk View Post
    My theory: Base extortion. I suspect there's a significant amount of stolen data not yet released, and Sony's capitulation keeps the data offline. If that's the case, the movie doesn't get released ever. The details are just obfuscation.

    -jk

    Yeah, but what assurances are there that the data won't get released anyway?

    I think it's a combo of Japanese parent company dictating policy to the studio, insurance companies pointing to fairly explicit exclusion clauses in the face of threatened force majeure events, and a bit of industry collusion to try to (1) prevent a hack into their own companies, and (2) ensure the other movies don't lose money.

  14. #54
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    Raleigh, NC
    Oh look, the hackers have MORE demands...

    http://gizmodo.com/sony-hackers-than...now-1673170551

    Didn't see that one coming </sarcasm>

  15. #55
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    Las Vegas, Nevada
    That's ENOUGH, dagnabbit!

    They want to play rough?!

    Well, I know some people who like to play rough too...

    https://archive.org/details/TEAMAMERICA

  16. #56
    Quote Originally Posted by FerryFor50 View Post
    Oh look, the hackers have MORE demands...

    http://gizmodo.com/sony-hackers-than...now-1673170551

    Didn't see that one coming </sarcasm>
    Phew, I thought they wanted the letter "M" stricken from the English language. That was going to be really inconvenient for me. Not getting to see a Seth Rogen/James Franco movie? Not even a preview? That I can deal with. Still means SPE caved in a cowardly way.

  17. #57
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Atlanta, GA
    Quote Originally Posted by sagegrouse View Post
    This afternoon some of the yakkers on NPR attributed the pulling of the movie to decisions made in Japan. The supposed "independent" action of five movie chains to announce they would not screen The Interview apparently occurred simultaneously, followed immediately thereafter by the Sony announcement. In other words, Sony got its minions in Hollywood to get the movie chains to take the first step and create cover. All I will say as a possible excuse for the execs in Japan is that they know the North Koreans a lot better than we do. Otherwise, they are totally spineless.
    Yakkers? NPR coverage is the antithesis of the abrasive political shock jock shows. If anyone on radio is not a yakker, it's them.

  18. #58
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    Las Vegas, Nevada
    If this is a cynical publicity stunt to pump up yet another (is there any other type?) horrible Seth Rogan movie, it worked on me. Call it "protest viewing". Luckily for Sony, North Korea closely beats out Seth Rogan on the list of Things We Would Be Better Without. So I'll wait for it.

    In the meantime, I'll register my protest by watching "Team America, World Police" over and over while it's still streaming for free. "Durka Durka Jihad!!"

  19. #59
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Steamboat Springs, CO
    Quote Originally Posted by Edouble View Post
    Yakkers? NPR coverage is the antithesis of the abrasive political shock jock shows. If anyone on radio is not a yakker, it's them.
    I meant nothing by the term -- I have a high regard for NPR. In this case, it may have been an inapt use 'cuz the reporters on the air were not "motormouths." At the same time, their stated conclusions ("decided in Japan," "orchestrated the movie chains response") were not buttressed with any evidence.
    Sage Grouse

    ---------------------------------------
    'When I got on the bus for my first road game at Duke, I saw that every player was carrying textbooks or laptops. I coached in the SEC for 25 years, and I had never seen that before, not even once.' - David Cutcliffe to Duke alumni in Washington, DC, June 2013

  20. #60
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Richmond, Va
    Just now being reported that N. Korea's internet has been "blacked out." Fox just reported it, awaiting more clarity.

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