The Tulsa Forum by TulsaNow

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It's going to be an amazing end to an unbelievable year!

Seth Rogen is scared......

Seth Rogen is sitting around smoking a big Bob Marley trying to figure out what his next "one foot based in reality" movie he's going to be part of, and is Sony going to green light, and fund it for him.

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George RR Martin (Game of Thones) had a great quote on this:

"There are thousands of small independent theaters across the country, like my own, that would gladly screen THE INTERVIEW, regardless of the threats from North Korea, but instead of shifting the film to those venues, Sony has cancelled its scheduled Christmas rollout entirely."

"The level of corporate cowardice here astonishes me.  It's a good thing these guys weren't around when Charlie Chaplin made THE GREAT DICTATOR.  If Kim Jong-Un scares them, Adolf Hitler would have had them shitting in their smallclothes."

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/george-rr-martin-slams-sony-canceling-the-interview-2014-12#ixzz3MMtyMXEn

Willing to bet Rogen is just angry.  

Sony is scared because they very likely know that what was released was quite mild compared to what could be released. Actors and other entertainment folks rely on ego as the foundation of their personalities.  The cruel words of executives at Sony towards actors, writers, or the union could essentially put them out of business for good.  Hollywood companies like Sony have also been very successful at puppeting Washington lately, and there is likely quite a bit of communications that could be damaging politically as well.

I think we might see a huge attempt from everyone BUT the actors to sweep this whole thing under the carpet. We'll see.  The president is scheduled to have a quick press conference about it today, and then jet off to Hawaii earlier than previously scheduled for his annual $7 million dollar Christmas vacation.  A lot on the agenda for the next couple of weeks:
  
   - Golf at the Kaneohe Klipper golf course
   - Golf at the Mid-Pacific Country Club
   - Golf at the Ko'olau Golf Club
   - Golf at the Royal Hawaiian Golf Club
   - Dinner at Alan Wong's Restaurant
   - Dinner at Nobu Waikiki
   - Dinner at Morimoto Waikiki
   - Visit Punchbowl Cemetery
   - Snorkeling at Hanauma Bay
   - Christmas Day: Visit service members at Anderson Hall
   - New Year's Eve: Traditional talent show at home
   - Bowling at K-Bay Lanes at MCBH
   - Basketball at MCBH
   - Swim at Pyramid Rock Beach
   - Swim at Bellows Beach
   - Shave Ice at Island Snow in Kailua
   - Hike the Maunawili Falls trail
   - 10 minute national security briefing

So that's why you started a thread.  You needed a reason to bring up Hawaii again.

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 :D No, at this point the smile just writes itself.

I'm continually amused that you  begrudge the President a vacation. 

To the state where he is from.

Let's remember who it is we're opining about here.  The great "blue fonted one"

I'm astonished that a thread that began with Sony caving to NK hackers has so quickly devolved into whining about Obama (again). Astonished.

Next thing you know, there will be insinuations that he was somehow complicit in this since he's been known to watch movies, after all. Come to think of it, they probably showed movies in Benghazi too, so there has to be some kind of connection.

Astonished.

This is the Tulsa Now Forum.  Embrace the crazy.

'Cause we're gonna give you some.

Strange day indeed when I agree with Sean Penn.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/12/sean-penn-reaction-sony-north-korea

It's not the first time culture has been threatened by foreign interests and corporate caution. See [then Disney CEO] Michael Eisner's interview with Charlie Rose in 1997, when Disney was dealing with pressure from China about Martin Scorcese's Tibet film, Kundun. Eisner said, "we do not take, as a company, a position either in human rights or not in human rights. We are a movie company. We're an entertainment company." That was a pretty shocking statement. (Disney, which was looking to expand its ventures in China, did end up distributing the film, but distribution was limited and the advertising budget was low—and despite these concessions, Disney was largely frozen out of the Chinese markets for years.) This week, the distributors who wouldn't show The Interview and Sony have sent ISIS a commanding invitation. I believe ISIS will accept the invitation. Pandora's box is officially open.

The damage we do to ourselves typically outweighs the harm caused by outside threats or actions. Then by caving to the outside threat, we make our nightmares real. The decision to pull The Interview is historic. It's a case of putting short term interests ahead of the long term. If we don't get the world on board to see that this is a game changer, if this hacking doesn't frighten the Chinese and the Russians, we're in for a very different world, a very different country, community, and a very different culture.

I'm not sure the world has come to terms with all the implications of the hacking. I was in Liberia and Sierra Leone right at the beginning of the Ebola outbreak in April. It did seem to those of us there that the response was neither coming swiftly or with a true sense of urgency. This feels the same. This matter should be before the UN Security Council today.

. . .Or after some golf.

Embrace it, Ed.

I not only embrace it, I try to add to the cacophony. Cognitive dissonance "is like having bees in your head. But there they are!"

Gaspar...surely you don't want the President of the United States to get involved in the release of a movie?

No. You just want to blame Obama for everything.

I stubbed my toe. Stupid Obama.

At the risk of getting this thread (back?) on track...

The movie cost $40mil to make, marketing on it was another $40mil. Between merchandise, popcorn, and box office surely it would have generated another $20mil in economic activity.  So we are dealing with a $100mil incident.

If North Korea high-jacked a supertanker worth $100,000,000.00 that belong to a US corporation, would we be cool about that? We could argue that Sony over reacted in puling the movie all together, but the movie certainly at least had value stolen by releasing it on the internet and threatening all movie goers with death. North Korea stole assets from a US "person."

Honestly, I think a retaliatory cyber attack is in order. Do you know who thinks North Korea would be able to stand up to an actual cyber attack?

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Maybe shutting down their military would be a good "get even".

You are easily amused.
 
 ;D

How much damage would a cyber attack do? NK doesn't even have the whole country on an electric grid let alone extensive computer networks. Iran, at least, had it's nuclear processing facilities connected and vulnerable to insertion of a virus.  

It's like our house. Sure, a hacker could pose problem by infecting our computers. They could disrupt our television reception. But if I connected my entire house to the internet - as Cox is proposing in their latest enhancement - a hacker could turn off the heat.

Really?

North Korea's internet is 'Toast'.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/23/world/asia/attack-is-suspected-as-north-korean-internet-collapses.html?_r=0

Measured response?  Why is it so quiet on this topic now?

Nevermind.

Lesson learned.  Mess with the US via the internet, get your internet shut down country-wide.

Oh, and it looks like they're releasing "The Interview" after all.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2014/12/23/the-interview-thursday/20808469/

Any chance we have learned not to tell our adversaries what we are going to do?

Nah, can't happen.

I am still skeptical that North Korea was involved. Ever since we were told Iraq had weapons of mass destruction I don't believe U.S. intelligence.

I think this is just made up reasons to some day go to war.

Obama better get moving.  He only has two years to do something.

If I could get hold of the movie, I would show it.  I have access to a field that could make a pretty good drive-in theater.  Just need some poles and a few sheets of plywood painted white!  Grill a few steaks at the same time for 'dinner and a movie'....