Sony first casualty in the cyberwar between North Korea and the US.

[PolarVortex]

I watched the trailer for this movie on YouTube and was utterly appalled.  I can't call it gutter humor because it does not rise to the level of a gutter.  Explicit and sickening jokes about sexual things were hammered into the screenplay just to shock the audience.  Just watching the trailer made me feel like I'd lose my temple recommend, and I don't even have a temple recommend.  If this movie is really shown in North Korea, it may reinforce the North Koreans' belief in the hardcore depravity of America.  I was almost ashamed to be a citizen of a nation that could even produce a film like this.  Yuck.

[Guest]

I watched the trailer for this movie on YouTube and was utterly appalled.  I can't call it gutter humor because it does not rise to the level of a gutter.  Explicit and sickening jokes about sexual things were hammered into the screenplay just to shock the audience.  Just watching the trailer made me feel like I'd lose my temple recommend, and I don't even have a temple recommend.  If this movie is really shown in North Korea, it may reinforce the North Koreans' belief in the hardcore depravity of America.  I was almost ashamed to be a citizen of a nation that could even produce a film like this.  Yuck.

 

This is very mild compared to the rest in its genre... that has been showing in America for decades... I was still in the Philippines when I saw Top Secret with Val Kilmer in the 80's...  I mean... this movie versus Revenge of the Nerds versus American Pie versus Hangover... this movie actually had more of a story and doesn't come close to the sexual stuff of those ones.  10 Things I Hate About You - PG13 -  had 2 times more sexual jokes than this one - R.   And no, I'm not saying this movie is a great movie.  Of course not.  It's a stupid movie - but it was meant to be stupid.  This is a great movie for those who like those kinds of movies, though... you know, the ones that liked Top Secret, or even The Apprentice... it has that slapstick, shake-my-head kind of humor which got Napoleon Dynamite a cult following.

 

And your comment on North Koreans versus the depravity of America... I'm shaking my head.  I think you need to read up on what North Korean/US conflict is about...

Edited December 29, 2014 by anatess

[Crypto]

While people are mentioning corporate, and government cooperation in espionage. 

Any Americans heard of Huawei? They are bigger world wide for selling networking equipment, and you won't see much of it in the US.

[Mahone]

While people are mentioning corporate, and government cooperation in espionage.

Any Americans heard of Huawei? They are bigger world wide for selling networking equipment, and you won't see much of it in the US.

I've heard of them, but never come across any of their equipment in any company I've worked for in the UK. Doubt that will change now that I'm in the USA either.

Talk of espionage reminds me of a conversation I was having on a long since defunct forum around 10 years ago, while I was still in school. I was promoting linux over windows, but getting a lot of opposition from the forum owner who was a Microsoft employee.

As one of my arguments, I suggested that with the windows OS being closed source, it enabled Microsoft to potentially work with the US govenment, and intentionally put backdoors into their code to allow remote access.

The Microsoft employee laughed that suggestion off as ridiculous and silly, and that Microsoft would never do such things.

With all the information that has been leaked and discovered since, I do wonder if that employee still feels the same way.

[unixknight]

With all the information that has been leaked and discovered since, I do wonder if that employee still feels the same way.

 

He probably didn't really feel that way even then.  It's not like he could admit it if he did know it was going on.

[Mahone]

He probably didn't really feel that way even then. It's not like he could admit it if he did know it was going on.

I doubt he knew it was going on. Back then, he was a fairly low level employee working in the MSN tech support dept on their helpdesk. I know he has moved around multiple times since then, but certainly 10 years ago it's unlikely he would have known anything sensitive.

[Guest]

Napoleon Dynamite is absolutely not in the same genre. It's a clean movie. It's funny to those who have lived in or visited small farming communities, not because it's slapstick, but because it's accurate. 

[Traveler]

I have a number of prejudices.  First:  I do not believe that a backward country like North Korea could develop technology to hack a kindergarten class computer system.  Second:  I do not trust the media capability of reporting a story based in any kind of technology.  I also believe our media in the USA has a strong political bias.  Bottom line - I do not believe that Sony hack story as currently reported.

[unixknight]

Well, we watched the movie.

 

It was prettymuch exactly what we expected: crass, juvenile, inappropriate and stupid.  It had its moments, but overall not a movie I'd recommend.  

 

That being said, I'm thrilled that they went ahead and released it.  I'd rather live with a few more stupid movies than to live in a world where cowardice lets dictators have any power at all in a free nation.

[NeuroTypical]

I have a number of prejudices.  First:  I do not believe that a backward country like North Korea could develop technology to hack a kindergarten class computer system.  Second:  I do not trust the media capability of reporting a story based in any kind of technology.  I also believe our media in the USA has a strong political bias.  Bottom line - I do not believe that Sony hack story as currently reported.

Ordinarily, I'm a big fan of being incredibly skeptical about anything the govt says.  But I can't really rise to Traveler's level here, for a number of reasons.

 

First, even backward societies can have their elites, who live lives of abundance.  In fact, one could argue, the more backwards or oppressed the society, the more likely to find elites living such lives.  From Somali warlords to Soviet Nomenklatura.  The story that Great Leader poured resources into sending the top 500 sons of his top buddies to China to be trained in cyberwarfare, isn't at all offensive to reason here.

 

Second, assuming the govt is lying about who did it, why target NK?  Such lies are intended to mold public opinion, so quite frankly, what does the Obama administration gain by having a bunch of Americans more ticked-off at NK than usual?  Why not blame anonymous or some other hacker group, as a way of greasing favorable net legislation?  Why not blame some ultra-right group as a way of shaping the 2016 elections?    Don't believe it was NK?  Ok, then, so who was it?

 

Third, we see eye to eye on distrust of media, especially American media.  That's why I was glad to find my WSJ link (posted on page 1, unfortunately now behind a pay window).  It linked to several offshore news articles.

[Guest]

Napoleon Dynamite is absolutely not in the same genre. It's a clean movie. It's funny to those who have lived in or visited small farming communities, not because it's slapstick, but because it's accurate.

I'm not comparing the two on clean/dirty merit. I'm comparing the two exactly in the way it appeals to a certain segment of the population who "gets" the humor. The Interview has a very serious underpinning that is presented in a super over the top manner to be comedic. Some people will see the movie and just won't see what is funny about it just like they don't get Napoleon Dynamite.

[Guest]

Ordinarily, I'm a big fan of being incredibly skeptical about anything the govt says. But I can't really rise to Traveler's level here, for a number of reasons.

First, even backward societies can have their elites, who live lives of abundance. In fact, one could argue, the more backwards or oppressed the society, the more likely to find elites living such lives. From Somali warlords to Soviet Nomenklatura. The story that Great Leader poured resources into sending the top 500 sons of his top buddies to China to be trained in cyberwarfare, isn't at all offensive to reason here.

Second, assuming the govt is lying about who did it, why target NK? Such lies are intended to mold public opinion, so quite frankly, what does the Obama administration gain by having a bunch of Americans more ticked-off at NK than usual? Why not blame anonymous or some other hacker group, as a way of greasing favorable net legislation? Why not blame some ultra-right group as a way of shaping the 2016 elections? Don't believe it was NK? Ok, then, so who was it?

Third, we see eye to eye on distrust of media, especially American media. That's why I was glad to find my WSJ link (posted on page 1, unfortunately now behind a pay window). It linked to several offshore news articles.

Remember the I Love You virus from way back when? It cost 5 billion dollars damage worldwide.... Started by two penniless college dropout Filipinos. Proof positive that "backward countries" doesn't need elites to cause this kind of havoc.

But for North Korea - it is even more probable because the government controls all their resources - including the pick of genius in the population. It's funny because they showed this in the movie - the little kids playing guitar.... That's a government program - they can get little kids to do nothing else but play guitar all day long, how much more for computer programming. You can buy a computer for the price of a guitar in Asia these days.

But, I don't see this as a North Korean effort because it's just not the Korean culture. The North Koreans are not the type of culture who cares what Americans say about them or their leaders... Especially not from movies that are completely removed from governments. They're very aloof and exclusive people. South Koreans are similar in that sense too. They have a very patriotic culture so they will ostracize any Korean who puts Korea in a bad light - but they have no desire to fight non-Koreans over it. They just exclude them. So you will see Koreans in the Philippines in their own world - they go to Korean grocery stores and Korean restaurants and Korean schools - in the Philippines!

[Blackmarch]

I have a number of prejudices.  First:  I do not believe that a backward country like North Korea could develop technology to hack a kindergarten class computer system.  Second:  I do not trust the media capability of reporting a story based in any kind of technology.  I also believe our media in the USA has a strong political bias.  Bottom line - I do not believe that Sony hack story as currently reported.

why develop tech when you can get it for free?