The SONY Story That Has Become So Much More

Not too long ago, SONY announced that they were cancelling the worldwide release of the movie The Interview. And it is kind of scary that this happened.



A lot of people are acting like America was backing down from North Korea. What people should understand is that there's a difference between SONY, a private company, and America as a whole. I do agree and believe, in this case, the hackers seemingly have won. And I agree with Senator John McCain that says this SONY decision sets a troubling precedent. Adding:



But then he also turned it into a way to bash the White House and try to get elected for something saying:





...and then it continues for a while.

President Obama on the other hand gave an interview where he said — and I'll just quote him rather than dropping the link to playing the clip because he pauses for so long, lol — and he starts off by saying "When I first came into office, I said hackers were a big deal, both state, sponsored and rogue. That we needed to defend ourselves. But with this specific case...





...and at the end of the day, what we have is somehow, this most likely stupid stoner comedy that (I probably would've enjoyed in some way) has made everything high stakes! The US government thinks that North Korea is centrally involved — which could be seen as more than cyber warfare against SONY, but as cyber warfare against America because those movies and Hollywood in general make money for America.

Hollywood in general is going to be fearful to make anything about this country but that also opens it up to anyone else that is possibly touching an issue that could be sensitive. I mean, according to new reports, very silently, Steve Carell's North Korea movie has been cancelled.



That makes you wonder what's the next thing, where does it stop?

Like I said in my last blog post (concerning SONY), I understand from a business point of view why SONY would make this decision. Everything around them is blowing up. The last thing you want to be is actually be held responsible — even if it's just in the public thought.

If one stupid crazy person decided to go try and take out a movie theater on Christmas, people would victim blame like crazy saying that "They warned her!", "They got these threats and they still released the movie! Gosh! They did it probably because they're greedy! It's a movie that makes money! How dare they!"

And it is a kind of scary thought that if North Korea is in fact behind it. A place that controls their people. What they consume. What they can do. Did so, to a foreign country, by attacking a foreign company.




That's why I love — despite all of this — human rights activists of Fighters for a Free North Korea, run by a former government propagandist who escaped to South Korea. As for years used balloons to get transistor radios, DVDs and other items into North Korea, and they now plan to do that with DVDs of The Interview.



And of course the stats vary, but it is believed that 76% of North Koreans own a TV, and 46% of them own a DVD player. And just by watching this stupid stoner comedy, it is an act of standing up to this totalitarian government. Watching a film there, especially this film, is something you can be executed for! It's believed that in 2014, this happened to 80 people! And somehow, this stupid movie could become this huge, silent rebellion.

I guess the principal point I want to get across is: Kim Jong-un, go fuck yourself, go fuck your dead daddy, and also, go fuck your dead granddaddy!!!

SONY and The Interview

We've talked about the hacks. We've talked about the threats. We've talked about the lawsuits. And now, what we have, are a lot of people abandoning ship. Tuesday night, SONY said that because of the threats from the hackers, there will be some sort of violent retribution; they would not object if theaters pulled the movie. And the theaters responded with "Err, I don't know, I mean, we're kind of on the... yeah, we'll definitely not show that movie."

Carmike Cinemas which is in 41 states said they're not going to show it.



The premiere in New York City has been cancelled.

Out there in California, we have ArcLight Cinemas. They have said that they would like to not show it.



Neither will Bow Tie Cinemas.



And it really wouldn't shock me if more and more cinemas join this list.

The big thing to note though, is the movie is still scheduled for December 25th, so, on Christmas, people will be able to go see it if there's a theater in the area that has decided not to remove it.

And from a business standpoint, I get it. If you get a threat, whether it is credible or not, because this is so high-profile, even if you don't believe that the hackers would do something; if anyone went out on their own to a theater that did show this movie and something happened, a lot of people — rather than just blaming the people that orchestrated the attack — would blame SONY, and more specifically the theater because they were warned. They give it as 'victim blaming' on a corporate level.

Also, the decision's probably made easier for theaters because the movie's getting beaten up in reviews, so it's not like they're withholding this piece of art.

So, theaters may just count their chips and go "There's a lot of new movies coming out near and on Christmas, so maybe we just stay away from this."

But, with the theaters doing this, you can also see this is a victory for fear. It's a comedy now that had no real political message so they just thought it'd be funny to make people angry.

But what's the next thing? There's so many people angry at SONY for not protecting themselves. People seem to forget that they were broken into and that other people released this information. Not to mention that even if these hackers had no intention to do anything, they've given any crazy person that wants to do anything whatsoever, a grand scale to do something on.

Some More SONY News

SONY's getting railed every which way. The main kill scene for The Interview has leaked.



The group that hacked SONY has now made terror threats. Saying that anyone that goes to watch the movie that weekend, or, is just in that general area, you should probably leave and not go — referencing September 11th.

And now, SONY is being sued by their own employees, current and past.



A class-action lawsuit alleging that it failed to protect their confidential information by ignoring warnings of their weak computer system.



In the 45-page complaint, it says that SONY failed to secure its computer systems, servers and databases, despite weaknesses that it has known about for years.



This, because not only were there all those emails, but it had employee criminal background checks, salary negotiations, performance evaluations, compensation reports, personal employee files, doctors letters explaining the medical reason for leaves of absences, and of course 47,000 social security numbers.



So not a super happy fun time if you're SONY.

Transformers 4

This is the fourth installment of the live-action Transformers film series. It's called Transformers: Age of Extinction, and it's covered in sand!



It'd be released June 27, 2014. I'll be leaving my iron helmet on till then. Can't wait to reestablish connection with Optimus Prime.