So, it's not like nothing happened in 2014. But, somehow, I didn't find time to do even one post.
There is so much I could have commented on: The relative success of Obamacare, the Ice Bucket Challenge, the bloodbath that was the 2014 midterm elections.
I am sorry that all of these subjects went neglected. Maybe I'll pick one or two and write about them in the future ― as a matter of fact, you can probably bet on it.
But, the one development that came closest to making me beat down the inertia causing me to not post was the hoopla over the comedy The Interview.
Somebody hacked Sony's computes and stole and distributed gigabytes of secret, confidential, and personal data, as revenge for Sony Pictures' producing and planned distribution of the film ― not a critically-acclaimed documentary, or controversial work of art, or anything of that earthshaking variety ― but a comedy starring Seth Rogen and James Franco. Just a little comedy about the murder of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who seems to lack the capacity to step back and laugh at himself, the way the rest of the world spends so much us its time doing.
Should Sony have been storing so much information about its employees and former employees on its servers? Probably not, but that is beside my present point.
Threats ― threats of the nasty terrorist-style variety ― were made against moviegoers and theater-owners who dared show the movie. Corporations controlling theater chains and shopping malls made the decision to forgo, not only the Christmas Day release of what would have certainly been a record-breaking opening, but showing the movie at all. It still was presented at a few independent theaters and has been put up for online streaming. So far, no North Korean missiles have hit anyone's Netflix streaming device ― unless such streaming device just happened to be floating in the middle of the ocean, perhaps thrown overboard by an angry cruise passenger who didn't realize how much the cruise ship's WiFi costs or how creakingly slow it is ― when North Korea launched one of its less-than-spectacular missile tests. It could have happened at some time.
And to think, all of this ruckus could have been avoided if Sony had quickly called back the film and re-shot parts of it and reedited the finished product to include frequent shots of Dennis Rodman. Had they had the forsight to do that, Kim Jong Un would not have known what to do. Why his little head might have exploded, leaving that fez-like hairdo (or hairdon't) of his to spin wildly into the air ― possibly landing in the middle of the ocean on top of a floating Roku box.
The one thing that I find most interesting about this controversy is the total lack of controversy among people I know who generally can't agree on anything else.
Nearly everyone I have talked to said they would have at least strongly considered taking some time out of their Christmas day activities to support Free Speech by seeing The Interview. This goes for people who love Seth Rogen and for those who hate his raunchy comedies.
President Obama criticized Sony and the movie chains for backing down to the terrorists and almost nobody criticized him for stepping up and making the statement. This may be the first thing Obama has done that has not caused the red states to call for his impeachment. We were united as a country on the issue of freedom of speech.
is this what we need as a nation? More attacks from annoying little dictators on our basic rights to make us stand together?
Kim Jong Un may have done us a favor of sorts. A very small favor. A very small favor with a funny hairstyle.
But, the one development that came closest to making me beat down the inertia causing me to not post was the hoopla over the comedy The Interview.
Somebody hacked Sony's computes and stole and distributed gigabytes of secret, confidential, and personal data, as revenge for Sony Pictures' producing and planned distribution of the film ― not a critically-acclaimed documentary, or controversial work of art, or anything of that earthshaking variety ― but a comedy starring Seth Rogen and James Franco. Just a little comedy about the murder of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who seems to lack the capacity to step back and laugh at himself, the way the rest of the world spends so much us its time doing.
Should Sony have been storing so much information about its employees and former employees on its servers? Probably not, but that is beside my present point.
Threats ― threats of the nasty terrorist-style variety ― were made against moviegoers and theater-owners who dared show the movie. Corporations controlling theater chains and shopping malls made the decision to forgo, not only the Christmas Day release of what would have certainly been a record-breaking opening, but showing the movie at all. It still was presented at a few independent theaters and has been put up for online streaming. So far, no North Korean missiles have hit anyone's Netflix streaming device ― unless such streaming device just happened to be floating in the middle of the ocean, perhaps thrown overboard by an angry cruise passenger who didn't realize how much the cruise ship's WiFi costs or how creakingly slow it is ― when North Korea launched one of its less-than-spectacular missile tests. It could have happened at some time.
And to think, all of this ruckus could have been avoided if Sony had quickly called back the film and re-shot parts of it and reedited the finished product to include frequent shots of Dennis Rodman. Had they had the forsight to do that, Kim Jong Un would not have known what to do. Why his little head might have exploded, leaving that fez-like hairdo (or hairdon't) of his to spin wildly into the air ― possibly landing in the middle of the ocean on top of a floating Roku box.
The one thing that I find most interesting about this controversy is the total lack of controversy among people I know who generally can't agree on anything else.
Nearly everyone I have talked to said they would have at least strongly considered taking some time out of their Christmas day activities to support Free Speech by seeing The Interview. This goes for people who love Seth Rogen and for those who hate his raunchy comedies.
President Obama criticized Sony and the movie chains for backing down to the terrorists and almost nobody criticized him for stepping up and making the statement. This may be the first thing Obama has done that has not caused the red states to call for his impeachment. We were united as a country on the issue of freedom of speech.
is this what we need as a nation? More attacks from annoying little dictators on our basic rights to make us stand together?
Kim Jong Un may have done us a favor of sorts. A very small favor. A very small favor with a funny hairstyle.
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