Sony caves to cyber attacks, pulls "The Interview" from its Christmas release.

Courtesy of Variety:  

With theater chains defecting en masse, Sony Pictures Entertainment has pulled the planned Christmas Day release of “The Interview.” 

In announcing the decision to cancel the holiday debut, Sony hit back at the hackers who threatened movie theaters and moviegoers and who have terrorized the studio and its employees for weeks. 

“Those who attacked us stole our intellectual property, private emails, and sensitive and proprietary material, and sought to destroy our spirit and our morale – all apparently to thwart the release of a movie they did not like,” the statement reads. 

“We are deeply saddened at this brazen effort to suppress the distribution of a movie, and in the process do damage to our company, our employees, and the American public,” it continues. “We stand by our filmmakers and their right to free expression and are extremely disappointed by this outcome.” 

The studio did not say it would never release the picture theatrically. Insiders tell Variety Sony is exploring all options, including offering the picture on premium video-on-demand as a way to recoup at least some of its investment.

You know when I first saw the trailer for this movie I thought it sounded stupid.

But after seeing more footage, and hearing about how North Korea was losing its shit, I  put it on my "must see' list.

And now thanks to the fact that North Korea is the Scientology of nation states, essentially willing to destroy anybody who dares to criticize them or point out that they are full of shit, I don't get to.

Fuck North Korea!

You know what? I think in response to this that EVERY movie studio should make a movie where either Kim Jong Un is assassinated or North Korea is obliterated. 

I can see it now.

He could be the villain in the next James Bond movie, "Code Name: Fluffy Toddler."

Mike Myers could make another Austin Powers movies where Fat Bastard challenges Kim Jong Un to a sumo wrestling match and then crushes him into a fine Asian powder. Which they then sell in China as an aphrodisiac.

In the next "A giant comet is hurtling toward earth" movie they determine that it will only hit North Korea and everybody just relaxes and goes back to what they were doing before hearing the news.

And in the next Avengers movie North Korea develops doomsday device and they send Hulk to deal with it. I think we all know what happens then.

After all they can't hack everybody!

And let's face it North Korea is not even a real country, and allowing them, or whoever they may have hired to do this on their behalf, to have any impact on anything that happens in America is just bullshit.

What kind of a message does that send to other countries who hate us, hate our culture, and are jealous of James Franco's talent? It will be open season on America, you just wait and see.

P.S. By the way there are some who are not convinced this hacking of Sony is the work of North Korea. However American intelligence officials say yes it most definitely was.

P.P.S. Here is the Sony hack timeline.

The Bill Cosby rape allegations. The story I don't want to blog about, but feel I must.

Just in case you have been living in a cave, with no access to any television or internet whatsoever, here is what is happening with Bill Cosby:

The rape-allegation maelstrom swirling around Bill Cosby rages: Three more women accused the comedian of sexual assault on Thursday, while producers behind The Cosby Show claimed ignorance. Actress Louisa Moritz, who played Rose in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, told TMZ that Cosby forced her to engage in oral sex before a 1971 Tonight Show appearance; Carla Ferrigno (Lou Ferrigno's wife) told Rumorfix he attacked and grabbed her at a party in 1967; and Therese Serignese, a Florida nurse, told the Huffington Post that he drugged and raped her in 1976. She is one of 13 women who were set to testify against Cosby in a 2005 lawsuit before the case was settled.

I have been purposefully avoiding this topic because, well because I fucking love Bill Cosby.

I remember like it was yesterday when my elementary school teacher allowed me to listen to a Bill Cosby album for the first time, once I had finished my work before all of the other kids.

She brought out one of those listening centers, which featured an adapter with eight headphone jacks on it, and the other end stuck into an old school phonograph that was playing the comedy album.

I don't remember which one it was, but holy crap was it funny.

I laughed so hard and so long that the teacher had to unplug me because I was disturbing the other children, though she promised I could finish it later in the day when the other students were not taking a test.

After that I listened to ALL of his comedy albums, and followed his career obsessively.

I of course was also a big fan of the Cosby Show, which I naively believed was a depiction of his actual life.

So to be honest, I just don't want to hear this. Not do I want to talk about it. I just don't want to.

However there is one name mentioned above that has changed my mind.

Carla Ferrigno.

Now she may not be well known to you, but in my teens I was an avid bodybuilder and a big fan of Lou Ferrigno. So I know all about his marriage to the incredibly sweet and supportive Carla.

So for some reason the fact that she has come forward with a story about being attacked by Cosby, kind of broke the emotional dam for me, and I feel that this is now something that simply cannot ignore.

It is NOT that I did not believe the other women, because I did. It is because until I felt a personal connection to the story I just felt it was something better left to others to cover.

It's not about Alaska, it's not about politics, it's not about religion, and it's not about Sarah Palin so I guess I thought I could give it a pass.

Not anymore.

And part of the reason I feel that way has to do with Sarah Palin.

You know how we are always bitching about reporters ignoring babygate because talking about it makes them uncomfortable, or they would really rather not know the truth? 

Well that was what I was doing with this story. I don't like the facts that I am hearing so I don't want to report on them.

Same thing. And that makes me a hypocrite.

Well not anymore.

Bill Cosby is now a 77 year old man, but that does not mean that what he did should be swept under the carpet. Nor should it mean that he can continue to pretend to be a person that has little resemblance to who he is in real life.

If this were one incident in his youth, perhaps this could be chalked up to a drunken episode that he never repeated again. But this is not that. If the evidence is true, and there is no reason at this time to doubt that it is, than Cosby is a serial rapist who used drugs, alcohol, and sometimes force to take sexual advantage of young women. And THAT makes him the worst possible kind of man.

Here is the AP interview that everybody is talking about.

Did you see that? He not only refused to discuss these allegations, but he then attempted to bully the reporter into not releasing the video.

Clearly this is a tactic that has worked well for him in the past, and he must believe he can continue to suppress these stories and live the lie that he has lived all of these years.

In my job I have worked with quite a few sexual predators in the past and this is how they operate.  They blame the victim, they minimize the actual assault, and then they attempt to bully people into silence.

Bill Cosby's accusers deserve justice. And Bill Cosby should not be above that justice.

Okay last week was pretty tough I'll give you that. But I defy you to suppress your smile as you behold "The Salmon Cannon."

Oh yeah, that hits the spot!

Leave to the brilliant John Oliver to remind us that we are not the only country with embarrassing politicians in power.

Actually I think Tony Abbott would fit quite nicely within the Republican party.

And he would not even have to change a single one of his views.