Sunday, December 28, 2014

the interview 2

rip, ting and i watched the interview on the 25th via youtube. it was surprisingly similar to the version i watched months ago! i only caught three changes: the franco/rogen party scene seemed much shorter, i think they added in a lot of the butthole stuff (esp at the end of the actual interview), and they definitely way changed the face on fire part.

all in all, reasonable changes. i was hoping they'd use the nicky minaj interview about superb ass / super bass (that was in the commercials) and cut off the rob lowe interview (that i saw the first time), but they kept lowe in. bah. i didn't think it was funny then, and it certainly didn't get any better.

overall, i stand by my original review in that the movie is hilarious. knowing what jokes were coming didn't change my reaction to any of them. i laughed probably almost as hard as i did the first time.

i'm glad sony decided to release the movie. i think they messed up quite a bit in their handling of this whole thing, but in the end, they did the right thing. i mean, i get that sony is a private company, and one not held in the united states, but i think it's fucking crazy that we would let some other govt tell us what we can and cannot makes movies about. our own government doesn't even censor us this way, so why would be give some other govt the power to?! especially when this movie is billed as an obvious work of fiction and comedy! i do think that the creators of the movie could have made some concessions to not offend real people. they could've called it north something, and not north korea. and it didn't have to be kim jong-un. they could've picked any name. most people would still know who you're talking about. but anyway.

one last thing: altho a lot of people illegally dled the movie, rip bought it, which i commend him for. he wanted to support sony's decision to release the movie. and there's no better way to say you approve than to monetarily back up your approval..

Saturday, December 27, 2014

the interview

i signed a nda, but imma write this anyway since no one reads this website and since i only have positive things to say "the interview". i watched it a few months ago as a screener. (i get emails that invite me to these free movies. they're unfinished so sometimes the effects aren't done yet, or they ask for feedback about certain things. anyway. this movie) i didn't really know what to expect. it was billed as a comedy starring seth green and james franco. about 10 minutes into the movie i still wasn't that into it. it was kind of funny, but not that great. as the movie went on tho, it got better and better and as i was walking out of the theater later i was thinking that this was probably the best screener i'd ever seen. it was hilarious! i disliked a couple specific things about the movie, but overall, the acting, pacing, comedy, story, ending, action, everything was awesome.

so this sony hacking thing. honestly, i do think it's north korea. if only because their only demand is that sony not release the movie. i would never have thought a govt so petty as to hack a company because they don't like their product, but when the hackers asked for nothing except for stuff pertaining to this movie, well, who else would it be?

i'm interested to see what happens. i'm writing this post on the 16th but am waiting until after the planned release, just in case that nda (or the hackers) come back to bite me in the butt. but seriously, it was a hilarious movie. we'll see how much they change it. some parts, i know, have already been changed cause i watched the end helicopter explosion scene and that is MUCH "cleaner" now. the way it was before was surprisingly "detailed", even before any of this craziness happened!

i'm glad sony changed the release date, from some north korean holiday to christmas day. it did seem unnecessarily antagonistic. them changing a few scenes here and there is also okay. i just hope they didn't ruin the movie.

one more thing. while, yes, the movie does make fun of the north korean leader, i felt like it mostly made fun of americans. kim was portrayed as a lonely, misunderstood, hypocritical person. but any actual vip (esp leader of a something as big as a country) would be lonely and misunderstood! the movie makes you feel bad for him. i mean, yes, north koreans are brainwashed to believe some incredibly fantastical stuff about their leader, but every hero's background is exaggerated at least a  little. but the americans in the movie were idiotic. i mean, even the cia looks ridiculous sending that can't-do-anything-right pair to do such important dirty work!

(follow up post romrow)

Monday, December 22, 2014

dtf?

What Is Up With Random Dudes Emailing To Ask Me To Have Sex With Them?

this does happen. it hasn't happened to me, thank god, since no one assumes i'd want to cheat on my boyfriend of nearly a decade and half. but it has happened to a few of my girlfriends. one of whom, if you knew her even little bit, you would know that she is absolutely not be down to fuck. (that's what dtf stands for, btw. ...kids these days...)

"At the very least, get to know me first before you bring up such a request. Don’t assume all women are receptive to these sorts of comments."

i think it's weird that people would rather risk offending someone than taking the time to suss out the situation first. i mean, i guess that's reasonable, since you don't really care about that person anyway. so who cares if you offend them. but do you really want to be that person?

a year or two or something ago a guy i know, who knows i'm dating someone, asked me out. i was like. what?! it was so confusing! i've thought many a time that the best thing about facebook is that you can discreetly let people know that you're not available. not entirely sure what else it's good for, actually. in a later social media post he said that apparently he does this rather often, because, well, why not? if she's interested, she now knows he is open to the idea too. if she's not interested, no harm done.

except that there is harm done! i think differently of him now! in fact, i think less of him! we were never really friends. dragon boat acquaintances more like. and i now feel uncomfortable around him. i feel like he's disrespected me. if we had actually been friends, we might no longer be. i only see him a few times a year so i've done nothing to distance myself from him.

ugh. i honestly have no issues with the hook-up culture. if i were suddenly to become single i'd probably "make up for lost time," at least for a little bit. but i'm not single. so don't try to put that on me. and don't try to put that on people who clearly are not interested. in the movies, perseverance will get you the girl, or the job, or the whatever. but in real life, that amount of stubbornness will only get you a restraining order. i think it's better to err on the side of politeness and respect. READ HER SIGNS before you start sending her dick pics and random dtf inquiries. if she wants that stuff, she'll let you know.

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

pig facts

couple things i learned from matt whyman's - oink: my life with mini-pigs

a female pig is called a gilt

farmer and man talking about raising pigs. farmer tells man he that they live for six months before slaughter. man is surprised. farmer explains that "Pigs grow quickly. You don't want them getting much bigger. With boys, the taste is rich and succulent around now. But if you leave it until they hit puberty the meat can get a bit whiffy. At least that's what women say. It's called boar taint. Something to do with the hormones, but apparently men aren't so troubled by it. Can you imagine that? Sitting down for Sunday dinner with your other half, only she's gagging as you carve and you can't see what the fuss is about?" (p30)

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

cia quotes

all quotations from evan thomas' the very best men: the daring early years of the cia

"But the difference between the two organizations represents a divide that ran through the CIA for decades, a fundamental conflict in the role and mission of an intelligence agency. Clandestine operations embrace two separate activities. One is covert action—seeking to influence or change the way a country is governed. The other is espionage—secretly gathering information about a friend or foe. The two missions attract different sorts of personalities. Covert action operatives, like the ones who worked for OPC, tend to be activists. Results are more important than process. Espionage operators, like the ones who worked for OSO, tend to be more passive. They are cautious, prudent, careful. The goals of covert action and espionage are often in direct conflict. Covert action is almost by definition noisy, since operatives plunge themselves into the struggle for power. Espionage must be quiet to be effective. It never announces itself,' writes Thomas Powers. The foreign government official who is on the payroll, feeding the CIA secrets, must never be identified as an agent. yet covert action is also risky--it tends to 'go wrong' and expose spying networks carefully laid by espionage operators." (p41-42)

Paul Nitze - "In history, everyone religion has greatly honored those members who destroyed the enemy... Doing in the enemy is the right thing to do. Of course, there are some restraints on ends and means. if you go back to Greek culture and read Thucydides, there are limits to what you can do to other Greeks, who are part of your culture. But there are no limits on what you can do to a Persian. He's a barbarian. The communists were barbarians." (p91)

[he] "could appreciate the idea of the leap of faith, but he could not make the jump himself." (p200)

"The CIA officials looked pained and exasperated; they were good soldiers, they weren't going to point any fingers, but really, how could the senators be so naive? The CIA executed policy; it did not make it. Of course, the CIA had obtained authorization. But such things are never written down, nor are they to be ever acknowledged. That is why presidents have secret intelligence services: to perform secret acts that are supposed to be kept secret." (p230)

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

gift ideas

interesting and good gifts for christmas, birthdays, or whatever! for when you don't totally know someone's taste but like them well enough to not want to get something too generic. cause as much as everyone loves gift cards, they are super impersonal. also, if you're pretty close to the person, you might offend them with a gift card!

custom monopoly board

personalized bobblehead: mixee, mbobble, minime, likeness me

a diy kit! for food alone, people can make their own hot sauce, cheese, bacon, gin, kimchi, beer, the list goes on!

streaming stick like roku, chromecast, fire stick

specialty coffee or tea. cause most love it but can't justify buying themselves the expensive stuff

digital subscription service: netflix, hulu plus, spotify, kindle unlimited

real subscription service (there are TONS of boxes. guaranteed to find one for any person!!): birchbox (makeup), club w (wine), mistobox (coffee), love with food (snacks), loot crate (gamer stuff), skoshbox (japanese candy), jib gem (jewelry), bike loot (cyclist stuff), blacksocks (socks!)

food of the month clubs (similar to subscription services!): bacon, cookies, pizza, popcorn, potato chips, cake!

bluetooth speakers for their phone

if they have an iphone, extra long charging cable (6' is a good length [i bought a few for rip, his sister, and ting])