Paramount paid $32 million to North Korea for the movie rights to this poster. True story.

Two quick items for you to check out:

• First, Jonathan “Flava” Last has a fairly brilliant theory for why movie producers seem to think anti-American movies play well abroad. The gist: they’re basically mis-reading the spread between anti-American movies’ domestic tankings and decent foreign business as some sort of magic gross multiplier injected by bad-mouthing America, when it’s actually the terrible domestic box office that’s the result. Read the whole thing.

  If that gross-multiplier theory is au courant in Hollywood, the Œc. Vol. suspects producers believe it because they want to believe it because it flatters their own prejudices against America in the Stuff White People Like, winning-the-enlightenment-status-contest-against-the-rubes senses.

• Second, hey, look, foreigners won’t go to movies about black people. That wouldn’t be because our Enlightened European Superiors® (not even getting started on East Asians…) are bigoted, would it? Where have you heard that before?

Carry on. And go see Inception. It’s the cleverest movie in a while.

Confucius, Œc. Vol.

Don’t ask impertinent questions like that jackass Adept Lu.