With all the recent fulminating about Sony Pictures Entertainment’s appeasement of North Korea by canceling the release of The Interview, and its potentially chilling effect on freedom of expression, we’ve ignored one very positive side effect: Seth Rogen and James Franco have been temporarily silenced.

Not entirely, but pretty close to it. During this merciful interlude, their public appearances are canceled, their smug wisecracks are stilled, and the smirks are wiped off their pampered man-baby faces.

Well, off of Rogen’s face, anyway. There’s a recent photo of Seth Rogen, head down, hat low, posture tense, closely accompanied by a bodyguard rumored to be an ex-Navy Seal, that is a nice antidote to his usual brand of self-congratulatory potheadedness.