FutureWatch - Coming to a cubicle near you.

Time to A-ppeal!!!

We work in The Big Apple.
We see a lot of weird things;
everything from terrestrial Victorian borescopes to the Naked Cowboy.

Naked Cowboy drives to work each day between 11 and noon, in costume, with his female companion. 'Naked' parks in the same 43rd Street garage we use, jumps out and gets right to work. Doesn't matter whether it is 95 degrees and sunny, or 20 degree with snow. He is there. He makes millions smile. Want a photo with him; just stuff a buck in his boot and click away.

Whattaguy! Hard working. A real Robert Lampf 'dare to be different' original.

Here is the outrage...
"A judge said a Times Square entertainer who wears just enough to justify the name the "Naked Cowboy" can continue a lawsuit he brought against a blue M&M.

Federal Judge Denny Chin in Manhattan on Monday stripped Robert Burck of some of his claims that a blue M&M wearing a white cowboy hat, cowboy boots and underpants violates his trademarks.

But the judge left intact one strand of that lawsuit. Mr. Chin said Mr. Burck might be able to prove that Mars Inc., which makes M&Ms, unfairly gave the impression that he had endorsed its advertising campaign.

For its part, Mars says the ad campaign was a parody and is protected by the First Amendment." (source)

I wonder how M&M would take it if Naked Cowboy took Big Blue, x'ed out his eyes, cracked his shell, and propped him up in a 42nd St. doorway with an empty whiskey bottle??? Parody? Art, perhaps?

Naked Cowboy will survive – and ride off into the sunset in a big black Cadillac SUV.
Go Naked.

'Bug'ged Car Phone? With Voice Male?

The Phone Car is a modified by a 1975 Volkswagen Beetle. Created by Howard Davis as a way to promote his telephone biz, Datel Communications. Check out the video of this phone car on the road. The horn, of course, rings. (more)
More Art Cars...

Victorian SpyCam Project - Finally Completed!

Preceded by a great rumbling, the giant auger burst the bounds of earth – New York and London were connected, as planned!

Hardly anyone knows that a secret tunnel runs deep beneath the Atlantic Ocean.

This past week, more than a century after it was begun, the tunnel has finally been completed.

An extraordinary optical device called a Telectroscope has been installed at both ends which miraculously allows people to see right through the Earth from London to New York
and vice versa.

"...the Trans-Atlantic Telectroscope...started out as a dream project of the eccentric Victorian engineering entrepreneur Alexander Stanhope St. George.

Some called it a "folly." Others said, "shear madness." Even the greatest visionary of the age, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, blustered, "But, I was just kidding!"

The nay-sayers were correct. The spycam tunnel – a camera just a little too obscura – failed.

But now, after all these years, the tunnel has been fitted with a giant "electronic telescope" and state-of-the-art technology, by his great-grandson!

The present-day Mr. St. George, resurrected the project and developed the Telectroscope after discovering his great-grandfather's dusty notes and diaries in an attic.

The tunnel entrances were reopened beside Tower Bridge in London and Brooklyn Bridge in New York.

Needless to say, many are excited at the prospects of "seeing" friends and relatives across the Atlantic. Imagine standing 3,460 miles away from your loved one and peep into the telescope to see them."

Humbug or Amazing?
You decide...
On view until June 15th.

UPDATE...
06/01/08 0253HRS EST COUNTERMEASURE'S COMPOUND SURVEILLANCE CHOPPER PHOTO - ANALYSIS: USA SIGHTING CONFIRMED

DOUBLE UPDATE...
60/01/08 0023HRS GMT WHITEROCK DEFENCE SURVEILLANCE PHOTO - ANALYSIS: UK SIGHTING CONFIRMED

The following is a public service announcement...

...ABOUT SHINE A LIGHT
On April 4, 2008, an Academy Award®-winning filmmaker and the world's greatest rock n' roll band will unite to bring audiences the year's most extraordinary musical film event, "Shine a Light," to theaters everywhere.

Martin Scorsese's concert documentary "Shine a Light" will show the world the Rolling Stones as they've never been seen before. Filming at the famed Beacon Theatre in New York City in fall 2006, Scorsese assembled a legendary team of cinematographers to capture the raw energy of the legendary band. (more) (review)

Eavesdropping on private chats is... art!

Conversations from thousands of internet chatrooms, message boards and other public forums have been transformed into an electronic art piece.

Described as a unique portrait of the internet, the electronic art - called the Listening Post – forms a free exhibition at the Science Museum in London.

The piece samples text fragments of uncensored and unedited internet conversations over 231 small electronic screens standing approximately 4m high and 5m wide. The text is accompanied by computer-synthesized voices reading or singing the words that surge, flicker and disappear over the screens.

Listening Post is a collaboration by sound artist Ben Rubin and statistician and artist Mark Hansen, who wanted to address the question: "What would 100,000 people chatting online sound like?" (more)

The Neighbor Stick

Finn Magee combined his industrial design talents with an imagination fermented within apartment walls to come up with what he calls the "Neighbour Rod".

Here, "Neighbor Stick" (as in, 'stick it to your neighbor') seemed a more appropriate moniker.

When the neighbors get noisy, bang on the wall, ceiling, floor with the big white rubber mallet end. When the neighbors get suspiciously quiet, use the stethoscope end.

By the way, that's Betty. She loves to listen.

Finn is one cool dude. More about him, here.

Movie Review - "Spy"

It's easy to see why director Nadav Schirman plans to adapt his first film, the documentary "The Champagne Spy," into an English-language narrative feature. The story of Ze'ev Gur Arie, aka Wolfgang Lotz, is the stuff of Cold War glamor and international intrigue, with a dark personal twist.

Lotz was a German-born Israeli spy who so fully adopted his undercover identity that he left behind a wife and child. Focusing on the testimony of Lotz's fellow Mossad agents and especially his son, all speaking on camera for the first time, "Spy" is a compelling if sometimes frustratingly limited film. It screened in the Palm Springs festival's New Israeli Cinema section and was awarded the John Schlesinger Award for outstanding first feature. (more) (Lotz's "Would You Make A Good Spy" Test)

Ever wonder what the future will bring?

Ever consider that today was somebody else's future?

What were they thinking about us?

Were they correct?

David Szondy knows.
You will find him here.
Take all the 'tours'.
You will never see your future the same again.

Need a daily dose to make you feel superior to your ancestors? Visit Ephemeral Isle.

The Art of SpyCams - "Trioptisamongus"

"Trioptisamongus"
inspiration

Book Review - "The Memory Room"

What makes somebody choose to become a spy?

What motivates people to make espionage their profession is one of the themes of Christopher Koch's seventh novel, an examination of the life, from childhood to the end of his career, of an Australian spy called Vincent Austin. (Jake Kerridge reviews "The Memory Room" by Christopher Koch)

'Down' to "The Wire" :(

For five seasons, critics have worshiped "The Wire"—and lamented that more people don't. Now's your last chance to catch what may be TV's best drama ever.

About 3,000 miles away from Hollywood, in a crusty dive called Kavanagh's on the corner of East Lexington and Guilford Avenue in downtown Baltimore, one of the most highly praised dramas on television is coming to an end... It is the last scene on the last day of filming on the last season of "The Wire," the HBO series that started out in 2002 as a drama about a single West Baltimore detective unit but has evolved, with furious ambition, into the story of an entire city in decline. The show is legendary here—many of the characters are based on people plucked from the city's recent past—and the cast and crew are often treated like folk heroes. (more) (Available on DVD)

Spybuster's Movie of the Month

Charlie Wilson's War
Tom Hanks and Philip Seymour Hoffman turn in their greatest performances in years in this historical thriller riddled with hilarious one-liners.

Hanks stars as Charlie Wilson, a congressman from Texas ... Upon returning to the States, Wilson immediately calls for a meeting with a U.S. security bigwig. CIA Agent Gust Avrakotos (Hoffman) ends up at his office door.

After a hysterical sequence of events during their brief meeting that includes a cocaine scandal, a bottle of wine and a bugging device, the two pair up to try to covertly help the Afghan war effort. (more) (trailer) (reality check)

...and skipped Asia due to redundancy issues.

An amusement park with a spy theme is planned as part of a major entertainment complex in Spain...

The park, named Spyland, will be part of a massive leisure complex called Gran Scala that is being planned for the Zaragoza province of Spain. The entertainment district is expected to include 32 casinos, four theme parks, mega-hotels, shopping and other attractions. Construction on Spyland is scheduled to start in late 2008, with a projected opening date of 2010...

Spyland will be a family attraction with rides and interactive activities based on the history of secret agents around the world. Visitors will be able to play the role of spy, undertake missions, collect clues and infiltrate fictitious borders as they move through six zones in the park, including a small water park called Aquantica. Guests will also be able to test technologies used in spying. Stunt shows will be based on the escapades of real spies.

Developers originally tried but failed to get permission to build Spyland in Dubai or France... (more)

When Warrantless Wiretaps Go Bad

Mike Lane on Wiretapping. (cartoon)

From the Security Scrapbook Archives (12/2003)

Every Rock & Roll hit from the
50's, 60's, 70's, 80's and 90's+
"Hey, do I take care of my friends or what?"
• Just in time for your holiday parties!
• FREE!!!
• Play 'Name That Tune' (really fast).
Side One • Side Two

SpyCam Story #410 - 21st Century O. Henry

India - The International Film Festival found its gravitas with the The Voyeur (which) delved into the current ogre of spycams and surveillance that leaves no room for individual privacy...

Prasanjeet, a computer mechanic ... finds succour from his nondescript life by fantasising about Madhubala, the perfect woman. Soon his fantasy finds a real form as a pretty neighbor moves in next door and seeks his help in settling down.

The electronics geek uses a spycam to fuel his desire and shares the spoils of voyeurism with his friend who happens to be a Muslim. No prizes for guessing where the story heads.

The brutal State steps in and the Muslim is labeled as terrorist while the Voyeur is arrested for something the state excels in: surveillance. (more)

Year of the Spy at National Book Awards

With the United States fighting an increasingly unpopular war in Iraq, stories of espionage and critiques of foreign policy were winners at the 58th annual National Book Awards. (more)

Winners...
Denis Johnson's Tree of Smoke
Robert Hass' Time and Materials
Tim Weiner's Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA

Eavesdropping Becomes a Game Skill

Video game review: 'Assassin's Creed' smooth but repetitive...

"Assassin's” is terrific entertainment for perhaps the first couple hours, as you free-run frolic and notice sparkling little tweaks to generic third-person action.

You eavesdrop to find your targets and rescue locals who can aid post-assassination escapes..." (more)

SpyCam Story #406 - Kid Rock Rooked?

Kid Rock gave props to the head of his security team, Little Bear, for "finding a hidden camera in the dressing room at the show at the Myth Nightclub" in Minneapolis on Thursday night.

"Little Bear, who runs SpyOps.net, discovered the device before the show and alerted the authorities, who are now investigating," Rock wrote.

TMZ obtained photos of the alleged spycam from Little Bear that appears to indicate it was set up to broadcast on the Internet,
but in a statement from the club released to the Star Tribune, the management explained, "The green-room camera in question is part of the venue's security aspect, available for viewing by head of security only ... Rock's allegation that there was some kind of Internet broadcast in progress is simply not true and without foundation." (more) (more)

The club's cameras appear networked; common practice these days. Having a 'green room' camera - probably common practice as well. Venue owners need to make sure their guests are safe, and have evidence if guests bust up the place.

Was the camera was viewable by unauthorized parties via the Internet? Instant answers (or accusations) are not possible. This will take a little investigation.

Did your security team check the software settings before making these pronouncements to the press, Kid? And, why isn't a confidentiality clause part of your security contract? Press statements like these make clients look silly. Call us next time ...please.

"Do you have what it takes to be a spy?"

Now you can find out.

The International Spy Museum announces Operation Spy™, a new and groundbreaking immersive experience that takes the interactive concept to a higher level. In an action-packed hour, participants take on the role of U.S. intelligence officers on an international mission to locate a missing nuclear device on the verge of being sold to a rogue nation. This intense experience combines live-action, video characters, themed environments, special effects, and hands-on activities. Participants take part in an intrigue-filled adventure based on an actual case drawn from the files of U.S. intelligence. (more) (video)

"I Led Three Lives" 2007

The Strange Case of Alexander Litvinenko...
The former Russian spy (a lieutenant-colonel, no less) poisoned in a London hotel was an MI6 agent, the Daily Mail can reveal. Alexander Litvinenko was receiving a retainer of around £2,000 a month from the British security services at the time he was murdered.

The disclosure, by diplomatic and intelligence sources, is the latest twist in the Litvinenko affair, which has plunged relations between London and Moscow to their lowest point since the Cold War. (more)

The wife is the last to know...
“My husband was never an agent for MI6. He was a critic of the Russian government but he spoke out openly. He was well-known. And his special area was organized crime, not intelligence. He was not the kind of person who would be useful to the British security services,” ~Marina Litvinenko (more)

Meanwhile, back in Hollywood...
Michael Mann, director of dramatic thrillers like "Heat" and "Collateral," is set to bring the story of poisoned ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko to the big screen.

According to the Litvinenko Justice Foundation, Mann will direct a film based on the book "Death of a Dissident: The Poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko and the Return of the KGB". It was co-written by the former Russian spy's widow Marina and his friend Alex Goldfarb. (more)

Bond Goes Postal

James Bond has kept Britain safe from the world's villains for years. But now the spy has a new role — helping deliver the nation's letters.

Each of the stamps show different editions of six Bond books Royal Mail unveiled a set of stamps yesterday that feature the covers of Ian Fleming's Bond novels. They will go on sale from Jan 8 to mark the 100th anniversary of the author's birth in 1908.

Fleming wrote 14 Bond novels, which have sold more 100 million across the world.

The six that will be depicted on the stamps, which will feature different editions of the same book, are Casino Royale, Dr No, Goldfinger, Diamonds Are Forever, For Your Eyes Only and From Russia With Love. (more)

The Entertainment of Spying

Wes Britton's SpyWise.net website

Find answers to questions like...
- How much reality Is in spy movies and novels?
- What are the behind-the-scenes stories of films of the past and what's coming in the future?
- What are insiders saying about spy projects in and beyond the world of 007?

Discover...
- Unique perspectives into every aspect of the real and fantastic.
- Exclusive interviews with authors and creators of docu-dramas and spy comedies.
- Rare artifacts from the 1950s along with memories of former intelligence agents.
- Resources you can't find anywhere else.
- Articles on everything from Old-Time Radio to weekly updates on the hottest news on collectibles and what's coming on DVD.

Secret Agent Television Shows, 1951-2007

"I'm Bugging Your Phone" (with audio clip)

You know eavesdropping and wiretapping are well-entrenched in our society when people are singing about it, dancing to it and even taking it as a moniker - like Wiretap Scars.

Remember???
Eavesdrop - Joanna "Rain" Raphael
Eavesdropping - Carol Slade
Eavesdropping - Anne Lindsay
Eavesdropping - d1sh1tu
Eavesdropping - Michail Sicas
Invitation To Eavesdrop - Shaun Groves
Hanging On The Phone - BWO
The Wiretap - Your Enemies Friends
Probably not. Good listening rarely involves eavesdropping. Hence, the old saying, "An eavesdropper never hears anything good about themselves."

There are tons of Private Investigator, Spy and Detective lyrics, too. Your chances of remembering these are better: Searchin', Peek-A-Boo, Secret Agent Man and the gloved one's famous Somebody Is Watching Me.

Rarely, however, has there been a more blatant expression of illegal eavesdropping than I’m Bugging Your Phone - by The Smith Connection

(from blog.allmusic.com)
...basically tells its addressee to seek a restraining order: “I’m buggin’ your phone, baby / Startin’ an investigation.” It’s not posed as a conditional threat. It’s posed as “I am doing this once I obtain the equipment and access to your telephone.” The protagonist complains about being avoided, finding notes, and some other things. The addressee should’ve allowed the bug to be placed, if only to have held a conversation in which she said, “I am through with that fool, specifically the fool who is bugging my phone.” (more) (audio clip)

Art reflects life.
Eavesdropping is real life.
Take care. Beware.

Rat Race - Art Immitates Life

Rat Race, an episodic comedy adventure (Sony PS3 computer game) set in a crazy sitcom styled office. ... Rat Race is described thusly: "Sometimes we describe Rat Race as an interactive sitcom, but that doesn’t do it justice. There’s more to the experience than funny dialogue. Along the way you’ll sneak, sprint, solve puzzles, eavesdrop, steal..." (more)
...not to mention your kids will learn sarcasm, wisecracking and generally poor workplace etiquette.
Out just in time for the holiday season.
"Ho, ho, ho!"
Hey, who you callin' a Ho?!?!

SpyCam Story #381 - SpyCams Go Hollywood

'Look' spy-cam footage looks real, but isn't...

We may not realize it, but we're all movie stars thanks to the roughly 30 million surveillance cameras throughout the U.S. that capture each of us on film about 200 times daily.

That's the premise of writer-director Adam Rifkin's "Look," a fascinating feature that appears to be actual spy-cam footage strung together, but is really a fiction film spring-boarding off the idea that our comings and goings these days are anything but private.

After an early look at "Look," which I've been telling friends not to miss, I was happy to focus on the making of the film with Rifkin.

"We all, I think, are aware of it, but I don't think we think about it enough," Rifkin said about the cameras that record so much of what we do in public today. "I don't think most people are aware of it to the extent that it really permeates the culture. When I started thinking about the idea to make the movie, I started looking around everywhere I went and there were just cameras everywhere. Most of the time (when) you're sitting in a restaurant, you're shopping at a grocery store, you're changing in a changing room, you're in a public bathroom, you're just not thinking about it -- but they're everywhere. And interestingly the number of cameras is growing exponentially." (more)(trailer)

Art Imitates Life - Ars Electronica 2007

"Goodbye Privacy" -- Festival Ars Electronica 2007
A new culture of everyday life is now upon us, bracketed by the angst-inducing scenarios of seamless surveillance... One in which everything seems to be public and nothing is private anymore. Dates: September 5-11. Location: throughout the City of Linz (Austria).

One of the most interesting events is FACELESS - a 50 minute sci-fi movie made from CCTV surveillance footage (100%).

Synopsis - In a society under the reformed 'Real-Time' Calendar, without history nor future, everybody is faceless. A woman panics when she wakes up one day with a face. With the help of the Spectral Children she slowly finds out more about the lost power and history of the human face and begins the search for its future.

FACELESS was produced under the rules of the 'Manifesto for CCTV Filmmakers'. The manifesto states, amongst other things, that additional cameras are not permitted at filming locations, as the omnipresent existing video surveillance (CCTV) is already in operation. In fact, scenes are acted out in front of the CCTV cameras first, and the footage is later requested from whoever owns the CCTV system.

"RealTime orients the life of every citizen. Eating, resting, going to work, getting married – every act is tied to RealTime. And every act leaves a trace of data – a footprint in the snow of noise..."
(Faceless trailer)

Madonna... U.N. Plugged

"Gonna save two weeks, Gonna have a fine vacation.
Gonna take my problem to the U-nited Nations."
Summertime Blues ~Eddie Cochran

from the press release... "A human rights abuse complaint has been submitted to the United Nations in the legal case Aisha v. Madonna (case no. 06-1389). A copy of the United Nations complaint is available online at www.aishamusic.com/un.htm

The complaint alleges conduct reminiscent of the unlawful tactics employed by now incarcerated private investigator, Anthony Pellicano, who has done work on behalf of singer Madonna and her attorney Bert Fields.

The case was submitted recently under the following alleged human rights violations, pursuant to Rule 86 of the United Nations Rules of Procedure."

COMPLAINT RE: Illegal hidden camera placed in my home, illegal telephone wiretapping, illegal listening devices placed on the inside and outside of my property, theft of over $250,000, theft of my $450,000 home, theft of my multi-billion dollar valued Copyrighted Catalog, customized death threats sent to my web site, choking assault incident, separately an attempted vehicular assault on August 9, 2007 and my mother’s (redacted online until investigation completes), in attempts to spitefully bankrupt us. (more)

Read, and decide for yourself. As Chuck Berry used to sing... "Too much monkey business for me to be involved in."

Hamboneing SpyCam Pirates

Security guards equipped with night-vision goggles swirled around the auditorium, silently scoping out anyone who might have smuggled a camcorder into the theatre.

If the guards had caught anyone taping the film they could have kicked the patron out of the theatre. But getting a court conviction would have been tough, requiring proof of the pirate's intent to sell the recorded film.

This year, things are different.

As the Toronto film festival unspools this week, anyone caught just recording a movie without permission can be charged with a criminal offence, punishable by two years in jail.

(With affectionate thanks to Sandy Becker - New York's #1 Hambone.)