Little Spooks Things

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Mon, 20 May 2013 17:24:39 -0400

jastaace: Numbers stations are mysterious shortwave radio...

Mon, 13 May 2013 10:37:34 -0400

Numbers stations are mysterious shortwave radio channels of indiscernible origin that exist in countries all across the world and have been reported since World War 1. They are identifiable by the unusual contents of their broadcasts: seemingly random sequences of numbers, words, letters, tunes, and Morse code, usually spoken by artificially generated voices of women and children.

The most common theory regarding the purpose of these bizarre stations is that they’re used by governments the world over to secretly transmit encrypted commands and messages to spies. That said, even though numbers stations have been discovered all over the globe and in any number of different languages, no government has ever officially acknowledged their existence. While the espionage theory is a logical one, with no official confirmation of their purpose the jury is still out.

One particularly odd station, UVB-76, has existed since the late 1970s and has broadcast a simple, repetitive buzzing tone 24 hours a day ever since. On very rare occasions, however, listeners have reported a Russian voice interrupting the buzz to read out sequences of numbers and words, always in a consistent format — this happened once in 1997, once in 2002, once in 2006, 56 times in 2010, and 14 in 2011. As with all numbers stations, its true purpose is and will probably remain unknown, but the increase in frequency of whatever it’s doing is certainly odd.

You can listen to well over 100 recordings of numbers stations for free on archive.org but be forewarned that they’re all kind of, well, eerie. They feel like something you shouldn’t be listening to, which stands to reason since apparently you’re not supposed to know they exist.

Listen to them! They are so eerie!

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Mon, 13 May 2013 10:35:56 -0400

untilshadoweddaysaregone: Harry + Handcuffs = What a wonderful...

Thu, 09 May 2013 12:14:56 -0400

untilshadoweddaysaregone:

Harry + Handcuffs = What a wonderful dream!!!

untilshadoweddaysaredone: I became pretty obsessed with Harry...

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 10:14:19 -0400

untilshadoweddaysaredone:

I became pretty obsessed with Harry Pearce

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Fri, 12 Apr 2013 13:25:24 -0400

hralwaysliveon: To go with yesterdays shot. Harry seeing Ruth

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 15:40:51 -0400

hralwaysliveon:

To go with yesterdays shot. Harry seeing Ruth

olympains: maybe i can watch this hour long episode in ten minutes

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 11:21:00 -0400

olympains:

maybe i can watch this hour long episode in ten minutes

cinemaocd: nickdrake: Letter to Brezhnev (1985) So if you...

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 11:10:23 -0400

cinemaocd:

nickdrake:

Letter to Brezhnev (1985)

So if you want to know what Harry Pearce was like when he was a spy in Russia in the 1980s, you have to watch Letter to Brezhnev. I’ll admit I started out making fun of this film, the dated music, fashion and the hair (dear LORD) have not aged well. Neither have the slow motion sequences which at first made me laugh, then cry, and then pray for death. This is actually quite a good movie, very girl-centric and fun with a compelling love story. It only took me about 20 minutes to adjust to the Liverpudlian accents, but Peter Firth’s Russian accent, I’m afraid, I’ll never adjust to that. That’s balanced by the fact that he is more kitteney than actual kittens in this and he is a SAILOR, a RUSSIAN SAILOR, so he wears adorable sailor hats. And gloves. Ack having a situation!!!!

Where was I?

Americans could compare this to Valley Girl, which is also a low-budget romantic drama with well-known actors from this era. Of course, the setting makes it grittier and so do the actors who aren’t quite so slick and perfectly beautiful as they would be in an Hollywood film of any budget. I’m also reminded of Aki Kaurismaki’s Proletariat Trilogy, which comes from this era, shot in a gritty industrial port and involves the love lives of ordinary people.

projectgallifrey: Another flawless picture of my OTP! Credit to...

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 20:41:19 -0400

projectgallifrey:

Another flawless picture of my OTP! Credit to @Born_Spook Thanks for the image!

Just finished watching Series 10 dvd extras…I can’t with these two. There’s a bit where Nicola starts crying and Peter puts his arm around her. My feels.

projectgallifrey: I just found out Peter Firth does audiobooks. PETER FIRTH DOES AUDIOBOOKS!!!...

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 20:36:09 -0400

projectgallifrey:

I just found out Peter Firth does audiobooks. PETER FIRTH DOES AUDIOBOOKS!!! PETER FIRTH!

Just finished Maurice,recently. Amazing.

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Tue, 26 Mar 2013 13:51:46 -0400

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Mon, 25 Mar 2013 14:01:20 -0400

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Mon, 25 Mar 2013 12:06:19 -0400

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Wed, 20 Mar 2013 13:36:30 -0400

idlesuperstar: Note to self: wet violence is not hot

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 17:48:59 -0400

idlesuperstar:

Note to self: ~~wet~~ violence is not hot

cinemaocd: idlesuperstar: littlespooksthings: FYI: The tattoo...

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 11:42:26 -0400

cinemaocd:

idlesuperstar:

littlespooksthings:

FYI: The tattoo on Lucas’ lower abdomen commands you to “know thyself” in Greek. Ok, then!

Oh, yeah, baby, I’ve hit series seven. To be honest, Lucas had me at that first I’ve-been-in-a-Russian-prison-for-eight-years-and-then-in-the-boot-of-a-car stumbling walk. Swiftly followed by being all scruffy and vaguely northern and wanting chips and a cup of tea. Be still my heart. I would have been happy with that. But, no, thanks to all the gods of telly (and as some recompense for all the series six trauma), Adam orders him to ‘go and clean up’. Thank you, Adam. Thank you.

Thank you for reblogging this and reminding me that I used to make wanking jokes even BEFORE I met you!

Oh God, I love Lucas. It’s hard though…I’m not sure how far you are in the series. All I can say is, it’s actually painful to think back to this scene now.

idlesuperstar: - I’ve been in a Russian prison. That’s like...

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 11:34:35 -0400

idlesuperstar:

- I’ve been in a Russian prison. That’s like spending eight years in a physical training camp. Or at Eton.

omg lucas you are a vaguely northern snarky brooding blake fanboy I love you already I can’t contain my feelings about the blake

cinemaocd: universal-invariant: littlespooksthings: Favorite...

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 17:52:52 -0400

cinemaocd:

universal-invariant:

littlespooksthings:

Favorite (non H/R) Harry Pearce Moments

Harry doesn’t loose his shit very often. I think he only cries twice in the whole series. His reactions to character deaths are mostly minimal. He is stoic and he especially holds it together in front of his spy babies because he is pretty much the dad. That is his job.

So when Harry loses his shit in I Spy Apocalypse it’s kind of a big deal. Since it turns out that he isn’t dying and he knows he isn’t dying, we have to wonder why he cried (other than to make it seem like he was dying to the audience.) I’ve thought about this a lot and I think the reason is that he has some time to himself to think and he is thinking “what if this did happen? What if everyone he knew and loved were killed in a huge terrorist attack? And he’s crying because of things he hasn’t said to his kids, things he hasn’t done (kiss Ruth for one) and mostly because he would have failed. If this happened it would rip his heart out because he dropped the ball at some point. He would blame himself. You know he would.

I never thought about that before. Because, yes, he’s not actually dying - and so why’s he crying? Surely not acting; he doesn’t seem the type. And so I love this explanation.

Harry :(

If he were acting for the benefit of the team I could see it, but he is alone crying for the audience. It’s just shitty writing really, once again gripping story at the expense of character and even plot continuity. But it’s what the actors and directors did with the writing that always amazes me. So this is really about my head canon for this moment and admiring Peter’s acting as always.

Favorite (non H/R) Harry Pearce Moments Harry doesn’t...

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 16:32:16 -0400

Favorite (non H/R) Harry Pearce Moments

Harry doesn’t loose his shit very often. I think he only cries twice in the whole series. His reactions to character deaths are mostly minimal. He is stoic and he especially holds it together in front of his spy babies because he is pretty much the dad. That is his job.

So when Harry loses his shit in I Spy Apocalypse it’s kind of a big deal. Since it turns out that he isn’t dying and he knows he isn’t dying, we have to wonder why he cried (other than to make it seem like he was dying to the audience.) I’ve thought about this a lot and I think the reason is that he has some time to himself to think and he is thinking “what if this did happen? What if everyone he knew and loved were killed in a huge terrorist attack? And he’s crying because of things he hasn’t said to his kids, things he hasn’t done (kiss Ruth for one) and mostly because he would have failed. If this happened it would rip his heart out because he dropped the ball at some point. He would blame himself. You know he would.