Michael Jackson séance to be shown live on TV
by Martin Higgins
Metro.co.uk
October 14, 2009

Sky TV to broadcast medium’s attempt to reach the late King of Pop

Sky Television has announced that psychic medium Derek Acorah will attempt to contact Michael Jackson in a live televised séance.

Two newly commissioned shows, Michael Jackson: The Live Séance and Michael Jackson: The Search For His Spirit, will be broadcast back-to-back on Sky in November.

Former T4 presenter, June Sarpong will present the programmes, which aim to give fans “a final chance to connect with their hero”. The séance is to take place at a secret location which was familiar to and once inhabited by the Thriller popstar. (more…)

Forthcoming Frida Kahlo book denounced as fake
by Jason Edward Kaufman
The Art Newspaper
20 August 09

Art historians assert that “lost archive” of paintings, drawings and diaries are forged

New York. A collection of Frida Kahlo oil paintings, diaries and archival material that is the subject of a book to be published by Princeton Architectural Press on 1 November has been denounced by scholars as a cache of fakes. Finding Frida Kahlo includes reproductions of paintings, drawings and handwritten letters, diaries, notes, trinkets and other ephemera attributed to the artist. They belong to Carlos Noyola and Leticia Fernández, a couple who own the antique store La Buhardilla Antiquarios in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. The publisher describes it as “an astonishing lost archive of one of the twentieth century’s most revered artists…full of ardent desires, seething fury, and outrageous humor”. (more…)

Hong Kong Broker Pulling A “Borat” On Sarah Palin
Vincent Fernando
Business Insider
September 1, 2009

Hopefully Sarah Palin realizes she’s been invited to Hong Kong as a practical joke.

CLSA, the Asia-focused broker who invited Mrs. Palin as keynote speaker for an Asian investment conference, is well known for their cheeky takes on investment research.

In the past, they’ve polled Asian fortune tellers for index targets, hired anime cartoonists to draw Japanese research, and generally love to push the boundaries between entertainment and analysis. They are a real research firm, it’s just that they love to sprinkle in some hilarity every now and then as a smart marketing gimmick.

Sarah Palin is this year’s big laugh for them. (more…)

Editor’s Note: In 1976, in one of his signature hoaxes, Joey Skaggs ran an ad in the Village Voice that said: “Cat House for Dogs, featuring a savory selection of hot bitches…” Along with this ad, he sent a press release to the media saying that if your dog graduated from obedience school, if it was his birthday, or if he was just horny, for $50 you could get your dog sexually gratified. This was not a breeding service, but purely a sexual pleasure service. The news media swallowed it hook, line and sinker. Could this be a re-run?

New Delhi Journal: Matchmaking in India: Canine Division
by Lydia Polgreen
The New York Times
August 17, 2009

New Delhi — Their lonely-hearts faces peer out of the advertisements, hangdog and looking for love.

“Hi, I am Musti,” one poster reads. “I am a well-mannered, good-looking and considerate hunk. I am very health conscious and love my carrots. I am a one-woman man and promise to take good care of you.”

And then there is Foster, all jowls and hooded eyes.

“Foster refuses to eat till we find him a girlfriend!” the poster declares.

In matrimony-mad India, where marriage is the central event of a lifetime, these posters could easily be for lovelorn, small-town bachelors, pasted up by anxious parents seeking a bride.

But the suitable girl these single fellows seek is of the furry, four-footed variety. Finding one, though, is not easy. (more…)

Charles Manson’s Secret Prison Business
New York Post, Page Six
August 2, 2009

Charles Manson secretly runs an autograph business out of his cell, peddling his signature to sicko collectors of crime memorabilia, a new book claims.

In “Five to Die,” out this month from Thor Publishing, veteran journalist Ivor Davis claims the homicidal cult leader has become one of the richest inmates in the California corrections system by selling signed photos and other mementos he quietly smuggles out of Corcoran State Prison.

“Only he doesn’t even sign the pictures. He has fellow inmates doing an assembly line of signatures for him. It shows you he’s still manipulating people. It really boggles the mind,” Davis told Page Six. (more…)

Berlin “sex academy” offers tips for visitors
by Caroline Copley
Reuters
July 11, 2009

Berlin – Wannabe Latin lovers can improve their technique by playing with the erogenous zones of naked mannequins at a new interactive exhibition that has now opened in Berlin.

The “Amora sex academy” that opened in Berlin on Thursday welcomes visitors with the wry slogan, “Finally — an exhibition for those who always have to touch everything.”

More than 50 interactive displays guide visitors through the intimate areas of the male and female bodies, offering helpful tips on everything from striptease to oral sex and how to achieve a perfect orgasm. (more…)

Stolen Liberty Statue Beheaded in Chilling YouTube Video
1010WINS
08 July 2009

New York — A replica of the Statue of Liberty swiped from a Brooklyn coffee shop last month has turned up in a shocking online video that shows its blindfolded head sawed off and then smashed to pieces with a bat.

Police are investigating the YouTube video which is reminiscent of real terrorist videos.

The slogans “We Don’t Want Your Freedom” and “Death to America” flash onto the screen repeatedly in the video which was posted anonymously on July 4.

The 200-pound statue vanished June 21 from outside Ditmas Park’s Vox Pop shop.

Debi Ryan, owner of the coffee shop, called the theft “un-American” and told the Daily News that she is “scared” after watching the video.

The 8-foot statue was donated by local artists. Shortly before the theft, it underwent a two-week makeover. It was bolted into wooden anchors outside the store.

The shop is known for left-wing political debate, poetry readings and open-mic events and Ryan says the video was “clearly politically motivated.”

The Return of the Montauk Monster?
AOL News
May 14, 2009

Will the Montauk Monster mystery finally be solved?

The remains of a mysterious creature, said to have been photographed on New York’s Long Island last weekend, have renewed speculation about monstrous creatures — or monstrous tricksters — lurking near Montauk.

Photos of a similar carcass allegedly found in the area became a global Internet sensation last year. Those remains were said to have disintegrated before they could be examined, according to Montauk-Monster.com, which has documented the finds in detail. But the site says the newly found monster is on ice.

“The beast smelled like a mix of low-tide and rotten garbage,” blog author Nicky Papers wrote on the site. “It really smelled horrific. I couldn’t help but take numerous pictures of it and video clips.” Papers said that it doesn’t matter if the new beastie turns out to come from mundane origins, as long as this time, the world learns what it really is.

thanks Linda

From Cell to Sell: Police Recruit Activists as Spies
PRWatch.org
May 12, 2009

Source: The Guardian (UK), April 27, 2009
In Scotland, police have been offering environmentalists money in return for information about activist groups. “They said ‘if you help us, we will help you,’” one anti-nuclear activist stated, referring to military police officers. The The Guardian reports that “a network of hundreds of informants … claim to have infiltrated a number of environmental groups,” providing police with “information about leaders, tactics and plans of future demonstrations.” One of the groups targeted by police, Plane Stupid, was previously infiltrated by a corporate spy. A police statement stressed their “responsibility to gather intelligence,” saying contacts were made “to ensure that any future protest activity is carried out within the law.” Plane Stupid responded, “Our civil liberties were invaded and our right to peaceful protest called into question simply to defend the interests of big business.” Scotland’s Sunday Herald reports that the covert police campaign goes back to at least 2005, when military police set up “cosy chats” with people arrested during a protest at a nuclear arms site.

image: d.yimg.com

Submitted by John Lundberg of circlemakers.org:

Once you’ve read this article, you might want to check out the movie site to see who is actually hoaxing whom…

When Joan Collins THOUGHT she’d met Banksy: The elaborate plot to impersonate graffiti artist and how the MoS foiled it
by James Tapper
DailyMail.co.uk
03rd May 2009

To Joan Collins it must have seemed an unexpected honour too good to refuse – the chance to meet the world-famous, and notoriously secretive, graffiti artist Banksy.

Not surprisingly, she readily accepted the invitation to host a dinner party for the mysterious artist in a grand country home, with other excited celebrities in attendance to share the unique experience.

But The Mail on Sunday has discovered that the entire story was an elaborate hoax, designed to dupe the Dynasty actress – and the rest of the world. (more…)

Submitted by Wayne Zebzda:

Yes, and I am Babe Ruth’s Daughter too…

Former Employer of Woman Who Claims Dad Was Zodiac Says She Told Him Her Dad Was John F. Kennedy
by Joe Eskenazi
CrimeFriday
May, 1 2009

Chris Sorensen, a mortgage bank and real estate expert who says he recently employed Deborah Perez, claims the woman who on Wednesday told throngs of reporters her stepfather was the Zodiac Killer last year told him she was actually the illegitimate daughter of President John F. Kennedy.

“Long story short, she trapped me outside my office and told me she wanted me to be aware that there was going to be a lot of publicity surrounding her very, very soon,” recalls Sorensen of an early 2008 discussion with his then-employee Deborah Perez. “She said it was very confidential, but it was about to be revealed that she was the illegitimate daughter of one of the Kennedys and indicated that President Kennedy was her father and it was about to be revealed.”

Steve Huff, who’s been following this story on our sister publication, True Crime Report, notes that crime author M. William Phelps — who Perez approached last year with the revelation that her stepfather, Guy Ward Hendrickson was the Zodiac Killer — also claims Perez told him she was JFK’s daughter: (more…)

Beyonce skives off Vienna art museum tour
Google.com
April 29, 2009

Vienna (AFP) — US pop star Beyonce has angered a high-brow art museum in Vienna by sending a look-a-like to her own special personal tour of the museum, while she went shopping, according to newspaper reports here Wednesday.

Tabloid dailies Oesterreich and Heute said the R&B diva had been due to visit the Albertina, one of the Austrian capital’s most famous museums which attracts around one million visitors each year.

Recent visitors include Hollywood stars such as Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and Nicolas Cage.

But Beyonce, who gave a concert in Vienna on Tuesday, decided to skive off and do some shopping instead, sending a look-a-like to the museum and be photographed with Albertina director, Klaus Albrecht Schroeder, according to the reports. Read the rest of the story here.

Mind Control with Derren Brown
by Jorge Luis Marzo:

Derren Brown, British illusionist, invited two advertising executives from Saatchi & Saatchi to participate in an experiment. The outcome is mindboggling: To what extent am I exercising free will when I make things up?

Watch this video clip from the SciFi Network on YouTube.

Español
Recientemente, el psicólogo educativo británico Stuart Nolan presentaba, en el marco de un simposio sobre ilusionismo y percepción en el MediaLab de Madrid, un caso verdaderamente sorprendente que hizo a todos los presentes preguntarse sobre la libertad de los actos que creemos “objetivamente nuestros”. (more…)

Giant Internet worm set to change tactics April 1
by Jordan Robertson
1010WINS
March 27, 2009

San Francisco (AP) — The fast-moving Conficker computer worm, a scourge of the Internet that has infected at least 3 million PCs, is set to spring to life in a new way on Wednesday – April Fools’ Day.

That’s when many of the poisoned machines will get more aggressive about “phoning home” to the worm’s creators over the Internet. When that happens, the bad guys behind the worm will be able to trigger the program to send spam, spread more infections, clog networks with traffic, or try and bring down Web sites.

Technically, this could cause havoc, from massive network outages to the creation of a cyberweapon of mass destruction that attacks government computers. But researchers who have been tracking Conficker say the date will probably come and go quietly.

More likely, these researchers say, the programming change that goes into effect April 1 is partly symbolic – an April Fools’ Day tweaking of Conficker’s pursuers, who for now have been able to prevent the worm from doing significant damage. Read the rest of the story here.

image: neoseeker.com

Man follows sat nav to cliff edge
BBC News
25 March 2009

A car was left teetering on a cliff edge after the driver followed sat nav directions down a Pennine footpath.

Robert Jones continued to follow the instructions when they told him the narrow, steep path he was driving on in Todmorden, West Yorkshire, was a road.

Mr Jones, from Doncaster, South Yorkshire, only stopped when his BMW hit a fence above Gauxholme railway bridge on Sunday morning. Read the rest of this story and watch the video here.

via Switched.com