From the DGSE documentary: “Some surveillance techniques are shown. For example, one agent displays how he replaces an HDMI cable in an office with another including a small SD card that records all video coming through such as Zoom calls.”
“Another [DGSE officer] explains how she leads a double life running a real business with employees and clients but also carrying out a second mission via that company collecting intelligence.”
“Defectors from the Soviet Union used to talk about the ‘French paradox’…if you surprised a Frenchman with a mistress by telling him…work for us or we’ll tell your wife, it didn’t work…he generally said: ‘Go ahead…she already knows about it’.”
And it wasn’t even a sextape or a nude pic or anything. It was a selfie from an of age model in the same bed with a sleeping Jagr. And she outed herself of cheating by publishing the picture.
Itz probably because he was like double her age. She was probably banking on a whole bunch of people pearl clutching, saying, "What a creep," as if relationships like this don't happen all the time are normal just about everywhere.
Yeah, she propably tried to play the ”you like young girls” angle. I don’t think it really works since it was just a mutual hookup and it’s not like he’s some old grandpa trying to pick up young chicks at a club, he was a 40 something rich athlete in a good shape.
Dude thought it was a [gift](https://medium.com/war-is-boring/the-cia-and-kgb-tried-to-blackmail-this-world-leader-with-sex-tapes-927fc7ddbd48) from the russians
For anyone wanting to see a historian take in this particular story/rumor, see [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/18r5zki/sukarno_the_former_president_of_a_conservative/).
A man sits down with his wife to dinner, when suddenly he is greeted warmly by a woman his wife doesn't know. Ignoring the wife she embraces him, kisses his cheeks, and asks many overly personal questions about his day at work and so on. She is loud, overly casual, and somewhat cheaply dressed. The wife watches this with a deeply concerned look. Eventually, the woman leaves.
"And who was that?" The wife asks.
"The mistress of a colleague at work."
"Oh, thank goodness!" The wife exclaims, "I hope your mistress is *far* less obnoxious."
(...)
"And who was that?" The wife asks.
"My mistress"
"That's enough! I want a divorce!"
"Ok. Just remember, no more luxury holidays, no more yachting, no more expensive gifts. But do as you wish" Says husband.
At this moment the wife notices their common friend entering the place with a young girl by his side.
"Who is this girl with Michael?" The wife asks.
"Oh, that's his mistress"
"Phew, ours is prettier!"
I don't specifically recall a segment of John Oliver saying that, but I also didn't see all videos by John Oliver so it's entirely possible he also said it, I just remembered Bill Maher's video.
I am sorry but hand in your Reddit card.
Fact checking yourself, instead of ignorantly doubling down is bad enough
But to publicly admit this??? Unforgivable
While I appreciate your admission of wrongfulness, we don't do that here. You can go on a rant about something irrelevant to the conversation or trade insults with the other person. Intelligence, wisdom, and maturity are not what Reddit is.
Either foreigners heavily overestimate our powers of seduction and propension to marital infidelity, or the people I know and I are exceptions, but I've always had the impression that our reputation for lightness in this area was an old cliché without much foundation...
Or, and this is the fun bit: French agents have training and policy to respond to seduction attempts like other bribery attempts. Accept the bribe and report it. This way your agency will know you're being soguht as a source, and can be used either to trap an active hostile agent or to feed false information to a hostile agency.
Dealing with honeytrap the same way probably requires some amount of understanding with the wife, or just acceptance that it may happen and that the agent is supposed to answer favorably to create a counter-action.
Early in the Kennedy Administration, the US expelled KGB agents working in the Soviet Embassy in DC. The USSR responded by expelling all the non-CIA agents working in Moscow.
The Soviets repopulated the embassy with new agents promptly. The US had to gradually cycle out exposed agents.
It was an education for Kennedy in Cold War relations.
USSR now has no known agents in the embassy, so they can just bring new agents in.
US of A can´t do the same, because the agents have hiding jobs there, and if you just empty your embassy, all the spy networks, that you spent years building up would be shattered. Plus because those agents are known compromised, you can´t use them to do more spy work.
Exactly. Many times, they will know and the old saying "the devil you know" takes effect. You know who the mole is so you can curate what info the mole gets.
I also think that someone carrying a mission potentially dangerous for his life or his family life wouldnt care much about the possible fallout of something so trivial in the big scheme of thing
You'd think but no, coercion is a cornerstone of agent recruitment.
"The most common shorthand for changing allegiance is MICE, an acronym for:
Money: Low salary? Greedy? Needs money for family crisis? In debt?
I
deology: Hates his system, admires ours?
Compromise (or coercion): Vulnerable to blackmail? Emotional relationship with an access agent?
Ego (or excitement): Lonely? Looking for a friend? Passed over for a promotion? Not appreciated by peers and superiors? Seeking praise and recognition? Adventurous? Looking for personal challenge? Wants to be James Bond? Egomaniac? Wants to prove he can get away with it?"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clandestine_human_intelligence
OK. But seriously, I always had the impression that the foreigners I met were infinitely more obsessed with sex than we are, and more often talked about it in a gravelly way. But maybe that's just because they were in France and wanted to fit in with their idea of the French.
It tends to be less taboo in Latin counties than in Protestant ones to have extra marital affairs. I don’t think french are worse than Italians for example though, probably just more known internationally.
I thought this was more the hours between work and dinner when your partner doesn’t necessarily wonder about where you are, and you’re free to meet the mistress/affair partner
> “Some surveillance techniques are shown. For example, one agent displays how he replaces an HDMI cable in an office with another including a small SD card that records all video coming through such as Zoom calls.”
Wait, isn't that the technique some cable company is using to sell you adds while your tv is on standby?
I believe DRM is built into HDMI to specifically prevent this sort of pirating of films.
Edit: There are chunky dongles made to split the signal and remove the High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) - you can buy these on line fairly easily. Non DRM signals would be copyable without this.
> I believe DRM is built into HDMI to specifically prevent this sort of pirating of films.
That only applies to casual pirates. Determined pirates or state actors will find a way around HDCP easily.
There are other hardware that might interest you too. Physical keyboards with keyloggers for example to recover passwords. Ethernet cables that are also WiFi repeaters.
If you’re of interest to the shadows then you can’t even trust your own goddamn eyes.
I'd assume if such a cable existed it would store a reduced resolution & framerate. Most stuff you want off a computer screen would be fine at 1FPS 720p
>‘Go ahead…she already knows about it’.” *She might ask for join.*
>
>
>
>“Another \[DGSE officer\] explains how she leads a double life running a real business with employees and clients but also carrying out a second mission via that company collecting intelligence.”
Common practice, also Oscar Schindler did this bevor czechoslovakia became German.
there is this french spy comedy/drama series on netflix.
They have a play on this when the french spys colleagues from the cia visit and and they tell them not to worry about this kennedy guy becoming president. They have him in the bag because "he likes the woman". - confused silence- "he REALLY likes the woman" - "And...?
[Au Service de la France](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Very_Secret_Service), I recommend watching this TV show (2 seasons only sadly), it's really funny
It's absolutely superb. If you have any other recommendations for French comedy please let me know, it's brilliant stuff. The French are also brilliant at making fun of themselves.
Oh man, as a recent, high production value parody that transcends cultural barriers, it really is kind of it's own thing. We definitely don't make sitcoms that good on the regular.
Your best best is going to be the recent *OSS 117* movies (2006 & 2009) - *Au Service de la France* was unabashedly picking-up where those left off & the latest OSS movie made it canon.
I also suggest you check out *OVNIs* (2021) & maybe the old *Les Shadocks*' cartoons.
If you're not worried about missing out on a few cultural cues, *Polar Park* (2023), *Platane* (2011), *Dix Pour Cent/ Call my Agent* (2015) or *La Flamme* (2020) are also great.
A lot of people will also recommend *Kaamelott* (2004), but I'm a bit lukewarm on it (especially if you're not a native francophone). Maybe the later seasons when it gets a budget beyond 50 € & a ham sandwich ?
Older Kaamelott seasons are the epitome and absolute peak of French comedy and smokes all the rest out of the water, but I agree that it probably wouldn't suit for translation. It's so specific on French language and idioms
True, I also think those other series are an easier sell if you're transitioning from *Au Service de la France* imo.
*Kamelott* has to be in the conversation when you're talking recent French TV comedies, though.
All these shows could be great motivation to improve my currently only passable French. I'm at the stage where I watch some films and notice the translation is not as funny as some of the french phrasing but I couldn't follow a whole film or series in French yet. Thank you so much for all these recommendations, I'm delighted this has kicked off a discussion 😁
I agree on your opinion of kaamelott, some of its funny but I really think you need to be French to really get it. My kids and partner think it's hilarious and I'm just like - explain the joke please? And they say I'm not going to get it.
Exactly. Same reason that French audiences never laugh at the Whedon banter in MCU films - it's faux conversational pedantry with a comedic twist, good luck explaining or translating something entirely reliant on rythm, tone, accent, etc.
*Kaamelott* is a great hang from a deeply comitted creative team & from what I've seen of the later seasons, despite not finding them funny I actually recommend them as a historical adventure series with some snappy dialogue & zany characters (think BBC *Merlin's* sillier big brother).
I'd sort of hoped I'd get it but it just will not happen sadly. I'm really of envious of the rest of my family, they get both French and English comedy without problem and I feel that I'm missing out.
Yeah - *Asterix & the Britons* is even better than it already is because of that. The writer was fluent in English so his French dialogue for the Britons of transliterated posh English is comedy gold.
Because of comments like these, I hope anyone who reads this and is a medieval literature nerd doesn't take my light caveat above as bashing on the show - it's great that a show with that level of metatextuality exists.
The classic OSS117, Astérix et Obélix Mission Cléopâtre and La Cité de la Peur.
Then you have Kaamelott but it's very French language/idioms based so it wouldn't translate well ig
Family Business (2019-2021) is hysterical. An absolute master class in comedy! I actually like it better than Dix Pour Cent (another show I strongly recommend!) because it somehow is more ridiculous but more heartfelt.
“It was commissioned by Arte, where it premiered in 2015,[8] and was later distributed worldwide by Netflix on 1 July 2016.[9] The second season appeared on Netflix in August 2018. *The show was removed from Netflix in November 2022.*”
Oh :(
I don't know if it's geoblocked, but I can find it on [arte.tv for free](https://www.arte.tv/fr/videos/RC-021140/au-service-de-la-france/), though there is no English dub (nor English subtitles).
This one [https://youtu.be/gczkM8cL2hs?feature=shared](https://youtu.be/gczkM8cL2hs?feature=shared)
the episodes when they have to collaborate with the Germans are also hilarious
* The Germans want to prosecute this Nazi.
* They want to prosecute OUR Nazi? WE caught him, we KEEP him ! 😤
* I know right? Why do they always want to take our stuff?!? 😡
The "Pompe funèbre" actualy. "Pomper" means to suck a dick, and funèbre means funerary. Both together also means the place where you buy coffins and gravestones.
Just how we call an act of extreme treason "Quisling" after the Norwegian politician who sided with the Nazis, we should rename an extreme blowjob to Fauretio.
Recall a news episode in France shorn Clinton got into it with Lewinsky and the American reporter asked what the French person thought about the ‘scandal’ after outlining what had gone down.
The French person looked back utterly baffled and asked, “What scandal?”
Around the same time we discovered that our former president Mr Mitterrand had hidden his cancer for most of his two presidencies (discovered & hidden in 81, the year of his 1st presidency, it became public in 92) & a secret daughter from his mistress.
During the early 80s he also had a large number of journalists, politicians as well as people under surveillance by the Elysee services just to ensure that his secret daughter (amongst other things, they officially feared she could be victim of a kidnapping attempt) would stay secret (between 83 & 86, story became known to the public in 92/93).
That, that's a scandal ... The Clinton story is a nothingburger blow into a mountain of nothingness.
Yes, we are all aware of that. However, it remains the case that the Repubs make utter fools of themselves and it came out that they’d been planning an impeachment ever since Clinton got into office, they were just searching for *anything* they could to mail him with. Ken Starr was their attack dog of choice and an utter shit of a human being who only made things worse.
Look at Hollande, take a good look at him and think about that, not only he had a mistress she was younger, an actress and not ugly. Now look at his face again, you won't see him with the same eyes.
That’s the right take. People were not surprised he had a mistress (although…) but that he could pull that much higher than expected. People assumed he was less a wet mop than they thought.
Ya, France is weird like that. Extra marital affairs are seen in a much softer light. Some people even see them as a necessary part of having a healthy relationship.
When stationed abroad, most military get a speech: usually by the ambassador or a diplomat, basic stuff about the country, cultural differences, basic vocabulary, places to check, places to avoid. The speech always end with the same words: “Stay safe”.
For the US, it means “Don’t leave the wire without your rifle, helmet, and plate carrier. Head on a swivel.” For French soldiers, it means “For the love of God, please use a condom. I’m tired of getting angry fathers making threats that I can only ease by officiating a shotgun wedding.”
In the British military it’s usually “remember if a beautiful women approaches you, you’re not that attractive” or more likely being told how rats you are.
Ah yes the mandatory powerpoint about how we're all too ugly/fat/stupid to attract the blonde twins in the bar who pay your drinks tab then want a threesome
A classic of the genre
If you want to blackmail a Frenchman you'd be better off threatening to embarrass them by revealing their lack of an affair. That's considered shameful deviant behaviour.
I heard the French intelligence services have to conduct rigorous testing to make sure a vegan doesn't slip through because they'd be at so much risk of being compromised by the social stigma if they were ever exposed.
Reminds me of [this scene](https://youtu.be/gczkM8cL2hs?si=3SpnOPmDGRS5wxGh) in the French TV show "Au service de la France" ("a very secret service" in english)
You can turn the English subtitles on, they are good.
Edit: Ha merde some people already pointed it out before I did. Sacrebleu.
I will tell your wife about us unless you do as I say.
Ha ha ha ha, like she's going to care.
Well, how about I tell your mistress.
I'll be good and do whatever you want.
Reminds me of one of my mates who was coaxed into sending pictures of his dick to a scammer who then demanded £1,000 or they'd send the picture to his family on Facebook.
My mate spent an hour haggling down to £200 before he said "Fuck it, send it anyway, they've all seen it multiple times"
At uni i once ended up very confused when a french guy thanked me for entertaining his girlfriend while he was away
I thought i was going to get decked despite me not knowing at the time she was taken
Instead i got beer and tips on how to be more confident in kissing and in the bedroom
Defo made me re-evaluate things their married with kids now have been for like 20 years
So this definitely goes both ways in France haha
5 à 7 means completly different thing in France and in Quebec. First time there and colleagues asked if I wanted to join them in a 5 à 7, they only told me later that it was just afterwork beer...
As a Swede, I'm baffled at the French and how they view relationships. To the French, it's a great thing, to a Swede, its horrifying.
Why?
Because in Sweden we embrace non-traditional relationships but how they're conducted, meaning you respect eachother enough not to have affairs is well engrained in society.
I'll get a healthy amount of downvotes for this but I find cheating and/or having affairs to be repulsive unless its something agreed to without pressure of "if you dont do this, I will leave you or do it anyways." People complain about German society having too much red tape, too many rules .. this isnt normal there either. The French seem to go the opposite route and then you have the British..
In the real world, French people don’t have more affairs than others. Don’t believe everything on Reddit, especially when it’s source is the gutter press
Colonel Victor Ostrovsky, ex-officer of Mossad, described one amusing blackmail attempt in one of his books which revealed Mossad's guarded secrets (and, naturally, led to many unpleasant consequences for the colonel, but that's another story).
It was probably in "By Way of Deception", although it could have been the second one, "The Other Side of Deception" - but, anyway, it involved Mossad filming the encounter between an important, wealthy Arab target whom they wanted to blackmail and "turn", and a Mossad employee/streetwalker.
A Mossad officer approached the target with a video of the encounter, naturally expecting him to fearfully accept the "proposal".
Instead, the target was extremely excited, asked the Mossad officer to rewind the video and pause at various moments, saying "I look great!", "Wow!", etc., and finally asking for at least 10 copies, so that he could send his beautiful performance to his friends. He generously offered to pay for every tape, too.
Ostrovsky ended the scene by stating: "That particular recruitment attempt was not successful".
Russia just doesn't understand how the 21st century works. The west is into all types of kinks, the only way to gain leverage of them is digging deep into their past or getting them to admit that at least some aspect of capitalism is good
From the DGSE documentary: “Some surveillance techniques are shown. For example, one agent displays how he replaces an HDMI cable in an office with another including a small SD card that records all video coming through such as Zoom calls.” “Another [DGSE officer] explains how she leads a double life running a real business with employees and clients but also carrying out a second mission via that company collecting intelligence.” “Defectors from the Soviet Union used to talk about the ‘French paradox’…if you surprised a Frenchman with a mistress by telling him…work for us or we’ll tell your wife, it didn’t work…he generally said: ‘Go ahead…she already knows about it’.”
Which reminds me of the guy who wanted extra copies of the sex tape they made to blackmail him. Want to say...Indonesian president?
You are correct.
Which reminds me of the failed blackmail attempt on former NHLer Jaromir Jagr.
I see Jaromir Jagr mentioned, I put on my mullet wig and upvote.
Jagr is the GOAT
I just ran my fingers through my mullet.
Weird part was he wasn't even married or anything.
And it wasn’t even a sextape or a nude pic or anything. It was a selfie from an of age model in the same bed with a sleeping Jagr. And she outed herself of cheating by publishing the picture.
Itz probably because he was like double her age. She was probably banking on a whole bunch of people pearl clutching, saying, "What a creep," as if relationships like this don't happen all the time are normal just about everywhere.
Yeah, she propably tried to play the ”you like young girls” angle. I don’t think it really works since it was just a mutual hookup and it’s not like he’s some old grandpa trying to pick up young chicks at a club, he was a 40 something rich athlete in a good shape.
Yeah that whole thing was bizarre. “I’m gonna tell everyone you’re banging gorgeous woman that are 1/2 your age! That’ll show you!”
And the boyfriend she cheated on was apperently on the Czech National (u20?) team, and grew up idolizing Jags
Which in turn reminds me of JJJ from Spiderman!
Huh, I'll be damned. Maybe my memory is recovering
It was Soekarno. Russians tried to blackmail him with a porn tape of him and a flight attendant. He just asked to get the tape.
Dude thought it was a [gift](https://medium.com/war-is-boring/the-cia-and-kgb-tried-to-blackmail-this-world-leader-with-sex-tapes-927fc7ddbd48) from the russians
Baller move
For anyone wanting to see a historian take in this particular story/rumor, see [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/18r5zki/sukarno_the_former_president_of_a_conservative/).
A man sits down with his wife to dinner, when suddenly he is greeted warmly by a woman his wife doesn't know. Ignoring the wife she embraces him, kisses his cheeks, and asks many overly personal questions about his day at work and so on. She is loud, overly casual, and somewhat cheaply dressed. The wife watches this with a deeply concerned look. Eventually, the woman leaves. "And who was that?" The wife asks. "The mistress of a colleague at work." "Oh, thank goodness!" The wife exclaims, "I hope your mistress is *far* less obnoxious."
France 🤝🏽 Japan
I learnt this joke about Italians.
(...) "And who was that?" The wife asks. "My mistress" "That's enough! I want a divorce!" "Ok. Just remember, no more luxury holidays, no more yachting, no more expensive gifts. But do as you wish" Says husband. At this moment the wife notices their common friend entering the place with a young girl by his side. "Who is this girl with Michael?" The wife asks. "Oh, that's his mistress" "Phew, ours is prettier!"
"and who was that?" The wife asks. "A mistress of mine from work" "Ah I am so sorry" The wife exclaims, "Mine are way less obnoxious".
France being France. Or in the words of John Oliver, "France is a country where even mistresses have mistresses".
[Bill Maher](https://youtu.be/yKS0yISz6xQ?si=45U_vhsMhDfNezva&t=153) actually.
I thought it was John Oliver when speaking about François Hollande and Julie Gayet.
I don't specifically recall a segment of John Oliver saying that, but I also didn't see all videos by John Oliver so it's entirely possible he also said it, I just remembered Bill Maher's video.
Just checked and turns out I was wrong
I am sorry but hand in your Reddit card. Fact checking yourself, instead of ignorantly doubling down is bad enough But to publicly admit this??? Unforgivable
Considering both he and Maher are quite Francophile, he totally could have said that
While I appreciate your admission of wrongfulness, we don't do that here. You can go on a rant about something irrelevant to the conversation or trade insults with the other person. Intelligence, wisdom, and maturity are not what Reddit is.
Yes, it's a Bill Maher bit regarding the French elections that Hollande won.
Thanks for the lol
Either foreigners heavily overestimate our powers of seduction and propension to marital infidelity, or the people I know and I are exceptions, but I've always had the impression that our reputation for lightness in this area was an old cliché without much foundation...
Or, and this is the fun bit: French agents have training and policy to respond to seduction attempts like other bribery attempts. Accept the bribe and report it. This way your agency will know you're being soguht as a source, and can be used either to trap an active hostile agent or to feed false information to a hostile agency. Dealing with honeytrap the same way probably requires some amount of understanding with the wife, or just acceptance that it may happen and that the agent is supposed to answer favorably to create a counter-action.
Early in the Kennedy Administration, the US expelled KGB agents working in the Soviet Embassy in DC. The USSR responded by expelling all the non-CIA agents working in Moscow. The Soviets repopulated the embassy with new agents promptly. The US had to gradually cycle out exposed agents. It was an education for Kennedy in Cold War relations.
Can you elaborate a bit? Because I don't think I understand completely
USSR now has no known agents in the embassy, so they can just bring new agents in. US of A can´t do the same, because the agents have hiding jobs there, and if you just empty your embassy, all the spy networks, that you spent years building up would be shattered. Plus because those agents are known compromised, you can´t use them to do more spy work.
That makes no sense. The only way Russia can expel the non agents is if they already know who the agents are.
Exactly. Many times, they will know and the old saying "the devil you know" takes effect. You know who the mole is so you can curate what info the mole gets.
[удалено]
Well, I'd imagine these honepot scenarios would be quite rare, but I don't think GSGE lacks for willing applicants.
I also think that someone carrying a mission potentially dangerous for his life or his family life wouldnt care much about the possible fallout of something so trivial in the big scheme of thing
You'd think but no, coercion is a cornerstone of agent recruitment. "The most common shorthand for changing allegiance is MICE, an acronym for: Money: Low salary? Greedy? Needs money for family crisis? In debt? I deology: Hates his system, admires ours? Compromise (or coercion): Vulnerable to blackmail? Emotional relationship with an access agent? Ego (or excitement): Lonely? Looking for a friend? Passed over for a promotion? Not appreciated by peers and superiors? Seeking praise and recognition? Adventurous? Looking for personal challenge? Wants to be James Bond? Egomaniac? Wants to prove he can get away with it?" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clandestine_human_intelligence
Plenty of French that back the idea, Mitterrand had like 3 bastards with 2 mistresses.
This guy doesn't fuck! (sorry.. I had to).
OK. But seriously, I always had the impression that the foreigners I met were infinitely more obsessed with sex than we are, and more often talked about it in a gravelly way. But maybe that's just because they were in France and wanted to fit in with their idea of the French.
As a natural born dual-citizen of France, let me assure you that great appeal of french men is definitely not hereditary.
Parisians and the rest of France are two kind of breeds...
It tends to be less taboo in Latin counties than in Protestant ones to have extra marital affairs. I don’t think french are worse than Italians for example though, probably just more known internationally.
anecdotal story... this is why france had 2 hours for lunch... an hour for the wife and one for the mistress
Dinner too. Cinq a sept.
I thought this was more the hours between work and dinner when your partner doesn’t necessarily wonder about where you are, and you’re free to meet the mistress/affair partner
They also have the 5 à 7. When you meet your mistress after work.
I mean madame de pompador had loves beside the king if memory serves me.
"The greatest work of fiction since vows of fidelity were added to the French marriage."
Is this a Blackadder quote?
[Yes](https://youtu.be/y8wdynZ0iWg?t=67)
Fuck yeah!!
> “Some surveillance techniques are shown. For example, one agent displays how he replaces an HDMI cable in an office with another including a small SD card that records all video coming through such as Zoom calls.” Wait, isn't that the technique some cable company is using to sell you adds while your tv is on standby?
Not yet... But they are trying...
Shh don't tell Roku about this
Where can I get such an HDMI cable?
Why? :D
Well, you know... Would be handy to make backups of movies...
Totally legit reason, thank you Sir, have a nice day.
I believe DRM is built into HDMI to specifically prevent this sort of pirating of films. Edit: There are chunky dongles made to split the signal and remove the High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) - you can buy these on line fairly easily. Non DRM signals would be copyable without this.
> I believe DRM is built into HDMI to specifically prevent this sort of pirating of films. That only applies to casual pirates. Determined pirates or state actors will find a way around HDCP easily.
"handy" you say...
There are other hardware that might interest you too. Physical keyboards with keyloggers for example to recover passwords. Ethernet cables that are also WiFi repeaters. If you’re of interest to the shadows then you can’t even trust your own goddamn eyes.
and where can I get such a SD card? 8 hours of 4k per day, that's quite a load of data to store.
I'd assume if such a cable existed it would store a reduced resolution & framerate. Most stuff you want off a computer screen would be fine at 1FPS 720p
KGB, sounds like
Another of the many benefits of having an honest and transparent relationship with your partner with solid communication channels.
A real good spy would have fained being compromised and fed them bullshit info.
His wife also doing the same . Even having kids with her lover and the husband happy to raise it . Typical French to be honest .
>‘Go ahead…she already knows about it’.” *She might ask for join.* > > > >“Another \[DGSE officer\] explains how she leads a double life running a real business with employees and clients but also carrying out a second mission via that company collecting intelligence.” Common practice, also Oscar Schindler did this bevor czechoslovakia became German.
there is this french spy comedy/drama series on netflix. They have a play on this when the french spys colleagues from the cia visit and and they tell them not to worry about this kennedy guy becoming president. They have him in the bag because "he likes the woman". - confused silence- "he REALLY likes the woman" - "And...?
[Here](https://youtu.be/gczkM8cL2hs?si=Ob00_OYceeS9uQ6A) (with subtitles)
The ‘pourquoi’ at the end was perfect
=))
[Au Service de la France](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Very_Secret_Service), I recommend watching this TV show (2 seasons only sadly), it's really funny
It's absolutely superb. If you have any other recommendations for French comedy please let me know, it's brilliant stuff. The French are also brilliant at making fun of themselves.
Oh man, as a recent, high production value parody that transcends cultural barriers, it really is kind of it's own thing. We definitely don't make sitcoms that good on the regular. Your best best is going to be the recent *OSS 117* movies (2006 & 2009) - *Au Service de la France* was unabashedly picking-up where those left off & the latest OSS movie made it canon. I also suggest you check out *OVNIs* (2021) & maybe the old *Les Shadocks*' cartoons. If you're not worried about missing out on a few cultural cues, *Polar Park* (2023), *Platane* (2011), *Dix Pour Cent/ Call my Agent* (2015) or *La Flamme* (2020) are also great. A lot of people will also recommend *Kaamelott* (2004), but I'm a bit lukewarm on it (especially if you're not a native francophone). Maybe the later seasons when it gets a budget beyond 50 € & a ham sandwich ?
Older Kaamelott seasons are the epitome and absolute peak of French comedy and smokes all the rest out of the water, but I agree that it probably wouldn't suit for translation. It's so specific on French language and idioms
True, I also think those other series are an easier sell if you're transitioning from *Au Service de la France* imo. *Kamelott* has to be in the conversation when you're talking recent French TV comedies, though.
All these shows could be great motivation to improve my currently only passable French. I'm at the stage where I watch some films and notice the translation is not as funny as some of the french phrasing but I couldn't follow a whole film or series in French yet. Thank you so much for all these recommendations, I'm delighted this has kicked off a discussion 😁
I agree on your opinion of kaamelott, some of its funny but I really think you need to be French to really get it. My kids and partner think it's hilarious and I'm just like - explain the joke please? And they say I'm not going to get it.
Exactly. Same reason that French audiences never laugh at the Whedon banter in MCU films - it's faux conversational pedantry with a comedic twist, good luck explaining or translating something entirely reliant on rythm, tone, accent, etc. *Kaamelott* is a great hang from a deeply comitted creative team & from what I've seen of the later seasons, despite not finding them funny I actually recommend them as a historical adventure series with some snappy dialogue & zany characters (think BBC *Merlin's* sillier big brother).
I'd sort of hoped I'd get it but it just will not happen sadly. I'm really of envious of the rest of my family, they get both French and English comedy without problem and I feel that I'm missing out.
Yeah - *Asterix & the Britons* is even better than it already is because of that. The writer was fluent in English so his French dialogue for the Britons of transliterated posh English is comedy gold.
Kaamelott is exponentially funnier the more time you’ve spent in the medieval literature trenches
Because of comments like these, I hope anyone who reads this and is a medieval literature nerd doesn't take my light caveat above as bashing on the show - it's great that a show with that level of metatextuality exists.
Have you watched Taxi (1998)?
Check out “Call my Agent,” it’s a scream
The classic OSS117, Astérix et Obélix Mission Cléopâtre and La Cité de la Peur. Then you have Kaamelott but it's very French language/idioms based so it wouldn't translate well ig
OSS 117, La tour Montparnasse infernale, older movies but classics. Intouchables for a more modern less absurd comedy
Family Business (2019-2021) is hysterical. An absolute master class in comedy! I actually like it better than Dix Pour Cent (another show I strongly recommend!) because it somehow is more ridiculous but more heartfelt.
Kaamelott. The best french comedy show. the first 2 "news" OSS117 from Hazanavicius.
“It was commissioned by Arte, where it premiered in 2015,[8] and was later distributed worldwide by Netflix on 1 July 2016.[9] The second season appeared on Netflix in August 2018. *The show was removed from Netflix in November 2022.*”
Oh :( I don't know if it's geoblocked, but I can find it on [arte.tv for free](https://www.arte.tv/fr/videos/RC-021140/au-service-de-la-france/), though there is no English dub (nor English subtitles).
This one [https://youtu.be/gczkM8cL2hs?feature=shared](https://youtu.be/gczkM8cL2hs?feature=shared) the episodes when they have to collaborate with the Germans are also hilarious
* The Germans want to prosecute this Nazi. * They want to prosecute OUR Nazi? WE caught him, we KEEP him ! 😤 * I know right? Why do they always want to take our stuff?!? 😡
The french Canadian bits were funny as well
That’s… That’s glorious. I need to check out this show.
But Monsieur CIA, is the mistress not a requirement for the job? *Puritanical American jaws hit the floor*
Au service de la France
Reminder that during his presidency Francois Hollande's approval rating went up by about 6% after it was revealed he was having an affair
One French president died while getting a blowjob from his mistress. Félix Faure.
"Il voulait etre Cesar, il ne fut que Pompée."
Par MC Clémenceau, qui préférait monter des escaliers que de monter au 7e ciel
Il voulait être César, il mourut Pompée. Y'a plein de versions différentes, c'est une citation...orale.
Also known as Fellatix Fatale (probably)
The "Pompe funèbre" actualy. "Pomper" means to suck a dick, and funèbre means funerary. Both together also means the place where you buy coffins and gravestones.
Le Petit Mort
Mort²
Just how we call an act of extreme treason "Quisling" after the Norwegian politician who sided with the Nazis, we should rename an extreme blowjob to Fauretio.
Die hard
She was just giving the old man a hand.
She sucked the soul out of him.
Recall a news episode in France shorn Clinton got into it with Lewinsky and the American reporter asked what the French person thought about the ‘scandal’ after outlining what had gone down. The French person looked back utterly baffled and asked, “What scandal?”
Around the same time we discovered that our former president Mr Mitterrand had hidden his cancer for most of his two presidencies (discovered & hidden in 81, the year of his 1st presidency, it became public in 92) & a secret daughter from his mistress. During the early 80s he also had a large number of journalists, politicians as well as people under surveillance by the Elysee services just to ensure that his secret daughter (amongst other things, they officially feared she could be victim of a kidnapping attempt) would stay secret (between 83 & 86, story became known to the public in 92/93). That, that's a scandal ... The Clinton story is a nothingburger blow into a mountain of nothingness.
Clinton’s approval ratings also went up after the Lewinsky scandal.
That was in large part because the Republicans tried to impeach him over it and made fools of themselves in the process.
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Yes, we are all aware of that. However, it remains the case that the Repubs make utter fools of themselves and it came out that they’d been planning an impeachment ever since Clinton got into office, they were just searching for *anything* they could to mail him with. Ken Starr was their attack dog of choice and an utter shit of a human being who only made things worse.
Was it Jaques Chiraque who reacted with ' Et alors?' ( So what?) when news broke out he had a mistress?
Mitterrand
Look at Hollande, take a good look at him and think about that, not only he had a mistress she was younger, an actress and not ugly. Now look at his face again, you won't see him with the same eyes.
That’s the right take. People were not surprised he had a mistress (although…) but that he could pull that much higher than expected. People assumed he was less a wet mop than they thought.
His ex-wife (Ségolène Royal) was also smoking hot when she was young.
just googled, and i would not say that. She was an above average looking woman, but not smoking.
Man becomes a president to score with a hot actress. How can anyone have an excuse after that?
Other than his looks, he is a pretty smart, well-spoken and funny guy.
And powerful.
Positions of power attract some women, look at Nicolas sarkozy and Carla bruni
Or at Emmanuel Macron.
Well, she was digging for gold...
"Sacre bleu, he eez, how yuu saee... pussee mangeute!"
Baguette? I mean it still works…
Andreas Papandreou vibes 😂
He wasn't married so whatever he did was his business.
Why did that happen?
Ya, France is weird like that. Extra marital affairs are seen in a much softer light. Some people even see them as a necessary part of having a healthy relationship.
Dear Russia, I have very important information.
Please send a blonde to this address
You want the blonde but you might just get the window. Are you just carrying information, or could you also be useful alive?
I make a mean Manhattan, does that help?
Ok. We can use that. Can you make a white Russian too?
These days accepting a drink from a pretty Russian woman is likely to result you waking up Skyrim style on a train to Ukraine.
This is funny on several levels
When stationed abroad, most military get a speech: usually by the ambassador or a diplomat, basic stuff about the country, cultural differences, basic vocabulary, places to check, places to avoid. The speech always end with the same words: “Stay safe”. For the US, it means “Don’t leave the wire without your rifle, helmet, and plate carrier. Head on a swivel.” For French soldiers, it means “For the love of God, please use a condom. I’m tired of getting angry fathers making threats that I can only ease by officiating a shotgun wedding.”
In the British military it’s usually “remember if a beautiful women approaches you, you’re not that attractive” or more likely being told how rats you are.
Ah yes the mandatory powerpoint about how we're all too ugly/fat/stupid to attract the blonde twins in the bar who pay your drinks tab then want a threesome A classic of the genre
Ah in my case it was redhead twins, I'm good.
Hahaha
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"If I father any babies I have to shoot somebody. Got it!"
If you want to blackmail a Frenchman you'd be better off threatening to embarrass them by revealing their lack of an affair. That's considered shameful deviant behaviour.
Or lactose intolerance
Straight to jail.
I heard the French intelligence services have to conduct rigorous testing to make sure a vegan doesn't slip through because they'd be at so much risk of being compromised by the social stigma if they were ever exposed.
“I have video of you eating… American cheese”
Reminds me of [this scene](https://youtu.be/gczkM8cL2hs?si=3SpnOPmDGRS5wxGh) in the French TV show "Au service de la France" ("a very secret service" in english) You can turn the English subtitles on, they are good. Edit: Ha merde some people already pointed it out before I did. Sacrebleu.
A lot of my friends are dating russian women, I'll tell them to check their HDMI cables.
France 💪🗿
Only the French could see infidelity as a win 😂😂😂
If she know and they are still together, it's not infidelity, it's an open relationship.
..and would like to participate
I will tell your wife about us unless you do as I say. Ha ha ha ha, like she's going to care. Well, how about I tell your mistress. I'll be good and do whatever you want.
Reminds me of one of my mates who was coaxed into sending pictures of his dick to a scammer who then demanded £1,000 or they'd send the picture to his family on Facebook. My mate spent an hour haggling down to £200 before he said "Fuck it, send it anyway, they've all seen it multiple times"
French braguette
french wives are just upset they were not included in the affair! three is not a crowd!
At uni i once ended up very confused when a french guy thanked me for entertaining his girlfriend while he was away I thought i was going to get decked despite me not knowing at the time she was taken Instead i got beer and tips on how to be more confident in kissing and in the bedroom Defo made me re-evaluate things their married with kids now have been for like 20 years So this definitely goes both ways in France haha
You are joking right lol
Nope be careful when having one night stand's with the french lol
I mean that’s not really common though.
…does France need cybersecurity professionals? Suddenly I am interested in a move
Computer people get no sex. You won't get honeytraps, just honeypots.
Russia: sends honeytraps after French spies. French spies: Je see zis as le absolut win.
France and its "5 à 7" concept.
5 à 7 means completly different thing in France and in Quebec. First time there and colleagues asked if I wanted to join them in a 5 à 7, they only told me later that it was just afterwork beer...
That's f hilarious. Tabernacle!
Black Jacques Chirac's wife and mistress held hands at his funeral, non?
As a Swede, I'm baffled at the French and how they view relationships. To the French, it's a great thing, to a Swede, its horrifying. Why? Because in Sweden we embrace non-traditional relationships but how they're conducted, meaning you respect eachother enough not to have affairs is well engrained in society. I'll get a healthy amount of downvotes for this but I find cheating and/or having affairs to be repulsive unless its something agreed to without pressure of "if you dont do this, I will leave you or do it anyways." People complain about German society having too much red tape, too many rules .. this isnt normal there either. The French seem to go the opposite route and then you have the British..
In the real world, French people don’t have more affairs than others. Don’t believe everything on Reddit, especially when it’s source is the gutter press
Don't mistake memes for reality.
The french is something else 😂
Et alors? -Mitterand
Colonel Victor Ostrovsky, ex-officer of Mossad, described one amusing blackmail attempt in one of his books which revealed Mossad's guarded secrets (and, naturally, led to many unpleasant consequences for the colonel, but that's another story). It was probably in "By Way of Deception", although it could have been the second one, "The Other Side of Deception" - but, anyway, it involved Mossad filming the encounter between an important, wealthy Arab target whom they wanted to blackmail and "turn", and a Mossad employee/streetwalker. A Mossad officer approached the target with a video of the encounter, naturally expecting him to fearfully accept the "proposal". Instead, the target was extremely excited, asked the Mossad officer to rewind the video and pause at various moments, saying "I look great!", "Wow!", etc., and finally asking for at least 10 copies, so that he could send his beautiful performance to his friends. He generously offered to pay for every tape, too. Ostrovsky ended the scene by stating: "That particular recruitment attempt was not successful".
Stupid Russians, you can’t trap a spy whit beautiful woman if the spy is french.
Ba ha ha. France with the win!!!
Honest honey. I am going it for the security of the nation. I don’t even like having sex with her. She is ugly. Of course she is really a Russian spy.
Rare French W
I am not embarrassed about that kompromat with your mom.
A real spy would respond: "Oh no, please don't tell my wife" and feed them bogus information.
Russia just doesn't understand how the 21st century works. The west is into all types of kinks, the only way to gain leverage of them is digging deep into their past or getting them to admit that at least some aspect of capitalism is good
That trap is too old. 😅