Movie of the Week

There was a movie producer in the cab the other day but I didn’t have a story for him. Now I do. This is a movie plot if ever there was one. First the background. As part of Australia’s National Science Week,  a website is allowing users to send short text message into space. You can visit HelloFromEarth.net to post messages no longer than 160 characters. The messages will be transmitted to Gliese 581d, the nearest Earth-like planet outside the solar system likely to support life. Delivery time is about 20 years after the messages are transmitted from the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex. Now, back to the movie.  A lonely librarian sends a message from work. “I’d love to be transported to another world, Laura.” Thousands of messages pour through the Deep Space Communication Complex, but this one message doesn’t go into space, it goes to a local computer and the man who receives it, who could be an alien, goes to the library and meets Laura and tells her he got her message. She is afraid of him at first but comes to believe he might be from another world. Her friends warn her about him and they try to check him out online but he doesn’t seem to have an identity. He seems to appear out of nowhere sometimes but he is kind and funny and she begins to look forward to his appearances. She lives with her overbearing mother who thinks the man is just creepy, partly because he won’t eat her baked beans. After a while, Laura begins to anticipate his visits and, one day, they both disappear. Her friends and dysfunctional family call the police and there is an investigation along with a series of “Where is Laura?” stories in the local press that go international. Experts say it’s not possible, but others believe she vanished to another world, all because she sent a message asking to be transported. In the final scene, Laura and the man are pushing a baby buggy through a park. “Your world looks like mine,” she says. “Of course it does,” he says. “they all do.”

Boy I can’t wait till I meet up with another movie producer. Think I’ll cruise the theatre district.

Matchmaker, Matchmaker

I’m not superstitious but when  I heard Air New Zealand plans a matchmaking flight for Oct. 13, I had to check to make sure it wasn’t Friday the 13th. It’s a Tuesday. If you want to go, the flight leaves Vancouver and goes to LA where there is a matchmaking party before boarding for the overnight flight to New Zealand. En route, there will be party packs, an open bar and speed dating. When you get to New Zealand, there is a singles festival to attend if nothing worked out on the flight. If the festival is a bust, call me when you get home. I’m thinking of offering matchmaking cab rides.

Mona Lisa Dodges Mug

Over the years, the Mona Lisa has been stolen, damaged by acid and hit by a rock and now the famous painting by Leonardo da Vinci has taken another hit. This time a woman threw a ceramic mug at the famous painting on display at the Louvre in Paris.  Fortunately, the mug she threw did not penetrate the bullet proof glass that protects the painting. The woman, a Russian,  threw the mug because she was having trouble extending her visa to stay in France. I’m sure immigration will come up with something now.