On location.

On my way to meet my friend Chris at the Storm Crow this afternoon, I passed by the following piece of location filming setup at the corner of Arbutus and 6th.  (My apologies for the composition in this hurried photo, I wasn't sure if the burly security guard just around the corner was going to have a problem with photographers.)

 

On one hand, this could easily be a bit of futuristic set dressing.  On the other hand, it's a phone booth - and let's face it, phone booths are becoming increasingly rare other than at airports and similar locations where large numbers of people are trying to avoid roaming charges while travelling, which makes them an unlikely candidate as a prop in a science fiction film script.*  However, that being said, it makes it an equally unlikely prop in a contemporary film - could it be for some kind of 60s setting?

So, here's my request to the motley crew of friends, relatives, casual browsers and Russian spambots** which comprises my readership.  If you should happen to be watching a series or a movie sometime in the next year or so (post-production times will vary) and spot someone sobbing into the mouthpiece of this phone-in-a-dome, please leave me a comment - just so I know whether or not this picture actually belongs on a science fiction blog.

- Sid

* William Gibson has commented that the first thing his more youthful fans will notice about his seminal 1984 cyberpunk novel Neuromancer is the complete lack of cell phones - "which I’m sure young readers assume must be a key plot-point.”

** They rarely comment, but when they do it's quite insightful.