Snakes On A Plane, In A Car, For Real

Unexpected Publicity for Snakes on a Plane

New Line is already drowning in free publicity for Snakes on a Plane, but it doesn't hurt to have an actual snake on an actual plane make news, adding to the public awareness of the title (of course the story references the movie).

Customs officials in the Netherlands discovered a live poisonous snake in an airmail package that was shipped from Hong Kong. At first they thought it was merely made of rubber but then it started moving around.

Yikes! Who knows what would have happened if that thing could have gotten loose and run slithered amok! And with no Samuel L. Jackson to kick its ass (wait, snakes don't have asses)? It could have gotten ugly.

Could this have been a premature copycat crime? The work of terrorists? Or perhaps was it the work of New Line's marketing team?

It is in fact illegal to ship poisonous snakes to the Netherlands without a special permit, although there is no mention of whether the sender has been identified or if he/she had such a permit (it does mention the recipient is a collector).

I'm really hoping that U.S. inspectors are looking for snakes before flights take off, let alone before they reach their destination. Just in case I decide to fly somewhere.

Meanwhile, in an unrelated news story, a woman in Oregon was driving to the grocery store when she realized there were garter snakes in her car. Twenty garter snakes, to be exact. Click the link to get that whole story.

Listen people, it is summer time, and the snakes are OUT! Like I was told when I first moved to Florida. "If it doesn't have legs, leave it alone". "Unless you are a herpatologist".

As usual, catch up with me at www.myspace.com/akuasharpe . For those of you on myspace, catch up with me atBobby Sharpe's Blogspot. Email reggae8@aol.com.