Steven Spielberg's new network is far out

WHEN HOLLYWOOD'S Steven Spielberg is not working on films (or boycotting China), he's developing his own social networking site, which he believes is out of this world.

Meant for users who reckon they've had paranormal and extraterrestrial experiences or who are interested in X Files style phenomenon, the spaced out social network could also possibly include video content of alleged ghost and UFO sightings.

If the film E.T hadn't already given you a clue, Spielberg has long been a fan of little green men and spirits (of the ghostly rather than the alcoholic kind, although one does wonder whether he was entirely sober when he dreamed this latest idea up).

Many of his other films, including Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), Poltergeist (1982), Casper (1995), Men in Black (1997), The Haunting (1999), the tv mini series Taken (2002), War of the Worlds (2005) and the upcoming Interstellar (2009) also deal with paranormal, science fiction based themes.

Spielberg reckons he's had at least one paranormal experience himself. Apparently, he once fled the Excelsior hotel after being convinced his room was haunted. There are also rumours that as a small child, with strange and almost spooky parallels to certain films directed by other well known directors, Spielberg could see dead people. That colourful imagination probably being the main reason little Steven went into the movie making business and not into the world of accountancy.

TechCrunch reports that the social network may once have been a collaboration between Spielberg and Yahoo, but the partnership appears to have dissolved and now a team in Los Angeles is working on bringing Spielberg's ghostly network to life within the next few earth months. µ