Getting the Show on the Road

For $20, it will soon be possible to own an original Wayne Thiebaud artwork.

Or at least your car will be able to own one.

The prominent California artist has been working with the California Arts Council to design an artistic automobile license plate. It will be available for $20 above the usual annual registration fee. (An original Thiebaud can set you back hundreds of thousands, so this seems like quite a steal.) All proceeds are earmarked for arts education and local cultural projects.

If you now have what DMV staffers refer to as the “vanilla license plate” (the generic model), Thiebaud’s colorful creation will be quite a change. It includes a setting sun, the Pacific and palms, though the final design has not yet been unveiled.

“It’s so affordable because we want a lot of them on the road,” said project manager Angie Dickson. “We want the arts to be accessible.”

Matches Made in Heaven

With Valentine’s Day just a week away, Social Climes wants to assure the romantically desperate that there are people out there who want to help you. Really.

Romance in the Stars wants to help. Combining computers and astrology (courtesy of Sydney Omarr), the Commerce-based company has devised a way to hook up compatible singles. For $199, members receive up to 48 introductions a year and are given “in-depth compatibility information for each person with whom they are matched.”

Sort of takes that old standby: “Hey, babe, what’s your sign?” one step further.

Love by the Book

Once you’ve found that special someone, Linda Ford and Beth Goodman want to help even more. They’re the authors of “The Owner’s Manual,” a fill-in-the-blank book that you write and give to your love thang, who reads it to find out every little detail about you. Think of it as Cliff’s Notes for relationships. Topics covered include “What Makes Me, Me,” “Career,” “My Future,” “Relationships, Sex,” “Sports and Shopping” and “Emergency Phone Numbers.”

Sample statements: “If I were to be famous, this is what I would want to be famous for. . . . “

“Three of the qualities my former partners loved about me are. . . . “

“When I die, I would like my funeral to. . . . “

These days, when few people have time to build a relationship slowly, like over a week, this 50-page paperback might come in handy. Just don’t give it to anyone in the entertainment industry. They might hand it over to a reader.

(And in case you’re wondering, here’s how we’d answer the above three questions: being famous; everything, everything and everything; be a more hyped event than Superbowl XXVII.)