Thursday, June 10, 2010

HNT - FlashBlackout

June 10, 2010 is Save FlashForward blackout day.  Folks around the world are staging a fake mini blackout in cities around the world -- a tribute to the 2 minute and 17 second blackout experienced by everyone around the world all at the same time in the ABC television series which premiered in Sept 2009 and was cancelled after a single season.

The TV series was, of course, based on a novel by Robert J. Sawyer written about a dozen years ago.  Like so many of Sawyer's novels, it was a excellent read, and fortunately the TV series ressurected interest in this great book, bringing Sawyer a whole new realm of readers to rediscover this great modern classic sci-fi tale that questions whether or not the future, if seen in advance, can be altered. Predeterminism vs freewill is a fascinating premise that makes both the novel and the television series riveting.

During the 2 minute and 17 second blackout in the novel, everyone around the world passed out and sees 21 years into the future.  In the television show, they see about 6 months into the future.  But of course, the main key scene that the novel and TV series open with is the major blackout and the "flashforwards" everyone experiences.

Folks are hoping that the blackout stunt all around the world on the same day gets enough attention for ABC or some other television network to pick up the series and continue it where it left off (with a bit of a beautiful cliff-hanger ending)

In celebration of blackout day, June 10th, I thought it might be neat to have people who couldn't make it to the large staged blackouts go to their local book store and pick up a copy of Sawyer's novel and stage a blackout.  If we can't get the show on TV, perhaps we can alter the current slow first quarter in Canadian bookselling and give a bit of a boost to book sales.

Or if not, then at least give an extra boost to sales of a deserving novel written by a great author.

In any case, while staging a photo for HNT (I was going to take a picture of myself reading FlashForward), I blacked out.  For 2 minutes and 17 seconds.

Here's the picture my camera snapped when it landed on the floor just a split second behind my own landing.


But I'm not telling what I saw during my blackout.

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