Fun with FlashForward

Greetings loyal readers,

Based on my love of Lost, I decided to check out FlashForward last Thursday. It was okay I guess. Overall I wasn't too impressed. The pilot seemed overly expository and character dialogue was a bit clunky and forced. Still, it was just the first episode, so I suppose I'll give the show a few more episodes before I cross it off the list.

I know what you're thinking. "Mike, I'm not even going to pretend to care about your opinions on popular TV. Make with the promotional products." First of all, settle down. That was a little harsh. Second, here is the connection:

Despite my lukewarm feelings on the writing, the actual premise of FlashForward is pretty cool. If you're not familiar, everyone on Earth blacks out for two minutes and 17 seconds, all seeing visions of the future. The main character sees himself in front of a large corkboard, working out a mystery involving all these esoteric clues without having any idea of their meaning. I thought it might be fun to try the same thing here, a little game of "Guess the promotion from your future," if you will.

Here's how it's going to go down. Imagine your consciousness is flung into the future, and you see the five products below arranged on your desk, as if you were planing a promotion. Each of the items are part of the same promotion. If you're able to guess what the promotion is, not only do you win the respect of myself, but also the entire promotional industry.

CLUE NUMBER ONE: Jar of Knives-Gold Bond
What you saw in the vision: A big plastic jar holding 72 knives. There is no imprint on the jar, and all the knives are closed, so you can't see the laser engraving on the blades. Next to the jar are some frayed pieces of rope, about six or seven inches in length, along with some thin wood shavings and a fancy piece of paper that appears to have a short list of dinner specials on it for a local hotel.