government agencies are quite famous for their love of distressed typefaces.

The concept rings true, the poster execution falls a little short on authenticity.

reading that makes me want to go loot shit.

Firstly: Did you get the title for this piece from the Bad Religion song of the same name? Yay to you if so.

Secondly: This looks like quite an interesting project. I remember the blackout from the summer of '03. Couldn't get home from work cause the trains were down, everyone was *terrified* it was some new attack on NYC. I could very easily imagine martial law being declared if the blackout had gone longer.

Definitely looking forward to this.

...and kicking the asses of the morons portrayed in the poster itself.

Grime said it all, Gann batted clean up.

Dear Government,

Thanks, but I don't require your tolerance. Have a nice day.

R.

It's all fun and games until there's an Abrams Tank blocking the freeway ramp.

The best part of the poster? This line:
"If you are in peril and need assistance, please call the National Blackout Hotline at 206-222-9158"

Going to be a bit hard to call without power, isn't it. Reminds me of those billboards for illiteracy programs.

That phone number leads to the coolest part about the whole project.

Yeah. Moving on.

If you're not listening to JC's podcast stuff you're missing out.

@russdanger:
Yeah, then it's a spectator sport watching everyone crashing into the unexpected tank on the offramp.

@Belabras: If the main phone grid still has power, and you have a wired landline phone, then yes, the phone will work.

I thought for a minute that poster was a blog post from November 3, 2008.

Maybe it's not funny to joke about stuff like that.

So if there's a national blackout, people will box Victorian-style and leap in the air a lot?

@edosan: Damn I hope so. Especially the Victorian-style part.

@Ryan H: It's kinda dumb,...Bringing a car to a tank-fight...

This smells a little like the Year Zero ARG that played out last year. That thing sucked me in hard... I suppose I will get sucked into this as well...

BTW the phone number is real... it is a recorded message by the author

Am I too blind to see the download of the pdf of the poster or is it missing?

@Annalee Newitz: I say, fisticuffs at dawn! Marquis of Queensbury rules!

I usually love stuff like this but this fall so far short that I am less interested...

But the typeface is stupid, and the worst part is stupid clip art figures at the bottom..

Is the poster supposed to be against Looting? Cause it is kind of making it look like a party....

Except the guy in the suit boxing who is about to get capped...

I do applaud the two people playing live action Donkey Kong... got to get your video game fix...

So is this guys stuff any good?

I just figured it out. The artwork at the bottom is from the concept art for the upcoming musical "Rent 2: Even More Bohemians!"

@Asari: What, too soon?

Any chance that you can post the original PDf like the other sites are doing?

Ooh, scary - a blackout.

Have people become so incredibly feeble that they equate a blackout with societal collapse?

BTW, martial law is declared by locality... Are we really supposed to believe that there's a blackout in NYC, and Guam, and everywhere in between?

@Belabras:

Born recently, I guess?
Look closely at my icon - real telephones have their own power generation systems, back at the hub.
-Kle.

@Klebert L. Hall: Look around -outside your bubble- this is perfectly possible because it has happened before. For example: Argentina.
The economical conditions pushed the population to widespread looting. Also: the food riots last week elsewhere.

7th Son was pretty good, it's free so its not like you loose anything by listening

I really wanted to like "7th Son," I just couldn't get around the completely cliched and stereotypical characters. Or maybe it was just Hutchins' portrayal of them on the podiobook. It's too bad, the story itself is very original, but character development wasn't.

However, I could be wrong. I couldn't make it through the first book, so it's possible he got better at it as he went along. Perhaps I'll give it another try down the road.

OMG, the lamest part of this whole thing isn't the poster (which is almost cool, except for the fact that the partying characters on the bottom contradict the point of the poster), its that this looks like the lamest of 13 posters, but to SEE the others in full detail you have to go through some lame ass Easter Egg hunt across the Interwebs. From the linked site:

Only one of these posters will be available for download at JCHutchins.net during the OBSIDIAN event. The rest roll out exclusively on thirteen other websites. Each site will feature one poster design only. To collect them all, you must visit all thirteen sites

Fuck you. I "must" not do anything, you fucking dictator. Good job at killing my interest so your buddies can make a nickel per link. This could be the coolest story ever but I guess I'll never know.

GODDAMN! that pisses me off...

@Annalee Newitz: To me, Victorian fisticuffs = Conan O'Brien.

I've also noticed all the other sites posting links to the PDF, but you don't...

kotaku doesn't host a pdf...
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Never mind, folks... I'm some kind of genius...
pdf for the one io9 doesn't post

hooray for pattern recognition!

And sorry I called you folks Kotaku.. I just came off of their site on to this one... you know how it goes...

@Belabras:
Regular land-based phones work just fine without power. As long as you don't have to plug your phone in to a power oitlet in order to power any cordless handsets, answering machines etc... Basic touchtone phones will still function, and a smart person will keep one around in case they need to make calls during a blackout.

The phone system has its own power running over the wires. don't believe me? disconnect your landline, bridge the contacts at the box with your fingers, then call your landline from a cellphone or have somebody else call you.

I double dog dare you.

(Do not attempt this. Trained professionals on a closed circuit. For entertainment purposes only. Management will not be held responsible for any accidents caused by attempting this. Attempting this may result in a bad day.)

Victorian fisticuffs! Bringing cars to tank fights! Rent 2! You guys are awesome. I'm totally putting "Fucking Dictator" on my next batch of business cards.

Thanks so much for making the time to check out my OBSIDIAN poster project, and commenting about it!

Attention: The phone number works...

@MarlboroTestMonkey7:

There's a big difference between some civil disorder in Argentina (BTW, it took a lot more than a blackout) or food riots in the 3rd world, and "martial law being declared in the US and all it's territories".

My bubble encompasses yours, BTW.
-Kle.