I saw this pic before reading the context. Apart from it being full of electricity, it also has a cinematic counterpart equally electric.

I’m talking about Back to the Future, when Doc gets nimble and Marty hits the magic speed that sends him, well, back to the future. This scene is ingrained in the spirit of our times:

Doc, the spitting image of a white-haired scientist, loses the plug for added suspense. He zip-lines down to street level for the retrieval, but he has to be quick about it; history, as he knows very well, will only gives him one try. Meanwhile Marty, in his cool red vest, works the clutch and the flux capacitor.

The plug back in its outlet, the DeLorean at 88 mph, lightning strikes the courthouse at the precise moment necessary for time travel. The stainless steel car disappears, leaving a spinning license plate and a skid mark of flames. Doc does a loon dance in the street.

The pic at the top (as opposed to the pic in the middle), however, isn’t from Universal Studios; it isn’t a movie set, but rather a real-life snapshot of City Hall in Athens, Georgia as a series of storms straddled the area. Fires were sparked and 4,000 people lost their power. Kelly Lambert was there with her camera.

For more on this June 18, 2009 calamity, visit Online Athens.

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