It remains to be seen whether my slow Saturdays over the years actually provide the most entertainment. The last time I searched the web for Blade Runner links was in 1996 on an Apple computer at Syracuse University. Among the finds was this site - yes, it's still there and yes, I believe the text claim that it's been online for twelve years. Gee whiz, themed wallpaper! Times New Roman 12-point! Seriously, the nostalgia is overwhelming.
Futura-geeks debating on whether androids dream of electric sheep have been busy since that time. Another site, called BRMovie.com, looks to be the preeminent movie fan site - it has everything from factual background information to speculative essays to cutting-room floor footage. Remember how Bryant described detective Holden as being able to "breathe okay, just so long as nobody unplugs him"? Deckard visits his fallen comrade in the Hospital Scene. There are spoofs, too - does a smog-enveloped, dystopic Los Angeles get you down? Louis Armstrong can show you a bright side.
The prize of the evening for all the crafters: instructions on how to fold a replica of Gaff's unicorn origami. Workshop Monday.
Good fun. My buddy Ed owns a tell-all book on the making of Blade Runner called Future Noir. I gathered that its strength was compiling and relaying gossip, particularly Harrison Ford's apparent contempt for Sean Young, from my paging through it some years back. But that's dead tree, you know? By way of noting some factual errors, BRMovie.com assumes more authority than the book. Easy to believe, given the wealth of information they provide. It's all comforting, really; how can you feel nerdy perusing a sci-fi fan site worth thousands of hours of research?
Blade Runner - a classic. In a single stroke, it defined cyberpunk, found a market for Sean Young's monotone and gave us sixty minutes of Vangelis music for your record collection. And you've got to love a movie that set its story in a grim, plutocratic 21st-Century America but still managed to highlight thirty-one corporate sponsors in two hours, including TWA, Pan Am, Coca-Cola and Atari.