Uh, hey cats! Can Vince Guaraldi kick it or what? Jazz-prodigy-with-big-mustachalicious!
It was nice enough that he replied to my joke with an e-mail simply stating, "Brilliant!" But I didn't know Jay Nordlinger would stick the comment in his next round of Impromptus. It's the very last one. For the record, the sentence subject I used was "a citizen," and not the first person. (Shucks, I gots integrity!) Still, I can't think of a better find on Monday morning.
So, then. Over or under: how many years until some joker files suit?
My libertarian purity test result of 30 points shows that I am not, in fact, a libertarian. That's perfectly fine with me. I prefer to think of myself as a national-greatness progressive rightist. (I doubt that would fit on a membership card.)
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.
And after a year, maybe two, they seemed tame. Billy and the Boingers, that is. I'm not sure what sent me yonder for memories of flexi records, but I ended up here. While you listen to the very best that shoestring local rock bands had to offer in the latter 1980s, familiarize yourself with one of cartoonist Berke Breathed's pinnacles during his Bloom County tenure. If this is the first you've ever heard of the Boingers, Deathtöngue, Berke Breathed and Bloom County, open your wallet and buy this with overnight shipping.
WOULD YOU LIKE AN UP-SELL WITH THAT?: Ah, even Bootleg will leave the uninitiated confused. Buy Bootleg and Bloom County Babylon. Overnight shipping, as before. You heard me.
Sorry, Mel, but a movie like Ransom does not need to be two hours long. Especially when Donnie Wahlberg barely makes it through the first.
It's official: Howard Dean's shouting at the devil is an inextricable part of pop culture. Running an errand for work, I heard a local car dealership's radio ad use the audio clip. Three times.
About an hour before Fox News anchor Brit Hume went to air with his program Special Report, Matt Drudge had put the latest Gallup poll - showing John Kerry enjoying a commanding lead - on general release. For Brit, a rightist - poll or not - this isn't the brightest bit of news. But at half-past six o'clock eastern, Brit used the Gallup data and other polls as the lead item in his "Political Grapevine" segment.
Do you think Jennings, Rather or Brokaw would have begun their second half with a poll showing Bush ahead, 55-43%? I didn't think so. Brit Hume may make no secret of his ideology, but the man reports the news.
Danny O'Brien sent me the word: Rumsfeld's a deadly weapon. (Via Tim Blair.)
WAIT A MINUTE...: This works far too well for sheer coincidence: "Bring da Rummy! Bring da m*f* Rummy!"
DONALD RUMSFELD WAS SEVERELY QUESTIONED, BUT THE SOUL STILL BURNS: As Blogger and features are not to be used in the same sentence, Danny O'Brien sent this one over to me:
Like most people, I found Brian Battjer's website accidentally, but return regularly to find out where the world's most visually documented private individual has been. While we both went to Syracuse, we didn't know each other in the least, and I only recall seeing him a few times in the Shaw Hall cafeteria during my freshman year (and then only because he hung around a good-looking gaggle of art school girls and sported a Duke Nukem haircut). He posted a friend's DIY music video, proving that while most people have musical ability, born performers are few in number. Now that's a right crooner.
