This weekend was brought to you by the letter "B"

B is for Baby Shower, the couple kind, which my wife and I attended. B is also for Baby Farm, which is what this event was like. There must have been twenty of the little critters running around, I swear. Don't let babies fool you. They look sweet and innocent, but they're just waiting for an opening to jump on your head, Alien face sucker style, and it'll be all over for you, pal.

(B, incidentally, is also for Beer, which is good for whiling away the hour or two during the present opening. There is a special kind of weary, desperate silence that descends on people an hour and a half into a baby shower that results in actual "oohs" and "ahhs" for that diaper machine that turns used diapers into sealed sausage-shapes.)

After all that Babying, B was for another viewing of Blade Runner, one of our favorite movies. One of the best things about watching Blade Runner is that we get to talk about Replicants, and Roy Batty (whose last name, by the way, starts with B). We get to talk about the original release versus the director's cut edition, and why the director's cut is one thousand times better. "The voiceover?" we scoff. "Laughable!"

Then, of course, we get to talk about the "Is Deckard a Replicant?" question, so popular a discussion topic at group events across this great nation of ours. Now, sure, Ridley Scott came out and flat out said that Deckard is a Replicant, making my earlier "No he's not" position in these discussions tenuous at best, but I am still willing to defend the precarious position that it is not provable either way. This sort of bull-headedness has not won me many supporters in the irrational argument community, but there you have it. In case anyone's interested, Bryant's desk from the movie is on sale.

Anyway, here are some people who like to hear themselves theorize talking about Blade Runner.

Picturing the Human (Body and Soul): A Reading of Blade Runner

Blade Runner's Human / Replicant Debate

What it means to be humans in the Cybernetic State

Eyeballing The Simulacra

How Science Became God In Blade Runner