round and round and round we go

It’s Day 300 so I should be doing something big… but I got nothing, and though my grad class tonight was canceled, I still had some stuff to do—open mic on the stage outside the Student Union on campus (I read a poem of mine) and dinner with 3 members of the speech team who also attended. Fortunately, since 300 is also divisible by 60, it’s time for another Groundhog Day Project recap. Previous recaps can be reached by clicking on the following links:

Day 62: for your information
Day 121: how else could you know so much?
Day 180: it would be great to stay for some of the other events
Day 240 – it’s your choice. so what’s it gonna be?

Day 241 – too early for flapjacks tells of the time I almost broke the rules of the Groundhog Day Project and doesn’t talk about Benesh (2011) for like eight paragraphs.

Day 242 – like a jerk again deals with Benesh, Hannam (The Groundhog Day Effect and whether or not Phil is trying to become Rita.

Day 243 – put some cherry syrup on the top deals with the mathematics of snowman lovin’ …sort of. It’s about potential meaning behind the snowmen, the ice angel, and the snow Rita, by way of Benesh.

Day 244 – a nice story deals with future plans, experiential liminality, Donnie Darko and bardo worlds.

Day 245 – he sees his shadow starts my re-viewing of Day Break with a little mention of the young adult novel 11 Birthdays.

Day 246 – and a donut continues on with episode two of Day Break and a bit on Benesh’s take on Phil wanting to eat the groundhog (i.e the digestion metaphor).

Day 247 – i’ve seen larry eat combines episode three of Day Break with Benesh’s take on the respiration metaphor.

Day 248 – i played the game involves an episode of Day Break and “game of groundhogs”—a mix of Groundhog Day and Game of Thrones.

Day 249 – it’s still just once a year suggests Groundhog Day is set in 1991, not 1993.

Day 250 – partying all night is very brief because my internet was having problems but I do link to the TV Tropes page on Groundhog Day.

Day 251 – let’s take a look at the five-day involves recap of stuff done for the blog so far and some plans I’ve still got for it in the future. It also shares the tale of how this Phil Connors doll came to be:

Day 252 – it just depends on how you look at it finishes up with Benesh.

With Benesh behind me, Day 253 – tomorrow you will have forgotten all about this details four episodes of Day Break and something about titles. And, Day 254 – is this what you do with eternity? involves three more episodes of Day Break.

Day 255 – catch a break deals with the last two episodes of Day Break and me getting to meet Stephen Tobolowsky (Ned Ryerson). Day 256 – single premium life segues from a Stephen Tobolowsky story about Groundhog Day into a personal story from my 20s.

Day 257 – see where it leads me suggests that not having an agenda for upcoming blog entries is nice and Groundhog Day is not a romantic comedy after all.

Day 258 – what everybody wants is a nice little piece about, well, what we want out of life. It also connects Groundhog Day to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Day 259 – optional death and dismemberment plan is, fairly simply, about death. Hadn’t talked about it for a while.

Day 260 - …again doesn’t deal with an impromptu speech quotation but rather recounts watching Groundhog Day on a plane without any sound… the plane had sound but the movie didn’t. Well, it had sound. I just couldn’t hear it.

Day 261 – a dream of spring comes back to the day count for Phil’s time loop and discusses again whether or not Phil dreams.

Day 262 – i could have done it with my eyes closed involves watching the movie while dozing off. Also, there might be a way to “learn” the piano even faster than Phil did.

Day 263 – travel later today involves flight paths and me figuring out over which states I have watched Groundhog Day.

Day 264 – do you have insurance deals with some class issues.

Day 265 – a really good producer involves adverbs. Seriously, adverbs.

Day 266 – that glass is half empty broaches the subject of divorce but really is about how my life seems to be making more sense lately than it has in a while. Note to my future self: you might want to cite that entry in your thesis. Then comes Day 267 – that glass is half empty which tells of Harold Ramis’ divorce, Bill Murray’s divorce, and gets into some of my personal thoughts about my own. I expected it to be a depressing entry as I got into it, but I think this one and the one before it were cathartic rather than depressing.

Day 268 – wracking my brain is just a watch-the-movie-day entry, barely about anything… just like life.

Day 269 – what’s wrong deals with the basic idea of wrong and whether or not there is such a thing as bad person.

Day 270 – your english teacher involves Richard Lupoff’s short story 12:02 P.M., which is okay. And, Day 271 – maybe the real god uses tricks involves his 12:03 P.M., which is decidedly not, before arguing that Phil Connors is heroic.

Day 272 – english class details an English professor who uses Groundhog Day in his classes.

Day 273 – someone like you is a light little entry that my future self might like (hint hint).

Day 274 – know all about you is me being nitpicky about someone else’s writing about Groundhog Day. Go figure.

Day 275 – it doesn’t make any difference involves a piano cheering me up and the revelation that dead Phil occupied the same bed as dead O’Reilly—trust me, that means something.

(And, no, it doesn’t just mean they only had a limited space available that resembled a medical facility (or was a medical facility; I can’t remember where they filmed that bit) so of course it would be the same place. I’m talking about poetic echoes in the reality of the film.)

Day 276 – i sure as heck-fi remember you involves Scrooged and the mapping of the Christmas Carol ghosts onto Groundhog Day.

Day 277 – that will be one adult and… starts with the limited homeless population and gets sidetracked in a lot of math about how many available women might have been in Punxsutawney. This thread continues through Day 278 – two adults, i guess into Day 279 – who brought the old man in.

All that segues into Day 280 – so much about Punxsutawney which really talks about the visual grammar of film, particularly the 180 degree rule.

Day 281 – lots of kids is me answering my daughter’s challenge to map the characters from Peanuts onto those in Groundhog Day.

Day 282 – ned the head is when I finally watched the movie with the pop-up Ned Ryerson turned on.

In Day 283 – yo, mama, I share a scene from Rubin’s original script involving Phil’s mother and ends with some cheesy bit about how we all need someone to care for us.

Day 284 - …is ever going to end deals with bookmarks and folders and all the stuff I’ve found in regards to Groundhog Day.

Day 285 – why’d you make up something like this starts with what is probably best terms a lost tale from the Groundhog Day Project involving morality and modernity and how we’re all much more alike than we are different.

Day 286 – to the little lady starts into my multi-day dealing with sexism in Groundhog Day. This continues through Day 287 – jim beam, ice, water and Day 288 – fix your bra, honey, which gets sidetracked in slasher films, into Day 289 – I think you need help, which involves Rambo, heteronormativity, sexism and traditional gender roles.

Day 290 – sex and violence is like an afterthought to all that stuff about sexism and gender.

Day 291 – drunk’s more fun involves medication and seeing movies a lot of times (not just Groundhog Day).

Day 292 – can you keep a secret is my weird way of using details in Groundhog Day to prove that Harold Ramis directed The Shining.

Day 293 – what’s your name? goes from Phil’s immediate response to the time loop to the names of supporting characters. And, Day 294 – like the groundhog, phil gets into why Phil’s name means something besides just him sharing it with the groundhog.

Day 295 – I’m happy now involves a speech team banquet, You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown and being happy.

Day 296 – really close on this one is about the onscreen chemistry between Andie MacDowell and Bill Murray, Rita Hanson and Phil Connors.

Day 297 – you’re a sucker for french poetry and… involves movies from 1984 then gets sidetracked by the confusing layout of Phil’s room at the Cherry Street Inn. Day 298 – a very nice bed-and-breakfast provides a whole lot of screencaps to understand that layout in detail. And, Day 299 – abnormal psychology goes from that to why I obsess about things.

Finally, Day 300 – round and round and round we go recaps the last 60 entries in The Groundhog Day Project.

Today’s reason to repeat a day forever: to do, well, whatever comes up, but then to name that particular iteration of the time loop after a line from a movie… and memorize all those names—my version of Phil’s book calendar from Rubin’s original script.

P.S. The Groundhog Day Project has a Twitter and a Facebook page. Follow and like them respectively and help spread the word.