i still want to do those things

-

For the record, I didn’t touch Nowell (2010) today. Had the chapter on Black Christmas in my bag in case I had some spare time in between finishing my org comm paper and taking my org comm final. Instead, some family business came up because, well, life is like that. The busy-ness of modern life. Or just life, nevermind the modern.

(Sidenote: why does first Clare and later Mrs. Mac ask after Claude the Cat as if there are numerous cats around? I mean, there’s one cat at Pi Kappa Sigma, so if you hear a cat making noise, chances are it’s that cat.)

(Odd detail, probably a mistake: On the wall are framed things with girls’ photos on them, like all the members from previous years of the sorority, except the one we see close enough to read is Pi Beta Phi, not Pi Kappa Sigma.)

Peter talks early in this film about practicing for five days straight and not getting any sleep (probably part of why he has gone homicidal... just sayin’). As finals week comes to an end and the fall quarter ends... well, I’m not going to make prank phone calls and/or kill sorority girls, but I am ready for a good long nap. Instead of a nap, though, I started Black Christmas after midnight—

(Any new readers should know that this blog operates on a 6am to 6am cycle, just like the time loop in Groundhog Day.)

—when I’ve been up since 630. Life is long and life is busy and stressful sometimes. And, as Peter and Jess fight over the baby, it occurs to me that sometimes life passes you by... or you pass by life. Plans you had get left behind, dreams get given up, and life goes on anyway. For example, I wanted to write novels and/or make movies. But, nowadays, I teach and I write this blog (not quite the same thing as novels). Two sayings spring to mind:

“Life is what happens while you’re making other plans.”

and

“Man plans, God laughs.”

Similarly, whoever wrote this movie clearly planned for Peter to be the killer, but some studio God laughed at that idea and so we have to the silly twist ending.

(Irrelevant asthma as well.)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

la fille que j'aimera sera comme bon vin

-
Image
Phil Connors doesn’t speak French. While it might be reasonable to assume Phil does learn to play piano beyond the two songs we hear him play since this is at the point he is actually trying to better himself and affect the world around him in a positive way, the French bit is much earlier. It also comes from a bit in Rubin’s original screenplay, not with Rita but with “Tess Harper—Jefferson County Poetry Society.” Basically, it’s a clear example of Phil doing the same thing he does with Nancy in the movie; he makes stuff up to get what he wants. This is only Day 10 . He hasn’t gotten to the depression that arguably makes him realize he’s an actual human being like everyone else around him… I just realized, this also means he’s probably lying when he says, “Small town people are more real, more down-to-earth.” Later, he might actually believe it. But, at this point, each line is just a move to win over Rita. Anyway, in the original screenplay, Phil meets Tess like he meets Mary in
Read more

i've seen it over a hundred times

-
Image
As I write this, it’s Day 2 for Phil Connors on the DVD and my daughters are in the kitchen making a cake to celebrate Day 100 for me... photo should be below. The movie Phil had seen over 100 times (or so he tells Laraine) was Heidi II . It’s a “family classic” according to the Alpine Theater’s marquee. But, as I’ve mentioned before, it doesn’t exist. Originally, the movie that Phil could see every day if he wanted to do so was It’s a Wonderful Life . Danny Rubin’s ego—and this is his suggestion, not mine—made him believe Groundhog Day “a timeless quality and had the potential to become a film that could work for audiences for a very long time.” So, he put another such film on the marquee. But, “even believing that Groundhog Day was a potential classic, [Rubin] never was thinking of comparing it to It’s a Wonderful Life “— (I’d say putting that title on the marquee was Rubin deliberately comparing the two, but maybe that’s just me.) . Rubin continues: “But the similarities bet
Read more

the wretch, concentred all in self

-
So, Rita thinks Phil’s defining characteristic is his egocentrism. At the point in the story that she quotes Sir Walter Scott, it’s Day 4 for Phil (See the previous entry for a list of Phil’s days) and I wouldn’t argue that he isn’t egocentric. He’s still a jerk, taking advantage of his situation for fun. He’s manipulated Nancy for sex, has gone out on his costumed date to see Heidi II with the woman in the French maid costume. He’s just figured out the whole lack-of-consequences side of things with the help of Ralph and Gus. And, he’s sitting around loading up on, well, probably every dessert the Tip Top Café offers. His focus at this point is very much himself. But, a closer look at the lines Rita quotes got me to thinking, is Phil the man unsung by minstrels because he’s too self-centered? What Rita quotes is some lines from Canto VI of Sir Walter Scott’s “The Lay of the Last Minstrel.” The larger poem involves some clans at war with one another, but this particular section invol
Read more