the groundhog day project

I was in the Virgin Islands once. I met a girl. We ate lobster, drank piña coladas. At sunset, we made love like sea otters. That was a pretty good day. Why couldn’t I get that day over and over and over? Phil’s problem here: he thinks the day just happens to him. He doesn’t realize that while there may be a few elements here—the girl and, well, the sea otter lovin’—that aren’t things that would be on repeat. Just like the second snowman scene we see in Groundhog Day , when Phil tried to get that same girl again, he might come on just a little too strong, and she might not be interested. Or, his assumption that they might make like sea otters might be just the thing to make her unwilling. Phil, prior to being trapped in the time loop, where his choices are limited, apparently doesn’t understand free will. Phil assumes a repeating day to be the same thing again and again, even though by the time he tells the story above, it’s Day 3 and he’s already changed the way the day goes. He’...

Day 52 - if you only had one day to live --that's an entry I've brought up several times since I wrote it. It's the one with the jelly beans. It's definitive proof I write stuff as cheesy as some of the stuff in The Fault in Our Stars --which I saw recently. Edge of Tomorrow --or Groundhog Day with guns--the other movie I saw recently, has no real sentiment to it except for one scene... SPOILERS. Tom Cruise's Cage and Emily Blunt's Rita sit in a barn well past the frontlines. We (and she) think(s) this is the first time they have made it this far. But, Cage finds some coffee and knows that Rita takes it with three sugars. She (and we) figure(s) out he has already gone through this scene. He's stalling their getting into the helicopter they have just found because he knows that every time they have tried to take the helicopter Rita ends up dead. He doesn't want to see her die again. On the next resumption, he goes to meet Rita (for the first time), but...

Edge of Tomorrow , as I pointed out yesterday , is like Groundhog Day but with guns and aliens and a lot more death. In case you don’t trust me: “If you've ever watched the film Groundhog Day , and thought that the only thing that could possibly make it more enjoyable was an alien invasion or some massive explosions, you're in luck.” – Julia Emmanuele, Hollywood.com “It's Groundhog Day for sci-fi nerds…” – Ben Child, The Guardian Film Blog “Like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day , Tom Cruise as officer Bill Cage in the upcoming sci-fi movie Edge of Tomorrow is reliving one hell of a day over and over again. Unlike Groundhog Day , this action thriller is a bloody and explosive time loop.” – Brian Anthony Hernandez, Mashable “…he finds himself waking up to face the same fate, much like Bill Murray's experience in ‘Groundhog Day.’” – Greg Gilman, The Wrap “he gets better and better at fighting, braver and braver,and more and more attractive to the imperious Rita. J...

Tomorrow may be more complicated. I imagine a rundown of Tom Cruise’s character in Edge of Tomorrow as Christ-Figure per the Kozlovic Scale . And, I might post a clip from that movie (or from The Daily Show ). Edge of Tomorrow is like Groundhog Day if the reporter were shoved into the frontlines of a war with aliens instead of a lame local holiday ceremony. And, Phil has to die every day for the time loop to reset. It’s main female— (And, almost only... there is at least two other women with speaking roles, but none of them interact, so Edge of Tomorrow does not pass the Bechdel Test anymore than Groundhog Day does.) —is even named Rita. Edge of Tomorrow is not the only movie I saw today. I also went with my daughter to see The Fault in Our Stars . So, today’s entry will actually be a bit of a mixed review of both of these movies in terms of how they relate to me and to Groundhog Day . For example, Edge of Tomorrow shares a lot structurally with Groundhog Day , except ...

As I figure it, this is the 82nd day from the end [or not] of the Groundhog Day Project . On the 82nd day from the beginning, I was talking a lot about love. Looking at that entry, I see a surprisingly amount of detail and seriousness, and a complicated structure--a parenthetical some 13 or so paragraphs long, for example. I was thinking of writing a sort of sequel to that entry, something I may do any of the remaining days if I do not have something planned, but I think that entry alone covers the topic of love and Groundhog Day pretty damn well. And, I've spent other days on that topic. I may be all loved out. My son thinks I've run out of things to talk about. It is starting to be harder to find specific topics to tackle, but there are things left to cover. Some of what's left, though, involves planning ahead, watching extra stuff--there are some time loop movies left ( Edge of Tomorrow coming out in theaters soon, for example), and I'm still considering samplin...