the groundhog day project

Scroll down past the parenthetical if you want to get to the movie. (Author's note: I have not committed to doing this film (and its versions) for the entire month, but I have excluded my original plan for the month because I realized that the next movie ( Blade Runner ) I was going to spend a whole bunch of days on wasn't going to leave as much room for discussion because its versions are just alternate cuts, not deliberately separate versions of the story. The movie ( Brazil ) I was going to end the month with fits a little closer to this, but its variations are all about meddling after the fact, not planning. And, both films have been written about so much I don't know if I could offer much in the way of original insight... Oh, I'd give you something. And, it would, at least at some point, be amazing. But, a lot of it would be repeating other sources' takes on the films in question, especially Blade Runner . (The most original thing I could do there is not act...

The second episode of Day Break is called "What If They Run?" The cliffhanger ending, remember, Hopper and Rita were heading out of town, but trucks were waiting. Phil Connors never had to deal with this. Even when he managed to get out of town in the original screenplay--a narrative mistake, I think--there were not men waiting to kill him. (There's a handy intro setting up the repeating day before the second episode, though the opening line is a bit cheesy--"You think you're having a bad day?") Benesh (2011) talks about eating--the digestive metaphor--and makes some good points. I've written before about food (even mentioned Benesh, though at the time I was still avoiding reading her). And, I know these two things don't connect in any obvious way, but it occurs to me Hopper ate nothing in the first episode, just as Phil barely eats anything in Groundhog Day . And, I argued before, of course, that Phil doesn't have to eat, at all. Doesn'...

Thirty-three minutes into the film before I even open up a blank document to start writing tonight. I'm tired and I'm thoughtful tonight. Thinking about what I want from life, generally, and specifically, long-term and short. I was wondering last night what the worst thing I might do if I had the benefit of a time loop would be? I didn't come up with an answer because I wondered how long the time loop would have to keep going before I trusted it as the norm, before I knew, without a doubt the next morning would be the previous morning and no matter what I did no one would know about it but me... Of course, then there's the problem of me knowing about it. I don't believe in the existence of the human soul, but for lack of better terminology, I must say that even there were no consequences outside myself, my soul would be scarred by doing deliberately in a time loop the things I wouldn't do outside it. For the record, I don't mean stuff like Phil taking that...

Today I will be once again linking Groundhog Day to various quotations used in an impromptu round at today's speech tournament (this one down in Long Beach)... as I did here , here and here & here and here & here . "Life is a challenge - meet it. Life is a song - sing it. Life is a dream - realize it. Life is a game - play it. Life is love - enjoy it." - Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba This quotation (like a few others I saw today) is almost too easy because it is so broad. But, I could make it (relatively) difficult by breaking it down. There are five parts to it. Groundhog Day links to each of those. Phil's life (both pre-loop and in-loop... and post-loop if I was right here ) is definitely a challenge. His good days, his bad days--they all take work. Even his worst days--the breaking-of-the-alarm-clock days and the suicide days--take work. He doesn't just hit a snooze button; he destroys that clock. And, he doesn't do the obvious (and possib...

In the first revision of Rubin's script--which I cite only by way of Ryan Gilbey because I have yet to get my hands on the thing--Buster chokes on fish not steak. Ryan Gilbey describes: Rubin's first revision included even more examples of Phil's good deeds - pumping the stomach of Janey, a lovesick girl who has attempted suicide; removing an old lady from the path of a truck - but the real ingenuity comes when he devises some short cuts to help maximize limited hours. He places a rock in the road so that the lorry carrying the fish to the restaurant - the fish that Buster will later choke on - will not make its delivery. He tells Janey that the object of her affection had feelings for her. And he puts chewing gum on the pavement to delay the old woman on her way to the road. I actually quoted a little more than I had intended there because I wanted to comment on the Janey situation. I am glad that one didn't make it into the film. Not just because we didn't need...

I realized today I don't really experience the feeling in O'Reilly's death in the alley anymore. I know it's a sad moment and an important moment but to me it's become just another thing that happens in the movie. Just last night I was asked if the film was getting old yet. It isn't. I still recite lines along with it. I still notice new things now and then. But, I suppose that bit of feeling being gone means it's on its way to getting old. Maybe. In other news, an addendum to my recent Doctor Who -related entry: operating under the time lord version of things, Phil gets out of the time loop because of a specific good deed. Since, under that theory, Buster is The Master, and it's his hitting of the gavel at the start of the auction that ends the time loop, Phil doesn't get out of the time loop because he's a better person or because he's earned Rita's love but because he saved Buster's life. Every other day of the time loop, we can...

Phil Connors can't get fat. He doesn't have to exercise. He can veg out and do nothing at all--hell, he does this at one point in the film, when we see him sitting around watching Jeopardy! with the old people at the bed and breakfast, a big bowl of popcorn in his lap, a bottle of booze close at hand. I thought of this tonight when my dinner options were limited. Let me explain two details. First, I've been a vegetarian for a bit more than a year now, so my options when out are fairly limited sometimes anyway. On the college campus, there aren't many meal options for a vegetarian. There are some good sides at a few places, but not much else. Second... or rather first and a half, just so you know, I didn't become a vegetarian for health reasons but I think it's had a positive effect on my health. Actual second, night classes, like those in the masters program, are scheduled 6:10 to 10:00 at my school. And food places on campus are all closed by 8:00, so teacher...