the groundhog day project

It was apparently a coin toss that decided Ritchie Valens versus Tommy Allsup (Holly's guitarist for the Winter Dance Party tour). And Holly's bass player for the tour, Waylon Jennings, gave up his seat to the Big Bopper because the Big Bopper was sick. The tour bus wasn't broken down, but reportedly had broken down at least once so far on the tour. It was the eleventh night of the tour, a Monday, a school night, but Clear Lake's Surf Ballroom was filled with 1100 teens that night. Claire Suddath, writing for Time , 3 February 2009, explains: The musicians had been traveling by bus for over a week and it had already broken down once. They were tired, they hadn't been paid yet and all of their clothes were dirty. With the airplane [Holly had chartered], Holly could arrive early, do everyone's laundry and catch up on som rest. The need to do some laundry. A coin toss. A bus that was too cold for this winter tour. An exhausting schedule. And you die. Doesn...

Ralph has no story arc in the Them version of The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby . We only see him once, when Conor brings him to Spencer's house and Spencer says hello. Ralph is, of course, the fish. In Them , he's just luggage with a name, a random bit of trivia. Spencer knows his name and maybe we find that odd, maybe it's just a passing confusions that doesn't seem important. But, Ralph has a life. Ralph has a purpose. And, damn it, Ralph serves a specific sort of role in this film... the Him version of the story. We first see Ralph when Conor goes for "a stroll" ostensibly to go home and check on Eleanor who is still in bed at 6:30pm. Conor feeds the fish before he crawls into bed with Eleanor. Ralph, then, is the first thought. A stand in for the dead child. Eleanor comes second. Ralph is Conor's preoccupation with his dead son. Ralph is responsibility aborted, responsibility perverted. Ralph is something that should be easy to take care of. Elea...