the groundhog day project

It's time, ladies and gentlemen, for the classic Groundhog Day Project exercise--the Christ-Figuring. I don't mean to spend too much time on it, though. I'm less interested in the score than in why a film like Speed Racer would need a Christ-Figure (assuming that it has one). (For anyone new, this is Kozlovic (2004) adjusted. You'll catch on.) First criterion: Racer X--no, I'm not Christ-Figuring the title character-- is tangible . 1/1 He is not central to the film. That is because he is definitely, and quite deliberately an outsider . 2/3 He is not divinely sourced , but he is sourced into the story from outside. I'm going to give him this one. 3/4 No bonus point for miraculous birth , but Racer X definitely has an alter ego and the special/normal division. 5/6 (For those of you new to this, the bonus points are not counted in the overall denominator, but do allow for additions to the numerator. It's just... a thing. Deal with it.) Racer X ...

The board game is finished… barring some weird detail I might have missed. (For example, the Trading In option is something we—my kids and me—have not playtested yet, so it might be removed. At one point in the developing the way the game played, different types of cards had different point values, and this is a remnant of that idea.) Here what’s in the rule booklet: You are Phil Connors, weatherman. You are trapped in Punxsutawney, PA and every day is Groundhog Day. To escape from the time loop and the small town, you have to become a better person. You do this by collecting particular cards, representing your experiences and your growth. Contents: 1 Rule Booklet 1 Board 1 Spinner 98 Cards 18 PIANO LESSON (brown) 18 EXPERIENCE (purple) 14 SEDUCTION (red) 14 SUICIDE (blue) 14 INSURANCE (yellow) 10 REPORT (green) 10 SAVIOR (orange) Setup: Setup for this game is simple. Unfold the board. Since every turn begins at the same location—the Cherry Street Inn marked with a blue...

This evening I read a short play my daughter Hayley’s reading for class— Sure Thing by David Ives. It’s about “Bill and Betty, both in their late twenties” who meet in a cafe. As simple as that sounds, it immediately made me think of Groundhog Day because, well, when the conversation between these two turns sour, a bell rings and the conversation resets back a bit. It plays a bit like the “date night” sequence in Groundhog Day (even more like the original trailer ‘s version of the “date night” with the alarm buzzer). For example, the first time, after Bill asks Betty, “Is this chair taken?” she tells him it is. Bell rings and Bill’s back to asking if the seat is taken. Another time, Bill’s been explaining how much he loves Faulkner and Betty tells him she thinks The Sound and the Fury (which she’s reading) is boring. Bell rings and Bill’s asking her what book she’s reading again. Mel Gussow at The New York Times describes the play: In this delightful little one-act..., the man.....