the groundhog day project

To counter the cynical side from yesterday , there is one scene that absolutely points to the reality of the whole thing, and the cosmic import of the love story at its center, and that is the opening. Regardless of what follows, that scene is real. And, Elise's arrival as an old woman is real. What makes the scene important when you take the side of it all being real, of it all bearing the import of time itself, of love itself, is that the crowd clears for this old woman. Now, maybe they recognize this old woman as the once famous Elise McKenna, but I doubt it; if they recognize her, so should Richard. (Actually, Richard's later conversation with Miss Roberts suggests that Elise may never have been as famous after 1912 as she was then; she was increasingly reclusive from then until her death.) Rather, I think they do not, but they part because there is something about this woman being in this place, something they can sense, something that has an energy itself, her mere presen...

That bootstrap paradox is vital to Somewhere in Time . In another story, it would be a stranger mystery, or a misguided mistake. Here, it is fundamental to the story being told. The bootstrap paradox has two parts here... First, though, let me define it in case you are not nerdy about time travel stories. The Quantum Tunnel: Exploring Physics Fact in Science Fiction defines the bootstrap paradox as a time travel paradox in which an object or information can exist without ever being created. The object or piece of information is sent back in time where it is retrieved and to become the very object or piece of information that was brought back in the beginning. The name comes from a Heinlein story called "By His Bootstraps" Drawing on the expression about "pulling yourself up by your bootstraps", the story concerns a man who travels back in time to give his younger self a notebook of translations he has made... Except if he gives that notebook to his younger self...

In retrospect, Somewhere in Time is an odd movie to be familiar with as a kid. And, I think I understood the film better than my review go-to Roger Ebert did at the time (and he was almost as old then as I am now). His review begins: "Somewhere in Time" wants us to share its sweeping romantic idealism, about a love so great that it spanned the decades and violated the sanctity of time itself. But we keep getting distracted by nagging doubts, like, isn't it a little futile to travel 68 years backward into time for a one-night stand? I bought the "sweeping romantic idealism" of it, and saw it as much more than a one-night-stand, even as a kid. And, watching it in the present, I still do. (Note: I watched this film during the first year of this blog (in addition to Groundhog Day that day, of course) because to the circular time travel loop within) and wrote about it . Particularly, I wrote about the bootstrap paradox of the pocket watch in the film, and I...

(Note: this starts negative but gets better.) Is it any surprise that so many of us are damaged? John Zerzan (2002), Running on Emptiness : Lovely new indicators of how it is panning out include increasing self-mutilation among the young and murder of children by their own parents[, unarmed suspects, especially black youths, murdered by the police, young men manipulated around a draft by patriotism to travel to the other side of the world to kill people that are different than us, self-medication, increased prescribed-medication... and I’ll let Zerzan continue]. Somehow a society that is steadily more impersonal, cynical, de-skilled, boring, artificial, depressing, suicide-prompting, used up, drug-ridden, ugly, anxiety-causing and futureless brings a questioning as to why it has come to this/what’s it all about. (p. 161) Jack laments to Pinocchio, “You ever get the feeling sometimes, you’re being punished for your sins?” In my most cynical, pessimistic (and least practical) mome...

It was Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini that reminded me of the movie Somewhere in Time a while back in relation to Groundhog Day . But, even more appropriately, there is a sort of time loop at the heart of Somewhere in Time , based on the novel Bid Time Return by Richard Matheson, as well. I am watching it right now. The premise is simple enough. A playwright--Christopher Reeve as Richard Collier--wills himself back in time through hypnosis to meet an actress--Jane Seymour as Elise McKenna--who, as an old woman, approached him out of nowhere, gave him a pocket watch and told him, "Come back to me." Okay, maybe it's not that simple. But, anyway, they fall in love, yada yada yada, tragic ending. Rachmaninov's musical piece, which Phil learns in Punxsutawney and plays at the Groundhog Banquet and quite memorably jazzes up, recurs throughout Somewhere in Time . The past section in the film is set in 1912 but the music would not actually be composed until 1934. R...

This entry is for new arrivals. It is unfortunate that a sad event--the death of Harold Ramis--might bring me new readers, but I welcome you nonetheless. This is The Groundhog Day Project where I watch Groundhog Day every day--today is day 210--and blog about it (or inspired by it). If you want to catch up, there are indexes (of everything prior to February) on Day 180 , Day 121 , and Day 62 . Or, if you just want to understand why I'm doing this, maybe read this , this or this . In the meantime... I meant to write about e' gia Ieri today. That translates as "it's already yesterday" but the film is also known as Stork Day . It's the Italian remake of Groundhog Day . Variety , 15 February 2004, tells us that producer Riccardo Tozzi and director Giulio Manfredonia "were talking about making a 'what if' comedy and decided to go straight to that subgenre's original source." The thing is, I never managed to watch it today. And, it...