the groundhog day project

I'm watching Groundhog Day again, as it the tradition. Watched it every day for a year and now I go right back to it every "month." (I put month in quotation marks because, as anyone keeping up with this blog would know, not every month is equal. Most months so far have been 28 days of other movies, 4 movies for 7 days each. But, last October went a little long, and a little differently. So did January, and so did April. Each for slightly different reasons. June is probably going to be a little long as well (for a reason similar to last October). Anyway, this coming month will be 4 movies, 7 days each. Then, Groundhog Day again.) I still know all the lines, but I think my timing on some of them is starting to get a little off. It's the tragedy of being away from something for too long. Familiarity is diminished. Don't get me wrong. I still know more about this movie than pretty much everybody else. But, the feeling is changing. It's comfort food when som...

Well, they may have been robots. I mean, I think they were robots. I mean, I know they were robots. I was at the theater today to see Ex Machina and there's a moment that got me thinking... Well, there were a lot of moments that got me thinking, but there was one in particular I thought was worth sharing here. Nathan (Oscar Isaac) asks Caleb (Domhnall Gleason) why his type is his type ; that is, did he look at all the various types of women, analyze them in detail, measure them, evaluate them and decide on one type , or did his type come from a genetic predilection, or a particular specificity of idealization supported and maintained by his parents, his friends, society in general around him? Actually, most of that phrasing is mine. But, the point is the same. Not to get back into the free will discussion, but I wonder if once a certain complexity is reached, the actuality and the appearance are indistinguishable. That is to say, if his type comes from such a complex combin...

There's a moment in the third act of Westworld in which Peter finds a woman he thinks is injured after the robots have gone... wrong. He believes she's a guest who has been injured because, unlike so many others nearby she is semiconscious (and chained up). Then he gets her some water and she shorts out. Turns out she's a robot. The fact that the robots cannot be distinguished from the guests (except by their hands) is important. And, it makes me wonder if there isn't some greater similarity between the two. I'm reminded of the Architect in The Matrix Reloaded ... [The Oracle] stumbled upon a solution whereby nearly 99.9% of all test subjects accepted the program, as long as they were given a choice, even if they were only aware of the choice at a near unconscious level. I'm reminded of The Purge , which if you haven't seen it a) isn't that great a movie as it ends up just being a rather straightforward home invasion story but b) is based on an imag...

(This month, I'm doing things a little differently; I will be watching 10 films--each recommended by someone else, each one for three days.) For the equivalent of $5524.99 today, you can go to Roman World for the hedonism, Western World for the violence or Medieval World for... a different kind of violence I guess. This is a bunch of rich people. Let's get that out of the way up front. I mean, they're still humans, and it's easy enough to empathize with them when they are in danger. We learn pretty young to idealize the rich; it's no coincidence that so many of Disney's animated films are about princes and princesses. It goes right along with the whole protestant ethic... ...which I did not want to write about today. But it has to be said. This entire story is a fantasy. We have to identify with these rich people spending tons of money to play, and then we can fantasize about being them right alongside fantasizing about being at Delos, in one of those thr...