the groundhog day project

Clerks. Kevin Smith supposedly got into filmmaking because of Slacker . Jason Reitman (maybe I'll watch one of his movies next) supposedly got into filmmaking because of this movie, even though his father directed Ghostbusters and Stripes and Meatballs ... Well, I guess he's a bit young to remember his father making that last one. It could be interesting to map influences like that, track backward from some first-time director to the dawn of cinema.           And, I'm sitting here watching a movie and blogging about it. A year ago, I didn't really think I'd still be doing this. Same thing two years ago. Three years ago, blogging daily about Groundhog Day was just a silly idea I had once, not something I thought I'd actually do. I was in the teaching credential program that winter and spring quarters; thinking of turning my bachelor's in history into a teaching gig. Slide back another six years, and I'm getting my first inkling of being a teac...

I don't completely buy the idea that George has always hated his job. Making those models the way he does, taking his time on the details--that should be meditative. Like when I have the time to build with my LEGO blocks. Or the rare occasion that I get to write fiction again (The last story I wrote was a couple years ago, now. While my wife and I were separated the first time, I wrote four stories. I actually like all of them. Some stories I've written--afterward, I wasn't that impressed. These four--I still like them. (If you're curious... Masks , Feelings , Maurice the Turtle Who Wanted to Be Human , An Offer of Violence .) I don't write poetry much, either.) and there's a sense of... I don't know what it is. It's some measure of expression, the power that comes from taking ideas inside my head and putting them out into the world. Like this blog or my good academic papers, but more personal. No, that isn't quite it. This blog is often very pe...