the groundhog day project

This is from yesterday : [Benesh] writes about references to eating the groundhog--Phil says he "had groundhog for lunch" and he reports about how the people of Punxsutawney "used to take the hog out and they used to eat it"--and she adds one more: "In another reference to ingesting the Other, Phil Connors once proposes toasting [to] the groundhog" (Benesh, 2011, p. 88). I don't know how it works in Benesh's circles, but whenever I have been present for a toast, we have not then eaten the person (or thing) being toasted. Still, there's a pink tab here labeled "eating groundhog." She continues: Phil Connors' desire to ingest the groundhog seems a parallel to his early hostile come-ons toward Rita, the allusion to his pelvic tilt, and to her sleeping alone and missing him, followed by his attempts to seduce her. (p. 88) Because, clearly, Phil wants to eat Rita... and I'm using "eat" in the literal sense. This is ...

Yesterday morning, the Groundhog Day Project woke me up. See, I'd written Friday's blog midday Friday--it was just going to be me sharing the text of the press release I put together. I didn't post it as soon as I wrote it because I had a couple of people read it because I'd never written a press release before. I also put together a good chunk of yesterday's (Saturday) recap entry on Friday because I knew I would be busy most of the day Saturday because of a practice speech tournament for nationals and the recap entries tend to be easy but take up a lot of time. So, when I woke up just before 6 AM Saturday (my alarm set for 6:12) having not posted any blog entry online on Friday I hurried to the computer and posted the Friday blog entry just in time. Technically, with the adding of topic labels and posting to Facebook and Twitter and reweeting it under my regular account, it happened after the 6 AM deadline. However--and this is an important however --since th...

It’s time once again to recap what has been going on at the Groundhog Day Project . Previous recaps can be reached by clicking on the following links: Day 62: for your information Day 121: how else could you know so much? Day 180: it would be great to stay for some of the other events Now, here’s what’s been going on since in the last 60 days: (And here ’s the latest version of the Transcript updated with notation for every line used as a title.) Day 181 – i got ten bucks that says you’re mine was a brief entry that about Doris’ obsession with Phil and me maybe Phil Connoring Danny Rubin. Day 182 – she wants to see paris before she dies suggests Doris is responsible for the time loop. Day 183 – where are you going? , which goes over some of the events planned for the weekend in Woodstock, was written on the way there, with a little bit added after spending some time around town. The pilgrimage begins. Day 184 – it’s so beautiful was a recap of Day One in Woodstock written ...

Almost forgot to post this, violating one of the two official rules of this blog. It was complete 16 hours ago but I was waiting on a couple people to look at it for me. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE MAN WATCHES GROUNDHOG DAY EVERY DAY AND BLOGS ABOUT IT 28 March 2014 (image not included in press release) Glendale, CA – Local man, Robert E G Black has been watching the 1993 comedy Groundhog Day every day since last August 2nd and has blogged it about daily as well at groundhogdayproject.com. Day 250 is coming up soon—8 April. Every day—running 6 AM to 6 AM—he watches Groundhog Day from start to finish (including credits) and writes a blog directly linked to that viewing or inspired by the film. He has deconstructed the movie from more angles than are probably necessary. And, every entry is titled with a separate line from the movie (repetition is not allowed) that has something to do with the topic at hand. He has explored philosophical topics (e.g. Nietzsche’s Eternal Recurrence), cin...

There may be a scientific explanation for why groundhogs (in the wild) would actually wake up midwinter. Consider this a sequel to my entry about the origins of Groundhog Day. Groundhogs are very simple animals; Stutz (2006) tells us, “They live pretty solitary lives, are good swimmers and adequate climbers, and, when not browsing on grasses, plants, and tree bark, spend the time working on their underground network of burrows. These activities take up half their lives. They spend the other half asleep. (p. 21) He goes on to explain how “winter in the northern hemisphere can mean sparse pickings” for a plant eater like the groundhog, hence they have evolved, like many other mammals, to hibernate through the colder months because that’s “better than retiring hungry every night and a lot less work than migrating”—and here’s where Stutz is just rude—“especially if you’re a lumpy creature with stubby legs.” Then Stutz provides a lengthy explanation about the hormone melatonin. Th...

(Click on image to enlarge) Today’s reason to repeat a day forever: to refrain from using words when it is a) appropriate and b) more fun.

Did anybody else find the name of the park where the groundhog ceremony was held funny? That's the start of a thread on IMDb regarding Groundhog Day 's Gobbler's Knob. Maybe I don't have the mind of a teenage boy but I never took it as anything more than the place's name. In fact, on the IMDb thread, I pointed out that knob is a geographical term and gobbler presumably refers to turkeys... I haven't confirmed the turkey thing as far as why the real Gobbler's Knob is called that, but my guess is once upon a time it has some wild turkeys hanging about. I never considered it as something suggestive because, if nothing else, that's the name of the actual place in Punxsutawney where they hold the groundhog ceremony. Still, people insist on thinking it's suggestive. Recall, my friend Stephanie , watching the movie for the first time--at my urging and on my iPad--suggested the name Gobbler's Knob was a sex reference... actually, she suggested it...

Since Benesh deals in Jungian terminology, it's no surprise that the shadow comes up a lot. For example, Benesh suggests the "shadow must be recovered and reclaimed to create wholeness and balance" (p. 77). Which made me think of Peter Pan when I read it, hence the pink tab labeled "Peter Pan." My handwritten note in the margin: Peter Pan (literally) Peter - Phil Wendy - Rita Tink [two arrows, one angled up to Rita, one angled down to Nancy] Tiger Lily - Nancy Lost Boys - Gus & Ralph Punx. Phil - Crocodile Michael & John - Larry I'm not sure that matchup works if you put any thought into some of those choices, but Phil certainly has some things in common with Peter Pan, aside from the shadow thing. He won't grow old, and pre- and early-loop Phil probably doesn't even want to. Both Peter Pan and Phil Connors are arrogant, cocky and boastful. Both are mischievous. Each plays an instrument... But, enough about Peter Pan. If I spend ent...

If we took Benesh (2011) at face value, then we would have to assume every film in which characters have hands is somehow using those hands to mean something. I don't even think Benesh is all wrong in some of the symbolism she describes in Groundhog Day but she chooses such simplistic things--hands, snow--that the choices are more banal than meaningful. If there were closeups of hands--to be fair, there are one or two--or characters talked about hands or their hands were particularly meaningful in context of the story... except Benesh doesn't want us looking to the narrative; she advises (by way of Izod (2000) citing Hillman (1983 presumably) that we "focus on an image-oriented reading versus one that rushes, as it typical, to narrative conclusions" (p. 63). But, the problem here is when looking at images pushes us not just past the narrative but into an entirely different universe from it. She wants to look at the film in terms of Jungian psychology and dream inter...

Page 67 of Benesh (2011) is interesting. It's the start of her Chapter Four: Findings. At the bottom of the page, she lists, "The symbolic images chosen to amplify" and I have handwritten notes next to each one. Her first: pairs/double My handwritten note: whereas I noticed trios I know I've written about the trio thing before, but I cannot find the entry [ found it ]. Her second: lines and spheres My handwritten note: I reject This one, I have definitely written about before . Her third: blue-and-white colors My handwritten note: I select only blue. Which you can read about in at least a shallow way here . Her fourth: hands, and (I put a box around hands ) My handwritten note: is it, for example, Phil's still hand in the opening shot, countered by his moving, energetic hands playing piano? in that sense, his hands move when he stops in front the of the moving truck... so movement is both life and death? stillness is internal death. 1-11-14 I th...

I'm watching Meatballs again before Groundhog Day tonight. And, while I had a title in mind for today's blog, I come to the writing of it without a plan. In fact, given that I'm watching Meatballs first, I probably won't even be posting this entry until after midnight, so my prediction will be wrong. Since I'm in a pessimistic mood, I will suggest that I'm wrong about a lot of things like all the time. I thought about writing some generic stuff about spring, but that just seems wrong since Groundhog Day is all about winter. And Meatballs is set in the summer. My seasons are all confuzzled today. Timing. That's the issue. All I really want to say, in line with the title above, is this: March 21st will come just as any other day will. Time will go on. We may make new friends or lose old ones but life goes on. So anyway, Benesh (2011) says, At a given point in development, less conforming and more assertive agentic persons may cultivate a latent a...

The scripty font seems unjustified for a horror film. The butterfly seems pretentious. But, the people projected into the jars on the shelves is a nice visual and the production value already seems pretty good... Oh, I should explain. I'm watching Haunter , a horror film with a time loop. Abigail Breslin stars. And those were my initial impressions. And SPOILERS will be coming. When your little brother's imaginary friend--who he insists is not imaginary--leaves things in your room, you should be more freaked out. By the way... "Lisa Johnson! Me and Edgar found the pirate treasure. Meet us in the secret cave." That walkie talkie bit has nothing on Sonny and Cher . Not sure if this is awesome or really sad--definitely too on-the-nose. A bit of a dialogue between Lisa (Breslin) and her mother: Mother: something something where do you want to go for dinner for your birthday tomorrow? Lisa: Ask me tomorrow. Mother: I hope we get there... because the car's hav...