the groundhog day project

Two things: I just watched a short film Pablo (speech team member) posted to me on Facebook a couple days ago. And, I've been prompted with another sort of oddball topic from my daughter Saer. First, the short film-- The Other Side of Yesterday is a fairly simple thing, less than 10 minutes long, only two actors wandering around LACMA and talking. See, the woman, Iris--and I'll try not to be too SPOILERY--is stuck in yesterday, a trip to the museum she was supposed to take with her family but they were killed. Keller, who seems like he's her subconscious (or possibly some Adjustment Bureau-type agent if we take the film literally), convinces her that living in the past isn't a good idea. Simple enough idea, so-so acting, some great visuals but those mostly come from the art and architecture in the museum. The dialogue's a bit cheesy, but sometimes that works just fine like this bit from the end: One truth remains constant: what's to come tomorrow, what's...

There’s a new arrival on my shelf. That Beanie Baby Punxsutawney Phil on the lower shelf (in the photo below) was a gift from the speech team for which I am one of the coaches. It was supposed to be part of my gift basket thing at last week’s banquet but hadn’t arrived in the mail in time. I got it yesterday before class. And, since I was asked yesterday by Tracey (next year’s Vice President of our speech team) what stuff I’ve got on my Groundhog Day Project shelf (after I mentioned that this guy would end up there), I will explain what’s in the photo. Top shelf has Paul Hannam’s The Magic of Groundhog Day (which I just realized I may have called The Groundhog Day Effect in a recent blog— which I cannot seem to locate, so maybe I’m imagining it —or maybe I was referring to the concept and not the title, in which case all is well), Ryan Gilbey’s BFI critique of Groundhog Day , Herman Hesse’s Siddhartha and Thomas Moore’s Utopia for the books. In front of them is a Woodsto...

It’s Day 300 so I should be doing something big… but I got nothing, and though my grad class tonight was canceled, I still had some stuff to do—open mic on the stage outside the Student Union on campus (I read a poem of mine) and dinner with 3 members of the speech team who also attended. Fortunately, since 300 is also divisible by 60, it’s time for another Groundhog Day Project recap. 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 Day 240 – it’s your choice. so what’s it gonna be? Day 241 – too early for flapjacks tells of the time I almost broke the rules of the Groundhog Day Project and doesn’t talk about Benesh (2011) for like eight paragraphs. Day 242 – like a jerk again deals with Benesh, Hannam ( The Groundhog Day Effect and whether or not Phil is trying to become Rita. Day 243 – put some cherry syrup on the top...

(Note to my future self: do not cite this entry if you end up doing your thesis on the currently being proposed topic; that would be cheating.) First, let's get this out of the way. Yesterday as Groundhog Day played on my iPad, I was running the movie on the computer as well, skipping around to grab screencaps of the interiors of the Cherry Street Inn. Obviously, that is not the interior. That is the exterior as shot in Woodstock. The interiors, as I mentioned the other day, were in a warehouse in Cary, IL. This is the side of the building (from Google Street View): So, here's the thing I need to get out of the way: Phil's room is designed in such a way that it could not possibly be in this building as it actually exists. Here's my diagram again: The stairs go down to the left there, which would be west since the three windows at the bottom of that diagram look south . Now, if Phil's room was where it should be, at the top right of the Cherry Street ...

No time for words today. The movie has just ended, and I spent the whole time putting together these: Which got me this: And I also put together these: And these: Near as I can tell, that is not the same hallway as the following images. Mrs. Lancaster comes into the scene from the left, another hallway. But, Phil leaves toward us to the right, which implies this is the same hallway as below. Maybe the hallway from which Mrs. Lancaster comes from is immediately next to the stairs down. And, finally this. The stairs from the previous image are coming down from the left. The stairs going down on the right head toward the front entrance to the Cherry Street Inn. Today’s reason to repeat a day forever: to just go ahead and capture every frame of Groundhog Day separately, already.

As far as deja vu jokes go, Top Secret! --which has absolutely nothing else to do with Groundhog Day , except I just watched the former after not having seen it in many years and am now watching the latter--has a good one. Du Quois introduces the Resistance members. The first group is "Chevalier, Montage, Detente, Avant Garde, and Deja Vu." That last one looks at our lead, Nick Rivers (Val Kilmer) and says, "Have we not met before, Monsieur?" Actually, I thought I found another link between Top Secret! and Groundhog Day when I saw that IMDb lists Top Secret! 's release date as June 8, 1984, the same day Ghostbusters , starring Bill Murray and directed by Harold Ramis, came out. Except, on closer inspection, i.e. Box Office Mojo , I confirmed that Top Secret! actually came out 2 weeks later, the same day as Rhinestone , which I am sure Rita Hanson just loved. But Ghostbusters was still number one at the box office. And, since I've reminisced recently ...

My daughter--who just called her self "the queen of romance"--wants me to write today about how Phil and Rita have no chemistry. That one is difficult. The problem with Rita and Phil is not necessarily one of chemistry. Afterall, Justin Harlan comments at Cinapse that "Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell show great on-screen chemistry" and David Glushakow at Examiner , says they "have a nice onscreen chemistry that make[s] this comedy even more enjoyable" and James Berardinelli at Real Views says, "While the chemistry between them isn't smouldering, they work well together. Their characters' romance is credible because it's low key." The problem is not chemistry. Jennifer Wood at Complex provides some rules for onscreen chemistry. One of her DOs: "Cast actors with real chemistry." The Turner Classic Movies entry for Groundhog Day , written by Eleanor Quin, tells us that crew members on the film recall Murray's and MacD...

I'm in a thoughtful mood tonight. As Groundhog Day started tonight, I was eating a piece of cake with my face on it. That's not why I'm thoughtful, but it seemed like something worth mentioning. The entire cake had a group photo of our speech team on it. Tonight was our end-of-the-year banquet. It was just like the banquet at the end of Groundhog Day , if Phil were actually three coaches and a team president and the people talking were not approaching to thank him (them) but to, well, sort of roast them. And, instead of auctioning people off, our head coach handed out a few awards and we had cake. And Tracey, Vice President of the team for next year after only one year of doing this, performed an awesome piece with us coaches as birds (first eagles, then phoenixes--our official mascot is the golden eagle), the students as, well, the birds we're raising up to be eagles. I can't do it justice here. I don't know if any of my fellow coaches (who are graduating...

The character of Phil Connors is named Phil because that is the name of the groundhog in Punxsutawney's Groundhog Day celebration, as Rubin (2012) explains: And who is the center of attention for the festivities in Punxsutawney? A groundhog named Phil. For the time being, I decided to call my character Phil as well, hoping that somehow there would be resonance created by associating my guy with the groundhog. (p. 15) Many authors have latched onto that link between the two Phils, including of course Benesh (2011) and myself. And, Phil himself makes the connection before he kidnaps the groundhog and kills them both. But, after writing about names yesterday , I wondered if there wasn't some more resonance in Phil's name that just the obvious. The name Philip (or Filippo in the Italian remake, È già ieri ) means "lover of horses." More elaborately, From the Greek name Φιλιππος ( Philippos ) which means "friend of horses", composed of the elements φιλ...