the groundhog day project

One of Phil's lessons--one of many that he has to learn in his time loop--is that women matter. Other people in general, but also specifically women. In his trapped life in Pittsburgh, he was a womanizer. The film doesn't make this obvious, but the ease with which he shifts into trickery mode to seduce Nancy after being in the time loop for only three days should give you a hint. Phil sees women--as he sees most people*--as sort of props in the play of his life. There to be used and forgotten. (* He calls them by nicknames more readily than he calls most of them by their given names. He calls Mrs. Lancaster "Mama" and not in a nice way like he calls O'Reilly "Pops" or "Dad." He calls the man in the hallway "Pork Chop." He calls Nancy "Rita.") For example, forget about Nancy or Rita for now. What about Mrs. Lancaster? 1. Mrs. 2. He barely knows her, she barely knows him, and he doesn't know what affect his kissing her...

No Day Break today. It's what I call "Sinus Day" (though I haven't had one in a while) and I think I'll be going to bed early. Phil Connors is lucky he wasn't feeling sick or having allergy issues on the day that kept repeating. That would really be a horrible curse. No Benesh today either. My eyes don't feel like reading. But, so this isn't too brief, I would mention something that occurred to me last night. I've been assuming that Groundhog Day is set in 1993. My presumption about films in general is that if a film does not specifically say in what year it is set (and it is not obviously set in some year in the distant past or future) then it is set in the present year in which it is released. Groundhog Day , filmed nearly a year earlier, was released in February 1993. The exact setting hasn't been very important mostly; after all the film is rather timeless. Maybe the only entry in which the particular year matter was the one about Phil...

I should be celebrating. It's day 200. Instead, I'm wondering about Phil Connors' astrological sign. There's something wrong with me. Pretty sure. But, anyway, I dealt with Phil's favorite color yesterday. I can deal with his astrological sign. The impulse is to just give him the same sign as Bill Murray. Murray was born 21 September 1950. This makes him a Virgo. According to Birthday Personality -- (And, I must say that I just picked a link from the top of the Google search because a) it's astrology, so are there really reputable websites and disreputable websites? b) I'm doing silly things; I needn't spend all day on them.) --that makes Phil Connors a "sensation seeker." His greatest challenge is "finding [his] own sense of direction." Yeah, that fits. The way forward [or out of the time loop you might get caught in] is to understand that organizations or people can’t give you a sense of purpose; the only way is to find...