the groundhog day project

This blog entry begins late--1:27 A.M.--because I've been playing games. Played some Tsuro , some Carcassonne , some Munchkin and some Monster Fluxx . Two members of the speech team are here at this point to watch Groundhog Day . Victor has seen the film before, even used it in an Impromptu round (like I have ) at Districts this past March. Tracey has not seen the movie before... so figure most of what follows will be descriptions of her responses, if any. For example, but not a very interesting example, she laughed at Larry's "Home Shopping Network" line. And at Phil imitating Rita in the van. (An aside: I was asked two nights ago what my (current) favorite scene in Groundhog Day was. As I hesitated in answering, Dr. Classen (who taught the class for which I wrote my Christ-figure paper) suggested that maybe that would be like picking a favorite child. Still, I tried to answer. I didn't go with my favorite per se, but a scene that is still consistently ent...

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...

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...

I begin today's entry from the Student Center on Eastern Michigan University's campus. The first of two Final rounds is going on and I've got a break before the second. I've watched about half an hour of Groundhog Day so far today but wanted to write at least something from the campus... I have watched the movie now in... Well, I actually don't know how many states. If you count airspace, that is; I'd have to look up the flight paths from Los Angeles to Dallas and Dallas to Detroit, and Chicago to San Francisco, San Francisco to Los Angeles. I've watched the movie in Michigan, in Illinois, in Arizona, Nevada, and Utah. And, of course, California. I've watched the movie on the campuses of California State University Los Angeles, the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, and now Eastern Michigan University. I've watched it in three different planes, in a van, in two hotels, sitting by a campfire, in the snow, and by a pond. Right side up and sideways ...