First D.J.: Rise and shine, campers and don’t forget your booties ‘cause it’s cooooold out there today.
Second D.J.: It’s cold out there every day. What is this, Miami Beach?
First D.J.: Not hardly. So the big question on everybody’s lips…
Second D.J.: On their chapped lips…
First D.J.: …their chapped lips is, “Does Phil feel lucky?” Punxsatawney Phil! That’s right, woodchuck chuckers it’s…
[IN UNISON]: GROUNDHOG DAY!!!
The real Punxsutawney Phil has been called the Seer of Seers, Sage of Sages, Prognosticator of Prognosticators, and Weather Prophet Extraordinary. In fact, he’s been right only 39 percent of the time since 1887, though he’s improved since 1980.Nevertheless, tens of thousands will make the journey to Gobbler’s Knob in the tiny Pennsylvania hamlet that has become known as the “Weather Capital of the World,” due in no small part to the movie.
This is one time where the Internet really fails to capture the true excitement of a movie about a large squirrel predicting the weather. However, you can see the trailer or the 60 second edit as a refresher.
In 2005, Roger Ebert revisited Groundhog Day, declaring that the film
“finds its note and purpose so precisely that its genius may not be immediately noticeable. It unfolds so inevitably, is so entertaining, so apparently effortless, that you have to stand back and slap yourself before you see how good it really is.”
At the other end of the political spectrum, Jonah Goldberg’s equally effusive movie meditation grabbed the cover of National Review:
“When I set out to write this article, I thought it’d be fun to do a quirky homage to an offbeat flick, one I think is brilliant as both comedy and moral philosophy. But while doing what I intended to be cursory research—how much reporting do you need for a review of a twelve-year-old movie that plays constantly on cable?—I discovered that I wasn’t alone in my interest. In the years since its release the film has been taken up by Jews, Catholics, Evangelicals, Hindus, Buddhists, Wiccans, and followers of the oppressed Chinese Falun Gong movement.”
Indeed, a 2004 article mentioned by Ebert (but not linked) from London’s Independent observes that the Harold Ramis comedy has been hailed by some religious leaders as the most spiritual film of all time. In addition to the examples given in that article, another can be found at the Christian Science Monitor.
As Phil Connors ultimately observed:
“When Chekhov saw the long winter, he saw a winter bleak and dark and bereft of hope. Yet we know that winter is just another step in the cycle of life. But standing here among the people of Punxsutawney and basking in the warmth of their hearths and hearts, I couldn’t imagine a better fate than a long and lustrous winter.”
Let’s finish it off with a bit of history from Late Night with David Letterman:
AW nuts!
Of course people flock there. Flockers.
I like the movie. I think that there are others, such as Time Bandits, that are more interesting from a theological perspective.
Damn. This day’s never going to end.
Now, don’t drive angry.
I have always admired the way that Cher and Sonny were able to bury their past and do this. The obvious pain of Cher at Sonny’s funeral was also moving.
Sonny and Cher both took a lot of crap during their careers, but both came out looking much more classier than 99% of their peers…
Hey, did you ever see the movie Groundhog Day?
…
…
(wait for it…)
Hey, did you ever see the movie Groundhog Day?
Groundhogs endangered by global warming, even as El Nino weakens.
Huh-huh-huh. “Gobbler’s Knob.” Huh-huh-huh. Huh-huh-huh. Huh-huh-huh.
McGehee,
I can’t believe you can be so flippant about Gobbler’s Knob. It’s a serious syndrome that afflicts thousands of Americans every year.
Lucky bastards.
“Don’t you worry about cholesterol, heart attacks?”
“I don’t worry about anything. I am a god. Maybe not THE god, but A god.”
SB: approach79
Well, that’s one
Yeah, yeah. Phil is Job. A very funny Job:
Meanwhile, at 32.7N 98.1W, 8/8 cloud cover, OAT 31F, occasional snowflakes. Local groundhogs will not see their shadows. Wise local groundhogs will stay inside and watch Oprah.
Global Warming is severely impacting my activities.
Regards,
Ric
Groundhogs and couch potatoes are not the same thing, Ric. How are things?
Who here could go for some flapjacks?
Groundhogs and couch potatoes are not the same thing, Ric. How are things?
…at 32.7N 98.1W…
Flat, I’m guessing. Really, really flat.
No, couch potatoes and groundhogs are not the same thing.
Only psychologically. I do admit that we tend to call a hundred-foot hill a “mountain” around here. Topographic relativism…
Still job hunting, waiting for replies to inquiries, and other fun activities. Except for the anticipation/fear it’s so boring it ought to say “Millers Falls” on it somewhere. Oh, and occasional tiffs with the LTLP. For better or worse, but not for lunch!
No shadows here. Precious few groundhogs, come to that.
Regards,
Ric
Ric, looks to me like the nearest thing to terrain you’ve got at those coordinates is an earthen dam.
Thanks to Google Earth, your only hope of privacy is if there’s a cloud over your house.
McGehee, I don’t give exact coordinates for my house. Years ago we used to call that an “ICBM Address”. Spam is bad enough.
Compared to Jeff’s place it’s pretty darned flat, but there are plenty of hills and valleys. I didn’t grow up here, but I’ve grown used to it. The genuinely flat country out west of here oppresses me—there’s ‘way too much sky—but when I go back east I feel claustrophobic. The trees are in the way, dammit.
Regards,
Ric
Dobb’s Valley?
BOB Dobbs?….
Luther, IIRC.
One of the early settlers[1]. Built up a good-sized ranch. Called himself “Colonel”. Of course it took longer to run IDs in those days.
Regards,
Ric
[1]The “Native Americans” [Comanche] who were here did not “settle” and took positive steps to prevent anyone else from doing so.
There is nothing better than posting an e-mail a week after the event was over…which, of course, I did.