Harold Ramis | Peaches Prattlings

{February 2, 2024} It’s February 2nd…that means it’s Groundhog Day!

I didn’t even realize it today! I know it’s always Feb 2nd and I knew it was Feb 2nd, but it didn’t click until someone posted Happy Groundhog Day on a team chat at the same time I was looking at Yahoo. Oh wow! What did Phil see?

Who’s Phil you ask? Why, only Punxatawny Phil, the groundhog who…if he sees his shadow means we will have six more weeks of Winter, but…if he doesn’t see a shadow, we will have an early Spring. And what did Phil see today? Not his shadow! Early Spring for all! Where does it come from? It derives from a Pennsylvania Dutch superstition.

And what didn’t I realize?! Punxatawny is a city in PA! I just looked, it’s about 3.5 hours from where we are, what does that mean? I SO want to go one year to see the groundhog do his thing, participate in the festivities, experience something new, and see what it’s all about!

I think I’ve told you this already, but…a few years ago I was on a project in Illinois and I happened to be in the city of Woodstock, Illinois and it turns out that’s where the filmed the movie Groundhog Day! It was so cool to see the town after having watched the movie! The premise: A narcissistic, self-centered weatherman finds himself in a time loop on Groundhog Day.

Where does the Groundhog Day Loop concept originate? There’s a 1973 short story called “12:01 P.M.,” by Richard A. Lupoff, in which a man relives the same hour over and over. Language will do what it does; it doesn’t really matter that it goes by “the Groundhog Day loop” as a shorthand; that’s reasonable and sensible, since it’s familiar.

Basically, in the movie, Bill Murray, who plays Phil Connors, the narcissitic weatherman, gets stuck in the Groundhog Day Loop, reliving the same day over and over until he makes it right, basically becomes a human being, at least that’s my opinion. One of the big questions of the movie, is how long did his character actually stay in the loop?

What I found online: Well, there are 38 days actually shown on screen, as well as 414 days mentioned in the film and a huge 11,931 days which Phil spends learning a host of new talents and interests – based on the theory that it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert in any given subject. He learns to play the piano, speak french, memorizes poetry, that one was to impress a girl! learns to carve ice sculptures, among other things. And in that time, he does become a human being, again, my opinion. But…along the way, at least in the beginning, he does some really stupid shite, because he knows he can get away with it, but after a while, that looses its appeal…

The movie is rounded out by a great cast! Harold Ramis is a writer, the director, and plays a doctor in the movie, Andie McDowell is his tv producer and also become his love interest, has one of my favorite lines towards the end of the movie “You said stay, so I stayed”. Chris Elliott plays the cameraman, Stephen Tobolowsky, a great character actor, plays Ned Ryerson, who he went to high school with and had some of the best lines in the movie: Watch out for that first step…it’s a douzy! and Am I right, or am I right, or am I right?

Billy Murray’s brother Bryan Doyle Murray, who is in a lot of his movies, plays the mayor, and gets to deliver the news: Shadow or no shadow? He gets to deliver the line “Seer of Seers, Sage of Sages, Prognosticator of Prognosticators, and Weather-Prophet Extraordinary”. Angela Paton, you know her when you see her, was Mrs Lancaster, the proprieter of the hotel Phil stays at, and Rick Overton is Ralph, one of the town goofball drunks.

Does Phil feel lucky? Well, today he did! And so were we all! Thanks Punxatawny Phil! Motorcycle weather is coming soon!

{February 2, 2021} It’s Groundhog Day! It’s Groundhog Day! It’s Groundhog Day!

Did you know it’s Groundhog Day? Hopefully when you wake up tomorrow, it will be Wednesday, February 3rd! Fingers crossed for all of us!

Let me back up! Today is Tuesday, February 2, 2021 and it’s Groundhog Day. This is the day that Punxsutawney Phil, the official groundhog in Punxsutawney, PA, comes out of his hole, the temporary home he has in Gobbler’s Knob, to tell us if Winter is here to stay, well, for at least 6 more weeks, and today…Groundhog Day 2021, Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow and we will have 6 more weeks of winter folks. Oh joy…

“We have passed the darkness of night but now see hope and morning’s bright light. But now when I turn to see there’s a perfect shadow cast of me. Six more weeks of winter there will be!” club vice president Tom Dunkel read from the chosen scroll.

This event, which is more of a festival and celebration now, has been going on annually since 1887! Can you believe it! Well, more to the point, can you believe that this is the same groundhog that has been making a prediction since the tradition started? Yup, that’s right folks, well, that’s what the “Inner Circle” or Phil’s “Inner Circle”, identifiable by their top hats and tuxedos, want us to believe, isn’t that fabulous!

Whether or not Punxsutawney Phil’s predictions are true or not, it’s still a fun tradition to keep up and behold. This year, in keeping with Covid-19 rules, the ceremony was held virtually, well, not by everyone! Phil was there, along with his inner circle, hey, someone had to verify if Phil saw his shadow and read the proclamation. And…except for the three intimately involved…the guy holding Phil, the guy reading the proclamation, and the guy with the microphone, everyone else had a mask on, no, not Phil, duh!

I’ll be honest, as a kid, I knew about the groundhog and Groundhog Day, the tradition of the groundhog coming out and predicting the 6 more weeks of winter, or not, but I didn’t know it was such a BIG deal until I saw the 1993 movie Groundhog Day, starring Bill Murray, who plays a self-absorbed weatherman who ends up living the same day over and over and over again, well, until he gets it right.

The movie had a great cast, including Andie MacDowell, as his producer and eventual love interest, Chris Elliot is his goofball cameraman, Stephen Tobolowsky an old classmate of Billy Murray’s character and an insurance salesman with two of my favorite lines in the movie “BING!”, I know you have to watch it, and “Watch that first step…it’s a douzy”. Then, there’s Billy Murray’s brother, not movie brother, but actual brother, Brian Doyle Murray, a great character actor, Angela Paton, she’s one of those actors I don’t always remember her name, but I like seeing her. Rick Overton, who plays one of the guys in the car when Phil Connors, Billy Murray’s character drives off a cliff, Michael Shannon, who has a small role and I always forget that it’s him because had such a baby face in the movie, he was playing a teenager or just barely out of his teens and then, Harold Ramis who co-wrote, directed, and had a small role in the film.

The fun part is to watch Bill Murray’s character grow into an actual human being with all the experiences he has. He starts off, when he realizes that he’s stuck, is to do all the things we might think about doing, since he can’t get in trouble, or trouble that lasts past midnight, when the clock or day resets itself. Then he starts to take life a little more seriously, while still enjoying it. The day resets, but he doesn’t, so he has no choice but to grow. On the last day, well, the day that doesn’t reset itself is the day we get to see the new, maybe who he really was all along, just buried, Phil Connors. Who knows.

The hard part is to watch him try over and over to get out of this day and then you sit there wondering ‘just how long was Phil Connors stuck?‘ Harold Ramis said “It takes at least 10 years to get good at anything,” said Ramis, “and allotting for the down time and misguided years he spent, it had to be more like 30 or 40 years.” Just ouch!

Before I leave you…a bit of Groundhog Day movie trivia before I say farewell. The movie takes place in Punxsutawney, PA, but actually, it was filmed in Woodstock, Illinois! But JJ, how do you know that!? Well, first, if you look up the movie, you can find that out, but…I happened to be in Woodstock, Illinois for a project and the people at the office told me that the town square, about two blocks away, was where they filmed the movie! OMG! Of course, I had to take a stroll. How cool is that!

Well, here’s to 6 more weeks of winter and I’m hoping the radio doesn’t wake me up to I Got You Babe by Sonny and Cher. If it does, I’m going back to bed. What would you do?

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