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.

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."

THUS, THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

...with Sonny & Cher o­n Hullaballoo and famously o­n Letterman years later, plus UB40 with Chrissie Hynde, not to mention Joey Ramone & Holly Beth Vincent, as well as The Cynics (from the Bonograph tribute CD), David Bowie and Marianne Faithful and, from Ready Steady Go, the Rolling Stones.

THE BEAUTIFUL SOUTH: After 19 years, the band from Hull have split up due to musical similarities.

ERIN McKEOWN brought her rootsy, swingin' brand of pop -- including covers of "Paper Moon" and "Get Happy" -- to the World Cafe last Friday, but it's just as good to stream today.

ROBYN HITCHCOCK talks to JamBase about lyrics not being the most important thing, playing with the Venus 3, and more.

KISS: While reading this letter from "Beth" to Peter Criss, you can listen to listen to Criss sing "Hard Luck Woman," a song Soul Asylum should cover.

CELINE DION and Ananstacia sing AC/DC's "You Shook Me All Night Long." The horror! The...HORROR!!! You will pine for that song from Titanic.

PATTI SMITH: EW blogger Michele Romero spends some time in the purple rooms of Electric Lady Studios in Greenwich Village, where Smith is finishing her new covers album. There's also a link to a video of Patti singing Debby Boone's "You Light Up My Life" o­n the '70s TV show, Kids Are People Too.

NICK DRAKE: Stereogum has posted a lo-fi version of "To The Garden" -- o­ne of those rare "unreleased" tracks to be featured o­n the upcoming posthumous album.

THE HOLD STEADY guitarist Tad Kubler talks to Leeds Music Scene about a bunch of things including how featuring Franz's piano o­n the new album also accented his guitar work.

THE BROKEN WEST: An Aquarium Drunkard has posted an exclusive acoustic set, which includes a cover of Guided By Voices "Game of Pricks." You can also stream it via the ol' HM.

PETE DOHERTY-KATE MOSS UPDATE: The supposedly sober supermodel's visit to the troubled singer in rehab is fueling speculation of a break-up, though it may be a temporary spilt for PR purposes. And all of their prior break-ups have been temporary, so don't count this train wreck out just yet.

THE CUTOUT BIN: This Friday's fortuitous finds o­n the ol' HM include: Wedding Present - Where Everybody Knows Your Name; Soul Asylum - Tied To The Tracks; The Buzzcocks - What Do I Get?; The Smithereens - All My Loving; Electric Light Orchestra - Shine a Little Love; Pezband - On And o­n; Bell, Chris - You And Your Sister; Billy Bragg - That's Entertainment; The Kinks - Apeman; Num - Noise; Casper & The Cookies - Sweet Transvestite; Spirit - I Got A Line o­n You; Van Halen - Ain't Talkin' 'bout Love; The Stooges - My Idea of Fun; and The Afghan Whigs - Can't Get Enough Of Your Love Babe.

MISS CONDUCT: In her first TV interview since leaving rehab, Tara Conner suggested that an abusive childhood may have contributed to her woes. Like we've never heard that o­ne before. MSNBC has more video. Meanwhile, former Miss USA Susie Castillo is blasting Conner for tarnishing the image of the pageant.

NOW SHOWING: This weekend's wide releases are The Messengers, which is this week's unscreened-for-critics PG-13 horror flick, and Because I Said So, a rom-com Diane Keaton probably wishes had not been screened for critics, who are currently giving it 7 percent o­n the Tomatometer.

WINNING an OSCAR may be less than it's cracked up to be.

LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE: ...And the Winner is lays out the cases for and against the film getting the Oscar for Best Picture.

BRITNEY SPEARS has brought in yet another hot-shot record producer to work over her new material, leading some -- by which I mean me -- to speculate that the new stuff is even worse than her old stuff. Meanwhile, cocktail waitress "Dirty Delta" has a story about serving the pop tart three "orgy bowls" -- a drink meant for five people -- the night before she injured her leg o­n tour.

BRADGELINA: London's Observer reports that -- unlike past efforts -- the latest attempt to film Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged is likely to reach the screen, with Jolie playing railroad heiress heroine Dagny Taggart. A two-hour screenplay is almost complete and filming is to start this year with release in 2008. It is being written by Randall Wallace, who wrote the Mel Gibson epic Braveheart, and is backed by Lion's Gate Entertainment.

PRISON BREAK star Lane Garrison had "more than twice the legal limit" of alcohol in his system and was under the influence of cocaine during the fatal crash that killed a 17-year-old boy in December, according to police. The Beverly Hills Police Department has recommend that the L.A. County District Attorney file a felony charge of gross vehicular manslaughter.

TOM-KAT UPDATE: Holmes "dishes" about Cruise, her daughter Suri and her career in the March issue of Harper's Bazaar: Tom Cruise is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I've ever known in my life.

LINDSAY LOHAN has decided not to star in the upcoming A Woman of No Importance so she can focus o­n getting better. Maybe the letter from her convict father will help with the healing.

SUPER BOWL myths and legends are dissected in the Chicago Tribune, but the paper left out the false claim that more women are victims of domestic violence o­n Super Bowl Sunday.

BEYONCE KNOWLES edged out Scarlett Johansson and Jessica Alba as this year's "most desirable woman" in an annual reader survey by AskMen.com, which was kind enough to post a gallery of the Top 99.

WHO IS CAPT. JAMIL HUSSEIN? The apparently pseudonymous Baghdad police officer was a source for over 60 Associated Press stories -- though the AP has never acknowledged the pseudonym. In what has become known as the "Burning Six" story, Hussein claimed that militiamen "burned and blew up four mosques and torched several homes" in Hurriyah. The Multi-National Corps stated that an Iraqi Army patrol found o­nly o­ne mosque had been burned. The AP's follow-up story referred to a single mosque, but was silent o­n the others. Wednesday, the AP had the gall to mischaracterize the MNF's report and further that "the AP has confirmed damage at three of the four mosques, including burn damage at two and slight damage at a third." Which seems quite a bit different from Hussein's claim that the mosques were burned and blew up." You might think a correction would be required by the AP's own policies, but apparently not -- when the story is Iraq.

THE NEW YORK TIMES published a photograph and videotape of a Texas soldier dying in Iraq, violating a signed agreement not to publish photos or video of any wounded soldiers without official consent. The rule exists to allow notification of next of kin. The paper is being forced to write the grieving family a letter of regret.

WHO IS WILLIAM M. ARKIN? He writes about "National and Homeland Security" for the Washington Post. Earlier this week, he responded to an NBC Nightly News report o­n US soldiers frustrated with opposition to war at home by suggesting that: their superiors should tell them speaking out was wrong; soldiers should be grateful that Americans still support them; that the public "indulged" them "(t)hrough every Abu Ghraib and Haditha, through every rape and murder"; that "we don't see very many 'baby killer' epithets being thrown around these days, no o­ne in uniform is being spit upon"; that we provide "vast social support systems and ship obscene amenities into the war zone for them"; and called them a "mercenary - oops sorry, volunteer - force."

Arkin does not explain what basis there would be for superior officers to try to censor soldiers speaking within the limits set by the Uniform Code of Military Justice. He gives no reason to smear the military as a whole for Abu Grahib or Haditha (a case not yet tried, btw). He is apparently unaware of stories about the uniformed National Guardsman beaten by strangers in Washington state, or the protesters who spat at a wounded Iraq vet in Washington, DC last weekend. Arkin may think our troops have it easy, but the 1st Cavalry Division in Taji sleep o­n the cold ground, which contains sand mites, sand flies and other disease carriers, o­nly to get an anti-war e-mail when they tried to buy mattresses o­nline. Arkin admits he was "dead wrong" in using the word "mercenary" in a follow-up that then accuses them of hiding behind the constitution and the flag, and "spewing" an anti-dissent message. Given the lack of popular support for Iraq, the soldiers are the o­nes dissenting, but that irony is surpassed by Arkin's complaint that those who disagree with him are arrogant and intolerant.

Who is Arkin? In the past, the Washington Post has run stories in which he says he's an activist, not a journalist. And stories about his books and columns divulging classified info in the midst of a war. And his past jobs with Human Rights Watch, Greenpeace, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Institute for Policy Studies. Oddly enough, none of those jobs appear in his current bio for the paper.

MOZART the IGUANA's sad tale of penis removal reaches a satisfying cllimax.

1400 ENDANGERED TURTLES in a suitcase cruises past the eleven swans in an apartment in this week's animal hoarding/smuggling derby. Had it been Christmas season, the swans could have taken it.

A FAT CAT BURGLAR caught wedged in a doggie door was reunited with his estranged owner. The cat is FIV-positive to boot. Video at the link.

HERMAPHRODITE DEER bagged in Florida.

MOOSE are finding the snow in Anchorage, Alaska so deep they're going where they'd rather not, choosing major roads and plowed sidewalks.

DEAD PETS are a girl's best friend.