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?” Punksatawney 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 only right about 40 percent of the time. 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.” All of which is really beside the point, because the event has been dwarfed by 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.
Last year, 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 last year: “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.”
UPDATE: Phil saw his shadow, predicting six more weeks of winter.
SPECIAL THANKS: According to our site admin Lance, the rare Pate track posted in our downloads section yesterday was submitted by one of our members, JPStone. How cool is that!? So check it out, along with the new Jon Pratt solo track, “Geologic Time.”
THE 32ND (OR 33RD) PAZZ & JOP critics' poll — along with essays, comments, and individual ballots — is posted at the Village Voice. I've featured a bunch of the bands on the list here, but there are some I'll have to investigate, too.
MODEST MOUSE frontman Isaac Brock is writing songs with ex-Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr.
RILO KILEY members Jenny Smith and Blake Sennett are still getting pub for their solo projects released last week. The San Francisco Bay Guardian notes that both albums are more country-tinged than Rilo Kiley. Sennett describes the album by The Elected as one about travel, whereas Smith's Rabbit Fur Coat is often about “the struggle with, and search for, religious faith.”
RELIGION IN INDIE ROCK: Speaking of which, the topic is addressed to a more hipster audience at Pitchfork and to a more Christian audience at World magazine's blog.
JEFF TWEEDY is the subject of a streaming interview at WBUR.
BILLY CORGAN appears on Extreme Championship Wrestling. He goes all Pete Townshend on someone's head. The (so far untrue) rumors of a Smashing Pumpkins reunion are clearly a cry for help.
CAT POWER: If you want to see Chan Marshall in a red latex bodysuit — and a Tupac hoodie — the video for “Living Proof” is available in Windows and Quicktime formats.
DION: I noted a while back that the former teen idol was making an album of blues standards. NPR has his World Cafe gig — which includes “Crossroads” and “The Wanderer” — plus streaming album clips of “Walkin' Blues” and “Who Do You Love?”
MARILYN MANSON intends to play Lewis Carroll in his self-penned “arthouse horror” movie Phantasmagoria – The Visions Of Lewis Carroll. Wouldn't it be scarier if he could get Michael Jackson to play Carroll?
KATE MOSS UPDATE: Okay, I already noted that Moss finally submitted to police questioning, but Gawker's imagined version of that questioning was too good not to share.
OSCAR REAX: The nominees give politic answers, for the most part. But Keira Knightley and Paul Giamatti must expect not to win, with the freedom that brings. Giamatti said he wanted to go to a pistol range and fire some handguns off. Knightley said “that's wicked,” but promptly went back to sleep.
LUCY LIU went to Pakistan to tour areas ravaged by October's earthquake. The UNICEF sponsored trip went well until someone mentioned her Chinese-American heritage…
NICKY HILTON called O.C. starlet Mischa Barton a “fat pig.” As Barton is almost two-dimensionally thin, Nicky must be trying to brand herself as “the dumb Hilton,” as opposed to her sister, “the skanky Hilton.”
SIENNA MILLER and HAYDEN CHRISTENSEN may not have been caught canoodling, but is she flying her family to the US to meet him?
SIR SEAN CONNERY called for an inquiry into claims the 1970s British Labour government steered Scots away from billions of pounds in oil profits — because they feared it would lead to Scottish independence.
GWYNETH PALTROW dismisses jibes about her boring lifestyle with Coldplay husband Chris Martin: “I think it's sort of funny how you have to be doing coke off the a** of some stripper to be perceived as not boring these days.”
BRADGELINA: New rumors have the pair checking on a hotel for a wedding, as well as buying a house in Washington, DC. Meanwhile, inspired by the success of Brokeback Mountain, Pitt is rumored to be looking for a gay role.
BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN has become an excuse to tell graphic sexual jokes that make fun of gays. But the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation doesn't have a problem with the jokes on late night TV.
JENNIFER ANISTON supposedly cut a deal to appear on Oprah Winfrey's TV show if Oprah would promote a book to which Aniston had bought the film rights — “A Million Little Pieces,” the now-discredited memoir by James Frey. Oops.
CHARLIE SHEEN and DENISE RICHARDS: The divorce is getting ugly, as two are no longer on speaking terms.
JESSICA SIMPSON: Just a week ago, Star magazine was claiming that the pneumatic blonde was phoning estranged hubby Nick Lacey nightly. Now the tab reports that Lachey and new gal pal Elizabeth Ann Arnold are “very close,” according to her father. What's a girl to do?
TWO NOT-SO-BLIND VICE: E! gossip Ted Casablanca is slipping; these two are way too easy. But the rumored lawsuit will be fun.
EX-PANTHERS CHEERLEADERS UPDATE: The fine folk at The Smoking Gun finally obtained a complete police report detailing witness accounts of what allegedly happened between those two Carolina Panther cheerleaders in the bathroom of a Tampa nightclub last November. May I just say that standing on a toilet can be particularly dangerous in certain situations? At least, that's what I've heard. From a friend. Of a friend.
IRAQ: At Iraq the Model, Omar posts on the internal divisions of the major Shia bloc, which is slowing the formation of the government. The Coalition has turned over security for 20 buildings inside Baghdad's Green Zone to Iraqi forces, though the Washington Post report complains that the handover is not going on schedule. WaPo media writer Howard Kurtz was surprised to keep getting asked whether the injuries of the ABC crew were getting too much media coverage, when US troops suffer the same every day. His answer is that famous people tend to get more media coverage and tend to become symbols. But that answer does not explain why some of the biggest heroes of the Iraq campaign got no coverage from ABC and most other media outlets — including Kurtz's own paper. Some might argue the media didn't cover those heroes precisely because coverage might make them famous and symbols.
THE WAR ON CARTOONS: Newspapers in Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy and France have reprinted caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad to show support for a Danish paper whose cartoons sparked Muslim outrage, including death threats. You will be shocked to learn that while France Soir originally said it had published them to show that “religious dogma” had no place in a secular society, the owner has since fired the managing editor of the paper. Reporters Without Borders said the reaction in the Arab world “betrays a lack of understanding” of press freedom as “an essential accomplishment of democracy.” Tell it to Bill Clinton.
TRIBAL AMERICA: Using Ted Nugent as a springboard, author Jon Margolis argues that although Americans lack common ethnicity or religion, we are more tribal than Europeans, though Margolis has apparently forgotten about the Holocaust, ethnic cleansing in Bosnia, and so on. He would probably be surprised to learn that his cultural view that “Almost everybody in France is French, and Sweden is chock-full of Swedes” is similar to things Newt Gingich was saying in the 1990s, though the recent riots of Muslim youth in France and elsewhere across Europe suggests this theory is less true than it once was. Margolis also suggests that people like Nugent embrace ignorance. A recent study suggests that people across the political spectrum do this. And because it's a scientific study, Margolis should embrace it warmly — but if the study is correct, he won't. (Thanks to Debbie for the Margolis.)
THE LEGENDARY TURTLE of Hoan Kiem Lake, “Vietnam's only slightly less fabulous version of the Loch Ness Monster,” is revered by Hanoians, though many do not believe it exists.
SOME MALE MONKEYS put on extra weight when their mates are pregnant, a new study reveals. Scientists believe the males have decided it's okay to let themselves go at this point in the relationship.
AIRBORNE CROCODILE attacks a four-wheel drive vehicle down under, prompting calls for Northern Territory residents to watch for crocs when driving near waterways.
BLACK-FOOTED FERRETS are shagging like minxes in the Western US.
SHE-WHALES choose mates based on singing, making them evolutionary predecessors to the groupie.