I really hope I don't wake up to "I Got You, Babe" tomorrow morning and find that all the political cartoons are about underinflated footballs all over again.
Edison Lee was my favorite of a couple of strips that riffed on the movie rather than on the holiday itself, and it's noteworthy how seamlessly the term "Groundhog Day" in that sense has entered common parlance.
A large part of that is, of course, the universality of SSDD to begin with, and the strip does a nice job of replicating the blandness of the repetition. This is one time when duplicating panels is brilliant, not lazy.
Another key is that, as Orville notes, the movie stands up to repeated viewing and, in fact, invites it, which is certainly not always the case, particularly with someone like Bill Murray, who -- like Robin Williams and Jim Carrey but also like John Wayne and Al Pacino -- has an established personna that tends to overwhelm, if not completely hijack, the script of whatever he's in, except when the script has been written with that established personna in mind, in which case it's all done on autopilot.
Which leads to movies like "Stripes" and "Caddyshack" in which the premise of the film is "a Bill Murray movie."
Whether "Groundhog Day" was written around him or not, there is a lot of authorial/directorial discipline involved and the thing works.
And the casting in today's strip is perfect, because, while I don't think either Murray or the film are as male-oriented in their appeal as, say, the Three Stooges, having Edison's mother play the foil makes it fly -- it's not only within the established characters here but also I think within average experience that his dad would probably already be in the next room popping in the disk.
Of course, it is a really male film -- Andie MacDowell's role being (A) to act as a backboard for Murray's volleys-to-self and (B) the trophy sought.
But I'd watch it again, though certainly not today, because I have to go watch the Super Bowl and beat my wife and purchase the services of a sex slave. And eat chicken wings.
'Cause that's the other day it is, and those are the other cartoons good ol' Ned Ryerson will be posting again tomorrow morning when Sonny and Cher re-start the day, because those are the cartoons that he posted today.
In my own defense
I'm not against women's issues, by the way. I'm only against spreading bullshit outside the context of an organic farm. And I really like the take in this Scenes From A Multiverse.
Yeah, no, that's not the goal.
BTW, Jon Rosenberg is your source for this depressingly still-relevant bumpersticker. Wouldn't mind if someone stopped the Groundhog Day element at work in our political system.
And, no, Ned, simply doing cartoons riffing on "another Bush/Clinton" race won't do it. You need a sharper pencil if you want to make a difference.
But let's stick with my Orvilleness a little longer, because today's Buckets cracked me up in a very related way.
The other night, I had dinner at my son's house and, while he cooked and we talked in the kitchen, the (middle-school aged) kids had a movie on in the next room. At one point, it messed up and, as he was fixing things for them, he came across "Ghostbusters," which they'd never seen, and said, "Oh! Watch this!"
Which they did. For about half an hour. Then they started flipping around to find something they wanted instead.
Revenge is sweet.
I've noticed that the Gen-Xers are a little more restrained with their judgments these days. Next goal is to watch all those self-righteous, boomer-bashing millennials get theirs.
And by the way, I finally cancelled my Rhapsody account last week, in part because I realized that I could rebuild and collect my own hard-drive music for what I spent on the subscription, but chiefly because, no matter what my listening history and playlists would suggest to a beagle of even average intelligence, the programmers at Rhapsody insist on suggesting my grandchildren's music.
Not the good stuff, either, and, while I retain some nostalgic fondness for the Top 40 stuff I realized was crap back in my day, it's not a genre I feel a need to keep updated.
So I cancelled and I didn't even get one of those "wait! why are you leaving?" messages from them.
Damn kids don't even understand "customer retention."
Juxtaposition of the Day
Sherman's Lagoon reminds me of one of the initial "Do these pants make my butt look big" riffs, which I caught at Club Soda in Montreal during Juste pour rire, way back in 1991, when Jeff Foxworthy's reputation was just starting to build but he was still working for his laughs.
Before he entered the Bill Murray/Al Pacino self-parody stage of his career.
The bit was his wife asking him that sort of question as they got dressed to go out -- with the usual taking-forever element -- and culminates when she asks which earrings he thinks look best, and he realizes that there is no good answer, that whichever he picks, her response will be that now she has to change the dress.
Yes, Groundhog Day, marital division.
So I chuckled and moved on, but then came to Tina's Groove and that sparked much more of a "no right answer" response, typified by the more taxing "You pick the restaurant. No, not that one. No, I don't feel like that kind of food. No, we've been there so often. No, it's too expensive," which is really a game of "Guess where I want to eat tonight?"
But Rina puts this on an even more fundamental relationship level, which sparked memories of the late Maggie Estep, who gave us this classic, not-at-all-funny funny, funny bit:
Thank you for a "Mostly-Super-Bowl-Free" post today; you have regained my respect.
But then, I recently learned that not only will next year's game be "Super Bowl L" (or "Super Bowl Hell") but it'll happen ON Groundhog Day, which means the first 'instant replay' will be repeated over and over and over until Bill Murray learns something. Or something. Rimshot!
I'm just happy that Animal Planet's Puppy Bowl has inspired other channels to do "The Kitten Bowl" (Hallmark) and "The Fish Bowl" (National Geographic), which are all irrelevant because I unplugged my Cabal TV late last year and only use Cabal Internet.
Posted by: Craig L | 02/01/2015 at 05:20 PM
Or at least until he gets the hot sideline reporter to fall in love with him.
Posted by: Mike Peterson | 02/01/2015 at 08:16 PM
I knew you were going to regain Craig's respect.
Posted by: WVFran | 02/02/2015 at 04:30 PM