Feb 2, Groundhog Day. Any excuse to look for spring. Here we are, just a few days past mid-winter in Ohio, and everyone is looking forward to spring. We’ve had plenty of snow, ice and cold temperatures, and we will have quite a few more before winter is through. It seems like winter just goes on and on.
Of course, I do have a custom for groundhog day. I put in the movie Groundhog Day and watch it again. Since the movie came out in 1993, I think I’ve seen it at least 16 times. I know it is more than that, because some years, when the mood strikes I do watch it over and over again. Seeing that this movie is a looping movie anyway, watching it over and over again is an interesting experience. I wouldn’t recommend that for everybody, but I enjoy it on occasion.
So tonight, I was able to watch Groundhog Day again. I had to split it up into two sessions, since I had play practice this evening, but the custom continued. But this got me thinking. I know there are a lot of movies I will watch again and again at a certain time of year. I will read certain books at certain times of the year. It would seem that I never have time for new books or movies, but I get those in too. Books are easy, I read very quickly and I can get through most novels in a day or two. Movies are a fixed length, so I have to make the time. I do this my not watching many television programs. That gives me time to watch a few movies every week.
So any movies or books you watch over and over again.
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The Narnia books, LotR, Harry Potter books. I have been known to feel the need to watch the three original Star Wars movies in one day…. somehow the yen to watch all six has never come over me. Certain Bond movies of course. Easter or Christmas generally is the Sound of Music…. that went back to childhood. In fact, I remember one Easter or Christmas that TSoM and For Your Eyes Only were on tv against each other. I can’t remember which one won out.
We’ve been trying to make a tradition of watching Groundhog Day as a family every Feb 2, but we’re 0/2 since the kids find it boring -maybe something to try when they’re older… but it is kind of genius; making a movie about an obscure holiday without competition – the networks play it every year and people rent it, so it keeps those residuals flowing. When watching Groundhog Day yesterday, I wondered if this is the only movie that features both of the best known Murray brothers, Bill and Brian Doyle-Murray, but it’s not. They both did Caddyshack and Ghostbusters 1 and 2, at least…
Every Christmas we watch Christmas Vacation, Elf, and some other holiday favorites for the kids…