anarchist_nomad: (Atum -- Sol -- Ra -- Sun)
anarchist_nomad ([personal profile] anarchist_nomad) wrote2011-02-03 04:57 pm
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Here Comes The Sun

Yesterday was Groundhog Day. It was also the day that I proved that the Nomad fails at obscure humour. It has been observed that the previous entry was posted twice. It seems that all who noticed this glitch chalked said duplication up to a mistake. Alas, not one of my dear friends observed that the time loop might have been in honour of Groundhog Day.

Does anyone remember the 1993 film, Groundhog Day? I'm not surprised that my Brit friends may have let this one slip by... but surely some of you Yanks can recall it, no? After all, it has even been added to the United States National Film Registry for being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

For those who do not remember -- or those who have never seen the film -- here is a brief synopsis: The main character, Phil, is caught in a time loop on February 2nd. He repeatedly wakes up at 6:00am [1] on Groundhog Day as his clock radio plays Sonny & Cher's hit I Got You Babe.[2] As a meteorologist, Phil is in Punxsutawney to interview the famous groundhog with whom he shares a name, Punxsutawney Phil[3]. Although he is stuck in a time loop, he can remember all of the previous events. No one else can.

Hence the clues left in yesterday's post. They are all there, calling out in their little clue-voices to be found! Don't believe me? Check out this short clip:


I had several hundred points on hand, ready to cheerfully award to the first person who suggested that I might have slipped into a time loop. But, sadly, no one did.

So, as I said at the start of this entry, the Nomad fails at obscure humour. Or else all of you collectively do, gentle readers. Perhaps it amounts to about the same thing...


Yesterday was also Imbolc, which is the first day of Spring by some calendars. Huzzah! Indeed, there is some significance in this: Today is February 3rd and, for the first time since November 7th, the amount of daylight hours in Oxford is not less than the minimum received in New York City. As a NYC native who has lived half his life in the Big Apple, I use the City that Never Sleeps as my reference point. On the Winter Solstice last year, New York received 9h 15m 05s of daylight between sunlight and sunset. Today, over six weeks later, Oxford receives exactly the same amount, with a precision of one second. The deepest part of the Dark Period -- which I use to refer to the 87 days where Oxford receives less hours of sun than the NYC minimum -- has now ended! Huzzah! Verily, the daylight is coming back!

This last sentence is probably of little use to those who are now under the Blizzard that Ate the United States. Still, for somebody who has been back in the Deep Dark North for nearly a month now, I certainly do appreciate the change!

Interestingly enough, the latitude difference between my once home of NYC and my current home of Oxford is just about enough so that we spend about 1/4 of each year getting less than their minimum (i.e., Winter), 1/4 of the time getting about the same amount (i.e., Spring), another 1/4 getting more than their maximum (i.e., Summer), and then a final 1/4 getting about the same once again (i.e., Autumn). The pattern is clear... but the fairly even divisions of time makes for an interesting coincidence.


[1] Note the time stamp on yesterday's entries.

[2] Note the "current music" on yesterday's entries.

[3] Note the subject field on yesterday's entries.

[identity profile] dragonmamma.livejournal.com 2011-02-03 05:27 pm (UTC)(link)
Scuse me, but there's a Brit over here who did realise what you were doing. Tho I didnt get point 3 never having seen the film. I didnt remark on it as I thought it must be obvious to everyone else and I didnt want to seem crass!!
Ijnteresting about the light hours tho. You really are a geek for figures arent you?!!
Am off to the theatre again tonight to see a farce called Funny Money.
The only trouble with this season ticket is that most of the plays they are putting on are basic farces or kitchen sink dramas. (I presume its more to do with the number of players they have than any artistic merit).
But, and this is the problem, I prefer variety and a little more challenge in my theatre going. Unfortunately there is no Spokeshave* or any of that crowd, no Ancient stuff (Aristophanes for eg) no Foreign - Bertolt Brecht?
So it all feels a bit down market and samey. Which is a shame as the cast are superb. They just deserve better plays. So am really looking forward to "An Inspector Calls" to finish the season.


*family name for "The Bard"

[identity profile] jadesfire55.livejournal.com 2011-02-03 05:54 pm (UTC)(link)
I caught the Groundhog Day references (LOVE that movie!) but I figured the double post was a glitch, since that's not quite out of the realm of possiblity. =P

[identity profile] acelightning.livejournal.com 2011-02-03 06:01 pm (UTC)(link)
Alas, I see approximately one movie every two to three years, and I loathe "comedies". So your time-warping cleverness flew past so far above my head that I didn't even hear it break the sound barrier :-(

[identity profile] miss-amaranth.livejournal.com 2011-02-03 06:49 pm (UTC)(link)
Okay, I really should have got that. Not only have I seen the film, but I once devised and performed in a play inspired by it! (For my A-Level drama in early 2008.)

Now you point out all the references it's really obvious, too. *feels silly.*

And, on a different note: YAY for light coming back!! (I'm not the biggest fan of winter. I'm sure you hadn't noticed *grin.*)

I love you!
xxxxxx
xxxxxx

[identity profile] xirpha.livejournal.com 2011-02-03 10:52 pm (UTC)(link)
A former girlfriend made me watch the film. The film was simple concept well done. I enjoyed it.

BTW the film was film in Woodstock IL.

[identity profile] sparkle-puppy.livejournal.com 2011-02-04 12:53 am (UTC)(link)
I understood it! I just didn't know which entry to comment on to tell you I was amused by it! :-P

[identity profile] perpetua-redux.livejournal.com 2011-02-04 04:29 am (UTC)(link)
I caught the time stamp and the music, and I figured you posted it twice on purpose, but didn't think to comment on it, though it gave me a chuckle. I think, because of the Imbolc reference, I was reluctant to attribute the double post solely to Groundhog Day, because i thought it might have a double significance--but I'm overthinking what hovered in my head as I read your post and chuckled at the time stamp and song, repeated.

Groundhog Day was running 24 hours nonstop on my local cable service and I took advantage to revisit the film.
Edited 2011-02-04 04:30 (UTC)

[identity profile] rosemary-sweet.livejournal.com 2011-02-04 12:04 pm (UTC)(link)
I got the double posting! And chuckled to myself! Didn't comment though :-/

Lurker 4 life

[identity profile] pinkdormouse.livejournal.com 2011-02-07 10:37 pm (UTC)(link)
I'd spotted the significanceof the two posts, but thought I'd be a little late in mentioning it.