In honor of the recently departed Groundhog Day (February 2), I would like to dwell for a moment on a film that with a premise as absurd as the holiday itself: Groundhog Day with the dashing Bill Murray.

Though lasting a mere 101 minutes, the film follows Murray as he repeats the same day an almost immeasurable amount of times over. Exact numbers are still out of reach, but some crafty sleuth work by Jamie Zawinski sets the span at a minimum of FOUR YEARS. (The director, for what it’s worth, puts it at about ten years.)

# How long does it take to learn ice sculpture, if that’s all you do? Six months? A year?

# How long does it take to become a good piano player, if you begin in your early 40s when you have your first lesson? Concensus among those present at casa del jwz was “at least two years.”

Mind numbing.

More contemporary (and inspired no doubt by the film the United States National Film Registry thought fit to deem “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”), Jason Biggs stars in a comedy short entitled “The Glitch”. Bill Murray should be thanking the flying spaghetti monster he got to repeat an entire day.

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