Yesterday was Groundhog Day, but the day before that, there was a Groundhog Day sighting in Cincinnati.
Yes, THE Bill Murray was at the Xavier-Seton Hall men’s basketball game (his son Luke is an assistant coach for Xavier). Everyone knows Bill. Everyone loves Bill. But how about a little love for his good friend, writing partner and sometimes co-star, Harold Ramis.
Harold’s star never did shine as brightly as Bill’s, but his fingerprints are all over so many of the most memorable comedies of my generation:
he wrote Animal House, Meatballs, Caddyshack, Stripes, Ghostbusters and the screenplay for Back to School and Groundhog Day
he was the head writer for SCTV for a couple of years
he co-starred with Bill Murray in Stripes and Ghostbusters, and also was an actor in SCTV, Knocked Up and As Good as It Gets
he directed Caddyshack, National Lampoon’s Vacation, Groundhog Day… and 4 episodes of The Office. (He also directed Stuart Saves His Family but still, not a bad batting average.)
Beyond the IMDb stats, though, from all reports Mr. Ramis (who passed away in 2014) was a really good guy… and that doesn’t happen often in Hollywood. Here’s Groundhog Day actress Andie McDowell talking about him:
Raised Jewish, Harold gravitated toward Buddhism, and even created a pocket-sized “5 Minute Buddhist” cheat sheet, which he kept with him at all times.
He described his belief system as “Budd-ish.” The influence of Buddhism shows up in Caddyshack:
https://youtu.be/sWH811TcckU
And it’s all over Groundhog Day. So on the day after, which is like the day before, and the day before that, let’s practice a little gratitude for Mr. Harold Ramis.
Just a few nuggets from the news and the history archive. I’ll let you connect the dots. First from the news:
And then there’s this fact:
First, according to an analysis by the Cato Institute, between 1975 and 2015, foreign nationals from the seven banned countries killed exactly zero Americans on U.S. soil. Yet none of the four countries from which the 9/11 terrorists originated – Saudi Arabia, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, and Lebanon – are subjected to travel ban.
And now from the history folder: Today’ is the birth date of Fred Korematsu (he’s today’s “Google Doodle”… never would’ve heard of him otherwise).
Fred Korematsu died of respiratory failure at his daughter’s home in Marin County, California, on March 30, 2005. One of the last things Korematsu said was, “I’ll never forget my government treating me like this. And I really hope that this will never happen to anybody else because of the way they look, if they look like the enemy of our country.”He also urged others to “protest, but not with violence, and don’t be afraid to speak up. One person can make a difference, even if it takes forty years.”
I don’t normally read Rolling Stone, but when I’m waiting at the dentist’s office with my kids and my choices are limited to:
A. a two-month old “Hot List” issue of Rolling Stone OR
B. a Highlights magazine where some dirty rat has already circled all the hidden objects in the picture puzzle (damn you to hell!)
I’ll go with the former. Their November issue featured Bruno Mars on the cover. Notice he’s holding a cigarette.
And in the photo spread for the Bruno Mars article, again he has a cig.
OK, so Bruno Mars is a smoker. Sad, but true. But turn a few more pages and you find a glossy photo of someone named Tinashe. (I’m so out of the pop music loop I don’t even know how to pronounce her name… Tina-SHAY? Tuh-NOSH-ay? TIN-ash?) And the pop princess is seductively sporting a smoking cigarette (say that 3 times fast).
But wait, there’s more. Turn a few more pages and you’ll find “Hot Actress” Haley Bennett, and yes, you guessed it, she’s smoking a cigarette also.
So the four largest, most prominent photos in the entire magazine feature people holding or smoking a cigarette. If I were the cynical type, I might strongly suspect that one or more cigarette companies (a.k.a. Merchants of Death) might’ve arranged an off-the-books, under the table sort of product placement deal. We all know that print is dying, so Rolling Stone certainly might be tempted to take some cash in a quid pro quo deal… or maybe Bruno, Tinashe and Haley got a wad of cash for holding a wad of tobacco. Certainly it would be a way to circumvent the tight restrictions on tobacco advertising in print… and make it seem “cool” to kids because all the “hot list” folks are doing it.
But no, Big Tobacco would never do something as insidious as that, right?
Last night, a minor modern-day miracle occurred, and I was thrilled to be a part of it. (Don’t worry, I won’t break my arm patting myself on the back.) I met up with four other adults for dinner and during the course of a two-hour meal, none of us pulled out our cell phones. Shocking! Amazing! Incredible! The five of us were connected by our work on freelance projects, but two of the folks there had never met each other before, and I’d met one person there just once previously, more than a year ago. So we weren’t exactly besties… which you would think would make us more prone to turn to the phone. But somehow we managed to muddle through, carrying on what is called a “conversation.” (Look it up, millenials. And try it someday!)
It made me think of a couple of things I’ve recently read about our phone addiction. Here’s an email from marketing guru Seth Godin:
And here’s an excerpt from Talking As Fast As I Can, a new book from Lauren Graham, where she’s channeling her inner old fogey, whom she calls “Old Lady Jackson”:
Amen, Old Lady Jackson. Stop by anytime for a cup of tea. We’ll chew the fat… and we won’t take a photo of the fat first to post on Instagram.
A new year means 365 new opportunities to connect (with other human beings, not with your smartphone).
Singer-songwriter (and Gilmore Girls town troubadour) Grant-Lee Phillips recently sent a nice note to all those on his mailing list, and I thought a couple of excerpts were well worth sharing.
“A renewed commitment to compassion.” Yep, that’s a darn fine resolution from a darn good performer.
Kevin Sullivan on Life advice from a man who lived it: “A good one Damian. Bring our lens into focus after the long weekend or our long life journey.” Jul 7, 09:38
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