I'm well up for re-watching favourite movies on a big screen, a feature that used to be a regular thing at my local, but which gradually dropped out of favour with the advent of online streaming subscriptions offering extensive back catalogues, and the price of older DVDs slumping to around the price of a coffee. So even though the timing is a little odd*1, it occurred to me looking at the listing for Groundhog Day that I hadn't watched that at all since the Summer of 1999, even though I absolutely love it. So with that, off I went…
PHIL For anyone unfamiliar with the setup, Harold Ramis's film follows curmudgeonly, cynical TV weatherman Phil Connors (Bill Murray), as be begrudgingly makes his way across Pennsylvania to the small town of Punxsutawney, where the locals mark a quaint tradition every February 2nd of gathering to speak with a groundhog, 'Punxsutawney Phil'. The creature then predicts if Winter will continue for another six weeks or whether there'll be an early Spring, then everyone celebrates for the rest of the day regardless. Connors records the early-morning segment with his cameraman Larry (Chris Elliott) and producer Rita (Andie MacDowell). But an unforeseen blizzard closes all roads out of the town, takes down long-distance telephone lines and grounds nearby flights. The trio are stranded in Punxsutawney, causing them to stay an extra night.
When Phil awakes the following morning, he's shocked to find that it's Groundhog Day again. He hasn't slept for a year, it's literally yesterday happening all over again. Unsettled, he leaves his hotel to film the weather feature once more, as yesterday replays identically around him, including the snowfall. When Phil awakes for the third time on February 2nd, he realises he's become trapped in the same day. What will he do with this cycle? What should he do with it? Well, there's plenty of time for Phil to figure that out...
JOAN So I found myself effectively watching Groundhog Day with new eyes, on account of not having seen it for so long. A good thing. My first reactions were that it would make a solid companion piece with Yesterday, which happened to be playing in the screen right next door. Both stories feature a leading character who's worn down by their lack of success, feeling that they could be receiving more recognition but not knowing how to advance their career. In both movies a supernatural event occurs, and the protagonists find themselves isolated in surroundings which only they fully understand. In both films there's a female companion who doesn't believe the problem, who seems to be placed in the story as 'the love interest', but who is actually there to help the central figure better himself overall.
But after a short while, it becomes clear that this actually has more in common with Scrooged from 1988, not least because of the Bill Murray connection. A Christmas Carol is a redemption story in a similarly snowbound setting, in which an uncertain figure is challenged to save himself with lessons that underscore his past (ie current) form. But Groundhog Day goes even further than that. The Dickens story sees Scrooge learning to spread goodwill and love during his remaining time on earth, returning to London after his spiritual adventure a wiser man. Groundhog Day happens further down the line than this.
MICHAEL I'm amazed I never noticed it before, it's so glaringly obvious yet surprisingly straightforward. Phil Connors is dead for most of Groundhog Day. Probably in a traffic accident caused by the blizzard he failed to predict. Phil has died and the patrol cop is Saint Peter at the gates telling him that he has to stick around, that he's not finished yet. Phil isn't yet good enough for Heaven, even though he's not bad enough to be sent to Hell. The snow which confines Phil to the town is akin to the walls of the house in Beetlejuice, the desert sands of Sole Survivor, the fog surrounding the mansion in The Others. Punxsutawney is purgatory and Phil has to work off his sins before he can ascend to a permanent afterlife.
Even within the structure of the story, it's not actually the groundhog who predicts another six weeks of winter. That's a theatrical flourish put on by the custodians of this purgatory, the town elders. Phil is literally told what's going to happen at the very start of this (even if he ends up being there for far more than six weeks). 'You've shown us who you are, now winter is going to continue'.
CHARLIE Coursing through and around the film is religious imagery, from the recurring angels (which we'll get to shortly), to the position of the cross adopted by Phil when he leaps from the church, the town's highest building. Groundhog Day, February 2nd, is also Candlemas in the Catholic calendar. It represents Jesus' first entry into the temple, his being presented to God and the purification of Mary. And although this festival isn't specifically mentioned in the script, it's traditional to eat crepes in the US (pancakes for those of us in the UK) on that day. This is alluded to by the drunk from the bowling alley being fixated with getting some flapjacks (another name for pancakes - a food traditionally eaten to mark the beginning of Lent in the UK).
That the film chooses this day as its setting is no accident. Phil is presented, as was Jesus. Phil is eventually cleansed, as was Mary. And given the quantity of his suicide attempts and eventual omnipresence in the town, he's arguably the Holy Spirit, too. During a confessional scene with Rita in the cafe, Phil stops short of calling himself 'the' God. You have to draw the line somewhere with an American audience, I suppose.
CHOCOLATE FACTORY But in the early repetitions of the day, while Connors is still seeing what he can get out of the pretext, he still learns, he adapts, he grows. Even when Phil reaches the depths of his despair, he looks for new ways of blocking out the frustration, of whiling away the hours and eventually of ending it all. Well, until 6am, at least.
Phil abuses the system at first of course, getting drunk, picking up women, even robbing a bank. Why wouldn't he? He knows there'll be no long-lasting punishment so he may as well enjoy his apparent immortality. But he quickly realises that even this behaviour isn't making him happy. This is Phil's first real step.
FOOTBALL FACTORY
But crucially, Connors isn't downright evil at the start of the film, he's just worn out by life and deeply facetious. Phil is us, in 2019 more than ever. Groundhog Day doesn't go full fire-and-brimstone on its subject, it just lets him discover the virtue of kindness in his own time. This is a homily for the entire audience, not just whoever we mark out as the worst among us (ie anyone else).
It's not until Phil begins truly using his time for good that his path becomes clear. He begins to atone for his misanthropy with an array of daily chores, running around town and preventing bad things from happening like a Sisyphean guardian angel with a checklist. But by the time Phil finally breaks the spell, he's learned that being a better person simply means being good for the sake of it. That's something he's seen in Rita, who is his metaphorical and literal salvation.
HUMAN TRAFFIC This new zeal starts with Phil pursuing the arts (which takes a fantastic amount of time to dawn on him, given he already works in the media). He learns the piano, reads philosophy and poetry, sculpts an angel from a block of ice (in another reference to Heaven and purgatory). Phil brings comfort to the unsure, the infirm and the helpless. He learns that while death is unavoidable (for others at least), life is to be nurtured and cherished all the while that's possible.
Towards the end of his time in limbo, Phil confesses to Rita that she looks like an angel when she's standing in the snow. He's already carved an image of her from the compacted snow (not the solid ice of the previous angel - this sculpture is a nod to the classical marble statues in churches). Phil knows that whatever happens at 6am - no matter what day it is outside - that sculpture won't last. Unable to change events around him for longer than a day, he sees the beauty of fleeting impermanence. Phil knows, on a subconscious level at least, that the woman he met for the first time only the day before is the angel sent to guide him to his redemption.
RUN FOR YOUR WIFE Before we finish, I should say that I think Harold Ramis missed an opportunity by not having the hotel bartender be the only other person in town who knows what Phil is going through, a bit like Nelson in Life On Mars. The bartender's reaction-shots to the snatches of conversation he overhears seem to suggest that could have been the intention in earlier drafts of the script. Then again, maybe that would give the game away too early.
And so, with satisfyingly quiet victory, Phil finally succeeds and it's February 3rd. The time-glitch isn't explained, even though it has been resolved*2. Phil and Rita step outside of the guest house, but we don't see them leave Punxsutawney. Instead we take one last look at the pristine white surroundings of the town before panning back to the clouds. This is now heaven. Phil has earned his wings and his way out of purgatory. Phil wants to stay here, and he wants Rita to stay with him. Rita doesn't argue. Why would she? She's back home anyway.
You want to see a classic movie from a new perspective?
Try waiting two decades before you watch it again*3…
Dark City, Life On Mars, Scrooged.
Or I suppose you could just watch it as a fluffy Bill Murray comedy, too.
Absolutely, it's worth seeing twice.
Yes, although you should already have this.
Yes.
Only you can decide on that, you know my feelings.
No.
Level 2: No direct front-of-camera links, but Bill Murray's in this and he provided voicework for 2016's Jungle Book alongside Jon 'Rio Durant' Favreau.
*1 Really though, why is this on at the cinema? I mean I know it's quite the year for nostalgia-screenings. The Matrix celebrates its 20th birthday by returning to cinemas this weekend, and Tim Burton's Batman hits 30 in 2019. But Groundhog Day? That was first released in 1993, so it's hardly a 'round number' anniversary at 26. And bear in mind that the titular day in the movie is February 2nd, and it originally came out on 12th of Feb in the US, and 1st of March in the UK. So July doesn't fit with the time of year either in- or out-of-universe, either.
It appears to be that the only reason for the screening is to tie-in with Cineworld's latest promo-reel, in which our hero gets an Unlimited Card subscription to break out of his monotonous daily routine. The repetitive nature of Groundhog Day is parodied by Cineworld Phil's own humdrum life, and the section of the film where Groundhog Day Phil decides to use his time to better himself (by say, reading poetry) is translated as endless stream of eatery discounts and cinematic entertainment. But this doesn't really work, does it? If Cineworld Phil really was trapped in the same day, why would he need an Unlimited card? He could just watch different movies each time he woke up using the same money. Then again, Phil would run out of movies to watch in under a week because there'd be no scheduling-update. And that's the polar-opposite of what this advert is trying to sell.
It's also worth noting that this special screening was a double-feature. Groundhog Day immediately followed by Groundhog Day. This is the joke. Do you see? You've just watched a film about repetition, and now it's on... again! Given that the date of the screening is not on February 2nd, why? And why do only two of them? Three would be a stronger selling-point, two just seems like the idea has been neutered to a bare minimum by a committee. You want to organise a fun Groundhog Day-themed promo? Show the movie all damned day on a single-ticket. Begin the first screening at 6am as an nod to the alarm clock in the movie, then run back-to-back screenings until closing time around 11pm. Maybe even offer prizes for any punters crazy enough to sit through the whole thing.
In 2018 (and ON Groundhog Day, most importantly), my good pal Brooker raised money for the Alzheimer's Society by watching the movie on repeat for the entire day. That's how the joke works, Cineworld.
However, I would like to sincerely thank you for screening the film again anyway ;)
As the above should show, I got something new out of it, at least... [ BACK ]
*2 Yes Richard Curtis, I'm looking at you. Mind you, I suspect that if Curtis made this film, his love story would run on rails and he'd still find a way to get the methodology of the repeating day wrong, somehow. 'Gobblers Knob' would still be in there, though, providing it was spoken in the script at regular intervals by either Rowan Atkinson or Miriam Margolyes. [ BACK ]
*3 This might all have been covered elsewhere and with far more detail, knowledge and skill that I can throw at it. I haven't checked yet, to be honest. Look, let me have my moment okay?[ BACK ]
DISCLAIMERS:
• ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
• Yen's blog contains harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Reader discretion is advised.
• This is a personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here represent my own thoughts (at the time of writing) and not those of the people, institutions or organisations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.
I'm well up for re-watching classic movies on a big screen, a feature that used to be a regular occurrence at my local, but which gradually dropped out of favour with the advent of older DVDs often costing less than the price of a coffee and online streaming subscriptions offering extensive back-catalogues. So although the timing is somewhat baffling*1, I realised looking at Cineworld's listings page that I somehow hadn't watched Groundhog Day since the Summer of 1999, despite absolutely loving the movie. So with that, off I went…
PHIL For the uninitiated, Groundhog Day follows cynical, curmudgeonly, Pittsburgh TV weatherman Phil Connors (Bill Murray) as he reluctantly makes his way to the small town of Punxsutawney PA, where the locals mark a quaint tradition on February 2nd of gathering to speak with a groundhog, 'Punxsutawney Phil'. The creature then predicts whether there will be an early Spring or another six weeks of Winter, and everyone celebrates for the rest of the day regardless. Connors films the early-morning segment with his producer Rita (Andie MacDowell) and cameraman Larry (Chris Elliott). But an unforeseen blizzard closes the roads outward, grounds flights and takes down long-distance telephone lines. The trio are stranded in the town, causing them to stay an extra night.
When Phil awakes the next morning, he's astounded to find that it's Groundhog Day again. And not the following year, it's literally yesterday happening all over again. Shaken, he leaves his hotel to record the weather feature once more, as the day plays out in duplicate around him, including the blizzard. When Phil awakes on February 2nd for the third time, he realises he's trapped in this day. What will he do with this apparent loop? What should he do with it? Well, Phil's got plenty of time to figure that out...
JOAN So because I haven't seen Groundhog Day for so long, I found myself effectively watching with new eyes. No bad thing. My initial feelings were that this would make a good companion piece to Yesterday, coincidentally playing in the screen next door. Both movies feature a protagonist who's worn down by their lack of success, which is to say that both feel they could be receiving more recognition, but neither really knows how to advance their career. In each case a supernatural event occurs, and our heroes find themselves isolated in a world which only they fully recognise. And in each case there's a disbelieving female companion, initially slated as 'the love interest', but who is actually the means by which the protagonist will better himself overall.
But it becomes apparent this actually has more in common with 1988's Scrooged, and not just because of the Bill Murray connection. A Christmas Carol is also a snowbound redemption story, in which a morally floundering hero is presented with lessons that reflect his past (ie current) self and urge him to be more. Yet Groundhog Day is a step on even from that. Dickens' tale sees its lead learning to spread love and goodwill for his remaining time on Earth, returning a wiser man after his spiritual adventure. Groundhog Day happens further down the line than this.
MICHAEL It's surprisingly straightforward, and so glaringly obvious that I'm amazed I never noticed it before. Phil Connors is dead for most of Groundhog Day. Probably in a traffic accident caused by the blizzard he failed to predict. Phil has died and the traffic cop is Saint Peter at the gates telling him he's not finished yet, that he has to stick around. Phil isn't bad enough to be sent to Hell, but he's also not yet good enough for Heaven. The snow is akin to the fog which surrounds the mansion in The Others, the desert sands of Sole Survivor, the walls of the house in Beetlejuice. Punxsutawney is purgatory and Phil has to work off his sins before he can ascend to a permanent afterlife.
Even within the framework of the story, it's not actually the groundhog who predicts another six weeks of winter. That's a knowing show put on by the town elders, the custodians of purgatory. They literally tell Phil what's going to happen at the very start (although he's there for longer than six weeks). 'You've shown us who you are, now winter is going to continue'.
CHARLIE Religious imagery courses through and around the film, from the recurring angels (we'll get to those) to the position of the cross which Phil adopts when he throws himself from the town's highest building, its church. February 2nd, Groundhog Day, is Candlemas in the Catholic calendar. It represents Jesus first being presented to God, his first entry into the temple and the purification of Mary. And although this festival isn't namechecked in the script, it's traditional in the US to eat crepes (pancakes for those of us in the UK) on that day, alluded by the drunk from the bowling alley who is fixated with getting some flapjacks (again, pancakes, a food traditionally eaten in the UK to mark the beginning of Lent).
It's no accident the film chose this day as its setting. Phil is presented, as was Jesus. Phil is eventually cleansed, as was Mary. And given his eventual omnipresence in the town and the number of his suicide attempts, he's arguably the Holy Ghost, too. In one of Phil's confessional scenes in the cafe with Rita, he stops short of calling himself 'the' God. You have to drawn the line somewhere for an American audience, I suppose.
CHOCOLATE FACTORY Even in his day's early iterations, while Connors is still playing with the concept and what he can get out of it, he learns, he adapts, he grows. Even when he reaches the depths of his despair, Phil looks for new ways of whiling away the hours, of blocking out the frustration and eventually of ending it all. Well, until 6am, at least.
At first Phil abuses the system, getting drunk, picking up women, robbing a bank. I mean, why not? He knows there'll be no comeback, may as well try to enjoy his temporal incarceration. But Phil quickly realises that this behaviour isn't making him happy. That's his first real step.
FOOTBALL FACTORY Connors isn't an absolute monster at the beginning of the film, just facetious and worn out by life. He is us, in 2019 more than ever. Groundhog Day doesn't threaten its subject with punishment necessarily, it just patiently extols the virtue of kindness. It's a parable for the whole audience, not just whoever we see as the worst among us (ie someone else).
Phil's path doesn't become truly clear until he starts using his time for good. At first it's a series of daily chores as he tries to atone for his misanthropy by running around town and preventing bad things from happening, almost literally a guardian angel with a checklist. But in the end, when Phil finally breaks the spell, he's learned to be good for the sake of just being a better person. It's a quality he's seen in Rita, who is his salvation in a very real sense.
HUMAN TRAFFIC So eventually Phil begins pursuing the arts (which, for someone who already works in the media, takes a delicious amount of time to arrive). He reads books, he learns the piano, he sculpts an angel from a block of ice (another nod to purgatory/Heaven). Phil helps the helpless, the unsure, the infirm. He learns that death is inevitable, but life is to be cherished and nurtured while that's possible.
Towards the end of his journey, Phil tells the dozing Rita that she looks like an angel when she stands in the snow, and he carves an image of her from compacted snow (not the solid ice he used earlier, this time it's a nod to the marble statues of churches). Phil knows now that whatever happens at 6am, whether it's February 2nd or 3rd, that sculpture won't last. He sees the beauty of fleeting impermanence. He knows, on a subconscious level at least, that Rita is the angel sent to guide him to his redemption. A woman he met for the first time only the day before when she arrived at the TV station to whisk him away.
RUN FOR YOUR WIFE Incidentally, I think Harold Ramis missed a trick in not having the hotel bartender be the only other person in the town who knows what's happening, a la Life On Mars. His sly looks at overheard snatches of conversation suggest that could have been an idea at one point, although maybe it would have been too obvious a wink at the audience.
And so without fanfare, Phil finally succeeds and the calendar flips over. The chronological anomaly isn't explained, but it is resolved*2. We don't see Phil and Rita leave Punxsutawney. We take a last lingering look at the pristine white surroundings of the town before we pan back to the clouds. This is now heaven. Phil has earned his wings and his way out of purgatory. Phil wants to stay, and wants Rita to stay with him. Rita doesn't argue, she's back home anyway.
You want to see one of your favourite movies in a new light?
Try leaving it two decades*3…
Scrooged, Dark City, Life On Mars.
Or, y'know, if you just like fluffy Bill Murray comedies it can be that as well.
Hell yeah. Twice, if you can.
You should already have this but yes.
It is.
Don't know, you tell me.
There isn't.
Level 2: No direct front-of-camera links, but Bill Murray's in this and he provided voicework for 2016's Jungle Book alongside Lupita 'Maz Kanata' Nyong'o.
*1 Why is this on at the cinema, though? It's already quite the year for nostalgia-screenings, of course. Tim Burton's Batman hits 30 in 2019, and The Matrix celebrates its 20th birthday by returning to cinemas this weekend. But as for Groundhog Day? Well, it was first released in 1993, so 26 is hardly a 'round number' anniversary. And then you've got to figure that the titular day in the movie is February 2nd, and the movie originally came out on 12th of Feb in the US, and 1st of March in the UK. So July doesn't fit with the time of year either in- or out-of-universe.
It seems to be that the only reason is to tie-in with Cineworld's latest promo-reel, in which our hero breaks out of his monotonous daily routine via an Unlimited Card subscription. The repetitive nature of Groundhog Day is parodied by Cineworld Phil's own humdrum life, and the section of the film where Groundhog Day Phil decides to use his time to better himself (by say, learning the piano) is reflected with an endless stream of cinematic entertainment and associated discounts. But that doesn't really work, does it? If Cineworld Phil really was trapped in the same day, he wouldn't need an Unlimited card - he could just use the same money to watch different movies each time he wakes up. Then again, Phil would run out of movies to watch in under a week because there'd be no scheduling-change. And that's literally the opposite of what this advert is trying to convey.
It's also worth noting that this special screening was a double-bill. Groundhog Day immediately followed by Groundhog Day. That's the joke. Do you see? You've just watched a film about repetition, and now it's on... again! Given that the timing of the screening is not on Groundhog Day, why? Why do two of them? Three would be a better attempt, two just seems like the idea has been nerfed by committee. You want to run a fun Groundhog Day-themed promo? Show the movie all damned day on a single-ticket. Start the first screening at 6am as an homage to the alarm clock in the movie, and run back-to-back showings until closing time around 11pm. Offer prizes for any punters insane enough to sit through the whole thing.
Back in 2018 (and ON Groundhog Day, I might add), my good pal Brooker raised money for the Alzheimer's Society by watching the movie on repeat for a whole day. That's how you do the joke, Cineworld.
However, I would like to sincerely thank you for screening it again anyway ;)
As the above will testify, I did get something new out of it... [ BACK ]
*2 Yes, I'm looking at you, Richard Curtis. Although I imagine that if Curtis made this movie, even though the love story would run on rails he'd still find a way to mess up the methodology of the repeating day. 'Gobblers Knob' would remain though, providing it was namechecked in the script at regular intervals by either James Corden or Joanna Lumley. [ BACK ]
*3 All of this theory may have been covered before with far more skill, knowledge and detail than I can apply. I'll be honest, I haven't checked. Look, let me have my moment okay?[ BACK ]
DISCLAIMERS:
• ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
• Yen's blog contains harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Reader discretion is advised.
• This is a personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here represent my own thoughts (at the time of writing) and not those of the people, institutions or organisations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.
The Rewrite Cert: 12A / 107 mins / Dir. Marc Lawrence
When cocksure, washed up, former big-time screenwriter Keith Michaels*1 finds the Hollywood workload drying up, he resorts to teaching a college class as a means of paying the bills. But hey, maybe he'll end up learning something along the way too, eh? Eh? No? Oh, suit yourselves. Yeah, it's essentially Music and Lyrics, but with films. Kinda. Look, it's got Hugh Grant in it, what more do you want? Yeah. Yeah, that's what I thought.
Neither as charming as Notting Hill, nor as infuriating as American Dreamz, Marc Lawrence's vapid rom-com*2 occupies the safe middle-ground which makes up so much of Hugh Grant's CV. The self-reflective and slightly mournful tone make The Rewrite feel like it should be a Woody Allen film. Sadly, it's neither funny nor incisive enough to sit in that bracket for the duration of any of its scenes, let alone the 107 minute runtime. Grant's screenwriter Keith is nowhere near as acerbic as his character needs to be to undergo a meaningful transformation (or "journey") in the film. Attempting to phone in his performance, Grant seems hopelessly out of his depth in a role which really demands nothing of him. The resigned fallback on Bumbling Niceguy™ would be fine in a more uptight Britcom, but Hugh's transatlantic costars out-sass him at every turn.
Marisa Tomei gives the best performance she can as a romantic lead who's almost sidelined into being an incidental character, and it's Alison Janney, JK Simmons and Chris Elliot who get to bring some actual jokes to the comedy flick. The script features some sharp verbal quips which are so underplayed they feel like afterthoughts, and the much referred-to Third Act™ is full of underdeveloped relationships and apparent callbacks to gags which have been lost in the edit.
It's a lazy, lazy screenplay which puts the enthusiastic geek of an aspiring writer in a succession of Star Wars t-shirts; to the point where I saw so much of myself in Andrew Keenan-Bolger's character that I now hate me more with every. word. I. type.
Despite all my moaning, The Rewrite isn't a bad film per se, it's just a bland one. The thing is, Grant and Tomei already have a host of those on their IMDB profiles, and can both do so much better; now is not the time to be coasting on charm.
It seems ironic that a film about a screenwriter should feel so much like an unfinished second-draft. Maybe that's the point, but I hope not. The Rewrite's plot is stable enough, but the characters need some work...
"…I'm sorry, I used to know what was funny". Hugh Grant there, with a tellingly pre-emptive apology in the first ten minutes of the film.
No. If anything, the trailer's better. The Jane Austen joke works so much better in the trailer.
Not really, if I'm being honest, but neither did I scowl in disbelief…
What, be a beige b-list vehicle for Grant and Tomei? Absoluely.
This is a DVD on a Sunday afternoon.
I won't.
I won't avoid it, but there's little there to make me seek the film out, now.
There ain't. Which isn't surprising in all fairness.
When Hugh's character has the lazy-screenwriting-shorthand of a power-cut in his apartment (to illustrate that he's on a financial precipice, do you see?), how come his internet keeps working? The laptop and the mobile I can understand, but how many adults do you know that use their mobile internet in the house?
1 Keith Michaels. How did writer/director Marc Lawrence come up with a character-name as instinctively memorable as Keith Michaels? Yes, I'm being sarcastic. I've had to IMDB the name twice in the course of writing this review…
*2 Although if you think that The Rewrite is light on the com, you're going to be seriously disappointed with how ineffectual the rom is. In that regard, the film's just a comedy.
DISCLAIMERS:
• ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
• Yen's blog contains harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Reader discretion is advised.
• This is a personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here represent my own thoughts (at the time of writing) and not those of the people, institutions or organisations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.
