Groundhog Day

Yes, indeed, it's that time of year — again. Fuzzy Punxsutawney Phil emerges from hibernation Wednesday to give his annual forecast. And after last week's thundersnow, if that little groundhog sees his shadow, leading to six more weeks of winter — he's in big trouble. (It doesn't help that some are already forecasting a "Groundhog Day" storm.) In addition to the main event, the folks who live near Gobbler's Knob, where Phil's prediction takes place, have planned a burrow full of activities for visitors, including an art show, souvenir show, book signings, chili cookoff, comedy club night and much more.

Welcome to a special, truncated, #RavensParade edition of the Baltimore Sun daily trend post. A quick look at selected metrics for today: || TRENDING ON BALTIMORE TWITTER || #RavensParade #ICantGoOneDayWIthOut S&P #nationalpancakeday Dell #ihop #ShouldCouldDream North Korea Valentines Day Vegas || RISING LOCAL SEARCHES ON GOOGLE* || groundhog day     Breakout superbowl     +140% ...

AccuWeather.com released its spring weather outlook this morning, and it includes seasonable weather that one doesn't need a meteorology degree to predict: winter storm chances for the East Coast in February and March and milder temperatures not until April and May. First, winter might stick around for another six weeks after Groundhog Day, long range AccuWeather forecaster Paul Pastelok said. A couple of winter storms could strike during the last month of meteorological winter and the first month of meteorological spring, he said.

The only thing colder and stiffer than the crowd bundled up near a Washington fountain early Saturday morning was a woodchuck standing on its hind legs on a small wooden platform. Potomac Phil, you see, is stuffed. Or more precisely, taxidermied. When you can't get your hands on the real thing on Groundhog Day, you make do with what you have - dead or alive. At the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore , the forecasting task was assigned to Pteri, an Abyssinian ground hornbill bird, and Hobbes, a leopard.

On Feb. 2, Punxsutawney Phil will emerge from his burrow after a long winter sleep to look for his shadow. As early as 3 a.m., flocks of Phil fanatics will trek to Gobbler's Knob in the hilly, chilly town of Punxsutawney, Pa., just in time for Phil's powerful prognostication. Will there be six more weeks of winter, or is spring just around the corner? This celebration of Groundhog Day dates back to a time when nature truly influenced our lives. It stems from similar beliefs associated with Candlemas Day, as told in an old Scottish couplet, "If Candlemas Day is Bright and Clear, there'll be two winters in the year."

LOS ANGELES -- Wrong holiday, but the Bill Murray comedy "Groundhog Day" was the right film anyway for the extended Presidents' Day weekend.Debuting to a sunny $14.6 million, the first-place tale of a TV weatherman stuck in a repeating, 24-hour period is the second best winter premiere, trailing only "Wayne's World's" debut which made $18.1 million a year ago. "Groundhog Day" also was Mr. Murray's second-best opener -- "Ghostbusters II" was bigger.Disney's...

In "Groundhog Day," tomorrow is not another day.The film is like one of Aesop's fables genetically recombined with "The Twilight Zone": it's a moral tale of a slicker who finds redemption in a small town where he's trapped for almost a full year, from Feb. 2, 1993, until Feb. 2, 1993: a full year, that is, of Feb. 2, 1993s.The movie is expertly calculated to derive maximum comic energy from Bill Murray's great, deadpan mug and his drop-dead I'm-not-impressed line readings. It exposes him over and over to spectacles he's obviously too cool for, and it enjoys his rejoinders even while causing us to wonder about his heart.

GROUNDHOG DAY(Columbia TriStar, rated PG, 1993)This movie would have been a great short featurette on "Saturday Night Live." One would think (especially after watching it) that a 20-minute segment would pretty well exhaust the comic possibilities involving the phenomenon of deja vu.But in a world where "Wayne's World" and "Conehead" sketches are turned into full-length features, it should come as no surprise that we would see a movie based on a one-joke premise.As if that weren't bad enough, the creators spend 30 minutes setting up the joke in what has to rank as one of the most uninteresting and tedious first acts in movie history.

Groundhog Day, Tuesday, was also the unofficial start of income tax preparation season.The final versions of the major 1992 federal income tax preparation programs have arrived in the stores. (If the groundhog emerges from his burrow and sees the shadow of an Internal Revenue Service agent, winter will last until April 15.)Just as the groundhog's fame is fleeting (What does he do the other 364 days of the year?) so, too, is the attention brief for personal computer tax programs. Anonymous programmers race all year to add new features to make tax preparation easier, all for a program that has at most 10 weeks of optimum use.As in years past, the choice for most PC owners ultimately comes down to two packages: Turbotax, the perennial best-selling program, and Andrew Tobias' Taxcut, the challenger.

THIS WINTER HAS been like a bad scene from the movie "Groundhog Day." Make plans, it snows. Make plans, it snows. Enough, already.Two events put on hold because of last weekend's snowstorm are rescheduled.The Ladies' Guild of Magothy Chelsea Community Lutheran Church will hold its monthly breakfast from 7 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. tomorrow at the church at Beach Avenue and Third Street.Eggs, pancakes, french toast, creamed chipped beef, home-style potatoes, sausage, toast, homemade biscuits, fruit,juice and beverages are on the menu.

At 7:20 a.m. Saturday Punxsutawney Phil will leave his burrow at Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney, Pa., for the 123rd time and prognosticate how much longer winter will last. If Phil sees his shadow and returns to his burrow it means six more weeks of winter. If he doesn't see his shadow, we can look forward to an early spring. Phil has seen his shadow 99 times, and 16 times he didn't, with 9 years of records missing since 1887. In 2012 he saw his shadow, but in 2011 he didn't. Speaking of animal predictions, the Chimpanzees at the Maryland Zoo predict Ravens to win Super Bowl .

AccuWeather.com released its spring weather outlook this morning, and it includes seasonable weather that one doesn't need a meteorology degree to predict: winter storm chances for the East Coast in February and March and milder temperatures not until April and May. First, winter might stick around for another six weeks after Groundhog Day, long range AccuWeather forecaster Paul Pastelok said. A couple of winter storms could strike during the last month of meteorological winter and the first month of meteorological spring, he said.

In the film "Groundhog Day," Bill Murray wakes up each morning and relives the previous day. A similar scenario is playing out in the Middle East between Israel and her enemies. The deadly "movie" always goes like this: Israel is shelled or attacked by terrorists groups, often called "militants" by the media, each one with the same goal: Israel's elimination. After demonstrating considerable restraint of the kind that would never be tolerated by any other nation, Israel fires back.

SARASOTA, Fla. -- Orioles third baseman Mark Reynolds compared the past few days of spring training workouts to Groundhog Day. Friday's first intrasquad game gave Orioles like Reynolds the opportunity to finally similate a gameday competition. "It was good to go play and put on your uniform, (to) face live pitching and be put in a game situation,” Reynolds said. “It feels like baseball is finally back.” In Friday's intrasquad, Reynolds, who made 26 errors in 114 games at third base last season, made a pair of nice plays at third base.

USA 101: A Guide to America's Iconic Places, Events, and Festivals National Geographic, $18.95 It's a challenge to come up with 101 places, events and festivals that encompass a country's history, faith, art, nature, adventure, sport, leisure and favorite pastimes. But that was the challenge that Gary McKechnie gave himself. The result is this entertaining book. He includes many quintessential American activities - clambakes, Little League games, rodeos and state fairs, quilting bees, pie-baking contests and square dancing - as well as stops in places associated with particular people, places and events, from Gettysburg and Graceland to the Miss America contest and the Academy Awards.

To which saint was the 1667 Brick Chapel at St. Mary's City dedicated? Christians then often oriented churches with the sunrise. Archaeologists noticed that the chapel's ruined foundation was aligned with a spot on the eastern horizon where the sun rises Feb. 2. That's Groundhog Day, but also the date of the Feast of the Purification of the Virgin Mary, supporting the historians' obvious best guess.

POP MUSIC English Beat Formerly known as the Beat, the ska band English Beat has been around for 30 years. The multiracial group, led by vocalist-guitarist Dave Wakeling and rapper Ranking Roger, has long established a solid reputation for its sun-splashed mix of pop, reggae and hip-hop. Showtime is 7 p.m. tomorrow at Rams Head Live, 20 Market Place. Tickets are $27.50-$30. Call 410-244-8854 or go to ramsheadlive.com. FILM Lombard flicks No one else embodied the romantic side of screwball comedies with the effervescence of Carole Lombard, perhaps because she carried that anything-goes spirit into her real life: She was the kind of gal who'd give her husband, Clark Gable, two tickets on a sightseeing blimp for his birthday.