Month: December 2012

“Did I do that?”

From: Family Matters

Genre: Television

Who said it?: Steve Urkel

The story behind the quote: Family Matters was a sitcom that initially started as show about the Winslow family and how they dealt with family issues. That all changed with the introduction of Steve Urkel. Steve Urkel (portrayed by Jaleel White) was the nerdy next door neighbor who wanted to win the heart of Laura, the teenage daughter of Carl and Harriet Winslow. Although Urkel was only supposed to be a guest character, viewers loved the character so much that he eventually became a regular character and, in fact, became the reason to watch the show since most (if not all) of the stories revolved around him.

A lot of the jokes was due to Urkel’s extreme clumsiness. These clumsy acts would usually cause a ton of damage to the Winslows property. Although he knows that he did destroy the items in question, he would still look around and ask if he was the one who did it. In fact, it happened so frequently, it became one of his catchphrases.

Here’s probably the most disastrous thing that Urkel has actually done:

Geek wisdom: We sometimes do stupid things or have accidents. While they may or may not be intentional, these actions are still ultimately our fault and our responsibility to rectify. A lot of us actually shrink away from taking ownership of the problems that we cause and try to pass it on as the fault of others.

Our life, our choices. We have to live with the repercussions of what we do, no matter if they were good or bad.

“A roofer listens to [his heart], not his wallet.”

From: Clerks

Genre: Movies

Who said it?: A customer from the store

The story behind the quote: Kevin Smith is a pretty popular filmmaker now. However, in 1994, he started out as a literal unknown and used up a lot of his personal savings to create his first movie, Clerks. The film tells the story of a day in the life of Dante, a down-on-his-luck clerk at a Quick Stop who was called into work on his rest day.

The quote comes from a specific scene where Dante and his friend (and clerk of a video store) Randall are talking about the construction of the Death Star in the third installment of the original Star Wars trilogy, Return of the Jedi. Randall comments that since the Death Star was still being constructed during the Rebel Alliance’s attach on the station, there must have been some innocent contractors on it when it got blown up.

A roofer who happens to overhear the conversation then interrupts and states that, since he is a contractor himself, his political beliefs actually contributes to his accepting of a job. He then tells the story when he was asked to repair the roof of a certain house and he would be paid much more than what he would usually charge. However, he found out that the house belongs to a dangerous mob boss so he decided to refer another contractor to do the job. Unfortunately for the other contractor, a rival mob decided to attack the house and was killed. The roofer then points to his heart and states that he listens to that when it’s time to select what job to take.

Geek wisdom:  A person’s integrity should not have a price.  There have to be certain limits to what we will do for material items. If you believe in something, no amount of wealth should be enough to change your mind. If there is a certain amount that will make you throw away what you believe is right, then you didn’t really believe in it in the first place.

“Nothing is true. Everything is permitted.”

From: Assassin’s Creed series

Genre: Video Games

Who said it?: Various characters

The story behind the quote: Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed series is a weird game if you think about it. Although it is set in the present time, the bulk of each game takes place in the past. You take control of Desmond, who uses a machine called the Animus so that he can relive the lives of his ancestors. His ancestors, by the way, just so happen to be a part of a clan of Assassins who used their skills to oppose the Knights Templar. He needs to experience their lives in order to to find an item that can possibly prevent the world from dying.

Anyway, the Assassins follow a Creed (hey, that’s the title of the games!) that is basically the quote in question. Although it is mentioned several times throughout the games. However, some people do not seem to really grasp the gravity and the meaning behind the message of the Creed. In Assassin’s Creed: Revelations (technically the fourth installment in the series), one of Desmond’s ancestors, Ezio Auditore de Firenze, explains it to someone…

Geek wisdom: Since there are two parts to the Creed (and already explained by Ezio very well), let’s just break it down into simpler words…

Saying that “nothing is true” is not actually a negative thing, as Ezio mentioned. All of the rules and laws that we’ve made are just that, they were made by us. And these rules can change for the better and the worse. Before, having a slave was not only acceptable, but gave people a sense of privilege. Thankfully, that time has passed and slavery has been pretty much outlawed all over the world.

However, the best part of the Creed (for me, anyway) is the “everything is permitted” part. We like to think that fate led us to what we have become up to this time. In fact, what we are right now is the culmination of all of our decisions. Even the smallest ones, like if you wanted to eat an apple or a candy bar as a snack, has made you the person that you are. When bad things happen to us, we like to think that “it isn’t my fault.” Well, it is. And we have to own up to our choices, whether the outcome be good or bad.

“Not that there’s anything wrong with that!”

From: Seinfeld

Genre: Television

Who said it?: A lot of the the cast!

The story behind the quote: There’s a reason why Seinfeld was the most popular television show in the 80’s and 90’s. It was funny. It took risks in their jokes and, the best thing of all, it was a show about nothing. There was no lesson to be learned. No moral about how you should behave. It was just about comedian Jerry Seinfeld, his best friend George Costanza, his ex-girlfriend Elaine Benez and the next door neighbor, Cozmo Kramer. However, the writers were intelligent enough to make sure that the stories to not really offend anyone but rather took a humorous look at life.

One example of this would be “The Outing” episode. Here, Elaine notices that two girls are listening to her conversation with Jerry and George. She then veers the conversation to make it look like Jerry and George are a gay couple, which the two eavesdroppers believe. It turns out that one of the eavesdroppers was a reporter and mistakenly “outs” them. Of course, Jerry and George realizes that a lot of people are going to think they’re gay and try to correct the reporter, but, they both don’t want to seem that being gay is a bad thing. So, they always mention that there is nothing wrong with being gay every time they deny that they’re homosexuals.

You can also watch a pretty good summary of the entire episode by going to this link.

Geek wisdom: We love geeky stuff, like comic books, video games and superheroes. And there’s nothing wrong with that. Other people may have problems with it but we have to know that they’re the ones with the problems, not us.

Even the people that care for us will say that they “worry about us” since we’re so involved with hanging out at Comic-con or staying up late to catch the midnight release of  the game that we’ve waited months for. They simply don’t realize that there is nothing wrong with us. We all have our quirks that makes us different from each other. Sometimes we have to remind people that there’s nothing wrong with the things that makes us who we are.

“You can kill a vampire however the fuck you want because vampires don’t fucking exist!”

From: The Death and Return of Superman (Youtube)

Genre: Comics, Internet

Who said it?: Max Landis

The story behind the quote: Sorry for the profanity in the title, however, it was the best way to convey the wisdom from the entire video that Max Landis made. The video is essentially a 15 minute tirade regarding DC Comics’ handling of the Superman “final” battle with Doomsday, his death after the battle with the monster and his eventual resurrection.

The video is extremely well made. If you know the Death and Return of Superman story arc, the video is a pretty exact (but given a comedic spin) retelling. If you’re not familiar with the story, well, the video does give a negatively bias opinion of the storyline. Also, it’s pretty entertaining whether or not you have some knowledge about it.

Also, Max managed to use his contacts to get high-caliber actors such as Elijah Wood to play Cyborg Superman and Mandy Moore as Lois Lane. It makes it extremely fun to watch, especially if you can manage to identify all of the actors and actresses who made cameo roles.

You can go to 15:24 for the quote but it’s much better if you watch the entire thing (especially if you want to get Max’s hilarious view of the story arc.

Geek wisdom: We sometimes let our own creativity be stifled by so-called “conventions” of life. Remember, people believed a long time ago that there was no way we could fly. Well, the Wright brothers didn’t let “conventional” wisdom from creating the first airplane. Now, we can fly from continent to continent quickly without a second thought. Even before that, people believed that the world was flat and that you could go over the edge. It seems hilarious now but that was what people thought of before and you would be an idiot to think otherwise.

Allow yourself to be creative and break the rules sometimes. That’s the only time real innovation can come out.