Victor de la Cruz, Author at My Geek Wisdom

“Arnold doesn’t dance! He can barely walk!”

From: In & Out

Genre: Movies

Who said it?: Narrator for the Exploring Your Masculinity audio tape

The story behind the quote: In and Out was a film that was pretty much a breakthrough for its time because it used homosexuality not as a punchline. Rather, it uses homosexuality as the main plot point. Not only that, it never used (outright anyway) the gay stereotype.

The story is about Howard Brackett (played by Kevin Kline), a teacher from middle school. One of his former students won the Best Actor award during the Oscars for his portrayal of a gay soldier. During the acceptance speech, the student thanks Howard Brackett for helping him… and tells the entire world Howard is gay.

Howard quickly denies being homosexual. However, after an encounter with reporter Tom Malloy (played by Tom Selleck), where he gets kissed by the gay reporter, he starts to question his manhood. He then rushes home to play a tape to try to reaffirm his heterosexuality… with poor results.

Geek wisdom: People are generally paranoid of what others think of us. So, we try to convince ourselves that we are “normal” people. No, we don’t really like comic book because “comics are for kids.” I “used” to play Dungeons and Dragons but I don’t anymore because, well, that would be ridiculous! We try to act “normal.”

The thing is, we are all normal. Our interests and likes make us what we are. However, the first thing we have to do is tell ourselves that our interests and likes are okay.

Be happy with who you really are deep down inside. In fact, you should be proud of who you are inside. If you wanna dance, go ahead and dance!

“What strength! But don’t forget that there are many guys like you all over the world!”

From: Street Fighter

Genre: Video Games

Who said it?: Various characters

The story behind the quote: We’ve already discussed a bunch of Street Fighter II quotes, such as Ryu’s victory quote regarding the “mysterious” Sheng Long and even M. Bison’s quote regarding Tuesday. However, these quotes came from the extremely popular 2nd entry in the series. Most people haven’t even played the original Street Fighter game. Now seems like the perfect time to take a gander at it.

The original Street Fighter game was actually a pretty amazing fighting game… for its time. While there were some games that used different characters like Yie Ar Kung Fu, you normally played as an ordinary guy with no real special skills while your opponents can do amazing things. In Street Fighter, Ryu (or Ken if you’re playing as the 2nd player), you can throw fireballs, perform spinning kicks or a devastating jumping uppercut. While the controls weren’t responsive (you’d be lucky to actually get the fireball motion to register), that was pretty different for its time and did gain a significant following.

Another big innovation would be digitized voices. Ryu and Ken would yell out “Flash Fire” or “Dragon Punch” when they did the fireball and Dragon Punch, respectively. The most memorable use of digitized speech used would have to be the entire quote spouted out by the computer opponent when you beat them. Even though the sound quality was terrible (it was pretty hard to understand it without the subtitles), it was still amazing to actually hear it.

Geek wisdom: You may think that you are the best at a certain thing but you cannot rest on your laurels. You have to constantly practice your craft in order to actually be the best. For example, you may think that you’re the best Street Fighter at your arcade, however, unless you actually go to different arcades and test your skills against new players, you’ll never improve.

Sure there’s a fear of losing, but that fear is also important since the only way you can get better is to try testing yourself against others. If you want to be the best at anything, you have to prove yourself as the best.

“One million dollars!”

From: Austin Powers series

Genre: Movies

Who said it?: Dr. Evil

The story behind the quote: If you don’t already know, the Austin Powers series is a spoof of James Bond movies of the 60’s and 70’s and spy movies in general. However, while it is the hero that is the main star of the James Bond movies, it is the main antagonist, Dr. Evil that usually steals the spotlight. Not because he’s one of those villains that are just pure evil. Rather, it’s his incompetence on actually being evil.

An example of his incompetence would be his blackmailing the world. In the first movie, after being frozen in the 60’s and being thawed out in the 90’s, he attempted to ask all the world’s leaders for the sum of “one million dollars” and the world leaders got a good laugh out of it. It’s because, while one million dollars was a lot of money in the 60’s, it’s not that big of a deal in the 90’s, especially for the world economy.

When he went to the past, he tried to blackmail the world again, this time, he asked for 100 billion dollars (which is the new amount he asked for in the 90’s). The world leaders in the 60’s laughed at this amount as well since, well, that amount of money didn’t even exist yet!

Geek wisdom: There are always going to be changes around us. These changes will happen whether we accept them or not. So, the best thing to do is to always try to adapt. Without us even trying to know about these changes, we ourselves will never evolve.

We can try to cling to the thoughts of the “good ol’ days” all we want. It doesn’t change the fact that changes will happen. We may not always agree or even like the changes, but we do have to at least learn these changes.

“You can’t handle the truth!”

From: A Few Good Men

Genre: Movies

Who said it?: Col. Nathan R. Jessup

The story behind the quote: The quote comes from the film A Few Good Men. While this may be considered spoilers since it happens pretty much at the end of the film (and is actually “the big thing” of the entire story), a lot of people don’t seem to recognize this fact.

Here’s a quick summary of the scene…

Lt. Jr. Grade Danny Keefe (played by Tom Cruise) has pretty much determined that Col. Nathat Jessup (played by Jack Nicholson) given a “code red” (essentially an order to punish soldiers without any hearing) which led to the death of Officer Santiago. However, Keefe is without any form of proof. He devices a plan to call Col. Jessup to the stand during the trial and get him angry. In this way, he hopes that Col. Jessup will incriminate himself by admitting that he ordered the code red.

Keefe’s finds a flaw in the Col’s initial statement that Santiago should have been safe since there were orders not to harm him. Yet, at the same time, there were orders that he should be transferred for safety reasons. Keefe repeatedly asks the Colonel why would there be a need to transfer Santiago if there were standing orders not to hurt him. He eventually gets Col. Jessup to admit that he ordered the code red. However, the Colonel makes a speech saying that he gave the order to make sure that our freedoms are kept safe.

Geek wisdom: There are actually two pieces of Geek Wisdom we can pull from, not just the quote, but the entire monologue…

Like Col. Jessup said, there are some secrets that you think you want to be privy to, but in reality, the weight of those secrets can be too much to bear. There are going to be things that we believe that we can handle but we really can’t. We will have to rely on others to bear these (sometimes) terrible burdens and perform terrible actions because of them.

However, as Col. Jessup also said, we do have the liberty to condemn others for doing these terrible things, but we don’t know the full story. We may think that there may have been another way to prevent such horrible actions but there may be details that prevented a peaceful resolution. We do have to keep that in mind before we totally rally against something.

“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.

“The whole world is watching us now. We must be nothing less than fabulous.”

From: X-Men

Genre: Comics

Who said it?: Emma Frost

The story behind the quote: When Emma Frost first appeared in comics, she was a villain, fighting against the X-Men. However, after numerous battles with them, she eventually joined the X-Men and actually took over as headmistress of the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning and she took her job of preparing the student of the school seriously.

During one of her speeches to the student body, Emma announced that they will be changing the way they will be taught but they will be educated on how to deal with a world that shuns mutants. During the end of her speech, she comments that the students who are complaining about the harsh teaching methods of Wolverine/Logan are wasting their breath. She then delivers the quote as she expects them to be ready for anything.

Geek wisdom: The worst things can happen at any time, especially when you least expect it. Rather than scramble and jump in to fix it, it’s always a good thing to be ready for it. Like Emma Frost said, the training that the students are doing may be difficult but it is actually for their own benefit as people are looking at them closely. If they’re going to slack off and not be able to control themselves during something that’s planned, it’s going to be much worse when real danger rears its ugly head.