Victor de la Cruz

“I volunteer as Tribute!”

From: The Hunger Games

Genre: Movies/Books

Who said it?: Katniss Everdeen

The story behind the quote: The quote comes from the first book of the Hunger Games trilogy. The book has been made into a successful film as well. The story takes place in a dystopian future in the country of Panem. The Capitol and its residents live carefree lives while 12 Districts serve under its rule. The hero of the book is Katniss Everdeen, a resident of District 12. In order to ensure that the Districts understand their place in the world, the Capitol forces each of the 12 Districts to send one boy and one girl to fight in a duel to the death known as The Hunger Games.

The quote comes early on in the story. During the selection, Katniss’ younger sister, Primrose, is selected at random. Katniss, wanting to protect her sister from competing in the Hunger Games, steps out of the crowd and volunteers herself, delivering the quote in the process.

Geek wisdom: We have to be prepared to make sacrifices to protect what we feel are important. It can be hard to actually do this since there will usually be a some risk involved. It could be something as serious as protecting your family from harm to something smaller, such as standing up to a bully.

No matter how great or small it may be, stepping up to a challenge can be daunting, especially if you’re used to keeping quiet and playing it safe. Still, it’s best to recognize when facing the challenge may be the best thing to do in a situation.

“I eat pieces of s#!t like you for breakfast!”

From: Happy Gilmore

Genre: Movies

Who said it?: Shooter McGavin

The story behind the quote: I’ve already posted something about Happy Gilmore before so I won’t go into much detail about the plot of the film. Basically, Happy Gilmore is a former hockey player who becomes a golfer in order to earn enough money to get his grandmother’s house back. Still, like most movies, there is still a central antagonist. And that person is Shooter McGavin (played by Christopher McDonald). He hates Happy (played by Adam Sandler) because the former hockey player doesn’t take the game of golf seriously.

The quote comes quite late into the movie. Shooter wins the auction for Happy’s home. In order to get his house back, Happy makes a bet with Shooter. If Happy ranks higher than Shooter, he gets his house back. If Shooter beats him, Happy will need to quit golf. After they agree to the terms, Shooter turns to his rival and delivers the quote. Happy laughs at what he said, especially regarding his apparent meal choices.

Geek wisdom: Always be careful of what you say to people. Even if they are meant to be jokes, people can misunderstand your actual intentions. Shooter just wanted to emphasize that he’ll be able to beat Happy easily. But, because of his choice of words, Happy made it sound like he eats crap every morning… literally!

So, when delivering a message, try to be as clear and detailed as possible. You never know how these things can be misinterpreted.

“These go to 11.”

From: This Is Spinal Tap

Genre: Movies

Who said it?: Nigel Tufnel

The story behind the quote: This Is Spinal Tap is a comedy film shown through a fake documentary on an equally fake band known as Spinal Tap. The “documentary” focuses on the band’s concert tour promoting their latest album. While the movie was only a modest hit when it was released way back in 1984, it became a cult classic when it was made available in the home video market. In fact, the band actually released three real albums in total.

The quote comes from a scene where the lead guitarist of Spinal Tap, Nigel Tufnel (played by Christopher Guest) is showing off his specially made Marshall amplifiers to the director of the documentary, Marty DiBergi (played by Rob Reiner). Nigel explains that the amplifiers are much more powerful than regular amplifiers since they exceed the regular limit of 10. Marty questions this and asks why didn’t they make the regular 10 louder. Nigel doesn’t seem to get the logic and once again explains that the amplifiers he has are more powerful.

Geek wisdom: Everyone likes to show off and prove they have the best stuff. In the rush to be better, we sometimes don’t really understand in what way they are better. What’s worse, we can sometimes think that something is better because of misleading information. The sad thing is, when this is pointed out to us, we can foolishly cling on to our original mistaken belief.

It’s okay to be proud of having great stuff. But, if you’re going to announce it to everyone, make sure it’s something to be proud of.

“I’m bad. And that’s good. I will never be good. And that’s not bad. There’s no one I’d rather be than me.”

From: Wreck-It Ralph

Genre: Movies

Who said it?: Various video game baddies

The story behind the quote: Wreck-It Ralph is a CGI Disney movie released in 2012. The titular character is a “bad guy” in a fictional video game called Fix-It Felix, Jr. Ralph’s job in the game is to wreck an apartment building while the “good guy,” Fix-It Felix, Jr., fixes whatever he destroys. Being the villain of the game (and since his job is to wreck the building), no one in the apartment complex really likes Ralph. Wanting acceptance, he believes that, if he gets a medal just like the one Felix gets when be beats the game, he will finally earn some respect.

The quote comes early in the movie where Ralph attends a Bad Guy support group which other video game villains like Zangief (?) and M. Bison from the Street Fighter series and Clyde from Pac-Man meet. At the end of the meeting, after Ralph expresses his want to stop being the bad guy, they stand up and give the Bad Guy Affirmation.

Geek wisdom: A lot of people miss the point of the quote. It’s actually okay to try to better yourself. The message here is more of accepting oneself for who we are and not how others think of you. In fact, the last line of the Bad Guy Affirmation says this pretty clearly: There’s no one I’d rather be than me.

There are a lot of people that are not satisfied with their race, color, gender or whatever. And they hate themselves for it.

You are who you are. Trying to pretend that you’re something else is not the answer. The best thing to do is to accept who you are and love yourself because you are unique and special because of what you are.

“That’s my secret, Captain. I’m always angry.”

From: Marvel’s The Avengers

Genre: Movies

Who said it?: Bruce Banner

The story behind the quote: The Avengers is a movie released in 2012. It is the culmination of Marvel’s long string of movies, starting with the first Iron Man film (released in 2008). The basic premise is that Loki, Thor’s brother, has allied with a race of aliens who plan to take over the Earth. Earth’s mightiest superheroes, which include Iron Man and Captain America, have to team up to prevent this from happening.

The quote comes from Bruce Banner, the scientist who becomes the Hulk when angered. Iron Man has managed to lead a giant monster towards the rest of the heroes. Captain America suggests to Bruce Banner that he needs to get angry immediately to take the monster down. Bruce Banner calmly turns to the Captain, delivers the quote and instantly turns into the Hulk to take the beast down.

Geek wisdom: Emotions are actually powerful tools. Being angry can help motivate people to do things immediately. It can help you get results. But, since anger is an emotion, and emotions are tools, we have to be able to control it. The problem is we usually let our emotions control us.

While Bruce Banner may always be angry, he manages to control the monster within himself by controlling the emotion. He only lets it out when it is necessary. We should also be that way.

It’s been two years to the day…

No GeekWisdom today. I just realized that I’ve been doing this thing for 2 whole years now! I honestly didn’t think that I could go for so long doing this!

This was just born from a small idea that we can pull all sorts of useful anecdotes from movie, TV, video game and comic quotes we use pretty much all the time. But I never thought that I would be able to keep on making one post a week. I thought I would run out of quotes in one year! I’m pretty amazed I’ve lasted for two!

Still, I will eventually run out of quotes to write about (I only watch so many movies and TV shows, etc.) so, if you have some quotes you can think of, you can leave them in the comments section below! Or you can email me them directly at mygeekwisdom@gmail.com.

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Also, please check out the other websites I contribute to!

3rdworldgeeks.com or thirdworldgeeks.com (yep, they both work)

This is a site where I can just write about geeky stuff. I do a quick editorial post once a week (Fiefo’s Editorial) as well a a review of… well, anything (the aptly named I’ll Review Anything).

There’s also another writer there who has her own column because she wanted to write stuff (Robin’s Adventures). If you have time, please read some of her stuff.

Gamemoir.com

It’s a pretty new gaming site with a pretty unique concept. Instead of posting news and reviews, Gamemoir is a video gamer lifestyle website. The content is more about the experiences we all feel as gamers. There’s a lot of us writing there and I hope you support the site!

Thanks for everyone who’s been reading this stuff for the past two years! Here’s to (hopefully) many more to come.

“Six seasons and a movie!”

From: Community

Genre: Television

Who said it?: Abed Nadir

The story behind the quote: The quote comes from the NBC sitcom Community. The idea behind the series is that Jeff Winger (played by Joel McHale) get caught practicing being a lawyer without having a proper law degree. In desperation, he decides to enroll in the Glendale Community College to get a college degree quickly.

Unfortunately, the school is filled with crazy people who don’t appear to be there to actually study. However, Joel actually manages to make true friends in the school, something he didn’t expect.

The quote is delivered by pop culture freak Abed Nadir. His favorite show was The Cape, an extremely short lived (and real) television show about a man who finds a cape that gives him superpowers. While pretending to be the superhero, he knocks over Joel’s lunch. Joel McHale angrily yells at Abed that the show will be cancelled early. Abed disagrees with him.

Geek wisdom: It’s nice to set goals. Even if they seem impossible, it’s important that, when you have a dream, you go after it. The great thing about setting goals is that it gives a person direction in life.

In Community, Abed Nadir is a dreamer. Hence, he and his friend, Troy Barnes, usually imagine things that are pretty difficult to implement in real life. In the show, however, they manage to do a lot of these impossible things, like building a pillow/blanket fort that covered the entire campus… in two separate instances.

Things may seem impossible. But they are only impossible if you don’t attempt to do them.

“Never tell me the odds!”

From: The Empire Strikes Back

Genre: Movies

Who said it?: Han Solo

The story behind the quote: I don’t think this film needs much of an introduction… but I’ll give one anyway. The Empire Strikes back is the second film of the original Star Wars trilogy. The story takes place a few years after the first film where the Rebel Alliance destroyed the first Death Star. Even with this set back, the Empire is still extremely powerful and the Rebels still have to fight back.

The quote takes place while Han Solo, Princess Leia, Chewbacca and C3-P0 escape from an Empire assault on the Rebel base they were stationed. Unfortunately, the ship they’re on, the Millennium Falcon, has a malfunctioning hyperspace drive and they are unable to just to light speed to evade their pursuers. Han Solo decides to hide out in an asteroid field but C3-P0 nervously informs Han that the odds are against him if he were to make the attempt. This is when Han delivers the quote.

Geek wisdom: People will tell you your dreams and aspirations are going to be just that: dreams and aspirations. They will tell you they are impossible to achieve. But they never see that people do manage to fulfill their dreams.

A lot of us tend to focus on people’s failures and spend the rest of their life playing it safe. We actually should be recognizing the people who did become successful by chasing their dreams and trying really hard to reach their goals… despite the rest of the world telling them the odds are against them.

“Dead dove. Do not eat.”

From: Arrested Development

Genre: Television

Who ~~said~~ wrote it?: Gob Bluth

The story behind the quote: Arrested Development is a critically acclaimed sitcom. The show features the Bluths, a family of crazy characters. However, it is this craziness that made this show get a cult following. Arrested Development was initially cancelled at the end of their 3rd season. However, because of the show’s cult following, as well as gaining popularity after the series ended, a 4th season was developed by Netflix… 6 years after season 3 ended!

The quote comes from the second episode of the first season. Gob, the eldest of the Bluth siblings and failed magician, buys a dove but accidentally kills it as he is exiting the store. He, however, hopes to return the dead bird to the store so he stores it in a brown bag, puts a note on it, in the refrigerator. Michael Bluth, the “responsible” brother, reads the note but is still astonished with its contents.

Geek wisdom: We can sometimes not trust a lot of things until we see it in front of us. Even when the evidence overwhelmingly supports something, we just have to see it for ourselves to believe it. And then when we actually do experience it, we think to ourselves that it was stupid to think otherwise.

We all have these moments once in a while. The important thing to do is to realize is that there are going to be times that we have to believe something, not because we have seen it, but because logic tells us it’s true.

“That’ll do, pig. That’ll do.”

From: Babe

Genre: Movies

Who said it?: Arthur Hoggett

The story behind the quote: Babe is about an unusual pig. Babe (voiced by Christine Cavanaugh) was actually won in a state fair by Arthur Hoggett (played by James Cromwell). However, because of Babe’s natural ability of sorting and herding animals, the titular pig was raised not to be eaten. Rather, it became Babe’s job to herd the sheep on the farm.

By the way, if you haven’t seen the movie, this is going to be a bit of a SPOILER! So, don’t read on or play the clip if you don’t want the ending spoiled.

The quote comes from the very end of the film. Babe manages to win a sheepherding contest and, pleased, Arthur Hoggett turns to Babe to deliver the quote.

Geek wisdom: It’s always important to show our appreciation for the nice things that people do for us. A thank you when someone does you a favor. A good job for someone who accomplishes something for you. Even the smallest of praise is always going to be welcome.

We tend to forget that it’s important to affirm someone’s good work. A lot of the time, we tend to only focus on the bad things that a person does and we berate and call them out on it. While that’s okay, we forget to acknowledge the good things people have does for us.

Don’t forget to acknowledge the fantastic things people do for us.