Victor de la Cruz

“The pen is blue! The goddamn pen is blue!”

From: Liar Liar

Genre: Movies

Who said it?: Fletcher Reede

The story behind the quote: Jim Carrey plays Fletcher Reed, a really good lawyer and a much better liar. Although he loves his son, Max, Fletcher is too concentrated on his career to really spend any time with him. It is this focus on climbing the corporate ladder which causes his to miss Max’s birthday so that he can get on the “good side” of his boss. Disappointed that his father didn’t come to his birthday (even though Fletcher did promise him), Max wishes that Fletcher cannot lie… which comes true.

The quote comes from the scene where Fletcher realizes that he is unable to lie. He rushes into his office and believes he just needs to “practice” with something small, like saying that the blue pen he is holding is red. As the clip below shows, he is very unsuccessful in doing this.

Geek wisdom: It has become so easy in society to lie. It’s actually become so casual and common, we already expect people to lie to us and then try to determine what is the actual truth. Sometimes, we do lie to spare someone’s feelings or get out of trouble. But, ultimately, a lie is a lie and it can catch up to us.

It may be painful but there are going to be times when we need to tell the truth, even if it will hurt others. However, unless we can stop telling lies about the smaller things in life, we will never be ready to tell the truth about the bigger things. Besides, some people do appreciate the honesty.

“Don’t make me angry. You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.”

From: The Incredible Hulk

Genre: Television, Comics

Who said it?: “David” Bruce Banner

The story behind the quote: The Incredible Hulk television series was based on the comic book character of the same name. However, the TV series differs greatly from the comic version. While the origin for the Hulk is pretty much the same (the hapless scientist gets bombarded by gamma rays which alters his DNA), every thing else is different. Even the scientist’s name was changed from Bruce Banner to David Banner (Bruce became his middle name). The plot was altered so that The Hulk (played by Lou Ferrigno) is being hunted for the alleged murders of the scientist that was helping Banner. This causes David Banner (portrayed by Bill Bixby) to drift to different towns to escape law enforcement as well as trying to help people he meets along the way.

The quote actually comes from the very first episode, where David Banner catches a tabloid reporter snooping around near the place where the experiments had taken place. David Banner catches the reporter and delivers the quote, stating that he should stop looking into the story or else.

Geek wisdom: Don’t poke the bear! We all have the tendency to be bullies (yes, even the bullied will bully people even weaker people). We think there are going to be no consequences to teasing and riffing on people; we think they won’t do anything. We may think that but we have no way of thinking what they’ll do in the future.

We’ve seen movies, television shows and comics where the person being bullied becomes someone extremely powerful and then take it out on those who bullied them. In fact, we have even seen people just snap and go on shooting rampages just so they can get some form of “revenge” on society. We have no idea how they’ll focus their anger in the future. Sure, they may be in control of it now. But we have no idea how they’ll deal with it in the future.

David Banner may seem like a weakling but, well, don’t get him angry. That goes for other people as well. We have no idea if they will just Hulk out one day.

“To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is alchemy’s first law of Equivalent Exchange.”

From: Fullmetal Alchemist

Genre: Cartoons, Television, Anime

Who said it?: Alphonse Elric

The story behind the quote: Fullmetal Alchemist is an extremely popular manga and anime set in an alternate timeline where people still use alchemy instead of modern chemistry. According to the series, alchemy evolved into the practice of transmuting basic components into various items. For example, if you collect the broken parts of a radio, you wouldn’t need to send it to a repairman; using alchemy, you can simply use these parts to rebuild the radio. As long as the elements are in the right amounts, you can theoretically anything.

By the way, MINOR SPOILERS…

The main characters of the series are the Elric brothers, Edward and Alphonse. They are in search for the legendary Philosopher’s Stone because of a disastrous accident they caused. When their mother died, they decided to try to revive their mother through alchemy (which is forbidden). They managed to get the necessary elements to supposedly resurrect her but there was a reason why it’s strictly forbidden to perform alchemy on a human.

While all of the necessary earthly elements and materials are all there, it does not include the spiritual soul that is still lacking. Because of this, Edward lost his right arm and left leg and Alphonse’s spirit is trapped in a suit of armor. The brothers believe that the Philosopher’s Stone, which will enable an alchemist to bypass the need for the elements to be exact. But they’re not doing to to try to resurrect their mother anymore. They’re doing it to restore their bodies.

The quote comes from the English version of the anime, which you can see below.

Geek wisdom: In order to get something really difficult to obtain, we must be ready to put the necessary work into getting it. Sure, there are going to be those lucky that beat the odds without any real effort, but we really shouldn’t bank on it happening to us. That’s why not everyone is rich. Think of the people that are highly successful and, most of the time, they will tell you that they had to work hard for what they have. The problem is that we usually just see the end result of all their hard work and assume they had it easy all the time.

Anything and everything you want to achieve can be achieved most of the time. The only thing is that you have to be willing to put in the backbreaking work to make it all the way to your goal.

“Little dog? arf, arf Or big dog? woof, woof”

From: LifeLine

Genre: Video Games

Who said it?: Rio

The story behind the quote: This quote actually comes from an Easter Egg from Lifelife for the Playstation 2. This survival horror game from Konami is remembered because it was a good game (most reviews gave it an average score). Rather, what made his PS2 game memorable was its unique control scheme.

It takes place in the future where you are attending a party in a hotel that is orbiting the Earth. The festivities are abruptly put on hold due to invasion of alien monsters. Your character gets trapped in the control center of the space hotel. Your character manages to make contact with another survivor named Rio (voiced by Kristen Miller). However, you can only communicate with her by actually talking to her.

As mentioned, the game was pretty different from other survival horror games because of the way you control Rio. The player cannot use the controller to issue orders to Rio. Rather, you would have to use a PS2 USB microphone and give the commands by talking to her. The concept was good… but the execution was bad. The game simply couldn’t keep up, especially if you issue commands hurriedly. However, using your voice to control the onscreen character was used in weird ways, especially with the aforementioned quote.

At any time during the game, you can command Rio to bark like a dog for no reason at all. The weird thing is that the developers actually thought of this and Rio has a response for it!

The video below has Adam Sessler reviewing (and blasting) the game. You can skip to 2:03 of the video to here the sequence and the quote. You can clearly see that Adam didn’t really expect a response!

Geek wisdom: Sometimes, taking a weird and irreverent chance can make you stumble on to something good. In the game, there is really no reason to ask Rio to bark like a dog. It’s something generally something someone would do on a whim… and it actually works!

We can get too focused on our own lives and get too serious. Because of this, we forget that being spontaneous and irreverent… just doing something for no reason… can also be fun. Let your hair down once in a while… and bark like a dog for no reason.

“If you know you can deflect it, then you’re not challenging yourself.”

From: X-Men: First Class

Genre: Movies

Who said it?: Charles Xavier

The story behind the quote: The very first live-action X-Men films, which was shown in 2000, clearly showed that the friendship between Charles Xavier (who would become Professor X and the founder of the X-Men) and Erik Lehnsherr (also known as the mutant terrorist, Magneto) has ended. While they do behave cordially when they talk, it is clear that they have opposite ideals for how mutants should interact with the ordinary humans. However, the films never explored their friendship as deep as the pseudo-reboot in X-Men: First Class.

The film starts in the 60’s around the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis. A mutant named Sebastian Shaw is attempting to start World War III in the hopes that mutants will take over after the war. Erik Lehnsherr has a personal stake on this as he witnessed Shaw kill his mother during the Holocaust.

Since he has been training his mutant ability at an extremely young age, he believes that he has gained ultimate mastery of it. As proof, he tells Xavier to shoot at him point blank with a gun since he knows he’ll be able to stop the bullet as it fires. Xavier then tells him that, if that’s the case, then he’ll never really become as strong with his ability as he can.

Geek wisdom: It easy to play it safe and be satisfied with what we know, never really venturing outside our comfort zone. Even thinking of trying to do something that is extremely difficult makes us uneasy and, mentally, we can give up without trying. But the only way we can improve ourselves is if we try to do something difficult.

It’s like when we were toddlers; we could could move around by crawling. There was really no need to walk since crawling was sufficient. We don’t remember it but we all struggled with learning how to simply stand up and we fell down a lot. However, with practice, we all now able to stand on our own two feet.

Any task can seem daunting and even impossible. However, unless we try and practice several times, we will never really be able to say it’s impossible.

“Houston, we have a problem.”

From: Apollo 13

Genre: Movies

Who said it?: Jim Lovell

The story behind the quote: The movie Apollo 13 is a bit of an odd film since it isn’t based on a success. Rather, the film tells the story about one of something that should have been very tragic. However, it is also considered to be one of their biggest victories of NASA at the same time as everyone survived the mission.

Jim Lovell (played by Tom Hanks) leads the Apollo 13 mission, which is to make another landing on the moon. However, the mission was plagued by different setback. For one, Lovell’s team was supposed to pilot the Apollo 14 mission but was fastracked to this earlier one. Ken Mattingly (played by Gary Sinise) got the measles and had to to be replaced.

The quote comes from when another accident (and the most destructive one) happens while en route to the moon. One of the oxygen tanks explodes and the crew immediately report this back to Houston.

Geek wisdom: Sometimes, we pride ourselves on being independent and not asking for help to solve our own problems. Thing is, there’s no real harm for asking for help when necessary. A lot of us think that asking for help is a sign of weakness. Actually, it’s the opposite: it takes real strength to admit you need assistance.

We all live our lives surrounded by others. Yet, we still try to live and do difficult things by ourselves. Everyone has their limits and, in order to actually overcome those limits, we will need as much help as possible. That’s the only way we, as a community, can get stronger.

“That’s not a knife… that’s a knife!”

From: Crocodile Dundee

Genre: Movies

Who said it?: Crocodile Dundee

The story behind the quote: This movie comes from the 80’s film, Crocodile Dundee, starring Paul Hogan. The story is that Sue Charlton (played by Linda Kozlowski), an article writer for a New York paper, is sent to Australia to investigate the story of “Crocodile” Dundee, a man who supposedly had his leg bitten off by a crocodile. However, it turns out that the story was exaggerated since Dundee didn’t lost his leg (but he does have a scar to remember the encounter). In order to continue the report, Sue convinces Dundee to return with her to New York.

The movie was a surprise hit, not just in the United States and Australia, but around the world. One of the things that made the movie a huge success was Dundee’s general good nature (which is the opposite of the cynical behavior of the people in New York) and how he handles situations differently. One of the most memorable moments of the film (and where this week quote comes from) is when Dundee and Sue encounter a mugger with a “knife.”

Geek wisdom: It can be easy to lose perspective of what we have. Like in the clip, the mugger thinks that he can easily intimidate people because he has a switchblade. Unfortunately, for him, Crocodile Dundee sees it as a puny weapon and shows him something bigger… and definitely scarier.

Keep things in perspective.

“Wonder Twins Powers activate!”

From: Super Friends

Genre: Cartoons, Television

Who said it?: Zan and Jayna

The story behind the quote: The Super Friends cartoon starred DC Comics’ most popular heroes, including Superman and Batman among others. Apparently, they didn’t think that it was enough to have Earth’s mightiest heroes in a cartoon so the producers of the show decided to add the Wonder Twins… who were created specifically for the show. Oh, and they have a space monkey.

The Wonder Twins, Zan and Jayna, are alien twins who do not have any special abilities by themselves. However, by coming into contact with each other (or having something connect them together… like using Gleek, their aforementioned space monkey), they can actually change into any shape. Zan, the male, has the ability to change into anything made of water. Jayna, on the other hand can change to any animal (even a dinosaur).

Geek wisdom: Teamwork is extremely important. The Wonder Twins themselves cannot use their shapeshifting powers unless they come into contact with each other. People are generally the same thing. While we can feel utterly helpless as individuals, we can actually perform great things if we work together.

Even when we are a part of a team, we can still feel useless and not contribute to the group’s success. While Gleek’s only ability is to lengthen his tail, he is able to help the Wonder Twins by acting as a conduit for them to use their powers. This goes with us; while our contribution is only going to be minimal, it doesn’t mean that the contribution is not meaningful. As the old saying goes: Every little bit helps.

“It’s over 9,000!”

From: Dragon Ball Z

Genre: Cartoons, Television, Anime

Who said it?: Vegeta

The story behind the quote: The original Dragon Ball series was about a young Son Goku and his friends in search for the legendary Dragon Balls. Their search for these magical items is more than just a treasure hunt. The reason is, if all 9 Dragon Balls are gathered, they will summon Shen Lon, a mystical dragon that will be able to grant any wish, even reviving someone from the dead.

However, with Dragon Ball Z, that all changed. While the characters still searched for them, the Dragon Balls actually took a backseat to all of the fighting. Here, Son Goku is now an adult and his actual origins are explored more deeply. During the first story arc (the Saiyan Saga), it is explained that the reason why Goku is an extremely powerful fighter is because he is actually an alien from the planet Vegeta and he was actually supposed to conquer the planet (but bumped his head and forgot).

Now, the prince of Goku’s home planet, who also happens to be named Vegeta, goes to planet Earth and tries to rule over it. Goku steps in to defend the Earth. While Vegeta was originally unimpressed with Goku as his scouter, a device that measures fighting ability, shows that Goku isn’t that impressive.

However, that all changes when Goku powers up…

Geek wisdom: We can easily underestimate people. It’s easy to see someone who did not have any formal education and dismiss that person as a failure. We tend to forget that there are a lot of successful college dropouts, like Bill Gates and the guy who developed Facebook.

What a person can or cannot is something anyone can measure. Everyone has the potential to do great things so it’s a pretty dumb idea to count them out just because of the way they look.

“Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.”

From: Star Wars

Genre: Movies

Who said it?: Yoda

The story behind the quote: Most people agree that the original Star War trilogy was a great series of films and also introduced us to story of something that happened a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. Unfortunately, the same thing cannot be said for the prequel films. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t any meaningful quotes that can be captured from them, though.

The quote comes The Phantom Menace and it’s delivered by Yoda, the swamp dwelling Jedi Master who gave us another quote before. As this is set before The Empire Strikes Back, he delivers the quote from a more comfortable setting… in the hall of the Jedi High Council. Qui-Gon Jinn is requesting permission to train Anakin Skywalker (SPOILERS! He becomes Darth Vader) from the Council. Yoda looks at the boy denies Qui-Gon’s request as he senses that he is afraid… and being afraid will lead to bad things…

Geek wisdom: The most heinous of acts in the world can be caused by simple fear. It could be the fear of our own insecurities, fear of the unknown, fear of things we can’t understand and the like. Like Yoda said, this fear can take on a life of its own and grow into other negative reactions, like the aforementioned anger, hate and suffering.

Now, most of this fear can actually be controlled with some understanding. Once we get past the fear and actually try to understand why we are afraid of something, then that’s the time we can conquer the fear.