Victor de la Cruz

“Wile E. Coyote… Super Genius!”

From: Looney Tunes

Genre: Cartoons, Television

Who said it?: Wile. E. Coyote

The story behind the quote: We think of Wile E. Coyote as the main antagonist of the Road Runner. We also think of him as someone that cannot talk (being a coyote and all). However, Wile E. Coyote actually didn’t just chase after very fast birds. He also has a taste for rabbits as well. Oh, and he’s very articulate as well.

There were actually around 5 episodes where Wile E. tried to take on Looney Tunes’ main star, Bugs Bunny. During these bouts, he would actually announce himself to Bugs and proclaim that he will capture and eat the bunny. After all, as he is much smarter than a rabbit, he will easily be able to outwit the long-eared creature with very little trouble. In fact, he is a (self-proclaimed) “super genius.”

Well, we all know how that’ll turn out, right?

Geek wisdom: We put ourselves in high regard and that’s a good thing. We actually have to do that; it builds confidence. It becomes bad when it goes to the realm of overconfidence. The speaking Wile E. Coyote believes that he’s of superior intellect to Bugs Bunny. Yet, he’s outsmarted time and time again by the rabbit. In fact, if you think about it, something as simple as the Road Runner (who can’t even speak!) can actually outsmart ol’ Wile E.

Yes, it’s good to be confident with your abilities and knowledge. But don’t get too overboard with it.

“I’m an old man… filled with regret.”

From: Inception

Genre: Movies

Who said it?: Dom Cobb and Mr. Saito

The story behind the quote: This is the second quote that I’m pulling from Christopher Nolan’s brainy movie, Inception. We’ve already delved into the premise of the film before when we discussed the “A single idea from the human mind can build cities” quote last year, so I won’t be discussing that. I will, however, be discussing how deep a movie it is.

It turns out that, in the dream world, time lasts much longer than in the real world. So, a single minute of real time may feel like a couple of hours in the dream world (which is pretty true since you can experience an entire day’s worth of events in a real dream). Now, if you dream while in a dream, time will seem even longer, making it possible to experience an entire lifetime… which is what essentially happens with Mr. Saito and Dom Cobb (played by Ken Watanabe and Leonardo DiCaprio, respectively).

In this dream within a dream (within a dream apparently), Saito’s dream self has grown extremely old because of the length of time he’s been there. Dom, because of the trauma of “dying” in another dream (long story), has forgotten that he was supposed to save Saito from being trapped. However, when Saito delivers the quote, Cobb immediately remembers that what his purpose of him being there.

Geek wisdom: It can be easy to believe that we have all the time in the world. However, this is just an illusion. Time is very fleeting and can catch up with your almost instantly. And, before you know it, you’re, well, an old man filled with regret.

We only have a short time in this world; let’s try to make the most of it. Take some risks and enjoy life to its fullest.

“Would you do it for a Scooby Snack?”

From: Scooby Doo

Genre: Cartoons, Television

Who said it?: Various people

The story behind the quote: Scooby Doo is an animated series that started way back in the late 60’s. Yet, the entire franchise manages to stay popular even after more than 40 years. It started out as a cartoon with a bunch of friends (Fred Jones, Velma Dinkley, Daphne Blake, Norville “Shaggy” Rogers and the titular character, Scooby Doo) go around the United States investigating supposed supernatular cases then exposing them as frauds.

The show got a total revamp, first from adding Scrappy Doo, Scooby Doo’s adventurous nephew, removing most of the cast (except for Shaggy and Scooby) and totally eliminating the crime solving gimmick. The show eventually became a slapstick comedy.

The show will then get another revamp with the ghosts and monsters actually being real (no person in a costume) and the heroes trying to fend them off. Even after that, there were more changes to the basic story, with the only real constants being Scooby and Shaggy staying as the stars and the pair’s love of eating.

Speaking of eating, another thing that has not changed from the start of the show is the Scooby Snack that Scooby loves. Although it’s supposed to be a dog biscuit, it is apparently super delicious and even Shaggy loves to eat them as well! In fact, the two of them can be bribed into dangerous situations, as long as they can help themselves to the treat.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a clip of the original show. But I did find one from A Pup Named Scooby Doo, which you can see below:

Geek wisdom: Everyone does have a price. It’s not really a bad thing. Think about it as there’s always something that will motivate you to do the things that you wouldn’t do normally. It’s more of a motivational tool.

If you’re stuck in a job you don’t like, but you do it for your family, you can grind right through it. Even in exercising, if you can dream of the results (great health, good body), you can power through it.

Anything is worth doing, as long as the proper motivation is there.

“Me fail English? That’s unpossible!”

From: The Simpsons

Genre: Cartoons, Television

Who said it?: Ralph Wiggum

The story behind the quote: GeekWisdom has been running for more than a year now and I’ve never posted a quote from one of the longest running series of all time. The Simpsons has been on air for over 24 seasons, had a feature-length film and has entered pop culture consciousness but this is the first time a quote is being posted here. One of the reasons is because I can’t embed most of the Simpsons video clips on YouTube. Another is, well, nothing really is super memorable from the main cast… but I forgot about Ralph Wiggum.

Ralph is the dim-witted son of the dim-witted Police Chief of Springfield, Clancy Wiggum. He tends to do incredibly odd things that are pretty stupid and he has the tendency to make unrelated comments with the situation he’s in. Unfortunately, it seems that he’s pretty much in the dark about his clue about how clueless he really is.

In the clip below, Principal Skinner is announcing the children who are failing in English. Ralph is overjoyed and actually thinks he won something. When Principal Skinner corrects Ralph, he smiles and expresses disbelief since he thinks he’s really great in speaking the language.

Geek wisdom: We can be extremely ignorant of our own… ignorance. We like to believe that we are so totally awesome and great. However, it’s totally possible that we’ve put ourselves on an extremely high pedestal and actually fail to see our own… well, failures.

It’s easy to be blind to our own weaknesses. We sometimes have to take a long, hard and impartial look at ourselves to really see who we are.

“Have a pancake!”

From: Wonderfalls

Genre: Television

Who said it?: A cow creamer?

The story behind the quote: Sometimes, even great and inventive television shows get cancelled. One of those shows would be the brainchild of Bryan Fuller. However, if you were thinking of Pushing Daisies, well, no. It’s not. It’s another show that actually stars Pushing Daisies’ Ned, Lee Pace. That show is Wonderfalls.

The general idea is that Jayne Tyler (played by Caroline Dhavernas) a smart and sarcastic underachiever who has her life turned upside down when various inanimate objects (such as the aforementioned cow creamer) tell her to do various things to help people. While these acts may seem extremely mundane and simple, like in the quote mentioned, these actions have far reaching implications, which she would never foresee.

You can actually see the first part of the episode where the quote is mentioned below:

Geek wisdom: Like in the show, the smallest decisions we make have bigger implications that we may not see. In fact, all of the actions you have done throughout your lifetime has made you the person you are today. All of those choices has brought you to this specific point in time.

While we may not really understand the implications of the minor choices we do, they do impact us, one way or another. Make sure you make the correct ones.

GeekWisdom in need of new quotes

Hello everyone!

I realized that I’ve been doing this GeekWisdom thing for a while (a year and a half already!) and I’ve been having fun wracking my brain remembering TV, movie and video game quotes and trying to extract some wisdom from them. But, right now, I’m pretty much stretching my memory getting really memorable quotes at this time. Also, it’s also been a problem finding the quotes, especially on YouTube (since a lot of the quotes that I would want to put here are either not there because of copyright issues or they can’t be embedded).

Anyway, if any of you guys and gals reading this have any quotes that I may have missed or would like to get some geek wisdom from, please add them in the comments for this post. I promise I’ll give the proper credits necessary.

Thanks!

“Jill, here’s a lockpick. It might come in handy if you, the master of unlocking, take it with you.”

From: Resident Evil

Genre: Video Games

Who said it?: Barry Burton

The story behind the quote: The Resident Evil series from Capcom popularized horror games and was the basis for the entire “survival horror” genre. Take note that didn’t actually create survival horror as there were horror games like Alone in the Dark or Clock Tower that came before it. However, it does earn the distinction of taking horror games into the mainstream.

While the first game in the series was a breakthrough and did have some genuine scares (remember the jump you got when the dogs jumped through the windows?), that’s not to say that the story and script was very good. In fact, the voice acting is pretty bad, especially if you compare it to today’s standards. But at the time, having any voice acting in a game was pretty phenomenal. However, there is an advantage to having such poor voice acting and awful dialogue: the quotes in the game become extremely memorable… such as the quote in question.

If you play as Jill Valentine, the female in the game, you and one of your squad members, Barry Burton, get separated from the rest of your team members. So, they decide to split up to cover more ground. Barry then remembers that he found a lockpick. Knowing that Jill is “the master of unlocking,” he generously gives it to Jill since it will be much more useful to her.

Geek wisdom: If you’re not really using something and you know that someone will find that item useful, you might as well let that someone have it. We tend to be greedy with our possessions and actually hoard stuff, citing that we “may need it in the future” or there’s some sentimental value with these items. But there may be people that may need these items much more than you.

Try to remember to help other people. It may be difficult to let go but, if it helps other people, you know that the thing that you loved before is being put into good use.

“These pretzels are making me thirsty!”

From: Seinfeld

Genre: Television

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

The story behind the quote: We’ve already noted in a previous post that Seinfeld has a lot of memorable quotes. So… here’s another one! The quote comes from the third season episode “The Alternate Side.”

Kramer goes to Jerry Seinfeld’s apartment to announce that he just got a line in the latest Woody Allen movie. George then busts in, severely rattled because of his new job of parking cars across the street (which is apparently not as easy as he thought it would be). Anyway, Elane asks Kramer what the line is and he tells everyone the line he’s going to say is “These pretzels are making me thirsty!” Elaine and Jerry then give their own way of saying the line. Then, George, who is still stressed from his job, gives the line in a very angry tone.

Everyone looks at him funny and George explains that they have no idea what the pretzel guy is feeling that day. Maybe the guy is angry because he took up a job parking cars for a living. He then rushes to the window and yells the line at the people waiting for George to park their cars.

Geek wisdom: We always tell people to use their words when they talk. However, the way they say it is also very important. You can’t just rely on the actual words; you have to listen to the way the words are being said. In fact, the way something is being said can actually be more important than the actual words.

Try to pay attention to the way things are being said and not just the actual thing being said.

“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.