Victor de la Cruz

“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.

“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.