Author: Victor de la Cruz

Most of my childhood (and adult life) was spent doing a lot of geeky stuff: watching TV, playing video games and going to the movies. To some, it may have been a waste of time. Well, to me, it has made me what I am today... a geeky adult. I actually write for a couple of blogs, namely: geekwisdom.wordpress.com 3rdworldgeeks.com gamemoir.com Please check them out!

“More cowbell!”

From: Saturday Night Live

Genre: Television

Who said it?: Bruce Dickenson

The story behind the quote: The quote comes from a Saturday Night Live skit. In a supposed video recording of the actual creation of Blue Oyster Cult’s hit song “(Don’t Fear) the Reaper,” a legendary record producer named Bruce Dickenson (played by the guest host Christopher Walken) sits in the session. The band starts playing, but they are distracted by (fictional) band member Gene Frenkle’s (portrayed by Will Ferrel) playing the cowbell too loud. However, Bruce Dickenson disagrees and actually wants more cowbell to be played!

Bruce Dickenson then tells Gene to really play up the cowbell on the next try. The band now find the cowbell playing even more annoying but Bruce tells them that it was actually better because of the excited playing of Gene’s cowbell. Gene then volunteers to pull it back on the next take. However, he plays it in a passive-aggressive manner and explodes in anger. Bruce Dickenson steps in and says that the cowbell is really necessary to make (Don’t Fear) the Reaper a great song.

Gene Frenkle then gives a speech that it’s his duty to play the cowbell to the best of his ability, to which Bruce Dickenson agrees wholeheartedly. The band then agrees that they should work as a team and record the song to the best of their ability. The last shot of the skit shows that fictional Gene Frenkle died in 2000.

You can also watch the entire clip below:

Geek wisdom: The thing that you thinks as annoying or bad? Well, there are going to be some people who are going to like it. In fact, they may even love it! While the band members of Blue Oyster Cult found the cowbell annoying, Bruce Dickenson heard the same thing and actually wanted it to be more prominent in the track. This is because everyone is different.

If you think about the way we geeks talk about comics, toys and the like, we show a lot of passion and love for these things. But we do know that a lot of people cannot understand why we love these things and just find those topics silly and a waste of time.

This goes both ways as well. You may have a friend that likes something that you do not care for. Maybe it’s talking about  how their Fantasy NFL team is performing or maybe they have to rush home to watch the latest episode of Glee.

 

“Beware the battle cattle but don’t fear the battle cattle!”

From: Fallout: New Vegas

Genre: Video Games

Who said it?: “Tabitha” and “Rhonda”

The story behind the quote: This quote actually comes from a fairly recent game called Fallout: New Vegas. I already have a post from the entire series, so I won’t really go into detail as to the backstory of the Fallout universe that Bethedsa created for it. If you want to see what I wrote or if you do want to learn the history of the series, you can check on that post here.

Anyway, you can hear the quote when you tune in to the Black Mountain Radio station. The broadcast is being controlled by Rhonda and his “best friend” Tabitha. Tabitha complains that the other Super Mutants are running away from fighting something called “battle cattle.” While she/he agrees they are dangerous, it is shameful that they are running away from the creatures “like a scared little human.” Rhonda then chimes in with the quote, telling them that they should be careful with fighting the battle cattle but they should not run away from the fight.

Geek wisdom: We have to face our fears or else those fears will control us. It’s like riding a roller coaster; it is terrifying but to simply not ride it will deny you from experiencing the fun and thrill it gives. I’m not saying that we should confront all our fears. I’m afraid of being stabbed by a mugger, but this doesn’t mean that I’m going to confront my fear and let myself be mugged. I’m saying that we should confront irrational fears.

Irrational fears are the fears that we know are kind of stupid but it is so deep within us that we let them control us. These are the ones we should face and show them who’s boss. In the game, the super mutants should be able to take down the battle cattle easily, but they are too afraid to face them since they were told to be afraid of them. We shouldn’t act like scared little humans in the face of irrational fears.

Geek Wisdom is coming back home!

Hello everyone.

Well, my stint for writing for Unreality has come to a close. While I am disappointed that I will not be writing for them anymore, I do understand that it was a great opportunity and I loved the fact that I was given the chance to do so.

This doesn’t mean that I’ll stop putting out Geek Wisdom. Rather, I’ll be returning here and start posting here again!

Thanks to Paul Tassi for giving me the chance to do some work for them and I do hope that, if anyone is reading this, you’ll also visit their site as well.