Category: Movies

“A roofer listens to [his heart], not his wallet.”

From: Clerks

Genre: Movies

Who said it?: A customer from the store

The story behind the quote: Kevin Smith is a pretty popular filmmaker now. However, in 1994, he started out as a literal unknown and used up a lot of his personal savings to create his first movie, Clerks. The film tells the story of a day in the life of Dante, a down-on-his-luck clerk at a Quick Stop who was called into work on his rest day.

The quote comes from a specific scene where Dante and his friend (and clerk of a video store) Randall are talking about the construction of the Death Star in the third installment of the original Star Wars trilogy, Return of the Jedi. Randall comments that since the Death Star was still being constructed during the Rebel Alliance’s attach on the station, there must have been some innocent contractors on it when it got blown up.

A roofer who happens to overhear the conversation then interrupts and states that, since he is a contractor himself, his political beliefs actually contributes to his accepting of a job. He then tells the story when he was asked to repair the roof of a certain house and he would be paid much more than what he would usually charge. However, he found out that the house belongs to a dangerous mob boss so he decided to refer another contractor to do the job. Unfortunately for the other contractor, a rival mob decided to attack the house and was killed. The roofer then points to his heart and states that he listens to that when it’s time to select what job to take.

Geek wisdom:  A person’s integrity should not have a price.  There have to be certain limits to what we will do for material items. If you believe in something, no amount of wealth should be enough to change your mind. If there is a certain amount that will make you throw away what you believe is right, then you didn’t really believe in it in the first place.

“I have a bad feeling about this!”

From: Star Wars

Genre: Movies

Who said it?: A lot of the cast!

The story behind the quote: During the Star Wars films, the prequels and the original trilogy, practically all of the heroes (Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker and even C3-P0) will deliver this quote. A lot of the time, it’s used for a humorous effect: there’s obviously something wrong is going to happen so it’s obvious that they feel that something wrong will happen. In fact, it became so popular that a lot of geeks will deliver the quote out of instinct when they know something obviously bad is about to happen.

If you want to see the quote delivered in all of the Star Wars movies, you can watch them in the clip below:

Geek wisdom:  You don’t need a mystical Force to know that something is wrong. You’ve got your gut to do that for you. Other people may think it’s just paranoia but there is going to be that time when your gut will be correct even though conventional logic says otherwise.

It’s that gut feeling that tells you to avoid taking that shortcut through a dark alley or crossing the street even though you don’t see any cars incoming. This same instinct help mankind survive for as long as we have. So, it’s something that has worked (and still does) for all of us.

“The answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything is 42.”

From: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Genre: Books, Movies, Television

Who said it?: Deep Thought

The story behind the quote: This is actually my first “book” and “radio” categories entry, but I am cheating a bit here since I’m getting it from the latest movie adapted from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series. The overall story follows Arthur Dent, an ordinary man who survives the destruction of the Earth with Ford Prefect (an alien in disguise) and goes off to have different adventures.

The quote comes from a scene early in the story. Aliens created a supercomputer named Deep Thought and ask it to answer the question of life, the universe and everything. Deep Thought mentions that it would take seven and a half million years to get the Ultimate Answer.

So, seven and a half million years pass. The aliens (their ancestors anyway) come back to Deep Thought to get the answer. Deep Thought gives his reply that the answer is 42. The aliens complain that the answer cannot be correct. Deep Thought then says that he cannot give an answer since the aliens don’t know what the question actually is. The computer does say that another computer, even more powerful than itself, will be able to know what the Ultimate Question is.

SPOILER: The computer more powerful than Deep Thought is actually the Earth.

Geek wisdom: The “meaning of life” question is meaningless since the answer is, and always be, something different for each person. The reason being is that the question is also going to be different for each person. Deep Thought felt that it was a perfectly legitimate answer since, for him, it made sense. For others, it was rubbish. That’s because the Ultimate Question is different for each and every one of them.

When we ask ourselves “what is the meaning of life” we are actually asking how we personally think what we want in life. If you ask ourselves the Ultimate Question and we cannot find what the Ultimate Answer is within ourselves, then you may not know what direction your life is going. If you are able to answer it, then you have already found your purpose in life.

“I’m in lesbians with you.”

From: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

Genre: Movies

Who said it?: Scott Pilgrim

The story behind the quote: This quote comes from the film Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. The movie is based on a series of black and white comic books by Bryan Lee O’Malley. While a moderate hit, it never really hit mainstream success. Still, for those who knew about it, it was one of those cult-like things as it focused a lot on geek culture, especially video games, and irreverent humor.

In the film, Scott is depressed since he will have to defeat the Seven Evil Exes of the (literal) girl of his dreams, Ramona Flowers, in order to be with her. His gay roommate, Wallace Wells, tells him that he has to “break out the L-word” if he’s really serious about Ramona. However, Scott believes that the “L-word” is “lesbians.”

Although he does eventually understand that the “L-word” is actually “love,” when Scott does try to express how he feels for Ramona, he accidentally still doesn’t say that he’s in love with her.

Geek wisdom:  It can be pretty intimidating to express our feelings to others, especially about deeper emotional issues, such as love. There are a lot of reasons why this is: fear of being laughed at, fear of rejection, etc.

However, unless we really come out and communicate how we feel, there’s no way any relationship can move on to a deeper and more personal relationship. It is risky (and scary) but sometimes you just have to take the risk.

“Until That Day… Till All Are One”

From: Transformers: The Movie

Genre: Movies, Cartoons

Who said it?: Optimus Prime

The story behind the quote: This quote comes from the Transformers: The Movie. Not the live action Michael Bay films. This is from the animated movie that was released in 1986. The film was actually pretty controversial for its time because of the deaths of practically the entire cast of the TV Series… during the first 20 minutes, no less!

The movie is set in the year 2005 (which was pretty far off in the future then) and, somehow, the treacherous Decepticons have managed to conquer the Autobots home world of Cybertron. The Autobots, however, refuses to give up the fight and have set up bases on the planet’s moons. Unknown to them, both factions face a bigger threat than themselves: the planet eater called Unicron.

Geek wisdom: We all have an idea of what our future will be. Unfortunately, the way to get to that future will be difficult and a lot of obstacles will lay in our path, obstructing us from achieving it. We must push through and go beyond these barriers and focus on the end result.

It may be difficult, especially at the start, and giving up may feel like a viable (and easy) option. However, we have to look past the problems and look at our goal. We have to focus on until that day comes and when all that effort will pay off.