“I’m the one that’s cool!”

From: The Guild (kinda)

Genre: Web Series

Who said it?: Felicia Day

The story behind the quote: The Guild is an web series about a group of people who play an MMORPG. The initial premise of the show is that Codex (played by Felicia Day), the priestess of her guild, gets her life turned upside down when another guild member, Zaboo (portrayed by Sujan Balakrishnan Goldberg), mistakes Codex’s private chats with him as flirting and he decides to move in with Codex.

Because of this thing happening, Codex calls for her other guildmates to meet each other, in real life, for the first time to discuss her problem with Zaboo. This in turn makes the team closer to each other as they are now friends in the real world and not just in the game.

The quote comes from the music video of the same name. While it’s generally out of the continuity of the show, the video and song shows all of the other guild members how they were bullied when they were young and how they think they are “the cool people” now.

Geek wisdom: Some of you may remember a time when comics, cartoons and superheroes were “childish fantasy.” Well, what about now? The Avengers was one of the biggest movies of last year, being released to great reviews. The Walking Dead television show has become so big that I’ve seen people trying to buy the original comics to just find out what happens. Even old cartoons like the Transformers and G.I. Joe become blockbusters once they get remade into films. Even a “nerdy” fantasy book series like A Song of Fire and Ice has now become one of the most anticipated and most watched show when HBO created Game of Thrones.

Even though it took some time, maybe some people now understand how “cool” it was to fall in love with the things we were in love with. And that’s a good start.

“But, there is, unseen by most, an underworld. A place that is just as real, but not as brightly lit… a DARKSIDE!”

From: Tales from the Darkside

Genre: Television

Who said it?: The narrator

The story behind the quote: The show falls along the vein of other horror anthology programs such as Creepshow and The Twilight Zone. Each episode of Tales from the Darkside would be a self-contained story, usually delving in horror and science fiction. Most of the stories are actually adaptions of stuff that was written by popular horror authors, such as Stephen King and Clive Barker.

Since each episode usually doesn’t have any connection with any of the other episodes in the series, there is no steady cast of actors. The only real constant of the series would be the opening narration, which is where the quote comes from.

Geek wisdom: As with the quote, there is always a good and bad side to everything. Even the nicest person you know has some deep, dark, unspeakable secret he or she would like to keep hidden from everyone. I mean everyone, even you, the person that’s reading this right now.  But here’s the thing: we keep this part of us hidden.

Keeping this “darkside” hidden is something we all wrestle with as this is what actually gives order to society. Imagine if we just unleashed this part of ourselves to society. It’s not a pleasant thought.

We have to restrain ourselves from a lot of our most heinous thoughts because, if we don’t, anarchy would reign.

“He chose poorly.” and “You have chosen… wisely.”

From: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Genre: Movies

Who said it?: An old Knight

The story behind the quote: The Indiana Jones films have always been big blockbusters and it’s not hard to see why. Each of the films takes cues from classic movies but the basic premise is the same. Indiana Jones (played by Harrison Ford) is an archaeologist and has vast knowledge with ancient history, myths and cultures. While he is incredibly smart, he is also an adventurer who is very adept in thinking on his feet during dangerous situations. Indy is also not the type of person to shy away from a fight. It is these traits that has him saving the world from evil doers (usually Nazis) who plan to dig up ancient artifacts that will help them take over the world.

The quote comes from the third film, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Here, both the Nazis and Indy are looking for the Holy Grail, which will grant immortality to those who drink from it. Indy gets captured and is forced to pass a series of traps guarding the Holy Grail. Once Indy gets through, Donovan (the main bad guy in the movie) sees that there are a lot of possible Holy Grails. Elsa (another baddie) selects one of the cups (one that has a lot of jewels and is possibly made of gold) and Donovan drinks from it… with bad results.

Indy then makes his choice and selects the one that appears to be a simple bowl. His logic is that the container is probably the one that a simple carpenter would use. He drinks from in and nothing happens to him. This is when the old Knight, who has been guarding the Grail, congratulates him.

Geek wisdom: In this day of age, we seem to rush through a lot of major decisions in life. We tend to not take stock on how important choices can affect us, both in the short term and in the long term. A lot of times, it’s this shortsightedness that can impact us the most, especially if we regret them in the future.

It’s always a good idea to weigh our options just to make an informed decision. Sometimes, all it takes is a few seconds. Other times, it make take hours or even days. It’s okay to mull over life changing decisions.

“Sonofabitch, ball! Why didn’t you go home?! That’s your home! Are you too good for your home?! Answer me!”

From: Happy Gilmore

Genre: Movies

Who said it?: Happy Gilmore

The story behind the quote: Adam Sandler rose to popularity  by writing and starring in movies where the main characters are extremely unbelievable but are a blast to watch. One of these movies is Happy Gilmore. Happy Gilmore is an extremely aggressive hockey player with a very powerful slapshot. It’s this overly aggressive personality that keeps him from getting into any hockey team. It turns out that his grandmother (who raised him) hasn’t been paying her taxes and the IRS is about to repossess the house he grew up in.

While some movers are repossessing some of his household items, he makes a bet involving hitting golf balls. It is this bet when he discovers that he can use his amazing slapshot to hit golf balls farther than most pro golfers. He then joins the pro golfing circuit where his violent temper and antics make him an immediate star… even if his putting skills stink.

The quote comes from one of the tours that displays his bad putting skills. Another golfer (played by Kevin Nealon) coaches Happy that the ball really wants to get in the hole since it’s his home. All it needs is to be guided home. Happy attempts the putt and misses. This is when he loses it and starts shouting at the ball…

Geek wisdom: Even the simplest things can be difficult and it can be incredibly frustrating. Happy Gilmore may be extremely good at driving the ball in golf but he struggles at putting and he definitely shows it in the quote. It’s okay to get frustrated at doing new, especially if you’re not good at it. But you have a choice: remain frustrated at it or practice and get better at it.

Happy does eventually get good at putting, but he had to put the time and effort into getting good at it. I bet even a guy who has natural talent in golf like Tiger Woods had to practice to become the top dog. It goes with every thing that we do; we can only improve at something if we keep on doing it over and over again.

“Some men just want to watch the world burn.”

From: Batman, specifically, The Dark Knight

Genre: Movies

Who said it?: Alfred Pennyworth

The story behind the quote: It seems that I can’t stop getting quotes from Batman media. But this time, it’s from Bruce Wayne’s faithful butler, Alfred.

The quote comes from The Dark Knight, the 2nd film of Christopher Nolan’s trilogy of Batman movies. Bruce Wayne has been investigating a series of violent (and videotaped) actions of the Joker. Bruce has been reviewing the Joker’s actions and is having difficulty understanding why he does the things he does.

Alfred then tells the story about the time he was in Burma. His group was hired to bribe tribal leaders to get their loyalty for the government using valuable stones and gems. During this time, a “bandit” was wrecking havoc in the area and it was assumed that the “bandit” took the stones. One day, Alfred notice a child playing with one of the stones and realized that the bandit took the stones but threw them away. This is when he knew that the bandit didn’t care for money, he just wanted to wreck as much havoc as he can.

Geek wisdom: Like Alfred said, there are going to be people that you cannot reason with, no matter what you do. They will just do whatever they want, forgetting the consequences of their actions. We have to accept the fact that we will not be able to convince them with logic.

At the same time, we cannot let these kind of people run around doing anything they please, especially if it will lead to anarchy. The act of doing nothing about something is going to be the wrong thing to do in these cases. Sometimes, it will be necessary to step in and do something… especially if we believe it’s the right thing to do.

“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.