“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.

“Houston, we have a problem.”

From: Apollo 13

Genre: Movies

Who said it?: Jim Lovell

The story behind the quote: The movie Apollo 13 is a bit of an odd film since it isn’t based on a success. Rather, the film tells the story about one of something that should have been very tragic. However, it is also considered to be one of their biggest victories of NASA at the same time as everyone survived the mission.

Jim Lovell (played by Tom Hanks) leads the Apollo 13 mission, which is to make another landing on the moon. However, the mission was plagued by different setback. For one, Lovell’s team was supposed to pilot the Apollo 14 mission but was fastracked to this earlier one. Ken Mattingly (played by Gary Sinise) got the measles and had to to be replaced.

The quote comes from when another accident (and the most destructive one) happens while en route to the moon. One of the oxygen tanks explodes and the crew immediately report this back to Houston.

Geek wisdom: Sometimes, we pride ourselves on being independent and not asking for help to solve our own problems. Thing is, there’s no real harm for asking for help when necessary. A lot of us think that asking for help is a sign of weakness. Actually, it’s the opposite: it takes real strength to admit you need assistance.

We all live our lives surrounded by others. Yet, we still try to live and do difficult things by ourselves. Everyone has their limits and, in order to actually overcome those limits, we will need as much help as possible. That’s the only way we, as a community, can get stronger.

“That’s not a knife… that’s a knife!”

From: Crocodile Dundee

Genre: Movies

Who said it?: Crocodile Dundee

The story behind the quote: This movie comes from the 80’s film, Crocodile Dundee, starring Paul Hogan. The story  is that Sue Charlton (played by Linda Kozlowski), an article writer for a New York paper, is sent to Australia to investigate the story of “Crocodile” Dundee, a man who supposedly had his leg bitten off by a crocodile. However, it turns out that the story was exaggerated since Dundee didn’t lost his leg (but he does have a scar to remember the encounter). In order to continue the report, Sue convinces Dundee to return with her to New York.

The movie was a surprise hit, not just in the United States and Australia, but around the world. One of the things that made the movie a huge success was Dundee’s general good nature (which is the opposite of the cynical behavior of the people in New York) and how he handles situations differently. One of the most memorable moments of the film (and where this week quote comes from) is when Dundee and Sue encounter a mugger with a “knife.”

Geek wisdom: It can be easy to lose perspective of what we have. Like in the clip, the mugger thinks that he can easily intimidate people because he has a switchblade. Unfortunately, for him, Crocodile Dundee sees it as a puny weapon and shows him something bigger… and definitely scarier.

Keep things in perspective.

“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.