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GeekDad's '100 Quotes Every Geek Should Know' is a travesty of a sham

Wed, 01/06/2010 - 12:24 — Ben

All Internet lists exist to prompt arguments, spark controversies, share a bit of knowledge, and generate lots of links. Ken Denmead -- a.k.a. GeekDad at Wired -- has contributed the best and the worst of the new decade with his "100 Quotes Every Geek Should Know," a document that at once delights and appalls. I mean, he includes Roy Batty's last three words in Blade Runner but not the immortal lines that precede them? Seriously? And he will rue the day he chose a couple of pedestrian lines from Real Genius.

I would note, too, that not all of Denmead's selections are from sci-fi or fantasy films. There are even a couple of song lyrics. Fine. But with such a broad criteria, where's Apocalypse Now? No, not the obvious one. Any self-respecting geek ought to know you can't land on one-quarter or three-eighths of Venus. That's dialectic physics!

The comments on the piece are lively and there are some excellent suggestions. (And it's really not such a bad list... I guess. De gustibus non est disputandum and all that.) One I would have liked to have seen from the endlessly quotable Army of Darkness: "It's a trap, get an axe!" I use that one all the time.

Well... what say you?

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Wed, 01/06/2010 - 13:05 — Joel

Wait...

...have you ever gotten around to watching Serenity or Firefly yet? If not, I'm not sure you're qualified to judge the list.

Wed, 01/06/2010 - 13:12 — Ben

Re: Wait -- what?

The hell you say! I haven't, I can and I will!

Wed, 01/06/2010 - 13:19 — Joel

You've forced me to deliver the worst Internet insult of all:

n00b.

Wed, 01/06/2010 - 14:08 — Khabalox

Quotes

Ahh... lists. :/

"There is no spoon." -The Matrix
"I'm Batman." -Perhaps many of the Batman movies.
"Oh, wouldn't it be great if I *was* crazy? Then the world would be okay. " -James Cole in Twelve Monkeys
"I see dead people" -The Sixth Sense
"Badges? We don't need no stinkin' badges" -Blazing Saddles
"No, thank you. Fifteen is my limit on schnitzengruben." -Ibid.
"Howard Johnson is right!" - Howard Johnson, Ibid.

Wed, 01/06/2010 - 16:06 — Wry Mouth

"POOON ONNA REEETZ!!"

does the true geek know "We don't need no steenkin badges!" from Blazing Saddles, or Treasure of Sierra Madre? I know it from latter, but think Khab is correct here.

Sigh.

If we're going all Mel Brooks on them, though, I have to throw in the Comment Title above, from Young Frankenstein.

P.S. If you *haven't* seen "Sierra Madre" for yourselves yet, drop everything and watch it. You'll thank me later.

Thu, 01/07/2010 - 07:03 — Joel

Treasure of the Sierra Madre

Any geek knows the Blazing Saddles. (Or the UHF variant: "Badgers! We don't need no steenking badgers!") But a true geek knows his Bogie, Wry, and you are a true geek.

Thu, 01/07/2010 - 08:47 — Khabalox

Bogart = Geeky??

What is geeky about Bogart? Seems to me he is the anti-geek. If you are going for Film-Geek, then Peter Lorre would be a better choice. From "M":

It's there all the time, driving me out to wander the streets, following me, silently, but I can feel it there. It's me, pursuing myself! I want to escape, to escape from myself! But it's impossible. I can't escape, I have to obey it. I have to run, run... endless streets. I want to escape, to get away! And I'm pursued by ghosts. Ghosts of mothers and of those children... they never leave me. They are always there... always, always, always!, except when I do it, when I... Then I can't remember anything. And afterwards I see those posters and read what I've done, and read, and read... did I do that? But I can't remember anything about it! But who will believe me? Who knows what it's like to be me? How I'm forced to act... how I must, must... don't want to, must! Don't want to, but must! And then a voice screams! I can't bear to hear it! I can't go on! I can't... I can't...

Yeah, I know, it's not pithy enough for a top 100 list, but damn, the mental anguish can't be beat.

Thu, 01/07/2010 - 10:05 — Wry Mouth

M

what a film.

and Lorre - whoo.

Thu, 01/07/2010 - 13:52 — Wry Mouth

Treasure of Sierra, Bogey

I recommend the film (which I bought, and finally watched all the way through, on a fine summer night when the fam was out of town) for many, many reasons. But primarily, Bogart is playing the flipside of his usual scoundrel-who-sees-the-light type, and the dialogue sparkles in places, the "badges" character is not how most people raised on the charicature would imagine him to be, some of the direction is terrific (especially striking is a bar-fight scene early on, which captures how bar fights are: clumsy, slow, brutal, tiring).

It's not a 10/10, but I give it a 9.

Plus, now some of those "help a fellow American who's down on his luck" gags in the old Bugs Bunny toons are now funnier.

Wed, 01/06/2010 - 18:57 — AnonyMonkey

Check out the big brain on GeekDad!

Not one Pulp Fiction quote? This list is a (fuckin') ABOMINATION, wrapped in a sham, inside a travesty.

Fri, 01/15/2010 - 07:06 — SamuelR

Quotes

Haha, some great quotes.

I like this one: online casino sites

“Spock. This child is about to wipe out every living thing on Earth. Now, what do you suggest we do….spank it?”

Samuel.

Tue, 04/27/2010 - 19:51 — Wolf (not verified)

"Everybody's dead, Dave,"

"Everybody's dead, Dave," -Holly, Red Dwarf