Tuesday, January 24, 2012

What I Learned From The Movies


Things I learned from the movies:

1. All telephone numbers in America begin with the digits 555.

2. Medieval peasants had perfect teeth.

3. The ventilation system of any building is the perfect hiding place. No one will ever think of looking for you in there, and you can travel to any other part of the building you want without difficulty.

4. Any person waking from a nightmare will sit bolt upright and pant.

5. It is always possible to park directly outside the building you are visiting.

6. A cough is usually the sign of a terminal illness.

7. If you decide to start dancing in the street, everyone you bump into will know all the steps.

8. No matter how badly a spaceship is attacked, its internal gravity system is never damaged.

9. The more a man and a woman hate each other, the more likely they will fall in love.

10. All bombs are fitted with electronic timing devices with large red readouts so you know exactly when they’re going to go off.

11. Cars that crash will almost always burst into flames.

12. A cup of black coffee or a splash of cold water in the face is enough to render the most inebriated person stone cold sober.

13. If you try hard enough, you can outrun an explosion.

14. If you stick your head out of cover during a gun fight, it will never be hit, especially if you look backwards to hold a conversation with someone behind you.

15. Police Departments give their officers personality tests to make sure they are assigned partners who are their total opposite.

16. Honest and hard working policemen are traditionally gunned down three days before their retirement.

17. You’re very likely to survive any battle in any war unless you make the mistake of showing someone a picture of your sweetheart back home.

18. The Eiffel Tower can be seen from any window in Paris.

19. Computers never display a cursor on screen but always say: Enter Password Now.

20. Once applied, lipstick will never rub off — even while scuba diving.

21. All watches and clocks are synchronized to the second.

22. No matter how fuzzy the photograph, it can be enlarged and enhanced to show the finest detail.

23. Nearly everyone speaks English, no matter where they are from. Even aliens from outer space, despite the fact they have never been to Earth, seen an Earthling, or even heard of Earth or Earthlings.

24. No matter how catastrophic the disaster, pets will always survive it.

25. There will always be a doctor in a plane or building with the right medical supplies.

26. No matter how dead you think you’ve killed a bad guy, he can still get up at least three more times.

27. People rarely use the bathroom, and if they do, they’re usually dead within minutes especially if they are on an airplane full of snakes.

28. Most laptop computers are powerful enough to override the communication systems of any invading alien civilization.

29. Cemeteries generate their own weather. Usually rainstorms… and not just gentle sprinkles, but biblical downpours.

30. When paying for a taxi, don’t look at your wallet as you take out a bill — just grab one at random and hand it over. It will always be the exact fare.

31. Most people keep a scrapbook of newspaper clippings — especially if any of their family or friends have died in a strange boating accident.

32. Cars that fly off cliffs spontaneously combust in midair for no apparent reason.

33. When you turn out the light to go to bed, everything in your room will still be clearly visible, just slightly bluish.

34. All computer disks will work in all computers, regardless of software.

35. Television news bulletins usually contain a story that affects you personally at the precise moment that it is aired.

36. Close blood relatives usually look nothing like each other, or have only a passing resemblance.

37. Any lock can be picked by a credit card or a paper clip in seconds — unless it’s the door to a burning building with a child trapped inside.

38. When they are alone, all foreigners prefer to speak English to each other.

39. An electric fence that’s powerful enough to kill a dinosaur will cause no lasting damage to an eight-year-old child.

40. If your town is threatened by an imminent natural disaster or killer beast, the mayor’s first concern will be the tourist trade or his forthcoming art exhibition.

41. It does not matter if you are heavily outnumbered in a fight involving martial arts — your enemies will wait patiently to attack you one by one by dancing around in a threatening manner until you have knocked out their predecessors.

42. A man will show no pain while taking the most ferocious beating, but will wince when a woman tries to clean his wounds.

43. If you are trapped in a tunnel, in a sinking ship, or a burning building, a cute little girl, a nun, and a feisty granny will be trapped with you.

44. All writers are wealthy; all publishing companies are glamorous; all artists are self-supporting and have large attractive well-lit loft studios.

45. Action heroes never face charges for manslaughter or criminal damage despite laying entire cities to waste.

46. During all police investigations it will be necessary to visit a strip club at least once.

47. If an expert makes a prediction and is disbelieved, then it will come to pass exactly as he predicted. If he makes a prediction and is believed, it won’t happen.

48. If there is a large bump in a downhill road, a speeding car will fly over it and hit the ground in shower of sparks. Unsecured passengers will not be injured, and no tire damage, broken axles, or suspension failures will occur. The car will then execute a sharp turn involving a skid.

49. Dogs always know who’s bad and will naturally bark at them.

50. Text appearing on a computer monitor appears letter by letter and making a sound as if it was produced by a typewriter.

51. Any car chase will inevitable involve a fruit cart being destroyed. When have you ever seen a fruit cart on a major street?

52. A teenager can use his cellphone and a piece of chewing gum wrapping paper to shut down the planet.

Add anymore you wish in the comment section.

10 comments:

Jordan said...

I've got to nitpick #39: Tim wasn't grounded, and that made all the difference.

Also # 45: Ghostbusters II reveals (in dialogue) how much trouble the heroes got into following the first movie, including getting sued by multiple city, county and state institutions (and being financially ruined).

Also #51: there actually is a traditional fruit cart that shows up on Columbus Avenue half a block from my building (Upper West Side of Manhattan). You'd have to drive up onto the sidewalk (plowing through a row of parked cars) in order to hit it, though.

Erik Johnson Illustrator said...

#4: Whatever Freddy Kruger does to you in your nightmares is nothing compared to your torso suddenly flying forward at lethal velocity.

#9: Animosity=Love

#18: They poked fun of this trope in an episode of "Phineas and Ferb". While touring London, Grandpa Fletcher mentions how the government decided to put Buckingham Palace, Big Ben and the London Eye within a few feet of each other. Phineas comments on how crippling that would be to the tourism industry sine all the landmarks are in the same place.

#27: I don't even know why they call them "bathrooms" on airplanes in movies, since they're only ever used for couples to have mile high club sex After all airplane bathrooms are big luxurious suite sized and not at all cramped and dimly lit.

#29: I had the misfortune of seeing "Return of the Fly" and "GI Joe: Rise of Cobra" within the same week. I'm starting to think that rain is as much a requirement as black clothes in Movieverse funerals.

#32: Like in "Goldfinger". Thats always bugged me too.

#35: I think the worst example of "Exposition News" I've ever seen in any medium is in the "Left Behind" book series. At the end of the second book, Washington DC is obliterated by nuclear missiles, and yet the only thing on the news is that this "minor incident" has caused a traffic jam in Chicago. A traffic jam our characters happen to be in. Destruction of the capital gets one sentence, but the traffic jam gets page upon page of prose by news reporters because its were the characters happen to be.

Literary critic Fred Clark described this section as a "unique and frightening piece of science fiction, were news is personalized for our own interests so that we become so self absorbed in our own affairs,that we don't recognize major events as they happen. Its the kind of nightmarish social commentary in the vein of classic Paul Verhouven. Its a pity that this is just an unintended side effect of really bad writing."

#44: Alone in the Dark. I didn't realize until later on that Christian Slater wasn't living in a furniture showroom, but an "apartment". Despite all the wardrobes around, he always through his coat on the floor.

#51: I think they've replaced all fruit carts with parked cars so that people falling from skyscrapers can crash on the hood.

Cal's Canadian Cave of Coolness said...

You freaked me out with your analysis of 35. Paul Verhouven doing the self absorbed universe. The mind boggles.

Erik Johnson Illustrator said...

My own list of things I've learned from movies:

* Trenchcoats make you invisible while in public regardless of where you are or what season. No one will ever suspect a thing.

* Candelit Bubble Baths attract monsters and killers.

* If you manage to shoot the getaway car driver, it'll always be to the head, which will cause a muscle spasm in his right leg, pushing the accelerator pedal all the way to the floor. Then instant rigor mortis sets in, keeping it there, making the vehicle unstoppable.

* If you are an Action Girl, and get dolled up for the fancy party, you will be required to tear the hem of your dress in order to save lives and kick ass.

* Evil Villains have logos with a hand seizing the Earth.

* Your friend who you've known all your life will suddenly mention he/she is Jewish once during Christmastime, and then never again.

* If you are a robot, your head can be severed from your body and it will still work.

* If anything exciting or unusual happens outside of an office building window, the janitor will have his back turned to it until after its gone.

* If you stand in front of a painting, no one will have the depth perception to notice a 3D person standing in front of a 2D Painting.

* When a man has had his body switched, seeing a different face in the mirror won't convince him, but checking his testicles will.

* Regardless of whatever chemicals are pumped into the atmosphere by a Weather Control Machine, destroying the device will cause the general area return to its "default" weather state, which is always sunny and warm.

* Asking a computer a question with no answer will result in it exploding, rather than just asking you to restate the question.

* Women hide plot sensitive devices in their bra. No one ever thinks to look there.

Cal's Canadian Cave of Coolness said...

Superhero origins are full of tragedy.

Cal's Canadian Cave of Coolness said...

I like you noticing the 'default' weather state.

DrGoat said...

Amendment to #35. You will be in a bar when the TV announces the story that concerns you, and you will ask the bartender to turn it up.

Nathan said...

I never really got the 555 thing, as it's not like phone numbers can be copyrighted. Or maybe they can under modern copyright regulations.

Erik Johnson Illustrator said...

"555" is an exchange number commonly thought to be reserved by the phone companies for use by TV and movies in order to prevent prank phone calls to real people. In fact, only 555-0100 through 555-0199 are now specifically reserved for fictional use, and the other numbers have been released for actual assignment. The 555 exchange was originally useful for this purpose because it was (in North America) reserved for various internal phone company service numbers, so calling one of the 555 numbers would not have reached an actual customer.

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