Post brief quotes from fiction/narrative/whatever

Wash: "Well, if she doesn't get us some extra flow from the engine room to offset the burn-through, this landing is gonna get pretty interesting."
Mal: "Define 'interesting.'"
Wash (deadpan): "'Oh, God, oh, God, we're all gonna die'"?

Serenity

"Shelly, I'm not fooling around anymore! The first thing you're gonna learn is to have a good attitude. That's the key! Anybody'll tell you that."

— Leo, from *Twin Peaks : Fire Walk With Me*

Mal (over intercom): "This is the Captain. We have a little problem with our entry sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence and then... explode."

Serenity

"Turn it right of center and you start to pick up the Tweed sounds. Just past noon and you are in the Tweed Bassman range with its mid-range breakup, keep cranking clockwise and this little puppy sound just like an insanely overdriven 1950s Champ."

— anonymous review of the Joyo American Sound amp simulator guitar pedal

Dr. Leonard H. McCoy (to Lt. Areel Shaw): "All of my old friends look like doctors. All of his [Capt. James T. Kirk's] look like you."

"Court Martial," Star Trek: The Original Series

"Things can thus wax erotic, as Sag, who’s wont to thrash around, is restrained by the Ram, sometimes fueling elaborate fantasies for her. Sexy bonds and blindfolds easily elevate ye olde slap and tickle to something that harnesses Sag’s signature skittishness and nervy anticipation."

— some astrology thing I read somewhere online.

"Neville Chamberlain looked at foreign affairs through the wrong end of a municipal drainpipe."

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill of his predecessor, a former lord mayor of Birmingham

"Batman beat the hell out of me and knocked me to the floor. I got back up and knocked him to the floor. He was being such a jagoff."

— Wesley Willis, "I Wupped Batman's Ass"

Mal: "Jayne, how many weapons you plan on bringing? You only got the two arms."
Jayne: "I just get excitable as to choice — like to have my options open."

Serenity

“In the 1990s, if you had a camera, you were a photographer. Nobody had a camera. It was a giant thing you had to wear around your neck, and it looked dorky”

— Jen Kirkman, comedienne

Mal: "I don't plan on any shooting taking place during this job."
Jayne: "Well, what you plan and what takes place ain't ever exactly been similar."

Serenity

“Imitation is the sincerest form of television."

— Fred Allen

Zoë: "We crashin' again?"
Mal: "Go talk to your husband."

Serenity

"Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live!"

— The Love Witch

Zoë: "Good to go, sir. Just loading her up." [To Jayne] "Are those grenades?"
Jayne: "Cap'n doesn't want them."
Zoë: "We're robbing the place; we're not occupying it."

Serenity

"My dick don’t hit the bottom, but I fuck the sides up."

— Bloodhound Gang, "Balls Out"

Mal: "Kaylee! Kaylee, what in the sphincter of hell are you playing at? We got the primary buffer panel coming right...."
Kaylee: "Everything's shiny, Captain. Not to fret."

Serenity

"You will be given large containers to store your urine and a container to urinate into. Make sure you know how to use them."

— "24-Hour Urine Collection | Johns Hopkins Medicine"

Mal: "You told me those entry couplings would hold for another week!"
Kaylee: "That was six months ago, Captain."
Mal: "My ship don't crash. If she crashes, you crashed her."

Serenity

"Allegedly, one time he [jazz guitar legend Barney Kessel] took a break at a gig and put the guitar on his chair. As he started to walk away a fan came up and said, "Man Barney, that guitar sounds great!", to which Barney replied, "Oh yeah, how's it sound now?""

— anecdote about Barney Kessel from unknown source

Mal: "Bit of a rockety ride. Nothing to be worried about."
Simon: "I'm not worried."
Mal: "Fear is nothing to be ashamed of, Doctor."
Simon: "This isn't fear. This is anger."

Serenity

"He belonged to a [petite bourgeoisie de robe...don't know how to translate it exactly, but it can be easily Bingèd or whatever] family."

Fascinating short book about one of the architects of the first French Republican era. No, he's not related to me...it's a pretty common last name.

— Frédéric Augris, François Sébastien Letourneux : Nantais, avocat, ministre et révolutionnaire d'après ses mémoires [sic]

Simon: "Now, River, stay behind the others. If there’s fighting, drop to the floor or run away. It’s okay to leave them to die."
Mal: "Doctor, I'm taking your sister under my protection here. If anything happens to her, anything at all, I swear to you I will get very choked up. Honestly, there could tears." [drives off]

Serenity

“An army without profanity can’t fight its way out of a piss-soaked paper bag.”

— George S. Patton, possibly apocryphal

Mal: "Listen up! We are coming down to empty the vault!"
Guard: "You have to give me your authorization password!"
[Jayne fires a couple of rounds of his gun]
Guard: "...Okay."

Serenity

Driver: "Taking a trip?"
Bronson: "Yeah."
Driver: "Where to?"
Bronson: "Oh, I don't know. Wherever I end up, I guess."
Driver: "Man, I wish I was you."
Bronson: "Really?"
Driver: "Yeah."
Bronson: "Well, hang in there."

— Then Came Bronson

Mal (being chased by cannibalistic Reavers): "Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!"

Serenity

"Dad says that anyone who can't use a slide rule is a cultural illiterate and should not be allowed to vote. Mine is a beauty - a K&E 20-inch Log-log Duplex Decitrig"

— Heinlein Have Space Suit — Will Travel

Mal: "They wanna run us down. The up-close kill."
River: "They want us alive when they eat us."
Jayne: "Boy, sure would be nice if we had some grenades, don't you think?"

Serenity

“A director has to deal with a whole world absolutely teeming with mediocrities, jackals, hangers-on, and just plain killers.”

— Sam Pecknipah

Simon: "River, do you want to stay with them?"
River: "It isn't safe."
Simon: "No. I fear it isn't safe anymore."
River: "For them."

Serenity

"Took on big subjects, may not have been talented enough. — Usually works on his own, in way & fields that are opposed to current stream. — Possible that he feels guilty about not being productive & achieve similar acclaim as he did as a young man."

— Mar. 1970, psychiatrist note re Kurt Gödel, cited in Steph. Budiansky, Journey to the edge of reason : the life of Kurt Gödel

Kaylee: "Goin' on a year now I ain't had nothin' twixt my nethers weren't run on batteries!"
Mal [shocked]: "Oh, God! I can't know that!"
Jayne: "I could stand to hear a little more."

Serenity

"At Lincoln, the elite might fantasize about exterminating radicals through education; [sic] but for Yale's Dean Corwin, the Jews, especially New Haven Jews, were simply hopeless."

— J.E. Breslin, Mark Rothko A Biography (a tremendously engaging bio, although it is a birth-to-grave type endeavor which can be tedious)

Mal (greeting identical twins): "Fanty. Mingo."
Mingo: "He's Mingo."
Mal: "He's Fanty. You're Mingo."
Mingo (grins): "How is it you always know?"
Mal: "Fanty's prettier."

Serenity

“Like to take that cap off?” the bartender asked.
“No, I wouldn’t!” Ignatius thundered. “There’s a chill in here.”
“Suit yourself,” the bartender said and drifted off into the shadows at the other end of
the bar.
“Really!”
“Calm down,” his mother said.
Ignatius raised the earflap on the side next to his mother.
“Well, I will lift this so that you won’t have to strain your voice. What did the doctor
tell you about your elbow or whatever it is?”
“It’s gotta be massaged.”
“I hope you don’t want me to do that. You know how I feel about touching other
people."

— Confederacy of Dunces

Simon: "I thought she was getting better."
Jayne: "And I thought they was getting off! Didn't we have an intricate plan how they were gonna be not here anymore?"
Kaylee: "We couldn't leave them now."
Jayne: "No, now that she’s a killer woman, we ought be bringing her tea and dumplings."

Serenity

"[John Milius] doesn't write for pussies, and he doesn't write for women. He writes for men. Because he's a man."

— Sam Elliott about John Milius in *Milius*

Book: "Only one thing is gonna walk you though this, Mal. Belief."
Mal: "You know I always look to you for counsel, but sermons make me sleepy, Shepherd. I ain't looking for help on high. That's a long wait for a train don't come."
Book: "When I talk about belief, why do you always assume I'm talking about God?"

Serenity

"Elvis said, 'Find 'em young!'
and Fred said, 'Old fashioned girls are fun.'"

— Roger D. Ferris, "The King is Gone"

Zoe: "Do you know what the definition of a hero is? Someone who gets other people killed. You can look it up later."

Serenity

"Uh....the Earth sucks. Let's mess with those things."

— Beavis and Butthead Do The Universe

Zoe: "This is the place. We'll buy you the time."

Serenity

Zoe: "This is the place. We'll buy you the time."

Serenity

""If you look me up through some family lawyer or some
corporation lawyer, he'll probably tell you that I'm a shyster. If you look
me up through some chap in the District Attorney's office, he'll tell you
that I'm a dangerous antagonist but he doesn't know very much about me.
If you look me up through a bank you won't find out a damned thing.""

Burke opened his mouth to speak, then thought better of it and was
silent."

— Erle Stanley Gardner, *The Case of the Velvet Claws (A Perry Mason Mystery)*

Zoe (implicitly referring to both herself and the ship): "She's tore up plenty, but she'll fly true."

Serenity

"She looked pathetic and helpless as she sat in the big office,
dwarfed by the huge proportions of the leather chair. And yet there was
something about her which gave the impression of having deliberately
brought about that effect. There was a hint of feline efficiency in the care
with which she had placed herself, in the very perfection of her
helplessness."

— Gardner, *The Case of the Sulky Girl*

Wash: "I am a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar."

Serenity

"Remember the tune, 'Big Bad John'? ... yeah, well, that's what they started calling me and at first I didn't understand it but I love it now. It's just a name; if it's going to help you, then boogie on up in there!"

— jazz organ great "Big John" Patton, on receiving his professional name/nickname

Mal (to River as he sets out to rob a bank): "This is what I do, darlin'. This is what I do."

Serenity

"Hey what's with you Rog? She was great, she was beautiful. She made me want to go out and buy rubbers!"

— Lethal Weapon 2

Zoë: "Are we going in?"
Mal: "Only but a few hours out."
Wash: "Yeah, but remember the part where it's a trap?"

Serenity

"The trouble with you," the detective [Paul Drake] told him [Perry Mason], "is that you go into too darn much. Incidentally, you're getting the reputation of being a legal wizard."
"How do you mean – a wizard?" Mason asked.
"They figure that you can pull a verdict out of the hat, just like a magician pulls out a rabbit," Drake told him. "Your methods aren't orthodox; they're dramatic and effective."

— Gardner, The Case of the Howling Dog

Kaylee: "But how can you be sure Inara don't just wanna see you? Sometimes people have feelings. And I'm referring here to people."

Serenity

"I don't think is Bolivians. I think is iust, neighborhood kyeds being choads."

— "NoHo Hank," S03E3, Barry, "ben mendelsohn"

Mal: "Zoe, ship is yours. Remember. If anything happens to me or if you don't hear from me within the hour, you take this ship and you come and you rescue me."

Serenity

"There are two compelling reasons a lawyer needs to avoid such clashes. First, when judges interrupt a cross-examination, it interferes with the flow of the lawyer’s questions. Second, whether it is the case or not, jurors will automatically believe you are doing something you should not be doing if the neutral judge is intervening. Both of these outcomes seriously limit a lawyer’s effectiveness and credibility."

— one of the *Perry Mason Story* novels...can't remember which. It might be *Case of the Curious Bride.* Hell, aren't they all? :)

Mal: "Dear Buddha, please bring me a pony and a plastic rocket...."

Serenity

"LIFETIME WARRANTY. If your merino briefs do not perform to your satisfaction, return them within 60 DAYS for a hassle-free refund, exchange, or replacement."

— some blurb-de-blurb about some merino wool undershorts

Inara: "Mal, what are you doing here!?"
Mal: "You invited me."
Inara: "I never thought for a second you'd be stupid enough to come!"
Mal: "Well, that makes you kind of a tease, doesn't it?"

Serenity

"If Rip Torn gave it to you, it probably fires real bullets."

— Barry S4E3, "you're charming"

Mal: "She is a mite unpredictable. Mood swings, of a sort."
The Operative: "It's worse than you know."
Mal: "It usually is."

Serenity

“I could send her a picture of herself sleeping, as a way of saying, ‘Hey, not cool, what you did to Sally.’ The whole point is to isolate her and make her feel like she’s going insane. Replace her dog with a slightly different dog. Change the furniture in her house so she thinks she’s shrinking. Basic stuff, mostly I learned in the military, some of it on a sub-Reddit. Basically you plant a seed and then they just hang themselves. So it’s super-nonviolent. But by the end, her brain will have eventually eaten itself."

— Barry

The Operative: "That girl will rain destruction down on you and your ship. She is an albatross, Captain."
Mal: "The way I remember it, albatross was a ship's good luck, 'til some idiot killed it. [to Inara] Yes, I've read a poem. Try not to faint."

Serenity

""But," explained Mason, patiently, "I have already talked that way
to you."
— "But you can't do it."
"Why not?""

— meh, one of the Perry Mason novels

The Operative: "That is a trap. I offer money, you'll play the man of honor and take umbrage. I ask you to do what is right, you'll play the brigand. I have no stomach for games. I already know you will not see reason."
Mal: "The Alliance wanted to show me reason, they shouldn't have sent an assassin."

Serenity

"Perry Mason took advantage of their preoccupation to walk with swift strides to the telephone booth. He jerked open the door. "Drop down to the floor, Rhoda," he said.
"I can't. There isn't room."
"You've got to make room. Turn around facing me. Get your back flat against the wall under the shelf that the telephone's on... That's it...Now double up your knees. That's fine.""

— a *Perry Mason* novel (the one I've been reading now on-and-off...unfortunately can't remember the title).

"Meanwhile we’ll sacrifice to Liberty. Remember, O my friends, the laws, the rights, the generous plan of power delivered down, from age to age, by your renowned forefathers (so dearly bought, the price of so much blood). O let it never perish in your hands! But piously transmit it to your children. Do thou, great Liberty, inspire our souls, and make our lives in thy possession happy, or our deaths glorious in thy just defense.”

Joseph Addison, Cato (1712)

"Well, it’s the sign that makes up the part of your chart called the Ascendant, which is at the cusp of the 1st house. Cusp is an astrological term used to describe the lines between the Sun signs and the lines between the houses."

— some astrology website. eh, shuddup, it's fun! and chicks dig it!

The Operative: "I have a warship in deep orbit, Captain. We locked onto Serenity's pulse beacon the moment you hit atmo. I can speak a word and send a missile to that exact location inside of three minutes."
Mal (showing the pulse beacon he's brought with him): "You do that, you'd best make peace with your dear and fluffy lord."

Serenity

“I’ve seen your type before. Flashy. Makin’ the scene. Flouting convention.”

— Seinfeld (broke link in link to avoid preview feature, and therefore clutter. Amusing scenario though, as one recalls even dimly.)

"I could drop you like a bag of dirt."

Elaine Benes to Frank Costanza, "The Little Kicks," Seinfeld

"But I saw you push the women and children out of the way in a mad panic. I saw you knock them down. And when you ran out, you left everyone behind."

— Seinfeld, "The Fire." (Yes we had a building-wide fire drill at work last week and it was amusing....to stand around baking in the hot sun until the only person with the key to turn off the alarm, who happens to work at the far end of the building, probably 300m away, one of the head maintenance dudes, finally got around to ending that instructive exercise....jokes were made....Costanzas were identified).

"But I don't wanna be a pirate!"

Jerry Seinfeld to Kramer, "The Puffy Shirt," Seinfeld

"Roy Skammer seemed amiable and smiled a lot, but Eddie didn't like him. He did not like the man's glib way of talking."

— Tevis, The Color of Money

Mal: "Advice from an old tracker. You want to find someone? Use your eyes."

Serenity

“'You want to do a TV show with the Mick, listen to this: Vietnam vet. Private eye. Short. Blind. Large dog.'”

— Norman Lear, reported speech by Mickey Rooney, in his *Even* This *I Get to Experience*

The Operative: "How long do you think you can really run from us?"
Mal: "I never credited the Alliance with an overabundance of brains. And if you're the best they got...."

Serenity

"The progression of 8-ball skill level seems to go like the following list, from beginner to advanced. Knowing where you are today gives an idea where your game can be tomorrow:

Shoot at anything regardless of runout possibilities.
Shoot at anything, except for balls hanging in the pockets.
Play safeties when you can't run out.
Play safeties, bunting balls around, even when you can run out.
Realize that leaving the hanging balls is the worst thing for your game.
Realize that knocking in the hanging ball and using it to gain position makes for more runouts.
Realize that other people are running out on you while you're bunting around.
Go for the runout nearly every time when it's available."

— some random bit of advice re Eight-Ball (don't remember the source)

The Operative: "Capt. Reynolds, I should tell you, so that you don’t waste your time - you can't make me angry."
Inara: "Please, spend an hour with him."

Serenity

"I'm sorry, but I'll just bet you're hitting the balls too hard."

George Fels's classic, Mastering Pool

The Operative: "I want to resolve this like civilized men. I'm not threatening you. I'm unarmed...."
Mal: "Good." (shoots him)

Serenity

"Christ in heaven, I thought I was going to have to shoot myself! Are you sticking it in that? Bitch just took ten years off my life! Let's get out of here before that nutjob comes back. [...] That's a new low, even for you, Frankie. I'd nail a hooker down on Wacker before....gah!"

— Frank's mother, *Shameless*, S2E06

The Operative (after being shot and immediately jumping back up again): "I am of course wearing full body armor. I am not a moron."

Serenity

"Frank, I have no fucking idea what you're talking about, but if you don't shut up, I'm going to stab you with this ice scooper."

— *Shameless* S2E07

Jayne: "You dumb-ass hogs, the only people she's a threat to is us on this boat."

Serenity

"Rats! It says in order to get a hospice license, I have to get a nursing degree.

— You know, University of River Phoenix. It's all online. Seen the ads on TV."

— *Shameless*, S2E09

Jayne: "Oh, yeah. Hiding under the Shepherd's skirts, that's a manful scheme."
Mal: "You wanna run this ship?"
Jayne: "Yes!"
Mal (thrown): "Well... you can’t."

Serenity

"As 007 warned Delicious: "Smitty ain't looking to gamble with you playing
on the level. He's looking to steal. He'll only be backing you in games he
knows you'll win. And he's gonna ride you like a racehorse. It's gonna be
like pool prison.""

— L. John Wertheim, *Running the Table* (a biography of RL pool hustler/A-player "Kid Delicious")

Inara: "I just want to know who I'm dealing with. I've seen too many versions of you to be sure."
Mal: "I start fighting a war, I guarantee you'll see something new."

Serenity

"The Tappet Brothers, Click and Clack, of NPR’s Car Talk fame, argued the problem with the zipper procedure is the engineers hold that efficiency–zippering–is the important issue, while many drivers hold that the moral issue–wait your turn–is more important. The brothers sided with morality. My view depends on which lane I’m in."

— a post from the SDMB. Not sure if it kosher to cite a post w/o permission, but it does seem to be part of public discourse.

Mal: "The government's man, he says you're a danger to us. Not worth helping. Is he right? Are you anything but a weapon? I've staked my crew's life on the theory you're a person. Actual and whole, and if I'm wrong, you’d best shoot me now... [River cocks the gun; he quickly adds] ...or we can talk more!"

Serenity

"Can you meet me for a drink?
— Is everything all right?
Um, if everything was all right, then I wouldn't be asking you to meet me for a drink on short notice!
— Can you tell me on the phone?
James, just put on your big boy pants and meet your father at the bar of your choice so we can mumble like men over a beer."

— Shameless S3, E4, "The Helpful Gallaghers"

The Operative: "I'm sorry. If your quarry goes to ground, leave no ground to go to. You should have taken my offer. Or did you think none of this was your fault?"
Mal: "I don't murder children."
The Operative: "I do, if I have to."

Serenity

"My favorite phrase about this style of playing is that all you need to play it is five strings, two notes, two fingers and one asshole."

— Keith Richards on playing guitar in "open-G" tuning

Mal: "Why? Do you even know why they sent you?"
The Operative: "It's not my place to ask. I believe in something greater than myself. A better world. A world without sin."

Serenity

"I believe you. But it's not going to save you."

— Taken (motion picture)

Mal: "...Me and mine gotta lay down and die so you can live in your better world?"
The Operative: "I'm not going to live there... There's no place for me there, any more than there is for you. Malcolm, I'm a monster. What I do is evil. I have no illusions about it, but it must be done."

Serenity

"Nobody, but nobody, makes Sheriff Buford T. Justice look like a possum's pecker!"

— Smokey and the Bandit

Mal: "This report is maybe twelve years old. Parliament buried it, and it stayed buried till River dug it up. This is what they feared she knew. And they were right to fear, because there's a whole universe of folk who are gonna know it, too. They're gonna see it. Somebody has to speak for these people. You all got on this boat for different reasons, but you all come to the same place. So now I'm asking more of you than I have before. Maybe all. Sure as I know anything I know this, they will try again. Maybe on another world, maybe on this very ground swept clean. A year from now, ten, they'll swing back to the belief that they can make people… better. And I do not hold to that. So no more running. I aim to misbehave."

Serenity

"Man’s highest joy is victory.
To conquer your enemies and to pursue them,
To deprive them of their possessions,
To make their beloved weep,
To ride on their horses,
And to embrace their wives and daughters."

— Genghis Khan, attrib.

Barbarian general: "Conan, what is best in life?”
Conan: “To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women!”

Conan the Barbarian

“Not only are buffets gonna come back, they’re gonna come back with this weird, own-the-libs vengeance. Every one of them’s gonna have an agenda: ‘Come on down to Captain COVID’s Alpha Males Only Buffet! Are you the kind of leftwing soy boy that needs a sneeze guard over your clam chowder, or are you able to fuck your wife? Then come on down to Captain COVID’s. Show us proof you ain’t been vaccinated, and get a free platter of room-temperature scallops.’”

— Patton Oswalt joke/bit.

Dr. Caron: "There's thirty million people here, and they just let themselves die."

Serenity

“Hiking is for trudging defeatedly. We’ve all agreed to it. It’s unspoken, but it’s there. But every now and then, somebody’s gotta show up, and they gotta do that weird, extra, show-off-y workout shit. It’s not enough that they’re hiking; they gotta do that urban workout where you turn the environment around you into your gym. You see a tree branch, you jump up, and you fucking do pull-ups, yeah! Where you see a park bench, you drop, and you do crunches. Grr! Grab a possum and curl it. Everything is your gym. And the men and women who do this are already gorgeous! There’s not an ounce of fat on them; you see every rib and rivet. I don’t know what fitness level they’re going for. It’s like they’re trying to reach a fitness level I like to call ‘painful to fuck.’”

— Patton Oswalt, anecdote

Ha!

Dr. Caron: "I won't live to report this, but people have to know. We meant it for the best... to make people safer."

Serenity

"I got the trees on my mirror, so my car won't smell
Sittin' 'round the house, gettin' high, watchin' tube
I'm eating Colonel's chicken, drinkin' Heineken brew"

— Beastie Boys, "Slow Ride"

Mal: "Sure as I know anything I know this, they will try again. Maybe on another world, maybe on this very ground swept clean. A year from now, ten, they'll swing back to the belief that they can make people… better. And I do not hold to that. So no more running. I aim to misbehave."

Serenity

"We live with a monkey and a Chinese acrobat."

Paul Kennerley, lyrics to "I've Got Me a Woman," sung by several

Jayne: "Shepherd Book used to tell me, 'If you can't do somethin' smart... do somethin' right.'"

Serenity

"Become as familiar as possible with all alternate fingerings in a position."

— Mick Goodrick, The Advancing Guitarist

Mal: "You shot me in the back! I haven't made you angry, have I?"

Serenity

"NYC in the 80's people used to put a sign on the dashboard: "NO STEREO IN CAR".

The window gets broken anyway. Then they notice their sign's been replaced with one that says "GET ONE"."

— old joke

Mal: "I know the secret. The truth that burned up River Tam's brain. Rest of the 'verse is gonna know it, too... 'cause they need to."

Serenity

Maggie: "And what if I said you can kiss my ass right in the crack?"

— Bridget Fonda as "Maggie" in Point of No Return

The Operative: "Do you know what your sin is, Mal?"
Mal (holding him at gunpoint): "Ah, hell, I'm a fan of all seven. But right now, I'm gonna have to go with wrath."

Serenity

"He looked at her more closely. Then he shrugged. 'It's called chess.'"

— Walt Tevis, The Queen's Gambit

A great novel and a great miniseries, with some major differences between them. PM me if you want to know more.

Mal: "They take you down, I don't expect to grieve overmuch. Like to kill you myself, I see you again."

Serenity

"No one comes between you and this plutonium. Not Hunt, not his team, not anyone."

— some lady in Mission Impossible : Fallout

<aside: hell yes, I'm interested! I enjoyed the miniature series a bit, as well as Tevis's novels *The Hustler* and *TColor of Money* [that last one had really not much to do with the otherwise IMHO very good movie, nor did the novel *The Hustler*, much....beautiful descriptions of a number of states of mind, as well as some very nice technical descriptions of fairly pedestrian shots taken at the table.

I'm only a few pages in to the Q's Gambit (basically I read fiction while waiting in the car before work or while proctoring/observing new hires at work, so it takes me a while to read even short novels like these.

If you have some inside dirt on the Tevis chess novel/novella I'd be interested.</aside>

I don't want to spoil anything. When you're all done with the novel, let me know.

Mal: "Ready to get off this heap, back to civilized life?"
Inara: "I, uh... I don't know."
Mal (smiling): "Good answer."

Serenity

"'Hot and cold water upstairs and down, and stationary washstands in every last bedroom of the place!'"

— Tarkington, *The Magnificent Ambersons* (1918).

Mal: "It ain't all buttons and charts, little albatross. You know what the first rule of flying is? Well, I suppose you do, since you already know what I'm about to say."

Serenity

"'Solo Flight' is one of Charlie Christian's crowning achievement [sic] and a cornerstone of his legacy."

— Wolf Marshall, commentary in The Best of Charlie Christian. A Step-by-Step Breakdown of the Styles and Techniques of the Father of Modern Jazz Guitar.

Mal: "Love. You can learn all the math in the 'verse, but you take a boat in the air that you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as the turnin' o' worlds. Love keeps her in the air when she ought to fall down. Tells you she's hurting 'fore she keens. Makes her a home."

Serenity

“There’s a real disregard for authority here and a real primary focus on politics. [...] And that’s what we’re seeing in the courtroom.”

— A. Stooge Unaccomplished, in a court of law, with apparently a straight face.

Uncle Pomme: "The Earth speaks to all of us, and if we listen, we can understand."

Castle in the Sky

"[My] recommendation is to learn every key (that is, every minor 11th arpeggio) in both of these melodic patterns in all positions possible."

— A recommendation

Sheeta: "This is no longer a throne room. This is a tomb for the both of us. You see, a king without compassion does not deserve a kingdom. You will never possess the crystal! You and I will die here, together. Now I understand why the people of Laputa vanished. This is a song from my home in the valley of Gondoa that explains everything. It says, 'Take root in the ground, live in harmony with the wind, plant your seeds in the winter, and rejoice with the birds in the coming of spring.' No matter how many weapons you have, no matter how great your technology might be, the world cannot live without love."

Castle in the Sky

"Our wooden paddle is both eco-friendly and safe, making it ideal for engaging in parent-child painting activities at home. It not only provides a hands-on creative experience but also fosters stronger bonds among family members as you share the joy of crafting together."

— some copy for a product that I may or may not know about.

Pazu: "A girl just fell from the sky, boss!"

Castle in the Sky

"G̶i̶r̶l̶s̶!̶ Hamburgers! The cornerstone of any nutritious breakfast!"

— I'm not telling (hey, what's the VB code for strikethrough here, again? I forgot and had to use a little converter thingy.)

Louis: "YES! No more swabbin' the decks! Hooray!"
Henri: "I won't have to wash the dishes!"
Charles: "I've peeled my last potato! YEE-HAW!"

Castle in the Sky

"[Jimmy Page] said he wrote "Stairway" as a slow acceleration as a response to the iron law that you shouldn’t speed up when he was working as a session musician. Let the music build energy and speed."

— don't remember the source...some music thing!

Dola: "Ah, what can I tell ya? They just really like dessert."

Castle in the Sky

"A small stompbox like a TC Flashback or a Line6 Echo Park will do all you want in a cheap and small box."

— snippet from a comment that might as well have been about various ex-girlfriends.

Louis (clinging to the outside of a vehicle during an exciting chase): "I'd really prefer to be in the car, Mother!"

Castle in the Sky

"Tie me a sheepshank, boy!"

— movie about sharking

Papa: "My poor little ship is gone forever! Boo hoo hoo hoo!"
Dola: "Stop with the cryin', ya big baby! I'll get you another ship!"
Papa (stops crying) "Okay."

Castle in the Sky

"It's like a laundry, but a child's laundry. We don't really have a name for it in English."

*— *Arrested Development* (a paraphrase...probably pretty close, I guess)

Dola: "Oh, poor little thing. There's nothin' worse than having your pigtails shot off!"

Castle in the Sky

"In Peruvian culture, women are often expected to be more traditional in terms of gender roles and couples need to have open communication so the man can act as a leader. "

— some website

Charles (as the pirates take out their hidden jewels]: "All good pirates listen to their Mom!"
Louis: "That is so true, huh?"

Castle in the Sky

"You know what, man? I'd tell you to blow it out your ass, but, my dick's in the way."

— The Limey (1999 movie)

General: "I can only say, 'Well done, Muska. You're a credit to our country.' As such, you deserve this reward!" (shoots at what he doesn't realize is a hologram of Muska)

Castle in the Sky

"On New Year's Eve 2002, Stamp married at the age of 64. His 29-year-old bride was Elizabeth O'Rourke. [...] The couple divorced on the grounds of his 'unreasonable behaviour' in April 2005."

— The Wikipedia about actor Terence Stamp

You might enjoy this: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/eve...-sex-life.html

"My feeling about sex is that I’ve finally been tossed from the saddle of a horse that I’ve been clinging on to for the past 60 [years]. So it’s kind of a relief really."

Terence Stamp, Daily Mail interview (2017)

That's good! ty!

"I tell you, we got two categories of pilots around here. We got your prime pilots that get all the hot planes, and we got your pud-knockers who dream about getting the hot planes."

— The Right Stuff (film version...don't remember if it's in the book like that)

VINCENT: "There are old pilots, and there are bold pilots, but there are very few old, bold pilots."

The Black Hole

“[Y]ou needed a man with the courage to ride on top of a rocket, and you were grateful that such men existed. Nevertheless, their training was not a very complicated business.”

— Tom Wolfe, The Right Stuff (novel)

Sheeta: "The tree! We protected it, so it protects us!"

Castle in the Sky

"I told the scotch [sic] people I don't drink any more. Then again, I don't drink any less, either."

— Redd Foxx, ad for Teacher's Scotch (actually an extremely affordable and tasty tipple, in their basic Highland cream expression).

Col. Muska: "The fire of Heaven that destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah in the Old Testament. The Ramanayah referred to it as 'Indra's Arrow.' The entire world will once again kneel before the power of Laputa!"

Castle in the Sky

"While she was standing by the fence a vendor came by with a cart of iced beer and, hardly thinking, she said, 'Cerveza Corona, por favor,,' and held out a five-peso note. The man flipped off the bottle top and poured the drink into a paper cup with an Aztec Eagle logo. 'Muchisimas gracias,' she said."

— Q's Gambit (novel)

OK, since I've finished the novel during the first few hours of a 60-hour stretch of no electricity (astonishing prose, more mastery of diction and sentence structure than in either The Hustler or The Color of Money)....so, what's that big surprising thing you found in it, EH? I was familiar enough with the basic outline from the recent miniseries, but aside from me holding forth on why it's a very good novel, I'm not seeing the great shock in any character or plot development.

Spill it! Make with the balloon juice and talk! Name names!

The Queen's Gambit? I'll have to check the Straight Dope thread about the miniseries. I posted something over there. Too late tonight - tomorrow, I hope.

"Whatsoever one man does, it is as though all men did it. That is why it is not unfair that a single act of disobedience in a garden should contaminate all mankind."

— Borges, "The Shape of the Sword"

[uhh....Oh....it may have been imagined or elsewhere, someone said they had a surprising discovery about the book but refused to tell me until I'd finished the novel...I don't see evidence of you saying anything here like that, so, my mistake!]

As to The Queen's Gambit, here you go - see posts 161 and 165, in particular: https://boards.straightdope.com/t/qu...netflix/924900

Dola: "Up and sold a little girl, did ya? I know your type!"

Castle in the Sky

Well that was a pretty outstanding list of differences! (IMHO, mostly not of much consequence, but interesting detail). I should think a bear-trap mind like yours would have a field day comparing the novel *The Color of Money* with the film. Both versions of the latter are outstanding, but almost no relation to one another.

"He locked the door quickly and without noise, but his fingers were still on the key when there was a quick footfall in the hall outside."

— Tarkington, The Magnificent Ambersons

I saw the movie The Color of Money back in the day, but barely remember it. I never read the book.

Dola: "He who turns and runs away can steal the treasure another day!"

Castle in the Sky

"¿Cuál crees que es mejor, una llama o una alpaca?"

MAYBE means "What do you think is better, a llama or an alpaca?"

— possible amusing (in a stupid kind of way) question to this Peruvian woman when I see her at work next week (no, I don't speak Spanish...but I'm willing to learn dammit!...I bet she has a sister who can teach me!)

"¡Cuidado! ¡Hay llamas!": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Teno...=AndrewBoynton

"Play the rock show as hard as you can
Jam it harder like a Magikist
Rock 'n roll will never die
Rock Saddam Hussein's ass
Rock it to Russia

Whip the llama’s ass
Whip the llama’s ass
Whip the llama’s ass
Whip the llama’s ass"

— Wesley Willis, "Whip the Llama's Ass"

Dola: "Don't ya think it's kinda strange that the Army has gotten into the kidnapping business?"

Castle in the Sky

"Of all the schoolmasters, the one sympathetic one, who didn't bark out orders, was the religious instruction teacher, Mr. Edgington. He used to wear a powder blue suit with cum stains down the leg. Mr. Edgington, the wanker. Religious instruction, forty-five minutes, "Let's turn to Luke." And we were saying, either he's pissed himself or he's just been round the back shagging Mrs. Mountjoy, who was the art mistress."

— Keith Richards/James Fox, Life (a remarkably engaging memoir...of course, Keef didn't drag down an old Olympia or Olivetti typewriter and write the thing physically, but it seems very well sourced, with plenty of direct quotes from the inner circle, and I'm inclined to believe it's pretty much as told, with the added benefit of some very good polished prose moving with forward motion at all times).

Louis: "Mommy, you amaze me. How do ya know these things?"

Castle in the Sky

"You probably know this very well, but your orgone energy goes out the top of your head and it dissipates out the top, but if you wear an energy dome it recycles that energy. It comes back down and showers back down on you and, among other things, you remain manly, shall we say, for maybe another 150 years of your life, probably."

— Mark Mothersbaugh, of Devo

Dola: "Oh, well, ya can't be a sensitive woman like me without learnin' a few things. Sheeta and I are exactly alike: all warm and mushy and sensitive!"

Castle in the Sky

"'You people are responsible for all this — you brought down the State with your idiot coffeehouse witticisms.'"

— Joseph Roth, The Emperor's Tomb

Dola: "Now, so when you boys get married, you go find a gal like her!"

Castle in the Sky

"Is this your coffee mug? You coming back?"

— random conversation

Louis (dumbfounded): "Huh? She's gonna end up... like Mama?"

Castle in the Sky

"Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle were iconic figures to me and I was anxious to see a film with them in it. I don’t remember a single moment of this film, but it must have left an impression on me because soon after I saw it, I lost all interest in sports."

— TV's Frank, Twenty Five Mystery Science Theater 3000 Films That Changed My Life in No Way Whatsoever

^ Great line!

Pazu: "Hey, if my head was any harder, you could use it as a cannonball."

Castle in the Sky

"Barista: Look, dick, venti is a large coffee.
Danny: Oh, really? Says who, Fellini?"

— Role Models

Dola: "You'll get yours! Don't just stand there, push this train over the cliff!"

Castle in the Sky

"I just don't want to live in a world where being chained to the hood of a car is considered public transportation."

— Twenty Five Mystery Science Theater 3000 Films That Changed My Life in No Way Whatsoever

^ LOL. Great line.

Louis (encouraging Charles to fight Boss): "He said Mom was ugly, now go get him!"

Castle in the Sky

"You can't use a boot on a winding staircase, so [a concert promoter] got the knee, one for every grand he owed us--sixteen of them. Even then he never apologized. Maybe I didn't kick him hard enough."

— Keith Richards ("with" James Fox [not the actor]), Life

Dola (as she watches a fight between her sons and the townspeople): "Leave it to my little idiots to start a riot."

Castle in the Sky

"The producers wanted NBC to bring Fat Albert to Saturday mornings, but the network programming managers rejected this because the series was too educational."

— wikipedia article on the TV show *Fat Albert & The Cosby Kids*

Col. Muska: "Hold your tongue, commoner! You are in the presence of the King of Laputa."

Castle in the Sky

"No nylon has been used to manufacture these gloves; that’s why these gloves are too rugged for the user. This is made from a high-quality material that is strong, porous, and long-lasting, great for sweaty hands, and can be considered as one of the best billiard gloves to buy right now!"

— you don't want to know. Probably not a chat LLM, but rather performed by hand.

Col. Muska: "I thought I would show you an example of Laputa's power. We are about to celebrate the rebirth of the Laputian kingdom. Prepare yourself for the thunder of Laputa!"

Castle in the Sky

"This is not the time for womanly imaginings!"

— Bone Tomahawk (2015 movie)

Dola: "Gotta start talkin' like a real pirate!"

Castle in the Sky

"Before inserting the straw-like plastic hose and blasting...you'll want to take some basic precautions."

— "How to Clean Your Computer Keyboard"

Papa (disgruntled): "Stop yelling at me! I can hear you. Believe me, sometimes I wish I couldn't."

Castle in the Sky

"These big chords, favored by men on horseback, a variety of strummers...are actually many of the ones many of us first learned to play. The more sophisticated and easier approach involves fragmenting, or breaking up, these larger chords into smaller shapes."

— Sid Jacobs, The Changes (for context, Sid's referring to "cowboy chords" on guitar, which are not always ideal for rhythm guitar playing, in whatever genre)

Papa: "I need someone who's mechanically minded, not some half-baked, swashbuckling Casanova wannabe!"

Castle in the Sky

"If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you"

— Apocalypse Now :D

Louis: "Work, work, work. Busy, busy, busy, busy. Left, right, left, right. You're not here to have fun!"

Castle in the Sky

"When greedy consumption is the order of the day, dehumanization becomes acceptable. Then, treating people like objects is not only acceptable but is required behavior."

― bell hooks, All About Love

Dola (incensed): "You chowderheads! Get your brother and hop on!"

Castle in the Sky

"I felt everything should be played with authority. And that was the word [organist and bandleader Jack McDuff] used, 'Play it like you mean to play it. 'Cause you can't make me believe it if you don't believe it.' And so I've been doing it that way ever since."

— George Benson, interviewing with Ben Sidran in Talking Jazz : An Oral History

Dola: "You blubberheads! I'm not runnin' a luxury cruise! Now get to work!"

Castle in the Sky

"It's all just one big plastic hassle."

— "Dave" in Psych-Out (1968 movie)

Charles: "If I did something wrong, I'd really like to apologize for it, Sheeta."
Dola: "We all did something wrong, wasting our time on these two kids!"

Castle in the Sky

"In 2008, McTiernan was allowed a new hearing, but this past June, he lost a motion to suppress evidence—namely, a taped phone conversation in which McTiernan discusses paying Pellicano $50,000 to tap the phone of producer Charles Roven. That led to him losing his second hearing today, with the judge handing down a $100,000 fine, three years’ probation, and a year in federal prison—a sentence the judge said should have been harsher, since 'the defendant doesn't think the law applies to him.'"

— from Wikipedia entry on film director John McTiernan (trust me, you've seen his movies, which are pretty good...an old-school bronco-busting action movie director who apparently had some problems, vide Sam Peckinpah inter alii).

Papa (playing chess with Dola): "...that little girl does remind me of you not so long ago!"
Dola (irritated): "Who asked ya?"
Papa: "Nobody. Oh, look! Checkmate!"

Castle in the Sky

"[W]hen the 10-year-old Beyle learned of Louis XVI’s beheading in 1793, the adult Stendhal claimed he 'was seized with one of the most fervent impulses of joy I ever knew in my life.'"

- Robert Zaresky, Two Hundred Years of Stendhal

Louis: "Young man, query, have you seen a little girl around here?"
Pazu: "Uh... let me see now... yeah! There're about a hundred little girls in this town. Which one?"

Castle in the Sky