Ten Inspirational Film Moments For A Web Developer
23rd
September 2019, 00:47
Tech movies are great and all, but it may surprise you to know that I do watch other movies, and TV shows. And while film is, for the most part, simply mindless entertainment to me, there have been odd times when certain scenes in them inspired me in my web development career.
Today, I will be sharing some of the scenes in movies and TV shows that struck that note. And here they are, not in any order of significance.
Some serious shit has gone down, and one of Frank's stooges suggests a desperate course of action. Frank shuts him down with the following line:
This singular truth can be applied to so many situations. Never wait till you're hungry to eat - you'll end up eating things that aren't good for you, or eat too much. Never wait till you're thirsty to drink water - if you're thirsty, you're already dehydrated. Never wait till you're unemployed to start monitoring the job market - you'll end up taking any old job.
Basically, never do anything out of desperation. Because when you're in dire need, you tend to make sub-optimal choices. You tend to take what's available instead of what's best in the long run. When I attend a job interview without actually needing a job, I can negotiate (or not negotiate, as is my style) without feeling any pressure to capitulate. I can afford to weigh my options carefully. And most significantly, I can make choices that I will not regret later.
Don't do anything out of hunger. You'll probably end up doing something really stupid.
In it, Dan Trunkman (Vince Vaughn) and his employee, the unfortunately named Mike Pancake (Dave Franco), are sitting around a little group passing a bong, when Dan starts talking about why he wants to send his son to private school - to avoid bullies. And Mike, while normally managing to sound like a total retard, has this surprising little pearl of wisdom.
That was a truth about cyberbullying that thoroughly resonated. With the rise of tech, our lives have changed. Including school bullying. School bullying is no longer "school" bullying because people can now bully you wherever you go, as long as you're logged in. And we all need to understand that.
The solution? Don't let them.
Look, I know it's easier said than done, but hear me out. If you accept the fact that people are going to be total assholes every time you log on, the solution is not to stand up for yourself and have the last fucking word... because you should have higher standards. Some people have nothing more meaningful in life to do than win battles on the Internet. That's on them. You can quietly pity them, but don't be an idiot and validate their existence by joining them.
It was OK, but the one thing that stood out, aside from a very tasty-looking Rene Russo (hey I'm a seventies kid, so fuck you), was the scene where the titular intern Ben Whittaker (Robert De Niro) is shooting the breeze with some of his much younger colleagues, Jason (Adam DeVine) and Lewis (Jason Orley).
See? Ben has a routine. Granted, it's a very minor one, but he keeps to it. And he does it even when nobody's looking. That's integrity and discipline. Sure, this three-second scene didn't make me start shaving every day (because sometimes I like a little fuzz on my chin) but when you apply it to other things, it holds just as true.
When I code, I'm obsessive about the spacing - both horizontal and vertical. The indentation. The casing. I try to keep things as visually neat as possible. Why, you may ask? The laypeople don't care as long as it works, and the techs aren't likely to notice. Well, if recognition is what you're going for, great. But I'm doing this because it's the right thing to do, or possibly because I'm OCD.
It may seem like a really small thing, just like shaving. But I firmly believe that if a professional can't be trusted with small things, then that professional can't be trusted with bigger things.
Still, there was some inspiration to be taken from this particular scene. In it, Yon-Rogg (Jude Law) challenges Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) to a good old-fashioned fist fight, to prove to him that she can beat him without using her powers. Instead, Captain Marvel summarily hits him with an energy blast, and as she stands over his stunned body, utters the following line.
Now, let's be clear: I think the character did the right thing. The stakes were too high to let her ego get in the way, and she did what was both sensible and efficient. She did not play Yon-Rogg's game, but simply did her own thing. But that line... for the love of God, what a stupid line. See, when you really don't have anything to prove to people, you don't do something counter-intuitive like defiantly declare it in the manner of some rebellious teenager. That was what Captain Marvel came off as, and this particular line inspires me not to do something this dumb. If you don't have anything to prove, make your decisions accordingly and don't waste time pointing it out.
A couple years ago, some loudmouth at work asked me what I was doing for the weekend. In all seriousness, I told him I would be trying to render a pie chart using CSS. He laughed and told me that was a waste of time, and I should be looking up new and cutting-edge technologies in my spare time, just like him.
Damn, someone was trying really hard to impress me there. Perhaps too hard.
Did I play his game? Hell, no, I did not. The next time he asked what my plans were for the weekend, I merely said I'd be screwing around with QBasic, and let him think he'd won. Like Captain Marvel, I did my own thing and didn't let anyone bait me into playing some meaningless game of one-upmanship. Unlike Captain Marvel, however, I had so little to prove to this dude that I didn't even feel the need to inform him of that fact.
Less is more, Captain Marvel.
But the thing that really stood out for me was the computer nerd Boris (Alan Cumming) who had this habit. Whenever he accomplished something via his programming skill, he would pump his fists and dramatically declare...
I've had similar moments while working. Successfully resolved a bug? Got some code to run? Output was exactly as expected, with no surprises?
Yes! I am invincible!
And yep, I would even do it in Alan Cumming's adorable Russian accent. Though, these days, I'm happy to occasionally say I am inevitable, just like Thanos.
Flash (Ezra Miller) and Batman (Ben Affleck) are having a little conversation as they head off to hunt down the supervillain Steppenwolf. Flash is experiencing some panic and self-doubt, and Batman gives him some sage advice.
This is actually very sensible advice. I've been in situations where I had to learn a new piece of tech - programming language, DevOps, API calls - and I had no goddamn clue how to do anything. And every single time, it was a similar mantra that got me started. Do something simple. Accomplish one basic objective, nothing else. Finish it, then go from there.
It could be a Hello World program. Playing around with an interface. Copy-pasting code, and then changing it to see what happens. Nothing significant, or spectacular. Just something to get me started.
The lesson to learn here is, many things look intimidating until you roll up your sleeves and just dive right in. I've learned a lot of stuff this way. Sure, I may not have gone very deep into those things, but at least I'm a lot less intimidated by them than when I practically knew nothing about them. And that's something.
Save one. Get in, get out. You'll know what comes next after you do it. You just need to take that first step.
In the show, not everyone likes Boyd Holbrook narrating the scenes. But I do, and below is one of those times his lazy drawl hit me like a thunderbolt.
Now, this is a little dark, but I like to think of it every time I'm being chewed out for something I did at work. Miswrote code, got caught napping during a meeting, spent too much time on my phone, or whatever. It's tempting to get demoralized when that happens, but really, that's probably when you're least in danger of getting fired.
Employers generally don't waste time warning employees that they're planning on dismissing. They just dismiss them, period. You're getting that warning because they still value you as an employee; either that, or replacing you on short notice is going to be a gigantic pain in the ass. That's not to say you don't have to check yourself, but going all Chicken Little the moment you're verbally warned, is an overreaction.
What employers do want (and expect) to see after you've been warned, is for you to visibly buck up. They expect you to react as though your kids have been taken away and you want them back. So do that. Whereas if you were to be fired, they can't reasonably expect to get any extra performance out of you.
Rustin Cohle (Matthew McConaughey) and Martin Hart (Woody Harrelson) reunite after several long years to team up on an investigation, and they're starting to ask each other how things have been. Then Rustin drops this gem in Matthew McConaughey's trademark Southern drawl.
I'm in my forties now, and truth be told, there are many years which I spent unproductively, getting experienced in things that don't matter professionally. Like how to carry yourself in shady nightclubs. How to stack a Dungeons And Dragons character till he's basically unkillable. How to say the right things to a woman to get into her knickers.
I'm not saying that only professional skills matter... but damn I should have concentrated more on them when I was younger. Programming languages. Frameworks. Databases. Tech trends. As opposed to doing only stuff that was fun. Like, why the hell did I work so hard on being good in bed? It's not like I was training to be a gigolo. And twenty years on, that shit is no longer going to matter.
There's nothing really memorable about this show. It's painfully formulaic and pretty trite when you take away the action scenes. However, one thing stood out for me. Chai Wai, the show's villain, has hired a mercenary, Moon Yau-Ngo (Derek Kok). Yau-Ngo is supposed to get a shady task done, but he refuses. When Chai Wai asks him why, he declares...
Don't bother running this through Google Translate, because it'll make no goddamn sense. It barely even makes sense if read in Mandarin. It's a Cantonese phrase, which basically means: there are things a true man can do, and there are things a true man can't do.
That was what made the character interesting. Yau-Ngo is under no illusions here that he's anything but a bad guy. But he also thinks of himself as a true man. The two aren't mutually exclusive, unless you have totally no sense of nuance. From Yau-Ngo's point of view, he's an accomplished martial artist, and can kick ass. Certain actions are so craven that he considers himself above them. Chai Wai wasn't impressed with Yau-Ngo's statement, but does Yau-Ngo give a shit? Nope.
Everyone needs an ethical bottom line like our villainous friend there. I'm not saying I won't lie. But I won't make rash promises and once a promise is made, I'll do my dardest to keep it. I won't borrow money frivolously, or allow myself to forget about paying it back. And I won't pretend to be sick just so that I can have a day off from work to attend a job interview. Those are just a few of my personal bottom lines. And I don't care if anyone's impressed by those rules, because, again, those are my bottom lines.
No, not the original classic. This is the remake in 2010, which was inexplicably named the same despite the martial art in question being Chinese Kung-fu, not Karate.
The movie wasn't spectacular, but it was serviceable. What really helped was the part when Mr Han (Jackie Chan) is training Dre (Jaden Smith) for the first time during an iconic scene, and ends the lesson with an impassioned speech.
Everything is Kung-fu. Words to live by. When Mr Han incorporated Kung-fu into actions that Dre was familiar with, the learning process became a whole lot clearer.
This mantra helped a lot in my tech learning process. Everything is web development. In some small part, it's also the inspiration behind the phrase work is part of life.
Let's stop thinking of tech as this oh-so-mystifying thing and realize that its roots are steeped in everyday life. Technology is not some unfathomable mystery. It is an extension of everything we know. A whole chunk of it is based on logic and common sense. Apps that solve everyday mundane problems (maps, bus schedules, pizza delivery) are built because mobile devices and the Internet exist. Rows and columns were a thing long before there were databases. Tech terms are words that had other meanings before the first computer was produced.
Being able to see parallels in the world around me, and use analogies while trying to understand the principles behind another aspect of technology, has helped me make sense of what I was learning.
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Today, I will be sharing some of the scenes in movies and TV shows that struck that note. And here they are, not in any order of significance.
1. True Detective Season 2
A crime thriller series where crime boss Frank Semyon (Vince Vaughn) is holding court with his subordinates during the very first episode.
Some serious shit has gone down, and one of Frank's stooges suggests a desperate course of action. Frank shuts him down with the following line:
"Never do anything out of hunger. Not even eating."
This singular truth can be applied to so many situations. Never wait till you're hungry to eat - you'll end up eating things that aren't good for you, or eat too much. Never wait till you're thirsty to drink water - if you're thirsty, you're already dehydrated. Never wait till you're unemployed to start monitoring the job market - you'll end up taking any old job.
Basically, never do anything out of desperation. Because when you're in dire need, you tend to make sub-optimal choices. You tend to take what's available instead of what's best in the long run. When I attend a job interview without actually needing a job, I can negotiate (or not negotiate, as is my style) without feeling any pressure to capitulate. I can afford to weigh my options carefully. And most significantly, I can make choices that I will not regret later.
Don't do anything out of hunger. You'll probably end up doing something really stupid.
2. Unfinished Business
Vince Vaughn again, and this very tepid comedy, while utterly forgettable, had one scene that struck me deep.
In it, Dan Trunkman (Vince Vaughn) and his employee, the unfortunately named Mike Pancake (Dave Franco), are sitting around a little group passing a bong, when Dan starts talking about why he wants to send his son to private school - to avoid bullies. And Mike, while normally managing to sound like a total retard, has this surprising little pearl of wisdom.
"You know the worst part with teasing? My dad would say, forget about it and ignore it, son. But he doesn't understand because in his day, kids would get teased at school all day but then they could go home. And nowadays, you come home and there's Facebook, and there's Instagram, and the bullies can get at you through all of that stuff. And it never really stops."
That was a truth about cyberbullying that thoroughly resonated. With the rise of tech, our lives have changed. Including school bullying. School bullying is no longer "school" bullying because people can now bully you wherever you go, as long as you're logged in. And we all need to understand that.
The solution? Don't let them.
Look, I know it's easier said than done, but hear me out. If you accept the fact that people are going to be total assholes every time you log on, the solution is not to stand up for yourself and have the last fucking word... because you should have higher standards. Some people have nothing more meaningful in life to do than win battles on the Internet. That's on them. You can quietly pity them, but don't be an idiot and validate their existence by joining them.
3. The Intern
I watched this movie originally because there was nothing else showing. It's about an old guy who signs up to be an intern at an up-and-rising startup, and ends up imparting wisdom and friendship and all that jazz.
It was OK, but the one thing that stood out, aside from a very tasty-looking Rene Russo (hey I'm a seventies kid, so fuck you), was the scene where the titular intern Ben Whittaker (Robert De Niro) is shooting the breeze with some of his much younger colleagues, Jason (Adam DeVine) and Lewis (Jason Orley).
Jason: Wait, so you're saying you shave every day?
Ben: Yes.
Lewis: Even on Sundays?
Ben: Every day.
Jason: OK, and even if you know that you're not gonna see anyone that you know?
Ben: Yes.
Ben: Yes.
Lewis: Even on Sundays?
Ben: Every day.
Jason: OK, and even if you know that you're not gonna see anyone that you know?
Ben: Yes.
See? Ben has a routine. Granted, it's a very minor one, but he keeps to it. And he does it even when nobody's looking. That's integrity and discipline. Sure, this three-second scene didn't make me start shaving every day (because sometimes I like a little fuzz on my chin) but when you apply it to other things, it holds just as true.
When I code, I'm obsessive about the spacing - both horizontal and vertical. The indentation. The casing. I try to keep things as visually neat as possible. Why, you may ask? The laypeople don't care as long as it works, and the techs aren't likely to notice. Well, if recognition is what you're going for, great. But I'm doing this because it's the right thing to do, or possibly because I'm OCD.
It may seem like a really small thing, just like shaving. But I firmly believe that if a professional can't be trusted with small things, then that professional can't be trusted with bigger things.
4. Captain Marvel
This is a superhero movie, and despite the controversy Brie Larson stirred up, I actually didn't hate it. Aside from some very cringey in-your-face feminist moments where I felt the film-makers were trying just a wee bit too vigorously, it met my KPIs for mindless fun.
Still, there was some inspiration to be taken from this particular scene. In it, Yon-Rogg (Jude Law) challenges Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) to a good old-fashioned fist fight, to prove to him that she can beat him without using her powers. Instead, Captain Marvel summarily hits him with an energy blast, and as she stands over his stunned body, utters the following line.
"I have nothing to prove to you."
Now, let's be clear: I think the character did the right thing. The stakes were too high to let her ego get in the way, and she did what was both sensible and efficient. She did not play Yon-Rogg's game, but simply did her own thing. But that line... for the love of God, what a stupid line. See, when you really don't have anything to prove to people, you don't do something counter-intuitive like defiantly declare it in the manner of some rebellious teenager. That was what Captain Marvel came off as, and this particular line inspires me not to do something this dumb. If you don't have anything to prove, make your decisions accordingly and don't waste time pointing it out.
A couple years ago, some loudmouth at work asked me what I was doing for the weekend. In all seriousness, I told him I would be trying to render a pie chart using CSS. He laughed and told me that was a waste of time, and I should be looking up new and cutting-edge technologies in my spare time, just like him.
Damn, someone was trying really hard to impress me there. Perhaps too hard.
Did I play his game? Hell, no, I did not. The next time he asked what my plans were for the weekend, I merely said I'd be screwing around with QBasic, and let him think he'd won. Like Captain Marvel, I did my own thing and didn't let anyone bait me into playing some meaningless game of one-upmanship. Unlike Captain Marvel, however, I had so little to prove to this dude that I didn't even feel the need to inform him of that fact.
Less is more, Captain Marvel.
5. Goldeneye
Back in 1995, I watched my first Pierce Brosnan-led Bond movie. And it was so good. Mindless actions? In spades. I remember it as the first time I ever saw Femke Janssen on screen as a hammy psycho chick, and it was so, so good.
But the thing that really stood out for me was the computer nerd Boris (Alan Cumming) who had this habit. Whenever he accomplished something via his programming skill, he would pump his fists and dramatically declare...
"Yes! I am invincible!"
I've had similar moments while working. Successfully resolved a bug? Got some code to run? Output was exactly as expected, with no surprises?
Yes! I am invincible!
And yep, I would even do it in Alan Cumming's adorable Russian accent. Though, these days, I'm happy to occasionally say I am inevitable, just like Thanos.
6. Justice League
Another superhero movie, and while I generally think DC superhero movies aren't as good as the Marvel ones, there was an inspirational moment tucked away in this one.
Flash (Ezra Miller) and Batman (Ben Affleck) are having a little conversation as they head off to hunt down the supervillain Steppenwolf. Flash is experiencing some panic and self-doubt, and Batman gives him some sage advice.
Flash: Okay, here's the thing. See, I'm afraid of bugs, and guns, and obnoxiously tall people, and murder. I can't be here. It's really cool you guys seem ready to do battle and stuff, but - full transparency - I've never done battle. I've just pushed some people and run away!
Batman: Save one.
The Flash: What?
Batman: Save one person.
The Flash: Uh... which one?
Batman: Don't talk, don't fight. Get in, get one out.
The Flash: And - and then?
Batman: You'll know.
Batman: Save one.
The Flash: What?
Batman: Save one person.
The Flash: Uh... which one?
Batman: Don't talk, don't fight. Get in, get one out.
The Flash: And - and then?
Batman: You'll know.
This is actually very sensible advice. I've been in situations where I had to learn a new piece of tech - programming language, DevOps, API calls - and I had no goddamn clue how to do anything. And every single time, it was a similar mantra that got me started. Do something simple. Accomplish one basic objective, nothing else. Finish it, then go from there.
It could be a Hello World program. Playing around with an interface. Copy-pasting code, and then changing it to see what happens. Nothing significant, or spectacular. Just something to get me started.
The lesson to learn here is, many things look intimidating until you roll up your sleeves and just dive right in. I've learned a lot of stuff this way. Sure, I may not have gone very deep into those things, but at least I'm a lot less intimidated by them than when I practically knew nothing about them. And that's something.
Save one. Get in, get out. You'll know what comes next after you do it. You just need to take that first step.
7. Narcos Season 1
Narcos is a docu-drama about the life of infamous Colombian druglord Pablo Escobar (Wagner Moura), and the agents who try to bring him down, Steve Murphy (Boyd Holbrook) and Javier Pena (Pedro Pascal). It's a glorious smorgasbord of violence, sex and utter testosterone-laced badassery on all sides. I loved everything about this show, especially the fact that it's set in the sixties and seventies. Nothing like a little retro, eh?
In the show, not everyone likes Boyd Holbrook narrating the scenes. But I do, and below is one of those times his lazy drawl hit me like a thunderbolt.
"When you kill someone, you lose all your leverage the moment they're dead. Now, you take someone's children away from them, you'd be amazed what they'd do to get them back."
Now, this is a little dark, but I like to think of it every time I'm being chewed out for something I did at work. Miswrote code, got caught napping during a meeting, spent too much time on my phone, or whatever. It's tempting to get demoralized when that happens, but really, that's probably when you're least in danger of getting fired.
Employers generally don't waste time warning employees that they're planning on dismissing. They just dismiss them, period. You're getting that warning because they still value you as an employee; either that, or replacing you on short notice is going to be a gigantic pain in the ass. That's not to say you don't have to check yourself, but going all Chicken Little the moment you're verbally warned, is an overreaction.
What employers do want (and expect) to see after you've been warned, is for you to visibly buck up. They expect you to react as though your kids have been taken away and you want them back. So do that. Whereas if you were to be fired, they can't reasonably expect to get any extra performance out of you.
8. True Detective Season 1
It's a buddy-cop crime thriller where the story spans decades. I enjoyed this one thoroughly, and I'd totally recommend it if you're into psychological thrillers.
Rustin Cohle (Matthew McConaughey) and Martin Hart (Woody Harrelson) reunite after several long years to team up on an investigation, and they're starting to ask each other how things have been. Then Rustin drops this gem in Matthew McConaughey's trademark Southern drawl.
"Life's barely long enough to get good at one thing. So be careful what you get good at."
I'm in my forties now, and truth be told, there are many years which I spent unproductively, getting experienced in things that don't matter professionally. Like how to carry yourself in shady nightclubs. How to stack a Dungeons And Dragons character till he's basically unkillable. How to say the right things to a woman to get into her knickers.
I'm not saying that only professional skills matter... but damn I should have concentrated more on them when I was younger. Programming languages. Frameworks. Databases. Tech trends. As opposed to doing only stuff that was fun. Like, why the hell did I work so hard on being good in bed? It's not like I was training to be a gigolo. And twenty years on, that shit is no longer going to matter.
9. The Master of Tai-Chi
An example from Hong Kong! A Cantonese martial arts period drama I used to watch. This show is about a martial arts practitioner Mo Ma (Vincent Zhao) and his rivalry with Tuen Hiu-Sing (Raymond Lam). At first, Hiu-Sing kicks Mo Ma's ass in a fight, but as the show progresses and Mo Ma grows in maturity, he unlocks the secrets of Tai-chi. Mo Ma and Hiu-Sing eventually become friends as they work together to overcome a Police Chief, Chai Wai (Wilson Tsui).
There's nothing really memorable about this show. It's painfully formulaic and pretty trite when you take away the action scenes. However, one thing stood out for me. Chai Wai, the show's villain, has hired a mercenary, Moon Yau-Ngo (Derek Kok). Yau-Ngo is supposed to get a shady task done, but he refuses. When Chai Wai asks him why, he declares...
"大丈夫有所为，有所不为。"
Don't bother running this through Google Translate, because it'll make no goddamn sense. It barely even makes sense if read in Mandarin. It's a Cantonese phrase, which basically means: there are things a true man can do, and there are things a true man can't do.
That was what made the character interesting. Yau-Ngo is under no illusions here that he's anything but a bad guy. But he also thinks of himself as a true man. The two aren't mutually exclusive, unless you have totally no sense of nuance. From Yau-Ngo's point of view, he's an accomplished martial artist, and can kick ass. Certain actions are so craven that he considers himself above them. Chai Wai wasn't impressed with Yau-Ngo's statement, but does Yau-Ngo give a shit? Nope.
Everyone needs an ethical bottom line like our villainous friend there. I'm not saying I won't lie. But I won't make rash promises and once a promise is made, I'll do my dardest to keep it. I won't borrow money frivolously, or allow myself to forget about paying it back. And I won't pretend to be sick just so that I can have a day off from work to attend a job interview. Those are just a few of my personal bottom lines. And I don't care if anyone's impressed by those rules, because, again, those are my bottom lines.
10. The Karate Kid
No, not the original classic. This is the remake in 2010, which was inexplicably named the same despite the martial art in question being Chinese Kung-fu, not Karate.
The movie wasn't spectacular, but it was serviceable. What really helped was the part when Mr Han (Jackie Chan) is training Dre (Jaden Smith) for the first time during an iconic scene, and ends the lesson with an impassioned speech.
"Kung-fu lives in everything we do, Xiao Dre. It lives in how we put on a jacket, how we take off the jacket. It lives in how we treat people. Everything is Kung-fu."
Everything is Kung-fu. Words to live by. When Mr Han incorporated Kung-fu into actions that Dre was familiar with, the learning process became a whole lot clearer.
This mantra helped a lot in my tech learning process. Everything is web development. In some small part, it's also the inspiration behind the phrase work is part of life.
Let's stop thinking of tech as this oh-so-mystifying thing and realize that its roots are steeped in everyday life. Technology is not some unfathomable mystery. It is an extension of everything we know. A whole chunk of it is based on logic and common sense. Apps that solve everyday mundane problems (maps, bus schedules, pizza delivery) are built because mobile devices and the Internet exist. Rows and columns were a thing long before there were databases. Tech terms are words that had other meanings before the first computer was produced.
Being able to see parallels in the world around me, and use analogies while trying to understand the principles behind another aspect of technology, has helped me make sense of what I was learning.
And that's all!
The film moments that inspired me were mostly innocuous. But we all take inspiration from the strangest places. In fact, arguably, the ability to do so is pretty damn important. Because, you know, everything is Kung-fu.
I am invincible!
