Care to play the obscure reference game?
Asked by
cookieman (
41846
)
October 2nd, 2014
from iPhone
Here’s how it works:
Write a sentence that contains an obscure reference. You can be direct (by naming the reference) or indirect (by alluding to it), but it must be a complete sentence. No single words or phrases please.
Then, somewhere down the thread, a jelly (or a few) will guess where the reference comes from.
The original poster should be sure to acknowledge when someone guesses correctly.
Also, no need to wait while folks are guessing — keep posting obscure references as they come to you.
And, be sure to use the @__ feature, so we know who’s talking to whom.
I’ll start below…
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91 Answers
It’s amazing that a little dog from a classic movie would inspire an 80s pop/rock band and a toilet manufacturer.
I didn’t know that Toto made toilets. ;-o
@Brian1946: Correct!! Toto (from The Wizard of Oz).
And yes, they manufacture urinals too.
French fashion magazine inspires British band…individual messiah.
Depeche Mode – Personal Jesus
@rojo You failed to use the @ feature as requested, marks off for tardiness.
sorry, still asleep @ucme
Method of settling arguments becomes movie without dialogue.
A regular on the evening news, a radical idea that you don’t need.
Why name a movie about girls in a Chinese prison after a minor song by a Rock and Roll group?
Late British comedy actor more famous in Albania than David Beckham.
“Drink deep, or taste not, the plasma spring.”
The above is a bastardized version of another statement.
Bonus points for placing both.
Hmmm @SecondHandStoke this is not an essay on criticism but a little learning is a dangerous thing.
Or am I just Fly ing off the handle here?
@rojo
We have a hit!
But can anyone describe the quote’s inspiration?
Your watch has stopped, or so you claim.
But it gets you inside.
Oh, you guys are awesome.
Everyone should GQ this question.
@SecondHandStoke Alexander Pope’s poem “An Essay on Criticism” (1709): “A little learning is a dang’rous thing;/Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring.”
^Right under my nose. I’m an idiot.
Very well played.
Dearth Vader with a tobacco habit.
@Secondhandstoke – Black smokers?
No, wait, It’s Jim Carrey’s line in The Mask, “Smokin’!”
A grave mark of approval.
Warm summer sun,
shine brightly here,
Warm Southern wind,
blow softly here,
Green sod above,
lie light, lie light,
Good night, dear heart;
good night, good night.
Mark Twain’s eulogy to his daughter.
@Here2_4 Nice try but no, sorry, shall I tell you? It is a lovely eulogy, how sad.
If you tell, then all chance of me getting it right is gone. I might never recover.
@Adagio “I believed that he knew more than any person I had met before, and I knew that he knew that I knew less than any person he had met before–though he did not say it, and I was not expecting that he would. . . . He was a stranger to me and to all the world, and remained so for twelve months, then he became suddenly known, and universally known.”
Mark Twain on his meeting with Rudyard Kipling in 1890?
@Adagio The poem that Mark Twain had inscribed upon his daughters tombstone were mistakenly attributed to him. When he learned of this, he had the name of the actual poet,Robert Richardson, onto his daughters grave marker.
@Adagio – “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully, is prepared to die at any time.”
@rojo Correct on Norman Wisdom.
“The original poster should be sure to acknowledge when someone answers correctly”
A request from @cookieman is ignored, i’m talking to you @filmfann
@rojo
Sorry, no Chewie.
But one episode did feature a large hairy biped.
@Adagio “I Did Not Attend the Funeral, But I Sent a Nice Letter Saying I Approved of It” Quote attributed to Mark Twain.
@Here2_4
Sorry, no.
But I left another hint above.
One of the actors in The Great Escape was a genuine WWII POW
A double:
“Like tears in Douglas Rain.”
I’ve been following this, but I’m not sure what y’all are doing!
@rojo You got it! Well done. Twain at his humorous best. If no one had guessed I was just about to tell you all not to be so serious, to loosen up a little.
What specific thing appears in every Sam Raimi movie?
Saturn’s moon Phoebe and Honda’s B and H series engines share this characteristic.
Bonus to whoever can recite the poem about Phoebe’s behavior.
@rojo
Sorry, not quite.
It has to do with striking contrasts, but not temperature.
What a cool song!
@SecondHandStoke, I think it is about backwards rotation. I’m still hunting for a poem about that though.
@Here2_4
Yes!
Honda B and H series engines spin counterclockwise.
Phoebe travels against Saturn’s and it’s other moons rotation/revolutions.
No astronomy geeks out there that know the poem?
Are there any hints where to look for the poem? Everything I search either ends up a poet named Pheobe, or poems about Earth’s moon.
CLUE CLUE CLUE CLUE CLUE
@ucme: Is it “himself”?
I know he’s appeared in many of his own movies.
…......................................Misguided Lass….......................... by Here2_4…..
.
Wandering lass, so beaten.
Backwards path followed relentlessly.
Ancient girl of wonder and mystery,
Why do you defy the path set so imperiously?
You have your reasons buried deep within.
Where your heart has locked all secrets,
Of the universe, and timeless adventures.
To be revealed only at your will.
Phoebe, do tell.
Why has a heart which burned so hotly,
And led you on a path so determined,
Is now so cold, and contrary?
We seek your secrets, miss,
But long after we are gone, and all our kind is too,
Your path will oppose, and care no less
With no one left to wonder.
(My own since no clues came forth. I expect it to remain my own)
@cookieman Thanks for your answer, but its not him, close though.
“This…
is an industrial lasah…”
Ok, here’s another:
Science and religion are often portrayed as being in conflict, but one scientist described his work in a uniquely religious manner.
@ucme is correct on Brokedown Palace. He wins a weeks stay in a chinese prison.
due to limited internet availability, I have to limit my responses.
@FireMadeFlesh
Einstein said: “For science can only ascertain what is, but not what should be, and outside of its domain value judgments of all kinds remain necessary. Religion, on the other hand, deals only with evaluations of human thought and action: it cannot justifiably speak of facts and relationships between facts.”
and probably more to the point, this: ”.....there exist between the two [science & religion] strong reciprocal relationships and dependencies. Though religion may be that which determines the goal, it has, nevertheless, learned from science, in the broadest sense, what means will contribute to the attainment of the goals it has set up. But science can only be created by those who are thoroughly imbued with the aspiration toward truth and understanding. This source of feeling, however, springs from the sphere of religion. To this there also belongs the faith in the possibility that the regulations valid for the world of existence are rational, that is, comprehensible to reason. I cannot conceive of a genuine scientist without that profound faith. The situation may be expressed by an image: science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.”
New obscure reference:
A fruity timekeeper
@Adagio – Big Ben. I’ve heard rumors.
@Brian1946 I had to look that one up, I’ve never heard of Strawberry Alarm Clock, what a great guess but not quite what I had in mind, bloody good try though! Think of something far less contemporary…
@Adagio, my little Droogie, any chance of it being “A Clockwork Orange”?
@rojo Damn, your good! A Clockwork Orange, yes. You got me again.
@rojo Einstein had great insights into the science/religion relationship, but he was not who I had in mind. The scientist I was referring to used a direct quote in his description, yet his exact words had never before been used.
@FireMadeFlesh
Maybe Christiaan Huygens: “The world is my country, science my religion. although some attribute this to his father Constantine
@FireMadeFlesh then again, there is
Neil DeGrasse Tyson who says: “The issue there is not religion versus non-religion, or religion versus science,The issue is ideas that are different versus dogma.”
@rojo Both good quotes, but the scientist in question was quoting another source, much older than himself.
@FireMadeFlesh
Arthur Compton: “For myself, faith begins with a realization that a supreme intelligence brought the universe into being and created man. It is not difficult for me to have this faith, for it is incontrovertible that where there is a plan there is intelligence—an orderly, unfolding universe testifies to the truth of the most majestic statement ever uttered—-‘In the beginning God.’”
Hell, @rojo, you’re coming up with so many good ones here that I think I’ve been far too obscure. The quote I have in mind was in response to a specific, highly significant event. The biggest clue I gave above was that he “used a direct quote in his description, yet his exact words had never before been used.” There was a good reason why his direct quote was semantically unique, without being inaccurate or incorrectly quoted.
Some references are too obscure.
This scientist’s work shaped much of the political environment of the mid to late 20th century, and his quote is semantically unique because it was a translation.
The Silence Of The Lambs (film) and Clerks II have this gem in common.
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