3.08.2006

Little victories

Last night I was watching the end of House, and after the credits rolled, the production company's logo rolled. I hadn't seen this one before, which depicts two cartoon guys hanging out at the beach, and one of them says, "That's some bad hat, Harry."

My immediate reaction was one of familiarity, which quickly turned to aching familiarity. I've heard that line before... somewhere in some film or TV show. But where? It wasn't a well known line, but I knew that I had heard it many times. After a few fruitless minutes of trying to think of the answer, I just let it go, knowing that subconsciously, my brain would continue to search for the answer.

I rely on this all the time. It works for all manner of things, from things you know you know (like movie quotes you have heard) to things you haven't figured out yet (like coding problems). It still amazes me when I come back to something I haven't thought about in a while, and the answer seems so obvious.

In this particular case, I resumed thinking about the question this morning, on the way to work. The answer hit me like a ton of bricks after a few seconds. From an early beach scene in Jaws, when an old man is teasing Chief Brody about his fear of water:
    Harry: It's cold. We know all about you, Chief. You don't go in the water at all, do you?
    Brody: That's some bad hat, Harry.
Once I knew the answer, I felt a wave of triumph wash over me, not unlike my profile picture at the right of this blog. It's funny how recalling some obscure trivia can make my day, and thus bore you, the reader, to tears.

And who would name a production company after a lesser-known line from a 30-year-old movie? A director, of course:
    BadHat Harry Productions is a production company that was started by director/writer/producer Bryan Singer. The company, which also produces television shows as well as video games, has produced such well known films as The Usual Suspects, Apt Pupil, and both X-men movies. Current projects include the upcoming sci-fi miniseries The Triangle, Superman Returns, and House, M.D. which is a hit television show entering its second season on Fox.

1 comment:

Paul Newman's Eyes said...

Interesting. I had a similar wave of familiarity, but for a different reason.
I had heard that voice before, again referencing Jaws.
I recognized it from the cartoon depicting Jaws in 30 seconds (reencacted by bunnies).
I go on the website, listen to it, and at the end credits, whose name comes up as a special guest voice?
Brian Singer.
What an incestuous world.