High Fidelity: My favourite quotes
Sunday, 18 April, 2004
Rob: “What came first: the music or the misery? People worry about kids playing with guns or watching violent videos—some sort of culture of violence taking them over. Nobody worries about kids listening to thousands—literally thousands—of songs about heartbreak, rejection, pain, misery and loss. Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?”
(Warning: Spoilers follow.)
Barry: “I want to date a musician.”
Rob: “I want to live with a musician. She could write songs at home, ask me what I thought of them and maybe even include one of our private jokes in the liner notes.”
Barry: “Maybe a little picture of me in the liner notes.”
Dick: “Just in the background somewhere.”
Rob: “‘How could this have happened?’ you ask. How does he do it? How does a regular guy like me become the number one lover man in this particular postal district? He's grumpy, he's broke, he hangs out with the musical moron twins, yet he gets to go to bed with somebody like Marie de Salle.”
Rob: “A while back, Dick, Barry and I agreed that what really matters is what you like, not what you're like. Books, records, films—these things matter. Call me shallow—it's the f___ing truth ...”
Laura: “Top 5 dream jobs.”
Rob: “Hey—that's private!”
Laura: “Number 1: Journalist for Rolling Stone magazine, 1976 to 1979. Get to meet The Clash, Chrissy Hines, Sex Pistols, David Byrne. Get tons of free records. Number 2: Producer at Atlantic Records, 1964 to 1971. Get to meet Aretha, Wilson Pickett, Solomon Birk. More free records and a s___load of money. Number 3: Any kind of musician.”
Rob: “Besides classical or rap.”
Laura: “Settle for being one of the Memphis Horns or something. Not asking to be Jagger or Hendrix or Otis Redding. Number 4: Film director.”
Rob: “Any kind except German or silent.”
Laura: “And Number 5 ... we have architect.”
Rob: “Yeah.”
Laura: “Seven years' training.”
Rob: “I'm not sure I even want to be an architect.”
Laura: “So you got a list here of five things you'd do if qualification and time and history and salary were no object ... one of them you don't really want to do anyway.”
Rob: “Well, I did put it at Number 5.”
Laura: “Wouldn't you rather own your own record store than be an architect?”
Rob: “Yeah.”
Laura: “And you wouldn't want to be a 16th-century explorer or the king of France or—”
Rob: “God, no.”
Laura: “All right, there you go then. Dream job Number 5: record store owner.”
Rob: “Now the making of a good compilation tape is a very subtle art—many do's and don'ts. First of all, you're using someone else's poetry to express how you feel. This is a delicate thing.”
Rob: “I'm going to talk to you about whether or not ... you want to get married. To me.”
Laura starts laughing.
Rob: “I'm serious!”
Laura: “Yes, I know.”
Rob: “Thanks a f___ing bunch!”
Laura: “I'm sorry—two days' ago you were making tapes for that girl from The Reader.”
Rob: “Yeah.”
Laura: “Well, forgive me if I don't think of you as the world's safest bet.”
Rob: “Would you marry me if I was?”
Laura: “What brought all this on?”
Rob: “I don't know. I'm just sick of thinking about it all the time.”
Laura: “About what?”
Rob: “This stuff ... love and settling down and marriage ... you know ... I want to think about something else.”
Laura: “I changed my mind. That's the most romantic thing I've ever heard. I do. I will.”
Rob: “Just shut up, please. I'm just trying to explain, okay?”
Top 5 best scenes in High Fidelity:
- Rob reorganising his vinyl collection in autobiographical order;
- Top 5 dream job scene;
- Rob proposes to Laura;
- Penny blowing up at Rob for dumping her and causing her to fall into a relationship where she is almost raped and ruins her life: she storms out of the restaurant and he says, “God, she's right! I broke up with her—I rejected her!”;
- All three musical morons showing off their knowledge and expertise in programming the shop music while the store is packed with customers.
Blinks:
A way of funding writing in the future: pitch and idea and get people to support it.
Place where you can hire play equipment for parties, etc.
How to recalibrate the home button on your iPhone.
Unsolicited manuscripts accepted by Pan Macmillan with certain conditions.
Thought Balloon is a group blog in which the writers tackle a new theme every week? month? with one-page scripts. This URL is for their Phonogram ones.
How to sew a zipper on a knitted garment.
Issues organised by tale.
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Ha!
There’s actually a bit of wisdom in some of those quotes.
hehe.. i love that movie too
Glad to see someone else enjoyed it as much as I did.