"I told you so!"

I went to see The King's Speech the other day. I'd been wanting to see it ever since it came out - and that's when I should have gone to see it, because back then I was still in London, where I could have seen it for half the price that I had to pay in Finland, but never mind.

The film was great in many ways, and I could almost feel the words getting stuck in my own throat at times when I watched the king's struggle to get the words out. There was one thing, however, that bothered me a little bit. I was watching the scenes with the (quite creepy) archbishop, and I knew I'd seen him in something else, but I just couldn't place him. I was wondering if he was actually as creepy in that film as I made him out to be, or if I was just remembering him from some other role.

This happens quite often*, and when it does, IMDb is my best friend. Sometimes, like now, I see an actor I know I've seen in something before, but I just can't place them, but at other times I keep thinking about it during the film, and I eventually come up with it, or at least an idea of who it could be. After the film (or during it, if I'm watching it at home) I head straight to IMDb to see if I was right. And oh, what a feeling when I am!

Even if it's just a tiny thing, being able to recognise and actor I've seen in something else, and even if no one else knows of my "accomplishment", there's still this sense of pride, that's really quite disproportionate to the level of achievement. It just feels good to be right. I'm even prouder of myself when I recognise the composer of the soundtrack, but I guess that's a bit more impressive than recognising an actor, anyway...

The same applies to any other bit of trivia, and I'm sure millions of people out there who, like me, just love being right, are praising Wikipedia for its help. When has it ever been easier to check facts (and prove yourself right) than now, in the time of Google, Wikipedia, and all those other useful sites, not to mention the fact that lots of people (including me) now have constant access to these sites from their phones.

I know this isn't a terribly attractive personality trait , but to be fair, most of the time it's just a little game I play by myself - it's not like I go and challenge people to take bets. But yes, I am a person who loves being right, and sometimes I'm a bit of a know-it-all, but we've all got our faults.



*It happens even more often after I started watching Doctor Who - it seems like every British actor's been on it at some point, because I now recognise half the actors in any other British film / TV series. Or maybe there just aren't all that many of them?