Killing Time before a meeting with a One Paragraph Movie Review

I try to support Canadian films when I can, but a lame movie is a lame movie. And "Gunless" is a lame movie. The plot is cliched and not really entertaining, the characters are uninteresting, the cinematography is bland, the comic-relief is not funny, and the romance is unconvincing. Even the play on American and Canadian stereotypes is eye-roll inducing. While not unwatchable, it remains lame. Go watch "Canadian Bacon" instead if you are looking for a playful and amusing take on American-Canadian relations and stereotypes.

The Only Good Twitter Accounts are Fake Twitter Accounts

I don't know about you, but I've always found the parody twitter accounts much more entertaining than any real twitter accounts. In that end, I give you the musings of Dick Balenzano, a parody of me, Rick Valenzano.

Dick Balenzano is the creation of Joe Buscemi, who decided to create a character loosely based on me. He initially had it under my name, but I decided to rename the character "Dick Balenzano" since I am hoping that people will be googling for my actual name as a way to find my research, and I do not want them to get confused.

I have contributed from time to time, but I try to write as the character, not as myself. You should be able to tell which tweets are mine (there are very few of them), and which are Joe's since mine of are almost uniformly of lower quality. It turns out it is very difficult to write as a parody of yourself.

Any way, check out the thoughts of Dick Balenzano.  I suspect that if you know me you will be entertained.

Composure

Lost Week is on a brief hiatus, but it is certainly not over. In the meantime, I want to speak about Armando Galarraga.

As you probably already know, Galarraga threw a perfect game Wednesday night. Or at least he did in spirit. On what should have been the final out of the game, Jason Donald hit a ground ball to first baseman Miguel Cabrera who was pulled off the bag by the hit. Cabrera then tossed the ball to Galarraga who touched the bag and recorded the final out. Unfortunately, the first-base umpire, Jim Joyce, didn't see it that way. In the heat of the moment, Joyce blew the call at first and cost Galarraga the perfect game.

Galarraga was just about to pump his fists when he saw the umpire's call. He was clearly excited. But when he saw Joyce extend his hands to indicate his call, he somehow kept it together. Not only did he not get upset, he simply looked amused by the situation. He then collected himself and got the next batter out.

I don't know what's more amazing: how well Galarraga pitched, or how well he managed to keep his composure. This would have been only the 21st time in baseball history that someone threw a perfect game. It is a monumental achievement. And yet he simply shrugged off Joyce's bad call.

Players blow up all the time over missed calls (or calls that they incorrectly interpret as being missed), even at times where it doesn't matter in the slightest. This was a botched call that prevented Galarraga, for at least one game, from reaching a level of excellence that is so rarely achieved. And he shrugged it off!

I had never heard of this guy until last night. Now I have nothing but the greatest of respect for this man. My hat is off to you Armando Galarraga. You may not have thrown a perfect game, but certainly you have reached some sort of pantheon of class.

(By the way, the catch by Austin Jackson to maintain the perfect game in the 9th was just unbelievable. Needs to be seen to be believed. As was Galarraga's grin immediately thereafter)