Happy Wieters Day

I have promised to keep the Orioles posts to a minimum but there are historical moments that just can't be ignored. Today is the major league debut of Matt Wieters, the O's all-world catching prospect who has been touted as 'can't miss' since he was drafted in 2007 (I think). Baltimore is going wild with excitement.

With all the hype comes the inevitable fear of a monumental letdown... but the truth is, no matter how Wieters does this year, the O's are building some serious momentum. With the emergence of Adam Jones and the early success of Nolan Reimold, the O's have the best outfield in baseball (and I would never exaggerate). David Hernandez' win last night -- making it four wins in a row for the O's -- was the fourth time an O's starter won his major league debut this season. That might be just a statistical oddity. Nonetheless, Hernandez has serious potential -- he struck out 14 in 7 innings in his last AAA start -- and there are three more SPs on the farm who are thought to have even more potential. So stay tuned, baseball fan(s).

PB: MC

Nothing can ruin a perfectly mediocre movie quicker than high expectations. But it works the other way, too: find a 7 year old, rent Paul Blart, Mall Cop and prepare yourself for a total abuse of your time. You will be pleased to find a not-too-bad, worth-several-laughs movie. And O loved it.

On a semi-related subject -- I'm starting to sense something amiss with my beloved metacritic.com. Case in point: Roger Ebert said this about Night at the Museum 2 (paraphrasing): "I can't lie: I really disliked this movie. It made me squirm." This review translated to a 38 (out of 100) on metacritic. I went back to read the whole review to make sure those quotes were representative. And they were. Are the big blockbusters benefitting from grade inflation from metacritic? How will I know what to think about movies before I see them?

Surprise

What a past couple weeks it was for New Generation Highly-Rated Game/Talent Shows.

Chris beat Adam last night in the Idol final. I've only watched two episodes this season but I think I got the gist: glam vs. soul or something like that. The obvious analysis is that America writ large is more comfortable with a non-androgynous person/safer style. And maybe that's the end of it. But maybe it's a little more complex -- first off, Chris with his guitar/piano work may have been more talented. Second, Adam's androgyny was a little forced. Not confusing (and therein threatening) at all ... maybe just fake. He looked like a linebacker next to Ryan and Chris. And his sneer and stubble poking through the makeup was a far cry from the prototypical (early) Bowie/Prince waif look. The falsetto shrieking was less mysterious out-of-nowhere (early)-Plant than just calculated theatrics. Then again, the whole show is calculated theatrics so I don't really know what I'm talking about. I'm sure he'll make a billion dollars nonetheless.

Did anyone watch Survivor? The early alliance between the effete New York -Yale grad-Jewish kid and the Alabama cattle farmer lasted the whole season on into the final two. There was a moment of near tragedy when Steven, the former, admitted under duress he wouldn't have taken JT, the latter, into the final round had he won the last challenge. But after JT won the $1 million, he told us he would've done the same thing had he been in Steven's position. And now they're going into business together. I can't speak for the other 17 seasons (two per year in the last 9 years), but this was pretty damn entertaining television.

This is a great pic

Is anybody else watching Demetri?

I think his show (Important Things with Demetri Martin) is pretty good. It was on regular rotation here the Parr/Becker household before it got into reruns. He was a classmate of mine in college, even in the same major I think, but I don't think I ever had a conversation with him. Too bad.... I was worried I might find it irritating that a 36 year old non-slacker was doing Gen X humor but (a) I don't know what any of those things is so how irritated could I be? and (b) he does of lot of clever Carlin-esque word play that gets me every time. And how about a skit where Gallileo, Ben Franklin and Shakespeare visit a TGIFridays and get kicked out for accosting the waitress? Good stuff...this isn't it.

Greinke feelin' it (in a good way)

If you've found yourself disenchanted or perhaps just bored with baseball over the past 30 years or so, I've got a story for you. Way too early to be talking playoffs for the Royals but there is definitely magic in the air. Their ace -- and baseball's ace so far -- is Zack Greinke -- an unassuming guy of 25 who came up a highly touted prospect but almost disappeared from baseball until he got diagnosed and treated for depression. The backstory is nice but the four-pitch arsenal is nasty. In the era of 3+ relief pitchers per night per team with a lot of hanging curve balls mixed in there, a guy who can shred through a potent line up in 2 hours 19 min is a thrill to watch.

Pretty sneaky, sis

I experienced my first (that I know of) attempted '2nd generation' internet scam. I had logged into my online banking account earlier in the day with one failed attempt. I got an email from Wachovia, with real Wachovia logo, saying 'There have been multiple failed attempts to log into your account from multiple computers. You need to click on this link to verify your login/password.' With my antennae already up -- I wear them at work to get cell phone signal -- I clicked on the link, which took me to an identical facsimile of the Wachovia 'verify your login/password' page EXCEPT the URL in the browser read "http:\\foresthillsrealestate.net."

Anyway, I'm probably the last person on Earth to have caught on to these but thought I'd pass on a warning nonetheless. It's either that or talk about the Orioles' sixth loss in a row, so count your blessings.