Come On

Life is very short. Each moment is more precious than any amount of any other quantity. Knowing that, it is incumbent on us all to spend our time on Earth as well as we possibly can. We must be as good and as productive as we can be. We must seize the opportunities that come to us, knowing how few there are likely to be. Each summer we ought to get to the beach or the lake as much as we can. Each winter we ought to learn to ice skate or play a new card game. We've got to take a shot at those we have a crush on. There's no time for fooling around.

We spend so much time and energy on things that are ultimately unimportant. They're making a movie based on 'Moneyball', the book which recounts Billy Beane's revolutionary attempts to make a winner of the Oakland A's by means of statistical analysis. It's an obvious story to tell through the majesty of cinema, of course. The point is that I have read an article questioning whether Brad Pitt was a good choice to play the role of Beane.

As I said, we spend too much time on unimportant things, like lying when we may as well be honest for all the good it does and given how short life is. Life is too short to be less than candid about our opinions, so I'll just say what I hope everyone is thinking: It really doesn't make any difference whether Pitt bears much likeness to Beane or can do justice to his mannerisms and the like. I read the book, which puts me ahead of 99 percent of the population in terms of qualifications for judging Pitt's suitability.

I have to tell you that I have no impression ingrained in my mind of what Beane looks like or sounds like. I recall somewhat details of his behaviour which Pitt is no doubt a skilled enough actor to pick up on. In general though, it doesn't much matter whether he does or not, and I am supremely sure that we don't as a whole care whether he does. I don't know why anyone would pretend otherwise, but there is at least one writer who has decided to go through life claiming that it is of significance to anyone whether Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane is accurately portrayed in terms of superficial qualities. What a shame.