Facebook’s 10th Birthday Videos

Have been having kind of a crappy week so far, so, when I saw what Facebook was doing to celebrate their tenth birthday (I know…ten years! Crazy, huh?!)  it really made my day. All you have to do is click on the link floating around Facebook today and the FB team instantly creates a little personalized video celebration of your time on Facebook. It’s super easy and most of the resulting videos I watched are pretty damn cool. Emphasis on the word most.

I joined Facebook in 2009 right after Greta was born, so, my video starts with a picture of Mrs. Yeti and myself cradling our newborn daughter in the hospital. Oy, I get a little verklempt just thinking about it. Anyway, if we’re FB friends, check out my clip there and then make one for yourself, and if you’re really shy and don’t want the whole world watching your FB video, you don’t have to share it with anyone and can simply enjoy your memories alone. Cool, huh?

But whatever you do with your clip and however you chose to celebrate the social network’s first decade in existence this week…happy 10th birthday, Facebook!

Philip Seymour Hoffman (1967-2014)

I don’t know about you guys, but, I’m still kind of reeling from the death yesterday of Philip Seymour Hoffman. Not only was he one of my all-time favorite actors, but he was also the kind of reliably brilliant character actor (like John Goodman) that you’d hope to see onscreen in killer parts large and small for years to come. Sadly, that was not to be…

Although it’s little comfort right now, the fact that Hoffman left behind such a remarkable and diverse body of work is pretty awesome. He was usually my favorite character in anything he was in, and I loved him in everything, but, my favorite role of Hoffman’s is probably his turn as a home health care nurse in Paul Thomas Anderson’s crazy masterpiece Magnolia.

It’s not Hoffman’s showiest role and he could easily be eclipsed by the onscreen theatrics of his co-stars Tom Cruise and Julianne Moore, but there is a quiet grace in his performance that just kills me every time I see it. It’s like you can actually feel the things he is going through. Really amazing work in a movie busting at the seams with great actors.

I also loved him in Happiness, Boogie Nights, The Savages, Doubt, The Big Lebowski, Almost Famous, Moneyball and Pirate Radio, a movie I missed the first time around and finally saw (and loved!) this past summer. The funny thing is that when I looked up his filmography just now, some of the best stuff Hoffman did onscreen was in tiny parts in big movies that I barely remember seeing. And if you ask me, that’s the mark of a truly great actor.

Rest in peace, PSH. You left us way too soon…