» On 9/26/2026 05:10:00 AM Mountain Standard Time, Alan wrote:
Facebook Incept Date: Tue26Sep2006. 20 Years Of Skiving Off. 

A Quirky Personal Review Of The Facebook Movie
[Post from Friday, October 1, 2010 - The Social Network's opening day]

My initial experience with Facebook was more than four years ago, on the first day it opened to non-students (4:52p26Sep2006). This was a few months before it reached 12 million users (2% of today's #). I was the Online Editor at Palm Springs Life magazine, and I was looking for new ways to promote PSL's website.

Facebook did not impress me. It was like walking into the middle of a panty-raid-slash-kegger. I had a lot of fun during my university days, but I really didn't want to relive them. So I posted some photos and logged off for a year. I did the same thing at MySpace, Friendster, Orkut, Bebo, etc., etc. I think I was waiting for one of them to reach critical mass.

Then I began getting Facebook Friend requests from people I hadn't seen in nearly thirty years. The early adopters seemed to be folks from the entertainment industry, people I had worked with during my days as an NBC Page. It was great to catch up with them: seeing snapshots of their kids, learning about the Emmys they had won, turning green with envy, etc.

More old friends followed. Old co-workers, old college chums, old high-school buds. Browsing through their photos was tons o' fun, and I began to see the value in online social networking. I made some new contacts, too. As my network of Friends grew, the more effort I put into sharing stuff with them, trying to entertain them.

Then Aaron Sorkin signed a contract to write "the Facebook movie," and he asked his researcher to set up a Facebook Group for him. I discovered it soon afterwards, in the latter part of 2008. Interacting with Sorkin was a real treat. He had been one of my heroes for years, and now I had access to the great man himself. I could ask questions, and he would actually answer them. I made some jokes, and he laughed. I didn't care if he was just being polite, the creator of 'The West Wing,' 'A Few Good Men' and 'Sports Night' was laughing at my jokes! Woo-hoo!!

Aaron posted updates about the script for members of the Group. We agonized with him, when an early draft leaked, in the spring of 2009. (I, of course, quickly downloaded a copy.) We rejoiced when David Fincher signed on to direct. We wished Aaron luck on the first day of principal photography. We went through the ups and downs of the shoot with him. We were sad when the producers couldn't get permission to film at Harvard, and had to use Johns Hopkins instead. We were happy when the long shoot approached its final day.

In the midst of all this interaction with Aaron, I wrote and published a book about the Facebook experience. I had become a Facebookaholic.

Then something happened. In early 2010, a woman from Aaron's past joined the Group and began making trouble. A famous actor posted some snide comments. And Aaron abruptly shut down the Group, in February. It was like going cold turkey. No more Sorkin fixes.

A few weeks later, I started a job at the U.S. Census. I thought it might be fun to create a Facebook Group for the people who worked with me. Bad decision. The powers-that-be took a dim view of the whole enterprise (secrecy was a big part of that gig), and I was threatened with termination. So they forced me to close the Group. I secretly swore it would make a comeback.

A few weeks after that, I won a Census-sponsored trivia contest, and the powers-that-be were forced to give me the top prize: two free movie passes. I secretly swore I would use them to see the Facebook movie on opening day. F*ck them and the horse they rode in on. I thumbed my nose at their silly anti-Facebook policies.

Several months later, the Census project ended, and I reopened the Census Facebook Group. We all laughed about the one-day suspension it had cost me, back in February. But my laugh was not as genuine as it might have been; I was still pissed off about the day's pay I had lost.

When trailers for 'The Social Network' began appearing, I was very excited. I reread my bootleg copy of the script, and remembered just how good it was. I even applied for a press pass to the World Premiere at the New York Film Festival. My new job involves writing for a radio network, so the festival organizers actually gave me the pass. But the coup was a little bittersweet, because I knew I couldn't afford to fly to New York just to see a movie.

In short, 'The Social Network' and Facebook itself have both been big parts of my life for quite a while now. Obsessions, you might say. I knew my expectations for the movie were WAY too high, so I expected a huge let-down when it was finally released.

I just watched TSN tonight with my wife and a close friend, and... it was even better than I hoped it would be.

+++

Update 1: At the end of the movie, I had to laugh: Darkened theater. Credits roll onscreen. Galaxies of little lights appear in the audience. Moviegoers are switching on their cell phones. Thumbs start busily keystroking text messages. Let the tweeting begin. Word-Of-Mouth is now Word-Of-Thumb.

Update 2: There is one thing that bothers me about this film. It was made by people who have all admitted they are largely ignorant about the uses of Facebook. They're members of the mainstream media establishment, which means they are, in effect, dinosaurs. The only things they really understand about social media are the billion-dollar valuations.

Update 3 - 2013: Facebook is the neighborhood pub for geeks like me. At its best, it can be an Algonquin Round Table. It's also a way to socialize with friends in faraway places, along with people who live just down the block. We can time-shift our get-togethers, too. No need to consult filofaxes, sync phone schedulers and check previous spousal commitments. No need to dress up for the occasion. We can do meet-ups in stained teeshirts and three-day-old underwear. We can fart, belch, pick our noses, scratch our butts and even drool. I can't tell you how much I love to drool.

We can also avoid: driving all over h*ll's half-acre while trying to find the trendy out-of-the-way restaurant that's been chosen, eating what everyone else is eating, being polite while some unknown d*ckhead monopolizes the conversation, drinking what everyone else is drinking, appearing to be interested and/or conscious, scarfing down gutbuster food while pretending to smile, putting up with screaming rugrats at the next table, sharing a "fried onion blossom" finger-food (whatever the f*ck that is) with sneezing half-familiar strangers, sucking in our guts, waiting for the designated driver to finish hitting on the busboy, sitting with nothing to say except "wow... you've really gained weight since high school," watching the clock to carefully calculate the precise moment when it's no longer impolite to leave, and splitting the check eight ways after ordering/consuming 3% of the total.

No more: pricey restaurant bills, outrageous bar tabs, tips for snotty waiters, bloating, indigestion, acid reflux, projectile vomiting, diarrhea from the bad clams, organizing half-hearted dinners to reciprocate for mind-numbing parties that were better left unmentioned, waiting behind rope-line stanchions to get into ear-splitting clubs, stumbling and falling into gutters, picking dogsh*t out of our pants, sleeping on park benches, fighting DUI arrests, scraping up bail money, and recovering from hangovers.

Best of all, we can simply deposit little radioactive turds on our friends' timelines and scuttle away into the night. 😉

Update(s) 4 - Sat26Sep2026: * 'The Social Network' (2010) shooting script
* With 'Social Reckoning,' Aaron Sorkin says he's done with Mark Zuckerberg - maybe (SF Chronicle)
* 'The Social Reckoning' (2026): teaser trailer ~ latest trailer ~ posters ("We're Way Past Making Friends")
* FRANCES: "Connecting people, it's a virtuous mission because some people are awkward. They get to be their best self when they're alone at their keyboard."
* [...] CHARLIE: "These guys are counting on the next round of congressional testimony to make you likable, Mark. I'm happy to lend a hand, but I think you're doomed."
* [...] MARK: "People can post what they want. We're not the ref. We're the public square."
CHARLIE: "Are you crazy? You're like a crossing guard standing in front of a school, but you're not doing anything with your arms. So the cars are just plowing down the children!"
* Aaron Sorkin interview (Esquire video)
* 'The Social Reckoning' opens in theaters on Friday, October 9, 2026. See you there? 😉


Update 5 - Fri09Oct2026: Saw The Social Reckoning today.
Wonderful film. "Important" film. * Aaron Sorkin sez...
Emoji Responses: Weighted 5 times as much as a standard "like".
Comments: Weighted 15 times as much as a standard "like".
Reshares: Weighted 30 times as much as a standard "like".
* "Rage bait" and content that makes people angry are the elements most likely to be reshared.
* Jeremy Strong - incredible performance, as usual.
Jeremy Allen White - another amazing performance.
Bill Burr - a stand-up comedian, but it turns out he can act!
Mikey Madison - it turns out she can act with her clothes on! 😉

 
» On 9/01/2026 12:00:00 AM Mountain Standard Time, Alan wrote:
R.I.P. Dr. Katie Amatruda (11May1954-21May2026, 72yo). 

I met Katie in a Myasthenia Gravis support group on Facebook, back in January. She said she was also involved with a clinical trial, and they were using CAR T-cell therapy, which includes genetic modification. A few months later, I was shocked to hear that she had passed away.

After talking with Katie's family, I started reading her postings in various MG support groups on FB and pieced together a rough idea of her final months. She had severe back pain in the fall of 2024, and was eventually diagnosed with quadruple-seronegative gMG. In early 2025, three crowns fell out of her mouth, and she thought it was due to the MG. In the early spring of 2025, she had several bad reactions to Vyvgart infusions, and enrolled in a CAR-T clinical study. Then, in May of 2025, she created a FB group to crowdsource info about the clinical study. She received her genetically-modified T cells in late June. But by the end of the summer, she was reporting severe back pain again.

At the end of April 2026, she underwent a thymectomy. A few days later, her body developed a chyle (lymph and emulsified fats) leak, which impacted her lungs. She then suffered an MG exacerbation, and took some pain medicine. Her lungs became very weak, and things went downhill quickly.

Obituary: Catherine “Katie” Amatruda
Katie Amatruda, 72, died peacefully on May 21, 2026 surrounded by loved ones in San Rafael, California, following a heroic battle with myasthenia gravis. She was born on May 11, 1954, in New Haven CT to Thomas Tarcisio Amatruda Jr. and Barbara Colety Amatruda. Katie was a Licensed Family Therapist for over 30 years with a private practice in Marin County, CA. She received a BA from UC Berkeley, an MA from John F. Kennedy University, and a PsyD degree from Ryokan College. She did her sandplay training with Dora Kalff in Zollikon, Switzerland, was a founding member of Sandplay Therapists of America and a published author.

As a compassionate expert in traumatic stress, she provided disaster relief locally, nationally, and internationally, focusing on children and assisting responders in self-care. In this role, she worked in Haiti, Southeast Asia and American Samoa following earthquakes and tsunamis, and provided relief after Hurricanes Katrina, Gustav and Ike, tornadoes in Florida, the wildfires in San Diego, and many local disasters. Her appointments included positions in the Marin Medical Reserve Corps, the American Red Cross and Disaster Medical Assistance Team DMAT CA-6.

Katie lived life exuberantly. She traveled extensively for work and pleasure. An accomplished life-long artist, she decorated her beloved houseboat with beautiful paintings, collages and sculptures. Every morning she woke early to see the sunrise over the water, listening to a specially curated soundtrack of joyful songs. She always had time for friends and celebrations and lit up every room she walked into. She was preceded in death by her parents, sister-in-law Lynne Morishita, and brother-in-law Charles Howell. She is survived by many heartbroken friends and family members including her son Colety Kaltschmidt (Jaime Barnhart), stepchildren Evan Kaltschmidt (Erin) and Kira Marzec (Chad Livengood), grandchildren Emma, Eyan, Henry, and Madison, siblings Tom Amatruda (Judy Axelrod), Chris Amatruda (Eb Luckel), Liz Howell, and Jim Amatruda (Lisa Pon), nieces, nephews, her cat Kiri, numerous friends and colleagues, and the Sausalito houseboat community. A celebration of her life will be scheduled at a later date. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in her memory to the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America. Meanwhile, please drink a toast to Katie and her fellow warriors, allies, lovers, artists, and mermaids.

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