Top 10s This Week

Top 10 Songs:

10. FUCKMYLIFE666, Against Me! (2014)
9. OBAMA BIN LADEN AS THE CRUCIFIED CHRIST, Against Me! (2014)
8. HIGGS BOSON BLUES, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (2013)
7. BLACK ME OUT, Against Me! (2014)
6. TRUE TRANS SOUL REBEL, Against Me! (2014)
5. DO WHAT U WANT, Lady Gaga (feat. Christina Aguilera) (2014)
4. TWO COFFINS, Against Me! (2014)
3. PARALYTIC STATE, Against Me! (2014)
2. UNCONDITIONNAL LOVE, Against Me! (2014)
1. TRANSGENDER DYSPHORIA BLUES, Against Me! (2014)

Top 10 Philip Seymour Hoffman Parts/Performances:

10. THE MASTER, Paul Thomas Anderson (2012)
9. 25th HOUR, Spike Lee (2002)
8. PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE, Paul Thomas Anderson (2002)
7. MAGNOLIA, Paul Thomas Anderson (1999)
6. OWNING MAHONY, Richard Kwietniowski (2003)
5. THE SAVAGES, Tamara Jenkins (2007)
4. THE BIG LEBOWSKI, The Coen Brothers (1998)
3. BOOGIE NIGHTS, Paul Thomas Anderson (1997)
2. CAPOTE, Bennett Miller (2005)
1. HAPPINESS, Todd Solondz (1998)

I didn't include Doubt (directed by John Patrick Shanley, 2008) because I honestly think there were better overall, film-long performances in the list above, but the scene where he ''fights'' with Meryl Streep may be his best one of all time, or at least on par with the masturbating sequence in Happiness as his greatest.

R.I.P. Philip Seymour Hoffman

Heeeeerrrooooooiiiinnnnnn
Be the death of me
Heeeeerrrooooooiiiinnnnnn
It's my life (...)
- Lou Reed, The Velvet Underground's Heroin

Academy Award winner Philip Seymour Hofman - a perennial favourite of mine as can be attested in my ''best-of'' lists - died today of an apparent heroin overdose at age 46 in his Manhattan apartment.

The hype machine will likely go nuts - and if it does, it will be more deserved than when it hit Heath Ledger, for sure - but while I don't think he qualifies for the moniker of ''greatest actor of his generation'', he surely ranks among the most consistent, and constantly original ones.

Like William H. Macy, he was as good as the seventh-role in a blockbuster as he was starring in an indie character-driven picture, and my favourite performance of his remains the scene-stealing sexually deranged obscene phone caller in Happiness:

He could be at turns nerdy, shy, subdued, over-the-top, depressed, strong, conniving, lost... always on point.

He will be missed.