"Real Cowboys, Real Rodeos"

Rodeos and cowboys, two topics close to my heart. By the author of the second gay novel I ever read, Patricia Nell Warren (who grew up on a ranch in Montana). From The Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide.

(My thanks to the Ultimate Brokeback Forum's The Daily Sheet for the reference.)

Brokeback on the Beach in Tel Aviv

Brokeback Mountain is included in the Beach Movie Festival in Tel Aviv, Israel. (I'm glad, with all the terribleness going on in the world, that people can still go out on a summer night to see an excellent film.)

Brokeback Mountain Travel, Internationally

The Canadian story, about visiting Brokeback Mountain sites in Jack's truck (this blogger is sooooo jealous).

A longer story from Down Under on seeking out Brokeback Mountain.

The Wings on the Wurlitzer Organ @ The Castro Theatre

The fabulous Castro outdoes itself again, in honor of Brokeback Mountain. Thanks to Eric for the video!

Pride, Brokeback Mountain and the past GLBTQ year

SF Chronicle article on the past year for GLBTQ rights, with mentions of the part Brokeback Mountain played in bringing issues to the public attention.

Fabulous Brokeback T-Shirts

A fellow Brokebackie name of Jenny has created a wonderful collection of Brokeback Mountain t-shirts. And all proceeds go to the Matthew Shepard Foundation. In Jenny's own words:

Most people know that Matthew was killed in a horrible hate crime outside of Laramie, Wyoming in 1998, about a year after the short story was first published. The foundation was created in Matthew's memory to increase love, tolerance, and compassion in the world as it educates people about hatred and homophobia. In making my shirts, I wanted to help people share their love of BBM with the public at large, and also translate their love (and grief) into a positive and tangible contribution that will go toward making the world safer and better for the real-life Jacks and Ennises still struggling to live and love freely in this world. Because of the geographical and other connections between Matthew's story and the story of Brokeback, it was the only place I ever considered sending my profits.

Tomorrow, Sunday 6/25, she'll be selling them at NY's Pridefest (on Hudson near LeRoy). Details, Replies 26 & 27. Check 'em out, and buy 2 or 3 for everyone you know!

Ennis' wooden horse

A picture of your humble correspondent holding the carved horse and knife from Brokeback Mountain (photo courtesy of Brett of The Back to Brokeback Project).

Castro Brokeback Mountain

It is a great and wonderful thing for Brokebackers, Brokebackites and Brokaholics to gather in fellowship and watch The Movie on the Big Screen together.  Last night in the Castro was wonderful, both getting together before the movie and meeting some of the online folks (both Ultimate Bb Forum and BetterMost.net), and getting to see Brokeback Mountain again on the big screen.  (By the way, there's still time - it's showing today and tomorrow, 6/13-14.)  People came from as far away as New York, Alaska and Samoa to see it again.  And such interesting, beautiful, gentle people! And I got to actually hold the wooden horse and knife that Heath/Ennis was using in the tent on that first Brokeback Summer! A holy relic of Our Boys of Brokeback!

 

Many thanks to all who helped put the event together, and to all who attended. Others have said it better than I at: http://davecullen.com/forum/index.php?topic=9547.45 (see Replies 55 & 56.)

Brokeback Mountain Fever Returns

Tomorrow is the Big Day: I'm gonna see Brokeback Mountain on the big screen again, at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco. And I seem to be relapsing into Brokeback Mountain Fever: obsessing about the movie, emotionally fragile, feeling there couldn't be anything else as important as The Movie.

And a bonus: Tomorrow has been declared "Brokeback Mountain Day" in San Francisco. Details at (see Reply #36): http://davecullen.com/forum/index.php?topic=9547.30

Brokeback at the Castro

Good News! The Best Movie Ever is coming to the Most Fabulous Movie Palace on the Gayest Street in America! Brokeback Mountain will be on the Big Screen again, showing for 3 days only (June12th-14th) at the Castro Theatre on Castro Street in San Francisco. Folks are coming from all over for this very special event. More info, and suggestions for those coming in from out of town, at the Ultimate Brokeback Forum:
http://davecullen.com/forum/index.php?topic=9547.0

Hope to see y'all there!

Ultimate Brokeback Forum - interview and update

English language interview (appearing on a Korean site) with Dave Cullen of the Ultimate Brokeback Forum.

Mystery and Sacrament on Brokeback Mountain

Another interesting column on Brokeback Mountain and the Sacred, from Thomas Novak's Queer Spirit column:

...Brokeback Mountain is also a moving invitation to reconsider some classic themes of Western spirituality and a startling meditation on Christian sacramental theology.

Passing through Greek mythology, the Hebrew Song of Songs, the Christian gospels and even the Sufi Muslim poet, Rumi, the creators of this magnificent work have taken us, literally, to the heights and depths of the spiritual journey.

"The Good Shepherd of Brokeback Mountain"

An opinion piece suggesting preaching on Brokeback Mountain for "Good Shepherd Sunday":

To present afresh the 2000-year-old image of the Good Shepherd, there could be no better convention than to hide him as a 1960s ranch hand who falls in love with another man. Hidden in the character of Jack Twist is the ancient image of the Good Shepherd....

It might seem unconventional to portray the Shepherd as a lover too, but the Lover-Shepherd is a familiar figure in the Jewish and Christian traditions. One has only to think of the Shepherd King David and his beloved, Jonathan. (I Sam. 18:1) The Lover in the erotic canticle of the Bible, the Song of Songs, is a shepherd (Song 1:7).

A column on "Brokeback From The Pulpit"

A good column from a British Columbia newspaper, quoting a United Church of Canada pastor on Brokeback Mountain:

"The overriding image is that Brokeback Mountain is a holy mountain, where brothers live in harmony, but at a cost. For one character at least it is heaven on Earth, a place for which he offers a heart-rending prayer of thanksgiving."

Oh Those Germans...

Sometimes it sounds way cool in another language, too. The German site for Brokeback Mountain has some great stuff (although the dubbed trailer is a little disconcerting for one, such as myself, who has seen the movie in English on the big screen 28 times). Quoted from a review in Berliner Zeitung (see under "Presse"):

"Eine der schoensten Liebesgeschichten der Filmhistorie."

I couldn't have said it better myself.

Brokeback postcard rejoins The Shirts

The collector who bought the bloody shirts from Brokeback Mountain was able to get the postcard also. They were to be mounted on wood as in the movie and have their public debut at the GLAAD awards in L.A.

Brokeback Mountain in the context of New Western History

It turns out the history of the American West is much more diverse and complex, and less individualistic than the version we've always been fed. And of course, Brokeback Mountain shows that "Western individualism" only applies to heteros.

Brokeback Mountain, thus, suggests that the West is hardly a region where the individual is free from the constraints of social
expectations and mob violence employed to enforce social norms.

Essay by Ron Briley, posted on George Mason University's History News Network.

My sartorial homage to Brokeback Mountain

On the left, your intrepid correspondent's sartorial homage to Ennis Del Mar on Brokeback Mountain, worn to opening day in Sacramento. (Hey, I never dressed up for midnight shows of Rocky Horror, or wore a Starfleet uniform to Trek conventions! This is the first movie I really wanted to pay homage to, costume-wise. And it's the utilitarian ranchhand look, not some fancy-schmancy Saturday night line-dancing pseudo-cowboy drag!)

Epiphany on Brokeback Mountain

Belatedly, an Epiphany sermon on Brokeback Mountain from David Jenkins, PhD, of Candler School of Theology, Emory University (Atlanta, GA, USA). He correctly points out that the homophobic pronouncements of the churches are themselves "tire irons" killing GLBTQ folk.

"Real Men" fall in love (with each other)

The wonderful reviews keep on coming as Brokeback Mountain continues to open around the world - this one's from India.

Brokeback to rural libraries

The folks from the Ultimate Brokeback Forum are continuing their mission of bringing Brokeback Mountain to the masses and letting the world know that it remains the BEST MOVIE OF 2005!

Brokeback Mountain: the DVD! Part 2

So the Widescreen DVD edition of Brokeback Mountain has remained the #1 selling DVD on Amazon.com for all or most of the last two weeks. And the Fullscreen edition has moved up to #8 (as of post time). You can still buy it from the link above and a portion of the sale supports Dave Cullen's Ultimate Brokeback Forum (the true home of Brokebackers, Brokeaholics, Brokeback Mountaineers and others passionate about the Best Movie of 2005).

It'll be interesting to see if it becomes the bestselling DVD of the week nationally when it finally comes out tomorrow.

Jack's Truck

So a Canadian teenager bought Jack's old truck (from the early part of the movie) after the filming of Brokeback Mountain was finished, and recently put it on eBay. He's hoping to finance his college education with the proceeds.

US$60,000 will pay for a fair amount of college/university....

Gay and Appalachian: the "Brokeback professor"

Virginia Tech creative writing professor Jeff Mann publishes Loving Mountains, Loving Men on being gay in Appalachia.

Brokeback Mountain: the DVD!

Ever since the release date (April 4) of Brokeback Mountain on DVD was announced last week, pre-orders have made it the #1 selling DVD on Amazon.com. And if you buy it from the link above, a portion of the sale supports Dave Cullen's Ultimate Brokeback Forum (the best place on earth for Brokebackers, Brokeaholics, Brokeback Mountaineers and others passionate about the Best Movie of 2005).

A Jesuit preaches on having "a Brokeback Lent"

I have to admit, this one even surprised me. An Ash Wednesday homily on Lent and Brokeback Mountain, from the Jesuit Urban Center/Boston. (Thank you, Jonathan, for the link!)

"The Academy Awards have lost their relevance."

Karen Hershenson on Annie Proulx' rant and the irrelevance of the Oscars (from the Contra Costa Times).

Me in the early Brokeback era

Me (left) and my older brother (right) in Estes Park, Colorado in the summer of either 1963 or 1964.

Brokeback filming sites

Alberta's tourism bureau has specific info (maps!) of the various sites used to film Brokeback Mountain.

More on Hollywood and homophobia

More on the Academy's homophobia. Commentary and comments make clear what a lie "complaining about Brokeback's loss is just sour grapes" is.

How can gay people not feel betrayed by Oscar when so many voters publicly admit that they never even gave "Brokeback" a chance? Worse, that didn't stop them from giving "Brokeback" all of the other Oscars it was expected to get: best director, screenplay and musical score. But they just couldn't go that last step, just couldn't install such a historic milestone on a financially successful and critically acclaimed film — worthy of Academy Awards for writing and direction — and place it in Oscar's best pic pantheon.

What if Brokeback had been about race?

An insightful commentary on the Brokeback vs. Crash controversy, by Mark Salamon on AfterElton.com. An excerpt:

I am not a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts
and Sciences, but I have seen Brokeback Mountain, and I did like it tremendously—as did millions of others. Our bewilderment over its defeat at the Oscars has been misinterpreted. Would you humor us by considering the following analogy that better explains our position?
Let's simply recast Brokeback Mountain as the story about the intolerance faced by a white woman and her black husband in rural Wyoming in the 1960s....

Brokebackers speak truth to the Academy

As you probably know, fans of Brokeback Mountain raised funds to place a full color ad in in the March 10 issue of Daily Variety, thanking all those responsible for the movie (as well as Jack and Ennis themselves).

The ad can be seen at http://davecullen.com/brokebackmountain/img/ad-final.jpg

Links to media coverage of the ad: http://davecullen.com/forum/index.php?topic=2005.0

Chinese language coverage: http://udn.com/NEWS/ENTERTAINMENT/ENT3/3207974.shtml

Most-awarded movie of all time

In case we forget what came before the Academy's snub, Brokeback Mountain is the most-awarded movie of all time:

During the awards' season leading up to Sunday night's Oscars, Brokeback Mountain became the most honored movie in cinematic history. It had more Best Picture and Director wins than previous Oscar winners Schindler's List and Titanic combined.

Beautiful video tribute to Brokeback Mountain

Video reminder that Brokeback will always be our Best Picture....

An Oscar-night vision

From Pierre of the Dave Cullen forum:

I had a vision march 5th,

I swear I saw jack and Ennis turn down their heads when " crash" was read and relegated back to the solitary confinement of the Mountains. i swear i saw Ennis lead as jack followed in disbelief. I swear i saw the fight of their last meeting ressurected, and the brief glimpses of the beauty they shared, albeit cut short by what surrounds them. i swear i saw that they held onto each other harder then ever before, harder then any prior fight. They knew all they have is each other. the world is not for them. They are sun and moon forever united. So full of hope that they could be with one another in the light, only to find out the tire iron still exists just in the body of a ignorant group and shape of a white envelope.

i swear i saw ennis and jack, slowly gather their belongings. Fold up the tent. put away the joyous harmonica for the last time. Climb on their horses and ride out of the auditorium. riding past the howling coyotes and learned snakes. Where they'll go? they don't know. But they know they are not welcome here and our boys are too good to stay any place they are not wanted.

I swear i saw them ride into me. they ride into my heart. make a camp. build a cabin. run a cattle operation. In my heart i will protect them from the world. I will protect them from what they don't understand. Ennis will hold jack and jack will hold ennis in my offer of peace and a home in my soul. I will let them love as they wish and only i can dream. Forever a part of me.

Jack and Ennis... I swear ...


http://davecullen.com/forum/index.php?topic=1061.225

Hollywood Homophobia

Well, the denial of the Best Picture Oscar to the widely-agreed-upon Best Picture, Brokeback Mountain, can only be explained by the Academy members' homophobia and cowardice. Talk of Crash (which few saw) as Best Picture didn't start until the question of whether Hollywood was mature enough, brave enough, to award a "gay love story" the Best Picture Oscar was raised. So the homophobic rich straight white males who run America triumph again.

While we are very happy for the recognition of the gifts and talents of Diana, Larry, Ang and Gustavo, this is certainly a Day of National Mourning in Brokeback Nation.

Real Gay Cowboy, Heath, and Gay Mardi Gras

A wonderful story from Down Under of the trials and tribulations of a real rural cowboy. (Oh to be in Sydney for Mardi Gras.... Sigh....)

Breaking the Social Order: Brokeback Mountain and the Re-Imagined Western

A veeeery interesting commentary by Shaun Huston (popmatters.com) on Brokeback Mountain and re-imagining the West. Among the conclusions:

In making its protagonists sympathetic, genuine cowboys, and in love with each other, the film asks audiences to believe that the renewal of American freedom should include the right of Jack and Ennis to have the "sweet life" Jack dreams of.

Fan Videos...

There are some wonderful fan-created Brokeback Mountain videos out there. The best list I’ve found is at Dave Cullen’s (see link).

I’d especially recommend the three videos by fan Vincent Martinez (music: Ever The Same/Rob Thomas, Far Away/Nickelback, In This Life/Westlife); the A Love That Will Never Grow Old video; the other Far Away video (by “Hydini”); and June’s videos to Hearts in Armor/Tricia Yearwood, Goodbye My Lover/James Blunt, and I Will Remember You/Sarah McLachlan. But check 'em all out!

Buyer of Brokeback Mountain Shirts

Tom Gregory, who spent just over $100,000 on the winning bid for Jack's and Ennis' shirts in a charity auction on Ebay says he won't separate them. "They really are the ruby slippers of our time," said Gregory, 45.

Lego Brokeback Mountain

"Lego Brokeback Mountain" says it all. You really must go there and see it yourself....

Brokeback Mountain as Frame of Reference

In a comment by Boris (Reply #2837 on the linked page), one can read an excellent analysis of why Brokeback Mountain affects so many of us so deeply. A quote:

Brokeback Mountain has done something very seldom a movie can. It has provided us all a frame of reference to reflect our pain, sorrow, joy, love, hopes and aspirations. It gave us all a mirror to look at ourselves. It gave us a story that we could emotionally attach and this forum provided a place where to share our feelings. Brokeback provided us with language of loss that we all could understand. Brokeback hit us directly into heart and ripped our protective layers to shreds. It left us vulnerable and raw but also alive. Brokeback cannot provide meaning and purpose to our lives but it has exposed the need, shown to us that we may have lost our direction and we need to reclaim it.

Follow the link for the complete comment.

Jake and his BAFTA

Congratulations to Jake Gyllenhaal for his Best Supporting Actor from the British Academy! Much deserved. And so good to hear him say, in accepting, that Brokeback Mountain means more to him "socially than artistically" - recognizing the social impact and importance of this movie. As reported by Yahoo:

Jake Gyllenhaal won the best supporting actor prize for playing Jack Twist, one of two cowpokes who fall in love over the course of a Wyoming summer.

Gyllenhaal said onstage that the movie, whose commercial success is unprecedented for a gay-themed film, "means even more to me socially than it does artistically."

"I've had a lot of people say to me after the film, to my surprise, 'Thank you for making it,'" Gyllenhaal told reporters backstage. "It's made a social impression, and that social impression to me is the aftermath of an artistic impression, and so much more important."

17th Viewing/Willie Nelson song

Well, the 17th viewing yesterday, and I didn't even cry. Until I came home and started reading other Brokebackers' stories on Dave Cullen's BBM forum. That's when I lost it.

Here's the link to hear/see Willie Nelson's wonderful recording of "Cowboys are Frequently Secretly Fond of Each Other." Enjoy! (Thanks to Jonathan for the info!)

Moving story about two real gay cowboys

Excellent story about two real gay cowboys, their influence on the writer and the effect of Brokeback Mountain on him.

15th and 16th viewings

Saw Brokeback Mountain for the 15th time yesterday, and the 16th time today. The anxieties about BBM leaving the Big Screen continue - it'll never be the same on a TV screen. So I'm getting in the BBM Big Screen experience as much as I can - it may have to last me a lifetime....

Brokeback Mountain: The Postcard

The Brokeback Phenomenon

From the cover story of the current Advocate (issue dated Feb 28, 2006) this quote:

Never before has a gay-themed film been as written about, reviewed, lauded, awarded, discussed, dissected, parodied, and hyped as Brokeback Mountain, so it’s easy to forget amid this din that the film is deeply moving millions nationwide one theater and one screen at a time, communities sitting together in the dark and emotionally connecting with this story.

I cried the first time I read that. I so hope it's true. I know there's at least a few of us who have been inexplicably unbelievably moved by the movie, but that it might be touching so many gives me hope....

Heath and Jake Thank You Postcard Campaign

I'm sending postcards of beautiful Sacramento to Jake, Heath, Ang and Annie, thanking them for Brokeback Mountain. Much more info at the link.

Cowboys Are Frequently, Secretly (Fond of Each Other)

So Willie Nelson chooses Valentine's Day to release a song about gay cowboys: Cowboys Are Frequently, Secretly (Fond of Each Other) originally recorded by the fabulous Pansy Division.

Sample lyrics:
Ten men for each woman was the rule way back when on the prairie,
And somehow those cowboys must have kept themselves warm late at night.
Cowboys are famous for getting riled up about fairies,
But I’ll tell you the reason a big strong man gets so uptight:

Cowboys are frequently secretly fond of each other
That’s why they wear leather, and Levi's and belts buckled tight.
There’s many a cowboy who don’t understand the way that he feels towards his brother;
There’s many a cowboy who’s more like a lady at night.

Note that Willie Nelson's recording of Bob Dylan's He Was A Friend of Mine is on the Brokeback Mountain soundtrack (it plays over the end credits in the movie).

13th viewing of Brokeback Mountain

Yes, it's true, I've now seen Brokeback Mountain 13 (thirteen) times. I've seen it in six different theaters in four counties. I've tried to see it every weekend since the second weekend it was playing (I only missed the weekend I was down with a terrible cold). I still cry when Ennis finds the shirts. I have no interest in seeing other movies at the moment (I'll see Capote and Transamerica when they come out on dvd).

Post-Brokeback Syndrome

For anyone else experiencing "Post-Brokeback Syndrome" (PBS) I have to recommend the Brokeback Mountain Fever Support Group (and the other topics) on Dave Cullen's BBM Forums. Caring people who also have been touched deeply by this most amazing movie. Many stories of people whose hearts have been broken open by Brokeback Mountain.

Brokeback leads Beliefnet vote

As of this posting, Brokeback Mountain is leading Beliefnet.com's poll for "Best Spiritual Film of 2005" (BBM, 66%; Narnia, 17%). The "pro" column by Frederic & Mary Ann Brussat is excellent. Their conclusion:

"Brokeback Mountain" will evoke your compassion as you confront the deep ache of separation at the center of the story. It is also a cry for acceptance of these lovers who are forced to keep secret an essential element of who they are through the long and lonely years. Buddhist teacher Sharon Salzberg was once asked, "How do I open my heart?" She replied, "Usually, it's broken open." This film will break your heart and open it.

"You Bet"

I've probably eaten lots of these candy hearts before, but this year this one means so much...

"Far Away" - a Brokeback Mountain vid

A fan music video by Hydini, made up of clips from Brokeback Mountain, courtesy of YouTube.com.

Brokeback Mountain: Eleventh Viewing

Well, just having seen Brokeback Mountain for the eleventh time, I have to say that it doesn't lose its power. Words continue to be inadequate. I'm beginning to have anxieties about when it leaves the theaters, though. What if I never get to see it on a big screen again? How can that amazing scenery ever look as good at home?

Brokeback Mountain IS a specifically Gay story!

In the New York Review of Books, Daniel Mendelsohn argues that, in spite of much of the publicity and many of the reviews, Brokeback Mountain is a specifically gay story, about the closet and its consequences.

Homemade Brokeback Mountain souvenir

An Australian take on Heath and the Oscar

In The Australian, Steven Romei writes on why Heath deserves the Best Actor Oscar for his performance in Brokeback Mountain:

He has acted out of his skin - which is that of an occasionally yobbish heterosexual Australian male - and beyond his years to produce something utterly deserving of the Academy Award nomination he received yesterday.

Ledger becomes gay cowboy Ennis Del Mar. There are no false notes. As the film unfolds we want nothing more than for our Heath - whom we have forgotten is our Heath - to settle down with his handsome lover on a little ranch in the wilds of Wyoming.

Writing from that little-ranch-of-the-mind, I would have to agree.

Brokeback Mountain Stars on Oprah

A commentary on the stars of Brokeback Mountain appearing on Oprah last Friday (from AfterElton.com). I don't necessarily agree with his interpretation of Oprah's own feelings, but I do have to agree that this came through:

For Jake Gyllenhall, Heath Ledger, Michelle Williams, and Anne Hathaway, the movie is clearly something they are passionate about and proud of. Jake was especially terrific, commenting on how he just doesn’t understand why people care about “how other people love.” Anne said the usual star-talk about how the awards are nice, but the real reward is seeing how much the movie means to people. More often than not that is just talk. But given the impact of Brokeback, perhaps it was more than just that.

The four actors truly seemed to appreciate the significance Brokeback Mountain has for so many people, most notably gay men. Indeed, at one point Jake said he wasn’t sure he could have done the movie had he known the effect it would have. His hesitation is understandable. Gay men placed a great deal of expectations on the movie’s shoulders. Our reaction has been powerful, likely even overwhelming for someone who probably thought he was in a movie few would ever see.

Then there is the fact that the movie has hit the cultural landscape like a bombshell, creating an impact not seen Ellen came out. It must be daunting to stand at the center of such a cultural hurricane. Everyone involved with Brokeback Mountain has had his or her character questioned and their motives impugned. That can’t be fun.

The other thing that struck me was how young these actors really are! After seeing them age in Brokeback Mountain, it's easy to forget that they were really really young when they filmed it (principal filming was May to August 2004 - Jake Gyllenhaal was only 23!).

S.A.G. disappointment

Well, Brokeback Mountain being completely shut out of the Screen Actors Guild awards was a disappointment. I hope this isn't a sign of a backlash (Hollywood folk do not like to feel like they're being railroaded into being part of a landslide).

On Gustavo Santaolalla

On composer-songwriter Gustavo Santaolalla and Brokeback Mountain, from a weekly column on Latin music in the Houston Chronicle.

(Photo by Alejandra Palacios)

Best. Gay. Week. Ever.

A fun summary of Brokeback's week in "A weekly column highlighting news about gay and bisexual men in pop culture" by Michael Jensen of AfterElton.com (dated today). A sample:

IT’S BROKEBACK’S WORLD. WE JUST LIVE IN IT
Okay, I’m going to try and nutshell all of this week’s news. As of
yesterday, Brokeback’s box office tally is just under $44 million dollars in the US and a little more than $10 million overseas. That means, even before the Oscar nominations have been
announced, the movie has officially turned a profit, so put that in your pipes and smoke it wingnuts! Towleroad has a great interview with Brokeback producer James Schamus. And today
brings us Oprah’s Brokeback Mountain show with the entire cast, including Jake Gyllenhaal, who flew in from location to make his first promotional appearance with Heath Ledger. No word which of them will be the one to jump up and down on the couch.

Wingnuts cannot be happy about today’s show, as the Oprah seal of approval is so powerful that if the Falwell-Dobson-Robertson Axis-of-Bigotry tried to boycott her, she would smite them with a snap of her fingers.

As for the week’s various awards, Brokeback took top honors at the Producer’s Guild Awards, and Ang Lee will likely win Saturday night when the Director’s Guild hands out its trophy....

For the complete column, follow the link...

And the cultural phenomenon continues

So, the president has been asked about Brokeback Mountain, and the Producers' Guild has named it Best Picture, and a "pet boutique" in L.A. has a window display called "Barkback Mountain" where "The window's canine mannequins — one in a hunter's parka, the other in a fisherman's sweater — huddle around a faux campfire, accompanied by squeaky squirrel toys, migrating geese and two clearly unused fishing rods."

And the Google search results count for the exact phrase "Brokeback Mountain" is now up to 31,900,000. Two weeks ago tomorrow it was only 12,800,000 (and that seemed like a lot at the time).

Brokeback Mountain and Samuel Alito

The always fabulous Mark Morford of the San Francisco Chronicle and SFGate.com sees signs of hope in the response to Brokeback Mountain:

The screech of the right's homophobes is being easily drowned out by the fact that this astonishing, pitch-perfect film is now considered a movie that, quite literally, changes minds. Shifts perceptions. That moves the human experiment forward and makes people truly think about sex and gender and love and not in the way that, say, "Pride & Prejudice" makes you think, because that kind of thinking is merely sweet and harmless, whereas "Brokeback" slaps bigotry and intolerance upside its knobby little head and induces heated discussions of the film's dynamics and politics and ideas of love over a bottle of wine and some deep, curious sighing.

I hope and pray he's right! Read his entire column at the link below.

Brokeback Mountain: A Telling Story

For me, this was one of the most telling stories about reactions to Brokeback Mountain (story by Sean Smith from Newsweek, Nov. 21, 2005 issue, link below):

Two weeks ago, Ang Lee showed his new film to an audience in Los Angeles, and afterward he stuck around to answer questions from the crowd. Director Q&As are pretty common in the movie industry, and Lee ... has done more than his share. But something strange happened this time—the same thing that happens almost every time Lee screens "Brokeback Mountain." "People don't have many questions," he says. "Most of the time, they just stand up and tell me how they feel." When they're still crying, he already knows.

When film industry types, as jaded as they're reputed to be, are crying in the presence of their colleagues at the end of a movie, that's certainly a sign that this is not just another movie. Not just another gay movie; not just another romance; but something special, something beyond the norm, something transcendent, something of depth, something transformative.

A Love that will never grow old ...

Brokeback Mountain soundtrack #1!

The Brokeback Mountain soundtrack is the #1 music seller on Amazon! I've been listening to it obsessively for weeks, and I didn't think anybody else had noticed it. I guess a Golden Globe Best Song win for the fabulous "A Love That Will Never Grow Old" made people pay attention.

"Brokeback Mountain challenges sexual norms"

Excellent opinion piece on Brokeback Mountain by Zach Zaragoza in the University of Nevada/Las Vegas' Rebel Yell. His conclusion:

"Brokeback Mountain" is about challenges. Not only the challenges that are evident between the two gay cowboys, but the challenges placed on the people sitting in the audience. Never before have contemporary attitudes about sexuality been challenged as effectively as they have in this movie. Challenge yourself to see this movie, not because of the Golden Globes that it has won or the larger societal issues it deals with, but because, in the end, after watching the film you focus less on the two gay
cowboys and instead on the heartbreaking love that they desperately wanted to share.

A Brokeback Mountain convert

The testimony of a self-described conservative Christian who almost-accidentally saw Brokeback Mountain and was changed by it. Originally posted on IMDB with the title “I’m a Conservative Christian and This Film Changed My Mind.”

Ang Lee, in accepting his Golden Globe, noted "the power of movies to change the way we're thinking". I think this testimony will not be the last one we see from former homophobes who began to see beneath the lies they've been taught and the violence that results from those lies.

My thanks to Shakespeare's Sister and my brother Tom for this story.

Ang Lee at Golden Globes

On accepting the Golden Globe for Best Director, Ang Lee said:

You can never categorise or stereotype a region or a place. People fall in love, period. This is a universal story.

Commendable sentiments, for sure.

Brokeback Mountain: 4 Golden Globes

Four Golden Globes for Brokeback Mountain and well earned too. I'm particularly happy that "A Love That Will Never Grow Old" from the soundtrack is finally getting the recognition it deserves. I'm sorry that Heath Ledger didn't win Best Actor/Drama, but I guess one can't have everything (he certainly deserved it in my book!).

12,800,000 results

Well, I just googled the phrase "Brokeback Mountain" and it came back with 12,800,000 results. Is this some cultural phenomenon or what?

Brokeback Mountain: a useful Guy's perspective

A very useful commentary by David Ortmann on why Brokeback Mountain speaks to all men, with some additional reasons why gay men especially identify. Some of what he says definitely applies to my identification with (obsession with?) the movie, for example:

Gay men are no strangers to rejection and, although society is changing, most of us grew up feeling rejected, fearful, and profoundly self-hating. This may be why we feel a kinship with the fear and isolation in Ennis del Mar, the fear that if he and Jack show their love for each other and build a life together they will be killed.

Brokeback Mountain postcard...

What we're all thinking....

BBM as chick flick

Another perceptive commentary on the cultural phenomenon, from a straight female's point of view.

The Soundtrack

The Soundtrack cd for Brokeback Mountain now seems to me to be essential to the BBM experience.  As minimalist as it is, and as unobtrusive in the movie, it expresses what we wish Ennis and Jack could have said to each other.  This is especially true of "A Love That Will Never Grow Old", which speaks the unspoken words underlying their love.  If you love the movie and haven't obtained the soundtrack, do so as soon as possible!  

Jack & Ennis

Like it says....

Fear of Brokeback Mountain?

A very interesting commentary by columnist Leonard Pitts Jr. on why Brokeback Mountain scares some straight folk.

I find myself wondering if this primeval revulsion [toward Brokeback Mountain] doesn't speak less to our antipathy toward homosexuality than to our fears about masculinity.... I think gay men threaten our very conception of masculinity.

Many of us have known this for a long time, but if the popularity of this movie raises questions in more people's minds about the traditional idea of masculinity, that's a great thing. And when we realize that it was the traditional American masculinity of their fathers that psychologically brutalized Ennis and Jack as children and kept them from being able to love freely, we can dream and pray that that masculinity is threatened, questioned, changed, healed and replaced by love.

Read the whole column at: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13581184.htm

Best Picture and Best Director

So the Broadcast Film Critics Association named Brokeback Mountain Best Picture, and Ang Lee Best Director! If I heard correctly, 4 of the last 5 movies who won this Best Picture award went on to win the Best Picture Oscar. We'll see....

Utah cancellation

Well, a Utah cineplex owned by a member of the LDS church cancelled Brokeback Mountain at the last minute. Dog bites man? I mean, no big surprise, right? Even while BBM in downtown Salt Lake City has among the highest per-screen grosses in the nation? And on the weekend that BBM broke into the top 10 grossing movies in the nation?

I just feel bad for the folks in Sandy, Utah who will have to travel that much further to see it.

Fifth time, and the screenplay

Well, I saw Brokeback Mountain for the fifth time this afternoon. Each crowd I see it with is a little different in their reactions: where and how much laughter, crying, exclaiming of surprise. I cried more than the third and fourth times; just a different day and theater than last Friday, I guess.

Finished reading the screenplay today. It does help in understanding the intentions of the screenwriters, and in understanding the transition from short story to finished film. I'd recommend Brokeback Mountain: Story To Screenplay to anyone who loves this film.

Sadly, I'll probably have to wait until next weekend to see the movie again. Sigh....

One escort's view...

A very interesting commentary on the effect Brokeback Mountain may have on closeted gay men, especially those in heterosexual marriages:

http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=66b6e58760e0590cb7a6dba39c139f0d

The visceral reaction to Brokeback Mountain

What's up with the intense physical reactions many of us have to Brokeback Mountain? Of the first time she read the story, Diana Ossana writes in Brokeback Mountain: Story To Screenplay:

By the time I reached the last words of the story, I felt, to paraphrase Annie [Proulx]'s own words, as if my guts had been pulled out hand over hand a yard at a time.... I was weeping by the end, deep gut-wrenching sobs.

Drew Limsky, in a 12/30/05 op-ed piece in the Boston Globe writes of the first time he saw the movie:

My identification with Jack Twist was so complete that his heartbreaking optimism and bitter frustration made me almost physically ill, like I couldn't breathe.

When I think too much about the story of Jack and Ennis, I get these rushes of sensation that are somewhere between chills-up-my-spine and hot flashes. And I've seen others describe parallel experiences. (I'll include some additional quotes in future posts.)

Why does it hit us so hard?

The Big Day; the Bee Review

Well, the big day is finally here - the Sacramento area finally gets to see Brokeback Mountain! And two of the theaters it's opening in are very suburban cineplexes, so folks in the 'burbs will at least have access. I'm really curious about who shows up on opening day during the day - it's a work day (I'm taking vacation) so it will be pretty hardcore fans, I'd think. The big question for me will be whether I have the energy to sit through it twice in a row (I bought advance tix for the first two shows); the first two times I saw it I was so wiped out emotionally I don't think I could have seen it again immediately.

The Sacramento Bee review is finally out (4 stars of course); there's a front page above-the-masthead picture and reference to the review, and pictures on both the front page of the Ticket section and the front page of the Movies subsection. And they also printed that good LA Times article about Heath Ledger (coincidentally or not, Casanova also opens here today). The BBM review timing is ironic since Carla Meyer, the Bee's reviewer, already named Brokeback Mountain #1 on her top 10 movies of 2005!

Jack + Ennis 4 Ever

I have many reactions to the story of Jack and Ennis, but one is that I want to find wet cement and draw a big heart and write:

Jack

+

Ennis

4

Ever

I want to paint it on the sides of railroad trestles, and spell it out with white rocks on hillsides. Just another inexplicable, deep set of feelings raised by Brokeback Mountain.

BBM opening in Sacramento

It's sad that Brokeback Mountain isn't opening here in Sacramento, the capital of the most populous state in the Union and one of the 20 largest TV markets in the country, until this Friday. It's already opened in Nashville, Milwaukee and Buenos Aires, but not here. Being a non-driver, I had to take bus to Amtrak train to meet friend to drive to BART to see the movie in Berkeley the weekend it opened there. And I'm glad I did, but why?!?

A Dream Abandoned, Reclaimed

After seeing Brokeback Mountain, I realized one of the dreams I had abandoned long ago was the dream of expressing myself, of sharing my thoughts with others and connecting with others of like mind. So this is a beginning.

Sorry to be so brief, but it's off to cubicleland! More soon...