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.