<-- Introduce Yourself -->

[nakymaton]

Welcome, skye. Believe me, we know what you're going through. There ain't no reins on this one.

[ednbarby]

WOW, Skye.  I swear, you just told my story.  You saw the movie for the first time a year almost to the day that I first saw it (my first viewing was 1/7/06).  Just like you, I truly believe I would not have been ready to receive it if I'd seen it even one year prior.  It reawakened me, too, and as Naky alluded to, pretty much all of us here.

Welcome.  Make yourself at home.  As you've probably seen, it's very easy to do here.  Nothing but loving, passionate, reawakened souls around these parts.

[Rivertonplain]

Howdy, all, I am an older man, who was touched very deeply by this fine film by Ang Lee. I have been in the closet for the sake of my job, but I have been in a monogamous relationship for over 11 years now. It was my partner, who first told me about Brokeback Mountain, and I couldn't get enough of it. I remember first seeing Annie Proulx's Wyoming Tales a few years ago on a shelf in a Borders store. When I heard of Brokeback Mountain I couldn't get enough of it. The first thing I got was the CD audio book, then the new book. We went to the film the evening it came out in our area. It was a high point of our lives. We got the DVD standard screen the first day of release. We were thrilled to its being nominated for best picture in the Academy Awards, but I was so offended that it didn't win that I will not watch Academy Award programs for years. I will not watch it this year. Trash, I mean Crash, winning over it is the worst injustice ever perpetrated by the Academy. They hardly award excellence, they award on the "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" principle. Three cheers for the Foreign Press giving Brokeback its due. I love Jake, Heath, Ang, Annie, Anne, Michele, Diana, Larry, Randy, and all the rest who brought this great treasure to the world. Thank you, and may God bless all of you. We love you forever! P.S. Notice that my name on this web is taken from the story/movie. There is Brokeback Mountain and Riverton Plain. "Jack, I swear that I will always love you!"

[ednbarby]

Rivertonplain, you are a boy after my own heart.  I myself will never watch the Academy Awards again.  And I was an Oscar Aficionado for most of my life.  Watched it every year religiously since I was nine or ten.  I'm now 41 and I am done.  I think what they did was purposeful and entirely inexcusable.  And it also proved that they truly have zero credibility.  I had been waiting for years and years for the producers of the show to ask Ellen Degeneres to host it, and they ask her *this* year?  Please.  If that's supposed to qualify as an apology, it's too little too late in my view.  Way too little, way too late.

I think they gave the award to Crash because they were afraid people would stop watching them if they "let" a "gay cowboy movie" win.  I really do.  Trouble is, less and less people have been watching them every year for several years, now.  Yes, they'd have lost some viewers had that been the case.  But I'd bet anything they've lost a whole lot more because just the opposite is what happened.  Not only was what they did a slap to the face of the makers and all those involved with that rapturously beautiful, perfect piece of filmmaking - it was a slap to the face of some of their biggest fans - the gay community.  Again, I find the cruelty of that inexcusable.

*stepping off the soapbox (for now)*

ANYway, welcome to our humble abode.  Glad you've found us.  And this movie.

[Kerry]

I myself will never watch the Academy Awards again. 

I was so appalled by the comic farce of the Oscars last year that I sent the following e-mail to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Los Angeles Times and Variety Magazine on 8 March 2006 (needless to say, I received responses from none of them). Here's what I sent:

"This is an open letter from Australia to the Members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences:

So, let me get this clear in my mind. It was Mash that won the Academy Award for best picture this year? No? What then? Flash? Trash? Pash? Gash? Stash? Whatever it was, one thing’s for sure, it’s instantly forgettable. You were presented with a golden opportunity to make a profoundly grand, universal gesture and failed to do so.  Brokeback Mountain is a great movie, by every definition of that word. Generations yet unborn will quote its wonderfully memorable lines (thanks to Annie Proulx), just as the present generation quotes from Gone with the Wind, Casablanca, Now Voyager, etc. It has entered the hallowed ranks of truly great, immortal works of art. It has affected and changed lives and will continue to do so. How about Crash? Do you think Crash will stand the test of time? That’s a rhetorical question. We all know it won’t. You could have soared with an eagle, but instead chose to busy yourself with a turkey."

[moremojo]

Kerry, what a wonderful, eloquent letter! You expressed so well what so many of us have felt over this issue. I admit it, I have been an Oscar junkie for much of my life, but I'm going cold turkey off it beginning this year...I swear! Giving that flashy, slick PR spectacle any more of my time and energy would just be an insult to everything that Jack and Ennis and their enduring, haunting story represent.

I didn't quit the Oscars...the Oscars quit me!

[injest]

Kerry you stated it perfectly....this movie has entered the popular consciousness..look at this year's Academy Awards promotional poster; where they use famous lines from movies...

They used lines from Brokeback Mountain and none from their own "Best Picture'!!

welcome to our new members I hope you find some comfort here..I know you will find friends!

[Kerry]

Kerry, what a wonderful, eloquent letter! You expressed so well what so many of us have felt over this issue. I admit it, I have been an Oscar junkie for much of my life, but I'm going cold turkey off it beginning this year...I swear! Giving that flashy, slick PR spectacle any more of my time and energy would just be an insult to everything that Jack and Ennis and their enduring, haunting story represent.

I didn't quit the Oscars...the Oscars quit me!

I was very cross at the time! And I still am!!!   

I'll never again watch the Oscars!

P.S., I love your handle, "Amor Omnia." A related variety reads, "Omnia Vincit Amor" - "Love conquers all." So appropriate at this site, remembering our dear Jack and Ennis.

[moremojo]

P.S., I love your handle, "Amor Omnia."

I'm glad you like it . I got it from an austere but great film from 1964 called Gertrud; this was the final work of the great Danish director Carl Theodor Dreyer. You might be interested to read this post I wrote last May 15th on this film, and how its themes relate to those of BBM:

http://bettermost.net/forum/index.php/topic,1520.msg26919.html#msg26919

[ednbarby]

Well-said, Kerry, Scott and Jess.  Yep - stick a fork in 'em - they're done.

And speaking of unforgettable lines from BBM and the complete lack thereof in Crash, can *anyone* remember a single one of the characters' names in the latter?  I can't now, and I couldn't an hour after I saw it a year ago.

What a travesty.

And I'm not cross.  I'm pissed off.