Author Topic: <-- Introduce Yourself -->  (Read 859651 times)

Offline Impish

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Re: Introduce Yourself
« Reply #130 on: April 10, 2006, 10:51:58 am »
Hi everyone,
Since a few of you know already, I won't remain in the closet any longer... This is my big coming out to everyone: I am French. No, PLEASE don't leave! I am not your typical French person, who is in general a typical Parisian in fact (the first French outsiders meet). I am not Parisian at all, and French only because my part of the country, Brittany, was made French (like many of their other colonies) a while back. I am really a Breton. Is that better?

Hi Isabelle:  I lived in Paris for a year (Fall 1991-1992) and love all things French, so please don't apologize!
I made several weekend trips to various towns, but the closest I came to you was Rouen.  Is that considered Brittany?

Anyway, I'm delighted to meet you.  Welcome to Bettermost!

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Offline Impish

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Re: Introduce Yourself
« Reply #131 on: April 10, 2006, 11:05:00 am »
First off, Hi!

I have to strangely admit that I am extremely nervous in posting an intro, since I've always been more of a lurker at various forums and I am always a little nervous that I may sound like either a complete spaz or dork. So, forgive any typos that you may see, for my hands are jittery and morning coffee doesn't help things much.  ;)

Welcome to Bettermost.  I hope you feel less nervous now that you posted your intro!

I hope you register with us; it will allow you to see several boards that are hidden to guests.  Keep coming back ...  you already have a community of friends here:  you just haven't met them yet.   ;D
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Offline isabelle

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Re: Introduce Yourself
« Reply #132 on: April 10, 2006, 11:17:41 am »
 but the closest I came to you was Rouen.  Is that considered Brittany?

Nope, sorry! That's Normandy. Brittany starts in Rennes, where I live.

Anyway, I'm delighted to meet you.  Welcome to Bettermost!

Wow, thank you very much! I am really happy to be here with you all, I am very sincere in saying this. I love it here, even more than the PT board. But you know, I was only kidding about 'I'm French, don't throw me out!'. I know that you people here are not haters, of anyone. But we are, well, not always very much loved, and I can see why too!


[/quote]
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Offline FuzzyChanny

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Re: Introduce Yourself
« Reply #133 on: April 12, 2006, 01:39:03 pm »
Hey Everyone

Firstly, reading everyone's stories and the effects Brokeback has had on their lives has increased my love for this movie (if that's possible). The power that this movie has is staggering and the fact I can share it with other people is fantastic, so thanks Philip for the brilliant forum (it's really pretty, I've been on a lot of forums in my time and this one is one of the best).

My name's Chantelle, I'm an eighteen year old female from South Africa (but I'm moving to Liverpool, UK in September for University) and I first heard about Brokeback Mountain because I'm a huge Jake Gyllenhaal fan. Despite this, I was still really interested in the movie on it's own (an example is that I only went to see Jarhead cos Jake was in it because it didn't look like it appealed to me *I ended up loving it* but with Brokeback I really wanted to see it, regardless of Jake) and by the end of December, I had developed a full blown obsession with it. Unfortunately I had ages to wait (it only came out here March 10) but I whiled away the time watching trailers, collecting facts and following it's award season run. I had never been so in love with a movie I had never even seen. Like someone else who posted here, I ruined my first viewing a bit for myself because by the time I saw the movie, I'd seen a piece of about 80% of the scenes. I even knew about Jack (but that was not my fault. I was looking at someone's profile on IMDB and they had replied to a thread entitled "When Jack Dies").

The week before it came out here, I was in England and I was this -> | | close to buying the Story to Screenplay book, but knowing I have no self control I would have read the whole thing before the movie, which I didn't want to do. Then, on the Sunday of Oscar night, there was a competition to see Brokeback Mountain. This was all I wanted, to see it before Oscar night. No one understood why I couldn't just wait five extra days. I entered, but didn't win. So I ended up watching Oscars without seeing it. In any case, I still cried when it lost to Crash (slightly ridiculous since I hadn't seen either).

When it came out, I was ready. I had bought my tickets on the Sunday (after I didn't win the competition) and smsed my two best friends who I was going with (one male, one female) to share my excitement. That first viewing was... strange. Strange is the only word I could originally use to describe it but over time, I came to understand my feelings better. You see, that first viewing I was excited to be seeing "the greatest love story of our time" and what I was hung up on was the love story (something in the vein of Titanic *I'm sorry if you don't like Titanic, it's the closest thing I can think of to describe the "beautiful love story" I was expecting*). What I got was so much more. I did not even understand what I was feeling. By the end, I was left feeling empty (I did not cry) and mistook this to be that I had not connected with it emotionally. I could not have been more wrong. Four hours later when I went to bed, I was still haunted by it (despite already saying I did not connect with it emotionally to my friends). The next morning, it was still in my head. Two hours after that, I started crying my eyes out. I had been, as we say, "Broken by Brokeback".

Thinking about it didn't end there. I continued, and arranged to see it with another friend on the Wednesday. I'll never forget that day, because that afternoon, the male best friend I had originally seen BBM with told me he was gay. It wasn't the biggest surprise, as I'd suspected it for as long as I'd known him, but what did surprise me was that he had known about it, or atleast thought it, for three years (I had always thought he just hadn't realised it yet) and had been too afraid to tell me (or anyone). I was so happy that he was finally being able to be himself with me, but it made the BBM viewing that night hit me even harder. I got a bit teary here and there through it but when it got to the final scene and once again, I was only slightly teary, I resigned to the fact that BBM was not meant to be cried in. Then, as the picture faded to black, in the second before the first credit rolled, it washed over me and I began to hysterically and uncontrollably sob (I was making a lot of noise and when I tried to stop it just made it worse). My friend tried to comfort me and said "Don't worry, they're not real people." which just made it worse, because they ARE real people (or atleast representitives of what people are going through), and worse than that, one of them is my best friend. It brought it all home and made me value, even more, his trust in me by telling me. I am now up to four times and plan on going again in the next few days (before it's gone). And I eventually got my Story to Screenplay  :D

This movie has done things to me I cannot explain, because I don't even understand them. It is a true form of art, as it has the ability to enlighten and change many people and their opinions. It makes you aware of how far the world still has to go with regards to tolerance and acceptance, by showing you the effects of these negative traits. It is heartbreaking and beautiful. My words are unable to describe how much I love this movie, no matter how hard I try. On top of it all, it enabled me to have a heart again. About a year ago, I went from being a bubbly and passionate person to a heartless, ice queen (after my heart was destroyed *destroyed is the only way to describe it* by someone I loved) and this movie was a healing point for me as it made me feel again, and to actually start having some faith in love again.

I've also gotten to the point where I'm starting to think I won't date a guy unless he's seen it, but this may pass (After I had a fight with the guy I like last night because he hadn't seen it) ;) ...
I've learnt that you cannot make someone love you. All you can do is stalk them and hope they panic and give in!

Offline isabelle

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Re: Introduce Yourself
« Reply #134 on: April 12, 2006, 01:47:42 pm »
[My words are unable to describe how much I love this movie, no matter how hard I try. On top of it all, it enabled me to have a heart again. About a year ago, I went from being a bubbly and passionate person to a heartless, ice queen (after my heart was destroyed *destroyed is the only way to describe it* by someone I loved) and this movie was a healing point for me as it made me feel again, and to actually start having some faith in love again.

[/quote]

Hello Chantelle (French sounding name!), welcome here, lovely to meet you. What you just said expresses so well what Brokeback Mountain has done to so many people, around the world, no matter what nationality or mother tongue.
I wish you plenty of happy hours here with us!
" - I'm vegan now."
"-Vegan? I thought you were still Church of England"

Offline FuzzyChanny

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Re: Introduce Yourself
« Reply #135 on: April 12, 2006, 03:05:01 pm »
Hey Isabelle

Thank you for the welcome. Yes, my name is French in origin, but I am not French at all (shown in my shocking attempts at O Level French). :)
I've learnt that you cannot make someone love you. All you can do is stalk them and hope they panic and give in!

Offline EnnisLovesJack

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Re: Introduce Yourself - I'm Keren, but you also call me ELJ
« Reply #136 on: April 14, 2006, 03:06:48 pm »
Hello friends, my name is Keren. (Del Mar...jk) Feel free to call me Keren or ELJ. Whichever floats your boat. Or, um, pitches your pup tent.

I'm a 29-year old woman living in a small town near San Diego. As above, I plan to move to Boston this summer. I have been trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up ever since I graduated from college. Any suggestions??? Jk. I love languages and language in general, words, etymology, linguistics, etc. I need music to live.

I, too, am a Tremblay/IMDb refugee. I won't get into that situation, because it is too upsetting an infuriating. Thanks to Phil and his helpers for taking in us in and helping us start over. I am excited about all this impressive board has to offer.

I fell in love with Brokeback Mountain the first time I saw it, read the story, and then proceeded to see it a total of 15 times in the theater, between January and late March. It has moved into my heart and my head, and taken over my life in various ways. (Not to mention taking over the walls of my bedroom (poor me. not!) and maxing out (in only about two weeks) a big filebox I purchased for the express purpose of storing countless threads, discussions, and articles I had printed out. Either ones I loved and wanted to hold on to, or ones I wanted to read and hadn't had time to.  I've since learned it's saner, and better for mobility within a crowded bedroom, to email threads and articles to myself, and drown in a virtual, rather than physical, paper chase.)

'Course, y'all know that feeling. ;) Um, the one before the big parenthesis, that is.;D Since the movie my radio is set almost exclusively to the country station. I pepper my speech with southern accents, words like y'all, and verbiage from the movie, from "friend" to "husbands don't never seem to want to dance with their wives," which I quoted to my mom last night during a relevant conversation. I've made some very good friends through my obsession and involvement on the IMDB boards, both the main BBM one and the Pierre Tremblay underground railroad. Which in fact has functioned like a railroad, ushering us here to worship Brokeback Mountain in freedom, in the safety of our brethren.

I need to add a disclaimer up front: I may not be on here all that much initially. Though I'd love to be able to spend 40 hours a week on this, I have yet to find a patron to enable this. I don't have my own computer - cry for me, go on, cry - so my access is limited to time stolen at work, and begging at my sister's door, and local library labs. To further complicate matters, I'm about to move across the country, 3,000 miles away to Boston. So you can imagine the insanity of job-hunting in a city you don't yet live in and preparing for a huge move like this. It's the biggest move I've ever made on my own. This stuff will consume a large chunk of the next three months of my life.

Please know this is no sign of rudeness, indifference, or lack of interest. I love you all, I love our community, and I hope to get to know all the people here that I have yet to meet. Also know, it eats me up that I can't keep up with all the awesome discussions, posts, articles, videos, and general movie-related info-frenzy. I would LOVE to be able to participate in and stay on top of all of it. To quote a good friend, sucks being finite. But I'll revel in fact that whenever I do find the time, I can come here and pitch a pup tent on the QT with all my fellow brokies.

Well, looking forward to some great chats around this virtual campfire. Pass the whiskey. :) 

Love,
Keren/ELJ

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Offline isabelle

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Re: Introduce Yourself
« Reply #137 on: April 14, 2006, 03:24:49 pm »
Keren - fantastic post!
I do remember you from the other board. I used to be Milena-covic, don't know if you'll remember. We seem to have a lot in common indeed, not least that interest for languages, words, and etymology! I thought I was reading something I wrote elsewhere when I read that part. Which languages do you speak?
I'll wish you good luck for now with your job hunting and moving places, and will look forward to meeting you here from time to time!
Isabelle.
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"-Vegan? I thought you were still Church of England"

Offline YaadPyar

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Re: Introduce Yourself - I'm Keren, but you also call me ELJ
« Reply #138 on: April 14, 2006, 11:04:38 pm »

Hello friends, my name is Keren. (Del Mar...jk) Feel free to call me Keren or ELJ.


Hey there, ELJ.  So great to see you here.  And so great to see so many familiar names and old friends.  I don't want to name more names at the risk of leaving any out.

And...so GREAT to be meeting new friends.  Thanks to Stripey and Impish and Phillip and Aussie Chris and Lynne and BBM Grandma and....to all, for your warm, warm welcome. 
"Vice, Virtue. It's best not to be too moral. You cheat yourself out of too much life. Aim above morality. If you apply that to life, then you're bound to live life fully." (Harold & Maude - 1971)

Offline Chaplin_fan

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Hello everyone!
« Reply #139 on: April 15, 2006, 07:55:56 pm »
Hi everybody.  I just wanted to introduce myself, as I was just sent this link by a friend, and I'm thrilled to be here among you all.

I am, of course, a HUGE Brokeback Mountain junkie (eight viewings so far: five in the theatre and three on the DVD).

I also want to say, odd as it sounds, that this film and short story have changed my life. I was just reading something in this site that ended with: "The movie may be over, but your new life is just beginning," and my jaw dropped.  I have been telling people for weeks now that I feel like I have come out of a years-long coma.

The first time I saw Brokeback Mountain (in January), it hit me like a Mack truck.  I was almost uncontrollably sobbing in the theatre, and had to wait beyond the end credits before I had composed myself enough to go back out into the real world and face people.  Over the next few weeks, my emotions were very surface.  It was hard to get through work, or to focus on anything at all.  I felt like I was experiencing honest-to-goodess, genuine grief: I was in mourning.  But beyond that, I was affected in a way that I have never been affected by any film (or any other work of art, for that matter), and I couldn't figure it out. If not for the message boards where people shared stories of having been moved in the same way, I would have thought I was losing my mind. It was that powerful, that real. Like a punch in the gut, over and over.  I cried in my car, I cried in the shower, I cried while I was making dinner at home.....It was all overwhelming. Subsequent viewings I found of a healing nature, but the sense of loss, regret (for what, I had yet to figure out), and indescribable longing haunted me mercilessly. I would awake from sleep, in tears, and then spend several minutes (sometimes longer) finding solace in the imdb message boards, because that would give me enough comfort to get back to sleep.
I finally figured out that one reason this amazing film affected me so deeply was that I just wasn't happy with certain choices I'd made in my life, and felt lost as to the direction I was going (mid-life crisis, perhaps?). I'm almost 40 and was feeling very down about myself, my job (I'm one of those overly-educated people, the unfortunates, who works a demeaning, unchallenging job in order to put food on my table, when my real joy is the part-time teaching gig I have in the fall semesters at a local college), and my life in general.  I decided that it was time I make a few changes in my life, just to see what would happen.
So, I began working out more often (four times a week now), I signed up for a creative writing class (which I LOVE and  is making me tap into all kinds of things that lay dormant in me for years), and I have "met" (in quotes because we communicate on-line but have yet to actually meet) a wonderful person in France who lives very close to the town where I lived with a host family when I was in college. My partner and I are going to visit her next year, and she is coming to the States in the fall, through school (she's a teacher), where we will actually meet for the first time.  Additionally, we will set up an e-mail exchange between our students in the fall, which may lead to all kinds of wonderful opportunities for them (friendships, relationships, travel...).  Plus (it just seems to keep getting better) I am now writing a short story centered on fictional students who meet as a result of this real (and future) e-mail exchange, and the journey that that takes them on.  On top of all of these positive life changes and wonderful new adventures I find I am embarking on, my relationship with my partner of eight years has never been better.
I feel more hope for myself and my future than I have probably ever felt, and the catalyst for all of this is Brokeback Mountain.  I wish that I could personally thank Annie, Ang, Heath, Jake, Michelle, Anne and every other person who was involved in the creation of this masterpiece, for bringing this amazing, magnificent story into my life, and helping me achieve a self-awareness and sense of fulfillment that I long-ago stopped believing were even possible.   I have never been so moved, and I will treasure this beautiful film as long as I live.
And now I have found this forum, where I can gush about my beloved Brokeback Mountain to my heart's content, knowing that I won't be derided by trolls, and that you understand.  Thanks for reading; I look forward to our communications.
Peace,
Tom
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