The Daily Sheet December 2010

[killersmom]

Tuesday, December 7th, 2010

The United States Office of Personnel Management: IT GETS BETTER



"Young people should know that no matter how difficult the challenges are that they are
facing right now, it does get better. Every individual is precious and our nation's future rests
on our ability to engage and inspire this new generation. You can be whatever you want. You
can love whomever you want, but only if you love yourself. Trust me. It's worth it. It gets better."

Watch the video on YouTube

Gays Get Unlikely Ally in Military It was practically an out-of-body experience. There was no-nonsense, spit-and-polish Navy Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs — his chest medals, ribbons and badges radiant in the TV lights — testifying before Congress this week and saying basically this: Those in the U.S. military squeamish about bedding down with gay soldiers and Marines better find themselves a new job. It was as if the world had turned upside down. Other generals were still hesitating about repealing the military’s 17-year-old don’t ask, don’t tell policy. But none of these hard-core career soldiers said it shouldn’t be repealed. “One of the things that is most important to me is personal integrity, and a policy or a law that in effect requires people to lie gives me a problem.” -- Secretary of Defense Robert Gates I guess this is what you call a “sea change.” Or maybe it’s a generational change. Some of us are old enough to remember when a gay man or woman who came out of closet risked losing not only their job but their home and medical insurance. Yet here we are, 2010, on the verge of total turnaround in the very repository for all our great tales of bravery, courage and rough ’n’ ready machismo — the U.S. military. Read more.    Source: bostonherald.com

The Professor of Micropopularity ON A MONDAY evening in September, James Schamus and a dozen students in his graduate seminar in film theory at Columbia University were discussing the dialogues of Plato. Each participant who spoke called on the next speaker, and Schamus gave the group plenty of leeway to tussle with the text, but every once in a while he raised his hand and intervened to guide the conversation. The course was called Seeing Narrative, and the discussion centered on Plato’s skepticism about the ability of any visible thing to represent ideal truth — a skepticism that, say, a bunch of beautiful images strung together in a movie could communicate the perfect, invisible idea of Beauty. Schamus, in bow tie and jacket, his mobile face alight with intentness, said: “In Plato, the philosopher’s job is to love knowledge, logos, but it’s always corporealized, and the body fools your senses, your perceptions. The soul is invisible and doesn’t change, and it wants to connect to other such invisible, unchanging things” — including Truth and Beauty in their ideal forms — “but it’s trapped in a body that’s always taking it to visible things that are never the same.”

During a break at the midpoint of the four-hour seminar, Schamus checked his BlackBerry. There were, as usual, lots of messages pertaining to his other job: for the past nine years he has been C.E.O. of Focus Features, the specialty unit of Universal Pictures. As the head of a successful movie studio owned by a giant corporation, Schamus finances, produces and distributes movies that are “independent” to the extent that that label describes a style, a target audience, a price tag. “They make smart movies for low budgets,” as Tim Gray, who oversees Variety, put it. Focus’s Oscar winners include “Milk,” “The Pian­ist” and “Lost in Translation,” among others. Schamus has also had a prolific career as a writer and producer. He has made 11 films with the director Ang Lee, including “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and “Brokeback Mountain.” Along with two partners, Schamus ran Good Machine, a production company that between 1991 and 2002 made and distributed a series of important indie films like “Safe” and “The Brothers McMullen.” Until he got too busy with Focus, Schamus, who is 51, also did uncredited rewrites on the kind of expensive popcorn movies that Focus Features doesn’t make (but he wouldn’t tell me which ones). Read more.    Source: nytimes.com

The Brokeback Book: From Story to Cultural Phenomenon William Handley's new book is available for pre-ordering on the forum's Amazon store. “There’s a Chinese saying, that you throw a brick to attract jade. So it is that the most precious thing about filmmaking—the reactions of the viewers—is entirely out of the hands of the filmmakers. We set out to make one film with Brokeback Mountain, and in return, we got an overwhelming number of reactions that we never expected from moviegoers who saw themselves, or the other, or both, reflected on the big screen. There is a whole range of Brokeback Mountains, many of which are explored in the fascinating, sometimes contradictory, and always passionate essays in this book.” —Ang Lee, Academy Award–winning director of Brokeback Mountain

“Enlightening and provocative, The Brokeback Book is an outstanding collection of personal and scholarly essays. It’s an indispensable guide to a cultural milestone of our time.” —Robert Sklar, author of Movie-Made America: A Cultural History of American Movies “This extraordinary collection allows us to understand Brokeback Mountain as a social phenomenon, a revisionist Western, a classic love story, and a deeply transformative experience for millions of gay and lesbian viewers. The best movies do more than entertain—they alter the course of cultural history. The Brokeback Book shows us how and why Brokeback Mountain achieved just that.” —Christopher Kelly, film critic for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and Texas Monthly

Handley reading from Beyond Brokeback

“This book itself is a cultural phenomenon. William Handley has assembled a stellar cast of hard-riding contributors and a rich array of takes on the story, film, and ‘event.’ Two dozen essays and a multitude of points of view—from Marxist to genderqueer to creative insider, shaped both in the immediacy of the film’s release and with analytic hindsight—demonstrate eloquently why American culture won’t know how to quit this momentous narrative for many generations to come.” —Thomas Waugh, Research Chair in Sexual Representation and Documentary, Concordia University, Montreal Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema About the Author William R. Handley is an associate professor of English at the University of Southern California. He is the author of Marriage, Violence, and Nation in the American Literary West and the coeditor, with Nathaniel Lewis, of True West: Authenticity and the American West, available in a Bison Books edition.   Contributors: Martin Aguilera, Calvin Bedient, Colin Carman, Alan Dale, Jon Davies, Chris Freeman, Judith Halberstam, William R. Handley, Gregory Hinton, Andrew Holleran, Alex Hunt, David Leavitt, Mun-Hou Lo, Susan McCabe, Daniel Mendelsohn, James Morrison, Vanessa Osborne, Annie Proulx, James Schamus, Michael Silverblatt, Adam Sonstegard, Noah Tsika, Kenneth Turan, Patricia Nell Warren, and David Weiss.

Also in our Amazon Store: Coming Out to the Mainstream: New Queer Cinema in the 21st Century Coming Out to the Mainstream is a collection of essays written from a range of perspectives, from scholars to film producers, who seek to contextualize and reframe New Queer Cinema from a 21st century perspective decades after Stonewall, the emergence of the HIV-AIDS crisis, and the initial years of the gay marriage movement. These essays situate themselves in the 21st century as an attempt to assess what appears to be a mainstreaming of New Queer Cinema, a current wave of New Queer Cinema film that holds potential for influencing film viewers beyond the original limits of an independent film audience, critics, and the academy. Specifically, these essays examine whether and how the filmmaking styles and themes of New Queer Cinema have been mainstreamed rendered familiar as points of interest in popular culture of the 21st century, challenging a queer-phobic cultural climate, and providing an incisive set of visual representations that can help inform continuing debates over queerness in public culture. For instance, what do we make of the burgeoning number of queer stories that are circulating not just in arthouses but in mainstream media? How much of a transformation in our collective sensibilities does this trend represent, and will it carry us toward a cultural landscape where identity is commonly understood and valued as multiple, fluid, and performative? Read more at the Ultimate Brokeback Forum Store

Will Gay Netas Please Stand Up! Sunil Babu Pant believes in setting the record straight. While participating in the Third Delhi Queer Pride Parade held yesterday, the Nepalese Member of Parliament, who is openly gay, said he wants Indian MPs to be candid about their sexual orientation. One of the more prominent faces fighting for LGBT rights, Pant was in the country on an official visit. "But I couldn't keep away from the parade because it is a cause I totally believe in," said the first openly gay MP of an Asian country. Know gays aloud The computer engineer turned politician has been fighting for LGBT rights for over a decade which finally led to Nepal becoming the first country in the world to officially recognise the third gender. "But compared to Nepal, India is still intolerant when it comes to such issues," he said, "Not only people from normal walks of life but some religious fundamentalists here are roadblocks when it comes to LGBT rights," he added. Read more.    Source: mid-day.com

Different From The Others A touching, if rather lugubrious, exploration of the agonizing difficulty of reconciling spirituality and sexuality is on circuit in Johannesburg at the moment. It is Haim Tabakman’s first full-length film, “Eyes Wide Open”, and it is a very worthy film, whose merits are not to be sniffed at. I must confess that, at times, it plods along. It is a bit of an Eeyore of a movie, making excessive use of rack focus to emphasize anguished, foregrounded faces, featuring too many long shots of melancholy loners in alleys, and drenched in symbolic, grey rain. The awakened passion of the married kosher butcher, Aaron (Zohar Strauss) for the unemployed, hunky rover, Ezri, is cruelly condemned by the extreme orthodox community in which Aaron lives and works, and hate-filled posters, hissed invective, and violence (the inevitable stone through the shop window) soon end the liberating relationship. “I feel alive now. I was dead before”, Aaron cries out, justifying himself to an outraged rabbi. “Eyes Wide Open” serves a good cause. It is no “Brokeback Mountain”. That great film, rendered unforgettable by Ang Lee’s extraordinary contrasting images of stark, but beautiful spaces and cramped, drab interiors, and Heath Ledger’s towering portrayal of tormented love, is a very hard act to follow. However, “Eyes Wide Open”, despite its too leisurely pace and occasional predictability, is an impressive plea for greater understanding. It deserves support. That sentimental, portentous declaration made me groan loudly, but it would be unfair to judge Merav Doster’s screenplay by one “fat line” (to use a delightful phrase coined by Dwight Macdonald). Doster does not glibly proclaim that easy, guilt-free passion exists, and, indeed, the film is very successful at depicting the conflict that thoughtful, devout people experience when they are overwhelmed by passion. D. H. Lawrence once growled indignantly at the fact that human beings are always “crucified” into sex, but the reason is clear: we are not creatures of appetite only. In a brilliant essay on the ‘dirty postcards’ of Donald McGill, George Orwell speaks of the “Don Quixote-Sancho Panza combination” within all human beings, and states even more pithily that all of us wrestle with the “ancient dualism of body and soul”. These days too many novels and movies assert that there is no such dualism. We all know that there is; only fools see human passion as utterly ecstatic and free of suffering or difficulty. Read more.    Source: newstime.co.za

Jake Gyllenhaal Stunned To Be Cast as Leading Actor The Brokeback Mountain star is amazed that he is regarded as a star and offered lead roles in movies, Contactmusic reported. "I don't see myself like a leading man at all. That's very result-oriented. I've been like that at different times in my career, but at this point I'm not. I think people look at me like that bit, but I don't." Read more.    Source: movies.ndtv.com

Review: Wainwright Sings of Love and Death Complex, elegant and heartbreaking. Those words serve to describe not only Rufus Wainwright’s latest song cycle, All Days Are Nights: Songs For Lulu, but also the man himself. And Friday night at the Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts, Wainwright brought the material — largely dedicated to the memory of his late mother, Canadian folk icon Kate McGarrigle — back on home soil for the first time in almost a year. Entering stage left, garbed in a long, dark dress topped with a large, feathered upper-body apparatus recalling silent-era films and the opera, Wainwright took his place solo at the piano for the first half of his two-hour performance. Backed by nothing but the sparse visual design of artist Douglas Gordon and his own blinking eyes popping on screen, Wainwright was spellbinding, his songs inducing a flood of emotion that flowed from the stage onto the audience. Read more.    Source: vancouversun.com

Michelle Williams as Marilyn Monroe "My Week with Marilyn" chronicles a week in the life of Marilyn Monroe in which she escapes the shackles of her Hollywood career and embraces British life with Colin Clark. Directed by Simon Curtis and produced by David Parfitt, the film is based on Colin Clark's diaries and has been adapted for the screen by Adrian Hodges. In the early summer of 1956, 23 year-old Colin Clark, just down from Oxford and determined to make his way in the film business, worked as a lowly assistant on the set of The Prince and the Showgirl, the film that famously united Sir Laurence Olivier and Marilyn Monroe, who was also on honeymoon with her new husband, the playwright Arthur Miller. Nearly 40 years on, his diary account "The Prince, the Showgirl and Me" was published, but one week was missing and this was published some years later as "My Week with Marilyn" – this is the story of that week. When Arthur Miller leaves England, the coast is clear for Colin to introduce Marilyn to some of the pleasures of British life; an idyllic week in which he escorted a Monroe desperate to get away from her retinue of Hollywood hangers-on and the pressures of work. Read more.    Source: thedeadbolt.com

Taylor Swift Says Love and Other Drugs Is a Good Movie That's pretty much all Taylor Swift will say about the movie and her much-buzzed-about relationship with its star, Jake Gyllenhaal. "It's a good movie," she tells Entertainment Weekly. And when they press her for a little more scoop on her love life, her classy reply is simply, "I write in great detail about my personal life, but I don't talk about it." (A side note on the movie, though. It's rated R for a reason. Because Gyllenhaal and costar Anne Hathaway are nearly naked for the bulk of the film. So, don't take the kids, even if they beg.) Read more.    Source: cmt.com

Can Jake Ever Wear the Box-Office Crown? Thanks to the ubiquity of promotional materials for this weekend’s romantic comedy Love and Other Drugs, we've been seeing a lot of a half-naked Jake Gyllenhaal. Sitting there chiseled, blue-eyed, and shirtless, an equally unclothed Anne Hathaway clutching his arm, he sure looks like a movie star. And he’s been carrying himself like one to boot (at ease, likable, charming the pants off David Letterman, and allegedly Taylor Swift). But is he the real deal? Though he’s amassed an impressive and varied body of work for a 29-year-old, he’s still without a hit to call his very own. His bald attempt to leap from serious Oscar bait to a big popcorn franchise, Prince of Persia, was an audible flop. Now he's going for the wide-appeal romantic comedy. Is Gyllenhaal a bankable movie star just waiting for the right project? Or a character actor trapped in a leading man’s shirtless body? On the eve of Other Drugs' release, we asked industry insiders these questions, plus the old standby: If Jake Gyllenhaal were a stock, should you buy, sell, or hold? Read more.    Source: nymag.com

The 9 Best Revelations from the Chelsea Handler Interviews Chelsea Handler began her campaign to succeed Barbara Walters as television’s blondest interviewer with last night’s Big Interview Special. The E! special featured conversations with Gwyneth Paltrow, Anne Hathaway and Christina Aguilera. Only unlike the 86-year-old 20/20 anchor, Handler came off less like your nosy great-aunt, and more like your gabby best friend who wanted to know everything about your sex scenes, gay best friends, Oscar disappointments and bucket bathroom habits. Let’s check out the highlights ahead. 5. Anne Hathaway was relieved to not win the Oscar last year “I’m a shy person,” explained the Love and Other Drugs actress. “I can’t imagine having to stand in front of that huge audience and speak. I get nervous talking to my barista in the morning!” [Editor’s note: Yeah, right.] 6. A deconstructed thong is all that kept Hathaway’s “lady bits” from Jake Gyllenhaal’s “man bits” during the many Love and Other Drugs sex scenes Pretty much “a thong with a lot of tape, and the sides were cut off,” is all that separated both actors private areas while filming their new Edward Zwick film. “I spent weeks and weeks naked with Jake Gyllenhaal…and they paid me!” 7. Anne Hathaway stole underwear from the set of Brokeback Mountain It may seem ridiculous but the actress, who played Jake Gyllenhaal’s onscreen wife in the film, had a two-prong explanation for the thievery. 1) “It was my most memorable bit of costume” and 2) “I didn’t want anyone else to have it.” 8. Of all the clothing Anne Hathaway wore on The Devil Wears Prada, she kept her butt pad The actress revealed that not only does she have the piece of padding used to accentuate her posterior during the first scenes of the movie, but she plans on preserving it in a glass case in her house. Read more.    Source: movieline.com

Let's Save Kenting Before Hollywood Arrives People across Taiwan were excited to hear the recent news that Oscar-winning Taiwanese director Ang Lee had chosen Kenting as one of the set locations for his next film production. Ang Lee will soon begin shooting Life of Pi, a film based on the novel of the same name by Yann Martel. Published in 2001, Life of Pi became a bestseller and won author Martel a Booker Prize. The novel is an enthralling tale that combines symbolism with a good old-fashioned survival story. The elements contained in the novel should make for a great motion picture, and it's wonderful that Taiwan's most successful moviemaker has chosen to use Kenting as a location. Kenting and the Hengchun Peninsula have already starred in another successful film, 2008's Cape No. 7, a smash hit in Taiwan that was also well-received in many other Asian nations. But Ang Lee's Life of Pi could provide Kenting with a much wider showcase. After the release of Lee's gay cowboy romance film Brokeback Mountain, moviegoers began calling travel agents to reserve vacation trips to the breathtaking landscapes depicted in the film. While Brokeback Mountain was set in the mountains of the U.S. state of Wyoming, it was filmed in the Canadian province of Alberta. There is evidence that the film boosted tourism in both the fictional and actual movie locations. A famous movie can do wonders for a nation's tourism industry. New Zealand is still benefiting from people who travel there to see where the Lord of the Rings trilogy was filmed. Read more.    Source: chinapost.com

Daily Pill Greatly Lowers AIDS Risk, Study Finds Healthy gay men who took an anti-AIDS pill every day were well protected against contracting H.I.V. in a study suggesting that a new weapon against the epidemic has emerged. In the study, published Tuesday by the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers found that the men taking Truvada, a common combination of two antiretroviral drugs, were 44 percent less likely to get infected with the virus that causes AIDS than an equal number taking a placebo. But when only the men whose blood tests showed that they had taken their pill faithfully every day were considered, the pill was more than 90 percent effective, said Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, head of the infectious diseases division of the National Institutes of Health, which paid for the study along with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. “That’s huge,” Dr. Fauci said. “That says it all for me.” The large study, nicknamed iPrEx, included nearly 2,500 men and was coordinated by the Gladstone Institutes of the University of California, San Francisco. The results are the best news in the AIDS field in years, even better than this summer’s revelation that a vaginal microbicide protected 39 percent of all the women testing it and 54 percent of those who used it faithfully. Read more.    Source: nytimes.com

Whoops! Brokeback Mountain Movie Mistakes Factual error: Carhartt did not put their symbol on the outside of their clothing in the 1960's, 70's and 1980's, yet Ennis is wearing a Carhartt jacket with the symbol on the front. Factual error: In the opening scene of the film, set in 1963, several shots show a beat-up, rusty white pickup truck abandoned in a field. The truck is a 1963 Chevy, which would have been brand new at the time. Continuity: In the second tent scene, just before Jack and Ennis kiss, Jack's left arm changes from being at his side in the first shot of Ennis (as Jack touches Ennis' face) to up around Ennis' neck in the second shot of Ennis (after we see Jack's face). Also, Ennis' left collar goes from flat to sticking up during the scene. Factual error: The Elks Lodge down the street from Ennis and Alma's apartment is numbered 129. Elks Lodge 129 is actually located in Washington Court House, Ohio. Read 12 more.    Source: moviemistakes.com    Know of an error not listed here? Submit to the Movie Mistakes website.

Taylor & Jake 'In Love'

(It looks like he found the blue parka, too.)



The cover of US Weekly is cute with Taylor Swift’s arm wrapped around
Jake Gyllenhaal as the pair laugh and stroll down some ubiquitous street
with a coffee in hand. It’s sweet, they’re adorable, the latte is fresh…

Read more.    Source: gossipteen.com

Catch up on everything Jake on the Jake's Eyelashes thread.

I N   M E M O R I A M

Rodney Giles ~ 1947-2010

"The Voice of Brokeback"



The Rainbow Reading at the Family Plot, 2008

Read more about Rodney and leave your thoughts on the thread set up to honor his passing.

Holiday Threads Highlight Are your bells jingling to a holiday groove? We've got three threads for you: The "Happy Holidays" thread! What are your favorite Christmas carols? The Bah Humbug Thread Photo: The Cowboy Christmas Tree by CellarDweller115

Gearing Up for the 5th Anniversary of Brokeback Mountain
(and the staged reading of selections from Beyond Brokeback)



Check out the Brokeback Mountain Fifth Anniversary thread for more details.

To view the official press release, click here.

Fun Question of the Week

This week's question:  In which author's novel is it "...always winter but never Christmas"? A. J.K. Rowling      B. C.S. Lewis      C. Louis Farrakhan      D. Natalie Goldberg Let us know your answers in the Response Thread. Last week's question and answer:   In 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved Thanksgiving one week earlier in November. While most states switched over that year, some held back in protest. Which state was the last to change, observing the last-Thursday Thanksgiving for the final time in 1956? garyd was correct: TEXAS! Check out his post on the Response Thread, and check out also what Lyle (Mooska) has to say.

The Cowboy Image

By coal615 in Cowboy Up! Favorite Cowboy Pics. Volume 2

Post of the Day

Posted by fritzkep in Love and Other Drugs - Boston Screening

"On NPR's Fresh Air today there was an interview with Anne Hathaway. "She not only discussed this most recent movie, but also her motivation in BBM during the phone call with Ennis, specifically about the tire iron." http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast/podcast_detail.php?siteId=7060034

The Forum Image

Posted by conny in Life Through The Lens 5

Quote of the Day

"A lovely thing about Christmas is that it's compulsory,
like a thunderstorm, and we all go through it together."

~ Garrison Keillor ~

Photo Caption of the Day

Posted by AZ.bbm in Photo Captioning Fun 6

Earlier That Day

Contributors: lovelyandamazing, CellarDweller115, garyd, Lyle (Mooska), coal615, conny, AZ.bbm

Calendar of Events If you have ideas about initiating a gathering, go to Start Your Own Threads and get the ball rolling to plan a get-together near you. Fifth Anniversary Screening of Brokeback Mountain and the staged reading of selections from Beyond Brokeback Los Angeles, CA, December 11th, 2010 Let us know of any events you’d like listed here.

The Daily Sheet is a production of The Ultimate Brokeback Forum at www.davecullen.com/forum.

Today's edition by gnash

Researchers: BayCityJohn, Killersmom, Kittyhawk, Marge_Innavera, Stilllearning

Editors emeritae: CactusGal, Marge_Innavera, tellyouwhat, Stilllearning, MissYouSoMuch

We count on you to send us your news items, questions, and nominations for posts of the day.
If you have items you’d like to see published, send them to gnash.

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When a new issue of TDS is posted, you will be notified by e-mail.

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[killersmom]

Tuesday, December 21st, 2010

The Autry’s Fifth-Anniversary Screening of Brokeback Mountain On Saturday, December 11, 2010, the Autry National Center, in association with Focus Features, celebrated the fifth anniversary of the screen debut of Brokeback Mountain with a film screening, a staged reading of excerpts from the book Beyond Brokeback: The Impact of a Film, and a special appearance by Diana Ossana, producer and Oscar-winning screenwriter of the film. The event was part of the acclaimed program Out West at the Autry, a series of public events focusing on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) history and culture in the West with gallery talks, film screenings, lectures, performances, and other cultural events. Also announced was the continuation of Out West at the Autry in Griffith Park and Bozeman, Montana, with more national dates to be announced.

Photo: Abel Gutierrez. Courtesy Autry National Center

The moving event featured a welcome and presentation presided over by Daniel Finley, Autry President and CEO, in the Autry’s Imagination Gallery, where the Brokeback Mountain shirts are currently on display. David Bohnett, philanthropist and technology entrepreneur, provided the keynote speech and spoke of his partner, Tom Gregory, owner of the shirts, who generously loaned them for display at the Autry. “Tom's passion for collecting and preserving our history comes from a belief that those that have come before us have left an important legacy through their work and creativity. We would do well as a society to learn from those contributions and foster a culture of respect for our heritage,” he said. Out West at the Autry creator and producer Gregory Hinton also noted, “Greater national attention needs to be paid to the LGBT Western rural communities, who steadfastly maintain visibility with far less assurances and protection than we take for granted in the city. Brokeback Mountain very movingly portrayed the problem, but offered little in the way of a solution. We achieve visibility and normalcy by telling our stories, sharing our culture, and staking our claim in the lodestone of Western American history. This is the mission of Out West at the Autry.” As the film screening ended and the house lights brightened, guests were greeted by Diana Ossana, producer and Oscar-winning screenwriter of Brokeback Mountain . She thanked the audience for their support of the film and invited them to view the Brokeback Mountain shirts with her in the Autry’s Imagination Gallery (this would be the first time she would see the shirts since working on the film). The emotion-filled gallery was quiet as Ossana stood in a private moment. Moving back to the center of the gallery, she began to speak to the crowd, leading to nearly an hour’s worth of conversation about the film—particularly its leading stars, Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal. “There are so many memories associated [with the Brokeback Mountain shirts] because I was there,” said Ossana as she contemplated the display. When asked about her passion for creating the film she said, “I’m a woman. I’m not gay, but lightning struck with this film, and it was amazing. I could not let it go. Every time I read the script I would cry again—and I wrote it!” she laughed. “Everyone has a different take on the film. It is a universal love story but the reason it affects people is because it’s specific about two men and it cuts to our hearts. The way people responded, it created dialogue, and I love that.” After an awe-inspiring in-person conversation with Ossana, the audience filed back into the theatre for the Beyond Brokeback staged reading, adapted by Gregory Hinton and featuring Carolyn Campbell, Tom Gregory, William Handley, Ryan Harrison, Marlene Head, Michael Butler Murray, Lydia Nibley, and Jeffrey Richardson.  Each read various excerpts of poignant and humorous messages, essays, and poetry—by writers young and old, male and female, gay and straight—from the book Beyond Brokeback: The Impact of a Film. The book was written by members of an online community, the Ultimate Brokeback Forum, many of whom attended the celebration from as far away as San Francisco , Virginia , New York , and London . Harrison sang the Brokeback-inspired song “Meet Me on the Mountain” from the CD of the same name, written by composer Shawn Kirchner, with Murray on acoustic guitar and Head, Murray, and Nibley adding background vocals. Head also performed “Up All Night,” another song from the same CD, with Harrison, Murray, and Nibley on background. Read more.    Source: focusfeatures.com

'Brokeback' Duo Script Pair of Period Westerns Oscar-winning Brokeback Mountain scribes Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana are in the midst of two major period Western feature films projects. They are scripting The Color of Lightning for Ridley Scott to direct at 20th Century Fox, and they are at the center of a new deal at Warner Bros to adapt the S. C. Gwynne book Empire of the Summer Moon into a film that will be directed by Crazy Heart helmer Scott Cooper. Both projects are produced by Scott Free. First, they will complete The Color of Lightning, an adaptation the Paulette Jiles book that was published by Harper Collins. Britt Johnson is a freed slave who moves his wife and three children to Texas with dreams of starting a freight business. When he's away, a raiding party of Comanche and Kiowa kill his oldest son and take his family captive. Johnson spends a winter plotting revenge. The story is loosely based on a factual tale said to be an inspiration for the classic Western The Searchers. The S.C. Gwynne book Empire of the Summer Moon is certainly more sympathetic to the Comanches. The book is a Braveheart-style epic about the great Comanche warrior Quanah, who held the westward expansion of settlers at bay for 40 years, and led to the formation of the Texas Rangers to fight against them. Read more.    Source: deadline.com

BROKEBACK BREAKDOWN by Lyle (Mooska) What is a breakdown? In Hollywood, a breakdown is what a production company releases to agents and agencies to solicit actors for the roles they have available for auditions. They break down the script, in other words, compiling a list of all the characters and descriptions of each one, so appropriate people can be suggested for auditions. Sometimes they're quite specific--blond hair, 6 feet tall, Latino, for example, and sometiimes they're quite general. It is more common now within the last ten years for roles to be initially sought after from online websites that cater to these talent agencies. Last week, through an acquaintance of mine who works at an agency office, I asked if there was a history function on those sites because I got to wondering what the original Brokeback Mountain breakdown might have to offer. I was rewarded with my query! The original Brokeback breakdown proved quite interesting. When it was released, Heath and Jake had already been cast, though there was no mention of Anne or Michelle, nor were their roles listed as available. I spotted some character descriptions that didn't match what's now in the film. Aguirre was a character with his "hair parted down the middle," is one that caught my eye. And--Timmy is bespectacled? Also, some names are different and there is a minor character listed who is not in the film! See the complete Brokeback Breakdown in the BBM General Discussion thread.

LGBT Groups Warn Gay Servicemembers: Don't Come Out, Re-enlist Quite Yet Although both chambers of Congress have now passed a repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT) and the President is expected to sign the legislation into law this week, LGBT advocacy organizations are warning gay and lesbian soldiers not to reveal their sexuality or re-enlist in the military quite yet. "While the immediate impact of this bill may inspire folks from across the nation, it is important to note that full implementation has yet to take place, and that it is not yet safe for service members to disclose their sexual orientation," wrote the Human Rights Campaign on its blog Saturday afternoon. Even after Obama signs the repeal into law, he -- along with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Defense Secretary -- must issue a certification stating the Pentagon is prepared to implement the repeal in a manner that won't hurt readiness, effectiveness, cohesion or recruiting. DADT will still be law until 60 days after certification. Until then, therefore, servicemembers are still at risk of being discharged or investigated. Read more.    Source: huffingtongpost.com

Heated debate over Harvey Milk's store Harvey Milk's old camera shop and headquarters - a storm of seminal gay- rights activism in the '70s - is up for lease, and his political descendants have been clawing it out about how to use the space. Does selling Milk mugs and mementos there mean selling out the martyred supervisor's noble mission? The community squabble for the store's future comes down to upscale versus street-level grassroots gay rights. The controversy is unnecessary, damaging and contrary to Milk's actual philosophy. Though movie-goers and some who knew him might remember Milk as hard core - one biography is titled "No Compromise" - Milk's nephew Stuart, co-founder of the Harvey Milk Foundation and keeper of family interests, told me Harvey believed that compromise is "a necessary art form he enjoyed." "Many people are saying they know what Harvey would have said or done (about the store debate)," Stuart said. "I know he would have been upset about the community's weakness of always attacking each other. We have enough real enemies." Read more.    Source: sfgate.com

Catholics told to lobby their MPs to vote against gay marriage The Catholic Church is instructing parishioners to lobby federal MPs against voting for gay marriage, suggesting they base arguments on the natural order and the importance of a biological relationship with children rather than on marriage being a religious institution. As pressure mounts inside the Labor Party for a change in the party's policy officially banning such marriages, both the gay lobby and now the Catholic Church are intensifying their efforts to win the debate. MPs are consulting their constituents after a Greens motion urging politicians to seek the views of their electorates on changing marriage laws was passed last month in the House of Representatives with Labor's support. In an open letter, the church tells its members that as "the Greens continue their assault on the culture of life . . . every Catholic should let federal legislators know that marriage and family, the cornerstone of society, must be protected at all costs." Read more.    Source: heraldsun.com.au

Apple Rejects Anti-Gay App When Manhattan Declaration creators tried to launch an app on iTunes recently, Apple CEO Steve Jobs decided differently. While the chief executive has faced plenty of criticism this year for picking and choosing which apps do and don’t get green-lighted on iTunes, the Manhattan Declaration folks – who created an app bashing gay marriage and abortion rights by scoring higher for “right” answers – didn’t take it too kindly when they were turned down, reports The Advocate. In response, the National Organization of Marriage (NOM) – a group that sponsored the failed app – created a video this week criticizing Jobs that compares him to “Big Brother.” The reason, it says, is because iTunes offers plenty of apps supporting gay issues, including directories, guides, advice on same-sex nuptials and even apps about gay history. And this makes the almost 8,000 gay rights supporters who signed a petition banning the NOM app plenty happy. The question is whether Jobs, by way of Apple’s iTunes, has any obligation to support freedom of speech? Even hate speech? His business – like any retailer – must select inventory based on customer demand. But also like any retailer – online and off – he also has the option of rejecting goods (or apps) that he or his customer base may deem inappropriate or offensive. Do the gays luck out this time because Jobs tends to lean left? Absolutely. One might even argue the opposite is the case at Walmart, a mega-chain that carries guns and ammo but regularly censors what books and music it carries, based on its own Christian and often right-wing-leaning values. Read more.    Source: blogs.phillymag.com

Brokeback Mountain Now Available on the iTunes Movie Store Brokeback Mountain, the latest drama by Ang Lee, is now available from the iTunes Movie Store. The title is available as a rental for $2.99 and can be purchased for $9.99. A preview of the movie is also available on Apple’s website. The movie’s written description is, “Winner of three Academy Awards, including Best Director, Brokeback Mountain is a sweeping epic that explores the lives of two young men, a ranch hand and a rodeo cowboy, who meet in the summer of 1963 and unexpectedly forge a lifelong connection. The complications, joys and heartbreak they experience provide a testament to the endurance and power of love. Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal deliver emotionally charged, remarkably moving performances in “a movie that is destined to become one of the great classics of our time” (Clay Smith, The Insider).” Read more.    Source: blogs.americanconsumernews.com

'Source Code' with Jake Gyllenhaal will open SXSW 2011 Making some noise a little under four months until its debut, the SXSW announced today that Duncan Jones' "Source Code" will open the 2011 edition of the film festival.  "Code" stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga and Jeffrey Wright.  The second feature for Jones after his highly respected indie Sci-Fi drama "Moon," "Code" is centered on a soldier (Gyllenhaal) who wakes up in the body of an unknown man and soon discovers he's part of a mission to find the bomber of a Chicago commuter train.   Summit Entertainment will release "Source Code" nationwide on April 1, 2011. Read more.    Source: hitfix.com

Breakdown Services' VCN hosts Bella Heathcote Breakdown Services' VCN (Virtual Channel Network) did a special interview with this year's Heath Ledger Scholarship when she first arrived from Australia. Since winning, the actress has been making great strides, now being cast as the female lead in David Chase's Twylight Zones, the producer's first project since The Sopranos. Heathcote's star has continued to rise throughout this year. She is currently starring alongside Justin Timberlake, Amanda Seyfried, and Cillian Murphy in Andrew Niccol's Now. She also has a supporting role in Cogan's Trade starring Brad Pitt. Heathcote is also a contender for the coveted role of Snow White in Snow White and the Huntsman. Read more.    Source: mmdnewswire.com

Michelle Williams on Her Life as Marilyn Monroe One of the unexpected surprises at this weekend's tribute to Michelle Williams at the Aero Theatre in Los Angeles was the first glimpse of footage from "My Life With Marilyn," an adaptation of Colin Clark's memoir from the set of "The Prince and the Showgirl," on which he was an assistant to Laurence Olivier and witnessed the tensions on the production between his boss and Marilyn Monroe. The fleeting bit of footage was as much a tease as Monroe herself, a montage of dialogue-free clips with Williams striking iconic poses such as being surrounded by a phalanx of photographers and reporters as Arthur Miller (Dougray Scott) escorts Monroe off an airport tarmac or playfully drifting across the lawn of her Connecticut home before climaxing with a scene of the bombshell teasing Clark (Eddie Redmayne) with a song as she lounges in a bathtub. Read more.    Source: ifc.com

Gay pride banners cause flap in San Francisco The future of rainbow gay pride flags that have flown for years along the main stretch of San Francisco's Castro District has come under threat as they bump against another city icon: lampposts with early 20th century origins. A neighborhood association near the heart of the city's gay and lesbian community contends the flags were illegally hung on the metal lamp posts. City law only allows temporary banners on the posts, which were designated city landmarks in 1991, out of concerns the fasteners used to attach them could rust and mar their beauty. The Mission Delores Neighborhood Association said the banners simply don't belong on the posts permanently. "We completely support the diversity in the area," the association said in a statement Friday to The Associated Press. "This is about preserving a city landmark from permanent signage." Read more.    Source: mercurynews.com

Jake Gyllenhaal poses for a portrait in Hollywood



See more.    Source: peopledaily.com

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Fun Question of the Week

This week's question:  In The Wizard of Oz movie, Dorothy is wearing the famous ruby slippers. What was the color the slippers in the book by L. Frank Baum? Let us know your answers in the Response Thread. Last week's question and answer:  In which author's novel is it "...always winter but never Christmas"? fofol was correct: C. S. Lewis, in Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

The Cowboy Image

By CellarDweller115 in Cowboy Up! Favorite Cowboy Pics. Volume 2

Post of the Day: Gustavo Santaolalla - Secreto en la Montaña


Posted by Heath4Ever in BBM General Discussion 2

Hi folks I've just come across this fabulous recording on Youtube of Gustavo Santaolalalla playing the Brokeback theme live. Wasn't sure where to post this but guess this place is as good as any.  Listen to it - it is wonderful! Best wishes Glen (aka Heath4Ever)

The Forum Image

Posted by fritzkep in Life Through The Lens 5

Quote of the Day

"Cheers to a New Year and another chance for us to get it right."

~ Oprah Winfrey ~

Photo Caption of the Day

Posted by Ennis Del Mark in Photo Captioning Fun 6

Heath: "Happy 30th Birthday, Jake!     CUT!      Sorry, Ang, but this is a special occasion!"

Contributors: CellarDweller115, Lyle (Mooska), Heath4Ever, fritzkep, Ennis Del Mark

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