All joking aside, right now you can hardly surf the web without reading something Brokeback--an essay, a box office analysis, or what Jake Gyllenhaal might have told the cab driver who took him to the airport last week. (FYI, it was that kissing Heath was like “exfoliating”.) Not that I’m complaining, mind you. I finally saw the movie, loved it, and, frankly, I can’t stop thinking or talking about it myself.

The most pressing question, of course, is Jake or Heath? Definitely, put me down in the Jake column. My partner, exhibiting early signs of dementia, not only says Heath, but thinks Jake falls only somewhere in the top twenty percent of good-looking men. Like I said—crazy.

Brokeback continues to do well pretty much everywhere its playing. Even the fact that two theaters in Utah and Washington State pulled the movie the day it was supposed to open couldn’t dent Brokeback’s momentum. In fact, all the ensuing publicity surely helped the film. After a little more than a month in release, the gay cowboys have brought in $24 million dollars and are still taking in an extremely strong $12,000 per screen. Brokeback also opened in London doing terrific business, knocking King Kong out of the number one spot. Hoo yah!

Heath weighed in on the Utah theater controversy, saying it was “hilarious” and “immature” that they decided to ban the movie. Utah Jazz magnate Larry Miller also owns the Brokeback-free theater. The GLBT Community center of Utah is calling for folks to boycott Miller’s more than seventy other businesses. I’ll do my part and vow to stay out of Utah, which is where again?

In the awards category, Brokeback continued its steamroll toward the Oscars. The Critics Choice Awards went to Ang Lee for directing, while Brokeback was named Best Picture. Philip Seymour Hoffman swiped the Best Actor award from Heath, but that’s all right since he’s not going to get Heath’s Oscar.

Brokeback continues to make political waves as well. Wingnuts still can’t shut up about it. The worst of the lot this week is one Benjamin Shapiro. The nicest thing he could say about Brokeback is that it was “stomach-churning”. Tom O’Neil of the Los Angeles Times appeared on FOX News, saying this would be the most political Oscars in years due, in large part, to Brokeback Mountain. Sheesh, you’d think the Jack and Ennis had endorsed Hillary Clinton for president.

Just how much of an impact has the movie had on people? Yesterday I received an email from a 68 year old woman in Florida who has seen the movie seven times and says it has “got into her soul”. (Hmm, maybe it was Benjamin’s lack of a soul that kept him from appreciating Jack and Ennis’s relationship. Or maybe he’s just a bigot.) I know of many other folks who have seen the movie more than once. I know I will.

Gene Shalit snagged more attention than he has in years by panning Brokeback and calling Jake Gyllenhaal’s Jack Twist a “sexual predator”. GLAAD, and pretty much every queer in the country, didn’t take too kindly to Gene’s comments. But Gene’s son, Peter, vowed his dad was no homophobe, and had always loved him and his significant others. Shortly thereafter, Gene apologized, then observed that Fred Savage’s character in the new sitcom, Crumbs, was clearly a partner-beating, pedophile who wanted a sex change.

LIFE BEYOND BROKEBACK
There is none, of course, but for those of you who insist I’m wrong, I guess a few other things did happen this week.

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