G'day!

[Wolf]

photondancer, managed to squeeze a few extra minutes of computer time out of my morning, so back to talk more about your post.

mating dance  .  what a gorgeous way of describing the time on the mountain.  and it did indeed, give this part of the film it's luminosity! like you, I'm dumbfounded by this frequent complaint.  I don't quite know what these folk are expecting from two taciturn, uneducated 19 yr old country boys.  grand romantic gestures?  dancing in the moonlight?  discovering a shared passion for begonias? long, deep and meaningful philosophical discussions?  Makes you wonder if they've actually done anything other than watch the pretty lights.

there aught to be a warning on the DVD covers.  THE SURGEON GENERAL WARNS WATCHING THIS FILM WITH HALF A BRAIN MAY CAUSE PAIN TO YOUR BROKEAHOLIC FRIENDS.

meanwhile if you're interested in this line of thought, I've recently found some good threads on the romance 'buildup' over on the bettermost forums.  even posted a time or two  . 

as you were

w

[brianr]

Thanks for the hugs
I was also surprised when the leader of our musical memories group who is really into films told me she thought the beginning was slow. The last time I watched it was so obvious that there was a gradual buildup to the FNIT.  Little caring things and sharing of humour and experiences.  I guess this would not be so obvious at the first viewing.  By the way I think said leader knows my orientation now. I told her last Tuesday I had seen BBM 4 times and she said "Gilly is a hunk isn't he?'  I agreed with a smile.  There is one other guy at this group. 70 years  old. He kissed all the ladies first time (My first time, most were returning after long holidays in February) The leader said "Don't worry Brian he won't kiss you". He said "No I am not like that"  and made a limp wrist. I have given him the cold shoulder ever since while remaining icily polite but he doesn't get it.
We went to see "End of the Rainbow " as a group. One of the characters is the piano player - openly gay. At the end he narrates how at Judy Garland's funeral there were all these notable names plus "a  little group of piano players at the back" I was near to tears but this guy guffawed loudly.

[BBM-Intern]

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to let you know, this afternoon I drove over to the Birch Carroll and Coyle cinema at Morayfield, which is some way outside of Brisbane.  Reason being they just finished their run of BBM and had a couple of posters for sale - that was enough incentive for me to make the trek to collect them posters.  Oh, the poor posters were quite mangled, having being recycled from previous showings, but still...

But what really floored me was the counter staff's comment that it was shown well after the season finished as there were over 150 people asking why BBM hadn't been shown there (!!).  These repeated requests meant that there was still popular demand, so there were many more who would also be interested in seeing the film.  The cinema then asked the distributor to let them have a two-week run, very, very late in the season.

Wow, I didn't realise there were folks out there interested in the film.  What I'm about to say will probably get me flogged, but I always imagined that somewhere like Caboolture, Morayfield, Burpengary would not be typically somewhere that BBM would be welcomed.  Driving through there, it seemed very typically suburban family oriented, almost expected to see "dad & mum, 2.5 kids, 4WD, dog and white picket fence" - that sort of thing.

But as they say, "When you wake up, the world may have changed..." perhaps this film transcends those boundaries, and I just wanted to say "ON YA MATE", let the film's message break down barriers, increase understanding and help eradicate ignorance and homophobia.  I had to almost pick up my jaw from the floor when the counter staff told me what a successful run they had.

Hugs to all.

[Phantom]

That was a great little story...

I live in an area full of "christian coalition" types... it's not pretty... I usually don't even bother answering the door.

I fear that HOLY WATER will be thrown at me! 

[campfire]

Hello  to you All from a sunny Melbourne morning,

Thanks for sharing the story BBM-intern. It really is great to  know BBM has been received really well in  some parts of Australia..

Still did not have a chance to watch the dvd with few other friends. Just planned it so well to watch it at my place  and kids got sick .
But I will get there . I am really curious about their reactions. I know what to expect actually, none of them will be affected like me, but who knows maybe there might be surprises.

Have you guys had a chance to send out your choices  for the book title? I think today was the last day ( I hope ) , because I have few suggestions. That book project has been really exciting , it will be one of the best outcomes of that forum as the book will be able to reach out to  more people who may not have the means to access the forum and movie.
And book is always a great company to take anywhere , anytime.

Have a great, easy going week .

Big Hugs to you All.


 

[photondancer]

there aught to be a warning on the DVD covers.  THE SURGEON GENERAL WARNS WATCHING THIS FILM WITH HALF A BRAIN MAY CAUSE PAIN TO YOUR BROKEAHOLIC FRIENDS.

I love it! thanks for your kind words Wolf, altho I have to admit I stole the phrase 'mating dance' from another poster over on the main discussion. Another poster referred to it as a courtship, but that implies one of them is courting the other and it doesn't look that way to me. Just a slow, sweet spiralling in towards each other. I don't know about begonias (maybe it will turn out to be a deleted scene extra on the DVD, we can but hope), but I suspect a lot of the complainers sat there expecting the grand romantic speech they've heard in every other 'love story' film, and to hell with the fact that neither Jack nor Ennis was the type to do so.

I hadn't heard of  the bettermost forums but will check them out this week - and there goes another slab of my free time. :-) 

Brian, sorry to hear you ran into such a jerk. I had to listen to a bunch of 11-12 year old boys calling each other 'gay' on the bus this afternoon. *sigh* If it weren't for encouraging stories such as BBM-Intern's I would feel we were still back in the 60s or 70s.

campfire - sunny Melbourne? pshaw! :-p

On distantly related topics: Borders in Sydney are selling Ang Lee's "Sense and Sensibility" DVD for only $14.95, and Jake's "The Good Girl" is on tonight on channel 7. I missed it at the cinema so I'm looking forward to feeding my Jake obsession, even if it means having to put up with the presence of Jennifer Aniston. :-/

[campfire]

campfire - sunny Melbourne? pshaw! :-p

On distantly related topics: Borders in Sydney are selling Ang Lee's "Sense and Sensibility" DVD for only $14.95, and Jake's "The Good Girl" is on tonight on channel 7. I missed it at the cinema so I'm looking forward to feeding my Jake obsession, even if it means having to put up with the presence of Jennifer Aniston. :-/

Hey, miracles do happen.. yes it was indeed sunny in Mlebourne today. At least in the morning, it was .. ;-)

Thanks for the Channel 7 tip Photondancer.. I really have not had a great Sunday today, so it will be a nice ending by watching my beloved Jake even though his love interest is to be Jennifer instead of Heath  : ( .. I dont want to see Jake with somebody else.

[MellorSJ]

After all too long away, on my back to Sydney.  Whoo hoo!

[Wolf]

Monday morning greetings to all

MellorSJ, nice to have you back  ,

Campfired, you must tell us all about the Big Event, when it finally happens.  Don't kids always seem to get sick at once  .    at yr J Aniston comment.  My sediments exactly - was a great Jake Appreciation film apart from her presence.

BBMIntern, when the film showed at a big cineplex near here, there were far more punters at each screening than I expected, given it's a fairly redneck area.  wonders never cease!  sorry to hear yr posters a bit dog-eared.  maybe you'll love them more as a result  .

Brian, a pox on the snickering 70 yr old - fancy being so silly at that age.  honestly, some men never grow up! 

photondancer, sorry to hear you had a dud sunday.  hope the movie improved matters!

my weekend was very nice.  friends and ourselves spent about 5 hrs on the side of a hill in the national park near here, sitting around a campfire (fires are legal in that particular spot).  cooked a late lunch/early dinner and  let the kids off the leash while we lay on picnic blankets and just soaked up the peace and beauty of the mountains.  very noice  .

w

[MellorSJ]

Bad news.

The DVD I brought back with me from the US does not play on my player.  It's a region problem.

We can't have the big BBM screening June 3rd.   Damn!

I'll see if there's anything I can think up after I recover from the plane flight, but my hopes are not high.

Even more annoying, I played it on the DVD player in my hotel room in Shanghai.  Worked like a charm.

Sorry.

[Wolf]

MellorSJ,

damn and double damn - doncha hate that!  you're right, it is a region thing.  we're region 4 (I think!), and US discs are region 1.  you need an all-regions player, and most of the machines here are either single region, or 'multi-format', meaning they'll play region 1 and whatever region the UK is.  in other words, all-regions players are thin on the ground and not generally inexpensive, tho I got mine for about $130.

I actually have a pirated, region 4 disc here, which you'd be very welcome to borrow for the event.  Only thing is it's AWFUL quality and the widescreen format has been 'stretched to fit', so everyone has easter-island-statue faces  .  It's almost an insult to the film, and maybe not worth putting yourself through, but the offer's there.  As to how to get it to you, well, I'm sure we could figure something out!

I'd offer to host it here, but think my husband would have me committed if I tried  . 

W

[photondancer]

MellorSJ, your DVD player is perhaps a little old? all the models sold in the last couple of years have been multi region thanks to the Dept of Fair Trade actually living up to its name for once. What model is it? my laptop plays region 1 quite happily and it might be possible to use it as an input. I have friends who just love figuring out how to hook things up. :-)

[campfire]

Bad news.

The DVD I brought back with me from the US does not play on my player.  It's a region problem.

We can't have the big BBM screening June 3rd.   Damn!

I'll see if there's anything I can think up after I recover from the plane flight, but my hopes are not high.

Even more annoying, I played it on the DVD player in my hotel room in Shanghai.  Worked like a charm.

Sorry.

Hi MellorSJ,

I have ordered straight from amazon.com without specifying anything like region 1 or 4. However  I  have just noticed on the dvd there is a sign like looks like a world and it says 1 on it.. Maybe that means it is region 1.

That runs with no problems on my pc/laptop and dvd player which I have bought two years ago. Perhaps as Photondancer  has suggested the new models can run all different dvd formats.

It took one week to get it from Amazon with a fast international shipment ( it was not necessarily very expensive ).. That was pretty good I reckon.

[BBM-Intern]

Hi everyone,

Bit of old news, but did all you see the episode of Oprah yesterday?  She interviewed the cast of BBM, yes, that's right: Heathbar, Jakey-poo, Michelle Williams and Anna Hathaway.  And the adorable Jakey-poo was so funny and animated... oh, Michelle Williams was so shy and sweet, and so lovey-dovey with Heath.

Managed to record the episode of Oprah in high-definition so when I came home, it was a treat to watch it properly on the big screen.  Does anyone know, has the Arena channel already shown the Ellen Degeneres episode where she interviews Jake Gyllenhaal?

The copies of BBM ordered from Amazon.com will be Region 1 - but they *should* play on almost any player nowadays, most are multi-region.  I did get a copy from the UK as well in Region 2 as well, but I can't really tell the difference (the PAL vs NTSC debate), I'm too busy looking at them cowboys, mouthing the dialogue like some kind of crazed mantra... definitely the symptoms of a brokeaholic.

Oh I do love those dog-eared posters anyway, but not as much as the cast-signed framed poster now hanging in my living room.  Yeah, centre and front, big as can be - signed by the cast members, Ang Lee and Annie Proulx - it's real beaut!  It's not like me to collect movie memorabilia, but this film has got me in its "fierce tight embrace", all I can say is I don't know how to quit you!

Yikes, as I'm typing this, the movie script of 7 April 2004 just arrived in the post, and I've just flicked it open at random and it's the deleted "hippie" scene, 1973.  After Ennis rescues the hippies and their van:

----------------------------

HIPPIE: Hey, break bread with us, western heroes.
ENNIS: Thanks but we gotta make camp by sundown
GIRL 1: You sure? (seductive) We love to share.
HIPPIE: They do man. I'm cool with it.
GIRL 1: Whaddya think?
ENNIS: I suppose not. We'd best be going.
GIRL 2: You don't have to be hung up around us.
JACK: Thanks, but Ennis here, he's just pretty well hung up.

----------------------------

Heck, that was sooo way out, imagine if that was included in the movie!  Frightening part is, I can just imagine a scenario in my head, the characters are not just fictional people anymore, any day now we're gonna start an antiphonal back-and-forth dialogue, just like Annie Proulx described.

[photondancer]

Does anybody speak French? amazon.fr is talking about a Special Edition DVD:
http://www.amazon.fr/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000FGG7H4/ref%3Dpd%5Fsims%5Fdp/402-1142504-0240928

I've been browsing the amazon.com forums for the DVD and somebody said the British (region 2) DVD is slightly different from the US (region 1) one, at least with some of the subtitles. I was going to check up on this as this has happened for other movies too, and it's one reason why my aforementioned friend likes to buy Region 2 versions. This whole DVD region scheme REALLY BLOWS! I hate it so much I only own half a dozen region-encoded DVDs instead of the big libraries half my friends have.

Anyway, if you bought the DVD from amazon.com it's pretty well guaranteed to be region 1 as they assume their customers are US/Canada. Oddly, the webpage says 'unknown' for Region. Very helpful - not.

BBM-Intern, where did you order the 2004 screenplay from? There's been mention of it on other threads. I downloaded a copy of the 2003 screenplay from savefile but some of the pages won't print so it's turning into a tedious process.

Somebody posted a link to a short clip from the DeGeneres interview, Jake literally falls over laughing. He's too adorable! I liked his performance in "The Good Girl" although his role was a bit too much of a reprise of Donnie Darko and didn't stretch his acting skills.