Free Republic

Dear (NEA Chairman) Dana Gioia: I write to you today, not with a request, but with a demand. I’ve been sitting back patiently while the NEA has been promoting anti-Christian “art” for a number of years. In fact, one could say that I have been supporting it, too, given that my tax dollars have been spent on this garbage. And maybe I’ve been supporting it in another way by refusing to write you to express my frustration. That is, until now. In the spirit of the “separation of church and state,” my demand is that you commission a painting –...

Was it just me ?? - Did anyone else get the impression some of the Olympic opening ceremonies- the big sun and moon floats, the Victoria's Secret on the Half Shell-with floating ambiguities overhead,the flouncy waving of banners,the poseurs on trapezes ; Did anyone else think they had a certain "Brokeback Mountain" ambiance ? As if a feature event this year might be "Brokeback Bobsledding" ?

The current batch of Oscar nominations underscores the notion that now more than ever Hollywood is out of touch with America. The simple fact that twice as many people have seen the documentary "March of the Penguins" than have seen any of the five nominations for Best Picture ("Brokeback Mountain," "Crash," "Capote," "Munich" and "Good Night, and Good Luck") drives the point home. The combined audience total for all of the Best Picture nominations is less than the number of moviegoers who flocked to see "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe." Another indication of the...

A look at how liberal cultural elites gave "blockbuster" stature to a perverse movie -- Brokeback Mountain -- and what they hoped to accomplish. John Wayne and Gary Cooper must be spinning in their graves. Liberal as Hollywood is, they never would have thought the industry they loved would put out a movie in which the protagonists are cowboys who give the term "rough riders" a new, blue meaning. But alas, Tinseltown has obliged with Brokeback Mountain. Based on Annie Proulx's short story for The New Yorker, it is the tale of two sodomite sheepherders, Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger)...

The eight Academy Award nominations secured this week by Ang Lee's "Brokeback Mountain" guarantee that not only will the film itself continue to prosper at the box office, but that the bitter culture war surrounding the gay-themed western will continue to be fought. Liberals will see the film as a beacon of tolerance, a study of the cruel pathologies of intolerance, a plea for acceptance for the humane principle that love between consenting adults, no matter their gender or orientation, should be celebrated. Conservatives will see the liberal tyranny of an entertainment culture forcing elitist "progressive values" on the reluctant...

It's safe for children folks. Although I will say that if Hollywood goes with this idea, they are eternally screwed. Let's hope the next BTTF movie isn't like this. :O

IBM today announced free software and educational resources to help developers in Russia build and deploy innovative applications based on open standards and open source. Tapping into the booming software development market in Russia, IBM is giving software developers, architects and students free access to software and hundreds of new tools and technical and educational resources that will enable them to more easily build open standards-based applications. With a few clicks of a mouse, developers can download free versions of IBM middleware, IBM WebSphere Application Server Community Edition and IBM DB2 Universal Database Express-C, as well as access trial code,...

It looks like Hollywood heart-throb Brad Pitt is desperate to cash in on the success of gay cowboy movie Brokeback Mountain, for the actor has allegedly ordered his agents to find him a role that has him playing a gay man in a new movie. According to a source, Pitt became keen to play the part of a gay man after seeing the critical acclaim received by Brokeback Mountain. "Brad has asked his people to find him a script to play a gay man. He's seen the critical acclaim that Brokeback Mountain has won and he wants a piece of...

Hollywood Does It Again by Jennifer King, Managing Editor February 3, 2006 "The Heretical Housewife"Liberals have become so predictable, it’s almost boring prognosticating what they’ll do next. Anything to poke a stick in the eye of the unlettered bourgeoisie. All efforts must be aimed at insulting plebian Red America. Thus, at the “Golden Globe” awards, the alleged precursor to the Oscars, the winners included a plethora of tediously tendentious offerings. Brokeback Mountain, a movie about gay sheepherders whose illicit lust destroys both of their heterosexual marriages, won for best drama, best director, best original song (which some wag dubbed, “Homos...

I read a review of Brokeback Mountain, the conservative author of which actually felt bad that he had felt bad during the movie. The heartache experienced by the characters in the film had elicited a degree of compassion and empathy in him, yet this author’s hatred toward the act of homosexuality had so inoculated him against seeing the true struggle behind the issue that it seemed like he actually felt guilty for internalizing the humanity in Brokeback Mountain. As much as the movie tilts at the windmills of our country’s Judeo-Christian foundations, and in doing so ravenously angers its conservative...

Link is on Drudge's homepage. I wonder if the actors union has decided they may had gone too far and went back to the "bottom line?"

CENSORS in China have banned the screening of Brokeback Mountain because they object to its homosexual content. The film is directed by the hugely popular Taiwanese director Ang Lee, whose 2000 Oscar-winning film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon helped to raise the profile of Chinese cinema internationally. But a report by the official Xinhua News Agency said that the film's "sensitive topic" of gay love meant that it could not be screened. World Trade Organisation rules require China to screen a minimum of 20 foreign films a year. Gay activists in China have regularly complained of harassment and discrimination. Last month,...

TAMPA, Fla. -- A Tampa man convicted in federal court of drugging and raping nine young men was sentenced to the maximum 200 years in prison Friday. Two of the victims of Steven Lorenzo ended up dead, and he is likely to face murder charges in state court later. "I hope that he never sees the light of day again," said U.S. District Judge Richard A. Lazzara after the sentencing. A jury in November found Lorenzo, 46, guilty of slipping the date rape drug, GHB, into the drinks of all nine victims and then sexually torturing them at his home....

A recent study by Emory University, found that when debating political hot topics and listening to debates from opposing candidates, both Democrats AND Republicans have knee jerk, emotional reactions to issues and ignore facts to reach whatever conclusions they had previously held. Well, they got it half right. The report on the study itself was vague, undetailed, and led a reader to believe it was probably unscientific and irrelevant. Find it here....... http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11009379 After all, if a report on a study performed does not list the numbers of people in the control group, the specific stimulus applied, and the percentage...

After a great speech at Kansas State University today, the President had an even better Q & A.... including when someone caught the President off guard, asking if he'd seen Brokeback Mountain... Hilarity ensued http://www.rightwinged.com/2006/01/video_bush_hasnt_seen_brokebac.html

I try to see as many little movies as I can, because you never know when you’ll make a discovery. Usually, I feel like I’ve wasted my time but whenever I find a unique film, it enriches my life. End of the Spear is one of those films.

Marvelous Movie Plots – “Queen Kong” Inspired – nay , excited by the acceptance of the latest “King Kong” re-make , and the award-winning “Brokeback Mountain” , I have come up with a perfectly marvelous idea for a movie. Dare I say it aloud ? QUEEN KONG !!! Scenario: The inadequately evolved , borderline homophobic-and-in-denial inhabitants of a remote Pacific island have a troubling relationship with a gigantic ape they call Queen Kong. Unlike most gigantic apes that inhabit remote Pacific islands, Kong has no real interest in the reluctant maidens dragged forward to become “Brides of Kong” – beyond...

Shalit responded on Jan. 10 in a statement sent to GLAAD in which he wrote, "I certainly had no intention of casting aspersions on anyone in the gay community or on the community itself. I regret any emotional hurt that may have resulted from my review of 'Brokeback Mountain.'" "In describing the behavior of 'Jack,'" he continued, "I used words ('sexual predator') that I now discover have angered, agitated, and hurt many people. I did not intend to use a word that many in the gay community consider incendiary." In his review, Shalit called the film "wildly over praised" and...

Utah megaplex balks at 'Brokeback' Monday, January 9, 2006; Posted: 2:57 a.m. EST (07:57 GMT) A sign posted at a Utah theatre informs patrons that "Brokeback Mountain" will not be shown. Image: SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (AP) -- A movie theater owned by Utah Jazz owner Larry Miller abruptly changed its screening plans and decided not to show the film "Brokeback Mountain." The film, an R-rated Western gay romance story, was supposed to open Friday at the Megaplex at Jordan Commons in Sandy, a suburb of Salt Lake City. Instead it was pulled from the schedule. A message posted at...

Nothing is standing in the way of "Brokeback Mountain." Expanding to 214 new playdates and more than 60 new markets, including numerous small cities in mountain, Midwestern, and southern states, Focus' cowboy love story averaged a still-strong $11,905 per theater. Playing at 483 locations, weekend gross was $5.8 million, bringing the pic's cume to $22.5 million. "Brokeback" came out ahead of several new pics on twice or four times as many playdates, including "Casanova," "Bloodrayne" and "Grandma's Boy." Among the new markets where the critically acclaimed pic opened strong were Tulsa, El Paso, Des Moines and Lubbock, Tex. Pic, which...