Down from the mountain

I had originally used this space yesterday to pass along a Yahoo user review of Brokeback Mountain that was full of what I thought were hilarious typos, but the page has been deleted. Instead, I'll mention that I discovered, to my surprise, that the Proulx story has been sitting on my shelf for a couple of years. (Thought I'd made it to the end of that book. Guess not.) Anyway I read it yesterday and now I just might see the film after all.

I passed that review along mostly to make fun of the person's orthography, but a little perusal of the most negative user reviews on the Yahoo page really exposes some of the deeply backward ideas some Americans still have about gay people. Most unusual is the idea that there weren't, or aren't, any gay cowboys. I mean, really. That's a much deeper denial than anyone in the movie might've been in. (Speaking of which... paging Fred Phelps....)

I think we're roughly one generation away from a major change in gay acceptance in the U.S. Sure, it's starting to happen now, but reviews like these show there's still a long, long way to go. Still, people ten or fifteen years younger than me do seem to feel differently than people did when I was in high school. I rarely give MTV credit for much, but I have to say, they have it right in their dating shows -- the gay couples are right there with the straight ones. There sure wasn't anything like that on TV twenty years ago, and I'm happy to see it there.


FMFM (Wednesday): Charles Mingus' Tijuana Moods (haven't gotten to the New part yet). I like "Ysabel's Table Dance" best, with its marvelous clacking. The whole thing evokes a Touch of Evil-like border town scene. (Also, dig Mingus's great essay from 1971, which came with Let My Children Hear Music.)

FMFM (Thursday): Jobim's Tide. I'm not sure about the flute-driven arrangements, but his compositions are really intricate. Intuitive but complex chord progressions and sweet melodies. I think I prefer The Composer Of Desafinado Plays but Tide is very easy listening.