I drew this cartoon in tribute to Australian actor, Heath Ledger, following his tragic death at the young age of 28, on 22 January 2008. Though I do enjoy occasional outings to the cinema, I've never been what one would normally call a cinema buff. The one exception is the wonderful film "Brokeback Mountain" starring Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, which I first saw with my friend George Chamberlain at Broadway in Sydney, on the day of its Australian release, the Australia Day public holiday - 26 January 2006. It was to be a life-changing experience for me. I left the cinema in tears and found myself in tears, on and off, for weeks afterwards. I think it had such a profound impact on me because I could relate so intensely to the characters of both Ennis and Jack in the film. I saw myself as being very much like Jack in the "It'd be some sweet life" sense, and like Ennis following Jack's death, locking himself away from reality. I became obsessed with the film in those early days and saw it many more times at the cinema. I also bought the book, DVD, movie poster and music score, and joined an American-based "Brokeback Mountain" on-line chat forum called "Bettermost", where I was to become a Moderator. I've lost count of the number of times I've read the original short story by Annie Proulx. No other film has ever had such an enormous impact on me.
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