My tribute to Australian actor, Heath Ledger, following his tragic death at the age of 28, on 22 January 2008. I knew little of him up until the time I first saw "Brokeback Mountain" with my friend George Chamberlain at Broadway cinema 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, something I later found also happened to many other people worldwide. 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 subsequently saw the film many more times at the cinema. I also bought the book, DVD, movie poster and music CD. And I joined an American-based, worldwide "Brokeback Mountain" on-line chat forum of like-minded "Brokies" 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.
