Consolidation

Consolidation AUTUMN 2008 Launching Consolidation The Magazine From Strike~Me~Gyllen Consolidation Launching Consolidation The Magazine from Strike~Me~Gyllen Activism Through The Arts -THE FORUM - http://gyllenhaal.suddenlaunch3.com 19th November 2008 Editorial Team Mayalakshmi Rao – India Kimberly Raikes – USA Rebecca Manley – USA writing as Incognita Kim Beckela THE MAGAZINE FROM STRIKE~ME~GYLLEN LAUNCH NUMBER AUTUMN 2008 Consolidation Contents Launching Consolidation i Strike~Me~Gyllen – Birth of a Forum ii Activism Through The Arts iii Consolidation – Genesis of The Magazine iv Timing v Incognitaspeak – “The Magazine That Writes Itself” vii “Rewind to December 2007” viii Inside ix The Slippery Slope – featuring “RENDITION” 1-37 Sands of Time 38-48 Tribute – “To Life” for Jaclyn Pascarella and Heath Ledger 49 A Birthday Tribute to Jackie 50 HEATH LEDGER – A Special Feature 51-58 Friends of Brokeback Mountain 59 Credits 61 THE MAGAZINE FROM STRIKE~ME~GYLLEN AUTUMN 2008 Consolidation Launching Consolidation Consolidation – The Launch of a New Magazine Consolidation was born out of STRIKE~ME~GYLLEN, an online forum launched in Feb. 2007 by a Kolkata based Indian, Incognita (Mayalakshmi Rao), a former IT professional turned writer-activist. Strike-Me-Gyllen The Name: The Phenomenon: “Gyllen” is from the name So what is the forum’s connection with a film family in America? In Gyllenhaal, a Hollywood film family consisting of actors Jake and April 2006 Incognita fortuitously Maggie, their father film director- came across all four of them in poet Stephen and their mother cyberspace. She terms the effect screenwriter Naomi. on her as being “Struck Gyllen.” As she explains it, the family all took her “by storm.” She says “First my renewed interest in actor Dustin Hoffman through a chance event, brought me ‘face to face’ with Jake Gyllenhaal, through a publicity still of them together from the 2002 film Moonlight Mile.” Reading some of Hoffman’s interviews on the internet kindled her interest in gay rights, and through articles on his film, the 1969 classic “Midnight Cowboy,” she found her way to “Brokeback Mountain,” (see box for details of the film) which again led her to Jake, in a big way this time, and to the rest of the family. The story makes for a fascinating read and you can read it at http://gyllenhaal.suddenlaunch3.com …Kim BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN is an award winning film from FOCUS FEATURES with screenplay by LARRY MCMURTRY & DIANA OSSANA based on the short story by ANNIE PROULX and Based on the short story of the same name produced by JAMES SCHAMUS. by Annie Proux, "Brokeback Mountain" Director: ANG LEE traces the lives of two young Wyoming Starring: cowboys, Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) and HEATH LEDGER as ENNIS DEL MAR Ennis del Mar (Heath Ledger), who meet JAKE GYLLENHAAL as JACK TWIST and fall in love one summer while herding ANNE HATHAWAY as LUREEN NEWSOME TWIST MICHELLE WILLIAMS as ALMA BEERS DEL MAR sheep. Though their brief time together on the mountain is one of innocence and trust, their relationship off the mountain is Some Gyllenhaal Films/Books dominated by fear, their own and society's. Naomi Foner-Gyllenhaal: Running on Empty(Oscar nominated), Over the course of 20 years they Bee Season as screenwriter. Producer/Writer on Sesame Street. periodically meet up to rekindle their romance, carving time from their failing Stephen Gyllenhaal: Waterland, A Dangerous Woman, Paris Trout traditional marriages; but their relationship as director. Author of Claptrap – Notes From Hollywood, his first gradually devolves into suspicion, collection of poems. Has written novel Liquid Motel, now in pre- bitterness, and resentment. Not until Jack’s publication stage. death does Ennis come face to face with the power of their love--and the powers within Maggie Gyllenhaal: Donnie Darko, Secretary, Sherrybaby, World Trade Center, The Dark Night as actor. and without them to extinguish it. Jake Gyllenhaal: October Sky, Donnie Darko, Brokeback Mountain, Jarhead, Zodiac, Rendition as actor. THE MAGAZINE FROM STRIKE~ME~GYLLEN i AUTUMN 2008 Consolidation Strike~Me~Gyllen Birth Of A Forum Hear in Incognita’s own voice about the transmission of the “Strike~Me~Gyllen effect” and the consequent building of cyber family leading to a new forum. Cyber-Family to Cyber-Forum The immediate outcome of my unexpected cyber “discovery” of the Gyllenhaals, especially Stephen and Jake, was the opening of a whole new world of cyber interactions and the discovery of like minded individuals worldwide. In time I increasingly came to believe that destiny had willed the source of my future happiness and success to be in cyberspace. What’s Jake Got To Do With It? Successive glimpses into Jake’s persona reconnected me with a sense of my inner self. Parallely the film Brokeback Mountain held a mirror in which I saw my own story. Catalysed by Jake’s enigmatic and erotic appeal, they together rekindled my self-love and filled me with a desire to relive life on my own terms. Jake has had this effect on many people. 95% of the cases though have Jack-Jake (Jake plays Jack Twist in Brokeback Mountain) as their personal muse. For me, Jack and Jake are two separate strands in my life—weaving together in places, diverging in others. Both have been important, however, in my self- understanding. Involvement With Jake Gyllenhaal/Brokeback Mountain fans: Listening to the debate on internet forums devoted to both, I noticed there were many voices expressing a need for something “different”; and these collective needs, together with my own restless exploration, wove themselves into the creation of a new forum. As I found myself actively speaking up and participating on other cyber forums, I discovered their recognition of my insights and networking skills; and this affirmation, coupled with my background in IT and internet-based education, all amalgamated themselves into a melting pot from which the idea to create a forum of my own was born. My focus was on providing a platform for enabling the personal transformation of others, similar to the one I experienced. Helping others to find their “voice,” as I found mine, and to discover the trust of bonding with “cyber travellers,” was and continues a key mission. A Birthing In Sorrow Strike~Me~Gyllen was actually born out of a time of turmoil and loss, soon after the passing of my mother, the co-creator of the forum who didn’t live to see it launched. And it was another "strike" in the elbow during my most despondent phase straight after, that made me write a launch post on the spur of the moment and call a few people on line to announce it. The following quote from Stephen Gyllenhaal’s poem Grammar would explain it best: “to have joyful births, there must be joyful deaths.” That was the magic moment of awakening and going forth in hope, like a burst of light. …Incognita THE MAGAZINE FROM STRIKE~ME~GYLLEN ii AUTUMN 2008 Consolidation Activism Through The Arts Read Kim’s words about what came forth. About the Forum Strike-Me-Gyllen (SMG for short) – the forum, was created, in Incognita's words, "not as a fansite but primarily out of a sense of constructive activism." SMG ventures to explore beyond the Gyllenhaals and their contribution to the arts, branching out into the related issues of media veracity, human sexuality, and social justice in a broader context. Its motto helps to convey the forum's intent: "We won't settle to be passive activists; we'd rather be active pacifists. We dream of a world free from violence; we aspire to lessen violence in any form it takes, from ravages of the environment to assaults on one another's rights." Through threads exploring themes in the arts and society east and west, Strike- Me-Gyllen has built a cyber family of contributors, a team of writers with global perspectives and experience. Under their influence and Incognita's leadership, SMG has become a place that's truly global--a forum which delves not only into Jake Gyllenhaal as a persona or the Gyllenhaals as artists, but even more into art and drama themselves as human expressions of the mythic and eternal. In spirit, SMG is meant to be a place where, as Incognita puts it, "something is generated beyond the personal transformation of the people who post. We'd like to reach outward with that transforming effect, as well as draw attention to issues in a manner that could help accelerate change in the world outside towards a more humane and embracing culture.” That global "transforming effect" is part of what Incognita calls "activism through the arts," something that cannot happen without activism for the arts. And while nurturing the creative spirit is an important aim in itself, our efforts to get a broader audience for a film or to promote a book or any work are directed towards social change such works could generate. Our definition of the arts again stretches beyond conventional boundaries. As Incognita says, "Even think of an internet forum which is in itself a dynamic, organically evolving work of art: the art of human networking, bonding, social and intellectual exchange through the medium of cyberspace. Forums by their nature are 'seeded' and the rest happens as with the growth of a plant... So to be in charge of such an entity and see that growth as healthy is more than a softskill; it is a collaboration of fine-art." As with any art, this mission is all about space—space for work, space for meeting, space for growth. Summing up the spirit of the forum and Consolidation, the magazine being launched, Incognita says “Maybe I am meant to model those spaces for others or help them to model their spaces out of a superspace that I have access to and can share.” THE MAGAZINE FROM STRIKE~ME~GYLLEN iii AUTUMN 2008 Consolidation Consolidation Genesis of The Magazine Consolidation – The Magazine from Strike~Me~Gyllen Consolidation the magazine has its roots in these themes and initiatives.

Load more