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'Mountain' Tops

So many times i've read other readers' letters about how excited they were to see so-and-so on the cover and I have now experienced it myself. I so eagerly awaited Brokeback Mountain that I woke up every morning and counted the days left until its opening. Seeing Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal on the cover has increased that tenfold. I know I'll be a mess at the screening; I cried over the last line of Owen's review.
SID POTMA
spotma@canadafilm.com
Toronto

I love the irony of your magazine trumpeting how brave everyone involved in making Brokeback Mountain is — especially the actors — when they, Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger, keep telling us that they are just actors playing parts (''Western Union''). Of course, we realize that Gyllenhaal wasn't a retail clerk because he played one in The Good Girl and Ledger wasn't a knight because he played one in A Knight's Tale. So relax, Mr. Gyllenhaal and Mr. Ledger. We, the audience, know you aren't really...ranch hands.
JOHN L. JONES
johnanddoc@yahoo.com
Brooklyn

I found it both sad and disturbing that your cover labels Brokeback Mountain ''daring,'' and that the article inside is peppered with such words and phrases as ''professional risk,'' ''career suicide,'' ''huge gamble,'' ''courageous,'' ''embarrassed,'' ''super uncomfortable,'' ''f---in' hard,'' and, the ultimate jaw-dropper, ''it was just like kissing a person.'' Good grief. It's a love story. When has any actor (or journalist) ever used language like that to describe the difficulty of making a violent film, or of playing a serial killer, rapist, or terrorist? That's what should be difficult — and what a sad commentary on our society that it isn't.
ALLAN HALCROW
Irvine, Calif.

A Wife Less Ordinary

Felicity Huffman, unattractive (''More Than a Woman'')? For me, the best part of watching Sports Night was seeing sassy, spunky, sexy Dana strut majestically through the office in her tight skirts and billowy blouses while spouting impeccably timed banter to her staff. And the October Desperate Housewives episode where Lynette vamped it up at the local watering hole to show up her boss and ended up dancing on the bar? Hot, hot, hot! And I am a gay male! And please let's not forget one of the sexiest things of all: real talent. I will be rooting for her come Oscar time.
MIKE SZILLAGYI
szillagyi@hotmail.com
Denver

Urban Sprawl

Congrats, EW, for introducing more reluctant fans to a music genius in ''Keith Urban 101'' (News & Notes)! I've been salivating over Urban's rugged good looks and incredible guitar playing for nearly six years now, trying to convert many of my country-phobic friends to believers in his talent. Urban is constantly bringing fresh sounds to a musical genre that all too often seems formulaic, and he is well deserving of your attention.
CHRISTINE MORANDO
Chrissy603@aol.com
Fort Myers, Fla.