oh, silkn, i'm sorry if i implied that you made brian responsible for the breakup. in fact, that's why i praised your ability to remain neutral, and not choose sides in the story, and how you made both characters flawed, realistic and far more sympathetic than the ones todd wrote. i meant (though i guess i wasn't very articulate in expressing it) that reading your story, it seems *TO ME* that brian was pushing curt away, whereas in the film i felt that curt left brian willingly, and in my opinion, without reason. but i don't mean that you made everything brian's fault - i HATE it when velvet goldmine fans blame brian, and i've found that most do. and because i too hate brian bashing, i really appreciate how in your story you provide readers with the characters' reasons for their actions, you make them more human, and one is better able to understand that neither of them is the villain (well, maybe jerry ;) ).

in a nutshell, what i meant was this:
i found it interesting that in your story, *I* felt brian had a larger role in the breakup than I felt he had in the film. in my opinion, in the film curt walked out on brian, whereas in your story i felt that brian pushed curt away. that is not to say that you made the break up brian's fault, or anyone's fault, but just that the way i read it, brian gave curt at least some reason to walk out (though not justifying the fact that curt left brian), and this was achieved by writing of events that occurred between scenes in the movies. where todd haynes left it up to our imaginations, you tell us what happens. the difference for me being that while watching the movie, because of my lack of imagination, i couldn't create in my mind a reason for curt to walk out on brian, he simply did, and for that, i held curt more responsible for the break up than brian. in my mind, it wasn't even really a "break up", curt simply left brian, and brian was too proud to beg him not to. while in your story, things are not so simple, and i am forced to hold brian more responsible (by this i mean at least partially responsible, if not equally as responsible as curt) in the break up than i did when watching the film, where i blamed curt. does that make any sense?

i'm guilty of oversimplifying the story, i realize, but that's just my interpretation. anyway, i'm really sorry to have upset you.

"Its all about being 20-something and perpetually introspective, discontent and remarkably self aware" - Jonathan Rhys Meyers