Columns

Letters to the Editor

DEAR EDITOR: Okay, okay, so my guy blew it on the intro at the Capitol Hill Block Party [In Other News, "Rock and Roll Council," Nancy Drew, July 19]. I prepared reams of background materials for Council Member Peter Steinbrueck in preparation for introducing Pedro the Lion's set at the Block Party. I now know that a simple sheet of paper with the words "PEDRO THE LION" written on it would have been more effective. (I should mention that he DID pronounce Maktub correctly!)

What I think we should remember that day is Peter hollering, "Music is for people of ALL AGES!"As little as two years ago, I doubt you would have heard such a thing uttered by one of our elected officials. Sure, they may not know the difference between Carissa's Wierd and Voyager One, but at least they know you shouldn't have to be 21 to hear them play. In the end, we can only wish for two things: (1) that music for people of all ages will continue to live and thrive in Seattle, thanks to help from Steinbrueck and his colleagues; and (2) that none of them will ever have to introduce IQU in their lifetimes.

Stephanie Pure, Legislative Assistant to Seattle City Council Member Peter Steinbrueck

EDITORS: Loved the "Best of 1407 NE 45th St #12" article [July 26], but I just wanted to clarify something. In the category "Best Descendents Tape," you stated that Disc Go Round in Bremerton was "now-defunct." This is not true. We're alive and well; we've just changed the name of our store to Kitsap CD. We don't want Stranger readers to think we're dead. Thanks.

Kitsap CD, Bremerton

DEAR STRANGER: Props to the "Best of..." crew ["The Best of 1407 NE 45th St #12," July 26]!! That was the most interesting article over two pages in length I've read in a long, long time. You should do that more often! I'm sure there are plenty of folks who'd LOVE to have you invade their privacy for the entertainment of the city. It gives a great perspective on what Seattleites' lives are like.

Becky from Seatown

CHARLES MUDEDE: I had the same reaction to Brother as you did in terms of your Hegelian interpretation ["O 'Brother,' What Art Thou?," July 26]. Any outsider to the U.S. can see the racial hierarchy in this country, and Brother reflects that. In the mainstream consciousness, the model minority, Asians, kick ass in every department over other minorities: spirituality (Zen), making money (new Jews), math (whiz kids), and most recently, gangsterism. Now all that needs to happen is for Asian males to become sexual objects of international desire to achieve parity with Europeans.

But Kitano reminds us that there is a glass ceiling above which you are not meant to rise--that there is some malevolent force, much like the Mafia, which functions to ultimately keep you in your place. I found many interesting subtle commentaries on race relations in this movie. Even if you didn't get these subtle things, it is still a beautiful movie to watch. Kitano's aesthetic sense of violence, of what shocks, is very acute.

Manuel Miranda, New York

Last week, Bradley Steinbacher offered $100 to anyone who could logically explain the ending of Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes [Stranger Suggests, July 26]. Here are some attempts. SPOILER ALERT! For those of you who haven't seen the movie, you might want to stop reading now.

I COMPLETELY AGREE with you that Planet of the Apes makes no fucking sense.

The big battle at the end of the movie was supposed to represent the American Civil War. The dominant group, the apes, have recognized that the humans may not be inferior to them. Marky Mark leaves, and when he goes back into the electrical storm, he is thrown into the future. In the 200 years or so that have passed since he was on the ape planet, the apes and humans were unable to build a society based on their equality. The humans are no longer slaves, but apes are still in power of almost everything.

Cristin Carr

AS SOON AS Captain Leo Davidson is safely out of earshot and on his way back into the electromagnetic storm, Attar shows his true colors by ordering his troops to continue subduing the humans. Without the leadership of Davidson, the humans capitulate rather quickly. The humans are subsequently placed in a work camp, and ordered to break down the remains of the Oberon and free General Thade.

Thade, an ape crazed with vengeance, realizes that he will need the humans in order to find Davidson and exact his revenge. Rather than pursuing a policy of extermination, Thade, remembering the final words of his father, puts the humans to work using their ingenuity to further technology. Before too long, Thade is pleased to see that these humans are remarkably intelligent, and they have built a functioning craft similar to Captain Davidson's Alpha Pod. Upon completion of this project, Thade uses the inaugural launch to begin his intergalactic pursuit of Davidson. The spacecraft locates the electromagnetic storm that brought Captain Davidson to Thade's world, and Thade flies directly into it.

J. Christopher "Cappy" Russell

THE ANSWER TO the question is easy: Tim Roth's character was locked in the command center of the space station, so given enough time, he would learn how to control the technology of Mark Wahlberg's character, and somehow get the space pod at the bottom of the swamp to fly back to an earlier time and take control of Earth.

Patrick O'Connor

TIM BURTON'S FILM adheres completely to the policies set forth in the 1978 Science Fiction Mutual Disensification Acts, wherein it clearly states that any transtellar (defined as "big and swirly") object capable of propelling a forlorn hero ("sucker") into a ridiculous future (How do 30 chimpanzees make for a viable breeding base? They'd all be inbred.) should also be capable of throwing said forlorn hero into a moronic parallel universe. A parallel timeline based on Leo Davidson's subconscious is not only feasible, it is extremely likely. Now give us our $100.

Devin O'Reilly and Daniel Hickstein

RATIONAL EXPLANATION: We might recall a third escape pod, seen in the early moments of POTA--but never used. Someone on board the space station thinks to launch it before the mother ship crashes into the Planet of the Apes. The pilot is, of course, captured by the apes and forced to free General Thade from his prison cell within the mother ship. Thade escapes to Earth through the time warp, frees the apes, and is martyred.

Allegorical Explanation: The final scenes are nothing less than the triumphant realization of Tim Burton's broadly humanistic--or apevistic, if you prefer--vision. We're talking about tyranny here, tyranny and prejudice. The ending is about the lieutenant's political awakening. He experiences oppression firsthand on the Planet of the Apes, and returns to the modern world with the ability to see through the temporal agents of authority (police, media, monumental history) to the dark heart of fascism lurking beneath. It's pure poetry.

Adam Beales

DURING THE TIME of monkey rule, the second moon of Earth breaks down and crashes to Earth, leaving only the original in orbit. And since the planet had sufficient time to cool during the period of monkey civilization, the ice caps once again freeze.

The process is sped up by the discovery of ancient ruins/fully preserved cities that the humans left behind, and that have been returned from the watery depths. The oral history of the apes is written down, and as with all cultures throughout civilization, history is determined by the winner. The apes wipe all evidence of past human occupation from Earth, and replace many monuments the world over with their versions of monkey celebrities. And so we find the martyr General Thade's face upon the Lincoln monument in Washington, D.C.

David Stenkamp

BRADLEY STEINBACHER RESPONDS: Despite receiving over 100 responses to my challenge, most of them extremely creative (not to mention rather obsessive), to quote Bruce Snyder, head of distribution at Twentieth Century Fox, "It [the ending of POTA] wasn't really supposed to make sense.... Everybody keeps looking for [the answer], but you've got to remember you just watched a movie about talking monkeys in outer space. Don't look for too much logic, you know." In other words, no one won. None of the answers convinced me because, evidently, there is no real answer. And yes, I am a cheap bastard.

Love, Bradley Steinbacher