Sunday, February 15, 2009

Letter #4: Charlton Heston. February 2009.


Dear Friend,

It’s a new year, which leads to reflection on the past, and of those who died.


In March, Arthur C. Clarke died. He wrote “The Sentinel” which Stanley Kubrick later developed into “2001: A Space Odyssey.” When I first saw it I was blown away by the music—specifically “Thus Spoke Zarathustra” at the appearances of the monolith. Each time HAL, the supercomputer, spoke, I felt a vague sense of terror. The film thoroughly creeped me out, and I love it for that reason.


But I’ve always found the beginning scenes with the apes bizarre. Not because of the pace of the film at that point, but because I couldn’t help but imagine Charlton Heston (Astronaut Taylor from Planet of the Apes) crashing down on the “damn dirty apes.” I’ve always held that against him and have never been able to take him seriously— Even when he died in April of last year.


It was like a comic book character at the edge of a cliff—gun in hand—jumping off, and out, into another world.


Did you know anyone who died in 2008? Would you care to share a story?




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