REVIEW: THE C-STRING

Always on top of the latest trends in lingerie, Brahsome presents the C-String. Billed as an end to panty lines, it covers just the bare essentials and can also be used to minimize tan lines when sunbathing. To be honest, I don’t see the point. Why not just go commando? It’s much more brahsome and allows for that quicky in the copy room.

POETRY: IMAGE OF YOU AND ME

A few more days,
over and over,
I repeat in my head.
Can I live without you?
Scared and so unsure...
Can a man survive without
air and water?
I don't know,
guess we'll both find out in the end.

You are the storehouse,
of all my dreams, fears, and uncertainties.
When I'm with you,
feeling so bare and naked,
knowing I have nothing to hide.

But please understand,
all my millions of feelings for you,
still don't fully understand.
Still realizing I've been so blessed,
to receive your enchanted love
and give my own love
That will purify and comfort us both until death.

Every night I look up towards the sky,
close my eyes and softly sigh.
The familiar cold air and darkness surrounding,
building up my emotions inside.
Sending a silent wish,
floating high to our star,
to bring us together,
though we are so very far apart.

Hesitant, but still open my eyes.
Look slowly over to each of my sides.
Thinking maybe a miracle could take place,
just for one second... one brief second.
I could see your beautiful face.

Yes I know,
that miracles are rare.
But baby what we share,
no miracle in the world could ever prepare.

And in the end,
it will all fall into place.
You and me, together...
finally... at last... forever.


2

As my pen fondles this paper,
I write of someone...
like no other being.

The reflection of your face off a pool of tears,
shed from the heavens above...
it is the picture a blind man sees
when he envisions an Angel.

A lost breath never gained back
when my pen makes love to this paper,
depicting the "perfect one",
the "wish",
the "dream",
but is a reality.

Your eyes are like stars
never seen before out of this realm,
sparkling under the rays of sun.

Fire-flies envy the radiance of your pearls.
Lips that Da Vinci could not even paint,
the Mona Lisa was lacking.
Skin softer than the skin you had at birth.
I close my eyes,
and touch my lips...
Inside my soul, memories of a kiss control my heart,
not yielding to fear.

If caterpillars could only spin silk
as beautiful as the strands of your hair,
then their guilt would not cause them to transform.
Only Goddesses have the hair you possess,
Wait! Maybe not...
like no other being.
Your body is imprinted in my mind.

Pause,
it's not over.

Your presence is a gift to one's sight,
a gift touched by no other.

The Eulogy is not over
because inside...
inside of this perfect being,
you will find knowledge...
not knowledge of this earth,
but knowledge of the heart.

A heart as pure as a new seed,
a gift given from God.
Shakespeare never wrote of one such as you,
nor did Nastrodamous predict your coming.
Nightengales flee in shame when you enter the garden,
because their voices cannot compare.
God cheated them.
You are the result of God's paint brush,
perfected through time...
Like a fine wine.

I cast my pen into captivity,
like a genie is caputured inside of a flask,
never released,
because of endless stories.

When you are near me,
my world is Utopia.
Joy emerges from your touch,
divine trembles.
Unheard words spoken to myself,
meant to be heard.
I cherish the eyes given me to look at you!
My eyes hear!
My ears see!
Self planted in stone from your touch.
Your beauty paralyzes.
Unknown altruism you gave.

Can I truly write of your beauty?
Hell, no! Only infer.
Never truly correct.
Placing myself in thought to contemplate this question;
an unending journey is my conclusion.

Pen stop.

It will not,
beauty not fully expressed.
A new word to express this surpassed beauty:

It works,
because a surpassed beauty can only be living,
breathing,
feeling,
and LOVING.
Not on paper,
She is reality,
a gift from God...
like no other being.

Thank you God for letting me know there are Angels,
Amen.


3

The sunshine in your smile
brings me happiness
but the warmth of your heart
touches my soul


4

There is a place on earth for us,
or is it really on earth?
A warm and cozy home
where nurturing and nourishment are an everyday affair.

An amorphous ambiguent space
constantly shifting in locale
adjusting to our presence, a place where love is born
and dreams come true.

There is a space for us,
among the willow groves beyond the frog filled creek,
a space of we, of love and joyful understanding
Where sunlight filters through love's silken, threaded bower
and lights the dreams of the travelers.

The love space of the intertwined,
braided as a Mobius strip's neverending trip,
pillows the Eros-touched dreamers in clouds of passion
as they travel in their ever-changing universe.

The beauty of She endears the space to the Universe
making it as one with time,
the love space endless timeless as her reality
And She creates beauty, instilling it upon her surroundings
As She inhabits the space.

So the two do love and in their love is born
the fragments of future,
the seeds of other lovespaces, places
unalive as yet but awaiting
the dreams and hopes of the Others
Those whose longings and passion
inspire them to never abandon their quest
For them the love space does exist and grow
awaiting their entrance
as they exit from an imperfect world of loneliness.

Our love space is a place
where dreams and hopes have come to life
And where we can grow and become
a love entity unto each other
Safe from the whining winds of wistful anguish
blowing from the icy soul of solitude.


5

And now I lay myself to rest
beneath the soft sky in nature's bed.
As the music from all the world runs through my head,
How I love you my dear.. Oh, how I love you!

My eyes overflow from all the bliss you have shown,
The strength I have received from your gentle words..
And the night is at ease as I grasp your hand
whispering this simple phrase
How I love you my dear.. Oh, how I love you!

Your figure has escaped my mind,
And my palm lies limp by my side..
But I can hear your anodyne voice as you urge me
Please.. do not cry.

And my heart aches,
as I am swept to my feet..
Taken from my becalming world with you,
And slowly, I awake
Look around and mutter, "How I love you my dear..
Oh, how I love you!"


6

I slowly drift off, thinking of nothing but you
your kiss, your touch, your lips, your everything.
You are my love, my life, my soul, you make me complete.
And I thank you for being you.


7

When I close my eye...
I reach my Dreams and Desires...
Pictures can't show what I see...

Words can't Describe what I feel...
I can lower my expectations...
But not my Dreams and Desires...

Close your eyes, see what I see...
Open your Heart, feel what I feel...

To lower my Dreams and Desires...
You would see...
You would feel...
It's not me...

Close your eyes...
Feel my dreams and Desires.


8


I don't know what I am goin' to write
in this letter you're about to read.
I'll just close my eyes,
free my mind and breathe.

I want to take you to a Place beyond ecstasy,
Where it's just you and me.
No words can Describe it,
just the feelin' Between us,

even though the Months seem Merely a week.
I feel you know my story each time we speak.
I think of what we could have if you were here with me,
the love we would make, the time we would forsake,

our lips not wanting to let go,
Our Wildest passions taking control,
deeper and deeper as we fall into each other's soul.
Your Body and soul is what I long to hold.

I need you here with me
so your Soul can be heard felt and seen,
Seen Through the eyes of one,the one that can be a Love,
to always be your true Love ~~~~ ~


9

A look into your eyes is pure ecstasy.
It delivers my subconscious to that blissful paradise
Found within my heart.

A look into your eyes
Is a look into the darkness of the night;
Unknown and unexpecting.

Yet, a look into your dark pools of infinity
Bestow upon me a sweet sense of tranquility and passion.
Feelings of desire overcome my own self-existence.

A look into your eyes engulfs me
In a fantasy where you and I are ceaselessly
In love
And quarantined from all the evil
And malicious ways of humanity.

All resistance disintegrates
As we immerse ourselves into each other's actuality.
I drift away in a sea of twilight
As you slowly and voluptuously seduce me
Through a maze of sensorial entanglement
That leaves me gasping (for an opportunity
To re-meditate the situation)

But then,
I look deeply into your eyes
And I know the love I feel for you
Isn't going to disappear.

It is destined to go on and fulfill my every wish.
And I do believe
With all of my heart,
Loving you is a resolution that I can savor.

So when I look into your eyes,
I remind myself how much I am truly
In love with you.



10

The sun rises and morning comes,
another day begins without you.
I wake up longing to feel the warmth of your touch,
but my lonliness has only grown anew.

As time goes by and the hours start to creep,
there's no way to settle a love so deep.
Evening comes, but still no change,
I can't hold you in my arms, I wish for something to be arranged.

I hope, I pray, I search for a sign
I will always await that one day when you would be mine.
The sun begins to fall and the night slips in,
living without you is such an unbearable thought
that I don't know where to begin.

The days go on and starts, just the same,
I sleep by myself at night calling out your name.
Each day is like this, I don't know what to do,
until I can be with you forever I'll spend an "eternity without you."


11

You remind me of a beautiful rose,
Freshly misted, flourishing with life.
Its shape and elegance
Standing out beyond all others.
My vision mesmorized by your beauty,
For which I have never seen
I thought only lived in my thoughts,
Until you finally made it reality.
My life's garden always was dark and empty,
Now as I speak it's now empowered with lilies,
lavenders, roses and daisies, too.
You are giving it its beauty and strength,
The rising sun throwing its warmth,
And you alone giving it great love.
The fresh rains soothing the land,
Just like your skin against my hand,
Calming all life's worries with one single touch.
Your voice embracing my heart,
For which I am starved by such a wonderful sound.
Like the rose hearing the wind, rustling the trees,
Crickets harmonizing beautiful melodies.
You have immaculate tender hair,
My hands never want to touch anything else
That is as soft as your hair.
Every strand of your hair, so lifelike
A rose petal so soft and gentle,
Just starving for love.
You are my one and only perfect rose.
I shall never leave you standing in the wind's dust.
I shall never take my eyes off you and leave you to wilt.
Let me be your warmth, your light,
Just as you are to my wonderful garden.
For everyday I think of you,
You are my one and only perfect beautiful rose.



12

feels so cool upon my feet
as I walk slowly barefoot
to the water's edge

There I gaze upon the surface
shimmering softly in the night
faint images appearing
in the rippling water there

Images of you and me
as we were together happily
walking in the park
with laughter in our hearts

Gazing deeply into
one another's eyes
our souls speaking
in the language known as love

Whenever I am lonely
and you seem so far away
I close my eyes and find myself
once more at the water's edge

And there reflected
on the surface once again
is all the love we share
and the promise it holds

For distance cannot dim
the bond we two share
Our hearts are bound together
forever sharing love

POETRY: FOR YOU, FOR ALWAYS

They begin out soft and warm
Tender to the touch
All slowly begins to fade except your kiss
It swallows me whole in such a way...
As to drown me in the emotions it stirs
There is no comparison
There is only the reality that time has stopped....
For this one tender kiss
Oh, there have been other kisses
Ones that start the blood to flowing
The heart to racing ever faster
But they are not always there
This kiss is one you can depend on
It says that I am here and am never going to leave you
That is the kiss that makes everything else disappear
And you do nothing except FEEL


2

kisses of sound wave
trembling the bound of space,
kisses of light waves
bending the shield of time,
kisses of sunrise,
kisses from sunset
not change much,
except a true, a true human heart
dedicated for mankind.

kisses of time
no signs, no dates,
no shadows, no traces,
neither the living nor the dead
in this decaying universe
immune to the impact,
except our pearl identity

except our pearl identity,
ingrown due to good deeds,
gluing with kisses
which spare human griefs.


3

In your blue eyes
Lies an ocean of love.
An infinite ocean,
Sober, unfathomably deep.

I came from far away
To see the ocean
But I have just realized...
That an ocean of love
Lies in your blue eyes.

Please, don't close your eyes.


4

Does memory endure in heaven's space?
Does Dante yet recall his lady's grace,
his Beatrice? Does paradise erase
from Pertarch's eyes, his Laura's face?
Or Eloise remember Abelard's embrace?
In heaven, does that earthly love then die
or spirit speak to spirit there on high?

My fingers draw the contour of a face
and trace the memory of a lover there.
Will I be recognized if when and where
we meet in that rarer atmosphere?
Does memory endure in heaven's space?

5

Every part of me is in love with you
my heart, my mind, my soul,
my spirit, and my body.
The things you do
the things that happen between us
won't tear us apart.
I will always be in love with you
wherever our lives may take us,
whether it is together or not,
you will always be my love.
You taught me how to love
I only want the utmost happiness for you
now and forever,
whether with me or not.
Every part of me will always
be in love with you,
you have a permanent lock to my heart.



6

The promise of love sustains me.
Not a love for a lonely man,
Nor a kiss mired in sympathy.
But a love of totality.

The crispness of infatuation.
Working the miracle on me.
The wanton longing for raptured bliss.
Sealing my fate with a soulful kiss.

I willfully go with an open Heart,
Into a world that seems so cruel.
I hold out my hand for someone to touch
Exposed...


7


Might I describe to you in detail
my passions and desires for you?
May I share with you, my love,
your truest beauty through my eyes?
Sweeter than the air I breathe
is your voice in my straining ear.
The comfort of your hand in mine
will ever allay my deepest fears.
To feel you quiver at my touch,
it is the warmth of the summer sun.
You hold me as if to never let go
and we overcome the pain of the world.
Refreshing as the rain on my face
your laughter heals my very soul.
Pray, my love, this dream never ends
and I will not know a day without you.


8

I look at you
And although you speak no words
Your eyes convey the way you feel about me
And my heart stops beating
It amazes me how much I can see into your heart
And know how much you care without one word being spoken

You look at me and I get the chills
I want to be with you like this always
Lying close with you in the dark
Feeling your warm breath against my cheek
And the touch of your soft hands on my body
Not wanting to let the moment pass, wishing time could stand still

I listen to your heartbeat
And I wonder if it was meant to beat only for me
If I am meant to be with you always
Wondering if we were destined to be together
Hoping that I will never have to let you go
Wanting to live my life with you forever
Sharing all that I can with you
In our world of sweet oblivion



9

Her dazzling eyes are but night's eternity-
an infinite array of stars in their prime,
arranged in heavenly constellations,
perfectly illuminating the void of nighttime.

Bound only by the limitations of one's life,
one could gaze indefinitely into the night,
in search of a more heavenly body,
that yet remains endlessly out of sight.

Yet, if you are persistent in your search,
and you search the many miles,
you are sure to resolve your longing,
through her innocent smile.

Her smile is but the sun's good-bye
amidst the canvas of dark and light,
radiating beauty across the vacant sky,
like the wings of an angel in first flight.

Her heavenly existence is but autumn's breath,
as it whisks away the crimson leaves of time
from rightful bearers-- now exposed,
'gainst the harshness of a lover's crime!



10


You're a million miles away
but you're right here with me.
I look deep into the crowd
but you are all that I can see.
It'll take a journey to be with you
but your heart warms me through...

Tonight, I'm with you tonight,
in my mind, you're here in my mind
always, you're with me always,
in my mind, you're here in my mind.

Sound cannot travel between us
but I hear you whisper my name.
I will wait for you forever
until we've won life's little game.
Distance will not defeat us;
time will not destroy us...

Tonight, I'm with you tonight,
in my mind, you're here in my mind
always, you're with me always,
in my mind, you're here in my mind



11


The moments with you,
the seconds, minutes, hours
and days surrounding, making love to you.
When separated, distilled,
Are full, complete,
and exceed the days,
the years, shared with any other.

Being close to you,
Like hot oil and slow cool wine
being poured over your body,
is what I feel, taste, when close to you.
There is no pleasure, comfort, or passion,
that I can deny you.

My hands and body only render a shadow of the endless,
ever increasing love that I want to express
to you, with you, for you.
Till I am consumed, in your presence,
in your arms.

Peace, such peace.
I feel, from the first seconds of contact,
'till the trepidation, before I leave your presence.
Knowing that I miss you already, even before the loss.
That I want you again, as soon as our we part.
And that this love will never leave
and only die when I die.


12

Sometimes when you look at me, I wonder
If you see all the love that shines in my
Eyes only for you and I wonder if
You see in my smile the special touch
Of happiness that comes from loving you
When you look into my eyes

I feel you reaching deep within my soul
And I wonder if you see all the beautiful
Light in me that comes from your love.

I wonder if you see my arms reaching
Out to hold you with tenderness, warmth,
Fullness of my heart and the precious
Feelings our love brings, and sometimes
I want to tell you to look within
Your heart and you will see that
Everything I have to give is only
For you, for always.

PERSONAL/ LOVE LETTER/LOVE LETTER

If I could speak the beauty of your eyes I would say "The eyes are truly the windows to the soul, and your eyes reveal a beauty beyond compare; a divine spark and light radiate from your eyes." You are lit from within. In truth such beauty cannot be put into words. Words though necessary, are limited and can't truly describe the unlimited, the real. The word "sun" is not the sun, the word "beauty" is not beauty. Beauty defies description. The description is not the described. Beams of light pierce your eyes, your eyes perceive the truth, your tongue gives voice to what you see. You are a woman! If I could speak the beauty of your eyes I would say "such beauty is rare, and because it is rare has an unsurpassed value." Beauty is not in the eyes of the beholder because who can behold such beauty and not emphatically proclaim--how beautiful! Beauty is eternal, sacred, universal, and absolute. There is a beauty of a sunrise, and there is a beauty of a sunset. There is a beauty of a starry night and a beauty of a vast blue sky, but the greatest beauty of all my dear, is in your eyes.

LOVE: THE HEIGHT ISSUES

height standard for dating makes no sense.

A) Clearly most women prefer taller, the taller the better. The median height in the US for men, going by memory here, is about 5'8 to 5'9. That means the women who will only date men 6 feet tall or over have wiped out substantially more than half of the male population from contention. I think it's one thing for a woman who is 5'10 to eliminate a 5'8 man for height. It's another thing for a 5'1 woman to eliminate a 5'8 man for height. Here's the really screwy part, many women won't date you if you aren't taller than their height IN HEELS. So add another 2-3 inches to the dynamic. Dating is, despite what people would like to argue, very much a numbers game. You reduce your dating pool drastically, you make dating that much harder because the number of suitable potential mates drops.

B) I would say the "gold standard" for height for men, as it pertains to dating, is 6 feet tall and above. Going again by memory, I'd say this comprises about 15 percent of the male population in America. 15 percent. But women don't just want height do they? They also want a good looking guy in good shape and who probably makes more money than they do. If you eliminate those that are already married, incarcerated, mentally ill, those who are not fit, those who are just plain ugly, those who have poor earning power - the percentage of men that women WOULD ACTUALLY WANT TO DATE at 6 feet tall or over probably becomes very very very small.

C) It takes two to tango. Sure plenty of women want taller men, but can they get taller men? The demand for taller men, and not just tall, but with decent looks, youth, sane, with a good career and good health and cash and not to mention a compatible personality, is very high. The dirty little secret is this - Most women out there are not thin enough, good looking enough, interesting enough, etc, etc to secure a long term commitment from a guy who can offer that kind of package. In the same way, most men don't offer enough to get the most desirable females out there either.

It's perfectly logical for a thin, young, beautiful, educated, funny and interesting woman to desire and demand a male long term mate who is 6 feet tall and over. She can actually compete and get that kind of guy more often than not.

What starts to get fuzzy is when women with a 50 pound spare tire on their gut or four kids from four different fathers or are fifty years old and look sixty or have a face that could stop a clock limiting their dating pool to only men 6 feet and over. Because they just don't want the tall ones. They also want the tall ones who look good and have cash. And the competition for these men is fierce. It starts to become illogical when women have preferences, and its ok to want what you want, where their odds of actually competing and succeeding is relatively low.

Again, dating is a numbers game. And I respect people want what they want. And I understand there is biological hardwiring and cultural/social forces that make height desirable. But women who want guys 5'10 and above WHO ALSO LOOK GOOD ENOUGH FOR THEM AND HAVE THE CASH might want to do the math, and take stock of what they really have to offer to compete for those men.

The most interesting aspect of this issue for me is when I see my friends and coworkers have to deal with this stuff. If the point is finding true love and a long term mate, does it really matter in the end? If you grow old together and the guy sticks by you through thick and thin and takes care of you, will you care in 50 years if there's a few inches of difference?

I do hear the argument though that height is to women what weight is to men. Well, there's a huge difference. If you are overweight, there are health related issues involved. You can't grow old together with someone who can't grow old. So I don't think height and weight are the same as limiters in the dating world.

My final views on this issue are these

1) I don't have a problem with anyone having any kind of "preference", whether you have enough to offer to potential dates and mates to get that "preference" fulfilled on a regular basis is a whole different story.

2) Just by doing the math on it, if you are a woman and you want a man who is six feet tall and over and has all the other desirable qualities you want such as looks, good career, cash, health, a home, etc, then you better bring a shitload to offer to the table yourself. Because competition is fierce for those desirable men. Those desirable men also HAVE THE LEAST INCENTIVE TO COMMIT TO YOU PERIOD as legal commitment through marriage is often seen as the fastest way to never have sex again and lose your house and your kids and most of your money.

3) Height alone means nothing if you are a guy and you are ugly and/or are poor. I think some shorter guys need to be realistic. Even if you were 8 inches taller, chicks might still find you ugly. And you are done right there no matter what your height. Even if you were 8 inches taller, chicks might still not like the fact that you are a janitor (not that there is anything wrong with it, it's an honest job). And you are finished in her eyes right there no matter your height. Being taller isn't the only thing women want, and even if you had it, it might not make the difference you think

4) Money always makes you look taller. The more money you have as a guy, the more women out there will overlook your height. Fame and power count there too. Most women will deny this, and say, money won't make a difference if they don't find you attractive. Ok, that's true for some women. But many women out there? It's bullshit. Cash matters. Cash makes a difference in who you get to sleep with at night. At least guys have the money option, unattractive women are pretty much screwed no matter what they do moneywise

5) There is a magic number for women too, it's "40" When a woman hits 40 and over, it doesn't matter what she wants or prefers, her ability to find a desirable mate goes down dramatically. She can no longer offer youth and fertility. (Yes, women 40 and over can have children, but the situation and circumstances is often not desirable to men, particularly when you consider the potential health risk to the child) Any woman who uses height as a limiter and does so dramatically (i.e will only date guys 6'5 and above or something like that) and overestimates her ability to secure such men based on what she has to offer, will probably never find anyone and die alone with her 50 cats. To be fair, men who overestimate their worth on the dating market also face that fate, dying alone because what they wanted wasn't reasonable to what they asked for. So for all the short guys out there, yes, you might be short, but when those women who deny you hit 40 and above, it won't matter what they want anyway. Sorry , I won't shed tears for a commodity (sex from a woman) that will depreciate dramatically over a short period of time.

I've met plenty of women who were interested in me and have said to me, "Thank God you are over 6 feet tall" As if I had something to do with it? Like God and I made a deal for it? Like I could choose the height of my parents or the nutrition I got as a child?

Ladies, you want what you want. No one will deny you your right to your preferences. But dating is a numbers game, and the height issue stacks the odds against you dramatically. No adult male here is going to grow taller for you to make themselves more "dateable" in your eyes. But one day, all you ladies will hit 40 years of age and above. You will suddenly and dramatically be eliminated out of contention for many of the people you find desirable. And I think then you'll start to see how these shorter guys feel about dating.

Love doesn't make sense, that's for sure. And neither does the height issue.

REVIEW: ONE OF MY FAVORITE MOVIE....HIGH FIDELITY

I anyone know me...they know that one of my favorite movies of all time is High Fidelity. HIGH FIDELITY began as a novel by Nick Hornby, but there are lessons we can learn from the adaptation... methods of dramatizing internal conflict so that it can be seen on the screen. First - the movie does something completely unusual. It's not Voice Over, it's not Narrated, the protagonist actually talks to the audience throughout the film. It's as if we're his best friend, or maybe his shrink. He spends the whole film talking to us - even when other characters are present. It's not a Woody Allen aside - it's the whole danged film! Though this gives us a way to know what the protagonist is thinking, it isn't *dramatic* and film is a dramatic medium. See, we need a way to *show* that internal conflict - to turn thoughts into something concrete.

HIGH FIDELITY is about a typical Hornby man-child struggling with responsibility. Society wants Rob (John Cusack) to grow up - to put on a suit and tie and get a real job - but he just wants to run his little Chicago record store. Champion Records specializes in *vinyl* - because records have a more realistic sound quality than CDS. Rob loves making Top 5 Lists and compilation tapes of *his* favorite songs to give to people. He is the king of his little universe instead of participating in everybody else's universe. "You guys are snobs!" a customer tells him. "You're totally elitists. You feel like the unappreciated scholars, so you shit on the people who know less than you." "Which is everybody," Rob answers. At Champion Records Rob is king - no reason to join society when you're king, right? Rob's own mother thinks it's time for him to find a real job and grow up - but Rob is happy just the way he is...

Until his girlfriend Laura (Iben Hjejle) pulls the plug on his existence and moves out.

Now Rob is going through one of those What Does It All Mean? things - reassessing his life. He's broken hearted and depressed - but both of those are *internal* conflicts. Why does he have such bad luck with women? Why is his life in constant turmoil? The struggle is going on inside Rob, but we can't see that and film is a visual medium. So we need to find ways to dramatize that conflict - to externalize it. On film, if we can't see the conflict, it doesn't exist. So all of the characters in the script end up symbolizing different aspects of the conflict within. You MUST have a conflict we can SEE in your script. You MUST figure out ways to SHOW THE STRUGGLE. That means you need to DRAMATIZE emotional conflict - to turn what happens in a character's heart and mind into actions (and interactions with characters) that demonstrate this emotional conflict. The best way to do that is to create characters which are symbols for Rob's problems.

CONTRAST CHARACTERS

The reason why Laura left him was because he's self-centered and refuses to grow up. He's irresponsible. I've done tips in the past on contrast, and that's the tool we're going to use to illuminate these problems within Rob. Laura didn't just leave Rob, she left him for another man - Ian (Tim Robbins). Ian is a symbolic antagonist - he has all of the qualities that Rob is lacking. Ian is a caring, nurturing therapist who cooks and provides a shoulder for Laura to cry on. He's understanding, he's mature, he has a real job. Ian used to live in the apartment above Rob & Laura, but he's since moved into a much nicer apartment... which is where Laura goes to when she moves out of Rob's place.

After Laura leaves Rob, he embarks on a massive project - reorganizing his record collection. Not alphabetically, not by year, he's organizing it "autobiographically" - based on when *he* first heard the song. Talk about self-centered!
The reason why Laura moved out is what Rob *isn't* - but you can't show what a character *isn't* - so you create a character who *is* those things. Instead of Laura just moving out, she moves in with Ian (the anti-Rob).

Laura makes $60 thousand a year - she has a grown up law job. Ian is a therapist who makes enough to move into a better neighborhood. Rob's record store is so successful that he has to borrow $5 thousand from Laura and hasn't been able to pay it back.

Ian is a symbol of what Laura wants Rob to become.... just without the ponytail and karate class pictures. Even in though Ian is in very few scenes, his *character* is present from the very beginning. He is Rob's rival for Laura's love. Ian is all of the things that Rob hates - because they are the changes Rob *knows* he needs to make in himself. He's fighting those changes... and he's fighting Ian for Laura's love. If your hero's character arc is to grow up you need someone who *has* grown up so that we can see the struggle. Rob is in a battle with Ian for Laura's love. Remove Ian and how can we see the battle?

MIRROR CHARACTERS

Another method would be to have a mirror character - someone else who has the exact same emotional problems as Rob. You know how we can't stand people who have the same flaws as we have? Mirror characters are a way for Rob to struggle with his surrogate self and come to realize his own faults.

Rob has two connected internal problems - his relationships with women and his anti-social attitude. Both are symptoms of his refusal to grow up. In order to create a way for Rob to struggles with these two aspects of himself, we give him a pair of employees.

Dick (Todd Louiso) is shy and paranoid around women. He is afraid of becoming involved in a relationship for fear that he'll get hurt. He mirrors Rob's relationship problems - his broken heart, his fear of being hurt in a relationship, and his weird paranoia that he's just not worthy of any of the women he's gone out with. Though we get to see this aspect of Rob first hand in his flashback relationship with Charlie (Catherine Zeta Jones), the character of Dick allows us a reference point throughout the film.

Barry (Jack Black) insults customers, comes to work late and is fun and totally immature. Barry is about as anti-social as you can get. He's an exaggeration of Rob's flaws. Rob is a music snob - Barry actually chases off customers who don't have his taste. Rob isn't ambitious enough to change his life, Barry isn't even ambitious enough to show up at his slacker job on time. Barry has a dream of fronting a band - but is afraid to do anything about it. He's rather be a minimum wage slave than take a chance on doing something better. Those are all Rob's flaws! As Rob struggles to turn Barry into a more responsible employee, he's really struggling with his own flaws. Can he see himself from Laura's and realize that he needs to mature?

Mirror characters can work two ways - you can use them as the unchanging "control" in order to show how your protagonist is changing... or you can have them change in order to show how your protagonist is stuck in a rut. HIGH FIDELITY uses the mirror characters as a catalyst for Rob's change. All three are stuck in the same rut, stuck in the same store... but Dick and Barry begin to mature - leaving Rob behind.

Dick forces himself to overcome his fears of relationships by asking out Anna (Sara Gilbert), a customer who likes the same music as he does. Barry puts his anti-social behavior on hold long enough to talk to a musician about forming a band. Up until this point he has insulted any musician who approached him. When he stops being anti-social, Barry lowers his walls of self defense and is able to access his dreams. This is the lesson that Rob needs to learn.

There's a great scene in the movie where Rob suggests the three of them go out to a club, but Barry says he can't - he's got to write lyrics for his band, and Dick says he can't - he's got a date with Anna. Rob is left alone in his store while his mirror characters move on with their lives. This scene ends with a great moment - as Rob is locking up he sees Dick and Anna across the street kissing. Talk about rubbing it in! Rob realizes what he doesn't have by seeing his mirror character obtain it. That acts as a catalyst - Rob realizes he must change in order to be happy. He must get over his fear of relationships and lower his defensive walls and take a chance on his dream.

Rob has a Top 5 List of dream jobs - and two of the jobs are producing records. Of course, he's stuck in a rut working at his record store. Producing records would involve working with others, and he's too anti-social for that.

The next day he hears a music tape made by the skateboard kids who hang around outside his store, likes what he hears, and goes out and signs them to his record label. Record label? What record label? Rob has stopped being anti-social long enough to figure out that he has the connections to start his own label. He's going to put out a CD (not a vinyl album) and put his music knowledge to good use. Instead of just talking about music, he's going to *do something*. This is the first step in Rob's maturing process, which ends with him winning Laura back and asking if she'll marry him.

"I've started to make a tape in my head for Laura. Full of stuff *she'd* like. Full of stuff that would make *her* happy. For the first time, I can sort of see how that's done." Rob has been transformed rom a guy who only thinks about what is important to him into a guy who thinks about what is important to others. He's learned what love really is... and grown up. We SEE this happening through the use of symbolic characters.

SPIRITUAL : BEING FEARLESS

At one time or another, we all have experienced fear - from low-grade anxiety to terror. Fear can inhibit, paralyze, and profoundly affect the quality of our lives. Though fear can assist in helping us identify our desires and needs, it can prove debilitating unless we are able to release it. Fear prevents us from fully being alive and living our dreams. To live in fear is to live without faith.

I have been teaching and practicing what I call 'an empowerment meditation'. We ask to be given light, love, peace and healing power. Light is, of course, enlightenment, wisdom, instinct, intuition and revelation. Love is not 'please love me, I'm feeling miserable and lonely', but rather, 'please fill me with love, so that I can create with love, instead of fear'. Peace is the perfect peace that 'passeth all understanding'. It is that peace in which there is absolutely no room for fear.

I had often wondered if I had ever reached that peace. It wasn't until the doctors in Chicago diagnosed me several years ago with Lupus, and all the tests and sickness I've endured since then .... that I realized that my mind did not shift gear, not even one cog. I did feel an overwhelming gratitude for this opportunity to show, with irrefutable proof, that the Spirit of God which is within all of us, when directed skillfully by the mind, triumphs over all. The physical and the non-physical. I pray that I am skilful enough.

When I have totally eradicated this illness from myself, I hope to start a school for the self-treatment of chronic illness, using proper, chemical free nutrition and mind-power.

So that I should have a mind free to concentrate on healing, I have made my funeral arrangements. This way, I have avoided having others worry about what should be done and I no longer have to think of such things. Death is such a beautiful thing. It is like taking off a straight-jacket and being liberated. It is only those who distrust and fear the Source of all life, consciousness and energy, who are frightened of the inevitable. The only sin in all the omniverse is ignorance. And what suffering it causes.

I choose to live without fear of life, death or love ....

What if ...

- Your feelings lie to you?
- Most of your thoughts and feelings come from fear?
- Most of your decisions are based on fear!


Being Fearless isn't about jumping out of planes, it's about jumping into life!

- Freedom from fear.
- Freedom from disappointment.
- Freedom from not enough.

Most people, no matter how confident they appear to be, often harbor paralyzing fears that overshadow their ability to live fearlessly. These fears are always whispering skeptical objections and feeding you doubts about anything that might shake up the status quo:

- Do you really think you should do that?
- Are you ready for a big step like this?
- Why don't you get somebody else's opinion?
- Are you sure you're not getting in over your head?
- What will people say?

Living without fear, takes you out of the lie and into the truth of your own unique magnificence. Stop beating yourself up and become more accountable; this will help build on your objective: Ultimate Integrity. Mastering fear does not imply you will never experience fear again. But rather, you win knowing what actions to take to move you from Fear at will, to Freedom.

Your Fear Is As Smart As You

Whether you know it or not, fear has developed your likes and dislikes, picked your friends, and raised your children. Learn how to recognize when fear is running your life and take steps to set yourself free.

Fearless Intentions: What were you expecting?

Expectations breed fear, disappointment and discontent. They are silent contracts that focus your attention on the outcome instead of the process with little satisfaction. turn expectations into intentions freeing you to live your life on purpose, with purpose and get results that matter.

Excuses Disempower You

Excuses ... excuse you from fulfilling your potential. They take away any sense of personal responsibility, accountability, or power, giving you permission to ignore your own values, beliefs, and commitments. Forgiveness is a process and we use it to accept, release and make peace with the people and circumstances that may have been keeping you up at night.

Complaining Advertises Your Fears

Complaining advertises your fears while keeping you stuck in the complaint. Increase your ability to see opportunities and possibilities by transforming your complaints into gratitude and acknowledgements.

It's often said that love is the only thing that is true and real and that love is all we need to focus on if what we desire is to heal any thing ... every thing. What is the opposite of love? Most people would instantly say "hate." But what is the foundation for hate? Fear. Fear is the foundation for all things that are not love. Fear is the opposite of love.

One thing that has been pointed out to me during my continued spiritual quest for understanding is that when one loves, one expects. Giving love seems to have a purely human need to receive something in return. Expectations. What is that we ultimately have when we have expectations? Fear. And fear is the opposite of love.

When we have expectations we are living with limitations. We are living in fear. We are saying ... there is only so much that I can give. I am limited. I need to receive in order to give. In addition we are saying ... if I do not receive, what I am giving has no value to the one who is receiving. What is the foundation for feeling that something you give has no value? Fear. Fear that you are not valuable, not worthy, not accepted, not loved in return or loved and recognized for what you are doing or giving. Another way of putting it ... I am giving but not receiving, therefore the Universe is limited and I must hang on to what I have for I may run out of energy (or time, or love, or whatever the case may be). In addition we are saying ... I am not receiving love therefore I will not give love. The basis for this comment, again, is fear.

How many judgments do we make before we offer love? How many expectations do we have once we offer love? Perhaps we don't expect anything from the person or thing directly, but do we expect something from the Universe? Some sign of "reward" for having thoughts of love and compassion and acceptance?

But love is a state of BE-ING. Love is a state of pure acceptance. No judgment, no expectation. Love is a state of pure acceptance. It can't be said too many times or in too many different ways. Many of us understand the concept perfectly. But most of us also continue to seek the understanding beneath the words and the concept. We are, after all, human and so it is that situations and events can shift our focus and change our state of being pure love. We can become upset, angry, confused, resentful, frustrated, and any number of other things. In other words, we give the true state of our be-ing away to the "reality" that is playing around us. Why is this case? And, more importantly, how do we learn to be unaffected by what happens to us and around us?

It seems to be a great and burdensome task to ask of ourselves.. To become pure love. To do so would be to live without judgment of things such as murder, abuse, poverty, and all of the other things we, as humans, think of as negative and bad. The argument against loving ALL things that humans create within their reality is strong and could be never-ending. But continuing the argument leaves us without the option to create new thought processes. If we continue to argue for the right to oppose the things we have labeled as "wrong," we continue to close the door on the answer to how we might be able, within this consensual reality, to put all things into Divine Alignment and restore order within what appears to be chaos.

Is it a judgment to believe that we must set things "right?' Or is it simply a matter of observation that all things and all people are an aspect of God and therefore should act and be treated accordingly? Is it possible that, even after all things return to the state of being divinely aligned with the original plan of God/Creator, such things as murder, abuse, poverty, and such things would still exist? Yes, it's quite possible. Why? Due to the fact that we, as scholars who are studying the process of Creation, must experience ALL things.

This is one of the greatest struggles that we, as aspiring Masters, have. To accept that all things in existence are presentations of God/Creation. One of the reasons, other than our sincere compassion and desire to see joy lived by all creatures, is that we believe all things should be treated with honor and respect and the recognition that all things are an aspect of God. Would we, if we saw a person as an aspect of God, slap, scream at, or other abuse that person? Probably not.

How then do we achieve a place of pure acceptance of the things that appear to be out of the realm of what God would want for us, for those who live within this reality? By realizing that, though there are things that do not seem "perfect" and in Divine Alignment, the events that transpire around us are "tools" that we create, as a society, in order to show ourselves and others ALL sides of existence. We must, as aspiring Masters, understand the cause and effect of all things within existence. We must, as aspiring Masters, understand balance, light vs. dark, positive vs. negative, and all other polarities that exist within the realm of existence.

Does it then become simply a matter of choosing the reality you wish to live? Absolutely.

REVIEW: HOW IT ALL BEGAN IN THE PLANET OF THE APES

A.D. 1972

Astronauts Taylor, Dodge, Stewart and Landon are launched on the first Interstellar Exploration flight.

A.D. 1972

Astronauts "Skipper" and Brent (and possibly two others) are launched along same flight path as previous vessel, to probe its unexplained disappearance from detection.

The California Coast

A.D. 1973

The first capsule reappears mysteriously, within nearby space. It lands off the California coast, slightly north of San Clemente, and is met by mobilized US Navy Spaceflight Recovery crew. Capsule is found to be piloted by Drs. Cornelius, Zira, and Milo. Events of ESCAPE FROM THE PLANET OF THE APES begin.

Those events conclude with the birth of baby Milo and the murders of Zira and Cornelius. Milo begins his long education under Armando's care.

A.D. 1973-1981

Eight complex years marked by contradictory development of two aspects of society. Space exploration expands. Unmanned probes range to the stars and back (discovery of Faster-than-light drive) and manned flights over great distances are becoming more common. At the same time, however, the governments on Earth are growing more totalitarian in order to cope with increasing economic, political, and energy pressures. All information concerning the two lost spaceships and the secrets of the future revealed by Zira and Cornelius is locked away under heavy security clearance. Few are allowed access to it. Publicly it is spread that the two talking chimpanzees were a hoax, and nothing more. "Caesar" given to Milo by Armando.

A.D. 1981

Caesar, aged 8, begins his bareback-riding acrobatics with Armando's circus. (With political repression the smaller circuses have been forced to play to dwindling country audiences, thus helping Caesar avoid dangerous publicity.)

A.D. 1982

It is in this period that the repercussions of the Plague begins to be felt. Humans, to replace their lost pets, turn to keeping small primates, birds, lizards, ect. The primates are found to be the most useful and gradually became the most common household animal. Gradually larger and larger ones are taken in. In a generation of primates the Plague's genetic effects show themselves: stature increases and so does intelligence in the larger orders. The Government increases to be more and more authoritarian. A reverse migration of people from suburbs into cities results in large towns becoming almost feudal forts surrounded by farmlands; the "provinces". Pollution in many areas brought under control. A massive air purification plant in the Rockies keeps California air perfectly clean.

However, with this increase in governmental structure a slave class is developed. Ape management incorporated as a Semi-Public branch of the Government in 1986, with their only task rudimentary conditioning. By 1991 they are a monolith, now wholly government operated, with a wider range of responsibilities. Their training and day-to-day life with humans brings on an acceleration in the mental development of the apes.

A.D. 1991

Armando decides that Caesar, now nearly eighteen and an accomplished performer, is old enough to see the truth of the Ape Condition. He brings the circus in to play at an unnamed city on the West Coast, very likely San Francisco (judging from interior data.) Events of CONQUEST OF THE PLANET OF THE APES begin.

Eighteen years after his birth Caesar comes of age at the head of the Ape Rebellion.

A.D. 1991-1992

Caesar leads his people from the city into the "Provinces." In this case, the San Francisco peninsula. Here Caesar attempts to build a home for his people with the aid of a few humans advisors. Massive educational programs within the community. They face little harassment because, elsewhere in the country and perhaps the world, the apes rebellion is spreading. The government's breakdown has begun and it can not police itself as in the past......

TENSIONS GROW, UNTIL GLOBAL NUCLEAR CONFLICT!

Mpeg Clip THE BEGINNING OF PLANET OF THE APES

A.D. 1992

NUCLEAR WAR: The work of a single madman. International political pressure. Some country taking advantage of the US governmental paralysis. It is swift and effective. Laser defense ABM systems prevent war from utterly destroying life. Major cities bombed but surrounding areas liveable-to a certain degree.

A.D. 1992 - 2001

The human population that remains is in a state of shock. There is little or no communication over great distances, so Caesar's community, now completely isolated, accepts the survivors in its area and a new ape/human society begins to grow. Despite Caesar's wishes humans become, effectively, second class citizens, and apes cultural divisions begin to develop. Aldo declares himself General and begins to train an "army" of gorillas. In 1995, Caesar's son by Lisa is born, and named Cornelius.

During this time residual radiation is having its effect on both humans and apes. The Plague-altered genes of the apes increase their already rapid intellectual development, in some cases (e.g., Virgil and Mandemus) incredibly so. The humans tend to be more docile, less given to action when angered. It is not clear at this time whether that is a radiation effect of just living with the evolved apes, the weakest of whom could trash the average human.

Meanwhile another branch of the humanity is developing; the one that survived the war but stayed in the cities- The Mutants. Inspector Kolp has taken over in the remains of San Francisco and runs a scavenger city full of repressed hate.

A.D. 2001

The events of BATTLE FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES begin and conclude. The humans win a slight ideological victory and temporary equal status with the apes. Kolp, Aldo and young Cornelius die.

A.D. 2001- 2038

This, the first Ape City, grows. Caesar rules benevolently and well but human position continues to erode, seemingly without solution. Lisa dies in A.D 2038

The Forbidden Zone begins to become a real danger as animal and plant mutations get out of hand. In the city of San Francisco, the mutants are splitting into factions under the leadership of Mendez and the beginning destined Become One of the Gestalt mind.

A.D. 2040

The Ape-Human Council begins.

Caesar dies, at 67. Not survived by Children, his rule is turned over to a council of apes and humans under the leadership of a particularly well-respected orangutan. Both he and the office are christened "Ape-Human Council."

A.D. 2040 - 2052

Conditions between ape and human get worse, While educational programs maintain that there is no difference, human labor under an aura of inferiority. Voluntarily they tend to withdraw from active participation in the council and draw themselves into a community-within-the-community, separated by a river from the apes. It is only partially a ghetto. The level of culture is falling.

The New York Coast

A.D. 2070

In the city, the mutant faction have gone into war with one another, Be-One winning out. Mendez and his loyal followers manage to escape into trans-national transport tubes with the Alpha-Omega device and work their way towards an unknown new home.

In this period Mendez and his mutant group have reached New York City and established themselves there. Mixture of their bloodline with local mutants begins to produce a new breed with telepathic powers, and finding new religious significance in the Alpha-Omega device.

A.D. 2750

The Lawgiver of New York Region writes the Sacred Scrolls and their rather unflattering portrait of Humanity.

A.D. 3085

The Ape City near New York City becomes isolated in this period. it was not a colony of the first Ape City but developed independently, and therefore does not have an historical record that accurately chronicles the west coast developments.

A.D. 3085 - 3955

The fall of mankind is complete. Approximately 3400 A.D., the combination of radiation deterioration and general demoralization succeeds in wiping the minds from humankind. They are forced away from ape cities as unproductive and useless animals and begin to live in the forests, wild. Late in this period humans begin to be used as experimental animals and entertaining hunting diversions for the gorillas. A certain instinctual pattern remains in the people but it is less than successful.

A.D. 3955

The first-launched space capsule, containing the three surviving males and one dead female astronaut, crashes in inland lake somewhere in the area south of what was Long Island in our time. (Land masses have shifted so that it is no longer ocean.) Space Craft instruments are damaged upon impact, the date meter misreads as 3978 A.D. Events of PLANET OF THE APES begin.

A.D. 3955

Ape City is awash with political undercurrents. Zaius has succeeded in quashing the ripples caused by Taylor's appearance and abilities, but General Ursus' campaigning for war is beyond his control. Several scouts are lost near the Forbidden City not long after Taylor disappears, and now war is on. There is also a chimpanzee political undercurrent-and while pretending to go along with Zaius Cornelius and Zira have secretly been aiding the genius chimpanzee Dr. Milo in his studies of the rescued space capsule, the one Taylor had arrived in. He is analyzing it and attempting to repair it to ready it for flight. They plan to use it as the kind of traumatic evidence they feel Ape City needs to escape total loss of the light of Truth.

A.D. 3955

Brent's ship lands. "Skipper" and other astronauts lost in crash. Events of BENEATH THE PLANET OF THE APES begin as Brent encounters Nova and Ape City in his search for Taylor.

Brent's arrival plus two days: THE END, as the Alpha-Omega Bomb originally stored in the vaults of San Francisco missile-complex and cherished by 26 generations of the house of Mendez is exploded while in St. Patrick's Cathedral, in New York City. The end of everything; a catalytic reaction spreads across the globe, shock wave of blast strikes space capsule with Milo, Cornelius, and Zira just as it approaches orbit, and manages to cast it back into the past to....

A.D. 1973

THE BEGINNING!

BENEATH THE PLANET OF THE APES

 how terrible humans are; raging wars, and those they're horrible and need to be destroyed... When the Apes were acting just like humans. They were killing humans the same way some people in some countries so with animals. Of course, the hunting of animals such as chimpanzees
and gorillas is now illegal and they have to be protected...

I view the killing of primates (particularly chimps, gorillas etc.) almost as bad as killing another human, because we're so closely related.

The way the Apes treated the humans was awful and is just like how some people treat animals today. So Zaius is being very hypercritical of Taylor and other humans, as they a no worse or better then apes were (the chimpanzees were a lot more placid, weren't they? Probably cause they were smarter). In fact, humans are better then the way they were behaving, as most of us have learnt to respect other living creatures...

In a few hundred, had Taylor not blown up the Earth with the a-bomb, the Apes would have been were the humans are now. Probably polluting the Earth and ranging war on each other (rather then other animals) as they all expand over the lands that were safe to live in. Driving out wildlife etc.

Then the humans might start fighting back, just like the Apes started out. Then we're back to where we started. Nova must have been the first human in a thousand years to say a word.

This is an interesting thread. I'll try to answer your question mejercit, because it's one that I had myself. If you'll recall earlier in the film when James Franciscus (what was his character's name?) describes the bomb to Charleton Heston, he -- as Taylor -- identifies it not just as any standard atomic weapon, but as a cobalt bomb, a doomsday device.

Such devices are known to science, and to film-makers as well -- check out "Dr. Strangelove." Still, even though I'd heard about such things, I never could figure out how one bomb could destroy the earth.

Eventually, I hit on the brillant solution of googling the subject, and came up with the answer. A cobalt bomb is a nuclear device with a cobalt casing (hence it's name.) What makes them so dangerous is they produce an incredible amount of radioactivity upon detonation, more so
than any other atomic device. Theoretically, one cobalt bomb of the right size could release enough radiation into the earth's atmosphere to kill off all life on the planet, with the possible exception of some plants and insects. The only way any intelligent life could survive under the circumstances would be if it could live deep underground for many years, until the radioactivity subsided. This is why a cobalt bomb is referred to as a "doomsday device" because whoever denotes one would in effect destroy all life on the planet.

Although the ending effect of "Beneath the Planet of the Apes" is quite good -- with the roar of the explosion, and then it turning brighter and brighter until it whites out completely -- life would not have ended immediately upon the earth, despite what the narrator said.
Taylor, the underground city, and probably the ape city were incinerated instantanously, of course, but it would have taken at least a few months for the resulting radiation to make its way across the planet.

(I know, I know. Some people are going to say: But Zira said in "Escape From the Planet of the Apes" that the earth seemed to melt when they were flying above it, in the process of escaping. That's Hollywood for you. In truth it would take the force of an exploding sun to melt the earth.)

Anyway that's the answer. Taylor was correct in saying that the bomb could destroy the earth, but not in precisely the way that most people imagine.

If you watch the documentary 'Behind the Planet of the Apes' the late Roddy Mcdowal addresses this essue when he aludes to the irony of Taylor setting off the bomb and thus fulfilling the Law Giver's prophesy that "Man is the harbinger of Death". Taylor is so disalusioned by the murder of Nova that he becomes what he hates the most and what he damns at the end of the first film (when he falls to his knees at the foot of the ruined statue of liberty and damns the human race "all to hell!" for having destroyed civilization. Ironicaly, by the end of "Beneath" Taylor has become the embodiment of all he hates in man).

Now, all that being said, that it was intentional, I have to go on record as stating that I hated the ending. Sure, General Ursus and his apes were on the verge of wiping out all the humans on the surface as well as killing the mutant humans in the subways. Nova had also been shot. Hince, Taylor has decided to pass judgment on the ape's as a whole on account of this 'crime against humanity'; this 'hate crime'. Also, Taylor himself has been shot, had lost lots of blood, and
probably wasn't thinking clearly (although, even before he's shot he doens't seem all that enthused about helping Brent save the apes by disarming the bomb. "Sure, why not", he says as almost an after thought. However, you would think that Taylor would have remembered
Cornelius, Zira, and their nephew Lucius who had been so kind to befriend him in the first movie. Sure they were apes, but, hey, they tried to help. I thought Taylor would have remembered them, wouldn't have wanted them to pay the price for Ursus and Zaius' sins. The only thing that makes the endeing half way beleivable is that Taylor is mourning Nova's death and has, himself, been shot and is probably on the virge of going into shock. Still, I hate the ending. I think it
was out of character for Taylor. At least you can make the arguement that he was in shock and probably not in his right frame of mind. I guess that saves it for verisimilitude's sake, but just bairly.

As it happens, fraterperdurabo65, the gorilla soldiers' astonishment at a vocal human was indeed in the final film ( though the actual line was, "He can SPEAK!", followed by the spooked gabbling of the others, as Mendez pressed the knobs bringing the Bomb into full view ). Ursus's reaction was more controlled ( a cocking of the head in curiosity ), but it indicates that he, too, was not expecting loquacity from a man. Then again, he could have sensed that Mendez was beyond their definition of what a "man" was ( he had first ordered his troops to "Arrest that creature!", not "that man" ). Evidently Zaius had managed to keep the specifics of Taylor's advent into Ape City a secret ( though it is unlikely by far that he could do anything about rumor-mongering among the populace; if he and his fellow orangutans of the National Academy were able to successfully "stonewall" the general, the latter would likely pay little heed to wild tales from the rabble about a talking man loose in the city ). Then, too, Zaius had had Taylor brought to his own rooms for a one-on-one in order to find out if there were in fact a tribe of humans like him beyond the Forbidden Zone, so he too must not have known anything for certain about conditions existing out there, beyond his own prejudicial fears. Lastly, I concur with your assertion that Ursus was such an extremist of militancy that Zaius feared the results of a rash major expedition into the Forbidden Zone. If you recall, during their converstion in the sauna:

ZAIUS: Well, General, I still think you're being hasty.
URSUS: No, Doctor - decisive. You've heard the reports we've been getting...

There were other telling bits of dialogue, not in the film but in the novelization by Michael Avallone, ostensibly from Paul Dehn's original screenplay. For instance:

ZAIUS: It is by evidence that a scientist arrives at the truth.
URSUS: And a politician?
ZAIUS: At expediency.
URSUS: Then, let us dicuss what is evident and what is expedient. What is evident is, with this recent increase of our population, we face
famine. What is expedient is...
ZAIUS: ...that we should control it!
URSUS: And be outnumbered by our enemies? I look to the day when not
thousands but millions will march under the Ape banner.
ZAIUS: Why not wait until then, if we must march?
URSUS: And let our enemies strike first? I would sooner attack at MY convenience than be forced to defend at THEIRS.

And again, this time in the company of the orangutan minister who blesses the expedition:

ZAIUS: Supposing they turn out to be our superiors?
URSUS: ( indicating a map )Their territory is no larger than ours - we
shall not be outnumbered.
ZAIUS: I was not discussing numbers. My question concerned their intelligence.
URSUS: Then your question was blasphemous, Dr. Zaius.
MINISTER: The Law-giver has stated that only the Ape is made in the
perfection of God's image. We are His chosen.
URSUS: Do you doubt what the minister is saying?
ZAIUS: What I doubt is YOUR interpretation of God's will. Has He
ordained that we should make war?
URSUS: Has He ordained that we die of starvation?
MINISTER: Has He ordained that we make peace with the human race?
ZAIUS: They are mere animals.
URSUS: ( gesturing at the map ) And these?
ZAIUS: They are unknown.
MINISTER: A Godly ape is not afraid of the unknown!
ZAIUS: I am not afraid. I am circumspect.
URSUS: Still, not too circumspect to ride with me on the Day?
( Zaius makes no reply. )

General Ursus's first line in the film clearly defines his view of the world from the outset: "The only thing that counts in the end is Power!" For him, the gaining and exercising of power is all of life - it nourishes and sustains him as much as any food may. His is a continual process of aggrandizement: personal, in the guise of public service ( via the advocation of territorial aggrandizement ), underpinned by popular approval ( via the espousal of racial aggrandizement ) plus arrogant religious sanction, which would involve Dr. Zaius's staunch approval for, as outlined in the first film, Dr. Zaius is Chief Defender of the Faith, but he is also the Minister of
Science...and it can be supremely difficult for one person to wear both hats.

In this instance, Zaius is genuinely curious about what lies outside the known world, befitting the second office - and, despite his words, he is also afraid of the unknown and of Ursus's fierce belief that "naked, merciless force" alone will subdue it, enough so that Zaius is willing to risk being seen by the minister as less than deserving of his first office, less of a proper zealot in a supposedly holy cause. And the minister is right. As close-minded and certain as Zaius would
like to be, he knows too much as it is. He knows full well that it was Man's doing that made the Forbidden Zone lifeless, that humans have been more than animals in the past, and that the appearance of a human of Taylor's caliber is, as the Sacred Scrolls say, "the harbinger of
Death". ( "All my life", he told Taylor in parting, "I've awaited your coming and dreaded it - like death itself." ) Quite possibly, the picketing anti-war chimps sense this too - some of them may have been in the surrounding crowd when Taylor first spoke; one of their signs reads, "DOOM COMES SOON".

Evidently Dr. Zaius fears ( and correctly ) that Ursus's unchecked belligerency will lead to something of Man's devising being unearthed in the Forbidden Zone...and unleashed. He accompanies the Army to serve in both his professional capacities, both explorer and bishop in
one. But over and above these, he acts in the hope that he may be able to restrain the General's force sufficiently to avoid a catastrophe. But Fate's decree will require that his presence will instead facilitate it.

Climactically, soldier and scholar are alike confronted by the ultimate embodiment of Power, the Alpha-and-Omega Bomb. Ursus brings Mendez down before it can be wielded as the Nuclear Pope intended, but the chain of succeeding events leads to Ursus's own death at the hands
of Brent and Dr. Zaius's reunion with his worst nightmare. In his blind fear of Taylor, he refuses the human's plea for help and retreats into dogma ( "Man is evil - capable of nothing but
destruction!" ). As the soldiers cut Brent down, Taylor curses Zaius and, as his last act, proves Dr. Zaius right...fulfilling the "destiny" that Zaius foresaw him finding at the end of the first
movie. He could hardly have dared to think that both their destinies would converge with that of the Earth itself.

Ursus had believed, as did the Inner Party in George Orwell's "1984", that the gaining and exercise of Power is not a means to an end: it IS an end, in and of itself; and in the final irony, by MOVIE's end, this attitude - from ancient humans to allegedly civilized apes - has proved to have been instrumental in bringing about...THE end.

NOT YET DOOMSDAY
2003
Alma, weeping over the memory of the dead General Kolp, was preparing to set the controls of the doomsday weapon that had been created as their last resort, but Mendez took her away from the panel.
“This is the Alpha-and-Omega bomb. It can destroy not only Ape City but the entire Earth. Activate it, and we become nothing. Leave it, and its very presence will ensure that we remain something-and may become something better.”
Mendez looked at the scarred mutants who had survived the battle with Ape City. “This place is our home-and must remain so. As long as the Apes leave us alone, we shall have peace. We will disarm the weapon-but future generations of our people will not know. We will let them keep the knowledge of its destructive power-but we will not allow that power to fall into the hands of another Kolp.”
3978
Taylor was delirious; Zaius could see that. “Help me!” Taylor pleaded.
“Help you?” Zaius scoffed. “Man is capable of nothing but destruction!” But even as he said those words, he could hear gunshots being fired in the nearby tunnels as more humans were killed. And hadn’t it been Ursus who had wanted the Bomb?
Taylor fell forward onto the crystal rods. His bloody hand pushed one of them down. From the red light it generated Zaius gathered it was supposed to do something important. He tensed himself, closed his eyes…but nothing happened. Taylor slumped to the floor of the cathedral, unconscious.
Zaius looked down at him. I told you that you might not like what you find, Zaius thought almost regretfully. Finally, he made up his mind.
“Lieutenant! Come here! Help me get this man back to Ape City.”
“You want to save him?” The gorilla wrinkled his nose. “But isn’t he the enemy?”
“The ones we came to fight are all dead. Taylor is the property of the state until I decide otherwise.”
The gorilla nodded. He called back to his troops: “Forget about the human weapon! We’re pulling out!”
Zaius shook his head. I must be insane for doing this, he thought. But he had seen far worse blasphemies than Taylor here. This place was called the Forbidden Zone for a reason- and Zaius anted to make sure it stayed that way.
A pair of gorillas carried Taylor’s body on a stretcher under Zaius’ watchful eyes. “We found a human female, the one who had been with him, in one of the tunnels,” one of them said.
Zaius raised his eyebrows. “Is she still alive?”
“Yes, sir. It looks like she got hit in the back but if we can get her back to Ape City in time the doctors there might save her.”
Zaius nodded. “Of course. It’s only logical that Taylor would have been here with his mate. Very well, sergeant-bring her, too.”
APE CITY, SIX WEEKS LATER
Taylor once again found himself facing a tribunal of apes, but this wasn’t the same kangaroo court he’d been forced to endure as a prisoner, denounced as a freak of nature. This was a hearing being led by both chimpanzees and orangutans. Dr. Zaius was among them, but he didn’t look too happy-not surprising, since his position in Ape City had been dramatically reduced since their return from the Forbidden Zone.
“So I leave it to you, learned judges, to allow this man, Taylor, and his mate to go in peace as they originally intended. The threat we faced from the Forbidden Zone is no more, and Taylor has proven once and for all that my colleague, Dr. Zira, was right about humans.” The words were being spoken by his defense counsel, an elderly but wise chimpanzee historian named Maya who had been a close friend of Zira’s. She was a member of the anti-vivisection league and had done more than any other chimpanzee to make sure that Taylor was treated fairly this time.
“Does the defendant have anything to say on his behalf before we pass judgment?” That was professor Maximus, who had been an ally of Dr. Zaius but who had since apparently seen the writing on the wall and changed sides.
Taylor looked at the historian, who nodded. “Go ahead, Taylor,” she said. “This hearing is on your behalf, after all.”
“I only want to say that I never came here intending to harm you or your society. Now that I know the truth-that this world really is my home-I intend to take Nova with me so that we can start over and maybe give humanity a second chance. I can’t promise that our descendants won’t be enemies-but I hope our children, at least, can someday learn to be friends.”
Maximus nodded. “Very well. Court is in recess until our verdict is rendered.”
Maya and her colleagues-the chimpanzees and a few orangutans who had supported Taylor’s release-protectively surrounded him while the judges deliberated.
“So it’s true,” Taylor said. “Zira and Cornelius have disappeared?”
“Yes, along with Doctor Milo, one of our most brilliant scientists.” Maya seemed saddened. “Cornelius was one of my students. I always thought he would make important discoveries someday-I just never imagined it would be someone who would turn our entire society upside down!” She grinned at him. Taylor smiled back. He had liked her from the start-her passion for the truth was as great as Zira’s had been, and she and young Lucius had led the way in reforming ape society, including the nonviolent coup that had granted equality to the chimpanzees and reduced most of the orangutans to figureheads without real authority.
The judges returned from their chamber and everyone respectfully sat down.
“It is the judgment of this court-with one dissenting opinion”-here Maximus looked at Zaius-“That Taylor be granted his wish and be given safe passage out of Ape City.” Maximus looked at Taylor. “You do understand this means that you and your mate may not return to Ape City?”
Taylor nodded. He had been expecting this. “I understand.”
“Then this hearing is concluded and these proceedings are closed.”
After the clamor of celebration from the chimpanzees died down, Dr. Zaius came over. “Do you still intend to seek out others of your kind-those who can speak and think like apes?”
“If I can, yes.” Taylor’s expression was thoughtful. “I suppose I owe you some thanks for not leaving me behind to die. What made you change your mind?”
“Zira and Cornelius were as close to me as my own children,” Zaius replied. “Whatever I might have thought of their radical beliefs, they were honest. Now that they’re gone…perhaps I don’t want to live with the thought of Zira hating me for the rest of my life if I had let you die. But remember the tribunal’s judgment, Taylor-you may never return to Ape City.” Zaius left to go back to his office.
“Where will you go?” Maya asked.
“Doctor Zaius believed there was another jungle beyond the Forbidden Zone. Could he be right?”
Maya shrugged. “It’s possible. There are only a few Ape Cities scattered along the coast of this continent; we know little about what lies beyond our borders.”
“Then maybe it’s time somebody found out.” Taylor looked out the windows of the courtroom. Nova was in the Ape City Hospital, waiting for him. Together, they would find a way to start over. Maybe he really had come home, after all.
THE END