RE: An afternoon with Hunter S. Thompson, Damm i love this man!
From: frEinLy Fier l l 9 (eMenY teRribaLisT)) .
Date: Jun 25, 2007 3:28 PM
An afternoon with Hunter S. Thompson
Subversionary
E-Dubs
Many
thanks to:
Jason
An Afternoon with Hunter S Thompson
Hunter S. Thompson began his writing career in 1956 by becoming sports editor of the Elgin Air Force base newspaper in an attempt to avoid more active duty, having signed up for the Air Force on what was basically a whim a week after serving his first (and only) time (although he was arrested, but never convicted many subsequent times in his life) in jail after being charged as an accessory to robbery for having been in a car with the person who actually committed the robbery.
Thompson is credited as the creator of Gonzo journalism, a style of reporting in which the reporters involve themselves in the action to such a degree that they become the central figure of the story itself. Often mixing fact with fiction and using a stylized breakneck stream-of consciousness narrative, perhaps the first, and most famous example of a Gonzo novel is Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, which was further popularized by the 1998 movie of the same name. The release of the film also introduced a new generation to Thompson’s writing, and caused his long-lost novel The Rum Diary to be published, along with the first two volumes of his collected letters, which were greeted with critical acclaim.
A self-proclaimed outlaw, “I always figured I would live on the margins of society, part of a very small outlaw segment. I have never been approved by any majority. Most people assume it’s difficult to live this way, and they are right – they’re still trying to lock me up all the time,” (from Kingdom of Fear, 2003) Thompson moved to San Francisco in the mid-sixties and immersed himself in the anti-Vietnam drug-riddled counter culture of the time and place along with other notable writers and activists such as Jack Kerouac, Ken Kesey, William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg. During this time, he lived and rode with the Hell’s Angels to glean fodder for his first novel, Hells Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs, which earned him moderate critical acclaim, not to mention a savage “stomping” from the Angels.
In late 1968, Thompson and his family moved into what Thompson described as his "fortified compound," in Woody Creek, Colorado, a small mountain hamlet outlying Aspen where he would reside for the rest of his life. In 1970 he ran, and nearly won the election for sheriff of Pitkin County, Colorado, on the "Freak Power" ticket, promoting the decriminalization of drugs (for personal use only, not trafficking, as he disapproved of profiteering), tearing up the streets and turning them into grassy pedestrian malls, banning any building so tall as to obscure the view of the mountains, and renaming Aspen, Colorado, "Fat City." - Read more about the Battle of Aspen.
Hunters election run
Thompson died at his home from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head in February of 2005. What family and police describe as a suicide note was delivered to his wife 4 days before his death and later published by Rolling Stone Magazine. Entitled "Football Season Is Over.” it read: "No More Games. No More Bombs. No More Walking. No More Fun. No More Swimming. 67. That is 17 years past 50. 17 more than I needed or wanted. Boring. I am always bitchy. No Fun — for anybody. 67. You are getting Greedy. Act your old age. Relax — This won't hurt."
Hunter with Ralph Steadman plan his funeral in 1977
Now for your enjoyment; the full length feature of Fear and Loathing in Gonzovision.
| Hunter S Thompson and long time artistic collaborator Ralph Steadman are filmed as they travel to Los Angeles for an early planning meeting about the movie Where The Buffalo Roam. |
Following are a few notable Hunter S. Thompson quotes from his 2003 novel Kingdom of Fear: Loathsome Secrets of a Star-Crossed Child in the Final Days of the America Century. (More HST quotes here.)
| I have seen Jews run amok in Palestine like bloodthirsty beasts with no shame, and six million brainless Baptists demanding the death penalty without any trial at all for pagans and foreigners and people like me who won’t pray with them in those filthy little shacks they call churches, They are like a swarm of filthy rats fleeing a swoop fire, and I want no part of them. Indeed, I have my own faith and my own gods to worship, and I have been doing it with a certain amount of distinction for ten thousand years, like some fine atomic clock with ever-lasting batteries |
Just after Kingdom of fear was released Hunter spoke to Conan O'Brian, they discuss a shooting range trip they had together. Not a fan of Conan? You can also watch an Interview with Hunter conducted by Charlie Rose in 1997.
| Politics is the art of controlling your environment. Indeed. Never forget it, or you will become a Victim of your own environment. Rich nerds and lawyers will stomp all over you worse than any A-rab. |
| Let’s face it – the yo-yo president of the U.S.A. knows nothing. He is a dunce. He does what he is told to do – says what he is told to say – poses the way he is told to pose. He is a Fool. This is never an easy thing for the voters of this country to accept. No. Nonsense. The president cannot be a Fool. Not at this moment in time – when the last vestiges of the American Dream are on the line. This is not the time to have a bogus rich kid in charge of the White House. …if he wantonly and stupidly endorses mass murder as a logical plan to make sure we are still Number One – he is a Jackass by definition – a loud and meaningless animal with no functional intelligence and no balls. To say that this goofy child president is looking more and more like Richard Nixon in the summer of 1974 would be a flagrant insult to Nixon. Whoops! Did I say that? Is it even vaguely possible that some New Age Republican whore-beast of a false president could actually make Richard Nixon look like a Liberal? |
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posted by Gandolfo at 6/26/2007
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