Hunter S. Thompson Appreciation Thread

RonMexico

Ye Gods this man was a genius. Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas is a masterpiece.

Have read all of his work and it is absolutely gold. Highly recommended.

Check out this clip of him - it always makes me laugh.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyeYY_agx5o

youcancallmeal

I read Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas and I thought it was great but I tried reading Hell's Angels and just couldn't get into it. A lot of friends have actually said they tried some of his other stuff after Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas and it was just a let down. Any recommendations yourself besides Hell's Angels?

It wasn't me!

I really enjoyed his autobiography, Kingdom of Fear. More Fear and Loathing than Hell's Angels, though I thoroughly enjoyed both.

RonMexico

People often make the mistake of believing that all his other books are going to be clone copies of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

Hells Angels is a mixture of serious reporting on the group (1st half of book) and Thompsons experiences with them (2nd half of book and the best part)

The Rum Diary is based on Thompsons experience of being a struggling freelance journalist in Puerto Rico who is piss poor and spends all his time getting rat arsed on rum. Great Read.

Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 is about Thomson spending a year on the road following the presidential election for Rolling Stone. His hatred for Nixon results in many many hilarious rants.

The Curse of Lono is kind of like Fear and Loathing set in Hawaii. Some truly hilarious moments.

The Great Shark Hunt is a compilation of three decades of articles & essays and is an absolute gem.

Generation of Swine is his column for the San Francisco Chronicle during the Eighties. Worth buying for his rants about Reagan and Bush Snr.

Better Than Sex is his book about the Clinton election. Again has many hilarious moments.

Screwjack is three short stories the first of which is an account of his experience on mescaline which is brilliant. The story screwjack is about his love for his cat which is ****ing warped and hilarious. Something along the lines of "...Mr Screwjack vanished for months and returned a big tomcat and tried to **** me like a panther from behind..."

Hey Rube is a collection of his hilarious columns for espn.com which is worth buying for his constant rants about George w. Bush. It is supposed to be a sports column but nearly every article veers off on a tangent about Bush being an evil twisted pig****er, a goofy child president with the brain of a diseased gopher who thinks he is on a mission from God. Had me in stitches.

Kingdom of Fear is the most bizarre memoir you will ever read. Chapters include - Jesus Hated Bald Pussy:D

His collections of Letters - The Proud Highway and Fear and Loathing in America truly reveal his tortured genius and if you thought that Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was mad then read these because his everyday life was ten times more crazy. Absolute gold these two!!

Oh and Songs of the Doomed is another collection of his work that has many brilliant moments.

sdep

I'd certainly recommend Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 and The Great Shark Hunt.

At the time of his death, HST's obituaries concluded that the 70s were his heyday, when he played the part of a sort of James Bond of the Freak Generation. His writing from that time explodes off the page with energy and originality, and captures the hopes of late 60s idealism and the later disillusionment, summed up in that passage from Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas:

"And that, I think, was the handle—that sense of inevitable victory over the forces of Old and Evil. Not in any mean or military sense; we didn't need that. Our energy would simply prevail. There was no point in fighting—on our side or theirs. We had all the momentum; we were riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave. . . .
So now, less than five years later, you can go up on a steep hill in Las Vegas and look West, and with the right kind of eyes you can almost see the high-water mark—that place where the wave finally broke and rolled back."

alan767

I've read almost all his work now...Good synopsis of his works given above imo..

mrDuke

A legend, great reading!

solsqeez

He was a great man allright. His life could easily be
mistaken as a work of fiction, even his funeral with the
canon seemed almost cartoonish. Legend.

Anyone who liked this guys books might like Will Self.
Very much an Englishman though.

'Ol Jack Chance

One toke! You poor fool! Wait till you see those goddamn bats!

quality author, the great shark hunt is one of my fave books

RonMexico

There is a new book out this year that collects all his major interviews together.

Some other stuff in the pipeline too.

GrahamThomas

Quality clip
Reading The Proud Highway at the moment, would recommend it if you want to see the real man behind the public persona. Funny, warm, angry, and as RonMexico said its much madder than any of his fiction!

I love Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas and The Rum Diary, they are 2 books which I can read over and over again and still get endless amounts of pleasure from.

Fear & Loathing on The Campaign Trail '72 is definitely next on my "to read" list!

Morlar

I thought campaign trail was a bit dry to be honest - hells angels /rum diary didnt feel nearly as interesting as his later work. I would much prefer the The Great Shark Hunt - some of the stories in that are mindblowingly funny. Another one that doesnt get enough attention is
'Fear and Loathing in America : The Brutal Odyssey of an Outlaw Journalist' there are some pieces in that that had me in tears of laughter. Pure Genius.

Serpentine

I also loved the Rum Diary, just LOVE this man's style of writing I could read this book so many times & I've recommended it to everyone

Morlar

I know politically they were polar opposites but I often wondered about the crossover of HST readers to P.J O'Rourke ? Would that be a factor with the HST readers here ?

HST was the more drug taking, more left leaning (with exceptions) and O'Rourke was more the conservative- preppy- cocained-bachelor but the approach to covering political events is strikingly similair. & Both massively politically incorrect. The whole gonzo thing (of the writer being a part of the story and not being self concious about that fact for example) is evident in the works of both political journalists/authors.

In case anyone is unfamiliar with O' Rourke he wrote for rolling stone and articles like 'How to drive fast on drugs while getting your wing wang squeezed and not spill any drink', also the books 'Republican Party Reptile' and 'Give War a Chance', 'Holidays in Hell' Parliament of Whores etc.

RonMexico

Yeah and P.J. O' Rourke was great friends with Thompson. Check out the documentary Breakfast With Hunter www.hunterthompsonfilms.com

There is a scene where O' Rourke interviews Thompson who gets a sudden fit of coughs after a particulary massive toke on his hash pipe. they also discuss how Vladimir Nabakov's Lolita was a somewhat disturbing early Gonzo story. Thompson explains why with a little story about Nabokov checking into a hotel ski resort with his 13 year old "niece". eek!

Serpentine

I'm sure this is old news but I hear Johnny Depp is appearing in a film version of The Rum Diary. I'm not a film buff so I only heard this but it excites me!

monkey9

Serpentine wrote: »

I'm sure this is old news but I hear Johnny Depp is appearing in a film version of The Rum Diary. I'm not a film buff so I only heard this but it excites me!

Haven't heard that one, but Johnny Depp is ideal to star in any film based on HST's books. Although in saying that, i didn't like the movie version of Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas at all. No where near as good as the book

Mr. Incognito

My Favourite author. Johnny Depp is indeed starring in the rum diaries. Filming is due to begin later this year.

Some Hunter Quotes and his suicide note.

We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a saltshaker half-full of cocaine, and a whole multi colored collection of uppers, downers, laughers, screamers... Also, a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of beer, a pint of raw ether, and two dozen amyls. Not that we needed all that for the trip, but once you get into a serious drug collection, the tendency is to push it as far as you can. The only thing that really worried me was the ether. There is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible and depraved than a man in the depths of an ether binge, and I knew we'd get into that rotten stuff pretty soon."


America... just a nation of two hundred million used car salesmen with all the money we need to buy guns and no qualms about killing anybody else in the world who tries to make us uncomfortable.”

There he goes. One of God's own prototypes. Some kind of high powered mutant never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die

Myths and legends die hard in America. We love them for the extra dimension they provide, the illusion of near-infinite possibility to erase the narrow confines of most men's reality. Weird heroes and mould-breaking champions exist as living proof to those who need it that the tyranny of ''the rat race'' is not yet final

Call on God, but row away from the rocks.”

“If you're going to be crazy, you have to get paid for it or else you're going to be locked up.”

History is hard to know, because of all the hired bull****, but even without being sure of ''history'' it seems entirely reasonable to think that every now and then the energy of a whole generation comes to a head in a long fine flash, for reasons that nobody really understands at the time -- and which never explain, in retrospect, what actually happened

Politics is the art of controlling your environment.”

“By any accepted standard, I have had more than nine lives. I counted them up once and there were 13 times I almost and maybe should have died”

That was always the difference between Muhammad Ali and the rest of us. He came, he saw, and if he didn't entirely conquer -- he came as close as anybody we are likely to see in the lifetime of this doomed generation

The person who doesn't scatter the morning dew will not comb gray hairs”

So this is how the world works, all energy flows according to the whims of the great magnet.”

Publishers are notoriously slothful about numbers, unless they're attached to dollar signs -- unlike journalists, quarterbacks, and felony criminal defendants who tend to be keenly aware of numbers at all times.”

“[Alex Cox, director of] Sid and Nancy, ... the closest sensory approximation of an acid trip ever achieved by a mainstream movie.”

You better take care of me Lord, if you don't you're gonna have me on your hands.”

We are all wired into a survival trip now. No more of the speed that fueled that 60's. That was the fatal flaw in Tim Leary's trip. He crashed around America selling "consciousness expansion" without ever giving a thought to the grim meat-hook realities that were lying in wait for all the people who took him seriously... All those pathetically eager acid freaks who thought they could buy Peace and Understanding for three bucks a hit. But their loss and failure is ours too. What Leary took down with him was the central illusion of a whole life-style that he helped create... a generation of permanent cripples, failed seekers, who never understood the essential old-mystic fallacy of the Acid Culture: the desperate assumption that somebody... or at least some force - is tending the light at the end of the tunnel

Freedom is something that dies unless it's used”

I feel the same way about disco as I do about herpes.”

If there is, in fact, a Heaven and a Hell, all we know for sure is that Hell will be a viciously overcrowded version of Phoenix...

Every now and then when your life gets complicated and the weasels start closing in, the only cure is to load up on heinous chemicals and then drive like a bastard from Hollywood to Las Vegas ... with the music at top volume and at least a pint of ether.

I wouldn't recommend sex, drugs or insanity for everyone, but they've always worked for me.

Cover a war in a place where you can't drink beer or talk to a woman?
Hell no!"

In a nation ruled by swine, all pigs are upward mobile.

A cap of good acid costs five dollars and for that you can hear the Universal Symphony with God singing solo and the Holy Ghost on drums.

I have a theory that the truth is never told during the 9 to 5 hours.

Going to trial with a lawyer who considers your whole life-style a Crime in Progress is not a happy prospect

If I'd written all the truth I knew for the past ten years, about 600 people - including me - would be rotting in prison cells from Rio to Seattle today. Absolute truth is a very rare and dangerous commodity in the context of professional journalism.

It was the Law of the Sea, they said. Civilization ends at the waterline. Beyond that, we all enter the food chain, and not always right at the top.

No man is so foolish but he may sometimes give another good counsel, and no man so wise that he may not easily err if he takes no other counsel than his own. He that is taught only by himself has a fool for a master

When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.

The TV business is uglier than most things. It is normally perceived as some kind of cruel and shallow money trench through the heart of the journalism industry, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free and good men die like dogs, for no good reason

Morality is temporary, wisdom is permanent.

You can turn your back on a person, but, never turn your back on a drug. Especially when it's waving a razor-sharp hunting knife in your eye

We'd be fools not to ride this strange torpedo to the end.

In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity

Objective journalism is one of the main reasons American politics has been allowed to be so corrupt for so long

Being shot out of a cannon is always better than being squeezed through a tube

He who makes a beast of himself relieves himself the pain of being a man.

As your attorney i advise you to take a hit out of the small brown bottle in my shaving kit.

A word to the wise is infuriating.

A man who procrastinates in his choosing will inevitably have his choice made for him by circumstance.

As you were, I was. As I am, you will be

For every moment of triumph, for every instance of beauty, many souls must be trampeled.

This is the main advantage of ether: it makes you behave like the village drunkard in some early Irish novel... total loss of all basic motor skills: blurred vision, no balance, numb tounge- severance of all connection between the body and the brain. Which is interesting because you can actually watch yourself behaving in this terrible way, but you can't control it.

Good mescaline comes on slow. The first hour is all waiting, then about halfway through the second hour you start cursing the creep who burned you, because nothing is happening...and then ZANG!


There is nothing more helpless and irresponsible than a man in the depths of an ether binge

We cannot expect people to have respect for law and order until we teach respect to those we have entrusted to enforce those laws.

The music business is a cruel and shallow trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men lie like dogs. There is also a negative side


The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over.”

Some may never live, but the crazy never die”

Suicide Note
"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."

Serpentine

THANK YOU for that post!

mountain

have to agree that hunter is a great writer, all his books are good.

unlike someone like jack kerurac, who i found had just the one good book in him.

I gave one of my sons the middle name "hunter", may give him some inspiration later in life.

Serpentine

mountain wrote: »

have to agree that hunter is a great writer, all his books are good.

unlike someone like jack kerurac, who i found had just the one good book in him.

I gave one of my sons the middle name "hunter", may give him some inspiration later in life.

Now THAT'S dedication! Hotpress have a feature on the new books on Gonzo/HST in the latest edition btw

mountain

just a quick thanks to Serpentine, thanks for the heads up on Hot press, picked it up on my way home
nice article,
thanks again

RonMexico

Hunter interviews Keith Richards

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5777729312239777911

Inside Owl Farm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNOvYa58P5I

The Crazy Never Die (Mitchell brothers Documentary on Hunter)

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7866174144124486320

Poppy78

Morlar wrote: »

I thought campaign trail was a bit dry to be honest - hells angels /rum diary didnt feel nearly as interesting as his later work. I would much prefer the The Great Shark Hunt - some of the stories in that are mindblowingly funny. Another one that doesnt get enough attention is
'Fear and Loathing in America : The Brutal Odyssey of an Outlaw Journalist' there are some pieces in that that had me in tears of laughter. Pure Genius.

A bit dry, what kind of crazy, messed up books do you usually read.

I like Campaign Trail because of its extreme perspective on the political process. Hacks like the Prime Time team and Dobo would give what I consider dry election coverage.

RonMexico

Who do you think Hunter would be rooting for in the election this year? His wife seems to suggest Clinton but I seriously doubt that based on his political observations over the years.

sheesh

The TV business is uglier than most things. It is normally perceived as some kind of cruel and shallow money trench through the heart of the journalism industry, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free and good men die like dogs, for no good reason

some above had this and I think is one of his great lines.

I can't believe nobody has mentioned

We are, after all, professionals.

He used it as a reason as to why his assistant had to get a tattoo at 12 oclock at night.
Why a Hotel manager should not be worried about him paying the bill
and also why he need a massive satellite dish in his house.

sdep

Poppy78 wrote: »

A bit dry, what kind of crazy, messed up books do you usually read.

I like Campaign Trail because of its extreme perspective on the political process. Hacks like the Prime Time team and Dobo would give what I consider dry election coverage.

Anyone read Tim Crouse's 'The Boys on the Bus', documenting the same campaign? I haven't, but I'd be interested if anyone else has and would or wouldn't recommend it.

Fursey

Started reading Hunter back in his days writing for Rolling Stone in the early '70s and thought him brilliant.

As a result of those articles he wrote Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail which lived up to expecations - still have that book and in hardback too!

Hells Angels is pretty good and his Vegas book is hilarious (though the film was a let down...).

Trouble is as we grew older I found he became less and less funny..

RonMexico

Check here for all the latest on Hunter S. Thompson

http://totallygonzo.wordpress.com

Valmont

hey ron, is that your website? It's good but there isn't much there! Oh and who do you think played a better Hunter S. Thompson in the movies - Bill Murray or Johnny Depp. I loved both so much I can't decide

RonMexico

Yeah I am one of the people behind it. I know we haven't much content up yet but that is only because we just launched. We intend to expand with a lot more pages ASAP. In the meantime check out our latest post - Our Swine of the Week Award!