Hunter Thompson ends his fear and loathing

[dotdot]

Originally posted by Sam Pulsize:
  Jeff TWeedy died? Oh shit, I think I'm going to go throw up.
 
 But seriously, you are right. Having seen film of him lovingly interacting with his wife and children would tend to evoke more sympathy from him than from an anonymous tsunami victim. Although some of his lifestyle choice would tend to mitigate the empathy a bit.
 
     

Originally posted by Bags:
  Thompson was a great writer, changing the landscape and parameters of journalistic writing and reporting as an art (not unlike Tom Wolfe; I'd categorize them together based on their impact).  He gave to me, at a relatively early age, an open mind about viewing the world, acknowledging other views of the world and the desire to peek behind the curtain (and the curiosity to ask, "who put up that curtain anyhow").
 
 Plus, he was funny as shit as well as smart, so a day spent reading one of this books was a day well spent.
 
 I dare say you might mourn Jeff Tweedy's passing more than an anonymous tsunami victim (not imparting any difference of worth to either, but certainly they have different impacts on your own life).  Similarly, having been touched and taught by HST, I mourn his loss, regardless of what he drank, what he shot up, who he boinked or how he left this world.  Actually, it's even sadder to me to consider that sometimes those brains most vital are also most troubled.

[/b]

Sometimes it's not a "choice" for people to live like that, Rhett.  Just because your brain chemistry is OK and you're married and have a job and money doesn't mean you can judge... You live a "normal" life, which many people strive for and can't have, but personally, I'd rather kill myself than be you.  Watching Nascar, listening to alt-country, heterosexual... It's the American dream!  You spend your days posting on the Internet and he wrote published works...
 
 It's obvious you're just trying to get people worked up, but use that energy in a more productive way.  If you're so funny and witty, write some short stories.

[markie]

Originally posted by dotdot:
  Sometimes it's not a "choice" for people to live like that

Sometime it is not, but it was clearly a choice for Hunter. Do you think you could really write that well and be that funny fucked up? Being fucked up makes me think I am funny, but that is about it.
 
 Its seems to me Hunter lived a pretty full and enjoyable life experiencing a lot of what it had to offer.

[dotdot]

Originally posted by MaRkIe:
   

Originally posted by dotdot:
  Sometimes it's not a "choice" for people to live like that

Sometime it is not, but it was clearly a choice for Hunter. Do you think you could really write that well and be that funny fucked up? Being fucked up makes me think I am funny, but that is about it.
 
 Its seems to me Hunter lived a pretty full and enjoyable life experiencing a lot of what it had to offer. [/b]

I dunno, do you have an addictive personality?

[Charlie Nakatestes, Japanese Golfer]

Heterosexual? I never said I was heterosexual.
 
 And Kenny Chesney in the Escalade is the American Dream, not alt-country.
 
 And finally, I have had a paper published. So for at least one shining moment, my writing went beyond this wonderful board. It's just that much fewer people are fascinated by the application of auditing software to data confidentiality procedures than they are by stories of booze and drugs. I'm not sure why, but I guess I've just got to accept that fact.
 
 

Originally posted by dotdot:
   

Originally posted by Sam Pulsize:
  Jeff TWeedy died? Oh shit, I think I'm going to go throw up.
 
 But seriously, you are right. Having seen film of him lovingly interacting with his wife and children would tend to evoke more sympathy from him than from an anonymous tsunami victim. Although some of his lifestyle choice would tend to mitigate the empathy a bit.
 
     

Originally posted by Bags:
  Thompson was a great writer, changing the landscape and parameters of journalistic writing and reporting as an art (not unlike Tom Wolfe; I'd categorize them together based on their impact).  He gave to me, at a relatively early age, an open mind about viewing the world, acknowledging other views of the world and the desire to peek behind the curtain (and the curiosity to ask, "who put up that curtain anyhow").
 
 Plus, he was funny as shit as well as smart, so a day spent reading one of this books was a day well spent.
 
 I dare say you might mourn Jeff Tweedy's passing more than an anonymous tsunami victim (not imparting any difference of worth to either, but certainly they have different impacts on your own life).  Similarly, having been touched and taught by HST, I mourn his loss, regardless of what he drank, what he shot up, who he boinked or how he left this world.  Actually, it's even sadder to me to consider that sometimes those brains most vital are also most troubled.

[/b]

Sometimes it's not a "choice" for people to live like that, Rhett.  Just because your brain chemistry is OK and you're married and have a job and money doesn't mean you can judge... You live a "normal" life, which many people strive for and can't have, but personally, I'd rather kill myself than be you.  Watching Nascar, listening to alt-country, heterosexual... It's the American dream!  You spend your days posting on the Internet and he wrote published works... [/b]

[markie]

Originally posted by dotdot:
  I dunno, do you have an addictive personality?

Do I have a personality at all?
 
 Again from the guardian:
 
 I always assumed that Thompson was far more in control of himself than people imagined. He never seemed hopelessly in love with the drugs.
 
 "There is nothing more helpless and irresponsible than a man in the depths of an ether binge," he once wrote. "You can turn your back on a person but never turn your back on a drug."

[dotdot]

Originally posted by MaRkIe:
     

Originally posted by dotdot:
  I dunno, do you have an addictive personality?

Do I have a personality at all?
 
 Again from the guardian:
 
 I always assumed that Thompson was far more in control of himself than people imagined. He never seemed hopelessly in love with the drugs.
 
 "There is nothing more helpless and irresponsible than a man in the depths of an ether binge," he once wrote. "You can turn your back on a person but never turn your back on a drug." [/b]

I wasn't speaking of Thompson specifically, just trying to make a point.  I'm not saying that it's OK and healthy to be a lush, but I think SOME people who indulge do it to feel good or "normal" for just a moment in this world, that's all.

[azaghal1981]

Thompson's writings were about a hell of a lot more than "drugs and booze." The majority of them were thought-provoking analyses of the world around him which gave his readers an insight that nobody before him has ever provided. You should, umm, maybe read one of his works before taking the bullshit about him in the main stream media as fact?

[Charlie Nakatestes, Japanese Golfer]

Should I start with this one?:
 
 Product Description:
 Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is the best chronicle of drug-soaked, addle-brained, rollicking good times ever committed to the printed page. It is also the tale of a long weekend road trip that has gone down in the annals of American pop culture as one of the strangest journeys ever undertaken.
 
 

Originally posted by azaghal1981:
  Thompson's writings were about a hell of a lot more than "drugs and booze." The majority of them were thought-provoking analyses of the world around him which gave his readers an insight that nobody before him has ever provided. You should, umm, maybe read one of his works before taking the bullshit about him in the main stream media as fact?

[HoyaSaxa03]

Originally posted by Sam Pulsize:
  Should I start with this one?:
 
 Product Description:
 Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is the best chronicle of drug-soaked, addle-brained, rollicking good times ever committed to the printed page. It is also the tale of a long weekend road trip that has gone down in the annals of American pop culture as one of the strangest journeys ever undertaken.
 

come on, do you really expect a "product description" to give you the best feel for a book?  
 did you grab this off of amazon? is it written by a publisher who is trying to sell more copies of the book?
 
 sex and drugs sells, and HST writes about both of these things, but he also writes about much much more than that ...

[ggw]

Don't forget that Rhett is the same guy that critiques concert performances he didn't see. So why is anyone in the least bit surprised that he would criticize the work of an author he never read?
 
 

Originally posted by azaghal1981:
  Thompson's writings were about a hell of a lot more than "drugs and booze." The majority of them were thought-provoking analyses of the world around him which gave his readers an insight that nobody before him has ever provided. You should, umm, maybe read one of his works before taking the bullshit about him in the main stream media as fact?

[Charlie Nakatestes, Japanese Golfer]

I mistakenly critiqued ONE concert that I wasn't at, basing it on the poor quality of their album. I admitted to my mistake, which I don't see as uncommon (how many of us can't remember if we've seen or not seen such and such crap movie, yet we still remember it as crap)
 
 I never critiqued Thompson's writings. I simply said that based on the critiques of OTHERS, I don't have much interest in reading them.
 
 Is his writing anything like William S. Burroughs? He's another guy people proclaim a genius, but who I thought was total crap.
 
 I did like the Hubert Selby, Jr. that I read.
 
 
 

Originally posted by ggwâ?¢:
  Don't forget that Rhett is the same guy that critiques concert performances he didn't see. So why is anyone in the least bit surprised that he would criticize the work of an author he never read?
 
   

Originally posted by azaghal1981:
  Thompson's writings were about a hell of a lot more than "drugs and booze." The majority of them were thought-provoking analyses of the world around him which gave his readers an insight that nobody before him has ever provided. You should, umm, maybe read one of his works before taking the bullshit about him in the main stream media as fact?

[/b]

[ggw]

Actually, first you said you were there, then -- when your shit was called out -- you admitted that you weren't, but said you were basing your negative opinion on the consensus of OTHERS who were at the show; but then your shit was called out again when it was shown that the vast majority of OTHERS gave positive reviews to the show and a "consensus" of one gave a negative review.
 
 So, we've learned that you first pull your opinions out of your ass, and then go and try to find support for them, making shit up if necessary.
 
   

Originally posted by Sam Pulsize:
  I mistakenly critiqued ONE concert that I wasn't at, basing it on the poor quality of their album. I admitted to my mistake, which I don't see as uncommon (how many of us can't remember if we've seen or not seen such and such crap movie, yet we still remember it as crap)
 

[Charlie Nakatestes, Japanese Golfer]

ok, whatever you say. I'm sure everyone really cares. I'm glad you are here to run the board and set everything straight. I'm sure everyone else is too.
 
 

Originally posted by ggwâ?¢:
  Actually, first you said you were there, then -- when your shit was called out -- you admitted that you weren't, but said you were basing your negative opinion on the consensus of OTHERS who were at the show; but then your shit was called out again when it was shown that the vast majority of OTHERS gave positive reviews to the show and a "consensus" of one gave a negative review.
 
 So, we've learned that you first pull your opinions out of your ass, and then go and try to find support for them, making shit up, if necessary.
 
   

Originally posted by Sam Pulsize:
  I mistakenly critiqued ONE concert that I wasn't at, basing it on the poor quality of their album. I admitted to my mistake, which I don't see as uncommon (how many of us can't remember if we've seen or not seen such and such crap movie, yet we still remember it as crap)
 

[/b]

[ggw]

Anytime.

[azaghal1981]

That product description is a little misleading. Sounds like whoever wrote it may just have seen the movie. I can see someone getting this impression from watching the movie alone but the book, while giving detailed accounts of his drug use, goes into what he was thinking about and pondering regarding the world and so many aspects of life and the people around him. One memorable excerpt dealt with his trying to come to terms with the end of the sixties and the hippie movement. One thing he finally realized during that trip to Vegas was that the idiology behind the hippie movement, as promising as it sounded, had died. This was very difficult for him and many others who were living at the time to grasp since they had put so much stock in this idea that people would some day be able to live freely in a world full of peace where they'd be able to indulge themselves in whatever activities they wanted to as long as they didn't harm others. Much of the book (and the rest of his writing for that matter) is a bunch of interesting lamentations like the one mentioned above.