The Great Thomspon Hunt

HST Portrait

Sat, 19 Dec 2009 15:46:56 GMT

This is a wonderful portrait of HST by Nathan Manire. I love all the little brush strokes used to make up the face. Now that's talent! There is no convenient tube of "flesh" coloured paint in the art world.

Speaking of that, I have finally applied to art college after many years of taking credit classes. My portfolio is due in April, and so far I have two of the 12-15 required pieces. I'm sure it's not impossible, but I'm looking forward to making this deadline! I can't really say why I want a BFA so much, except that it matters a lot to me. I would have applied earlier, but some of you may recall I had some huge dental bills in the past that delayed this for me. Ugh.

New Flying Dog Brew

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 14:33:57 GMT

It's called Raging Bitch.

This and that

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 03:35:09 GMT

If you haven't noticed Johnny Depp on the cover of
Entertainment Weekly, take a closer look - he's wearing a gonzo fist pendant. Here's a pic of the cover.

According to the article, you can get a discount on gonzo merch as well - "through Jan. 1, 2010, you can get 15% off all orders over $10 by entering the promo code HOLIDAY2009 at checkout (though the site suggests placing your order by Dec. 18 to ensure delivery within the U.S.)"

The URL for the Gonzo Store, which is run by Anita Thompson, is http://www.gonzostore.com/.

It looks like another Vegas landmark is destined to be just a memory. Immortalized in FLLV, the Mint Tower is closing. I wish we had had another day to ride the Deuce at night in a big loop...it would have been quite the sight to see. Nothing is permanent I guess.

William McKeen has been updating his Facebook fan page for his book Outlaw Journalist with a lot of linkage lately, so I heartily recommend pop on over and become a fan to get more gonzo news in your FB feed.

This and That

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 02:04:24 GMT

I was sick for most of October, which only put me behind for half of November! Allrightey, what's on the menu today...

The Guardian takes a look back fifty years after the murder of the Clutter family.

Anonymous left a link to the Michael Hoppen Gallery which has a few pictures of HST that I haven't seen before. Love the self-portrait in the Great White Shark. Thanks Anon!

Speaking of Las Vegas, we went there recently! I'll have to write it up later. It was a mix of oooh and aahh and gosh, isn't the Circus Circus dumpy. I'd wager that there's very little left from 1971 these days.

Bloombury Auctions recently had a self-portrait of HST that went unsold. To be honest, it looks more like a doodle than anything.

Gadfly Marty Beckerman )(martybeckerman) recently had a story published by Salon called "Hi, I'm Marty, and I'm a recovering Republican". Besides writing many a fine book, Marty also once interviewed HST.

Anonymous2 also asks: Have you heard the song "Human" by The Killers that apparently quotes Hunter? Something about raising a generation of dancers. It sounds like Hunter but I wasn't able to find the exact quote online.

Why no, I haven't heard that song. Wikipedia mentions the HST reference, but doesn't really expound on where it came from. Personally, I can't think of it...but then half the time I can't think of where my glasses either. I seem to suffer lately from some sort of pre-middle age brain fog. Anyone out there that has an idea?

Flying Dog wins Brewery of the Year

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 04:33:14 GMT

Story here!

Tap Tap Tap

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 02:50:21 GMT

Is this thing still on? :-) Openbooks left me their link to a copy of FLLV that is signed by HST, Johnny Depp *and* Laila Nabulsi! I can't believe the low price it's sitting at. If we just didn't have some home repairs done, I would probably spring for it...but I'm sure there are snipers waiting in the wings for the end. Sadly, my collecting days are so over. I have added hardly a model horse to my collection this year either. Thanks for the tip pal!

Link round up

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 12:29:48 GMT

Just copying and pasting because I'm too bleary eyed this morning!

A story about a work called "14 Death Defying Acts: An Autopsy on Hunter S. Thompson

FLLV - a banned books club kit

A great critique of the FLLV movie

An excerpt from Ancient Gonzo Wisdom

It's a Sonny Barger movie

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 12:42:40 GMT

Believe it or not, the TGTH Update alert still exists in this day of Twitter, and I'm glad for it. As soon as I sent out an update the other day, I heard that it wasn't actually an HST Hell's Angels movie in the works. This blog post tells that it's going to about Sonny Barger, perhaps more autobiographical in nature.

What else is in the news bag...well, if you haven't seen Johnny Depp's smiling mug on the recent issue of Vanity Fair, go get one :-) It's still on Canadian newsstands anyway.

A blog is calling to boycott the Rum Diary movie. Unfortunately the blog turns up blank in either browser I use (here's the link) but I was able to find this description:

Normally I'd admire Depp's dedication to the legacy of his friend Hunter Thompson, a luminary of 20th century U.S. literature. I'd also celebrate Thompson's off-the-hook journalistic style and jaundiced political eye. I hardly miss the point that Thompson presents himself and his colleagues as degenerates, but that doesn't justify a completely degenerate portrait of Puerto Rico, especially considering such views– often linked to imperialist notions ...

The trouble with all art, be it written or visual, is that it's a product of its time and place. I'm readily learning that from the second year art history class I'm taking. Would you believe that European intellectuals had crazy apocalyptic notions about World War 1? They thought it would have a cleansing effect, and I suppose it did, as many an artist was cleansed...but that's not something they teach you in high school :-)

Hell's Angels movie? New book? Hmm!

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 12:00:49 GMT

EDIT: See newer post.

Well, now this is interesting movie news. I never thought about the potential to adapt this book for a movie.

And here's a preview for a new book edited by Anita Thompson called Ancient Gonzo Wisdom with an introduction by Christopher Hitchens.

Your Friday Funny

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 23:58:35 GMT

HST motivational posters. Note that these aren't real posters, but made with Despair's online tool.

Couple artsy things

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 13:02:18 GMT

While trying to find the artist behind some bird banners flying on Calgary's bridges, I discovered that she also does fantastic portraits. Check out her and scroll down a little bit to find HST's.

Another portrait can be found on Etsy by Nathan Manire. I'm not sure about the disembodied fingers, but OK. Etsy is like an eBay for handmade items and crafts, and amongst the cowls and Scrabble pendants, there are often truly original things like this. In fact, a search for "Hunter S. Thompson" on Etsy pulls up more cheap than unique actually. I never know how to feel about people that grab an image off the web, tweak it a little and then sell it to put it on a hoodie :S Why not at least use it for reference and make something more original like Nathan? 10 years ago my attitude would have been a little different, oddly enough.

Gonzo news round-up!

Thu, 28 May 2009 02:54:33 GMT

Due to problems with my ISP, a bunch of things piled up. Ah, who I am kidding? Everything piles up around here and an online quiz confirmed that I'm a piler, not a filer!

According to this short article Johnny Depp wants a beer belly as an old fogey; it mentions that he is currently on location shooting The Rum Diary and that it will be released in 2010.

Woody Creek now has a community centre.

This past weekend the Etowah Youth Orchestra performed Mike Gagliardo’s tribute to HST, titled "Too Weird To Live, Too Rare To Die".

Fear and Loathing the Board Game

Thu, 21 May 2009 15:01:00 GMT

Spotted this on - a mixed media project by J.R. Baldwin.

Link round up

Sun, 17 May 2009 13:21:26 GMT

I'm lazy today, so I'm just copying and pasting :-)

Great video about Puerto Rico when HST was there

Review of Flying Dog brews

Blog about the Flying Dog Blog

Review of Jay Cowan's HST book

Floyd Watkins faces foreclosure

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 11:50:01 GMT

HST's nemesis from Songs of the Doomed is apparently facing foreclosure. The battle between the two was also detailed in Hunter by E. Jean Carroll.

Aspen's high suicide rate

Sun, 26 Apr 2009 20:58:19 GMT

Just a little article on Aspen's rate of suicide and mental illness.

Rolling Stone closes San Fran office

Sat, 18 Apr 2009 13:20:52 GMT

Not that it was much of an office, with just three people. Story here and here.

Rum Diary nibble

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 03:54:15 GMT

This Daily Mail article has some pictures of Johnny Depp during filming.

Make your own Rum Diary Google Alert

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 04:05:41 GMT

So it's looks like there's lots of buzz about The Rum Diary movie right now. I have no idea how it's going to ebb and flow, but you can keep on top of all the chatter with a Google Alert. I usually only pick out notable articles and links to post here, but some people just like to be on the main nerve!

It's easy to create your own alerts - just go to Google Alerts and fill out some parameters such as frequency and your email address. You can then create a rule in your mail software to funnel them as well! Thank you Google, for making life easy peasy like that :-)

Gonzo link round-up!

Sat, 04 Apr 2009 12:17:31 GMT

This is so long overdue, but the weather we've been having is exhausting. Double exhausting since I slipped and fell a week ago and, well, I must have the back of an 80 year old ;-)

The NYT's Proof Blog has an interesting story called My Fantasy Relapse, where Sacha Z. Scoblic writes about a fantasy of meeting HST.

Apparently The Rum Diary has started principal photography according to this press release. Here's a brief note about Amaury Nolasco joining the cast.

I'm still trying to decide if this is a wee early April Fool's joke...but the Colorado NORML branch is offering $1000 to an attorney to attend an Aspen legal seminar in June.

There's another new book about HST out called Hunter S. Thompson: An Insider's View of Deranged, Depraved, Drugged Out Brilliance. This was really not on my radar but you can read a review here and here.

It looks like HST is also included in a new anthology about Nevada called (drumroll) Literary Nevada. The excerpt is from FLLV, but don't forget that HST also wrote "Fear and Loathing in Elko" back in 1992. Elko, Nevada is the cowboy poetry capital, IIRC.

And lastly, William McKeen, author many books on journalism and HST, has a book blog!

This and that

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 15:19:27 GMT

For a while I have been reading stories like this one about Annie Leibovitz going broke and putting up her work as collateral for a loan. This morning Salon revealed that the financial woes are due to either a "gay tax" or, as the letters suggest, an estate tax from inheriting properties from Susan Sontag. It would really be a shame for her to lose control of her work :\

Here's an odd nut of news - apparently Louisville natives are appearing on billboards all over town, but one reader (scroll down) would like to know why HST has been apparently omitted from this honour.

Sounds like a bad trip!

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 04:45:47 GMT

I love reading Consumerist, which has a story about one man's horrible experience with a smoking cessation drug called Chantix. From the linked story:

By night four, my dreams began to take on characteristics of a David Cronenberg movie. Every time I'd drift off, I'd dream that an invisible, malevolent entity was emanating from my air conditioner, which seemed to be rattling even more than usual. I'd nap for twenty minutes or so before bolting awake with an involuntary gasp. I had the uneasy sense that I wasn't alone.

I smoked a cigarette, then tried going back to sleep. But each time I started napping, I'd dream that something increasingly ominous—carbon monoxide? Vampires?—was sucking vital essence out of me. Soon the clock on my desk read 3:20 a.m.

The most unsettling thing about sleeping on Chantix is that I never felt like I was truly asleep. Some part of me remained on guard. It was more like lucid dreaming, what I thought it might feel like to be hypnotized. And it didn't entirely go away come morning. As I showered, shaved, and scrambled into clothes, I tried to shake a weird, paranoid sense that I'd just been psychically raped by a household appliance.

That appliance sounds a little familiar (SFW).

News News News

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 16:27:21 GMT

Do Ann Coulter and HST have a lot in common? This essayist thinks so.

Amber Heard is going to be cast as Chenault in the movie version of The Rum Diary according to this article and this one. Try using Google News to find more stories about the casting.

Lastly, author and roustabout Marty Beckerman is on the radar with a recent online interview.

Don't forget you can follow this blog on Twitter if you tweet too!

Original HST fax stolen

Sun, 25 Jan 2009 15:45:30 GMT

Ralph Steadman had the recent misfortune of being a victim of theft while speaking about HST in North London. I'm pasting the original article here, because I'm not sure if the web one will still be available - it oddly has the title of "Camden Councillors vote for own pay raise" instead of something more relevant.

THE famous illustrator of Hunter S Thompson's work had a precious personal letter from the gonzo journalist stolen when he gave a talk to fans in north London.

Ralph Steadman, 72, spoke at the Tricycle Theatre in Kilburn about the late American writer, after a screening of the new film on his life Gonzo: The Life And Works Of Dr Hunter S Thompson.

While Mr Steadman talked to fans and signed books afterwards, someone stole an original fax which was among the artist's possessions.

Mr Steadman, who illustrated Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas as well as much more of Thompson's work, said: "It was a fax he sent me on Christmas day in 1988. It started Merry Christmas! HO! HO! HO! And was handwritten - six pages long.

"I took it along to read out and I just never thought to make a copy of it. I left it on stage while I talked to people and while I was doing that someone just lifted it.

"It is a rotten thing to do. A dirty little trick. I would have been happy to make a copy for the person who took it and I would have signed it for them, done a drawing - anything they wanted.

"I didn't think that someone would steal it. That is not gonzo it's bad gonzo - it's bonzo."

Mr Steadman is known for his work on Punch, Private Eye and New Statesman, as well as being the long established partner in crime to the writer.

The pair met in Kentucky when Mr Steadman was sent to cover a race meeting for a magazine.

After a week's drinking they became friends for more than 35 years and started the partnership which is now world-famous.

Mr Steadman was the man who organised the funeral Thompson had been planning for years, after he shot himself in 2005. His ashes were launched into the air with a cannon.

"I've got lots of stuff but that's not the point," Mr Steadman continued.

"It is part of the gonzo collection. It was a letter in what he would have called his gibberish. It was about an animal he killed - some kind of dog - because it was threatening his peacocks.

"I don't steal things from people so why should they steal from me?

"I don't know why people have to be like that but I think that's the way we are now - we've gone down that terrible road of meanness.

"I don't think people were ever as mean as they are now."

Mr Steadman travelled from his home in Kent for the talk and has offered to send a signed copy to anyone who returns the original letter.

The theatre is calling on anyone with information to come forward. Tricycle artistic director Nicolas Kent said: "Ralph very generously gave up his time to come and do the Q&A at the Tricycle. I'm very sad that somebody came and took away his treasured possession.

"Maybe they thought it was not important, but I know that it is and I know that he would like it back.

Rum Diary movie news!

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 04:45:10 GMT

There hasn't been a peep about this movie for a while, until now.