Hunter S. Thompson. Dead at 67.

[schild]

Link.

Author Hunter S. Thompson Commits Suicide

6 minutes ago 

ASPEN, Colo. - Hunter S. Thompson, the acerbic counter-culture author of books such as "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," fatally shot himself Sunday night at his Aspen-area home, his son said. He was 67.

"Hunter prized his privacy and we ask that his friends and admirers respect that privacy as well as that of his family," Juan Thompson said in a statement released to the Aspen Daily News.

Pitkin County Sheriff Bob Braudis, a personal friend of Thompson, confirmed the death to the News. Sheriff's officials did not return calls to The Associated Press late Sunday.

....

[stray]

 

This is so weird too. I just was kind of daydreaming earlier today about how cool it'd be to shoot guns with Hunter.

Not so cool apparently....Damn.

RIP, even if he did go out in a very stupid way 

[Strazos]

I had to tell half of the CS server I was on to shut up when this broke...

I mean, yeah, it sucks that he died....but are you gonna throw a fit over it? People die all the time; shit happens....

Though I'd prolly feel slightly different if he had died of natural causes/accident. Suicide just seems kinda dumb to me.

[Llava]

A shame.

[schild]

The more I rack my brain about this, I can only come to one possible conclusion:

He had nothing left to say.

[stray]

The more I rack my brain about this, I can only come to one possible conclusion:

He had nothing left to say.

He was getting (Dare I say it?) almost religious in later years. Speaking in bibical terms and of catastrophes of epic proportions. He thought the end of the world was coming, and that we were all doomed (which is even more scary coming from HST imo). It sounded like he had plenty to say, if you ask me.

"You poor little bastards."

Then again, maybe he was just...depressed? Thinking negatively like that could only bring one down.

Or maybe it was a simple matter of finding out about a disease, and not wanting to deal with it.

[schild]

His last column? Shotgun Golf with Bill Murray.

[Signe]

 

I liked him too much to even put him on my dead pool.  (a few of you are on my list, though)

[Abagadro]

Damn. I've broken out the good tequila.


(I secretly always wanted to be some crazy fuck's "attorney" a la Dr. Gonzo)

[Ardent]

I suppose "just say no" isn't such a bad idea after all.

[Hanzii]

The more I rack my brain about this, I can only come to one possible conclusion:

He had nothing left to say.

Unfortunately that happened more than 10 years ago - maybe he just realized that as well.

Which doesn't make it any less tragic (in fact moreso).

[stray]

The more I rack my brain about this, I can only come to one possible conclusion:

He had nothing left to say.

Unfortunately that happened more than 10 years ago - maybe he just realized that as well.

Which doesn't make it any less tragic (in fact moreso).

Well, he was just a journalist, after all. He was only reporting. If he had nothing left to say, maybe it's because there wasn't anything left to say.

[schild]

[stray]

And sadly, in what way does it resonate with our generation?

Gonzo porn 

[AlteredOne]

It's a shame he dropped off the map, and only seemed to be writing an irregular column for ESPN.  Then again, his particular style  of reporting probably was not conducive to aging.  Hunter lived hard, and apparently wanted to die hard.  May he meet up with Mark Twain in the afterlife, and lampoon the gods.

[Signe]

Thompson was never one of those people I would expect to live a long, happy life.  I would also expect his end not to be traditional and I'm hardly surprised at what happened.  I suppose it was that or dead in an alley, drunk and beat up because he called the wrong person a son of a bitch.   He had mellowed slightly with age and possibly couldn't find someone to beat him up properly and did the deed himself.  It's all very sad but almost ties in with his life story.  His sort of people are what's left of our anti-heroes.  They're a dying breed.  He deserves respect for his literary (though some would argue that word) contributions and condemnation for the manner in which he conducted his personal life. 

Although he was a drug addict and a sexual deviant, it's hard to dislike him... strange as it sounds.  He's one of those sorts of people who you would love to have over for dinner while knowing that the wife, kids and pets should be locked up before he arrives.  If interested enough, I suggest reading Hunter by E. Jean Carroll, who wrote the biography Gonzo-style.  I enjoyed it so much that I was compelled to finish it in one sitting.

For some reason, I always wondered what he looked like naked. 

Edited because I used 'that' instead of 'who'.

[HaemishM]

The more I rack my brain about this, I can only come to one possible conclusion:

He had nothing left to say.

Yeah, that was about the only thing I could think of. I cannot fathom the idea of him offing himself, unless he discovered he had some kind of inoperable, terminal illness. Or he just realized he had nothing more to say and it was time to go for a curtain call.

Either way, I'm very sad about this. At least we will always have Las Vegas.

[WayAbvPar]

Wow. Even though I haven't read any of his writing for a couple of years, this really shocks and saddens me. The really weird thing is that someone asked about Bat Country in General last night on WoW- when I told them I was in the guild, they complimented the name.

[Joe]

I think this hits anyone who was a fan hard. He was one of those writers you couldn't help but love, and he lived the way he wrote. I'll be cracking open a bottle of tequila and Fear and Loathing tonight.

This was his last really poignant thing I read. It influenced my vote.

[Alkiera]

I think this hits anyone who was a fan hard. He was one of those writers you couldn't help but love, and he lived the way he wrote. I'll be cracking open a bottle of tequila and Fear and Loathing tonight.

This was his last really poignant thing I read. It influenced my vote.

Well.  Now that I have proof I will have absolutely no interest in his non-fiction writing...  Is Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas fiction?  If so, is it fiction for the purpose of making a political statement?  Mostly, I'm curious about the book since it seems to have some influence here... but I have no interest in his political views.

Alkiera

[WayAbvPar]

Read it and decide whether it is fiction or not. It is a fantastic book, either way.

[CmdrSlack]

I think this hits anyone who was a fan hard. He was one of those writers you couldn't help but love, and he lived the way he wrote. I'll be cracking open a bottle of tequila and Fear and Loathing tonight.

This was his last really poignant thing I read. It influenced my vote.

Well.  Now that I have proof I will have absolutely no interest in his non-fiction writing...  Is Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas fiction?  If so, is it fiction for the purpose of making a political statement?  Mostly, I'm curious about the book since it seems to have some influence here... but I have no interest in his political views.

Alkiera

Thompson's style was a development of the journalistic style in American prose after 1945.  At least, that's how I learned it in undergrad.  His work, fiction or non, used hyperbole, frantic pacing, and savagely real language to generate the "this could almost be true" effect of stuff likeFear and Loathing.  AFAIK, parts of that are true.  Hell's Angels is more non-fiction than fiction.  I'd say it resonates better as an example of New Journalism.  Same with his campaign trail books.  

You won't find anything that doesn't bear some aspect of his political views.  For instance, the passage in Fear and Loathing where he discusses looking back across the desert from Vegas and seeing where the high water mark of the 60s had broken and rolled back.  

[Abagadro]

Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trial '72 is a great book too.  He basically talks about how all the candidates are venal assholes.

[HaemishM]

You probably can't separate his political views from his writing, fiction or not. But he's still pretty goddamn funny either way. Read The Curse of Lono if you are worried about his views. It's pretty apolitical, if I recall correctly, and has great Ralph Steadman artwork.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is a classic of American literature, IMO, but if you have a real affinity for Nixon or Nixonian politics, it might just piss you off. Which is fine, because he wrote like that to piss people off too.

[MaceVanHoffen]

I enjoyed Fear and Loathing immensely.  Now, I'll cop to the fact that my political leanings are very similar to HST's.  However, I think the book works as pure entertainment:  a window into the world of heavy, psychadelic drug use for those of us who have no experience with that world.  I'd recommend it wholeheartedly.

I do think that poor HST was just too visionary to live.  He held a view of reality that would be considered radical even in radical circles, and that made his work all the more compelling to me.  I'll miss his future work and the views that work would have represented.

[Alkiera]

You probably can't separate his political views from his writing, fiction or not. But he's still pretty goddamn funny either way. Read The Curse of Lono if you are worried about his views. It's pretty apolitical, if I recall correctly, and has great Ralph Steadman artwork.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is a classic of American literature, IMO, but if you have a real affinity for Nixon or Nixonian politics, it might just piss you off. Which is fine, because he wrote like that to piss people off too.

I enjoyed the first 20 issues or so of Transmetropolitan that I read, and from what I can tell, Spider Jerusalem is based on Hunter S Thompson.  Heck, I , a Christian conservative, could agree with most of Spider's writings...  Hunter(in that article), not at all.  Occasionally Transmetro seemed to have political bents, but it was still enjoyable.  If Fear and Loathing is like that, fine.  The article Joe linked was not enjoyable.

Alkiera

[stray]

I enjoyed the first 20 issues or so of Transmetropolitan that I read, and from what I can tell, Spider Jerusalem is based on Hunter S Thompson.  Heck, I , a Christian conservative, could agree with most of Spider's writings...  Hunter(in that article), not at all.  Occasionally Transmetro seemed to have political bents, but it was still enjoyable.  If Fear and Loathing is like that, fine.  The article Joe linked was not enjoyable.

Alkiera

Well, if it makes you feel any better, he also labeled Clinton as "one of the greatest facists of our time", and Tim Leary as one of the "worst goddamn human beings on the face of the earth". He was a lot harder on flower power, baby boomers, and 60's counterculturalists more than he was anything Nixonian or conservative (but not to say they didn't get their fair share of viciousness either).

[Abagadro]

You only read things that you agree with?

[Abagadro]

Sorry for the consecutive posts, but I found this in a tribute and liked it:

Sure, the man had been dehydrated since 1971; he needed electrolytes and proteins and Thorazine and antidepressants and probably something for his ailing joints because he probably had no cartilage in his knees or hips at all, and a whole host of other difficulties that comes of applying a lifelong scorched-earth policy to your mind and body. Thompson was old, and life had finally become sufficiently uncomfortable for him to check out.

I think it is improper and disrespectful to whine about this suicide. Thompson was in the game for a very, very long time, and I think it is a safe bet that he was never comfortable. This was a profoundly tortured guy, the smoke from whose ears always made a whole lot of exciting colors that we all enjoyed. It was a great brain to watch but you wouldn't want to live in it, I'd aver. He was a butch motherfucker and I'd bet cash he stuck it out significantly longer than he really wanted to. Let's face it, HST was not one for the nursing home -- he'd have just stolen everyone else's barbiturates and hurt people trying to arm-wrestle.

This is one of my favorite things he said about Bush:

In an interview with The Independent in 2004, Thompson said he remembered meeting Bush at Thompson's Super Bowl party in Houston in 1974. He said that Bush was "with a guy who had come to sell . . . " but then cut himself off. "Look, I'm not going to put this next sentence on the record. Let's just say that 'a friend of mine' was buying cocaine. I have friends in Houston from all walks of life. Lawyers. Professional men. Bush was hanging around with this crowd of what you might call gilded coke dilettantes."

Thompson said the future president had left an indelible impression on him. "He knew who I was, at that time, because I had a reputation as a writer," Thompson said. "I knew he was part of the Bush dynasty. But he was nothing, he offered nothing, and he promised nothing. He had no humor. He was insignificant in every way and consequently I didn't pay much attention to him. But when he passed out in my bathtub, then I noticed him. I'd been in another room, talking to the bright people. I had to have him taken away."

[WayAbvPar]

applying a lifelong scorched-earth policy to your mind and body.

What a vivid picture...great phrase!


God, now I feel iike a douchebag teaching English 101 night school! In fact, I will change the text color to reflect this...

[Alkiera]

You only read things that you agree with?

No.  After all, I read a large portion of this forum, and as a Christian conservative, I don't agree with a lot of what is said, especially in the politics and GenDis forums.  I've finally more or less stopped reading the politics forum, tho, because it's one of those topics where it is typically impossible to convince someone to change their mind.  By the time you're in your early/mid 20's, most people have a fair idea of what they believe about politics, and generally defend that to the death until their experiences tell them different, and sometimes even still.

I'm not much different than most people in that regard.  Yes, you could say I just admitted to being close-minded... but I've heard long, varied arguments from what I consider to be the opposite side of the issue, and I've found none of them to be convincing.

So, given my reason, posted above, for wanting to read Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, namely to better understand the host of references made here...  What would be the point if it is something I'm going to have to force myself to continue reading it, like I did that article Joe posted?

I'll just have to file Hunter Thompson along with the majority of other authors, actors, and celebrities, in the folder of people whom I respect more the less I know about their personal lives.  Was discussing this earlier with people as to why I don't want to see the Oscar Awards.  I've determined that of the actors, actresses and other celebs that I actually respect for their talents, I have no desire to find out about the rest of their lives, because in all cases where I have learned more, I've lost what respect I had for them.

Alkiera

[stray]

Not everything is so black & white, Alkiera. And besides, understanding and exposing yourself to the "opposite" side will only make you better understand and appreciate your own beliefs and ideals, and how to apply them to the rest of the world.

[Abagadro]

He's not really a dreaded "liberal" anyways, more like a anti-authoritarian anarchist with a wistful view of the American Dream fueled by raging narcicism and self-destruction.

[Alkiera]

Not everything is so black & white, Alkiera.

Of course not.  Which is why I asked about the content of the book.  Not everything is black and white...  but some people are, the major forces behind ideas.  I'm willing to read grey stuff... But I've no more desire to read a political book by HST than, say, most people here would want to read one by Rush Limbaugh, Anne Coulter, or Michael Savage.  I have to ask because the left tends to try to hide their politics inside their art(F9/11, that ocean disaster movie, Day Without Mexicans, Spanglish), where the right tends to make things obvious on the cover, like Limbaugh's The Way Things Ought to Be or Savage's Liberalism is a Mental Disorder.

Alkiera

Re: Abagadro
heh, sounds alot like Spider Jerusalem.  Which I believe was the point of the comic.

[Abagadro]

Go ahead and read F&L. I don't remember a whole lot of overtly political stuff in it (other than pointing out how idiotic the cops at the drug conference were), but it is (in my opinion) one of the seminal works of the era.