Dr. Nosophoros
Active Member
Most of you probably know who Hunter S. Thompson was but I am sure there's a few who never heard of him. Anyway, my opinion is that he was truly one of the best writers out there past or present, his wit and no-nonsense storytelling is/was entertaining in the very least and had a very "real" feel to it and there is good reason for it, he pretty much lived it instead of imagining it. I don't feel like there are too many people out there that could come close to his ability, it truly is a loss. Anyway, here's the story:
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Gonzo godfather Hunter S. Thompson kills himself
LOS ANGELES, Feb 21 (Reuters) - 09.44
Published: February 21 2005 10:41 | Last updated: February 21 2005 10:41
Hunter S. Thompson, a renegade journalist whose gonzo style threw out any pretense at objectivity and established the hard-living writer as a counter-culture icon, fatally shot himself at his Colorado home on Sunday night, police said. He was 67.
Thompsons son, Juan, released a statement saying he had found his father dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head at the writers Owl Creek farm near Aspen.
Thompson, famed for such adrenaline-packed narratives as Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, turned his drug and alcohol-fueled clashes with authority into a central theme of his work, challenging the quieter norms of established journalism in the process.
He also cultivated an aura of recklessness, starting with the blurb on his book Hells Angels, in which he called himself an avid reader, a relentless drinker and a fine hand with a .44 Magnum.
A longtime gun enthusiast, Thompson had a shooting range on his property.
Hunter prized his privacy and we ask that his friends and admirers respect that privacy as well as that of his family, said the statement released on behalf of Juan and Thompsons wife, Anita.
By his heyday in the 1970s, Thompson had distilled his style of invective-laced, outlaw journalism into a slogan:
When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, adapted from a two-part article written for Rolling Stone magazine in late 1971, chronicled Thompsons drug-fueled misadventures in Las Vegas while ostensibly covering a motorcycle race in the desert.
WRITER OF SIGNIFICANCE
The book established Hunter as a cult celebrity and became the basis for a 1998 Hollywood adaptation, starring Johnny Depp as Thompsons alter-ego, Raoul Duke.
Thompsons refracted coverage of the Super Bowl and the 1972 presidential race also inspired the 1980 movie Where the Buffalo Roam, with Bill Murray as the self-proclaimed doctor of gonzo journalism.
He was also caricatured as Uncle Duke in the comic strip Doonesbury, right down to his signature aviator glasses and cigarette holder.
Although Thompsons later work got mixed reviews, critics credited him with pioneering a style of invective-laced and hyperbolic political commentary that was uniquely American.
A 1994 essay in Rolling Stone written as an obituary for former President Richard Nixon was typical. At a time when many commentators offered a more generous re-assessment of Nixons legacy, Thompson called him a liar, a quitter and a *******. A cheap crook and a merciless war criminal.
I think Thompson has remained a writer of significance, because, essentially a satirist, he has displayed an utter contempt for power -- political power, financial power, even showbiz juice, novelist Paul Theroux wrote in 2003.
Raised in a middle-class family in Louisville, Kentucky, Thompsons father died when he was 14, and by 18 he had been jailed for his part in a robbery.
After a stint in the Air Force working as a sports editor, he became a foreign correspondent for the New York Herald Tribune in Puerto Rico.
In 1965, Thompson broke through with an article about the Hells Angels that he turned into a critically hailed book.
It was his association with Rolling Stone that turned both into literary icons -- even though Thompson initially considered the upstart San Francisco-based magazine a bunch of faggots and hippies.
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/4323caee-83f4-11d9-ad81-00000e2511c8.html
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Gonzo godfather Hunter S. Thompson kills himself
LOS ANGELES, Feb 21 (Reuters) - 09.44
Published: February 21 2005 10:41 | Last updated: February 21 2005 10:41
Thompsons son, Juan, released a statement saying he had found his father dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head at the writers Owl Creek farm near Aspen.
Thompson, famed for such adrenaline-packed narratives as Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, turned his drug and alcohol-fueled clashes with authority into a central theme of his work, challenging the quieter norms of established journalism in the process.
He also cultivated an aura of recklessness, starting with the blurb on his book Hells Angels, in which he called himself an avid reader, a relentless drinker and a fine hand with a .44 Magnum.
A longtime gun enthusiast, Thompson had a shooting range on his property.
Hunter prized his privacy and we ask that his friends and admirers respect that privacy as well as that of his family, said the statement released on behalf of Juan and Thompsons wife, Anita.
By his heyday in the 1970s, Thompson had distilled his style of invective-laced, outlaw journalism into a slogan:
When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, adapted from a two-part article written for Rolling Stone magazine in late 1971, chronicled Thompsons drug-fueled misadventures in Las Vegas while ostensibly covering a motorcycle race in the desert.
WRITER OF SIGNIFICANCE
The book established Hunter as a cult celebrity and became the basis for a 1998 Hollywood adaptation, starring Johnny Depp as Thompsons alter-ego, Raoul Duke.
Thompsons refracted coverage of the Super Bowl and the 1972 presidential race also inspired the 1980 movie Where the Buffalo Roam, with Bill Murray as the self-proclaimed doctor of gonzo journalism.
He was also caricatured as Uncle Duke in the comic strip Doonesbury, right down to his signature aviator glasses and cigarette holder.
Although Thompsons later work got mixed reviews, critics credited him with pioneering a style of invective-laced and hyperbolic political commentary that was uniquely American.
A 1994 essay in Rolling Stone written as an obituary for former President Richard Nixon was typical. At a time when many commentators offered a more generous re-assessment of Nixons legacy, Thompson called him a liar, a quitter and a *******. A cheap crook and a merciless war criminal.
I think Thompson has remained a writer of significance, because, essentially a satirist, he has displayed an utter contempt for power -- political power, financial power, even showbiz juice, novelist Paul Theroux wrote in 2003.
Raised in a middle-class family in Louisville, Kentucky, Thompsons father died when he was 14, and by 18 he had been jailed for his part in a robbery.
After a stint in the Air Force working as a sports editor, he became a foreign correspondent for the New York Herald Tribune in Puerto Rico.
In 1965, Thompson broke through with an article about the Hells Angels that he turned into a critically hailed book.
It was his association with Rolling Stone that turned both into literary icons -- even though Thompson initially considered the upstart San Francisco-based magazine a bunch of faggots and hippies.
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/4323caee-83f4-11d9-ad81-00000e2511c8.html
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