The Hunter S. Thompson Thread

[Jeffrey]

This guy shows up in the most random places, I swear. This may not have been a direct throw back to him, but it's pretty close. Certainly, nobody that watches this show of their own volition would get it (as it's a kid's show), but children of the 70's or readers of HST's fine book Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail: '72 would know. Or readers of other books/ watchers of TV or movies about politics of 1972, but that's beside the point. 'The Fairly Oddparents' made an odd reference in their episode about why Mr. Crocker is a psychotic moron and Timmy went back in time (March14, 1972) to find out why. In a nutshell, Crocker had fairy godparents, got them taken away, and when Timmy wanted to fix it, the big, scary fairy dude (70's and present incarnation) said that Timmy could never enter the era of March '72 ever again. However, he was allowed in the rest of 1972. To wit:

"You can visit every other month as long as you don't interfere with the election of President McGovern."

Ahahahahahahaha! Too bad McGovern lost so severely in '72 (the only state he won was Massachusetts) that that could never happen. Which makes it super funny. Unless Timmy screwed McGovern's campaign so terribly that he had no option but to lose with such great proportions. HST must be pissed. Damn Timmy Turner!

[Jeffrey]

Finished Better Than Sex! It's strange. It's pretty interesting, the notion that to a political junky, politics could be better than sex. This book's all about the '92 presidential election and the take from behind Democratic lines as in Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail: '72 though this time, it's not nearly as nice. Hunter had planned on staying this one out, becoming disillusioned with the idea of another 4 years with George H. W. At the beginning of the campaign, Bush was looking unbeatable, until Ross Perot joined the fray and Bill Clinton got the Democratic candidacy. Includes a freaky epitaph for Hunter's life long enemy, Richard Nixon. Weird stuff here, Bubba, watch your step.



In other news, watching Futurama tonight, it was the episode where Nixon's head run's for the President of Earth (winning, of course). When he announced his candidacy, he was on stage singing 'White Rabbit'. Gasp! (Those that read/saw FALILV will recognize the song as that of Jefferson Airplane with quote: 'Soaring vocals by Grace Slick.') His comment? "I'm meeting you halfway you stupid hippies!" Oh yeah. Much fun and madness. Hunter would be proud. Not.

[Jeffrey]

One of Hunter's buddies, also an author, had a reference of his own in Futurama. Tom Wolfe, author of 'Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test' also wrote the book of which was mentioned in the episode.

Fry was searching for a book with which to think at the demon brains and cripple them. He was going through the piles something to the effect of:

'Hardy Boys? Too easy. Nancy Drew? Too hard. Aha! Bonfire of the Vanities!'

I find this extremely ironic as I've been reading Bonfire of the Vanities and can barely understand it myself. That is a strange and difficult book. That's why I might do Tom Wolfe for my Junior essay.

[Jeffrey]

Teehee, another culture spotting!

Adult Swim rocks my socks. Some of the best adult cartoons ever. (Save Rocko's Modern Life and Ren and Stimpy. Yes, they are adult in a sense.) I was watching Family Guy and they were airing their bump (the emails and replies) just before FG returned. The guy asked something to effect of 'What are you favorite movies?'

You guessed it. Someone's favorite movie of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. I freaked right out, squeed and was generally on cloud 9 the rest of the night. It doesn't take much to make me amused. Just look at Sealab 2021.

(I <3 Jodene Sparks. ;D)

[Jeffrey]

I have no idea if I ever mentioned this... but I prolly should. Hunter writes a semi regular column for ESPN. While I'm not a sports fan, I have to admit, his columns rock. They aren't overly sports based, he based an entire article on the election on Nov 2nd. (He predicted Kerry's win... ) and a lot of it's the state of the country. That's kinda what he write about. Articles come out generally every other Tuesday, sometimes more, sometimes less. I highly recommend them if you like satire or just randomness in general and it's a way of telling whether you'd actually like his writing style. They're pretty close, despite the shortness of the columns. It's goodstuff, trust me.

[Jeffrey]

I got Screwjack! Teehee!!! It's an incredibly short, short book (*grumble*) that's got 3 of Hunter's short stories in it: Mescalito, Death of a Poet and Screwjack. I'm annoyed that I spent $15 for a 50 page book but... I think it'll be worth it. After all, I lemon Hunter's fiction. Carp, just look at The Rum Diary! *snicker* I'm getting The Rum Diary en Espanol for Christmas. We'll see how it stacks up.

[Vivian Astley]

Hehehe I totally agree with the adult swim comment. I just love there letters and so forth so damn funny. last nights was as well

[Jeffrey]

Those letters are so random. Adult Swim rocks my socks. And all those new episodes of Sealab!!! They're awesome!!!

I've got another random, possibly intentional, possibly not reference. Chris Moore's new book has a section where the town Costable has just smoked marijuana and has to investigate a murder case. He's tripping extremely badly and happens to notice something.

"He spotted something dark swinging from the ceiling of the porch, right where the wind chime would have been on his and Molly's porch, if he hadn't just sacrificed their security by relapsing into dope-fiendism. It couldn't be what it looked like.
'So that's a, uh, that looks like--'
'A bat,' said Lena.
Holy fuck, Theo thought, that thing is huge. 'A bat,' he said. 'Sure. Of course.'
'Fruit bat,' Tucker Case clarified. 'From Micronesia.'
'Oh, right,' Theo said. Micronesia was not a real place. The blond guy was fucking with him."

Hehe... "Suddenly, there was a terrible roar all around us, and the sky was full of what looked like huge bats. All swooping and screeching and diving around the car, and a voice was screaming 'Holy Jesus, what are these Goddamn animals!?' "

You know it.