I heard on the news last night that Hunter Thompson committed suicide. For some reason, it seems kind of appropriate that he'd choose to make his exit that way, on his own terms. My favorite Hunter Thompson quote was "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro." And by golly, he was a pro.
Speaking of weird, my favorite news story from last week was about "Baby 81" in Sri Lanka getting reunited with his parents after the DNA tests proved he was their son. The mother said that the first thing she would do when she got her son back was to fulfill her vows to smash 100 coconuts for the elephant-headed Hindu god Ganesh, offer sweet rice to the warrior god Murugan and kill a rooster for the goddess Kali. Her husband added, "Then we'll figure out what to do next." I'm figuring they probably cooked coconut chicken over rice, but that's just me. And what's the deal with 100 coconuts? You figure that the priests at the temple have some kind of coconut concession?
On the same page of the USA Today where I read that story, there was a picture of Iraqi Shiites marching through the street flagellating themselves with metal chains for their religious festival of Ashura. And after reading those stories, I thought to myself, "You know, by comparison it's almost normal here in Jesusland."
4 comments:
What did you think of the movie version of Fear and Loathing?
I liked "Where the Buffalo Roam" better...
Both Johney Dep and Bill Murry did great hunter impressions. The script for Buffalo got so cut up... should have been better... but on F&L the people incharge were closer to Hunter so th script came out better.
I will miss him ... BIG HUG for Juan, Jen, Willam and Anita… who will never be able to fill the hole left in there lives by the man in spite of the myth and legend attached to his life..
I am a long time friend of Juan we went to the Aspen Community School together I have been using the blogs to try to send a message of love to him and the family but I know he is totally swamped because of the media attention at Owl farm and I need to let him know that we care for Him, Anita and the whole family in this time of tragedy while respecting his privacy
Let's see if we can get the word out ...
He was first THE MAN….
He became the myth and legend
To me he was several people.
He was my best friend’s dad although he always called his dad Hunter
(At Juan’s wedding he said to a friend about me “Look there’s another little bastard I raised that turned out OK”)
He was Hunter S. Thompson retiring shy southerner who loved guns and his freedom
And
He was the Dr. Gonzo who we all know who would be in your face and try to kill you if you attempted to try to take away his guns, drugs, freedom, privacy and the god given right to go into an explosive tirade about it.
To be such a person required him to have a unique emotional support structure. These people now need our support, love and understanding in this time of grief.
Bradley Laboe
We need about 50 Hunter S. Thompson clones in the field of journalism right about now.
RIP, dude.
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