. Sad news. He was a force of nature, a freak, a legend, a nasty counter-virus on the scourge of crusty American politics, His rants and drugg-hobbled witts will certainly be missed.
Somehow i'm kinda glad he went that way, I couldn't really imagine the guy dying of old age anyway... still it's sad. Could it be that he was the last true representative of the anti-establishment? An true icon of counter-cultur is gone, i for one will miss his writings very much.
sad indeed. i've lost some friends to suicide. you never know the pain they lived and i would never try to explain it, but i think it's always most painful for those left behind.
Ok maybe i've been watching too many conspirecy theory programs on tv or reading too much into the good Doctors books on politics but I just don't buy how a man who stood up so strongly for his views and his ideals would end it just like this. Call me nuts I just don't buy it. Everyone knows how many people Mr. Thompson pissed off in his life, from the Hells Angels, to Nixon, to his idiot yankee neighbour who claimed he poisoned his fish. Why has no one said out loud the possiibility of him being assasinated??????? I think that would be more in keeping with the great man and his lifestyle than this.
The other options are less than encouraging..
He took his own life because he was tired of watching the way to world was going. In the 70's he thought Nixon was the Antichrist, but in recent years his opinion of where we stand today was even worse than in Nixons time... If its a case of the ultimate protest, then it is up to those of us who cared for him and his work to stand up where he is no more.
If its the case that he saw no more hope in our situation then what hope is there for us???
Hey londonsam. I have to admit, the thought did cross my mind. Every report I have read is extreme sketchy about the precise nature of the 'suicide'.
But then i wondered: who would be brave enough to kill him? imagine the rain of sh1t that would come down on anyone who got found out? The man has made a career out of collecting enemies, but i doubt any of them would be that stupid.
At the end of the day, we all know his pad was well stocked with ample quantities of booze, drugs and weapons. Sadly all the ducks (peacocks?) were gonna line up eventually.
I'm just finishing 'Kingdom of Fear' (very good read btw). He was becoming quite reflective in the last couple of years. Maybe it just got the better of him. He said the one thing he has learnt in life is "Always plead innocent" I can see him at the pearly gates now....
It's been a sad six months. First John Peel and now HST. Devastated. Where are all our heros now...?
Ahh my dear antipod you should never underestimate the stupidity of some people. Take Nixon for example, or better yet take 99% of our clients in this business.....
I dread to see the comments on the hero thread...
well Londonsam, don't get me wrong. whilst a great admirer of the conservative revolution advocated by Bush Jr, i do somehow think something a bit more subversive along the lines of what HST epitomized would taste slightly more appropriate and would appeal a bit more to me...
hmm, i must be getting you all wrong cause i just can't see the two extremes coming together in any manner. We're not talking about conservative and liberal here, we're talking about conservative and honest.
On one side you have an ideology that speaks openly and without fear of reprocusion about anything and everything. And on the other hand you have politicians who are even afraid to talk about what they have tried for fear of alienating voters. An honest politician is a politician without a job.
sure, thought of some other mystery behind his death crossed my mind too. but, when I hear that he was sufferng post spine, hip and leg surgery, that he could barely walk, and the idea of him being couped up to the point of near total immobility, stuck in front of his TV, I can imagine the Doc saying, ok, fuck this, I am outta here.
It’s possible he had some incurable disease and instead of letting the sickness dictate when he’d go he took control and determined the time and place…just a thought.
not to mention, the man loved his drugs. we all know that drugs, especially over a long term period, tweak the mind. it is not uncommon for ppl on drugs to commit suicide because their perception of reality is so altered.
good points finoki and chow. i just think he wanted to control his situation, and as i said before, he didn't want to waste away.
Londonsam: you're right the 2 extremes don't come together in any manner.
I was just being sarcastic and reflecting on the hero thread... Just trying to make a point about the fact that HST was someone i related to for his anti-conformism and renegade attitude, he was a breath of fresh air in the current political conservative environment, a guy not afraid to tell people who pissed him off to fuck off which is something i kinda admire. Granted, the word 'hero' might be a bit strong let's say he was somebody whose writings and crazy attitude really mattered to me. that's all, just forget about the hero shit...
Ahh gotcha doberman, sarcasm sometimes gets lost here on the net. Or I'm being too dense.
Yes i get your points Fin and Chow but everything points in the other direction. Everyone who'd been around him recently said that he was in fine spirits (no pun intended) that he'd recovered from his surgery and broken leg..yes i suppose we'll never know if he was terminally ill or what his motivations were I guess i just was hoping for something else.
In one way it can be said that a man who always took control of a situation took control of this one as well.
Hey Doberman...heel boy. Heros are personal things man. Some retards still think that Dubya is a Hero. There's no accounting for taste after all. I think the world has been a richer place for having had HST in it...even for a short while. That makes him a Hero to me.
My point was really that there seem to be less and less of those kind of people (however you wish to label them) around.
I'm just wallowing in the melancholy of it all. I'm sure I'll get over it soon. We're all here for a good time, not a long time, right?
antipod. i'm with ya, i hope you sensed the irony in my post. maybe i expressed the fact that i feel like i lost i someone i related to a bit too strongly... and your point is well taken. there are indeed less and less people like HST around which sucks and that's what prompted my initial question about who's left to truly entertain us and make sense in this fucked up political context? (whatever we call them doesn't really matter). Kingdom of fear was a seminal read to me.
At the memorial, neighbor and actor Don Johnson remembered once asking Thompson: What is the sound of one hand clapping? Thompson responded by slapping Johnson across the face.
GONZO'S GONE!
. Sad news. He was a force of nature, a freak, a legend, a nasty counter-virus on the scourge of crusty American politics, His rants and drugg-hobbled witts will certainly be missed.
That sucks. Reading his books in high school influenced my attitude toward architecture a lot more than Philip Johnson.
damn, that does suck...
too weird to live. too rare to die...
the man was a genius...
'tis a sad day for us all...
NO WAY...
That guy was my hero. Sad news, very sad news indeed...
Somehow i'm kinda glad he went that way, I couldn't really imagine the guy dying of old age anyway... still it's sad. Could it be that he was the last true representative of the anti-establishment? An true icon of counter-cultur is gone, i for one will miss his writings very much.
Can anybody hand me the blue pills???
DAMN, shocking....
I'm in the middle of watching Where the buffalo roams, what a coincidence (after not reading/watching hst in quit some time).
He was one my all time favorite writers/wackos etc. etc.
Always remember him when pull your next allnighter, he used to pull 80hrs. non-stoppers!
sad indeed. i've lost some friends to suicide. you never know the pain they lived and i would never try to explain it, but i think it's always most painful for those left behind.
said that he thought death was like falling down an elevator shaft, and landing into a pool of mermaids.
the poor basterd must have seen the bats...
booze drugs and guns not the best combination. r.i.p.
Ok maybe i've been watching too many conspirecy theory programs on tv or reading too much into the good Doctors books on politics but I just don't buy how a man who stood up so strongly for his views and his ideals would end it just like this. Call me nuts I just don't buy it. Everyone knows how many people Mr. Thompson pissed off in his life, from the Hells Angels, to Nixon, to his idiot yankee neighbour who claimed he poisoned his fish. Why has no one said out loud the possiibility of him being assasinated??????? I think that would be more in keeping with the great man and his lifestyle than this.
The other options are less than encouraging..
He took his own life because he was tired of watching the way to world was going. In the 70's he thought Nixon was the Antichrist, but in recent years his opinion of where we stand today was even worse than in Nixons time... If its a case of the ultimate protest, then it is up to those of us who cared for him and his work to stand up where he is no more.
If its the case that he saw no more hope in our situation then what hope is there for us???
Hey londonsam. I have to admit, the thought did cross my mind. Every report I have read is extreme sketchy about the precise nature of the 'suicide'.
But then i wondered: who would be brave enough to kill him? imagine the rain of sh1t that would come down on anyone who got found out? The man has made a career out of collecting enemies, but i doubt any of them would be that stupid.
At the end of the day, we all know his pad was well stocked with ample quantities of booze, drugs and weapons. Sadly all the ducks (peacocks?) were gonna line up eventually.
I'm just finishing 'Kingdom of Fear' (very good read btw). He was becoming quite reflective in the last couple of years. Maybe it just got the better of him. He said the one thing he has learnt in life is "Always plead innocent" I can see him at the pearly gates now....
It's been a sad six months. First John Peel and now HST. Devastated. Where are all our heros now...?
Precisely... where are all our heroes now?? that would make a good thread actually. i need to find out about other people like him to relate to.
Ahh my dear antipod you should never underestimate the stupidity of some people. Take Nixon for example, or better yet take 99% of our clients in this business.....
I dread to see the comments on the hero thread...
actually, i couldn't imagine him growing old and shriveled up. i agree with antipod. who would have the guts to do it?
Yes in a giant fist..even in death the man has style
well Londonsam, don't get me wrong. whilst a great admirer of the conservative revolution advocated by Bush Jr, i do somehow think something a bit more subversive along the lines of what HST epitomized would taste slightly more appropriate and would appeal a bit more to me...
hmm, i must be getting you all wrong cause i just can't see the two extremes coming together in any manner. We're not talking about conservative and liberal here, we're talking about conservative and honest.
On one side you have an ideology that speaks openly and without fear of reprocusion about anything and everything. And on the other hand you have politicians who are even afraid to talk about what they have tried for fear of alienating voters. An honest politician is a politician without a job.
sure, thought of some other mystery behind his death crossed my mind too. but, when I hear that he was sufferng post spine, hip and leg surgery, that he could barely walk, and the idea of him being couped up to the point of near total immobility, stuck in front of his TV, I can imagine the Doc saying, ok, fuck this, I am outta here.
It’s possible he had some incurable disease and instead of letting the sickness dictate when he’d go he took control and determined the time and place…just a thought.
not to mention, the man loved his drugs. we all know that drugs, especially over a long term period, tweak the mind. it is not uncommon for ppl on drugs to commit suicide because their perception of reality is so altered.
good points finoki and chow. i just think he wanted to control his situation, and as i said before, he didn't want to waste away.
Londonsam: you're right the 2 extremes don't come together in any manner.
I was just being sarcastic and reflecting on the hero thread... Just trying to make a point about the fact that HST was someone i related to for his anti-conformism and renegade attitude, he was a breath of fresh air in the current political conservative environment, a guy not afraid to tell people who pissed him off to fuck off which is something i kinda admire. Granted, the word 'hero' might be a bit strong let's say he was somebody whose writings and crazy attitude really mattered to me. that's all, just forget about the hero shit...
Ahh gotcha doberman, sarcasm sometimes gets lost here on the net. Or I'm being too dense.
Yes i get your points Fin and Chow but everything points in the other direction. Everyone who'd been around him recently said that he was in fine spirits (no pun intended) that he'd recovered from his surgery and broken leg..yes i suppose we'll never know if he was terminally ill or what his motivations were I guess i just was hoping for something else.
In one way it can be said that a man who always took control of a situation took control of this one as well.
, virtually saying his family expected it since he had been talking about suicide for 10 years. Not a special article though.
spaulding gray;s suicide also stemmed from his depression over some serious injuries sustained in a car accident. so said his widow...
Hey Doberman...heel boy. Heros are personal things man. Some retards still think that Dubya is a Hero. There's no accounting for taste after all. I think the world has been a richer place for having had HST in it...even for a short while. That makes him a Hero to me.
My point was really that there seem to be less and less of those kind of people (however you wish to label them) around.
I'm just wallowing in the melancholy of it all. I'm sure I'll get over it soon. We're all here for a good time, not a long time, right?
Damn! Have you read this story yet?
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/state/article/0,1299,DRMN_21_3575306,00.html
Seems almost like something he would have written himself, it's so bizarre.
antipod. i'm with ya, i hope you sensed the irony in my post. maybe i expressed the fact that i feel like i lost i someone i related to a bit too strongly... and your point is well taken. there are indeed less and less people like HST around which sucks and that's what prompted my initial question about who's left to truly entertain us and make sense in this fucked up political context? (whatever we call them doesn't really matter). Kingdom of fear was a seminal read to me.
a hero (of mine) fades.
a quote of which he was fond:
One owes respect to the living; to the dead, one owes only the truth.
-Voltaire
Mahalo, good doctor.
At the memorial, neighbor and actor Don Johnson remembered once asking Thompson: What is the sound of one hand clapping? Thompson responded by slapping Johnson across the face.
e- can't wait for someone to ask me that. I will slap them in tribute!!
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