Hunter S Thompson and Me

Vale Gonzo

The Doctor is dead

I was quite young when I read Hell's Angels
I wasn't sure whether 'twas fact or fiction
but it sure was scarey.

'twas many many years later that I discovered Fear & Loathing
and the notion of Gonzo journalism - and loved the hell out of it!

I took the notion to heart - everything was about ME!
I was the observer, events were perceived by me, events were evaluated by their effects on ME!

After all, who better to judge?

This goes into some deep philosophy - no events without observer, solipsism (there might just as well be no-one else here!)

most of all, Descartes' 'cogito' the basis for all thought; prescience.

Another thread here - its all about ME!
The Ulysses Approach - the everyday life, the boring everyday life of one man
as an heroic epic ordeal.

Hence my attention to detail,
my emphasis upon The Small Things.

2. Many obits have been written about the great man
and most regurgitate the same worn & crumpled 'facts' & platitudes,
roll out the same ol same ol pictures, quotes and passages.

it is my intention
to contribute something unique -
put in a little work
and offer something not found elsewhere.

This shows a young, hungry wanna-be writer
taking the initiative,
hitch-hiking down through south america
just to sell his story
starting out with twenny bucks & a ticket to xyz.

biting the bullet,
moving to New York
and trying to make it as a writer/journalist.

living the life
suffering the hangovers
trying to pay the rent

This is from The Proud Highway:


3. His death
is a reminder to me:

to live a life I choose
rather than some tepid shit dished up by someone else;

to not go gently,

to kick against the pricks,

to rail against the cruelty and injustice of the whirl!


We begin anew.


lerevdr on Mon 28-Feb-2005 @ 10:39 e.s.t [permalink]
[Care to comment on this article?]

 Curve

Doppelganger, along with Highway 61 Revisited,
is one of The Greatest Albums Of All Time!

We lost our copy [along with many other fine works]
to The Celestial Bride
and have missed it sorely.

Thus we ordered Curve's entire oeuvre

and recently received 4 CDs from Amazon
for the delightfully low cost of USD60.

This morning we retired to The Black Chair
and listened to the first of the stack: Public Fruit - a compilation of EPs.

* BRILLIANT!!! *

Now we need to buy headphones
so we don't get kicked out
when we turn it up LOUD!!!


lerevdr on Thu 24-Feb-2005 @ 18:21 e.s.t [permalink]
[Care to comment on this article?]

 It's All About Time

Some time ago
D sent me a link to
Edge - The World Question Center

They had asked a stack (for that is the correct collective noun) of clever folk
to answer this year's question:

"What Do You Believe Is True Even Though You Cannot Prove It?"


There were 102 pages at the time we printed the document
and we have been slowly thinning the pile.

There was the usual guff about God and life on other planets
but, 51 pages in, we were taken with something that Esther Dyson wrote:

"I think life has fundamentally and paradoxically changed our sense of time."

It's not a real coherent thesis but, among other things, she complains that our attention spans are diminishing and that we are thinking in the short term.

More importantly, she writes (our emphasis):

"… the darkness that kept us from reading has disappeared,

making every minute not used productively into an opportunity cost"

Waal, Beloved Parishioners,
that's about where we stand at the moment.

Since taking a vow of abstinence,
we find ourselves with a great deal of time on our hands
and a fervent need
to pass, to fill, to kill that time.

Currently, we have a number of Very Important Things to get done

and yet,
we cannot sit still,
we cannot concentrate,

we are almost completely devoid
of enthusiasm
and, worse, willpower;

we cannot get anything done.

We are depressed
beneath the weight of all these opportunity costs;

depressed
beneath the guilt of not being able

to capitalise upon, to exploit, to use
this glut of troublesome, annoying free time…

SO, Esther, we wanna use the time
but can't
and thus feel lousy.

How fucked up is that?

BTW, what do you believe is true even though you cannot prove it?

lerevdr on Wed 23-Feb-2005 @ 16:35 e.s.t [permalink]
[Care to comment on this article?]

 A Good Cause

Kottke is quitting his day job and devoting his time to the site.

We have been lurkers for years now; since Osil8, and were happy to be of assistance.

You too may make a financial contribution

lerevdr on Wed 23-Feb-2005 @ 10:30 e.s.t [permalink]
[Care to comment on this article?]

 The Princess of Cornwall

Saturday
19-2-5

Beloved Parishioners,
it has been an an interesting day.

1. We journeyed to the seaside
to see the optometrist.

The nice lady did all the tests and, for the piece de resistance,
anaesthetised our eyeballs,
stained the tear fluid with fluorescein,
and pressed a blue light thingy up against 'em
to measure the pressure inside the eyeball.

Whatever will they think of next..?

Surprisingly, our myopia has not progressed in ten years
and the orbs are in good shape.
We look forward (pardon the pun) to impressing the ladies of the Parish with our new specs!

2. The boguns across the way have moved out! Praise be!

3. We bought a bag of dirt ($2.70 at the discount supermarket) & spent an enjoyable couple of hours separating & repotting some of the plants on the balcony. In spite of cutting, clipping and disposing of many leaves & branches, there seems to be more greenery than before.

4. Just as we were tidying up, The Big Guy turned the clear blue sky grey & threw a bit of a storm. We heart lightning and are grateful for the rain.

5. After getting all the chores outta the way, we just started Stephenson's The System of the World. On the second page we read:

"Dartmoor was created part of the Duchy of Cornwall in 1338, and as such became part of the possessions of the Prince of Wales…"

"And the Princess. Who, if the Hanovers come, shall be - "

"Princess Caroline of Ansbach."

whom, we are informed in the Preface, is 'beautiful and brilliant.'

Quelle coincidence! The last one was very pretty too. Not like this 'consort' thing...


lerevdr on Tue 22-Feb-2005 @ 16:50 e.s.t [permalink]
[Care to comment on this article?]

 Horse Head Women

Did anyone watch Seven Days on ABC Sunday morning?

Did anyone catch the new-look Felicity Davey?

Her mane has been cropped to shoulder length in a turned-out, flicked-up-at-the-ends whatever-it's-called stylee.
She was dressed up in a pretty lilac A-line frock with white icing sugar piping which lifted, separated and frosted around her teen-y buds cleavage, marking out her ironing-board body into 'good touch' and 'bad touch' zones.

ABC's Frankenstein baby doll.

She is still cross-eyed.

Why are these chimera/manticore/mutant/freaks haunting me?

UPDATE:
To read the evening news, they made Felicity change her frock for a nice blue and white striped shirtwaist, and put a gold pendant in the middle of the ironing-board. They had also touched up her hair.
After noting that the shirt accentuated the vivid blue of her eyes, one of the Sestren remarked that:
"She looks like she's in a wind tunnel."


lerevdr on Mon 21-Feb-2005 @ 11:02 e.s.t [permalink]
[One Lonely Comment]

 Heartbreaker

We have just finished reading Heartbreaker, by Robert Ferrigno.

He's closer to Carl Hiassen than to Elmore Leonard,
but you get the picture.

The cover blurb reads

'Dark… hilarious… with a wild sense of place'
James Ellroy.

OK, all the greats are here, but

on the back cover, Ellroy's cool is blown:

'Heartbreaker is a dark, comic tour-de-force. It's consistently and casually a knockout, brutal and hilarious. It's a hothouse flower with a wild sense of place and a wilder believability. Dig it and dig it now.'

The blurb on the back cover is suitably upbeat
but p74 is what got us:

"The Big Value swapmeet was set up on the twenty-acre parking lot of a former aerospace plant. Here it was, barely ten A.M. and the asphalt swarmed with trailer trash and coupon clippers, Orange County lumpen searching for generic tennis shoes and ten-pack underwear, cheap stereos and green pigskin sofas, small appliances that fried cheese and pureed baby food from table scraps. Kilo had no idea what he could possibly have done to deserve being here. He preferred places with a high cover charge,a dress code, a membership fee, something to keep the poor and ugly where they belonged, with their noses pressed up against the glass."
Jackie leaned over a table stacked with rows of ceramic Buddhas, picked one up, and rubbed its belly. "You want to make a wish too, Kilo?"
A fat 'n' happy couple brushed past him in matching denim cut-offs, their doughy knees dimpling. "I wish I wasn't here," said Kilo.

They both die.

Good book.


lerevdr on Fri 18-Feb-2005 @ 14:10 e.s.t [permalink]
[Care to comment on this article?]

 Location, Location, Location

Went in to Rockdale last night.

Performed some Good Works

and finished up around 11:30.


On the way home

we noticed that

the brothel

is right next door to

the funeral home.

lerevdr on Thu 17-Feb-2005 @ 12:14 e.s.t [permalink]
[Care to comment on this article?]

 Action

We recently finished Stephenson's The Confusion.

This time we read it with a dictionary, a scientific dictionary and an atlas to hand - made it SO much better!

Anyway, there was a passage where someone says
"to act is to be human"
or somesuch.

We finally tracked it down
(we hope this is the bit we were looking for):

"Pay attention, that's all," Eliza said. "Notice things. Connect what you've noticed. Connect it into a picture. Think of how the picture might be changed; and act to change it. Some of your acts may turn out to have been foolish, but others will reward you in surprising ways; and in the meantime, simply by being active instead of passive, you have a kind of immunity that's hard to explain—"

"Uncle Gottfried says,'Whatever acts cannot be destroyed.' "

The Juncto, Book 5
Liepzig, May 1694
Eliza and Caroline Journey to Leipzig

we blather on below


lerevdr on Tue 15-Feb-2005 @ 15:17 e.s.t [Click here for more SALVATION]
[2 Comments]

 Year of the Rooster

We have returned to The Rectory
rounding out an admirable weekend!

Good Works on Saturday afternoon,
into town for a fine Thai dinner
(oysters, prawns, duck and scallops in an array of exotic sauces),
then off to enjoy the musical styings of
The Null Set (wonderful!)
and The Morning After Girls (their hearts are in the right places),
a late-night stroll along Bondi Beach,
a litre of tonic water ($3.30) and two litres of ice cream ($7.50)
from a late-night convenience store;
back to watch Rage.

A leisurely awakening,
coffee & conversation,
a long stroll along Oxford Street,
going wild at a Korean/Japanese grocery,
tasting Korean sushi homemade by the mama,
a fantastic, authentic Japanese lunch,
speaking Japanese with the staff,
exercising Great Restraint in not buying bonsai in the mall;
a long train ride home
to relax and recuperate.

We are Very Pleased Indeed!

The Year of the Rooster is looking goo!


lerevdr on Mon 14-Feb-2005 @ 10:47 e.s.t [permalink]
[2 Comments]

 Wednesday 9-2-5

Beloved Parishioners,

several items have crossed our desk:


From Doc Grosz:

A Cocktail is Born...

The Hazzards are having a writing session in the apartment tonight, which always leads to a hell of a lot of giggling and some truly deranged sounds floating down the hall to my bedroom where I type this. Funnier still, Sydney told me that she was trying to get her bass-player friend interested in auditioning for Dogs of Winter and he informed her that I looked "scary; she told me this as I was watering my plants and reducing a pasta sauce. Yup, scariest guy this side of June Cleaver.

Tonight, however, they stormed the kitchen with their newest and greatest cocktail creation, the Casino Royale. For those of you who are familiar with a Kir Royale, it's the same drink except you substitute champagne with Miller High Life, the Champagne of Beers. Just pour an ounce of that lovely Chambord right into the bottle and you're good to go; true genius.

I wonder if it would seem gauche to drink it from the can, though?

more below


lerevdr on Wed 09-Feb-2005 @ 16:35 e.s.t [Click here for more SALVATION]
[Care to comment on this article?]

 Star Quality

Watching Ed Wood

three minutes into the film

Sarah Jessica Parker

playing an actress
reads a review
& asks:

"Do I really have a face like a horse?"



lerevdr on Mon 07-Feb-2005 @ 16:15 e.s.t [permalink]
[2 Comments]

 The Cure

We mentioned earlier that we were somewhat depressed.


Here's the cure!

Pat Freestone's Endless Wintertime Pit of Despair

NINE DECEPTIVELY UPBEAT-SOUNDING THINGS

9. Courtney Love
8. Joy Luck Club
7. Friendly's
6. All-Tempa-Cheer
5. GLAAD
4. Hedonism II
3. Good Times
2. Heaven's Gate
1. Happy Meal

lerevdr on Sun 06-Feb-2005 @ 09:51 e.s.t [permalink]
[Care to comment on this article?]

 Holy Night

3/4-2-5

Last night

there were religious programs on SBS (Celebrity - about the return of Christ), Channel 9 (A Triumph of Courage - about Albert Schweizer) and Channel 7 (Jeremiah).

ABC had the John Wayne (and our favourite Chihuahuan!) movie Tycoon (after The Young Poisoner's Handbook…)

Why?

Ash Wednesday is next Wednesday…

Could it be Carnaval?


St. Blaise's Day?
(saint of sore throats! oh, SPOOKY! see Life's Greatest Trip)


St Andrew and St Jane of Valois's Days?

Or Rosa Parks' birthday?


lerevdr on Fri 04-Feb-2005 @ 14:18 e.s.t [permalink]
[Care to comment on this article?]

 The Optical Organ

Everyone should have an OPTIGAN!

print version here

lerevdr on Fri 04-Feb-2005 @ 13:43 e.s.t [permalink]
[One Lonely Comment]