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Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and other 'Gonzo Journalism' works.

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Over past few days I read (more so lived) Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream, and have come away from the book spellbound by how well it encapsulates the state of mind of certain people during a certain period of time. That period of time and people being the 1960's counter/drug culture. Although I wasn't alive during this time, I feel that Hunter S. Thompson's work provides a perfect view into the death and aftermath of this particular culture. And at a certain point the actual story, which is well written and often hilarious, isn't the point of the work. It's the mindset and arc of the characters that best gives Thompson's thoughts and feelings about the time period.

Anyway, to stop myself from rambling on I will cut short my thoughts. Have any Thumbs read this or any of Thompson's other works? Vegas is the only one I have read and I am now interested in Campaign Trail '72, but don't want to get burned out on the whole 'Gonzo Journalism' thing. I do encourage people to at least check Vegas out, the detailed drug scenes may be a turnoff for some however.

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Campaign Trail '72 and Hells Angels are fantastic pieces of journalis; but Campaign is a huge, dense book, so if you don't want to burn out on the style, I'll suggest Hell's Angels first.

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Hell's Angels is one of my favourite books ever. I've also read Fear & Loathing and The Great Shark Hunt, and they're both fine books, but Hell's Angels is just so goddamned good and I can't recommend it highly enough.

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I've read Fear and Loathing, but I was surprised to find I prefer the movie. I'm interested in Hell's Angels, however. Unfortunately I may never get through my backlog.

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Just to be clear, Thompson wrote several books that began with "Fear and Loathing..." I presume we're talking about Las Vegas? I personally loved FAL in Las Vegas and have often wondered where to go next. Hell's Angels sounds good!

Did anyone see the Rum Diary? Thoughts?

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I was a pretty big Hunter Thompson fan in college. The Great Shark Hunt is probably what I would recommend next if you enjoyed F&LILV but are worried about burning out. It's a huge collection of articles ranging from the 1950s to early '70s, which I'd say was his strongest period of writing.

I also really enjoyed The Proud Highway, which is a collection of his personal correspondence from around the same time; I found it fascinating to watch his style develop over the course of the book, and some of his angry letters to corporations or public figures are hilarious.

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I really love Thompson's works and read Hell's Angels, Campaign '72 and Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas over a few months last year. Since then - and I'm aware it's irrational - , I've been actively avoiding his books: even though he was a really prolific author, I still want to have things to read from him in 10 years.

On a semi-related note, I do the same with the Interiors-era movie of Woody Allen ever since I watched Crimes & Misdemeanors.

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Hmm... I think I might have to hit Hell's Angels after I finish Catch-22 (which I feel like my high school should have made me read and never did). I like the idea of Thompson portraying a group of people while they are still active and in a spotlight of sorts. And I have to ask, have any other authors tried to imitate the Gonzo Journalism style? I feel like, if done right of course, a short article or novel could be very powerful in drumming up support for or against a specific issue.

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The eXile and alumni—most famously Matt Taibbi—all ape his style pretty strongly. It looks like they have a still-active online spinoff. I am not a fan of Taibbi, but I do enjoy seeing him periodically eviscerate Thomas Friedman's awful writing and opinions.

Vice Magazine is a less-spiteful example, and their video work is guided by Spike Jonze and does some really great ongoing features, like The Vice Guide to Travel (as well as some simpler ones like going to the Westminster Dog Show on acid.

Outside of that, the gonzo style has largely been digested by its parent, New Journalism. You'll see elements of it pop up, but rarely balls-out in the way Hunter S. Thompson used to do it.

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On a semi-related note, I do the same with the Interiors-era movie of Woody Allen ever since I watched Crimes & Misdemeanors.

Ha! It's odd that you pick Interiors as that was so atypical of the other films he was producing at the time. So did C&M make you not want to venture further forward into the Allen oeuvre? (It did for me.)

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Ha! It's odd that you pick Interiors as that was so atypical of the other films he was producing at the time. So did C&M make you not want to venture further forward into the Allen oeuvre? (It did for me.)

It really did, but I know that the pool of his movies which are in the same vein is very limited (4 or 5)?, so I don't want to feast on them so fast: I've watched September, but not Hanna and her Sisters, Husbands and Wives and Another Woman.

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I'm not sure that "era" means what you think it does...? Otherwise I'm totally perplexed by what you mean. Interiors was his first drama, and it was sandwiched between comedies. Indeed it was sometime before he felt confident enough to try again.

Also, most of his films have elements of C&M in them, I would worry about not having enough to watch. (It really is true about their being "early funny ones". )

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No, I know the meaning of era :)

I was just mistaken on the chronology: I thought that all the movies I mentioned had been shot within a few years in the mid to late 80s. And I was wrong, since Husband & Wives is from 1992.

But, anyway, I've watched everything from he made from Manhattan Murder Mystery onward; so, I don't know, I feel like I'm keeping best for last.

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Generally speaking Annie Hall is considered his best work (although he hates it himself). A great balance of comedy and drama.

The guy is so incredibly pessimistic though. I hated the experience of watching Crimes and Misdemeanours, even though I acknowledge how well made parts of it are. I like films for their escapism as well as their insight. I come from the Nick Hornby school of "an artist's job is to make life more bearable for those that experience it". I know not everyone agrees with that, but C&M's conclusion and story was far too bleak for me.

So Woody Allen has this odd mixture of pessimism and, in his best films, optimism. Manhattan Murder Mystery was a flat out zany comedy, for example. (Did you enjoy it?)

Anyways, I've seen all of his films up to C&M. It's somewhat ironic that you've seen (almost) all of the ones after that!

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I really, really enjoy Woody Allen's work because he is such a pessimistic idealist.

My 1st Allen was a rerun of The Purple Rose of Cairo I watched in theater with my school when I was 10.

I remember it clearly as the discovery of the notion of bittersweet, of the fact that a creator could both champion a thing but let its antithesis win:

Allen tells us that Cecilia's love for the movies can help her escape her problems, but prevents her to solve them; but you feel that he hoped it somewhat should help her to

. The whole movie seems to build toward that happy conclusion, and to me, Allen is great because he chooses the 'realistic' alternative to deepen the discourse.(Of course I didn't formulate it exactly like this back then :P)

In that regard, the fact that C&M doesn't run away from its bleak conclusion is why it is a great masterpiece and why this final scene is one of the best piece of writing I know.

Allen is not only consistently great at comedy dialogs; at least twice a decade, he's got something unique to say, approach a different genre to express it and shows he's a master filmmaker and character writer as well. My opinion is that he provided masterpieces for every genre he ever tried his hands on - be it rom-com, drama, thrillers, or variations of comedy. Not all his attempts are successes, but like I said, twice a decade, he delivers a small masterpiece like Annie Hall, C&M or September.

Anyway, I haven't watched MMM for a long time - I watched it obsessively after The Purple Rose of Cairo though -, but I have excellent memories of it: its structure is fantastic and I love the fact that, in the end, it's pretty much about a tired upper class couple going through mid-life crisis and trying to chase away boredom by playing detectives.

By the way, Annie Hall really revealed him to me as a great filmmaker: some people say it's full of gimmicks, but to me it really looked like he was shouldering the medium perfectly.

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Even his best pessimistic films are pale imitations of Bergman. If you think Allen is good, you should experience the master he desperately tries to ape.

Personally I don't think it takes any sort of genius to be pessimistic, or to write pessimistically. It's just a choice. I might even argue that it's harder to come up with an optimistic outlook that increasingly cynical audiences buy into.

If you like that stuff, because it's refreshing to your palate, I totally get that, but I don't think it's anything special.

For example: The ending of the Purple Rose of Cairo was interesting, and strangely satisfying, but it I have issues with it.

Also: September a "masterpiece"? Really?

One thing about Allen: Even his bad films are interesting in some way, and are solidly made.

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We probably need to move that discussion somewhere else :) but I'm really happy it's happening.

I've only watched a few Bergmans (7th Seal, Wild Strawberries, Saraband and The Silence), so my knowledge is limited and thus my opinion probably partial. My take is that, aside from Love & Death, I never felt like Allen was aping Bergman: there is enough difference in the social strata that he chooses, the camero work, the music direction or the way his characters express themselves through dialog to make these movies their own beasts.

Of course, Interiors & Co are very heavy on introspection, on personal tragedies and have a melancholic stillness that are akin to the Bergmans I watched; but I'd say they have similar sensibilities and vantage point rather than calling it aping.

I feel it is too much of a derogatory term: Allen isn't just copying, there is a real emotionnal and intellectual honesty behind these movies.

I agree with you though: I dont think that pessimism is the mark of a genius or a great craftman either. What I recognize is the ability of a creator to craft endings that both provide coherent closure and initiate reflection. It just happens that pessimistic idealism seem to land itself to that.

Woody Allen's is crazily talented in that field: he'll draw a natural conclusion to the tale, but in such a way that I can't help but think about the morality of it, or it's inevitability. Even in a movie like 'You'll meet a tall Dark Stranger', you can see that he himself wrestles with the concept of fairness and that he can't make his mind about it. Very few filmmakers dare to put that doubt down, or do it with the insight in human behavior that he has.

As for the 2 small masterpieces by decade, I thought "small masterpieces" was an idiom, but since I couldn't find it in webbster and co, I probably should clarify: those movies are, to me, the apex of a genre, an incarnation of perfection in the sense that they fully realize what you can do with a certain framework and I wouldn't add or remove anything from them. Of course, some are not groundbreaking in any way, which is why they are 'small'.

Annie Hall and C&M are probably masterpieces fullstop.

In any case, here's my tentative list of those, but keep in mind I haven't watched Shadow & Fog, Zelig, Husand & Wives, Bananas, etc...

70s: Annie Hall, Interiors

80s: September, Crimes and Misdemeanors, (it's a very dense decade though)

90s: Everyone Says I Love You, Mighty Aphrodite, Bullets over Broadway

00s: The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (I know some people won't understand that), Match Point.

I haven't watched "Play It Again, Sam" yet; it's probably next on my movie list with some Bergmans since you made me want to watch more of it. :tup:

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Did anyone see the Rum Diary? Thoughts?

Watched the movie and recently read the book. The movie has a much more coherent story arc but the novel digs far deeper in to the frustration and inner turmoil of Paul Kemp. Ultimately the stories are completely different and accent very different themes. I think the movie tried to emulate Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas a little too much with similar (and unrelated) drug scenes that didn't mesh well into the story.

I also really enjoyed The Proud Highway, which is a collection of his personal correspondence from around the same time; I found it fascinating to watch his style develop over the course of the book, and some of his angry letters to corporations or public figures are hilarious.

I agree completely. The Proud Highway, while not strictly in the Gonzo style, is a fascinating collection of his early letters.

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I get what you're saying and I don't disagree. I think it's just terminology. I suppose what I'm saying is: He considers Bergman to be the greatest filmmaker ever, and he desperately wants to be as good as he is, in the same way. He wants his films to resonate on the same level as his hero.

As previously stated, I don't think it requires any particular talent to simply shine a light on the human condition, but I guess we'll have to agree to disagree there.

And as I said before, even a bad Woody Allen film has a certain "solidness" that I respect and admire. He's a good filmmaker. There are moments in C&M that just blew me away, but I just couldn't take the bleakness. It affected me so much that I stopped watching his films!

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Just thought I would post some thoughts on The Rum Diary, which I finished up a few days ago.

It is not as well written and encapsulating as Las Vegas, but that is a very high standard to hold most books to and The Rum Diary was written around ten years earlier, only published after. It is a much simpler story and is very low key which reflects the portrayal of Puerto Rico pretty well and allows Thompson to tell the story of Kemp's time on the island, not entertain the reader. I don't think the fact the story is subdued is a bad thing, in fact it is one of the things I enjoyed most but that may be related to my current place in life and not so much me as a reader. Either way I found the book enjoyable and strangely comforting even though I should be alienated by the setting and characters; this may be due to the way Thompson tends to write more so about a life and not a story.

Jumping off that last point it is kinda crazy how Thompson can portray very hectic lifestyles and events in this relaxed, comforting way. Thinking about The Rum Diary some crazy stuff does indeed happen in that book, the car chase and festival are pretty energetic, which the reader feels, and take up large sections of the book with the characters seeing through the repercussions of each. But the reason that I would think of The Rum Diary as a "relaxed" book is that these are one off events, whereas Kemp sitting in Al's Bar all evening and other types of events happen more frequently.

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