HUNTER

2005-02-21

[Hunter Thompson killed himself.](http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~53~2723492,00.html) This makes me very sad. I have a hard time imagining what would drive somebody to ever kill themselves but in this case I have an even more difficult time with it. I wouldn't be surprised if drugs are involved but you never know.

When I first read ā€˜Fear and Loathing in Las Vegasā€™ it totally blew me away. It still has my favorite opening line of any book: ā€œWe were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold.ā€ I always hear that in Johnny Deppā€™s impersonation of the man from the movie and it sets the stage for the book perfectly. I bought a copy of the book from the famous City Lights bookstore on my first trip to San Francisco and it came with a couple of other essays heā€™d written. Reading them I couldnā€™t help but think ā€˜Why is nobody else doing journalism like this?ā€™ He was a crazy motherfucker and Iā€™ll miss hearing and reading him.

That reminds me that I never ended up buying the special edition ā€˜Fear and Loathingā€™ DVD. I think Iā€™ll rectify that today.

Update: Hereā€™s what Warren Ellis had to say about the man and his death. I tend to agree about suicides.


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