Hunter S. Thompson kills himself

I wrote about ol' Hunter back before the stolen U.S. election and referenced his Rolling Stone article Fear and Loathing, Campaign 2004.

Richard Nixon looks like a flaming liberal today, compared to a golem like George Bush. Indeed. Where is Richard Nixon now that we finally need him?

If Nixon were running for president today, he would be seen as a "liberal" candidate, and he would probably win. He was a crook and a bungler, but what the hell? Nixon was a barrel of laughs compared to this gang of thugs from the Halliburton petroleum organization who are running the White House today -- and who will be running it this time next year, if we (the once-proud, once-loved and widely respected "American people") don't rise up like wounded warriors and whack those lying petroleum pimps out of the White House on November 2nd.

Nixon hated running for president during football season, but he did it anyway. Nixon was a professional politician, and I despised everything he stood for -- but if he were running for president this year against the evil Bush-Cheney gang, I would happily vote for him.

You bet. Richard Nixon would be my Man. He was a crook and a creep and a gin-sot, but on some nights, when he would get hammered and wander around in the streets, he was fun to hang out with. He would wear a silk sweat suit and pull a stocking down over his face so nobody could recognize him. Then we would get in a cab and cruise down to the Watergate Hotel, just for laughs.

Because it's apropos, here's a quote from his Obituary for Richard Nixon, written before the current thugs criminals gang of four mafiosi wannabes administration occupying the White House:

Richard Nixon is gone now and I am poorer for it. He was the real thing--a political monster straight out of Grendel and a very dangerous enemy. He could shake your hand and stab you in the back at the same time. He lied to his friends and betrayed the trust of his family. Not even Gerald Ford, the unhappy ex-president who pardoned Nixon and kept him out of prison, was immune to the evil fallout. Ford, who believes strongly in Heaven and Hell, has told more than one of his celebrity golf partners that I know I will go to hell, because I pardoned Richard Nixon."

I have had my own bloody relationship with Nixon for many years, but I am not worried about it landing me in hell with him. I have already been there with that bastard, and I am a better person for it. Nixon had the unique ability to make his enemies seem honorable, and we developed a keen sense of fraternity. Some of my best friends have hated Nixon all their lives. My mother hates Nixon, my son hates Nixon, I hate Nixon, and this hatred has brought us together.

Nixon laughed when I told him this. "Don't worry," he said. "I, too, am a family man, and we feel the same way about you."

ETA: Quick Kiddies! Can you tell whether this quote applies to Nixon or Bush?

This may be the year when we finally come face to face with ourselves; finally just lay back and say it - that we are really just a nation of 220 million used car salesmen with all the money we need to buy guns, and no qualms at all about killing anybody else in the world who tries to make us uncomfortable.

( Answer behind the cut. )

R.I.P....my, this month is not getting any better...is it?

Okay, so my mom and the bro drmercurious told me on the phone last night about the WB updating the Looney Tunes. Now, I had heard of this, but I thought it was a fan joke...primarily because I saw the design of the "new" Loonatics:



In this image released by The WB Network, Bugs Bunny and his pals are shown updated for the future. The WB network will take the famed Looney Tunes characters as models for a new children's series this fall. The characters' descendants -- Slick (Wile E. Coyote), Roadster (Road Runner), Spaz (Taz), Lexi (Lola Bunny), Duck (Daffy Duck) and Buzz (Bugs Bunny) -- will be superhero action figures for a cartoon set in the year 2772.


Unhhhhhh, okay then.

*sporks eyes*

Is it me, or does it look like really, really bad anime? No. Seriously.

Can you see why I thought it was a fan thing?

You know it's never a good sign when the work turned out by "the professionals" can be mistaken for work put out by "the fans." You know it. I know it.

*headdesk*

Naturally, Fandom_Wank is aaaaallllll over this.

So's Television Without Pity.

Worth reading for the snark alone.

*headdesk headdesk*

So let me take the pulse of my day.

John Raitt (dead), Sandra Dee (dead), Hunter S. Thompson (dead).

Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Wile E. Coyote, Road Runner, Tasmanian Devil (shotguns pointed at their collective heads).

What makes this doubly upsetting is that I've been grooving on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2 thanks to Netflix and chilling to the historical commentary. In watching the set, I've learned a lot of the status of adult humor (yes, Bugs and pals were never intended for children, the cartoons were aimed at adults), discussion of different animators and animating styles, insight into the famed Termite Terrace, and...oh my, it's a history lesson in cartoon form in many ways.

I mean, I even learned the difference between Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies by watching this collection, for heaven's sake!

I just look at those designs above and I remember these quotes from Chuck Jones:

You have to understand: We thought that these cartoons would be shown once or twice and that was about it. That's why we just did what we thought was funny. No one ever thought we'd be watching them 50 years later.

and

Disney was the place where they made the Rolls Royces. All of us thought we were turning out the Model T Fords. But that's not the point. The point is we were professional about turning out those Model T Fords. That's the real point.

NEWSFLASH: The corpses of Leon Schlessinger, Tex Avery, Bob Clampet, Carl Stalling, and Mel Blanc have turned up in China. It appears they were spinning so fast in their graves that they drilled right through the center of the earth. Film at 11...