{"id":474,"date":"2005-02-21T07:20:00","date_gmt":"2005-02-21T12:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vmalt\/?p=474"},"modified":"2005-12-06T07:54:56","modified_gmt":"2005-12-06T12:54:56","slug":"rip-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/rip-3","title":{"rendered":"R.I.P."},"content":{"rendered":"

Hunter S. Thompson shot himself to death<\/a> yesterday.<\/p>\n

I enjoyed some of his writing, but a lot of times he was a figure I appreciated more in theory than in practice. Terry Gilliam’s adaptation<\/a> of his work generated a frustrating question for me: What causes a really talented journalist to pursue such a bizarre life-path?<\/p>\n

That is, coming out of an era where there were pretty respectable careers to be had in his field, what made this guy go ’round the bend in terms of drugs and guns while still working as a journalist<\/span>?<\/p>\n

Gilliam’s answer, very briefly, seems to be contained in a few flickering TV images of Vietnam, but that raises the question of why so many other talented journalists didn’t<\/span> pursue that path.<\/p>\n

Anyway, my condolences to his family.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hunter S. Thompson shot himself to death yesterday. I enjoyed some of his writing, but a lot of times he was a figure I appreciated more in theory than in practice. Terry Gilliam’s adaptation of his work generated a frustrating question for me: What causes a really talented journalist to pursue such a bizarre life-path? … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “R.I.P.”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4C7K-7E","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1416,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/response-and-responsibilities","url_meta":{"origin":474,"position":0},"title":"Response and responsibilities","author":"Gil","date":"March 29, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"For a month or two, Slate has been running excerpts from Clive James' new book, Cultural Amnesia, which it describes as a \"re-examination of intellectuals, artists, and thinkers who helped shape the 20th century.\" The excerpts are presented as A-Z profiles, and some are compelling enough that I put the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/art"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=virtualmemories-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0393061167","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8907,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-126-people-from-away","url_meta":{"origin":474,"position":1},"title":"Episode 126 – People From Away","author":"Gil","date":"July 20, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show #126: Liz Hand - People From Away \"When I was young, I always wanted to be a writer, but I thought that one could write science fiction and\u00a0then also write 'serious' literature . . . that I could be Samuel R. Delany, but I could also be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/art"},"img":{"alt_text":"wylding","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/wylding.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":16594,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-574-elizabeth-flock","url_meta":{"origin":474,"position":2},"title":"Episode 574 – Elizabeth Flock","author":"Gil","date":"January 30, 2024","format":"audio","excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show 574: Elizabeth Flock \"If women are violently fighting back against violence, is that helpful or harmful? I let that question lead me wherever I could find women who were doing that around the world.\" With her incredible new book, THE FURIES: Women, Vengeance, & Justice (Harper), journalist\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "literature"","block_context":{"text":"literature","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/literature"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/flockwide.jpg?fit=1200%2C522&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/flockwide.jpg?fit=1200%2C522&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/flockwide.jpg?fit=1200%2C522&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/flockwide.jpg?fit=1200%2C522&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/flockwide.jpg?fit=1200%2C522&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10900,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-247-vanda-krefft","url_meta":{"origin":474,"position":3},"title":"Episode 247 – Vanda Krefft","author":"Gil","date":"December 4, 2017","format":"audio","excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show 247: Vanda Krefft \"The most interesting question about Fox is, 'What do you do when you realize you're not going to be the person that you want to be?'\" Quick: Who is the \"Fox\" in 20th Century Fox? You'd know if you read Vanda Krefft's fantastic new\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/art"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/thedabara.jpg?fit=960%2C754&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/thedabara.jpg?fit=960%2C754&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/thedabara.jpg?fit=960%2C754&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/thedabara.jpg?fit=960%2C754&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1383,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/rush-n-attack","url_meta":{"origin":474,"position":4},"title":"Rush ‘n’ Attack","author":"Gil","date":"March 8, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been thinking a lot about Russian policy (domestic and foreign) lately. 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