Saturday Afternoon Open Thread

post from TalkLeft on 07 November 2009 12:42:00 PM. © TalkLeft

It's been over 70 degrees in Denver this week. Anita arrived last night from Owl Farm -- she's been staying here a night a week or so during the months of the LSAT prep course in Denver. She has a practice test today and when it's over, we're heading up to Boulder for the afternoon. She brought me a copy of her latest book, Ancient Gonzo Wisdom: Interviews with Hunter S. Thompson. It's a compilation of Hunter S. Thompson's media interviews (including transcripts of tv and radio interviews) over a period of 40 years. She has spent the past few years sifting through the archives and boxes in the basement to find and edit the material, not a small task. From the reviews, she has done a great job, as always.

....because Anita Thompson has done such an extensive excavation of the Thompson archives—including transcribing rare broadcast interviews in addition to his most important interviews from the publication of Hell’s Angels right up through the months before his death in 2004—this is the vital volume…Trying to pick out the best, or most interesting, interviews here is, of course, impossible. Thompson’s mind is so sharp, his responses so detailed, his considerable charm consistently outpaces his crankiness, even in the later years that it’s hard even to choose a favorite… Ancient Gonzo Wisdom: Interviews with Hunter S. Thompson is as close as we as readers can get to having Thompson as a conversational companion. It’s challenging and clever, frustrating and funny, and it’s a great companion to his canon.”

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.