I’m not always a ranting old Conservative, sometimes I kick-back and indulge in the more bizzare and sometimes twisted art that comes out of Hollywood.  Tonight…   it was…   ‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas‘.   What in incredibly insane film that is.   Gilliam shot that film just the way you’d have to do it, with odd angles, distortion lenses and in settings to bizzare you could only find them in Tijuana or Las Vegas.

It is not only a strange story of an insane multi-day drug binge by the two characters ‘Raul Duke’ and ‘Dr. Gonzo’, but it’s also choc full of cameo appearances!   Cameron Diaz, Christina Ricci, Mark Harmon, Lyle Lovett, Flea, and  (I did not notice this until I watched the additonal features)   Hunter S. Thompson himself!   The encounter was so obvious I completely discounted it.

The outrageous amount of destruction, and rampant weirdness (I still have no clue how he ended up wearing the lizard tail), is bracketed by moments of near sobriety where Duke attempts to decode the activities of the nights before.

No, not a complete fan Hunter S. Thompson’s politics, I do respect his need to live, and die, on his own terms.  But he was not only a more intelligent version of Timothy Leary, he also wrote some pretty amazing stories (including the book that inspired this movie).

One of my favorite examples of his work, is the story ‘Song of the Sausage Creature‘.  It’s a fantastic story, about an afternoon where Thompson is asked to write a review of the new Ducati 900ss motorcycle.  The description of what it’s like to light one of those things off and take to the wind is…   a little twisted but so aptly descriptive:

But when we ride very fast motorcycles, we ride with immaculate sanity. We might abuse a substance here and there, but only when it’s right. The final measure of any rider’s skill is the inverse ratio of his preferred Traveling Speed to the number of bad scars on his body. It is that simple: If you ride fast and crash, you are a bad rider. And if you are a bad rider, you should not ride motorcycles.

The emergence of the superbike has heightened this equation drastically. Motorcycle technology has made such a great leap forward. Take the Ducati. You want optimum cruising speed on this bugger? Try 90mph in fifth at 5500 rpm – and just then, you see a bull moose in the middle of the road. WHACKO. Meet the Sausage Creature.

– Hunter S. Thompson –   Song of the Sausage Creature

So, if you find yourself bored of the straight-down-the-middle milk-toast crap typically excreated by Hollywod, check out the movie.  Or, if you want a little light reading, the story is rather amusing. 🙂

Enjoy!