Sunday 20 February 2011

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

"Strange memories on this nervous night in Las Vegas. Five years later? Six? It seems like a lifetime, or at least a Main Era—the kind of peak that never comes again. San Francisco in the middle sixties was a very special time and place to be a part of. Maybe it meant something. Maybe not, in the long run ...but no explanation, no mix of words or music or memories can touch that sense of knowing that you were there and alive in that corner of time and the world. Whatever it meant ...

History is hard to know, because of all the hired bullshit, but even without being sure of "history" it seems entirely reasonable to think that every now and then the energy of a whole generation comes to a head in a long fine flash, for reasons that nobody really understands at the time—and which never explain, in retrospect, what actually happened.

My central memory of that time seems to hang on one or five or maybe forty nights—or very early mornings—when I left the Fillmore half-crazy and, instead of going home, aimed the big 650 Lightning across the Bay Bridge at a hundred miles an hour wearing L. L. Bean shorts and a Butte sheepherder's jacket ...booming through the Treasure Island tunnel at the lights of Oakland and Berkeley and Richmond, not quite sure which turn-off to take when I got to the other end (always stalling at the toll-gate, too twisted to find neutral while I fumbled for change) ... but being absolutely certain that no matter which way I went I would come to a place where people were just as high and wild as I was: No doubt at all about that ...

There was madness in any direction, at any hour. If not across the Bay, then up the Golden Gate or down 101 to Los Altos or La Honda .... You could strike sparks anywhere. There was a fantastic universal sense that whatever we were doing was right, that we were winning ....

And that, I think, was the handle—that sense of inevitable victory over the forces of Old and Evil. Not in any mean or military sense; we didn’t need that. Our energy would simply prevail. There was no point in fighting—on our side or theirs. We had all the momentum; we were riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave ....

So now, less than five years later, you can go up on a steep hill in Las Vegas and look West, and with the right kind of eyes you can almost see the high-water mark —that place where the wave finally broke and rolled back."

44 comments:

  1. I'll be hounest, I dont have a clue what it is I just read :S

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  2. Just found your blog, looks interesting

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  3. I think I like what I read but I'm not really sure.... You sober? :)

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  4. One of the best movies ever!
    Nice post.

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  5. Great movie and book! Hunter S. Thompson is a genius, what i would give to of partied with him in the 60s. Followed!

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  6. What a moving quote! Followed :)

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  7. You know what they say about Vegas. Thanks for sharing, even though I never checked out the movie!

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  8. what. that was a quote? I'm lost.

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  9. my friend recommended this movie years back, never got around to it :[

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  10. Great book. Can't get enough Thompson.

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  11. Loved this movie, it's kind of a mind trip.

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  12. I have a picture right above my fire place dedicated to this movie.

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  13. I like the passage; unfortunately, I couldn't tell you if it was from the movie, since I usually had a drink or two in me when I watched it. . !

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  14. Yeah, this movie was a mind trip. Liked the book better.

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  15. One of these movies you gotta see when stoned hehe

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  16. Not sure if I should go for the book or the movie.....

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  17. oh, its such a shame...i never saw that movie

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  18. I think the book is better but both the movie and the book are overrated.

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  19. Love the post mister, I never did see the movie but I will now.

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  20. The book and the film are both brilliant :)
    Nice post.

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  21. intersting. will check it out...

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  22. Great read, interesting style. Maybe I need some more context, but you got your message across. Following

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  23. anyone who hasn't seen this film should!

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  24. mmmm Story about the most epic acid trip of all time

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  25. One of the best books ever written, and also a great movie

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  26. Great Film!!
    But I comming soon I will buy the book

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  27. God what i would give to be born around that era. Especially for music, so rich and diverse. Anyway, Im gonna check the book out, seems like a really good read. Ill check back for more. :)

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  28. We Can't Stop Here! This Is Bat Country!!

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  29. cult stoner flick

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  30. I'm little ashamed that I haven't seen this movies. :S

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  31. Gonna check it out real soon

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  32. this movie is the best drug movie out there(besides requiem for a dream) ;)

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  33. Dude, I love this movie, I grew up watching it.

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  34. looks like a good movie, going to consider seeing it. nice post

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  35. Great movie, one of my all time favourites!

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  36. I watched Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas on Shrooms. Fucked me up big time!

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