Long Live The Doctor.

Hunter S. Thompson was and is my hero - an embodiment of the full possibility of human expression, crazy as they come and as good a writer as anyone in the English language. If you haven't read "Hells Angels", go pick it up right now, it is one of the best books you will ever read. Obituaries for Hunter from Tom Wolfe and Christopher Hitchens are also well worth a read.

In my opinion, weblogs are the logical, online evolution of the personal, instantaneous, subjective journalism that Thompson trademarked. We all owe a lot to him, and he would have been a damn fine blogger.

His work recently was nothing notable - like many, his career should be defined by his sweet spot, the period between about 1967 and 1974 where he released "Hells Angels", "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas", "Fear and Loathing on the campaing trail", and a whole bunch of brilliant magazine articles that were compiled together in "The Great Shark Hunt".

For me, his most memorable recent work was his obituary of Richard Nixon - probably the best written demolition of an individual you will ever read. Go read the whole thing right now, it is devastating:

" If the right people had been in charge of Nixon's funeral, his casket would have been launched into one of those open-sewage canals that empty into the ocean just south of Los Angeles. He was a swine of a man and a jabbering dupe of a president. Nixon was so crooked that he needed servants to help him screw his pants on every morning. Even his funeral was illegal. He was queer in the deepest way. His body should have been burned in a trash bin. "

If you want to get into some real Hunter action, check out this article, "The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved". God damn it he writes so well, it exposes me as the cliched amateur hack that I am.

Here's to you, Doctor. You have probably directly or indirectly inspired more young writers than anyone else of your generation. I'll be doing something awful in your memory as soon as possible.