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Thompson Ashes Said to Be Shot From Cannon
Yahoo and AP ^ | April 5, 2005 | Dan Elliott

Posted on 04/05/2005 10:37:44 PM PDT by Hi Heels

Thompson Ashes Said to Be Shot From Cannon

Tue Apr 5, 2:41 PM ET U.S. National - AP

By DAN ELLIOTT, Associated Press Writer

DENVER - Hunter S. Thompson's ashes will be blasted from a cannon mounted inside a 53-foot-high sculpture of the journalist's "gonzo fist" emblem, his wife said Tuesday.

The cannon shot, planned sometime in August on the grounds of his Aspen-area home, will fulfill the writer's long-cherished wish.

"It's expensive, but worth every penny," Anita Thompson said. "I'd like to have several explosions. He loved explosions."

Thompson, 67, shot himself in the head on Feb. 20 after a long and flamboyant career that produced such new journalism classics as "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" and cast his image as a hard-charging, drug-crazed daredevil.

The cannon shot will be part of a larger public celebration of Thompson's life. Some details remain to be worked out, including the exact date, what kind of cannon will be used and the specifics of the gonzo fist, Anita Thompson said.

She said the gonzo fist will be mounted on a 100-foot pillar, making the monument 153 feet high. It will resemble Thompson's personal symbol, a fist on an upthrust forearm, sometimes with "Gonzo" emblazoned across it.

Anita Thompson has said the monument will be a permanent fixture on the writer's 100-acre property.

She said planning for the fist has been guided by a video of Thompson and longtime illustrator-collaborator Ralph Steadman, recorded in the late 1970s when they visited a Hollywood funeral home and began mapping out the cannon scheme.

Meanwhile, Playboy magazine this week is publishing an interview with Thompson based on a series of conversations he had with magazine staffer Tim Mohr in December.

In the interview, Thompson discusses a range of topics from political freedom to the best kind of snow tires to buy but offers no obvious hints of his impending suicide.

"He was really enthusiastic and full of energy," Mohr told The Associated Press on Monday. Thompson even talked about embarking on a long-term project to expand the Playboy piece into a book, "a guide to life, sort of a handbook," Mohr said.

The interview appears in the magazine's May issue, which its newsstands Friday.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: hunterthompson
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1 posted on 04/05/2005 10:37:44 PM PDT by Hi Heels
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To: Hi Heels

He killed himself on my birthday?

And I thought I had a bad day...


2 posted on 04/05/2005 10:40:55 PM PDT by coconutt2000 (NO MORE PEACE FOR OIL!!! DOWN WITH TYRANTS, TERRORISTS, AND TIMIDCRATS!!!! (3-T's For World Peace))
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To: Hi Heels

Why don't they stuff him and hang him on a lamp post near the Las Vegas strip?

God. What a weird guy.


3 posted on 04/05/2005 10:41:59 PM PDT by SteveMcKing
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To: coconutt2000

Whole new meaning to blown to smithereens. For some reason I have Wiley Coyote on my mind.


4 posted on 04/05/2005 10:42:22 PM PDT by Hi Heels ("Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?" H.M. Warner, Warner Brothers, 1927)
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To: Hi Heels

"KABOOM! The only pre-sweetened breakfast cereal made with real crunchy bits of Hunter S. Thompson -- !"

Good Lord, what a flake. :)

5 posted on 04/05/2005 10:53:54 PM PDT by KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle ("As a conservative site, Free Republic is pro-G-d, PRO-LIFE..." -- FR founder Jim Robinson)
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To: Hi Heels

I'm trying to clean up what my bf said, when I read this to him.

He should be blown out of a phallic symbol. That's basically it, but the way he said it was too funny ;)


6 posted on 04/05/2005 11:03:27 PM PDT by TheSpottedOwl (Free Mexico!)
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To: Hi Heels
This transcends the realm of bizarre.
7 posted on 04/05/2005 11:19:22 PM PDT by Jaysun (I must warn you, I am a black belt in bullshitsu)
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To: KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle

"I'd like to have several explosions. He loved explosions."

Thompson, 67, shot himself in the head on Feb. 20


This is an unfortunate combination of sentences.


8 posted on 04/05/2005 11:51:09 PM PDT by Galena Nevada
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To: Galena Nevada

The ultimate explosion.


9 posted on 04/06/2005 7:29:41 AM PDT by Hi Heels ("Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?" H.M. Warner, Warner Brothers, 1927)
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To: Hi Heels

How utterly uninteresting.


10 posted on 04/06/2005 7:32:10 AM PDT by aculeus (Ceci n'est pas une tag line.)
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To: aculeus

If you hurry, Ren and Stimpy might be on.


11 posted on 04/06/2005 7:40:12 AM PDT by Hi Heels ("Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?" H.M. Warner, Warner Brothers, 1927)
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To: Hi Heels
He loved explosions."

Thompson, 67, shot himself in the head on Feb. 20 after a long and flamboyant career

A question that we'll never get the answer to: Did he hear that last explosion?

12 posted on 04/06/2005 7:42:33 AM PDT by jackbill
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To: Hi Heels

So were Quaker puffed rice.


13 posted on 04/06/2005 7:44:22 AM PDT by righttackle44
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To: Hi Heels; sauropod
"I'd like to have several explosions. He loved explosions."

'specially that last one, eh, Anita?

She said the gonzo fist will be mounted on a 100-foot pillar, making the monument 153 feet high.

Sounds like they were all high when they dreamed this one up.

When they fire the cannon, I bet the 53-foot fist will fly backward off the 100-foot pillar and scatter Thompson's ashes over the assembled guests. Those it doesn't crush, anyway.

14 posted on 04/06/2005 7:44:28 AM PDT by hellinahandcart
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To: Hi Heels
If you hurry, Ren and Stimpy might be on.

I have no idea who they are but if they're not Thompson or some other alcoholic I might appreciate them.

PS: Education helps.

book

15 posted on 04/06/2005 8:27:24 AM PDT by aculeus (Ceci n'est pas une tag line.)
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To: Hi Heels

"He blowed up real good."

16 posted on 04/06/2005 8:30:00 AM PDT by dfwgator (It's sad that the news media treats Michael Jackson better than our military.)
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To: Hi Heels
More on this drunk gasbag here:

Link.

17 posted on 04/06/2005 8:37:08 AM PDT by aculeus (Ceci n'est pas une tag line.)
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To: aculeus
I read over 2000 words a minute, and read constantly. I'm also double degreed. This guy is, without question, a looney. I posted the article as amusement. Your post that it was uninteresting provided the opportunity to direct your attention to something more worthy of your time. Your condescending "Education helps" is offensive. The premise that hostility and one-upsmanship is the only way to communicate is ridiculous.

PS: A sense of humor helps.

PSS:


18 posted on 04/06/2005 8:44:52 AM PDT by Hi Heels ("Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?" H.M. Warner, Warner Brothers, 1927)
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To: Hi Heels
I read over 2000 words a minute, and read constantly. I'm also double degreed.

Aren't you special.

A sense of humor helps.

Agreed. But people like Thompson are like circus clowns. Juveniles find them funny, adults find them boring.

Jaqueline Onassis to Charles de Gaulle: "Which of all the world leaders you met had the best sense of humor?"

DeGaulle: "Joseph Stalin."

Now, that's funny.

19 posted on 04/06/2005 9:58:09 AM PDT by aculeus (Ceci n'est pas une tag line.)
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To: Hi Heels
I read over 2000 words a minute, and read constantly. I'm also double degreed.

I like books with pictures, and flunked out of DeVry.
20 posted on 04/06/2005 10:00:49 AM PDT by over3Owithabrain
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