Lena’s
Comments
(group member since Nov 17, 2014)
Lena’s
comments
from the Spells, Space & Screams: Collections & Anthologies in Fantasy, Science Fiction, & Horror group.
Showing 1,641-1,660 of 7,890
The Temptations of Jean-Claude Killy Scanlan’s Monthly (March 1970) ★★★★★
“Sitting next to DeLorean at the head table were Jean-Claude Killy and O. J. Simpson, the football hero.”
Jean-Claude Killy was an Olympic ski star that at the time had Michael Jordan levels of fame. Sadly, and for unsporting reasons, he is the only one in that sentence I do not know. The article is about Killy’s awkward transition from sporting fame to shilling American products for money. But right beside him pushing Chevrolets is the new number one draft pick and Heisman Trophy winning football player, O.J. Simpson. It was never just one thing with Simpson: race, fame, money, violence, football, lawyers... Infamy. Reading Thompson’s impressions of him at this age was fascinating.
“O. J. is a Black Capitalist in the most basic sense of that term; his business sense is so powerful that he is able to view his blackness as a mere sales factor—a natural intro to the Black Marketplace, where a honky showboat like Killy is doomed from the start.”
Fear and Loathing at the Super Bowl Rolling Stone (2/28/1974) ★★★★☆
“When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.”
This story had one tangent too many but in general it was about Super Bowls VII & VIII back when football had just struggled into legitimacy and was making a play to be America’s Game. Thompson paints a picture of contempt for the new boring NFL among his fellow sportswriters who mostly drink and reprint NFL publicity.
“If the Red Chinese invaded tomorrow and banned the game entirely, nobody would really miss it after two or three months. Even now, most of the games are so fucking dull that it’s hard to understand how anybody can even watch them on TV unless they have some money hanging on the point spread..”
There were wild stories mixed with sports history and a dedicated section of love for a wide receiver named Paul Warfield. This is the most about football I’ve ever read, lol.
Link: https://www.rollingstone.com/feature/...
Looking Through Lace by Ruth Nestvold ★★★★★
Best First Contact story! Nestvold has you fully engaged in figuring out the intricacies of the Mejan culture. It is so hard to look at another culture and not make immediate parallels to your own potentially blinding you to the truth. “Like looking through lace - the view isn’t clear, the patterns get in the way.”
Fiona’s right, the story was never weighed down by the linguistics.
A Southern City with Northern Problems The Reporter (12/19/1969) ★★★★☆ Thompson hometown of Louisville was, at least on paper, an example of seamless racial integration. In reality that was hardly true and rather complicated. While there was little hate speech, burning crosses, lynchings - the ugly violence accompanying southern hostility - there was an intolerance of fast change and a bone deep fear of what the neighbors might be thinking.
“Simple racism is an easy thing to confront, but a mixture of guilty prejudice, economic worries and threatened social standing is much harder to fight.”
Good point.
J. wrote: "Just don't forget what made Hunter, Hunter.”I expected more grapefruit and clear Neutrogena.
The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved Scanlan’s Monthly (June 1970) ★★★★★
This was hilarious! Thompson returns to his old stomping grounds to cover the Kentucky Derby, but not to watch the horses.
“We had come here to watch the real beasts perform.”
Thrown into the deep end with Thompson was Ralph Steadman, a British illustrator who would become famous for his collaborations with the writer.
“We both went completely to pieces. The main problem was my prior attachment to Louisville, which naturally led to meetings with old friends, relatives, etc., many of whom were in the process of falling apart, going mad, plotting divorces, cracking up under the strain of terrible debts or recovering from bad accidents. Right in the middle of the whole frenzied Derby action, a member of my own family had to be institutionalized.”
Link: http://brianb.freeshell.org/a/kddd.pdf
Fear and Loathing in the Bunker The New York Times (1/1/1974) ★★★★★ From his cursing ‘this stinking year that just ended’ to his analysis of the post Watergate Nixon administration it read eerily current. You could have replaced Nixon with Trump and published it this year.
“Nixon, at least, was blessed with a mixture of arrogance and stupidity that caused him to blow the boilers almost immediately after taking command. By bringing in hundreds of thugs, fixers and fascists to run the Government, he was able to crank almost every problem he touched into a mindbending crisis.”
Link: https://www.nytimes.com/1974/01/01/ar...
2020 gave me gift: Hunter S. Thompson the greatest writer of my time.
This year I will attempt to read all of the Gonzo Papers, collections of his published articles starting in the late 60s.
Good job! My train is on to next year because we missed our stop. Might need some new trains too.
My Favorites: An Anthology is on sale today: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B087NHPML5?...This was published in October and we lost Ben Bova in November. I always meant to read his work and if you did too this is a good deal.
The Man with the Golden Balloon by Robert Reed ★★★☆☆ I enjoy stories with fabulously long time scales and a bit of romance, that’s why I’ve given this story some slack. For its lengthy and breadth there should have been an impactful mysteries-of-the-universe denouement. This felt off-piste and irrelevant to the main story never received.
“...Maori cattle herder in Kenya who happens to be the tall strong lord to his herd.” Lol Fiona, I think you are right, he mixed up Maasai and Maori.
Invisible Empire of Ascending Light by Ken Scholes ★★★★☆
Even gods deserve to choose death. It was a sad strange thing to feel the wrench of a society going from a true religion to a fictional one. I don’t see it working better.
Section Seven by John G. Hemry ★½☆☆☆ That was a story about quiet sabotage to aid in conformity and peace. Fine. But it was impressively boring.
the little thingsA dream cast of hardcore actors, the story of killing women is sad, typical, tired, but I’m willing to give them a chance: https://youtu.be/wg1sXsuLioY
Nicolas Cage is taking us through the meaning, the history, the medical benefits, and the sheer joy of cursing: https://youtu.be/XByiHpUvrj0
Coming to America 2!!! https://youtu.be/sY8gUtyeAKEIf it’s even half as good as the original it will be worth seeing.
Utriusque Cosmi by Robert Charles Wilson ★★★★☆
This slow burn intergalactic romance was about fighting for life, for survival, for the joy of living and discovering the wonders of tomorrow!
The Impossibles by Kristine Katherine Rusch ★★★☆☆ An intergalactic lawyer wins her first case then quits.
