h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Odi et Amo in Aspen. - A4034251
Author: kitboyes - U1528921

Er, no idea what you're supposed to write in this box thingy really. Probably not that you have no idea what you're supposed to write in this box thingy though...

I really enjoyed this - an excellent and imaginative piece of writing.

It's a difficult art to write about drinking binges without the reader thinking that the author has been having a lot more fun than they are having reading the piece...But this manages it well.

All power to your pen,



sprout

Thanks. Liked your airport peice, think that should be in the main guide, (& you could add Auckland airport, for removing all chairs altogether, because people sat in them instead of shopping .

Kit.

Impressive. And the rest of what sprout said.

Information with entertainment and imagination.

There're two or three typos if you're interested. Nothing that gets in the way of the read though.

Thanks for the read,
Waz

Thanks for that - would be startled if there's ONLY 3 typos, but please let me know the three you've spoted, and i'll start a little list .

From my fading memory of Latin, the title is 'Love and Hate in Aspen', right?

Nice tribute. One of the best things in this forum I've read in a long time.

I think he would have liked this. Well, maybe not. Who the hell could predict Hunter S Thompson? The format suits the subject very well, anyway.

As Waz mentioned, there are a few typos, but nothing that keeps it from being gripping and readable.

By the way, can you tell us about the copyright bit at the bottom? Does anyone know the official BBC policy on copyrighted works being used here?

It's good, Kitboyes, and I enjoyed reading it. My only question is whether or not we'd have been able to write gonzo stuff ourselves, and make gonzo films, and so on, without HST. I didn't know that Wolfe and he loathed each other. I've read more Wolfe. Interesting.

Regarding copyright, Jodan, the Ts and Cs say that the Beeb can use this in any way they like without paying Kitboyes, but that he retains the ultimate copyright and can use it himself or sell it for publication elsewhere. More or less. I am not a lawyer.

Thanks for posting.

B

neat. i'm not going to repeat the compliments, but consider them said

i really enjoyed reading this, and i'd love to see this in the EG. have you had a shot at it in <./>Peer Review</.> yet? if not, why don't you give it a try? mind, it would be a good idea to have a look at Writing-Guidelines to see whether you want to, in case you haven't already

~ db

faugh. broken link.

PeerReview

Actually only put the copyright in cause I read in the Beebs site authors retained copyright. Er, that and in my last incarnation I was a (mumble) lawyer, so I'm still running on litigous instincts, so I just added it without really thinking. But as soon as you mention it I realise I'm being w@#$%^&*nky, (Bloody lawyers .

Whoops, and while I'm learning my way round this site I think i've just found you don't reply to each posting individually.

Thanks all for your very kind comments - It's be great if those who saw typos could let me know what they were, I can never see them in anything I write.

db - I think you are being a little disingenuous when you suggest that Kitboyes puts this in to Peer Review, given that he is a Newbie and all. At least suggest that he reads the Writing Guidelines for the Edited Guide before he does.

My feeling is that the UnderGuide is its natural home, and that the existance of the UnderGuide means that the Edited Guide can concentrate on what it is good at - being a Guide - without having to distort itself to accommodate writing like this, excellent though it is.

However, I don't deny it would be interesting for everyone if you did put this in Peer Review, but be aware that it isn't bog-standard EG material, and you may be in for a bumpy ride there.

Ben

B:

I didn't really say - 'Off with you to PR, then'. I *have* suggested that Kitboyes reads the Writing Guidelines. Nor do I expect that this ought to go in as it is. But its got material in it that is considerably EG-worthy. Can't we put it to good use?

~ db

>> Can't we put it to good use?

Yes we can. We can put it to good use in the UnderGuide. That is what the UnderGuide is *for*.

Personally, I think it is not EGable, though as I am pointing out I have been very out of touch with the EG and with PR for about 18 months, so I don't really know what is EGable these days and what isn't.

I can understand why the PRODders might want to use it as a test case, and as an example of meta-Gonzo it does include some facts mixed in with the stunts. But let's face it, it is a piece of stunt-writing.

I like the idea of writing about HST in the style of HST, but would we expect a shakespearian sonnet about shakespearian sonnets to get into the EG? Well, maybe we should expect that. But I still say that in my opinion, it is clearly suitable for the UG, and that one of the things the UG is for is to enable the EG to be a Guide rather than an anthology.

Ben

In fact, I did some searching and around, and this is what I found

A246386 : Hunter S Thompson
A3764405 : Hunter S Thompson - A Tribute
A128215 : (Dr.) Hunter S. Thompson: A short appreciation

Someone hunting for Hunter Thompson might have found the first one.

The second one is a Post article of days past. No one who doesn't read the Post regularly will know of it. One will have to search to find it

The third is an entry on Hunter Thompson that is rather incomplete.

Why are there three of these on h2g2? And what happens to this rather neat piece of writing that would be great as an alternative tribute? If it isn't picked up for the UG, it's just going to waste away somewhere... must we allow that to happen?

~ db

PS: Kitboyes - it's your entry, of course. No one says you ought to do anything with at all...

>> so I don't really know what is EGable these days and what isn't ...

I ought to quote you on that one!! So "EGable" changes with time, does it?

As for why this is not EG material - why not? It's got factual information, doesn't it? And in my opinion, it illustrated 'gonzo' much better than if it had simply linked to the entry on gonzo (have you looked at it? it's sparse, and doesn't illustrate gonzo at all. this, on the other hand, does)

~ db

It is good in that it illustrates Gonzo by doing rather than by telling, and I like that. However the first person sections would make it a challenge for the EG. If it was headed by a preface saying "A Gonzo tribute to the greatest Gonzo of them all" then it might work in the EG.

And yes, I think what is EGable has changed over time, or at any rate I hope it has.

As I said, one of the reasons I was so active in the founding of the UG was to releive the pressure on the EG surrounding pieces like this. I agree that this is marginal, and though I am being won round to the idea that it is a guide to Gonzo because it exemplifies Gonzo, and therefore could / should have a place in the EG, my original post was to warn Kiteboyes that he should not expect an easy ride in PR.

Ben

>> though I am being won round to the idea that it is a guide to Gonzo because it exemplifies Gonzo, and therefore could / should have a place in the EG <<

thank you. would you have seen that if you were just assessing the entry with respect to the guidelines? i think not (i might be mistaken, but i doubt it). that's just what PROD is about, see?

~ db

Damn! I hate it when that happens!

On the other hand, my temperament is one which has always seen guidelines as guides to using my own judgement. I was amazed when we needed to publish guidelines for the UG. I had assumed that everyone feel capable of using their own judgement about quality, and discovered that, no, they don't.

For that reason I have come to realise that the Guidelines *are* essential for the EG, and necessary for the UG.

The UG is there so that the pressure can be taken off the EG for pieces like this.

Yes, the EG would be richer if it included this, but the Guide as a whole is richer because the fight has already been fought, and there is now a place for pieces like this, and that place is the UG. Imho.

Ben