My Back Journals: "Gonzo" Screening, 2008 Maryland Film Festival

In the midst of life we are in death, and in in the midst of moving I am in near-death as I keep finding all sorts of scribblings, clippings, journals, zines, magazines and post-it notes that have - or at one time had - meaning to me. As a Material Boy in a Material World, I find it hard to part (such sweet sorrow it is!) with these things. My solution is to upload as much of my life as possible, so that some poor Web Editor of The Future is left to edit (or shit-can) my dubious presence on Earth after I shuffle off this mortal coil.

OK, here's one such item, a 2008 Journal I started and abandoned (mainly because I lost it until just now!). Under the first-page entry "MFF 2008 NOTES":  

MARYLAND 2008 NOTES

ALEX GIBNEY, dir. of GONZO: THE LIFE AND WORK OF HUNTER S. THOMPSON documentary was cool and clever.

He intro'ed film with Thompson quote, "You bought the ticket, so enjoy the ride!"

Q&A: Woman asked why Hunter S. Thompson always wore shorts. "Do you know why he always wore shorts?" [Wow, the thought-provoking things viewers take away from documentaries; the mind boggles.] Laughter. Long pause from Gibney, after repeating the question, then a simple: "No."

McGovern anti-war quote during film about stopping wars that send ouryoung men to death got an auditorium-wide applause! Anti-Bush sentiments run high. Jimmy Buffett wished Hunter was still around to write against Bush - "We could use him now" - but, in effect, Bush killed him. Hunter was described as "depressed" after the 2004 election re-elected Bush. Killed himself in 2005.

Dumbest question of night: as usual from (loveable but no-flair-for-the-obvious) Charles Johnson. "Where did Dr. Thompson get his doctorate?" Gibney said he believed it was a joke and mentioned that he himself is a "Dr." from Universal Life Church.

Someone else asked why would anyone interview Pat Buchanan, the man who worked for Hunter's nemesis Nixon and who helped destroy Hunter's boy George McGovern. Gibney said Buchanan was a great interview - anyone not an idiot can see that. I mentioned afterward to him how much I enjoy Buchanan's wit (if not his politics), that he's cool enough to talk to Ali G [Sascha Baron Cohen's over-the-top hip-hop character] and always shines. Gibney said that Hunter would hang w/Pat and drink beer and Wild Turkey w/him, to Mrs. Buchanan's horror! I'd dink a beer and shot with Pat!

 I sat next to the most annoying woman. Middle-aged, I first noticed she wouldn't turn her cell phone off. Hid it under a shawl the first 15 minutes of movie. Then she systematically chewed her fingernails - all 10 of 'em! - throughout the movie (thank God it was only 2 hours, any more and she'd prolly move onto her toenails!). Then she would transfer her remnants to her left hand and delicately rub the detritus off like she was rubbing away the salt from pistachios or chips ontop the floor near my camera bag. TOTALLY DISGUSTING. She saw me staring at her - I was hoping to shame her, but she was well beyond shame, and I had to cup my head w/my right hand, like blinders, so I could escape her wretched, and most unfortunate, presence in the last good seat in the house in the front row." 

Related Links:
"My Rehoboth Beach Independent Film Festival Journal - Part 3" (Gibney's films reviewed)