Cynical

This weekend I came across what may be my all time favorite Q & A. It appeared last Sunday in the New York Times Magazine. The interview was with Gore Vidal who is probably the most cynical man on earth... naturally I loved the interview. Check it out here and tell me that's not hilarious. He ends interview ends with:

Interviewer: Well, it was a great pleasure talking to you.
Vidal: I doubt that.

And speaking of good interviews, I caught a good one on Charlie Rose last night. Charlie interviewed Jann Wenner (Rolling Stone & Contributor), Graydon Carter (Vanity Fair & Producer) and Alex Gibney (Filmaker) about their new documentary called Gonzo: The Life and Work of Hunter S. Thompson. I can't wait to see it. I read some Hunter Thompson in college but got to know his work better when I worked at Rolling Stone Magazine later. Up until his death in '05 he could pretty much file a piece to Rolling Stone as frequently (or infrequently) as he liked and get the entire thing printed in the next possible issue no matter how much space it might need. (Those poor folks in layout!) Hunter had 4 full time people assigned to him and Jann Wenner would do much of his editing. They pretty much let him do what he wanted. He had the best reporting job in the world. I read a lot of his pieces (written as memos) but my all time favorite has to be his obituary on Nixon. (I've probably even mentioned it here before.) Like the Gore Vidal interview this thing was dark and cynical. It also had me howling.

I don't read Rolling Stone much anymore. Mostly I don't read it because I figure after all the years of service I gave them I deserve a comped lifetime subscription. Of course I don't have that so I'm bitter about paying for the magazine. I know it's silly but there it is. I'm not as into music as I was in college and I assume I won't relate to anything in the magazine. Then I remember just how good Rolling Stone's journalism is. They employ some outstanding reporters. I was always especially fond of their political reporting. Several years ago I broke down and bought the issue featuring a cartoon of Bush in a dunes cap on the cover. As suspected, it had a great article on Bush inside.

Last night, Jann Wenner mentioned a piece Hunter filed on 9/12/01. He said Hunter was the first one to know where Bush was going to take the country. Turns out Hunter was correct in many of his suspicions. I'm sorry he won't be around to comment on the upcoming election. I'm sure he would have had a lot to say about all that's happened around here since his death.