Bradley James Weber

Startling Stories for All Ages

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Rum Diary Soundtrack

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The fine folk handling Lakeshore Records’ PR assured me a copy of the new soundtrack will be delivered as soon they received a link from the label.

That was last Monday, the 17th.

The soundtrack hits digital release on the 25th.

Guess I’d better get back on the wire.

By the looks of the track list and the tidbits in press releases, jazz drummer Christopher Young’s score, combined with the pop songs he’s selected, are set to capture the 1960s island feel.

When I hear anything, I’ll let you know.

Meanwhile, THE RUM DIARY opens in theaters Friday, October 28th. At least two venues in the Chicago area have Thursday night-Friday morning screenings starting at 12:01AM. Check your local theater listings.

UPDATE (10/25/11): The word is that the promo link is still not available from Lakeshore Records. Which is strange because the digital copy went on sale yesterday at Amazon.

It’s a Scooby-Doo mystery to me.

Dining with the Doctor

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As part of the ongoing research for FLotU78, I’m reading When The Going Gets Weird, one of the (many) bios about Hunter. Here is Peter Boyle’s reaction when he met HST while filming Where The Buffalo Roam:

On the coffee-shop patio of Universal Studios, Boyle found the forty-two-year old Thompson finishing lunch . . . Hunter consumed a club sandwich with a couple of beers, and then ordered chocolate cake and a double Wild Turkey. What kind of creature do we have here? was Boyle’s immediate thought.

And my immediate thought was: What’s the problem?  Sounds like a pretty damned good lunch.

Rango = HST?

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Every day I cruise the posts at Dark Horizons, one of the best movie news sites on the ‘net. There is the occasional item buzzing about non-events,  but Garth tends to keep the reports straight —- unlike the hyperbolic fanboy bullshit from AICN.

Today, I watched the extended clip of RANGO, the new Nickelodeon/Paramount Pictures cartoon starting the voice work of Johnny Depp, Ilsa Fisher, Bill Nighy, Alfred Molina, and Ned Beatty. Then I watched it again, just to make sure and, yep, looks like a less-than-sly nod to our good Dr. Thompson.

(The video is an MSNBC exclusive, so I can’t imbed it. Click here to watch the clip.)

Film School Rejects though the same thing back in June of last year. Guess I’m a little slow on this one.

Tardy or not, the connections are undeniable: Rango’s lurching gait, Acapulco shirt, speech patterns, and the outrageous detail of his story — along with his aggressive control-the-situation-before-it-takes-control-of-you approach to dealing with the mangy gang in the bar — all seem to add up to a good-timey Gonzhomage.  Add to that some voice work by longtime HST pal Harry Dean Stanton, the overall physiognomy of Rango’s face, and a room full of lizards(!) — and it’s hard to not to watch this clip with Gonzo eyes.

I’m trying to talk the wife into going to the show tomorrow night. She says maybe, but I might just smuggle the kid out of the house, anyway.

HST Bibliography

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If you’re looking for a complete bibliography of the good doctor’s works, there’s no better place to start than HSTbooks.org. (Make sure it’s .org ; .com belongs to a North Carolina college bookstore site — GO WOLFPACK!)

Marty Flynn, the site’s writer and editor, cops to being  ” a fan of Hunter Thompson, I’m also a proponent of keeping his memory alive . . . .” To be expected from someone who’s been posting Hunter-related news and reviews since June 2008. He’s compiled a mine of information. Go spend an hour clicking around the site. Marty’s conscientious, through and, detailed. He’s even got a buying guide for collecting HST books.

Well done, Marty. And thanks.

Postcards from the Past

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On November 14, 2006, I got myself a new Moleskine Reporter notebook.

There appears to be a whole fabricated mythos to the brand, which I bought into at the time. Silly me.

Though now I find that Neil Gaiman and Jonathan Carroll are Moleskine fans, both writing first drafts and logging other notes in the books. Better endorsements than those you can’t get.

Regardless of who loves them or the marketing baloney, the book practically begs to be written on, especially with a nice pen (more about I will post another day).

I filled pages from November through mid-June with writing only. I thought I was on my way to leaving myself an interesting notebook until I found out what other people were doing with their Moleskines.

After that, I started taping in pieces of the day: things I found, fortunes from cookies, bits of paper related to specific entries — and the thing above.

The “Juxtaposure” postcard was found in the Elk Grove Public Library’s copy of Mythic Image (704.947 CAM).

And, yes, it’s is really that magenta. It sure would have been hard to miss in your stack of mail.

Click the thumbnail to view the back.

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Anybody know anybody who was part of the show, or went to this exhibit? Please send me some details. Thanks.