Welcome to Big Green Head (BGH)—a fun, creative place to start green, get greener and feel great about it.
We strive to be the biggest community of green-doers on the planet. With your help, we’re going to make green the coolest thing since cookie dough ice cream. Challenge yourself, support the efforts of others, and participate in a community of like-minded people. Make BGH your green go-to place when you have an idea, suggestion, question, or simply want to educate and motivate your family.
And here’s what I say it translates into:
Fuck Kermit, this being green shit is easy now! Check out the website! They’re friends of Biff’s and any friend of Biff’s is a genuine pal of TMWS!
It feels like Tuesday because of the Labor Day weekend. And speaking of the Labor Day weekend, sorry TMWS was off the air and didn’t get to do anything on the Jerry Lewis Telethon. And I’ve said this before, but fuck it all, I’ll say it again, my dad’s name is Jerry, making me one of Jerry’s kids. So I want to know where in the mother of fuck is my telethon money?
Anyway, another good show is lined up for today. Speaking of money, I’m going to write about the first project I ever wrote and then only one that made a lot of money, which I blew on starting my own magazine a few years later. Yes, today I start a series about the long and winding writing career of yours truly, Martin the Wombacher. Great Home Page Art today by “Boris!” Via “Boris’” Photoshoppery wizard-like powers, he’s turned me into both Andy and Opie from the Andy Griffith show! I'm honored to be there with Aunt Bee! Another classic, Daddio! And “Boris’” talents can be yours as well, if you need some custom made art for your blog or website. “Boris” also does freelance work for CD and book covers, custom made logos, retouching and anything else for your artistic needs. Just send me an email using the Home page email form and I will pass it along.
Okay theDaily Photo is up in a couple minutes and then I’m posting the link to a cool new green website, then the Daily Story and a fake ad. So stay tuned or check the links at the bottom of the Home Page.
Up and at ‘em, Motherfuckers! Have a fun Wednesday!
Contributing Writers (Comments section, listed in order of comment): JHwang "Boris" Grompf Aaron Zioum Zioum the Chainsaw Gene1 biff Chilelem jaws the cabbie Pamela Lukas
Thanks for tuning in and contributing everyone, we’ll see you tomorrow at THE MARTY WOMBACHER SHOW!
Hunter S. Thompson A Great and Original Writer Who Melted Into a Caricature of Himself. I think when most people think about Hunter S. Thompson they think about his drug-steeped book, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. It’s probably what he’s best known for and that only heightened when it was made into a great movie by Monty Python member Terry Gilliam. I read Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas for the first time when I was a junior in high school in 1975, a few years after it had originally come out. I was doing lots of drugs back then, including acid whenever I could so naturally I loved the book. I think it’s probably the best book to describe the different frenzies and feelings that drugs can wrack your mind and body with. And it’s really got one of the best opening lines I’ve ever read: We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold. If that line doesn’t make you want to read the rest of the book, then you’re probably Nancy Reagan. And the closing line is a classic as well: I felt like a monster reincarnation of Horatio Alger...a Man on the Move, and just sick enough to be totally confident. That’s a genius line and a wonderful way to close a wildly original and inventive book. When I first read it I really thought it was one hundred percent true and believed the whole book to be based on factual reporting. I thought that all that hilarious drug and acid induced high speed hijinks between Hunter Thompson (Raoul Duke) and his crazed Samoan Attorney (Dr. Gonzo) actually happened. Later on I realized the truth, that most of it is either made up or highly embellished.
I think it’s true that Hunter Thompson went to Las Vegas with his attorney to cover a motorcycle race for Sports Illustrated and that they brought and ingested enough drugs to make William Burroughs blush, but I think most of the mind-rattling incidents that happened, happened only in Hunter’s mind and then spilled out onto the pages that became, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. I really doubt that anything happened with the maids in the hotel, that there was a hippy Jesus freak girl that Hunter’s attorney fed acid to, that there was a flare up in the coffee shop, and I think a lot of dialogue at the cop drug convention was embellished, if not made up all together. I even read that the copy editor who transcribed the taped-recorded section where they’re at the taco stand couldn’t understand it so she just made up her own dialogue. And she said she was amazed when she read the finished copy and it was still there, verbatim.
I think Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is a great novel, but I prefer to think of it as fiction, based on Hunter’s trip to Las Vegas. It’s a gripping original book, but I don’t think it’s his best effort in print and I think he kind of painted himself into a corner with it. After that everything was Gonzo and a lot of his work afterwards paled in comparison. Within the comic strip, Doonesbury, he literally became a cartoon character. And he was never happy about that. Here’s a video where Thompson discusses the whole Hunter Thompson versus Raoul Duke persona problem with a reporter from the BBC:
I remember being wildly excited when the book, The Curse of Lono came out in 1983, because he hadn’t written much of anything for awhile and I bought the book as soon as it came out. And I was amazed when I was about halfway through that it really wasn’t very good. It kind of felt forced and disjointed and I never did finish it. I think he was doing a lot of cocaine back then and when you’re zoomed to the gills on devil’s dandruff the only thing you can do well, is more cocaine. My favorite book by Hunter Thompson is his first published book, Hell's Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs. It came out in 1966 and established a foothold for the writer in the literary world. I read the book after I read Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and I’ve always preferred this book and I consider it my favorite work by Hunter Thompson. The book came about after Hunter wrote an article about motorcycle gangs for the magazine, The Nation in 1965. He had several book offers and struck a deal with Random House to produce a tome about the legendary and infamous Motorcycle Gang, The Hell’s Angels.
Thompson was living in San Francisco at the time and struck up friendships with Angel’s from the San Bernadino and Oakland chapters of the Hell’s Angels. The book details a year in Thompson’s life where he rides, drinks, smokes pot, pops pills and hangs out in various bars and sundry joints with the rolling, greasy, grungy, leather menace collectively known as The Hell’s Angels. Thanks to Hunter’s article in the Nation and press in Life and Time magazine, the Angels were getting well known and had quite a reputation the year Hunter hung out with them. He even introduced them to acid, via fellow writer, Ken Kesey. That chapter alone is worth the price of the book. I’m sure there’s embellishments all through it, but all in all I believe it all to be a good and solid piece of entertaining and mind-gripping factual reporting. I do believe however, that the postscript to the book is pure performance art.
In the book Hunter hooks up with the some of the Angel’s after being away for months writing his book. It was at this meeting that Hunter Thompson gets stomped by a few Angels after what he writes was “a minor disagreement.” Later I read that this minor disagreement happened after Hunter berated an Angel for hitting his old lady and then kicking his dog. According to Hell’s Angel’s president, Sonny Barger and others, Hunter said something to the effect that, “Only a punk hits his old lady and kicks his dog.” Now that might sound like Hunter was just being noble and standing up for the woman and the defenseless dog, but Hunter Thompson has never been much of a feminist and had witnessed far more disturbing things in the course of the book than this and never questioned anything. Hunter Thompson was not only smart and a talented writer, he had plenty of street smarts. And anybody with street smarts knows that if you say something like that to a Hell’s Angel, you’ll get the everloving shit kicked out of you. They won’t kill you, but you’ll get hurt. And I think that’s exactly what he wanted for the end of his book. And he got it and he even took pictures of it. Here’s one that he took: And here’s a video with one of the Angels confronting him on a talk show about it:
I’m sure up to his dying day he would’ve denied it, but I’m positive he planned to get stomped for the ending of that book and maybe had it planned from the get-go. But in the long run, when it comes to writing, does it really matter if it’s real or unreal? Staged or unstaged? To me it really doesn’t, as long as the story comes alive in your brain and it plays out like a great movie in your imagination. And when Hunter S. Thompson was running high on his game and the words were hopping like frogs in an amphetamine river, he could move your imagination in a truly staggering and mysterious way.
On 5:42 p.m. on February 20, 2005, things finally got too weird in this world for Hunter S. Thompson and he blew his brains out. He had been outspoken about how this country used September 11th to slowly take away our freedoms and start a war in Iraq that basically never should have been started. His health was giving out too and I think he had just had it. When all was said and done, Hunter Thompson was a realist who knew the shit was going down, he was in bad shape and Fun had come to an end. So he took a gun and vamoosh! The Good Doctor was gone. I think the epitaph he wrote for his book Hell’s Angels is a fitting epitaph for Hunter S. Thompson himself, so here it is:
On my way back to San Francisco I tried to compose a fitting epitaph. I wanted something original, but there was no escaping the echo of Mistah Kurtz’ final words from the heart of darkness: “The horror! The horror!...Exterminate all the brutes!”
Hello everybody and welcome back to The Marty Wombacher Show! I had a nice break and I’m sure I lost a lot of viewers, so if you’re reading this, I appreciate your loyalty in sticking with me. I had a nice vacation and I’ve got some material built up, so hopefully there won’t be another break for a good long while.
I’ve streamlined the show and changed the format a little bit. I’ve taken away the Condensed Gossip section because I felt that had run its course and was pretty much the same thing day in and day out. Basically this is how the show will run from here on in. We’ll start off right here with a good morning introduction and the “See Motherfucker” art of the day. Then I’ll put up the Daily Photo and then a bit later I’ll post the Daily Story. This will be a decent sized story that will now be the focal point of TMWS. Then at the end of the day I’ll put up the fake ad. So basically, if you just want a quick chuckle, you get the “See, Motherfucker,” The Daily Photo and the Fake Ad. And if you’re into reading, there’ll be a good sized story to peruse. every day So there’s a little something for everyone. This will be the weekdays. On the weekends things will get a lot looser and that’s when I’ll put up fishwrap type stuff, polls, I’ll put up weekend videos, Sunday links, Sunday religious corner, and just oddball stuff. I think there was too much stuff going on here, and I’m anxious to start the new and improved Marty Wombacher Show.
Today’s Home Page art is a true classic by “Boris!” It’s me in full bellboy mode and it’s hilarious! Great job, Daddio, this was a nice piece of art to start off the TMWS version 2.0!And “Boris” is not only the resident artist at TMWS, he’s also available for freelance work. If you need some made to order artwork for your website, a CD or book cover designed, retouching, a logo or anything you desire, “Boris” can make it happen. Just send me an email using the form on the Home Page and I’ll forward it on to “Boris.”
In today’s Daily Story I’ve written a feature on writer Hunter S. Thompson and tell which of his books is my favorite and why. Later on, I’ll post the Fake Ad of the day. So, again, thanks for tuning in and please stay tuned or check back in, the Daily Photo is going up soon. The red links on the Home Page will direct you to the latest update.
Happy, snappy Tuesday to all of yous! See, Motherfucker?
But TMWS will be back on Tuesday, September 8th. In the meantime, click on the archives links in the box to the right of this and enjoy some shows from days gone by! See you soon!
Contributing Writers (Comments section, listed in order of comment): Zioum Zioum The Chainsaw biff "Boris" Gene1 grompf JHwang
Thanks for tuning in and contributing everyone, I’m going to be on vacation for a week and a half, but I’ll be back Sept. 8th and hope to see you right here at THE MARTY WOMBACHER SHOW!
Okay, here I go again announcing a break in the action on TMWS!
I hate to do this, but I’m going to be off the air until Sept. 8th. I really liked working up those short stories and now I’ve really go the itch to write, but I need to get a backlog built up so I can continue to do the show, otherwise everything sucks. So this is going to be the only post of the day. See, Motherfucker?
I really want to thank “Boris” for today’s artwork on the Home Page and all the other past days. It’s really great work and I’m proud to have him here as the resident artist. He gives the joint a lot of class and a lot of coolness. Thanks Daddio! And “Boris” does freelance too, so if you have a website and would like some custom art for it, he’s the man. “Boris also does CD and book covers, he designs logos, does retouching and just about anything you need, just send me an email via the Home Page and I’ll forward it to him. Wait’ll you see the piece of art he’s got worked up for the return on the 8th, a true classic!
So please tune back in on the 8th and in the meantime treat this like summer rerun time and go back and dig around in the archives that are on every page. All the past episodes and comments are there. I’ll see you on the 8th.
Oh and continuing on with Birthday Week, it’s Jason Hwang’s birthday! Let’s wish him a Happy Birthday and here’s three self underwater self-portraits he recently took with his new underwater camera.
TO JASON! HAPPY BIRTHDAY AND WE’LL SEE YOU ALL ON THE 8TH!
Wednesday, September 9, 2009 at 1:20PM 
