NOTE AND DISCLAIMER

Last updated March-05

NOTE

I recently found the old "note" and it makes me laugh. Like opening lost closed notebooks of teenage prose, some of the pages on this site reflect my younger self. Some of the pages reveal a time when the net was new and PhotoShop fills were ubercool. Oh my, how far one comes in almost 10 years.

Back in 1996, I was a student at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, embarking on my 2 year course for Library and Information Technology. We were introduced to a non-graphical Internet back then, and in one class I learned why HST loved Lexis-Nexis so. The amount of information available was overwhelming. Back then, there were mostly X-files fan pages and stuff like that. A few HST pages here and there. I struck up a conversation with one Paul Maloney, and we had some pleasant emails back and forth. It seems he had the largest page on HST at the time - and more or less one page too.

By, oh gosh, it must have been still 1996 or 1997, when the graphical Internet was available for us in the lab. Computer lab time was such a premium, and like crack addicts looking for their next fix, my classmates and I used every opportunity to log on. AspenOnline was the place to be for gonzo fans - it contained a manifesto, a few pages about HST and odd things like that, as well as featuring the infamous Benton gonzo fist posters. Like my fellow AspenOnliners, I used to stay up late and chat - it was more of a permanent messageboard than a real chat - madly posting and refreshing and loving the odd message from HST. It was my newfound love of HTML and HST that created The Great Thompson Hunt, first starting out as a single page on my old crappy Geocities site, then growing into a large, unwieldy baby. It was with the love and support of the AspenOnliners - Luna, Todd, Stanley, JJ - to name a few, that I was able to keep the site going and growing.

Those were such fun times. There was Jason Hart's wonderful HST website as well where gonzo fans would gather, pleading for news about HST and Screwjack. With all the access to information I had, it wasn't hard for the site to grow...and grow...and keep growing.

I graduated and went on to work for the public library as well as the Mount Royal College library. Fun times. It's hard to believe that I haven't been at the library since 1998. For I so loved the Internet that I wanted to become a web developer, and it was due in part, I'm sure, to TGTH that I have the job I do now. I think this is the weird way in which HST's spirit captures his fans - like a hero in a Horatio Alger story, if I worked hard enough, was determined enough, and passionate enough, nothing was impossible. I suppose I grew up in a time with very few heroes. Everything was out in the open with HST, however. He didn't pretend to be something he was not, his brutal honesty was a shining beacon of righteousness. There was no need to be disappointed in HST for his actions.

I am saddened by HST's loss from this world. I can't say anything that hasn't already been said, or feel anything that hasn't already been felt. I can only thank him for the many years of joy that his work brought to me, and the people that I know because of him. It's rare that a complete stranger have such an amazing impact on people's lives, but HST was no stranger to his readers.

Ah! How time changes, how the Internet changes, how lives change. It's hard to believe it's really been 9 years.

Christine O-B
March, 2005

This site is solely authored and maintained by Christine Othitis who really is of the female persuasion. If you happened to drop by this site in December 1996, it was called The Really Absurd Home Page and looked...ha ha ha. The Great Thompson Hunt is an offshoot of that site, and until March 1998, was a part of The Warrior Wordsmith in Geocities. HST is the granddaddy of Tom Wolfe's new journalism. Before Wolfe came along with his white suits, HST was slowly (and finally) changing the world of journalism, turned it upside down, in fact, with his near-libelous, hilarious and brilliantly prophetic books. The golden age of new journalism has come and gone, but we shouldn't forget this time and the writers and books that fought to make a difference in this world. Some of them are still in print, others lay in the discard rooms of college libraries with broken spines. These books - muckraking classics, tomes of personal and emotional reportage during the sixties and seventies - we are unlikely to see writing of this nature again. So I encourage you to take a look at that site as well as this one.

HST is my favourite all-time writer. He is the romantic image of old time new journalism at the turn of the century, taking those in public office to task and daring them to be responsible to the people. He strings words together and out of his crazed fantasies come often frightening truths. And if this also needs to be said, he is incredibly funny.

Christine O
May, 1998


DISCLAIMER

1. I believe in giving credit where credit is due, and have best to my time and ability provide sources for information on this site. Permission is being sought for some items. All images, sounds, videos, links, articles, text, and information presented upon these pages are the copyright of their respective owners or public domain. If you have a valid concern about any of the pictures on this page, please let me know. I will happily remove or pay for any pictures. There is the odd item where attribution could not be found as well.

This is a non-commercial site. I do not make any money from this site, except through an Amazon affiliate, which can hardly be called making money :-D Amazon proceeds go to the cost of hosting. No other ads are bought or sold.

Further, most of the items on this site are from my personal collection or the personal collections of others (with permission). It is the aim of this site to digitize my collection so that others may view it.

When this site was a part of Geocities, there were no problems with copyright therein. In fact, this site and the site it was part of were Geocities Cool Page of the Day, Athens Featured Site and A-List Winner. To win these Geocities awards, one must follow their content guidelines, of which copyright was one. Technically, one would have to eliminate all fan sites in Geocities (particularly music sites).

2. Everything on this page has been cleared by my moral conscience. If there is something that offends you, I'm afraid it is you who choose to be offended by it. While warnings have been provided for some material which may be sensitive, and swears blanked out, I cannot offer apologies. It is impossible to please everyone.

If you have censorware on your computer, be aware that it may display pages incorrectly. At least a few people have had trouble with NetNanny blanking out swears and "sex" (apparently it appears as "xxx").

3. Information on this page is provided as accurately as it is believed to be. Rumours are stated as being so. A bibliography/works cited is available. Please send me a note if you spot an error.

4. I will not be held responsible for any mental, physical, or legal harm resulting from anyone using this site. I can't think of how anyone possibly could, but people are pretty creative and will find a way.

5. Ideas represented here do not always necessarily represent those of myself or the host.

6. This page does not advocate the use of violence, drugs or unlawfulness. Use of this website and the information contained therein is the sole discretion of the viewer.

7. Flames and rude email will be ignored.

8. TGTH does not collect personal information. We will never sell addresses, artwork or writing. That seems pretty obvious, but it needs to be said in this day and age. TGTH will never take advantage of our visitors.