- published: 08 Aug 2011
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Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream is an autobiographical novel by Hunter S. Thompson, illustrated by Ralph Steadman. The book is a roman à clef, rooted in autobiographical incidents. The story follows its protagonist, Raoul Duke, and his attorney, Dr. Gonzo, as they descend on Las Vegas to chase the American Dream through a drug-induced haze while ruminating on the failure of the 1960s countercultural movement. The novel first appeared as a two-part series in Rolling Stone magazine in 1971, was printed as a book in 1972, and was later adapted into a film of the same name in 1998 by Terry Gilliam starring Johnny Depp and Benicio del Toro.
The novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is based on two trips to Las Vegas, Nevada, that Hunter S. Thompson took with attorney and Chicano activist Oscar Zeta Acosta in March and April 1971. The first trip spawned from an exposé Thompson was writing for Rolling Stone magazine about the Mexican-American television journalist Rubén Salazar, whom officers of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department had shot and killed with a tear gas grenade fired at close range during the National Chicano Moratorium March against the Vietnam War in 1970. Thompson was using Acosta—a prominent Mexican-American political activist and attorney—as a central source for the story, and the two found it difficult for a brown-skinned Mexican to talk openly with a white reporter in the racially tense atmosphere of Los Angeles, California. The two needed a more comfortable place to discuss the story and decided to take advantage of a Sports Illustrated magazine offer to write photograph captions for the annual Mint 400 desert race being held in Las Vegas from 21–23 March.
Marina Lambrini Diamandis (Greek: Μαρίνα-Λαμπρινή Διαμάντη, pronounced [ðʝaˈmadi]; born 10 October 1985), better known by her stage name Marina and the Diamonds (sometimes stylised as Marina & the Diamonds), is a Welsh singer-songwriter. She rose to fame after reaching number two on the BBC Sound of 2010 poll list, coming second to Ellie Goulding. After releasing one private EP, Diamandis released her second extended play, The Crown Jewels EP, with help from Neon Gold Records, in 2009. Now signed to 679 Recordings, she released her debut full length studio album, The Family Jewels, followed by her third extended play, The American Jewels EP, in 2010. In 2011, Diamandis announced that she was working on her second album, Electra Heart, which was released in April 2012 and went to #1 in the UK and Ireland.
Her stage name, "Marina and the Diamonds", consists of Diamandis' first name and the translation of her surname which means "Diamonds" in Greek. Although "The Diamonds" is often mistakenly believed to refer to her backing band, it in fact refers to Diamandis' fans: she explains this on her Myspace page by saying "I'm Marina. You are the diamonds."