wednes | I am inexplicably and completely shocked and bummed.

I could use a refresher course in the five stages of grief.

I was pretty bummed to see that Farrah Fawcett had died. In addition to being iconically beautiful (if skinny blondes are your thing, I mean) she starred in the amazing and powerful The Burning Bed. It totally opened people's eyes about some of the realities of domestic violence. I also really respected how publicly and openly she addressed her own illness when she got sick. Even though this is a total cliche, I find it brave to put yourself out there like that. It really does help people to know they aren't alone. Plus, Logan's Run is wicked awesome. ;-]

Our internet was out for the last 3 hours of my shift at work today. So I was already home when I found out that The King of Pop had died. Honestly, it never really occurred to me that he could die. Yes, he's a human being and all, but Michael Jackson is SO iconic that he almost seems like a mythical figure. I mean, even Santa Claus shows up at the local mall every now and again. MJ was even more elusive and the things people said about him were sometimes...well, fucking crazy. I never believed that he molested children, he was always far too much like a child himself. I also think it's more likely that he was completely asexual.
I can totally recall hearing a rumor that he slept in some kind of hyperbaric chamber and thinking "Hmmm...that's kind of weird, but he's super rich, those guys are crazy." When I heard he had basically his own zoo and amusement park of his own, I thought that was kind of odd, but still basically believable. There were rumors of him going into space, being best buddies with Brooke Shields and Emmanuel Lewis, all totally accepted as fact even though it sounded incredible. But in the early 90's when a woman came forward and said Michael Jackson got her pregnant, not one single person I knew believed it, not for a second. I find a great and hilarious irony in that.
I've never been what you'd call a huge MJ fan. I owned Thriller when it came out, and listened to most of his popular stuff from the Jackson 5 onward through, I guess Bad. I enjoyed most of his danceable stuff, and especially liked that he never said No to Weird Al Yankovic. Fifty is pretty young to die. Older than many people, I suppose, but still...he kept the fact that he was sick basically a secret. It was hard to tell if he was sick for real or if it was just another crazy Michael Jackson rumor. Time will tell I guess.

Anyway, here's Lego Thriller.
Due to my strong personal convictions, I wish to stress that my posting of this YouTube in no way endorses a belief in the occult. My rampant Paganism does that just fine by itself. ;-]

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I remember during recess in eighth grade when somebody pointed at a fellow student in our grade and good-naturedly laughed at him as he attempted to do the Moonwalk on the sidewalk. During the Thriller era, at first I didn't have anything against him, but there was so much media coverage during that time that it got a point where it drove me nuts to hear yet another thing about him.

It's interesting to me how your age can totally change your perception of a subject. We're old enough to remember a time when he was just IT, during his own Beatlemania period. People currently in their late teens and early twenties never knew of a time when he wasn't plagued by rumors of bizarre and even illegal behavior. It's very sad seeing how his life turned out.

His whole life does seem like a sad one. Tons of family problems, never getting to have a carefree childhood, devoting your whole life to entertaining people and trying to be happy--only to be publicly accused of the most reviled crime a person can commit.

I remember being super proud when my older cousin taught me how to moonwalk in my Grandfather's basement; and also having a furious debate over whether Adam Ant was a better dancer than Michael Jackson. These were things of profound mystery and importance when I was in junior high. ;-]

I'm enjoying reading your LJ, BTW. Checked out your website and plan to read some of your stuff soon. I'm on a pretty tight writing deadline right now--I actually had to get an extension, so I've imposed a brief moratorium on reading for pleasure.

Thanks for writing all this down, because you've said pretty much everything I would have, and much much better. ;)

Tonight the main judge on So You Think You Can Dance talked about MJ, and about how in some ways MJ is the reason the show exists. As much as I love dance, I never really thought about that -- until MJ, a concert was about *singing*. There might be a little gyrating, but not actual dance! I was in HS when MJ started doing music videos, so it was just part of what I grew up with. Now, thinking about it, I can see how he transformed an industry.

It was my impression that he was a very troubled man, and I hope with all my heart that he's now found peace.

...you've said pretty much everything I would have, and much much better.

I take that as quite a compliment, coming from you. :-]

That's very true about his transformation of the concert. Before the Jackson 5 came on the scene, just stepping back and forth in time with the music was considered innovative and hip.

I have a very vivid memory of my mother's husband saying he didn't want us to watch Mtv anymore because there were blacks on it. "Blacks" being only Michael Jackson. Seems like MJ was pretty much the token black guy on Mtv until Lionel Richie became popular as a solo performer. To us, watching Mtv was about as important as breathing. ;-]

So glad to see this post. My boyfriend told me tonight and I was instantly sad. I also wasn't a huge fan, but I did like Thriller ans also some of his stuff from Off The Wall. I always felt kind of sorry for him and how the media and prosecutors hounded him for everything. I'm already seeing others making jokes about this and its really tasteless and sad.

I'm enjoying reading your LJ, BTW.

Thanks!

Checked out your website and plan to read some of your stuff soon. I'm on a pretty tight writing deadline right now--I actually had to get an extension, so I've imposed a brief moratorium on reading for pleasure.

Yeah, it can be really difficult to do everything you have to do, especially when you're under a tight deadline. Doing so is not exactly my forte. ;-D Lately I've had the good fortune to be have enough time to read what I want and also have time to write.

I get annoyed when people make stupid, tasteless jokes when somebody famous dies. I get that it's one way that people deal with their sadness, but some people aren't sad--they're just insensitive pricks.

If people around you are sad about something, can't you just wait a week to make a sick joke about it for the sake of decorum? Is it really that important to defame someone's memory because you know OF them but don't actually know them? It's like punishing people for having the audacity to entertain.

It's my own fault, really. I submitted a novel for publication before it was finished because I wanted to make sure to get a 2010 slot. Slots were going fast. Once it got accepted, I worked on it feverishly, then decided to change the ending...several times. As you might imagine, this created a little time crunch. :-/

Of course, it's 1am and I'm vacillating between LJ and Facebook instead of editing. Oops.

I am really sad about Michael as well. I feel bad for the generation younger than us because they only know the bad media stuff about him and not that he is as great a performer as we may ever know. I do think he did inappropriate things to kids, but not necessarily because he was a pervert/child molester, but more like the episode of South park where Cartman claims he has tourettes and keeps mentioning the thing between he and his cousin touching weeners. I think that because of MJ's screwed up life maybe he was doing some experimenting with the children he had around the ranch. Not that what he may have done is forgivable, but don't think he [may have] did it because he was looking to have sex with little boys. Just seeing what it was like, sort of thing.

He is the undisputed king of pop and that is how I will remember him. I will remember and laugh at all the crazyness in his life, but he will go down as one of the greatest performers in music history and deserves to be remembered for that as well.

Most truly great artists are fucked up and tortured in real life...or at least fairly dark. Who knows how any of us would react under such bizarre circumstances?

Burning Bed? Didn't Rhianna for her boyfriend for Christmas?

::ooops...my bad::

:P~

FF was great in BB. I always loved her in Extremities.

Well yeah, people think of her as nothing more than a ditzy blonde. She had a lot of class, not to mention real acting chops. I appreciate when the famous use their fame to raise awareness of issues without being a self-congratulatory ass about it.

Well said. *applause*

Of course you are correct, but one who is truly great would not involve innocent youths (as Joe Pesci would say, "yoots"). They would take their trauma and utilize it for the benefit of humanity. MJ was great, and we are remembering a lot of that over the last few days, but let's not forget all the jokes we have told over the years, and we should see both the good and the bad as to learn from it.

I always saw his reaching out to sick kids as a good thing. If you're a kid with cancer, a trip to Neverland Ranch may just be the happiest day of your life.

Obviously, if he really molested kids, that is completely vile. I honestly don't think he did, even as I realize that it may just be wishful thinking on my part. As you know, I hate to think that entertainers I enjoy are really pricks in real life. Committing an act of child molestation doesn't just make you a prick, it makes you a monster.

I am inexplicably and completely shocked and bummed.

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Um...what is a Yoot? ;-]