Michael Jackson: A Life?

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  • Spinner,

    When Farrah Fawcett arrived in heaven and god granted her one wish, she asked for all the children to be safe, so god killed Michael Jackson

    Remmers • Since Jul 2007 • 24 posts Report Reply

  • ScottY,

    Here's a Weird Al takeoff of Michael Jackson's Bad. Puerile but still funny

    West • Since Feb 2009 • 794 posts Report Reply

  • Ian Dalziel,

    We are dominated by Journalism...

    Fourth Estate? i watched it religiously. before that he had a shorter programme of a similar format, the first media criticism programme NZBC had on TV, i think. can't remember the name, though.

    That earlier programme was called News Stand
    and it may have even sprung from a smaller spot on The South Tonight or similar (though my memory is hazy there,, maybe it was just on after that...) when Priestley was also Head of the Department of Journalism at the Uni of Canterbury.

    From whence will rise the Fifth Estate ?
    and what power shall it wield...

    yrs Eddie "Whiggy" Burke
    The Gall of the Gallery

    PS: Meanwhile, as the Michael Jackson cortege winds its way around the world's collective consciousness, the Israeli Army amasses troops and military hardware along the Lebanese border... and Obama continues, and strengthens, the outrages of Empire... nothing to see here folks...
    move along, move along...

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report Reply

  • Tim Michie,

    Yes: News Stand. Thanks Ian.

    Moving along...

    Auckward • Since Nov 2006 • 614 posts Report Reply

  • John Quinn,

    For what it isn't worth, an ex-nurse told me yesterday that Jackson had disappointed kids at a New Zealand hospital when he was here performing. They waited three hours for him to appear and he walked through without speaking to them.

    But yeah, what a talent......

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 15 posts Report Reply

  • Tom Semmens,

    Michael Jackson's death sparks Florida bus brawl

    "...A fight broke out on a Florida bus when news of Michael Jackson's death sparked debate over whether he should be remembered as a great musical talent, and one passenger was charged with assault, police said on Friday..."

    Sevilla, Espana • Since Nov 2006 • 2217 posts Report Reply

  • JP Hansen,

    The best one liner I read on the internet yesterday:

    The only assumption I can make at this point is that he got enough.

    Waitakere • Since Nov 2006 • 206 posts Report Reply

  • stephen walker,

    @Ian

    News Stand

    Yes! You seem to have a less cloudy recollection of the 70s...no mean feat...

    PS: Meanwhile, as the Michael Jackson cortege winds its way around the world's collective consciousness, the Israeli Army amasses troops and military hardware along the Lebanese border... and Obama continues, and strengthens, the outrages of Empire... nothing to see here folks...
    move along, move along...

    thanks Ian for the reminder. nothing to see at all.

    nagano • Since Nov 2006 • 646 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    The best one liner I read on the internet yesterday:

    The only assumption I can make at this point is that he got enough.

    That's not bad. For anyone who wants to post kiddy-fiddler jokes, there's a whole thread of them on Kiwiblog. Seriously. Those people have no culture.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Joe Wylie,

    For anyone who wants to post kiddy-fiddler jokes, there's a whole thread of them on Kiwiblog. Seriously. Those people have no culture.

    I remember a dodgy would-be artist's agent in Sydney who was obsessed with Michael Jackson. The guy seemed to steer every conversation to the subject of Jacko's alleged pervery, heaving himself to his feet in outrage over "that bastard". Hardly conducive to doing business, but it's a field riddled with eccentrics.

    As it happened, someone spotted him as having ripped off a number of creatives back in the 80s, and he shortly quit his shonky serviced office, trousers on fire. I'm inclined to think that gloating over the darker aspects of Jacko's weirdness appeals to those who don't often encounter someone as vile as themselves.

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Also, Jacko has broken the internet.

    Or YouTube, anyway. If you know how Google does this stuff, you'll understand that that's fucking major.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Hadyn Green,

    TVNZ just reported that Lisa Marie Presley left a statement on her "internet blog". Wow, we gotta get one of those.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2090 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    Those people have no culture

    That is their culture. Sadly.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    That'd be the same TVNZ that regularly exhorts news viewers to "logon to" or "click onto" their website.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    OMG.

    There's an unreleased album featuring tracks recorded over the last two years with the likes of Akon, Ne-Yo and Will.I.Am.

    Can you say money?

    I'm starting to think Sony/BMG paid off the doctor. This is a world better for them than the debacle the 02 concert season would have been.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    I'm starting to think Sony/BMG paid off the doctor

    I heard conspiracy theories that the trial was a way of applying financial pressure to prise control of the Beatles rights.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Sofie Bribiesca,

    On the couch making tin foil hat....

    I heard conspiracy theories that the trial was a way of applying financial pressure to prise control of the Beatles rights.

    And now the doctor has gone missing.....
    Da da da daaaaa.
    And the lawyer saying too many drugs.
    Da da da daaaaa

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report Reply

  • Islander,

    And there may be several wills and possibly more than one trustee/executrix/tor
    Da da da daaaaa-

    (I was not/am not a Michael Jackson fan - but his early singing&dancing (can we really seperate them in this instance?) took those arts - whether you call 'em pop or just the old 'entrancing' art?- to truly new heights.)

    Abilities like that have their cost.

    And I think Michael Jackson had way too few true & able friends- (let alone whanau-)

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle,

    I literally just remembered watching the 'Beat It' video with my Hollywood-musicals-loving mother in 1983, and her being totally entranced by his dancing. I suppose the whole video is very West Side Story, so that makes sense.

    There's a very fun remix of 'I Want You Back' by Konishi Yasuharu of Pizzicato Five at the end of this post.

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • Sofie Bribiesca,

    There's a very fun remix of 'I Want You Back' by Konishi Yasuharu of Pizzicato Five at the end of this post.

    Wasn't that a nice bit of writing followed by some interesting positive comments. Thanks Danielle. It was nice to see back up to a discussion last night about brilliance = weird and the asexual comment. I might just go and play Pizzicato Five, Made in USA. :)

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report Reply

  • Islander,

    Good writing, interesting comment, asexual not-

    whatever the late Michael Jackson was, he definitely wasnt an asexual-

    cheers - Islander, who is

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • Sofie Bribiesca,

    <quote> he definitely wasnt an asexual-

    cheers - Islander, who is</quote.
    Right, well that's sorted then :)

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report Reply

  • Islander,

    Just viewing one of my other favourite sites, Discovery Animals, and there's Jackson singing "Ben"- he seemed to have been looking in other animals, for what he couldnt find in human animals (Bubbles was a disaster area, especially for the chimp-)

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • Islander,

    Ooops!
    So sorry - that is "Discovery News - Born Animal"

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • webweaver,

    Thank you so much Danielle for the link to the post on fourfour. What a lovely piece of writing - I agreed with every word. In fact it (and the comments it has so far earned) inspired me to write a somewhat sentimental and rambling comment of my own.

    I would never have predicted that Michael's death would affect me as much as it has done, or that I would feel so sad. I was never what you'd call an MJ fan, although I appreciated his music along with that of many other artists.

    My feeling is that Michael never grew up emotionally. I think that was partly due to the abuse he suffered at the hands of his father, and the fact that he was a performer from the age of 5 and famous by the time he was 11 years old.

    The poor guy never had a proper childhood, and consequently never had the opportunity to mature emotionally through moving naturally through the stages of childhood into adulthood. Perhaps he was attempting as a grown-up to recreate the childhood he never had - and as a re-created child, he related most easily to other children.

    I don't believe he was a child molester, I think he related to children as a child himself, and this way of being (which is outside what most people consider to be "normal" behaviour) combined with his naiveté and lack of understanding of how others would perceive him led him to be targeted by various unscrupulous people looking to make a quick buck (or a great many bucks).

    I'm saddened by the fact that so many people were so quick to judge, and that some seemed (and still seem) to take great delight in tearing him down from the giddy heights of superstardom which they themselves helped to create.

    I think at the end of the day he was a lonely, misunderstood genius - clichéd though that view might be - and I'm unaccountably saddened by the fact that he's gone forever.

    On a happier note, I'm sure his music&dance on CD and DVD will outlive us all, and that we'll all still rush onto the dancefloor and boogie on down like crazy people whenever Thriller comes on - even when we're all in our dotage.

    Well I will, anyway - resplendent in my purple fedora and pushing my zimmer frame...

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 332 posts Report Reply

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