CNN is running a news conference on the details of the "dignified" memorial for Jackson's service on Tuesday.
Wristbands. A lottery. Bullshit about how money is set aside for this sort of thing like they do for "first amendment marches." Fuck this shit. How many homeless people could have been fed and sheltered for what they are going to spend?
Have we collectively lost our mind?
Why don't we do like they did with saint's bodies? Cut him up into tiny pieces and let people bid on them. You, too, can own a relic of Michael Jackson. You can set up a shrine to it.
They're having to tell people not to scalp the tickets.
They're having to explain how they can pay for this shit. Special budget. My ass.
I'm so fucking mad.
He was a singer. Not a saint. Not a god. A man. People DIE EVERY DAY.
You are not honoring Michael Jackson by participating in some "memorial service" that is only lacking fireworks.
When the Ayatollah Khomeini died, they carried his body through the streets and they crowd was so wild, that they dumped his body in the street.
That's dignity for you.
Let's all look at the dead guy. Let's speculate about his life, desecrate him. He can't defend himself.
I'm tired of the media, which spent years making fun of him, suddenly acting as if losing him is the greatest loss we've ever had to bear. And I'm so tired of the false sanctimony of those who will tell me that they are genuinely grieving.
I'm sorry for your grief. But if you really loved him, let him rest in peace. Don't you think he's earned it????
But this "Michael Jackson corpse extravaganza" is not the way you lay to rest someone who lived a life perpetually in the spotlight. Even in death, there is no privacy for Michael Jackson.
He was cursed from the day he was born. And now, even in death, he's cursed by those who want to make a buck off his putrifying corpse.
****update******
CNN, which apparently has discovered that all-Michael, all-the-time is good for its bottom line, is reporting that MJ is to be buried in a $25,000 casket, lined with blue velvet and plated in 24k gold. Oh the lengths people go to in order to believe that they will not rot underground, that their bodies will not break down and be eaten by micro-organisms.
What horrified me was the interview with some perky young woman from the town where the casket is being manufactured. She said it was "cool" that her town got to make MJ's coffin. Wow. "Cool." When people die, it's cool, don't you know?
Speaking of cool, I also have just read that the web site that is sponsoring the lottery for the corpse-o-rama to be held in the Staples Center has crashed due to the demand for tickets.
I'm wondering how long it's going to be before his hairdresser or one of his housekeepers starts auctioning his toenails or hair on Ebay. Relics. The reliquaries in medieval churches are fascinating; how long before we have Jackson relics in various sites all over the country?
In the meantime, I'm still waiting to hear whether, in fact, Cynthia McKinney is being held by the Israelis. Or whether the new military mission in Afghanistan is proceeding. But what the fuck. Our fascination with celebrity corpses trumps everything else.
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1. Iran has taken hostages. Again.
2. We are all being set up to be taxed to a debilitating measure.
3. Castro, Chavez & Obama are meddling in Honduras where the democratic people threw out a wanna be dictator and these 3 are backing the dictator. [but you can't meddle in Iran]
4. The TARP money didn't work. The stimulus money didn't work. Spending our way out of a recession didn't work & we're facing a Depression as a nation.
5. N. Korea is threatening to nuke America while Iran is threatening to nuke Israel and they are both getting closer each day to make good on those promises. I have N. Korean missiles pointed at me as we speak, here in Hawaii.
There is nothing new under the sun. This is the template of the downfall of Rome. And no, it didn't work out for the romans when it fell. I woke up this morning with the thought: Your whole life is about to change. All of ours.
Deborah Young: Yeah, I'm getting some bad feelings too. Hands off Honduras, if we won't pick on the real thugs...
How much more evidence do we need to tell us that our priorities are woefully out of whack?
I switched over to the "Twilight Zone" marathon for something a little less surreal.
Rated
the old saying the "show must go on" is just that, a saying. It's said that the people running this circus into the Staples Center are trying recoup their losses from their sponsorship of the tour he was to do.
It is beyond sickening. Enough...!
Think about something pleasant instead of the crazy circus.
There's a great piece in NY Times Magazine called Street Farmer. It's so cool, fingerlakeswanderer, that it'll put you in a good mood.
Here's the link: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/05/magazine/05allen-t.html?hpw
I think the Catholics might have the right of it with relics. At least shrines space out the populace, and it's the same concept- honoring the members of the group that they feel they have consumed utterly.
I am glad for him that at least he is outside the fray now, and no longer has to watch his own consumption. Hope your hospital trip is productive.
Seriously, the MJ thing is just bizarre to me. Yeah, I liked his music and I suppose he had a horrible life with lots of demons, but it sounds like every time someone would try to save him he would reject their help. We've all overcome huge obstacles, big deal.
I've heard estimates of 750,000 in the streets surrounding the arena. It's almost comical if not so terrible sad to see what we've become. Someone will get stuck with the crowd control bill which will be in the hundreds of thousands. That in a city and state that is ready to go bankrupt. Talk about a waste of money. Sheesh.
So, I'm wondering, should I wait a week or should I list my MJ trading cards on EBay now?
His family, of all people, are the ones allowing this. They are continuing to make a quick buck off of him, even after he's dead.
Ahhh - family values alive and well here in Los Angeles.
No wonder the rest of the world hates us.....
*runs away screaming*
(good luck on Monday)
To answer this implies we had one to begin with. Now excuse me while I moonwalk to the bedroom. I'm a tired old fart and all this dying around me is starting to scare me :-)
And I’m embarrassed to admit I hadn’t even heard about Cynthia McKinney’s capture. Talk about national heroes. Have you seen her in the documentary American Blackout?
Best wishes for Monday,
Melissa
Rated
Oh, well.
Back to reality after I post this.
next: you said it and how, fingerlakes.
I mean, ok, he had tons off talent, and could rig a pop hook in a son like no one else excep S&G and the Beatles and Check Berry. OK. But most of his songs require HIM to be great. The best thing he did -- Human Nature -- is a masterpiece, hands down, but Billie Jean was dull as dirt w/o him.
And no one so far is really discussing the 3rd rail question: how can someone be so talented and successful and still be a pedophile?
Enough already. Well said.
tho the son error is pretty funny in a double-entendre sort of way
(no pun intended)
RATED!!
it's = it is contraction
I always find it oh so amusing when, in a desire to display one's prowess, one fucks up something as simple as the difference between a possessive and a contraction.
There, there. Don't worry so much. The citizens of Tehran are much more likely to be vaporized in a nuclear firestorm than those of Tel Aviv. Happy now?
Though not particularly a Jackson fan there can be no question but that (despite the controversy surrounding this young man whose mind has, for some time, seemed rather demented by the ingestion of pharmaceuticals foisted on him by parasitic doctors and promoters) he was still one of the world’s greatest entertainers ever. In this sense he will remain an immortal and will forever be a pivotal figure in world culture who is comparable with (nay exceeds by quantum leaps) Edith Piaf, Judy Garland, Rudolph Valentino, Elvis Presley, etc, etc, etc.
Absolutely no one (but this venomous and deeply resentful and bitter commentator) has attempted to portray this profoundly troubled young man as a ‘saint,” or a ‘God’ but merely what he was: a deeply troubled and magnificently talented young man who we all know will be as exploited in death as he was in life. This is the nature of our celebrity culture.
Contrary to the venom spit by small, petty, provincial, and embittered self-righteous minds, this memorial and tribute will, in fact, feed thousands upon thousands of decent every-day working people in dire need of honest work in troubled times.
But the scurrilous, macabre, and truly vitriolic gutter-language here hurled has no more ‘dignity’ (a word this post dishonors with unparalleled hypocrisy) than excrement spewed across the walls of a public toilet. This "Michael Jackson corpse extravaganza"? Who are you quoting? Yourself? Who does more to dishonor or more desecrate this tragic moment, this tragic young man and his cultural legacy, than you? This ‘memorial’ which you so gleefully trash and dishonor, will employ literally thousands of people and pay them millions of dollars to do jobs. From technicians, to street sweepers, to out-of-work souvenir hawkers and even coffin-makers and the workers who will clean the toilets at the convention center trying to feed their kids and pay their rent, this celebration of gifts given to those who mourn, will feed and pay the rent for hundreds – indeed - thousands of needy people who will be happy to later sweep the streets of Los Angeles for minimum wage – each and every one doing honest hard WORK that otherwise would never be done. As a result of this memorial that allows millions of people to pay tribute many millions upon millions in dollars will be spent to PAY MONEY for hard WORK, to average WORKING class people who will do the grunt work - not to mention the astounding talent currently out of work.
To even suggest that such money would otherwise be spent feeding the homeless is utterly delusional. And when this memorial and tribute are over I am sure we can be sure you will show us how much more you have done to dignify, genuinely mourn the loss of, and pay honest tribute to this mere ‘man’ whose life (despite its tragic dark side) was a gift to us all. And I sure you will be able to show us all how much more you have done to employ the mass of working class people who will put it together and clean up afterwords. If this is the dismal and loveless attitude you carry through life then Life will pass you by my dear, Life will pass you by to leave you screeching against the wind.
This is perhaps the ugliest, the smallest, and the most bitterly resentful and scurrilous screed I've yet to read at Salon.com. If this is what the editor's pick as the best Salon has to offer then we are better and more humanely informed by reading scurrilous graffiti smut spewed across the a walls of public toilets.
These people are just ranting and raving and making complete asshats of themselves......
J.P. Mortimer-all right, we get it, you don't like cussing. And Michael Jackson was a wonderful entertainer. You made a few good points in your comment too. But the visuals you invoked of excrement smeared on walls were far more offensive to my 'sensibilities' than the word fuck.
'Scurrilous screed' kinda made my day though. Really. I was reading your comment, and thinking to myself, 'Wow, this guy is PISSED. And crazy too.' But then I saw SCURRILOUS SCREED and thought-Ahaha! He actually used 'scurrilous screed' in a sentence!
I don't think we'd ever agree on anything, but sitting across from you in a booth at Denny's at 3am would probably be a worthwhile experience, J.P. ;)
I wonder if it's too late to bid on a testicle? Hell, we're talking about the guy who wanted to buy the Elephant Man's skeleton after all.