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    Questions: The Michael Jackson Edition

    By Deadman on Thu, 06/25/2009 - 7:12pm | Arts & Entertainment, Personal

    Michael Jackson dead?? That's what the LA Times and AP are reporting, anyway (CNN hasn't yet confirmed). Unbelievable.

    Earlier today, my brother was bemoaning Farrah Fawcett's death, trying to come to grips with the loss of his most common inspiration for those special, intimate teenage moments. (I kind of remember Charlie's Angels and thinking of Farrah as a sexy broad, but she was a bit before my prime mastubatory years).

    Michael Jackson, however, was kind of like my Beatles. So I'm in shock, and surprisingly sad to learn of his premature death.

    Thriller may be the album (and I do mean 'album') I remember playing the most as a child. I remember ordering and breathlessly awaiting a Michael Jackson biography from one of those Scholastic book forms we used to get as kids (I think it was called Thriller).

    And despite all his successes, to me he seemed like such a tragic figure.

    In honor of the loss of the undisputed King of Pop, I present the Michael Jackson edition of Questions.

    Topics: 
    Arts & Entertainment
    Personal
    Series: 
    Questions

    Comments

    1) What's the first word you think of when I say Michael Jackson?


    by Deadman on Thu, 06/25/2009 - 7:13pm

    My childhood and my bedroom covered in his posters


    by Jen (not verified) on Thu, 06/25/2009 - 7:57pm

    Gary, Indiana (Yeah, two words...so sue me.)


    by Orlando on Thu, 06/25/2009 - 8:48pm

    Moonwalk. i dont know why, but that just sticks with me.


    by Deadman on Fri, 06/26/2009 - 2:04am

    I should have said 'Ja-Mor!'


    by Deadman on Fri, 06/26/2009 - 12:08pm

    Thriller


    by Bluesplashy on Fri, 06/26/2009 - 5:22am

    Five


    by Nebton on Fri, 06/26/2009 - 9:51am

    2) What Michael Jackson songs/albums do you have on your IPod?


    by Deadman on Thu, 06/25/2009 - 7:13pm

    Sadly, none. But I love basically everything he ever did musically. I'm just not very good at downloading.


    by Orlando on Thu, 06/25/2009 - 9:00pm

    Beat It Billie Jean PYT, The Girl is Mine. Wanna be starting something.

    I want you back and I'll Be There from the Jackson 5.

    surprised i dont have more actually.


    by Deadman on Fri, 06/26/2009 - 2:06am

    None, but that's probably because I have no music on my iPod, only podcasts. You do not want to know which podcasts.


    by Nebton on Fri, 06/26/2009 - 9:51am

    3) Which Michael Jackson song is your favorite? (Jackson 5 Tunes included)


    by Deadman on Thu, 06/25/2009 - 7:14pm

    thats what Jack got, cant remeber the title


    by Jen (not verified) on Thu, 06/25/2009 - 8:00pm

    "I Want You Back."

    "Don't Stop til You Get Enough" is a close second. And, I quite liked the whole "Bad" album as well, although I think we were on to cassette tapes at that point.


    by Orlando on Thu, 06/25/2009 - 8:54pm

    Ill go with billie jean. I want you back and wanna be starting something close behind.


    by Deadman on Fri, 06/26/2009 - 2:07am

    Man in the mirror (or whatever it's called)


    by Nebton on Fri, 06/26/2009 - 9:52am

    4) What about your favorite Michael Jackson video?


    by Deadman on Thu, 06/25/2009 - 7:15pm

    Ditto


    by Jen (not verified) on Thu, 06/25/2009 - 8:00pm

    Seriously, you wasted a question on this? Thriller. Duh.


    by Orlando on Thu, 06/25/2009 - 8:55pm

    I dont know, thriller was overrated. im kind of partial to man in the mirror.


    by Deadman on Fri, 06/26/2009 - 2:07am

    plus black and white should get credit (blame??) for starting that whole morphing craze!!


    by Deadman on Fri, 06/26/2009 - 2:21am

    Thriller. Without it, we wouldn't have this.


    by Nebton on Fri, 06/26/2009 - 9:54am

    5) Which non-musical Michael Jackson moment/situation do you think is most memorable (eg moonwalk dance, neverneverland, plastic surgery, pepsi ads, his kiss/marriage with Lisa Marie, his pedophile trials, his fatherhood (baby holding), etc.)


    by Deadman on Thu, 06/25/2009 - 7:15pm

    His children


    by Jen (not verified) on Thu, 06/25/2009 - 8:01pm

    What comes to mind is when he took Emmanuel Lewis to some big awards show..probably the Oscars or maybe the Grammys. Red jacket, one white glove, and one tiny little boy in a tux.


    by Orlando on Thu, 06/25/2009 - 8:56pm

    it's amazing how many non-musical things michael jackson is known for and kind of ashame that in some ways they overshadow his genius and musical gifts. I will go with the pedophile trials as being the thing that will stick out in people's mind the longest. But that hair-on-fire thing was certainly a huge story!


    by Deadman on Fri, 06/26/2009 - 2:09am

    Blanket


    by Nebton on Fri, 06/26/2009 - 9:54am

    btw, here's a fascinating page on what is surely one of the top non-musical Jackson stories - his addiction to plastic surgery and his ever-changing and, let's be honest, ever-worsening appearance.


    by Deadman on Fri, 06/26/2009 - 12:02pm

    6) Did you think Michael Jackson was guilty of pedophilia? If you think he was, as I do, do you also think, as I do, that he in some ways was as much of a victim as perpetrator given his unusual upbringing? Or do you think there can be no excuses for that kind of crime (pointing out that none of his siblings have ever been accused of similar behavior)


    by Deadman on Thu, 06/25/2009 - 7:16pm

    I didn't read much about that when it was happening, so I can't say for sure. But he clearly had some problems stemming from his childhood, and I wouldn't say it's unlikely to have manifested in that way. Although if it did, he was an adult and responsible for his behavior. So, like A-man said, no excuses.


    by Orlando on Thu, 06/25/2009 - 8:58pm

    Guilty, also a victim, but no excuses.


    by Nebton on Fri, 06/26/2009 - 9:55am

    7) In the entertainment world, whose death do you think would generate more international attention and sadness than Michael Jackson?


    by Deadman on Thu, 06/25/2009 - 7:16pm

    Only Bob Marley ...


    by Jen (not verified) on Thu, 06/25/2009 - 8:03pm

    I can't think of anybody either. But there's always an outpouring of attention and public grief when somebody famous dies early (i.e., Heath Ledger). It makes me a little uncomfortable, frankly.


    by Orlando on Thu, 06/25/2009 - 9:02pm

    i hear you, O, but i can understand the outpouring of emotions better when we're talking about real lasting icons like Michael. most celebrity deaths i think are sad, but then you think about the thousands and thousands of people who die every day, who may have done more or loved harder than some of these celebrities, and it's tough to get overly emotional.

    actually, for some reason 50 seems like a rather old age for a music icon. lennon, joplin, morrison, presley, cobain, - most of the great ones died young.


    by Deadman on Fri, 06/26/2009 - 2:15am

    Carrot Top

    by Michael Wolraich on Fri, 06/26/2009 - 12:20am

    Elvis. He's not really dead, you know.


    by Nebton on Fri, 06/26/2009 - 9:56am

    8) Give me the over/under in terms of months on how long it takes for a book publisher to take advantage of his death by coming out with a new Michael Jackson title? Will the book come out before the first posthumous record album? Will it be written by a Jackson family member, and if so, which one?


    by Deadman on Thu, 06/25/2009 - 7:17pm

    yeah ill go with 1 month. album out by end of year. the first posthumous Michael book will not be written by a family member, but one of them will publish something within the year, and I'm thinking Tito.


    by Deadman on Fri, 06/26/2009 - 2:16am

    First book in under a month, and that one won't be by a family member. Those (and there will be more than one) won't come out until the end of the year. First posthumous record album might also wait until the end of the year. First posthumous record where he's been edited in singing with someone else might take as long as two years.


    by Nebton on Fri, 06/26/2009 - 9:58am

    9) Play psychologist for a second: Why do you think Michael Jackson got all those plastic surgeries? Do you really believe it was medically necessary as he asserted once on Oprah (I think)? Couldn't he tell the damage he was doing?


    by Deadman on Thu, 06/25/2009 - 7:17pm

    Maybe because of all the racism he must have faced, or to look like Diana or Elizabeth


    by Jen (not verified) on Thu, 06/25/2009 - 8:06pm

    Maybe he hated himself so much that he thought if he looked different he could be a different person inside. But I hope not because that is soul-crushingly sad.


    by Orlando on Thu, 06/25/2009 - 9:06pm

    10) Some dude on CNN just compared Michael Jackson to John Lennon. Whose death was the bigger shock? Which one was the better performer? Better musician? More impactful musician?


    by Deadman on Thu, 06/25/2009 - 7:18pm

    Michael!!!!!!


    by Jen (not verified) on Thu, 06/25/2009 - 8:04pm

    This is a tough one. I think the Beatles as a whole probably accomplished more than Jackson did in terms of music innovation, and Lennon as the band's driving force must get much of the credit for that. Jackson seemed like an amazing live, entrancing live performer, though I never saw either one in concert. Lennon could play a guitar, and his lyrics generally had deeper meanings, so i give him more music cred.

    Know one thing for sure, Jackson takes the dancing crown! what moves he had. very reminiscent of my own skills on the dance floor.


    by Deadman on Fri, 06/26/2009 - 2:20am