Archive for the The TV Guide Category

Whew … what a crazy 24 hours it’s been, huh? While many of us, me included, were merely trying to process the loss of Farrah Fawcett we were shocked to learn of the death of Michael Jackson yesterday afternoon. My immediate response was shock and awe … and the only way I knew how to process was to put on my fave Michael Jackson songs in remembrance. Of course, I was also reminded by just how many of his songs were faves of mine (Rock with You, hands down, is my fave Michael Jackson song of all time). Because I needed to get away from all of the media that was playing nonstop since word of MJ‘s cardiac arrest broke, I met up with my good friend Dino for a bite to eat and some friendly personal interaction. He was so kind as to give me one of the new military-style DSC Helmet Bags which are available for sale starting today:

Altho the helmet bag is really designed for air force pilots to carry around their helmets, I think I can find other uses for it :) Dino and I had a great time together but, invariably, I had to return home to the media dirge of newsreports. I managed to watch both hour-long 20/20 specials on ABC last night … one for the late Farrah Fawcett and one for the late Michael Jackson:

Farrah‘s special really educated me on her final years … it was very painful to see the way she wasted away in her final months but very heartening to see how hard she fought to live. MJ‘s special reminded me that while the man was a musical genius and is owed much for his contributions to pop culture, he had many problems and was really a very troubled man for most of his life. Time magazine published an honest piece on the death of Michael Jackson, titled The Death of Peter Pan, and I’d like to share an excerpt that really puts his troubled life in perspective:

Jackson’s profound weirdness — not just the glove or the seaweed hair striping his face but the blanched skin, the pained eyes, the tremulous soul — hinted that Peter Pan was the wrong role for him. Wasn’t Jackson really one of Peter’s Lost Boys, stranded between childhood and adolescence, loved by the public yet feeling caged and abandoned, and searching, groping for the Edenic innocence he believed was any child’s birthright? Or, to pick an image from another Disney cartoon classic, Neverland could also be Pinocchio’s Pleasure Island, where careless lads were transformed into slaves and donkeys. And this pop-star Pan could instead be the Pied Piper, the musician who lured children into a cave as their parents gasped in fright.

We really cannot forget the troubled life that MJ lived … because it was troubling for us to bear witness to. I recall the interview he did with journalist Martin Bashir, Living with Michael Jackson, where in his own words and by his own admissions he did the most damage to his persona. There are many ways to remember Michael Jackson … he was a hero to many, a villain to many and a sad, lost little boy who never really grew up to pretty much everyone. In the end, tho, I choose to remember the good things … his amazing body of music that will ensure that the best parts of him will live on for all time. Thursday June 25, 2009 is a day that a great many of us will remember for a long, long time. Some are dubbing it “The Day the Pop Music Died“. I think yesterday will always be one of those days where you’ll remember where you were when you heard that Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson died. I know, for sure, I will always remember.

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