porno

As I’ve mentioned before, David and I were among the lucky folks who were able to attend the public memorial service for the late Michael Jackson at the Staples Center here in downtown Los Angeles, CA yesterday morning. There is so much to share that the best way I know how to do so is to just start at the beginning and go from there. Both David and I registered for tickets for the event but like so many other people, neither one of us were selected to receive tickets. I cannot explain why but deep down I always knew that we would attend the service somehow. Late Sunday night, after I had already received confirmation that I did NOT win tickets I received an email from Pink reader Heidi in Houston, TX. She entered for tickets never believing that she would actually win … and she won. Because she was unable to just fly to LA for the event, she very graciously gave her tickets to me. Heidi had NO interest in selling the tickets and she did not want them to go unused … so she asked if I would take them off her hands. We weren’t sure if I would be able to redeem the vouchers for tickets (since she had to enter her personal info to get the voucher and photo ID was required to pick up the tickets) but it turned out to be no problem at all. All they did was scan the barcode on the voucher and we were given our tickets and wristbands. Heidi has been insistent on not being repaid for her kindness but I want to take this opportunity to publicly thank her for her generosity. Once we got our tickets and wristbands, David was very relieved. He had been really excited to see Michael Jackson in concert in September … so he really wanted to say goodbye to the King of Pop in person.

We arrived at Staples early yesterday so that we could sign the memorial wall before the service began. On our way into the secure area, we were met with an onslaught of street vendors. One man was selling sparkly gloves for $5 … because I was wearing a Michael Jackson-esque red jacket, I thought it would be apropos to buy one. When I saw that Michael‘s brothers were also wearing white sparkly gloves, I was happy that I wore one too. Here are a few photos of the tribute wall that people were signing in front of Staples Center:

I was able to snap a lot of photos inside the service and those can be seen behind the cut. Because there are so many and the post will get much longer you can see the rest of the photos/text after the jump …

Yesterday morning, here in Los Angeles, CA, thousands of family, friends and fans of Michael Jackson paid tribute and homage to the late King of Pop in a respectful, somber yet mostly celebratory memorial service at the Staples Center in downtown LA (which you may have watched online HERE). David and I were at yesterday’s memorial service and I will share my personal experience from the event a little later on today … but I will say that it was a very beautiful, very fitting tribute to Michael Jackson. Family and friends eulogized him with words and songs as his shining casket, reportedly with his body inside, stood at the front of the venue for those in attendance to pay their respects. Here are a few photos and some info about the event itself:

His was a tumultuous life and a chaotic death, but Michael Jackson’s funeral and memorial Tuesday were orderly and celebratory, moving and bittersweet, as family, friends and fans around the world joined in lamenting the loss of the King of Pop. It was one of the most-watched celebrity sendoffs in history, telecast across multiple channels and streamed across the Internet. But the predicted traffic and crowd-control nightmares did not materialize. Thousands of police officers helped keep the ticketless crowd to a minimum — about 1,000 people vs. the 250,000 feared — and the motorcade with Jackson’s hearse encountered few problems traveling blocked-off freeways to downtown. The goodbye to Jackson started early with a private service for family and close friends at Forest Lawn in the Hollywood Hills. (A crash was heard as drivers slowed to watch the procession leave the cemetery). A star-crowded memorial program followed, at the downtown Staples Center, that was spiritual, smoothly entertaining and jubilantly roof-raising as Jackson was hailed as a superstar and humanitarian. “The King of Pop has gone to meet the King of Kings,” intoned the Rev. Lucious Smith, pastor of the Friendship Baptist Church in Pasadena. It was a day filled with touching moments, perhaps the most poignant when Jackson’s daughter, Paris, 11, took the microphone. “I just want to say ever since I was born, Daddy has been the best father you can ever imagine. And I just wanted to say I love him so much,” she said, breaking into tears. That followed two hours of farewell tributes from musicians, athletes and friends of Michael Joseph Jackson, who died suddenly June 25 at age 50. The crowd of 20,000 was alternately reverent and boisterous. They watched in solemn silence as the likes of Stevie Wonder, Lionel Richie and Mariah Carey sang sweetly, and older brother Jermaine crooned Smile, the theme from Charlie Chaplin’s classic film Modern Times. Usher sang Jackson’s sadly prescient Gone Too Soon as he caressed the golden casket spotlighted in front of the stage and draped in flowers. But when Kobe Bryant walked in, many jumped to their feet and started cheering and taking pictures; some reached over for high-fives. They cheered loud approval for the Rev. Al Sharpton’s fiery eulogy and laughed at a story Magic Johnson told about fried chicken. And they snapped photos with phones and rained shout-outs of “I love you, Michael!” during lulls … Other celebrities in the crowd: Cicely Tyson; P. Diddy; Rick, Kathy and Nicky Hilton; Lil Kim; Chris Brown; and Tatum O’Neal. Diana Ross and Nelson Mandela sent messages. Also absent: Jackson’s longtime pal Elizabeth Taylor, who said in a Twitter post she couldn’t bear to be part of the public hoopla, and Debbie Rowe, Jackson’s ex-wife and mother of Jackson’s two oldest children. Outside the Staples Center, the mood was festive. Vendors hawked T-shirts, buttons, photos and other memorabilia … As the memorial service ended, Jackson’s three children and eight siblings — his brothers were all wearing one beaded white glove in his honor — gathered onstage to say thanks. “We will never understand what he endured … being judged, ridiculed,” said brother Marlon, choking up. “Maybe, now, Michael, they will leave you alone.” The Rev. Smith closed by noting: “All around us are people of different cultures, different religions, different nationalities. And yet the music of Michael Jackson brings us together.” After the memorial, the family went to the Beverly Wilshire Hotel for a private reception. It was unclear whether Jackson’s casket would be returned to Forest Lawn for burial or taken to another final resting place.

I have to tell you that I was touched by the service more than I thought I would be. As I’ve tried to make clear, I’m not the biggest Michael Jackson fan in the world (there are plenty of uberfans all around the globe who are more fitting of that title than I) but I really wanted to pay respects to such an icon of pop culture. I didn’t count in being as affected by the memorial service as I was. Mariah Carey‘s performance brought the first tears to my eyes … Brooke Shields‘s eulogy brought them back. When Paris Michael Katherine, MJ‘s 11 year old only daughter, spoke at the end of the service I absolutely burst out crying. There wasn’t a dry eye anywhere in our vicinity. Paris‘s comments were so heartfelt, so honest … so raw. I’m sure it was difficult for most to keep from crying as she declared her love for her daddy. She said, “I just want to say… ever since I was born…. daddy has been the best father you can imagine. And I just want to say I love him so much.” In case you missed it, you can watch Paris‘s short speech after the jump …

Today is the day. Today is the day that the world says its final farewell to Michael Jackson who, as pretty much everyone on planet Earth knows by now, passed away on Thursday June 25. Today at 10AM PT — family, friends and thousands of fans will gather at the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles, CA to pay tribute to the late King of Pop in one grandiose memorial service:

Additionally, countless others will tune in to watch the event from their televisions, computers, etc. the world over to be a part of today’s service. I am lucky enough to be able to attend today’s memorial service at the Staples Center in person and I plan on sharing as much of my perspective of the memorial service as I can with all y’all. Behind the cut, you will find an embedded live stream of the memorial service in case you cannot be near a TV and want to watch the service live as it happens. Right below you will find my live Twitter tweets from the Michael Jackson memorial service. If YOU would like to participate in the discussion and see your tweets below be sure to include #pinkmj in your tweets and they will show up below as well:

.tweet
{
display: block;
background: #000000;
clear: both;
padding: .6em;
margin: .3em;
overflow: hidden;
}
.tweet img
{
float: left;
margin-right: 1em;
border: 2px solid #222;
background: #000000;
}
.tweet p.text
{
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
padding-left: 70px;
}
.monitter
{
float: left;
width: 525px;
height: 600px;
margin: 5px;
border: 2px solid #ddd;
background: #000000;
overflow:hidden;
}

If, for some reason, the live Twitter feed does not work properly you can always follow my tweets HERE and can follow the #pinkmj discussion HERE. After the jump, you will find a live stream of CBS‘s satellite broadcast of Michael Jackson‘s Memorial Service at the Staples Center as it airs live over their network feed so that you can watch the whole service RIGHT HERE on Pink is the new Blog …

The wait is on … after public registration for tickets to attend the public memorial service of Michael Jackson, which will take place at the Staples Center and Nokia Theater in downtown Los Angeles, CA on Tuesday July 7, went online Friday morning at around 10:30AM PT over one million people submitted requests to attend the event. Because only 11,000 seats inside the Staples Center and 6,500 seats inside the Nokia Theater are being made available to the public, 8,750 sets of tickets will be made available to those who successfully registered for tickets. At 11AM PT today, the lucky folks who “win” tickets will begin receiving emails giving them information on how to pick up their tickets for the event. Preparations have already gotten underway at the Staples Center for the service, which will take place in just 2 days time now. A large white sign has been put up in front of the venue were people have been writing messages to the late King of Pop:

1.6 million people signed up to be eligible to win tickets to attend Tuesday’s highly anticipated public memorial service for late music icon Michael Jackson, according to MyFoxLA. The Staples Center’s website caved under the pressure of the hits several times since the lottery was announced and until the cut off time last night at 6 p.m. local time. Initially the registry was open only to US residents, but soon expanded to allow anyone around the world to sign up for the chance to win a pair of tickets to the event, about which few details are known, save that there will be no funeral procession, and that it will cost the City of Los Angeles a pretty penny to host. 8,750 names will be selected at random, which will distribute “11,000 people to the Staples Center plus 6,500 in the Nokia Theater overflow section next door.” The drawing was rescheduled from today until tomorrow, according to KFWB. Fans who do not receive passes are being urged to stay home and watch the service on television or the internet; there will be no big screen broadcast on the plaza of LA Live, and the LAPD have already begun to close down streets around the venue. A Jackson family rep explained they are carefully checking the entries in the lottery to eliminate duplicates and automated “go-bot” entries, and will be vigilant about checking wristbands and regulating potential scalpers. Early predictions indicate hundreds of thousands of people will attempt to flood the area on Tuesday regardless of their ticket status, which means our LAPD will be working overtime to keep things in order. Yesterday, City Councilwoman and Mayor Pro Tem Jan Perry asked the public to consider making donations to help defray the cost of the memorial, much like how L.A. afforded to host last month’s Lakers NBA Championship parade. This morning will find Rev. Al Sharpton also making a plea; he’ll be at the First A.M.E. Church in South L.A. calling for a National Day of Mourning, and for the US Postal Service to issue a Michael Jackson stamp–something done traditionally at least 5 years following a person’s death.

Nothing about these numbers should be surprising to anyone. What bothers me, tho, is that by making the ticket distribution process a lottery the organizers essentially invalidated countless numbers of tickets that may go unused. It seems to me that a considerable portion of the 1.6 million people who registered (from all around the country and the world) will not actually fly to LA to attend the service … what will happen to those tickets? Will they go unused? I’m not sure what would’ve been a better system for ticket distribution but this idea seems flawed. Perhaps if they “sold” the tickets for $1 each with all proceeds going to a charity, a proper accounting of who might actually attend could be determined. But all of this is moot anyways … the deed is done and now 1.6 million people wait to learn if they will be allowed to attend the public memorial service of Michael Jackson.

[Photo credit: Splash News; Source]