Yesterday's news

[wendyzski]

Gods I hope that somewhere up there, Farrah just bitchslapped MJ for stealing her newsday!

I confess, I stopped thinking of Michael Jackson (and pretty much his whole screwed-up family) as an actual person long ago. I remember the Jackson 5, and even the Saturday morning cartoons! And I was in High School and College in the glory days of MTV. I remember watching the "special premiere" extended Thriller video and how groundbreaking it was at the time. I appreciated the work he did with LiveAid and he made a lot of great music.

But I have to admit that at a certain point I really wished he'd just go away. By the 90s it seemed that every story was creepier, more mesed up, and more disturbing than the last one. Whatever prompted it - the usual issues of an aging child star, early abuse, the fact that fame and money allowed him to utterly retreat from the real world for so long - the truth is that he was a really messed-up guy. When he went to Dubai during that last round of legal troubles, I remember thinking "great - maybe we won't have to hear about him for a good long while".

All the OMG WE LOVED HIMMM!!! tribute stories on the news are really getting to me. True, he did some great things but also some profoundly disturbing ones. I hope he's at pease now because he sure as hell wasn't while he was here.

Comments

[jtaylor2.livejournal.com]

I never really had a connection to Farrah, since she was a bit before my time, but I like her partner, Ryan O'Neal, in Bones. I think Season 4 has been so shoddy because he took time to be with her.

I feel the exact same way about Michael Jackson. When I heard the news, I felt a little bit of relief. I was tired of hearing about his financial troubles, family situation, and legal battles. I was also tired of seeing his face get gradually more and more mutilated. It's sad that no one stepped in a said: "Hey, this whole plastic surgery thing has gone too far. Your nose is falling off!"

[wendyzski.livejournal.com]

I'm 42, so all the boys I knew had that Farrah red swimsuit poster on the back of their bedroom doors :) She was only an Angel for 1 season, and then took on more serious projects. I admired her for that - she was actually a very good actress.

The MJ thing seemed to be a variation of the "child star grows up all wrong" thing - where they have lived in a bubble most of their lives and they end up having yes-men instead of friends when they really need the kind of friends who will say "Really, your best friend is a chimpanzee. Dude, that's screwed up!"

[jtaylor2.livejournal.com]

I think that Farrah was very beautiful. I can tell why she was an icon and influenced our pop culture. Although, that poster kind of creeps me out - such a wide grin!

With MJ - I can still enjoy some of his music as long as I don't even consider his life choices. I think that his life was the tragic result of that "child star" mentality. He was massively in debt and with children that will not inherit a penny in addition to losing their father. I actually feel rather sad for them, because I don't think that they'll ever escape the MJ legacy.

[petronivs.livejournal.com]

MJ is kind of like Elvis to me. Yes, he did good stuff. Yes, he was influential. Yes, a lot of people have really good memories of him.

But, really, he lived on past his time, and everyone needs to die at some point. Stop talking about him, you know?

[mermaid2003.livejournal.com]

I was bummed about Farrah--I had met her and Lee Majors a million years ago. She was very sweet, and he was a gentleman. MJ, on the other hand......I hated even hearing one of his songs in the grocery store, thinking, damn, more money for him to blow. He had so much, and just wasted it. He was a sick individual.

[wendyzski.livejournal.com]

I never met either of them but I did meet Diana Ross - excuse me "Ms. Ross" - who specified that none of the tech crew was to look her in the eye or speak to her - we were only to speak to her "people" who would relay the information. So every time I read anything about her I always tell that story - because she was a bitch.

[katexxxxxx.livejournal.com]

From another (UK based) discussion:

> A contributor on our local community forum has asked why the BBC has
> devoted the whole of the evening news to the death of a 'foriegn Has-
> been singer of so-called popular songs who is better known for drug
> abuse and child molestation' and asks if there are no home-grown
> worthless morons upon whom attention could be needlessly lavished
> instead.
>
> I immediately thought of Miss Whinehouse.

Yup, she'll do, I thought.

[wendyzski.livejournal.com]

I'm not denying that he wrote some awesome music, rewrote the idea of what a "music video" is, and did some awesome charity work.

But he outlived his legend and died a broke creepy self-absorbed delusional surgical experiment. A LOT of lessons can be drawn from this.

[katexxxxxx.livejournal.com]

So much talent and potential wasted. He never really allowed himself to grow up.

[starstraf.livejournal.com]

I like my friend Harolds comment

may he find the peace in death that so avoided him in life

[goddessjustice.livejournal.com]

Death makes a martyr of everyone. Remember when Ronald Reagan died?

~Mir (rememberingly)