R.I.P. King of Pop
On June 25, 2009, a musical icon died in LA. At 50 years old, Michael Jackson left this earth and left a legacy in music and pop culture that probably won’t be surpassed anytime soon. It was a celebrity death that is affecting people around the world. For my dad’s generation, it was Elvis Presley. For me, it’s Michael Jackson. It was one of those situations where I will remember exactly where I was and what I was doing. Princess Diana’s death: at my aunt and uncle’s house in Pacifica for my grandmother’s birthday party. September 11, 2001: I had just gotten up to get ready for school and turned on my radio. Marlon Brando’s death: my dad had called to wake me up for the day and told me the news which then caused me to start crying while lying in bed. Heath Ledger’s death: sitting at my computer between classes at NYU and checking Yahoo before reporting it to every one of my friends. Michael Jackson’s death: getting ready to leave work for the day.
Headlines had been popping up all over the internet right before I left work about how Michael Jackson had been rushed to the hospital. Originally, everyone at work thought it was a hoax or nothing serious. It was until a coworker yelled out, “Michael Jackson died” that we expressed our shock and disbelief. At that time, it was only being reported on TMZ which is not the most refutable source on the internet. But CNN, Yahoo, and the TV news stations started reporting it immediately after and the text messages started coming in droves. It seems that everyone had heard at the same time and had to express their opinions. It was the hot topic on BART, and when my train was stranded at Daly City for 20 minutes, it was all people could talk about it. Coupled with Farrah Fawcett’s passing earlier in the day, celebrity deaths were the topic of the day. World affairs, the economy, all forgotten.
I couldn’t believe it and part of me still can’t believe it. This was an artist I had grown up on, one I distinctly remember listening to and watching videos of since I was little. His biggest album, Thriller, was released before I was even born, but those songs are some of the most played on my IPod and sung by me in the shower. I walked home from BART blasting Michael’s songs on my IPod then arrived at home and spent the next hour and a half watching his music videos on Youtube. It seems that most of my time over the past few days has been spent listening to his music, downloading this music, reading news about him or celebrity reactions to his death, and watching his music videos. Radio stations have been playing his music nonstop; VH1, MTV, and BET have dedicated hours to his music videos; and his songs, albums, and music videos have taken over the Top 10 lists on ITunes. His albums are selling out all over the world. Thriller already holds the record for most records sold, with Jackson’s passing, it will break that record by an even greater number.
Now I’m skipping over the weirder and crazier aspects of Jackson’s career. That’s not the Michael I currently want to remember or celebrate. Besides it seems like that’s all CNN, FOX News, and all the other news stations can talk about so it’s been already covered extensively. No, what I want to remember is the Michael Jackson I grew up with. The Jackson 5 and “ABC” and little dancing Michael. Watching Captain Eo at Disneyland multiple times as a child and being creeped out by the evil queen reaching out at me in 3D; dancing around to and singing “Another Part of Me” as an adult and searching for Captain Eo in its entirety on Youtube. Thinking “Thriller” was an insanely good video and then later appreciating it even more for what it did for the music video business and the fact that it has both Vincent Price and dancing zombies. Thinking the “You Are Not Alone” was a kind of annoying song and creepy video in 1995 and still believing that in 2009, but hey, I still sing the chorus aloud whenever I can. Loving “Bad” the song, loving “Bad’ the music video, loving “Fat” by Weird Al, loving it even more because Marty Scorsese directed the video and Wesley Snipes randomly pops up in it. Being able to recognize the beat of “Beat It” and random dance moves from the video and getting West Side Story flashbacks. Playing “Billie Jean” so many times that it has entered my Top 25 Most Played list on my ITunes – I’ve now recognized it as my favorite Michael Jackson song of all time (plus, I wish I could touch things and make them light up). Not getting into “PYT” until this year and now blasting it whenever I can. Naming “Black and White” as the most remembered MJ music video from my childhood due to the Macaulay Culkin cameo. Coming to appreciate “Remember the Time” as a great song and great video. Still loving “You Rock My World” 8 years later and being able to fully described the music video, a few dance moves, and the various cameos (creepy guy from The Untouchables gets his comeuppance in it, cementing its greatness). As you can see, a lot of his music has been a part of my life.
I didn’t realize how many random dance moves I knew from the music videos until I started rewatching them these past few days. Now I’m finally going to try and achieve my goal of learning the entire “Thriller” dance as well as the dances for “Beat It”, “Bad”, “Remember the Time”, and “You Rock My World”. I’m going to continue blasting his music and singing along (I’m currently playing “Rockin Robin” on my computer). This is how I’m going to honor the King of Pop. R.I.P. Michael Jackson.
More Than Meets the Eye
I saw Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen in IMAX tonight (IMAX is always the way to go with these movies although $17 is a little steep), and frankly, I loved it. I tried to stay away from a lot of reviews and comments since I didn’t want to be spoiled or think that I’d be disappointed because other people were. I did read a few though, and I couldn’t believe that people were complaining about the quality of the movie. Hello, it’s a Michael Bay film! What were they expecting? Obviously, this movie wasn’t going to be an Oscar caliber film. It’s a summer action movie which will rake in the money and set records. With Michael Bay films, the moviegoer should only go in expecting lots of things blowing up and fights. And that’s what we got. We also got to see the characters grow a little, comedy, and a lot more robots (I wouldn’t be able to tell you what most of their names were. Unlike most geeky things, I was not a part of this fandom before the first movie). Also, I’m tired of fanboy complaints about the lack of plot and character development. If I remember correctly, these same fanboys were complaining in 2007 about how the first Transformers focused too much on plot, the human characters, and character development – they wanted more robot fights. Well, congrats, that’s what you got. But heaven forbid you all accept it and enjoy the movie. No, you have to complain on the internet like you do about everything else. I should have learned my lesson from The Dark Knight, The Incredible Hulk, Watchmen, and Wolverine and just have stayed away from fanboy reviews. Go cry to someone else. I, however, was a content moviegoer and thoroughly enjoyed myself. It was a little longer than it needed to be, but it was worth it. T:ROTF had everything I wanted and expected: action, comedy, robot fights, an old crotchety British robot, things going boom, lots of Shia, less Megan Fox, and lots of comedic Turturro (who also showed his butt in this movie which means I’ve seen a lot of Turturro this month). That means I was able to experience both Turturros this month: comedic Turturro in Transformers and dramatic Turturro in Pelham 123. I love celebrating the month of Turturro. Anyways, I loved Transformers and am telling all of my friends to see it and enjoy themselves. Everyone deserves to have fun at a summer popcorn flick.
According to the news today, the Academy Awards will now have 10 Best Picture nominees. I’m still not sure how I feel about this. On the one hand, I feel like 10 is too many. It would have been better if they had upped it to 6 or 7. Plus, what if the year doesn’t have 10 great, Oscar-worthy films? Have there been any yet? Here’s hoping “Shutter Island”, “Nine”, and “A Serious Man” live up to the hype. On the other hand, it would enable more quality films to be recognized. And maybe more comedies and animated films will join the fray. It would be nice for the Academy to actually give them the praise they deserve like the Golden Globes do. It would have been better if they had started this new tradition last year; that way, Wall-E, The Dark Knight, and In Bruges all could have been nominated and could have possibly won. Heck, just let me be an Academy member and I’ll vote for all of these great films.
