Lindsey and I have started a little blog as we go through some of the best movies in the world. We invite you to join the discussion.
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11 years ago
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Vacation Journal
As is often the case when I go on vacation, the desire to write gripped me more while Lindsey and I were on our honeymoon than it does in my normal day-to-day. I came home with tons of ideas, some good and some bad, and itching to put pen to pad (or, in this case, finger to keyboard). Cruises are fantastic places for people watching and as the trip went on, I made notes of all the interesting/ridiculous things that went on through the week. Since at least two of the books I read on vacation were journal-types, I felt inspired to create one for this trip.
DAY 1
10:00 am - I left my wedding ring at home. Good start.
12:00 pm - We’re pulling into the parking areas for our cruise. The standard Carnival lot costs $50 for the week. A steep price, to be sure. There are tons of “discount” lots surrounding the terminals, some complete with people out waving cars down to park in their spots. One is discounted to $29. My question is, having already paid the sum for this cruise and all the excursions therein, why in the world would I park my car, unsupervised, in someone’s yard for a week for $20 less than in the lit, secure, official lot? The extra $21 will probably not pay for the new tires and stereo you’ll need when you get back.
12:38 pm - We are experiencing a significant delay in boarding the boat. Apparently it got in late and isn’t clean yet. We’ll be here a while.
1:25 pm - There is a boom box playing AWESOME vacation/party tunes like “Celebrate Good Times” and “Locomotion.” Even better, it’s clearly intended to be played during the typical 20 minute wait for boarding. Therefore, we’re talking about an 8 song loop. If I hear “Gloria” one more time…
4:30 pm - After finally boarding the boat, we are immediately sent to our Emergency Stations to practice putting on our life jackets. The woman asks us not to blow the safety whistles attached to said life jackets and shockingly no one does. We do, however, find out that everyone else on the boat has an assigned life boat(s) to go to, but we do not. I guess we’ve drawn the short straw and have to go down with the ship.
4:42 pm - We finally leave the pier approximately 3 hours behind schedule and immediately have to return because someone is having a medical emergency. Personally I think someone from our little section realized we were to be fed to sharks as chum in the event of an emergency and decided to bail.
6:05 pm - Our waiter for the week is named Isoyaman. He looks and talks very much like the grown up version of Data from “The Goonies.” Lindsey cannot understand a word he says.
6:12 pm - We share a table with a Hispanic couple, a mom and her 20-something daughters, and a very odd pairing consisting of a woman who looks to be in her mid 50s and a young teenage boy. I’m intrigued.
6:33 pm - There is a child (no older than 4) at the table behind us. He continually gets up and runs around the dining room as if this was not a cruise ship filled with strangers who paid a chunk of money to be on vacation. His mother, strangely, seems to think it is fun to get up and climb around all the other chairs to chase after him over and over.
8:26 pm - We’re attending a sort of orientation to life aboard the boat and events therein. Our cruise director, Steve, looks like Chris Elliot and sounds like Wallace Shawn of “Princess Bride” fame.
10:02 pm - After flipping channels on our stateroom TV for a few minutes, we realize that all the network stations are Denver affiliates. For the rest of the week we will receive all the important news and goings on of Colorado. If Katy Wallis had anything going on in her neighborhood last week, I know all about it.
DAY 2
8:45 am - Each day we get a sort of program called the “Carnival Capers” that describes the days events. Today’s is headlined, ““Fun” Day at Sea” as if to suggest quite sarcastically that there will be no fun had this time around.
11:05 am - At another all cruise gathering, Steve discusses the upcoming set that a comedian is going to do later that night. He stresses that this will be an r-rated performance over and over again. After about the twelfth warning, I’m starting to wonder what exactly is going to happen at this show. I think he may murder someone for comedic purposes.
11:16 am - During the little show, Steve brings the Carnival mascot onto the stage. This sucker looks like a multicolored brother of Hellboy. I am not kidding. His head is shaped like the whale fin that comes out of the top of all Carnival ships and it looks like sawed off horns. Creepy.
12:29 pm - While walking back to our room, we pass a door that has been decorated with the phrase, “Relaxing in the Breeze” spelled out, along with pictures of two women I’m assuming were occupying the room…and a teddy bear. Yup, these are the people we’re sharing a boat with.
2:38 pm - Lindsey and I are reading on one of the platforms. The book I’m reading, written by a half-crazy Christian author, spends a full chapter denouncing Harry Potter. Meanwhile, two feet from me, my heathen wife is ready Harry Potter. That’s what we call irony.
3:36 pm - One of the non-Denver channels that we get is Boomerang. (Yes, we get frickin’ Boomerang but not ESPN.) It is a Spanish channel, however, so all the advertisements and the names of the show are in Spanish but all the shows themselves are English. Also, it’s really weird how the names of shows and movies are changed in other countries. “What I Like About You” is apparently called, “The Adventures of My Sister and I” in Mexico.
6:45 pm - Out of the corner of my eye, I catch a glimpse of one of the kids I used to teach in Grapevine. Bailey Littlejohn if I’d had a dodgeball I would have plastered you, kiddo.
11:21 pm - There is no cheese on this boat. I mean, sure, you can get a slice of American on your burger. But there’s no cheese on the salad bar, no cheese for hot dogs, and no cheese for baked potatoes.
12:02 am - I flip over to one of the movie channels to see what options we’re going to have for the next 24 hours and the opening credits for “Nights in Roadanthe” are rolling. Blerg. Too bad Jason isn’t here, he could watch his favorite movie upwards of 10 times in one day.
DAY 3
8:00 am - We wake up to the sight of another Carnival cruise ship docked across the pier. I consider starting some sort of battle with them but think better of it. For now.
9:15 am - As we walk through the Welcome Center in Progreso, we come across an out-of-control beer vendor. He’s jumping around like the leader of the Grambling University marching band and blowing a whistle that I’m pretty sure he stole from one of our life jackets.
9:17 am - Another vendor approaches the man in front of us with a book of tattoo designs in an effort to get show him the fine craftsmanship they offer here in Progresso should he want to get a barbed wire tat around his bicep. The man is upwards of 60. I question the marketing technique.
9:33 am - Our tour guides are named Jose, Arturo, and Antonio. I kind of don't believe them.
10:47 am - We’re being given a tour of a Mayan city. It is incredible experience to see what these people could do with so little technology.
11:01 am - It is blowing my mind how many people have come on this walking tour through a rocky, uphill terrain wearing flip flops. Just stupid.
11:08 am - There’s a guy with us sporting a Mardi Gras tattoo. I don’t mean something reminiscent of Mardi Gras, I mean it just says, “Mardi Gras” across his arm. Do I really need to comment on this?
11:21 am - Oh the joy of people watching! There is a man here who is pushing 70 and is being accompanied by a woman I would have sworn was his daughter until it is CLEARLY confirmed that she is in fact his wife. She has to be 25 years younger than him.
11:43 am - As we take a few minutes to sit around this beautiful watering hole in the midst of buildings that are thousands of years old, the guy next to me pulls out a can of chaw and beings chewing and spitting all over the place. Nothing says classy like spitting chewing tobacco residue all over sacred Mayan architecture.
12:40 pm - There is a family sitting next to us on the bus with a baby. Not a kid, not an infant, a baby. Like a 2 month old screaming baby. I cannot think of a better way to have a terrible vacation that to bring a baby on a 5 day boat trip to Swine Flu country.
2:00 pm - The movie screening in the on-board theater today is “Australia.” I question this on two fronts: First, “Australia” is 17 hours long. Who is going to watch this instead of enjoying the many amenities of the luxury boat they’ve paid to be on board? I’m pretty sure they could have gotten through the entire “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, director’s cut, before finishing “Australia.” Second, this movie was a complete and total failure on all fronts. 22 people saw “Australia” on its opening weekend and 17 of them were related to Hugh Jackman.
6:08 pm - At dinner tonight only one dude in the entire dining room is wearing a t-shirt. This happens to be a Michigan Wolverines t-shirt, proving once again that Michigan fans are idiots.
DAY 4
9:12 am - As we make our way into Cozumel, we can’t help but take notice in the differences between our boat, the Ecstasy, and the other boat that follows us around, the Fantasy. Everything about the Fantasy seems better. Even the lettering on the tail of the boat is straighter and more prominent than ours. It’s a good thing I didn’t start a war with them yesterday, they probably have on board machine guns.
9:25 am - We’re waiting to leave on our excursion for the day and I’m watching all the people roll in from the two boats. One is wearing a t-shirt that say, “I’m so gay I (poop) rainbows.” I worry about this young man because he obviously has a serious medical condition that has been magnificently misdiagnosed.
9:55 am - For today’s excursion, Lindsey and I are taking a submarine down to look at the reef around Cozumel. This turns out to be one of the coolest things I have ever done. The water here is amazing.
11:19 am - All of our tour guides are wearing tiny, tiny shorts that look like they belong in Gob Bluthe’s “Hot Cop” routine in “Arrested Development.”
12:03 pm - Lindsey and I eat in the city and I drink the water given me. If I die in the next 12 hours we’ll all know why.
12:50 pm - A little known fact about Mexico: their top six retail markets are t-shirts, glass products, wooden trinkets, jewelry, liquor, and Nacho Libre masks. Seriously, every store we’ve seen thus far sells masks by the dozen. If I’m ever down on my luck, I think I’ll create a gang of bank robbers who wear these masks during our heists.
2:28 pm - Between episodes of “The Travels of My Sister and I,” Boomerang plays a music video. This one is the Japanese-drawn Power Puff Girls, singing in Spanish, to what I’m pretty sure was the Ramones’ song “Blitzkrieg Bop.” This is the weirdest thing I’ve seen yet.
8:42 pm - After skipping dinner in the dining hall, we bump into one of our tablemates in the grill area. She proclaims that she is proud of herself because, while at the beach party in Cozumel, her daughters passed out before she did. Yup, these are the people we’re sharing a boat with.
DAY 5
9:30 am - None of the food here is exquisite but it is plentiful. I will probably need a month to clear all this crap out of my system.
11:26 am - While walking on one of the decks, I spot what appears to be a manatee sunbathing. Upon closer inspection, it turns out to be the palest, fattest man you could ever think would be sun bathing. His positioning is so awkward, too, that one might think he was being forced to be in the sun for the first time and, like a 6 year old, had decided to pout about this with his head stuck down between his folder arms. It was weird.
12:39 pm - Oh dear readers! If only I had access to such technology that would allow me to take pictures simply by blinking my eye! There is a large woman standing in front of me wearing shorts that probably never fit correctly and displaying, quite prominently, a large tattoo on her upper thigh. I can’t stare directly at it for fear of being spotted but it kind of looks like a portrait of Don King.
3:47 pm - “Paul Blart: Mall Cop” is the movie of the day for, I think the third time this week. I’ve seen parts of this film about 30 times now and I really kind of wish I hadn’t at all.
11:07 pm - Cheese! We’ve found cheese! There’s a huge tray of it spread out in the grill. It is as if the kitchen staff kept it hidden from us all this time just in case there was some sort of coup and they needed to have something to barter with in exchange for their lives. I’ve already eaten a plate full.
I’m going to get a barbed wire tattoo around my thigh,
Brian
DAY 1
10:00 am - I left my wedding ring at home. Good start.
12:00 pm - We’re pulling into the parking areas for our cruise. The standard Carnival lot costs $50 for the week. A steep price, to be sure. There are tons of “discount” lots surrounding the terminals, some complete with people out waving cars down to park in their spots. One is discounted to $29. My question is, having already paid the sum for this cruise and all the excursions therein, why in the world would I park my car, unsupervised, in someone’s yard for a week for $20 less than in the lit, secure, official lot? The extra $21 will probably not pay for the new tires and stereo you’ll need when you get back.
12:38 pm - We are experiencing a significant delay in boarding the boat. Apparently it got in late and isn’t clean yet. We’ll be here a while.
1:25 pm - There is a boom box playing AWESOME vacation/party tunes like “Celebrate Good Times” and “Locomotion.” Even better, it’s clearly intended to be played during the typical 20 minute wait for boarding. Therefore, we’re talking about an 8 song loop. If I hear “Gloria” one more time…
4:30 pm - After finally boarding the boat, we are immediately sent to our Emergency Stations to practice putting on our life jackets. The woman asks us not to blow the safety whistles attached to said life jackets and shockingly no one does. We do, however, find out that everyone else on the boat has an assigned life boat(s) to go to, but we do not. I guess we’ve drawn the short straw and have to go down with the ship.
4:42 pm - We finally leave the pier approximately 3 hours behind schedule and immediately have to return because someone is having a medical emergency. Personally I think someone from our little section realized we were to be fed to sharks as chum in the event of an emergency and decided to bail.
6:05 pm - Our waiter for the week is named Isoyaman. He looks and talks very much like the grown up version of Data from “The Goonies.” Lindsey cannot understand a word he says.
6:12 pm - We share a table with a Hispanic couple, a mom and her 20-something daughters, and a very odd pairing consisting of a woman who looks to be in her mid 50s and a young teenage boy. I’m intrigued.
6:33 pm - There is a child (no older than 4) at the table behind us. He continually gets up and runs around the dining room as if this was not a cruise ship filled with strangers who paid a chunk of money to be on vacation. His mother, strangely, seems to think it is fun to get up and climb around all the other chairs to chase after him over and over.
8:26 pm - We’re attending a sort of orientation to life aboard the boat and events therein. Our cruise director, Steve, looks like Chris Elliot and sounds like Wallace Shawn of “Princess Bride” fame.
10:02 pm - After flipping channels on our stateroom TV for a few minutes, we realize that all the network stations are Denver affiliates. For the rest of the week we will receive all the important news and goings on of Colorado. If Katy Wallis had anything going on in her neighborhood last week, I know all about it.
DAY 2
8:45 am - Each day we get a sort of program called the “Carnival Capers” that describes the days events. Today’s is headlined, ““Fun” Day at Sea” as if to suggest quite sarcastically that there will be no fun had this time around.
11:05 am - At another all cruise gathering, Steve discusses the upcoming set that a comedian is going to do later that night. He stresses that this will be an r-rated performance over and over again. After about the twelfth warning, I’m starting to wonder what exactly is going to happen at this show. I think he may murder someone for comedic purposes.
11:16 am - During the little show, Steve brings the Carnival mascot onto the stage. This sucker looks like a multicolored brother of Hellboy. I am not kidding. His head is shaped like the whale fin that comes out of the top of all Carnival ships and it looks like sawed off horns. Creepy.
12:29 pm - While walking back to our room, we pass a door that has been decorated with the phrase, “Relaxing in the Breeze” spelled out, along with pictures of two women I’m assuming were occupying the room…and a teddy bear. Yup, these are the people we’re sharing a boat with.
2:38 pm - Lindsey and I are reading on one of the platforms. The book I’m reading, written by a half-crazy Christian author, spends a full chapter denouncing Harry Potter. Meanwhile, two feet from me, my heathen wife is ready Harry Potter. That’s what we call irony.
3:36 pm - One of the non-Denver channels that we get is Boomerang. (Yes, we get frickin’ Boomerang but not ESPN.) It is a Spanish channel, however, so all the advertisements and the names of the show are in Spanish but all the shows themselves are English. Also, it’s really weird how the names of shows and movies are changed in other countries. “What I Like About You” is apparently called, “The Adventures of My Sister and I” in Mexico.
6:45 pm - Out of the corner of my eye, I catch a glimpse of one of the kids I used to teach in Grapevine. Bailey Littlejohn if I’d had a dodgeball I would have plastered you, kiddo.
11:21 pm - There is no cheese on this boat. I mean, sure, you can get a slice of American on your burger. But there’s no cheese on the salad bar, no cheese for hot dogs, and no cheese for baked potatoes.
12:02 am - I flip over to one of the movie channels to see what options we’re going to have for the next 24 hours and the opening credits for “Nights in Roadanthe” are rolling. Blerg. Too bad Jason isn’t here, he could watch his favorite movie upwards of 10 times in one day.
DAY 3
8:00 am - We wake up to the sight of another Carnival cruise ship docked across the pier. I consider starting some sort of battle with them but think better of it. For now.
9:15 am - As we walk through the Welcome Center in Progreso, we come across an out-of-control beer vendor. He’s jumping around like the leader of the Grambling University marching band and blowing a whistle that I’m pretty sure he stole from one of our life jackets.
9:17 am - Another vendor approaches the man in front of us with a book of tattoo designs in an effort to get show him the fine craftsmanship they offer here in Progresso should he want to get a barbed wire tat around his bicep. The man is upwards of 60. I question the marketing technique.
9:33 am - Our tour guides are named Jose, Arturo, and Antonio. I kind of don't believe them.
10:47 am - We’re being given a tour of a Mayan city. It is incredible experience to see what these people could do with so little technology.
11:01 am - It is blowing my mind how many people have come on this walking tour through a rocky, uphill terrain wearing flip flops. Just stupid.
11:08 am - There’s a guy with us sporting a Mardi Gras tattoo. I don’t mean something reminiscent of Mardi Gras, I mean it just says, “Mardi Gras” across his arm. Do I really need to comment on this?
11:21 am - Oh the joy of people watching! There is a man here who is pushing 70 and is being accompanied by a woman I would have sworn was his daughter until it is CLEARLY confirmed that she is in fact his wife. She has to be 25 years younger than him.
11:43 am - As we take a few minutes to sit around this beautiful watering hole in the midst of buildings that are thousands of years old, the guy next to me pulls out a can of chaw and beings chewing and spitting all over the place. Nothing says classy like spitting chewing tobacco residue all over sacred Mayan architecture.
12:40 pm - There is a family sitting next to us on the bus with a baby. Not a kid, not an infant, a baby. Like a 2 month old screaming baby. I cannot think of a better way to have a terrible vacation that to bring a baby on a 5 day boat trip to Swine Flu country.
2:00 pm - The movie screening in the on-board theater today is “Australia.” I question this on two fronts: First, “Australia” is 17 hours long. Who is going to watch this instead of enjoying the many amenities of the luxury boat they’ve paid to be on board? I’m pretty sure they could have gotten through the entire “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, director’s cut, before finishing “Australia.” Second, this movie was a complete and total failure on all fronts. 22 people saw “Australia” on its opening weekend and 17 of them were related to Hugh Jackman.
6:08 pm - At dinner tonight only one dude in the entire dining room is wearing a t-shirt. This happens to be a Michigan Wolverines t-shirt, proving once again that Michigan fans are idiots.
DAY 4
9:12 am - As we make our way into Cozumel, we can’t help but take notice in the differences between our boat, the Ecstasy, and the other boat that follows us around, the Fantasy. Everything about the Fantasy seems better. Even the lettering on the tail of the boat is straighter and more prominent than ours. It’s a good thing I didn’t start a war with them yesterday, they probably have on board machine guns.
9:25 am - We’re waiting to leave on our excursion for the day and I’m watching all the people roll in from the two boats. One is wearing a t-shirt that say, “I’m so gay I (poop) rainbows.” I worry about this young man because he obviously has a serious medical condition that has been magnificently misdiagnosed.
9:55 am - For today’s excursion, Lindsey and I are taking a submarine down to look at the reef around Cozumel. This turns out to be one of the coolest things I have ever done. The water here is amazing.
11:19 am - All of our tour guides are wearing tiny, tiny shorts that look like they belong in Gob Bluthe’s “Hot Cop” routine in “Arrested Development.”
12:03 pm - Lindsey and I eat in the city and I drink the water given me. If I die in the next 12 hours we’ll all know why.
12:50 pm - A little known fact about Mexico: their top six retail markets are t-shirts, glass products, wooden trinkets, jewelry, liquor, and Nacho Libre masks. Seriously, every store we’ve seen thus far sells masks by the dozen. If I’m ever down on my luck, I think I’ll create a gang of bank robbers who wear these masks during our heists.
2:28 pm - Between episodes of “The Travels of My Sister and I,” Boomerang plays a music video. This one is the Japanese-drawn Power Puff Girls, singing in Spanish, to what I’m pretty sure was the Ramones’ song “Blitzkrieg Bop.” This is the weirdest thing I’ve seen yet.
8:42 pm - After skipping dinner in the dining hall, we bump into one of our tablemates in the grill area. She proclaims that she is proud of herself because, while at the beach party in Cozumel, her daughters passed out before she did. Yup, these are the people we’re sharing a boat with.
DAY 5
9:30 am - None of the food here is exquisite but it is plentiful. I will probably need a month to clear all this crap out of my system.
11:26 am - While walking on one of the decks, I spot what appears to be a manatee sunbathing. Upon closer inspection, it turns out to be the palest, fattest man you could ever think would be sun bathing. His positioning is so awkward, too, that one might think he was being forced to be in the sun for the first time and, like a 6 year old, had decided to pout about this with his head stuck down between his folder arms. It was weird.
12:39 pm - Oh dear readers! If only I had access to such technology that would allow me to take pictures simply by blinking my eye! There is a large woman standing in front of me wearing shorts that probably never fit correctly and displaying, quite prominently, a large tattoo on her upper thigh. I can’t stare directly at it for fear of being spotted but it kind of looks like a portrait of Don King.
3:47 pm - “Paul Blart: Mall Cop” is the movie of the day for, I think the third time this week. I’ve seen parts of this film about 30 times now and I really kind of wish I hadn’t at all.
11:07 pm - Cheese! We’ve found cheese! There’s a huge tray of it spread out in the grill. It is as if the kitchen staff kept it hidden from us all this time just in case there was some sort of coup and they needed to have something to barter with in exchange for their lives. I’ve already eaten a plate full.
I’m going to get a barbed wire tattoo around my thigh,
Brian
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Death of a Legend
I’ve got to start off by saying that I write today of an entertainer not of a man. Perhaps it is impossible to discuss the subject I wish to address today without truly considering his magnificent faults as a man but that’s what I’m going to try to do.
I was in the car driving from my house to the post office. I was listening to The Ticket, as usual, as they attempted to cover the death of Farrah Fawcett. The producer broke in and announced that he’d been pronounced dead at the hospital after numerous attempts to resuscitate him. And the radio show’s hosts seemed unable to quite voice what they wanted to say.
Those were the circumstances in which I learned about the death of Michael Jackson. For my generation (and likely the generations on either side of me), the question of “where were you when…” is likely to revolve around that date for many years to come. I was one of the first in my little group to hear the news and I even sent out a mass text to those I thought might be interested, something I never do concerning pop culture. Radio and TV personalities, usually so calm and together, were frazzled and shocked. Facebook, Twitter, and every other social network went nuts. The line in the post office was quickly abuzz, with one guy on the phone simply saying, “Man, the King of Pop.”
If this happened 15 years ago it would have been treated as nothing short of the JFK assassination. Because of the way the last few years have been for Jackson, however, I think the general consensus among those I’ve spoken to regarding this is a feeling of not knowing exactly how to feel. One of my buddies told me, “I just don’t know how I should be reacting to this.” On the one hand, Jackson was (is) a pop icon that very few could rival. On the other he was at best a seriously disturbed individual and at worst a freakish pervert. For myself, I have to separate the art from the artist. Perhaps it is impossible to discuss Jackson without truly considering his magnificent flaws as a human but that’s what I’m trying to do because… Well, because I don’t know how to do it any other way.
I loved Michael Jackson; his music, his dances, his incredible PRESENCE that almost no one else in the world had. The guy straight knew how to perform. Heck, he was raised to be a performer first and only (which most certainly led to his complete detachment from reality). I came late to the Jackson scene since I didn’t really listen to much music as a kid. But when I really discovered Jackson I dove in head first. Everything he did, from the Jackson Five to “Free Willy,” was phenomenal. He almost made a white church kid from Texas want to dance. (Okay, maybe not quite for me but I know a TON of people who fall into this category.)
Jackson was an artist that crossed almost all barriers (except those of my parents). Whether you were young or old, black or white, pop or rock, rich or poor, you could appreciate Michael. He was called the King of Pop for a reason. He’s one of those guys that you can’t help but like as an artist. If you go back and watch some of his videos, you’ll find them to be as cheesy as they come (“Bad” in particular is terrible) but you’ll also find that you don’t care because of what an awesome show he puts on. You never knew what he was going to do next and so you WATCHED intently. The songs in his catalog are amazing. “Beat It,” “Man in the Mirror,” and “Billie Jean” along with so many others are absolute classics. But they almost come second to the brilliance he displayed in his videos and concerts.
The legacy that Jackson left behind, from a musical standpoint, is unquestionable. When the Billboard Top 100 comes out, the top three spots will all be taken by Jackson albums and it’s possible that every one in the top ten will be associated with him. Prompted by an untimely death or not, that is an INSANE feat. Amazon reported that once the news of his death was confirmed, they sold out of all Jackson titles within 17 minutes. The tour he was planning to embark on would have been the biggest in a decade. At Summer Spectacular it is an absolute guarantee that the songs that will get the most applause each and every year will be Jackson titles. He was the best of the best and there is no one in music whose death would cause more coverage than his, including Paul McCartney and Mick Jagger.
Two big Jackson moments come to mind when I think about his enduring influence. As a kid, somewhere in my middle or early high school days, my brother and I were home alone on Halloween weekend. We were watching VH1 and they played the "Thriller" video in its entirety. I don't guess I'd ever seen it before and I know Duncan, who was probably 9 or 10 at the time, hadn't either. So we both sat there fascinated by this video...and then Duncan freaked out. I think he was scared of the possibility of werewolves for 10 years after this. For us, at least, the spectacle of "Thriller" stood the test or 12 or 15 years of time.
A few years later I made the trek to Harding to start my college career. Harding had a block on their incoming cable signal that prevented anyone in the dorms from getting MTV. We could get BET, sure, but not MTV. It was really awesome. Anyway, at the beginning of my freshman year there was a whole in the block and for about 3 weeks we could get MTV. (Don't forget this was still during a time when, occasionally, when the program directors got really confused, they would accidentally play some music from time to time.) During those three weeks the Video Music Awards were broadcast. My roommate and I taped it, pretty much because it we'd have something to talk to girls about. The headliner was NSYNC (cring) but as they were singing their little song, a screen flashed "The King of Pop" and from behind the screen came Michael Jackson. The crowd went BAT NUTS as he essentially just danced for 3 minutes, the NSYNC kids looking on in amazement with the rest of us. It was an incredible performance. At this point we were probably 8 years out from Jackson having a hit record and all of the stuff that went on between the two times periods, but he still had it and the crowd still loved him.
It can often be very hard to separate the art from the artist. It's also difficult to know just how to quantify mental illness or the fact that the artist was never allowed to grow into a man, period. Who Jackson was as a person was not who he was as a performer and I know a lot of people have had a difficult time attempting to pick a position. But strictly speaking from a performance standpoint, Jackson was an icon, a god, a lasting symbol of the value and enjoyment we take from the world of art and his sudden death is monumental.
I don't have time to think of a closing line,
Brian
I was in the car driving from my house to the post office. I was listening to The Ticket, as usual, as they attempted to cover the death of Farrah Fawcett. The producer broke in and announced that he’d been pronounced dead at the hospital after numerous attempts to resuscitate him. And the radio show’s hosts seemed unable to quite voice what they wanted to say.
Those were the circumstances in which I learned about the death of Michael Jackson. For my generation (and likely the generations on either side of me), the question of “where were you when…” is likely to revolve around that date for many years to come. I was one of the first in my little group to hear the news and I even sent out a mass text to those I thought might be interested, something I never do concerning pop culture. Radio and TV personalities, usually so calm and together, were frazzled and shocked. Facebook, Twitter, and every other social network went nuts. The line in the post office was quickly abuzz, with one guy on the phone simply saying, “Man, the King of Pop.”
If this happened 15 years ago it would have been treated as nothing short of the JFK assassination. Because of the way the last few years have been for Jackson, however, I think the general consensus among those I’ve spoken to regarding this is a feeling of not knowing exactly how to feel. One of my buddies told me, “I just don’t know how I should be reacting to this.” On the one hand, Jackson was (is) a pop icon that very few could rival. On the other he was at best a seriously disturbed individual and at worst a freakish pervert. For myself, I have to separate the art from the artist. Perhaps it is impossible to discuss Jackson without truly considering his magnificent flaws as a human but that’s what I’m trying to do because… Well, because I don’t know how to do it any other way.
I loved Michael Jackson; his music, his dances, his incredible PRESENCE that almost no one else in the world had. The guy straight knew how to perform. Heck, he was raised to be a performer first and only (which most certainly led to his complete detachment from reality). I came late to the Jackson scene since I didn’t really listen to much music as a kid. But when I really discovered Jackson I dove in head first. Everything he did, from the Jackson Five to “Free Willy,” was phenomenal. He almost made a white church kid from Texas want to dance. (Okay, maybe not quite for me but I know a TON of people who fall into this category.)
Jackson was an artist that crossed almost all barriers (except those of my parents). Whether you were young or old, black or white, pop or rock, rich or poor, you could appreciate Michael. He was called the King of Pop for a reason. He’s one of those guys that you can’t help but like as an artist. If you go back and watch some of his videos, you’ll find them to be as cheesy as they come (“Bad” in particular is terrible) but you’ll also find that you don’t care because of what an awesome show he puts on. You never knew what he was going to do next and so you WATCHED intently. The songs in his catalog are amazing. “Beat It,” “Man in the Mirror,” and “Billie Jean” along with so many others are absolute classics. But they almost come second to the brilliance he displayed in his videos and concerts.
The legacy that Jackson left behind, from a musical standpoint, is unquestionable. When the Billboard Top 100 comes out, the top three spots will all be taken by Jackson albums and it’s possible that every one in the top ten will be associated with him. Prompted by an untimely death or not, that is an INSANE feat. Amazon reported that once the news of his death was confirmed, they sold out of all Jackson titles within 17 minutes. The tour he was planning to embark on would have been the biggest in a decade. At Summer Spectacular it is an absolute guarantee that the songs that will get the most applause each and every year will be Jackson titles. He was the best of the best and there is no one in music whose death would cause more coverage than his, including Paul McCartney and Mick Jagger.
Two big Jackson moments come to mind when I think about his enduring influence. As a kid, somewhere in my middle or early high school days, my brother and I were home alone on Halloween weekend. We were watching VH1 and they played the "Thriller" video in its entirety. I don't guess I'd ever seen it before and I know Duncan, who was probably 9 or 10 at the time, hadn't either. So we both sat there fascinated by this video...and then Duncan freaked out. I think he was scared of the possibility of werewolves for 10 years after this. For us, at least, the spectacle of "Thriller" stood the test or 12 or 15 years of time.
A few years later I made the trek to Harding to start my college career. Harding had a block on their incoming cable signal that prevented anyone in the dorms from getting MTV. We could get BET, sure, but not MTV. It was really awesome. Anyway, at the beginning of my freshman year there was a whole in the block and for about 3 weeks we could get MTV. (Don't forget this was still during a time when, occasionally, when the program directors got really confused, they would accidentally play some music from time to time.) During those three weeks the Video Music Awards were broadcast. My roommate and I taped it, pretty much because it we'd have something to talk to girls about. The headliner was NSYNC (cring) but as they were singing their little song, a screen flashed "The King of Pop" and from behind the screen came Michael Jackson. The crowd went BAT NUTS as he essentially just danced for 3 minutes, the NSYNC kids looking on in amazement with the rest of us. It was an incredible performance. At this point we were probably 8 years out from Jackson having a hit record and all of the stuff that went on between the two times periods, but he still had it and the crowd still loved him.
It can often be very hard to separate the art from the artist. It's also difficult to know just how to quantify mental illness or the fact that the artist was never allowed to grow into a man, period. Who Jackson was as a person was not who he was as a performer and I know a lot of people have had a difficult time attempting to pick a position. But strictly speaking from a performance standpoint, Jackson was an icon, a god, a lasting symbol of the value and enjoyment we take from the world of art and his sudden death is monumental.
I don't have time to think of a closing line,
Brian
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