R.I.P. Michael Jackson

Hey guys. Sorry I am late with this, but I have been real busy prepping for a few things (new job and Editing the short film.) I thought I'd chime in on this event that occured on thursday the 25 of June. Michael Jackson had died from cardiac arrest. He was only 50 years old. The first thought that occured to me was: "No way!" It was shock because growing up to this very day, I thought Michael Jackson would have been able to live a lot more longer. He was always around when I was a kid and he was such in influencial part in my growing taste for music. He was there from the start before I had even gotten into any type of music.

What most people tend to forget in this situation was that Michael Jackson was one of the few artists to transcend his status as a entertainer to being a icon for what pop music would become. He was influencial as far back as his early days in the Jackson 5. You could say that he kicked off the tend in boy bands as everything now-a-days since then has had some type of influence by the Jackson 5. (5 members etc.) There was always something different about Michael even in those days. You can see it clearly in all of the old footage of him in the Jackson 5 that it was almost as if he was an adult stuck in a child's body.

Also, another one of the sad things about Michael's life was the fact that he never had control of his life, even well into his adulthood. Growing up, raised, and shaped into this entertainer by his abusive father was one of the start off points for this trend. Despite firing his father as soon as his name was getting bigger as a solo artist, he still didn't have control of his life media-wise. The tabloids especially didn't leave him alone. His name was always popping up. He was public enemy #1 to the tabloids. I felt that these publications were simply trying to cut him down to shreds because of the massive success he has had as an entertainer. That is incredibly douchey of them and none of our business. I dare for them to ask themselves: "How does someone not go to extreme lengths with massive amounts of money?" It also made this horrible that he had a past family history that was horrible and may have contributed to his need to change.

But whether or not Michael Jackson had done all that he was accused of doing all these years, the bottom line is: The Guy was Great. He had a talent for the stage that just made him shine in whatever he had. There isn't one single song that anyone can consider to be a terrible Michael Jackson song. Maybe only a okay song, but never a terrible one. It can be argued that Michael was perhaps the greatest entertainer of all-time because nobody brought as much enegry and originality to their moves onstage and onscreen. James Brown may have introduced this kinetic dancing style, but Michael Jackson perfected it.

You can't talk about Michael Jackson without talking about his music videos. Thriller is perhaps his greatest music video, if not the best music video of all time period. His music videos were more concerned with giving the music a context to the images that were presented and they engrossed us even further. His music videos, despite whatever we all thought of them, were events when they came out. The world all stoped and at one united voice said "Awesome Michael" He even went to great lengths to get them made. Thriller was made, and was under attack from Christian groups. He even left his religon to allow Thriller to be presented to the masses; and godbless him for it ironically enough.

Overall, Michael was a great entertainer. His life may have danced in the bizzare at times, but we are all human. Michael has grown into something nobody in his childhood could have predicted he'd become: an icon. Michael Jackson the icon has transcended the boundaries of color, culture, religon, or class and united them all, and that was the overall message I feel his music definitely encompassed. Michael's starpower has far surpassed any in popluar culture today. I guarrantee you take the cross and a picture of Michael into the jungle and you will have 50:50 recognition. He was just an amazingly talented human being that just got screwed over in his personal life, and he lived his life the best that he could. You never heard him complain about any of all of these horrible things that occured in his childhood. So let's celebrate his talent and enjoy the legacy that he left behind for all of us to enjoy.

R.I.P. Michael! 

You will be forever missed. 

You have earned the peace that you couldn't have in life. 

Long live the true King of Pop.

MICHAEL JACKSON

August 29, 1959 - June 25, 2009

Till next time, Keep those Michael Jackson tracks going forever more!

See ya later guys!

R.I.P. David Carradine 1936-2009 (UPDATED)

Hey guys! Today a tragic event has happened. Legendary "Kung Fu" and "Kill Bill" actor David Carradine was found dead in his Thailand Hotel room in Bangkok. Details from the Bangkok police confirm that he was found hung by his neck in the hotel room and police have ruled this case as a suicide. It's sad to know this happened. The nostalgic connection he has given me with the Kung Fu series and the Kill Bill movies makes this tragedy even worse. I remember growing up watching the Kung Fu series every weekeday after school. I would only be able to catch the badass ending to each show and I tuned in on a regular basis. He was awesome. The Kill Bill movies (particularly part II) brought that sense of childhood back and it was great to see him again in all his badass-ittude. It's a sad day today because as I was talking to a friend today he mentioned that it was worse to find out he committed suicide. I then told him that it seemed random because of all the celebrities we would have never guessed that he would have committed suicide. There are a lot of people out there that will say we shouldn't feel sorry for him because it was a suicide, but the fact that it was a suicide only makes it worse. The bottom line is a tragedy is a tragedy and a loss of human life is still a life lost. There are a lot of weird theories going on about why he did it, but I don't want to go into those. Lets just celebrate his talent and wish him the best wherever he's at now.

David Carradine R.I.P. and thanks for all the entertainment and memories you have given to all of us and your fans! You will be missed.

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UPDATE

As of early this evening, it was confrimed by the Bangkok police department that David Carradine was found hung dead with a rope around his neck for sure, but without going into anymore details it was a sex act gone wrong where the person axifixates themselves to make the sexual experience that much more vivid. Looking back at this event a few hours later it has shown me several things. I didn't go parading this bit of news to everyone I knew because it wasn't my place to go around telling the world about this, but I did feel the need to want to express myself (via the blog) and thats about it. I found so many people that are trying to be overly sensitive to this whole death. A writer once said that "it only takes a celebrity death to see how phoney some people are" and it only really came to me today as to what he meant by that. This is an actor I watched since I was a kid and it was sad seeing him go, and most people i talked to, really had no sense of who this guy was. None of them knew this was a real talented actor who was up for an oscar at one point and he wasn't simply just "Bill" To me. But enough with talking about the death of this actor. He was an actor I enjoyed watching in anything he did (His cameo in Crank 2 was hilarous!) and he is going to be missed, but he left a large body of work we can all watch. So, I'd say celebrate his talent and enjoy the work he has put in and he's had a long and great career.

David Carradine, ya havent even been gone for 24 hours, but wish ya the best wherever ya are!