Houston Blog

the mj memory i have is about the song thriller. or more specifically the video to the song thriller. i must've been about 10 and this was when cable tv was just getting popular. and back when mtv still showed videos. however, we did not have cable and we were explicitly not allowed to watch mtv. and not for explicit content or sex or bad behavior or the other reasons kids might be banned from watching it today. but rather my dad said it rots your brain. his claim was that you should listen to the song and imagine what is going on or what it is about etc etc. i thought that was just plain dumb since i have been listening to music for awhile without watching videos OR imagining much of anything. but my dad was not swayed. he had a lot of weird ideas about tv. for example, his most memorable rule was that we were not allowed to watch tv before 7pm unless it was the news or little house on the prairie. he loved that show. anyway, so the thriller video was coming out. and if you were paying attention at all back then then you knew this. people were pumped. and everyone was talking about it. lucky for me a friend with more liberal parents had mtv and offered to host a sleep over. i remember that night well. the anticipation the most. it seems they were going to show the video at midnight and us kids could barely contain ourselves. it seems also that mtv played promos for it about every 3 minutes in case you had forgotten it was coming. finally at midnight it played. and the wait was worth it. it was the craziest cool video we had ever seen. it was not just dudes playing music, there was a story! and it was a scary story! and zombies! and while at 10 years old we were still not sure what we thought about dancing, we knew that in this case it kicked all kinds of ass. we all felt we had seen something special. and it was confirmed at school monday. if you had not seen the video, you were a nobody. if you did see it, for that one day, you were part of something bigger. not just the cool kids at your school, but the cool kids everywhere. thank you mj for that moment.

When I was a kid in the early 90's, we used to go to Fun Time Pizza in Dallas (one of those kids-games-and-characters places that got bought out by Showtime and eventually Chuck E. Cheese). There was a jukebox at the front of a stage that controlled the animatronic "band" with a kid-friendly song selection of MAYBE 5 choices.

I have really vivid memories of running as fast as I could toward the stage to hit the big button that played Michael Jackson's "Black or White." And then as soon as the song was winding to a close, running down to press the button again. And again and again.

It's still one of my favorite songs. For both message and melody.

i remember him sleeping with prepubescent boys.

What’s the difference between Michael Jackson and a grocery bag?

One is white, made out of plastic, and dangerous for kids to play with and the other you carry your groceries in.

I see MJ as a cautionary tale and a very sad figure. He had such great talent, but fame and all that it entails, especially becoming famous so young, can do horrible things to people. I see a similar story with Britney Spears. It has to be hard to have never been treated like a normal person. Our psyches just can't handle it.

Whatever his personal demons, whether he was really a child molester or not, he created amazing art that changed the face of music. Some of his music will go down in history as some of the best ever.

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2009/0625091jackson1.html

Once upon a time a very young Rex downloaded a Sega Genesis emulator and a bunch of ROM files over AOL dial-up internet. I was probably in elementary school at the time.

Anyway, one of these ROM files was Michael Jackson's Moonwalker, an early Genesis game based on the film of the same name. It blew my young, impressionable mind as to how some guy I had grown up knowing as a washed-up child molester (remember, I'm a young one) had once been revered as a cultural icon.

I never finished the game but a friend of mine bought the actual cartridge for me over the internet as soon as he heard Michael Jackson had passed away, knowing that the game's value would skyrocket as soon as the world at large found out about MJ's death. I plan on devoting a day or two to beat it, as it perfectly represents how I want to remember Michael - an eccentric genius who had his fair share of personal demons but taught us all that you can never be too old to throw pixie dust at mobsters and dogs who run across the bottom of the screen and rescue children from closets to the tune of his greatest hits, lovingly rendered with the Genesis sound chip.

If you press up during gameplay pixel-art Michael grabs his crotch and lets out a digitized, low-bit rate "WHOOOOO". Fucking win.

JUNE 25--Michael Jackson's death today will trigger untold recaps of his tumultuous life, which included troubling allegations about his improper relationships with young boys. As we've previously detailed, the original claims against the singer surfaced in 1993, when a 12-year-old California boy charged that Jackson molested him on numerous occasions at the performer's Neverland Ranch and assorted hotels. The child's claims were detailed in a sworn declaration, a copy of which you'll find below, that was drafted in connection with a Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit filed by the boy and his family. That case was quickly settled out of court, reportedly for more than $15 million. In November 2003, Jackson would again face molestation charges, when Santa Barbara investigators raided his home seeking evidence to support claims from another teenager that he had been abused by the pop star. In April 2004, Jackson was named in a ten-count felony indictment (excerpts of the grand jury transcript can be found here, while an account of the prosecution's case is here). In June 2005, following a 14-week trial--and about 33 hours of deliberation--a jury acquitted Jackson of all charges. The trial (TSG's coverage of which can be found here) included testimony from witnesses who told of Jackson's longtime penchant for sharing his bed with young boys.

i was just kidding

Typical asshole comments from people who have no life and read celebrity gossips all day :)

NO WAY YOU WERE KIDDING

XD XD XD

It's really too bad Satan got to MJ first so I wasn't able to rip the head off of that sick fuck and jam my huge cock down his neck. He's rotting in Heaven right now being anally raped by pubeless little boys.

He had it coming to him… Did all you guys forget he molested children? What the f#*k is this world coming to? Just because you are a celebrity you can do what ever you want, even molest children? Now the children of the would have one less molester, we should celebrate!!!!!

You people are sick.

Michael Jackson was an amazing talent and a hero to many, including myself. You would not have half the music you listen to and enjoy today if it were not for him paving the way and inspiring those around him.

While I do not deny that Michael was not well, I do NOT believe he did anything to those kids. I have a friend that grew up going to NeverLand ranch and he said may a time that Michael never would have done such a thing. Micheal loved the thought of childhood because HE NEVER GOT ONE.

Now that he has passed away you should let him rest in peace and just enjoy the legacy of music and talent he has left behind.

P.S. If you don't think that you could say the things you are saying on here to his mother's face....then don't post it! Otherwise you are just cowards hiding behind a computer.

That guy was a whiny bitch. His music is garbage.

As usual, tom jenkins is right. I, for one, would have no problem whatsoever telling MJ's mother what a filthy whore she is for not aborting him when she had the chance. She is the one who is primarily responsible for that degenerate, sorry excuse for a human being.

I don't need the criminal justice system to tell me who is guilty (OJ). You don't pay tens of millions of dollars to shut people up if you're innocent.

Jessica, I imagine it's hard to look at yourelf in the mirror (and not simply because you're a fat-ass, lazy piece of shit--safe assumption if you live in Houston) knowing that you condone child molestation.