http://sports.espn.go.com/espnradio/podcast/archive?id=2864045
Two of my fave raves, Bill Simmons and Chuck Klostermann, engage in a very entertaining 90 minute or so discussion of things pop cultural and not at the above link. (Just click on the title.) (I've only listened to part one of two thus far.)
Simmons is the Sports Guy, but the talk can drift pretty far afield. They are two pretty decent thinkers, and they often point out things I hadn't considered before.
Among the other topics they go over was Mr. Jackson's recent demise, and besides making the observation that Americans seem utterly willing to give Michael a mulligan for about 1989-2009, they also note the following-it has been repeatedly said that Jackson's music was era defining and world changing. Clearly, that's true-when the history of music in the 20th century is written, Michael Jackson gets a slice.
But we weren't saying this two weeks ago. Nobody was talking about how "Thriller" changed their lives (at least, not this much) two weeks ago. (Simmons actually did, once-he wrote in a column several months ago that it was becoming hard to explain to people who didnt live through the 1980s how huge a star Jackson was, given the traveling freak show his life had become.) Can we really say something changed our lives now, when two weeks ago, we hardly gave it a second thought? How much of Michael Jackson related grief is genuine sorrow, and how much is "everybody feels bad, so I do too"?
I don't feel any worse for Michael Jackson than I do for Farrah Fawcett or Billy Mays. They were not friends or family. I was not a fan. They were good at what they did. A sad factoid. Move on.
ReplyDeleteYou are so right....when the news broke I thought,"MJ died! What?!?!?! I'm so....I'm sooo...hmmm...I don't know but I'm something."
ReplyDeleteMaybe not really sad, maybe just shocked? Maybe not really shocked, maybe just a little taken by surprised. I suppose that doesn't necessarily produce saddness. Perhaps that's the way most of the world has felt- 'so----?' Since you're supposed to be sad when people die, majority of fans are just that because they think they need to be, not because they genuinely are.
But what do I know?
Fan of Chuck Klosterman as well ;)
I am ambivalent about his passing... perhaps even leaning a little to the "Thank goodness" end of the spectrum.
ReplyDeleteYes, Michael Jackson was the King of Pop. Was. It ended a while back.
Most recently, he has just been a freak of plastic surgery and paranoia and an 'alleged' pedophile. IMNSHO, I don't think we needed another freak or pedophile on the planet.
This morning on MPR, I heard that there was construction happening at Neverland Ranch and the speculation was that it was going to be for a public memorial service OR for a permanent public memorial. Great. An amusement park dedicated to a dead guy. "Welcome to Neverland -- Home of the freaky dead guy!" Really? Do we really need or want that?
Yes, when it comes to crime and punishment, I run as fast as I can to the other side of the fence deep in to conservative territory.
In other crime and punishment news, Sanford needs to resign. I could care less about how many affairs he had or who he had them with. He left the COUNTRY for a week and didn't tell people. He's the governor for chrissakes! You don't abandon your post for a week to screw some woman in Argentina. If I were completely incommunicado for a week without telling my boss where I was going, I'd be fired. Sanford should be fired too.
What the heck is wrong with people?
Can you tell this hit a hot button for me?
I'll be moving along now.
Have a lovely day!
Lapis-You too, mon ami.
ReplyDeleteCourt-glad to meet another Klosterman fan. I think he's about as good as it gets in terms of pop culture/music writers. He said on the podcast he has a book of new nonfiction material coming this fall.
Ananda-Good point. It's a little unsettling, I guess, overall. Someone who was in your universe-someone who was on the TV while you were getting dressed, or napping, or whatever, is suddenly gone. A reminder, as if we needed another, that we are all mortal.