Evan's dead!!! Yeah... that's what I said!

Don't misconstrue the title as a gloat, because I am honestly not. The fact remains that the news of his death made barely a splash, especially compared to the splash he made back in the early 90s. But the tabloid press tried its best to elicit tears for this man... lamenting about how 'tortured and harassed' he was by Michael Jackson fans. Some tabloids tried to paint a smile on Chandler's so-called plight, stating that despite his numerous plastic surgeries, he looked like a more gorgeous Rob Lowe.

So looking like Rob Lowe is compensation for a tortured life... of luxury, huh?

And BTW, if dude felt that hunted, then why the hell would he get plastic surgery to look like a famous dude? And not only an average famous dude, but Rob Lowe, who had a bit of underaged sex controversy back in the late 80s. Little things like complete obliviousness towards the far-reaching ramifications of sexual abuse, whether it's male/female, female/female, or male/male, is why I don't but the allegations. When something like that happens to you or a close loved one, one becomes hypersensitive towards anything that could make all involved revisit those memories.

Hence... why was it necessary for the Chandlers, who experienced luxury when they were involved with MJ, opt to use settlement money to ensconce themselves in similar surroundings where their child was allegedly sexually exploited?

This, along with the 2006 restraining order requested by Jordan, just smells.

Speaking of receptive audiences...

Last Sunday, I saw MJ's TII for the fourth time. I figured that I would get one more viewing out of it before the New Moon crowds invade the theaters. I enjoyed it, like I knew I would. What I didn't expect was for one of my buds to suggest that we should see TII.

For the last few months or so, me and my friend, K, would go to the local theater to watch classic movies. When TII came out, I saw it on Wednesday and me and K planned to see The Birds on the following Thursday. After The Birds, she asked me how TII was and I was pretty honest with her - I told her that I was profoundly sad because the movie reminded me of what a life force MJ was and now, he's gone. I also told her that, despite feeling profoundly sad, I was likely to see it again. And I did... on that Friday, and on the following Sunday.

Three times, during a five day period. As I mentioned before, I felt happier with each additional screening because I realized how blessed I was to be alive to see MJ's unquestionable greatness. So last Sunday... saw it for the fourth time and thought I saw if for the last time... until I talked to K about the upcoming classic holiday movies festival. But she sort of surprised me by suggesting that we see TII later that week. Apparently, she wasn't a MJ fan, in that she never bought any of his albums, although she readily admitted that she enjoyed his music whenever it was on the radio. Apparently, she bought the TII album and was impressed by it and wanted to see the movie.

So we ended up seeing it last Wednesday and I have to say, it was a much funner time than before. K is slightly older than me - she was likely in her 20s when MJ broke huge with Thriller - but she didn't have that youthful obsessiveness that my 10 year old behind had, so she missed out on the videos, the commercials, and the short films. So she was awestruck by the re-imagining of some of his best videos like Thriller and Smooth Criminal. But most importantly, she was kinda charmed and touched by him, a feeling that came over me during my first viewing of TII, which was one of the reasons why I became pretty depressed.

We had a pretty good time, but beyond seeing MJ's amazingness during the last weeks/months of his life, I saw the amazingness of my friend, K. While I shouldn't have been surprised by her, given that she's one of the most giving, helpful, loving and open people I have ever met, I guess that I just needed a reminder of that.

In a few weeks, we're going to see Meet Me In St. Louis, one of my all-time favorite movies. K has never seen it before - what a treat it will be for the both of us, especially if K continues to be receptive and enthusiastic towards new experiences, which seems to be a given.

My grousing cubicle neighbor

My job doesn't suck - it's just boring as hell. And add to it that I am sat at my desk for damn near 9 hours, looking at my computer monitor, collating piles upon piles of paper and, occasionally, getting up and filing said piles of the collated papers in vinyl folders. It's really, really boring, although I am grateful to have the gig. However, I got some unexpected entertainment on Friday from my cubicle neighbor.

He's 20-something, rather nice-looking, and kinda quiet... well, he was quiet until the New Moon frenzy hit a fever pitch here. Actually, the fever pitch is everywhere and although there were some women at work who talked about seeing it, their enthusiasm was hardly typical Twihardian. Which makes me wonder why dude was so annoyed. While filing the vinyls, I heard him talking to my other cube neighbor, a 30-something dude, about how he had a bud who works at a movie theater and gets him in to see preview screenings of movies. Apparently, he refused to see a prescreening of New Moon and was apparently offended that said bud even suggested it. Then they lamented about The Dark Knight and I prompted returned to my desk and to my waiting headphones.

Then on Friday, despite wearing my headphones and being deep in concentration, I heard him proclaim 'I HATE TWILIGHT!!!!' Maybe he wasn't talking to himself; maybe he was on his cell, or the person he was talking to made a quiet and hasty exit down the windowed aisleway next to his cube, but IMO, I think he was all alone. And I ended up laughing my @$$ off. Because it was so random.

But I do get what he was saying. He's 20-something; he will probably have to see this movie. Whether it's with female members of his family during the Thanksgiving weekend, or whether he has a girlfriend who is dying to see, he will likely have to see it too. Or worse... he may be a playa and know his demographic and will have to see it many, many times... dude will have to see it.

Myself... I don't have to see it. Why? Because I'm not a Twihard. And even better, I'm not a Twihard mom, although I'm around their age. I get the vampire thing, to a degree - the danger, the tension of whether you're going to feel either a hot dude's breath or fangs on your neck. I understand that; however, that doesn't compel me to see New Moon. The reason why I refuse to give the Twilight franchise a chance is the triangle. I HATE LOVE TRIANGLES!!!! I hate them because usually, the person in the middle, is totally not worth all of the trouble. And he/she already knows who she wants but he, but mainly, she, is too much of a chicken$h*t to close the deal. Already, I feel sorry for Jacob because he is the neutered, eunich friend who has his cap set for a chick obsessed with Broody McBroodenstein. I'm sorry, but life is already full of romantic disappointments, especially for those who, for the most part, have their $h*t together; why the hell would I want to see some good dude get his heart stomped on? And seeing that $h*t get stretched out for 4 movies? Ah... hell naw!!!

My hope is that my cube neighbor will manage to navigate out of the New Moon waters; however, with New Moon making 72M on it's opening day, it looks like this flick will be in the theaters for a while and more sequels will be on the way. And my most ardent hope is that Twilight haters will stay out these movies and not ruin it for the fans. There's nothing worse than seeing a movie among a non-receptive audience - they chase the fun out of it.

Reflections on Michael Jackson's This Is It

Just returned from my fourth viewing of This Is It. For some reason, I can't stop myself from watching this movie, much less discussing it on IMDB. It's becoming a fixation much like my obsession with Benjamin Button earlier this year, although, surprisingly, the TII discussions are less combatitive than TCCOBB. Maybe it's the fact that the vast majority of the IMDB posters could see that MJ's talents were indisputable and not subject to interpretation.

I know that whenever I watch TII, I am struck by the fact that I am watching someone who was destined to be on stage, unlike some who manage to marry, plastic surgery or Superhead themselves into the public discourse. Michael Jackson, more than anyone, proved that he was more than deserving of the attention and love his fans lavished on him. In this film, although it was rehearsal footage, he took the process and the results very seriously. You think of all of the efforts that tabloid reporters and correspondents made during the wake of his death to resurrect the molestation accusations, despite his acquittal, and his prescription drug abuse history and doctor shopping accusations and you watch TII and wonder WTF!

Given how the tabloid press laid out his drug issues, lung problems, money problems, etc., you would've thought that he would've been a feening, desperate, testy mess, but dude was an absolute professional. And he seemed to thrive on the possibilities of making an excellent show for his fans. He derived joy from the creative collaborative process and it was satisfying, as a fan, to know this, given how many, including shady members of his family, attempted to persuade the public that he was a hostage to the TII concerts.

I think that a lot of MJ fans, including myself, feel some sense of vindication because, for years, the entertainment media has opted to insert themselves into the stories instead of merely reporting them. Some of these 'journalists' or 'editors' were failed entertainers, although their pasts are never mentioned, despite the possibility that their perspectives may be biased due to these failures. Lately, a lot of the inaccurate information that these 'journalists' relayed to an oblivious public has come back to bite them in the butt; unfortunately, their comeuppances aren't as grand and splashy as their initial, inaccurate, and downright vindictive special reports and scoops. However, it was gratifying to see that Tom O'Neil's gloating about the opening box office being low due to the lack of trainwreck behavior was wrong, when the intial b.o. take was off by nearly $5M. It's gratifying seeing the usual peanut gallery on Issues with Jane Velez Mitchell gob-smacked about how energetic and engaged MJ seemed - kinda put a kibosh on JVM's incessant shilling of her addictions memoir. And most importantly, Diane Dimond seemed to have been reassigned to living up the cracks of the likes of Jon Gosselin and Levi Johnston - quite a comedown for an 'investigative reporter' who had the most spotlight of her whole pathetic career during her MJ torpedoing days.

My hopes for MJ's legacy remains the same - his kids should get the majority of his fortune; his name will be cleared, unequivocally; and those who knowingly participated in defaming him and defrauding the public by relaying very bad and slanderous misinformation will experience the same kind of public humiliation as he did. It continues to make no sense that these people continue to get gigs when there is no attempt to do a good job or honor any journalistic standards. It's ridiculous that a deceased pop star's concert rehearsals are expected to be precise and clean, and yet, those in charge of informing the public are allowed to be routinely sloppy.

Some MJ funniness

After Dr. Arnie Klein's attempt to deflect attention from his possibly illegal and unethical medical practices, I decided to calm the h*ll down by lurking on You Tube; and fortunately, not only was I cheered up, I found some comic gold. The following are funny bits straight from MJ himself. Most of them were personal home movies, outtakes from the Bashir interview, or behind the scenes clips from his video shoots. For me, these bits are not only funny, but very revealing of the man whom many have taken great pains to disparage and trash just so they could save their own @$$es. What was revealed was a guileless person who didn't mind being the butt of a joke, as long as it was only a joke, not a character assassination.

Also, it should be noted that there is an absence of an alpha dog mentality - if anything, while off-stage, MJ seemed to defer to others like Chris Tucker and Macauley Culkin. More than anything, MJ's disposition reminded me of that kid in elementary school who wasn't the class clown, but had the whole class laughing nonetheless because he was completely clueless about how he came across, especially when it came to the things he said. Childlike honesty and complete obliviousness in the wake of it is always funny; essentially, MJ had a Ralph Wiggum quality to him, except that he was older, smarter, and thinner.

So here goes...

Part 1


Personally, I found MJ's enjoyment and amusement towards small things very funny, especially towards the end when a fan tried to get his attention during a motorcade.

Part 2


Among the funniest parts was the bit when the director/videographer 'encouraged' MJ to be more tactful when it came to discussing touring, despite the fact the MJ, very articulately, outlined his feelings about touring. Unfortunately, MJ interpreted the request as ' please lie' which he did to humorous effect. The hand gesture was what put me over the top - it was like an exclamation point or something.

Part 3


A trip to the grocery store was among my favorite part of this clip. It must've been surreal for the customer to see MJ there. And the musak version of Billie Jean - OMG!

There are other fantastic highlights among these clips; unfortunately, I can't remember which clips contains the specific bits. But the Salvation Army discussion was a Ralph Wiggum moment if ever I saw one. And Prince Michael exemplified the childlike honesty and complete obliviousness that characterized his father. More than anything, it was enjoyable to see that MJ had some fun and a sense of humor about himself.

So let me see if I have this right... November edition

Michael Jackson... a man who spent the majority of his adult life hiding behind thick makeup to hide his acne scars, both in public and private; a man who, again, both in public and private, wore wigs to hide the burn scars on his scalp; a man who kept his romantic life so private that no one knows, definitively, whether he was gay or straight (although I suspect that he was straight); a man who went through such lengths to keep the births of his children completely private; a man who wore disguises routinely and bemasked/bescarf his children to maintain his and their privacy... would whip out his Waylon and take a piss in a cup in front of guests at a social gathering?

Really?

Really, Dr. Arnie Klein?

Of course, TMZ ran with the story, along with a subsequent interview with Dr. Klein. Nevermind the possibility that Dr. Klein's practice is likely suffering due to his involvement with the last few drug-fueled years of MJ's life; the investigations into whether he did assist an addict in getting drugs; his attempts to imply his biological link to two of MJ's kids, while, sort of, denying it, yet trying to exert legal muscle when the custody issues between Katherine and Debbie Rowe went to court and failing miserably. And let's not forget the Larry King interviews which magnified Klein's creepiness, shadiness, and lack of credibility.

But that's how if works, you know... anyone, no matter their lackluster background and reputations, receive a reprieve or redemption if they disparage/defame MJ. Just look at all of the 'witnesses' to MJ's molestation. None of them were charged for, hello!, not intervening during a commission of a crime, and yet, they were treated as if their words and actions were gold. The idea that a grown man, who was accused of child molestation, being allowed, by a 'friend', to whip out Waylon, in the 'friend's' home and at the 'friend's' dermatologist's practice, in front of parents and their children, is probably the most ridiculous thing that I have ever heard. And yet again, someone who, pretty much, witnessed an alleged crime, and not only did not put a stop to it, for the sake of innocent bystanders (including children), but encouraged it because MJ, allegedly, 'thought it was funny', is taken seriously.

Not only does this reflect poorly on Dr. Klein, because he is an obvious liar, but on Harvey Levin, who doesn't question the validity of the story or the judgment of a man who allowed these alleged incidents to happen. Plus, you would think that witnesses to these alleged incidents would've come forward with this a long time ago. Not so much Dr. Klein's staff, because their money could've been affected, if this $h*t hit the fan, but the patients and parents remaining silent - I call complete and utter bull$h*t. Dr. Klein is just a dermatologist - not an oncologist or other practitioner who is responsible for life or death treatment. And patients and parents aren't subject to confidentiality/HIPAA, as proven by numerous patients telling the tabloids that Brad and Angelina took their twins to the pediatrician.

So, essentially, a routine pediatric checkup for twin babies get exposed to the press but years of junk exposure and pissing into cups in front of women and children don't? GIMME A FCUKING BREAK!!!

The judgers will believe this story; fortunately, the intuative will not buy this at all, especially if they saw This Is It. MJ, if anything, was exceedingly polite and often felt compelled to explain himself when he felt that he was adhering to an unspoken understanding. Whipping it out is not polite; taking a piss publicly requires explanation. And plus, the dude sported a big, black belt while wearing gold-sequined covered slacks. Maybe he wore it because the pants were really baggy on his thin frame, but the pants could easily have been taken it, given that seamstresses and tailors were readily available on the set. That belt was for MJ's piece of mind.

Not a Waylon whipper, public pissing pervert.

Dr. Klein, on the other hand...