michael jackson
June 29, 2009
- Last week, Language Log posted a blog entry claiming to trace to Cameroonian roots the chant at the end of Michael Jackson's "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'." (You know, "ma ma se, ma ma sa, ma ma coo sa," not, as I used to sing, "I'm the same I'm the sound of Michael's song." Talk about way off.) Here's the link.
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June 28, 2009
- Former feature writer and reviewer for the Toronto Star and Globe & Mail, I’m still engaged, still fascinated by “papers…” Subscribe to Sunday NY Times and today I vow to spend no more than 40 minutes to reading what is still a hefty bundle of... what? And, somehow, the allotted 40 minutes expands to over two hours. What's the attraction? Habit? The stories themselves? The ...
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June 27, 2009
- The passing of Farah Fawcett and Michael Jackson especially reminds me of my persistent grief deficiency. People, both unsung and great, die in droves every day and I for the most part just don’t give a crap. Of course, like every boy at one time or another, I really and truly loved Farah, or at least her poster.My wife was commenting on how beautiful she was in a day when Hollywood beauty ...
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June 26, 2009
- Michael Jackson was hardly cold when a perky anchor-ette from Entertainment Weekly popped up on CNN outside UCLA Medical Center with a scoop -- a photo of the dying singer inside the ambulance as paramedics worked to resucitate him (although one was evidently hoping his cell-phone battery would last). "Wow," said Larry King, in the same tone of voice Walter Cronkite used when we, as ...
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June 26, 2009
- You probably can't read the words in the note next to the accompanying photo of Michael Jackson, but they were handwritten by the singer himself during the mid 1990s when he was constantly on tour and just as constantly a subject of much public ridicule and condemnation. This note was composed on hotel stationery and, complete with original spellings, grammar, and format, reads as follows: ...
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June 26, 2009
- The radio is blasting Michael Jackson features. All of them end with the same note, that he was planning a "comeback tour." It appears he had to leave to come back, as befits a figure whose early dive into the oceanic adoration of celebrity turned his life inside out. I find myself thinking this morning of the concept of "transcending race," a strange and knotty idea. To ...
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June 26, 2009
- As far back as I can remember, I have always been a fan of great dancing. I remember getting up early on Saturdays to watch the old black and white musicals (this was before Ted Turner gobbled them up for his Turner Classic Movies channel.) My brothers and I would stare in awe as we watched Fred Astaire tap dance his away around a room. His technique, his flow, his grace - it was ...
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June 26, 2009
- There may never be a Graceland for Michael Jackson. He was the wrong kind of Bad. He could not be the rake you would love to hate. He did not have the charisma that made women go weak in their knees. If he ever took out his shirt to throw at the audience, they would see his skeleton covered with skin. He died long ago. And was born many times. It was the rebirth of a wilful retard. Oscar Wilde ...
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June 26, 2009
- Wait, did something happen to Michael Jackson?Of course, I'm kidding. I know he's going on tour. What? Something ELSE happened? Really?? I hadn't heard.Well, this makes for a great distraction from Pelosi rushing through a vote on the 1200 page cap and tax program that Congress had a whole 24 hours to read and comment on. I mean, who's going to give a crap that their electricity bills are going ...
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June 26, 2009
- What a strange day yesterday was. First, it began where I got an email telling me that my term life insurance was approved. Okay, so it's money I'll never see, but it puts me at ease that if I were to leave this planet anytime soon, my kids, even though they are adults, will not be strapped with my unpaid mortgage. It's a comforting feeling. Then, it continued in a delightful way since I made ...
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