Michael Jackson dead.

[Parn]

Double post, but who cares.  I figure there are some who still are unaware of this video (game related):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbVM-l2Oku4

[Ramza]

nice find Jason! I'll be mentioning this in my podcast @ Gameosaurus. Very interesting.

[Esper_Crusader]

Smooth Criminal gets my vote for best MJ song as well. I played my old "Moonwalker"  game today for nostalgia. huzzah!

[Hathen]

Smooth Criminal is certainly my favorite MJ music video, but I dunno if I'd say it's my favorite song.

[SonicDeathMonkey]

Really?? The "Smooth Criminal" video is one of my least favorites. Everything in that video is either blurry fast-forward, slow-mo, or random Moonwalker clips. It's probably the only MJ song that I enjoy much more without the video.

[Hidoshi]

Meh, whatever Jackson was, he didn't strike me as a pedophile. A man who was deprived of being a child and growing up? Yes. His father pushed him and all his siblings hard, often to the breaking point. Jackson didn't get to live as a child at all. While some of the other kids were pushed pretty hard, he stood out as the top talent, and for that he was used as an asset, not raised as a boy.

I did once believe he was a pedophile, before I really learnt about his past and broadened my view on psychology. Now I just think he was trying to reclaim his childhood. He was addled, even crazy, but not in a dangerous way. He honestly believed in things like equality and the promotion of peace, and for that he should be remembered. Sure he made great music, but he was also very active as a humanitarian. I won't mourn him in the long run, but it's sad to see him go. Maybe it's for the best, considering how much of his dignity had been shredded in the passage of time.

[MonCapitan2002]

Since I believe he was a pedophile, all I can say is that I am glad the monster is dead.

And if you were wrong? You said you BELIEVE he was a pedophile, which isn't the same as KNOWING he is.

Then I would be wrong and have to re-evaluate my assessment of him.  At this point, it will never be known whether or not he was in spite of my belief he was.  With him dead and his victim not talking (or even identified), we'll never know.

One thing I do find utterly staggering is the amound of debt he incurred when you consider just how much money he made.  I read in my local paper that over a 25 year period he made around three quarters of a billion dollars.  The lifestyle he lead must have been completely unsustainable in order for him to have accumulate the massive debt he had.

[Ashtrot]

I find this relevant

[MonCapitan2002]

I was just watching the video for Thriller over on Youtube.  It more qualifies as a short film since it is over 14 minutes in length.  What I find strange about the video is that he seemed so normal in it.  If I knew nothing about the that happened in the 27 following the release of that video, I never would have thought his life would have turned out as it did.

The second thought that occurred to me is how I hard I find it to believe that it would have been aired uninterrupted in its entirety at the time considering how television content rarely lasts that long between commercial breaks.  It gives you an idea just how different the TV market was 27 years ago.

[Wild Armor]

I find this relevant

I think this is the most relevant thing in this thread.

[Degolas]

Add another vote for Billie Jean.

[Lord Scottish]

The second thought that occurred to me is how I hard I find it to believe that it would have been aired uninterrupted in its entirety at the time considering how television content rarely lasts that long between commercial breaks.  It gives you an idea just how different the TV market was 27 years ago.

There was a shorter version, wasn't there?

Personally, I don't think the Thriller video has aged very well. It comes off as a bit cheesy these days, imo.

[Dincrest]

Looking at all the Jacksons and given how f'd up their childhoods were, I think Michael and LaToya were easily the most sensitive of the children and thus were the most affected by the chlidhood trauma.  People think both are/were batshit insane.  Janet turned out reasonably normal as did Jermaine, Tito, Freddie, and the others.  Perhaps they were just more resilient. 

And, yes, there was an edited version of Thriller.  Other artists have made 10-15 minute movie videos (i.e. Metallica's The Unforgiven) but their edited versions were what was most shown on MTV.  I wonder, would a 12 minute movie video like The Unforgiven even come to be, had MJ not pioneered that concept with Thriller? 

[Fei]

Add another vote for Billie Jean.

Me too.  Song owns.

[MeshGearFox]

From my understanding and everything I've seen, Jackson had some regressionist disorder. In other words, he never considered himself an *adult*. So yeah, maybe he did sleep in bed with younger cihldren, but he didn't see *himself* as *older* than them, and there wasn't anything sexual going on because he wasn't even sexually mature enough to pursue that sort of contac.

Also I've heard his plastic surgery described as a way of trying to look as little like his father as possible or, alternately, a failed attempt to look as *young* as possible.

He probably had undiagnosed schizophrenia or something too, relaly.