Michael Jackson on The Huffington Post

Michael Jackson "Opus" Book Offers Rare Images

2009-11-23T12:59:29Z

NEW YORK — Artist Nate Giorgio recalls the last time he saw Michael Jackson, just days before the singer's death.

The pop icon wanted Giorgio to create dazzling murals of his children as well as artwork for his "This Is It" concerts, and Giorgio got out his pen during their talks.

Michael Jackson Moonwalk Glove Sells For $420K At NYC Auction

2009-11-22T07:00:43Z

NEW YORK — The shimmering, white glove Michael Jackson wore when he premiered his trademark moonwalk dance in 1983 was auctioned off for $350,000 – plus tax – on Saturday.

Winning bidder Hoffman Ma of Hong Kong will pay $420,000, including taxes and fees, for the rhinestone-studded, modified golf glove Jackson wore on his left hand for his moonwalk on Motown's 25th anniversary TV special.

Trey Borzillieri: Michael Jackson's This Is It - Behind the camera with Videographer Sandrine Orabona

2009-11-19T11:43:13Z

Photo by Reel Sessions

Clearly Michael Jackson's This Is It has a life of it's own. I saw this movie at 10:30am and boy did I get a surprise. I was expecting an empty theatre this early in the morning. It was packed. I also expected the audience to begin dancing in the aisles from the onset. Not the case.

My expectations were way off. A few minutes into this unbelievable, one of a kind film, tears welled up in my eyes and began streaming down my face. I put my half eaten bag of popcorn to the side and my napkins turned into tissues.

I know I'm not alone when I say Michael Jackson had been absent from my life... a life he had been very much a part of many years ago. I remember being put in a long time-out in 3rd grade for wearing a green and purple sequined version of his glove, homemade by my mother. A "long time out" is good way to describe what Michael Jackson has been in for many of us.

In the documentary This Is It, he is back! Wow! From the films first song, Wanna Be Startin' Somethin', the talent, emotion and love of Michael Jackson strikes you, no matter what age you are. If you're a Gen-X'er then you will be quickly catapulted into a brief self-analysis of your life. A sort-of evaluation of what has happened to you since you last saw this man like this! Then comes the rush of emotions aided by the music of course... past, present and the finality that you are watching him for the last time. Napkins turn to tissues all over again. As I wiped the tears off my face, shocked and embarrassed, I popped my head up to look at the rest of the audience. It seemed people were having a similar experience to mine. One can't help watch this incredible film in shock and awe - just to be clear, a good, thankful, wonderful version of "shock and awe." It's almost as if we were destined to have this last piece of Michael Jackson no matter what.

This Is It is now the highest grossing documentary in history. Behind the camera capturing these revealing, special and final moments with Michael Jackson was Videographer Sandrine Orabona. She is a small documentarian in comparison to the epic scale of what the film now represents on all levels. As the world shares these moments with Michael in this extraordinary documentary one can only imagine what it must have been like to be six feet away from The Magician at work! Please tell us Sandrine.

TB: I just saw This Is It.

SO: So what did you think?

TB: I was blown away. I think I was all business walking into it. Then everything hit me and I was a disaster.

SO: A disaster as in crying?

TB: I started crying and crying and crying.

SO: Do you know how many people said have said that to me?

TB: Like the first song...

SO: Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'

TB: Yes, yes and I mean I wasn't expecting any of it. I think it was a combination of his life, what he represented in my life, his talent and the finality of it all.

SO: I'm so happy to have been a documentarian on it and even to just have been in the presence. I think that what the Director, Kenny Ortega, was able to do is to distill the emotion that we all felt while we were there during rehearsal. Everybody hired on the crew were very good at what they do all the way up. We all felt so gifted and fortunate to be on the project and to be around this man because of everything he represents, because of how amazing he is as a musician, as an artist and just to be in a room with him while he was rehearsing, performing or going through the paces. Just being around his process everyday, I would come home and just be like I can't believe I'm a part of this, I can' t believe what I lived today. And everybody felt that. My friend Chucky, wearing the green jacket, he is an Emmy award-winning choreographer. He won an Emmy for choreographing the High School Musical films with Kenny Ortega. He dropped a potential project to audition as a dancer with no guarantee that he was going to be a dancer. He got the job and everyday he would look at me and be like, "I can't believe I am living this." Now this is a man that not only is he a dancer, but he is an Emmy winning choreographer, ok, so it was not lost on any of us, you know how amazing this experience was. I think it is really captured in the film.

TB: Yeah it is. You're describing what hit me so hard...everyone feeling so fortunate to be there and what a gift this is and so appreciative of that. At the same time it was a flashback to someone who has in many ways has been absent from his musical life, absent from being the person we all know in terms of performing and...

SO: You mean as far as his comeback?

TB: Well this was the beginning of his comeback, so he's been absent from the stage for a long time and the movie allows you to get to know him again, it's makes you appreciate his talent all over again and then in the back of your mind you know he's gone... and this becomes a one, two, three punch that the audience can't help but be effected by when they watch the movie.

SO: It's a really powerful piece of work because, for everything that you just stated. And I think what's really important is that Kenny chose to focus on the experience that we were living in the moment, this piece doesn't focus on the fact that he's passed already because it is understood. I think that the power of it is drawn from the experience that we all had and by focusing on our experience, people are able to embrace essentially what we lived [during the rehearsals]. I had a friend say to me, "I felt like I had a front row seat to this experience". And I replied, "That's cause I did." I was there. If you feel in your seat like Michael Jackson is performing Billie Jean six feet away from you that is because he actually did perform Billie Jean six feet away from me. If you feel that power coming through the screen, you can imagine what I felt on stage when that was happening. And you can see that too... there is a handful of us, I turn the camera around and it's like fifteen crew and dancers on the floor watching and they can't believe what they are seeing. That was the experience.

TB: Can you describe the amped up feeling you had at that moment?

SO: It's exactly what you are talking about in terms of when you go see the film. It's like genetically we all have Michael Jackson inside of us. In some way or another because of the way we grew up. We listened to his music and we realized what a genius this man is. And then also we [the crew working on this] are all professionals and we appreciate that even more as a dancer, as a musician, as a documentary filmmaker we understand that side of it even more. And then all of a sudden all of that comes up in you and you're like I'm watching a man that I've seen on TV, that I've appreciated from a distance, doing what he does best six feet away from me. And I've got his team of crew members behind me feeling the exact same and the only reason I can't do it is because I'm holding the camera. So many times I caught myself dancing while I was shooting. The bassline for Thriller just moves right through you.

TB: A very cool moment was when he vocally did the little guitar thing in the rehearsal for Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' to show the way it was to be done. He made the guitar sound so well and for a long enough time that it actually sounded like a real guitar.

SO: Watching a process for an artist like that... I am in awe. For the legends like Michael Jackson or Martin Scorcese, to just be around their process and absorb that like a sponge it's like an apprenticeship. Just watching these people work is like a gift.

TB: Any comments on the process you saw while filming?

SO: Everybody that was on the show, like Kenny Ortega, Michael Bearden, Travis Payne and Michael Bush. These are all people that have been around Michael for a long time and they are also great artists in their own rights. There is kind of like a creative short hand they use rather than a lot of technical jargon. Like when Michael says; "make it sound like you are dragging yourself out of bed" It immediately evokes an emotional reaction and you can then translate that into the music that you are making and I thought it was a brilliant way of conveying that emotion.

TB: Did he have down days?

SO: No. Because of the level of energy that everyone shared, I didn't even have my down days. What you see is what you got everyday at rehearsal. Everyone from Michael on down was really focused and on their way to creating this amazing show.

TB: Something that jumped out at me... his hands. They just came out of the screen, like the hands of a magician; they were all over the place.

SO: I was so focused on my little screen [in the camera] that I never really noticed that but a number of people have mentioned that to me.

TB: One of my favorite parts of the movie was when he started working on Human Nature, the creativity and the spontaneity of that.

SO: But that's what I'm talking about. That is the kind of creative short hand that was flying all over the stage. It was a very creative space for everyone involved. All of the musicians were spot-on.

TB: Everyone was front and center and ready to do their best.

SO: Well you don't get that kind of job without that though, I mean, front, center and incredibly happy to be there. Everybody. Grateful.

TB: I was really expecting people to be dancing in the movie theatre and I could actually here crickets. It seemed like the audience was in shock, overwhelmed and grateful to being seeing it more than anything else.

SO: Different people have different experiences; I think it depends on the audience. I have seen it a few times and they've all been different. With the crew it was very much like reliving it. I have seen it when the audience has been dancing and also seen it with a crowd that experienced it very much like you did. I see new things every time I watch it.

TB: The film is important, thank goodness you guys were there to capture it otherwise we may never have had anything like it with Michael Jackson.

SO: It was one of the things that made it so special for me at the time. The fact, that I personally had never seen anything like this before. I had never seen this side of Michael Jackson. To this day I continue to treat it as an incredible gift. I think a lot of people feel that way now that they've seen the documentary.

TB: A random thing --E he was wearing a shirt with Popeye gambling on it at one point.

SO: That's Michael Bush right there. That's the incredible art of Michael Bush.

TB: Was that rehearsal costume? Or everyday clothes for him?

SO: Michael Bush dressed Michael Jackson. Always.

TB: How did everyone deal with news of his passing?

SO: It was a very difficult day. I was actually there shooting at the time and I almost dropped the camera. I had to shoot on my knees through the better part of that moment. I was overwhelmed with the emotion and I was like, "Ok, I am going to pass out". But I couldn't because I had to film. The way I can describe it is... the entire world was mourning that day, imagine how it was in the rehearsal space. I have a hard time remembering it actually. I feel like I had an out-of-body experience.

TB: Were you a fan of his growing up?

SO: Who wasn't? But I have to say that I am even more of a fan of his after having done this and observing him as a professional.

TB: Who are you?

SO: A documentarian, more specifically a music documentarian. A documentarian, shooter and editor.

TB: Can't wait to see what you do next. Thank you.

Sandrine Orabona can be found at www.littlebleufilms.com

Stephen Gyllenhaal: This is It : Michael Jackson's Transcendence

2009-11-19T11:40:47Z

As usual, I felt really confused when looking for a movie to watch this past weekend. I have a lot of thoughts about what's happened to movies in the U.S. -- the consequences of the multi-nationals taking over our industry and sucking it dry like so much else in this country (not to mention the world). But that wasn't what was bothering me this past Saturday night. I just wanted to see something that might surprise me a little and not disappoint me completely.

I still find fishing through the Web for movie info confusing and generally frustrating. I miss the days of those good old underground papers like The Village Voice giving me real data -- or a good piece of word of mouth (always the most reliable). So the fact that a friend said see the Michael Jackson documentary, This Is It, gained traction for me as everything on my Web search seemed increasingly unclear and almost sad -- such junk out there and it's supposed to be the time of the "serious (Oscar contending) movies".

So word of mouth -- that's what this little piece is. Go see This is it. To my utter surprise This Is It is one of the finest and most powerful films I've seen in a long time.

I was never a Michael Jackson fan. Not at all. When he was a child I found his music manipulative and muddy -- he seemed like an over-coiffed puppet. As he grew up he became equal parts scary and sad to me, not to mention wildly and crassly commercial. And then there were all the issues of the monster that seemed to emerge -- the baby out the window stunt, all those rumored boys in his over-sized bed, his strange home, his face -- a pop freak to the max, a ghoul.

So I went to see This Is It the way one might go see a horror picture, I suppose, except I hoped there might be some okay dancing, some bizarre, perhaps drug riven singing. What I encountered instead was an artist at the absolute top of his game -- and it is an astonishing game. He emanated Greek tragedy, Keats-like vulnerability, but also a top surgeon's drive and clarity. Plus, he wears wild, whimsical outfits which somehow suit him, elevate him.

There is a level of human beauty that blossoms here on the screen that is incontestable, even as the boy/man/woman's face is a mask of face lifts and skin-dye gone grotesquely awry.

And then I found myself literally weeping for his voice that had the depth and maturity of the finest and most complex wine, a Shakespearean wine that rose above the tragedy of what his life had become.

One of my favorite movies of all time is Amadeus, and this has the tone of that movie as towards the end Mozart (played brilliantly by Tom Hulce and directed by Milos Forman) addresses his inner demons and outer enemies with music and (in MJ's case) dance. And talk about dance -- Michael Jackson surrounded himself with the finest hip-hop dancers alive for this show. The film opens with these dancers (from all over the world -- many of them weeping with joy because they had been selected from hundreds of other dancers a la Chorus Line -- very strange for me at what appeared to be a cloying beginning) but not for one moment during the entire film did I watch any of these other dancers. My eyes were locked on Michael, every fiber of his body emanating feelings as deep as I've seen in any film.

And now he's gone. But the movie isn't. Don't miss it. As a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences I haven't yet been hammered with a campaign for This Is It to grab the documentary Oscar, probably because the "brilliant" studio guys think it's not "meaningful" enough. Funny how real art is never considered meaningful by the money guys until it's too late. So maybe I need to start that campaign myself.

Maybe... this is it.

David Wild: "You Win Again": My Very Gracious Playlist To Congratulate Johnny Depp For Beating Me As Sexiest Man Alive

2009-11-18T19:55:15Z

I know Johnny Depp a little. He is a lovely guy. We met many years ago when I went to do a Rolling Stone cover story on Winona Ryder, and I lost an interview tape in the beanbag chair of the house they were living in then. Johnny generously offered to help me search everywhere until we found the missing cassette. Years later, I did another Rolling Stone cover story with Johnny and Keith Richards for the Pirates movie. And just a few weeks ago, I ran into Johnny again when he very sweetly found the time to present his movie dad Keith with the Rock Icon award at the 2009 Scream Awards which I was working on.

Because we share so much history together, I am hereby announcing that I have decided not to protest Johnny's outrageous victory over me in this year's list of the Sexiest Men Alive. In fact, you may be shocked to know that I am nowhere on this list. Indeed, I just got a letter from People formally asking me not to even read the issue. To each his or her own -- though I'm pretty sure my wife voted for Johnny too.

So instead of pleading my case, let me simply say, "Damn, you Mr. Scissorhands and congratulations, sir. Enjoy your damn playlist, you sexy beast."

YOU WIN AGAIN - Hank Williams
CHASING PIRATES - Norah Jones
SO YOU WIN AGAIN - Hot Chocolate
YOU SEXY THING - Hot Chocolate
SEXY BITCH - David Guetta
JOHNNY JOHNNY - Prefab Sprout
THE WINNER TAKES ALL - Abba
YOU WIN AGAIN - Keith Richards
WIN SOME LOSE SOME - Robbie Williams
I'M WAITING FOR THE MAN - Vanessa Paradis
YOU JUST CAN'T WIN - Them
WIN - David Bowie
WIN, LOSE OR DRAW - Allman Brothers Band
YOU WIN, I LOSE - Supertramp
YOU CAN'T WIN - Michael Jackson
YOU WIN AGAIN - Bee Gees

Now that I'm done being so incredibly gracious, what are your songs for the Sexiest Man Alive?

Evan Chandler Dead: Father Of Michael Jackson Molestation Accuser Commits Suicide

2009-11-18T17:12:55Z

Evan Chandler -- the father of Jordan Chandler, who accused Michael Jackson of molesting him -- allegedly committed suicide, the New York Post reports.

Kathryn Schulz: Billie Jean in Baghdad

2009-11-16T14:40:21Z

On Watching the Michael Jackson Movie With Iraqi Refugees

Forgive me, but I am going to start at the end. I am sitting in a dark movie theater in Damascus, Syria. It is October 30 and This Is It, the Michael Jackson movie-slash-valediction, has just opened worldwide. In 24 hours, I will fly home to New York, after a month in the Middle East reporting on the Iraqi refugee crisis -- on the terrifying past, miserable present, and uncertain future of the estimated two million people who have fled the war. Right now, though, nine of those two million people are sitting next to me: my friend Z., who invited me to the movies, plus eight of his pals. Chronologically, they are just kids, college age or slightly older -- say, 19 to 25. Measured by life experience, they have nine or ten light years on me.

This is, as I said, an ass-backward way to begin. By rights I should start with the big picture: with those two million refugees, the other 2.6 million who are displaced within Iraq, the 1 million dead. I should tell you something about them -- about these doctors, engineers, artists, former U.S. Army interpreters, mothers of murdered six-year-olds, English teachers, hyper-articulate fifth-grade kids. I should tell you something about international refugee policy, about Sunnis and Shiites and Christians, about life in Iraq before and after the war.

Instead, here I am in this movie theater. Michael Jackson is up on screen: singing, sliding his astonishing feet, doing that thing where he points to precise, invisible spots in the air. Billie Jean is not my lover. I was in second grade when this song came out; I can barely remember a time when I didn't know it by heart. Down at the end of the row, a young Kurdish woman who sports a vintage MTV T-shirt and speaks perfect idiomatic American shouts, "We love you, Michael!" All around me, the other kids are singing. She's just a girl who claims that I am the one. They know every damn word. It is one of the happiest, strangest moments of my trip.

***

Here are five things you should know about these kids:

1. "College age" is a category, not a reality. Back in Iraq, kidnappings, gunfights, and bombings conspired to make going to school impossibly dangerous. As a result, almost all Iraqi kids have missed out on years of education. Z., a highly motivated student, persuaded his parents to let him keep going to high school throughout the war. When I asked him how he got there every day, he grinned broadly: "At top speed." But most kids just stayed home -- for months, for years.

In Syria, Iraqi refugees can go to school -- in theory. In practice, fewer than 20% of them do so. Some can't afford the books and uniforms. (Refugees can't legally work in Syria, so even families that were affluent when they first fled have long since burned through their savings.) Some are too busy being the sole wage-earners for their families, since minors who work are far less likely to be busted than their parents. (I met a former government functionary whose family survives on the $17 per week that his 13-year-old son makes by cleaning a print shop.) Some drop out from sheer frustration and shame -- the shame of being so far behind, so much older than their classmates, so unwelcome and displaced.

2. These particular kids, however, want to be in school -- more than any young people I've ever met. One of them almost started to cry when telling me about missing out on four years of school (and these are kids who can describe the bombing that killed their best friend without shedding a tear). Specifically, they want to go to school in the U.S. To get there, they are banking on a program called the Iraqi Student Project, which connects qualified Iraqi kids with American universities that are willing to waive tuition.

3. As the dream of studying in the U.S. suggests, they have all made some kind of peace with the country that invaded their own, bombed it (in the words of the first George Bush) "back to the stone age," and opened up a power vacuum inside which every imaginable monstrosity now flourishes. Like almost all the Iraqis I met, the kids show a graceful ability to separate the actions of a government from the intentions of its people. Perhaps that's one legacy of life under Saddam. Or perhaps it's just an awkward concession to a country that gave them, in no particular order, a model for a free and democratic society, a war, crippling sanctions that devastated civilian life, another war, Thriller, Beat It, and Bad.

4. They have lived through hell. Z. lost 14 friends in three years, enough to fill the row of seats in front of us. Another kid I met arrived at school one day to find a decapitated body on the doorstep, an experience that left her seven-year-old sister mute for a week. Another saw two of her friends kidnapped from the street in front of her. Later, the parents found their children's remains in the garbage. She doesn't know why she was spared.

5. Most of the time, looking at these kids, you would never guess any of this. They act like kids everywhere, not least because they need to. They do it for their parents; they do it to pay their debts to the dead. They do it because no one can live in a state of crisis forever. It is only in rare moments that you see the price they've paid. The rest of the time, they play soccer and World of Warcraft and ultimate frisbee. They negotiate with their parents over what time they'll come home. They have Skype names and tricked-out cell phones and 60 bajillion Facebook friends. And they are seriously in love with Michael Jackson.

***

So now Michael is up there on screen singing all I wanna say is, they don't really care about us. The kids are stomping their feet so hard the whole row of seats is rocking back and forth. Later, when we get to the half-spoken, half-rapped part of Thriller made famous by Vincent Price, they go at it in unison:

Darkness falls across the land
The midnight hour is close at hand
Creatures crawl in search of blood
To terrorize y'alls neighborhood.

To me, it sounds like the Iraqi national anthem. For them, though -- well, I hesitate to make too much of it. Part of Michael's beauty, after all, was just beauty. Thriller was brilliant when it came out, so brilliant that it did not age into campiness. Nor did its creator. Even at fifty, he could sing with the best of them, and dance everybody else into the ground.

Still, Michael Jackson's particular brand of genius had the fairy dust of American possibility and prosperity shining all over. Did he speak to the dispossessed, with his corny-yet-sincere bid to "Heal the World," and his indisputably successful bid to rule it? Of course. Ask Marjane Satrapi of Iran, or Helene Cooper of Liberia, both of whom have written movingly about their childhood obsessions with Jackson, that strange, single-gloved beacon of hope in dark times. And they are hardly alone. As a diehard Nabokov fan, it pains me slightly to say this, but for every five people who have read Lolita in Tehran (or in any other oppressive locale on earth) roughly a billion have tried, in the privacy of their own rooms, to master the moonwalk.

That is why -- let's face it -- Michael Jackson probably did more than anyone else in his lifetime to enhance America's image overseas. Granted, a plausible rival has recently emerged, in the form of another kinda-black-kinda-white guy who has lately come in for some serious global fame. But the jury is still out on that one. Not so Michael Jackson, King to Obama's president. Part of his allure was the way he threaded together the two great American fantasies: universal brotherhood (It don't matter if you're black or white) and collective progress through individual improvement (If you wanna make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make that change). His ethos was our national one: just give a guy a fighting chance.

It's not perfect, but it is something. And it is, unquestionably, every refugee's dream. Watching This Is It in Damascus, next to my tough, sweet, somehow surviving Iraqi friends, it was impossible not to think that this is some of what they saw: Michael Jackson as (I think he'd appreciate the comparison) Lady Liberty.

Qanta Ahmed, MD: From Wall Street to Neverland: The Year America Didn't Sleep

2009-11-16T11:11:19Z

America didn’t just lose money in the Crash -- America lost a lot of sleep. The annual Sleep in America Poll published by the National Sleep Foundation focused on Health and Safety this year. The report is available on line for anyone to download. It makes for compelling reading.

From Wall Street to Neverland, Americans have been sleepless. The starkest example of the struggle with insomnia came earlier this year on June 25th, when Michael Jackson’s quest for sleep resulted in death. In these columns we have discussed some of the painful lessons derived of those Propofol Lullabies. A year or so earlier, in an anonymous New York City night, we had quietly lost the incandescent talent of Heath Ledger who had also struggled with insomnia in the weeks leading up to his death. This had followed Britney Spears' very public insomnia, preceding her hospitalization for mental illness. The lives of these celebrities is far, far removed from those of my patients, but the struggle for rest and sleep is a universal experience. And money simply can’t buy it.

One in three Americans is experiencing a sleep disorder due to economic concerns. Astonishingly, these findings have been little discussed in the professional academe or in the public sphere. This past week at the annual congress of the American College of Chest Physicians, in San Diego I discovered my colleagues were not always aware of such dramatic observations.

Since I first read the survey this spring, I began adding a single question to my interviews when I meet new patients for the first time: “ Without intruding into your financial affairs, do you believe the economy has affected your sleep?” The response has been startling. Every sector of the population relates to this question, whether the patient is a 42 year old account manager for a hedge fund describing a flare of insomnia as Lehman Brothers began its plummet over the edge, or an 87 year old grandfather concerned about his grandchildren’s future, or an overworked physician struggling to make college fees, or a single mom working in a pet store late into the night, or a 60 year old ex-service man taking on an extra shift at UPS for health insurance benefits or even a loan book manager for an international investment bank. There has been almost no patient I have interviewed who cannot relate to this observation, yet the discussion is barely beginning.

Americans are extremely concerned about the economy. They list economic fears, including the economy in general, more specific fears relating to job security and health coverage, ahead, way ahead, of concerns about the war in Iraq, the war in Afghanistan or the interminable global war on terror. Americans are anguished and hurting and its affecting their sleep.

Speaking to a physician colleague recently about this survey I was met with irritated resignation. Well, what can we do about this? We can begin by acknowledging the realities that many more individuals are experiencing insomnia in the slow motion collision that has been our economy of recent. Empathizing about this problem as a shared, national experience can be helpful and patients often sense that they are finally being heard in a climate where economic decisions are being made by faceless suits remote from reality. To quote my mentor from residency, Dr. Michael Ammazzalorso, "as physicians we are privileged to be closer to our patients than a priest is to his parishioner". These are times when we need to remember to minister to ourselves and each other. Sharing a nation’s loss and beginning to examine its many manifestations by spending time hearing about them from our patients can accomplish much.

In the endless 24/7 news cycles since the 2008 implosion of the Dow from the vertiginous altitudes of 14,000, the impact of the economy on sleep, or the impact of sleeplessness on the economy, has been a silent void. We live in a culture of not-so-wholesome Sleep Machismo and economic hardship is bringing the extremes of American lifestyles into sharp relief. Patients who are parents are contorting their schedules to accommodate work hours, long commute times, shift work, child responsibilities, homework and even higher learning. Patients who are unemployed are struggling fiscally, emotionally and without the structure of work, which has become a form of puritanical Americanism. As a nation we are known for our long work week, few vacation days and endless work hours. In contrast, the unemployed have lost their church of redemption -- workaholism, which has been, for a long time the foundation of a uniquely American ethos. Possibly only the Japanese rival us in this pursuit. Outside of a workplace, Americans often find themselves deprived of purpose, community, means and hope. The speed at which health coverage is lost following the end of a job adds to calamity and many patients attend for consultation under pressure of a rapidly uncoiling COBRA coverage.

In times like these, it is, as my colleagues have pointed out, hard to offer constructive help. In a health care system where patient encounters result in investigations and financial burden, we have to remember how to dispense practical advice. We must target behaviors in a way that results in meaningful change for our patients without submitting to the model of medicine as a diagnostic temple serving evaluation yet eternally devoid of healing. We must help and heal, even without a DRG code check box.

We begin by educating our patients about how we sleep, why we need sleep and how to sleep better. Many times a detailed interview can uncover obvious behavior to target. As a nation we are growing up without learning how to fall asleep or how to build an environment which promotes sleep at bedtime. Enter economic calamity and transient, acute insomnia quickly becomes chronic and untreated insomnia contributes to depression. Daytime performances decline, memory is impaired, attention wavers. Tempers fray, workplace litigation costs rise, health care utilization goes up. Workplace conflicts proliferate. I could go on.

The public health burden of insomnia on the United States is measured in the hundreds of billlons of dollars. While some of the costs are direct, many are indirect: covering for staff shortages due to absence, accidents triggered by sleeplessness and the impact of sleeplessness on wider society. Much of this decline is unaddressed in employee wellness programs, or in regular visits to the clinician. While as a nation we routinely cut calories, or cram exercise into demanding schedules, sleep has not even entered the conversational lexicon.

At a time of extraordinary hardship, we can ease suffering by shining the spotlight on America’s sleep habits. We need to look at our culture of Sleep Machismo which views sleep need as an expendable luxury rather than a biological necessity and the brilliant lessons extracted from Dr. Mathias Basner’s evaluation of the federally administered American Time Use Survey and his work at the Philadelphia School of Medicine. I will be devoting a specific column to his fascinating work. We need to acknowledge the socioeconomic impact of a sleepless, overworked nation in a climate of economic volatility and ignite a dialogue on protecting our most vital function of wellness: sound sleep in unsound times.

Without doubt, this is a conversation long overdue. From Wall Street to Neverland, it is time we realized: unlike Greed, Sleep is indeed Good. Americans are not only in financial debt but also rapidly spiraling sleep debt. Losing sleep is costing us money and losing money is costing us sleep.

Its time to stem the losses.

Joan E. Dowlin: Michael Jackson Lives On in This Is It

2009-11-14T13:11:19Z

After seeing Michael Jackson's This Is It for the second time in four days, I can say that it is a little easier to accept his death. It is still incredibly sad. But watching him on the screen with this backstage documentary of what was to be his farewell tour, I felt uplifted and I got a sense that he was in a different place than he had been a few years ago when he was going through his trials and tribulations. It seems that he had come full circle and reached a point in his life where he was at peace with himself.

He was poised for a comeback and this tour would have been spectacular. It included his greatest hits and a few new songs with contemporary themes such as saving the planet. Jackson seems to be in his element throughout this project whether it is rehearsing onstage or working with the musicians, singers, and dancers behind the scenes. He knew every nuance and detail of the show and his directions served as an inspiration to the entire cast.

Some of the most intimate moments of the movie are when Jackson mentors outstanding guitarist Orianthi Panagaris, telling her "this is your moment to shine" and when he shares a spontaneous duet of "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" with Judith Hill. You can almost feel the excitement and pure joy of being coached by the King of Pop.

What struck me was the vitality and sense of abandonment he projected. He was like the MJ of old, mesmerizing with his dance moves and sweetly serenading with his vocals, even though he said he was conserving his voice. I can only imagine how he would have soared on the tour.

This movie should put to rest any of the tabloid fodderabout Michael losing his voice or being a skeleton right before he died. I was amazed at how smoothly and elegantly he danced onstage. He certainly did not look, sound or move like a 50-year-old. Indeed, the autopsy reports had confirmed that he was in good health overall, making his passing all the more painful for his many fans.

MJ, appearing a bit psychic, stated that this tour would be his "final curtain call" at the press conference near the beginning of the film. His demeanor then was upbeat and triumphant which indicates to me that he was fired up and ready to go on this, his last adventure.

The constant admiration shown to MJ by his fellow artists throughout the documentary highlight the contributions he has made to the music world. In fact, after my first screening of the film as I was driving home listening to the radio I was amazed by how many of today's pop and rap artists show an influence of Michael Jackson. MJ's music will never go out of style. Even the Jackson 5 tunes felt contemporary when recreated in the film.

One of the most moving parts of the movie for me was near the end when the cast and director, Kenny Ortega got in a circle interlocking arms and Michael declared they were a family, that they should do their best and not be nervous and look at it as a big adventure. He then said it was about love, loving the earth and that he loved everyone there. That was when I realized that MJ had reached a deep place in his journey.

In June I had written an article in the Huffington Post stating that Michael did not love himself because of his constant quest to change his appearance and his blocking out of those who loved him. I was basing this on interviews he gave about four years ago. After having seen this film I must revise my thinking on that.

When he rehearsed certain songs alone while his dancers became his audience, his performances were received with thunderous applause and cheering. MJ's reaction was to humbly say "God bless you." He seemed to be able to take in the admiration and appreciation and beam it back to them. The love was palpable.

I am grateful that we have this documentary as the final legacy of one of the greatest entertainers of the century. With this film, it almost seems that Michael never left us. In a way, he never has, as his music will always be with us and his influence will continue to inspire generations to come. God bless you, Michael.

Michael Jackson: 3D Scans Could Bring Star To 'Life' (PHOTOS, VIDEO)

2009-11-13T09:55:18Z

Michael Jackson had 3D scans made of his body in what may have been a plan to build a virtual reality double of himself, the Daily Star reports.

The 3D scan data of the "King Of Pop" was taken in 1997, when the star was 37 years-old, and was put on sale for over $1 million by an anonymous seller.

According to the Daily Star, the seller noted,

The thing about this data is it immortalised him at the age of 37, before his nose was disfigured and when he was in the prime of life.

The Daily Star reports that the imaging could be uses for a 'reincarnation' of Jacko, such as a "robot twin":

Now scientists say following his death on June 25, the eerie images could be used to bring him back in music videos, computer games and even movies.

3D scan data of Michael Jackson was posted for sale on eBay, although this was not confirmed to be the same data referenced in the Daily Star article.

The seller auctioning the item -- titled "Michael Jackson 3D Scan Data From 1996" and selling for $1.5 million -- included pictures of the scans, as well as this description:

The original 3D scan data of Michael Jackson. This scan data was collected when he was 37 years old in 1996 and Michael was in the prime of his career. It also includes the color map from this scan in either CPV or UV maps.

This data was collected using the same equipment that creates the data used to create video games and or CGI avatars to make him speak, laugh, sing or dance. To make him dance just add a body double avatar. It can also be used for the most accurate collectable memorabilia which can be manipulated to any expression or pose.

The seller also noted that "the sale of this scan data is subject to the purchaser agreeing to clear the proper rights with the MJ Estate before it is publicly used in a promotional or commercial manner."

The eBay item included these pictures with the listing, as well as a link to a video that is reportedly an animation made from the scans:

The eBay posting linked to this YouTube video, noting,

A fan from mjjboard.com found this eaby auction [sic] and took image number one and made a very nice animation of MJ singing just using the 2D image.

WATCH:

This isn't Jacko's first brush with creating robotic twins of himself. The Register reported in 2007 that the pop icon was "considering the construction of a 50 foot robot replica of himself."

2-Year-Old Loves MJ, Is Deeply Moved By "You Are Not Alone" (VIDEO)

2009-11-12T14:52:37Z

Via Buzzfeed comes this adorable and hilarious video of a precocious tot swaying with deep emotion to "You Are Not Alone" by Michael Jackson. He is really feeling it and we are really digging him.

WATCH:

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Joe Jackson Denied Bid For Michael's Money

2009-11-11T08:18:11Z

LOS ANGELES — Michael Jackson's father does not stand to inherit any of his son's assets and cannot challenge the appointment of the executors chosen by the singer to handle his will, a judge said Tuesday.

Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff said Joe Jackson was not named in the will but could pursue a motion to receive a family allowance from the estate because he claimed his son had been supporting him.

Hermene Hartman: This Is It

2009-11-04T13:49:04Z

This is It, the documentary that records the last days of Michael Jackson, proves that he was brilliant. The show was just two weeks from taking stage in Europe in front of sold-out audiences. The movie captures a genius at work. Michael was at home on stage.

He commanded it. He walked it, owned it, like a panther stalking prey. He knew every inch of the stage. It was his, and there's no denying it.

Michael's imagination was dazzling, his creativity unmatched. He was an all around entertainer, ultimate performer and quite the producer. The show that never was, was going to be masterful with its use of multimedia, computerization and other props. The This is It audience gets to see the behind the scenes manpower it takes to produce such a show.

A perfect example: In a scene, the performer went from the graveyard, the hood, and the sexy flirt to a black and white movie featuring Cagney and Bogart in a gangster scene, to the jungle. Michael is right at the table with James Cagney. Bogart chases him with a gun in the staircase. He flirts with dancing Rita Hayward. It's amazing and catches you totally off guard. It is the unexpected.

Old school.

Michael dances as only he can, and you realize his perfection as you watch the other dancers approach his steps. They do them, and they do them well, but he outdances them all. What has age got to do with it? You can move or you can't. You've got it or you don't. And he did. He had the magic "it," whatever it is. He sought dancers from all over the world, and they came, they performed MJ's steps, and they were glad to be on the set. You saw the many hours of rehearsal and planning behind every step. You saw the training that makes it all look so natural. He was great and at his very best. His energy flowed like magic.

Michael knew his music. He took his music and created new music, new steps, new scenery. He was casually dressed in his own very unique style. This performance, this show had everything in it. He let it be known that he loved his family. He paid tribute to them all. He was sexy and showed the flirtatiousness between a man and a woman. He raised questions that were important to him from race relations to environmental issues. He was magnificent. He knew when a note should be held longer. He had his groove. He did it all with such grace. He knew how to preserve his voice. He had his rhythm. His brilliance shines throughout this movie as it captures you from the very beginning to the very end. He showed no signs of illness or weakness. He danced. He sang. He owned the stage. He shone.

He gave it his best and his all. The show was powerful. And even though we will never see it, you can imagine it would have, undeniably, played to rave reviews, because the movie is a mere rehearsal -- not even a dress rehearsal, just rehearsal, after rehearsal to make for a perfect show. The emotions are mixed. You know it is the last show. You realize it is the show that never was. You watch his finality. You smile and cry.

The other magnificence of Michael was that he was (and still is) a moneymaker. He was universal -- a definite cross over. A man for all countries. This is It has made more money overseas than in the United States. It will surely surpass the original planned two weeks. In week one, the film reportedly made $32.5 million; the overseas total is $68.5 million. This is why the concert was targeted to these countries first.

He was gifted, talented and amazingly awesome.

You saw none of his sadness and gloom of suffering. He was upbeat and on it. And if you go to the movies without dancing or taping your feet, there is something deeply wrong you. If you watch This Is It without moving, go straight to the cemetery. No matter how old or how young you are, this is a must-see movie. It is historic, but most of all, it's an opportunity to see a genius at work. The movie pays homage to a man and his music. Bravo, MJ for a performance well done.

Jackie K. Cooper: "This Is It" Is All That Remains

2009-11-03T16:50:35Z

What Might Have Been

The documentary "This Is It" is a chronicle of the rehearsals for Michael Jackson's comeback tour. It was compiled from hours of footage that were shot during the day to day work getting ready to launch Michael's first major concert tour in years. As we all know the "comeback" never took place due to Michael Jackson's death this past June. So all the hard work never came to fruition, but at least this memory of the effort has been captured.

The scenes show a variety of rehearsals which featured different songs from Michael's repertoire of hits. With each song we see the perfectionist that Jackson was. He knew his voice, he knew the song, and he knew his audience. Though soft-spoken his control of the product was evident. Kenny Ortega may have been the nominal director of the show but this film shows that Michael was the boss.

The people working for Michael Jackson appear to have adored him. You can see it in their willingness to do things over and over, and in the emotion in their faces when they watched him perform. He was the master and they were all acolytes learning from him.

"This Is It" lets us see Michael Jackson the performer but there is little shown of the man himself. Everything takes place at the rehearsal venues and there are no personal tales or anecdotes presented by those interviewed. It is a shame the focus of the film is so narrow and the portrait of Michael the man so sketchy.

Since these are rehearsals we are watching, there is no smooth performance to be admired. Everything is building up to the "comeback" performance and it never took place. Therefore we get the motions of the concert but not the emotions of it. Jackson gives us a feel for what he can do but we never see him full force. He is holding back, protecting his voice, and conserving his energy.

The film is rated PG for some scary images in the "Thriller" number and for some sexually suggestive dance moves.

Michael Jackson's fans should love this final homage to their idol. Others, who are less adoring of Jackson, may find the film too much of a rough cut. They will want the full on technically perfect Jackson and they won't get it.

This film shows what could have been but never was. It is the best we can ask from the people behind the man. The scenes are from the rehearsals for a big day that never dawned. It is all that is left -- this is it!

I scored "This Is It" a rehearsed 7 out of 10.

Francine Hardaway: Michael Jackson Still Had it at the End

2009-11-03T11:42:57Z

Trying
to duck the trick-or-treaters on my block on Saturday night (Halloween induces a
bark-a-thon at my house), I escaped into the closest movie, Michael
Jackson's This is It. I
expected nothing. Like everyone else, after Jackson died I watched
every person who ever met him once parade through Larry King Live
saying what a good person he was, and listened to Liz Taylor moan about
how she couldn't go on. While I never thought Michael Jackson was a
child molester, I wasn't a true fan, either. And I probably believed he
couldn't make it through fifty shows on the drugs he was on.

I
now question my own judgment. The very first show would have
electrified the world and given Jackson the adrenalin to go on. The man
was a genius. Coming into rehearsals, he clearly knew every song, every
move, every note. It was as if the music poured out from inside his DNA
, where it always lived and now was being given the chance to express.
Having never been anything but a performer, Michael Jackson was still a
performer at 50, capable of astounding dance moves and exquisite
timing. Not only that, but at 50 he was happy to be in the role of
mentor to the younger dancers and musicians, rather than a competitor
with them. He clearly wanted to give them an opportunity to shine. The
audience would have loved him. Did he do every acrobatic move that the
younger dancers did? Of course not. But he reminded me of a great
tennis player who can win a match through superior strategy even though
athletically past his prime.

At the rehearsals, he seemed
comfortable with the show. Never irritable on camera, he appeared
gracious and loving. By the time they were set to go to London, he had
accepted the cast and crew as family, and they gave him the adulation
he deserved. Many of them had traveled around the world to audition for
the show. It's sad they never got the chance to hear the applause. And
it's sad Michael never got a chance to do even one show, because the
sets, costumes, lighting, and graphics would have been out of the
ballpark. Go see this movie to see what they were working on; this
production would have been worth the ticket price even if the
understudy went on for Michael Jackson.

The footage was shot
with two cameras, fortunately in high definition, but nothing like a
finished movie. It was meant to be for Jackson's personal archive, and
it is truly a documentary -- it documents the rehearsals without window
dressing. In it you can see the mutual respect between Kenny Ortega,
who directed the movie and co-directed the show with Michael, and
Michael Jackson. Clearly they are used to working together, and they
help each other out. I especially liked it when Ortega told Jackson to
"hold on" to the bars on the cherry picker the first time Jackson took
a ride on it. Jackson seemed fearless, wanting to take it higher and
sing while doing it, but Ortega only wanted him to take the ride and
test the safety.

Was Michael Jackson a sick drug addict? No way.
Did we, the public and the media, hasten the death of a man who felt
for the planet and wanted to deliver a message of love to the world?
Probably. We have a grim way of eating our public figures alive these
days. I'm sure Michael Jackson wasn't perfect, but neither are we.

Karen Dalton-Beninato: 10 Pix from 11th Voodoo Music Experience

2009-11-02T19:05:58Z

The Voodoo Music Experience just wrapped its 11th year, and volume-wise it goes to 11 (to borrow a phrase from Spinal Tap). Voodoo had an uphill climb, announcing its lineup on the weekend Michael Jackson died and fighting to change its date to Halloween for a New Orleans City Park extravaganza with George Clinton and and Kiss.

In association with the Life is Art Foundation, this year's festival was full of eye-catching installations. Here are 10 of our photos from a weekend that included a full moon and Halloween, as we now segue into a Saints Game.

Who Dat indeed.

A wild thing in front of, appropriately enough, The Pogues.

* * *

Blue man walking

***

Pirate photo shoot in front of glowing art installation

***

Backlit tent with mysterious residents

***

Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue bathed in light

***

The Life Aquatic Welcomes You

***

OK Art installation shining across the lagoon

***

Voodoo Artist Lionel Milton with Tariq Hanna, winner of TLC's Ultimate CakeOff, creating Let Love Rule cake for Lenny Kravitz.

***

The finished product with a spinning top celebrate the 20th anniversary of Kravitz' Let Love Rule.

***

NOMRF Founder Jeff with Voodoo Music Experience Founder Steven Rehage represent in the appropriate hats.

Last year Sony Playstation and Southern Comfort hosted its Little Big Planet kickoff to benefit the New Orleans Musicians Relief Fund at Voodoo. It's always worth coming home to the party.

Is 'This Is It' Michael Jackson's Fashion Comeback?

2009-11-02T10:12:07Z

At "Michael Jackson This Is It," moviegoers will not see the elaborate costumes created for the tour that never was, bedazzled with 4 million Swarovski crystals and lighted up using LED technology. Those are on display at the O2 Arena in London, where the tour had been scheduled to begin in July, and will go on to New York and Tokyo.

'This Is It' Tops $100M Worldwide

2009-11-02T07:44:02Z

LOS ANGELES — "Michael Jackson's This Is It" danced to the head of the box office, debuting with $23.2 million domestically in its first weekend.

"This Is It," featuring performances Jackson rehearsed for a marathon concert stand planned before his death in June, took in $103 million worldwide in its first five days.

Richard Laermer: The Myth of "Personal Branding"

2009-11-01T17:04:29Z

"Personal Branding" is a term that gets bandied about at every cocktail party despite not having any real discernible meaning. We know the purpose of branding products: to sell them to their market. What exactly does it mean to have a personal brand, though? Further, is a personal brand actually going to help people with their lives, or just their careers?

I say that personal branding, whatever it is today, is a trendy term but not a complete step toward wholesale change in the way you are perceived. The "new fame" is more complete, achievable, and effective. (Read on for more.)

Much like anything these days, a whole host of aggressive experts are at the ready to tell you what a personal brand is and why you need to be personally branding.

Longtime brand guy Martin Lindstrom suggests a few things regarding the quest for a solid personal brand under the guise of explaining how to be indispensable at the workplace.

Martin advises that while at work, people "take two everyday tasks and combine them in an extraordinary way. For example, let's say you're a cashier in a big-box store and you enjoy sitting in its fast-food emporium during your breaks. Is there anything you've observed that might be valuable for management to know about--for instance, that customers wish there were more prepackaged sandwiches and salads? Let management know."

"Create a distinctive mark or "signature" that other people can't get out of their minds," he says, "It can be a logo, a symbol, or a saying you affix to the end of your personal e-mails. Once again, combine two elements that have nothing to do with each other--flying monkeys, for example."

Flying monkeys are going to help me do what, exactly?

Notice that the author of Buyology didn't exactly say what these things are supposed to accomplish - just that they will help you brand yourself as indispensable. Eh? These superficial moves aren't exactly changing the world or creating any real benefit for anyone involved. They are more like stunts.

Personal Brander Dan Schawbel, who wrote the newish book Me 2.0, wishes to be Gen-Y's personal branding expert. His very popular blog advises people on creating a new brand attitude (brand new attitude's bastard cousin).

Dan is a smart-as-whip marketer who defines personal branding as "how we market ourselves to others." I think this definition is apt. It is similar to faming, an idea of mine that I've been wandering the country talking about, better known as a way to get a leg up on the competition and become the go-to person in all facets of your life. It is also "pragmatic notoriety." This ensures folks see the best in you at all times. PB is a bit more on the business side of things, whereas fame is an actual organic adventure. [Oh, and I'm not talking about the kind of fame that balloonists go after either...]

More telling than semantics of the definition of personal branding are what Dan Schawbel calls the "benefits". These would be the whys of personal branding. Here are benefits, according to Dan:

Promotions: Anyone who is ambitious and works at a company will want to move up. By building your personal brand, you become the best choice for a promotion.

Happiness: By aligning who you are with what you do and appending goals to it, you can turn "work" into a "hobby." Get paid to do what you would count as a hobby.

Compensation: Personal brands command premium prices. Just like Apple and Gillette can charge more for products you can get for less, you can do the same.

Business: People want to purchase from other people who they know, like, trust. When you make those people happy that they chose you, by giving them great results, they will refer you to even more people.

Perks: Strong brands get perks. I get free books from authors and other bloggers get free products, such as limited edition Pepsi cans. Celebrities, like Halley Berry don't have to pay for anything because of who they are.

Notice what all the benefits have in common? They are all (but for happiness) essentially saying make more money. Yeah we are all here to make money, but if a raise is the only thing you are looking for, all this effort may be overkill.

The biggest difference between personal branding and this thing called faming is that the personal one exists solely for capitalistic purposes like getting into a good school, getting the right internship, getting a better job, getting customers. Basically it purports to help you get more cash.

Conversely, faming exists to help you live a fuller and more consistent life from which things like getting the internship and getting the job come into being. Faming doesn't turn itself off when the workday ends. This helps you get more life and the money may follow, if you so choose.

The other component of personal branding seems to be the pursuit of making its practitioner a "mini-celebrity." Ah the celebrated life--dimming isn't it? This is problematic today for many reasons. As writer Michael Wolff pointed out on Newser.com: Celebrities simply do not exist any more.

All those antiquated notions of celebrity are far gone and inconclusive.

"We tend to think that we live in a celebrity-driven culture," wrote trouble maker Michael Wolff, "But, it's actually a nobody-driven culture: vaguely familiar faces carrying their coffee."

This is it. Personal branding misses the boat because there are no true rock stars anymore. The recent passing of Jackson and others have indicated to all of us that there are simply no actual talents who radiate incandescence to because of their trade. There will never be one more Jackson, just a ton more Wentzes. Celebrities are media creations, and inconsequential ones at that.

In the 1970s and '80s when Michael was at the top of his form, we only got the images that were given to us. If Epic wanted to show us Michael at home, that's what we got.

In order to be an icon, you have to be a mystery. Mystery is king. Mystery is queen. Alas, there are no more mysteries! Jackson's passing definitely marks the end of an era. His celebrity was classic. It was about the authentic look: the pose, the attitude, the dress, the mystique. Who is left now? No one.

Fame acknowledges that the world has changed. Fame doesn't mean "self-promotion." You need to alert people that there is a ton of substance between your ears, and that you aren't one of the drones carrying coffee just because everyone else carries coffee.

And with that, I introduce How To Fame - www.howtofame.com/details - as a guide to making more money, getting a better job, or becoming another slightly famous face. It's about living your best life, and showing others what you truly are - you.

It's about something that you know you've got to do but just don't know how.

John Lundberg: A Look At Michael Jackson's New Poem 'Planet Earth'

2009-11-01T07:58:42Z

The newly released Michael Jackson album This It It, a twenty track, two-CD set accompanying the release of the movie of the same name, features one of Jackson's poems, called "Planet Earth." The poem is rich with deep (if cliched) metaphysical questions, and, as you could probably guess, is a call to environmental awareness. James Bearden, the music supervisor of Jackson's This Is It tour, told MTV that the theme refers, in part, to the urgent need for more environmental awareness:

"[Jackson] wanted the world to know that this may be it when it came to seeing him tour, and also that if we don't start paying attention to the world around us now, then it will be it for the Earth too."

The critics have, by in large, been pretty kind to the poem. Brad Wheeler of The Globe and Mail called it "unsophisticated but poignant." Dan Aquilante of The New York Post described it as "hokey at times, but there is a childlike quality that emerges after a few listens." The less diplomatic Toronto Star called it "vapid." And Time Magazine simply said of it, "consider yourself warned."

Here's the full text of "Planet Earth." You can listen to a recording of Jackson reading it here, in his typical breathless, dramatic speaking voice.

Planet Earth, my home, my place
A capricious anomaly in the sea of space
Planet Earth, are you just
Floating by, a cloud of dust
A minor globe, about to bust
A piece of metal bound to rust
A speck of matter in a mindless void
A lonely spaceship, a large asteroid

Cold as a rock without a hue
Held together with a bit of glue
Something tells me this isn't true
You are my sweetheart, soft and blue
Do you care, have you a part
In the deepest emotions of my own heart
Tender with breezes, caressing and whole
Alive with music, haunting my soul.

In my veins I've felt the mystery
Of corridors of time, books of history
Life songs of ages throbbing in my blood
Have danced the rhythm of the tide and flood
Your misty clouds, your electric storm

Were turbulent tempests in my own form
I've licked the salt, the bitter, the sweet
Of every encounter, of passion, of heat
Your riotous color, your fragrance, your taste
Have thrilled my senses beyond all haste

In your beauty I've known the how
Of timeless bliss, this moment of now.

Planet Earth, are you just
Floating by, a cloud of dust
A minor globe, about to bust
A piece of metal bound to rust
A speck of matter in a mindless void
A lonely spaceship, a large asteroid

Cold as a rock without a hue
Held together with a bit of glue
Something tells me this isn't true
You are my sweetheart, soft and blue
Do you care, have you a part
In the deepest emotions of my own heart
Tender with breezes, caressing and whole
Alive with music, haunting my soul.

Planet Earth, gentle and blue
With all my heart, I love you.

So what do you think? I'm thankful that Jackson toned down his sentimentality a bit for the poem, avoiding the sort of statements that mar the other environmentally conscious piece on the album, "Earth Song," which asks "What about crying whales?" and "What about elephants, have we lost their trust?" And parts of the poem are genuinely interesting. The third stanza is a full on love song to the planet, and it's hard not to read it as a little steamy:

I've licked the salt, the bitter, the sweet
Of every encounter, of passion, of heat
Your riotous color, your fragrance, your taste
Have thrilled my senses beyond all haste

Licked? That's an interesting choice, to say the least.

Despite its faults, Jackson's devoted fans will probably eat up "Planet Earth." And it isn't the first time that an overabundance of love on Jackson's part made the rest of us--and maybe even the elephants--a little uncomfortable.

Tweance: Twitter Seance 'Contacts Michael Jackson And Kurt Cobain'

2009-10-31T10:45:13Z

The Tweance, the Twitter seance, has reported that Michael Jackson is "at peace", and Kurt Cobain thinks Dave Grohl is a good drummer.

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach: The Myth That Michael Jackson Was Happy And Healthy

2009-10-29T16:26:37Z

There is a destructive myth taking hold about Michael Jackson, originated by some of his devotees, perpetuated by many in his entourage and articulated outright by the Rev. Al Sharpton in his eulogy at the Staples Center last July. As Rev. Sharpton put it, looking directly at Michael's orphaned children, "There was nothing strange about your daddy. It was strange what he had to deal with it." The myth is that Michael was living a healthy and balanced life at the time of his death and expired only because some careless doctor accidentally murdered him in his sleep with a drug overdose. I have heard more and more people in the media making the same claim, particularly after having seen the This Is It documentary which is now being released. As one radio host put it to me recently, "Michael looks amazing in the documentary. It's clear that he was in excellent physical health and couldn't wait to go out and do his concerts."

The reason this misrepresentation is so destructive is that it would have us believe there is nothing to be learned from Michael's tragic death. It was all a mishap. Michael was loving life, ready for his big comeback, but a capricious mistake cut his life short. This myth demeans the tragedy of Michael's life by robbing him of a redemptive moment. It would have us believe there is nothing that we the living can learn from his untimely death; nothing that a celebrity-obsessed culture can extract from the painful life of one of America's greatest icons. And if this myth is allowed to continue then, dare I say it, Michael died in vain.

Of course nothing could be further from the truth. Health is not determined by the physical alone. There is also mental, emotional and spiritual health. In all these departments Michael was suffering severely. It's not normal to have to take hospital-grade anesthetics to fall asleep, and this even after downing a small trove of anti-anxiety medication and sleeping pills. Toward the end of his life Michael was an isolated and lonely figure who had squandered his wealth and was forced to agree to a staggeringly large number of concerts in order to rescue himself from a fate he repeatedly told me he feared, namely, becoming like Sammy Davis Jr., who was forced to degrade himself on late-night talk shows in order to pay his bills.

Michael always believed in the power of mystery. He stated repeatedly that while other stars had destroyed their careers through ubiquitousness, he had remained in the public imagination through scarcity. He highlighted the fact that other artists produced an album a year while he did so only once every few years. He also told me he never agreed to ever be a presenter at an awards show because it would make him too available. There is no way on earth Michael would have agreed to do 50 concerts unless he was absolutely forced to by insurmountable financial pressure.

In The Michael Jackson Tapes, we encounter, for one of the first times, not Michael Jackson the performer but Michael Jackson the man. Michael recorded these tapes for the express purpose of making it available in a book because he was tired of the myth. The book, which contrary to the speculation of some was published for an extremely modest advance and will benefit the "Turn Friday Night into Family Night" initiative, reveals a performer who understood that his heart was not known to a public who judged him very harshly for what they saw as his unethical excess. They did not know the extreme pain he had endured as a child, the loneliness with which he lived as an adult and how much it hurt him that people thought he had improper motives in his relationship with children. While Michael's entourage now say that Michael was positive and happy, Michael himself reveals that he was regularly walking around Encino, California, begging people to simply talk to him. While some of Michael's fans want us to believe that Michael had a lust for life, Michael himself says that he wished to "disappear" and that his greatest fear was growing old and beginning to forget. Michael rued the day when he would be seen as past his prime and therefore unable to command the admiration of the public through his talent.

All this, as well as a broken and lost childhood, is part of the price that Michael paid for fame. He wanted to share with the public the utter emptiness of fame and the importance of family and love. Michael loved being around ordinary families and he dreamed of a life of simple pleasures.

So why are we so afraid to hear his voice?

I suspect it has to do with a culture that is mostly fueled by fame. In a world where nearly every teenager wants to be famous, in a country where reality TV dominates the airwaves and where celebrity magazines rule the newsstands, we simply don't want to hear that it's all one big lie. That the unbridled lust for fame is killing people and that the emperor has no clothes. Fame will never be a proper substitute for love, and talent will never be an acceptable alternative for virtue.

How sad, therefore, that so many who claim to love him now want to rewrite his story to tell us that Michael was so shallow that fortune and fame alone were enough to make him happy. This was never the case.

My book The Michael Jackson Tapes has been greeted with apprehension by some who would like to perpetuate the lie that our celebrities are for the most part healthy. They are not. Very few flourish in fame and a great many do not even survive its effects. Those who do prosper in the limelight do so only if they hold on to what I call the three essentials of fame:

1. A strong religious faith, reminding you at all times that amidst the public's hero worship you are not a deity and are a servant of the one, true G-d.

2. A loving spouse who makes you take out the garbage and otherwise keeps you humble.

3. A cause larger than oneself to which one can consecrate one's celebrity.

Bono is an important case in point. A devout Christian, married to the same wife for 27 years, he has consecrated his fame to the cause of Africa and third-world relief and has not only survived celebrity but has become, deservedly, one of the most admired humans on earth.

Michael aspired to the same. But when he abandoned the Jehovah's Witnesses Church to which he was once exceptionally devoted, went through two divorces, and, most importantly, was prevented from serving his beloved cause of helping the world's children because of multiple allegations against him, he lost much of the anchor in life that kept him grounded.

Those who loved Michael should be true to his memory not by creating a myth of a happy man cut down by a tragic error, but rather as a noble soul who aspired to great humanitarian achievement but whose superstardom served to impede, rather than heal, a desperate and painful loneliness.

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach is the founder of This World: The Values Network. The Michael Jackson Tapes: A Tragic Icon Reveals his Soul in Intimate Conversation was published in September. www.shmuley.com

Marshall Fine: Movie Review: This Is It

2009-10-29T08:17:29Z

Michael Jackson's This Is It elicited strongly conflicting emotions as I watched a screening this week.

On the one hand:

How can you not be captivated by this close-up immersion in Jackson's astonishing talent - as a singer, a dancer, a creator of music that is part of our permanent soundtrack?

This patchwork version of his projected concert hints at what his farewell stand in London might have been like, had he lived. (And did anyone really believe that he would hang up the dancing shoes after this?)

It shows an artist whose work is forever embedded in the culture, an expressive singer with amazing range - and a dancer who seemed to invent new moves even when he was standing still. Watching him perform choreographed steps or improvise what seem like instantly invented styles of movement is an inexpressible feast for the eyes. It's a shame that the cameramen, filming in both high-def and low-def for Jackson's own consumption, weren't shooting for real, though the footage is often dazzling and the sound is top-notch.

It also shows an artist seemingly near the peak of his powers and decidedly in his element. The impression is of a stops-out spectacle in the making, one that would survey his entire career while expanding upon it, conjured by someone fully convinced of his own ability to create magic by sheer will and imagination

On the other hand:

Watching This Is It reveals so much about Michael Jackson as a human being: his quiet perfectionism, performance eccentricities and signatures - and the fact that there appeared to be no one in his world - from the lowliest dancer to his partner in creating this show, Kenny Ortega (who gets directing credit for this film) - who was willing to say no to him about anything.

Obviously, Jackson was a genius who didn't need people second-guessing his vision. On the other hand, the impression here is that his entourage and hangers-on had long ago crossed the line between support and sycophantism.

Continued...

For the rest of this review, click HERE to reach my website: www.hollywoodandfine.com.

Andy Borowitz: Sony to Release This Is It Sequel , This Is Also It

2009-10-28T17:23:58Z

Celebrating the box office returns of its posthumous Michael Jackson film This Is It, Sony Pictures announced today that it would release a sequel titled This Is Also It.

"When we put together This Is It, we thought it was it, but it turns out it wasn't it," said Sony spokesperson Carol Foyler.

The success of the Jackson film -- along with the debut of a startling DirecTV ad starring the late Chris Farley and the continuing airing of commercials starring the late Billy Mays -- has sent entertainment industry insiders scrambling to exploit the careers of other dead celebrities.

"Dead is the new black," said Buddy Schlantz, a talent agent and longtime observer of the Hollywood scene. "Walter Cronkite can write his own ticket now."

Elsewhere, the FAA said that airline passengers should be concerned if their pilot attempts to friend them during a flight. here.

Jose Antonio Vargas: Michael Jackson Online -- A Singular Attraction

2009-10-28T14:34:21Z

Online, Michael Jackson is a singular attraction.

We saw this on June 25, a day that will forever live in online infamy, when the King of Pop's death literally stopped the Internet. Within a day, Jackson's main Wikipedia article was viewed more than 6 million times. Twitter and AOL Instant messaging went berserk. Text messages flooded phones. (I, for one, didn't learn about Jackson's death from TMZ or CNN; a cousin had texted me with "Michael Jackson is dead.")

Which is not at all surprising given Jackson's draw on social networking sites, and the kind of connected world we're living in. Events don't just happen. Events are shared. On Facebook, for example, the biggest Jackson page has 10.3 million fans. To put that figure into context, consider that the official Barack Obama page has 6.8 million fans and the official Sarah Palin page has more about 951,000. On YouTube, type "Michael Jackson" and about 950,000 videos pop up -- easily more videos than when you type some of biggest names in music: "U2" (131,000) "Beyonce" (275,000), "Taylor Swift" (249,000), "Lil' Wayne" (472,000), to name just a few. About 3,000 Jackson-oriented videos have been uploaded in the past 24 hours -- and, yes, some of them are videos of fans reviewing "This Is It," the new documentary featuring the last performing hours of The Gloved One, singing, dancing and rehearsing a planned concert series.