take that, farrah fawcett – mj

Put him in with the big white guy who thinks he's the little black guy...

I have to admit, I watched some stuff about Michael Jackson in the time after his death. I couldn't help it; the media convinced me that I was missing out on something huge. So of course I loaded up "Thriller" - all 14 minutes of it - because I'd never watched the whole video. And I must say, it is quite amazing. The frequent twists and turns, the awkward shuffling during the eerily quiet choreography sequences, the fact that Michael Jackson was black...it all comes together, even if the music itself only makes up a small percentage of the video. Michael's normal, now he's a monster, he's normal, now he's a monster, now he's normal again...but wait, is he a monster? I mean, truly thrilling stuff.

Of course I also watched "Stark Raving Dad," the episode of The Simpsons featuring Michael Jackson. His name isn't given in the credits (it's listed as John Jay Smith) due to contractural obligations, but you can tell it's him. Even though it aired in 1991, the show dealt somewhat with Jackson's seemingly growing insanity while ultimately conveying him as a sympathetic character. Well, the character was Leon Kompowsky, and not actually Michael Jackson - I guess. Anyway, it's worth a watch to commemorate the life of a strange, bizarre contributor to our society.

Man, I miss Charlie's Angels.

About scwtte

Founder, and chief author, of CGHM Networks.