. . . if he hadn't become such a freak and had been at the height of his, actually, limited creative powers as opposed to more than a decade and several rhinoplasties past his prime.

/rimshot

What in the world is a figurative buffalo springfield t-shirt ? Is it really necessary to have a he said/she said movie critic ? Personal politics really shouldnt drive all your reviews.

And my wife said I was wrong about that... What is the contemporary equivalent of K-Tel records?

yes, this is a little hard to take. To a Salon liberal, I guess, child molestation gets

a pass if you're a gay black man. O.K., being famous and rich helps...

The void Stephanie dances around is Jackson own inflated talent. He left a

small list of decent hit singles dwarfed in quality by even mid range, short term

pop/rock royalty. The Buffalo Springfield, if you will. But mid range 60's Motown

too.

It's not that complicated: a boy who is given the right to not grown up becomes

something twisted and ugly and dies young. That's the simple truth Stephanie

finds so elusive.

and yes, I own all three Buffalo Springfield albums. I also own Off the Wall and Thriller. They're good records. Life-changing? No, but they're well-crafted pop.

Michael made a couple of really good records. And yes, Thriller sold a boatload of copies, making him important to the industry and giving him tremendous visibility. But most of what the public knows about him has to do with the freak show that became his life.

I think it's the freak show that brought about the intense interest after his death. There are lots of people who know nothing about Michael Jackson other than the stories of Bubbles, the Elephant Man, the Neverland Ranch, the plastic surgery, etc. And let's not forget his downright scary appearance. That stuff, by and large, was far more interesting to the public than his post-Thriller output.

There are plenty of other artists that have sold a bunch of product. You're not going to see this sort of media circus when Garth Brooks dies.

Much of Michael's output was just that: product...as disposable and forgettable as much of the other supposed, self-styled "king" mentioned in the same breath - Elvis.

Then there's the stench of pedophilia.

/crickets chirping

/somewhere a pin drops

"Jackson's mystery deepens, even as it dissolves between our fingers"

The image of 'anything' MJ dissolving between my fingers makes me want to cringe.

Drug addict, child molester, has-been teenie-bopper, spoiled rich jerk.... dead by narcissistic self infliction...... yet sycophantically worshiped by hoards of wanna-be 'hipster' women who think post-mortem brown nosing is equivalent to an unbiased review.

The authors sick twisted 'praise' article is just more remolding of MJ's plastic deformed persona. The squish of the last bit of media money to be made from MJs' fans hanging on to what's left of a nubby nose.

Squeeze that ET-like body, get the last drop of the MJ money making juices ....

parasites on a fetid corpse of rotted talent.

Happy Halloween Freak-Hags.

for your beautiful review about the film. Here's one old white guy who appreciated it.

We're all freakshows in our own ways. To deny that is to live in a fantasy world. The difference is that this man had the means to realize his dreams from an early age and paid the price by having all of his "freakshow" laundry aired on every newspaper, tv show and gossip rag.

He was also never convicted of child abuse in any way, shape or form. He did make a cash settlement to a family with well-documented frequent attempts to extort money from guards at JC Pennys and I believe other instances using the same tactics against Jackson.

Its so easy to read a headline and make a snap judgement. Maybe take a second and realize that to entertain us, some people sacrifice things you and I take for granted. You have to like him or his music, but at least appreciate that he did in fact entertain millions and brought happiness to others. To try and tear down someone who brought joy to so many people from so many cultures is a real shame.

really hit with their appearance on the Smothers Brothers. At least that is when I became aware of them. I might be snickered at for that but I wasn't a big top 40 listener at the time.

I'll tell you the truth I wasn't really captivated. I could see and hear that Michael Jackson was supremely talented and the song was wonderful and the moves were slick and well executed. But they all, Michael especially, had this expression that was not joy or enjoyment but rather like they were trying very hard not to mess up. They didn't look like they were having any fun at all.

It is not 20/20 hindsight I'm speaking from because I remember commenting on that to the friend I was watching with.

Maybe he was inappropriate with young boys, to what extent, I don't know. I hope he did no damage, but I can't be sure. I am pretty sure that damage was done to him.

Please forgive me if I have a modicum of pity for him. Unlike Polanski, I could never discern any arrogance or assumption of entitlement in Michael Jackson, just a kind of horrible neediness.

Of course all of these reactions are quite subjective and I don't really know anything about him. In strict justice, if he did molest children, he needed to be stopped and punished.

Well, he can't do it any more now, if he ever did, and that is a good thing. He can't sing and dance anymore either and that is not such a good thing, but if the molestation is true, it is the lesser of two evils.

Soooo true.

I was stewing about little joey's last post practically to the point of apoplecty and then I read your post.

There are a lot of things about MJ that were ambiguous, but his talent wasn't one of them. Itty bitty little punk joe, do you know who Fred Astaire was?

And thank-you Stephanie.