News from Around the World

The ceremony was outdoors at the English square of a local park, and as soon as Sara, Grag, and I arrived at the park entrance, the organizers led us to a cart where they shuttled us to the square. As we stepped off the cart, the woman in charge directed her helpers to swarm all around us and escort us to the front row seat. In addition to a few plaque presentations to people that had something to do with the English Festival (I have no idea what they did as the explanation was all in Chinese) the ceremony consisted of several song-and-dance performances. I particularly enjoyed a hip-hop dance by two middle-school guys, one of whom seemed to channeling Michael Jackson! Another one of the teachers in our program who teachers at a different school was also there, and a few of his students seemed to be aiming their words to him when they sang a love song. To end the ceremony with a bang, the staff members set off confetti explosions, and the director invited all of the foreign English teachers up on stage to sing for the crowd. Chinese people always seem to expect Americans to be able to sing beautifully on cue at any time, but we had no idea what to sing. Since there were a lot of young students in the audience, we decided to lead the crowd in a dazzling rendition of “If You’re Happy and You Know It”! I think that it went well, but the Chinese seem to think that everything we do is wonderful, so it could have been terrible and yet they loved it nonetheless.

(click to enlarge)L also had Ana and David ‘carve’ pumpkins. Barring any sharp, protuberant objects what the actually did was color pumpkins with a black marker. The idea was simply to do eyes, nose, mouth, etc., but as you can see some pumpkins had their ethnicity changed and others look like either something Wes Craven would have dreamt up or the in between stage of ‘Thriller’ Michael Jackson and the current Michael Jackson! It’s quite humorous, actually. :)

Michael Jackson is close to completing his charity single for Hurricane Katrina relief and hopes to release the song sometime this month, his spokeswoman said Thursday.

Michael Jackson, Department of Homeland Security deputy secretary, told House members that it was appropriate to re-bid the contracts now that the emergency had passed.

Nope, that’s not the title of an old Michael Jackson song but a phrase related to a verse in the very practical and sensible Book of James.

And these next two images are my favorites, mostly because deep down I have a lot of gen X grief in my heart for the way Michael Jackson has gone off the rails. I loved him when he and I were little and for me, his degeneration has always been a metaphor for that of society generally...

The jewellery workshop I did went off - much to the surprise of my male colleagues! That’s Jono (hey I mentioned you), Dave and Adam. Other new retreat activities were bushwalking, art (or visual worship) and not forgetting our 80’s disco night which everyone got really into. Being a child of the 80’s it didn’t take me long to tease my fringe, overdo my makeup and start singing along to the tunes of George Michael, Madonna, A-ha, Michael Jackson and my old favourite, "Eternal Flame" by the Bangles. Our guy leaders started the night with a "boy band dance" to the New Kids on the Block song, The Right Stuff. It was soooo funny and well choreographed. Here’s some photos…

I grew up in the 80s. When I was at school it was all West Ham, Spurs and Arsenal, Michael Jackson’s thriller and break-dancing. It was MacEnroe, Borg and Connors in tennis, Sebastian Coe and Steve Cram and Daly Thomson. And we had a cricket team. I still remember Botham’s ashes.

and in even more random news, michael jackson hired out a water park in dubai (he invited lots of parents and children to join in the fun) and roamed around in a white lycra body suit.

For the first 120 hours after Hurricane Katrina, TV journalists were let off their leashes by their mogul owners, the result of a rare conjoining of flawless timing (summer’s biggest vacation week) and foulest tragedy (America’s worst natural disaster). All of a sudden, broadcasters narrated disturbing images of the poor, the minority, the aged, the sick and the dead, and discussed complex issues like poverty, race, class, infirmity and ecology that never make it on the air in this swift-boat/anti-gay-marriage/Michael Jackson media-sideshow era. So began a perfect storm of controversy.

A new Weezy and The Swish, up and ready to fly! This week the dynamic trio interview Ron Zonen, the prosecutor who laid out the charges against Michael Jackson and fought him in court. Everyone asks Zonen questions, he gleefully responds, and the entire thing is both informative and hilarious! If you were ever curious about how the trial actually went, this is what you need to hear. Enjoy!

Former BBDO Chairman Phil Dusenberry, the guy that worked on the Reagan campaign and the famous Michael Jackson Pepsi spot, has written a book called, "Then We Set His Hair on Fire," a title nodding to the media circus which surrounded Michael Jackson's hair catching on fire while shooting the Pepsi spot. The book is great. The subtitle on the book "Insights and Accidents from a Hall-of-Fame Career in Advertising" sums up the tone of the book: humble and helpful commentary on a very successful career. It's the most enjoyable book we've read in a long time. Dusenberry takes readers through his very long and very successful career at BBDO as well as several years he spent on his own running his on shop. The book is all about the power of the Insight and how insights are related to but very different than Ideas. Many times the two terms are co mingled but after reading this book, the differences and similarities between the two are clearly understood. Ideas are great but it's insights you really want. It's the "Ah ha" moment.

The New York Post’s Page Six can’t seem to recognize any part of me, so I couldn’t get the link to this, but is it true that Michael Jackson is going for a more manly look?

I mean, the guy is a fantastic musician but has a messed up personal life. Working with Quincy Jones is nothing to snuff at, and on the Bad reissue Jones talks about how MJ really developed in the studio from then on. I can tell you this - the Essential Michael Jackson is one alblum that will not be leaving my IPOD any time soon.

Billie Jean by Michael Jackson was the first video to air on MTV by a black artist.

(And yes, that might actually be the first admission that anything has gone less than optimally in the past 5 or so years of the administration.) Mr. Brown, George "I couldn't admit that I made a mistake or admit a minor judgmental error if I was caught masturbating to a picture of Michael Jackson" W. Bush, has admitted that you fucked up. That's professional homocide if I've ever heard it.

Dubai (CBS)–Pop star Michael Jackson has been visiting Dubai, part of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), in the Middle East. According to the Middle East news service Al Bawaba, Jackson was thrilled by his first visit to the UAE.

In bed, looking at random websites on my laptop, trying to stop what is threatening to be a migraine acheiving its potential, because Sundays are bad enough without the feeling of my brain simulating six large steel-toecapped men dancing around on my skull while my stomach impersonates a washing machine, only with vomit instead of detergent… that metaphor ended up badly, but anyway. On Friday night we sat for hours in a Wetherspoons in Shepherds Bush, drinking Frisky Bisons (Zubrovka vodka plus apple juice: yes please) and shouting nonsense, before queueing for half an hour at Islington Academy before we realised the place was full and we weren’t going to get in and stuffing ourselves with McDonalds non-food on the nightbus in lieu of indie-based dancing activities. I think it was a fair swap. Yesterday, not wanting to drink more alcohol in case our livers exploded and yet not wanting to stay in and shout abuse at The X-Factor, we ended up in a cinema watching Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. There’s a fine line between genius and being A COMPLETE FUCKING NUTCASE, and Tim Burton is sat on it, possibly giggling to himself about nothing. And I’m glad to see Johnny Depp is continuing his theme of playing his characters as famous people playing someone else: first Keith Richards the pirate, and now Michael Jackson the chocolate-obsessed nutter. But I liked it, even if the kids there hadn’t read the book. Imagine! Kids not reading Roald Dahl! No wonder they’re all happy-slapping each other to death: it’s lack of exposure to The Witches at an impressionable age. A complete lack of fear of being turned into a mouse by a load of bald old ladies, leading to having no respect for them. Stick that in your pipe and smoke it, Piaget.

We did two rounds of lecture/show-and-tell on Friday with the laptops jacked up to the projector and my colleague’s DJ equipment at the side. The indie part went first, with the likes of Travis, Feeder, Our Lady Peace, Jebediah, etc, played, followed by some explanation. Then the usual crowd-pleasers, such as “YMCA” and “Staying Alive", followed by some new inserts like “Take a Chance on Me” (ABBA and the campy Erasure version) and the vomit-inducing “Funkytown", and the hilarious spoof on Michael Jackson’s “Bad", Weird Al Yankovich’s “Fat". After the ’80’s vids, my colleague did a short demonstration on his CD players and his mixer, followed by one or two inputs from my Ninjatune Zen TV DVD (Kid Koala’s “Fender Bender", Beck’s “E-Pro” from another sampler).

Well, I am here, safe and sound. In NY with R and her nanimals… Considering taking classes here at Syracuse U. Have no idea how long I will be here… R is fine. We’re indefinitely postponing the wedding, and moving home… I dunno, watching the news at the airport(s) was unreal. People talking about it because it’s news (similar to the way we all talked about the Michael Jackson and OJ Simpson trials… you know, almost everyone has something to say about it) I just tryed to remain calm and quiet, not telling anyone I was from there… until…

I think it’s so wrong that Michael Jackson is such a freak. Why is it wrong? Because I like some of his songs (ok, many actually, they’re fucking brilliant) and it is really frustrating to always say “I like Michael Jackson’s music, but for the bloke himself, I’d rather see him neck-deep in a swamp".

Johhny Deep’s portrayal of Willy Wonka is kind of… creepy. I remember hearing that some people got the odd feeling that he based it on Michael Jackson. Except in the movie Willy Wonka doesn’t like children*. One of my favourite parts of the movie is where Willy Wonka tells the children that everything in the room they are standing in is edible. Then, with a smile, he adds “Yes, children: even you and me. But that’s called cannibalism… it is looked down upon in many societies”.

Michael Jackson’s home has been raided by the police this morning.

If there’s been a declaration I missed it. Jay’s rhetoric is a bit edgy here, but that’s the nature of blog debate. Let’s consider the core of his contention: the “watchdog” model. “Watchdog” (forgive me) begs a number of questions, including questions about the watchdog. Who does the watchdog watch? How does it watch? How does it bark? At whom does it bark? Like the Hound of the Baskervilles that was strangely silent, how often does the watchdog not bark? Does the NY-DC-LA watchdog bark at Democratic and Republican presidents with equal ferocity? Is it even a watchdog, or is it a watch-pack, or watch-herd. (Herd is a more apt description of the press descending on Aruba to report on a missing tourist or hanging out in Santa Barbara while Michael Jackson faces a jury.)

It could gauge, for example, which stories capture the greatest attention of Web surfers by chronicling traffic spikes on Akamai-hosted sites at the times of specific news events, such as the verdict in the Michael Jackson trial, the bombings in the London underground, or the landing of the space shuttle. Akamai will go live with the index, starting this morning, at www.akamai.com/netusageindex.

I believe some part of this ridiculous belief is directly tied to the former imperialist and colonialist countries in the past. When the French were in Vietnam there was a caste system. In that time all the French were better than all the Vietnamese. It's similiar with the Dutch in Indonesia, The French in some African countries and the American slave trade in Africa. In every situation the ruling foreign country discriminated against people because of their skin color. And in recent and past history a person here who has white skin is rich and doesn't work in the fields. (like the French in Vietnam, or wealthy Vietnamese landowners in Vietnam) In the west on a subconscious level we like tanned caucasian skin because a person with a tan has enough money to take holiday or play in the sun. If you have pale skin it means you work too much and don't have enough money to enjoy life. So here a person whose parents may have been villagers or is just genetic makeup makes them have dark skin they are never as beautiful as they could be if they have white skin. If they are a millionaire with five college degrees they need to actively take Michael Jackson like strategies to lighten their skin and scourge the stain of peasants and poor people out of their skin.

Rant of the day... Two Jurors Now Say Michael Jackson is Guilty

Two of the Michael Jackson molestation case jurors now say they were coerced into voting for a not-guilty verdict. Eleanor Cook, 79, and Ray Hultman, 62, also evoked the wrath of their fellow jurors for branding Jackson a “pedophile” on national TV.

I read an article yesterday about two of Michael Jackson’s jurors. Seems they feel guilty now and think they made a mistake. Hmph. They picked a fine time to think, didn’t they? I kind of wish they’d just kept their mouth shuts. They have practice after all.

We ended up buying a few just for the covers.� I have no idea if the DVDs themselves will work.� We found one called Miss Castaway and the Island Girls about a plane load of beauty contestants that crash on a deserted island where they discover... Noah's Arc.� The arc is guarded by a prehistoric pig ("Jurassic Pork" it claims on the back cover) and Noah is still alive, but has been kidnapped by apes.� And Michael Jackson is in it.

I was actually scared when I took the picture. All I could think was, “If this freak sees me snapping pics of his ghetto shit, I’m going to have to confront him, and I’d be better off meeting Michael Jackson…”.

Rumour has it that Eminem is considering purchasing the 'Neverland' home of troubled pop legend Michael Jackson. Although Jackson still owns the estate, he has said on record that he would never return after police raided his home whilst investigating child molestation charges against him. Jackson said of his estate after the raid: "It's a house now. It's not a home anymore. I'll only visit" and currently the estate remains unoccupied. The Neverland Vally Ranch is worth an estimated $50 million and spans 2,700 acres. Eminem has expressed an interest in the estate and thinks California would be a good place to raise his daughter, Hailie Jade. To date, there have been no reports as to whether or not Jackson has considered selling his home.

Michael Jackson was acquitted and is now a free man. Had he been convicted then the terrorists would have won. But I guess it only makes sense to acquit Jackson when there are other people out there who are serving alcohol to minors. It only makes sense to let Jackson free and convict a couple for serving alcohol at their son's 16 year-old birthday party. And obviously this lapse in judgment deserves a sentence of 27 months? Michael Jackson can fucking molest a bunch of kids and get off? What kind of world do we live in?

* Michael Jackson, as interpreted by Celine Dion. I get the feeling this one is not recent.

I generally hate shows such as the one that was on last night, Motown 45, and avoid them like crazy, but I remember that twenty years ago (oh my gosh! how could that have been twenty years ago?), when I was eighth grade, and Motown celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary, Michael Jackson whipped out the greatest moonwalk ever moonwalked, and the next day in school, everyone was talking about it. On the weird off-chance that something like that might happen again, and because I was too lazy to get up and turn the TV off (I don’t have a remote-controlled television), I watched it. It mostly sucked, but here are a few random thoughts that have been floating around since last night:

James mentions beer snobbery. There are some more good articles about beer snobbery. Here is one from Modern Drunkard Magazine. Not convinced. Check out this article from ratebeer.com. Finally see what the King of Pop Michael Jackson has to say about beer snobbery.

The jury in the Michael Jackson child molestation case has found him not guilty on all 10 counts.

Sure, prior to 9/11, it was wrong for Michael Jackson to rape the shit out of little kids, and I am on the record saying so. But that innocent world is gone forever.

US pop star Michael Jackson is in the tiny Gulf kingdom of Bahrain as a guest of honour of the king’s son, an official close to the royal circle said on Thursday.

I swear this is getting out of hand. Can a day go by without this nutcase making news? Tom Cruise has entered Michael Jackson stage of celebrity weirdness. Except in Michael's case he's been "Wacko Jacko" for decades now while Tom Cruise has morphed over night into from of the biggest movie-stars in the world to one of the biggest head-cases.

2000, Michael Jackson is slapped with a lawsuit by German promotor Marcel Avram … the suit alleges that Jackson refused to perform two scheduled events … it is a small problem for Jackson compared with future trials he will face…

Michael Jackson's mom had such problems. MJ: You know I would never do it with LaToya or Janet or Tito...

When she was hired as an MSNBC only employee I wondered how NBC and certain shows and those shows’ hosts would react to MSNBC getting exclusives first. Well today we sort of learn the answer to that question as NBC issued a release yesterday about Rita Cosby getting an exclusive interview with Michael Jackson’s mother that will appear today on the Today Show and not MSNBC first.

1. First off, I decree that Michael Jackson shall formally change his name to Jacko. I know people call him this already, but it should be legal.

or whatever the lyrics are. but this isn’t a post about michael jackson, but an article about men who thrill seek and why. i don’t exactly know where i fall in the spectrum. i’ve not really done “extreme” things, more for lack of funds than lack of desire. i enjoy things that are “thrilling,” but on the other hand almost completely refuse to do things where i’m not at least reasonably certain of the outcome. so i either tend to live in the middle or on the extremes.

Written in Bush's own hand and inked with the blood of a murdered Abu Ghraib detainee, the Downing Street Memo is a Stunning Revelation that the Shrub's reckless, ill-planned Rush to War with Iraq was carefully planned months in advance, perhaps as far back as his childhood. Of all the Stunning Revelation memos that keep surfacing, this is the one Stunning Revelation that can bring Bush down and finally free the International Community from his arrogant Swagger of Terror. But no matter how often I bring it up in normal conversation, or sneak up behind people and scream "DOWNING STREET MEMO! DOWNING STREET MEMO!" in a high-pitched feminine screech, no one wants to talk about it. They'd rather flap their sheeple gums over the Michael Jackson witch trial - and I hold the media responsible for allowing Hollywood sensationalism to briefly distract them from their job of compulsively badmouthing the peeResident.

I have five days until the Catholic Church hires Michael Jackson’s defense team in the office pool.

Who the hell did they poll? Members of the Michael Jackson Fan Club? They certainly didn’t poll normal people. I’m curious now about the people responsible for this poll.

Michael Jackson’s website is equating his court victory to that of Nelson Mandela’s release and the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Well, as we all should know by now, Michael Jackson has been found innocent, regardless of all the kiddie porn and damning evidence that was found in Neverland Ranch (It goes to show that if youre rich and famous you can get away with anything). Now my gripe is not with Michael Jackson, I am certain that the man is guilty, but it is better left for karma to sort him out. My beef is with Mechelle Corby.

Michael Jackson's request to serve his sentence in juvenile prison was declined.

In the decade since Michael Jackson was first accused of child molestation, his record sales have plummeted, his concert dates have been few and far between — and his income has dwindled as well.

It’s common practice for celebrities to start “feuds” to get themselves mentioned in the gossip columns. But how far will they go? Getting arrested for throwing a tantrum at a fancy hotel can only be good for a tough-guy like Russell Crowe. Did he do it on purpose? Certainly it’s possible to take things too far… I’m thinking about Michael Jackson.

“This turned out to be a story that didn’t even have enough traction to compete with the runaway bride, which blew Michael Jackson off the screen for a week and a half,” said Thompson, head of Syracuse University’s Center for the Study of Popular Television.

If convicted, this will be Michael Jackson's new home. Celebrities really do get all the breaks.

As jurors in Michael Jackson's child-molestation trial deliberated a second full day Tuesday, jailers prepared to house the pop music star in protective isolation if he's convicted and ordered into custody.

Mary Ellen Schoonmaker of NorthJersey.com says the press has become more timid since Watergate, shellshocked by plagiarism scandals, right-wing ideologues and the hunt for the almighty dollar, "more enamored of big celebrity stories, more willing to cover the runaway bride and Michael Jackson, more self-absorbed with worries about losing readers and becoming obsolete in a cable and Internet world."

Just hours before jurors were to begin deliberations for a fifth day, Michael Jackson made his third trip to the hospital in a week. The singer returned to the Santa Ynez Valley Cottage Hospital on Wednesday night for previously scheduled "routine treatment" of back spasms that have bothered him throughout the trial, sending him to the emergency room two times.

Of course, it wasn't as important as Michael Jackson's jury deliberations but it did get four minutes near the end of the show. Suddenly, anonymous sources are OK again because John Gibson said "Two anonymous sources have talked to the Washington Times about being threatened and insulted daily. One guard said he nearly had his eye gauged out. Human rights groups are quick to attack Gitmo employees for how they treat prisoners but doesn't guard abuse deserve the same attention?"

The Indepedent: If this wasn't Michael Jackson and he didn't have a top lawyer, he'd be in the cells by now.

A spokesperson from Wynn Las Vegas states, "We are not in discussions with Michael Jackson and/or his people. These statements are completely false and inaccurate."

Well, now we know what it takes to distract them from Michael Jackson.

But, hey, the second they could report that one sentence ("the plane has landed safely") that was all the excuse they needed to get back to Michael Jackson.