Thursday, October 1, 2009
How nice to be a crazy person
I took the bus home tonight from my screening, and this guy with a Buffalo Soldiers jacket and hat starts talking to me out of the blue about how he is studying to become a Shriner, which involves studying masonry and math, he said (I asked). He had three Shriner-related rings, although he said one was not actually made by the Shriners. Then he started talking about the Buffalo Soldiers, the oldest of whom was 105 (he said), and the Tuskegee Airmen. He said the latter were “mostly black.” All black, I said. From his coat and hat it looked kind of like the Buffalo Soldiers were a sports team. He got off at my stop, said goodbye. Anyway, I don’t know if he was crazy or merely very eccentric, but the nice thing is that either way you don’t need preamble. You can just start talking to anyone anywhere about whatever is in your head that you feel like talking about.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
On the Death of Michael Jackson
My first thought upon hearing of Michael Jackson’s death was of Elvis. It seems likely that, as with Elvis Presley, Jackson’s premature death will prove to have had more to do with unfortunate lifestyle choices than mere bad luck. Neither Elvis nor Michael were originators, but both were innovators who merged talent, good looks, and modern marketing to become, for a time, the most popular, yet hip, musicians on the planet. Michael Jackson was also arguably the last musician whose popularity extended to such a wide swath of demographics.
I still think Off the Wall was a better album, song for song, than Thriller, the 1982 album that everyone knows. Off the Wall was one of the last big albums of the disco era. But Thriller had something for everybody. The lead single was “The Girl Is Mine,” ironically capitalizing on the popularity of Paul McCartney; by the time they did their next duet, on “Say Say Say,” it could be said that it was Michael doing Paul the favor. (“Say Say Say” was actually recorded first, but released in 1983.) “The Girl Is Mine” sounds comically awful today, and barely makes the Top 50 on Jackson’s iTunes catalog. But it went to number one on Billboard and hooked both the pop and the adult contemporary audience. Then came “Billie Jean,” the best song on the album, and the one with the great video with Michael stepping on a giant yellow electronic touch pad. Meanwhile, he was getting airplay on rock stations with “Beat It,” for which Michael and Quincy Jones had gotten Eddie Van Halen to play guitar. I heard that song before I heard “Billie Jean” because I was up at Penn State, and usually listened to the popular “Quick Rock.” Penn State had no Top 40 station at the time. I heard “Billie Jean” on a trip home and, for the first time ever, called a radio station to make a request. But Quick Rock said they were a rock station and would only play “Beat It.” Sure enough, though, within weeks they broke with their format and played other Michael Jackson songs, such was the level of his popularity. It’s also well-known that CBS records had to threaten to pull all its videos from MTV to get them to play Jackson. MTV also thought it was a rock station, but considering the audience boost it got probably was pretty happy about acquiescing.
Who knows what combination of genes, harsh parenting, and media attention was responsible for the weird entity he became. Like Elvis, he did some good music after his peak period, my favorite being “Butterflies,” the hit from his 2001 album Invincible. That has been the only studio album Michael Jackson released in the last 14 years, whereas Elvis was always busy professionally. Michael got friendly with a chimp, was accused of child molestation, went off to Bahrain, lightened his skin, bought the Beatles catalog, and occasionally made music. Still, in the case of both superstars, the last period of their lives somewhat diminished their earlier selves, making us forget how cool they once seemed. Jackson dubbed himself the King of Pop. Although this always seemed to me one of the first things that made him seem less cool—who gives himself a nickname like that?—it was a conspicuous tribute to the King, Elvis Presley. It’s too bad that Michael imitated Elvis in other, more unfortunate ways. Yet in the aftermath of his death, it’s the triumphant moments everyone recalls. Maybe in death Michael Jackson will become cool again.
I still think Off the Wall was a better album, song for song, than Thriller, the 1982 album that everyone knows. Off the Wall was one of the last big albums of the disco era. But Thriller had something for everybody. The lead single was “The Girl Is Mine,” ironically capitalizing on the popularity of Paul McCartney; by the time they did their next duet, on “Say Say Say,” it could be said that it was Michael doing Paul the favor. (“Say Say Say” was actually recorded first, but released in 1983.) “The Girl Is Mine” sounds comically awful today, and barely makes the Top 50 on Jackson’s iTunes catalog. But it went to number one on Billboard and hooked both the pop and the adult contemporary audience. Then came “Billie Jean,” the best song on the album, and the one with the great video with Michael stepping on a giant yellow electronic touch pad. Meanwhile, he was getting airplay on rock stations with “Beat It,” for which Michael and Quincy Jones had gotten Eddie Van Halen to play guitar. I heard that song before I heard “Billie Jean” because I was up at Penn State, and usually listened to the popular “Quick Rock.” Penn State had no Top 40 station at the time. I heard “Billie Jean” on a trip home and, for the first time ever, called a radio station to make a request. But Quick Rock said they were a rock station and would only play “Beat It.” Sure enough, though, within weeks they broke with their format and played other Michael Jackson songs, such was the level of his popularity. It’s also well-known that CBS records had to threaten to pull all its videos from MTV to get them to play Jackson. MTV also thought it was a rock station, but considering the audience boost it got probably was pretty happy about acquiescing.
Who knows what combination of genes, harsh parenting, and media attention was responsible for the weird entity he became. Like Elvis, he did some good music after his peak period, my favorite being “Butterflies,” the hit from his 2001 album Invincible. That has been the only studio album Michael Jackson released in the last 14 years, whereas Elvis was always busy professionally. Michael got friendly with a chimp, was accused of child molestation, went off to Bahrain, lightened his skin, bought the Beatles catalog, and occasionally made music. Still, in the case of both superstars, the last period of their lives somewhat diminished their earlier selves, making us forget how cool they once seemed. Jackson dubbed himself the King of Pop. Although this always seemed to me one of the first things that made him seem less cool—who gives himself a nickname like that?—it was a conspicuous tribute to the King, Elvis Presley. It’s too bad that Michael imitated Elvis in other, more unfortunate ways. Yet in the aftermath of his death, it’s the triumphant moments everyone recalls. Maybe in death Michael Jackson will become cool again.
Friday, April 24, 2009
I'm going to go out on a limb and say someone nailed him…
The above story was on AOL’s homepage today. Usually, AOL uses these cryptic teaser headlines that annoy me, and I refuse to click them. But “what happened to the victim” is pretty obvious in this case.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
20 ’08 Questions [Quiz #25]
Answers here
[Replace each red number in parentheses with the correct word, phrase, title, or name; each answer is worth half a point. All titles and names, except those of persons, must be exact for full credit.]
The political season in the United States got into full swing on January 8, which saw (1) win a close victory in New Hampshire‘s Democratic Primary.
On February 3, the New York Giants upset the (2), 17–14, in Super Bowl XLII.
On February 19, Toshiba announced that it would cease manufacturing and marketing HD DVD players and recorders, leaving (3) as the de facto standard for high-definition video storage. A two-layer disc in the format can store 50 gigabytes of data.
Anti-Chinese demonstrations on March 10 led to protests and riots four days later in the region of (4); the worldwide response included demonstrations staged alongside the torch relay that preceded the Beijing Olympics. Protesters attempted to highlight China’s human rights policies.
Acting on a tip from a 16-year-old girl alleging abuse, officials in the state of (5) staged an April raid on a polygamous community run by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, removing 462 children, most until after May 29, when the state Supreme Court ordered them returned.
On April 29, (6) IV was released for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in North America and sold a record 3.6 million copies in one day.
May saw the year’s two deadliest natural disasters. Cyclone Nargis struck land on the 2nd, killing at least 146,000 in (7) (whose government was criticized for slowing international relief efforts); an earthquake just ten days later caused at least 69,000 deaths in central (8).
President Bush stated in a May 13th interview that he had quit (9) in 2003 out of respect for American soldiers killed in the war in Iraq. This number had passed 4000 in late March.
Released on June 10, Tha Carter III by (10) went on to become the year’s best-selling album, with about 2.88 million copies sold, and to receive a Grammy nomination in December.
High gasoline prices throughout the summer, peaking at $4.11 the week of July 14 in the United States, kept many potential travelers close to home, helping to popularize the portmanteau word (11) as would-be drivers substituted backyard barbecues and the like for long car trips.
On July 18, (12) set an opening-day box-office record by making $67 million dollars at the US box office; the film’s total take would exceed $155 million opening weekend and $500 million for the year (about the same amount as [6] had made in one week).
In late July, media outlets burst with the news that the Yvonne Hair and Nails salon in Alexandria, Virginia, had for four months been providing pedicures using garra rufa, a type of (13). Proprietor John Ho said that 5000 people had thus far paid $35 or $50 for the 15- or 30-minute treatment, first used in Turkey.
On August 7, Russian troops sent troops into the disputed territory of South Ossetia in response to an earlier attack by the republic of (14) on the capital, Tskhinvali.
On September 10, the Large (15) [two words], the world’s largest particle accelerator built near Geneva, first circulated proton beams in an attempt to re-create the early moments of the universe, but nine days later operations were halted for repairs expected to take nearly a year.
A worldwide financial crisis was in full swing by fall, but nowhere was the meltdown worse than in sparsely populated (16), where by October 9 the government had taken control of all three major banks. After freezing foreign assets (which had been worth ten times the country’s GDP), it became the first industrialized country in over 30 years to request assistance from the International Monetary Fund. The currency fell by more than half against the euro and the dollar, the main stock market index fell by over 90%, and unemployment and inflation soared.
On October 22, the nation of (17) successfully launched its first mission to the moon; the November 14 touchdown of the (unmanned) Moon Impact Probe made it the fourth country to plant its flag on the lunar surface.
Though she wound up being voted off the show on October 28, 82-year-old actress (18) became the oldest competitor on the United States version of Dancing with the Stars; she was additionally named the grand marshal for the 2009 Tournament of Roses Parade.
On November 27, the RMS (19), the ocean liner that had first sailed in 1969, was retired after 806 Atlantic crossings to become a floating hotel off the coast of Dubai.
On December 16, the two newspapers in the city of (20) announced that they would become the first major dailies in the United States to limit weekday delivery to just two days a week.
[Replace each red number in parentheses with the correct word, phrase, title, or name; each answer is worth half a point. All titles and names, except those of persons, must be exact for full credit.]
The political season in the United States got into full swing on January 8, which saw (1) win a close victory in New Hampshire‘s Democratic Primary.
On February 3, the New York Giants upset the (2), 17–14, in Super Bowl XLII.
On February 19, Toshiba announced that it would cease manufacturing and marketing HD DVD players and recorders, leaving (3) as the de facto standard for high-definition video storage. A two-layer disc in the format can store 50 gigabytes of data.
Anti-Chinese demonstrations on March 10 led to protests and riots four days later in the region of (4); the worldwide response included demonstrations staged alongside the torch relay that preceded the Beijing Olympics. Protesters attempted to highlight China’s human rights policies.
Acting on a tip from a 16-year-old girl alleging abuse, officials in the state of (5) staged an April raid on a polygamous community run by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, removing 462 children, most until after May 29, when the state Supreme Court ordered them returned.
On April 29, (6) IV was released for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in North America and sold a record 3.6 million copies in one day.
May saw the year’s two deadliest natural disasters. Cyclone Nargis struck land on the 2nd, killing at least 146,000 in (7) (whose government was criticized for slowing international relief efforts); an earthquake just ten days later caused at least 69,000 deaths in central (8).
President Bush stated in a May 13th interview that he had quit (9) in 2003 out of respect for American soldiers killed in the war in Iraq. This number had passed 4000 in late March.
Released on June 10, Tha Carter III by (10) went on to become the year’s best-selling album, with about 2.88 million copies sold, and to receive a Grammy nomination in December.
High gasoline prices throughout the summer, peaking at $4.11 the week of July 14 in the United States, kept many potential travelers close to home, helping to popularize the portmanteau word (11) as would-be drivers substituted backyard barbecues and the like for long car trips.
On July 18, (12) set an opening-day box-office record by making $67 million dollars at the US box office; the film’s total take would exceed $155 million opening weekend and $500 million for the year (about the same amount as [6] had made in one week).
In late July, media outlets burst with the news that the Yvonne Hair and Nails salon in Alexandria, Virginia, had for four months been providing pedicures using garra rufa, a type of (13). Proprietor John Ho said that 5000 people had thus far paid $35 or $50 for the 15- or 30-minute treatment, first used in Turkey.
On August 7, Russian troops sent troops into the disputed territory of South Ossetia in response to an earlier attack by the republic of (14) on the capital, Tskhinvali.
On September 10, the Large (15) [two words], the world’s largest particle accelerator built near Geneva, first circulated proton beams in an attempt to re-create the early moments of the universe, but nine days later operations were halted for repairs expected to take nearly a year.
A worldwide financial crisis was in full swing by fall, but nowhere was the meltdown worse than in sparsely populated (16), where by October 9 the government had taken control of all three major banks. After freezing foreign assets (which had been worth ten times the country’s GDP), it became the first industrialized country in over 30 years to request assistance from the International Monetary Fund. The currency fell by more than half against the euro and the dollar, the main stock market index fell by over 90%, and unemployment and inflation soared.
On October 22, the nation of (17) successfully launched its first mission to the moon; the November 14 touchdown of the (unmanned) Moon Impact Probe made it the fourth country to plant its flag on the lunar surface.
Though she wound up being voted off the show on October 28, 82-year-old actress (18) became the oldest competitor on the United States version of Dancing with the Stars; she was additionally named the grand marshal for the 2009 Tournament of Roses Parade.
On November 27, the RMS (19), the ocean liner that had first sailed in 1969, was retired after 806 Atlantic crossings to become a floating hotel off the coast of Dubai.
On December 16, the two newspapers in the city of (20) announced that they would become the first major dailies in the United States to limit weekday delivery to just two days a week.
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