Michael Jackson dies, aged 50
 

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Sho...00906415319936

Holy shit!

LA Times currently reporting that he's in a coma.

That's two I've heard for coma and two I've heard for dead.

Which is it?!

I don't know what's going on really o_O. A few news sites say he's dead, others say a coma.

The originating source seems to be TMZ, which is about as reliable as Fox News for accuracy.

When CNN prints it, I'll believe it.

I've heard CNN says he's in a coma.

Sources: Michael Jackson in coma after cardiac arrest - CNN.com

MSNBC and LA Times report he's dead. CNN says coma.

Its a toss up at this point.

NBC news and now the Nightly News with Brian Williams has said he's passed.

Yea, CNN is saying he's been pronounced dead.

Forgive me if I seem skeptical about this. It's Michael Fucking Jackson. O_O

Fuck, what is this, like the fourth major celebrity to die this month (three within this week alone)? Geez...:(

I actually feel more sorry for Farrah Fawcett.

Her death is gonna be completely overshadowed by this.

Not if the guys who had her poster up in the 70s have anything to say about it.

70S BONER OR THE KING OF POP. YOU DECIDE.

The BBC is confirming it now too. At first I was skeptical, but I can believe the BBC, I think.

Hm, I am keeping an eye on CNN, if they confirm it, then that would pretty much take care of most everyone... Pretty crappy though... Farrah Fawcett and then Michael Jackson... crazy day today.

The deaths of two celebrities in the USA doesn't quite qualify as a crazy day compared with the unrest going on in Tehran.

Its all part and parcel.

Dull, I'd be willing to wager you that tomorrow the headline with be the death of michael jackson vs. any action in Tehran.

I care a shitload more about the guy who use to sing on the radio than a bunch of people I'll never meet in another country I'll never go to.

Should we notify you when we're dealing with populations of 50 million or more?

I mean, I'd just like to know the cutoff for your forced nonchalance.

It's just, really, who does that? You're wandering around yelling "I'm wearing blinders, everyone! Look at me!" And then expect anyone to give you the time of day.

Well, CNN just confirmed it... Well.. that is a bit of a shocker.

Ah well, time to move on I guess.

RIP both Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson (June 25, 2009)

The cut-off is when you're on a plane to Iran to get your hands dirty with the situation directly. Anyone else is just color commentary.

You're right. That wall in Germany coming down didn't effect anyone outside of the country.

Yeah, because your 10 year old ass felt the need to return to the fatherland and help knock it down.

Stop trying to have emotional investments where there are none. Can we get back to the topic again?

Getting back on topic here this has to be one of the most random deaths of all lately, I had mixed opinions on MJ. Great artist in his prime but as a person I just saw him as the result of being an abused rich kid.

Makes me wonder if he didn't postpone the concerts would he have maybe even died on stage? I guess it does send out another message though, if you're going to do something like that which is really important to you don't fuck around, do it sooner rather then later.

Michael Jackson is not dead. In two weeks at his overseas memorial in London, his casket will open up and he'll perform Thriller to kick off his comeback tour. Its perfect timing.

It is sad to see him go though, gonna be listening to MJ tunes all night now.

Yeah, I have been listening to MJ since the early news came in that he was admitted to hospital.

In a completly different topic, Ultima, your avatar and sig rock!

There's a part of me that can't help wonder whether it was a sweaty little boy who called 911.

1997 called, they said that joke wasn't funny even back then.

A lot of my family were big fans of Mj, and are pretty sad to hear of this news. I was working when it happened and all of our customers freaked out as the news hit.

He was a great artist, although a bit weird in his later years. Pretty fucked up he died so early, but he's put his body through a lot of shit so im not surprised.

I very much doubt any performer will ever accomplish as much as he did. The world wont see that kind of talent for a long time.

From what I recall, Jackson wasn't born in to riches. His father abused the fuck out of him hence why he was so god damn weird (or so I have read. But I do know his old man did various things to him).

Built fame off the Jackson Five, then broke off on to his own.

Let's try to be objective here. Michael Jackson recorded about 30 great pop songs during his solo career. He wrote maybe seven of those. He has a strangely large cult of celebrity for someone with a relatively small output and influence, especially considering his voice had pretty much been shot since 1987. The world is brimming with people as talented a singer, dancer, songwriter, etc. as Michael Jackson ever was. They won't ever be as popular as he was, but that's something different.

Well, this was fast.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/09...hatwasfast.png

(My dad told me there was an article about Michael Jackson's Wiki page on CNET, hence the MJ search on CNET.)

huh

He was a strange fella but he made some of the best music of the last few decades. i don't know whether the man truly did the things he was accused of as far as molesting those boys and probably won't until I find my way to the other side. I can only hope that he was worthy of some sort of peace and that he's found it.

My dad had a Farrah Fawcett t-shirt and belt buckle. Still has the belt buckle.

I thought for a moment you were trying to be ironic with this.

Well I certainly didn't see this coming, but then again I suppose most of the world didn't either. He had some really great songs made, so I think for most that's what he'll be remembered for. This is it indeed =\

What a loss for the music world. This news came as a shock to me as I just woke up 6 hours ago.

Even though I'm quite a classical musician, by preference, I thought MJ is one of those things that reaches out to everyone. I'm personally very amazed by his talent.

ouch a great loss indeed, he has made some great music and he died so young of age.

I bet you get a lot of pussy when you're dropping lines like that. You're such a sensitive guy.

I mean, I agree with you 100%, truly. But why come in here and make the time to trivialize people's sense of loss over a situation that has no place in this thread or subforum? It's borderline narcissistic. The situation in Tehran is awful, and it is deserving of meaningful discussion. Let's do that appropriately. Not here.

I heard about this when I was at work. Can't say I was a huge MJ fan, but he has come out with a lot of great songs, and was inevitably a part of my childhood. Bit surprising that he died so young. Did he really do that much to himself? I never heard of any drug use or anything, though I'm sure going under the knife as many times as he did will take a toll on the body.

Just speculation mostly, but his heart attack is said to be caused by taking prescription drugs. The drugs were made to get him in shape for his plannned comeback tours

This is what i gather from the net

I agree with much of this. Jackson's contributions to music, however decent, were spaced in a very narrow time fame and thus it's hard to make an argument that Jackson is the most talented musician EVAR. It's simply not viable.

That being said, it is easy to see why people celebrated him. In his youth, his singing and dancing ability were top notch and combined in a way that charmed and captivated world wide. There's a certain mystique created there.

Anyways, I'd be hard pressed to name a more serious vocal talent than Jackson in his late teens and early 20's. It's a shame that he seemed to lose a step so quickly, but that's to be expected in a rough and tumble industry where anything can happen. The music business chews people up and spits them out and Jackson was a casualty of this and an abusive up bringing.


RIP and all that. What a waste but I am happy to have witnessed some of his abilities.

What's the difference between Manchester United and Michael Jackson?

Manchester United will be playing Giggs next year.


Reports that Michael Jackson died of a heart attack have turned out to be incorrect. He was in fact having a stroke in the childrens' ward.


Michael Jackson has died aged 50. In spirit of recycling, he will be melted down into plastic party cups, so kids can still get their lips around his rim.


I'm fairly unsurprised that sickipedia.org has had it's servers overloaded this morning.

I'm just curious, but was this absolute top news anywhere else in the country? Like, normal broadcasts were canceled here in LA until around 7 PM, even overriding the normal national news broadcasts at 6:30. Even this morning most of the local news shows were out at his star on the walk of fame to talk with fans gathering there.

Also, if I was his family, I totally would have asked them to do a switcheroo with his body before putting it in the helicopter so it could have been carted off with considerably more dignity than with 20 news choppers in chase mode.

The entire front page of the Metro this morning was dedicated to Michael Jackson. The first six pages or so were dedicated to his life, death, career, scandal and facial decomposition.

Then it was two pages on Farah Fawcett.

Then a half page on Iran.

It's not even his star. The star with all the tributes on is the star of British radio DJ Michael Jackson. Jacko's actual star is currently under a red carpet outside the theatre where the Bruno premier is.

Hey guys, listen.

I know that Iran is big. It's terrifying for those of us who may have had as strong feelings about Bush as the Iranians have about Ahmadinejad. It's equally amazing to think of such a strong disconnect between what news the Iranian government is letting out versus the testimonials and youtube videos that are coming from the people. What's happening there is no less than history being rewritten, with repercussions being felt both world-wide and far into the future.

But it's okay to talk about other news. I promise! The Iranian people won't be offended that major papers "only" offer half a page dedicated to their recent struggle, given how very little verifiable information is out there. Did the Tamil Tigers surrendering warrant as much paper real estate? I'm sincerely asking, I don't know what sort of traditional media coverage it got.

But yeah I agree it's sick that CNN isn't reporting on what I want to hear about during the few minutes I decide to watch it :mad:

The reports of Michael Jackson dying of cardiac arrest are untrue, the actual cause of death was a reaction to eating 12 year old nuts.

Seriously, the news report came on whilst we were in the pub last night and most of the people at the bar were cracking jokes. And people seemed less interested in the actual news than in making sure they were the first to tell people. It's strange. I'm sad he's dead of course but considering it was the main story with non-stop coverage for at least an hour...

This.

The people who are concerned about Iran are already talking about Iran and reading about Iran and watching videos about Iran and reading twitter posts from Iran and keeping Iran at the forefront of their thoughts. There are other things going on in the world, too!

The radio was doing that sort of thing here. The morning DJs came back and did a show/tribute in the afternoon, but I don't think that they canceled everything on TV too. It definitely was the top story, though. All the support staff at my work stopped working for about an hour, it seemed.

Michael Jackson's body is 99% plastic, so in his will, he requested to be disassembled and molded in to LEGOs. That way, he can play with children for eternity.

Who knows? Maybe a few bewildered youngsters will put him in their mouth!

Or nose. Probably the nose :-_-:

The only thing funny thing about Michael Jackson jokes is I haven't heard one that was actually funny.

The funniest thing I've read involved Farrah Fawcett:

from a different forum.

Who are we talking about with Mother Theresa? Diana died five or six days before her, and everyone else I can think of (Chris Farley, Deng Xiaoping, etc) weren't even within two months of her death.

EDIT: I just checked Wikipedia, which pretty much says the same thing.

Because taking jokes literally is often the best way to understand them.

Reading into jokes, seeing they're not funny, then trying to rationalize them seems to work pretty well for me.

But hey, don't let me stop you guys. Go ahead and go back to Michael Jackson penis jokes.

Do I really need to explain the joke?

I thought the context was self evident.

Remember though Dull, that GB has been a walking humour vacuum since he first arrived here. He is to humour as Darth Nihilus is to the Force.

There are no words, really, for someone who examines a joke in order to declare it factually inaccurate and therefore unfunny.

Examination always kills comedy. It's kind of a rule.

This thread needs some more awesome.

YouTube - Michael Jackson - Thriller

http://i44.tinypic.com/jubq88.jpg

Except examination came after a nonlaugh. I examined it afterward to find some sort of redeeming quality, and I found it wanting. The comedy wasn't alive to be killed by scrutiny. I'm not sure how that's unclear.

The joke doesn't need to be explained, rather it's just not funny. Perhaps I just fail to see the hilarity in a humanitarian who was forgotten because of some chick who hugged a kid with AIDS, and there's some sort of charm in the joke because it's off by a couple days? I find more humor wondering how long Shin thinks I've been here.

Oh, I see the problem

You're laboring under the illusion that Mother Teresa was a humanitarian

I can see how that would color the rest of your perceptions

I came in here expecting to post something mildly witty, or perhaps relate a story about what a wild and crazy guy I am, and how that somehow pertained to MJ's death. You know, some standard bullshit.

But I saw Pang's sig, and now I really just want some motherfucking bacon.

I didn't know this was a copy/paste, I want my prop back, give it back to me! a-hee hee