MICHAEL

For awhile there I couldn't really believe it.

I've been watching the endless replays of MJ's music on MTV (the channel that couldn't deny him, despite his brown skin) ...and it finally sunk in. The man who formed the blueprint for modern pop music, the one EVERY pop act in the industry still follows?

..Is gone. :(

All those childhood memories. The first person to truly transcend race in a way that was almost godlike. People the globe over loved Micheal because his talent, his magnetism, his music were just that big.

Motown 25.

People flipped over this one move:

Not just kids, EVERYONE was mesmerized by that one moment. A dance move changed the cultural landscape because of MJ. That's how powerful he was. Network television routinely stopped everything to premiere his music. Every other star on the planet scrambled for even a cameo spot in his videos.

There is at least one Bhutanese person weeping, because MJ is dead, y'all. Yes, even the country that has a filter on outside culture knows MJ.

The man was in the first and best "boy band" ever...And yes, I'm blowing by The Beatles, because I don't consider them a "boy band". They were a simply a band. Dance, R&B singing, weren't what The Beatles were all about.

The Jackson 5, the first true boy band and the most talented of them all inspired every group that followed. They spawned imitators like the Osmonds, New Edition, New Kids on the Block, NSYNC, Backstreet Boys...etc, etc.,

Every group that has had five guys singing and dancing? Copied their schtick from The Jackson 5.

See a pattern here? And yet, none of them have music as sublime in quality as "I'll Be There","I Want You Back", "Who's Loving You"....

And then came the videos. Mike wasn't the first see music videos as cinema. I believe Bowie is among those who should be given credit for that, but his vision is what stuck.

Every modern video that has dance owes their existence to him. He was the first and everybody, everybody, has followed the exact. same. formula ever since.

Off the Wall is a masterpiece. Thriller is the biggest selling album of all time. Michael Jackson is the biggest selling artist in the history of music, people.

Today's pop acts, wish they had a tenth of MJ's soul, magnetism, and yes, class in the face of his massive popularity.

The man is known in every corner of the planet and yet, he was self-effacing enough to allow Weird Al to do his thing, heck even be flattered about it. His philanthropy set a standard in the pop industry.

Take notes, Kanye... You won't get even a sixteenth of fame, but perhaps you can at least learn from the class.

And yes, I said class. I'm more than a little miffed at the news coverage of this. Focusing on his lowest moments which, even if the man banged an elephant on live television could not eclipse the fact that he was the blueprint for modern pop stardom.

...Bigger than Prince. (though Prince is arguably more widely talented)
...Bigger than Elvis. (no competition, seriously)

I doubt news outlets focused so much on Lennon's romantic decisions and how that might have broken up the Beatles, when he passed. I doubt, news outlets focused on the many R&B songs Elvis stole remade for white audiences when he passed.

Whatever your opinion is about the accusations of molestation, the fact is that he was acquitted... And given the ubiquity of the knowledge of the accusations, it was likely for good reason.

Personally, I think he was both mentally wounded and ill. Likely, he never got the help he needed for this. It is my biggest suspicion that he was not a pedophile, but was in fact, melosexual. The only thing I think MJ was sexually attracted to was his music. That's what all the crotch-grabbing was about, y'all.

All of the social particulars that most of us grow and learn about as we age, he never did. He looked upon it all with a permanent, stubborn, innocence. I think he really didn't understand why it would be inappropriate to have so many children surrounding him.

Having said that. Many of the world's best artists are or were in a similar boat. For some reason, high levels of artistic genius tends to come with eccentricity and crazy. So, he's not unique in this. Even Van Gogh self-mutilated, people.

When I was a girl, MJ was the only famous black person everybody loved. He was the most famous person period, on the planet. Can you understand the magnitude of that?

MTV, the formerly all-white network, could not deny him for his skin, because he was just too damn popular!

Pop Music.
Boy bands.
Music videos.
Choreographed Dance.
Blending his appeal with commercial endorsements.

Everyone who has done this since MJ, stole their game from him.

He paved the way for acceptance of every other iconic black figure since and yes, I'm saying it...including the president.

That's his legacy.

R.I.P., Moonwalker.

THE AVATAR YOU SHOULD BE LOOKING FORWARD TO

*So, I've already talked about the white-washed Avatar. You know, the one with a group of white actors hired play around in Asian and Inuit cultures, pretending to be, well Asian and Inuit?

...No? Check the favorite posts list, under Yellowface Sucks.

Well, there's another Avatar coming. One I cannot wait to see, because the man, James Cameron is helming it.

James Cameron, the man who made the most successful movie of all time, Titanic (don't act like that movie isn't the ish, just because it's not "cool" anymore to like it).

...The man, who made the good Terminator movies and an Alien sequel that topped the first one, in my opinion.

...The man who unapologetically writes awesomely strong women, without even a smidge of pretense. Big-ups to Linda H., Sigourney W., Mary E., Angela B., and Kate W..

...And now we see what he does with Ms. Saldana. I'm predicting Summer Glau as 'River'-like fight sequences, if not better, from this other actor/dancer... And Sigourney, Sam Worthington (I told y'all Hollywood was trying to make him happen!) Giovanni Ribisi (underrated IMO), and Michelle Rodriguez.

Well, the teaser was released a good while ago.

The trailer for the other fail!tastic Avatar, came out recently. ...Which judging from, even the producers know it's wrong having white actors in yellow-face, because a hooded figure doing Star Wars' kid moves (thanks, vivier ) has his caucasian face pretty-well hidden *snort!* because you won't notice/care anyway. ...No, that's not sarcasm.

Anyway... The BETTER Avatar has POC's (people of color) a-plenty in it, cutting edge special effects, and Cameron's 'hasn't made a bad movie yet', pedigree behind it.

So, I'd rather show that teaser, despite the fact that it's pretty old:

Disregard the release date as that has obviously been pushed up to December 18th.

...And here is a new report on the building excitement, just twenty-five minutes of footage has inspired.

*This could be construed as a "promotional post" (among a few others) which I'm firmly against, but if I'm excited?? Then, I'm gonna share it. You can't buy my movie love.


P.S. If this movie ends up sucking, I will disavow all knowledge of this post, despite blog entry proof of its occurrence.

P.P.S. If the negative spoilers I've been hearing about Transformers are correct, it's as expected as some idiot texting at the movies and I WILL be blogging about it.

DRAG ME TO HELL

The trailers don't do this movie justice. It's clear that Sam Raimi is getting two big messages firmly across with this movie.

#1 "Yeah, I made Spider-man, but the Evil Dead movies weren't that long ago. I still know what's up."

And...

#2 ...making PG-13 horror naysayers, like myself STFU. And yeah, he did that. I was so wrong, y'all. This movie proved that Sam is still the master of gross/funny/scary horror at it's best.

Yup, even with that rating.

A movie doesn't have to be R-rated to be hardcore horror. *

So, now I can honestly say, it ain't the PG-13 trend that has ruined horror cinema. It's looking for the quick buck over quality, re-makes, and those making it who lack the talents of Carpenter/Craven/Raimi/Jackson, somehow becoming this generation's horror flavor. *cough*the makers of Saw*cough*

Maybe, Raimi felt sorry for the new generation of genre-watchers having to grow up into horror wimps because of all the craptacular de-Asianized flicks and light-"jump-scare" 80's remakes.

...because Sam didn't give even a teeny bit of his gross/humor/horror away for this movie...

This PG-13 movie, y'all. ...Amazing.

As soon as I saw a nice ripe yellow lougie in close-up, I knew he had not forsaken his old-school fans. Actually, I knew after that awesome opening. Invisible demon punching a kid in the face, FTW!!

I should never have doubted him. Seriously, if you are a horror fan. A REAL one, I'm talking loves budget gross-outs like Dead Alive, and of course the Evil Dead(s) etc... Basically, the movies Tarentino/Rodriguez's Grindhouse were a tribute to, then this film is right up your alley.

DO NOT MISS THIS MOVIE.

I freaking LOVED IT.


Instant horror classic.


P.S. Pretty much every minority in this movie were "Magical Negroes" except black people! We somehow escaped this time!! There were Latinos, Rom, Indian, shoot even a magical crazy old person (tis' relevent to the previous review, I think)...

So, be afraid of the minorities, young white peepul, BE. VERY. AFRAID!!! *so, I guess that's three messages, Sam got across. ;)

I especially, felt some empathy for Rom people, watching this movie. I mean black people get stereotyped in movies, but gypsies?

I know they're like "OH COME ON! We are not all magical witches/fortune-tellers an' sh*t! -damn!"

P.P.S. Homegirl, should have been bald by the end, I'm just saying.

UP

Oh damn you, Pixar!!! I was not expecting to love this movie as much as I did (it's personal, y'all) and I was not expecting to be trying to be all covert with the tear-wiping and sniffling beneath my 3-D glasses.

This movie was just so, lovable.

You know, the last time I reviewed a Pixar movie, it was WALL - e, I believe. I mentioned what I thought was the secret to the company's consistent success.

...with Cars being the only semi-stumble (Doc Hollywood re-told with CGI cars and STILL better than most Hollywood movies). That was that they patiently tell a story, devoid of the hip gimmicks and the latest pop culture references, so the tale remains timeless.

As much as Shrek is a fun flick, watch it even now and you can already tell from exactly what time that movie came.

I'm adding to that theory, now. It's like Frank Capra's ghost is blessing this studio. Their movies have the flavor of old-school Hollywood in the best possible way. When folks talk about movies and say they just don't make 'em like that anymore?

They are NOT talking about Pixar.

It's the little things. It's the kaleidoscopic colors, balloons make across a little girl's room and how she reacts. It's the meticulous work that went into rendering a carabiner that I swear looked freaking real, and the Pixar's wonderfully done montage of "Cry bitches! Cry!". *damn you, Pixar! *shakeyfist!*

You'll notice I didn't talk much about the particulars of this movie. That was on purpose. You know, if I love it, I'm not spoiling it. Yes, I'm late as all get out, but if you STILL haven't seen Up, get your butt to the movies and see it already!

It's Pixar, so it has to be good.

I did think the climax was a little "meh". Otherwise, Up would have my highest rating, folks.


P.S. I have to add that one of the best aspects of this movie is that a very wrong notion that Hollywood (and too much of society) hold so firmly too is squashed. That is that once people pass the age of fifty, they become irrelevant, invisible, ignored.

Our elders are the other n*&*^rs, in our society y'all and that's jacked up.

Simply praising the wisdom of the elderly seems patronizing to me, because beyond and more important than that, what they impart on other people is what they do for themselves.

They are still alive and human. They can still make mistakes, have adventures, be strong, live out dreams, and just plain be interesting people, not past-tense.

Grandma Moses, people! *stepping off the soap-box*