the end of a sad week

I'm sure there are a lot of blogs about the celebs who have died in the past week. Ed McMahon kicked it off, then Farrah, then Michael, today Billy Mays, and now Gale Storm. The TV has constantly been memorializing them with tributes. Even the President got involved by sending a letter to the Jackson family. Yes, it's all very sad. Death is sad, but such is life.

These deaths from....cancer and heart issues. What can we learn? I have a feeling we'll learn the most from MJ's death. I think he was anorexic, took too much of some kind of drug that had a paralyzing affect on his central nervous system. I also wonder if he had a preexisting heart condition because he had a Cardiologist always at his side.To me this means there was an underlying heart issues. This is a death that could have been prevented - if he wanted it to be.

The only death I have experienced when it came to someone I loved was of the sudden death kind. It's a total shock. I've had close friends who experienced long, drawn out deaths from terminal illnesses and I can't say one is easier than the other. You get to say goodbye with one but not with the other. Maybe we should learn to say goodbye before we have to. We live our lives- working our asses off, trying to make ends meet, taking care of our families, raising our children just so they can grow up and leave us, and by the time we have a chance to stop and take a breath our bodies are already beat up. There has to be more to life than just this. I guess this is what life's about, hard with a little bit of precious moments in between. Have to grab those moments and hold onto them as long as we can...then they just turn into memories. But that's good too.

good quote

"Men are like a deck of cards. You'll find the occasional king, but most are jacks." - Laura Swenson

Fallen Princess

Photographer Dina Goldstein decided to re-think their outcomes. "I began to imagine Disney's perfect princesses juxtaposed with real issues that were affecting women around me," she says, "such as illness, addiction and self-image issues." Genius and heartbreaking.

RIP Farrah

Farrah Fawcett dies at 62.

A rare cancer claims the 1970s pinup beauty. First known for her looks and hairstyle, she captivated critics with 'The Burning Bed' and other serious roles. Later, she chronicled her illness.

By Valerie J. Nelson

9:11 PM PDT, June 25, 2009

Farrah Fawcett, who soared to fame as a national sex symbol in the late 1970s on television's campy "Charlie's Angels" and in a swimsuit poster that showcased her feathery mane and made her a generation's favorite pinup, died Thursday. She was 62.

Fawcett, whose celebrity overshadowed her ability as a serious actress, was diagnosed with a rare cancer in 2006. She died at St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica, said Paul Bloch, her publicist.

Three months after she was declared cancer-free in 2007, doctors at UCLA Medical Center told her the cancer had returned and spread to her liver, and she repeatedly sought experimental treatment in Germany.

Actor Ryan O'Neal, her longtime companion, called her cancer fight "long and brave" and said her family and friends took comfort in "the knowledge that her life brought joy to so many people around the world."

Kate Jackson called her "Charlie's Angels" costar "an inspiration" who "showed immense courage and grace throughout her illness."

"When I think of Farrah, I will remember her kindness, her cutting dry wit and, of course, her beautiful smile," Jackson said in a statement.

Another "Charlie's Angels" costar, Jaclyn Smith, said in a statement, "Farrah had courage, she had strength, and she had faith. And now she has peace as she rests with the real angels."

As an actress, Fawcett was initially dismissed for her role as Jill Munroe in "Charlie's Angels," one of the "jiggle" series on ABC-TV in the late 1970s.

But she transformed her career and some popular perceptions in 1984 with "The Burning Bed," a television movie about a battered wife that brought her the first of three Emmy nominations. She further established herself as an actress in the play and later feature film “Extremities,” about a rape victim who takes revenge on her attacker.

Robert Greenwald, who directed "The Burning Bed," told The Times on Thursday, "She was incredibly gutsy, courageous and a risk-taker. She had this wonderful beauty, this very successful career and, unlike many people, she used it to open doors and take big chances."

Yet for many, the poster of her wearing a wet, one-piece swimsuit and a blinding smile endured.

"If you were to list 10 images that are evocative of American pop culture, Farrah Fawcett would be one of them," Robert Thompson, a professor of television and popular culture at Syracuse University, told The Times. "That poster became one of the defining images of the 1970s."

Fawcett was part of a new generation of celebrities whose fame was fueled by heightened coverage of their ongoing personal dramas, Thompson said.

She had many: a failed marriage to actor Lee Majors; a stormy, long-term relationship with O'Neal; a son who fought drug addiction; a writer-director boyfriend, James Orr, who was convicted of assaulting her; a Playboy video that featured her using her naked body as a paintbrush; and a spacey 1997 appearance on David Letterman's late-night TV show that caused critics to question her mental state.

For her part, Fawcett once said all she had to do to get on the cover of People was to "have a new boyfriend or even a new dog," Texas Monthly reported in 1997.

At first, her mane nearly eclipsed her fame.

"Charlie's Angels" showcased the long, feathered tresses that framed her face, launching a national fad of copycat haircuts. Many Fawcettphiles believed the hair had as much to do with the poster's sales as anything, The Times reported in 1977.

Within six months, the poster sold five million copies, outstripping the records of such previous sex symbols as Betty Grable and Marilyn Monroe. It wound up selling a reported 12 million copies.

"You were a real man if you had her poster. She was our pinup girl," Mike O'Meara, a radio show host who was in high school when it came out, told the Baltimore Sun in 2006.

Fawcett quit the series that brought her initial fame in 1977 after a single season, saying producers were preventing her from growing as an actress. With Jackson and Smith, Fawcett had played a private investigator whose main talent seemed to be the ability to wield a gun while going braless and shouting, "Freeze, turkey!"

"Charlie's Angels" was so popular that 59% of the television audience tuned in, according to Time magazine, and the Los Angeles Times' review of the series premiere pointed out why: The show dripped with sexuality and "good-natured but quite intentional teasing."

Along with "Three's Company" -- a double-entendre-filled ABC sitcom that debuted six months after "Charlie's Angels" in fall 1976 -- the show is credited with helping to launch television's "jiggle" era. Still, the show was seen as empowering women, even if they did take their orders from an unseen male boss named Charlie.

"In an odd way, even with all that Lycra and bralessness, the show was a feminist statement," Thompson said. "This was an hourlong drama with women as action heroes. They were working in areas of power that generally we didn't see women in much."

Fawcett, who had appeared in shampoo ads, would triumph over critics who dismissed "Charlie's Angels" as little more than a commercial for hair products. But first she appeared in two lightweight feature films: "Somebody Killed Her Husband" (1978) and "Sunburn" (1979).

She surprised critics with her intense portrayal of the battered wife who immolates her husband in the TV movie "The Burning Bed." The 1984 Times review noted her "growing acting skill" and "deeply moving performance."

The phrase "Burning Bed" entered Hollywood's lexicon as shorthand for actresses who wanted to be taken seriously. "Managers would call and say, 'She'd like to do her 'Burning Bed,' " Greenwald, the film's director, said Thursday.

The off-Broadway play “Extremities” provided another dramatically taxing showcase in 1983. Following Susan Sarandon in the starring role, Fawcett broke her wrist during a fight scene and lost weight because the part was so physically demanding. She also earned respectable reviews.

When the film of "Extremities" followed in 1986, The Times' Charles Champlin called her performance "further declaration of her arrival as a serious and intelligent actress who happens to be beautiful."

Robert Duvall cast Fawcett as his wife in his 1997 independent film "The Apostle," about a Texas Pentecostal preacher who escapes to Louisiana after accidentally killing his wife's lover. Again, she won praise.

"That woman's work has been very underrated," Duvall told Texas Monthly, citing her Emmy-nominated performance in "Small Sacrifices," a 1989 TV movie in which her character kills her children. "That woman knows how to act."

With O'Neal, with whom she had a son, she starred in "Good Sports," a short-lived 1991 CBS sitcom that was her last network television series. She received her final Emmy nomination in 2003 for guest-starring on "The Guardian" on CBS.

Farrah Leni Fawcett was born Feb. 2, 1947, in Corpus Christi, Texas, to James Fawcett, who founded a pipeline construction company, and his wife, Pauline. Her older sister, Diane, died of lung cancer in 2001.

While studying painting and sculpture at the University of Texas at Austin, Fawcett was used to being judged by her looks. College men lined up to meet the freshman at her sorority in 1965, her college boyfriend told Texas Monthly. After she was voted one of the 10 most beautiful women on campus, a Hollywood publicist came calling.

Her parents wanted her to finish college before coming west, but they gave in after her junior year. Within two weeks of arriving, Fawcett had an agent and a significant other -- Majors, who had arranged an introduction after seeing her photograph, she often said.

She signed a contract with Screen Gems, Columbia's television subsidiary, and got bit parts on shows such as "The Flying Nun" and "The Partridge Family."

Majors married Fawcett in 1973 and became "The Six Million Dollar Man" on ABC a year later. She sometimes appeared on the series.

Her contract for "Charlie's Angels" stipulated that she had to be home every night by 6:30 to make Majors' dinner at their Bel-Air home, but the domesticity didn't last. While on location in 1979, Majors arranged for his dashing buddy O'Neal to look in on Fawcett. By fall, she had moved into O'Neal's Malibu beachfront home, Time magazine reported in 1997.

They had a tumultuous relationship that lasted for many years but they never married, although O'Neal said this week that the seriously ill Fawcett had said yes to his latest marriage proposal.

"As chaotic and crazy as their relationship is, I don't know who could put up with the two of them better than each other," her close friend Alana Stewart said in the Time article.

In 1985, Fawcett and O'Neal became the parents of a son, Redmond, whose teenage exploits were tabloid staples. From age 13, he had been in and out of drug treatment programs and has admitted abusing heroin, the London Daily Express reported in 2007. He has had several drug-related arrests in the last year.

Redmond, now 24, was allowed to temporarily leave jail April 25 to visit his mother at her home. He had been arrested earlier that month on charges of trying to smuggle drugs into a jail facility in Castaic and recently was admitted to a court-ordered rehabilitation program.

When Fawcett and O'Neal broke up in 1997 -- she attributed it to conflicts over parenting -- it was the beginning of a troubled time for her.

First, another actress accused her of stealing $72,000 worth of clothes. Then Fawcett appeared on Letterman's show to promote the video that showed her hurling her gold-painted naked body against a canvas. Chatting with the host, she looked disoriented and sounded incoherent. She repeatedly claimed it had been an act.

Orr, a sometime boyfriend, was convicted of slamming Fawcett's head to the ground and choking her during a fight. She admitted smashing windows at his Bel-Air mansion with a baseball bat. The couple got back together but broke up for good before he was sentenced to three years' probation, The Times reported in 1999.

For years, Fawcett lived in the Bel-Air home she bought with Majors in 1976; it was sold for $2.7 million in 1999. More recently, she called a Beverly Hills condo home.

Fawcett's relationship with O'Neal was on-again, off-again after their breakup. She helped nurse him back to health after he was diagnosed with chronic myelogenous leukemia in 2001, and he was there for her soon after she was diagnosed with anal cancer.

Two breast cancer survivors also rallied to her side: her "Charlie's Angels" costars, Smith and Jackson.

When tabloids quickly reported her cancer recurrence in 2007, Fawcett suspected that details of her medical care were being leaked. Her complaints led UCLA Medical Center to dismiss an employee who had surreptitiously reviewed Fawcett's medical records and those of more than 30 other high-profile patients. A new state law aimed at protecting patient privacy also grew out of the records violations

Forced to battle her cancer publicly, Fawcett made "Farrah's Story," a video diary that unsparingly chronicled her struggle to fight the disease and efforts to protect her privacy. It aired on NBC in mid-May.

Throughout the documentary, O'Neal is a steady presence, and he was with her when she died. In May, O'Neal told People magazine: "I won't know this world without her."

In addition to her son, Fawcett is survived by her father.

Instead of flowers, the family suggests donating to cancer research through the Farrah Fawcett Foundation, P.O. Box 6478, Beverly Hills, CA 90212.

RIP MJ

June 26, 2009

Michael Jackson, Pop Icon, Is Dead at 50

By BROOKS BARNES

LOS ANGELES — For his legions of fans, he was the Peter Pan of pop music: the little boy who refused to grow up. But on the verge of another attempted comeback, he is suddenly gone, this time for good.

Michael Jackson, whose quintessentially American tale of celebrity and excess took him from musical boy wonder to global pop superstar to sad figure haunted by lawsuits, papparazzi and failed plastic surgery, was pronounced dead on Thursday afternoon at U.C.L.A. Medical Center after arriving in a coma, a city official said. Mr. Jackson was 50, having spent nearly 40 of those years in the public eye he loved.

The singer was rushed to the hospital, a six-minute drive from the rented Bel-Air home in which he was living, shortly after noon by paramedics for the Los Angeles Fire Department. A hospital spokesman would not confirm reports of cardiac arrest. He was pronounced dead at 2:26 pm.

As with Elvis Presley or the Beatles, it is impossible to calculate the full effect Mr. Jackson had on the world of music. At the height of his career, he was indisputably the biggest star in the world; he has sold more than 750 million albums. Radio stations across the country reacted to his death with marathon sessions of his songs. MTV, which grew successful in part as a result of Mr. Jackson’s groundbreaking videos, reprised its early days as a music channel by showing his biggest hits.

From his days as the youngest brother in the Jackson 5 to his solo career in the 1980s and early 1990s, Mr. Jackson was responsible for a string of hits like “I Want You Back,” “I’ll Be There” “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough” “Billie Jean” and “Black and White” that exploited his high voice, infectious energy and ear for irresistible hooks.

As a solo performer, Mr. Jackson ushered in the age of pop as a global product — not to mention an age of spectacle and pop culture celebrity. He became more character than singer: his sequined glove, his whitened face, his moonwalk dance move became embedded in the cultural firmament.

His entertainment career hit high-water marks with the release of “Thriller,” from 1982, which has been certified 28 times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, and with the “Victory” world tour that reunited him with his brothers in 1984.

But soon afterward, his career started a bizarre disintegration. His darkest moment undoubtedly came in 2003, when he was indicted on child molesting charges. A young cancer patient claimed the singer had befriended him and then groped him at his Neverland estate near Santa Barbara, Calif., but Mr. Jackson was acquitted on all charges.

Reaction to his death started trickling in from the entertainment community late Thursday.

“I am absolutely devastated at this tragic and unexpected news,” the music producer Quincy Jones said in a statement. “I’ve lost my little brother today, and part of my soul has gone with him.”

Berry Gordy, the Motown founder who helped develop the Jackson 5, told CNN that Mr. Jackson, as a boy, “always wanted to be the best, and he was willing to work as hard as it took to be that. And we could all see that he was a winner at that age.

Tommy Mottola, a former head of Sony Music, called Mr. Jackson “the cornerstone to the entire music business.”

“He bridged the gap between rhythm and blues and pop music and made it into a global culture,” said Mr. Mottola, who worked with Mr. Jackson until the singer cut his ties with Sony in 2001.

Impromptu vigils broke out around the world, from Portland, Ore., where fans organized a one-gloved bike ride (“glittery costumes strongly encouraged”) to Hong Kong, where fans gathered with candles and sang his songs.

In Los Angeles, hundreds of fans — some chanting Mr. Jackson’s name, some doing the “Thriller” dance — descended on the hospital and on the hillside house where he was staying.

Jeremy Vargas, 38, hoisted his wife, Erica Renaud, 38, on his shoulders and they danced and bopped to “Man in the Mirror” playing from an onlooker’s iPod connected to external speakers — the boom boxes of Mr. Jackson’s hey day long past their day.

“I am in shock and awe,” said Ms. Renaud, who was visiting from Red Hook, Brooklyn, with her family. “He was like a family member to me.”

Mr. Jackson was an object of fascination for the news media since the Jackson 5’s first hit, “I Want You Back,” in 1969. His public image wavered between that of the musical naif, who wanted only to recapture his youth by riding on roller-coasters and having sleepovers with his friends, to the calculated mogul who carefully constructed his persona around his often-baffling public behavior.

A Tour Canceled

Mr. Jackson had been scheduled to perform 50 concerts at the O2 arena in London beginning next month and continuing into 2010. The shows, which quickly sold out, were positioned as a comeback, with the potential to earn him up to $50 million, according to some reports.

But there had also been worry and speculation that Mr. Jackson was not physically ready for such an arduous run of concerts, and his postponement of the first of those shows to July 13 from July 8 fueled new rounds of gossip about his health. Nevertheless, he was rehearsing Wednesday night at the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles. “The primary reason for the concerts wasn’t so much that he was wanting to generate money as much as it was that he wanted to perform for his kids,” said J. Randy Taraborrelli, whose biography, “Michael Jackson: The Magic and the Madness,” was first published by Citadel in 1991. “They had never seen him perform before.”

Mr. Jackson’s brothers, Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon and Randy, have all had performing careers, with varying success, since they stopped performing together. (Randy, the youngest, replaced Jermaine when the Jackson 5 left Motown.) His sisters, Rebbie, La Toya and Janet, are also singers, and Janet Jackson has been a major star in her own right for two decades. They all survive him, as do his parents, Joseph and Katherine Jackson, of Las Vegas, and three children: Michael Joseph Jackson Jr., Paris Michael Katherine Jackson, born to Mr. Jackson’s second wife, Deborah Jeanne Rowe, and Prince Michael Jackson II, the son of a surrogate mother. Mr. Jackson was also briefly married to Lisa Marie Presley, the daughter of Elvis Presley.

A spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Department said the department assigned its robbery and homicide division to investigate the death, but the spokesman said that was because of Mr. Jackson’s celebrity.

“Don’t read into anything,” the spokesman told reporters gathered outside the Bel-Air house. He said the coroner had taken possession of the body and would conduct an investigation.

At a news conference at the hospital, Jermaine Jackson spoke to reporters about his brother. “It is believed he suffered cardiac arrest at his home,” he said softly. A personal physician first tried to resuscitate Michael Jackson at his home before paramedics arrived. A team of doctors then tried to resuscitate him for more than an hour, his brother said.

“May our love be with you always,” Jermaine Jackson concluded, his gaze aloft.

Hometown Mourns

In Gary, Ind., hundreds of people descended upon the squat clapboard house were Mr. Jackson spent his earliest years. There were tears, loud wails, and quiet prayers as old neighbors joined hands with people who had driven in from Chicago and other nearby towns to pay their respects.

“Just continue to glorify the man, Lord,” said Ida Boyd-King, a local pastor who led the crowd in prayer. “Let’s give God praise for Michael.”

Shelletta Hinton, 40, drove to Gary from Chicago with her two young children. She said they had met Mr. Jackson in Gary a couple of years ago when he was in town to receive a key to the city. “We felt like we were close to Michael,” she said. “This is a sad day.”

As dusk set in, mourners lighted candles and placed them on the concrete doorstep. Some left teddy bears and personal notes. Doris Darrington, 77, said she remembered seeing the Jackson 5 so many times around Gary that she got sick of them. But she, too, was feeling hurt by the sudden news of Mr. Jackson’s death.

“He has always been a source of pride for Gary, even though he wasn’t around much,” she said. “The older person, that’s not the Michael we knew. We knew the little bitty boy with the big Afro and the brown skin. That’s how I’ll always remember Michael.”

Michael Joseph Jackson was born in Gary on Aug. 29, 1958. The second youngest of six brothers, he began performing professionally with four of them at the age of 5 in a group that their father, Joe, a steelworker, had organized the previous year. In 1968, the group, originally called the Jackson Brothers, was signed by Motown Records.

The Jackson 5 was an instant phenomenon. The group’s first four singles — “I Want You Back,” “ABC,” “The Love You Save” and “I’ll Be There” — all reached No. 1 on the pop charts in 1970, a feat no group had accomplished before. And young Michael was the center of attention: he handled virtually all the lead vocals, danced with energy and finesse, and displayed a degree of showmanship rare in a performer of any age.

In 1971, Mr. Jackson began recording under his own name, while continuing to perform with his brothers. His recording of “Ben,” the title song from a movie about a boy and his homicidal pet rat, was a No. 1 hit in 1972.

The brothers (minus Michael’s older brother Jermaine, who was married to the daughter of Berry Gordy, Motown’s founder and chief executive) left Motown in 1975 and, rechristened the Jacksons, signed to Epic, a unit of CBS Records. Three years later, Michael made his movie debut as the Scarecrow in the screen version of the hit Broadway musical “The Wiz.” But movie stardom proved not to be his destiny.

A Star Goes Solo

Music stardom on an unprecedented level, however, was. Mr. Jackson’s first solo album for Epic, “Off the Wall,” released in 1979, yielded four No. 1 singles and sold seven million copies, but it was a mere prologue to what came next. His follow-up, “Thriller,” released in 1982, became the best-selling album of all time and helped usher in the music video age. The video for title track, directed by John Landis, was an elaborate horror-movie pastiche that was more of a mini-movie than a promotional clip.

Seven of the nine tracks on “Thriller” were released as singles and reached the Top 10. The album spent two years on the Billboard album chart and sold an estimated 100 million copies worldwide.It also won eight Grammy Awards.

The choreographer and director Vincent Paterson, who directed Mr. Jackson in several videos recalled watching him rehearse a dance sequence for four hours in front of a mirror until it felt like second nature.

“That’s how he developed the moonwalk, working on it for days if not weeks until it was organic,” he said. “He took an idea that he had seen some street kids doing and perfected it.”

Mr. Jackson’s next album, “Bad,” released in 1987, sold eight million copies and produced five No. 1 singles and another state-of-the-art video, this one directed by Martin Scorsese. It was a huge hit by almost anyone else’s standards, but an inevitable letdown after “Thriller.”

It was at this point that Mr. Jackson’s bizarre private life began to overshadow his music. He would go on to release several more albums and, from time to time, to stage elaborate concert tours. And he would never be too far from the public eye. But it would never again be his music that kept him there.

Even with the millions Mr. Jackson earned, his eccentric lifestyle took a severe financial toll. In 1988 Mr. Jackson paid about $17 million for a 2,600-acre ranch in Los Olivos, Calif., 125 miles northwest of Los Angeles. Calling it Neverland after the mythical island of Peter Pan, he outfitted the property with amusement-park rides, a zoo and a 50-seat theater, at a cost of $35 million, according to reports, and the ranch became his sanctum.

But Neverland, and Mr. Jackson’s lifestyle, were expensive to maintain. A forensic accountant who testified at Mr. Jackson’s molesting trial in 2005 said that Mr. Jackson’s annual budget in 1999 included $7.5 million for personal expenses and $5 million to maintain Neverland. By at least the late 1990s, he began to take out huge loans to support himself and pay debts. In 1998. he took out a loan for $140 million from Bank of America, which two years later was increased to $200 million. Further loans of hundreds of millions followed.

The collateral for the loans was Mr. Jackson’s 50 percent share in Sony/ATV Music Publishing, a portfolio of thousands of songs, including rights to 259 songs by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, considered some of the most valuable properties in music.

In 1985, Mr. Jackson paid $47.5 million for ATV, which included the Beatles songs — a move that estranged him from Mr. McCartney, who had advised him to invest in music rights — and 10 years later, Mr. Jackson sold 50 percent of his interest to Sony for $90 million, creating a joint venture, Sony/ATV. Estimates of the catalog’s value exceed $1 billion.

Last year, Neverland narrowly escaped foreclosure after Mr. Jackson defaulted on $24.5 million he owed on the property. A Los Angeles real estate investment company, Colony Capital LLC, bought the note, and put the title for the property into a joint venture with Mr. Jackson.

In many ways, Mr. Jackson never recovered from the child molesting trial, a lurid affair that attracted media from around the world to watch as Mr. Jackson, wearing a different costume each day, appeared in a small courtroom in Santa Maria, Calif., to listen as a parade of witnesses spun a sometimes-incredible tale.

The case ultimately turned on the credibility of Mr. Jackson’s accuser, a 15-year-old cancer survivor who said the defendant had gotten him drunk and molested him several times. The boy’s younger brother testified that he had seen Mr. Jackson fondling his brother on two other occasions.

After 14 weeks of such testimony and seven days of deliberations, the jury returned not-guilty verdicts on all 14 counts against Mr. Jackson: four charges of child molesting, one charge of attempted child molesting, one conspiracy charge and eight possible counts of providing alcohol to minors. Conviction could have brought Mr. Jackson 20 years in prison. Instead, he walked away a free man to try to reclaim a career that at the time had already been in decline for years.

After his trial, Mr. Jackson largely left the United States for Bahrain, the island nation in the Persian Gulf, where he was the guest of Sheik Abdullah, a son of the ruler of the country, King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa. Mr. Jackson would never return to live at his ranch. Instead he remained in Bahrain, Dubai and Ireland for the next several years, managing his increasingly unstable finances. He remained an avid shopper, however, and was spotted at shopping malls in the black robes and veils traditionally worn by Bahraini women.

Despite the public relations blow of his trial, Mr. Jackson and his ever-changing retinue of managers, lawyers and advisers never stopped plotting his return.

By early 2009, Mr. Jackson was living in a $100,000-a-month mansion in Bel-Air, to be closer to “where all the action is” in the entertainment business, his manager at the time, Tohme Tohme, told The Los Angeles Times. He was also preparing for his upcoming London shows.

”He was just so excited about having an opportunity to come back,” said Mr. Paterson.

Despite his troubles, the press and the public never abandoned him. A crowd of paparazzi and onlookers lined the street outside Mr. Jackson’s home as the ambulance took him to the hospital.

Reporting was contributed by John Broder from Washington; Randal C. Archibold from Los Angeles; Susan Saulny from Gary, Ind.; and Melena Ryzik, Ben Sisario, Brian Stelter and Peter Keepnews from New Yor

Good week

The oldest man in the world died today. His name was Tomoji Tanabe from Japan. He lived to be 113. You can read about him on Wiki. I find this truly amazing. RIP, Tomoji.

Had a wonderful time with J this week. That man just rocks my world. He knows it too. Work was slow. Now it's Saturday and time to do the normal household chores and relax. Kids aren't here, doing their own thing so it's quiet for now. Hubby and I are watching some TV shows from the week. I've been catching up on blogs and reading tweets. A lazy day indeed. I have hubby watching True Blood right now. I figured this is how he should be spending his Father's Day instead of on the Golf course. It'll always be there. As previously tweeted. This weekend is about me. And him..kinda too. Of course. Hee hee. :D

Lovely day at home today

I felt like taking a 3 day weekend, so I did. I watched True Blood, did a little exercise and took a cat nap. It was wonderful. Now I have a short week to look forward to. It's just starting to feel like summer so I needed a break.

I must make sure I eat good tonight. I had a bad lunch/breakfast so tonight I have to stick to my meal plan. It's hard. :(

Tomorrow is my son's last day of school. He's going to be taking on online course and play summer basketball to keep him busy. I'm happy we'll have some time off from being a slave to the alarm clock. Well the kids will, but not I.

Too bad it's back to the grind tomorrow.

Simon Axten is a douche

Image via CrunchBase

Facebook removes purported page of S.D. Powerball winner

By Jeff Martin, USA TODAY

A Facebook profile set up in the name of a South Dakota rancher who won a $232 million Powerball jackpot recently has been disabled by the popular social networking site, Facebook spokesman Simon Axten said Tuesday.

The profile, set up soon after Neal Wanless collected his prize Friday, quickly collected more than 120 "friends."

"Must be nice! Being a single mom of 3 kids, I could definitely use a lottery win right now … maybe then I could actually afford a house … keep on dreaming … right?" one poster wrote.

The Facebook page was created using Wanless' real name, complete with a profile picture of a cowboy riding into the sunset — the cowboy's face was not clearly visible. On the profile's information page was: "Looking For: Dating."

"We've investigated this account and disabled it," Axten said in response to questions about whether the profile was legitimate.

"Facebook has always been based on a real-name culture," Axten said in a statement. "We think this leads to greater accountability and a safer and more trusted environment for our users.

"It's a violation of our policies to use a fake name or operate under another person's identity, and we encourage users to report anyone they think is doing this, either through the report links we provide on the site or through the contact forms on our Help page."

Axten did not identify who set up the profile. The Facebook spokesman said he couldn't comment on the possibility of charges, but the company generally doesn't press for them against people who build fake accounts.

"We feel that our resources are better spent building and improving our systems for detection and responding quickly to reports," Axten said.

Wanless couldn't be immediately reached for comment on the situation.

Before the profile was shut down, the page included several messages of well-wishes and an icon of a pink heart with the message "Neal is sending free hugs to friends."

There also are jubilant responses to winning the lottery from the person managing the profile, such as this one: "YESSSSSSSSSS!"

Mike Nitz, an associate professor of communication studies at Augustana College in Sioux Falls, S.D., says it is "certainly possible to create a false identity on Facebook.

"All you need is an e-mail, and that's really it," says Nitz, who uses Facebook for his classes.

But many issues — such as who owns the photos and other content posted to Facebook — are far from being resolved.

"It's really kind of a wild, wild West out there with the legal issues," Nitz says.

So you will remove this account in order to provide a safer environment for your users but you will not remove any of the Holocaust denial hate groups or hated against another user, Brian Cuban. Wow. I'm so freaking glad I don't have a Facebook account. Simon Axten and all others running that organizations are indeed total professional douchebags.

Good Morning, Starshine

That's an old song. Nobody probably remembers it. 1970s-ish.

Last night I spoke to "him" and I thought things were going well but he seemed so much less personable than he had been in our past so I had to just leave. I couldn't sit there and wait for our next words of communication, I had to go. I figure I'm free to do that but I'm sure he'll be mad at me nevertheless. At this point I don't know what to do because it seems like he isn't making any effort. I may need some time away again.

Today i have to finish watching some movies, run a couple of errands (my house desparately needs a vacuuming. The vacuum broke yesterday) and get ready for tomorrow.

I will pop by later.

Shopping

I bought new towels from Target. How cool is that? I have to hide them from my kids or they'll end up lost. Towels in my house are like the other sock you can never find.

Chickenfoot: "Oh Yeah"

Tiny Song Test

http://tinysong.com/3iBf

http://tinysong.com/3IiU

HOME (Trailer)

Scientists tell us that we have 10 years to change the way we live, avert the depletion of natural resources and the catastrophic evoution of the Earth's climate.

LOL!

So....

Image via Wikipedia

Last night I spoke to "him" on IM. I can't say it was a good conversation, can't say it was a bad one. I guess it's good that we're talking. Is it? I have no idea. I have a feeling its going to all wind up where it did before...absolutely fucking nowhere. This has been going on for way too long and I feel the friendship has kept me back. I think, as long as I don't hear his voice I'll be okay. That's easy to do. Avoid, avoid, avoid.

I have been on Nutrisystems for 1 week now and so far so good. I've incorporated some exercise into my new lifestyle change as well and it's not killing me yet. I do need to get a grip on my body before things get out of control. I am feeling really good. Also, I'm not feeling that afternoon crash anymore either since I've stopped drinking regular coffee. I have the energy of a 25 year old. It's amazing how the body responds so quickly. Well at least my body does.

I got a ticket through the mail the other day. Is that not cool or what? It's my first one. I love technology. It rocks. Since it was the day I started eating healthy again I will use it as my my 'before picture'. When I was a fatty. That's after I probably have to pay hundreds of dollars. I should go to traffic school but that's such a waste of my precious time.

Saturday, what's on the docket? Probably fucking nothing because hubby is still sleeping. As are the dogs. Fucking shit.

Excited

Image via Wikipedia

Me and a friend are going to see Pete Yorn next month. I can't wait.

Finally Friday

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Hubby is at work and the kids are sleeping. I finally get some alone time.

Today was my first full day of Nutrisystems eating. It was pretty hard for me to get used to it all over again. I'm having a rocky start, but I"ll get there. Persistence overcomes resistance. Eventually. Right.

More drama at work with my ignorant supervisor. He just doesn't do the right thing and it causes a lot of problems within our team. All today did was take away a couple of hours of production. He made a mistake and didn't see it.

I spoke to my therapist yesterday and explained how I need to save money for my monthly food supply and that I may have to terminate our partnership. Well she's not going to let me do it. She told me she will lessen my copay to $10 and I can basically show up when I want. I think this is really nice of her. She explains that we're meant to be. I laugh at that. I got the validation i needed from her to hear that I'm okay. If she thought I was crazy she would've said so. I just need to be less emotional and stop yelling as much, which is going to be hard for this NY bitch to do.

Weird about David Carradine, huh? Eww. It kinda grosses me out. I cringe when I imagine him hanging, with a rope around his penis in a puddle of his own ejaculate. Yeah, so you were part of that show, but now all that's kind of gone out the window for me.

I'm going to watch Taken now.

Is it Friday Yet?

Image by Watchcaddy via Flickr

I tried to drop my daughter from our AT & T contract so she can have her own plan. She's young, doesn't have credit yet, so they hassled me. They wanted her to put down a deposit! I basicaly told them to screw off and went with T-Mobile. It was hassle free and her new Sidekick is on its way. I know i've heard a lot of bad things about them but they can't be any worse than AT & T's coverage area. I can barely get a signal in my home or outside of it or down the street from it. If I do get one i can't really hear the other person through all the static and crackling. Yes, AT & T has done a lot of nice things in the past for me but screw my daughter and I will remember you. Hey, that didn't sound good, did it?

Sad

I think its very sad how that Air France plane went down. Those poor people, what they must have gone through in those final moments. Makes you think. Don't get on a fucking plane.

Frustrated

Image by DragonFlyEye via Flickr

Time Warner makes me mad. Not only do they charge an arm & a leg for their services, but their products stink on top of that. They're putting out shoddy equipment today and yet think these products are an improvement when in actuality, their equipment and service was better years ago. There has got to be another option. Bet I could save money too.

Lost Generation

Lost Generation
By Jonathan Reed

I am part of a lost generation
And I refuse to believe I can change the world.

I realize this may be a shock but
“Happiness comes from within”
is a lie, and
“Money will make me happy”
So in 30 years I will tell my children
They are not the most important thing in my life.
My employer will know that
I have my priorities straight because
work
Is more important than
family
I tell you this
Once upon a time
Families stayed together
But this will not be true in my era
This is a quick fix society.
Experts tell me
30 years from now I will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of my divorce
I do not concede that
I will live in a country of my own making
In the future
Environmental destruction will be the norm
No longer can it be said that
My peers and I care about this earth
It will be evident that
My generation is apathetic and lethargic
It is foolish to presume that
There is hope.

And all of this will come true unless we choose to REVERSE it.

There is hope.
It is foolish to presume that
My generation is apathetic and lethargic
It will be evident that
My peers and I care about this earth
No longer can it be said that
Environmental destruction will be the norm
In the future
I will live in a country of my own making
I do not concede that
30 years from now I will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of my divorce
Experts tell me
This is a quick fix society.
But this will not be true in my era
Families stayed together
Once upon a time
I tell you this
family
Is more important than
work
I have my priorities straight because
My employer will know that
They are not the most important thing in my life.
So in 30 years I will tell my children
“Money will make me happy”
is a lie, and
“Happiness comes from within”
I realize this may be a shock but

I can change the world and I refuse to believe that
I am part of a lost generation.