Dipped In Cream » Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson is still gone, and I still never can say goodbye.

Diva Julia — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 05:35:07 +0000

I saw Michael the first time when I was in 3rd grade, I think. The Jackson 5 were performing on the Ed Sullivan Show. I remember being stunned that someone my age (or close, anyway) could actually sing and be on TV. It seemed strange and wonderful, and I was hooked.

I wanted to post some of our readers' emails and Facebook comments regarding Michael...

Dayna: As a little girl, The Way You Make Me Feel; Pretty Young Thing now.

Stephen: Man in the Mirror; Black and White; I'll Be There

Heather: I have memories of living in Alaska, power out in the winter time, huddled around a wood burning fire in the fireplace, listening to MJ Thriller album on the boom box.

Zhanna: I grew up listening to Michael Jackson. So many songs mean so much. Here are my top three and why.

"Man in the Mirror" is a timeless message that all people need to take to heart. So many people go through life complaining about how bad it is, but don't do anything about it. If we would all make the changes in our own lives, it would spread like the ripples on a still pond when a pebble is dropped in it.

"I'll be There" is the story of true friendship. To have a friend, you have to be a friend. We all need to treat each other the way we want to be treated and the world would be much better off.

"Black or White" is another life lesson type of song. It doesn't matter what color anybody is. We are all people and all want to be loved and accepted for who we are!

Thanks, Julia for doing this!

Adam: Thriller, I Want You Back, Smooth Criminal (Inside joke: Recessa Annie are you okay?)

Lily: Say Say Say, I'll Be There, Ben

Alex: (verbatim) "Give In To Me was Michael's attempt at grunge and it RULED. I can remember getting Bad on cassette and riding around on my Huffy bike around the cul de sac with my red Walkman".

And here is Felix...Alex and Dayna's baby, Third Generation MJ Fan.

Felix - in his MJ onesie.

We hope you resting peacefully, Michael.

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Remembering Michael Jackson’s Time…

Diva Julia — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 19:43:24 +0000

MJ and Iman..."Remember the Time"

I, like everyone in my generation, grew up listening to Michael Jackson. I have to admit, my brother Armond was the bigger fan. He never dressed like him, or danced like him but he always liked his music more than I did. Looking back on things I wish that I had been a bigger fan. It's not that I didn't enjoy everything he gave us in the form of music, but I feel like some things were lost on me.

Now, I can look back and realize how funny he was, how nice he was. How dedicated he was to being a great performer. I looked forward to seeing the Thriller video on heavy rotation on MTV and BET during Halloween. Whenever there was a Michael Jackson weekend, usually during an album release, I stay glued to the television hoping to catch a certain video. So I did love Michael the entertainer, but I wish I, and all of us, had gotten to know Michael the person more.

As popular and public as he was, he was really a private person. I think that is what added to the mystery and the weirdness of what he became as he got older. So while he was enjoying his life with his children, we were all speculating about their births and if they were really his. I think about how much this had to hurt him. He always seemed so sensitive and caring, but lonely. While he was literally changing before our eyes, not many knew that he was suffering with a serious condition. And this is what bothers me the most about all of the criticism he faced in his life. There were some people who felt like this was all deliberate and just another strange way Michael was reinventing himself. Black fans disowned him because of this, not really understanding what was really happening to him. I've written about how much Jamie Foxx annoys me, but my disdain for him reached a boiling point when while hosting the BET Awards last year he said "Michael belonged to us." Us, as in black people. I always felt like Michael's biggest critics were his black fans who maybe felt that he strayed too far away from his roots? Michael belonged to everyone. That's an odd statement to make, but I think that's also how Michael felt. He entertained millions and gave himself to everyone. It was always so overwhelming to see people in Tokyo, Spain, even Africa crying and screaming over him. At the time I never got it, and it's so sad that it took his death to make me realize what he gave and did for so many.

Michael Jackson wasn't called the King of Pop for nothing. He earned the title and lived up to it. Michael Jackson was music royalty. Whenever there is talk of who is the next Michael Jackson the same names are mention, Usher, Justin Timberlake and Beyonce. T hey are all great, and obviously influenced by him, but there will never be another Michael. There will never be that same excitement, that same electricity with another artist. No one will ever have the effect that Michael had on people. I can't remember the last time an entire country got together to celebrate or scream and cry over someone. (If you say Justin Beiber, we're going to have to fight.) Michael's concerts were events, his videos were epic. I remember sitting on the floor in our living room waiting on the premier for the Remember The Time video. It was going to be shown on all the major networks at the same time. Eddie Murphy, Iman and Magic Johnson were starring in it. There had been celebrities in videos, but this was so major. I loved every minute of it. The choreography still feels so fresh and that was MJ at his sexiest. I miss that time when video premieres were that big of a deal. Lady Gaga and Beyonce in a Tarantino-lite video being shown on E! just doesn't do it for me. Christina Aguilera in a latex orgy at midnight on the internet, I think I'll pass.

"Where were you when you heard that Michael Jackson died" is the new ,"Where were you when JFK was shot?". It's been a very long year, and I don't usually look at deaths as anniversaries, which are for celebrating, but that is what MJ's fans are doing--celebrating his life and his legacy.

However you felt about Michael Jackson when he was alive, all of that is overshadowed by the fact that he still lives on in his music. What he gave to us is more important than baby dangling or dancing on top of cars. All of those moments were pretty entertaining as well though. My hope is that kids who didn't get the chance to grow up with him will discover his songs, his videos, and appreciate him the way that I wish I had when he was still with us.
--

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Michael Jackson Items Up For Auction at Julien’s in Las Vegas – Never Before Seen Photos

Diva Julia — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 18:34:25 +0000

mage Credit: Vente aux enchères Pierre Bergé & Associés Arno Bani 2010

Photographs taken (but ultimately not used) for Michael Jackson's Invincible are up for auction at Julien's Auctions in Las Vegas, among other items that were once used by Michael onstage or worn in public.

Other Michael Jackson items included in the auction are a signed “Beat It” jacket, his sunglasses he'd given to Corey Feldman, a beaded shirt and jacket, the outfit he wore during his “Victory” tour, and handwritten and signed lyrics from Jackson’s song “Bad.”

David Bowie's Aladdin Sane

Aladdin Sane seems to have been an influence in Michael's never before seen photos...

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June 25, 2010 is All Michael Jackson, ALL DAY on Dipped in Cream

Diva Julia — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 15:14:13 +0000

Michael...we miss you.

Photo: AEGLIVE

Here's what I need from y'all: I want your favorite Michael Jackson stories; you favorite songs, videos, TV appearances--concerts, if you were fortunate enough to have seem him in person.

I will absolutely post your stories. Simply email me at divajulia@dippedincream.com.

It's so wonderful that Dipped in Cream is followed and read by folks all over the globe. (Sometimes I am completely shocked when I see on my tracker that I have regular readers from Dubai, Hong Kong, Nashville, Sydney, Paris, London, Montreal...it warms my heart.) I would truly love to hear how MJ affected your lives. Each story is unique...but similar at the same time. Michael brought the world together.

This was THE performance of the 1980's...and truly when the magic began.

I'll be waiting for your stories and lists... xoxo ~ j

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Michael Jackson – One Year After. He’s still gone…

Catherine — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 04:00:40 +0000

A year on, and I'm still not sure what to say.

Like the Princess whose firefly-bright light was squashed against concrete and steel in a Paris tunnel, it felt like a weird kind of robbery -and a surreal personal marker. Your childhood is officially dead. Let it go. You will never forget this day.

Amidst rainstorms and slick pavement, a pale-pink sky breathed a deep sigh; the world was wet but wasn't done weeping. He's gone. The man behind "Billie Jean", my original Thriller, had vanished; that boy-man who stood on tiptoe and slid across countless stages, whose light was so bright even his own skin couldn't stand it -the baby-dangler, the weirdo, the molester, That Freak. He left us.

I still don't know what to say, or think. It feels trite to say "he changed the world" -well, duh. The effect -of his life, and his death -feels weirdly more personal than that. The gentle revolutionary, the scarred Mad Hatter, the exhibitionist recluse -even now, he floats around my memory and haunts my imagination like few other figures do. Unlike the father of that dark-haired beauty he married back in the 90s, MJ had the unique power of bridging the seemingly-unconquerable racial divide that still echoes through America.

During his life, he was loved, revered, worshipped, then mistrusted, mocked, and hated -equally; there was no racial bias to public reaction. The outpouring of grief at his passing both moves and shocks me a year on, while the fetid hypocrisy of the rich-and-famous, and the vampiric actions of many of the Jackson family members, still infuriates. Labels are tiresome; name-checking feels false. That waterfall of lurrrvve ought to have come during the dark days of a life spent in cars, hotel rooms, studios, boardrooms; it seems tragically laughable that plaudits were instead handed out, in ever-dramatic style, with a golden casket glinting in the callous sterility of a cold stadium. Please, I wanted to scream, leave him to dance forever across the wide-open, cartoon-strewn-alleyway-imagination of every kid who ever had a silver glove and bruises from too many failed Moonwalkings.

A beautiful bright spot came with the viewing of MJ's lovely, lively daughter rapping in a Youtube video. Charming, beguiling, sweet. Just another adorable, smart kid. Something about it was fortifying, the same way the bassline of "Billie Jean" is; there's a heartbeat there that's quiet, insistent, majestic and magical. It beats in all of us.

It's Human Nature, baby.

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Lady Gaga on Larry King LIVE, June 1, 2010 – VIDEOS

Diva Julia — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 06:07:07 +0000

Lady Gaga on Larry King LIVE - Photo:CNN

Lady Gaga will debut her new video for "Alejandro" on Larry King LIVE tomorrow night, as well as discuss her diagnosis with what's being referred to as "Borderline Positive" Lupus.

via www.Lupus.org:

The screening test for lupus is called the ANA (antinuclear antibody). All lab tests have normal values. If a test result comes back and the value is at the upper limit of normal, this is often referred to as being on the border or borderline. These results are often very difficult to interpret; and the assessment of its importance is dependent on meeting other criterion. It is likely that a borderline positive ANA assumes more importance if other criteria are also present.

Gaga also discusses the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell with Larry...but seriously, how great does she look in her homage to Larry's suspenders? (Known as braces if you're reeeeeally into men's clothing. Guilty as charged.) Gaga's rolled-up sleeves and a tie with trousers? Gaga wears menswear WELL.

We will forever wonder how Michael Jackson and Lady Gaga would have sounded, looked and danced together. Sigh.

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“I forgot to tell y’all: Michael Jackson killed his own DAMN self!” – Dr. Conrad Murray

Diva Julia — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 23:26:12 +0000

For reals, y'all.

This oughta be interesting. The Good Doctor, Conrad Murray, M.D. is now claiming Michael somehow managed to plug a vial of Propofol while Murray was peeing and talking to his girlfriend on his cell phone, and THAT's how a.) Michael died and 2.) the empty vial of sleepytime milk ended up underneath MJ's nightstand.

via TMZ.com

Multiple sources familiar with the strategy tell TMZ the defense argument goes like this:

- At around 10:50 AM, Dr. Murray gave Jackson 25 mg of Propofol from a 20 ml bottle -- that's only about 1/8 of the bottle.

- The dose Dr. Murray administered would keep someone asleep for only 5 to 10 minutes, But the Propofol, along with the Ativan and Versed that was already in MJ's system, had a synergistic effect that put Jackson to sleep for a longer period of time.

- For the next hour, Dr. Murray stayed in the room and was on the phone for much of the time. Dr. Murray didn't leave the room to make the calls because MJ liked activity in the room, regularly sleeping with the lights on and cartoons blaring on the TV.

- At around noon, Dr. Murray left the room for approximately two minutes to go to the bathroom. While he was gone, the defense believes Jackson suddenly awakened and was frustrated he had spent nearly 9 hours trying in vain to sleep. The defense theory -- Jackson took the 20 ml bottle of Propofol and self-injected the remaining contents through the IV, causing a massive overdose that stopped his heart.

- Dr. Murray walked back in the room and saw Jackson with his eyes open and pupils dilated. Dr. Murray dropped the phone (he was speaking with his girlfriend) and began administering CPR.

The defense will argue Michael Jackson was a long-time Propofol addict -- something TMZ first reported shortly after the singer's death. As one source said, Jackson liked the sensation of Propofol being administered by IV, adding, "Michael liked to push it."

Oh boy. Here we go. See you in court tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. SHARP.

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Justin Bieber, Ryan Seacrest and Michael Jackson. Say no more.

Diva Julia — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 00:17:48 +0000

Is anyone surprised by this?

Now's as good a time as any, I suppose, to admit that Ryan Seacrest is growing on me. Oh sure, I know all about his (lurid? meh...) past with Merv Griffin. Oh. Maybe that was a secret. ANYgay, I think Ryan is now the "Hardest Working Man on Television", when the crown used to be on Dick Clark's head. (He's not dead yet, is he?) Remember how the big DC logo was on everything in the 70's and 80's? Maybe even part of the 90's, actually. Ryan's got his fist hand in just about everything lately and GOOD FOR HIM.

Here he is with The Bieber at the Michael Jackson Captain EO dealie at Disneyland.

via examiner.com:

"Justin Bieber, Ryan Seacrest see Michael Jackson's 'Captain EO' at Disneyland - Five-hundred fans joined singer Justin Bieber and radio and television personality, Ryan Seacrest, at Disneyland on Friday to see Michael Jackson's movie, Captain EO. The screening was the prize for a contest with participants from around the country set up to promote Mr. Bieber's new CD, My World 2.0, which was released on March 23rd.

Ryan Seacrest broadcast live with the singer on his "Bieber Fever" program via Facebook on Friday. Bieber tweeted about the day: "At disneyland kickin it with @ryanseacrest."

Captain EO is a 17-minute film starring Michael Jackson that first became part of Disneyland's Tomorrowland in 1986 and ran until 1997. It took full advantage of the 3-D format to engage the audience, including use of lasers and smoke. Disney brought the movie back this year as a tribute to the deceased "King of Pop" and also because of renewed interest in the entertainer's life and music.

Michael Jackson wrote two songs for the movie. "Another Part of Me" was an early mix that was later recorded as part of his Bad album. The song was released as a single in 1988. "We Are Here to Change the World" did not come out on CD until Michael Jackson: The Ultimate Collection appeared in 2004.

Justin Bieber already has an association with Michael Jackson. He was chosen to sing the opening line of the "We Are the World" remake for Haiti earthquake relief earlier this year. Michael Jackson co-wrote the song with Lionel Ritchie and also performed on the original recording. Mr. Jackson's previous performance was technically inserted into the new recording 25 years later as the only returning artist on the new version."

Oh. I had already forgotten about the ghastly remake of "We Are the World".

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“That’s how he peed” will become the latest catch-phrase.

Diva Julia — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 18:58:07 +0000

OhdearLAWD.

Oh, Howard Hughes. Look what you started.

TMZ reports:

TMZ first published the autopsy findings yesterday. Among the items found in the bedroom where Dr. Conrad Murray was treating Michael Jackson -- "a closed bottle of urine atop a chair."

Back in November, we posted a story about Dr. Arnold Klein, who told us that Michael Jackson had a habit of peeing in cups and other objects, often in front of others.

Dr. Klein told TMZ today Jackson would pee in any object that was available and it all stemmed from necessity. "That's how he peed," Klein said.

So now, when I'm changing Felix's diaper, I GUARANTEE I'll be sayin', "HEY! That's how he peed!"...or taking James the Boxer out for a potty? "That how he peed!" I'll be squealing the catch-phrase in a happy, congratulatory tone, though. YAY!!! THAT'S HOW HE PEED!!!

I think, too, that we can use it as a substitution for "live and let live". Oh, the many, varied uses for this phrase! Join me, won't you?

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Dr. Conrad Murray Charged in Michael Jackson’s Death

Diva Julia — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 19:45:25 +0000

We'll keep you posted throughout the day of developing stories...

via TMZ.com

Dr. Murray will be arraigned today at 1:30 PM. As we first reported, he will plead not guilty.

"Dr. Murray is expected to show up at around 1:00 PM, accompanied by his lawyers and a bail bondsman. Bail should be set at $25,000.

Dr. Murray administered Propofol to Jackson just before he died, and the L.A. County Coroner's Office has determined Jackson died as a result of acute Propofol intoxication.

If convicted, Dr. Murray faces a maximum of 4 years in prison."

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