Demise of Michael Jackson

R.I.P.
Michael Jackson: The Greatest of All Time

It still has not hit me. It feels so strange. Michael Jackson is dead. He was only 50 years old, a milestone age. He just celebrated the 25th anniversary of "Thriller," the best-selling album of all time, and re-released it in February.

He was scheduled to start his show run in London in a few weeks.

Maybe Michael's career had reached its peak, but I was not convinced that he was done with music. When he turned 50 last August, I did a series of interviews with radio stations. All of the DJs asked me if I thought Michael Jackson could make a comeback. They wanted to know if he could get past the controversies that dominated his news coverage over the last 10-plus years. My answer was a matter-of-fact "yes."

People often underestimate the power of music, and the effect that it has on us. We sometimes forget how a great song with a feel-good message lifts us up, and makes us smile and remember the place we had the most fun dancing to it and with whom.

Michael Jackson is one of the few artists in the history of the art form to be able to take one song, like "Billie Jean," and reach people of all age groups, races, and nationalities.

Michael has done this time and time again for decades, as both a solo artist and member of The Jackson 5.

This type of legacy cannot be erased by even the most horrible of charges and allegations. His music and performances are historic and forever engrained in our hearts.

Rick Sanchez, a floor manager at the popular Amoeba Music in Hollywood, says that his staff was "equally shocked" when they heard the news of Jackson's passing. "A lot of people are buying his music which usually happens in these situations," Sanchez says, referring to the breaking news of a musician's death.

Sanchez adds that all of Jackson's music always sells well at his location.

Rosemary Jean-Louis, a Michael Jackson fan and blogger from Atlanta, is nervous, hoping the news reports that Jackson has died are not true. "I don't want to believe it because it's Michael Jackson," Jean-Louis says. "He has been the guy considered invincible who always seems to come back. He is only 50. He was on the verge of such a big comeback with his concerts. No matter what he's gone through or what the crazy circumstances and dark period of his life with that poor trial-that taken aside-he is one of the musical geniuses of our times, truly the King of Pop."

I never learned to do his moonwalk dance move, but like everyone else, I was blown away when I saw him unveil it on Motown's famous 25th anniversary TV special in 1984.

I was too shy of a kid to get one of the red-and-black stripped jackets like the one he wore in the "Thriller" video, but I thought it was cool.

I did, however, have an afro Jheri curl in 1979, when Jackson released his album "Off the Wall," which included jams like "Don't Stop ‘til You Get Enough" and "Workin' Day and Night." I was 10, and whenever the high school girls on my block told me that I was cute and looked like Michael Jackson, I blushed and took it as a huge compliment.

My 6 1/2-year-old twins know and love his music as do the rest of us. This will never change.

I know he had been dealing with a lot these last few years. I hope that at the time of his passing he was in a happy place. Reportedly, he had been rehearsing in Los Angeles for the last two months, preparing for his London dates. His 50-year-old life may have been short, but it was impactful. His accomplishments are tremendous.

I offer my sincere condolences to his children, parents, siblings, and other family members, and to his friends and fans.
R.I.P MICHAEL You will always be remembered in the Heart of People

COMPILED FROM Billy Johnson, Jr. in Hip-Hop Media Training by EVIL
Posted Thu Jun 25, 2009 5:55pm PDT

FACTS ABOUT Oscars

v The first Oscar ceremony was the shortest ever, lasting for 15 minutes.

v All About Eve (1951) and Titanic (1997) are tied for the most number of Oscar nominations : 14.

v The youngest person ever to win Oscar is Tatnum O’Neal, who was 10 years old when she won the best Supporting Actress award for Paper Moon in 1974. The oldest person is Jessica Tandy, Who won her Best Actress Oscar at the age of 81 for Driving Miss Daisy.

v During World War 2, because of scarce of metal, the Oscars given out were made of wood.

v The only American Woman to win Best Director in Oscars is Sofia Coppola for Lost in Translation.

v Meryl Streep is the most nominated actor of all time with 14 nominations. She was tied at 13 with Katherine Hepburn but pulled ahead after being nominated for “The Devil Wears Prada”.

v The most nominated male performer is Jack Nicholson with 12 nominations.

v Marlon Brando refused his Oscar for Best Actor in 1972 for The Godfather.

v Walt Disney has won the most number of Oscars : 24.

Fact Of Nepal's National Bird

DANPHE(LOPHOPHORUS)

NEPAL’S NATIONAL BIRD

Nature, which is often lavish in the coloring of her creations, has, in the case of the Impeyan pheasant, surpassed herself. Nine different hues paint the gorgeous coats of this favoured bird, and althiogh some people might consider the peacock to be more magnificent because of its splendid tail, it is in fact not as colourful overall as the Impeyan pheasnt . It’s easy to see why this pheasant was chosen as Nepal’s national bird.

Like most bids it is the male Danphe, as the pheasant is called locally, that has been given the richly coloured plumage. The hens are comparatively plain by comparison. Danphe are of a shy and retiring nature and are not over-eager to display their plumage to human eyes.

This timidity makes them rather difficult to photograph and is possibly due to the fact that they make for good eating-in the past they were vigourously hunted. Now,fortunately,they are on the list of protected species, and hunting the Impeyan pheasant is strictily forbidden.

The Danphe(Lophophorus inpejanus) is large bird, though rather dunpy with short, squarecut and broad tail. The male has a brilliant green head, and his eyes are circled with blue. His back I purplish-black with a distintive white patch on the rump. Wings are blue-black, with a touch of yellow at the top to give an attractive transition to the rich reddish band around the neck.

The breast is dark brown to velvety nlack, and the tail is a light tan color. To complete the splendid effect he wears on his a crest of metallic green, wire like feathers with spon shaped tips. Surely a sight to gladden the heart of his future mate.

The hen has an overall dark brown coloring, with pale white throat and a white patch on her rump. Her only bright colors are the circles of blue around her eyes. Even her crest is of ordinary feathers and is quite short.

These pheasants live only at high altitudes, usually above the line at around 4,000 meters. They are quite common on the grassy alpine slopes from spring to atumn, but in the winter they descend into the forests for shelter. Like most members of their group, which includes partidges and quails, they have well developed legs and strong beaks for snatching the ground and digging for food. Tubers of some alpine plants are their speciality.

From a distance the colors of a male Danphe are rather lost, and it has an overall dark appearance with only the tan colored tail and white rump to distinguish it.

Although not easy to see impeyan peasant sometimes honors to Tengboche monastery (near MT. EVEREST) with glimpse of its beautiful plumage: the pheasants wander about the fields in summer. As Bird in Nepal points out, “a dozen male birds digging in the early morning sunlight is an unforgettable sight.” And if that sight is against the backdrop of snow covered Everest? That would be something yo remember forever-a wonderful sight & memory in Nepal of Nepal.