Rest in Peace, Michael Jackson

I don't have much to say about Michael Jackson that hasn't already been said a thousand times over today; my experience of him is pretty typical of a late-30s middle class American. "Thriller" was one of the first things I saw on MTV, and frankly "Scream" was one of the last (not being a REAL WORLD/ROAD RULES, etc. fan).

But as my husband will tell you I'm a blog-aholic, I read blogs from all over the world, and this morning I've been reading about how people in China are mourning Michael Jackson, people in Japan and Africa. Michael Jackson belonged to the world.

Read Amitabh Bachchan's blog about what it meant to be a Michael Jackson fan back in the day before the internet and You Tube, when the world was not so small as it is today, and music and videos from other parts of the world were harder to come by.

But in particular I like this collection of clips. Michael Jackson was a huge influence to kids all over the world - who didn't want to dance like Michael Jackson? Personally, I like the lawyer-trainee that does a dead-on Michael Jackson dance sequence, and then makes it Bhangra. That's taking a thing and making it your own.

For me the clip that best sums my feelings up is not available on You Tube. It's that sketch from Robot Chicken, when the strange Michael Jackson we've come to know is confronted by the Michael Jackson we all fell in love with back from the "Beat It" days, the original nose, original pigment Michael Jackson. And the strange one turns out to be an alien in space who kidnapped the real Michael so he could take his place. Then the two have a dance-off and the real Michael wins. If only that were true, and we could have our real Michael Jackson back.

Well, enough with the maudlin; I have fictional characters that need torturing now. Back to work.

EDITED TO ADD: The clip is available on the Adult Swim website here. Not the ending I remembered...