Michael Jackson “The King of Pop” 1958-2009

I have not written anything on my blog since March 22, but when I heard the news that Michael Jackson had died, I knew it was time to get the blog up and going again.

Michael Jackson is one of the biggest, if not the biggest performer that has ever lived. He produced hit after hit. Michael is known all over the world for his contribution to music.

He started his career singing with his brothers in Jackson 5 at the age of 11. Together the produced hits as: I Want You Back, ABC, The Love You Save, I´ll Be There, Mama´s Pearl, Never Can Say Goodbye and Dancing Machine.

His solo albums:

Got to Be There (1972)

Hits: Got to Be There, Rockin` Robin

Ben (1972)

Hits: Ben, My Girl

Music and Me (1973)

Hits: With a Child´s Heart

Forever, Michael (1975)

Hits: One Day in Your Life, Just a Little Bit of You

Off the Wall (1979)

Hits: Don´t Stop`til You Get Enough, Rock With You, Off the Wall ,Girlfriend, She´s out of My Life

Sold over 20 million

Thriller (1982)

Hits: Wanna Be Starting Somethin, The Girl is Mine, Thriller, Beat It, Billie Jean, Human Nature, P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)

Sold over 100 million, the only album to ever do so in music history

Bad (1987)

Hits: Bad, The Way You Make Me Feel, Another Part of Me, I Just Can´t Stop Loving You, Man in the Mirror, Smooth Criminal

Sold over 30 million

Dangerous (1991)

Hits: Remember the Time, Heal the World, Black or White, Give it to Me, Dangerous

Sold over 32 million

HIStory (1995)

Hits: Scream, They Don´t Care About Us, Earth Song, HIStory, plus many previous releases

Sold over 20 million

Invincible (2001)

Hits: You Rock My World, Cry

Sold over 10 million

With all different releases included and several greatest hits album, Michael was the fourth best selling artist off all time, selling over 750 million albums.

Michael is also known as a amazing dancer, and “The Moonwalk” has become one of his trademarks. Throughout his life he we was surrounded with controversies (sexual abuse accusations, drug addiction, holding his baby over the railing of a four story hotel balcony) and media attention.  But at the end of the day I think he will be remembered as “The King of Pop” for his contribution to music.

Here are some of Michael Jackson´s many hits:

If some of them dont work, just double click on them and a new window will open.

Jackson 5, I Want You Back

Rockin`Robin

Don´t Stop `till You Get Enough

Thriller

Beat It

Billie Jean

Bad

Smooth Criminal

Heal the World

Black or White

Scream, with Janet Jackson

Earth Song

You Rock My World

Cry

Michael you will be missed

Links in the media:

Kan gå dager før dødsårsaken er klar

Michael Jacksons dødsdrama – time for time

Sony: – Han var et geni

Michael Jacksons ekskoner i sorg

Den utrolige historien om Michael Jackson

Hylles av sørgende fans

Nekrolog: Michael Jackson, 1958-2009

Jermaine Jackson: – Dette er hardt

Albumsalget rett til værs

Etterlater seg gigantgjeld

Dødsårsaken foreløpig ukjent

Jacko-dødsfallet skapte mediekaos

- Jeg er overveldet av alle mulige følelser

Kongen av pop ble 50 år. Dødsfallet etterforskes.

Her fraktes Jackson bort

– Et kontroversielt geni

Michael Jackson: 1958 – 2009

- Forsøkte gjenoppliving i en time

Michael Jackson, pop music legend, dead at 50

Jermaine announces that his brother has died

Jackson\’s death stuns fans at Glastonbury

Jackson was star the world could not ignore

Singer Michael Jackson dies at 50

Obituary: Michael Jackson

Tributes paid to Michael Jackson

Michael McIntyre, the next big stand-up act

A few days ago I was watching Live at the Apollo on tv, and Michael McIntyre was on stage. The stand-up acts on live at the apollo are for the most time very funny, but this act was in a class of its own. Michael McIntyre was hilarious, my friends and I couldn´t stop laughing.  

This clip is about Pen lies:

What makes him so funny is that he talks about things we can relate to. We have all said yes, I do have a pen. Plus he has a funny voice.

In this clip he is making fun of the Kings of Leon´s song, Sex on fire:

Michael´s first DVD Live & Laughing is the highest selling debut stand-up DVD of all time. His nest DVD will come out in November 2009. 

Awards

• 2003     Edinburgh Festival Perrier Award         Best Newcomer (nominated)
• 2007     Chortle Awards                                       Best Headliner (nominated)
• 2008     Chortle Awards                                       Best Headliner (winner)
• 2008     British Comedy Awards                        Best Live Stand-up (nominated)

Live at the apollo, part 1:

Live at the apollo, part 2:

Live at the apollo, part 3:

Whilst he was performing on stage in Wolverhampton, as he was walking back on the stage for an encore, he slipped and fell over and dislocated his shoulder. Everyone laughed because they thought it was a part of his act. It wasn´t until his manager had to come onto the stage and explain, that they realised it was real.

Michael McIntyre is now one of my favorite stand-up comedians of all time, and I hope I can see him live. He is the next big act in comedy. 

Im going to finish this post with a clip where Michael McIntyre makes fun of Jeremy Clarkson: 

Prayer vs. medical treatment

Last year Kara Neumann (11) became so sick that she neither stand up or walk. But her parents didn´t take her to see a doctor, so she got worse and worse.     When Kara´s aunt found out how bad shape Kara had become, she rang the local police to come and save Kara. 23 March 2008 an ambulance came to take Kara to the hospital, but sadly she died before the ambulance got there.

So what was making her sick? It turned out she had diabetes, all she needed was some insulin. So why didn´t her parents take her to see a doctor? Well, her parents don´t believe in modern medicine, they believe that God is the only healer. Her parents Leilani and Dale prayed for Kara to get better, but Kara just got worse and worse. According to her parents taking Kara to the doctors would be giving into Satan´s influence, so they prayed. 

Marathon County in Wisconsin has made an indictment against the Neumann´s, accusing them of second-degree reckless homicide. The parents have tried to get the case dismissed, under the basses of the religious freedom. The judge answered: “the Constitution protects religious conviction, though, but not necessarily religious acts”. 

The case come goes to court in may. If they get found guilty, they risk up to 25 years in jail for causing death by negligence, reckless homicide. In Wisconsin there is a law that says you cant convict parents for abuse or undeliberate death, if they believe for religious reasons that prayer is the best option. In other words if someone ends up killing their child because they thought prayer was an better option than medical treatment, they have parts of the law on their side. 

Should parents that end up killing their children because prayer is better than modern medical treatment go to jail? Before you try to answer that question here are some facts:

• Over 300 american children have died in the last 25 years because their parents didnt seek medical treatment because of religious reasons
• 90% of the children died of diseases that where for example antibiotics could have healed them
• 2% of americans practice healing by prayer

This video is from posted on youtube by the Assocated Press on April 28, 2008:

Here are some news articles about the case:

Neumann Parents Seek Dismissal of Reckless Homicide Charges

Judge Sets Separate Trials for Neumanns

Karas foreldre ba og lot henne dø

Trials for Parents Who Chose Faith Over Medicine

Fred Phelps denied entry to the UK

I was surfing online when I read that came across an article about pastor Fred Phelps and his daughter, being denied entry into Britain. I had heard about the Phelps family before, and when reading about them trying to bring there hatred to the UK and Europe, I just had to write a post on my blog about them. 

In 2007 the BBC made a documentary (The Most Hated Family in America) about the Phelps family and the Westboro Baptist Church. Here we follow Louis Theroux as he gets to know the Phelps family and the Westboro Baptist Church.

The Most Hated Family in America:

Fred and Shirley Phelps were going to protest against a play, thats about the murder of a gay man. But they were denied entry because of their unacceptable behavior to incite to hatred, according to a spokesperson from the ministry. 

So what is it that Fred Phelps and his church believe? They claim that the US is doomed to destruction because of its tolerance towards homosexuality. And so they travel around to preach that. They shout slogans like: God hates you, God hates fags, Fags doom nations, God hates America, Thank God for dead minors, Thank God for 9/11, Thank God for dead soldiers and Thank God for Hurricane Katrina. 

They have been alot in the US media for coming to US soldiers funerals and showing their hatred (Dodge City showdown at funeral). They shout their slogans, and bring big signs with their slogans to the funerals of fallen soldiers. Just in the period from June 2005 – March 2006 they tried to tarnish over 100 funerals.

They hide behind free speech. Yes, do they have a right for their own opinions, but this is pushing it. The Westboro Baptish Church preach hate, not free speech or the Bible as they say. 

I think the UK made a good choice when banning them from entering the UK, but what do you think?

Here are some other news articles about the Phelps family:

Anti-gay preachers banned from UK

British government bans Fred Phelps, daughter from entering U.K

 

The Bush years, 2001-2009, part one

From jan 2001 until jan 2009 , George W. Bush was the 43rd President of the United States. And during the past eight years George W. Bush has been involved in many controversies. They even started before he became president. It was well known that the 2000 election would be close, and indeed it did.

In the 2000 presidential elections Republican George W. Bush ran against Democrat Al Gore.

Election day came and went, and Bush won twenty-eight states, but not enough to win. It all came down to the state of Florida, who ever won Florida would win the 2000 election. First the TV networks called Florida for Gore, but not long after they took it back saying its to close to call. Then most TV networks called Florida for Bush (following Fox News that was the first to call Florida for Bush), and Gore was on his way to give his give his concession speech. But when Gores people had a second look at the number they found out that the networks had the wrong numbers. Gores people stooped him just in time. If Gore had given that speech the race would have been over, but it dragged out into a bitter recount. 

The election night vote count gave Bush a little over 2000 more votes than Gore, just over 2000 votes. Due to the small margins Florida law provided for an automatic recount, witch turned out to be far more difficult than many did imagine. The final official Florida recount gave Bush the victory by only 537 votes. That makes a difference of just 0.061 %, as both nearly got 3 mill votes.  

But getting the votes counted again was not easy. There were many different counting standards, and recounts take time. When the people counting saw that they could not finish before the deadline they asked for more time but were denied, so the sued to have the deadlines extended. So now it was all up to the courts.

The Democrats took their case to the Florida supreme court, and the Republicans took their case up with the Supreme Court of the United States. The Florida court, by a 4 to 3 vote ordered a manual recount. Then the next day the Supreme court stopped the incomplete recount, at that time Bush was leading with only 154 votes.

A few days later the Supreme court came out with their ruling, that went in favor of Bush. By a 7-2 vote they voted that the Florida Supreme Courts scheme for recounting ballots was unconstitutional, as well as a 5-4 United States Court decision that ended the Florida recounts and allowed Florida to certify its votes. Effectively ending the legal review of the vote count with Bush in lead. In other words the Supreme Court stops the recount causing them to miss the deadline, then Supreme Court says as the recount cant start up again because they missed the deadline. 

The Courts 5-4 decision became very controversial as it said its ruling is“limited to the present circumstances”. It said that Bush vs. Gore only counts once, and never again. Thats the only time the Supreme Court has ever done that. 

Controversial issues in Florida:

• The governor in Florida in 2000 was no other than Jeb Bush the brother of George W. Bush. 
• The Florida Secretary of State, Katherine Harris was the person in charge of state election procedures, but she was also a Bush state campaign cochairman. 
• A number of overseas ballots were missing postmarks or witness signature, so they were invalid under Florida law. But were still counted.
• In Florida convicted felons cant vote, so they are put into the “scrub list”. So before the election Katherine Harris contracted DBT Online Inc. to update the list. 96000 citizens were listed in 2000, most of them African-American. But the list was full of mistakes: Many people who have similar names to felons were put on the list,and some felonies were dated in the future. DBT were directed not to cross-check the list. So many people that have never committed a crime in their life were told that they could not vote. This took away mostly Democrats votes as most African-Americans votes Democrat, as the list was largely of African-Americans.
• The Volusia error. In Volusia`s 216th precinct of only 585 registered voters, a voting machine went crazy. The machine gave Bush 2813 votes, and gave Gore negative -16022 votes. Fortunately this error was caught and corrected on election night.
• Palm Beach County`s butterfly ballots. To make it easier for people with bad eyesight there were names on the ballot were made larger. But to fit all names on one ballot, the names were put on both sides. This caused some problems. If the ballot was not put in properly it was hard to see where to punch the hole. Plus it made in easy to vote for someone else. Many people said that they thought that they voted for Bushanan instead of Gore. Even Buchanan said: “When I took a look at the ballot on Election night   …   its very easy for me to see how someone could have voted for me in the belief they voted for Al Gore.” 
• Many poor county`s didnt have the money to clean the ballot machine, so when people tried to vote they could not punch the ballot. 

And thats just the short version. Last year there was a film made about the recount in Florida, called Recount.

Here is the trailer for film Recount, and I strongly recommend it:

So did Bush really win?