the medical examiner concluded that the cause of death was complications from a severe bowel obstruction.. tragic, really...  However, on a the plus side, they now know what happened to his other sequined glove..

You're awful, Mike.  Verily you are.

Figured I'd get on the tribute bandwagon by playing through Moonwalker on Genesis.  It's been ages since I popped it in.  Well, loaded it up, anyway.

im glad you didnt just say that the joke was awful, cause i want full credit for my creations...

To be honest, MJ died a long time ago - at least inside and spiritually. I'm not saying this to be a jerk but it probably is the truth.

Also, my heart goes out to his kids... maybe they can finally start living a normal life without having to wear masks where ever they go.

My local arcade used to have Moonwalker and I played the hell out of it. Nothing better than making the enemies dance with you.

I think I'll fire up Space Channel 5 later in tribute. Go Space Michael!

So you're saying he ate the glove?

The whole thing saddened me terribly. I was driving with my buddy, and I got the text from another friend, and initially I was like, "Whatever. f--- off". That ain't the kind of thing you joke lightly with me about, you know? But flash forward several hours later, and I'm watching the news, and there it is, like a bullet between the eyes, and all I could hear was the shell falling.

What's worse is almost everyone I've talked to about it are saying shit joking about stuff like how a lot of little boys don't gotta be scared no more or some shit related to his family. He just can't get a break.

I remember Thriller. Watching his music videos on TV, not even two years old, can't even walk properly, and I'm trying to imitate him. I loaded up Thriller into my player last night and just sat and listened to it on repeat. It's like the AVGN said, "It feels like the 80's really are dead now".

I gotta come clean, though. I remember my mom being sad about John Lennon being shot, and people talking about legends like Kurt Cobain and Jim Morrison dying, and up until today, I thought they were just being whiny bitches purely on account of the fact that I've never liked their music. But now, after a bit of self-imposed growing up, I think I understand the gravity of celebrity deaths like this a lot more.

that could be the PG conclusion...

Totally leaving aside the fact that said method of autosexual stimulus is hardly unique to eccentric celebrities, you apparently have no idea what effort would be needed to manually create bowel obstruction.

Your joke isn't just tasteless and without any significant relevance to the topic, it's anatomically absurd.

His joke is the topic.

I liked it.

Ashley's thoughts somewhat echo my own. In a way, I mourned the loss of Michael Jackson years ago. Besides, 20 years ago, who would have thought he would live to 50? He wasn't the type to grow old and rot away.

i apologize dais,,

had i known you had written your PHD thesis on the alimentary canal, i would have put a disclaimer for anatomical inaccuracy...

I'm pretty sure that your middle name is "win".

You made a joke which indicated you lack a basic grasp of human anatomy. That's not my fault.

Even if you disregard all of the tabloid rumors and unproved allegations that he accumulated over the years, he was supremely bizarre and discomfiting.  Neither the ridicule for his madness nor the adulation for his genius is undeserved.

I never really followed the man, personally. The two biggest effects he had on me were giving my 4-year-old self nightmares when one of my sisters rented a tape with Thriller, and when I got a Captain Io watch (which didn't work) for my birthday.
His music was decent, I suppose, certainly it never turned me off the way say, Prince's body of work does. I've grown tired of endless analysis of celebrities' personal lives, so I'll leave the rest well alone (as an aside though, it's bewildering how much his passing eclipsed Farrah Fawcett's on the same day - did the suddenness make the difference?).
All I can really say is that one great Simpsons episode will never be the same. To borrow a line from Leon Kompowski: Bubbles, it's going to be a long night.

I heard it was a food allergy - he had been eating twelve year old nuts.

...yeah, it's bad, but I like to think he could have a good laugh at it were he still around. I'm just disappointed he'll never make the comeback I know he was capable of.

Yeah, I heard it was a 9-year-old wiener.
There's already TONS of jokes about this in a matter of days, and longhairmike's wasn't particularly funny, be it anatomically possible or not (pro tip to Dais: humor doesn't have to make sense)

I personally find myself totally unable to mourn over the death of someone I've never met in my entire life.
I think the emotional attachment some people have to some out-of-reach celebrity who doesn't even know they exist, is a load of bull, but hey, that's just me.

And I really LIKED Michael Jackson's music.
It doesn't help that he hasn't created anything worthwile for the past 10 years or so.

I think my problem with this is that the pedophile angle has been played to death. It stopped being funny, like, seven years ago. Like those gamers who still insist that XBAWKS IS HUGE LAWL

I mostly agree here, though I will say that George Carlin's passing last year did make me sad and I gave it a lot more attention than I usually would for a celebrity. However, I think one can get to know a comedian through their material more than a movie star. The only bad thing is his death had to be the catalyst for me to check out more of his material.

I think the Facebook-era reaction to Jackson's death by both the media and by people in general has been interesting (if sadly predictable on the part of the former) and would make for a good topic of discussion.

...were the thread not led by a distasteful and completely unfunny first post.   I'm sure it'll make great company for all the other bad Michael Jackson jokes around the water cooler on Monday though.

If it comes in threes, this might be the third one:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31596003/ns … ?GT1=43001

he'd be # 5,, you forgot about david caradine and ed mcmuffin...

this is what happens when you reject an offer for pitching the prayer cross.. although i always figured he'd go out by hanging himself with a snuggie...

On a slightly more serious (not to mention relevant to this site's primary interest) note, maybe the inevitable onslaught of posthumous cash-in albums will allow some sort of "making of Sonic 3" album to surface. A fella can hope, right?

Kinkos called to let me know that my 8' x 8' poster of a butthole will be ready tuesday... this will never happen again...

I'm glad I wasn't the only one thinking about this.  Give it some time, either Sega or MJ's people will soon announce his involvement with Sonic 3.  Seriously, go beat Sonic 3 right now and watch the credits roll.  There's no way Sega would replace series composer Masato Nakamura with Brad Buxer, Bobby Brooks, Darryl Ross, Geoff Grace, Doug Grigsby III, and Scirocco for no apparent reason.  Google those names, they all have some affiliation with Jackson, especially Brad Buxer, who was probably listed first in the credits for a reason.  My guess is that MJ was going to get credited with all the music but Sega chose to give credit to all those guys instead due to the bad publicity MJ was getting at the time.  Whether or not MJ actually wrote all the tunes for the game is another story.  I'm sure at least some of his music still made it in though.  Maybe we can get a Sonic 1, 2, 3, & Knuckles boxset now too?  If that was even the reason for Sega never making one, that is.

I thought another stumbling block was Masato Nakamura himself? I was told he really had no interest in releasing the music for the games he did. However, I kind of find that a stretch because wouldn't the company, not the individual composer, hold the rights to the music? I mean didn't Nobuo have to get permission from SE to use his music on the black mages albums?

As far as Sonic 3's music goes, it's a possibility. They will probably be looking to sell off his intelectual property to settle his debts.

So, uhh...how'd he die again?

I actually choked on my chocolate milk when I read this. No matter what the context, "butthole" remains a hilarious word.

I'd say the suddenness makes all the difference here. Everyone knew Fawcet's days were numbered, sad as it was. She had been battling cancer for years. It'd be remiss in the eyes of the public's collective consciousness to not expect something like that.

This is not to say that one's passing is more tragic than the other's, by any means, though.

What makes one death more tragic than another, really?

I mean the death of a celebrity is hardly disastrous. Their value to society is disproportionately low compared to how much they are paid and how much attention they are given.

With respect to Michael Jackson, what did he do that's so notable? Make some "good videos" when videos were new?

oh hey what's this

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_ja … _influence

what is that

could it be something to distract you while the rest of us continue to read idolores' post the way it was meant to be read

My comment was a follow-up.

But wow, thanks for that Wikipedia link. That ends any discussion about the real value of celebrities (such as Michael Jackson).

Perhaps you can settle another debate: Does God exist or not?

Not sure, though I do enjoy George Carlin's thoughts on the subject:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DH-ctnDp … L&index=23

so you're saying that you weren't starting a stupid discussion as a reaction, but as a tangent?

do you realize how stupid this sounds? just because you think of Michael Jackson as a celebrity doesn't mean that's the only thing he was. He was also a prominent, influential musical artist. Or should musicians not be famous?

While you're reading that, do yourself a favor and ctrl-f the article for "charity". Try and figure out how many millions of dollars Michael Jackson raised for and donated to charitable causes, because frankly I can't count that f---ing high.

Does it matter? Either you'll find out when you die, or you won't. I've got a more burning conundrum: what makes you feel so good about attacking the success of a famous person? Does it make you feel more secure about your own meaningless existence? Are you such a communist that it offends you that individuals can make great achievements? I'm dying to know, as you are clearly even more important than Michael Jackson and therefore I regard your views highly.