Chris Brown Tribute to MJ

Am I the only one who thinks Chris needed this cry for well over a year? Comments that could be made re: his personal situation aside, Chris Brown's tribute to MJ was nothing short of AMAZING.

Michael Jackson's This Is It

I didn't sleep too well Thursday night and on top of that, I didn't do any reading for Friday's Conflicts class. I woke up around 8:00 AM on Friday thinking I (1) definitely wasn't going to make it to me 10:45 class because I was EXHAUSTED and (2) in light of the blues I'd been feeling--why not simply take a 'mental health day'? So that's what I did. I took a mental health day. I stayed in bed until about 10:45 and then I hopped up, showered, and decided to go see This Is It. I had heard from Noni that it was a pretty good flick and I thought listening to some MJ tunes would cheer me up.

Boy, did it! This Is It was a GREAT concert/filmgoing experience that reminded me how much I LOVE Michael Jackson's music, but also left me very sad--the movie is pure rehearsal footage. MJ never got to even do a full dress rehearsal. These "practices" were phenomenal. Everything from the band, the dancers, to MJ himself was on point. He did this awesome green screen work for "Smooth Criminal" and a 3-D version of Thriller where the ghosts and goblins actually come out of the screen to "attack" the audience. During "Smooth Criminal" I actually began to tear up a little bit because this concert was going to be what I sincerely wished for MJ--one more chance to shake the whole "Wacko Jacko" mess and show the world why it is he's a superstar. And he so was.

The film showcases MJ's knowledge and love of music. When the band was trying to figure out the correct way to play a song, Michael couldn't listen to it without moving his body. When he was singing, trying to "save his voice" he still sounded pitch perfect. When he was only walking through dance routines [like he did on "Thriller"] he was still keeping up with dancers half his age. SIDENOTE: "Sasha" from 90210--Dixon's NOT PREGNANT girlfriend was a dancer for This Is It. Didn't know she was a dancer at all. It was just really incredible to watch MJ in his element. He was very soft spoken. Never bossy. And yet he got across what he needed/wanted done. When he DID criticize, afterward he would say, "but it comes from here [point to his heart]. It comes from a place of love." He just seemed like a sweet guy.

There were definitely humorous moments as well. The entire movie I was thinking, "Mike, what the HELL are you wearing?" He'd come ready to work in shit like orange skinny jeans and a shiny, silver double-breasted blazer. Or a hooded jacket up top and some bright sequined gold pants. Never without his trademark loafers. Other times, when he wasn't dancing he had on this FIERCE black leather blazer with the exaggerated shoulderpads and looked INCREDIBLE. At one point, MJ asked for more bass in a song and the musician said, "So you want more booty in it?" Michael giggled like a little kid. It put a smile on my face. 

If you're even remotely a Michael Jackson fan, I definitely recommend seeing This Is It in theaters [it'll be out until Thanksgiving] or at least purchasing it when it undoubtedly comes out on DVD. I'm really glad I decided to spend part of my mental health day with Michael Jackson. I spent the rest of the day playing Wii with Frank and then I cooked homemade pizza for one of my classmates NS who introduced me to this great pumpkin-spiced beer from Michelob. Its like the PERFECT holiday beverage. Check it out if you like beer.

Below is a look at the trailer for the film: