Fans awaiting their golden-ticket-email on Sunday had an estimated 1 in 200 chance of scoring a ticket to the King of Pop’s last performance.
As i write this, the Michael Jackson Memorial at the Staples Center is being televised around the world. So far the over-the-top razzle dazzle performances–from the sequin-gloved pall-bearers to the Staples Center stage, is nothing less than appropriate for the ultimate showman, the King of Pop.
Peace out MJ we will all miss you and your music. Thank you for sharing EVERYTHING with us.
“Bill Carr, Amazon’s vice president of music and video, said Friday that once the world learned that the pop icon had died Thursday, the Web site sold out within minutes all CDs by Michael Jackson and by the Jackson 5 — the group Jackson and his four older brothers formed out of Gary, Ind., in the late ’60s.
Sixty percent of Amazon’s CD orders Thursday were for Michael Jackson music, something Carr called “stunning.” He said he’d “never seen anything like this” before at Amazon after the death of a pop culture icon.”
As of Friday afternoon, Jackson’s albums accounted for all 10 of Amazon’s “Bestsellers in Music” list, with the 25th anniversary edition of the celebrated “Thriller” album taking the top spot.Meanwhile, Barnes and Noble’s Web site and retail stores are currently sold out of most Jackson CDs, DVDs and books, Chief Merchandising Officer Jaime Carey said. Like Amazon, its 10 bestselling CDs were Jackson titles.
Both companies said they were working to get the products back in stock.
Apple Inc. would not describe the level of demand for Jackson’s music at its iTunes online store, but his dominance of iTunes’ top-seller lists Friday speaks for itself.
Around the time of Jackson’s death, only one of his albums ranked in the top 100 on iTunes in the United States. By Friday morning, eight of the top 10 albums were Jackson’s. An “Essential” collection of Jackson’s songs compiled by Apple’s iTunes music team was the top-selling album, followed by “Thriller.”
Five of Jackson’s singles made it to iTunes’ list of most-purchased tracks — “Man in the Mirror,” “Thriller,” “The Way You Make Me Feel,” “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough,” and “Smooth Criminal” — in what may be one of the best barometers to gauge his most popular songs.
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With Amazon sold out of Jackson CDs, Carr said many customers were buying Jackson’s music in digital form. Sales of Jackson-related videos are also up on Amazon — Carr said most DVDs, including the 1978 movie musical “The Wiz,” are currently out of stock.
Carr said it was difficult to say whether the increased sales would persist, saying Amazon for now was taking things “minute by minute” and reacting to customers’ orders.
“They love him, he’s a legend, and they’re anxious to make sure they have his music in their collections,” he said.
The worldwide dance party that took place across the globe following the news of MJ’s death last night was probably the most fitting exit the King of Pop could have imagined. And if you need evidence for the sheer number of people jamming out to the legendary artist’s genius, just take a look at iTunes today.
iTunes' Top Album Download List is dominated by the King of Pop one day after his death
MJ is still rocking the charts occupying the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 9th spots in the top ten albums on iTunes.
Top Downloaded Songs on iTunes the day after MJ's death.
iTunes Top Song Downloads list reads more like a Michael Jackson Anthology.
CNN is reporting the King of Pop is in a coma following a cardian arrest which has him hospitalized at UCLA Medical Center and not Cedars Sinai at reported earlier.
Your Lala is so so so sad from this.
Crowds are forming outside the UCLA Medical Center waiting for some word on the King of Pop.\
UPDATE: The Los Angeles Times and CBS News are reporting that MJ is Dead.
Tabloid word-of-god, TMZ is reprting that the King of Pop, Michael Jackson is dead at 50 years old. Reports say he suffered a heart attack and arrived at Cedars Sinai not breathing.
We’ve just learned Michael Jackson has died. He was 50.
Michael suffered a cardiac arrest earlier this afternoon at his Holmby Hills home and paramedics were unable to revive him. We’re told when paramedics arrived Jackson had no pulse and they never got a pulse back.
A source tells us Jackson was dead when paramedics arrived.
LaToya ran in the hospital sobbing, after Jackson was pronounced dead.
Michael is survived by three children: Michael Joseph Jackson, Jr., Paris Michael Katherine Jackson and Prince “Blanket” Michael Jackson II.
Jackson had 13 number one hits during his solo career.
If the reports are true, this is a sad day for millions of MJ fans including moi. I hope he pulls through. He was gearing up for a worldwide tour.
His music and talent is undeniably brilliant.
Lala <3's MJ circa 2004(?)
UPDATE:
He was picked up at his home around 20 minutes ago — we’re told his mother is on the way to visit him.
UPDATE: The 911 call came in at 12:21PM at his Holmby Hills home in L.A.
UPDATE: A Jackson family member tells TMZ Michael is in “really bad shape” and the brothers are headed to UCLA.
UPDATE: We just got off the phone with Joe Jackson, Michael’s dad, who says “he is not doing well.”
I am absolutely addicted to Costume Dept.’s obscenely loud leggings and now the daring Lycra™ dealers are expanding to include a full line for F/W09!!!
The predominantly black color pallet might be a startling contrast to their Lisa-Frank-beginning but the smart and versatile noir pieces are the kind of wardrobe ammo that just keeps giving.
I spoke with Owner Shawn Kaleka about Costume Dept. and the new foray into a full-fledged collection.
The smoky-eyed Beau Brummel explains that the fabulous fit can only be attributed to fashion designer ingenue, Shaun Sampson who works under the guidance of greats like Jeremy Scott while completing his study at St. Martin in London.
To know Sampson’s innate talent for draping a woman (or man) is as easy as slipping into a pair of his Ziggy Stardust creations. Uh yeah, i haven’t taken mine off since scoring the gems at a trunk show.
Back to the new line at hand, super-long fringe, androgynous puns and Islamic cultural cues combine in a goth kaleidoscope that’s anything but depressing. The insightful design choices will woo the most daring of boys and girls.
The Men’s lapel tee is obligated to exist… Can i please be quoted on that one?
The female pieces play dress up a bit more, perhaps a tad more NYC with options like the Grand Floral Leggings like (La Perla for the gams?) or the clever Bustier Top.
MIA-wannabes can still get their Blanch Devereaux on in leopard spotted lycra or Gucci-esque gold.
You won’t be paying more for the expanded line, Kaleka stresses one of the top priorities of the brand is high-fashion at a low price point. The go-to F-bombs of color and design still start at just $33.00— Recession Glam, courtesy of Shawn & Shaun.
Shop for Lycra treasure at Costume Dept.com, The full collection is landing in stores in Fall.
Sometimes there’s an inner conflict about whether to blog about something thereby telling the whole world about your precious little discovery. But i already ordered mine, so there. Print Liberation has this tee and more and just released a more colorful version of the Bush Administration Tee.
I’m a nerd. I know my standard fonts inside and out, i can adjust my leading, kerning and tweak my serifs accordingly. The mere sight of “Papyrus” offends me (yoga studios be warned).
So i decided to venture further into the world of Typography and maybe buy a few fresh fonts to spice up my graphic design habit.
A couple Google hits and i found MyFonts.com, the tempting curvaceous volutes of the text hosted here are sexier to the esthete’s eye than a nude Tom Ford straddling a 550 Spyder Porsche with a shiny Koon’s ballon in his hand… ok not really ha.
Anyways these sexy-ass fonts are freaking expensive! Like $30 a pop for each Bold, italic, thin, etc.
So began my search for free fonts (released by the artist) and here they are for your fonting pleasure:
Quicksand (Click on Image to Find Link to Download)
Conglomerfont (Click on Image to Find Link to Download)
Free with MyFonts.com registration: 2 versions of Museo…
Free with MyFonts.com registration: Anivers…
————————— EDITOR’S NOTE—————————-
Crap. Half way through researching this font-astic journey i stumbled across the motherload of free fonts.
After finding himself on a terrorist watch list and enduring countless interrogations that “never happened”, Hasan Elaji found it almost impossible to travel; even when he contacted the FBI ahead of time. The Rutgers University professor decided to one-up the his Big Brothers and carry a GPS tracking device that monitors his every move, streaming it live 24-7 to a satellite-image website.
His clever Fuh-Q to the government has landed him interviews including both Al Jazeera Television and The Colbert Report.
“It all began five years ago, on June 19, 2002. The Bangladeshi-born U.S. citizen was returning from an exhibition overseas when he was detained at the Detroit airport. The authorities suspected him of transporting explosives for al-Qaeda. Elahi is a frequent traveler who attends seminars and gallery openings all over the world. This behavior pattern and his Arab-sounding name and dark skin were enough for the Federal Bureau of Investigation to arrest him.
During the months following his arrest, he was questioned repeatedly by the FBI. They investigated his family, his friends, and his employer. Six months later, after questioning him with lie detectors, the FBI cleared him. Yet he remains on the U.S. government’s terrorist watch list.
Since he was never formally accused, there is no official apology or letter of exculpation. Officially, these interrogations never took place. Elahi was scared. He asked for a written affirmation of his release, but his request was denied. After all, such a document would have confirmed that the interrogations took place.
From that point on, every time Elahi traveled, he informed the FBI so that he would be able to reenter the United States without trouble. One day, out of fear of ending up in Guantanamo, he simply decided to make his entire life public. He now wears a tracking bracelet and his location can always be found online, where he posts countless photographs.”
I waited in some casting studio south of Santa Monica Boulevard, where the big rig trucks pull in and out, loading and unloading lighting equipment and such movie nonsense. This is the same area that a friend of mine was hit by one of those aforementioned trucks and nearly killed. I was there for some commercial audition that probably required I pretend to splash around barefoot in a giant fountain a’laLa Dolce Vita, only with cheesy smiles and in English.
The casting studio was also having a session for a children’s spot. I was surrounded by three foot tall people and their similarly sized parents, of whom most looked sunburned and paranoid. The children themselves were cute in a boring, accessible way. I find that “pretty” kids are simply those who possess certain adult qualities or standardized qualifications of beauty, but as they grow up and grow older these attributes are no longer adorable or charming. They grew out of that moment of beauty, as we all do in varying speeds, and thus doomed to exist in visual mediocrity. All of this made more difficult to deal with having been so lavished with compliments and attention as children.
This absurd scene continues in front of me, the crossing of potential with expired potential. I continue to silently attack them in my head. A little girl moves over to a white wall where it is her turn to be polaroided. The assistant counts down…1…2…3…And before he gets to three, the little girl hiccups out a giggle and smiles. The assistant says something about the picture not coming out so he goes to take another one. And on “3″ comes the same exact contrived giggle from this five year old. It was more offensive than canned laughter on a terrible sitcom. This was the industry equivalent of an invisible cattle prod searing into veal in the making.
Today I participated in a fashion show in which kids were also involved. It was for Juniors and Super Juniors; at twenty-five I am apparently fresh faced enough to sell clothes intended for seventeen-year-olds wielding their parent’s money. A few silent little girls get their hair curled while they stare around the room at the big girls, the real models. I’m sure they think we are all thirty with husbands and children and a house with a dog; the same way I saw baseball players when I was young, unaware that I was watching twenty-three-year-old children knocking balls around.
I can’t help but think that these kids should be in class somewhere, reading Bunnicula: A Rabbit-Tale of Mystery and pushing boys’ heads into water fountains. They should be planting sunflower seeds and eating cookie dough, leaning about cumulus clouds and scraping their knees on black asphalt. I look around the room: We’re in a windowless basement of a makeup room. The bathroom door as a handwritten note taped to it that says “Please Knock. Lock Broken.” The silver chairs are stained and dirty. This is categorically a toxic environment for a child’s spirit. Nothing about seems stimulating for children unless you count the premature development of body image disorders and egotism.
To be fair, a few of these girls seem to have a particular and unfathomable zeal for the limelight. One wearing low heeled Mary Janes and tight jeans practices her runway walk in front of her mom. She sprints across the blue carpet like Tyra Banks on crack. I express my distaste for all of this pageantry and a model friend comes to its defense, says she did it as a child and couldn’t get enough of it. The pictures, the clothes, the whole environment. And as much as I do respect her experience, all I can think of was that bitch in elementary school who would be inexplicably show ponied from room to room belting out “The sun’ll come out…to-MAR-OW…” and how much I loathed her.
So i’m not sure how absolutely witty i can attempt to be as i have Coachella-itis… I am so mega-sick from three solid days of partying… le sigh. Fair Warning: this post may be extra grumpy/cynical due to sinus pressure.
Coachella 2009 was super fun but met with mixed reviews from others. Some feel the cat is out of the bag–i did notice way more 909-ers at the parties sporting their string bikinis and urban outfitter caps.
I somehow randomly stumbled into almost every party but one…the Adidas party. Definitely feeling the bite of the shitty economy as less swag and cheaper booze were an obvious footnote. But it was all so excessive before, the people are what make or break the scene anyways and my lovely people are fabulously rich where it counts most—in the friendship department.
I hate to say it but McCartney was pretty lackluster. He played a bunch of songs i have never heard including ones from his new album. Dude, you are a BEATLE, no one wants to hear new stuff. His energy was super low (I’ve seen 900-year-old Elton John light the piano on fire) and he kept sporadically mumbling the weirdest shit into the mike. It was no Prince performance.
Vitamin Water/Music Loves Fashion Ballroom at The Rivera Hotel
Ballroom @ Music Loves Fashion
Meh.
Got here pretty late and i didn’t recognize anyone except Paris Hilton and Tara Reid which is like red-alert wtf are we doing here? The bar shut down completely at 1:30 although the party i believe went til 4:00am which is a major problem unless my BFF’s BF, Lee, hadn’t stockpiled vodka in an empty Vitamin Water bottle like a hero.
For the life of me i could not figure out where the girl with the clipboard was at this party. You couldn’t get in without a wristband but there was no list or wristband-giving rope area. Why was there a list to begin with?
About the Riviera Hotel: The interior decor screams, “I’m super cool and modern/trendy if you are visiting from Arkansas.” The Riv just beats you over the head with “modern” decor until you never want to see Jared Leto ever again
In my opinion, the Anthem folks killed it once more with another wet n’ wild ranch-style bash. The industrial-sized slip n’ slide was a definite genius-move. The fact it dried out a bit and the Costco bottle of dishwasher soap ran out was a slight issue. The lack of shade was the biggest gripe among high-maintenance hipsters. Get over it.. it’s the fucking desert.
Inside thought: i hate how anyone who works for the huge corporate surf companies like ROXY or Volcom (surf company?) act like their shit doesn’t stink.
The POOLBUS made another delightful reemergence. The food resembling prison slop actually was redeemingly delicious if you could get past the look of it (read: stoned).
Posso’s beautiful bathing suit collaboration with my other most favorite brand, Costume Dept., yielded ridiculously on-point results that made my 1990 Splash n’ Fun Barbie insanely jealous.
I heard the nighttime party turned into a BroBBQ but its tough to keep free beer under wraps for too long. All in all, i loved this party again.
Saturday Night – T-Mobile G-G-G-One Party
I pay T-Mobile $150 bucks a month so i try to hit up their parties as often as possible to get my money back in liquid assets.
Zero points for originality as T-mobile just basically put the polish on last year’s party. Same location, layout etc. The crowd was majorly off as i think the party site was too far for Palm Springs-staying peops to make the taxi ride. Maybe it was feeling the effects of the somewhat secret Adidas party as well.
The starry ultra-expensive LED curtains that surrounded the main room were a luxurious touch among the Recession-Era party fleet. The girls pouring heavy vodka drinks were also well appreciated. The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Truck parked next to Chipotle truck was a joyful inner conflict of brand loyalty… mmm.
No photos from this party do to the aforementioned thick-pours. It was a solid soiree with all the right ingredients except the crowd got a bit off track.
Sunday Day – URB Oasis Party
I have to admit i liked this party because it was fully stocked but when we hit it up on Sunday it had a super laid back vibe that matched perfectly with the weekend hangover. The pool managed to somehow be too cold but at least they scored points with the organic taco truck and this amazing vegan coconut milk icecream which this very nice man must have kept on dry ice, making it colder than anything else that weekend….. mmm.
Sunday Night -Coachella – My Bloody Valentine, Public Enemy & The Cure
Philosophical question: If the VIP section is the size of a football field, is it still VIP?
My Bloody Valentine: Wow that ear-bleeding finale really sucks balls. I didnt get it.
To me the difference between a good live performance and bad is just sheer energy. I dont care who is up there as long as they are killing it like its their last day on earth.Public Enemy totally brought it, owning the crowd. Flavor Flav was climbed to the top of the scaffolding and was stage diving like a crackhead.
The Cure… not for me, i just wanted Edward Scissorhands to stop singing so i could go home and wash Coachella off of me.
Things I learned about Coachella this year:
Don’t bring a significant other unless you want to attend a Breakup Festival. Earplugs can save your life. You can never brush your teeth enough. Confidently holding your cluttered wrist out for security will make up for the one wristband you don’t have.
Adam Wilson posted the 17-character message using a brain-computer interface (BCI) that he is helping to build for people whose minds function but whose bodies do not work.
Mr Wilson, a biomedical engineering doctoral student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, first wrote: “SENT FROM BCI2000″, referring to the model number of his machine.
He followed this with “USING EEG TO SEND TWEET”. The system works by monitoring electroencephalography – or EEG – which is the electrical activity produced on the scalp by the movement of neurons within the brain.
Mr Wilson’s Twitter set-up contains an onscreen alphabet. The letters flash in turn, and when the letter that the user wants to type flashes, the system detects a spike in their brain activity, and selects that letter.
Justin Williams, an assistant professor who works with Mr Wilson, said: “If you’re looking at the ‘R’ on the screen and all the other letters are flashing, nothing happens. But when the ‘R’ flashes, your brain says, ‘Hey, wait a minute. Something’s different about what I was just paying attention to.’ And you see a momentary change in brain activity.”
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xoxo
Lala
As i write this, the Michael Jackson Memorial at the Staples Center is being televised around the world. So far the over-the-top razzle dazzle performances–from the sequin-gloved pall-bearers to the Staples Center stage, is nothing less than appropriate for the ultimate showman, the King of Pop.
We’ve just learned Michael Jackson has died. He was 50.
