Jezebel 
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New York, 4:03 PM
Wed Nov 11
71 posts in the last 24 hours
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07/29/09
Overall, my take is: It's the most thorough coverage of the 1993 case ever published; it's decent on the 2003 case; and questionable in the final chapters. I think MJ was gay, but just because someone claims to have been his lover doesn't make it so. And there's little evidence of that deadly lung disease Halperin's obsessed with.
It's poorly edited, the cover is crap (really, Simon & Schuster?), but I was persuaded by Halperin's overall tone and the fact that he admits upfront he wanted to find incriminating evidence but didn't. He sounds like he's being honest about his research and findings; whether the people he talked to and quotes in the book were honest is the big question mark of all MJ bios.
07/29/09
I AM glad that you were able to once again publish "The King Of Pop is gonna lick your lollipop!" because that IS one of the funniest things I've ever read. Ever.
07/28/09
07/28/09
I don't want to sound fangirl when I say this but: MICHAEL JACKSON WASN'T GAY, and the women he HAS slept with have said as much -- including the woman he slept with the longest, Lisa Marie Presley. For all the SHIT she talked about him after their divorce -- ahd she did, and she had a right to -- the one thing she ALWAYS stood by was the quantity and quality of sex they had through their two year marriage (and, most likely, the two year affair they carried on after the divorce).
How do I know this? Becuase I read a biography of Michael Jackson ACTUALLY WORTH reading. It's called "The Magic And The Madness" and it's by J. Randy Taraborelli, a family friend of the Jackson's and a reporter who had been reporting on Michael from the beginning of the Jackson 5. The edition I read is not the edition on the shelves right now: the one now goes to the end of his life, as well as one can. My edition stopped right before the molestation trial, right after Martin Bashir's Living With Michael Jackson. It skews tabloid in places -- stories about cosmetic (as opposed to medical, whcih it was) skin bleaching and things like that have since been proven wrong -- but it has an INCREDIBLE insight into his life with his family (it helps that Taraborelli has stayed in touch with the entire Jackson clan through the years), his relationship with his manager and his attorney (Frank DiLeo and John Branca respectively), his relationship with Quincy Jones, and ESPECIALLY his romantic relationships. The way he turned what was mostly likely a high school-ish romance with Brooke Shields into the love of his life (in his head), his faltering attempts at love with Tatum O'Neil, and his INCREDIBLY passionate relationship with Lisa Marie.
It really disgusts me to see anyone give ANY weight to this crap. You really want to read about Michael Jackson? Read his fucking biography.
07/28/09
07/29/09
07/29/09
Your conjecture about his love-life and skin bleaching is odd. Nothing has been "proven" about these aspects of his life. We've heard conflicting accounts and you hold your own view; it doesn't mean that people who disagree with you are wrong. Most aspects of people's lives are too messy and to contained to ever be "proven".
07/29/09
07/29/09
07/29/09
And I'm SOOOOO glad that who we're friends with reflects our exact sexual preferences. Tracie, you might be drunk but you've proven yourself smarter than this a thousand times over.
Michael Jackson, in reality, is a WEALTH of oddity, eccentricity, and weirdness to be plucked apart. There is so much there that is SO STRANGE without having to write about things that are untrue, or made up.
For fuck's sake, the guy had MANNEQUINS ALL OVER HIS HOUSE. EVERYWHERE. DRESSED UP. POSED LIKE THEY WERE DOING THINGS. THAT IS FUCKING TERRIFYING. So why don't you write an analysis of that instead? A guy so FUCKING LONELY that he had MANNEQUINS to talk to instead of people.
(I'm glad I didn't write this last night -- the thought of those creepy ass mannequins give me the jitters.)
07/29/09
I have my own mixed feelings about The Magic & The Madness, and there are things in it I want to believe aren't true, but most likely are. But WHY, WHY WHY WHY should I take the word of a book written by a man who was barely able to get close to ANYONE in Jackson's circle (let's not even talk about Jackson himself) more than a book that was written by someone who has been close to the man and his family for over 30 years at the time of its publication?
Everything with a grain of salt that can't be proven photographically. (And, by the way, that's how you can "prove" he didn't willy-nilly bleach his skin -- there is photographic evidence of his vitiligo.)
07/29/09
07/29/09
07/29/09
That said, the latter few chapters are iffy (though honestly presented).
07/29/09
Btw, where did you get your copy of the up-to-date Taraborelli book?
07/30/09
07/28/09
07/28/09
07/28/09
07/28/09
07/28/09
It's just a thought and has NOTHING to do with his molestation charges. I just think that if he were not famous and ruined by certain aspects of his very public life from such a young age, it would be a possibility.
Although I would not write a book about this far reaching theory, just a Jezebel comment thank you.
07/29/09
I agree that I think his sexuality was more complicated than gay or straight.
07/28/09
Give it a rest people.
07/28/09
07/28/09
07/28/09
Even when there was evidence to the contrary and stories were obviously fabricated, over the years people ate up the tabloid gossip about him with fervor because even the craziest lies seemed to be true. And even in his death it continues.
07/28/09
07/28/09
07/28/09
07/28/09
07/28/09
07/28/09
07/28/09
07/29/09
07/28/09
My abuelita would call all of them "pinches diablos!" with no respect for the dead.
07/28/09
07/28/09
Whether or not you think he was a saint, we owe a huge chunk of our culture to him. That, at the very, very least, deserves our respect.
07/28/09
Also, I don't think anyone said that the things in the book were necessarily true. Just that they were said. Although I do hope the thing about Liza is true, because that would make my damned day.
07/28/09
07/28/09
your first comment came across as unnecessarily obtuse. your follow up comment, not so much.
i'm not sure where both these sentiments (that a] he should be left in peace, but will inevitably b] continue to be speculated about, just as the others you mentioned,) really coincide, or that they have to, as i'm sure texascrude was allready aware of of b] when she expressed a], but whatever.
07/28/09
07/29/09
07/29/09
07/29/09
07/29/09
06/23/09
06/23/09
06/23/09
Frankly, I was just pissed she was writing yet another worthless book on the subject and wasting the fucking paper.