Two more celebrities and pop icons died today

[sharper1988]

There are two sad fronts from Hollywood today.

First, Farah Fawcett.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/TV/0...ett/index.html

And now, "The King of Pop" Michael Jackson

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Musi...son/index.html

[lunchmeat]

Of probably more lasting historical import: George A. Custer and 210 men of his command were killed at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, 133 years ago this day.

[TransWarpDrive]

That's three celebrities who've died this week.
Ed McMahon died on Tuesday; now Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson both passed away today.
They always seem to go in groups of three; have you ever noticed that?

[Fireand'chutes77]

Crap!

Billy Mays just dropped too!

http://tinyurl.com/kpbnng

[Rob]

There's concern that it might be related to the rough landing the plane he was on last night had. A tire blew on landing, and caused some disruption; he was hit on the head (apparently by objects from the overhead compartment), but he seemed to be all right when he left the airport. We'll have to wait for the autopsy to see if the head trauma was, in fact, a cause....

[jeriddian]

Remember that Natasha Richardson died in a similar time delayed fashion. Is this crazy or what? I wonder if it's a full moon out there or something..........

[TransWarpDrive]

Remember that Natasha Richardson died in a similar time delayed fashion. Is this crazy or what? I wonder if it's a full moon out there or something..........

Actually, it's only a fat first-crescent moon right now (almost, but not quite, a first quarter moon). I know because I spotted it high in the sky this afternoon while I was out running errands.
Anyway, I think it's more of a weird coincidence that Mr. Mays has died like this - if indeed the blow to his head from the aircraft landing was the cause of his death - than anything else.
But I'll tell you - this seems to have been a bad week for celebrities, what with four of them having died within the past seven days. 'Chutes' post is the first I've heard about Billy Mays' death; it really took me by surprise. I wonder if Discovery Channel's going to yank that show he was doing, Pitchmen, off their schedule now...

[lunchmeat]

Buried in the potlatch over the death of Jackson (unfortunate, but still...) in addition to events in Honduras, continued strife in Iran, North Korean sabre rattling (and a small counter sabre rattle of our own, with a MIRV test over the Pacific Missile Range) and other events of less import than a dead celebrity was another passing: http://forums.grunt.com/forums/t/53614.aspx, he may have never done the moon walk, but he was still quite a guy.

[Rob]

Buried in the potlatch over the death of Jackson (unfortunate, but still...) in addition to events in Honduras, continued strife in Iran, North Korean sabre rattling (and a small counter sabre rattle of our own, with a MIRV test over the Pacific Missile Range) and other events of less import than a dead celebrity was another passing: http://forums.grunt.com/forums/t/53614.aspx, he may have never done the moon walk, but he was still quite a guy.

Now that is someone whose passing is worth noting.

Sad thing is, with a major local story to talk about today (Detroit City Councilwoman Monica Conyers' resignation in light of her recent felony guilty plea - and thank God she's going away), Mitch Albom just spent the first 1 1/2 hours of his 2-hour radio show on Jackson, and defending his column on the coverage of MJ's passing against criticism by people who I could only describe as "Jacko Wackos".

[TransWarpDrive]

I just finished reading Mitch Albom's column on Michael Jackson that kyojikasshu was kind enough to link for us, and I must say I agree with Mr. Albom one hundred percent. Every time some newsmaker dies, be they politician or performer, there seems to be a major "glossing over" of the details of his/her life. The bad things are conveniently swept under the rug, so to speak, as the pundits all try to outdo each other in canonizing the deceased. Several times over the past few days, I've heard Jackson referred to as "the greatest entertainer of all time."
Now IIRC, they said the same thing about Elvis when he died 32 years ago, and about Frank Sinatra when he passed on in May of 1998.
While I will agree that Jackson was a talented singer, dancer and songwriter, I hardly think he was the entertainment industry's very best. Especially given the fact that his last few albums didn't do that well on the charts, due to the fact that the music-buying public had moved on from his style of music to other performers and their stuff (except for his core fan base, of course). So yes, I join Mitch Albom in criticizing the way the media is anointing Michael Jackson a saint just because he's dead.