land of the midnight sun

I will get to Alaska in a later post. Right now I am still incredibly saddened to think about Michael Jackson. In the past thirty years, can you think of someone who was a bigger international celebrity (non politician of course) than Michael Jackson? Madonna? No. Mariah Carey? No. Nobody. His first solo album came out over thirty years ago and ever since then, his fame and world-wide popularity have gone untouched. I have always been a fan of Michael Jackson. As many of my friends know, I have always loved The Jackson Five. Despite me writing this from Minneapolis, I am 99% sure that my CD player in Chicago has the Jackson 5 Greatest Hits in it. I also own several solo Michael Jackson CDs. This is not the place to discuss Jackson's tribulations. Such pop classics as Beat It, Bad, Thriller, and others will love in infamy long after Jackson is laid to rest. What stands out to me the most about Jackson is his all around performance. Just two weeks ago at a party, we we were talking about dancing and we all agreed that Michael Jackson is the greatest dancer of all time; and it isn't even close.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaTYjHcDqtI



His sideways moonwalk is still the most impressive dance move I have ever seen. Besides his countless hours of charity work, I hope fifty years from now, Jackson is remembered as the greatest performer of our lifetime, and not for his other scars. From one giant Michael Jackson fan... you will be sorely missed. May you finally receive in heaven the peace and tranquility that you were never afforded here.



1. Why must the the Timberwolves continue to disappoint me? Sigh! They trade their two shooting guards on the team (Mike Miller and Randy Foye) for the #5 pick in the draft. I was okay with this. Both Miller and Foye are average at best NBA players and this gave them the #5, #6, #18, and #28 picks. Four picks in the first round is pretty awesome. I actually hoped they would do something like trade the #'s 6, 18, and 28 picks for the number two pick - but they didn't. Here is what they did instead. First they drafted 18 year old Spanish point guard Ricky Rubio. Okay, I like this... oh wait. Rubio has said that he doesn't want to play for a "small" market or a cold city and now it looks like he wants to stay in Spain and play. The very next pick, the Wolves select tiny point guard Jonny Flyn at #6. Why would they take back to back point guards? What do they do at pick #18? Draft another point guard, who is undersized, in Ty Lawson? And at #28, they draft an undersized shooting guard in Wayne Ellington. Now, they will have four point guards on the roster and their only shooting guard is an undersized rookie?! I hope that new GM David Kahn has a few tricks up his sleeve.


2. I saw that there was a military takeover/coup in Honduras yesterday? I can't believe in 2009 that that still happens! An evil general comes in, kidnaps the democratically elected president, points a gun at him and this time didn't kill him but flew him to Costa Rica, and declared himself dictator. It is 2009!!

3. Currently listening to Sugar Daddy by The Jackson 5.