My oh my, how many wonderful posts and contributions this Chugginton thread has been havin' lately, far too many to acknowledge properly -
queen, MP, everybody. It is lovely to see it prosper like this though.
Suz, thanks so much for all your vids, especially the Michael W. Smith songs. I just found out today that i am going to see him in concert in a few months' time. It's a dream come true, one i didn't even know i had, but now that it's becoming a reality i am overjoyed at the thought. I am sure his performance is going to be wonderful. He is an amazing artist. Y'all know me – i'm the resident Jesus freak and i totally love it when artists use their craft in such marvelous ways to get their praise on.
Thanks!
I learned that not should be afraid of anything in life (never!!!) and I do not really care about what people say or think about me. -_-
Ash – you keep it up, home girl. I told ya, dontcha EVER change. That's the right attitude right there. :clapping: Obrigado once more for everything.
Lainy – that's a beautiful name btw, cause i've noticed you changed it from Lully – thanks so much for sharing that picture. It is very beautiful and very romantic indeed. It has all the right colors – red, yellow, some silver. I guess the only one missin' to make it complete is the blue. I do got one question though –
if that was a Camelot story , who do you guys think Michael saw himself as – King Arthur or Sir Lancelot? Honestly, i wouldn't know in whose shoes it would have been better to walk. Maybe he was Prince Valiant after all, to circumvent all that nuisance of a story between those three lol. Doesn't he seem a bit passive and dominating though looking from up high on that horse of his? Is that all he could do – hand out a rose? Wasn't there a song from Lisa's father that went something like - “a little less conversation, a little more action”? You would have pictured him carrying her on the horse or at least bother coming down from it and do something to her standing on the same level, cause she was his equal after all. He might have been the King of Pop on stage, but at home they were equal partners in an adventure called marriage.
Quite frankly, i don't have much of a contribution to make to the very essence of this thread cause i royally suck at song interpreation (among many other things) and that makes me pretty much useless in the context of the thread, but i would like to venture a couple of ideas nonetheless. I'm sure it's gonna take a lot of space though. Mrs. irrelevant ramble is my middle name, in case yall didn't know it :cheeky:
I wouldn't have any clue of course, cause i am clueless by nature and design and i couldn't possibly know since i've never met the man, but it got me thinking –
could it be that Michael felt the need to be needed? I know so many tried to rescue/save/protect him and in the vision of some intellectually challenged people, to be politically correct, he needed rescuing from himself. How come so many saw Michael as this frail, ultra sensitive creature who needed nurturing and protection? He had a mother and they don't make them better than Mrs. Jackson.
Perhaps, maybe just maybe, he needed someone
he could take care of? I don't mean in terms of material comfort cause we all know how truly irrelevant that is in the big scheme of things, but simply having a soul similar to his in terms of goals and desires he could comfort and protect? We all have this desire to feel needed. It is felt the most by those who leave the work force and so-called active life. It is well researched and proven that one of the biggest fears and emotions of seniors is the sense of futily, post-modern society leaving them behind and no longer finding use for their experience and wisdom, although there are some improvements being made with professional training programmes targeting them and extending their capacity to be involved. There are of course also the cultural traditions, mainly in Africa and Asia which cherish the elderly and hold them in the heighest of regards. I betta stop this though before I do a complete detour from the topic at hand and come back to the point that I was tryin' to make about one paragraph ago...lol
Btw of King Arthur and the need to be needed – a few weeks ago i saw this cute little movie with one of Michael's best and funniest friends, Liza Minelli. In it she played a 'nobody' from Bronx with whom a soon to be millionaire heir called Arthur falls in love and is ready to give up his inheritance for her sake. One very sweet scene takes place while he drives a car at night and they stop at a red light and he tells her something like –
you know, all my life i have had people taking care of me, but if something were to happen to you, i would take care of you. I thought that was one of the sweetest movie lines ever and it made me think of Michael and his girl, if indeed she was a nobody, not that it would matter. I actually have this funny feeling that Michael, in spite of being quite the liberal when it came to social and political issues, he was far more traditionalist and conservative in his outlook on family values than most suspected or cared to admit, depends on how you view this matters. And, from that perspective, it would have been all the more natural for him to seek to protect his woman, in whatever ways possible.
She could have been someone so frail he could break if he hugged too tight, but at the same time she should have been a pretty tough cookie if she was gonna be by his side cause she would have had to deal with a lot of crap from fans and media (part of the job description i guess lol) and yes, even some from him cause contrary to certain beliefs the man wasn't perfect. He must have had his faults and flaws of character, right?
At the same token, wouldn't it be nice if, for once, she would have been the one doing the entertaining? All his life Michael sang and danced, mesmerized the masses with his art, but as it was suggested here in the thread wouldn't it be great to think that she might have sung and maybe even danced for him? Perhaps she was an industry gal, cause we know what they say about people sharing the same job understanding each other so well, maybe she was a complete amateur, in any case i thought that was a lovely thought – if, at least with her, he could put down the mic and the dancing shoes and just enjoy the show for once.
And since i mentioned Asian traditions earlier, here goes a most beautiful music video from the early 90s –
Always from
Erasure. I remember being totally fascinated by it. I was reminded of it earlier this morn when they played it on tele before the daily dose of Michael vids. I bet some of yall went and 'put' Michael in that role rescuing the damsel in distress lol
The video itself reminded me of Hokusai (a painter from back in the day when Tokyo was named Edo, which would be a few centuries ago lol) and put me in a Japanese mood. I have this weird habit of travelin without movin from time to time and i “visit” all kinds of countries and cultures. Today the destination was Japan, can't tell right now where i'll go next
To keep up with my ever random self - before I go, I would have one request from everyone: if you could,
please pray for all the people involved in the horrible events which unfolded 17 years ago and which caused immesurable pain to Michael, his family and everyone who loved him.
May his good name be fully and completely restored once people grow a spine and other body pieces that might have went missing or weren't there to begin with.
No matter what - never forget to
KEEP THE FAITH cause
the POWER that LOVE has makes it right.
God bless you everyone, God bless you. I really mean that, from the heart. Love and peace.