Michael Jackson: Do You Remember The Time...

Michael Jackson (1958 - 2009)

News of the King of Pop's demised came to me on Friday morning. His untimely death would mark one of the saddest day in entertainment history.

Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, Rock and Soul had passed on and even in the light of recent legal entanglements and scandalous allegations, there can be no doubt the man's music has touched our lives in one way or another.

I grew up watching Jackson. I still remember watching terrestial TV in the 80s and almost without fail be glued to the idiot box whenever "Billy Jean", "Bad", "Man in the Mirror" aired. My classmates and I would almost certainly played the "Bad" album during our year end class parties. The Malay girls in my class would nearly be in trance every time we played "Man in the Mirror". Watching the superstars wanna be perform was always fun and left the rest of us in stitches. The man brought us the moonwalk and crotch-grabbing. What else could a bunch of 11 year olds thought of doing for fun.

One thing's for sure. No other entertainer on this planet would be able to have such astounding impact he had on generations of pop aficionados.

It's sad that his life started to spiral into an abyss of betrayal, media bias and financial crisis. Still, the legend was after all, human and like any other human would stand trial before the public court of opinion. Now he no longer has to tolerate mankind's prejudice and pride for he is in a far, far better place that I would go to than I have ever known.

Goodbye Majel

This post is dedicated to the memory of Majel Barrett Roddenberry, wife of the creator and the "Great Bird of the Galaxy" of STAR TREK, Gene Roddenberry.

For those who doesn't know who she is, she played Nurse Christine Chapel on board the USS Enterprise NCC 1701, a recurring role along side Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy. She also lent her voice talent on many occasions for the Enterprise's computer voice in the TNG series right up to Star Trek Voyager. Majel also potrayed the role of Lwaxanna Troi, mother of half human, half-Betazoid ship's counsellor, Deanna Troi aboard the Enterprise-D.

After Gene Roddenberry died in 1991, Barrett had commissioned Celetis Inc., a company that specializes in "memorial spaceflights", to launch a part of his remains into space in 1997. On 26 January 2009, Celestis said that it would ship the remains of Gene Roddenberry and Majel Barrett Roddenberry into space the following year. The couple's cremated remains would be sealed into specially made capsules designed to withstand the rigors of space travel. A rocket-launched spacecraft would carry the capsules, along with digitized tributes from fans. The Roddenberrys' remains — and the spacecraft — would then travel ever deeper into space and would not return to earth.

"May the wind be in your backs Gene and Majel..."