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Rev Al Sharpton's amazing speech at Michael Jackson Memorial

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One of the highlights of the Michael Jackson Memorial is an amazing speech given by the Rev. Al Sharpton. Sharpton's always a lighting rod for criticism for his "tell-it-like-it-is" style, and he presented it at the memorial. Sharpton gave one of the best speeches I've ever heard because it cut deep to the core reasons why many people love and defend Michael Jackson and for another reason: Jackson represents the growth of mainstream American Culture, where people paid less attention race and more attention to what they liked regardless of the skin color of the person who made what they liked.

Sharpton walked up and delivered an old-fashioned unplanned stump stemwinder speech. The kind I'd expect to hear from him in church. Here's the transcript of Sharpton's masterpiece presented by Seattlemedium.com:

All over the world today people are gathered in love viduals to celebrate the life of a man that taught the world how to love.


People may be wondering why there’s such an emotional outburst. But you would have to understand the journey of Michael to understand what he meant to all of us. For these that sit here as the Jackson family - a mother and father with nine children that rose from a working class family in Gary, Indiana - they had nothing but a dream.


No one believed in those days that this kind of dream could come true, but they kept on believing and Michael never let the world turn him around from his dreams. I first met Michael around the 1970 Black Expo, Chicago, Illinois. Rev. Jesse Jackson, who stood by this family till now, and from that day as a cute kid to this moment, he never gave up dreaming. It was that dream that changed culture all over the world. When Michael started, it was a different world. But because Michael kept going, because he didn’t accept limitations, because he refused to let people decide his boundaries, he opened up the whole world.


In the music world, he put on one glove, pulled his pants up and broke down the color curtain where now our videos are shown and magazines put us on the cover. It was Michael Jackson that brought Blacks and Whites and Asians and Latinos together. It was Michael Jackson that made us sing, “We are the World” and feed the hungry long before Live Aid.


Because Michael Jackson kept going, he created a comfort level where people that felt they were separate became interconnected with his music. And it was that comfort level that kids from Japan and Ghana and France and Iowa and Pennsylvania got comfortable enough with each other until later it wasn’t strange to us to watch Oprah on television. It wasn’t strange to watch Tiger Woods golf. Those young kids grew up from being teenage, comfortable fans of Michael to being 40 years old and being comfortable to vote for a person of color to be the President of the United States of America.


Michael did that. Michael made us love each other. Michael taught us to stand with each other. There are those that like to dig around mess. But millions around the world, we’re going to uphold his message. It’s not about mess, but it’s about his love message. As you climb up steep mountains, sometimes you scar your knee; sometimes you break your skin. But don’t focus on the scars, focus on the journey. Michael beat ‘em, Michael rose to the top. He out-sang his cynics, he out-danced his doubters; he out-performed the pessimists. Every time he got knocked down, he got back up. Every time you counted him out, he came back in. Michael never stopped. Michael never stopped. Michael never stopped.


I want to say to Mrs. Jackson and Joe Jackson, his sisters and brothers: We thank you for giving us someone that taught us love; someone who taught us hope. We want to thank you because we know it was your dream too.


We know that your heart is broken. I know you have some comfort from the letter from the President of the United States and Nelson Mandela. But this was your child. This was your brother. This was your brother. This was your cousin. Nothing will fill your hearts’ lost. But I hope the love that people are showing will make you know he didn’t live in vain. I want his three children to know: Wasn’t nothing strange about your Daddy. It was strange what your Daddy had to deal with. But he dealt with it…He dealt with it anyway. He dealt with it for us.


So, some came today, Mrs. Jackson, to say goodbye to Michael. I came to say, thank you. Thank you because you never stopped, thank you because you never gave up, thank you because you never gave out, thank you because you tore down our divisions. Thank you because you eradicated barriers. Thank you because you gave us hope. Thank you Michael. Thank you Michael. Thank you Michael!

Fox News Bill O'Reilly said Sharpton's speech was racist, but that's certainly not the dumbest thing I've ever heard O'Reilly say - his crack about not knowing "Black restaurants" could be nice places to go to takes the prize - but it's close.

The bottom line is Michael Jackson did change American Culture. Think about it. He became a singing star just four years after the passage of The Civil Rights Amendment in 1964 and continued to produce hit after hit to his death, all the time gaining fans around the World who didn't care what color his skin was; they just liked his music and him. That's powerful, and all the more so when one considers the racial problems we've seen and experienced. It's really gotten better and Jackson deserves a lot of credit for that.

Conservatives can't deal with anyone telling the truth about race relations, but they'd better start because it's their inability to understand how race relations have changed that has doomed the political future of conservatives and of the GOP.

A political party historically based on hating a racial group - as was true for the GOP for decades - can't survive when people of different colors are mating as one. Causing that in a small way is but one of Michael Jackson's gifts to society. If it's hard for you to deal with that fact, one of the "hard facts that create America" as President Lincoln would say, you're not American at all because you don't get your own country.

Michael Jackson Fans gather at Staples Center for their last goodbyes

Hugh Jackman, James Franco, 134 others new Academy members

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Ok. Actor Hugh Jackman, before he ran around in the buff in Wolverine, was the host of this year's Academy Awards ceremonies. But would you believe he wasn't even a member of the Academy? Well, that changed today. Jackman, actor James Franco from the Spiderman movie series, and 134 others were announced as new members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in a  press release emailed to me today.

According to the Academy, the limit of new memberships extended is 166, but as has been the case in past years, the membership committees extended fewer invitations to become members than the limit. What's interesting to me is that one has to be invited to become a member - I assumed that came with being in the Screen Actors Guild or other movie union organizations.

It explains to a degree why the Academy seems so conservative in its movie award choices: it has a membership that is older than that for the Guild because, according to Academy President Sid Ganis “These filmmakers have, over the course of their careers, captured the imagination of audiences around the world", which generally means they've been around for a while. There are exceptions, however, the best one being Dakota Fanning, who was invited in 2006 when she was just 12 years old. But look at the body of Fanning's work: movies like Man on Fire, War of the Worlds, Charlotte's Web, and Push, to name a few. By contrast, well-known names like Jackman, Franco, Casey Affleck, and Anne Hathaway were just invited to become members this year.

The full list of new members, sent to me by the Academy, is below. It includes not just actors, but animators, art directors, cinematographers, costume designers , directors, documentary producers, executives, film editors, live action short film makers, makeup artists and hairstylists, producers, production designers, public relations specialists, set decorators, sound experts, visual effects masters, scenic artists and writers.

Interesting how writers were the last to be listed. Oh well.

There are notables names in that area, too. One that sticks out is Paula Wagner, who teamed with Tom Cruise to make the Mission Impossible movie series. And under "Director" there's Tyler Perry. But what's interesting is how we can see the "Hollywood pecking order": if you're in this membership group, your an elite person in the business. Here's the list of new Academy members for 2009:

Actors
Casey Affleck
Emily Blunt
Michael Cera
Viola Davis
James Franco
Brendan Gleeson
Anne Hathaway
Taraji P. Henson
Emile Hirsch
Hugh Jackman
Melissa Leo
Jane Lynch
Eddie Marsan
James McAvoy
Seth Rogen
Paul Rudd
Amy Ryan
Michael Shannon
Michelle Williams
Jeffrey Wright

Animators
J.J. Blumenkranz
Konstantin Bronzit
Kendal Cronkhite
Rodolphe Guenoden
Byron Howard
Kunio Kato
Doug Sweetland
Chris Williams

Art Directors
Andrew Ackland-Snow

At-Large
Matthew D. Loeb
Redmond Morris

Casting Directors
John Papsidera
Bernie Telsey

Cinematographers
Russ T. Alsobrook
Anthony Dod Mantle
Henner Hofmann
Claudio Miranda
Rodney Taylor
Mandy Walker

Costume Designers
Deborah Hopper
Louise Mingenbach
Michael O’Connor
Michael Wilkinson

Directors
Rachid Bouchareb
Danny Boyle
David Frankel
Rod Lurie
Thomas McCarthy
Tyler Perry
Henry Selick

Documentary
William Gazecki
Rachel Grady
Rory Kennedy
Scott Hamilton Kennedy
James Marsh
Megan Mylan
Doug Pray

Executives
Daniel D.A. Battsek
Steve Beeks
Graham W. Burke
Joe Drake
Erik Feig
Paul Hanneman
Donald P. Harris
Claudia Lewis

Film Editors
Roger Barton
Hank Corwin
Chris Dickens
Elliot Graham
Kathryn Himoff
Leo Trombetta
Brent White
Pam Wise

Live Action Short Films
Reto Caffi
Jochen Alexander Freydank
F. Carter Pilcher

Makeup and Hairstylists
Howard Berger
Mike Elizalde
Louis Lazzara
Gerald Quist

Music
Jeff Danna
Andrew Dorfman
Peter Gabriel
Clint Mansell
A.R. Rahman

Producers
Mark Ciardi
Christian Colson
Gordon Gray
Broderick Johnson
Cathy Konrad
Andrew Kosove
James Lassiter
Russell Smith
Paula Wagner

Production Designers
Donald Graham Burt
Michael Carlin
Jane Ann Stewart
Kevin Thompson

Public Relations
Michael D. Camp
Marc Cohen
Megan Colligan
James C. Gallagher
David Kaminow
Sal Ladestro
Maria Pekurovskaya
Elizabeth Petit

Set Decorators
Rebecca Alleway
Peter Lando
Barbara Munch-Cameron

Scenic Artists
Robert Topol

Sound
Michael Barry
Derek Casari
Aaron Glascock
Ren Klyce
Peter F. Kurland
Karen Baker Landers
Hamilton Sterling
Deborah Wallach
Kim Waugh

Visual Effects
Christopher Bond
Matthew Butler
Chris Corbould
Rob Engle
Scott Gordon
Hal Hickel
Van Ling
Shane Mahan
Steve Preeg
Tim Webber
Edson Williams

Writers
John August
Dustin Lance Black
Courtney Hunt
Howard A. Rodman

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Michael Jackson passes | public opinion: "We Are The World"

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Michael Jackson's passing is still a shock to me. The very idea that someone I feel like I grew up with left us at the age of 50 is just not right at all. I first saw Michael perform when I was 10 years old at the old Chicago International Amphitheatre in 1972; the Campbell family, who babysat me, took me and I remember it like it was yesterday. The Jackson Five was then the must see event and Michael was the star.

Michael was like my brother. In a way for many African Americans he was just that, a sibling. I knew him as the guy who grew up in Gary, Indiana. We knew people who knew them in Chicago, so I felt close to him long ago. I think it's for that reason so many African Americans were on Michael's side during the years when it seems he was kind of flying the coup: changing his skin color from brown to near white; narrowing his nose, and basically seeming to channel his best friend the legendary singer Diana Ross. Then, of course, there were the claims that he "liked boys" which we figured wasn't the case, and was more a byproduct of the money and attention seeking people who surrounded him. Michael was a person with an arrested development: he never had a childhood so to escape the trappings of a constant adult life, he created a childhood for himself.

I think being an adult just literally killed Michael.

For me, Michael Jackson was the person who wanted to bring us all together, as shown in his "We Are The World" effort. That amazing production and song, created with a group of the World's best known music talents, with Lionel Richie, Quincy Jones, Stevie Wonder, Steve Perry, Bob Dylan, the late Ray Charles, and a host of others and to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia, was just amazing. Amazing. I loved that song then; I still do today and I cry every time I hear it. (the lyrics and video are at the end of this post).


Talking with people About Michael's passing

The death of Michael Jackson is one of those events that will cause you to remember where you were when you learned of it. In my case I'd just emerged from a private movie screening at the Saul Zaentz Film Center in West Berkeley, CA. My Mom just happened to call with the news as I was walking to my car; I was stunned. Just stunned. So I took my Flip Video Camera and set out to talk to people about what happened to Michael. I had plenty of places to do this: the BART train station, the San Francisco Magazine "Best of The Bay" party, and all points in between.

What's amazing is the sheer number of people who were immediately informed via text messages and the reactions: shock, sadness, but not joy. No. No one expressed anything close to that at all, even given the part of his life where it seemed he was overwhelmed with "kid" issues. Nothing.

Dominic Phillips, the master of event planning in San Francisco, and who produced last night's "San Francisco Magazine Best of The Bay" party said "It's horrible. First and formost, anybody dying is horrible. There are so many family members that are just gonna be torn apart. But also Michael Jackson; on the one hand he was a very maverick person. But on the other hand he was part of my generation's life. He was like part of my experience, my growing up and I feel a little robbed that he's not there anymore. Like whether you thought his experience was your experience,that doesn't really come into it for me. I just sort of bonded with him in my youth and now he's gone."

Another woman I talked to on Howard Street in San Francisco said "I was just walking and three people got text messages (that he died)...just terrible. My friend Beth Schnitzer, who's the Director of Sponsorship Marketing at Pier 39 said "I can't believe it. Every time I listen to his music, it brings back a great memory from growing up somehow, some way. You know, it really hasn't hit me. He was too young; way too young." Jerusha, "The Last Single Girl In The World" said, as only she can, "We all have to go sometime and boy did he have a fabulous life before he went. He did it up and he did it up right. You know what they say, you only live once and that's all you need if you do it right!"

I talked to a lot of people, and if you see my video there are more than what's presented here, but all just variations on what was expressed. People loved Michael, warts and all. The "Best of The Bay" event turned into a kind of tribute to Michael, with his music playing continuously through the evening, and people danced, especially to "Thriller" which is a modern classic.

Sad day it was to have this happen. Michael, the world will miss you.

We Are The World - Lyrics and video:

Written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, produced by Quincy Jones.



There comes a time
When we head a certain call
When the world must come together as one
There are people dying
And it's time to lend a hand to life
The greatest gift of all

We can't go on
Pretending day by day
That someone, somewhere will soon make a change
We are all a part of
God's great big family
And the truth, you know love is all we need

[Chorus]
We are the world
We are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So let's start giving
There's a choice we're making
We're saving our own lives
It's true we'll make a better day
Just you and me

Send them your heart
So they'll know that someone cares
And their lives will be stronger and free
As God has shown us by turning stone to bread
So we all must lend a helping hand

[Chorus]
We are the world
We are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So let's start giving
There's a choice we're making
We're saving our own lives
It's true we'll make a better day
Just you and me

When you're down and out
There seems no hope at all
But if you just believe
There's no way we can fall
Well, well, well, well, let us realize
That a change will only come
When we stand together as one

[Chorus]
We are the world
We are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So let's start giving
There's a choice we're making
We're saving our own lives
It's true we'll make a better day
Just you and me

Perez Hilton v. Wil.I.Am, Black Eyed Peas: Hilton melts down

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Perez Hilton lost it on video Monday.

On Monday morning the famous blogger went to an after-party (who came up with that term?) to celebrate the winners of the MuchMusic Awards in Toronto, Canada. But Hilton has a history of insulting celebrities and one of them, Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas, has been his favorite to criticize, even though they're reportedly friends. Here's an example of what Hilton's written about Fergie:

Oh, Fugly!

Why??????

The usually sometimes fashionably dressed singer was spotted in London with the Black Eyed Peas attending a BBC Radio One interview.

And it was nice to see Fergie wasn't a total diva and even took time to sign autographs for her fans.

She was sporting a "unique"-looking braided ponytail. The 34-year-old also opted to wear some futuristic, mirror-inspired sunglasses.

There are other pages on Hilton's site that are filled with not-so-flattering comments about Fergie. So it's understandable that Fergie would approach Hilton at the first party at one club and which led to Wil.I.Am approaching Hilton at another venue, the Cobra nightclub early Monday morning. Hilton called the rapper a variation of the "F-word" that has the Gay Community upset with him.

Polo Molina, the band's tour manager would eventually punch Hilton outside the club.

While Hilton says he was with Lady Gaga (who has a massively cool website to go with her hit "LoveGame"), there's no mention of the incident on her site or her Twitter page or her Facebook fan page. So when Hilton tweets:

@iamtherealwill There are multiple witnesses. You can deny all you want. The truth is the truth and I am telling the truth.

I wonder who Hilton expects to step forward to take up for him, even with Molina's surrender to police. From this it's clear Hilton's on his own here; Lady Gaga's not issuing any kind of statement to indicate she was a witness to the matter. And given Hilton's actions, captured and presented on video by TMZ.com, Molina could claim he was acting to defend a friend who was being attacked by Hilton; that friend would be Wil.I.Am.

We have in the video above, both sides of the story: Wil.I.Am's video posted this morning and Perez "meltdown" video posted around noon Pacific Standard Time. Both videos explain what happened, with one main difference: Wil.I.Am said "a fan" "got into Perez' face" and Hilton said it was Molina who hit him in his video.

But Perez Hiton Twittered that Wil.I.Am struck him, which is completely false. I suppose Molina's turning himself in to the Toronto Police makes the matter moot, but pointing a finger at Wil.I.Am for the purpose of gaining more attention to the story is really pathetic. And even more so is Hilton's total meltdown in his video, which you can see above.

 Perez Hilton's meltdown may signal the end of ambush journalism

As the video plays, Hilton first speaks calmly if angrily, but toward the end starts crying and yelling, saying some really vile things about Fergie and The Black Eyed Peas; a performance which essentially confirms their claims that he has something against them. Hilton's performance has done little to win him fans on Twitter or anywhere else. Shockingly, a small percentage of people openly express that they're happy he was beaten up and that view was shared on Twitter and message board and my YouTube video comment page. He even acknowledges this on his Twitter page:

@johncmayer And people DO want to see me hurt. That's what I've been reading over and over again. But it's cool. I'll be back 2 normal tomm.

And look at the way he insulted actress Kirstie Alley on Twitter just two hours ago:

@kirstiealley I'm 31 years old. You're 58. But it seems like you have the mental maturity of a 13 year old. Way to go! about 2 hours ago from web in reply to kirstiealley

And Hilton wonders why he gets all the bad Karma! It's not right that Molina hit him, but it's also very wrong that Hilton uses words as fists in part because its legal to do so, or so he thinks. In my view, this event is one more nail in the coffin of true free speech; a law will be passed at some point to curb this behavior. One can't go around pushing buttons just for kicks or for news.


Hilton's approach may have met its waterloo

For five years Hilton's built and cultivated an image as a blogger who picks on people to generate web traffic with the objective of then drawing paying sponsors, even calling himself the "Gossip Gangsta,"; this fight in Toronto was the classic example as Hilton was the aggressive player, verbally abusing Fergie and Wil.I.Am, and even stating in his meltdown video that there's no law against talking about someone in the fashion he's mastered.

That is true, but if Hilton keeps up "blog thug economics" he may spur a new law to curb such practices in the future. Recording artist John C Mayer has engaged in a lively "discussion" with Hilton on Twitter and while he's trying to get Hilton to clean up his act, Hilton's responses show he has no interest in doing so, but to be honest, Mayor's not really trying to calm him down either, because Mayor's unhappy Hilton made him his Monday target in his website, writing that he was "boring" his father on an outing for Father's Day.

Wow.

Perez Hilton: @johncmayer All I really care about in this world is doing right by my family and my dog, and sharing and listening to music.24 minutes ago from web in reply to johncmayer

John C. Mayor: @perezhilton because today, the fourth wall came crashing down. Mario, you are human. I call upon Twitter to be kind to you. #perezisokbyme17 minutes ago from web

John C. Mayor: @perezhilton now you sit down behind that Tandy computer and you hash out a Doogie diary. Be sure to pause, think, and keep typing.18 minutes ago from web

Perez Hilton: @johncmayer I'm not human! I'm a monster! Good night, John Mayer.14 minutes ago from web in reply to johncmayer

John C Mayor: @PerezHilton Good night Perez, you dumb shit. #perezisokbyme 13 minutes ago from web in reply to PerezHilton

Between Hilton's tactics and the equally questionable actions of TMZ.com, which sends young college students out to point camcorders in the face of stars in LA and ask them stupid questions, we're seeing the future of news: do something to get people to respond then report on the response. Fox News has used this style of "ambush journalism" many times over the past fives years and now other media outlets are using it against them.

Perhaps Hilton's unfortunate beatdown is a road to the end of this practice but given that people like to read about them, it may be the beginning of something new. Sadly, I think it's going to take someone losing their life before this circus is halted for good.

Perez Hilton upsets the Gay Community with his words against Wil.I.Am

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Blogger Perez Hilton's antics during an altercation with Wil.I.Am of the Black Eyed Peas Monday morning has earned him a stern statement from The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD). During that exchange, Hilton, who's Gay, called Wil.I.Am an anti-gay slur. GLAAD's calling for Hilton to apologize:

New York, NY, June 22, 2009 – The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) today issued the following statement in response to a video posted by celebrity blogger Perez Hilton, in which he made the following remarks about a confrontation with will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas and members of the band’s entourage.

"And that is when I made the split-second decision - that I was gonna say what I thought was the worst possible thing that thug [will.i.am] would ever want to hear. As I was standing my ground - without being violent or physical which I would never do - I told him - and you know what? I don't need to respect you and you're a f**. You're gay and stop being such a f***ot."

His statement appears in this video:




"These are vulgar anti-gay slurs that feed a climate of hatred and intolerance toward our community," said Rashad Robinson, Senior Director of Media Programs at GLAAD. “For someone in our own community to use it to attack another person by saying that it is, quote, ‘The worst possible thing that thug would ever want to hear,’ is incredibly dangerous. It legitimizes use of a slur that is often linked to violence against our community. And it sends a message that it is OK to attempt to dehumanize people by exploiting anti-gay attitudes.”

“We have reached out to Hilton and asked him to apologize for promoting this anti-gay slur, and we would ask media outlets to avoid repetition of the slur in their coverage of this story.”

Reuters is reporting that Toronto police have charged Liborio Molina, the manager of the Black Eyed Peas, with assault.

“While not all the facts in this case are known, the violence that appears to have been committed against Perez Hilton is unacceptable and ought to be condemned in the strongest possible terms,” said Robinson.

As of this writing Hilton's not issued an apology.