AEG Live, the promoter of the late Michael Jackson's O2 residency, has come up with a terrific money saving wheeze to minimise the amount it has to refund to fans who bought tickets.
AEG Live is suggesting that the fans can keep the tickets (non black market tickets costing £50 to £75), if they agree to forgo their rights to claim a refund.
The tickets feature lenticular images, which give them a 3D moving effect. Whilst that may be a small inducement, the real inducement is the possibility that the tickets will become collectors' items.
I am a Jackson fan, but I also know the guy had become a circus act. Each day he seemed to get more and more weird and his facial surgeries became pathological. There is no doubt that Michael Jackson was truly freaky and strange. I say all this to illustrate that I am not some rabid fan that supported his every action, to the contrary much of what he did freaked me out.
ReplyDeleteThe press hounded the man and the reporting varied from excellent to funny to obsessive to just plain mean. To be honest, I didn't really read any of it. I loved his music and had fond memories of the Thriller days, but other than that I went on with my life not paying attention to most of it. I only watched the news about the trial the day the verdict came in.
Now that he is dead I went to the internet to see if someone had written a tribute just so I could read a bit about his life, reminisce about some of the old days and kind of say goodbye. Your website was one of the top ones on Google and I came here to read a bit. What I found was a bit disturbing. Domain after domain registered by you focusing on Michael Jackson and events in his life (particularly the trial):
www.michaeljacksontrail.com
www.michaeljacksontrial.co.uk
...and on and on. There are like 15 or 20 domains, that costs a good chunk of money.
Then I read some of the entries in the blog and it all smacks of anger and resentment. I'm sure you get seething hate mail from Jackson fanboys and girls all the time, who would blast anyone who isn't worshipping at his feet. I'm not doing that though, I'm not attacking and flaming, I'm just wondering why are you doing this? Why is there such anger oozing from the words you write about him? Has he done something to you? Are you a former employee? A disgruntled fan? What gives? I just don't understand what motivates a person to register so many domains and spend all that time writing snide blog entries about Jackson's life? What is the attraction? I could understand a fan doing something like this, writing entries that are positive, but what would motivate someone to give this much time, this much energy, paying for that many domains to write angry stuff? I'll admit, I don't get it.
I listened to a wonderful segment once on Garrison Keillor's Prairie Home Companion on the radio where he spoke about being hurt by someone and developing a kind of obsession with hating the guy. This goes on for a while and then he realizes that he is spending all this time, many hours of the day thinking, obsessing, about a person he dislikes. This person, whom he hates is dominating most of his day, his thoughts, his energy and basically making his life miserable without even knowing what Garrison is doing. A man he can't stand is dominating his life all because he is obsessing about him. He comes to the conclusion that forgiving this guy for what he has done is more about helping himself than doing something altruistic. Hate can dominate our life. It can cause us to spend hour after hour thinking about someone we dislike rather than the people we love. Hate enslaves us to the object of our derision.
I say all that to suggest that you let it go, my friend, you'll be a happier person. Maybe you do it because it makes you feel better about your own life, but for whatever reason... let it go. Let some other angry, obsessed person carry the torch. Move on and begin living your life to the full and leave this nonsense behind. Do it now, because you don't want to look back and regret all the time lost, the energy spent and all you'll have to show for it are a bunch of angry entries in a blog about someone you revile. I hope you'll lay it down and heal. Let this blog die with him and go enjoy your life.
Just a suggestion from someone on the outside looking in. I hope you find peace, my friend.