The following was written prior to cocktail hour on the west coast....
1) She thought that MJ was the King of the GOP not the King of POP
2) Test results were about to be released to show that her grandchild TRIP is really the son of TRIP (Sr.)
3) She looked at the window of her house (towards Russia) and realized that she could see it because Global Warming had taken all the snow off the mountains
4) Looking at Russia she realized that she could move there and no one would know who she was
5) While reading all of the magazines and newspapers that she reads she realized there were some stories that made her look really stupid
6) She was told that she will get the job as Governor of South Carolina - it's warmer there
7) She just got a bill from Neiman Marcus saying she owes them $150K
8) She heard she could "double up" on history classes this summer at Wasilla High
9) Alaska is succeeding and Todd is going to be President of Independent Alaska, she will be First Lady of Alaska
10) She got a blank check from Rupert Murdoch to host her own show on Fox News - "Insight with Sarah Palin"
junkie (def) noun an enthusiastic follower; fan; devotee
True or False
I am a media junkie.
addict noun a person who is addicted to an activity, habit
addict verb to habituate or abandon (oneself) to something compulsively or obsessively
True or False?
I am addicted to the internet.
True or False
Michael Jackson was (potentially) addicted to drugs.
True or False
Michael Jackson's death was a tragedy.
True or False
I am a face book junkie.
True or False
A media junkie who is addicted to watching, participating, commenting and contributing to the internet is a tragedy.
I spent the weekend recovering from Media exhaustion. There were several days in the past 10 that I had my face book, twitter, cnn, msnbc or you tube windows opened simultaneously for part of most of the time I was on my computer, my blackberry, etc.
Does the immediacy of information keep you up...or bring you down? Or both.
I'm trying to figure it all out.
I'm exhilarated when early indications showed that Obama was gaining over McCain, when the stock market is up by 500 points, when a friend I haven't heard from in a while suddenly finds me on face book, or there's a surprise announcement of the awarding of a Nobel Prize.
But are those "highs" enough to compensate for the lows we feel when tragedy comes into our own home, the horror we digest with our morning coffee as we watched the protesters get beaten on the streets of Iran, the scenes of the limbs and bloodied bodies after the bombs in the market in Iraq, the disappointment of yet another politician confessing that their brain resides between their legs?
They say that it's cocktail hour somewhere in the world ... beam me up Scotty!
I don't usually comment on the life - or death - of celebrities. It's really not my thing. But our store, Wine Valet is in the heart/center of Beverly Hills and for the last hour you can see the stunned faces after the shocking news of the death of Michael Jackson.
We haven't even had time to grieve for Farrah - and bloggers are already chatting away about how "unfair" it is to have her story upstaged by Jackson's untimely death. But I think there's something deeper here - and it's a long look in the mirror - these were two individuals who greatly influenced pop culture gone at a young age.
And while Jackson's death might be the more shocking because it came out of nowhere - afterall, we'd been reading for weeks about his payback/comeback that was just around the corner - both deaths remind us that the media plays a huge role in who "lives" and who "dies". And today, while they continue to rush to play out the final chapter for each of these stars the sadness that abounds is that they each had their own difficulties in life, compounded by the media's intensive attention to their fame and that neither will have the chance to redeem themselves, clean the slate or be held up in a glorious comeback ever again.
The parking lot is stilled now - I'm sure everyone is home glued to their tv for additional word to make sense of Jackson's death. His music will live on, his investors will file for bankruptcy and the final chapter is over.
For those of us who grew up with the two in our lives - not on video or late night reruns - it reminds us that each day is precious, life is short, let's make it sweet. I'll drink to that.