Heavy Losses...Any Winning At "The Death Pool"?

Sorry, was that a bit callous? If you are not familiar with "the death pool", it is an actual list of famous people who people bet on as to when they are going to die. People will bet on anything! Those crazy people....not that I have $20 on Charo biting the dust in 2015...her hip will give out during an onstage performance and cause her to careen off the stage, ultimately causing her demise. I do have some evil thoughts, don't I?

OK, on to more serious memories. It's always difficult when famous icons pass away unexpectedly or at an earlier than expected age.

With Farah Fawcett, when I was about 6 years old, you either wanted to BE Farah Fawcett, or you wanted to BE WITH Farach Fawcett.
This first photo is an early Farah...notice the photo is from an old "Teen Beat" magazine...weren't those the best!
Now this next photo was really famous and at one point in time you could walk into almost any boys' room and see this poster on their wall....my brother and I actually had mugs with this photo on it - but it was just her head. I will never forget one night we were both going to have some milk in our mugs, but after my Mom left the kitchen, my brother decided to have soda instead. When my Mom saw the soda she asked why he didn't get milk and he said, "Farah made me do it"...it doesn't seem that funny now, but I remember laughing about it back then...

This was Farah probably a few years ago - not so bad, but looking a little ragged. If we only knew the terrible disease she was enduring. Farah will be missed, but unfortunately I believe her death will be but a fleeting thought....

Mainly because she had the misfortune to pass away on the SAME DAY as Michael Jackson! What rotten luck! Her memory will forever be overshadowed because she died on the same blasted day as the King of Pop! That will be my luck. I will finally have my chance for 15 minutes of fame some day, and guaranteed some gigantic event will overshadow it. Not that I'm in any way comparing myself to Farah....I never could get my frizzy, curly hair to feather like hers! But we all tried, didn't we! (don't lie, I know you did!) Always had my comb handy in back pocket to fix my non-feathery hair at a moments notice! Or is was in my Bermuda bag. Or that pocket of my Barracuda jacket.

OK moving right along....I can remember meeting my friend Julie, who was my new neighbor at the time, and her playing the song "ABC, 123" by the Jackson 5.
This photo is when plastic surgery was just a sparkle in his eye...he was all about normal at this point in his life....

Then I think it was 8th grade when Billy Jean came out. I remember that video and thinking it was sooo cool...those moves! We all wanted to be able to dance like Michael Jackson. When "Beat It" came out, my friend, Lisa, and I actually took a break dancing class....we thought it would help us dance like him in that video. I was never one of the screaming Michael Jackson fans, never went to one of his concerts, but I definitely enjoyed his music....

This photo shows he has begun the face work, but it doesn't look bad, he hasn't turned into scary mask guy yet....

I even remember when the Thriller video came out. That was insane! No one had ever done anything like this before! Every time I would watch MTV (back when MTV played videos all day for 24 hours a day) and the Thriller video came on, I would pray it was the long version. There was the long version which was about 20 minutes long, then the short, more commonly played version that was about 5 minutes long.

Ok, now we get to the scary photo. I'm sorry, but the guy turned into a whack job! I read an article today that said his interview a few years back where he let the guy basically live with his entourage for a few months, really did irreparable damage to his reputation. I think if MJ didn't look so freaky, he would have been easier for the public to stomach. I'm assuming he had lots of bad plastic surgery; supposedly he had that pigment condition which was turning his skin white; and during his trial for child molestation he supposedly had back problems. I don't know, I think he made some crucial mistakes: marrying Lisa Marie Presley, dangling a baby over the balcony AND SLEEPING WITH CHILDREN! My husband thinks he hired someone to stage his death - fake body and all - so that he could just disappear; I said I thought it was very possible that was the case and he was living somewhere as a woman right this minute.
MJ (I can call him that because we go way back), your music will be missed.

Heeeeere's Ed! OK, I thought Farah had bad luck? Poor Ed McMahon died a few days before Farah and MJ and his memory was less than a blip on the news screen.
Who didn't like Ed McMahon? He came off as a clean cut, all-American guy...like your favorite Uncle or your best friend's Grandfather. Secretly he might have had a mouth like a truck driver and worn women's clothing, but what we don't know won't hurt us....right?

So I wonder if he's in heaven now following God around saying...."Heeeere's The Almighty!"