“He really could not sleep. Have you ever seen the Thriller image when he was made up? He looked that hysterical. … I think in many ways, there were some mirror images in our lives. I’ve seen him cry so many times. He lived a life greater than a hundred years of pain of any human.”

That’s … horrible. I mean, we all know that Jackson had these myriad issues with abuse as a child and substance abuse later on in life, but why the whole “not sleeping” thing? Were his traumas scarringly bad enough that he couldn’t even escape them in shutting down for the evening? Was it due to medication withdrawal? Was it, as a lot of people say, an inability to “shut down” his creativity? Was this how he wanted it to end after all?

All I know is that Conrad Murray is releasing a documentary this Friday, one that was filmed in the days after Jackson’s death in 2009, discussing all sorts of issues that had been in place which resulted in Jackson’s untimely death. In the special, 8Murray will be divulging information about the late performer’s special lifelong friendship with Murray himself. I don’t know about you guys, but he has got my attention. This could be fascinating. Will you be tuning in to MSNBC on Friday?

For our honeymoon a few years back, my husband and I went to the Dominican Republic and vacationed at an oceanfront resort. After checking out a plethora of spots, we’d decided to head there because it looked pretty sweet when we’d checked it out online, but the real clincher was that every night, their performance team did a Michael Jackson tribute show. Yeah, it was the same show every night, but if you were drunk enough, it really didn’t matter. It was entertaining as all hell, and not at all creepy that there were, at any given time, sixteen to twenty “Michael Jacksons” moonwalking around the stage and amphitheater.

This kid, however, completely kills it. And I’m sure – no, as a matter of fact, I’m completely positive – that if he ever decided to apply for an entertainment job at the Excellence Punta Cana resort, he’d be welcomed with open arms and one-gloved hands.

From People:

Dr. Conrad Murray was convicted Monday of involuntary manslaughter in the June 25, 2009, death of Michael Jackson.

A bewildered-looking Murray was handcuffed and led out of the courtroom. He was held without bail pending sentencing.

“This is a crime where the end result was the death of a human being,” said Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor. “That factor demonstrates rather dramatically that the public should be protected.”

Earlier, Murray showed no emotion as the clerk read the verdict, which was reached after 10 hours of deliberation.

As the verdict was read in the courtroom, Jackson’s sister La Toya said, “Yes!” His mother Katherine dabbed tears with a tissue. Other Jackson family members and fans shouted in joy.

How are you guys feeling about this? Does it give the family closure, or does it really just not change anything at all?

I’m not even going to spend time criticizing Christina‘s outfit, because it’s not even worth it. The girl has absolutely no regard for choosing flattering outfits, or, an idea that I’m finding is probably more accurate, has stylists that like to make her the butt of jokes on the interwebs. And that hair? Good Lord, son.

The rest of the folks in attendance, folks like sister LaToya, Michael’s kids, Ne-Yo, Leona Lewis, Jamie Foxx and his gigantic penis, Gladys Knight, and Smokey Robinson, just to name a few, all looked pretty great and pretty classy. Jackson’s daughter, Paris, even rocked the ‘Thriller’ jacket, which, to me, is pretty fecking wesome. But Christina Aguilera? Ugh, forget it guys. This woman is over.

Photo via Daphne Barak

Well, well.

I was wondering when Aaron Carter‘s spokesperson would blast that scummy article from OK! Magazine. Turns out it was sooner rather than later.

Yesterday, a representative for Aaron Carter denied that Carter gave certain quotes to OK! Australia—OK! had alleged that Michael Jackson gave a then-15-year-old Aaron Carter alcohol and cocaine. The spokesperson also told TMZ to go check YouTube for interview footage. (I hope Carter’s rep meant my YouTube video! That ‘ish took 287 minutes to upload! Not kidding.)

But late last night, slightly-noteworthy tabloid journalist Daphne Barak—she’s the one who interviewed Carter and presumably wrote the article for OK! Australia in the first place—retaliated by publishing still more audio from her interview with Aaron Carter. This time, she selected a much more salacious snippet about Carter’s childhood friendship with Michael Jackson.

And for this new clip, Ms. Barak evidently emptied her iPhoto library of every candid shot she had of herself physically clinging to Aaron Carter, just in case you needed proof that portions of the interview occurred between friends, or were likely said in confidence.

It’s nigh impossible to make out a word of what Ms. Barak says, so here’s Aaron Carter’s half of the first part of their conversation, without Barak’s interjections/egging-on:

…He wanted me to stay in his room. So he got a cot—a bed—and, uh, and I stayed on a cot. In his room. And it must’ve been, like, 5 o’clock in the morning, and—5 o’clock in the morning. He’s on my bed. He’s on the foot of my bed. And I wake up. And I’m like, gasp! What are you doing! Like, you know. I’m 15 years old! You know? Like, what are you doing? “Oh, my God, I didn’t know, I didn’t know.” And he went in his bed, and y’know, I’m like, Okaaaaaaayy.

Here’s the audio itself, and you’re welcome. (I stripped out the photos of Daphne Barak posing with Aaron Carter, because, puh-leeeease, right? Right.)

(more…)

Yesterday we posted quotes from OK! Australia attributed to 23-year-old singer Aaron Carter, who allegedly told the magazine that Michael Jackson plied him with alcohol and cocaine when Carter was just 15 years old.

Now, many MJ loyalists are doubting the veracity of the published interview, insisting the videotaped version of the interview is evidence of some kind of fabrication.

In this video—filmed by tabloid journalist Daphne Barak and posted to her website—Aaron Carter makes no mention of anybody offering him cocaine. In fact, he clarifies that he never witnessed Michael Jackson doing drugs.

Because visiting Ms. Barak’s cutting-edge website might kill your computer, I’ve embedded a meticulously subtitled version of Barak’s taped interview with Carter. (FYI: no part of Barak’s original video has been omitted, although on her website she does note that this is only the “first excerpt of an hours-long interview.”)

Carter describes the party he attended at Neverland Ranch in 2003, saying that Jackson cut loose and drank wine. He speaks favorably of Michael Jackson, although he concedes the man was weird. As for drug use? He maintains that Jackson was “fine.” But then Barak and Carter go on to invent several hypotheses about Michael Jackson, speculating that he may have secretly done coke in the bathroom, or that he’d built up enough of a pill-tolerance so as to always seem “fine,” or, or, or.

The video itself, by the way, is bizarre. By its end, Carter—who has been sitting next to a piano all along—is visibly eager to play Ms. Barak a song he wrote to Michael Jackson in “tribute.” Carter’s ballad is transparently lyrically loaded to imply the Love of Which We Oughtn’t Speak, and it is completely ridiculous. Also, the footage of Carter is intercut with photographs of Ms. Barak and Carter palling around.

Did Daphne Barak simply edit all the incriminating quotes out of her video before posting it? Does it even matter that Aaron Carter On Tape seemingly conflicts with Aaron Carter In OK! Magazine? What exactly is going on here?