We’ve seen Finnish artist Mari Kasurinen’s work on Neatorama before. She’s at it again with her My Little Pony mods, now going after pop icons from Lady Gaga to Thriller-era Michael Jackson. My favorites are the Mad Hatter (pictured) and Edward Scissorhands.

Link via Design.org

I awoke one morning from a vivid fever dream in which the heavenly spirit of Michael Jackson appeared to me in the form of a sequined glove lovingly grasping a perfectly smooth oblong jade stone. On closer inspection, the stone had a small flaw that slowly, menacingly enlarged, until the entire dreamspace filled with its malignant presence. MJ’s distinctive voice intoned, “They’re ignorant, Dr. Dogg, they must be taught. Touch these young males in a way that I am no longer able to. Hee hee…OOOH!”

My dream-self shifted uneasily, and before the King of Pop could finish I awoke to find myself drenched in sweat, one hand “down there,” instinctively curled in a primitive protective gesture. It was this very fever sweat, noted so crudely by Dr. Harry in his screed above, that dampened the axillae of my garment. Having rushed to his home to convey the high mission given us, I couldn’t contain my enthusiasm at the prospect of shielding the young from such a cancerous scourge.

You have to see it for yourself. And guys, be sure to check yourselves every month. Link -Thanks, Zubin!

The Buzz Log has a video clip of Jean singing the King of Pop’s Billy Jean, while driving through the streets of Minas Gerais: Link [embedded YouTube]

The classic game show The Dating Game featured a string of celebrity contestants during the 1970s. Margaret Eby of Flavorwire compiled ten of the best or oddest, including Arnold Schwarzenegger, Vincent Price, and Suzanne Somers. Embedded above is Michael Jackson’s appearance to interview three young girls. He asks them how they would respond if he brings his pet snake on their date.

Link

A salesman in Taiwan made scarecrows that resemble Michael Jackson. I wonder how these affect crows compared to other scarecrows. See a video report (in Spanish) at Buzzfeed. Link

Here’s a masterful, nay, epic synchronization of a 1976 video of the Red Army performing the Long March Song Cycle with Michael Jackson’s "Beat It," by YouTube user dinosum.

Link [embedded YouTube]

Those who sleep with a mask on can now scare the living daylights out of a roommate or bedmate with the Michael Jackson Sleep Mask. Now half price! The mask features a picture of Jackson’s eyes, enlarged just enough to be truly creepy. Link -via Rue the Day

Artist Kelly Coats created a phenakistiscope that follows the life of Michael Jackson. Spin the wheel and see him change. It looks like this:

Link -via Dangerous Minds

Those who can dance, those who can’t … finger dance! Behold Michael Jackson’s Thriller finger-danced. Complete with hand costumes, of course. Hit play or go to Link [YouTube]

Check ‘em bust a move (without busting a hip, thankfully) to Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean: Link [embedded YouTube]

James Dacey of Physicsworld.com Blog spotted two such phenomena:

Michael Jackson: This Is It (It Being Polymer Droplet)

Physicist David Fairhurst of Nottingham Trent University was working on a physics experiment involving droplet of polymer solution (those wacky scientists!) when he saw the face of Michael Jackson!

The ugly-looking globular mound is a droplet of polymer solution, the kind of substance you might find in the ink cartridges of your printer. As the solution began to dry, Fairhurst noticed a number of small “spherulites” begin to crystallise on the droplet surface revealing what appears to be a tiny human face. [...]

The physicist and his group of PhD students reckon the face looks like a small girl, or possibly even the King of Pop, Michael Jackson.

I ran the image through an online face-recognition programme and the names that came out included: Rachel Carson, the American environmentalist; Marlene Dietrich the German-born actress; and (tenuously) Iggy Pop.

Link – via Geekosystem, thanks Glenn!

The Beatles in Bouncing Water Droplet

It was whilst writing a story this afternoon about water-repellency in lotus leaves that I noticed something very strange. Bizarrely, everybody’s favourite mop-topped Liverpudlian seems to reveal himself in the high-speed photo images of water-droplets being ejected from the leaf surface.

Link

Sosa was photographed recently during an appearance at Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas.

"He is going through a rejuvenation process for his skin," Polihronis said. "Women have it all of the time. He was surprised he came out looking so white. I thought it was a body double. Part of (the photo appearance) is just the lighting.

"He is in the middle of doing a cleansing process to his skin. The picture is deceiving. He said, ‘If you saw me in person, you would be surprised. When you see me in person, it is not going to seem like the picture.’

Link (Photo: AP/Tribune/Getty)

“It was a blast!” said Benny Vasquez, a Visalia, Calif., welder who was regaining his bearings after a dizzying turn on the Spider, an arachnid-shaped contraption with blazing green bulbs lining its black legs. “It’s exciting for people to be able to sit on something that he owned.”

Over the years, Jackson acquired about 18 rides for his 2,600-acre ranch in Santa Barbara County. Some gradually were swapped out for newer models and hit the carnival circuit without fanfare. But most stayed in place even after Jackson, acquitted on child molestation charges in 2005, left Neverland for good.

Several big amusement companies purchased what remained in 2008, repainting and sprucing up rides run down by weather and lack of use.

Link -via Fark

(image credit: Tomas Ovalle/LA Times)

Growing up singing together has its advantages! This post looks at thirteen different sibling acts that made it big, with videos of each.

Often our brothers and sisters are the first people we sing and play music with, so if it works well, it’s only natural to continue to sing and play with them. The tonal similarity of siblings’ voices allows for the building of beautiful harmonies, which can explain the success of the music made by siblings.

Link

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Peachi.

Michael Jackson may be dead, but his songs live on – and tribute music videos made by his fans continue to pour in. Here’s a Michael Jackson a capella medley by Sam Tsui, Sam Tsui, Sam Tsui, Sam Tsui, Sam Tsui, Sam Tsui,  and Sam Tsui.

(vocals: Sam Tsui, as you can guess; arrangement and production: Kurt Schneider)

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Christophe.

Thousands of people turned out for an attempt to break the world record for the number of people doing a simultaneous Thriller dance in Mexico City. Organizer Javier Hildago says 12,937 participated on Saturday, which would have been Michel Jackson’s 51st birthday. Officials from the Guinness Book of World Records will take some time to determine whether all those people completed the entire dance routine. The current official record is 242 dancers from the College of William & Mary. Link

If you love MJ and kid’s toys, then you’re certain to love this great Etch-A-Sketch artwork of him created by artist George Vlosich III. It took over 150 hours to complete. Now that’s some dedicated etching. He also has some great ones of the president and other celebrities on his site.

Link Via BoingBoing

Michael Jackson: At 40, he will have aged gracefully and will have a handsome, more mature look. In number, his fans will have grown tenfold by the year 2000.

There’s something to be said for aging gracefully. Link -via J-Walk Blog

Rapleaf, a company that specializes in analyzing trends in social media, has an interesting study on the popularity of four artists, namely The Beatles, Elvis, Madonna, and Michael Jackson, across major social networks. They randomly sampled 1.1 million fans, and found some surprising results (the study was done 2 weeks before Michael Jackson’s death, which explains some things):

* The Beatles’ dominating popularity online — The Beatles’ online celebrity may be bolstered by both their music’s enduring appeal and the success of their recent compilation album 1 released in 2000, which has become one of the best-selling albums of this decade with over 31 million in worldwide sales. While all the artists in this study are period icons, The Beatles’ prominence on social media may suggest their ability to better transcend generations, which is in part evidenced by them having the second-youngest fans.

* Michael Jackson’s lack of internet prominence — This is particularly bewildering given Michael Jackson’s younger – and presumably more tech- and social media-savvy – fans and his status as one of the most influential entertainers and musicians to ever take center stage. His 1982 album Thriller remains the best-selling album of all time with over 100 million sales worldwide (more than twice the second best-selling album).

Link – Thanks Michael Hsu!

Last week, CNN took a trip through Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch. In one of their clips, there seems to be a strange shadowy figure crossing the screen. While I’m reserving my judgment, I couldn’t help but think you readers might have your own opinions on the subject. So, is it a ghost or merely an optical illusion?

Link Via News Bizarre

With the passing of musical legend Michael Jackson, the game of comparative history can begin: who do you think is the biggest musical icon of the past century – Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, or Frank Sinatra?

Asylum blog has the low down comparing The King, The King of Pop, and the Chairman: Link

Grace Kelly

Grace Kelly’s death in 1982 was a big surprise. The Princess of Monaco, who was only 52 and seemingly in perfect health, suffered a stroke while driving with her daughter Princess Stephanie. The timing couldn’t have been worse – it was just as she was driving on the edge of a mountainside, and the stroke left her incapacitated and unable to control the car. It careened off the edge of the mountain and rolled down, flipping over multiple times. Stephanie suffered a cervical fracture and some bruising, but Princess Grace didn’t recover from her injuries. The world was stunned because the reports from Monaco originally said that she had broken her collarbone, a leg and some ribs, but was in stable condition.

Photo from CoverBrowser.com.

Elvis

We know now that Elvis was on more drugs than Anna Nicole Smith, but at the time, it wasn’t widely known that he had a veritable pharmacy in his system. In fact, he had gone to Richard Nixon to complain about the prevalence of drugs in the entertainment industry. Despite a series of kind of crappy concerts – he was out of shape and self-conscious about his appearance, and it showed – he was getting ready to embark on a new tour on August 17, 1977. He didn’t make it. The day before, his fiancee Ginger Alden found him dead on the floor of his bathroom at Graceland.

At first the public was told his death was due to cardiac arrhythmia, which wouldn’t have been too unbelievable giving the amount of weight he had gained; he had also been having some obvious breathing troubles onstage. But it didn’t take long before the truth emerged: his very own Dr. Feelgood, Dr. Nick, had been prescribing massive amounts of pills for a very long time. His autopsy revealed that he had 14 drugs in his system when he died; 10 were in large quantities. They included Morphine, Demerol, the antihistamine Chloropheniramine, Valium, Placidyl, Codeine, Ethinamate, Quaaludes and an unidentified barbituate. It’s rumored that he also had Diazepam, Amytal, Nembutal, Carbrital, Sinutab, Elavil, Avental, and Valmid in his system. It’s a wonder that he didn’t die sooner, really.

Photo from FrancesEllenSpeaks.

John Lennon

When Mark David Chapman killed John Lennon by shooting him four times at close range, the entire world immediately went into mourning. On December 8, 1980, John and Yoko were coming back to their apartment at the Dakota in New York after an evening recording session. Waiting in the shadows of the building’s archway was Chapman, an obsessed fan who had approached Lennon earlier in the day for an autograph and a photo. Of the five hollow-point bullets Chapman fired, four of them hit Lennon and inflicted severe injuries. At least one of them punctured his aorta.

Lennon managed to get six stairs up to the doorman before he collapsed; the doorman took the gun from Chapman’s hand and covered Lennon with his jacket. Police loaded Lennon in the backseat of the police car and drove him to the hospital immediately and said that acknowledged that he knew who he was and fell unconscious shortly after. He was pronounced dead upon arrival at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center where the cause was determined to be hypovolemic shock caused by more then 80 percent blood loss.

Crowds gathered in Central Park outside of the Dakota singing and chanting and apparently keeping Yoko Ono awake. She asked them to give her a little peace, but please come back the following Sunday to help her observe 10 minutes of silence for her slain husband. Not only did they come back, the whole world decided to get in on the tribute. More than 100,000 people gathered in Central Park on Sunday, December 14, and 30,000 people in Liverpool followed suit.

Photo from the BBC.

Princess Diana

Princess Diana is the first shocking death I really remember. On August 31, 1997, the Princess and her boyfriend Dodi Al Fayed were being driven in Paris just after midnight. Their driver was trying to evade paparazzi and was driving at speeds much higher than the recommended 30 mph – some reports estimate that he was going at least 65 and others say 90. He lost control of the car in the tunnel and plunged into a support pillar. Al Fayed died at the scene, as did the driver. The other passenger survived.

Diana died of her internal injuries a few hours later at the hospital – the crash had jolted her body so severely that her heart reportedly was displaced to the right side of her chest. Her death was announced at 5:30 a.m. People worldwide were horrified and saddened and more than three million people showed up to mourn her during her Westminster Abbey funeral on September 6. So many flowers and gifts were left outside of Kensington Palace that the public was asked to refrain from bringing any more items because they were becoming safety hazards.

Photo from BiographyAndBiographies.

Dale Earnhardt

While not exactly in the same vein as Princess Diana or Elvis, Dale Earnhardt’s death certainly stunned the sports world. He was just completing the last lap of the Daytona 500 on February 18, 2001, when the left rear corner of his car hit driver Sterling Marlin’s front bumper. This made Earnhardt veer sharply left, then sharply right toward the concrete retaining wall. Just as his car was hitting the wall, Ken Schrader’s car ran into the #3 black Goodwrench car.

To most people, this didn’t seem like such a huge deal – for NASCAR, this was a relatively common accident and they had seen Dale come out unscathed after much worse crashes. The two cars slid down toward the infield grass and Schrader got out of his car, appearing to be completely fine. He walked to the #3 car and looked inside to check on Dale, then immediately signaled for help.

It turned out that Earnhardt died instantly, but wasn’t officially pronounced dead until he was examined at Halifax Medical Center. His injuries included a fatal skull fracture, eight broken ribs, a broken ankle, a fractured breast bone, and collarbone and hip injuries that indicated his seat belts did not fail. Sterling Marlin started receiving hate mail and death threats, Earnhardt’s #3 car was retired, and fans paid tribute to Earnhardt by holding up three fingers for the third lap of every Winston Cup race for the next year (I’m sure some people still do it). Even television announcers stopped commentating for the third lap.

Photo from USA Today.

What celebrity deaths totally floored you? Share your reactions in the comments.

Photo Via Brennheit Bakst [Flickr]

M.J. was just found dead at the age of fifty, apparently from a cardiac arrest.He was scheduled to perform a number of comeback concerts next year.

“We’re told when paramedics arrived Jackson had no pulse and they never got a pulse back,” the entertainment website [TMZ] said.

Regardless of how you feel about his personal “issues” this is a sad day for pop music fans and weird art enthusiasts everywhere.

Link

Image Via km33068 [Flickr]

1. Hershey Park, PA -Mmmmm….chocolate! Hooray, kisses! The company that combined the two truly is brilliant, but a theme park in their name? There’s roller coasters, water slides, and, of course, cute little Reese’s and Hershey’s characters wandering. If you were worried about getting your chocolate fix on, don’t worry, there’s plenty of sweet treats at the restaurants throughout the park.

Image Via Andrewds14 [Flickr]

2. Dollywood, TN –Maybe you’re a Dolly fan. Maybe you like the ironic humor of visiting a theme park dedicated to the blonde county bombshell Maybe you just love farms. Whatever your reason for visiting Dollywood, you’re sure to get an earful –of Dolly Parton songs. Enjoy the sights and smells of the Smoky Mountains while speeding through exciting roller coasters.

3. Diggerland, UK –Ever wish you could be a construction worker, but hate sweat and hard work? Finally, you can relax by going to work on backhoes and other digging devices. They even have rides where you get to be inside the digging bucket. Apparently the United Kingdom has a crucial shortage of construction jobs available.

Image Via Hazelisles [Flickr]

4. Limestone Heritage, Malta –What could be more fun than limestone? Why anything of course! This exotic destination located on the island of Malta teaches kids about the fundamentals of limestone. I’ve never seen anyone work so hard to remove the “fun” from “fundamentals.”

Image Via llamnudds [Flickr]

5. Dickens World, UK –Do you have great expectations when it comes to your amusement parks? Sorry, I couldn’t resist. You can finally chill out in downtrodden 19th century England like the characters of Charles Dickens.

Image Via Mukluk Land website

6. Mukluk Land, AK –Alaska isn’t exactly known for being a crazy fun place for children and their amusement park is no exception. Their biggest attraction is the World’s Largest mukluk (a traditional soft boot worn in the Arctic). Aside from that, there is skee ball, mini-golf and big cabbage.

Image Via blatantgizmo [Flickr]

7. Pedro Land, SC –Why is there a Mexican theme park in the middle of South Carolina? Because who better to build a stereotypical amusement park based on the South of the Border than people who know nothing about Mexicans? Pink flamingos, hot tamales and really bad puns, like a mini golf course called the “Golf of Mexico,” run abound in this cheesy park.

Image Via the website Gallery

8. Harry Potter Themepark, FL –This is park may be unfinished, but it is sure to be completed and opened sometime in 2010. It’s going to be part of Universal Studios Florida. Finally you can put away your muggle wears and “let out your inner wizard.”

9. The Ocean Dome, Japan –Ever go to the beach and think, “I sure wish I could be having a simulated beach experience right now?” Here’s your chance. With real sand, manufactured waves, a private rain forest and a simulated volcanic eruption every hour, the Ocean Dome would be a great attraction for landlocked people in Utah. Unfortunately, its actual location lies within 1000 feet of a real beach in Miyazaki, Japan.

Image Via azkid2lt [Flickr]

10. Grutas Park, Lithuania –Hooray communism. Go USSR. Grutas Park is nicknamed “Stalin’s Word” -and for good reason. This Lithuanian theme park is dedicated to the area’s soviet-occupation. There’s not only a great statue garden of the communist heroes and a zoo, but also a fun gulag experience for all you history lovers out there.

Image Via Theme Park Review

11. BonBon Land, Denmark –Yes the colors and statues look crazy, but the madness doesn’t stop there. One roller coaster peaks with farting sounds being played just as you pass behind Henry Hound’s butt. Vomiting, pooping and breasts are in full force throughout this tasteless park, making it any 13 year old boy’s fantasy land.

Image Via Angie Torres [Flickr]

12. Suoi Tien Park, Vietnam –Sure Buddhism is all about sacrificing material goods and obtaining enlightenment, but roller coasters and water slides are fun too. You know what else is fun? A pond full of 1,500 live crocodiles that you can feed with meat attached to fishing poles. And just in case you really don’t get the message of Buddhism through the tons of golden statues, there is also a fun animatronics ride featuring the 12 torments of fell.

13. Shijingshan Amusement Park, China –If you thought the Chinese bootleg DVDs were a huge source of copyright infringement, just wait until you see the Shijingshan Amusement Park. Despite numerous copyright lawsuits from Disney, blatant knock offs of Minnie Mouse, Cinderella and Donald Duck still roam the park grounds, along with their friend Hello Kitty.

Image Via Semisvetik [Flickr]

14. Love Land, Korea –A lot of the attractions at this park are too adult for the general Neatorama audience. Even so, you’re certain to enjoy this sculpture of dogs making love with while flashing the peace sign. The owner hopes that the park will not only be fun, but be a good-source of education for newly weds.

Image Via San Sharma [Flickr]

15. Neverland Ranch, CA –Lock up your daughters –I mean sons. This park is an American classic, filled with tacky artwork, a zoo and rides. Unfortunately, this is one park that is long gone and will likely never rise again as the attractions have been moved out in the last year. Jackson said he no longer considers this park home since he claims the police officers “violated it.”

Ben Hoffman of Current TV’s infoMania (satirical) news show got a sneak peak of the highly anticipated (not for any good reasons, mind you) Michael Jackson auction.

Just when you think that Michael Jackson couldn’t be any weirder, he proved us wrong: Hit play or go to Link [Current] – Thanks Caitlin Settlemoir!

Previously on Neatorama: Jackson’s Junk to be Sold at Auction

Link via eOnline

Okay, this is bad – but bad in a funny way. Mr Daz blog has created a sure-fire way of solving the age old problem at offices worldwide: how to get the perfect order of coffee for your officemates!

In a busy office environment it’s often better if one person makes a round of drinks for everyone, that way you don’t all leave your desk at the same time and the work flow isn’t interrupted too much. However, it’s difficult when making tea and coffee for five or more people when you have to do them all differently, sugar/no sugar, white/black, various degrees of milk. This is why I’ve come up with the Michael Jackson coffee scale. It’s simple and easy to understand, as everyone knows who Michael Jackson is, and what colour he was at different stages in his career.

For example, if you want a black coffee you ask for a 1968 Jacko, if you want it really milky you ask for a 2002 Jacko. If you like a splash of milk, you ask for a 1984 Jacko.

You can download the guide here: Link – via About:Blank