SceneIt_by_Marijke's blog

A wedding entrance in St. Paul, Minn. It already has almost 2 million YouTube views. Happy Friday.

Tim Burton + Johnny Depp + Alice in Wonderland + 3D = Guaranteed freaky. I can't wait.

Hey, folks, we're looking for readers to share their favorite X-Fest memories as part of our coverage of the street fair's 10th anniversary this year. Got any? If so, share them in comments (keep it family-friendly and just plain friendly) or send your memories to jfarrow@modbee.com by Wednesday.

It's funny because it's true.

I miss Olive Snook. Sniff.

So the sad, strange life of Michael Jackson is over. And, however you felt about what he became, you can’t feel good about the circus that his death will surely become. He was a singular pop culture phenomena. Unimaginably talented, unfathomably bizarre, unquestionably controversial.

The media frenzy that has already begun will no doubt rival the Anna Marie Smith and possibly even Princess Diana in size, scope and sheer nuttiness. Someone will show up outside his funeral with a chimpanzee, I just know it. There might also be protesters. Talent does not excuse possible misdeeds. Nor does a tragic childhood, nor does wealth or fame or anything else.

We all know what he was as his life’s end. An oddity, a relic, a punchline. But it’s also important to remember where it started. With that bounce, that energy, that voice and that afro. Just a little kid filled with promise and eager to please. And then, as a young man, he seemed to defy gravity itself – his body made of magic and mystery.

If ever you need reminding that life is indeed a long, strange trip, look to life of Michael Jackson. It’s also a reminder that the leap from fairy tale to cautionary tale is a very small one.

The 8-year-old in me is sad today. The adult in me is, too, but for different reasons.