A few days ago, the final curtain was brought down for the King of Pop(not a soda as Pittsburghers often refer to) with a grand funeral that lasted 3 hours and beamed to billions of viewers all over the globe. Seriously, the internet connection sucked real bad that day (as if it doesn't on any other days with Streamyx) as an effect of the 19% increase in the net traffic(thank you MJ). However, I thought the whole thing was priceless. I mean, to be able to be alive at that moment and witness history in the making was awesome, especially since I missed the King of Rock n' Roll's funeral(damn Elvis! should've waited for me). But yeah I thought it was carried out well, I was entertained and honestly a lil' bit moved by the speeches. So yinz might think I'm a big fan of MJ? No I'm not. I mean yes I love a few songs of his and I just have to admit that his moves were wicked but nothing more than that. No posters of him in my bedroom and I'll stay a faithful fan of John Lennon and The Beatles. I don't see any reason for me to suddenly become a fan of MJ after he died just like the rest of the world (oh yeah the number of his "fans" suddenly tripled). You called him Wacko Jacko while he was still alive and suddenly now you're a big fan! Just so you feel good by being a part of the big news huh? So that one day, you'll be able tell your grandchildren how lucky you were that you had the chance to live in the golden era of pop and seeing MJ doing his moonwalk. I have nothing against true fans of MJ, you have all the rights to like what you like, love whom you love. But I do have a problem with the pretenders. Now this post is getting a lil' bit overwrought don't you think? So lets shove this aside and talk about something else, still related to MJ but not his "fans". So yes he was the king and will always be the king just like Elvis but ever wondered what made them eligible to be crowned the "king of ..."?
Well, Let Me Tell You Something...
...about what I think are the factors that propel an artist's status from just a regular celebrity to a legend. I'll get to the King of Fruits later don't worry. Let's start with Elvis Aaron Presley. So let's see, he's got a wide vocal range, handsome and charismatic. Is that enough? To label him as a legend? Nope! Definitely not. So what sets Elvis apart from the others of his time? His moves! Yes the minute he started his "bukak kuda-kuda" moves, all the girls went wild (not referring to "Girls Gone Wild" nope). Why, you may ask? It's simply because it was revolutionary, something no one has ever seen or done before. And that guitar he's holding? It didn't even have strings. No seriously I'm not jokin, it didn't have any! Not to say that Elvis didn't know how to play the guitar but it's just to show how everything was focused on his singing and dancing. And the extra props, they're just there to embellish the performance. So that's one factor, "Revolutionary". It didn't last long tho. All those moves...overshadowed by The Beatles later on. Well we do know that The Beatles weren't dancers. In fact I think if they tried to, they might lose tons of fans. So what makes them so special that some fans even see Beatlemania as a whole new religion with Lennon/McCartney as the god? They write their own songs. Really good songs. They've got all those emotion-related things going on by writing their own material. It's almost as if Lennon & McCartney were begging, "I wanna hold your hand!" to their fans. Or serenading them by saying "Let it be...". It's creativity and originality that really matters in the 60s. This explains Elvis' major downfall when the boys from Liverpool emerged. Elvis didn't write his own materials and depended solely on others to give him good songs. Yes he did have a bigger capacity to lay down a much more powerful vocal performance but after a while, people tend to look for a fresher concept. And considering it's The Beatles, never afraid to experiment on all kinds of genres and abstractions, plus their tendency of changing their appearances abruptly for example having a beard on one day and a clean shave on the next, it's hard to ever get bored with the fab four. They literally transformed from a band of pretty boys with mop tops to full fledged rockers producing magnum opuses. I remember reading somewhere, "The 60s was all about trying to be different and the 60s was The Beatles". So now we have this "Revolutionary" and "Deviance" thing going on by taking Elvis and The Beatles as examples. Try to combine both of them; you'll get Michael Jackson! Let's do an analysis on the King of Pop:
- Powerful Vocals ............................................. ✔
- Dance Moves ................................................. ✔
- Charisma ....................................................... ✔
- Original Songs ................................................ ✔
- Changes in Appearance/Deviance .................... ✔
Now doesn't that make perfect sense why he is eligible to be crowned the King of Pop (and some say the best entertainer ever)? Yes it does and I totally feel that the title is fitting for his qualities but nope I'm still not a fan. Don't ask me why, I am just not. So let me talk less about MJ and more about "being different", which reminds me of the other "King" in the title, the King of Fruits. You may wonder what's so fookin' different about durians compared to other fruits. They are very...very...different! Different from other fruits that are known to be nutritious and provide us with the vital vitamins and minerals and what not. Apparently, a durian doesn't. Well, a few days ago I went to the un-KL side of Kuala Lumpur: Kampung Baru with my parents to grab some ayam goreng rempah, gulai keting, begedel and teh sosro for our lunch/dinner. But before that my mom wanted to go to this one shop and so my dad and I had to wait inside the car as parking slots are only for those who don't mind leaving their car in the drain. And so we waited in the car in front of this sidewalk durian stall owned by a grumpy-looking-but-trying-to-act-friendly pakcik. We were definitely blocking his stall from the view of others. And so as to pacify him, my dad decided to grab a few kilos and off we went to Restoran Garuda Masakan Minang, leaving the durians in the car, thus sacrificing the odorless fresh air inside. So back to the original topic of being deviant, and durian being a perfect example of a fruit that's different from the others considering its lack of nutritional values, they are definitely the King of Fruits. D24 & Tembaga, you made my day! Sedap gila although panas badan malam tu. So here are a few pictures of the durians and the food in Kampung Baru:
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