There was always gonna be a spike in sales of Michael Jackson albums when he died, but who would have thought it would be quite so big?

The Beeb reports that in the Old Dart:

A total of 11 Michael Jackson or Jackson Five albums featured in the top 200.

In the singles chart, 43 out of the top 200 singles feature the singer, with Jackson hits accounting for all but one of the new entries in the top 40.

Crikey!

And here's another example of the sheer magnitude of his fame and the joy his music gave to people:

I was shuffling through Newtown on Sunday just gone, and I came to the intersection of Enmore Road and King Street. There's an open space just there, directly opposite the train station, which is a popular communal gathering spot. The homeless often congregate there for a free feed, and some weekends it hosts art, craft and second hand clothing stalls. 

But this time a large video screen had been set up and it was playing Michael Jackson hits. There must have been at least a hundred people there, most of whom were bopping about like crazy.

This was Newtown, remember. Its denizens aren't renowned for their organizational skills, motivation or general energy levels. It takes the average Newtowner a good three days to disengage himself from his bong and wander down to the local Centrelink.

So the fact that locals had managed to actually set this thing up and so many had lobbed - presumably at very short notice - on such a bloody freezing midwinter evening was undeniably significant. The sight of them boogeying up a storm to "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" was truly memorable, and - dare I say it - quite touching considering the circumstances. 

He was certainly hugely talented, and he gave countless people a lot of joy (and continues to do so). They will remember him fondly their entire lives. 

His kids will always remember him too - but in a very different way, I suspect.

Michael Jackson gave everything to his art and his fans - ultimately including his own life. And yet he left those most dependent upon him utterly emotionally adrift. How sad is that?

I never thought Michael Jackson would live to a grand old age. But I didn't think he'd pop his clogs quite so soon. Clearly the cumulative effects of such a crazy, roller-coaster life were just too much. 

As his former publicist Michael Levine said:

"Michael has been on an impossibly difficult and often self-destructive journey for years. His talent was unquestionable but so too was his discomfort with the norms of the world.

"A human simply can not withstand this level of prolonged stress."

That pretty much nails it, I reckon. 

Whacko Jacko was a really sad case, like so many big stars. They're forever trying to find in fame - and from squillions of people they'll never meet - what they can't get from relationships with a handful of people in the real world.

Many of them have been psychologically (and sometimes sexually) abused by one or both parents. And that makes them incapable of having healthy relationships in adulthood. Whacko Jacko's father in particular sounded like a really twisted bastard who pushed the poor kid relentlessly.

No wonder Michael Jackson never wanted to grow up and had such strange and creepy relationships with children. While he was one of the most well known people in the world, and seemingly one of the most widely, er, "loved", you couldn't imagine a more lonely, pathetic or bizarre figure. 

Will be interesting to see what happens now ...

Sounds like family members were very concerned about his dependence on drugs, so I suspect there'll be some big time lawsuits brought against those enabling this abuse. There'll probably be a few whacked out conspiracy theories, too. Even though he's carked it, he'll be fodder for the tabloids for a long time yet, poor bastard. 

Rachel Ward, who is now spruiking a flick she's directed called Beautiful Kate, reckons young thespettes should stop being coy and happily nude up when asked to by directors. It's necessary for success, she reckons. 

Don't wanna sound like a prude, but nakedness is not crucial. Take the career path of Meryl Streep, for instance. She was (and remains) a great beauty, yet she never once went the full monty - or even the half monty, as far as I know. And I doubt she was even asked to.

Why? Because she could act.

That was something Rachel Ward never learned to do, unfortunately.

The way the ABC is dealing with this Chaser sketch scandal is absurd. I mean, sacking the Head of TV Comedy because she didn't flag the sketch and refer it upwards for consideration? It's the kind of bureaucratic buck-passing you might see in local government. (Okay, not that surprising, since the ABC is a bureaucracy. Still, this was about entertainment, after all.)

Usually the ABC don't give a tinker's about public reaction, particularly when it relates to more serious stuff like journalistic ethics and standards. They're forever pissing people off as a result. Think of their relentlessly one-sided treatment of the climate change issue. (And just recently there was that dodgy doco about Phuong Ngo. No one lost a gig over that, as I recall.)

Whenever the stakes are really high, the fluffy wuffies at their ABC remain relentlessly wrong-headed and bloody-minded. They don't budge for anyone. However, they've made an exception in this case. 

I mean, here's a "comedy" troupe whose whole stock in trade is going too far. Yet one time they went too, too far. So the big wigs have decided that at least one head will roll. Eh?

I never thought I'd be defending the Chaser team, because I've always thought they sucked the big one. Sure, the sketch was hugely unfunny. People were offended and upset. But it was meant to be a joke.

And the kids were actors, remember. They weren't dinkum terminally ill tots. It was just a really crap, unfunny sketch; one of countless crap, unfunny sketches they've performed over the years.

Some critics of the national broadcaster may think the axing is a good thing; a sign of some sort of cultural shift. Nup. It's just more of the same, I reckon. 

Up until this particular stink there was a list of demographic groups that the ABC considered off limits as subjects for comedy for fear of being politically incorrect (unless it was made absolutely crystal clear that they were not the ones being mocked). These included Muslims, gays, Indigenous Australians. Whippersnappers-soon-to-cark-it were not on the list. Now they are. That's all that's changed, really.

The Chaser team are probably doomed now. But all that'll happen is that the next bunch of in-your-face ABC "satirists" will stir up a hornets' nest over some other demographic group that was previously deemed fair game - elderly women with dementia, perhaps? And we'll be back to square one. 

I mean really. It's all just so bloody silly.

The death of David Carradine just keeps getting weirder. Now his family are saying that it wasn't auto-erotic asphyxiation that killed him. They reckon he was murdered because of his investigations into a mysterious kung fu sect. 

Sounds possible. I mean, he was definitely into sects. Very kinky sects. 

Re this cancer kids comedy kerfuffle: One of the Chaser team said "it was meant to be so over the top that people wouldn't take it seriously". 

Well if you're going to do that, you have to make it crystal clear. You have to convey some sense of detachment; some message that the creators are aware that this really has crossed the line. The fact that this was completely absent from the offending sketch is what provoked such an almighty ruckus.

There would have been a way to use the material and get away with it. Imagine that just after the line "they're going to die anyway" officers from the Taste Police had blustered in and arrested them. Now that would have been funny. (Er, maybe not. But at least it would have negated the outrage.)

See, satire is very different to other modes of creative expression. In drama, for instance, you're always trying to suspend disbelief. But in satire you want to encourage it from time to time. By doing that you're reminding your audience that you're totally aware of what you're doing; that you're ahead of the game at all times. 

Take the example of Barry Humphries and his creation Sir Les Patterson. Les is grotesque, revolting, sexist, offensive. But the character works because viewers are always aware that behind the mask is a highly intelligent man with a critical eye - the polar opposite of the grog-blossomed buffoon before them. They know that Humphries knows that what he's doing is offensive to many. And because they know that he knows, they let him off the hook. (Er, I hope that's clear. As Les himself might say, are you with me?)

Put another way, satirists have to be diabolical, or at least convince people that they are. Once they've done that they can get away with pretty much anything. 

The Chaser team have failed dismally in this regard. They're not diabolical, they're just a bunch of cocky spoiled brats who think they've got it all sussed running amok - and at our expense. They're not ahead of the game. They're playing catch up. Which is why they've actually satirized themselves. 

And their masters have compounded the joke on them by putting them into the sin-bin. Big boo-boo, I reckon. ABC management should have stood firm and kept the show running.

One of two things will inevitably ensue. One: They'll go all goofy, benign and G-rated; play it safe at all times. For a show whose whole reputation is based on its "edginess" and ability to provoke outrage and create controversy this is a death sentence. Their fans will desert them in droves.

The other possibility: They'll remain as provocative as possible while trying to second guess the public reaction to particular sketches and remove them in advance. But this is a highly risky strategy. The boys themselves and the bozos behind the scenes clearly haven't the slightest clue about what the public are thinking. (Their complete surprise at the intense anger and hurt they've caused with their cancer kids sketch is a perfect illustration of this.) So, chances are they'll get it spectacularly wrong once again. If they do that they're toast. And they know it.

Clearly, they are in a no-win situation. That's why I have some sympathy for them. Their sense of bewilderment and powerlessness is actually quite sad ... seriously.

Coupla days ago, I wrote a post about David Carradine's bizarre death titled "Hung Fu". 

Often, when you think you're the only one to coin a catchy headline, there's at least one other blogger or hack who's had an identical stroke of tabloidy inspiration before you. In this case, that honor seems to belong to this guy. 

Okay, so I wasn't the first, got dammit! But I did publish it before the New York Post did. (The Big Apple is 14 hrs behind Sydney, so unless the issue hit the streets well before midnight on the 4th, I won!)

This publication is renowned for its memorable headlines, so I am more than a little chuffed about beating it at its own game. That's why I've given my overworked research staff a whole twenty minutes off from their relentless, round-the-clock toil, and the busy offices here at Hayden Towers are abuzz with the sound of popping corks and jovial chatter.

So Bill killed himself, in a hotel room in Bangkok. 

Some may say that David Carradine's sudden, accidental death was a sad, seedy way to go. I disagree. While it was hardly edifying it did have a kind of rough grandeur. I mean, he carked it from a kinky sex act when he was seventy two years old! He certainly remained active in his later years, now didn't he? 

He lived fast and died, er, old ... and went out with a hang and not a whimper. 

On ya, Dave!

After SuBo's recent crack-up, many people have have expressed concern that she has an imaginary friend.

Personally, I don't see this particular aspect of her psychological state as a liability if she still wishes for a life in the public eye. When you're a celebrity, all your friends are imaginary. 

The problem is not that she's a little bit mental. It's clearly that she's not mental enough!

Despite the large numbers watching, many viewers said the latest episode of The Chaser was a real stinker. The feeling seems to be that their glory days are behind them; that they've well and truly "flown the Vatican".