Watching Michael Jackson

Watched “This Is It” on the flight back to HK from NY. A movie I swore I would never see, but hey it was free and I was bored. And I wouldn’t be helping to line the pockets of all those folks profiting off his death.

Music was great, watching him rehearse brought home what a freakin’ artistic genius he was, truly a loss for the world. But what struck me was how supportive he was of everyone that worked for him, including the dancers and the technicians. At work, MJ is focused, nurturing, constantly teaching. Not the arrogant self-centered weirdo I expected to see. Of course there is the occasionally weirdness, such as ending every negative input he gave with “it’s all from love.” If his crew can’t handle constructive input without a candy wrapper they shouldn’t be operating at world-class level. And he thanked god every other minute. Just casually drops it into conversation. That seems strange somehow.

But it was good to see him saying things like “That’s ok, this is why we rehearse” when a dancer makes a misstep or a technician misses a cue. You could tell the entire crew was 200% focused on making the show a success, pouring all their energy and devotion to quality.